Funeral

Funeral
KING KARAYE’S POV (CRAB KING)

I sat in the cold, dark cockpit of my gold ship. My hands were shaking so hard I could barely hold the controls. I stared out into the empty black space.

Just a few minutes ago, my brother’s ship was right there, flying beside me. Now, there was nothing but a cloud of dust and broken gold floating in the dark. Vrax was dead. My little brother was gone.

I put my head against the cold metal glass and sobbed. The sound of my crying filled the small cabin. "It is my fault," I whispered, my voice breaking. "I forced him to do this."

I remembered back at the palace before we left. Vrax had looked at me with worried eyes. He told me to let the human girl go. He said Aurora was not worth a war with a monster like Karn.

But I would not listen. I was the Crab King, and I was full of pride and anger. I called him a coward. I told him he had to stand by my side or he was no brother of mine. I had grabbed him by his armor and pushed him toward his ship. I had led him right into Karn’s trap. I watched my brother die because I was too greedy to let go of a woman who didn't even love me.

I turned the ship around.

Sometimes in life, you win and sometimes you lose. I have clearly lost. There's no need fighting when my brother's body has dissolved into the atmospehere.

The flight back to my home planet felt like it took a hundred years. The stars looked cold and mean. I was a King, but I felt like the smallest man in the universe. I had no bride, I had no victory, and now, I had no family left.

When I landed on Planet 444, the air smelled like death. The fires from the Alien King’s attack were still glowing in the ruins of my city.

I walked down the ramp of my ship, my legs feeling heavy like lead. The Elders were already waiting for me at the edge of the landing pad. I know they were waiting to slam me with intergalactic tax and levies for breaking the law and fighting dirty with a fellow Alien brother.

Karn was not my brother!! May the stars forbid!

The Elders were the oldest and wisest men of my race, wearing long, heavy robes. They looked at my empty ship, then they looked at me. They saw that I was alone.

"Where is the Prince?" the oldest Elder asked. His voice was sharp and cold. "Prince Vrax?"

I couldn't look him in the eye. I looked down at my boots, which were covered in blue blood and space dust. "He is gone," I said, my voice a low croak. "The Alien King... he used a trick. He blew up Vrax’s ship. My brother is dead in the stars."

A great cry went up from the crowd. Some of the Elders started to wail and shake their heads. They did not come to comfort me. They did not put a hand on my shoulder. Instead, they looked at me with eyes full of judgment. They knew my pride had cost us a Prince.

"We must have the funeral now," the Head Elder said. "We cannot wait. We must send his soul to the great light before the sun sets."

We walked to the high cliff that looked over the broken palace. Usually, a royal funeral takes many days to plan, with many songs and much food, but we had to be fast.

Vrax was young and we had no body to bury, so the workers built a pile of sweet-smelling wood. On top of the wood, they placed Vrax’s gold practice sword and his favorite blue silk cape. Thousands of my people gathered around the cliff. They were all dressed in black, their faces pale and sad.

The sun was starting to go down behind the mountains. The sky turned a deep, bruised purple. It was the same color as Karn’s skin, and seeing it made my blood boil with hate.

I stood in front of the pile of wood with a burning torch in my hand. My heart felt like a piece of dry ice in my chest—cold and stinging. I looked at the blue cape and remembered when we were children. We used to run through the palace gardens, and Vrax would always try to catch me. He always wanted to be just like his big brother. And now, I had led him to his grave.

"I am sorry, Vrax," I whispered so low that only the wind could hear me. "I am so sorry."

I touched the torch to the wood. The fire jumped up instantly, hungry and bright. The orange flames licked at the gold sword and turned the silk cape into black ash. The people began to sing the Song of the Dead. it was a low, humming sound that made the very ground shake under my feet. I watched the smoke rise high into the dark sky, carrying the memory of my brother away.

Suddenly, the sadness in my heart snapped. It turned into something sharp, jagged, and hot. It was a dark rage that I had never felt before. I was done with crying. I was done with being a victim. I turned away from the fire and looked at the thousands of people watching me.

"Karn thinks he has won!" I roared, my voice echoing off the canyon walls. "The Alien King thinks he can come to our world, burn our homes, and kill our blood! He thinks he can steal my bride and fly away into the dark while we sit here and cry!"

The people went silent, looking at me. I pulled a small dagger from my belt and sliced a deep line across the palm of my hand. I held my hand over the funeral fire and let my blue blood drip into the flames. The blood hissed and turned into steam on the hot wood.

"I swear on the soul of my brother!" I shouted, my eyes glowing with madness. "I will not rest. I will not sleep. I will spend every coin in our treasury. I will build a new fleet of ships, bigger and faster than the last. I will find Karn’s secret--the secrets that protect him and I will burn every statue and every house he has ever touched! I will take back Aurora, and I will rip the Alien King’s heart out with my bare hands! Vrax will have his revenge!"

The crowd let out a massive cheer. It was a scary, dark sound that shook the trees. The funeral was over, but the war was just beginning.

I walked away from the fire and back toward my ship. I would sleep there for tonight.

Karn was a monster, but I was going to become something much worse to kill him. I was going to be the nightmare that followed him to the ends of the universe.