A planet died. It happened entirely too quickly, deep in the freezing dark of the

  Kuiper Belt. Space that burns but still cools in the dark abyss. The light of the sun glazes over many planets but what gave these planets this life? They claimed the name.. Stars.

  On the moon dysnomia, a huge crater was carved into it. The way the dust seems to float into space.. It was recent. Dysnomia a moon without any glow. A dead rock that now just sat where it died originally.

  Krios.. Known as the star of Saturn scoffed, crossing his arms as he stood over the dying Star.

  "Hmph. And what did I expect from a dwarf planet? I'm still wondering how your kind has a star or how you lived for so long without an Apostle. I've conquered many planets out of thrill alone. But this.. This is just a pity”

  Krios was a giant, standing at a staggering seven feet tall. A permanent halo rotated above his head. He looked pristine, draped in a heavy silk robe and trousers that flowed like liquid metal.

  Before his people were known as Velhari. A Species that excels in conquering. They're insanely tall. Their skin carries a faint luminescence. It doesn't glow exactly but catches light the same way ice in Saturn's rings catches sunlight, a pale gold or silver quality to it.

  Their hair if they have any moves with a slight static quality, like it remembers atmospheric pressure. Their eyes are solid color — no pupil, no iris distinction, just a single tone that shifts like storm patterns.

  Xena, the dying Star of Eris, chuckled at his words and stared up into his eyes. "You serious? That's the nicest thing you've said this whole time."

  She coughed, spitting up ice-cold blood — a brilliant blue, like a clean Antarctic ocean. Her gaze drifted past the many stars to her own planet, and her smile faded into a frown.

  Xena was much shorter than Krios. She only stood at 5’8.. She was elegant. Her skin is the same as a Kintsugi statue She had wings on her back that shimmered in the dark space. Her eyes were green with her pupils a lighter green almost neon. Her horns shaped into a crown, skin the color of the beautiful grass of earth. She appeared as a young woman. Her people.. We're more fragile. With no sunlight from their moon or from the sun due to how far they are.

  Their skin made out of methane-ice is always so scared of the eerie silence. But Xena gave these people a light with her singing. Calming them and letting them know everything will be okay. She was a mother to her people. She was the light that they needed.

  "Tell me... what will happen to my people?" she asked, looking back at Krios. "Can you promise to protect them? I beg you. There aren't a lot of them. I believe if you and your people can accept them, they could—"

  "Silence," Krios cut her off. "I will decide that.” He turned to the planet Eris. He stared at it admiring the Dwarf planet. Have you ever wondered what would happen when a planet dies?” He asked without wanting her to answer.

  He reached his hand down toward her forehead. His hand felt like just gas touching her insect-thin skin. "You were a formidable foe, yes. The way you manipulated kinetic energy from heat and movement... the abilities you held. If you weren't the dwarf planet Eris, you would've been one of the strongest."

  A vibration pulsed down his arm and transferred into her head. Xena shook violently, spitting out more ice-cold blood.

  And then, you could see it in her eyes — she was dead. She went completely flat, devoid of all motion.

  Slowly, her lifeless body began to float off of Eris's moon.

  Across the galaxy, the air was smoother and cooler on Saturn, yet somehow warmer than it was on Eris. The battle was known everywhere.

  Civilians were out of their homes, watching the night sky as the two stars continued to move and collide until one finally dimmed out.

  They knew these two fighting stars were Eris and Saturn.

  "Who won? Does anyone know? I know someone has the new mega Luans camera! Who got it, come on! My eyes don't work the same!" an anxious old civilian on Saturn called out. No one truly knew what happened when a planet died; the signs were nothing.

  A being wearing a long robe with jet-black hair walked up. She looked human — a sight never seen before. She simply looked up into the empty sky of space; her vision allowed her to watch the fight as though she were there.

  "If you are all curious, it seems we won. The planet dying tonight... is Eris," she announced.

  This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

  Voices murmured in confusion.

  "Eris? That small dwarf planet? Why the hell would we fight them? What if we lost?" an old lady spoke up, sounding upset and annoyed.

  "Yeah! And how the hell do you know who we fought, and how are you here? Earth hasn't even figured out that we exist!" the old man yelled, the strain visible in his throat.

  "It was obvious we won," a teenage civilian interrupted with a relaxed chuckle and a mischievous glint in his eyes. "We live on Saturn, the current most dominant star! Against a small dwarf planet literally on life's door? Come on now!"

  The robed woman turned to the teenager.

  The Teenager's eyes glowed yellow, flashing rapidly as he smiled, shaking with excitement like he was about to explode.

  "It's.." he shook his head to get the words right he pointed sharply at the being. "You are an Apostle —you have to be!"

  That sentence made everyone turn and look at the being. Conversations cut short, the air on Saturn grew thicker, their stares felt like a storm. The weight of their stares could fill a stadium — and still leave it wanting.

  "It's.. been very long since an apostle came to see their disappointed and starved people." an old lady said sarcastically to her friend next to her.

  "It makes me wonder how they would fight in his shoes.. An Apostle against a star.. I would bet on that... A fight worth waiting for..." Her friend responded.

  The being clicks her tongue annoyed by the people. She sighed and still gave an introduction

  "My name is Mimas, or as you know me... the First Apostle," she stated. "And it seems we won. Now, we see the final result." She gave a confident nod.

  "H-Hey..." a scientist watching stammered, pointing up toward Eris. "I thought when a Star dies, to our knowledge and my research, it loses its life... poof! You know? It.. well.. Stays but loses life like mercury. So why is it..."

  He sounded scared, and before he could finish, Mimas completed the thought for him. Her eyes widened as her iris focused on the planet Eris.

  "Why is it glowing brighter than before?"

  Mimas looked at the planet and flew just high enough to see it clearly. Then she saw it — right on the surface of the planet.

  "AAAAAAAAHHHHHH — GOD, WHY!"

  "IT... IT BURNS... I CAN'T TAKE IT — MY FACE!!!" A civilian's face melted off, then the bone, then the bone melted to flesh, then to nothing.

  Before the screaming could even finish, the people melted.

  Mimas's face contorted in horror. This was only supposed to happen to massive stars like the sun; this was completely abnormal. There is no possible way of this outcome!” But, In a very small chance, deep in the history of space that the universe seemed to all agree to call it.. She realized what was about to happen. Using telepathy, she spoke to her King.

  [Krios, you need to get out of there!]

  Floating above the moon, Krios looked away from the floating body and toward his own planet.

  [Hmm? What do you mean? The planet should just die and we take the people to—]

  [Look at Eris!] Mimas said impatiently.

  Krios turned his whole body from Eris's moon to look directly at the planet. Then he saw it.

  "What the — What the hell?! Is... is that what they call hell??"

  On Eris, the planet was burning. The mass and power of the planet became uncontrollable as it burned brightly and began to shrink — a reaction far worse than Mercury to the sun. He watched the people burn and die.

  "What... what the hell is going on?!" he demanded, his voice filled with horror, confusion, and now guilt. "Mimas! Explain!"

  [I'll explain it when you get out of there!] Mimas replied through the link.

  [The planet is going through something called the Schwarzschild Radius! It's condensing itself to the point of a black hole! And if this has anything to do with the star... Xena... she might...]

  Krios turned back to the body, but it wasn't just floating lifelessly anymore. The wings were frozen in the air, and her blood was now floating upward and disappearing. The air around her body began to consume its surroundings, generating a massive gravitational pull.

  Then, Xena looked up. Her eyes were missing — replaced by pure black. It was a phenomenon unheard of even among the most ancient species.

  "RAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

  It was a distorted, unreal sound — a scream far worse than Neptune's, a cry more fearsome than Mars'. As she continued, her body began to condense itself, the pull becoming exponentially stronger.

  "Shit — shit shit shit shit shit!" Krios cursed, instantly trying to fly away. But his speed, known to cross light years, came to a dead stop. He pushed and pushed as Xena's body continued to pull.

  Then.

  "Huh??"

  He reached to touch his left eye.

  "Where… where did my eye go?"

  He looked down at his body through his one good eye. He had also lost his left leg.

  His left eye and left leg were pulled clean from him. He began to lose himself to the gravity of the black hole being forged from both the planet and Xena.

  "Dumbass!" Mimas shouted as she appeared beside him. She grabbed him and teleported out just in time, leaving him missing only his eye and left leg.

  But for Xena and her planet, there was nothing left. Looking into space, all you saw was a black spot in the galaxy. Mimas, still eyeing the planet, watched the darkness consume its moons. Then the black hole itself was short-lived — and disappeared.

  Their answer was found.

  And this was just the end of a new beginning