Looking up to the sky as it illuminated every few seconds, Drelv watched the fireworks and the vehicles fly by.  Just moments before, he was running. Running from his home. His mind flashed back to the final moments.

Drelv was standing before his house. His orange pupils scanned the flames that engulfed the building. It was just any old building now to him. The heat pushed passed him, making his spiky black hair sway. He breathed in deeply as a voice yelled in the distance.

“Drelv! What did you do?!”

It was his Guardian.

“I know what is about to happen. Looks like the people started to revolt.” Drelv explained to the Guardian.

Drelv was just turning 20 when he had heard the rumours of the planet’s demise. Eterac had been Drelv’s home for his entire life. It was a peaceful place of blue grasses and green waters and skies. Alas, Eteracians didn’t take kindly to another planet waging war upon them when they had no means of defence.

The Guardian, Drelv uncaring of his name at this point, stood next to him, in awe. Drelv gripped a glowing sphere tightly. He slowly released his grip on a blue object. Out of the corner of Drelv’s eye, he saw his Guardian’s reaction.

“It was you who started this fire?” His guardian asked.

He didn’t respond. Drelv opened his eyes widely and swung his arm at the Guardian. The sphere attached to the man’s chest. Spikes sprang out, embedding in to the Guardian.

“You people did this. Guardians of Eterac, they call you?! It’s all lies! What have you protected us from?!” Drelv yelled into his Guardian’s face.

“I’m sorry Drelv.”

“It’s too late for your apologies.”

Drelv pushed his Guardian away. The sphere changed to a red colour, immediately causing the Guardian to disperse into dust. Drelv’s weapon was a multi-tool that the working class of Eterac used. Luckily for Drelv, he easily hacked the sphere to prepare for the current events.

He had been working for a company that fixed any of the technology available on Eterac. Being around technology his whole life, Drelv modified the sphere he possessed to turn anyone that got in his way to dust. The original tool was for soldering. It wasn’t too hard for him to raise the levels of heat or area of focus.

Drelv lifted his hand up in the air and the sphere flew back to his palm of the glove used to hold the tool. He had started the revolt of the people with a simple fire. With chaos ensuing around him, Drelv knew where to go. There was a hangar of ships that could be his escape of the planet’s end. He hoped with causing the people to notice the war that was about to happen, he could reach the ships with little obstacles.

Explosions boomed through the air as enemy ships zoomed above. Lasers and missiles were landing all around. Drelv thought it just added to the chaos.

“Oi, Drelv! Don’t leave without me!” A familiar voice called out.

Drelv looked behind him. It was his friend, Vadom. Vadom worked alongside Drelv.

“You’re lucky you made it this far.” Drelv stated.

“It wasn’t on my own doing. I brought Cerle.” Vadom said with a smile, as he lifted his hand.

Upon his hand was a similar glove to Drelv’s, but there wasn’t a sphere. It was an AI. A digital female stood tall on his hand. She looked like any other person would just about a foot tall. “Hello Drelv.” She replied.

Drelv sneered at the AI. He turned back to the direction of the hangar. It wasn’t too far from his house. His Guardian had worked at the base that held the ships, so it was easier for him to learn about its location and what it held. Because Eterac lacked any defence, the ships were for trading. Drelv figured he could use them to travel far away.

“We’ll need an AI for the ship, you know.” Vadom said to acknowledge Drelv’s silence.

Drelv had forgotten about that. Trade ships used AIs to run the entire thing. He sighed, but kept going. “Well, come on then!” Drelv said.

Vadom ran to catch up. Drelv eyed him carefully as he talked to his AI. Drelv tuned both of them out. Next to the explosions and screams, he could barely hear them anyways. Vadom looked so cheerful. His blue eyes lit up in the fires that were all around. Drelv watched as Vadom looked up. Vadom turned to him instantly after. He mouthed words, but Drelv couldn’t tell what they were. Drelv looked up and saw what Vadom saw: a missile coming straight down above them.

The two took off in a sprint towards the base that was coming into sight. The missile landed behind them. The massive explosion knocked both down to the ground. There was a ringing in Drelv’s ears as he tried to stand back up. When he got to his feet, he saw Vadom hand combing his long blond hair from the grass and dirt that caught in it.

“Come on, we need to keep going!” Drelv yelled out.

Vadom’s expression became annoyed, but he followed Drelv anyways. Drelv sprinted until he saw the warehouse coming up. “Almost there.” Drelv called back to Vadom.

“Good. Things are getting to crazy out here. I think the real assault is about to begin.” Vadom replied.

Drelv looked up. Vadom was right. The sky was filling lights of enemy ships forming up. The planet would be complete ruin in no more than ten minutes. Drelv continued on anyways. He knew he could make it in time.

After another minute or so of running, the two made it to the front gate of the base that the warehouse was at. The gate was unlocked. The entire compound had been abandoned.

“Hope there is still ships in there.” Vadom said carefully.

“They are trading ships. If any ships were taken, it would have been the cruise ones or personal ones.” Drelv answered, with some doubt of the ships being there still.

He thought how long he waited before he left his house. It took him too long to get the rumours to cause panic and for the crowds to start rioting. But he had to. It was the only way to get the people to realize their fates before it was too late. It seemed rather cruel, but he didn’t care at this point.

Drelv’s heart dropped at the thought of being stuck on this planet, as its surface was obliterated by the weapons of the thousands upon thousands of ships. He shook his head and pushed the gate open. Cerle popped up of Vadom’s hands. “My scanners are telling me there are still ships here.”

“Are you sure?” Vadom asked.

“Well…it’s kind of hard to tell with the ships all above us, but I’m pretty sure some of them getting picked up are here.” Cerle explained.

Drelv ignored her. He walked straight to the warehouse. The large doors were opened enough to fit one person at a time through. Drelv went in first, turning his sphere to a light source mode. The warehouse lit up, revealing a single ship in the distance.

“Well…one.” Cerle said as she appeared again.

“We don’t have long.” Drelv said as he ran at the ship, his arm stretched out to keep the light steady.

Drelv heard Vadom close behind him. The warehouse floor echoed each step they took. Drelv breathed in heavily as he was getting tired from all the running. The entire building began to shake.

“I think it’s starting!” Vadom yelled.

Drelv reached the ship and went up the entrance ramp with haste. He headed straight for the console and sat in the pilot chair. The ship was a decent size, with loads of room to pack tradable items. It was pretty much a small hallway covered with screens and metal plating. Vadom came up the ramp as it began to close. Vadom place his glove to the computers, letting Cerle enter the system. Drelv had placed his sphere in the maintenance slot. The entire ship lit up with screens and buttons.

“We’ve got to leave now!” Vadom yelled as he began adjusting switches.

“Yeah I know!” Drelv said as he began to lift the vehicle up.

The hangar roof opened up at the push of a button. Drelv looked up through the large window around the front. “Moving us up and out now!” Crele exclaimed from within the system.

The ship rose swiftly, barely escaping the opening hangar roof. The whole planet was shaking as ships covered almost every bit of the sky. Drelv knew the ships would be too distracted for them.

Their ship shot into the sky. Right as they passed the layer of enemy ships, missiles dropped. Crele took over the ship controls. Drelv stood up as he looked around through the window. Ships flew by, both enemy and Eteracians. It wasn’t fireworks that Drelv saw. It was his home planet and its people exploding. He could just think how they deserved the war they brought upon themselves. Drelv looked back to Vadom monitoring radars and other systems.

“At least we will remain.” Drelv mumbled.

He looked out into the vastness of space and hoped to find a safer home.