There is a legend that is thousands of years old. For most adults, it is just a bedtime story to tell children. A lot believed it when they were young. Me, well...I never grew out of it. It has become my life's passion to record what truly happened during the age of the Isle-Worlds. I am Historian Bartholomew Archer. May I present to you: The Isle-World Chronicles.
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Lightning battles were illegal. Even so, Nova Rae watched one from her family’s Isle.
Her father shouted behind her. “Get in the shelter!”
Lightning flashed.
Thunder rolled.
“Where’s Brighton?” worry wrinkled through her face. She wasn’t going inside without him.
“He’s still in the Southern Hemisphere.”
“I’m going to find him,” she walked away from her father.
“Nova Rae Fire, come back here.”
“Not until my brother is safe!” Nova Rae clenched her fists and continued walking towards the other Hemisphere.
“He will come. Don’t worry.”
Nova Rae stopped and turned back around. “What if he doesn’t see the lightning battle up there?” She pointed at the lightning in the dark sky.
“Our Isle is pretty small, he can probably at least hear it.” Another crack of thunder. “The battle is getting closer. Come inside.”
Brighton ran up and shouted, “What are you doing out here! There’s a lightning battle going on!” He grabbed her arm and the three of them entered the Core.
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“Who do you think would risk getting thrown in prison for the lightning battle?” Nova Rae whispered, too afraid to speak in a normal voice.
Brighton took her hand. “Pirates."
I gulped. “The same ones that took mum?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
Their father looked down. Nova Rae knew talking about their mother hurt him too much.
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"Our home," she whispered.
Brighton's arm slid around her.
"I'll check the other Hemisphere," her father said.
Nova Rae did not respond.
Her father brought a dark cloud with him on the way back that choked any hope that was left. "Gone." He ran and embraced them.
Nova Rae closed her eyes to take in the warmness of her family. A footstep sounded behind her. She opened her eyes. Her muscles tensed.
"What was that?" she whispered.
"What?" Brighton asked.
Nova Rae left her brother and father. She turned around.
"Mom," she said. Her mother wore a blood read hat on her head and sailor's clothing.
"I hope my little lightning battle didn't hurt any of you," her mother smiled a little.
Nova Rae backed into Brighton. He looked just as surprised as she felt.
"Your lightning battle?" Brighton's eyebrows raised.
"Yes."
"You're a Space Pirate?" Her stomach turned over. "You can't be."
"I am."
Nova Rae clenched her teeth. It couldn't be true. Her mother had always hated pirates.
“The three of you are coming with me.”
She betrayed us.
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Captured by her own mother. Tears slide down Nova Rae's face. Maybe she shouldn't even call her 'mother' anymore. She tried to readjust her position, but the ropes binding her to the mast did not let her.
"Am I dreaming?" she asked.
Brighton said, "I think this is real life, Novie."
She groaned. "Everyone okay?"
No response from her father. "Daddy?" she prompted.
Silence.
The pirate-mother waltzed down the stairs to the mast. Something about that gleeful smile her mother wore made Nova Rae's stomach twist.
"I have talked to my crew and they have decided to let you go free if you join them," her mother said. Just like Peter Pan.
"Antoinette," Nova Rae heard her father whisper. Her mother took out a knife and cut the rope.
She knew in that moment, she was not going to be a part of Captain Antionette's crew.
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Nova Rae gazed out of the circular porthole into an endless sea of black with specks of light that glittered. Sometimes they would pass a cloud of Space Fog. Even less often would it be tinted with blues or purples.
She had never seen any of this from the Isle that was her family's home.
Her hammock swayed. There was no way to escape a sailing ship.
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How do you like the Isle-World Chronicles so far?
I am going to be out of town for the next couple of weeks, so the next episode will be after I get back.
Tally ho! Cheery bye! Until we next meet!
-Alea Harper
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