The Unicorns, The Tale of Kim Sarten

(Part One, Part Two)


~The planet of Astrox was in a state of war. Before the war, the monarchy that ruled over Astrox had been fair, peaceful and kind to all of the planets inhabitants. The monarchy wasn't of pure blood though. The previous Kings and Queens had had many partners (of many different species) in their lifetimes and almost anyone, no matter what you were, could claim to be the true heir to the throne of the planet. It was for this reason that only direct descendants could become Kings and Queens. One day, a new king took the throne, but he was cold and soulless. When this king was out for a walk one day, a human crossed his path. He scrunched up his nose at the foul smell of their blood. A nearby griffon nothiced this and stared at this so-called "King" and tried to place his species. His skin was black, his eyes and hair were shining white, he had black horns, a tail forked tail with barbs on the ends, two arms and four legs that were more like sharp spikes with a knee in it. He couldn't quite place the species. Then he realised that this new king was part of a rare and deadly species. He was a Beowulf. This Beowulf "king" declared war on the humans, vampyres, werewolves and all other creatures that either looked like humans, or started out as humans. The creatures under his control were forced to follow his orders because, as hated as they were, Beowulves were incredibly strong and persuasive. And thus, the war began. There was a small band of renegades that fought as much as they could, but they were weak. A dragon knight under control of the evil king fled from him and joined the resistance, causing many of his brethren to follow. The war enveloped the whole planet. Except for Solus City, the walled city where all humans and other creatures were welcome, all except those who worked for the Beowulf. Solus City was the heart of the resistance.

~ Kim Sarten was born in room 1689B of the St. Umbrus Hospital in Solus City, Astrox in the year 2734. She was human, just like her parents. However, her birth could not have been at a time that was worse then this. The cities walls were falling and soldiers were charging into the city. When Kim first opened her bright yellow eyes, she was clean and in her mother's arms. They were running through the brightly lit corridors of the hospital. Her mother hushed quietly at her, smiling and singing but with tears in her eyes. Kim could tell that she was scared and so she was as well, but she didn't cry. Her father was running ahead of them with a gun, shooting at anyone who crossed their path. They reached a door and charged through it. Their was a circle pad on the floor and her mother stood on it while her father played with some brightly coloured buttons and switches to the side. She looked back up at her mother and saw that she was screaming at her dad, no longer hiding the fear and panic. Her dad was screaming back, also crying. Kim sniffed and tears trickled down her face. She was only an hour old and she had already learnt fear. She looked at her father as he pushed one more button and stopped. Green light exploded around them and she saw her mum reach out to her dad, but it was too late. The light surrounded them; lines of different shades of green. Then the light was gone.

~When she grew older, Kim would always have the same nightmare. Running through that hall. Standing there in her mother's arms. The man she guessed was her father. The green light, and then woke up. She knew that wasn't the end though. Her earliest memory after the nightmare was one of her playing with blocks while the adults around her talked about a "journey" that they were on. There was another person that was her age on what she called, "The Space Bird". His name was Alex, and he was her best friend.

~On her 10th birthday, they finished their journey. They had landed on a planet that the grown-ups called "Earth". Kim and Alex had been educated on the long flight, but they had no idea about this planet and how it worked. They had learnt English and how to read and write it. They had learnt all the basics of Earth, but they were still behind the usual 10 year olds on the planets. Kim walked up to a pond that they had landed by. The water was clear and she could see her reflection. She looked long and hard at her eyes and her mum asked what she was doing. "My eyes have changed mum. They used to be yellow, now they're blue."

"That's right honey. That's because of the atmosphere."

"What's the atmosphere?"

"I'll tell you later," she said. They unpacked their stuff and placed it outside under the surrounding trees. One of the adults screamed when she went to unpack more luggage. She ran back out, went straight to one of the stronger men and whispered in his ear. He took the other men and went inside. The word spread and eventually everyone knew about the black unicorn foal that was on board. The adults gathered all of the children together and counted them to make sure that no one was missing. They panicked when they finished counting and counted again. 2.. 4.. 6.. 8..10.. 10 children. There were meant to be 12.. It was the oldest children, Kim and Alex, that were missing. Everyone was rushing around, trying to find them, but they could't be found anywhere. The men searched their ship but didn't find the foal, or the children. All they found was broken egg shells from a unicorn egg, scratches on the walls, and blood.

~ The two children had found the unicorn before the others had and tried to play with it, but the unicorn was hungry, and attacked them. The unicorn ran towards Alex and impaled his hand with it's spike and shook furiously to get it off again. Alex screamed out in pain as tears rolled down his cheeks. Kim stood back, shocked to see a horn sticking through her best friends hand. There was blood everywhere now. It was dripping on the unicorn's face, all over Alex's hand and down his arm, and also on the floor and walls. Kim was crying now, the poor little girl was only 10 and had no idea what to do. She saw the broken shells on the ground. They were pink, blue and purple, and also looked very sharp. She listened to her instincts and picked one of the pieces up. She slashed at the unicorn with the sharp piece of shell and sliced it's eye open. The unicorn screamed in pain and jumped out of one of the windows at the back of the ship with Alex still attached to it. Kim jumped out of the window after them, cutting her leg on a piece of broken glass, and chased them into the forest. When she caught up to them she saw that the unicorn had begun eating her friend. He was still kicking and screaming while his stomach had been ripped open and the unicorn began feasting on his soft, moist entrails. Eventually though, he stopped moving and the unicorn could eat in peace. Kim watched in horror as the unicorn slurped up Alex's intestines and munched on his liver. She tried to scream but the horror of what she saw was just too much. A man yelled out behind her and the unicorn turned. It saw Kim and charged at her. She saw it coming but she couldn't move; she was paralysed by fear. Just as the unicorn was about to get her, one of the grown-ups threw a rock at it, making it jump out of the way and miss her. The unicorn saw the men approaching and hissed at Kim. It turned and ran away, never to be seen again.

~The rest of Kim's life was reasonably normal. She grew up, got an education, had a good job with lots of money and met a nice man named James who quickly became her best friend. Her life was perfect. She had just moved into a new, three story house in a nice part of town when she got the news that one of her oldest friends had been killed by, what looked like a horse. Kim went over see the damage that had been done to her friend's house when the "horse" attacked. There was a silver liquid on the floor which looked like mercury and there were holes in the walls that looked like that had been made by a large drill. She placed her foot in a small puddle of the silvery liquid and it acted just like mercury. She knew then that it had been a unicorn, not a horse that had killed her friend. She told her mum about it but she just waved it aside. "There are no unicorns on earth dear, and even if there were, it wouldn't have been the same unicorn."

"But mum..."

"It was over 10 years ago. Just let it go." And that's exactly what she did. She let it go, and soon she forgot about the unicorns again. Her life went back to being normal. James moved in with her. The two became lovers and then got married. They were together for almost 2 years when Kim got the news that her mother had also been killed by a "horse". This time she went straight over to her mum's house as soon as she heard the news. The police were still at the scene and were just about to leave when she arrived. She forced her way in through the back door and snuck through the house. She reached the living room and saw the big pool of blood. She listened and she heard some of the officers talking. "Whatever it was, it ate most of her. Lucky the mail man saw the blood splatter on the window, or else her body could of gone unnoticed for years."

"Yea. Hey, what do you think it was? I mean, there are the woods over there, and there were the horse prints on the carpet and everything, but what about that mercury? What was all that about?"

"I have no idea, but I'd say that, whatever it was, ran back into those woods." Kim went back outside and looked over at the woods. She walked towards them and noticed a trail of silver mercury along the group. She followed the trail and found a big, black unicorn standing in a clearing. It had a small cut on it's side which the blood was dripping out of, and it had a scar across it's eye. It was the same unicorn that she had seen when she was 10. Memories ran through her mind that night when they had first landed on Earth, memories of the long trip there and of the days when all she knew was the small space ship that had taken them through space. She remembered that old nightmare she always had. Running through the halls, standing on the pad, the father she never knew, and the green light. That light. The unicorn turned it's head and she dived behind a bush. Peering out, she saw more unicorn, at least a dozen. There were also horses mixed in with them, treating them like the unicorns were horses too, even though they knew that they were different. A thought came to her mind but she promptly threw it away. She slowly backed away and ran out of the woods. She drove back home to her husband, the idea still there in the back of her mind radiating a faint, green glow on her thoughts.

~ When she got home it was late and she went straight to bed. She climbed into the bed and cuddled up to her husband. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep, but the thought kept coming back to her and it repulsed her. It was ridiculous and yet... She was pregnant, maybe that's why she was having such strange thoughts. Later, when her child was born, she would forget all about the thought that repulsed her so much. The unicorns and the horses were living side-by-side. They looked the same if you didn't notice the horns and, if your sight wasn't so good, you might not even be able to tell them apart, but the unicorns were still there. They weren't horses, and the horses knew that, but they still kept them around. Maybe they felt sorry for the unicorns, but either way, it was still clear that they weren't from the same world. Kim couldn't help but think these thoughts as she went to sleep. And as she finally fell into a deep sleep, a final thought crossed her mind. What about us? Are we really that much different from the unicorns?