Prophecy of a Planet: Ambushed: Clan Veloian

By Anthony B. Smellie

Veloian is the smallest clan in the Icka Domain on a distant planet. The clan comprises two classes: Hunters (warriors) and Users, who have such capabilities as telekinesis and mind linking. Young Belara is a Hunter while her twin brother, Pentor, is a User-both are still in training. They're the children of the Veloian. Na'Katon (leader), Te'Ha

• Language: English
• Publisher: Authors' Tranquility Press
• Release date: Dec 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9781960675590

Anthony B. Smellie

Greetings, my career in the United States Military took me to many places in the world and interesting people, add in an active imagination, you get unique and interesting stories.

Book preview

Prologue

The Q-Farhti’ Forest is vast, and many creatures call it home. One of these creatures is the Mori’. The Mori’ grows to the height of nine to ten cycles of the Yohba tree. It has a large round body and a long neck. Its skin is smooth with a short, bristly pelt color of a golden hue.

With six legs to support that bulk, the two front legs are not as thick as the other four, but they are strong, the only ones that have hooves with toes.

Standing on their hind legs gives them the ability to reach high up into the trees, by using their toe-like hooves they pull down branches that are beyond their reach.

This allows them to eat the leaves or the high savanna. When on occasion, they leave the safety of the Q-Farhti’ to journey.

Like the Zarus, the middle legs are for balance, the hind legs are for stability. The Mori’ live in herds throughout the Q-Farhti’, some also live on the Jatego. One herd of Mori’ can grow to be over three thousand strong.

When the herds get that large, half of them journey to the other side of the forest. This secures the survival of the herd. One adult Mori’ can feed a family of five Adeians for a few Turns of the Firelight.

The Mori’ are gentle creatures by nature but they will slay a Rookile to protect its young ones.

The dreaded Rookile is another creature of this world. They are vicious predators. They live in the lower wetlands located at the base of the Q-Farhti’ Forest, toward the Uroth. The Rookiles walk on all six legs.

They can grow to the length of eight to nine cycles of the Yohba tree. Their powerful tail can break the legs of any being those ventures too close. They do not hunt away from their lairs. They mainly stay in their areas waiting for the heard of Mori’ to journey nearby.

Twice a cycle the Mori’ journey in their area to feed. This is only after the food on the Mori’s side of the forest is depleted.

The Rookile are such vicious predators that when food is lacking, they will cannibalize their young.

Another duration when the Rookiles are most dangerous is in their mating cycle. Once every two cycles the Rookiles leave the wetlands. The females are the first to leave, on their journey they eat everything in their path. The males leave one duration after.

They do not eat because they are driven to mate. However, if something crosses their path, they will eat. Once they mate, the females slay the males and head back to their area to have their young.

*****

OUR CLAN

Tree dwellers, branch walkers, and tree shapers are some of the names the other clans used to describe our clan. Some Arkarians and Dekams use the term Long Ears. We are Clan Veloian. The Q-Farhti’ Forest is also our home.

We rise to the height of six to eight cycles of the Yohba tree. Our males and females have the ‘Built of a Hunter,’ meaning, our body frames are strong ranging from small to large, slim to muscular, but our females are very alluring.

Our hair reflects the colors of the forest, and the textures are like a cool breeze blowing across still waters, [meaning wavy]. Our eyes are always the same color as our hair.

They are solid in color [meaning the pupils, cornea, and iris are the same color], however, each part of the eye carries a different shade of color. We also have the ability of sight during the Turns of the Twins, [meaning the ability to see in the dark].

Our clan is made up of two classes: Hunters and Users. Each class teaches their young ones. Hunters are trained by the duration they can hold a weapon, while Users are trained by the duration, they can speak.

In the ‘Hunters Class’, young hunters learn their craft by the duration they can walk, they also learn the ways of the forest.

Weapons of the Hunters are the ‘Rapier, Dagger, Javelin, and the Bow. All Hunters can use every weapon; however, they specialize in only one, this is called, their weapon of choice.

The weapon a young Veloian Hunter chooses comes either from the womb or by the duration they can walk. This is one of the ways Veloian young ones were different from other young ones in this world.

Many of us were able to feel our weapon or weapons we would master on our duration of being [birth]. However, on our fifteen turn of being, our weapon of choice must be made.

Our relationship to the Power of Dunamis is called the strength from within, or Dunamis Power, which every being living in this world can harness. However, only a few of us use it, for this reason, we are called Users.

This is a physical or mental motion that produces energetic forces of different types. These energetic forces give our Users the ability to create many forms. Some of these forms are fire, lightning, telekinesis, mind link, shifting, tree shaping, and more.

It takes many cycles for Veloians Users to control their powers. Once a User can control the Dunamis, they can create many forms of energy such as the ability to fly. Some can even control the environment. This does not mean Veloian Users cannot battle.

Our use of Dunamis Power in battle can be lethal. Our Users are also trained in the use of physical weapons such as rapiers, daggers, javelins, and bows. However, our weapon of choice is the Power of Dunamis.

The other way of Clan Veloian is that of ‘The Hunt’, or the ‘Kinsmen Hunt’, this means that our primary concern is providing food for the clan. Because we are one with the Q-Farhti’ Forest, the Hunt comes easy for us and brings the clan closer together.

All Veloians bond for life. We can also sense each other’s Life Force from birth to the duration of our slaying. However, the loss of Life Force affects our flames and the young ones hardest.

We Veloians live in peace among the forest creatures only slaying what we need for food and clothing.

Because Clan Veloian is tall and slender, we live in the husks of the trees. These are our living spaces created within the huge girth of the tree trunks. Only Veloian Users can build these husks, which are all built the same way, starting at the base of the tree.

When creating the husk, no trees are harmed. All the Users come together to combine their powers to create the husk. It starts with a doorway only a Veloian can see. The inner parts of the trees are compressed and forced upwards by means of their Dunamis Power.

There is a place in each husk where the family gathers, a walking area, and a sleeping area. As the family grows, they move higher in the tree. Stairs are created to reach each level, which is mostly used for sleeping.

When the clan moves to another area in the forest, the trees are returned to their original state. If a User’s life force has passed or they are slain, their connections to these trees are transferred and divided among the rest.

We are one of the smallest clans in this world numbering a little over one hundred thousand. But this has not always been so. One Adeian plotted to divide the clans with an utterance.

"I grant thee all the powers of the User along with the

strength and ability of the Warrior to rule this entire

Domain. However, your life force will not rest until the

taking of this world. Then all will be mine."

Those words meant nothing to us at first. But they were the clues of unfolding all the events which have taken place over the last three thousand cycles.

These words are clues and the reasons for a series of battles fought and are about to take place. This is the reason for the slaying of many; an utterance that sets class against class. He must be stopped.

However, to stop the Adeian, we the clans must work together. The strong utterance engulfs our world, and to stop it, we need a strong one of our own. We were the first to battle the Adeians when our elders found the utterance.

When the battles with the Adeians started, our clan stood one million strong. Since then, many were slain to stop this utterance. They gave their life force to achieve this.

A huge creature flies high above the trees of the Q-Farhti’ Forest. The word Q-Farhti’ comes from the Veloian meaning, ‘Place of Origin’.

The treetops of the canopy are so thick, that a being can almost walk from one tree to the next without falling. The firelight shines very brightly over the canopy, sending streaks of light here and there through the trees.

When the wind blows, the boughs dance, allowing streaks of light to filter through, this gives the appearance of blinking. The Mighty Q-Farhti’ Forest spreads thirty Turns of the Firelight in all directions from its center.

Our forest stretches the entire length of the Jatego from the ‘Arkarian Lowlands’ to deep inside the ‘Land of No Life’. This huge forest ends where the ‘Land of No Life’ starts. It is the home of my clan, the Veloians, the only clan that lives amongst the trees.

Our garments are made from the hides of various creatures. The garments are treated specially by our Users, for them to be flexible. First, we skin the creature. Then the skin is boiled. When it is cool, we beat the skin, then we boil it again. This process takes several durations before we put it out to dry in the firelight. With this done, it is ready to be made into clothes to wear. We Veloians call this the ‘Hunters Suit’.

The utterance of our Users gives protection to the suit and the wearer, whether we are traveling through the trees or on the ground. The ‘Hunters Suit’ allows us to travel through the forest without harming ourselves if we should fall as we speed through the trees.