Part 1 Tales of the Universal Knights

Part One, Two, Three, Four, Five

 Kirsten is now a 22-year-old college student. (The same character form the Shyelle Series) These stories take place after the Shyelle books in the timeline.

Audio File: Part One

Part One: Tales of the Universal Knights

When most people think of space travel, they typically don’t associate it with dragons. Well, what if I told you that dragons figured out how to become just as advanced as humans are in 2085? Would you dare to believe me that I voyaged with them?

Well, welcome to the journeys of the Universal Knights. We are a band of knights sworn to chivalry to protect the universe from injustices. We protect the week, fighting off those who threaten the freedom of others. I’m Kirsten, a leader among the Universal Knights. Not by choice, no, but by duty. It’s my job to find others worthy of the responsibilities I hold and that I must keep away from public knowledge.

I was soaked from heavy rain, even with my armor covering most of my cotton-based black clothing. Even though my armor was light and quite comfortable, it was definitely not waterproof. I was a bit worried about rust, but the metals were made to withstand the weather. Nonetheless, I was cold and soggy on an unfamiliar world past sunset.

My tiny emergency flashlight did little to help me see my navigation system on the small screen of my watch. I wore it on my right side, screen on the inside of the wrist. It went over my gomulets. Intergalactic transmissions were not entirely reliable, not yet. Patrick was working on placing satellites to run the routing through, but progress was slow.

Frustrated, cold, and a bit on edge, I decided that navigation would have to be done in a more primitive manner. I gazed up at the night sky, hoping to find a star or something to point me in the right direction to the portal. I worried that it had been left on, that the natives on this world would wander through the active gate. I wasn’t sure what kind of life forms existed here, but one thing was for sure, I didn’t want any more hostile life rampaging earth. Not after I had witnessed the dragon king of fire Ezekien kill many of my own kind and left them without warning of his declared war.

The sky didn’t provide me with much help. I didn’t know the star charts for this world, none of the Universal Knights would know more than I did from the surface of the planate. Still, I wondered about this strange place, but fear of being discovered confined me to the shadows. I definitely wasn’t up for being interrogated by a species I’d never before encountered.  I wasn’t even sure if I had been given the right coordinates by Patrick for the world I was to be guarding today. Well, of course, today was relative, given it was getting later in the evening hours of darkness here.

It was only twenty or thirty minutes into my assignment, and I already had my regrets about accepting it. It was miserable conditions like this that caused me to question Patrick’s judgment in making assignments. Our purpose was to protect other worlds, not sit around and wait to be attacked. I felt a tinge of nervous energy travel up my spine and into my shoulders with this thought. I didn’t want to be a target and die off-world. Besides, I was expected to be in an exam tomorrow.

Exam! … great. I forgot again. This whole deal with keeping up a double life was doing a number on my studies. The universe never seemed to need saving when it was convenient. Yeah, don’t even get me started about the drageels, they are never considerate of my study schedule. Drageels, the nasty cross bread eel dragons where mightily ruthless too, with a craving for destruction.

Sometimes getting off-world was a relief for me I’ll admit. It was after all nice to get away from my routine for a while, but lately, even my off-world travels have been a bit dull. I’d rather make contact with a friendly species for once who appreciated the presence of the Knights rather than a hostile one who told Patrick and Uziel to stay away from them and their galactic affairs.

My mind worried about something that wasn’t of any relevance to this planate, yet to my future, grades determined everything. They determined where I could live, what I could eat, how I got around. Grades where a direct link to lifestyle on earth. I don’t suppose any life form here in the darkness who was entrusted into my care would understand that though.