Venus's POV

600 hundred years ago

2030

  I WALK into the noisy hall, making sure to keep my head up high and my posture, straight. I wouldn't want any of the subjects to think any less of the King's daughter no matter how trivial it all seems to me.

  It's quite disputing but my kind consists of a bunch of prideful, overbearing and scornful creatures who would not hesitate to obliterate any living being who is thought of to be of a lower standing than them and that's putting it nicely.

  It's no surprise that we are deeply feared by all the other inhabitants of our universe. But you know what they say, fear begets respect...

  But I can't blame them though.

  My people have given them every reason to be terrified. We are a ruthless bunch. Once we pounce, we never leave any crumbs. No one is worthy of our mercy, not that we even have any to spare.

  That's just how it is. We are the unchallenged clan of the Urinth universe. We claim the top of the food chain forever. None will ever be as great as we are. Ever...

  Maybe except them.

  Those disgusting, vile-

  "Daughter."

  I hear him from a distance away. The treble in his voice is unmistakable because it belongs to only one person in this land and that person is him.

  My father. The king.

  I hasten my steps, trying to ignore the feeling of the intense stares that are drilling into me from all directions.

  My feet stop when I reach the starting of the steps leading to the high platform on which my father's throne is placed and I instinctively lower myself to a kneeling position, making sure not to touch the steps.

  No one is allowed to do that.

  I'm reluctant to look into his eyes so I just keep my head bowed. There's just something about them that's so unnerving. I'm not just talking about the cold and calculating outlook that's always in them every passing second. No.

  His eyes. They radiate something that always chills me to the bones.

  Like something... Of promised malevolence.

  I take a deep breath to calm my nerves. I can't have him sense any trace of fear in me, I'd be asking for my own deathwish if he did and from the way he's silently observing me, I know that he's searching for a slip up in my countenance.

  Too bad he won't be getting that.

  "Father..."

  My tone comes out flat and I'm relieved.

  That's another thing here... We don't do emotions. That's why we are so merciless. It's not like we were born like this, we grew up with the issued command to repeatedly neglect our sense of feelings until they're nothing but just a constant reminder of the twisted set of creatures that we've turned out to be.

  The whole room is silent for a while after my greeting, until...

  "Rise."

  He instructs with the same monotonous tone and I don't waste any time before doing as he says.

  I quickly rise from the ground with my head still lowered even when I get in a standing position. I clench my hands together, keeping them in front of my stiff posture.

  "Leave."

  His dull voice echoes around the room and I don't need to be a genius to know that he isn't talking to me because just as fast as those two words proceed from his lips, the throne room is instantly deserted leaving only two of us.

  My father and I.

  A few creaking sounds come from the top of the steps, signalling me that he's probably trying to get up from his throne.

  Why?

  I can't help my curiosity so I take a quick sneak and immediately look down in expertly masked trepidation when I see my father descending from the steps.

  "Come with me, Venus."

  I'm not given any time to react to him calling me by my birth given name because he's already taking long strides out of the throne room and down the adjacent hall leaving me to 'gracefully' scurry after him.

  What is happening? First, he's actually interacting with me. Next, he calls me by my real name not daughter or girl and now it looks like he's taking me to the North wing of the palace, a place where I've been told all my life never to step foot into.

  I'm all degrees of confused right now.

  "Father?... Where are we going?"

  I hesitantly ask him, inwardly hoping he wouldn't get annoyed with me because I'm speaking to him when he hasn't given me any permission to.

  But I'm gobsmacked when he not only answers me, but a ghost of a smile is on his lips too.

  "Just be patient, Venus. We're almost there."

  And just like that, I keep my mouth shut and shove the rest of my curiosity down a ditch.

  I'll be getting answers soon... Hopefully.

  It's not long before we step in front of two large mahogany doors which look unreasonably hefty than tall.

  From all my knowledge gained from the various side gossips around the palace, I've managed to come up with a guess on what lies behind the doors.

  Now the question is, what am I doing here?

  "Why am I here, father?"

  I turn to him to see him already staring at me with a foreign look in his glowing eyes.

  His eyes... They are less diabolical-looking now such that I can actually look at him directly. But the foreign look that I spoke of has nothing to do with that.

  And since I'm a complete stranger to emotions, I'm not able to discern anything and it's like my father remembers that fact because the look is gone as quickly as it appeared with his eyes reverting back their original terrifying nature.

  He clears his throat and turns towards the door.

  "The time has come."

  He simply states, raising his knuckles and tapping them on the door.

  We wait for a while until the doors slowly open up giving us a wide view of the activities being carried out inside the room.

  I'm unable to stop myself from inhaling in shock. The sound of my gasp halts all the workers in their tracks.

Everywhere becomes as silent as a grave yard.

  All eyes are on my father and I. They are staring at us with equal shock in reptile like eyes.

  These subjects, they're not ordinary workers. They look like... scientists?

  I'm still frozen to a spot when I feel a grip on my arm. I don't fight it as I'm pulled into the room and the doors instantly swing shut with a loud slam adding to the fright that's currently building up inside me.

  "Your majesties."

  One of the numerous lab coated workers greets, walking up to us with his head bowed and long unruly hair falling into his eyes.

  My eyes begin to study him, involuntarily.

  He looks no different from the other subjects of our kingdom at first glance. But with a height that I've estimated to be about more than 10 feet tall, he's a way above the average male height here which is about 8 feet 5 inches. That's strange unless he's a member of the royal family.

  My eyes take in the rest of him. From the little that I can see, because the lab coat has covered up all the important bits, the scales on his neck are of a distinct pattern from the majority.

  Wait a minute... Is he part of the royal family?

  My suspicions are confirmed when I take in the color of his slatted irises. An intense mixture of deep red and bright green which swirl together like a globe of heated gases threatening to escape.

  His eyes are just like mine...

  And he has a tail too. Only members of the royal family are born with tails!

  Is he... my-

  "We've been waiting, father... Sister."

  He tells us in a deep baritone before walking into a separate hall, gesturing for us to follow him.

  I mask my shock once again for the second time today and scurry after the larger males walking side by side in long strides.

  It looks like their having a discussion which they probably don't want me to hear about since they're talking in low voices. They don't need to be that obvious, I mean, I don't care. I've been neglected enough my whole life to know that no one cares about me. They don't need to rub it in.

  Today marks the first time my father has ever spoken to me using more than two syllables and I'm just finding out that I actually have a brother after many centuries of loneliness.

  But I've grown way passed the stage of being controlled by emotions so I just square up my shoulders and roam my eyes around the hall, forcing myself to ignore the two males in front of me.

  The deserted hallway is illuminated by halogen gas lamps hanging from the ceiling and they've brightened the place enough to bring my attention to the different machines and tech equipments positioned in random spots in the hall.

  From machines with pipes fused into their box like compartments to what looks like the upgraded forms of an x-ray machine to a large swimming pool?

  No that can't be right... What's a swimming pool doing in here?

  My feet take me closer to the 'swimming pool' to have a better look. When I reach the edge of the pool I take a peak inside and my hand instinctively goes up to mute my scream.

  At the bottom of the pool- which I've now found out that isn't- there are some figures which I've made out to be the mutilated corpses of some unfortunate subjects. They're not moving or breathing so I've come up with the conclusion that they're dead.

  How did this happen? Who did this? What exactly are unspoken horrors that go on in this room?

  What's even more disturbing about this whole thing is that the corpses look different... It's like their bodies were being altered or manipulated before they died... Almost like they were being mutated?

  Their heads look severed and dented. It's almost like they were trying to take the shape of something else and their noses... Instead of the usual pert nose, it's like they've been replaced by a protrusion that resembles that of a reptile like snout with razor sharp dentures in full view. Even their claws are longer than normal!

  What is this?!

  "Venus. Come along now."

  I hear my father command in his usual dull tone and I slowly turn around to see him standing a few feet away from me, with my brother behind him.

"What's all this, father?"

  I can't stop the bitter scorn from seeping into my tone when I ask him this.

  It seems my short burst of aggression only succeeds in amusing him because the corners of his lips are tipped up in a sadistic smirk.

  "We're getting to that, aren't we? Let's just focus on getting to our destination for now. I assure you all your questions will be met with reasonable answers once we're there. Now shall we?"

  He arrogantly dictates before spinning on his heels and walking off, not bothering to wait for my response.

  I'm still glued to the spot when I start to feel the unwanted stare of someone I really don't want to have anything to do with at the moment.

  I angrily breathe out through my nostrils before meeting his calculating eyes with my furious ones.

  "What?!"

  I bark at him in annoyance when he continues to do nothing but observe me silently. It's very unnerving.

  "You look ugly when you're mad."

  He randomly says after a few seconds of silence.

  Huh?

  Is he deranged or something?

  "Yeah and I don't remember asking for your opinion now, brother dearest."

  I spit and shove passed him to trail after his majesty, our father.

  "It's Jupiter..."

  He blandly says as he easily walks in step with me.

  What's Jupiter and why is he telling me?

  "What?"

  I ask him with my brows furrowed in confusion.

  "My birth name. It's Jupiter."

  Oh...

  "So? I don't understand why you're telling me though. After all, you didn't deem me fit to know about your existence until now. So why tell me your name now?"

  He actually has the nerve to look disappointed when I finish my statement but like I said before, I don't care.

  "Some things are meant to stay hidden, Venus. But I can promise you that you'll be getting all the answers you need more sooner than later."

  I scan his face for any trace of insincerity but I don't see any.

  "Whatever... Jupiter."

  I look away just in time to avoid seeing the smile on his face.

  We continue the rest of the walk in silence.

  It turns out our destination was another separate hall which was used for some sort of conference meeting.

  The topic of discussion?

  Annihilating the homo sapien race.

  The whole room was buzzing with debates and arguments about the strategy that was going to be used.

  So this is what they were hiding from me?

  They didn't need to.

  I share a common hatred for human kind with the rest of my kin.

  Do you want to know the vile, disgusting creatures that I was talking about earlier?

  Humans.

  Those naive but still intelligent creatures.

  I never knew that the word naive and intelligent could be used in the same sentence but those pests actually make it work.

  They are so absorbed in the bubble of their slowly rotting world that they always dismiss the possibility of creatures like us existing.

  They don't know a single thing about us but we know everything about them.

  I don't blame them. After all, we are in an alternate universe from theirs.

  But there's a reason why we've always been at the top of the food chain.

  We have information about every single race in existence no matter what world or universe. No one can hide from us. Ever.

  These pesky little creatures have always been making the same mistake by writing us off. They never pay attention to us. Instead they focus on destroying their own brothers like the self destructive roaches that they are.

  We'll be doing them a favor by getting rid of them once and for all and that's exactly what we're going to do.

  I later found out that those dead subjects aren't actually dead but are comatose until the day we were going to invade earth and they aren't the only ones. The numbers of the blood thirsty troops of sleeping mutants are in tens of millions at present but the mutation process is still being carried out Our generations are going to be proud because of what is going to happen. It will be our greatest achievement yet.

  And those slimy homo sapiens won't see us coming.