Ghost Flower Prologue

A sonic boom pierced the silence of a clear, otherwise quiet, peaceful spring day. Grazing animals lifted their heads in surprise, birds took panicked flight, and then an eerie silence settled over the rolling plain. If there had been anyone present in the surrounding area to be curious about this sound—like the crack of thunder but not quite the same—they would have witnessed an incredible sight. But no living person was around to see what happened. Not to say there weren’t people in the distance who heard the sound and wondered what the boom could be in the absence of a thunderstorm. Momentarily distracted, they shrugged it off and went back to the tasks at hand.

If someone had been present to see the source of the thunderous sound, they would have witnessed the sudden appearance of twelve strange-looking apparitions, stepping out of a clear bubble that burst out of nowhere, on a peaceful plain. The place would later be referred to by many names, one of which would be the Salisbury Plain of England. In one moment, it was an empty land, covered with grass, some of it tall but most of it short from the grazing of both domesticated and wild animals. The plain was also home to heather and small shrubs, occupied by colorful birds, a few rabbits, and the occasional fox. In the next moment, appearing from the source of the boom, stood twelve human-appearing forms, their general appearance similar but not quite like the local inhabitants of the area. But they weren’t human in the Earth sense of human.

One of this strange party, unsteady from the sudden change in atmosphere and gravity from that in their arrival craft, slowly regained his balance and focused on his surroundings, looking with concern for the other eleven of his companions. As the commander of this mission, he quickly looked for each in turn, accounted for them all, and saw that other than minor discomfort, they appeared to be normal and functional. He looked over at a female member of the group, his second in command, and in a voice that revealed his sense of relief, exclaimed, “Lieka, we made it!”

“Yes, Aiela, it worked!” she replied.