Tomorrowland

He was eight when he saw his people getting killed off one by one. 

They came in large ships clad with armor and weapons. There were many of them, the intruders. It could’ve been hundreds or thousands, but Orion was too distracted to count them if it had not been for the slaughtering of the people he once knew. 

His mother had grabbed his hand to pull him to the side away from the raiders’ line of sight. The bottom of her lip trembled in fear, but a smile graced her lips. A watery smile that meant more worse than good. “You take your siblings, and you run as fact as you can, okay?” He shook his head vigorously while being on the verge of crying. His mother took his head into her hands and she looked deeply into his eyes, “Do you understand me?” 

“I’m not gonna leave you!” 

His mother pressed a kiss to his head, “That’s the only way you and your brothers and sisters can survive. Your father and I will hold them off until you’re safe. Go, Orion!”

“Mommy—” 

They heard the screams of one of their own, and the little one quaked in fear. “Go!” The raider had spotted his mother, and quickly as she could, she jumped in front of him to shield the presence of her son. 

Orion ran as fast as he could. His legs were hitting the ground hard, and he hears the distant sound of his mother’s scream. He shut his eyes, refusing the urge to put his hands over his ears to block out the sounds of the explosions, the crying, the screams, everything. 

He felt helpless for he was just an eight year old kid. A prince of a planet that was getting raided by savages. 

He makes a sharp left, seeing his siblings get tugged harshly to one of the ships that landed, and blood rushes to his ears. He could see red. 

Orion ran over using what training he had to try and subdue the man that had his brothers and sisters chained up. “Get away from them!” He yelled, kicking the weapon from the alien’s grip and watches it slide away from the both of them. 

Orion lunged toward the gun but his legs were grabbed by the alien and he was tugged back and held down. 

His siblings cried out for him. They yelled out his name and begged for the man to stop until Orion had grabbed the dagger that fell from the holster around the alien’s leg and stabbed it into his shoulder. 

He howled loudly in agony clutching his shoulder and stumbling back. Orion took the opportunity to snatch up the gun, power it up and blast him before he could get another hand on him. 

His heart thunders in his chest, and a bit of bile rises up his throat when he sees the result of what he did. The man was dead, face burnt and steaming, and Orion could feel his guts twist at the sight of it. 

“Orion!” His younger sister yelled and ran to him. The scared girl balled the fabric of his shirt tightly into her clenched fist and cried into his chest. 

His two other siblings ran over and gave him a tight hug, unleashing their tears and sobs on his clothes. He clung onto them, eyes squeezing shut. 

His planet was being killed off, and he was useless. His father taught him how to fight, but he couldn’t use it to save his people. How useless was he to let them die without fighting for them? 

But that was the thing, his people would die for the prince of the planet. They’d die protecting him, they vowed to lay down their life for him. Just why? Why would they? 

He was just one person, and he may be too young to know the concept of death, but was it really worth it? 

People were dying, and the homes and the beauty of his planet were burned down by fire. He could smell the smoke fill his lungs, and he clings tighter to his siblings. 

His mother is dead. She died protecting him. He doesn’t know where his father is, maybe he’s dead too. Maybe he got captured. His siblings were the only ones he had left in his life. 

He needed to protect them. But there was nowhere else left to go. 

His mind registers the emptiness of his arms and the screams of his siblings. His eyes flew open, seeing them kick and scream when another alien had come over to rip them out of his arms. “No!” He yelled, trying to run over but he was held down by two other muscled beings. “Let go of me!” 

Him and his siblings were now twenty feet apart, and Orion deflated in exhaustion and sadness. 

A shadow casts over him. “Let him go,” the deep voice ordered, and they had obliged and stepped away. 

Orion slowly looked up, seeing a towering figure over him. He couldn’t see his face, but there was this aura around him. Eerie, dark. “W-who are you?” 

“You’ll see.” The man held out his hand. “I’m not gonna hurt you.” 

Orion stared at it for the time being before slipping his hand into his palm. The hands were larger than his, and his hand only extended from the tip of the man’s fingers to the middle crease of his middle finger. He looked to the other hand... it was a golden glove with six unoccupied slots. He wondered what it was for. 

He got up, and the man leads him away from his siblings until Orion’s back was turned to them. 

The eight year old pursed his lips, “Why are you killing them?” 

“Because it has to be done,” the man assured him and cocked his head to the side. 

“Why?” The light reflects the shiny tears in the little boy’s eyes.

“You won’t understand, but one day, you will.” The man pulled something from behind him. His fingers wrapped around the object until his opens his hand up to reveal a custom made sword. “If you come with me, everything will be over.” 

Orion darted his between the sword and his last remaining family then gave the man a frown, “Will my siblings be safe?” 

He smiled, “I promise.” 

Orion looked relieved and smiled reassuringly at his siblings. If he went with him, then everything would be over. They wouldn’t have to live in fear. The man promised. He promised they’d be safe. 

“Okay,” he said. 

With his hand holding onto the man’s, they began walking toward the large ship that touched down. He looked over his shoulder, seeing the littlest of his siblings reach out to him and his heart breaks a little more.

He’s saving them. Right? It was the right thing to do. If he left with the man, they’d be safe. He promised.

As the deck slowly goes up, his siblings cried for him. Orion wanted to tell them it would be okay, but everything in his mind died when he sees the alien tug them away further from the ship. “What is he doing?” Orion panicked, fear sinking into his features. 

“What he was supposed to do.” 

“You said they’d be safe!” Orion screamed at the man. He ran to the closed entryway of the ship and banged his fists on the material. 

The man put a hand on his shoulder, and Orion begins to cry. “It’s okay,” the man soothed. “I’m your family now.”