Prayer for Earthrise

From beyond the galaxy. From beyond human understanding. They came with one mission. To kill us all. Some call them aliens. Others call them gods. Their tentacles grip worlds. Their malice destroys civilizations. They've crushed a million planets. Now they crave Earth. Marco and Addy, veterans of the Alien Wars, are retired. They fought for many years. They saved Earth many times. Now they're raising their children in a peaceful forest. They've earned this peace. But Earth needs them. More than ever. Because a war is coming. A war unlike any before. A war that can devour our very galaxy.

They say hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times. Marco Emery was born into hard times. He was raised in war. He grew up in bomb shelters and on battlefields, fighting to survive. He became a soldier. A war hero. Then, after vanquishing his last enemy, he retired to raise a family. And Earth moved on.

United we stand. Divided we fall. We stood together once. United. Proud. Humanity was one. Together we colonized the stars. Together we built an empire. That was a long time ago. Today humanity is fractured. Earth and Mars clash in war. Brother fights brother. Our fleets once faced the stars. Today they face each other in battle. Our empire frays. Hearts that once blazed with courage now burn with hatred. Meanwhile the true enemy draws ever nearer.

The hydrians, squids from another galaxy, topple our forests, fill our oceans, storm our cities. Years of civil war have weakened Earth. As the aliens attack, we fall fast. But some still stand. A group of heroes rises. The legendary Einav Ben-Ari, the Golden Lioness, leads the resistance. We are a young species. New to space travel. We dipped our toes into the cosmic ocean, and in its waters, we found venomous squids. Now we stand upon the shores of eternity.

Welcome to the alien zoo. In here, you’ll meet a variety of life from across the universe. Floating balloons of flesh from a gas giant’s storm. Sentient moss that controls golems of stone. Towering arachnids whose webs can entangle starships. And in one enclosure… humans. Us. This zoo, you see, is run by powerful aliens. To the zookeepers, we are mere animals. Marco, Addy, and Einav are soldiers. Together, they fought many wars. And won them all. But now they’re trapped in a cage. Disarmed. Demeaned. Animals on display.