Drip... drop... PLOP!
At the exact center of Sector 6, orbiting the grim Central Judicial Frost-Star, stood the ten-thousand-mile black-iron fortress known as the Central Judicial Star-Citadel.
For one thousand years, the eaves of the Central Citadel’s inner sanctum had been hung with thirty-foot-long Rank 8 Unfeeling Law Icicles. Condensed from the frozen tears and severed family bonds of a hundred billion prisoners.
Yet at this exact moment, a warm, 75-degree golden breeze. Carrying the unmistakable, mouthwatering aroma of baked honey sweet potatoes, ginger-scallion chicken rice, and blooming apple blossoms from Heater-Sun #50—blew right over the battlements of the Central Citadel!
Drip, drip, SPLASH!
One of the sacred thousand-year Unfeeling Law Icicles hanging directly above the main meditation vault melted in the warm spring breeze. A single drop of lukewarm, sweet-potato-scented water dripped through the roof vent—landing with a loud PLOP! right between the eyebrows of the man meditating on the obsidian lotus throne inside!
SNAP!!
Inside the pitch-black meditation vault, a pair of cold, ash-gray eyes devoid of all human warmth snapped wide open!
