Chapter 1 (October 13, 2014).

In space, there exists a dimension different from all others. One that no one outside of it has ever even heard about. This dimension is the home place of the heroes of our tale. This is the home place... of the Starlights!

In this dimension, there is a type of advanced species known as the "erinafelis." Or erinafeli for plural. An erinafelis is a hybrid creature of hedgehogs and cats. "Erina" comes from “erinaceinae,” a subfamily that hedgehogs are part of. “Felis” is a genus of cats in the family “felidae,” which is a cat's biological family. They have the spines and ears of a hedgehog and the overall look of a cat. An erinafelis's life span is usually much longer than a hedgehog's and a cat's combined, as they can live for as long as over 100 years.

Our tale begins at a house in this dimension. On the outside, it has blue walls, a white door on the right, a window next to the door, a short stairway, a white roof, a tan awning over the porch, and a smaller window above the awning. This is the house our three heroes, collectively named the Starlights, live in, and it's been their family home ever since they moved in 10 years ago. Their mother, named Flare, is 53 years old and has light blue fur, and their father, named Orion, is 52 years old and has red fur. They are currently at home waiting for their children to arrive from school while they're in the living room, which has a brown sofa, a black TV, a white table, a tan and brown rug, and stairs leading to the hallway.

“I sure hope the Starlights are okay,” Flare says, worrying about what might've happened to them.

Orion calms Flare down, saying, “Don't worry, I’m sure they're fine. I mean, Star is a dedicated hero defending his younger siblings. And if any trouble happens, he can easily help his siblings out.”

“Yes, but it’s been two hours past the time they're supposed to be home, and they still haven't arrived yet,” Flare replies back.

“Well, maybe they're walking home right now,” Orion says. “I mean, they-” He was interrupted by three knocks on the front door. “Speaking of which...” He and Flare walk up to the front door to open it, and they see the Starlights.

The Starlights consists of three young children: Star, a light blue 14-year-old who likes to be the hero and defend his friends and family; Nite, a red 13-year-old who thinks strategically; and Solar, a pink 12-year-old who may be one shy girl, but she is willing to fight with her older brothers. When they see their parents, they all have bright smiles on their faces as they say “Hi mom! Hi dad!”

“Hi, kids!” Flare and Orion reply back, with Flare and Orion giving each of them a big hug.

“So, how was your day, guys?” Flare asks the Starlights.

“Good!” they all answer.

“That’s good to hear. Now, I have one quick question for you guys,” Flare says, somewhat concerned.

“Well, what is it, mom?” Star asks.

“What were you guys up to for the last two hours?” she asks. “It's 5:30 P.M. right now.”

“Oh, that,” Nite replies. “Star and I were waiting for Solar.”

“Really? What were you up to, Solar?” Flare asks Solar.

“Well, I was finishing up a drawing of us,” Solar answers. She hands Flare and Orion a picture she drew of them, herself, and her brothers all together.

“Aw, that’s sweet!” Flare says, giving Solar another big hug. Afterwards, the Starlights head to their rooms.

“See? I told you they’d be here soon,” Orion tells Flare.

Flare calms down as she says, “Yeah, you’re right. But there's also always a chance of them being in danger, you know?”

“Yeah, I understand,” Orion replies.

“I’m just so afraid of what might happen to them, given how young they are...” Flare says, concerned about what happens to the Starlights as she sits down on the living room couch.

Orion sits with Flare to calm her down. “There there. Like I said earlier, Star is a dedicated hero. I mean, when Solar was being harassed by bullies, Star and Nite stood up for her and gave them what they deserved, because of how inseparable they are as siblings!”

“Well, I suppose you’re right,” Flare replies. “As long as Star knows what he’s doing.”

“Yeah,” Orion tells her. “Heck, we were in a big war ourselves, and we managed okay.”

“Actually, yeah, we did,” Flare says. “Though, that was from help provided by our parents, who were military veterans.”

"That is true. And also... well, you know...” Orion replies. “But even then, we tried our hardest to defeat Overlord Nebula!” He then says, smiling as he looks back.

As Solar heard this conversation from her room, she wondered, “Nebula?” She walked into Star’s room to ask him about Overlord Nebula. “Star?”

“Yeah, sis?” Star asks back.

“Who’s Overlord Nebula?” Solar asks.

Star starts to answer with a bit of uncertainty. “Well… how do I put this… Nebula is an evil ruler that tried to attack our planet 40 years ago, way back when our parents were much younger.”

“He doesn’t sound like a good guy at all!” Solar says.

“No, he certainly wasn’t,” Star replies.

“What’s going on?” Nite asks, wondering what Star and Solar were talking about.

“Oh, I was just telling Solar about Nebula,” Star answer.

“Oh, Nebula,” Nite replies.

“Mm-hmm,” Solar replies.

“Yeah. Everyone often says that Nebula was killed 40 years ago,” Nite says. “But there’s also a rumor going around that Nebula is still alive today!”

“R-really!? E-even after f-forty y-years?” Solar says, scared.

“Well, it’s just a rumor, but we should still be aware of it and whether or not it’s actually true,” Nite finishes as he starts to sound more concerned.

“I-I’m scared of this guy!” Solar shouts as she’s crying.

Flare and Orion walk into Star’s room and see the Starlights. “Scared of who?” Flare asks Solar.

“Oh, we were talking to her about Nebula,” Star answer. “She wondered who he was and asked Star about him.”

“Please don’t let Nebula attack me!” Solar shouts as she runs towards Flare and hugs her.

“Oh, poor Solar,” Flare says, hugging Solar to comfort her. “Everything will be okay. While we should be aware of it, it's just a rumor; rumors aren’t often true.”

“R-really?” Solar asks.

“Mm-hmm,” Flare replies back.

“Hey, why don’t we go out and take a nice walk to calm you down, okay?” Orion says, concerned about Solar.

“Okay,” Solar says, going outside with Flare and Orion for a long walk.

Nite starts to regret telling Solar about the possibility of Nebula coming back. “Man, I feel guilty right now.”

Star puts his hand on Nite’s right shoulder as he replies with, “It’s not your fault, Nite. It’s not really anyone’s fault in this family; it’s just something that happens when you hear about someone like Nebula.”

“I guess, you’re right, Star,” Nite says.

Chapter 2 (June 25, 2015).

After the long walk, Solar comes back home with Flare and Orion. They walk inside and see Star and Nite playing a fighting game by the name of Smashers. “Oh, hey guys,” Star and Nite say to them.

“Hi,” Solar, Flare, and Orion reply.

Nite pauses the game to ask, “So, are you feeling any better, Solar?” Solar responds by nodding her head.

“Alright, now that we’re back inside, I should cook us some dinner,” Flare says. “Anyone up for cheeseburgers tonight?”

“Sure thing,” the Starlights and Orion answer.

Before she does that, though, Flare walks over to Solar and whispers, “Solar, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Um, okay,” Solar answers.

“Now, that time Nite told you about Nebula,” Flare begins. “That was a pretty scary thing for him to talk to you about.”

“Uh-huh,” Solar replies.

Flare starts to lower her voice, like a whisper. “I mean, the possibility of an overlord rising back for revenge against us can be very scary for you to handle, especially with how much harder autism makes it for you to not be scared by it possibly happening here. But you do understand why he did it, right?”

“Yeah,” Solar replies, feeling a little shaken.

“Good. Now, can you tell me why he did it?” Flare asks.

“To get me prepared for when Nebula does come back,” Solar answers timidly.

“That’s right, for when Nebula does come back. Like I said before, we should be aware of it, even if it’s just a rumor. You just never know with a guy that threatening,” Flare says.

As she was listening to her mom, Solar decides to ask, “So, what did you do during the last war he was in?”

Flare begins to explain. “Well, it was 40 years ago. It was me and Orion when I was Nite’s age and Orion was your age. Our parents took us to the military where they worked, and our time there started with Sargent Randall Ermey.”

*flashback to 40 years ago*

“Alright, everybody, time to get up and listen to everything I have to say right now!” Everyone in the army room got out of their beds to stand in a line to listen to the brown-furred Sargent Ermey, who is pacing around the room to make sure everyone clearly understands him. Two of the soldiers, Flare and Orion, are standing in between their parents, who have either a lighter tone (Flare’s mom and Orion’s dad) or a darker tone (Flare’s dad and Orion’s mom) of their children’s fur color.

Flare whispers to Orion “So, why did our parents bring us here?”

“Well, I heard that this Overlord Nebula guy we’re fighting is supposed to be really tough,” Orion whispers back.

“Well, why do we have to-” Flare gets interrupted by Ermey, who walked up to them to get their attention.

“Are you two done talking to each other yet!?” the Ermey shouts at them.

“Uh, sir yes sir!” both Flare and Orion hastily answer, shaking as they hold their own hands over their forehead to salute him.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Ermey shouts. He then goes back to pacing around the room. “Anyway, now. The reason you are all here is that we’ve got a massive threat terrorizing our homeland! He is said to be so powerful, it’s gonna take about more than fifty fighters to take him down for good! Heck, when I found these four good soldiers right here, I figured their kids could be helpful too! Now don’t worry, these kids aren't going to go out in the battlefield, they are too young for that, but we could at least use them for supplying us with some helpful items, like more ammo when we need it!”

Suddenly, two of the soldiers raise their hands. Ermey sees this and says, “Yes, what do you two have to say about this!?”

“Uh, can this good man and I just supply ammo too?” one of the soldiers says.

“Yeah, we don’t think we really are strong enough for the big bad-” another one of the soldiers says before being interrupted.

“Don’t give me that junk!” Randall shouts as he walked to the two soldiers. “You two are here to become brave soldiers and fight, not cop out like idiots!” He slaps them both to smack some sense into them, which causes both of them to respond with “Ow!”

“Now that we have had that cowardly question asked, I think I should bring up that we must train as hard as we can, as quickly as we can before our enemy gets to us!” Randall continues. “And when we are ready, we will take that scum down as if it was absolutely nothing! Any more questions!? Good, now go all the way to the training field! And don’t you dare let me down!”

All of the soldiers walk all the way to the training field. As they are walking, Flare asks “Mom, dad, are you two sure we’ll be alright?”

“Yes, sweetie, we will be fine, we just have to count on ourselves,” Flare’s mom answers.

“That’s right,” Flare's dad replies. “The more you count on yourself, the stronger you’ll be.”

Later that day, all of the soldiers are at the training field, practicing their aims with their laser guns. Flare and Orion’s parents are teaching them how to supply them with ammo when they need it. “Are you sure about bringing us here in the war?” Orion asks his parents.

“Now now, son, of course we will need you,” Orion's father answers. “The leader thinks you’ll be helpful to us during this war.”

“That's right,” Orion's mom replies. “And you'll be seen as a brave contributor many years down the road. Besides, it’s just supplying us with extra items, it’s not like you’re actually going to go out there on your own.”

“But where and how are we going to do that?” Flare asks.

“Well, that’s pretty easy,” Flare’s mom answers. “You just follow us and try to hide behind cover.”

“And when we need something, we’ll let you know when we say ‘We need this item’ through our walkie-talkies,” Flare’s dad answers.

“That's right,” Orion’s dad replies. “In fact, here’s an example.” He begins to call another soldier in the army. “Hey! You! Over there!”

The soldier Orion's dad called sees Orion and asks, “Hey, what do you need?”

“Can you hand me an energy pack to refill my laser gun!?” Orion's dad asks.

“Sure thing,” the soldier answers. He grabs an energy pack, walks over to Orion's dad, and hands him the pack. “Here you go.”

“Thank you,” Orion’s dad replies, grabbing the pack. “See, that wasn’t so ha-“ he was then interrupted by a loud explosion. He panics and shouts “Incoming!”

As everyone panics and try to defend themselves with their laser guns, Overlord Nebula’s army arrives with its own set of laser guns. “Flare, I need you to send me a pack!” Flare's mom says.

“But where!?” Flare shouts, breathing quickly.

“You see that case!?” Flare's mom asks, pointing at a grey case. “Open it and give an energy pack to me!”

“Alright!” Flare replies, opening the case. She grabs the pack and hands it to her mom. “Here you go!”

“Thank you very much!” Flare’s mom responded, reloading her laser gun and shooting at the oncoming army.

Flare panics more and more. She runs as fast as she possibly can to void any of the enemies’ shots getting her down. She also slides under one of the enemies, jumps, and kicks him the back of his head. As Flare is continuing to run, she then sees her dad and tries to help him. “Are you doing okay!?” she asks.

“I’m doing fine, Flare!” Flare’s dad shouts. “I just need a bit more protection from these monsters!”

Flare starts to panic even more. “Right!? Where did they come from!? We didn’t even get done with preparing for this-“

Suddenly, someone showed up and shot Flare’s father in the back, making him shout, “Agh!”

Flare gasped at the sight of her father getting shot. “No! Daddy!” she cried, running up to him and trying to help him up.

“It’s... too late... to try to help me now, Flare... but I will always... be with you... in your memories...” he says quietly, unable to speak up, right before he dies. Flare couldn’t believe this and is absolutely heartbroken. Then she looked up and saw the killer who shot him. It was none other than the grey-furred monster himself, Overlord Nebula.

“He’s in a better place now...” says Nebula. Flare gasped and walked slowly away from him. “...but you don’t have to worry about that... because you’ll be right there with him!” As he tried shooting Flare, she ran away fast and avoided his five shots towards her, with several tears coming out as she runs.

*end of flashback*

“I couldn’t believe what I saw. I was too traumatized to continue on with the war. Then he got my mom too, and then he got both of Orion’s parents as well. And even when we did manage to defeat him, we still grieve for our great, great losses,” Flare says, with tears forming on her eyes as she remembers this tragedy.

“Wow... that’s... sad...” Solar sobs, already having formed many tears of her own.

“I know it is, sweetie,” Flare replies. “Only when I reached my early twenties could I ever feel any better.”

Solar hugs Flare and tells her, “Please don’t die so soon like our grandparents did! I seriously don’t know if I can take it!” crying tremendously.

“I’ll try not to, sweetie,” Flare responded, hugging Solar back. “I'll try not to.”

Chapter 3 (August 1, 2015).

The next day, Flare and Orion wake up in their bedroom to the alarm clock sounding off at 9 A.M. Flare turns it off and says to Orion, “Morning, Orion.”

“Ah, good morning, Flare,” Orion replies, stretching.

They both get up from their bed and walk to the kitchen to get breakfast. As they walk over there, they see the Starlights watching TV. “Hey kids,” they both say.

“Hey mom, hey dad,” the Starlights reply.

“Feeling any better now, Solar?” Flare asks Solar.

“Well, a little bit,” Solar says.

“That’s good to hear,” Flare replies.

“Feeling better about what?” Star asks Solar.

“Well...” Solar started.

“Well... what?” Nite asks.

“Well, I got quite scared yesterday,” Solar says.

“Yes, and?” Star says.

“Well, after my walk yesterday, mom told me about her time in the war against Overlord Nebula,” Solar says.

“Oh yeah, that story,” Nite replies. “Yeah, we kinda figured you’d be scared by something like that.”

“Yeah, in fact, when mom told us this story, we were scared too, because we don’t want mom to die like her parents did during that war,” Star says to Solar.

“Mm-hmm,” Solar replies, nodding.

“It’s even scarier when you realize that there is a possibility that he may come back,” Nite says. “We should be keeping our eyes out for when the day he comes back finally comes.”

“R-right,” Solar replies, stuttering from fear. She and her brothers return to watching TV to calm themselves down.

Later that day, the Starlights are all in their rooms. Star is playing a game, Nite is reading a novel, and Solar is watching a movie. Suddenly, they all hear loud knocks on the door and their parents screaming in the living room. The Starlights stop what they're doing and run to the living room. “WHAT!? WHAT!?” the Starlights all scream.

“Th-th-th.. Th-” Flare tried speaking.

“WHAT IS IT!?” the Starlights shout.

“H-he’s-” Orion, also trying to speak, was interrupted by loud knocks on the door, which scares everyone.

“Yoo-hoo! Hello! Anyone in here!?” A mysterious voice shouts.

“Wh-wha-what is that!?” Star says, panicking.

“Yoo-hoo! I've got a special delivery, and it has you’re names on it!” the voice shouts.

“W-well, w-we never asked for anything, you got the wrong house!” Solar says.

“Oh, is that so!?” the voice replies. “Well, then I guess I’ll send it to someone who did order this package... as a present for you!” His three white-furred servants barged the front door open and shot lasers from their plasma guns, breaking everything that they aimed their guns at. The Starlights and their parents hide quickly behind a couch before the servants did start shooting.

As soon as the servants stop shooting, they see that the Starlights are nowhere in sight. “Um, uh, Nebula, th-there’s nobody here,” says one of Nebula's servants named Orbo, the servant with glasses.

“Yeah, why did you take us to a house obviously no one lives in!?” says East, the one with a black rose.

“Yeah, I want my time and my ammo back!” says Ray, the one with the baseball cap.

“Enough!” Nebula shouts, shutting his servants up. “Obviously, none of you heard the little voices in this house! Now, search around the house, and find those damn kids!”

Behind the couch, Solar quietly gasps, but closes her own mouth to try to keep herself silent.

“What do we do!?” Star whispers to Flare.

“Well, while Nebula isn’t looking-” Flare, whispering her plan so quietly that Nebula couldn't have heard it, gets interrupted by Nebula moving the couch.

“You were saying?” Star says to Flare.

“Well look at that, could this have been any easier to find!?” Nebula shouts.

“Well, you're about to lose us after we’re through with you!” Orion shouts, standing up.

“That’s right!” Flare replies.

“Oh, but it’s not you I'm looking for,” Nebula says. “I’ve come for them!” He was about to grab the Starlights, but then the Starlights ran away.

As they tried to outrun him, though, they get captured by his servants. East captures Star, Orbo captures Nite, and Ray captures Solar. “Dang it!” the Starlights shouts.

“No!” Flare and Orion shout. As they tried to rescue the Starlights, however, Nebula grabs them with two whips he brought over. They get captured by their feet, causing them to gasp and fall to the ground. “Y-you won’t get away with this!” they shout.

“Oh, you think so?” Nebula says. “My transportation device says otherwise!” He pulls out a blaster and shoots a portal out of it. “Servants, push the Starlights into the portal! Now!”

“Yes sir!” East, Orbo, and Ray reply, moving the Starlights towards the portal.

“No! Let us go now! Please!” the Starlights shout, trying to escape.

Flare and Orion gasp and try to move out of Nebula's whips to rescue their children. Before they could though, Nebula’s servants push the Starlights into the portal, which disappears as soon as the Starlights are thrown inside. “Noooooooo!” they both shout.

Overlord Nebula laughs as he sees that the Starlights are sent to another place in this dimension where it seems like it will take them forever to come back. “Yes! I've done it!”

“You monster!” Flare shouts, crying.

“You will pay for this!” Orion shouts, also crying.

“Oh, we’ll see about that!” Nebula replies. As Flare and Orion try to escape Nebula’s whips, his servants grab them by the arms with their own whips, causing them to feel pain. “Now that the Starlights are gone, nothing will come by to stop me!”