Tales from the Queendom

Chapter One: The Awakening

“Okay doll. Wake up.” Emaza’s grandmother said. She sat up and groaned. Another day. She was bored of this life honestly. “Come get your breakfast.” Grandma declared, sticking her nose in the air. She always acted that way towards her. Grandma and the other family, including her mother, hence why she was living there. It was as if they never even wanted her there. She sat up in her bed and cupped her head in her hands.

“Oh good lord.” she murmured to herself. She stretched and scooted out of her bed, and gathered her sheets. She folded them, and her comforter, and arranged her pillows.

“EMAZA DIDN’T SHE TELL YOU TO GET YOUR ASS UP? WHY DON’T I HEAR NO FEETS?” yelled her Uncle Justin. Everything he said all the time just sounded like plain gibberish. He was a drunk. He only acted right for his mother who, ironically treated him terribly too.

“OH SHUT UP JUSTIN, I’M FIXING MY BED. SOMETHING THAT YOU REFUSE TO DO.” She yelled back. She felt relief. Every time she yelled back she felt release. Spoke to soon. Here he comes, stomping up and down the hall with his big fat sloppy self. He eats everything you wouldn’t expect people to eat. She saw him eat an orange whole once. The peel and all. His excuse is “I’m built different.” Yeah, built wrong maybe.

“The hell did you just say to me?” He sneered. He was talking through his teeth again. He was drunk, and he tends to get violent in every way possible. Verbally and Physically with her. She quickly kicked the bat out that she placed under the bed, picked it up and gripped it as tight as she could.

“No more.” she said. “Get away from my door right damn now.” She said, purely exasperated. It was always something with this freaking family, but especially him. Someone needed to put him in a home. He acted as if he was capable of absolutely nothing. Not even bathing or making a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

“Or what? Huh?” Emaza knew that he was a lost soul that had aggression pent up from his parents that he needed to release, but not on her. Not anymore. That stinky murky yellow appeared and got stronger as he got closer. He was in her face now. Oh gosh he looked like an ogre.

“If you don’t get your mucinex germ lookin ass out of my face.” she said.

He got closer. Like the idiot he was. She stared in his eyes now, completely unmoved.

“Perfect.” she thought to herself. He was making that face again, as if he had won. She firmed her grip on her bat and whacked him with all her might. He yelped in pain on the floor and she watch him groan in agony. She kicked him in his privates as hard as she could and dropped her bat, making a clattering sound on the floor. She kicked him in his rear now and stepped over him to look up and see her Grandmother in the door frame, looking shocked and hurt.

Tears welled up in her eyes now. Grandmother knew what he had been doing to her for years, all the abuse, the humiliation and the pain she endured. It made her physically sick to see her staring as if she never knew. Her face burned hot and her eyes overflowed with tears now. She quickly wiped them. That woman couldn’t see weakness in her. She wasn’t allowed.

“Just get out.” Grandma whispered.

Emaza didn't even hesitate. It was time, after all. She went to her closet and grabbed a duffel bag, her purse, coat, and threw some shoes on.

Grandma’s jaw dropped. Emaza brushed past them, and out the door. She walked down the street, to the QuikTrip. This was her escape. She was at peace, until she opened the door to see Jonah, looking at her perplexed.

“Shut up Jonah.” She walked past him to the bathroom and quickly threw on her work uniform. She took her hair out of the messy bun it was in and wet her hairbrush, dipping it in hair gel. She brushed her hair up as quickly and as efficiently as she could and threw it in a bun accompanied by her favorite headband. She placed all her things back in her bag and opened the door to the breakroom. Kyle. Freaking Kyle. Could it get worse? He was nauseating.

“Hey.” He said, leaning against her locker. She rolled her eyes. He was horrible as a person but very good at getting what he wanted. Sneaky links. Booty calls. Anything like that. Condom and birth control protected of course. We don’t need more of him spawning.

“Hi.” She said.

“You okay?” He said, stepping closer. He made his way behind her and pressed himself against her backside.

“Do you really care or do you want something else?” she asked him. He went silent. Kyle has always had an issue with himself. Identity issues, he’s touch deprived, and he was clearly neglected as a child.

“Precisely.” She slammed her locker shut and threw his hands off her. “Get away.” she walked out of the room and took her station at the register. She clocked in, and bent over the counter, placing her chin under her fist, looking out the door wondering if there was better for herself. A car pulled up and she straightened herself up. Karen. The manager. She oddly resembled Justin. She liked to call them the mucinex germ couple. She chuckled. She was a mean old woman that loved to complain. She was short in stature and had a plump body. She had soft brown skin and burgundy hair that she always wore in a low braided ponytail, and some big bulky glasses that matched her hair. Her collar came up to her neck and always tucked her shirt into her black slacks. She still creased those like it was the 80s.

“Good morning.” She said, nodding her head.

“Morning, Karen.” She said. A trucker walked in. He smelled very strongly of cigarettes and fish. He grabbed water, ordered a meat lover's pizza, some hot Cheetos and a meat stick.

“Oh god.” Kaylee declared. Kaylee was sweet. Her aura is a bubblegum pink. Her hair was at her shoulders and curly. Like coils almost. She wore it in a twist out today that smelled like pomegranates and honey. She smelled like the newest fall scents, and was shaped beautifully. She had a button nose and plump lips. Emaza wanted to kiss her more than Kyle. She was so sweet and nurturing to her.

“Are you alright?” She locked eyes with her by accident and looked down.

“Yeah I’m fine.” The tension thickened. There had been a romance between them for a while. She reminded her of the sun. Called her Solana in her mind.

“Good. Good.”

“So do you Kyle still talk?” She asked, trying to clear the air.

“Ew” Emaza chuckled.

The man walked up to the counter and Emaza began to feel dizzy. She blinked and gagged a little. Certain smells triggered her, and cigarettes were one.

“This all for you?” Kaylee asked him.

“Yes ma’am.” He looked her up and down and hit his lip. Gross.

“I’m sorry.” Emaza said. She gagged and ran to the bathroom. She threw up. She hasn’t thrown up in a while.

“Are you okay?” Karen asked.

“...No.” She replied. She was tired, as it was stressful again.

“Hey the mans gone.” Kaylee said, entering the bathroom now.

“You need to relax, Maza. It’s fine.”

“Yeah I agree. Go home for the day but come back tomorrow. You can’t start slacking.” Karen said.

“No no it’s fine.”

“Well, will you come with me? It’s time for me to get off anyway.” Kaylee said.

“Y-yeah sure.” Emaza got up and wiped her mouth. She flushed the toilet and took a breath.

“Oy. It’s always something with these people. I need, I don’t even know.”

“Come come.” Kaylee took her hand and helped her clean up. She grabbed her bag out of the lockers and walked her to her car and they drove back to Kaylee’s apartment.

“Ahh. Here we are.” Kaylee sighed with relief, turning her car off. “I have Benadryl, Tylenol, ginger ale, anything you’d possibly need. Even a blood pressure monitor! Come on.” She said, unlocking her door. Emaza opened the door and looked up at the building in awe. She’d lived in that same townhouse all her life. She’d never seen this part of Atlanta before. She followed behind Kaylee who practically skipped up the stairs to the second floor.

“Remember. I leave for my second job early tomorrow, and then I have class. ‘Kay? So when you come back after you get off work, it’s room 248.” She said, looking in her eyes. Just to see if she would remember. She keyed her door open and the smell of warm vanilla bean was in her face. Her apartment was filled with white and pink furniture with several hints of yellow and orange everywhere. Those were her favorite colors. Pink, orange, and yellow. A beautiful combination. Her fair colored skin and red hair seemed to glow in the sunlight that reflected super hard on her.

“You hungry?” She asked, blocking her eyes. .

“No.” Emaza said calmly. She stood stock still, hands folded twiddling her thumbs. Kaylee came closer.

“Hey. Relax.” She put her hands on Emaza’s face and she rested her cheek in her palm.

“Wanna take a bath?” She asked her soothingly. Emaza nodded. It’s been so long since she had one of those. “Come on. I’ll wash your hair.” Kaylee said. Emaza never wanted to leave that apartment. She was finally comfortable, and finally felt safe.

“Your bath is ready!” Kaylee said. Emaza quickly got undressed. She took her hair out of the bun and wrapped a towel around herself, walking to the bathroom.

“Come on.” Kaylee said, holding her arm out. Emaza took off the towel and Kaylee giggled. You still have on your underwear. She took off the underwear and dipped her foot in the tub, now laughing as well. It was the perfect temperature. She sat down and took a big breath.

“There you go. See? You needed that.” Kaylee said. She had a thing for nurturing people. It was sweet. They talked while Emaza bathed and Kaylee helped her wash, detangle, and braid up her hair. She put a pink bonnet on and got out of the tub, letting the water out and wrapped in the towel again. She went to the room to put on pajamas and drifted off to sleep. Bliss. After a while though, she tossed and turned. Sweating, grumbling, and just all around antsy. She woke up and checked her phone for any new notifications. Whenever she felt that way it was usually someone harassing her, but tonight, it was really nothing. She stared out her window, and saw the moon. For some reason...it seemed as if it was coming closer. As if she could touch it. She jumped out of the bed and ran to her bathroom. She splashed water in her face and looked in the mirror to notice it growing even more. What was happening? Was the world ending? Her heart started racing and her head was pounding with more and more insane thoughts. She became dizzy and faint. She held onto her counter for dear life when suddenly...a rush of serenity came over her. A woman’s voice giggled. It was comforting...but terrifying.

“Sorry to frighten you. Hello, my child.” The voice said to her. “Wh-what are you?” She asked, panicked, looking to Kaylee for help. She was knocked out. Ugh.

“No no dear. The question is...who or what are YOU?” She happily declared. A finger tapped on her window. The energy grew. She looked back to still see Kaylee sleeping.

“Come here child. I won’t harm you.” The finger unlocked and lifted her window effortlessly. She couldn’t even open it correctly herself.

“Come, come.” the voice said. Her curiosity peaked. She crawled out of her window.

“Come here.” the voice said again.

“Alright.” she jumped on her finger, and the woman unfolded all of the fingers. The woman giggled and brought her closer to her face.

“Do you know who I am?”

“No…”

Emaza had no clue who this woman was, but all she knew was...she was beautiful. Her rich, dark brown skin resembled coffee beans and was tinged slightly blue at the cheekbones with full, deeper, darker blue lips. Accompanied by genuine, big eyes, that seemed to be filled with stars that lived in universes and galaxies unknown to man. The world began to spin now, causing the stars to spin as well. The woman looked at her with concerned and stated that

“It’s only scary when you’ve done wrong.” She looked her up and down. “Or if it is new. Which is it for you?”

Emaza looked down in shame.

“I ate the last oreo.” The woman covered her mouth and snickered as if she was trying not to laugh.

“What?” she asked.

“Oh, oh darling.” the woman giggled, and began laughing. The laugh echoed and filled Emaza herself with joy. Her smile was lined with beautiful pure pearly white teeth that matched her lipstick perfectly. Emaza was admiring her now.

“Darling, that is fine. There will be plenty of oreo cookies for you where you are going.” Emaza began to panic again.

“AM I ABOUT TO DIE?” She nervously screamed, her eyes almost welling up with tears.

“No, no darling! Shh, shh!” the woman said, now comforting her.

“It’s quite the contrary!” She picked emaza up now and held her like a baby. Emaza found comfort in this and rested in her beautiful, curly hair.

Oh her hair. It looked like it grew to every black girl's desire, fully outwards, touching some clouds. She had on several sparkling white hair bands, pulling some of the fronts off her face. She stood at around 10 feet tall, but stooped down to see Emaza. Her dress was the same sparkling white that hugged her curves perfectly. She smelled heavenly as well. The air filled with a rich, womanly scent.

“Come now. We must hurry. Secure your position.” The girl did Just that.

“Ahh.” she echoed as she ascended into the sky. Emaza watched with pure awe as her feet rose up from the ground, above the trees, and into the beautiful black blue night sky, dazzled with stars.

She flew past major stars, like Sirius and Canopus. She could identify all of them. They kept flying upward slowly and peacefully until they got to the thermosphere. The woman picked Emaza up with her finger and held her there, now floating in the sky, high above everyone and everything. She was beautiful. Her skin almost blended with the sky but still glimmering. Her eyes shone right in her direction, and her hair curled in whatever direction the wind that always accompanied was going. She happily exhaled through her nose and echoed

“I’ve been wanting to announce this for a long while now.” A smile spread across her face and Emaza couldn’t help but smile too. She’d always known she was some sort of special but never exactly how. The woman put her nose up against Emaza’s, still smiling, holding her in both hands now. She giggled and kissed her forehead lightly.

“You are the queen.” The woman beamed.

“I'm what?”

“YES! You are the Queen. The correct title is ‘Queen of Gaia’.”

She placed the tiny queen back into the wrap and flew a little higher into the atmosphere to finally reach...the galaxy. Space. They were on top of the world, literally. She placed Queen Emaza down on her feet.

“Look at it my queen. Isn’t it beautiful?” She nodded. She could see what looked like mercury, and then across from earth, the moon. She was focused on it.

“Is that where you would like to go?” The woman asked.

Emaza nodded. Luna Selene was the woman’s name. It fit her perfectly.

“Brace.” she lifted off the earth’s surface and drifted amongst the stars once again. She spun a couple times gleefully laughing. They touched base with the moon with a “boom”. Emaza looked at Luna and noticed an electric blue lightning pattern developing on her face and neck. A door the same shade appeared.

“Open.” she said calmly. The door lifted from the ground, making a loud rumbling noise. A man that looked as if he was made of rock appeared.

“Password?”

“Come on now, Abasi.” he chuckled lightly, and moved out of the way so she could enter. He noticed Emaza and looked her up and down a couple times, scanning her demeanor.

“Who is this accompanying you? A human?” He seemed disappointed and slightly irritated.

"It is Emaza.” Luna announced. His face immediately dropped, in shame.

“It-it’s okay.” Emaza said, bashfully.

“No no my queen. Please. Enter. My dearest apologies.” he bowed, and extended his arm to her.

“Hmm. I am going to take her on a tour of the planets including her own and you will deal with the palace accordingly.”

“Palace?” Emaza said to herself. She turned around to see the building starting from the atmosphere and went up higher than she could see.

“...If we’re up here...what’s higher than space?”

They both chuckled.

“Rose, Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald Dimensions. You’ll be able to view those too, and select which one you would like to reside in.” Emaza stared up there, to notice all four colors flash up there. As if they were...winking. The palace had about 50,000 windows and many doors, stairs, and elevators.

“How many people-” She stopped herself. “Beings...live here?”

Luna chuckled. “Many. Come now.” Luna extended her hand, and Emaza took it. Their steps echoed in the palace, alerting all the spirits, beings, and even animals. The sound of curiosity rose in the house.

“Darling? Venus?” Luna called. A woman with a sort of burnt orange complexion came out of a room that was completely orange. She likes orange. She was slender and very tall too. Taller than Luna.

“Hi. And who is this now?” she stooped down to look Emaza in the face. Venus had very interesting features too. Her hair was to her ankles in length and was very thick. It was moreso wavy than curly, and one side was shaved with intricate designs perfectly placed and shaped in it. She wore a pearly white leotard with some regular black sweatpants you’d see people on earth wear, which for some reason she didn’t expect. She looked down at Venus’ shoes and was in awe. They weren’t Jordans. Or Adidas. Or Nikes. What were they?

“Moon boots.” Venus swooned. “I have a whole collection.”

She sat there in awe. Emaza could get used to this.

“Solana?” Luna called. Solana? Like the sun? A door opened and the color yellow vibrantly blazed out of that room. Then it turned pinkish. She instantly thought of Kaylee. Out stepped a woman who stood at the same stature as Luna with the same dark brown skin. She had yellow orange ombre hair that was very curly. She wore jean shorts and yellow crop top with matching flip flops.

“Sister!!” Luna cried happily.

“Ahh! Darling it’s been ages.” She said, hugging her.

SQUAK!!!

“What in the world was that?” Emaza yelled. Everyone laughed.

“Oh that’s just felix. Come here felix!” Solana called. Out of nowhere, a phoenix, aka fire bird, flew through the halls of the palace and landed on Solana’s head.

“Hello sweet boy.” she swooned.

“Alright then. Come on girls! We’ve got alot to do and see!” Luna said, clapping her hands twice. “Wynter, Zeus, Venus, Jove, Pink, Eris, Ceres, Haumea, Quicksilver, Oceana, and X! Everyone come here.”

And so they all came.

“Hello. I am Wynter, also known as Uranus and Ice giant. We’ve got coats for you in the ship. You’re going to need them” Wynter said. She was a light blue, almost green in color with electric blue hair and matching lips. She had on a pantsuit that matched, a hand bag, and had what looked like different color moons around her. She was tall and built up very strong, and had sort of a teacher like voice.

“Greetings. Quicksilver. Or mercury. Or whatever you want to call me.” He said, doing lunges for some reason. “Ladies, bring your bikinis. Especially you Oceana.”

“Oh stars.” She said, blushing now. “Hi darling. I’m Oceana! Or neptune. I have a helmet and a beautiful coat for you too!”

“Move on out of my way, would you please?” A woman said. She looked like a statue that was made of pink stone instead of grey, and had a condescending tone.

“I’m Haumea. This is my sister Ceres. And my brother Eris. They don’t talk.” She announced, nose in the air, eerily similar to Grandma. “Bring your coat.” She said. Of course her planet was cold.

“We don’t have time for all these introductions, GET IN THE ROCKET.” A man yelled.

“Oh hush, we’re going Jove. That’s Jove, or jupiter.” A woman said. “I’m pink. Or makemake.” She had a ghanian accent.

Everyone climbed into the ship that arrived perfectly on time. Emaza took her seat and blinked rapidly. She couldn’t believe it.

“Hey there baby.” A woman said, like she was in a 70s action movie. She turned her head to bask more in her glory. The woman had locs that were a sandy brown color that complimented her caramel type of color very well. They were very long. She had on a metallic halter top with low waist jeans and several belts. Saturn?

“You guessed it, baby.”

“Whoa, how could you tell what I was thinking- DO Y’ALL HAVE POWERS?”

“Mhm.” she smiled. The woman liked that idea.

“I’m Zeus. or Mars.”

“H-hi…” Emaza stuttered. He was very attractive. He was burnt orange like venus, but smoother. He had steam coming from him and big blue eyes. After a good 10 minutes of staring at the man, out of her peripheral, she saw a tall black figure. She turned her head quickly to see a woman. She was jet black with silver wings, blue, purple, and pink hair. She had on a long, aquamarine colored gown and she didn’t talk. She looked very mysterious.

She just turned her head.

First...to mercury. Luna said. Emaza closed her eyes and allowed herself to drift off into space. Thoughtlessly. This was unreal, and she was living in it all. She finally could relax. Breathe. She started to feel warm on the inside. Then hot. Then uncomfortably hot. Then blazing.

“WHOA WAHAT THE HECK?” Emaza exclaimed.

“Hello human. Wear this.” An electric blue alien said to her, throwing a swimsuit at her.

"What?" She asked.