• • Sunset: Heroes of the Milky Way
• March 7, 2026

Sunset: Heroes of the Milky Way (Chapter 30)

Clayton Knight

Expect the Expected

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I’m still leaning against the wall as Rom tries to comfort Sevine over her loss.

‘Do you think someone’s gonna walk in and think you’re cool?’ Sera insults me.

I don’t care what other people think, I care what I think.

‘Oh sure, and what do you think?’

… that I look cool.

“Hey, it’s alright Sevine, we still have a chance,” Rom consoles her as he rubs her shoulder and she shakes her head.  

From the looks of it, they really don’t, but Sevine more so than him. It’s wild that Sevine thought she really had a chance against Womby in either round. All that talk of how even the Riverti thought she could win is gone as she sits on the bench.

I don’t mean that as an insult to her when I say she couldn’t win, it’s just that she was going up against the closest thing to a god. She’s a normal person, the peak of what normal people can be, but she’s still normal. 

Womby is literally water.

‘I think it is more because if she had won, the Watree would have,’ Sera points out to me. ‘This isn’t just some competition on your TV, this is the fate of her people.’

Why are you suddenly so understanding? I question my demon.

‘Because I know what it feels like to have the weight of the world on my shoulders,’ Sera growls. Then she adds, ‘Literally and figuratively.’

Literally? What? Did you use to use planets as weights or something?

Sera doesn’t answer, with Sevine loudly bemoaning, “Now it is all up to that Reynold guy.” Then she has this doubtful chuckle. “Who am I kidding? He has no chance. Riverti have and always will have one thing over us, they’re smarter, even the dumbest of them are smarter than you, or me,” she complains to Rom. 

I smirk seeing the twitch in Rom’s eyebrow. 

Then she realizes someone is missing and looks around while asking, “You know what, where is that guy anyway? He’s gonna have to go out in any minute now.”

Rom chuckles right next to her. He informs her, “Reynold is not competing.”

Sevine makes a surprised look, but then rests her head in her hands as she figures, “Lost the nerve? I don’t blame him. I’m sure it wouldn’t be the first time someone dropped out.”

“Sevine, no, I’m competing in the Mental challenge,” he tells her.

I have to contain myself from laughing at the look Sevine gives him. Her face just screams, ‘you’ve got to be kidding.’ Her lack of faith is so obvious, a blind man could see it.

That doesn’t make any sense.

‘Fuck off.’ 

Rom opens his arms and defends himself, “Hey, I have a chance!”

Sevine face expresses her doubt before her laugh actually does. “Really? How’s that? You seem more like a jock than a nerd to me. I mean I did just watch you take on a jacked jarhead, now you expect me to believe that you’re also some snooty-pooty bookworm?” 

“Are you done?” he asks her. She nods her head. “The reason I even know this guy,” he explains while pointing at me, “is because his team brought some high-tech Regamorph do-hickey to educate me for this contest. Don’t believe that I can do it, ask him!”

I realize then that he wanted me to say something, but not before I point a finger to myself and question, “Me?”

“Who else would I be talking about?” Rom yammers.

“Aah,” is all I say at first. I don’t honestly remember much about his training. I just got updates from Terra’rork only to see if Rom was making any progress. I just spit out, “Um, the Captain said that he was a quick learner,” not what she said, “and she doesn’t give compliments out lightly.” 

She’s actually not the worst about compliments when they’re deserved.

Rom sighs as if extremely annoyed. Then he concludes, “Doesn’t matter. I’m going to go out onto that stage, and surprise everyone,” and adds while pointing at Sevine, “especially you.”

She actually cracks a smile only to mock him, “Please do, if I’m wrong at least the Riverti win in a semi-close victory.” 

Rom rolls his eyes at her.

Then blinking lights by the door signal that it is time for Rom to head out. Rom puts a lot of attitude in his goodbye wave, and Sevine is already looks somewhat surprised by the fact that he is actually going.

I grant him, “Good luck,” and a wave goodbye. 

He doesn’t wave back, he stares at me, as it starts to dawn on him why I’m really here. It’s no secret, at least not to him, but it’s obvious to me that he ignored it. It wasn’t real until the came. To be so ignorant.

In the driest way possible, he says, “Thanks,” as the door opens for him.

Once he is gone then Sevine turns to me and jokes, “Nice job, demoralize before he goes out, did you make a bet against him or something?”

“You could say that.” If she only knew.

“Want to make a bet that he loses the first two rounds?” 

“I’ll bet that he makes it to the third,” I joke as I walk up to her shake her hand, solidifying it.

Sera knows I am being sarcastic but pesters me anyway. ‘Do you really not think he’ll win?’

You know the answer to that question, I remind her. My personal thoughts are not exactly private with her here.

‘I still want to hear you think it. Why would you bet against him?’ 

When was the last time I won a bet?

Once again, there’s this feeling that she’s chuckling in my head. ‘Always so brazen, thinking that you’re ready to do what’s necessary, but when it comes down to it, you really don’t want to do the job you volunteered for.’

Why would I? I ask her.

My demon ignores my question. ‘You know, you’re not as bad a person as you like to think. You just do bad things.’

Doesn’t that make a person bad?

Sera honestly tells me, ‘Not always.’

“What are you staring at?” Sevine interrupts my train of thought.

I snap out of my conversation with Sera and rub my eyes. “Just daydreaming.”

Sevine grumbles, “So you’re one of those pe-”

She’s interrupted by the opening of a door. I move off of the wall and turn to see three guards with handguns on their waist. 

One walks up to Sevine and informs, “I need you to come with me.”

She stands up and steps back. “What’s this all about?” Sevine questions them.

“We have a couple questions about your participation in the competition,” he replies. Then he orders her to, “Come with us now peacefully.” The nerve of some people. I walk in between Sevine and the guards, which causes one guard in the back to shutter. 

The lead guy speaks again, “This is of no concern to you, Guardian. Move out of the way and go back to your seat.”

“Why?” I ask rhetorically. “So you can take her, to make sure she doesn’t tell anyone about how you put saltwater in her tank?”

The lead guard keeps his cools. “We take accusations against fairness here very seriously. Sevine must come with us for questioning.”

I fuel my eyes with energy, which makes them glow. It has the desired effect of making the two backup guards tense up. 

“What if I say ‘no?’” I threaten as I cross my arms.

The lead guard reaches for his gun but I heatbeam it through my eyes before he even gets a finger on it. I tease the others, “Want to try that again?”

The lead guards tells the other two, “Fallback, another time.” Then he weakly threatens me by saying, “The Prime Minister will hear about this.” 

“Good,” Sera and I say in unison. Well, no one hears Sera obviously. 

Then the guards hurry out. 

“Thank you,” she gasps, letting out the breath she was holding. “What do you think they wanted from me? How do you think they knew that I knew that I was sabotaged?”

I tell her, “Calm down. I’m sure they figured that you could tell the taste difference between salt and freshwater.”

“Do you think that they were going to get rid of me?” she asks more calmly.

I answer Sevine honestly, “Most likely.”

She shakes her head angrily and clenches her fists. “They were going to kill me over something they did. That’s just… fuck!” 

If I wasn’t here there was nothing that would have stopped those three from just taking her. I figure now that Riverti probably have done things like this before. Then she asks me, “What do I do now?” The look in her eye looks like that of someone who is alone. 

“I’ll get you someplace safe until you can go home, my friends are watching, and they can guard you while I do what I gotta do. Get your stuff and let’s go. The TV in here sucks anyway.”

She nods her head and quickly gets ready.

‘Another burden. How do you plan on completing your mission with so many around?’ Sera questions me.

I answer, I’ll just stick her with Hideo, and explain what happened. I slip away to say I’m looking for Alloya or something. There’s no way I can I push the trigger button without Hideo noticing.

‘Hmm,’ Sera mumbles. She warns me with a cold demeanor, ‘Be careful.’   

Hideo TriVi Die-Ve Eron

You think Lamberine really cheated? I ask Yarg.

‘Gak,’ he responds.

I think so too. How long do you think we’ll still be here after the tournament? I ask another question.

‘Tak yak,’ he sounds off.

Really? That’s not what I thought, but okay, I tell him. What’s the meaning of life? How did we come to existent? Is there a god?

‘Arg ga huh–,’ he grunts stupendously. 

I agree completely, I assure him, hoping he will come back. 

After a minute someone shakes me on the shoulder. I realize now that someone must have interrupted Yarg. Whichever of my friends it is, I turn around and tell them, “Hey you’re interrupting a very important conversation!”

“You weren’t even talking!” Aleti yells at me.

“That does not mean I wasn’t deep in conversation,” I correct her.

Suddenly a recognizably asinine voice says, “He’s talking to Yarg, his demon. It’s like talking to a pet right?”

I whistle and realize that during my deep and thoughtful conversation with Yarg, Clay snuck up on us with a woman.

“Don’t insult Yarg. He’s way better than Sera,” I defend.

“That’s not saying much, though I usually enjoy talking to animals,” he jokes. I have noticed over my many years around species with eyes, that they squint at people when they don’t believe a word they’re saying. If I had eyes, I would be squinting at Clay right now.

“Who’s your lady friend?”

I cannot tell for sure that he is rolling his eyes, but the body motion Clay makes tells me that he is. Never before, have I wanted more to smack my friend. Okay, that’s bullshit, at least the most I’ve wanted to smack him this week. 

Clay informs me, “I guess you didn’t pay attention to the competition at all. This is Sevine.” Alright, maybe I should have known that.

I stand up and apologize, “I’m sorry, you were impressive Sevine.” I figure a complement could smooth out any possible offenses she may have felt.

“Oh,” I hear her say, “it’s alright, it’s not like you can see or anything.” I will just let that slide. Then she turns and looks to Clay, to berate him, “Don’t be an asshole.” 

I smile as he scowls because we both know that I could see her in my own way if I wanted to.

“You know what, I’m so glad you two like each other,” he responds sarcastically, “you can hang out with him. I’ve got shit I got to finish doing.” 

I still wonder what that is. Ever since Alloya suspiciously told me to leave Aleti behind, sort of, her and Clay have been acting shady, and not in a sexual way. That would be more normal.

Still I act annoyed and flail open my arms. “When did it suddenly become my job to protect and watch over the mortals?”

“Mortals?” Pekipsea asks, obviously insulted.

“I’m only kidding, you’ll outlive us all Mrs. Reeky-tite. Still Clay, why are you leaving?” I proceed to question him.

“I’m going to go get Terra. I don’t like leaving him with Lamberine, and neither does the Captain.”. Normally I can tell when people are lying by their heartbeat, an easy trick Waverites have. 

Made it hard to get away with having fun as a kid, but now it’s pretty useful among aliens who can’t do the same. Right now though, I sense that energy is swirling around in Clay. When he, or even Alloya or Womby turn their bodies into their energy, their heartbeat is masked. I know he has to be doing that now so I cannot confirm that he is lying, the sneaky little shit.

“Clay, come on, I-” I start asking, but am interrupted.

“I’m sorry, Hideo, but you’ll have to play babysitter for a little while longer,” Clay interjects before he turns and runs. 

“Aaagh!” I half groan, half sigh. 

“Now I see why Womby says he’s a dick,” Torun comments.

I warn Torun, “Don’t call him names. Only I and his ex-girlfriends can call him mean names. I don’t think whatever is up with him is really his fault.”

Aleti looks up at me and asks, “How do you figure?”

I seriously remind her, “He’s whipped.”

During this time I catch the announcer say, “Now let us begin the first contest!”

“Wait, what?!” I exclaim. I was not paying attention and missed the whole explanation.

Pekipsea quickly explains in an understandably annoyed tone, “She just explained the first contest. Both contests will be asked a complicated question basically, and both of their answers will be scored by three judges.”

“Riverti judges,” Torun adds, “so take the scores with a grain of salt.”

“Um, yes, thanks for the input,” Pekipsea adds, “whoever has the best score wins the round. You also missed the very confused and very priceless face of the announcer woman when Rom walked out. She was halfway through saying someone else’s name.”

I sigh and ask, “This is going to sound asinine, but we’re basically waiting to see if Rom can win the last two contests after the judges fail him?”

“Pretty much,” Torun says.

Aleti mutters with an annoyed expression, “You two have no faith.”

“The game is rigged hun,” Sevine tells as she takes a seat next to Torun. Then she looks over and does a double take on Pekipsea and Torun. “I wanted to ask before, did he call you Mrs. Reeky-tite? As in related to the Guardian, Wombinal Reeky-tite?”

“Yes,” Pekipsea answers. “I’m his mother.”

“And I’m his father,” Torun adds.

Sevine gets up and moves to the other side of me, away from those two. She admits, “Sorry, but your son’s a cheater.” 

Torun remarks, “And you’re a sore loser.”

Clayton Knight

‘I am so much better than Yarg!’ Sera yells at me. Sometimes I forget, even though she is a several billion year old demon, she still can’t take a joke.

You’re the only demon who actually physically hurts their Guardian so that’s an easy way to get first place in the ‘Worst Demon’ list. 

As soon as I say that to her I regret it.

“ACK!” I yell when the I feel a stabbing in my brain. Then I sink to my knees and then she stops. I complain out loud, “I freaking’ hate you.”

“Sir, who are you talking to like that?!” I hear someone say. I look up to see a Riverti man with a runaway scale on his chin scowling at me from above.

I had walked to the concession stands where I could get something to eat and watch the contest at the same time. I was so wrapped up with Sera I forgot that people would be around to hear me. 

Oh well.

I stand up and mumble, “Sir, I’m, um, wait.”

I’m a Guardian. Who gives a shit what this guy thinks? I light up the energy in my eyes, get in his face, and tell him, “Fuck. Off.”

He thinks about yelling, there’s something just itching to jump out of his gross welting mouth, but instead he does the smart thing and does a one-eighty in the opposite direction.

Then I look around to see many around me, Watree and Riveti, reasonably giving me the stink eye. 

I’ll admit, I was probably wrong to yell at that guy, I admit in my head.

‘Are you going to apologize?’ Sera asks.

No. 

I should go find a TV or something. While the second contest is where I have to really pay attention, it won’t hurt to watch the first one too.

I walk around to find the concessions as I walk past Riverti and Watree alike. I bet this is the only time since the last Tourney where they have both been together above surface. I don’t sense much tension between them, though I don’t see anyone socializing together. 

You’re not a Rivertan, you wouldn’t notice slights.

‘Kind of like how I don’t get why different types of Asians seem to hate each other?’

I… I wouldn’t say they hate each other, but yeah, kind of.

When I reach what could be called a food court, the Watree and Riverti sit on opposite sides watching TVs mounted high on both walls while they eat their food. 

As I walk towards the line for the concession box, I listen for the TV to hear the announcer ask the contest questions. “Contestants, you must, to the best of your ability explain the theory of evolution.”

I chuckle as I remember how I probably learned this in middle school or my first and only year of high school, and I barely remember it.

‘You know, you should probably use that Tutor machine yourself,’ Sera tells me.

Nah, what do I need evolution for, when all I do is punch things?

‘It might help you to figure out how to better use your powers if you learn physics,’ she says. ‘At least the basics.’    

I learned chemistry my first year so I got that. Anything else I can learn another time, but not this week. I’d probably be really distracted.

‘You mean like right now,’ Sera points out.

“Human, what do you want?” asks the woman at the concession stand. Once again, I have been caught talking to my demon in public instead of paying attention.

“Um, what’s the best thing on the menu?” I ask with a complete lack of confidence.

“Do all Humans have a hard time listening or just you?” the woman says with attitude.

‘Well that’s rude,’ Sera comments. The blue moon has come, my demon and I are in agreement over something that is not threatening our lives.

“One,” I start saying to the lady, “I highly doubt there’s no such thing as an Attention Deficit Disorder among Rivertans. Two, calling me Human in your tone is insulting. I have a name, and even though you don’t know it, I doubt proper Rivertan manners would have you refer to someone by their race or species. Three, I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention, that’s what happens when you’re a Guardian with a demon in your head, and your concentration is the only thing standing between it and the asshat serving you food!”

‘Little bit of an exaggeration, I have never tried or wanted to control your body.’

She stares at me for while, and once again I can feel the frightened eyes and the daggers being shot in my direction. Though to her credit, she starts over quite nicely. “The thing people order the most is pizza. Is that good?” 

“Rivertans have pizza too?!” I exclaim in shock. Pizza, hands down, the best Human food. Even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty damn good. “I’ll have that! How much?”

“Nothing, food is free during the Tourney.” Then she turns around grabs a box from behind. It reminds me of a pizza box back on Earth, and now I must admit there is one thing I do miss from Earth, the food. When she hands it to me I can smell it through the cardboard. 

Smells just like that from home. 

I thank her for the food, and then run off to take a seat, finding a table between the self-segregated groups of Watree and Riverti. 

Before I open my box of pizza I check up on the contest to catch the tail end of the Riverti contestant’s explanation of the theory of evolution. “—and through the mating of partners with preferred traits species eventually get to the point they are now.”

The announcer lady reminds everyone, “Now the judges must deliberate on what score will be awarded to young Raynine.” 

I turn away during that time to give my full undivided attention to my pizza. 

Before I can do so Sera warns me, ‘It’s probably not how you think it is.’ 

Stop trying to ruin everything, I mouth off to her. Then I open the box.

“Uck,” is my immediate response.

‘Told you so,’ she jabs.

The pizza is shaped in a circle, and after that there are no more similarities. What should be cheese and sauce is this purple jello-looking stuff. The crust is this blue shell like from hard candy. How is this pizza?

‘Probably translates over because of the form of the food.’ Good guess, I guess. 

Then she challenges me, ‘Eat it, I dare you.’

Are you trying to be fun? I ask her.

‘For me maybe. I just want to watch you suffer,’ she admits, though her tone sounds more comical.

I shut the box to deny her her fun. The announcer’s voice comes back on as my saving grace.

“The judges have finished and each will present their score. The average of the three will be Raynine’s final score!” she exclaims with a smile. Has to be fake. 

The TV screen changes to a shot of the three judges who are stationed in the middle of the arena. I missed that before. The first judge pushes a few buttons and his score appears in front of his desk. An 8.2, not bad, though I admittedly was not paying enough attention to see if it was deserved. The next judge went, and gave Ray-whoever her name is, a 8.6. Okay, that would be a ‘B’ in school. Then the last judge went, and gave the contestant an 8.5. Rounding the average to 8.4.

Pretty good score. The announcer then says, “An 8.4, not bad at all. Now it is the turn of Romulic, the winner of the Battle challenge, here to prove he is more than just brawn.” The TV shot then switches to Rom. The announcer motions to remove something from his ears, prompting him to remove earplugs. Clever, that way he can’t just steal the other contestants answer.

“I’m ready,” he says. Then when no one answers he looks around and asks, “It is my turn right?” People laugh in here and I assume in the arena. Once the announcer gets done giggling herself she assures him, “Yes Rom, it is your turn. Start as soon as possible please.”

“Ah, yes, um, okay,” Rom mumbles. Then he places his head down trying to think, which certainly looks like he does not know what he is doing. 

“Um, Rom, you do know what to do?” the announcer asks him in a polite but condescending voice. 

“Yes, yes, just, hmm,” he sighs. Then he takes a big breath. Everyone is quiet waiting for him to start, to mess up. It does not take a genius to realize that logically speaking he should not be up there competing in this challenge. He’s a fighter, not an academic. Everyone, even me, is ready for him to fail, and say something incorrect. Then he opens his mouth.

“The theory of evolution is that all life, you, me, and everyone in the crowd who come from this same planet, is related far down the line, and has descended from a common ancestor. Even the birds and the sea-nupples, the Hydroninads and the flowers, are all related.” 

When Rom finishes that sentence I give myself a power boost so I can listen to the heartbeats in the room. I’m curious to see if I noticethis one thing. In this moment, in fear, the Rivertis’ hearts skip a beat, and the Watrees’ start racing. 

“Depending on the setting, certain traits can become biological tools that a living thing may need to survive, and species breed to cultivate those traits. Overtime this keeps happening as the environment a living thing resides in changes. Over millions of years every species has evolved, and they originally all come from a single celled organism that split to live as two different organisms, to move to two different places.” 

Then he took a pause. 

“I’m done now.”

‘Is it me or was that kind of a basic question? Why are they so shocked?’

To them, this must be like finding out the dog can talk.

‘That feels racist.’

This whole planet is racist, what do you want me to do about it?

“Uh, of course. Please wait for the judges to consult each other, I guess.” The camera shot stays on her for a little while longer than it should have, then it switches to the judges who immediately start talking. 

I turn and lean over to the Riverti to my left. I tap one man on the shoulder and ask, “Was that presentation any good?”

He looks at me bewildered, either from being a Human, or from Rom’s answer. Eventually, he slowly goes through, “Um, I guess. Definitely better than it should be.” Then he turns away from me and swears, “How did a freakin’ Watree know all that? Do they teach that kind of stuff when they’re supposed to be swinging a pickaxe?”

I lean away from him to let the guy curse to himself. I smile as I do so, and take notice of the same happy expressions on the faces of the Watree. The Watree are somewhat unnerved, but somehow in a good way. They are expressing something I don’t think they’ve had in a long time. 

Then I look at the screen and the judges somehow swiftly came up with their answers. Part of me expects a bleak reality, while the greater part of me thinks they might actually give Rom the respect he deserves.

The first judge nods that they are ready and they get all prepared to show their score. The first judge taps some buttons and brings up his score. 

9.2.

Watree leap up immediately and start cheering. I turn around and see the look of absolute death on the faces of the Riverti. Then the next judge comes up.

8.7.

The cheers continue and behind me, I think I hear a Riverti start crying. I turn around and so does a Watree. He walks past me and points at the Riverti, in the general direction of the crying. “Suck it up!” Then he with his smile he turns back around. I guess you can’t expect everyone to not be a sore winner.

Then the last judge comes up as the tone has already been set on both sides of the room. This is it, Rom may actually win, and I won’t have to do anything I will have to regret. The plan for Riverteria will have to change, but Team Sunset will deal with it. 

The third judge brings up his score.

7.1.

Only deafening silence as Rom’s average score comes up.

8.3.

He lost, by 0.1.