The First in a Trilogy 

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Nobody knew where it came from, but everyone felt its presence.  The vast shield that wrapped the planet revolved indistinctly above the ground.  Some said they heard its faint hum, but most heard nothing.  Like a shadow in the corner of your eye, you couldn’t quite focus on it.

People said it was built to protect life on Gara. When the molten core of the planet cooled, the lifesaving magnetic shell around the world began to dwindle.  Without the shield, everything on the home planet would fry to a crisp in seconds.  But nobody knew for sure.  Records did not show when it was built, who by, or why.  No one could say how it stayed up there, or who maintained it.  It was known as the Great Protector.

Whatever light there was from the three suns, diffused across the shield leaving a greyish glow in the sky all day, every day.  People called it a dark light. The surface of Gara was never warm now, held in a permanent semi-darkness.  Dank and cold, the climate never varied from day to day, or season to season.