Cancer Grey

Cancer Grey is the main character and protagonist in the upcoming graphic novel, "The Death of Cancer Grey", written and illustrated by Taylor Caudle.

Conception
According to writer and creator Taylor Caudle, the idea of an amorphous, shape-shifting alien anti-hero came from a conglomerate of vague story ideas (a being who could turn into black sand, someone who could make weapons out of their body, and someone who came from space). The final touches were put on the epic of Cancer Grey late 2007, with illustration and primary script-writing beginning late 2008.

== "The Maenad" (Prologue) ==
Billions of years ago, on the distant planet Maenad, a species of reptilian-esque creatures slowly evolved. Over a few million years, their evolutionary adaptation began to show a radical rise in their intelligence. Soon, the creatures developped a rudimentary language, and learned rudimentary mathematics, and called themselves the Maenad. It wasn't for another 10 million years, however, before the Maenad civilization seriously began to rise in the eyes of the other species of the universe (the 5 known sentient species in the universe were the Ton, the Bugs, the Ph 'Tariff, the Machines, and the Relapse; the addition of the Maenad raised that number to 6). After millions upon millions of years, approximately 6,000 years ago, the Maenad species discovered that their bodies were made of 99.997% Existanea, (similiar to the fact that the majority of the human body is made up of the element Carbon) an element seemingly unique to their planet. after further testing, they discovered that their bodies could be manipulated in shape, as long as they could hold together the tight Ionic bonds of their Existanea atoms.

Through many years of refining and developping the art known as "Existana", they were able to develop a system for it's practice. Those Maenad who were younger than 15 years of age were forbidden to practice Existana; those between the ages of 15 and 22 were allowed to hesitantly began preliminary practice; and those who were of 22 years of age or older were allowed to be tutored by members of a RUE (Responsible Use of Existana) establishment. However, tension began to rise between those under the age of 22, and the High Council, who set the guidelines for the use of Existana. Soon, the young and the greedy found a way to shift their bodies using a method that they calle "Black" existana. Using the Existanea element that their planet was so rich in, they were able to sort-of cannibalize the raw element, and gain a quick burst of energy that could be used to quickly change the shape of their body. For a hundred years, tension grew between RUE and the followers of the Black existana, known as BES (Black Existana Society). Then one day the leader of BES, a Maenad named Ra' Jiik, attemtped to use black existana to shift form. To his utter horror, however, his body became trapped in an obscure form, unlike anything he had ever seen. After many isolated tests on himself, he discovered that those who used black existana had built up a sort-of immunity to Existanea, and henceforth required much much more in order to execute even the simplest of transformations. Ra' Jiik held a BES meeting, and tried to keep the disastrous information quiet. But the information was leaked, however, and soon RUE began to petition for black existana to be outlawed. Those addicted to the dark art submitted to the new law, seeing no other option; until it was discovered that the average Maenad body contained a quantity of Existanea that was a thousand-fold more powerful than that of the average pebble or stone of the planet's surface. It was almost at that exact moment that the Ra' Jiik War began.

Those who followed Ra' Jiik and his army of deformed brethen were branded with the simple title of "Ra' Jiik", and were ordered to be killed on sight (the death of a Maenad or a Ra' Jiik can only be attained be breaking apart over 60% of the being's molecular structure, using an Neuron canon, to offset the Ionic bonds between the being's atoms, or even by simply tearing the being apart). Soon however, the Ra' Jiik led an all-out assault on High City, capital city of planet Maenad. The Maenad fleet was seemingly under manned, and defeat seemed imminent, until a civilian woman named Cassandra, of the Grey'n family line led the civilian population in a frenzied attack on the invading army. though casualties were heavy, the battle was eventually reduced to a hand-to-hand fight between Ra' Jiik himself, and Cassandra Grey'n. After taking an almost fatal blow to the chest, Cassandra caught Ra' Jiik of guard, and killed him with repeated shots from a hidden Neuron canon that she kept hidden in her belt. The remaining Ra' Jiik were hunted down, and killed in a 4-year period known as the Reclaiming, and Cassandra Grey'n was made the First Queen of Castle Maenad. For a thousand years she ruled, until approximately 100 years ago, she passed away from an unknown cause (common Maenad deaths come from the disintegration of the body's ability to hold together it's molecules after anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 years. Canssandra did not die from this). Before she died however, she gave birth to two sons. The eldest by three days, was named Omarion; the younger one was named Cancer. since they were both male, the " 'n " suffix was dropped off of their surname, making the new leaders of planet Maenad Cancer and Omarion Grey, First Kings of Castle Maenad. Cassandra died when they were each almost 34 years old.

For 50 odd years, they ruled together, until one day, Omarion relayed a disturbing message to the High Council, the leaders of RUE who, since the end of the Ra' Jiik War, served as the Kings' advisors. He clamied to have recieved intel that a small band of Ra' Jiik were living on a moon in a distant solar system, and that he planned on taking the entire fleet their to wipe them out, without ANY chances of escape. The High Council agreed, all except for the eldest of the RUE, none other than the youngest brother of Ra' Jiik himself. After Omarion left with the fleet, the Eldest called Cancer Grey into his chambers, and told him that his brother had a strange aura, and aura of temtptation and mischief, and that Cancer had to follow him, and make sure that the King had no hidden agenda. Cancer Grey obliged, and leaving an imposter in his stead, set out to follow his brother using his custom made stealth-ship. He soon found the fleet, stationed in a loose encasement of a small moon. moving to the surface, using his senses to track down his brother, he soon found a dropship that had just landed in a small clearing within a jungle. Cancer Grey landed about a mile away, and hurriedly raced through the forest of vines and leaves, swamp and all manner of things wet. When he found his brother, standing alone, surrounded by bodies, he hid nearby, watching intently. Soon, a gangly looking creature emmerged from the jungle, an eye-less, sharp-toothed, frail looking creature. after a hurried coversation bewteen Omarion and the Ra' Jiik, Cancer Grey had discovered his brother's secret; that Omarion Grey was in fact trained in both the art of Existana, as well as Black Existana. He intened to return home, or at least look like he was intending to, and then set the fleet's jump coordinates into the center of the sun. He would then come back to the moon and lead what apparently was an enormous population of Ra' Jiik numbering in the trillions, back to Planet Maenad for it's use as food. Cancer Grey was distraught, but through his anguish he found strength, and lept ouf hiding. He killed the Ra' Jiik instantly, and mortally wounded Omarion. after a brief monologue in which Cancer portrays his disgust for Omarion, he flees in his ship, trying to warn the Fleet of their King's treason, but is unable to use the brodcast radio due to Omarion clogging up the channel which orders to shoot and kill a "fleeing Ra' Jiik" that was leaving the planets surface in a captured stealth fighter.

Cancer Grey escapes narrowly, and returns home. He tells the High Council of this treachery, and they spend 3 days trying to come up with ways to defend themselves (Cancer Grey's ship had a msaller, lighter speed-engine that enable him to return home in half a day, while the fleet would need at least 3). After realizing that their only options were to die horribly and slowly, through cannibalism, or die from an instataneous incineration of the planet by overloading one of it's two reactor cores, they chose the latter. They loaded up Cancer Grey's ship with all of RUE's ancient secrets, an archive of Existana knowledge that no single Maenad had even had access to, and was sent on a high priority last mission; to investigate and, if need be, protect at all costs, a new carbon-based life form that had evolved at the opposite end of the universe. after a teary fairwell, Cancer Grey over loaded the planets fusion cores, and took off into space, leaving the system so he didn't have to watch the incineration of his home planet. Meanwhile, omarion had to drastically alter his plan, and so decided to return to planet Maenad first, with his fleet, and sabotage the fleet, letting th Ra' Jiik invade. Hoewever, on returning to find their planet destroyed, the Maenad King was a mixture of furious and distraught. However, there were a few survivors, Maenad who had been in the system but outside the blast range. One survivor, a Maenad named Myth, told Omarion that he witnessed Cancer Grey and a bunch of cloaked men raiding the Archives just before he left the planet, only minutes before it exploded. Using this new information, Omarion told the fleet that their only remaining duty was to kill Cancer Grey, the one who "murdered their loved ones, destroyed their homeplanet, and stole their secrets." The fleet set off following Cancer Grey, with Omarion secretly signaling for the Ra' Jiik to follow at a discreet distance. Omarion had a suspicion that wherever Cancer Grey was going, there would be lots of food.

This concludes the prologue to the Cancer Grey epic, called "The Maenad".

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