‘I can feel her presence, mine kindred.” Selt, who had been silent since they had left the vampire’s abode, suddenly spoke with a voice that faintly concealed some emotions. “I can feel the aura of my goddess. It is faint but undeniable.’
Ephy, the goddess of life and nature that Selt had once served. Sett had his suspicions when he heard Stella speak of the history of this place and Selt confirmed his thoughts.
Sett perked his ears and listened keenly to Selt’s words, knowing that anything that regarded the goddess he formerly served could prove to instrumental to his survival.
‘What does that mean for me.’
‘Nothing and everything. Simply be aware that the essence of a former god, especially that of a greater god, can be lucrative, even if it is only in the inferior quality that is currently in front of us. Its presence can be either a boon or a curse. Treasure or monster. Which it is, only the future will tell.’
Sett caught himself before he nodded at Selt’s words, unused to the fact that he had to hide his secret conversation partner from the wider world.
He looked down at the realm that would be his home for the foreseeable future. His home and his prison. He had, after all, been brought here against his will, confined to the relatively shallow spaces of the realm. But, as far as prisons went, Sett was rather happy with the one that he had been thrown into.
Disregarding his thoughts of freedom and rebellion for later, Sett noticed that they had almost touched down.
“Alright, I have to report to the admiral after we land, so you two will have to do without me.” Stella spoke to both Sett and Adina but then turned to whisper a few words to Sett. “I don’t know the reason why you are here nor how long you will be here, but you should try not to make an enemy out of Adina. Despite everything, she is likely to be one of a small group of people that you can rely on in this place.”
Sett nodded softly, completely agreeing with Stella’s words. His gaze fell on Adina, who had long since regained her cold exterior. Though Adina’s personality was, in his own opinion, rather obstinate and unapproachable, he could still vaguely feel the true personality that was buried beneath the cold surface. She clearly placed great emphasis on work and discipline, but underneath the surface, Sett could see that she valued morals and relationships.
He had seen the way that she would constantly gaze at her sister’s work whenever she thought that no one was looking. He had seen the worry in her eyes whenever her sister spoke without thought. Not the angered worry of a commanding officer, but rather the worry of family.
That and the fact that she was a rather high-tiered ascendant made for rather compelling reasons not to get on her bad side.
Thus, even if Stella had not spoken to him, Sett would have chosen to at least attempt to befriend the ice-cold vice-captain.
After a couple of minutes, the warship landed in one of the few places in the Seventh Eden where buildings had completely overtaken nature.
With a vigorous shaking of its suspension system, the shuttle landed.
“You, with me.”
Adina commanded Sett to follow after her and Sett complied without any reason to complain.
Soon, they stood among the ranks of crusaders, still bathed in the blood of their enemies but many times better than earlier.
“I am leaving Sergeant Miles and Sergeant Selica in charge of this operation. You are to report and transport the prisoners that we have gathered from the raid to the master of operations after which you will receive further orders. Questions?” Adina’s gaze passed over the mass of gathered crusaders. “Good. Go and complete your orders.”
In one collective motion, the crusaders saluted their commanding officer and began to complete their orders. With great efficiency the crusaders quickly ferried the still unconscious people elsewhere, leaving only Sett and Adina in the area.
“We aren’t going with them.”
Unable to hold his tongue anymore, Sett questioned why Sett was not going to be brought to the same place as the other sacrifices.
“We are not.” Adina began to move in a different direction than the crusaders under her command and Sett followed. “For reasons that I fail to comprehend, the grandmaster desires to meet you. That being said, he is currently entertaining guests from the western Gliese Church, so I have been tasked with showing you around The Seventh Eden.”
Colour drained from Sett’s face and he almost cursed out loud before catching himself. This was bad. Very bad. The Grandmaster himself wanted to meet him. He had secretly hoped that this would not be the case.
If his only contact with the high-tiered ascendants in The Seventh Eden was people like Captain Thomas, Sett felt that he could say with much safety that they would not discover his secrets. After all, the captain had been aware of him before and had failed to immediately discern his uniqueness. The grandmaster, on the other hand, should be at least a little stronger than the captain and thus stood a better chance at discerning his secrets.
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Sett re-evaluated his plan. Run or continue to along with the crusaders. The warship was only a couple of meters away from him. If he ran for it, he might be able to fly away.
No, Sett knew that was impossible. There were eyes everywhere. At least twenty crusaders remained at this landing area, all of which were stronger than he currently was, and it was not as if he could ignore Adina. If he tried to run, he would likely not even make it more than a few meters before being restrained or cut down.
To his great chagrin, he could only continue to walk along with Adina to his almost certain doom.
“It seems that the command is wishing for you and your fellow prisoners from the vampire’s abode to be quartered in our Seventh Eden. I will show you our facilities and explain the rules, but I will only do so once. Ensure that you listen well.”
“I will endeavour to be a good student, Vice-captain Adina.”
Adina merely scuffed at Sett’s halfway sarcastic remark.
“As you might have guessed, this place is the hangar of The Seventh Eden. It holds a total of one hundred corvettes and five frigates. If you are ever going on missions in the Prime Material Realm this is where you will depart from, but in every other case it is off-limit.”
Sett almost staggered at the immense number of warships that the crusader order had access to. Even if you discounted their ascendant power, they still held considerable power in terms of military power.
Perhaps, if he behaved well, they would be willing to let him try out as a pilot someday.
While Sett was daydreaming of better days, Adina had walked further ahead.
“The Seventh Eden is made up of five large islands and fifty-seven minor islands. We are currently on the fourth island known mainly as the armament island. It houses our hangar and our other large-scale weaponry.”
Sett looked to the countless large buildings that were scattered on the island. He could easily imagine huge mechs and other similarly incredible weaponry hidden behind the exterior.
The two of them soon crossed a bridge, allowing them to peer directly into the depths below.
“I doubt I need to mention it, but I would not recommend standing too close to the edge. Falling off the islands would leave you falling into the in-between and perhaps into our unknown realms.”
It was beyond strange. Sett was looking downwards, but all he saw was the skies. It defied all that he had ever known in his life. To fall into such a void would surely be horrifying.
They crossed the bridge and arrived at another of the large islands. This one barely had any buildings on it and was largely composed of a large open area. This area was filled to the brim with crusaders doing many different things. Most were doing a drill with their platoon, while others were exercising by their lonesome.
A few figures simply sat still in the middle of all this, seemingly doing absolutely nothing. A quick look with Sett’s mind’s eye quickly revealed this statement to be false. These still figures were all ascendants, and they all were greedily absorbing essence from the world as if they were black holes devouring light.
“This is the training fields. It is where the platoons conduct their team training and where you will find one-on-one training. With a few exceptions, it is also the best place in the entirety of The Seventh Eden to enhance your body through ascendancy.”
Sett barely paid attention to Adina’s words. The sight before him was simply too incredible and a little frightening. The number of crusaders here that were high-levelled ascendants was simply too many. From where he stood, he could count more than ten that looked to as strong as Captain Thomas or even stronger. If he looked for people on Adina’s level, he would not even bother to start. There were simply far too many to count. At least over a hundred.
The sheer power of the people in this place was, to say it simply, overwhelming. It really put it into perspective how much of a difference there was between factions. The crusaders were countless times stronger than the vampires and the dragon order was countless times stronger than the crusaders. The sheer scale was frightening.
“The training fields might seem chaotic at first, but everything that goes on around here has its place. You must remember to defer to the strong. The stronger you are, the more space you are allowed to claim within the training grounds. It is an unspoken rule and one you would do well to follow.”
Sett could see the truth of her words with his own eyes. The ordinary crusaders were training clumped together in large groups, while those of tier two or higher were given a large girth. Strength really did give you many benefits, even in this place.
“Morning, Vice-captain Adina!”
As they were passing by the training field a voice accosted them or rather accosted Adina. The voice was thick with jeering and sarcasm. Sett’s knowledge from the streets of Gliese Prime told him that the owner of said voice was not here to make merry.
“Greetings, Sergeant Galloway.”
Adina replied with only the most basic of courtesy without saying anything further, leaving her intentions of where this conversation was heading clear.
“What’s with the coldness, Vice-cap?” Sergeant Galloway replied with derision. “I cannot be that you are still peeved about our last interaction?”
“Don’t push it.”
Adina’s voice was low and clearly warned her opponent not to go any further.
“What? Are you not out here to parade your new boyfriend? Truth be told, I am glad that you decided to give up on your dear Captain Thomas, he was never really in the right caste for people such as us.”
Adina’s eyes narrowed with barely suppressed rage. From where Sett stood, it was clear that she was incredibly close to losing all self-control and hitting the brazen sergeant with all her might.
Honestly, Sett could not blame her if she did. He would probably have done the same if he were in her situation. Insulting her lover like that, was simply meanspirited and childish.
Adina’s pressure gushed outwards as her emotions took over her actions, forcing Sett to retreat a couple of meters. The sergeant responded in kind with a pressure that did not lose out too much.
Only at the last moment before confrontation seemed inevitable, did she manage to calm down.
“Sergeant Galloway, I recommend that you step aside and cease with your comments, in consideration that I am to bring this individual to the Grandmaster at the earliest opportunity. I would hate to report to him the reason for our delay.”
Adina’s voice was so cold that it almost felt physical. Even Sett felt shivers at the barely veiled threats in her words. At the same time, his admiration for the vice-captain grew. Despite being infuriated to this point, she had still made a grand and cunning comeback. It was something that Sett doubted any lesser person could do.
The Sergeant’s eyes grew wide as he heard Adina’s words. His eyes flickered between Adina and Sett multiple times before his pressure retreated back into his body.
“I see. You best be on your way then. Glory to the order.”
Like that, a seemingly pointless conflict was averted. Still, Sett felt there were more hidden behind the scenes than what was really shown.