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LUNARA
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Chapter Forty-Seven: Musings of Duty - Part Three
Galactic Location: Theocratic Imperium’s cluster
Ruling Government: Theocratic Imperium
Solar System: Adrius
Location: Adrius Prime
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Six months ago
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The holo display counter still hangs in the air ominously, there is scarcely a whisper amongst the group. I try to process what Inquisitor Victoria just said. There are three hundred of us in this room, and more than half of us… will what, just give up our future at being a Knight Commander? No, there was something in her smile that made my skin crawl. How will we decide which of us will stay? Mana in the air stirs as everyone begins exciting their runes, I can feel the pressure increase all around me.
Reality rears its ugly head when I hear a shrill scream from across the room as a girl is mercilessly cut with an Ionic sword, her hand on the ground in front of her in a pool of fresh blood. She pleads for her life. I recognize the boy holding the blade, it’s Dallus, the one who refused my hand earlier. He wears a grin that makes my blood run cold, he pulls the blade across the girl’s throat, blood and gore dust the air as the ions rip the matter apart. Spraying blood from the carotid arteries follows, covering him in it.
“Those who are strong—follow me!” Dallus yells, a smile parting the blood on his face as he turns to his next victim, slicing them from shoulder to stomach before they can draw their blade “Together we will cull the weak!”
I hear heavy footsteps behind me, now grabbing my sword instinctively as I whirl around, activating the blade's handle, a cylinder of metal shoots upwards as light erupts from the hilt, rolling to the top of the cylinder and coming to a point. Revealing my double-edged blade made of ions, it hums against the chorus of madness around me. Blood sprays in every direction. The blades we carry do not cauterize like plasma edges, they cut the fabric of existence itself, severing the bonds of nature.
The ones who were behind me stop, they have also drawn their blades. They all look at me and pause.
“Lunara, are you with us?” Solara asks me quickly, pointing her blade towards me.
I nod to her after glancing around the room quickly and seeing everyone by themselves being hacked apart by groups of people.
“Good.” She says, then to everyone around us she barks “On me! Circle formation!”
Our group moves to the edge of the room staying away from the other groups who give us a wide birth searching for easy prey. We start rolling into a circle, tightening the gaps, all of our Ionic blades humming in the air.
“This is madness,” I say, seeing blood flying in every direction.
“Did no one tell you of the trial?” Solara asks me, but she does not look at me, she is on guard for the other groups that pass by, hunting weaker prey.
“No…”
“Are you good with the blade?” she asks, swiping hers at a group passing too closely.
“Yes,” I reply, not knowing if it’s true in this situation, I have no idea how much training everyone else has.
“Good, stay close to me then,” Solara says, looking me in the eye briefly and nodding to me.
The hologram display changes showing a new number count.
237
“Two hundred and thirty-seven to go!” Claude yells to those guarding the flank who can’t see the holo.
All the people who weren’t in groups now lay dead on the floor, our group numbers seventeen. The smaller groups are starting to join with other groups forming larger ones, lest they become the prey. A group of four joins ours after Solara yells to them, having recognized one of the people. I realize now that if she hadn’t spoken to me, I would probably be dead already. After Dallus had rejected my handshake, I had planned to keep to myself. I push the thought from my mind trying to focus on the present.
I try to count Dallus’s group, but everyone is moving too fast, his is definitely the largest though, after he killed that girl many flocked to him.
176
There are six large groups now, ours numbering twenty, having lost one to another group. We keep our distance from the other groups as much as we can. Guts and blood spill out everywhere, the floor is covered in pools of it, making it slick. The two larger groups make like they are going to face off against each other. Dallus looks towards us and then puts up a fist in the air halting his group, I can’t tell if he is looking at me, or Solara who is next to me still. I look over at her, she swears under her breath. A sickly smile comes over Dallus’s face again as he yells to the other group who halt as well for a parley, their captain looking towards us now, nodding to Dallus.
My heart sinks and my hand begins to shake as I see the groups walking towards us, their swords pointed outwards trying to back us into the corner and press us. The two groups are dripping with blood, their eyes seeking more for their collection. A desperation to survive about them.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Oh, gods no…” Becca whimpers, her hands trembling worse than mine. Her blade barely staying in her grasp.
“Keep your composure! Move with me!” Solara yells to the group as she breaks into a dead sprint to the side, trying to avoid the pincer of the two groups. Dallus barks orders and both groups fan out to stop our movements.
It’s too late, we will all die here, our group is going to be swallowed by the wave of desperate ghouls trying to save themselves by sacrificing us. They are making sickening howling noises now, devolved by the violence, accessing that primitive part of themselves. I need to do something, but there’s nothing I can do, I understand the fear in my father’s face now… I’m going to dishonor House Ravena, I’m going to fail, I’m going to die… I see Becca drop her blade, her face filled with horror as she tries to back away.
My back hits the wall, there’s nowhere left to go. As I fall into the pit of despair, I feel something primal ignite inside of me. I yell and scream in frustration at my fear, slapping myself in the face until blood comes down my cheek from a gash I made. I can feel everyone’s gaze on me now, but I don’t care. I feel the rage boiling up in me at this slagging predicament I find myself in. I refuse to die here, I refuse to let this place kill me. I am a warrior of House Ravena, we do not cower in fear, waiting for the blade. I will be the next Primus of House Ravena. There are trillions of lives that depend on me. I cannot fail here. I will not.
I pick up Becca’s discarded blade and say to her in an almost feral growl “Authorize me.”
“Authorize user.” She says pointing to me with a shaking hand.
Her Ionic blade erupts in my offhand.
“You want the life of a Raven!” I roar at the groups that come closer, both Ionic blades in my hand humming “Come and earn it!”
Time slows in my perception as I release my soul’s pressure, my runes shining brightly now, strength flowing quickly into my frame, clarity removing my doubts. My breath becomes even as I move towards the groups. The mana in the air swells with me. I am not as weak as they think.
A few of them start to back up, I see their weakness and pounce, dashing towards them at a full sprint, the gravity here so weak compared to Ravena Prime’s that I flow like the wind closing the gap in less than a second. Slicing at their legs, cutting off their sword hands as I move. Making them unable to fight.
Their line breaks as they trip backward on each other. I see a sword plunging towards me, everything feels slow now, I move to the side dodging it with ease, and parry with a swift cut at their arm. My Ionic sword slicing through flesh, dusting the air in its matter as I cut the arm clean off. Blood sprays on me, the look of horror on the man’s face burns itself into my memories. I can’t stop here or I will die. The next blade comes nearly taking my head clean off, I barely manage to dodge as it cuts strands of my hair off.
I chop and slash, remembering my training as I move like water flowing through a river, I am careful to not overextend, more careful than them. I push through their line, and the other group senses their weakness and takes the chance to turn on them as well. I hear a rush behind me, I twirl around seeing Solara, she is covered in blood as she slashes someone who tried to kill me from behind.
She motions behind me, I bet everything and trust her to guard my back and not stab it as I whirl around and slash blindly. My sword's edge dancing off another’s. Pressing forward, with my offhand I stab in quick succession into their shoulders, blood bursts from their shirts flowing down their white tunic staining it. There is so much blood on the floor around us I almost slip as I parry another blade. I am stronger than the man who tries to slash at me next. I push him back, his feet sliding on the bloody stone floors. I am much stronger than all of them I realize as the next comes, I have been hardened by Ravena Prime’s gravity and my rigorous training. With Becca's sword, I block the second attack from another person.
I exist only in the moments my Ionic sword flies, cutting apart the flesh of others, all other thoughts are thrown away from me. All of my focus, and all of my being are in these moments. I hear a splash in the blood to my left as I’m being charged by a man and a woman. I stab Becca’s blade into the shoulder of the man’s sword arm, he looks down in shock grasping at the blade, cutting off his own fingers on its ionic edge.
He drops his blade and falls to the ground, the woman looks at him and runs back in fear. I feel a shallow slash cut up my back peeling the flesh. White hot pain focusing me like a cruel master of my senses whipping me around, I turn and see a man who stumbles back when he looks at the rage in my face. His determination is destroyed as hope leaves his eyes. Before I can lunge for him, an Ionic Sword comes through his chest, he drops to the ground, Solara standing over him. Her face painted in blood.
Behind her, I see Dallus who creeps towards her, his blade moving to claim her life, my legs act first, shoving her out of the way with my hip. Dallus’s blade slides shallowly into my abdomen. Time slows to a crawl as I remember my training with Kotina, her voice echoing in my head, telling me not to move forward or pull to the side, otherwise I could be cut in two.
My hands move quickly on reflex alone, as I slice off part of his hand, and the handle of the blade stopping the ionic pulse. The blade dissipates and the handle falls towards the ground, but before it hits, I press my soul’s strength further into my body, the mana stored within erupting, increasing my speed threefold, slashing him across each of his shoulders, removing his arms completely. Dallus’s eyes grow wide as he realizes what has happened, looking down at the stumps of his limbs which spray blood. His soul’s strength rising just enough to stop the flow of blood from his missing extremities. His face is shaking with anger as he falls to the ground.
I feel the swell of artificial gravity pushing everyone else to the floor. The gravity increases again, now so strong it forces even me to a knee. I feel something hit my back. A sharp pain fills my body as I am shocked by electricity bringing me to the floor.
“I said enough!” A voice yells above me as I regain focus, I hadn’t even heard them the first time “There are ninety-three of you alive. This trial is over.”
Only ninety-three alive? But I did not aim to kill anyone. Everyone here is at least past the fourth boundary, you can’t even attempt the preliminary trials without having accomplished that. They should have been able to staunch the bleeding from their missing extremities. Why are so many dead? Was I the only one not aiming to kill? My eyes search those around me, uneasiness begins to flow into me. You can tell which ones use the Imperium’s neural implants, their eyes are placid even as they wipe blood from their faces.
I hear people crying and sputtering up blood on the ground from their wounds and the gravity. I look over and see Dallus, tears parting the gore on his face as he looks back at me, rage in his eyes. I know in this moment, even after the trials are over he will not let this go. The gravity begins to lessen on everyone in the room now so as not to kill more people.
I look over and see Solara clutching a wound on her arm, she looks up at me, then to Dallus, a conflicted look in her eyes. She looks back at me and nods as she rises slowly and offers me a hand. I groan as I take it and stand, clutching my abdomen.
From the outer doors medical staff rush in with med carts and begin to try to save those on the brink that cannot help themselves. Medigel shoots into wounds and the medifoam expands to stop the bleeding. Another group walks around cataloging missing appendages with bio scanners putting them in cryobags to preserve them.
I try to take a step and almost fall over, Solara grabs my arm with her good one and puts it around her shoulder, I look down and see slashes on my legs I hadn’t even felt before. I am lucky they were not deeper.
We make our way to the edge towards where the self-service station is, meant for those without life-threatening injuries. I help her put medigel on her wounded arm. She helps me apply it to my abdomen, my back, and my legs.
“Thank you, Lunara,” She says when we finish. Her eyes are on Dallus, my eyes follow.
He is looking towards us, this time I am sure his eyes are on me. An uneasy feeling sneaks up on me again as I see his lip curl into a smile. I recall Kotina’s advice, never leave an enemy half dead with eyes that seek revenge. For the first time in my life, I think I understand why.
“Call me Luna,” I say to Solara. She turns to me, a small smile on her face as she nods.
I cannot help wondering, as I stare out among the carnage, if this was only the first preliminary trial, what will the real ones be like...