Epilogue
A calm sea breeze brushed back Alwen’s hair and caused her robes to flutter in the wind, she took in a deep breath and let out a sigh. The air smelled just like she remembered, an undefinable quality separated it from the ocean scents of Earth, Mars, Verdant, or even Pandemonium. There was an underlying calmness to the air on Torwen that she hadn’t know she was missing, like the soft scents of sandalwood or teak, but also not like those very Terran scents.
People, her people, passed by as she stopped on the seaside path, some giving her the side eye as they took in her strange appearance. She couldn’t blame them; her clothes were very different from what a typical Altoran women would wear. Everyone around her wore soft pastel colors, thick long sleeved woolen sweaters, and skirts that danced around their ankles. While she on the other hand wore a hybridized set of robes, inspired from her Hellworlder family and the clothes that was their uniform, and her own uniform as a Healer of Ashendra. Madam Ito had made a fuss about how they weren’t truly authentic, but Alwen pointed out that most of the tones and textures that were traditionally used wouldn’t match her violet skin tone. That seemed to be a greater sin to the cranky women, so she had decided to borrow from Torweni culture and from the uniform of healers to make Alwen a set of truly unique clothing.
Out of a need for practicality over fashion Alwen had opted for men’s robes instead of the frilly ones worn by women, but Madam Ito had opted to embroider the hem with delicate looking flowers Alwen didn’t know the name of.
Alwen didn’t fail to see how their eyes dipped towards the two blades at her hip, one was Makaze, and the other was a Wakizashi gifted to her by Captain Astarte after she had finally received the mark. There usually wasn’t much ceremony to the procedure, most people just got it done the day after they joined the ship. But since Alwen had put it off for so long and was about to take the mantle as the ship’s chief medical officer there had been a large celebration to mark the occasion. They had taken over an empty warehouse near the dry docks on Noctis and had filled the area with beer, music, and lots of dancing around a bonfire. And as she emerged with a fresh demonic seal burned into her chest they had begun to sing that damned song. The Ballad of Bones the Godslayer had grown into the legend of Saint Bones the Godslayer, and had pretty much become the ships anthem. The verses and beat had changed a lot since its first iteration, but now it seemed that the whole crew had collectively decided on a one codified version as everyone was able to sing it without missing a beat. She had even heard that the other Archdevil class cruisers were trying to compose their own anthems, and she was curious what they might come up with and had hoped it would take some of the attention off her and that embarrassing song the crew sang at every opportunity.
After she had nearly died of embarrassment, Gato had gently guided her close to the fire and began to dance the opening steps to the Torweni dances she had spent most of their date teaching him. She hadn’t been upset that she had to spend most of the night teaching him to dance, in fact it had been fun to watch him trip over his own paws for once. So often when they were training it had been him slowly guiding her through the steps in Terran sword play, firmly correcting her form at every misstep. Now she had the chance to return the favor and that made the night all the more fun, especially when he finally got the gist of it and adapted the alien dance to his own unique physiology. His legs while capable of bipedal locomotion, weren’t human or Torweni so they couldn’t move the same way. But he had spent a lifetime learning how to get his body to do exactly what he wanted and in no time he was whisking her around the fire . At times he flowed gently into the steps, and at other when the music picked up he stepped into the motion with vigor and passion.
And after that, when they had retuned to the Hellworlder dorms, he had shown her many moves to a dance she had yet to learn. In bed he moved a lot like he did in life, at times slow and gentle, and at others he had a raw animalistic passion.
Alwen’s face flushed at the memory of it despite the cold wind blowing off the sea, and she shook her head to refocus herself on the task before her. Many of the Astaroth’s crew began to slowly vanish from Martian society to relocate to Pandemonium, some had taken an early retirement after the traumatic events of their mad dash, and others had been promoted to fill those holes. Kat and Kavic left the Astaroth so that Kat could become a captain of a newly built destroyer the Barghest, and had brought a fraction of the more experienced crew with them. To fill the gaps the Astaroth had taken on a lot of new recruits, and right now Alice, Gato, Highland, and Heizer were all busy training their new recruits, and Alwen was trying to find suitable medics and doctors to fill out her own division.
So here she was back home, or more accurately back on Torwen, because something felt wrong. She felt like a complete outsider as she walked her usual route to a nearby tea shop she had visited daily before joining the Astaroth. She realized that while the old Alwen had a place and home amongst this society ,the new Alwen, Bones, didn’t belong here. Her strange clothes and mysterious weapons were only part of the reason people watched her cautiously, the other part was the honed aura of danger and tension that surrounded her.
It had been somewhat noticeable on Earth when the hardened people of New Mombasa stepped out of her way, but here the difference was like night a day. The people around her had only known peace and tranquility for the last century, social programs and welfare had made hardship and strife the exception rather than the norm, and the only real conflict most people experienced was the petty interpersonal kind. These people hadn’t seen the strange monsters Bones had, they didn’t know what it meant to think that death was just around the corner, or how dangerous the greater galaxy truly was. Torwen might be a deathworld, but it was a stable one. Once peace had been achieved in the Sun God’s all major conflicts had vanished, no major wars, or devasting clashes of beliefs. They didn’t understand that through no fault of their own that there was a massive interstellar empire that wanted them dead or enslaved.
It felt strange to be walking the streets of her home city and know that she could never really feel home here again. She felt like she should be sad about this, but deep within her heart she knew that she never really belonged here. All her life on Torwen had been leading up to her leaving and becoming Bones, everything else was just a place holder or prelude to her real life.
She continued walking until she came upon the familiar shop front, a place she had spent all her free time after med school to get away from the oppressive gaze of her jealous older sister. The very same place where she had sent and received her first emails from the Astaroth over a year ago. She stepped through the front door and heard all the wonderful sounds and smell of a good tea shop.. Sitting around a slightly pink and orange wood table in the corner were four young and overworked looking Torweni healers. One of them turned towards the door and gawked at Alwen as she walked over, he scanned her up and down as if comparing her to whatever he had been imagining. Alwen smiled at him and strode across the room to stand in front of the people she had once considered her closest friends, which was more a statement of her low standards than their actual closeness.
“Hello Kana” Alwen said cheerfully. Despite the fact that they hadn’t really been that close Alwen really was happy to see her old friends from med school.
“Is-, are you really Alwen?” he asked dumbly.
She quirked her head to the side and smiled mischievously “Not really, but that’s a long story.”
Menda, the blue skinned girl whose friendship Alwen had clung to like a life raft, stood up. “If you’re not Alwen then who are you?” her words had a slight drawl to them, a remnant of her rural mountain upbringing.
Alwen shrugged “Still Alwen, just not the same one you knew”
“I’ll say” Vira said in wonder as she looked Alwen up and down appraisingly. She had deep red skin, and despite being raised entirely in Altoray, some of her parents islander lascivious nature had certainly rubbed off. Even despite the windy weather she wore a top that fully revealed her cleavage. “Damn girl, you got buff, and what are you wearing?”
Alwen turned to Vira, they had never been very close, and Alwen always suspected she held a grudge from that one-time Alwen had coldly shrugged off her amorous advances. But now she looked at Alwen with a brand-new light in her eyes. “they’re called Kimono, they’re the uniform of my new home.” Alwen answered while gesturing at an open chair “Mind if I?”
Menda snapped out of his awe and nodded his head. Alwen pulled the chair out and sat, taking just a second to readjust her sword belt which drew their attention to the blades at her hip. Menda cleared his throat “Isn’t it illegal to carry weapons like that?”
Alwen nodded “For most it is, but I have special permission from the Temple of Torwen.”
“How did you swing that” Vira asked, not accusing just curious.
Alwen smirked “another long story, and not the reason I’m back on Torwen.”
All four of them stared at her blankly, and the up until now silent Foru spoke up “So, you really went to space and worked on an alien spaceship?” His words sounded like a question, but she knew that the stoic man was just outright stating a fact. He was taller than the average Torweni man, and he shared her violet skin, pale white hair, and high cheekbones. He was Kana’s friend and Alwen had gotten to know Foru because he was the friend of Menda’s boyfreind. They were less friends and more acquaintances through social circumstances. That said he had always been kind and polite to her, and was one of the few people who encouraged Alwen to pursue a career in space.
Alwen nodded “Yes” she said before switching to English “BC-01 Astaroth, flag ship of second fleet.”
They all blinked several times “What language was that, it didn’t sound like what the other aliens spoke?” Vira asked.
“It was English, what you typically hear from the Union is called Galactic standard, it’s the universal language that’s normally spoken by most species. But the crew I joined is entirely Terran, so I also had to learn English and a bit of Spanish.”
They exchanged side glances with each other “We’ve heard about the Terrans, there was some sort of massacre on a Union station that involved them about a half year ago, it was so big even we heard about it.” Menda said.
Alwen smirked “Yeah, I was there when it happened. But it wasn’t the Terrans who caused it, they were just the target.” She said, knowing that they meant the Egh’ahd attack on Femeri.
“Yeah, but after that we started to hear a lot of rumors about the Terrans, we were worried about you. We saw a video of one literally tearing people in half, another one slaughtered a whole group of Oroptith looking aliens with a just a sword, looked like she was missing an eye too.” Menda pressed.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Alwen recognized the description “Yeah, that last one sounds like the captain. She got her whole eye blown out by a grenade in a sneak attack that day. Did the news mention that the Oroptith looking aliens were space pirates who were attacking the station?”
They looked confused “No, they said there was a pirate attack, and then just played a lot of video of Terrans fighting, we thought they were the pirates.”
Alwen shook her head, they weren’t entirely wrong, but she didn’t need to say that right now “The pirates attacking the station were those other aliens, they’re called Egh’ahds, me and my friends just got wrapped up in the chaos.” She said, not technically lying, at least not by Terran definitions.
They exchanged another round of looks “Yeah but still, they were tearing apart those pirates like they were nothing. How can you work with a crew who are strong enough to tear you limb from limb?”
Alwen snorted “Maybe a Gorilla or Gato could tear my arms off, but most of them are about as strong as me. Your forgetting that we’re deathworlders just like the Terrans.”
Kana scowled “We’re not deathworlders, their system made a mistake. We’re nothing like those Terrans!”
Alwen felt her smile drop, she shook her head “Your wrong.” She said softly “I’ve spent a year with them, and I can tell you we have more in common than two alien species have any right to. Those Egh’ahds have a venomous bite, but when one bit me it went into cardiac arrest just from the taste of my blood. I’ve compared our bacteria to common Union diseases, if the common sniffle ever crossed the species barrier it would wipe out an entire planets population. Even cornered, outgunned, and outnumbered, me and my friends tore through those pirates and jumped through fire unscathed. Under the effects of standard gravity we could leap and jump through the station’s tunnels like a swarm of sand mites. I didn’t really understand it when I left Torwen, but we’re deathworlders through and through, just like the Terrans.”
Kana looked unnerved by her statement, and Vira glanced at her sympathetically “I take it you haven’t had the easiest time out there?” she asked.
Alwen shook her head “No, I had a friend die in my arms that night, and had to stitch the captain back together while the whole station was in total chaos. The worst part is, since then I’ve faced much scary threats.”
“And that’s what you want us to sign on for?” Menda asked pointedly, bringing them to the crux of Alwen’s visit.
Alwen nodded solemnly “Yes, its not an easy life by any means, and I’ve had many nightmares since. But if I could go back in time to change things, point myself down a different direction or stop myself from ever leaving Torwen I wouldn’t. Some things in life can only be learned the hard way. And I had my friends by my side through every step, you’ll be hard pressed to find more loyal or dedicated friends than the Hellworlders.”
They went silent, and Alwen allowed then a chance to consider her proposition. She had been on Torwen for about a week, and she had reached out to them on her first day back, offering them a place aboard the Astaroth and a very sizable pay. They all knew the terms and conditions, and now they needed to decide for themselves whether it was worth the pain. They were going to be under her direct supervision as the Astaroth’s chief of medicine, she could shield them from some of the hardship, but not all of it.
Alwen heard the door to the shop open and heard the short, dreadful, clipped steps of something Alwen used to fear. “So this is why you all requested the same day off, the laziest and stupidest new recruits I’ve seen in years all conspiring together.” A haughty voice said from behind Alwen. She couldn’t see who was speaking, but from the familiar tone of voice, and the fear on her friends faces meant it could only be one women.
“This is a private meeting Toray, leave.” Alwen said calmly, not even bothering to look back.
“And who are you, I’m the head priestess of this city’s Temple of healers, you have no right to order me around.” The haughty Toray snapped at her.
Alwen felt her eye twitch and she stood up slowly and faced her sister head on. Toray had made much of Alwen’s life after med school a living hell, relegating her to low level nurse work while also finding a way to make the simple tasks seem grueling and miserable. She had feared this women, but now Alwen couldn’t see why. Her face and skin color were similar to her own, and one could call her features strikingly beautiful if it weren’t for the permanent sneer. She was a little shorter than Alwen which put her at the average height for Torweni women, but when compared to the Isabela who was average height for humans she seemed short, and against the captain she was practically a child. She wore the short-sleeved shirt of Ashendra’s healers and the white shawl of head priestess around her head and tying back her hair.
Alwen scanned her sister up and down, and was thoroughly unimpressed. How had she ever been scared of this women? Gato was nearly twice Toray’s height and could crush bricks with his bare paws. Alice had the feline grace to slip over a battlefield and shred someone with her claws. And when Aster drew her sword she was like living death, deftly dancing through chaos and leaving only headless corpses behind. Compared to those people Alwen now counted as her real family this women only seemed small and petty.
Alwen leveled a cold glare she had seen many times from Astarte on her sister “The last I checked, a head priestess does not hold dominion over a tea shop.” she growled softly, letting some of her residual anger creep into her voice.
Toray looked shocked for a moment “Alwen?” she said in dumbfounded shock “You went missing a year ago!”
“No, I went to space, I told you where I was going, but I guess you forgot.”
After confirming that it really was Alwen before her Toray regained her confidence “Well, seems you’ve come crawling back from your little ‘adventure’” she said mockingly, as if her journey amongst the stars was something to be ashamed of. “If you think you still have a place in my temple then you’re dead wrong, and don’t bother running off to father he won’t give you a single shell after you embarrassed him just like Kalwen.”
Alwen quirked an eye “His name is Modius now, Captain Modius of the Hellworlder fleet.”
Toray blinked in surprise, not expecting the sudden revelation. “You’ve seen him?”
“Seen him, he’s the one who got me my job on the Astaroth, where I’m the Chief of Medicine.”
“He, works on the same ship as you, as in spaceship?” her sister asked incredulously.
Alwen judged how much to tell her sister, Modius’ orders from the Admiralty were still a secret to most citizens. But the only person Toray could tell of consequence was their father and he already knew what was going on. “No, he has his own ship, Asmodeus. Now I won’t say it again, leave.”
Her sister didn’t seem to hear or care about Alwen’s request, she seemed to be mulling over some new information. “Chief of Medicine?” She mused out loud before coming to a realization “are you here to steal my doctors?”
Alwen quirked her head “And if I am?” she asked, her tone dancing on the razors edge of anger. She didn’t fear her sister anymore, but she did find her attitude wearisome.
Toray looked past Alwen to the nervous looking people behind her. “Are you looking to jump ship?” she asked with a sneer “think Alwen can offer you something better aboard some dingy alien spaceship, ha! If you four don’t return to work right now I will not only fire the lot of you, but I’ll burn you so hard the only medical work you’ll be able to find will be in Bikail, I hope you enjoy freezing your asses off.”
She saw that her friends were starting to lose their nerve, despite how much they hated working for Toray they still feared her. Even the prospect of escaping her made them afraid. Alwen decided that she needed to break their fear of her before they could make a decision with a clear conscious.
“Toray?” Alwen said sweetly as she felt a devilish glee over what she was about to do. “Do you see this sword at my hip?”
Toray heard her words and looked down to Alwen’s side, noticing the swords for the first time. Her eyes went wide.
“The short one is a Wakizashi, it was a gift from my boss when I signed on. The other one I inherited from a soft spoken Hellworlder who had in turn inherited it from a mighty warrior. Its called Makaze, it means Evil Wind, do you want to know why?”
Toray looked confused and was about to open her mouth to say something, but faster than her sister could react Alwen drew Makaze and swung for her sisters exposed neck. Toray saw the blade coming and was paralyzed by fear, she closed her eyes tightly as the blade came right for her. Had it been the Alwen who had first left this world to flee from her family then she was more viable to hurt herself than her sister. But she wasn’t that Alwen anymore, she was Bones.
The blade stopped just before her sisters neck, and the force of the swing with the abrupt stop caused a gust of wind to brush past her sister’s face. When Toray realized she wasn’t dead she opened her eyes to stare at the blade hovering mere centimeters before her neck. Alwen held the blade there and peered down its dark steel directly into her sister eyes “Because that’s all its victims would feel before their head fell from their shoulders” she said, her voice as cold as the grave.
Her sister softly shook her head, fear obviously made her want to collapse, but she held herself up. “Y,y,your done for now! Attacking a Head Priestess of Ashendra!”
Alwen frowned “I didn’t attack you, if I attacked you, you’d be dead right now. I am just punishing someone beneath me for their poor behavior that reflects poorly on the temple as a whole.”
“Beneath you?” Toray questioned.
Alwen rotated the blade and let the sleeve on that arm fall a bit, exposing the fresh tattoo on her right arm.
She had been on Torwen for a week, and she hadn’t been idle. The first day after she arrived she requested a meeting with Head Priestess Genta Miy and Admiral Kedi. With both present she had shared the tale of her time with the Hellworlders and explained why she had broken her vows and how she had to continue breaking them, Admiral Kedi had confirmed everything she said as truth. Alwen had begged the Head Priestess for forgiveness and absolution, but also said she would accept her expulsion from the order with dignity.
To which the Head priestess of Ashendra, and Alwen’s idol since she was a little girl, burst into a cackling laugh. Unknown to Alwen the Head Priestess head been in on the conspiracy from day one and had been looking for a way to prepare the Temple for the coming war. And Alwen had just given her the answer to her a silver platter. It was not only her earnest plea, but also the Bora or Orath Alwen had tied to her sword that inspired the Head Priestess to resurrect a long dead order, the Order of Orath.
In the age of the Three Plagues a woman who had once been a mighty warrior of the war god Torwen and had instead decided to give up the blade to become a healer. When war came to her Temple, an elderly Orath picked up the blade one last time and held off the enemy so that her friends and family could flee. For a short time after her death the survivors of her temple turned themselves to the path of the warrior and founded the Order of Orath, warrior women who could both fight and heal the wounded in a time of great upheaval. Their order helped end the war and defend the peace, but without conflict they began to lose recruits and disbanded after a few generations.
The Head Priestess saw the Bora with the symbol of Orath and was inspired to recreate the order, with Alwen being the Head priestess of it. She was then inducted into the Temple of Torwen and marked by both Temples with a looping tattoo of sailors knots that told the story of Orath.
“Things are changing sister” Alwen said in a soft whisper so that only she could hear, and then a little louder Alwen said “the Order of Orath has been revived, those who join and show their worth will not only have a place amongst the Hellworlder fleet but also a place of honor here on Torwen. I came here looking for initiates, and so long as they take both the mark of Orath and Astaroth, they will have a brilliant future.” She withdrew the blade from her sisters neck and slid it back into its sheath. She turned to see the stunned looks behind her “I am now Head Priestess Alwen of the Order of Orath, but if you join me now then you can call me Chief Bones. I’ll let my sister plead her case, but if you want to join me I’ll be waiting outside for your decision.”
With that said she turned and walked out without looking back, she pushed through the door and was about the find a place to stand, when she heard the door open again. She turned to see all four had stood up and followed her out, “That was fast.” She remarked.
Vira shrugged “We already know everything Toray has to offer us. After two years of that place we’re done with her shit.”
“I do have one final question” Foru said. “You said marks, as in plural. What’s the second mark?”
Alwen glanced at Foru before she reached up to the fold of her robes and pulled it aside to show them the mark on her left breast, very similar to how Astarte had done it over a year ago.
Kena turned away in embarrassment, but the other three stared at her chest in open horror. Southerners were very liberal in the amount of skin they felt comfortable showing, but here on Altoray it was taboo to even let your bare ankles show.
“Is that a brand?” Menda asked incredulously, looking at Alwen like she was a total stranger. Kena turned to get a brief glimpse at her chest before turning away again.
Alwen let the robe fall back into place “Sort of, they made a way of doing it painlessly, but I opted to feel the full weight of what I was doing.” She said as she began leading them down the street.
They followed though Alwen could tell they were a little uncertain “What’s it for?” Menda asked.
“It’s the seal of Astaroth, arch devil of law and knowledge, uh, think of devils as a sort of dark gods. The ship was named after the arch devil so we take its seal to mark ourselves as one with the ship.” Alwen explained. She had come across the terms demon, hell, and devil long before she left Torwen. But those were Terran concepts completely foreign to the Torweni.
“Why would they name their ship after a dark god?” Kena asked.
Alwen thought about how to explain her Terran friends to them “Think of it as a strange form of irony, that’s the best I can do to explain it.”
“And where are we going?” Kena asked.
“To the Temple of Torwen, figured we should get the ceremony over with. Then after that Admiral Kedi has a lot to explain to you guys.”
Vira walked a little ahead to stand next to Alwen “First the High priestess resurrects a long dead order, and now the Admiral needs to brief us personally. Just what are you getting us into?”
Alwen stopped walking in the middle of the path and faced her collage friends “I’m not getting you into anything” she explained gravely “since first conflict Torwen has been swimming in deep waters, infested with strange monsters that threaten to swallow us whole. Whether you join my order or not your lives are going to be affected by what’s coming, this is about choosing to do something about it.”
They looked stunned, and Kena and Menda looked like they might back out. But Foru just looked more determined, Alwen had never really known the large man as he had always been more Kena’s friend than her own. But she did know that he had always wanted to join the Temple of Torwen but didn’t have the support from his family to do so “So what you’re saying is that whatever’s going on is going to get us one way or another, and we’re just choosing to do something about it?”
“That’s right” Alwen said with a nod.
“Then there’s no point in running now.” He said firmly, lending strength to Kena and Menda.
“Not really.” Alwen said with a grim shake of her head.
Foru nodded “Well then lets get this done with, we’re going to have to pack after this.”
Alwen smiled, “That’s the spirit.” She turned and continued leading her new initiates to the Temple of Torwen as she planned how to best bring them up to snuff and prepare them to meet her Hellworlder family. She hadn’t been expecting all of them to join, but she was relieved they all decided to join. Because if there was one thing she learned this last year, it was that she couldn’t do any of this alone.