13.

Tony.

Today was the day. Everyone was present; the Arch-mages, Zeus, Horus, M’gethir and Míriel beside him. We made eye contact a few times and she smiled at me, although it was a masked one, it was a welcome change from the scowling I usually received when she saw me. As an added surprise, X asked of she could stay on Ko’vren, he mentioned something about needing extra hands on deck and how no one would help. M'gethir suspiciously agreed and Míriel was allowed on-board. X winked at me conspiratorially before going to the back rooms to get 'some stuff' and disappeared, plunging us into awkward silence. X was taking all this better than I expected. But still, damn him for leaving me here alone with her. Surprisingly she spoke first.

“Nice ship you got, I didn’t check it out the first time I was here.” I fiddled with some controls, thinking hard of what to say. The words were jumbled up in my head, like as if I had dyslexia, if dyslexia was caused by girls, that is. I eventually managed to cough up a joke about how she was too busy trying to murder X to notice. She laughed, a short sound that cut through the awkward silence. It was contagious and I joined in. Then more awkward silence. I could see her eyes darting around the walls of Ko’vren, refusing to meet mine. At a loss of what to do, I pulled out my phone and put on my earphones. She looked at me apprehensively for a bit when I offered one ear to her. “What is it?”, she asked, sliding it into her left ear. I guess earphones aren’t a thing here, I thought as I scrolled through my music list. Now, what would a highly trained assassin like? I picked one of my favourites, Rap God. As the music started, her eyes widened in surprise.

“I can hear music, from this little thing?” she pulled it out, examining it thoroughly. “What, you don’t have music in the Gentry?” She slid the earpiece back on and started bobbing her head. It was official, she liked Eminem. “We are a warring race, what do you think? All we have are battle songs. Most of our technology goes into building more powerful magical weapons we sell to other kingdoms. No time for entertainment, I’m afraid.” She was bobbing her head faster now. “What’s the name of this man? He’s good, and fast too” For the next few minutes I told her about Eminem, rap and hip-hop, other genres of music, and then earth. She was hooked and fascinated. Her green eyes gleamed with wonder. I almost got lost I those emerald portals as I told her of my home.

“The sky is blue?” I laughed at her surprise. The 'sky' over Le’uthara non-existent and basically had no atmosphere. There was a dome around the city that regulated the life in the only city on the planet. At least that’s what X told me. So without any atmosphere, there was no molecules for light to scatter off of. The results were a barren sky with an amazing view of planets, stars and the black hole at the centre of the system. I spent a few minutes explaining the physics behind it then another few explaining an atmosphere. She was fascinated with everything. I told her of things I took for granted, and she treated them as if they were the most precious things she’d ever heard.

I told her of rain, rainbows, lightning and thunder, snow, oceans, mountains, volcanoes and everything I could think of. In turn, she told me of everything she knew of the Gentry. Their factions, ranks, and battle planets. Massive barren planets, with rune arrays etched into them. They could either be used for offense or defence. There were thousands of them, circling the system at any given time, but there was one that controlled the rest, this one made its orbit around the system once.

For every successful orbit around the system, a cycle was completed. Other civilizations adopted this time frame, even Divine beings. Finally, X was always too lazy to explain that. After some quick math, I found a cycle to be equal to forty five minutes. She told me of the civilian population of the Gentry that made a small percentage of the entire system. They consisted of the conquered inhabitants of former planets that were too old or sick to be soldiers or slaves. They lived relatively peacefully amidst all the warring, but still had to pay taxes in form of food. It was a well organized structure, and it kept growing.

“Earth sounds amazing”, she said , more fascinated now. “Maybe you could come with me, someday”, I said, not really thinking about it. I had been staring at her lips for a while now and lost track of what I was saying. She grew silent. “With...you?”, she repeated slowly. I hadn’t noticed the effect of my words yet, as I kept staring. The distance between us lessened without our notice, and soon enough, those green eyes were all I was seeing. “Yeah...you’d like that?” Her breath wafted onto my face. It smelled faintly of ambrosia. Dangerously close now, she replied shakily. “I... I’ve never left the Gentry” I paused, unsure of what next. She’s never left? What kind of father is M’gethir!

“Well, there’s a first time for everything, right?”, I said, our lips dangerously close, literally atoms away from touching. Fuck it, I thought and was about to go in for the kiss when X’s voice blared from somewhere on Ko’vren. G'day lovebirds, this is your Captain Xassin speaking, the winds over Le’uthara today are stable and non-existent, beautiful weather today, perfect for flight and protection of probably the most important thing in the entire multiverse, but who cares about that? Anyways we leave in ten minutes, make sure to buckle up, leaving orbit will be rough...and please, no kissing.” He paused, as if checking something out, then continued. “and no holding of hands either.” He ended with a laugh.

I hadn’t noticed, but our hands had intertwined sometime during our conversation. She felt warm, but it only lasted for a moment before she pulled away and went to sit at the far end of the room. I raised two fingers in the air at no one. “And no obscene gestures on my ship either.”, He announced again. I looked at her, but she was staring off into the distance. Thanks X. Soon enough, Ko’vren announced lift off and I strapped in. Míriel had done the same.

The ship rumbled as it took off, leaving that planet behind and eventually, the system. Ko’vren was already announcing hyperspace coordinates as all ships entered a single file. Ours was directly behind the ship carrying the Mind. Even without seeing it, I could sense my shard resonating with it. It called out to me, to be one with it. Once we jumped however, the feeling was gone. “Destination: the first realm of the divine, ”, Ko’vren announced after the jump. “Time of arrival: ten minutes” X came to sit down beside me. “Smooth”, he said, gesturing at her. “Shut up guy, you spoilt the moment.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know that you had moments.” He said stifling his laughter so that she wouldn’t notice. I glanced over at her. If she heard anything, she was doing a good job of ignoring us. “Oh man, I can’t wait till this is over...I’m going to make fun of you for the rest of your days.” I punched his shoulder and went to the other side of the room and sat. “Exiting hyperspace one minute” X stood and stretched. “Well, it’s about time to do my job.” He gave us one last glance and said something about staying safe. Exiting hyperspace in three...two...one...

We were plunged into darkness. The only lights we saw outside were the ones coming from the ships coming from behind and in front of us. X’s eyes were already glowing. “Ko’vren, where are we?” I balled up a fist and removed a few limiters. Míriel had pulled out her daggers, battle ready. We didn’t even know what was out there yet. “We are in Nirvana, Xassin”, Ko’vren replied, monotonous.

Then immediately something hit the hull with a loud bang. I jumped at the sound and so did the rest. Then another bang. This time on the transparent windows at the front. Míriel screamed and backed away and we saw what it was. A head. The head of Ra, Obsidian eyes stared back at me, lifeless as I was petrified with shock. The head stayed a bit more and then fell away into the darkness. I walked towards the glass despite Míriel shouting at me to get back. I looked down to see more darkness. Then I looked up and fell back. “Oh...oh God...”,I managed to muster.

There, towering above us was a dark looming figure. It’s only discernible features were it’s eyes, white and filled with madness, and its huge, toothy grin.