Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 3

Bloodlust Lost

"Bring me back some cool new weapons if you can."

"Anything for you."

The line cut and Sunny was left sitting alone on Arcadia her thoughts turned to Adam and the fight that was to come. She hated not being with him, hated it more than she could hate any situation she might be in. He was out there in the universe without his battlepartner and al because she was back here stuck doing politics.

She had talked with Adam before about this.

How both of them had never meant to end up as politicians. Sunny was a warrior, meant for the battlefield, not stuffy conference rooms and meetings. She had never even really wanted to be a Clan Sentinel, and Adam had simply wanted to fly planes and talk to aliens.

She could think back on those days now, and she missed them. She missed the lighthearted chase, she missed discovery. She certainly didn't miss the long hard road that had led to them falling in love though, that had taken forever and been far more painful than she would have liked. That was not to say that she wouldn't do it again of course

Sunny would walk through fire over broken glass if that is what she had to do, not problem.

She stood from her seat straightening the white robe around her shoulders and stepped into the Elevator. She grabbed her spear on her way out descending many stories down into the spiral tower.

Through the massive glass windows that lined her trail downward, she could look out over the capital city of Arcadia watching the soft lights of construction equipment linking in the distance. The city was growing quickly, Sunny was supervising the construction of a defense grid which included a network of satellites and AA guns with supporting ground to air capabilities for in atmosphere combat, if it ever came to that.

The elevator stopped off on the first floor, and she stepped out, walking quickly down the hall and out into the night air. In the distance she could hear the shouting from the Spartan training camp and followed the noise down a set of stairs, down a small cliffside and open onto the small plane that separated the city of arcadia from the lower tier of the city which had been dubbed Lower Laconia. Here it was all black marble and torches, with red and gold banners lining long streets.

The way the dark sky, the fake suns, and the firelight interacted, it created a scene that could almost convince you you were fighting on the worlds edge over a field of stars. Spartans walked the black marble without need for their shields or spears, wearing mostly simple leather or red tunics. Among them walked new recruits from Arcadia, and the occasional Drev, sometimes side by side with a spartan.

Six months mandatory Spartan training was the ideal requirement for their new recruits, though a year was preferred. However, in times like these, time itself was a precious commodity, and an entire year seemed less than feasible.

She found the Spartan proctors with a cluster of Drev Sentinels training their warriors in an open amphitheater. Drev and humans sparred together, worked together and fought together, men and women and Drev, the human's backs slicked with sweat. Standing above them were the spartan leaders and two Drev.

One, a massive, hulking behemoth almost eleven feet tall, with deep red black carapace scarred by battle. He leaned casually on a massive axe taller than sunny by a few inches. Next to him, almost three feet shorter, and slightly stooped, stood a Drev withered with age and time, though the stately way in which she held herself lent credence to the life of a successful warrior.

Sunny stepped up nodding to the two of them.

Hijan hummed at seeing her and Nakt Clan Sentinel Ranasash inclined his massive head. Not for the first time Sunny couldn't help but note his sheer size. The Drev was built like a brick wall, and was stalker than those from the fertile belt. In comparison he made her brother seem small.