Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 4

Falling Through the Black

Maverick didn't know how long she had been out, but when she came to, her brain was already working a million miles an hour. Despite her groggy body, she hauled herself upright and lifted a hand against the blinding golden light that filled the room. She thought she remembered this room being dark, but when she could finally open her eyes, the walls and floors around her were alive with golden light which seeped to spill out from her and across the empyrean's floor. The light pulsed gently as she got to her feet, and she got the distinct feeling that the ship was pleased she was awake. She shook her head, looking down at the floor to find a dark strip running across the floor where the light did not touch. For a moment she was simply confused, until the Empyrean's lights pulsed again almost urgently.

It wanted her to....

Follow

Everett, it was showing her where he had gone. Maverick broke into a run. She wasn't sure how the Empyrean hadn't noticed a void creature living in its own halls, but she supposed Everett wasn't entirely void.... Just like her.

Ugh, how she hated to think like that, but it was true. It had taken her being filled up with the void to sense another void creature past his still intact Anima. He was corrupted but not entirely gone, just like her. The difference was she didn't plan on switching sides. She was going to stay right here, and she appreciated how the Empyrean trusted her.

Her void companion.

Not so pleased.

"Why did it hit us." It grumbled to her inside her head. To it, she should have been teaming up with Everett for whatever ends he was planning. To the void creature they were on the same side and should have the same goals. Maverick was pleased to see at least Everett knew better. She followed the trail of unlit floor through the halls at speed, sprinting at full tilt and had just made it to the cargo bay when the ship around her rocked. She staggered and nearly fell reaching out a hand to steady herself against the bulkhead. The Empyrean vibrated and pulsed with a burst of power that surged through the walls as a wave of light intensity.

When the ship stopped shaking, Maverick turned the corner.

And found the trail ended at one of the airlocks. So Everett had left the ship, but wasn't that a good thing? Didn't that mean he was gone . There was no one out there to-

Adam

Adam was out there.

Shit.

Maverick turned and began to run, racing through the ship and up towards the bridge her feet thundering against the metal. Crewmates passed her on the left and on the right running to their battle stations, but she shoved them aside without regard knowing she could apologize later. They would understand if they knew what she knew. The double doors to the empyrean bridge slid open as she came racing, the Empyrean clearing the way for her.

She came onto the bridge panting and gasping.

Overhead, Ramirez and another crewmember floated together to power the ship. Ramirez's hands were outstretched, and both of their bodies glowed with inner golden light as their Anima were activated.

Maverick was only momentarily slowed by the vision she saw outside the window. The Starborn clot had cleared up, though many were still clinging to the hull of the empyrean. Outside a thousand ships had appeared gleaming and white, full of golden energy just like the empyrean, but they had been met on the other side by void ships, sleek and black and shedding burning orange light like fire. The two contingents were in the middle of a violent engagement that had the empyrean caught up in the middle.

Ramirez had grown a lot in the last few years, and this included his skills as a pilot, but even with that, he was no match for Adam, and it took everything he had to simply avoid being smashed within the churning meat grinder of metal, "Coming to you." She heard Ramirez say. Below her the floor pitched and she was thrown forward onto the floor skidding across the metal to come to a stop gripping one of the nearby railings.