HTG - Chapter 161 ( Lunara POV )

Lunara

Chapter One-Hundred-Sixty-One : Musings of Faith - Part One

Galactic Quadrant: Darna Quadrant

Ruling Government: Republic of Hekate

Solar System: D-928

Planet: Erosia

Location: Upon the endless sands of the desert.

***

Six Months Ago

***

In the softest breeze, love can be felt. I remember my mother told me that once, where she heard it, I cannot remember. As the breeze strikes me on the forgotten coastline of this dead world, I can almost feel his hand on me. My dearest Kalon. How does he fare? I wonder if he already joined my house and is being trained by Kotina. Once father sees his spirit of will, I know that he will like him. I think he will take to him like the son he always wanted. A bitter sweet smile rests on my lips, these thoughts are all that drives me from going insane in my solitude.

Inquisitor Victoria has sent me to this desolate world of ash and sand to keep me from distraction. My one goal from her is to break the fifth boundary before the year is over. If I do, she promised to give me six months of leave. Six months that I can spend with him. I want to be the one to show him the beauty of the galaxy, all he has known is hardship. My head lowers as I trace my finger in the scorching sands of the desert. Were I not a Raven, trained in the harshness of heat and frost, even past the fourth this world would be difficult.

But I am a Raven, so the harshness is like a soft breeze.

I can feel that I am approaching the bound, even though I thought it impossible to reach it so soon. Not knowing his fate and the others that I care for is a strong motivator to improve.

In my dreams at night, I see a strange woman of late, one who bears my resemblance, save the horns on her head, and the silver of her eyes. She never speaks, but she shows me visions of him, and what he will become. Stronger than any our house has had before, strong enough to bring the Theocratic Imperium to its knees. Such things are but dreams though, idle fantasies.

A mortal cannot shake reality like she showed me. She is but a whisper of a dream, conjured by my loneliness. I know this… but sometimes it feels so real. Such a future I would welcome with open arms.

Then there are days were my dreams don’t feel happy, they are mired in sadness, the woman shows me futures where he loses control of himself. Worlds burn under his merciless command, and the Theocratic Imperium crumbles in ashes. These dreams are filled with screams, horrible screams.

I shake the thoughts from my mind, they serve only to distract from my focus.

I will break this boundary, I will be reunited with him, with Kotina, with Yekka and Father.

***

Six Months Later

***

Galactic Quadrant: Darna Quadrant

Ruling Government: Talum Merchant Federation

Solar System: D-447

Planet: Ora

Location: Orarak City, tunnels under the Colosseum.

My eyes take in the horrors of this cruel reality. The walls of the tunnels are plastered with gore, children crying as they tug at their mother’s lifeless corpses. I look away as I see those too young to have known the musing of first love, lifeless upon the ground. What horrible beast has wrought this upon these poor people? Why have the Gods allowed such a tragedy to pass? My heart weeps as I see mothers clutching their young, the cries for their lost children piercing my soul. Upon the wall, I see scorches, little cracks from energy pressing the stone into ruin. I know these marks, an Edict made these. I am sure of it.

The message I received brought me here, another told me that Kotina was already here, why was she here? Did he send for her too? What did his message mean? Why did it feel like goodbye? I must find him before Kotina finds me, for I fear she will force me from this place. I must know the truth of what has happened in my absence.

The further I walk in the tunnel the worse the gore becomes, something must have pushed the Edict holder back. Was it Kotina? My heart twists as I wonder if it was him that wrought this tragedy, was it Kalon… did he lose control like I saw in my dreams? My feet press forward, moving over the dead, my heart beating faster as the tunnel shakes from a battle above, upon the sands of the Colosseum. I want to run towards it, but my hand clutches my chest. There is a pain like I have never known, cutting, pulling, and ripping at my heart. I must know, I must see with my own eyes. Pressing the thoughts away, I find my resolve and rush towards the battle.

When I arrive, the dust is still settling, and my heart is pounding out of my chest, across the field of sand I see them now. The interim Governor of the system, Adonius and… it is him, it is Kalon. He slams the Cursed Edict into Adonius’s weapon, my eyes squint and I see it is an Edict in Adonius’s hand. When did he become an Edict holder? Adonius’s body is glowing with Divine energy, his God is pressing an immense amount into him. Pushing past what his body can handle.

A man steps forward and stands near me to watch the exchange, I recognize him, he hasn’t aged a day since I saw him last. He used to visit my grandfather often.

“Dargo?”

He does not look at me, he watches the fight instead. I am about to step forward to enter the fray and help Kalon, but I feel a familiar energy brush against me.

In my perception, I see the Goddess my mother taught me to worship coming to my side. Leora, Goddess of Hope. She is watching the exchange. Her eyes are wide, the expression on her face is one I have never seen on her before.

I move to go towards Kalon, my heart beckoning me, but the Goddess my father worships comes to my shoulder. Ravena, Goddess of Wisdom. Her hand is firm as it plants itself on my shoulder, I feel a strange pulse in the runes on my skin, paralyzing me from moving toward Kalon. Ravena’s eyes are fixed on the exchange as well. Neither of them speak, they simply watch.

“I am the blade which was tempered in the tears of mothers, mourning their lost children.”

My heart’s cracks begin sealing, hope soaring in me, he is not the monster that massacred those fleeing. He is the hope of those who yet live. Kalon smashes the Cursed Edict into Adonius. A tremor ripples as Adonius cracks the stone wall with his body, now spitting blood upon the ground as he tries to stand.

“I am the blade honed in darkness to bring justice for my people.”

There is something permeating the air around us, vibrating the core of my soul as he begins to speak again, something more than the musings of the heart. It is something raw and brimming with power. Something that even my Goddess’s are feeling, Ravena’s hand… it’s trembling.

“I am that which will be….” The air quakes at the proclamation, mana spindles and ricochets around him. Energy pours from him into the blade, the crimson light flowing with other colors. Both of my Goddess’s eyes grow wider, the glow of them brighter than I have seen before, they both step forward to peer closer as he finishes with, “your end.”

Energy erupts, shaking the air as it bows from the pressure of Divine Law being broken. The heavens swell with thunder, lightning cracking in protest. My eyes barely believe what they see, I feel the words which once gave the Edict power fading into an echo. The Cursed Edict now cuts Adonius in half. My eyes look away as I see Kalon begin to cut his head off, smashing it under his boot. As I slowly turn back to look once more, Kalon roars with a fury that rattles the mana in the air, as though it feels his pain directly. He falls to his knees, head hanging low, the Cursed Edict in his hand still.

Dargo turns and looks at… Leora, can he see her too? There is no time to wonder why he is here, or how he sees her.

“That is not a spark… that is a wild fire.”

Leora’s lips curl into a strange smile.

Ravena looks at Leora and then back at Kalon, I hear her words in my mind.

Go to him, claim him on behalf of House Ravena. This is my will, heir.

I blink at her.

“No!” someone yells, rushing towards Kalon.

The man I love, he is kneeling, not far from me, less than a hundred paces. Ravena releases her hand from me. He does not see me as I approach from behind, my legs feel of lead, as I am filled with dread, looking at the scene before me. My mouth moves to scream no, please no, as he plunges the Cursed Edict into his own chest. My heart breaks as it drives through his, tears well from my eyes. I am the second to reach him, the one who yelled was the first.

I recognize the man, he is Arrum.

Looking down at his chest, something is strange, there is no wound. Only the moving lines of darkness upon his chest. I look around the sands and do not see the Cursed Edict. What trickery is this?

“His heart yet beats,” Arrum says as others arrive. His eyes glow brighter, a smile cresting his face, but as he looks up towards the sky to give thanks to his gods, the smile disappears.

My gaze drifts upwards slowly, hope begins to slip from my heart once more as I see what he sees looming above in the clouds.

Arrum turns from the threat that is above us and looks at something behind me, his head tilts as his mouth utters a single word in question.

“Impossible…”