ValentineDavis21
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Bhal-Ghor couldn’t sleep no matter how hard he tried. He would stretch out on the slab of steel that served as a bed in the cell, his arm curled over his eyes, and try to will his thoughts to stop racing only for the anxious racing of his thoughts to pull him back into a sitting position. Sleep. Sleep was the only way to truly pass the time in between the prison when he wasn’t training for the next match. If he had to guess he’d spent over half of his life sleeping, the other half fighting to st
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Ghor was pacing restlessly from one end of the cell to the other when Aethan returned. His tail was lifted high and the hackles of his fur was raised, his teeth bared in a growl. When he saw the Cathesan he stopped and retreated back from the force field. “You’re back,” he said and the flash of relief Aethan sensed from him was unmistakable. Aethan fought to keep the relief out of his own voice, affecting a careless shrug. He reminded himself that the Felid-Ghrul was no more trustworth
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When the doors to the lift slid open and Aethan stepped out, Vash’s silhouette was standing before the window, facing the crags and canyons of Kharon-IV. As usual his taloned hands were clasped behind his back. The guards stopped, stationing themselves on both sides of the door to the lift, their screens going blank. The Crown Prince paused, willing himself to remain calm. He resisted the urge to reach out with his mind and gauge the warden’s mind, remembering how Vaxen had turned the tides on h
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Aethan laid out the needles, sutures, and can of medical disinfectant spray out on a mat. He frowned at them with displeasure. The instruments were cruder than what he was used to on Cathesan. Had they been in the city of Valanore, Bhal-Ghor would have been stretched out on a bed, his wound cauterized by a laser that would have sealed the wound in a matter of seconds and stopped the bleeding, high on pain killers instead of the floor of a cell. Since there was nothing else at the Cathesan’s disp
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Aethan watched the steady rise and fall of Bhal-Ghor's chest, mesmerized by the brightness of his fur; it seemed to glow within the violet flicker of the force field. Already the euphoric effects of the Estristatmer were starting to wear off and it had only been a few hours. I hate you, he’d told the felid and he had meant it. But hate, like the drug that was flowing out of his system, was a mocking force that could seem like your friend, but in the end was hard to hold onto and exhausted the so
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Neither of them spoke about the incident that had happened back in the corridor outside the washroom or in the observatory as if black wreaths of smoke clouded both scenes. Aethan probed at his memory, trying to recall the lost period of time he'd experienced. The last thing he could recall was standing in front of the window of the observatory, looking out the scorched earth of crags and canyons…and when he came to the sense that time, if only a few seconds or a few minutes, had passed. But the
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Aethan scrubbed at himself furiously with the bar of soap, wanting nothing more than to be back in his cell. At least in his cell he would be safe where no one but Bhal-Ghor could get to him. The felid stood at the opposite end of the room, beneath his own showerhead, watching him with a scowl fixed on his face. The Cathesan could sense his inner conflict, the urge to explain himself, the conflicting urge to say that he didn't need to explain himself, the urge to tell the Crown Prince he didn't
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The guards returned an hour later; this time Vaxen did not accompany them. By the time the guards lowered the force field, Aethan was in the full throes of withdrawal, the effects of the adrenaline shot having left his system. Feverish shivers wracked his body hard enough to make his teeth click together; his silvery hair framed his face, forming matted locks that were tangled together by sweat. When two of the automated guards entered the cell he was curled in a fetal position. Dipping into the
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The Caethsan was gone. Bhal-Ghor could only watch helplessly as his new cellmate was consumed by the jaws of the Tyrannus. Gone in the blink of an eye. Dead. There was no recovery from such a thing. When falling into the belly of the beast death was absolute. And he was stuck, trapped inside a crack inside a rock wall. In pain, unable to move. For the second time in a week the tables had been turned on him. The first time Aethan had filled him with thoughts and memories that were not his ow
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Something moved in the dark, gone before Aethan could see what it truly was. It could have been a tentacle or it could have been a wing - it could have been anything. He didn’t try to reach out with his mind. He was already overwhelmed by the thoughts and emotions of the crowds. Everyone was waiting with bated breath. What would come through the gate? What would the Cathesan and the Felid Ghrul be facing? He risked a quick sideways glance at Bhal-Ghor and felt an alarm claxon go off in his head.
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Aethan and Ghor did not speak, did not look at each other for the next few hours. It was as if the conversation with Vaxen and the inevitability of the next match had taken what little ardor they had left in them. In spite of his discomfort and the silent wish for death, a thousand thoughts and questions raced incessantly through his mind. The question at the top of his mind reigned supremely: Why hadn't the felid warrior followed Vaxen's order, done what was best for himself in order to su
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I should be dead, Aethan thought, resting his head against the rock wall. He watched the steady rise and fall of Bhal-Ghor's chest, knowing that the felid would wake up eventually, and kill him. That was why Vaxen had put him in the prisoner’s cell. I should have died long before that. I should have died on Caethsan. The only reason why I didn't was because of Vash…otherwise I never would have survived without him. And there was the emergency shuttle. Balhice could have killed me then and there
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Bhal-Ghor paced restlessly from one end of his cell to the next. Given the narrow confines of the cell and the broadness of his shoulders there wasn't a lot of room to move around in. It was always like this moments before a battle: thoughts racing in a thousand directions, muscles tensing and untensing, hackles raised, tail swaying from side to side, blood hot and thick in his veins. I’ve been stuck on this rock for the last two centuries…it's practically the only thing I can remember now: figh
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The lights of the arena were far brighter than how they had appeared in his head. He stepped out onto a shelf made of oxidized iron that brushed the gap between the platform and the stage of the arena. Aethan peered over the edge of the shelf and felt his stomach clench: he found himself staring down a hundred foot ledge that ended with jagged rocks at the bottom. He drew back, his fingers tightening around the shaft of his spear. Through the blinding halos of light he could hear the buzzing mur
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Aethan wasn't sure how long he’d slept before the cramps started to seize him. At first they started in his thighs, muscles coiling and knotting like wires pulled taut, curling his toes. He tried to stretch to work out the kinks only for a fresh wave of spasms to ripple up his abdomen, forcing the breath from his lungs in a silent scream. Cold, oily sweat broke out across his forehead. The cramped confines of the cell felt icy. The wall of resistance that he had built to block the psychic feedba
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The first thing that Aethan became aware of was that he was cold and in pain. He laid on a flat, cold surface, curled into a fetal position. His skin burned from a chill that seemed to come straight from his bones. Cramps wrapped his body, the muscles in his stomach and thighs tightening, his nerves firing. He tried to scream but his voice caught in his throat. Blinding light seared his eyes. Gradually he became aware that he was not alone. Voice is pressed in on him from all sides, d
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The shuttle breached Cathesan’s atmosphere. The compressed air that buffeted the outside of the ship burned bright and hot, making it impossible to see through the viewscreen. Sensors chirped and blinked. The screen on the console flashed. Aethan still couldn’t move; whatever sedative Vash had injected him with was still in his system. All he could do was wait as the shuttle rattled, his teeth vibrating in his skull. He closed his eyes, preparing for the shuttle to come apart. He’d lost everythi
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The shipyards were housed in their own private sector of Valanore. Its industrial scale was massive, a cluster of pointed towers and steel silos and huge, sprawling complexes with vast open spaces. Massive cranes that were as tall as any spire stood silent and unmoving under Cathesan’s burning sky. Efforts of reconstruction of the city had long since stalled, with the Empire’s attention focused on the war. Aethan had only visited the shipyards a scant number of times and each time had overwhelm
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Thanks, I am glad that you are enjoying the story.
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“Here! Stop here!” Vash skidded to a halt at the bottom of a steep flight of flagstone steps. The steps led up to the towering edifice of an ancient monastery. Flying buttresses swept across glowing crystal glass windows that flickered with candlelight. Aethan took instant comfort at the familiar sight of the grand Cathesan architecture, characterized by sweeping arches and pointed pinnacles. That anything was still standing fascinated him. High above i
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Aethan followed Vash and the guard of Felid-Ghrul warriors out into the night, his staff gripped at his side. In spite of being able to match the speed and grace of his protectors, the Cathesan’s endurance was starting to meet its limit. Only now did he truly realize how his heavy use of Estristatmer had weakened his body, and cursed himself for his addiction. The Ghrul flitted between the shadows, moving with the grace and speed of true felines. While the Cathesan's could match them in speed th
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Aethan and Vash followed the guard down the rounded corridor, heading for the lift at the end of the path. The air outside the tower whistled and the walls of the tower trembled as the battle continued to wage outside the city. The sluggish effects of the Estristatmer had faded, spikes of adrenaline shooting through Aethan’s body. His azure eyes glowed like beacons of blue light. Every muscle in his body was tense, ready to spring into action. Before they could reach the lif
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1.01: Bleeding Skies
ValentineDavis21 commented on ValentineDavis21's story chapter in 1.01: Bleeding Skies
Thank you, it feels good to be back. 😊 -
The planet of Cathesan, capital world of the Cathesan Empire, was on fire. Cosmic rays of particle radiation beamed down on the hive cities below. Three cities covered the top half of the planet: layered constructions of rockcrete and adamantium; each layer consisted of thousands of residential and industrial blocks that formed massive manmade mountains capped by a crown of great spires that stretched thousands of kilometers towards the sky. Once, many, many centuries ago, the planet had been co
