Chapter 02

  The Consequences of Strength

  Mira slammed the dorm room door behind her and gave an exasperated huff. She leaned against the synthetic wood, trying to process the last couple of hours. She felt the welts in her eyes from the oncoming tears, and for a moment she went to wipe them before noticing another presence in the room and quickly routing her arms to a cross.

  “Just pretend I'm not here,” Stephen said, rolling to face her from where he floated up near the ceiling skylight.

  “Oh, fuck,” Mira groaned. "I thought you were in the library.”

  “I found this book,” Stephen replied. He waved it to her with its spine open. An old history book, it appeared to be. “Came back here to read in privacy.”

  “You’re so lame,” Mira whined. “I need my privacy too.”

  “Lame is a push too far,” he started. “...Ok, sorry, do you want to talk about it? Is it about Castor?”

  “I’m fine,” Mira replied, not adamant about sharing her trouble with him.

  “Uh huh,” Stephen answered. “Are you positive?”

  “It's not your concern,” Mira replied.

  Stephen turned his legs down to the floor. His shirt was off, as per usual, showing off his sepia skin, and he had on the same pair of gray athletic shorts he had worn to practice earlier. He picked a random shirt off the ground and threw it on.

  “Do you want to go to Violet?” Stephen asked, fixing his shirt, seemingly tossing the previous topic of conversation.

  “What?” Mira asked, confused by the sudden change of tune.

  “Atlas and Yue are at Violet right now. I wasn’t going to join but figured I'd go to give you the space.”

  “Then why are you inviting me?” Mira questioned, still standing firmly, but her arms had fallen from their cross.

  Stephen shrugged. “Well, do you?”

  Mira held her breath but eventually sighed. “Fine. Just give me a minute.”

  Stephen patted her on the shoulder, which she swiped away as he exited the room.

  Mira groaned and looked up through their skylight towards the dark blue sky of the nebula. She stared for a moment, fixating on a background constellation, before stepping out of the room and joining Stephen outside.

  They began their journey through the tunnels of Helyx Academy. Stephen tried a few times to make conversation but got nowhere until she properly broke her silence.

  “I don’t have long,” Mira said. “I ran from what happened. They’ll be on my ass soon enough.”

  Stephen nodded, knowing saying anything would probably aggravate her.

  “I think I actually fucked it this time.”

  They eventually progressed to Violet and landed on the platform to enter it. It was one of the nicer parts of the building. The entrance was polished with stone, and white and bright purple designs jotted the columns. A large sign lay above the glass double doors labeled: Violet, UV Bathing Pad.

  Stephen stepped in front of them, and they hissed as they slid to the side. The cool embrace of space hit the both of them, and Mira’s veins flashed with a wave of purple energy to keep warm.

  The UV pad was a circular courtyard-like area. It was surrounded on all sides by windows into the complex but had an open roof that faced their white dwarf star. The cushioned ground sat on a rotating platform that always turned to face the star.

  Stephen scoured the courtyard for their friends.

  Mira saw a hand wave in the distance. It was Atlas, her twin brother, adorned in his yellow-collared cloak.

  Stephen waved back and nudged Mira to move as he began to make his way over to them. To avoid the groups of people lying on the ground, Stephen pushed upward, his feet ignited with a powerful whoosh. Everything up to his knees was coated in his fiery dark blue plasma. He directed himself towards them.

  Mira followed, using one foot to boost herself up, joining the three of them.

  Stephen had landed directly beside Yue, his head propped with his hand as he landed on his side. “Hey,” he smirked.

  Yue gave him a glare and pushed him away. “You’re the worst,” she said.

  Stephen laughed and rolled onto his back, looking upwards at Helyx. “Like they say, opposites attract,” Stephen smiled.

  “Wow, great one,” Yue replied, not needing to visibly roll her eyes. "Atlas, we’re switching places.”

  “Oh,” Atlas answered, not making an attempt to argue.

  Yue stood and drifted over him, rolling him closer to Stephen.

  Stephen regained his position from before. “So Atlas,” he said, smirking yet again.

  Mira landed beside Stephen. “Stop flirting with my brother,” she said.

  “Let's make a deal,” Stephen started, rolling over to face her and holding out his hand.

  “Absolutely not,” Mira replied, cutting him off.

  Stephen readjusted. “Tough but fair,” he said.

  “Mira, how are you?” Atlas asked, turning his head toward her.

  “Fine,” Mira replied.

  Stephen shook his head at Atlas, trying to signal she wasn’t in a good mood.

  She smacked him in the head with her wrist.

  “Ow,” he blurted, rubbing his head.

  “I’m going to guess the answer is no, but do you want to talk about whatever it is?” Atlas asked.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “Not particularly,” she said, then sighed. “Later.”

  Atlas nodded.

  Mira cringed at what she had said. Admittedly, she did want to talk about it, though, at least before Rigel found out. For now she just wanted to close her eyes and feel the rays. They felt good, today at least, and made her forget her worries, even if for but a moment. She took out her earpiece and placed it into her pocket. The sounds of chatter disappeared around her, fading into the vacuum of space.

  Before the rest could become anything meaningful, she was nudged. Mira groaned, refusing to open her eyes.

  Stephen nudged her again.

  She slipped her earpiece back in. “What is it?”

  “Mira!” a voice shouted, a vaguely familiar one, from across the courtyard.

  Mira groaned again, not wanting to look up, but Stephen again nudged her. She looked up and saw, standing across the courtyard where they entered, the governmental robes of Castor. She was a bit surprised to see him there. Her expectations didn’t change, though. She thought she was in deep shit.

  “Mira!” Castor shouted again. She slowly got on her feet.

  People in the courtyard were staring now. It was completely silent except for the echoing of her name.

  Atlas quickly stood and grabbed Mira’s shoulder. “I can go with you."

  “I’m fine, Atlas. Go lay back down,” Mira replied.

  “But—” he began.

  “Just go back,” Mira cut him off.

  He stopped trying to reason with his sister and watched as she continued to trudge across the platform. Her arms were crossed, and she glared at people staring at her, intimidating a few of them to glance away.

  Castor stood impatiently at the doorway, tapping his foot on the ground.

  A few people scuttled out of Mira’s way as she forged her path forward. She caught up to Castor, standing below him.

  He motioned her to follow, and they entered the building.

  “Can we just get this over with?” Mira huffed.

  Castor didn’t respond and dove into the hallways.

  “I don’t care if you’re important or whatever, just punish me and get this over with,” she spoke a little louder as he did.

  Still, he remained silent to her request, turning around a corner.

  She grunted and dove off after him, following him through the hallways, embarrassed by it all.

  Eventually, they pulled up to the dock to the door she had seen him at earlier. As he landed, the blue flames dissipated and splashed on the floor. He pushed open the door with a handful of flames and walked in.

  She entered after him.

  It was a sparse space. There was a desk nearer the back of the room with two boxes stacked beside it. There was one chair to each side and, in the back, a large arching window facing Helyx. There were some empty cabinets and a couple of blue light fixtures on either side of the room. Structurally it was like the rest of the building: cold metal with polished synthetic floors.

  Castor walked to the other side of the desk and took a seat.

  Mira refused to sit, standing just inside of the doorway.

  “Can you sit down?” Castor asked.

  Mira huffed as if she was about to disagree but inevitably sat down in the cushioned chair.

  “Do you like making a scene?” Castor asked.

  “A scene? She’ll be fine.” Mira replied, arms crossed. “If she can’t take a hit, she shouldn’t be here in the first place.”

  “Doubling down?” Castor smirked.

  “If that’s what needs to be said, yeah.”

  “No, no, Mira, I actually quite respect it.”

  Mira looked at him curiously.

  “You’ve got passion, a heart of fire. You want to fight, yes?”

  Mira nodded. “I have to fight.”

  “And why’s that?” Castor asked.

  “That’s what I was born to do,” she replied. “It's why the stars gave me purple flame.”

  “Ooh, I like that,” Castor said, giving a short shiver.

  “You’re not mocking me, are you?” Mira asked before divulging more to him.

  “Quite the opposite,” Castor replied. “I think someone with your strength could make a great addition to the Greater Blue Forces.”

  Mira liked that response.

  “Sorry for giving you the cold shoulder earlier. I just wanted to see some proof. And I’m sure glad I did.”

  “So you’re recruiting me?” Mira gasped almost excitedly.

  “Not so fast,” Castor raised a finger.

  “Oh,” Mira frowned.

  “I’m here to give you special mentorship, out with the old man Rigel,” Castor informed her. “It's rather sad what’s become of him in his post-prime days.”

  Mira’s eyes lit up once again. “I’m ready,” Mira said eagerly. “When can we start?”

  “Soon,” Castor replied. “But before we do, can I ask, do you believe yourself to be the only one of your kind?”

  Mira ignited her hands in her unique purple flame. “That’s me,” she answered him.

  Castor held his fingers over his lip. “What if I told you that wasn’t the case?”

  “Huh?”

  “Up until recently, yes, the capital thought you were the only one,” Castor stated, “but we were mistaken. Over the past couple of months, we’ve had repeated reports of a destructive force near the outskirts of Ruber territory. Calls himself Saiph, the purple comet. He’s got one of yours.” He motioned to his chest, where his core would be. The burning balls of plasma that gave them life, that gave humanity the power to inhabit the most inhospitable regions of the universe.

  “How?” Mira asked. “That’s not even possible.” She looked him in the eyes.

  “Scientific breakthrough, loaner from a traitor, dumb luck,” Castor said. “Could be for a number of reasons. We need you, though, Mira. You’re the only person whose strength rivals his.”

  Mira nodded. A sense of giddiness ran through her, like she was excited by the prospect of fighting an equal. “I’m ready.”

  “I admire your confidence, Mira, but you’ve got a ways to go before you're on par with his skill,” Castor pointed out. “I blame Rigel, but nothing we can’t fix with a little more time. That being said, tomorrow at 8 in the morning.”

  “Which training hall?” Mira questioned.

  “Starward Hall,” Castor responded.

  “Starward?” Mira questioned. It was an unfinished training hall within the Helyx complex. The construction crew had stated it could take many more solar months for it to be complete, especially given the labor shortage caused by the war.

  “Don’t need the distractions.” He took a second before sitting back. “That’ll be all for today.” He motioned for her to leave.

  Mira stood up from her chair. “I’ll see you then, Legate,” she said, motioning with her hand held to her core in the Greater System’s version of a salute. She wondered what was being done to fulfill his legate role while he was here with her.

  He returned the gesture.

  Her heart was pumping with eagerness, nervousness, and excitement. She pulled the door open with a retractive force of energy and turned back to him once more before she dove from the dock, descending into the hallways.

  There was a sharp twinge in her core as she left. Some uneasy feeling she couldn’t shake.

  She turned the corner, intent on heading back to Violet to break the news to everyone. As she did, she saw Atlas sitting on the dock platform. Evidently he had been waiting for her to get back.

  He looked up to her and instantly straightened up, waving to her.

  Mira floated in front of him. “What are you doing out here?” She asked.

  “Waiting for you,” Atlas responded. "It seemed serious. I wanted to make sure you were alright… So are you?”

  “I guess you could say that,” Mira replied, a smile creeping across her face.

  Atlas looked at her curiously. “What do you mean?”

  “That man is Castor, a legate of the Greater Blue Forces, and he wants me to join them!”

  “Oh,” Atlas responded, scratching the back of his head. “Good for you.” There was a tone in his voice that Mira more or less expected.

  “How enthusiastic,” Mira glared.

  “I… I’m sorry,” Atlas replied. “I’m happy for you, I really am. It just scares me, you out there fighting. You know that.”

  “This is what I want to do,” Mira said, raising her tone just the slightest.

  “I know. I just don’t really understand.”

  Mira calmed her tone. “Atlas, I was born for this. I just need you to support me.”

  Atlas nodded, not making direct eye contact.

  “It kept me out of trouble though, right?” she acknowledged, trying to lighten the mood.

  “I guess there’s a positive.” Atlas gave a short smile. “Are you going to tell me what happened?”

  “Not at all,” Mira replied. “Let's go get some rays.”

  Atlas nodded, still distraught by the information, but knew that trying to get to her was something he’d failed at all his life.