As Ki’Remi poured Sheba a second glass, a shimmer of light coalesced at the table’s edge.
A localized node of the Rider’s proprietary omniscient demi-urge intelligence, Mirage, flickered into existence.
The stunning creature, ebony-skinned and diamond-eyed, wore a heavy emerald velvet smoking gown, a glowing synth-cigar clamped between two elegant fingers.
‘Mirage,’ Sheba murmured. ‘Good to see you. This is Idan. He’s with me.’
‘Welcome, Commander. How are you, beautiful?’ the Synth AI asked in her characteristic dulcet tones.
‘Getting there,’ Sheba answered with a half smile.
Mirage turned her gaze to the Sacran warrior-god. ‘Apologies, Commander, but the Sable Group’s protocol dictates I conduct a security sweep on you before you arrive on Eden II.’
Idan shrugged, his eyes gleaming with a challenge.
Mirage’s translucent eyes performed a sub-dermal scan, the air humming with the sheer volume of data being processed.
Her synth-cigar flared a bright, electric blue as she took a pull, assessing him.
‘You’re no threat to anyone in this room,’ Mirage announced moments later, with a wink. ‘But let’s be clear. You’re a weapon, a localized extinction event waiting to happen, a god-tier hazard with unimaginable potency.’
As Ki’Remi coughed into his hand and Issa suppressed a smile, Idan huffed.
‘You’ve no freakin’ idea what you’re letting onto Eden II,’ Idan rasped.
Mirage arched a sculpted brow at him. ‘If you’re anything like Issa and Molan, I think we have some clue. As long as you’re on our side, you’re welcome, Sacran paladin.’
‘What does that mean?’ Sheba asked.
Mirage took a drag of her cigar and nodded at Idan. ‘He’s cleared, free to wander at will, but don’t make me regret it. I’m heading back to the Eden II, but I’m on standby if you decide to flame the galaxy on a god whim.’
As the two couples laughed, Mirage waggled her fingers in a wave, and with a flick of her wrist, she glimmered away.
‘I forgot what an infuriating, smart-moutheddemosshe is,’ Sheba quipped. ‘She freakin’ annoys me sometimes, yet I miss her when she’s gone.’
The group’s chuckles echoed through the stateroom as they finished the last of the blackberries.
‘So how the hell do you two know each other?’ Sheba asked, her gaze drifting between Issa and Idan, tilting her glass from one to the other, as the port coated her tongue in a subtle sweetness.
Issa waited for Idan to speak, but he inclined his chin, yielding the floor.
‘We met in Sacra,’ Issa began. ‘In Sivania, which lies far above the Sarvastivada, and within the uppermost spires of the Seventh Heaven. A fortress city where the gods are so ancient their names have outlived the languages that birthed them. We both served Sulfiqar, the God-Emperor. For millennia, I walked among hisSaatifa, his elite sentinels, as a medic using mySukkanaghthealing during wars and skirmishes. I crossed Idan’s path on a dozen battle fronts. He was also in court often, reporting to the Deity-King on his mercenary missions as leader of the Nihil-Stalkers, the Sacran Forward Guard Unit.’
‘The pride of the Caliostheles bloodline,’ Idan murmured with a slight scoff. ‘A squad bound to the throne by blood-debt. Raised from birth to serve the monarchy.’
‘Really?’ Sheba asked, intrigued.
Idan jerked his chin in confirmation. ‘While most young boys mastered liturgy and the arts of governance, I spent months in the sparring pits, learning the physics of the kill. I prevailed because, as a baby, my mother wove defensive strands into my genetic architecture. These modifications granted me a molecular density and a regenerative factor, allowing me tosurvive the Void-Forging trials that claimed the lives of my peers.’
‘Void-forging?’ Sheba asked, shivering at the thought.
‘It’s the concept of training warriors on a high-gravity moon. Where the air is poison, and the sun is a permanent, bruised wound in the sky,’ Idan told her, staring into the dark amber of his glass. ‘They tempered us to withstand the dead space between dimensions where sinister magic and ghastly evil roil. I won all the challenges, and they called me the Scion of the Crimson Eclipse due to the lunar body that stains the firmament in that macabre place.’
‘You were a child forced to compete in that gravity?’
Sheba’s fingers clamped over Idan’s hand as her mind raced, horrified by what he endured.
Idan scoffed. ‘I didn’t remain young long. The High Council soon drafted me into the Seven-Fold Legion, also known as theNihil-Stalkers. While the rank-and-file sang anthems of praise, my unit functioned as the scalpels of heaven. We used ourSsignakhtprescient power to stop wars before they formed as an idea in the minds of our enemies. We destroyed armies before any of them drew a weapon and executed rogue deities before they realized a rebellion was taking shape in their thoughts.’
