Orpheus: The Sentience War

“Ra, the single sentient star. She was the first. She gave her life away, to birth all life anew. In the stardust, her consciousness spread, and the universe arose. Our galaxy at the epicentre!” 

“But – but! That’s–” 

“Orpheus!” 

“So that’s it, is it? A single star. That is all the history, all the faith, all the significance we will ever have. A million species have died out since then, and so will a million more before the lights go out. Oh, but, Ra, the single sentient star!” 

“ORPHEUS!” 

“If you want me to glorify life, then come up with a better story!” 

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Even as a child, I was stubborn. ‘Stubborn beyond repair,’ the maids would say, as they tried desperately to raise me. But the real trouble was the ambition I carried, and apparently reaching the top of the mountain is easier when you walk on a path already made. Yet even so, my ambition was so stubborn that I did not just find my own way up a mountain; I built myself a new one – a new mountain – of equal height and power – stature and wealth. My ambition was a symptom of my youth; I grew out of it, or perhaps it simply changed form. It provided the means, but as I grew up, something else, something far sharper, or perhaps blunter, began to direct me, and I tell you the truth now; I would not have gone so far, had I not deemed it to be absolutely necessary! 

There were many things that led me down this path, but it all started in those early days before the XA came and took me away. You see I was born on Goldenfel, an old planet in the grain belt, agricultural, but as I said, old. Tradition came before even the harvest, and society was very much in a feudal way. There were a few cities that towered above the wheat fields – the fields of gold – and the nobles lived in tiers within those cities.  

I belonged to one noble family – House Regulus. We were third-tier, but my parents liked to frolic with the tiers above. Therefore, it only made sense that I was bullied incredibly much. School was a hellish ordeal; so, I studied the Communion Standard at home. Communion being the major system of galactic government – a supreme society – minds joint as one! At the time, the Communion was all I knew, and I did not know it well; that meant that I saw my future with them, and more specifically with the XA.  

The XA are an almost monastic order; I say almost because they are, at the same time, guard dogs to the Communion, militaristic to the extreme, and completely unconcerned with the state of affairs if they themselves are unaffected – yet diplomats they still claim to be.  

As a child, I saw them differently. They were heroes! Many of them still are, despite their intrinsic flaws. But I saw them in a golden light, and once, they were infallible to me; all I wanted was to join their ranks. That was the height of my ambition. That was where I would find contentment and peace – something that I still have not found, not even to this day – something that still haunts me as an empty hole in my soul. With everything that I have achieved – still nothing satiates it!  

Goldenfel was a beautiful planet, and I wish that I could have held the face of my younger self and forced him to appreciate it more – the beauty – the warmth beneath the three suns that sloped across the skies, casting a permanent sunset. That child always forgot to live in the moment; he wanted to grow up too soon. Yet, all together, it was a fine childhood; I made friends with those in my tier, and I remember the days we spent by the lakes – the time, the freedom, the boredom. I miss the boredom the most. To think that once there was nothing to do – no moral qualms to settle, no rebellious worlds to subjugate. How I miss my youth. 

Once I even found love. I lost it a week later. I remember it well. We were on the terrace of my third-tier home, and this girl, well, she was second-tier. I can only imagine how thrilled my parents were, but I was not, not when she told me, “I deserve better than you. You didn’t think that you could have a second-tier as beautiful as I? Why, I could have any man I desire!”  

I remember the silence that came upon us like a pack of starved grain hounds tearing into the flesh of a tired and broken Goldenfel hart. Somehow, it was her dishonesty that I feared the most. I would have been more hurt if she was playing a game – toying with my emotions. 

“Please, tell me you are being truthful?” I asked. My trust was the most fragile thing in those days. She gave me an incredulous stare, and I was thus relieved.  

Then, I began to tear into her. 

“Beauty?” I breathed. “You see those flowers over there!” She looked over. “In bloom, they are beautiful, but in a few days, they will lose their splendour. Their shine will fade, and their petals will crumple. After that, they will wilt and brown, and eventually, they will wither and die.” The girl equipped a terror in her eyes. “You are one such flower, for you have told me so more than enough times… And I’m not saying that beautiful things die because they are beautiful. No; they die because the galaxy does not favour beauty nor those who seek it. These flowers die because they need only live long enough to give rise to the next generation. They give no thought to themselves. Their beauty speeds along the cycle of their demise, and despite your character, you also give no thought to yourself. You only long for that handsome first-tier, the riches, your idyllic paradise where you will remain in comfort for the rest of your days, doing nothing to further yourself; you will wilt; you will wither; you will die. If you ask me where my ambition lies, I will say that it does not lie anywhere; to set my ambition down would be to limit myself. You cannot even begin to understand the dreams that I have; there is no sky above them. My destiny will take me far from this world.” Silence came again… until I killed it. “I agree with you! There must be another man better suited… to your way of thinking.” 

So, I saw her down the steps of the terrace and into the painted streets of dusk. I watched as she descended up the hill – back to her tier forevermore! 

I did not sleep that night; my ambition had been awakened, and I struggled to find rest. I simply sat out on those terrace-steps and watched as Goldenfel Prime and her sisters fell to their lowest – beneath the distant mountains where the golden fields met their end – and then, when the darkness came, I looked up and beyond, through all the stars – and then to one! 

It was the brightest of them all – with light that came not from the star itself, but from the life around it!  

Centarion – the burning capital of the galaxy. That was where fate was written. Seventy trillion people lived upon her and her many moons. She was the seat of power, home to the Communion, the XA, and the guilds.  

I would surely find myself there; for nothing could quell this fire that I had within. It was painful, and I was dead, waiting to be born again into that beating heart of life itself. 

Yet as I stared up into the night sky, beyond the ever-burning horizon, I felt a distant wind wash over me. I shuddered, and I could not for the life of me tell whether it was real or imagined. Regardless, it imparted me with such a cold deliverance. 

 Then I went to my bed – to disappear beneath the sheets – the safest place in the galaxy. 

The XA came to Goldenfel when I was fifteen years of age. Every four years they would open their gates to new initiates and their selection process was seen as something of a rite of passage amongst the noble families, yet the XA had no care for status; all were included.  

Needless to say, my house – House Regelus – had made certain that I had put my name down. It would be shameful for a future noble not to play the XA’s game. They did not realise, however, that I truly wanted to pass the trials; they did not know that I wanted everything that that would entail – the suffering, the order. For they did not realise that I already had these, here on Goldenfel – that my idea of suffering lay in comfort itself. 

Before the XA arrived, I remember sitting in the dining room. My father was reading a broadsheet, its holographic face illuminating his dark and furrowed features. I thought to myself that I would be on there one day. Slowly, he spoke to me, “Prepared for the trials?” 

“I am.” 

“Remember to gift the master a bottle of our Regallion – on my behalf!” 

I sniffed loudly. “Will it help me pass the trials?” 

My father looked to me with thin eyes – thin ice – yet then he began to laugh. He even turned off his broadsheet so that he could savour the moment. “You – you don’t actually think that you can pass the trials. Boy, only one or sometimes two at the most pass. When I was younger, they once went through twelve years – three trials – without selecting anyone. And how many enter? How many, Orpheus?” 

“Ten-thousand!” 

“Ten-thousand, indeed! Well, I say, you’ll make a fine fortune in the grain sector if you keep up that attitude.” 

“I don’t care about grain!” I hissed. 

Just then my mother came by with one of the maids. “Oh, leave the him alone will you!” she laughed lightly to the younger girl beside her. “A boy’s aloud to dream, surely!”  

The maid laughed along too – power in the herd, yet still just a sheep. 

“Well, as long as he doesn’t dream away House Regelus’s shares in the Regallion Grain Firm… then he can have his fun.”     

This moment’s humiliation fuelled me for months to come; in fact, it was probably the very thing that chased me off the planet. 

I remember waking to the incredible sound of a XA ship leeching itself out of interspace. The sound rippled across the sky, and it even seemed to resonate from within my head. I stole myself away into the night. 

The ship had made its way to the grand port, which was a cylindrical hollow that permeated the centre of the mountain-like city. I climbed to the top of the capital and found myself standing upon the edge of the crater, which was sealed by a pulsating airlock – a blue gate of energy. And below me – a vast expanse – a kilometre deep!  

I released a great breath and felt my heart flutter, as I stepped over the edge and fell… 

The air began to act like a loose liquid, but it was not quite; it was the anti-gravity. This entire port, like most grand ports, was designed to hold up the less powerful civilian ships, as they slowed for landing or accelerated for orbit. So, I followed the XA ship down, barely keeping my balance. Soon, I felt the force of my initial fall begin to dissipate, so I signalled for a passing civilian to give me a boost, as was the polite custom. I gripped onto the designated rubber handle, as not to burn myself from the interspace residue, and then flung myself away. I gave the pilot a short nod as I passed his cockpit and travelled to docking bay 393. 

I braced myself as I hurtled through the airlock and dropped to the ground. I had barely picked myself up before I saw her – a furious vessel, still steaming with the aftermath of space travel. She filled at least half of the hanger – in both width and height. Her powerful engines reeled from the effort of the planetary approach, spluttering out large fountains of smoke and steam.  

A serpentine hiss emanated from the ship’s bowels, and I watched on in awe as a ramp extruded from her belly and pronged for the ground. Then a door snapped open, and two masters appeared. 

They were the XA – dressed in the purest white robes imaginable. Their swords hung at their hips and their hand guns were strapped to their chests. Now both had an exposed right forearm, and as they descended into the shadow of their ship, I saw that this skin was glowing – slowly pulsing. Faint silhouettes of bone and blood vessels appeared. I stood silently in their wake; my mouth hung ajar. The man at the front saw me and smiled. “You must be one of the initiates, are you not?”  

“Yes – yes, sir!” My lips trembled as I spoke. 

“Then let the will guide you!” The man brought his hand to his heart and then passed on, leaving me in his splendour. The other man said not a word; he hid beneath his hood and looked darkly, despite his attire of snow.  

Then they left me alone in this vast hangar bay, and I stood there burning with the memory of those words – the fire to my fuel. I realise this to be the second reason as to why I passed the XA’s trials. ‘Let the will guide you.’ 

By morning, I became one of the ten-thousand – the army of the Goldenfel youth. My parents stood with me as we waited in the underground – the root’s transit station. A sea of boys and girls threatened me with a collective sense of dread. My father laughed, “Still think you stand a chance?” 

“Yes!” I said with a chill in my voice. “You believe in the statistic. You become the statistic. You fail…” 

“You forget that there is such a thing called skill…” 

“My skill is my ambition!” 

My father looked at me with strange eyes – estranged eyes. “Where have you come from, and what have you done with quiet little Orpheus?” 

Just then my mother stopped him. “Come now, Mart. I think it’s sweet how serious he’s taking this. Let him have his fun.” 

“Oh, alright, but don’t let him come whining to me when the fun ends. Because fun always has its end!” 

It turned out that my father was right about something; how those words would haunt me in the years to come. 

The train came roaring towards us, but it did not stop for another ten minutes – until it had snaked across the entire station. Only then did the youth flood into the metal serpent which hissed under their new weight. I said my goodbyes and I remember that I did miss my parents deeply as I embarked, but at the time my nerves for the trials numbed, or perhaps merely masked, any sense of homesickness. I watched my parents wave me off but my nervous eyes could barely focus on them no matter how much I tried, and then, in the blink of an eye, they were gone. The train was already coursing towards the other side of the planet. Then as I regained my senses, my ears popped, and I felt the pressure release from the cabin – it was the only thing that spared a human body from such acceleration!  

Sitting next to me was a boy of similar age. His name was Law Regent; we would be in the same group! “Are you a winner?” he asked me – a term that I had heard frequently on the train – a term for those who actually wanted to pass the trials.  

“Yes,” I replied. “Are you?” 

He nodded back to me, and then slyly looked about the cabin. His voice dropped to a whisper. “Most of the people in here are either here for the fun of it, or because their families forced them to be; they will humour the XA, but if they start to do well, they will just sabotage themselves. And that means—” 

“Our competition is not nearly as bad as it looks!” I laughed beneath my breath and looked to the window. ‘How’s that one, dad?’ I whispered to my reflection before I looked back to the boy called Law. He had short, dark hair, shaved at the sides but longer on the top. His clothes were frayed at their seams, and he looked scruffy, but bold and proud. I had never seen anyone like him before. “Hey, what tier are you from?” 

“Tier?” he uttered. “Oh, no. No, I’m one of the – I’m from a farming family!” Suddenly, I saw his pride deteriorate; he looked down to his feet. “I didn’t mark you for a noble – you see!” 

“Status is a lie,” my mouth blurted out. “Goldenfel is a prison for us both! Nowhere else in the civilised galaxy shares our backwards social order – only… only the primal systems, uncontacted – or the colonies, lawless, left to their own devices – and yet here we are – a key planet of influence… I swear I will do whatever it takes to get away. Imagine the life we could have with the XA on Centarion!” I saw his eyes light again. 

“It would be incredible.” He began to smile. “You know, Orpheus, I think I’m starting to like you. We’re going to start off in the same group, aren’t we? Because of our names… How about we stick together? Make sure we get through?” 

I felt a unique parting in my heart – a new friend – a true friend! “I – I like the sound of that!” And then, in true Goldenfel fashion, we gripped each other by the right hand – fingers interlocked – an alliance forged. We drew many eyes from those in the cabin, mostly of confusion – but a few of ill intent – stares most malevolent. I could all but hear the thunderous echoes of their owners’ hearts pounding in both anger and fear. 

Suddenly the train broke into the light of the three suns, and so fast was its speed that everything within a kilometre was but a single golden blur. The clouds sped above our heads and the suns seemed to be chasing each other across the sky. The only thing planet-side that remained constant enough for the eyes to see were the far mountains on the horizon.  

Then came the pressure again; I noticed how the air changed slightly, causing my inner ears to rebel and my breath to become heavy as I felt something cushioning my brain – something other than my intracranial fluid. Then the train dropped its speed with the force of an interspace drive. A great scream resonated from beneath us and its vibrations numbed the soles of my feet. The cabin hissed; the pressure released; my brain released.  

Regularity returned to the landscape; we were far from the golden fields now. Lakes led into swampy mires and emerald glades – the proving grounds of the initiates. When we finally came to a halt it felt and looked like we were on a different world! 

Swiftly, the herd was divided into groups – by order of name. My new friend and I clung to each other amongst the stampede of dazed and confused children. The youngest here were eight – the oldest, sixteen. I remember thinking that the older ones had likely put off the trials until now, whilst the younger ones were here because they wanted to be here. I marked their immature excitability; they had no idea what they were signing up for. The trials were hard and if you took them seriously enough, you would be sure to find danger in them. 

The XA were known for their efficiency, especially in their trials. Years of initiations, all across the worlds of influence, had left them with a ruthless eye for their selectee. The journey had taken just half an hour and we were already being issued with our first trial – the start of the distillation process. 

A vast podium arose from the now regimented crowd and upon it stood the two XA masters that I had seen from last night; they stormed up into the sky, standing sternly against the thin railings that kept them from an impossible fall. The crowd broke into an excitable murmur; Law and I remained silent. And then the one master raised his hand, and the noise fell instantly, and the XA, that had spoken to me only the night before, spoke again to us all. 

“I commend you each for gathering here today. The trials are made for all but meant for few. The first trial will see the ten-thousand fall to one-hundred.” 

A collective gasp escaped. 

“There is no time limit, but it will go quickly. Most of you will forfeit. The rest will lose to folly or skill. The one-hundred left will be worthy for the next trial. A circular perimeter fence has been laid out with a ten-mile radius. You are free to roam anywhere within this area; if you leave you will be disqualified; if you try to run back home, know that we are three-thousand miles from the nearest settlement…” 

A short laugh resulted from many in the crowd. 

“Laughter! All those who find humour in this matter will not find themselves in the XA. So, for you, I give the first rule; to forfeit is a blank displacement round to the foot. Lose your nerve, forfeit; likewise, if you become gravely injured, forfeit. A comms channel will open as soon as you are out of the game; from there you may request medical aid, should you need it. For those of you who have the courage, you will be armed with a BD rifle and a practice knife. Each of you will drink an electrolyte solution which will spread across the body and react with the BD-rounds and the impulse of the knife. You shall each wear a bracelet that will indicate and broadcast your simulated health, based on the solution prior. Any attempt to tamper with the bracelet shall result in immediate disqualification. In the beginning, you will enter the proving grounds in your groups from separate gates. You may not attack those in your group until you hear the second siren; then it is anyone’s game until the last one hundred remain, at which point the conflict will end and a third and final siren will sound; then you will make your way back here.” 

From then on, I remember the growing fear in all of us – the mass unease. One by one, the groups were called up until it came to mine, and as a full century, we marched towards the rusty gates and beyond. I think what started to scare us the most was that there were no civilian adults present; the only authority other than the two masters were Communion soldiers. They were the ones administering the tonic, giving us our colours and arms and bracelets, and all of a sudden it felt very real – very militaristic. It felt like a starker kind of existence – like suddenly the world had been leeched of all saturation and vividity, leaving behind a very much darker palette of colour. We all began to realise that, to whoever passed these trials, this would be the world they would go into – forever. A permanent alteration! Put it this way, would you ever wish for colour to be drained from your eyesight? To forevermore see the world in a dull wash of thinly pigmented paint, because it was exactly the same. Going into the XA, as I realise now, is not simply consigning yourself to their order, but chiefly to that side of existence – the unpleasant but necessary way of life – the way of life that robs you of any ignorance – civilian bliss as I call it now. For the civilians live in a world that is made for them, but people like me, we see the cracks, the flaws, the steel skeleton of society, and it is utterly terrifying – more so than any nightmare. And you may run, but once you have seen, you may never forget, and then I’ll say it again… I miss the boredom of my youth.  

I stared down at the rifle in my hands; it was heavy and metallic, and there was a hideous blue light that ran right around its barrel. Now, that would have to go! There was no induction on how to use the weapons. I suppose that was part of the trial, but as my group was being led into the arena, I pulled Law and myself away to a resting group of soldiers. I handed them my rifle. “Please! Could you get rid of the glow?” 

The soldiers looked at each other and then laughed with an air of admiration. “Smart kid,” one said, as he waved down an angry guard who had come to find us. He spoke to him through a series of hand movements – the last one being universally vulgar and insulting. Then another two soldiers quickly took our rifles and dismantled them with such ease that I wondered how they had ever held themselves together at all. They then killed the lights by cutting their wires. “I always hated these BD’s; look like toys; wouldn’t last long in a battle with one of these,” they spoke amongst themselves, and I remember their voices sounding sad, dark… reminiscent. Then we got our guns back, and the soldiers asked for our names; they would place their bets on us ­– and in turn, I asked for a word of advice, and the soldiers silently deliberated together before coming back to me. “Hide. Hide. Hide. There is no sense in racking up kills, if you get killed at the end. If you are serious about winning, know that this is not a challenge to test your skills with a gun or how well you can fight. All the XA care about is how you use your brains to beat the odds. So, hide – and only shoot when you absolutely must!” 

We entered the arena, and my entire body was consumed with a euphoria unlike any other. It almost felt like I would become paralysed by the combination of fear, excitement and anticipation. I saw the same look on many in my group, and as the gates shut around the tall and inwards-curved perimeter fence, we were on our own. 

Now each of us had been given a large rucksack and within it were our rations and water purifiers; we had a large flask each, but they were all empty. Our group wore red belts and gingerly began to march off into the arena, with two plucky sixteen-year-olds masquerading as centurions.  

They would be the first to die, I thought to myself – then everyone else who followed them. 

Law looked to me as we let the group march through us: a few older girls noticed our independence and thus started to panic. “Water?” he whispered.  

A quick nod of agreement and we were off. We had to find water before the killing started – before the groups began to find each other. 

The terrain was harsh and irregular – far from the serene lakes and golden fields that we were used to. This was pure southern hemisphere wetland – untouched – and dangerous. Law and I followed the slope of the land, moving as fast as possible because this was the only time that we would be able to. Soon we heard the faint trickle of water and we honed into it. From that came a stream, and Law and I quickly dropped to it and turned our bags inside out. With our flasks ready, we submerged our purifiers. Once full, we pressed a central button on the heat resistant grip, and soon the entire pill-shaped contraption began to boil and shake, and then suddenly it began to cool. I felt the liquid slosh about once more, but now it was at the top half. We opened them up and poured the once murky water into our flasks, before emptying the leftover mud and silt from the other end. We did this three times before we heard him!  

A boy had come running down the hill and to the stream; he was not one of us; he was a green belt… He had not noticed us. Quickly he got his purifier out and submerged it – a broad smile upon his face; he looked up in a daydream and then slowly the realisation came; his smile turned into a snarl and he snapped his rifle up to us. My heart began to beat fast – faster. 

“Easy now!” I whispered. “There hasn’t been a shot yet; if you shoot first, the entire ten-thousand will know exactly where you are. Do you really want that? All for one kill?” I signalled to Law; he raised his rifle; then I raised mine. “Besides, if you kill one of us, the other will get you… but we won’t shoot if we don’t have to.”  

The boy began to slowly lower his rifle and raised his chin. “Alright… but – but tell me where your group went.” 

“Southeast, from half a mile back… And yours?” 

“West. In a big clump – all together.” 

“There is no strength in numbers – not here,” I said. “They’re cattle – a herd, heading to their slaughter.” 

“Couldn’t have put it better,” the boy said, as we all returned to collecting our water. 

“Don’t try and find us,” I finished. 

The boy nodded again, and Law and I began to pack up; we left with our backs facing each other. I had my rifle ahead; Law had his to the boy. We then made our way back to the fence.  

The first shots rang out about an hour after the trial began. They came in clusters and thundered across the arena; with them came the screams – banshees in the wind. Law lowered himself to the ground a little further. “Those BD-rounds – they don’t sound fun!” I saw his throat swallow abruptly. 

“I think that they’re electrical – they don’t displace matter but they still feel like they do.” 

“Well, it’s a good thing we’re not going to get shot then… Hey, how’d you know to go and talk to those soldiers anyways?” 

I thought for a while and looked down at my pitch-black rifle. “Never trust the system; it has no care for you – designed only to sift through statistics. If you want results, go to those who care; by that I mean people. The ten-thousand are just numbers and deep down that’s all they want to be. It’s comfortable; it feels secure; that’s why they went off in groups, you see. Their subconscious is unwilling to accept what it takes to have success, and many in the ten-thousand do want to join the XA, but they don’t want to believe in the struggle to get there. So, they put their trust in the system because the likelihood is they will fail, but at least there is still a chance. Then they can blame fate, or the will, or the single sentient star, and not themselves for their failure.” I saw Law begin to smile, and I remember believing that he was of the exact same mind; he had just never been able to put it into words before. I know now that my tongue had been dancing with arrogance. Silence would have served me well. 

“Come, let’s go on. We need a better place to hide.”  

Gunfire came and went intermittently for the rest of that afternoon, and I remember part of me fearing for the night, and by the evening not even the second siren had sounded. So, Law and I had found a cave; it was a small crack in a cliff face – directly beneath the perimeter fence. Yet there were no barriers in the cave, and so we made certain not to venture further, for we would likely be disqualified. We concealed the cave entrance and unpacked our bags. It almost felt as if we did our best to make the place as comfortable as it could be, and there was a strange kind of enjoyment in finding comfort in such a hostile place. But outside, as the night came, as the cold set in, things became harsher – a lot darker. Screams came before the gunfire, instead of after.  It was the mark of terror before pain. I could imagine that the darkness of night had awakened another darkness… in the hearts of the youth. The situation was slowly twisting them, depriving them of their humanity. 

 Every now and then we heard the colossal sound of a military dropship passing over and scouring the arena for casualties – victims of the growing climate of violence.  

We got out our rations, and I saw Law’s face change in the dim light of a lantern. “These are water-based!” he breathed. 

“Oh, by Ra’s face!” I said half short of a laugh. “They’re going to be forced to find water, or starve until they forfeit.”  

We tried to sleep – but sleep came and went. The night’s air was ripped apart by an almost continuous storm of gunfire and screams. And then it finally came – the second siren. I snapped my head to Law and he did the same to me; we had no desire to kill each other, but the thought undoubtedly came to mind; it was just the idea that we were no longer allies by default; we were allies because we wanted to be, but betrayal was now an option that was not there before.  

“I wonder how many are left!” he said. 

“Maybe one thousand. There were one-hundred groups. Roughly ten left per group.” 

“Sounds about right. Well, I suppose now we just wait until the third siren.” 

“A breeze…” I remember saying with a genuine eagerness. I should not have been so certain. For you see, it’s clear to me now – the most natural outcome of the trial. Only one-hundred people could get through; now the pre-set groups were a hundred, yes, but they were weak. The likely and most sensical outcome was that a new group of one-hundred or less would form after the second siren and wipe out the rest of the survivors. Then they had their numbers and their skill, and it would all be fun and games from there on out. But not for us! 

As the hours went by, we heard the shots come closer and closer, and Law and myself fell into a deathly silence. That kind of soldier’s words had gotten us this far, but now we were in trouble. One by one, we heard their steps come to us; they stood directly outside of the cave, and there were many – a group almost entirely made up of boys. I heard their frenzied voices chattering away in savage little whispers, yet then came a single voice of reason. “We’ve scouted half of the fence; if there were any cowering here, we would have found them by now, but surely it can’t be many more until the final siren goes. Who says we should move out?”  

I head a sea of affirmation to the gruff and dominant voice, but then someone interjected; he began to shout, “I say… a few of us gone, and this hell will all be over. We should decide—” 

BANG! 

A raucous explosion pried itself towards us, and then a pained slur pitifully fell from one of the boys’ lips. He had been shot point-blank. I can only imagine the pain… Still – I could still hear the sparks dancing across his face – enough voltage to mimic the sensation of having half of his features torn to dust.  

Then the leader worked up a rage, and even to this day, I have never quite deciphered what it was that he screamed to his pack. Yet for some reason, they lingered around us and how they found the cave, I don’t quite know; perhaps a few wanted to escape the commotion and accidentally stumbled upon our suspicious wall of stacked foliage. 

“Here! There’s a kind of cave. Someone’s concealed the entrance,” a voice shouted, and suddenly the leader’s violent screams fell into silence. 

And just like that my heart emigrated to my throat and my neck felt ready to burst open. It felt like I wanted to laugh. It felt like I wanted to cry. It felt like I wanted to jump forth and send them all to hell – a well-placed BD-round to each of their heads! In that one moment, my imagination merged with reality – all sense was lost and I became a danger. Yet then I saw Law, and he distracted my eyes; he pleaded to me through them – through those afraid orbs – not to devastate what we had achieved – and we could achieve so much more if only we did not let panic rule. I took heed and nodded slowly to the whites of his eyes. He blinked slowly; it began. 

We were both at the sides of the cave; we hugged the walls and conformed to the darkness; we silently pulled everything out of sight. I saw his hand wave upwards, pointing… 

 The perimeter fence!  

The pure fear left me; it was ousted by nerves – the nerve of it – of what we were about to do. Even now, to my older and more experienced mind, it brings me chills – pure brilliance. It was the first feat of many more to come.  

I took out my metal water purifier; it was a heavy and hollow thing. About five meters away the pack scrambled to open up the cave, and that’s when I threw it! Far away – deep down into the cave. It landed and the collision shook my eardrums with a deafening clamour. Then the group started to shout and wail. “GET IN THERE. GET IN THERE!”  

They trampled into the cave and raced onwards; the glow from their guns illuminated their faces as clear as day, but failed to reveal us. I looked down to my rifle and praised the goodness of the universe.  

Then a loud beep came – then another – then more… until screams of anger penetrated back our way. “DISQUALIFIED!” Several boys closest to us suddenly stopped dead; they checked their bracelets – still in the game – but not anymore… 

“NOW!” I screamed as I held my rifle up to their haloed silhouettes. I opened fire and so did Law. One by one they fell to our thunder which coursed across the caves and into each of our hearts. Agony resounded as their faces were lit up with the electric entrails of our BD’s.  

The third siren suddenly rang out. 

Law and I rejoiced! 

Yet then those half-brained fools, who had first run into the cave, returned and they were most angry. They trampled over the almost burning, still living, corpses of their friends, and then to us. One of them took himself to Law and grabbed him by the neck. I could see that there was a look of death in both of their eyes. Suddenly cries came from the others to stop – yet some cried out for murder, and the boy listened to those… 

“Stop!” I demanded. 

“What you gonna do skinny boy? After I choke him, it’ll be yourself! My father – he’s a first-tier!” 

My mind fell blank at those words – those haunting, despicable words. Then my rage arrived – his arrogance – his ignorance – and he actually wanted to join the XA. I rose far above him, and slowly I hissed through gritted teeth, “Status is a lie.” I punched the barrel of my gun into the hollow of his ear, and I fired and fired and fired away.  

His head slowly smashed into the ground. Half of his face was withered by round after round of blanks, and I watched as the electricity danced around, slowly destroying his skin, burning it, making it weep. There was too a circular blister upon his ear from the heat of the barrel. This was my doing and I was glad. He almost killed my friend, who was still quietly choking himself back to the land of the living.  

The boy’s bracelet started to make a morbid sound. I stooped over it. “There is a cave, by the eastern fence; send medical aid!” 

I helped my friend up and we made our way out of the arena alone.  

As we walked to the debriefing centre, something felt different – the crowd. The ten-thousand had left; they had been sent back to the capital already – thousands of miles away. There was no longer the fear of the mob to mask my own, and I too felt different. I was no longer the same boy who had entered that arena; I had been changed. Off in the distance, a military ship hovered above the perimeter fence. 

The soldier from before ran out from under the tent. “Still standing, I see.” 

“Yeah,” I sighed. “And thanks.” I raised my rifle. “Saved our hides!” 

“No problem there, kid. Keep this up, and I’ll be a very rich man. Hey, what happened to your friend there?” 

Law looked up to him, still holding his throat. “Sore loser – tried – tried to kill me.” 

“Well, dare I ask what happened to him?” 

I pointed to the ship in the distance, as it hovered patiently with a chain and a full stretcher rising into the belly of its hull. The soldier’s eyes widened and his friends under the tent began to laugh. “You sure you gave him the right gun back?” they teased, careless to the sight of the broken body flying high in the night sky.  

In the debriefing centre, we were each fed and watered and many of those surviving boys stared at Law and myself – evil little eyes – even from the young ones. Then I was called into the listening bay with my friend. Two soldiers stood before us; one was a doctor. Before I could even make my claim, they spoke – first the sergeant. “We commend you for protecting your friend. You’re not in trouble. We heard it all, and so have the masters.” 

“The patient is in bad health; he will likely never hear in the left ear again, at least not organically, and due to the intensity of the rounds he will need subsurface grafting. He is being transferred to the relevant authorities now. His actions were unacceptable and he will be dealt with – harshly.” 

The sergeant spoke up, “‘My father’s a first-tier.’ Pathetic. Typical Goldenfeller! Anywhere else in the galaxy, say something like that and you’d be liable to be shot. You’ve probably saved two lives today, boy. Now get some rest. Personally, I think you could do good things for the XA… Now, Orpheus, I’ll remember your name… If you don’t make it here, I’ll take you in gladly. There’s trouble brewing in the far belts – those raptids again; it’s slowly bubbling away – yet in a few years, it’ll come loose – a great galactic aneurysm, I tell you.” 

“Thank you… Thank you, sergeant!” I said with a buried eagerness… And then, just like that, Goldenfel was dead. A tragic but beautiful loss, and by the flight of its ashes, I saw the soul of the entire galaxy rise resplendently into the ether.   

I saw Centarion before me.