Empyrean Iris

Chapter 45

Sunny stood on the floor of the cathedral of the four warriors,, the obsidian cold beneath her toes. The room was lit partially by beams of dying light seeping in from high in the ceiling above, partially from the spirit orbs that glowed blue around the circle, and partly from the orange brazier of fire sitting in the center of the room between the two dueling circles.

The last time she had been in this room, her mother had given the orders that sent Sunny on this wild mission: you will hunt down the human named Adam Vir, and you will bring him back to me, failure in your task will only prove what I have known about you since you were born, but if you succeed you will have glory in this clan beyond what you have ever imagined.

She looked up, to where Adam knelt on the floor before her, at the center of the leftmost dueling circle. One half of his face—the half with his missing eye, was highlighted in the delicate blue glow of the spirit orb, and the other half of his face—the one with his human eye—was lit by the red glowing flames of the fire.

A little pinprick of light glittered in the center of his human eye.

And it seemed as if the fire was only giving visual representation for the anger he was likely feeling,

Sunny couldn't blame him. She had tricked him into trusting her.

She was a spy.

And she had tricked him through guile and sweet words, nothing more.

Inside her stomach churned.

She hated herself for what she had become, hated her mother for turning her into this, and hated the hypocrisy that surrounded her from within and without.

She only had to look at the armed Drev circling the perimeter of the room to see that. A bitterness welled up inside her, a sensation that she had been fighting since she was a child, but for the moment she amused the thoughts. Allowed herself the hate and shame that she had tried to quell for these past few days.

The feeling swept through her like dark water to consume the bright sprigs of hope that had begun to bud inside like the blossoms of a Coil tree.

Nothing.

She could have nothing.

Even when she had everything, she had nothing.

Her mother said that when Sunny returned, she would have the respect of the clan, she would have Kazna's respect, but she knew, she knew that both of those things were lies. She did not have their respect. She had won what she had through guile and deceit and no one would ever take her seriously for it.

And her mother's love.

Well what was the worth of love that was conditional on the fact that your child goes against every belief they have.

What kind of love was conditional on the recipient turning themselves into a monster?

Sunny had felt alone all of her life.

Lanus and Kanan had been the only two people who had understood and respected her, but long ago, on the floor of this very cathedral she had been alone. She had been alone during her lessons, she had been alone during all the mockery, all the shame, and all the fights.

She had been alone when she grieved for her brother.

And she had been sent off alone into an unforgiving galaxy to find someone who should have been impossible to find.