Empyrean

Chapter 2

Chapter 2-Serena

City of Light Military District Auditorium

Late Afternoon, 19th of Diversa, Year 611

            The cold metal scrapes on my skin for the hundredth time, slowly carving a mark in my wrist. I often wish there were some other way of separating us from the lower Epochs, but of course that never left my mouth. The seat isn’t bad though the manufactured leather is cool and keeps all of our backsides from burning during these types of ceremonies.

            “Today.” Whenever the Potentius starts with a word like ‘today’ everyone knows that this speech was written and practiced not for us on the ground, but for the rich, famous, and powerful that reside in floating sections of the amphitheater. “We are here to congratulate…” I completely ignore her words and start to scratch through the miserable crimson and gold military jumpsuit. I know that wearing it is an honor, but that doesn't change the fact that they are terribly uncomfortable. “They have gone through many trials and tribulations to get to this day…” Why won’t she just hurry up! I think. We didn’t come here for a speech.

            The Epoch starts to scrape on my left wrist again and I almost scream. No number of advanced classes can prepare you for abstruse, boring, and frankly completely unnecessary ceremonies such as this. “The function that these young people will perform is important to the Emperor and his people; they are about to become part of the thick black line that keeps this perfect Autocracy from falling into the hands of lesser…” Just as the itching seems to stop my faith in the manufactured leather is lost as my back and neck start to burn. Lucy yanks me back to reality.

            “Which sector do you want?” She whispers in my ear. Since my last name starts with a ‘V’ and hers starts with a ‘T’ we are seated far enough back in the mass of three hundred that the Potentius can’t hear us. Plenty of others were enjoying each other’s company rather than the speech’s anyway. “Serena?” I guess my pause is pretty long.

            “Probably the Zenith.” I say only half believing it myself.

            “Really!?”

            “Lucy!” Her voice rises to the point that I feel the need to shut her up. Getting yelled at on graduation day was not on my itinerary.

            “But you want the Zenith?” Her voice is still pretty loud, but there is nothing I can do about it so I just decide to ignore it. “Have you heard the stories that people tell about those places? Like it being a hop skip and a jump from hell?”

            “Yeah, everyone has.” I say flatly. I see a bird in the corner of my eye and it distracts me for a second. “What’s the point of being a protector of the people in a place where they don’t need protecting?” The words come out of my mouth, but my eyes and focus are on the prowl for the long gone bird.

            “I guess…” She obviously doesn’t really understand my sentiment, but that was normal. Lucy is really intelligent, but incomprehensibly naïve. All she understands about the situation is that I am vying for a statistically more dangerous area than would seem logical. So it doesn't register. We really are different people; I don’t think we would’ve ever been friends if it weren’t for our last names shoving us together at every one of these meetings. But I am glad it is her who is sitting next to me.

            “Would you ladies quiet it down?” An all too familiar jest comes from the seat behind us. “I am trying to listen!”

            “Oh, shut up Jacob.” I retort without bothering to turn my head. “I’ll bet you just woke up.”