Empyrean

Chapter 7

Chapter 7-Serena

Zenith-Red Alexandros Outside the Resting Area

Midnight, 5th of Pachon, Year 612

            I wipe the blood off of my hand before I touch the doorknob. No reason for anyone else to see it. I know that my face is beat up, but there is little I can do about that as the bathrooms are inside the dormitory. I wipe my hands on the seat of my pants one more time and open the door slowly, but not so slowly that it creaks.

            Most everyone is asleep. Only Jacob is awake looking up at the ceiling from his bed. He has been awake every time I have gotten back late from Mentor’s “physical training”. Today has got to be at least the hundredth day in a row that I have gotten back this late.

            A little over a year ago Mentor began my physical training but said I wasn't ready yet so he started my further study in the mind. These included economics, politics, philosophy, physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, finance, computer science, forensics, astronomy, and psychology to name a few.

            Jacob catches me off guard: “You still haven’t told me what he is doing to you up there.” His voice breaks the silence that I had taken for granted.

            “Well… Why do you want to know?” This is vastly different than the way I usually answer him, but in a few days he will be voted the leader of our year for the Red Alexandros and he will use his clout to figure it out himself. Telling him now will just put me in his good graces.

            “You know I’ve been reading Serena.” Jacob doesn't take his eyes from the ceiling. There seems to be some pressing matter up there right now.

            He doesn’t continue and I feel obligated to fill the silence. “What have you been reading?” I walk and talk at the same time, shifting my presence over to the restroom to wipe my hands and face of my blood.

            “Old, old books. One by a man named Niccoló and the other by a Sun Tzu. They were both from opposite sides of a world, from different times, and spoke vastly different languages, but despite all of that they had the same general idea on how to crush an enemy.” His eyes don’t blink even once.

            I have no idea what the hell he is talking about, so I just smile and nod and change into my sleeping clothes. Funny that, maybe a year ago, the idea of changing in front of Jacob would’ve made me lose my lunch, now it is commonplace. I sit in my cot facing him. The silence once again begs me to speak. “What does this have to do with anything?”

            He starts to chuckle to himself and sits up in his cot facing me, our noses almost touching. “It’s just that I know how to crush my enemy, but I have no idea who they are! Good night to you Serena.” He lies down and says nothing more for the rest of the night. Whether he is actually asleep or not is up for debate, but the ache in my muscles is too great and the hour too late. I just lie down and pass out.