Soul Eyes

CHAPTER EIGHT

Loop'd'Loop's new crew decided to sleep on the ship after the more than extravagant feast that Klea had prepared. He had not announced Jaysa as the Keeper to Ethereal worshipers, passing the feast off as a way to build morale for Firefall. And it worked. Everyone danced, ate until their bellies were over full, even some Fortifiers joined in, removing their helms for a time. Master Klea had servants deliver trays overloaded with food for the Abolishers at their encampment, respecting their wishes for their faces to not be known except by their brethren.

Jaysa fell fast asleep, slightly tipsy from the wine, and her mind free of problems. Until she woke up and remembered they were leaving for the unknown. Novi had brought her breakfast, setting it on her nightstand some time that morning. Jaysa glanced at the clock, it was technically seven in the morning but time felt different here in the nebula, having no sun was weird to her. She did her morning stretches, working out the stiffness of alcohol and downed her breakfast. When she opened the door, Remington was waiting for her, his hand in the air to knock. She had yet to spend a whole lot of time with her new crew and decided she would do so after formulating their plan at The Sisters.

"What is it?" Jaysa asked.

"There's an Abolisher here. States he has orders to travel along?" Remi raised an eyebrow. "Are we working with them?"

Jaysa half shrugged, "Call it mutual distrust. His commander is keeping tabs on us since I lied about the origin of Loop'd'Loop and its new features."

"I see. Should I let him onboard?" Remi asked.

"Its a death sentence if we don't," Jaysa replied, throwing on her long brown leather jacket and stepping into the central hall with Remi. "Where is he?"

"At the ramp," Remi pointed down the hall where the lift was to take her to the cargo hold.

Jaysa exhaled a deep breath and walked briskly to her destination, wanting to get this over and down with. She pressed the buzzer and the ramp lowered with barely a hiss. Jaysa was beginning to covet how silent her ship was, the old Loop'd'Loop seeming in poor shape compared to now. The Abolisher was standing rigidly in the middle of the hold.

"What's your name?" Jaysa asked the Abolisher, his stature towering over her. Jaysa tried not to feel intimidated and she squared her shoulders, looking up at the man.

"Jorhn Pickett," he answered in the standard monotone robotic voice all Abolishers had.

"And what are your orders?" Jaysa inquired.

"To travel with you and your crew and to keep you safe, especially you were Commander Moor's instructions," Johrn answered.

Jaysa refrained from asking about his hidden orders, she already knew he was here to keep tabs on all of them. Klea had warned her not to reveal her identity as a Keeper, especially from Dominion. She did not need to be told twice; they would absolutely eat her up and make her find the Astrals and torture her for the transformation to their liking. The Xorphyx were blatantly horrid, Dominion hid their true nature and how they obtained half of what they have.

"Alright, well, welcome aboard Loop'd'Loop," Jaysa placed her hands on her hips. "There's a few more empty rooms you can pick from. Do you have everything you need?"

"There is a crystallizer on board I presume?" Jorhn asked.

"Yeah," Jaysa answered. "Dominion finally perfected the combination to make artificial crystals I take it. Is that what's in your blaster?"

Johrn presented his weapon, though Jaysa did not dare try to lift it from his hands, it was as tall as herself and heavy. She saw the crystal floating in its tube under the barrel, emitting a sharp green hue.