Advent

     "I thought you said you were going to borrow something!" Leo yelled, rolling his eyes, nearly out of breath.

"And I am," Scorpia said calmly as they ran. "I do plan to return it...eventually."

"But...you," Leo tried to say, but he was too shocked and too tired to finish his sentence. The blaring of alarms around them also didn't help his thought process. He looked back for a moment at the sound of voices, and while he didn't see any guards, he knew they would be on their way soon enough. He just had to keep running.

He watched Scorpia up ahead, her long dark hair bouncing as she ran down the metal hall. They were on one of the Sovereign's Ethereal WorldHoppers, a very large ship that was very well protected. Invading one was tantamount to suicide, and yet that was exactly what Leo was doing.

They were running down one of the side passages of one of the main hub of the WorldHopper. Normally, the metal of the insides of one would be a light blue, but they were now tinted a dirty purple color, due to the red alarm lights that were flashing above them, and presumably, around the entire ship.

"How do we get out again?" Scorpia called back, not turning around.

"We need...we need to get to the outer parts of the ship, where there'll be escape pods!" Leo cried out. He was not used to running so much, and he was getting tired. This wasn't the time to stop however, now that his life depended on it. "Turn left!" he yelled, and Scorpia did. He followed as they now went down a different hall, nearly identical to the one they had been in before.

Leo looked to the left wall of the hallway, where there was a window that looked out over the open space of Celestia. Most of the view was blocked by the large stabilizing ring that hovered just around the WorldHopper, constantly spinning, allowing the ship to tilt or stay stationary. Leo had no clue how as to how in the world the things operated, but that wasn't his job. He was a janitor.

A simple Janitor. Yesterday, he had been cleaning the halls of the massive WorldHopper, and now he was stealing one of the most precious objects in the Sovereign's Empire from it. He shook his head as he continued to run, his side beginning to feel sore. Why in the world had he agreed to this?

For adventure, he thought to himself, shaking his head more. How silly he was. He was just returning to his apartment when Scorpia approached. She wanted something from the WorldHopper, although she wouldn't tell him what. All she needed was a way in, and then she would give him what he wanted: to go to Quazara, his homelands.

He had wanted to return since he was a teenager. He had heard the Sovereign's call to duty, thinking that he could be blessed with some of his power, become a soldier or even a commander in the Empire's army, to be able to experience the adrenaline rush of battle. But, in a trick of fate, he was put into the janitorial arts, as they called it. He had been promised a chance for advancement, to one day get the chance to fulfill his dreams.

But, ten years later, he was still a janitor. He may have the 'prestigious' position of Head Janitor for his section of the WorldHopper, but it wasn't what he wanted, what his heart, mind, and soul truly craved. He wanted adventure. Now, he was just separated from his home, doing a mindless job day in and day out.

Scorpia's offer was more than tempting. He could afford to refuse it. This might be the one chance he would have to return home, to return to his family, his mentor. Quazara was outside even the Sovereign's influence, and that meant that when Leo left, he knew there would be no going back. The Sovereign wasn't interested in the outer galaxies, and probably wouldn't be for a few hundred years. Leo didn't have that kind of time.