GLADIATOR | ELYSIUM RISING 1 ✔️

⍢ | 4

Iggy wasn't allowed to see his mother before he left Novr.

Commander Emerik Au Victorus claimed he needed to be put on a transport immediately if he wanted to get on the prison vessel headed to Elysium Prime. That meant there was no time to return to his apartment. No time to say goodbye.

He could still feel his mother's hand against his face. Her frightened eyes tormented his mind every time he closed his own.

Sat inside the back of the Elysian transport, he forced his building emotions into the farthest corners of his mind. They wouldn't stay there for long, though. The ride out of town and to the station took the entire night—meaning he had plenty of time to dwell on his situation. He hadn't slept at all. How could he? Instead, he opted to gaze at the black expanse stretching across the horizon. Night was the only time Novr's sky was remotely visible. The iron oxide in the air subsided for a few hours, giving way to brilliant stars blinking in the distance. Silhouettes of cargo ships hauling their loads off-world in the name of the empire met his eye.

He'd soon be on a ship too, whisked off to yet another unknown planet to fight for his life and his freedom. Not only his but his mother's, too. She needed him to come through, now more than ever.

Iggy wrung his hands as he watched the landscape blur outside his window. To say he was anxious was the understatement of the millennia.

Rubbing his eyes, he witnessed the morning sun rising over the mountains in the east. A sinister shadow loomed over the sandy dunes stretching for miles in every direction. Craning his neck, he got a glimpse of the hull of the massive spacecraft hovering hundreds of feet above the distant docking station. Even from their distance, cannons could be seen jutting out from the iron behemoth's maw. The ship was a long, rectangle with triangle faces; an exposed square compartment split it into two sides.

Iggy squinted as he watched a smaller ship leave the compartment. It must've been the ship's docking bay.

He swallowed hard as he spotted a smaller ship jet out of the bay. It made a beeline for the station below.

The building itself wasn't as grand as the humongous spaceship covering a large portion of the sky above it. Then again, Iggy wouldn't have described anything in Novr as 'grand'. The closer his transport got, the more rust and neglect he spotted around the place. Hands—android workers owned by a master—and Slavs in sand-covered uniforms milled about, prepping the landing area. The dock wasn't in the best of conditions, but almost nothing on Novr was. Hands and Slavs alike milled about the station, prepping the landing area for the next arrival.

Moments later, Iggy's transport came to a halt. His door opened upward like the wing of a flying insect. A soldier pulled him out and ushered him toward the station. Grimacing, he limped forward. Commander au Victorus walked behind him.

The smaller ship ahead finished docking. Dozens of attendants rushed over to tend to its needs. Gears turned and air pressures leveled as the ship's entrance revealed itself. Its white mouth yawned open; a wide, metal tongue rolled out, serving as a walkway.

"Is this the rebel?" one of the soldiers asked as they approached the Elysian commander.

The blond man nodded. Iggy suppressed the urge to scowl.

"That's him alright," Commander au Victorus lied. "He's all yours."

The other soldier nodded before flicking a hand at one of the guards standing beside him. They stepped forward, grabbing Iggy by the forearm and prodding him toward the walkway of their ship.

As Iggy shuffled forward, he spotted a worker staring at him. At least, he assumed them to be a worker. They were even smaller than he was, possibly a child. It wouldn't have surprised him if they were. Their tawny skin was covered in grime and sand peppered their wild hair. Dull eyes blinked slowly as they watched him.