GLADIATOR | ELYSIUM RISING 1 ✔️

⍢ | 16

That night, Iggy couldn't sleep. He couldn't blame the stiff cot beneath him, though, it certainly didn't help. A tornado of thoughts and worries swirled around his psyche. It raged on, preventing him from even closing his eyes for longer than a few seconds. If he did, the thoughts transformed into vivid images that gripped him tighter than a hug from his mother. He would've killed for one of those at that moment...

He thought about her and his father. He thought about Tenn and the late Finn. He thought about the next challenge waiting for him in the arena. He thought about it all.

Rolling onto his side, he urged his mind to be quiet. It didn't listen. With a sigh, he glanced at the door. He thought about going out into the halls again. It wouldn't be aimless exploring again. Jaxon Gunn told him to meet him in the supply closet; he promised to tell Iggy everything about his mission.

But could he trust the spy?

Iggy wouldn't have been surprised if nothing was in that supply closet besides mops and buckets. Shaking his head, he turned away from the door. Tenn's words about the rebellion replayed in his ears. The old man said they weren't much better than the empire. What did that mean exactly?

For cycles, he grew up despising the empire and everything it stood for. Yet, he never fathomed defying them. Never did he think about joining the rebel cause. But his father did. Countless others throughout the galaxy—like Jaxon—did too. They couldn't all be terrible beings like the Elysians.

Perhaps that wasn't the truth either. He'd only ever met a couple of them. And one of them may or may not have saved his life. Had it not been for Commander Emerik au Victorus, he'd be on his way to a prison instead of fighting in the Elysian Games. Whether or not that was a good thing had yet to be determined. But the commander showed him mercy.

Or maybe it wasn't mercy at all.

Iggy thought back to the High Priestess. Despite only speaking to her for a few minutes, he knew she wasn't like the other Elysians. But she was set to be married to the emperor. Things weren't as black and white as he once thought.

The empire might've been an oppressive force, but it withheld the order that kept the dozens of systems throughout their controlled space in a state of peace. No major wars occurred on any of their planets for hundreds of cycles. Iggy might've been a poor Hand on Novr, but he knew his life on Yensari was much better than the desert world. The empire controlled Yensari, too.

The au Decimus family—those overseeing the desert planet and its mines—might've failed Novr. Still, there were other planets that had received help from the empire's galaxy-renowned technological advancements. There was Azphadel, an Inner Rim planet that recently overcame a great famine with the help of Elysian-sponsored agriculture equipment. Pegasai—a tropical planet frequently ravaged by hurricanes and typhoons—only remained inhabitable because of the empire's assistance. Countless other worlds depended on the Elysian Empire for their very existence.

What had the rebels done for the galaxy? What would they do?

Iggy sighed into the night. He might not have known the answer to any of those questions, but he knew one thing: Tenn was right. He didn't need to get involved with the rebellion—especially not now. The best thing he could do for himself was keep his head down and try his best to survive.

That's all anyone could hope to do.

He closed his eyes, silently hoping sleep would take hold of him soon. But it never did. Instead, someone else had. A set of strong hands gripped his shoulders. A million, tiny shocks went through his body, which had stiffened as if he'd been frozen in carbonite*.