Empyrean Iris

Chapter 29

His footsteps changed just then: beginning to echo like they were in a much larger room. He looked up, just as a dull white light washed over his face. He paused in place as the luminescence of a thousand distant white stars spilled over him.

He paused before the massive viewing window. He should have known that his mind would take him here, and he rested a hand against the cool glass, heaving a deep sigh and rubbing a hand along the outside of his prosthetic leg, as if he could rub away the dull ache that lingered there.

At his side, Waffles turned her head towards the doorway, tail beating a soft echo throughout the room.

He remained very still, watching the silhouette on the floor from where golden light spilled in from the hallway.

He remained very still, watching the shape coalesce into one with six limbs.

His heart pounded in his chest. Was this it? Was she here to kill him finally? He watched the shadow stop a few feet away, and when she said nothing, he couldn't help but break the oppressive silence, "I am living on the hope that what they say about your species is true."

He watched the shadow straighten.

Silence continued, and with a deep breath, he turned on his heel to look at her, fighting against his body with every inch, "That you guys consider assassination to be a sign of cowardice and dishonor."

Her eyes were dim, in the near darkness, the whole of the universe reflecting on their glassy surface.

"Am I right?"

Captain Adam Vir watched as the dark shape grew closer, the blue of her outer carapace glittering and winked with the light of the distant stars. He had never seen a color so vibrant before, and it almost made him regret the fact that his favorite color happened to be blue.

The Drev drew to a stop a few yards away from him towards the other end of the room.

"That is true."

Her words did not fill him with a great amount of comfort, and he discreetly stroked his hand down the cold metal of his sidearm, though its presence gave him little.

Inside his chest, his heart raced.

His throat felt as if it was about to constrict, and his knees felt weak despite the misleading nature of his powerful stance. Maybe if she saw him standing like this, she wouldn't know how afraid he was.

So afraid that his entire body wished to break out in trembling fear, that his hands could barely hold the dog's leash, a fear so intense and terrifying he worried that any moment he would collapse to the floor to relive the memory of his lost leg. He tried to breathe evenly through his nose and out his mouth, but here in the darkness, with only her silhouette against the darkness, he could hardly remember how to breathe properly.

His chest began to seize up, and he began to panic that he was losing his ability to breathe.

A soft presence at his hand claimed his nerves, and he looked down to find two large eyes glittering up at him from the darkness. He ran his hand through the dog's fur momentarily drawing it away from the cold metal of his sidearm.

He turned to look back up at the Drev, who had not moved since her last spoken words.

"I'm sorry."

He wasn't entirely sure why he said that.

He didn't owe her any apologies. But as soon as he thought that he knew he was wrong. He wished in every way he could ignore that knowledge and continue to be angry at her, continue to be pissed that she had ever set foot aboard his ship.