Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 4

A Dark Invitation

It was red who had intercepted the letter, sealed in a small envelope black as deep space, and penned in red ink like ruby droplets. The letter had been tucked away inside another smuggled shipment of individual void vials bathed gently in the hellish orange light which seeped up from the crate.

It had been several weeks since their arcadia delegate had intercepted a similar void vial found concealed in the desk of a government official, and also several weeks since their secret extra GA summit at Hathor. All around the galaxy tips were committing in from the different colonies, and their private sources about void vials cropping up in strange places: concealed in the shipment of goods, toothpaste, unrefined metal, semiconductors, and even concealed inside the spines of books.

Whispers and hints of the void's existence were cropping up everywhere, in all corners of the galaxy, and even though they had managed to stop the spread on a mass industrial scale, trying to stamp out the void entirely was like trying to clear a cockroach infestation, when the roaches clearly have concealed nests inside the walls.

Other than fumigating the entire galaxy, there wasn't much they could hope to do.

The letter had been their first actionable piece of intel in some weeks, and by that time Adam had finally healed sufficiently from his surgery, for Krill to clear him, reluctantly, for duty.

It was a good thing too because inside the envelope was an invitation.

He could feel it even now pressing against the fabric of his breast pocket as they strolled up the marble pathway and towards the temple of the Oracle in new Athens. All around them people in similar stages of dress were doing the same. The atmosphere around them was lively and excited, torches burned at the side of the pathway, and overhead a distant gas giant lit the night sky with a burning red hue circled by one or two distant moons.

With the gas giant as bright as it was, the torches probably wouldn't have been necessary, but they did add a sense of exotic excitement for a crowd that came, primarily from off world, where the use of torches, and marble architecture was a thing of the history books.

No one paid them any attention

But still, Adam could feel a cool rivulet of sweat dripping down his back, reaching up, nervously, to adjust his mask.

At his side, he could feel maverick shift, through the point where their arms interlocked.

All around them humans and aliens of all different shapes and sizes crowded up the pathway, moving with the slow, and steady drip of ooze through a pipe. Waiters dressed in the traditional clothing of ancient Greece plied the party goers with strong drink and trays of exotic food. The air around them practically buzzed with anticipatory excitement.

All Adam felt was dread.

Inside his breast pocket, the stolen invitation seemed to burn there, ready to seer a hole in his costume and mark him as an outsider, and he had to keep reminding himself that the only way to blend in was to act natural. If he felt guilty then he would act guilty.

The letter, now in his possession, had been an invitation to members members of something calling itself 'True Darkness' The nature of the group was, as of yet, mostly unknown, but there were several theories being bandied about by the analysts down at the Arcadia Intelligence Offices those of which included: cult, religion, break of political party, or upcoming terrorist organization.

The letter had given no real clues as it wasn't any sort of urgent strategic communication, but an invitation to a masquerade ball at the temple of the oracle in new Athens. The letter had said nothing else, other than its existence was a requirement to attend the party. If it weren't for the fact that the letter had literally been found in a box full of void joice, Adam would already have been suspicious.