Star Rising: Heartless (6 page)

Chapter
4

Xalen moved down the long corridor, gazing at one statue after another. There seemed to be countless statues lining both sides of the corridor like silent, marbled guardians. Golden plaques were etched under their feet, relaying the story of the person above. He didn’t bother to read any of them until he reached a statue that, instead of marble, was made of simple stone. Its legs and hands were cracked, and half of the face was missing. The plaque underneath read:

In memory of Alioth Musashi.

In starcycle 333 the Sanatus, vile creatures of destruction, arrived from the depths of space. Their armies destroyed all who got in their way. No one could stand against their ferocity. On the brink of total annihilation, a warrior rose from the ranks of the humans. He led the Bastion in the victory of High Void. He turned the tides at the Clash of Red Hill. He alone was responsible for the destruction of the Sanatus’ third battalion. When his time came to—

“Hey, move,” ordered a voice behind him.

Xalen turned, coming face-to-face with a girl with light purple skin. She looked to be the same age as him. Half of her head was bald, the other sported a long wave of dark hair. The mysterious tattoo decorating the bald spot, along with the frown on her face, gave her a tough exterior. She wore a light brown leather suit that exposed the top of her breasts. Her left arm had been completely replaced by a metallic one the color of her suit. Within the small holes and patterns in the metal pieces of the arm, he saw the careful work of an expert metaton. The cables were aligned neatly inside, without a single one exposed to the elements. The way she effortlessly moved her arm made it obvious that it was evenly weighted.

“Are you going to stare all day?” she asked, her hands thrown up in the air. “Didn’t you hear me the first time? Move!”

He moved aside. “Sorry. It’s just that I’ve never seen a—” He racked his brain, realizing that he had no idea what species the girl was.

The girl ignored him. She held an electronic pad in her right hand, where she scribbled something with a long stylus.

“What are you doing?” asked Xalen.

“What’s it to you?” she answered, so quickly that Xalen was certain that was a rehearsed, go-to answer.

“I’m just curious, that’s all. I’m new here.”

The girl dropped what she was doing and turned to him, a frown on her face. “Stop talking to me. Don’t you see that I’m busy? Sensei Barteau will have my head if I don’t finish this by tonight.”

“Can’t be that hard,” said Xalen, hoping he wasn’t overstepping his boundaries. “All you’re doing is copying what it says in that plaque.”

She rolled her eyes, but refrained from saying another word.

“You must have a library around here somewhere,” added Xalen. “If you have to write a report on this…” He took another look at the plaque. “Alioth Musashi, then you should just go there and get some books to finish your report.”

The girl continued scribbling on her pad. “You would have me read a book?” She chuckled. “That would be a first.”

“You don’t have to read all of it. All you have to do is grab a few books and skim over the details. Then simply put in a few of your own ideas.” The words blurted out of his mouth before he had a chance to think about it. “I could help you, if you want.”

She stopped scribbling. “You? Help me? Why? You do know who I am right? My name is Nandi. I’m a Mordered. Did Lastrius put you up to this?” Her eyes grew wide and she stomped toward him, metal arm flailing from side to side. “Because I swear. I will kick both your—”

“Lastrius? Who is that?”

“Fine then. You seem totally useless in battle, which means that you’re probably smart.” She smirked to herself.

Xalen ignored the insult for two reasons. One, he needed friends and had none. This was not the time to get picky. Two, she was right, besides what he’d taught himself from battle scrolls, he had no training whatsoever when it came to fighting. But books he did know.

Wordlessly, he followed her through a labyrinth of corridors and out to the yard, the same yard he had come through earlier. Dozens of stares followed them as they walked. He had a feeling that many of them were not directed at him, but at the girl beside him.

“Keep up,” she said, descending a flight of stairs. They emerged in an underground tunnel. Their loud footsteps echoed off the concrete floor.

There were two open doors at the end of the tunnel. Inside, Xalen, caught a glimpse of countless of bookshelves aligned in uneven rows.

“You guys sure keep your library well hidden,” he said.

They walked into the library, his mouth slackened. At first he had thought that the room was going to be small, but it was gigantic, with countless staircases and elevators that descended deeper underground. There were hundreds of students seating in the cushioned chairs, reading from electronic pads, books, and scrolls.

“I know,” said the Mordered “They could use this to store ammunition and weapons.” She sighed. “But instead they wasted it on useless books.”

“Ummm…,” said Xalen. This girl was something else. “That’s not exactly what I was thinking about.”

“Shhhh…” A wrinkled, hunched woman with glasses brought her finger to her lips. “This is a library!” Her voice carried through the large room. “Keep your volume down!”

“Shessh,” said Nandi. “Sorry, Madam Overreaction.”

The elderly librarian frowned, not that Nandi seemed to care. She took Xalen’s hand and pulled him toward an elevator. Her skin was ridiculously smooth. His insides turned icy. He wasn’t exactly sure why. Maybe it had to do with the fact that he’d never really felt the touch of a girl before today.

He let go of her hand, hoping she hadn’t noticed that her touch had flustered him.

If she took any notice, she showed no signs of it. “Hurry up.”

They stepped into the elevator. Xalen tried to collect his thoughts, concentrating on the purple interior walls and the overbearing scent of jasmine incense.

They emerged in a smaller room with two shelves at the center. Florescent lights shone from the oval lamps above. “Here we are. Alioth Musashi’s level.”

“This guy has his own room?” asked Xalen astounded.

“That is what I said, isn’t it? The Alioths are named after him. He’s a pretty big deal.”

Xalen couldn’t imagine what the man could have possibly done to earn such an honor. Whatever it was, it must have been nice to have people look up to you in such a way. To have people admire you so much as to name something after you. What he wouldn’t give to have such a feeling.

“Get to it,” ordered Nandi. “Show me these amazing research skills of yours.”

Xalen shook himself back to attention. He might have been new to this place, but that didn’t mean he was a stranger to how it worked. He had frequented the library back on Vintra many times. He selected a few books from the shelves and threw them on the desk, where they both took a seat. Usually it would have taken longer to find the right books, but every book on the shelves involved the legendary warrior, Alioth Musashi. This made everything monumentally easier.

He handed Nandi the three books that he thought she might find more bearable:
The Battles of Alioth Musashi
,
Killcount of the Man Behind the Mask
, and
Musashi Battle Strategies to Decimate One’s Opponents
.

Her expression turned icy. “What is
this
?”

“They’re books.”

“Yes. I know that. Whatever happened to not reading any books?”

“You’re not going to read them. Just skim through them and pull some information that may be useful. A few battle strategies. A quote or two about his thoughts during a fight. Then we’ll mix that with what I find in my books. We’ll add some of your thoughts, and tada!”

She frowned, but refrained from saying anything further as she opened her first book. Once in a while, she would grunt and write something on her electronic pad.

Xalen took his own stack of books, which, judging from the titles, were much less violent than the ones he’d given to his companion. The first one he scanned was
Alioth: The Man Before the Legend
. After that, he skimmed through
The Psychology of Musashi.

After about an hour, Xalen already considered himself a mini-expert on the man. According to the books, Musashi had grown up on Metrio, a dwarf planet at the very outskirts of the known galaxy. He had was the son of a wealthy entrepreneur, and as such was tutored on every subject imaginable from a young age. He attended Cambria University and became a scholar. Behind his father’s back, however, he used his substantial allowance to hire private mentors to tutor him on the way of the sword. As an adult, he served as a regular soldier during the invasion of the Sanatus. It was here that he devised the grand strategy that saved the galaxy from the brink of defeat.

“Let me see your notes,” said Xalen.

Nandi handed over her tablet and thumped her fingers softly on the table as Xalen went over her work.

He looked down at the notes, and then up at the girl, wondering if she was serious. What she’d written down was absolutely atrocious. Worse than atrocious, in fact. She displayed the academic skills of a five year old back at the orphanage. The first line read,
He liked to fight
. The second said,
He would use the environment to his advantage.

“What?” she said, looking not the least bit ashamed. “I’m a fighter, not an academic.”

Xalen thought that was the understatement of the year. He copied her notes to his own datapad, and then handed the black device back to her. A sense of dread was rising within him, but after a second of reflection it went away. No matter how bad the report they managed to conjure was, it wouldn’t be as bad as Nandi’s original plan of simply copying the plaque word for word. With that in mind, he got to work.

For the next few hours, Xalen guided Nandi in creating her report. They began with a brief quote of Musashi’s thoughts, then they moved into his life and death. Throughout the project, Xalen added Nandi’s thoughts on the subject, which proved an arduous task. She didn’t seem to have an opinion on anything that didn’t involve bashing heads together. Xalen had to refine some of her quotes.

Pummeled him into a pile of stardust
, became,
Tactically exploited enemies’ weaknesses.

Beat the dying plasma out of him
, became
Strategized with his fellow commanders to exploit the layout of a galaxy to his advantage.

Blew up everything in his path,
turned into.
Recognized that the dust of the Nexus moons could be used to set up a trap that would only affect the anatomy of the Astomi.

After some time, they had a full three-page report.

“Not bad, Whiz Spark,” she said, looking at the report. “I think this will be enough to get Sensei Barteau off my back.”

“Whiz Spark?”

“Yes. It’s a name we use back in my home planet of Atreyu for smart folk.”

“My name is Xalen.”

Nandi frowned. “I like Whiz Spark much better.” She pressed the button, calling for the elevator. A jingle later, the platinum doors opened and they stepped in.

“So tell me, Whiz Spark,” said Nandi once they were out in the yard again. Eyes followed them once more as they trudged down the stone path that cut through the grass. “You don’t have a weapon, which tells me you’re not a student. Why are you here?”

“I’m going to be an Alioth, actually,” said Xalen, proudly.

She eyed him suspiciously. “You? An Alioth?”

Xalen didn’t even have time to get offended, for descending the stairs was Reave. He waved him over.

“That’s my cue to leave,” said Nandi. “See ya’ around, Whiz Spark.” She turned and walked away, disappearing around a corner.

“Where have you been?” asked Reave. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

“I was helping a student with a paper.”

Reave stared at him curiously. “Well look at you. Barely got to Alioth academy and are already writing papers for other people.”

“I didn’t write it. I helped her with it.”

“Aha,” said Reave, not looking convinced. His face turned from one of disbelief to one of acceptance. “Well, at least you’re making some friends, but I’d be careful if I were you.”

“Careful? Why would I have to be careful? She’s an Alioth like everyone here.”

“She may be an Alioth, but she’s also a Mordered.”

“A what?”

“A Mordered,” said Reave. He motioned for Xalen to follow him, which the young man quickly did. They traversed the garden of the Zizor Dojo, ascended a short flight of stairs, and waded into a hall so large that it reminded Xalen of a shuttle bay bunker he’d seen in the books he read. Dozens of multi-colored tapestries lined the walls. Under each tapestry was a wooden sliding door. Each door was framed in wood and panels of translucent white paper. Students, headed to class, moved through the wall seemingly without any order. Every one they passed moved aside, making room for Reave. Their eyes twinkled with admiration.