The hints of the violence that were about to take place were all around. Thunder and lightning rolled across the storm clouds of this nameless world that sat on the very edge of civilized space. The birds, animals, and insects in the emergent layer of the woods, fleeing from the electric storm in the night skies above, scrambled to seek refuge below the canopy cover of the tree lines. The torrential rain that began to pour from the skies was as red as blood, the consequences of a complex series of atmospheric chemical effects unique to this planet. It was the first sign of the violence that was about to be unleashed. This world demanded blood and it shall have its thirst quenched very soon.
The only hint of civilization upon this world was an ancient castle that stood tall upon the clifftops of the mountains of this planet. The castle was a ruin, having been abandoned for millennia to rot and fall upon itself. But this dreadful night was a decennial exception, by virtue of it being selected as the venue for the blood trials about to be conducted by the Hepta, the excommunicated Verikron Sisterhood dedicated to Terriaan.
At the very first glance, it all appeared as an innocuous gathering, fires roasting meals to satiate the hunger of the attendees, Verikron matrons and their wards eating together in preparation for the trials ahead, old women draping the venue with the ceremonial insignias of the sisterhood. But all of this was a lie, an illusion, and this was all known only too well to Verikron Matron Rhona Abigail, who watched the proceedings with a hint of sadness that defied herself.
“When are we going to fight?” Her ward, Gaia asked her intently, eager for the duelling to commence.
“Soon! Hurry up and finish your meal. Your body will need time to metabolize all that nutrition...” Abigail answered back with a forced smile on her face. The thought looming in her mind:
If only she knew!
Gaia Enfewa was an athletic girl of fourteen years of age with her square face perpetually featuring a look of accusation. Chosen by Matron Abigail as her protégé at the age of ten, she had been exceptionally trained not only in martial prowess, but also in the more esoteric ways of the Verikron Matrons. The girl with her brown hair tied into a bun was dressed in a red tunic and grey trousers well suited for the purpose of dueling. A small blade was holstered on her left side and a small Uylade orb on her right.
“Your pretend smile can stop now, Matron Abigail, the thoughts in your mind betray you enough….” The girl stated, her mind as sharp as her blade, thanks to the Verikron training provided to her by her master.
She knows! She had heard of the rumors about us!
Abigail’s suspicions were confirmed as the girl continued. “This is no ordinary duel, is it? I and the other protégés are going to fight to the point of death, aren’t we? In the end, there will be just one of us left standing alive?”
“If you knew, why did you agree to the trial, Gaia…?” Abigail dropped her smile and took a deep breath to ask.
“Because I trust in you, Matron Abigail. I trust in what you taught me all my life.” The girl replied, her face breaking into a rare smile.
The reply threw Matron Abigail’s thoughts into a conundrum. At that moment Rhona wanted to stop being a Verikron Battlematron and give her protégé a tight embrace. It took all her emotional strength to control that impulse and recompose her thoughts.
Flee Gaia, flee now. The truth of this trial is far worse than the rumors.
The thoughts were so unlike her. Matron Rhona Abigail was always the strong-headed, emotionless Verikron that the galaxy very much loved to hate. The very archetype of a Verikron Battlematron, her black hair was tied in pleats, her long face graced by a sharp nose with a thin jawline that had seen much clenching of teeth. But the most prominent of all was her thin green-hued eyes that always seemed lifeless, but could yet sparkle at rare moments while appreciating the grandeur of a miraculous moment. Always with her staff and orb on her person, Matron Abigail always dressed in the same manner, no matter the occasion. Never seen out of Verikron attire, her body was covered in the standard purple silver cuirass, her shoulders bedecked by pauldrons on either side with the legs protected by cuisses.
“Trusting me is all well and fine, but do you trust yourself, Gaia? Remember once the duel begins there is no going back.” Abigail warned.
“I would not have agreed to the duel if I wasn’t, Matron….” Her protégé replied and continued. “and even if I fail to survive, my death will do you proud…”
A death to make her proud!
How naïve the girl was!
Flee, Gaia, flee now!
Matron Abigail’s mind was a cauldron of emotions, a cauldron dangerously close to boiling over. Bound by her oath to the sisterhood, Matron Verikron couldn’t really reveal to her protégé the entire design of the trial ahead. The universe called them diabolical and this trial played a large part in setting that image of her sisterhood in the minds of the people. The truth was there were multiple meanings behind the elaborate design of the duels ahead and the most understandable one was the trial ensured that there were only four Verikron Matrons under the aegis of the sisterhood at any point of time, four matrons overseen by the current Verikron Matriarch Glaneech.
Why only four matrons? Abigail had asked Matriarch Glaneech the very same question and Glaneech had replied the answer this way: One Matron to oversee the watch over the Inquisition, another to keep an eye out on the Confederate states, the third one was to hold vigilance over the barbarian kingdoms and the fourth was to be the sisterhood’s sentinel over the Dragons of Wilmarth.
As for the point of fighting the duels to the point of death, Glaneech had precisely one sentence as the answer to that question.
The master must always overtake the pupil. That’s the way towards progress and evolution.
This reply invoked the most harrowing aspect of the trial ahead. The last protégé to survive the duel must as a final challenge fight her own matron in a duel of death. Only if that protégé survives that duel, she graduates to become a Verikron Matron in the sisterhood. This was the truth that Gaia was not aware of the fight ahead, the girl’s words churning in Abigail the memory of her own ascension as a Matron.
A death to make her proud!
Matron Abigail remembered the moment when she had slain her own Matron in a duel not dissimilar to this one. Her Matron had died with a smile on her face. The girl’s choice of words made that memory resurface in her mind and all the emotions associated with it.
“Eat fast, Gaia, the duel is about to commence soon. Matriarch Glaneech will address us before it.” Abigail commanded and fell silent. She then diverted eyes to the other tables, avoiding any eye contact with Gaia.
“I had enough! I can’t wait for this to get over with….” Gaia replied, her arm pushing away the bowl of unappetising gruel away from her.
“Finish it. It is isotope enriched. Your body will be able to express your wavefunction better….”
“Really, that old wives’ tale? Matron…..” Gaia smiled before returning the bowl of unappetizing gruel back again in its former position. She once again began to eat from it.
“The Weyl does not lie….” Abigail replied, satisfied at her protégé’s compliance with her order. Then Abigail turned to observe the other participants of the trial.
There were three other tables besides their own. One of the tables was occupied by Matron Gilbard and her protégé eating their food with a blank silence between them. Another was occupied by Matron Yasin who was exchanging laughter and giggles with her protégé. The third was empty, Matron Jinren and her protégé were nowhere to be seen. Abigail guessed correctly that Jinren’s protégé wasn’t quite ready for the duel and therefore neither of them had attended the trial to be conducted today.
Abigail thought: Is there ever a time when a person is truly ready for the trial?
This thought preoccupied her, but outwardly, she continued to stare at the young attendants darting amidst the tables, bringing forth hot isotope enriched meals to be consumed by the matrons and their chosen wards. She continued to stare at them until Gaia broke the silence between them.
“What do you make of them?” The girl asked pointing out the other Matrons and their protégé to Abigail. Gaia was always a careful one and she knew information about one’s opponents was vital to one’s success in the battlefield.
“Matron Gilbard? Yasin? Their wards?”
“Yes?” Gaia replied, finishing the last spoonful of the broth.
“You see the quiet one? She’s with Gilbard. What do you feel about the girl, Gaia?” Abigail asked, testing the situational awareness of her protégé.
“I say she is a confident one. Her demeanour betrays her, one can be too quiet…..” Gaia replied with her cat like eyes estimating her opponent.
“Good! And what do you make of that?” Abigail asked, nodding towards Matron Yasin and her ward who were seating on a table diagonal to themselves. Matron Yasin’s ward was all giggling and smiling, exchanging quiet talk with her matron.
“That’s more of a challenge…” Gaia screwed up her face as she tried out her level best to read into her opponent’s behaviour. It took, but a moment for the answer to light up in her head. “A killer with the mannerisms of a child! That’s what she is….” Gaia blurted out the answer finally.
“Be careful of her, Gaia. That girl is unpredictable….” Abigail warned her pupil.
“How many? How many like me have you brought to the duel before me? Gaia asked.
“None at all, Gaia. You are my first protégé to ever make it to the duel……” Abigail confessed, not revealing the failures before her. There was a girl who died confronting the pirates of Bhisbha, then there was Adeline, who died during a decontamination incident. The failures were many, until Gaia. But was Gaia also doomed to fight and die today? The thought haunted Abigail from a corner of her mind.
Then a bell rang in the mess hall three times and it meant it was time for them all to get ready. Matron Abigail said to Gaia. ‘Remember Gaia, whatever that happens today, it is all for the best….”
“I know, Matron I know. I won’t disappoint you today!” Gaia replied and all of them got up from their tables and marched into the dueling chamber. The trial had begun!
The dueling chamber was as ready as it can be. Matriarch Glaneech sat on a raised platform directly overlooking the arena and the three Matrons with their respective protégés stood facing her awaiting her speech. Between them was placed Matriarch Glaneech’s Uylade crystal orb, an artifact made of the pure blue substratum that has remained within the sisterhood ever since it’s beginning.
All of them stared silently at the orb, waiting for a reaction from it. As expected, the orb began to shine a bright purple light, the light signifying the time for the duel was right.
Matriarch Glaneech was a thin old crone with eyes that shone like pearls and an aquiline nose that was not unlike a beak. She wore a red robe that seemed to flow from her neck to completely envelop her torso and leg below. The insignia of the sisterhood regaled her arms and with her staff in her arm she began to speak:
As we gather today in this terrible place and hour, the crystal has spoken that the time is right and what needs to be done is to be done. But take heart in the fact that the Magna, our Eternal Mother has answered our prayers and the Weyl has itself parted allowing our Knightess to be born.
It makes our sacrifice all the more necessary for there will come a time when our Knightess will need our strength all the more for her destiny to be fulfilled. For our young combatants who are here to meet their honorable end today, rejoice for you will live on inside this Uylade, waiting for the right moment to spring out from inside it, to aid our saviour in her own trial and tribulation!
So fear not, young combatants! This is not the day you die! This is the day when you shall again enter the womb, the womb of this crystal, awaiting your day to be reborn in glorious companionship of our Knightess who shall end the tyranny and wickedness of our universe. Fear not! For this false veil shall one day, very soon, shall be unravelled and you will be the first to see it peel away.
“Is that all we get? A vague promise before our deaths?” Gaia wondered as another bell rang once, again signalling the protégés to separate from their Matrons. Abigail stared at her ward as Gaia made her way over across the floor to the opposite side of the room. Abigail thought with absolutely nil physical manifestation of her concern.
Gaia, Live!
Abigail thought before a bright flash interrupted her thinking.
It was the uylade globe! It was white hot with a bright light emanating from its center. The crystal took on a milky hue as the bright flash of light radiated from it all around the room. Her eyes dazed, Gaia could still make out figures of people inside of it. The vague promise, it was true! The crystal indeed confers immortality on those who took part in these trials!
Blinded for the moment, it took the voice of Matron Glaneech to alert them all back to senses!
The crystal is now open. Now Go!
The word was signal that duel was now open. The participants marched quietly over to the three corners of the room, all tuned to be aware of each other always. Then facing each other, they nodded their heads in order to acknowledge each other. All this while Gaia noticed that the smile never went out in the face of the killer with the mannerisms of the child.
Matron Glaneech pointed out to Gaia and the quiet girl. “You and You, you shall have the first duel.”
Unsure of protocol, Gaia bowed towards Glaneech and turned to face her opponent. She thought. “Now my chance to find out if my estimation was correct.”
The quiet girl without any emotion on her face drew out a dagger as did Gaia. The girl taunted her with a gesture. “Hah, now my blade shall know the taste of your blood!”
“A trick to throw me off balance” Gaia thought, too clever to fall for the ruse. But something told her a different game was up, it was when she noticed the inky stains on her opponent’s blade. Poison of Union origin! Poison designed to kill her at the slightest touch of the blade.
She must not let the girl approach her!
In a sudden moment. Gaia bought forth her orb into her palms and concentrated inwards. The orb light blazed white and spat out a flash of white positronic cloud towards her opponent. The other girl leaped to escape its fiery touch, but it was too late, as the cloud stuck her on her knee.
“There she goes, now all I have to do is stay away from her and this round is mine” Gaia thought and executed the plan perfectly. She strafed around the girl whenever the other girl tried to rush towards her, all the while using the energy from the orb to welt the girl down physically.
At last the girl was on the floor, still alive and conscious. Gaia realized she had finally won and declared herself the winner by holding up her orb with her outstretched arm. Separating the blade from the arm of the opponent, she dragged off the girl from the duelling floor and then she stood hesitatingly, unsure of what to do next. She had seen her matron become visibly relieved at the successful conclusion of the first duel, but now bore a look of contrition on her usually stony face. The reaction was once again a force of indecisiveness and Gaia still stood hesitatingly on the floor, still waiting for some kind of decision by Matriarch Glaneech.
The decision came.
Kill her! She failed! Matron Glaneech ordered her and Gaia refused.
“No, that’s not my way!”
Matriarch Glaneech was amused at her defiance and called out. “Yasin!”
Matron Yasin heeded the call and obeyed without question the orders from Matriarch Glaneech.
“Finish her!”
Matron Yasin took out her daggar and approached her own pupil.
Gaia stood shocked at the turn of events. But as Yasin approached, her opponent cried out. Wait…Matron wait!”
Matron Yasin hesitating lowered her knife.
“I have words for the victor…..” The girl gasped out.”I was defeated by her. She should be the one killing me!”
Gaia asked the other girl incredulously. “You wish for me to kill you?”
“Yes! It might not be your way, but it is the rules of sisterhood. My physical body is no longer necessary, I shall now live eternal in the ways of the Uylade, to return oneday when our Knightess is back with us yet.
As soon as the girl uttered the words, the glow of the uylade globe began to burn brighter. The flash become a beam and refocused itself on the girl. Gaia and the others witnessed shapes of people emerging from the beam.
The figures from the orb were beings of light and ultimately the souls of the warriors who had died in this ritual. Inside the Uylade globe, a limited form of Eternal life subsisted. Matron Glaneech had explained to Abigail the mystery as this: The Uylade is a training school where the students are those who have sacrificed their own physical life through the ritual. In exchange for their body, their souls linger attached to the uylade. Countless Verikrons had sacrificed their lives in this ritual throughout the ages and their souls now served as an army to be commanded by those in possession of the Uylade.
….To be continued…..