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One
June 2, 2023
Sem
I take a sip of the bitter-tasting ceremonial wine offered to me. It’s familiar and laced with salt from blood, my blood. This is the taste of Alliance purification.I bow my head to the traveling priest.
“Sem, what do you ask of the goddesses?”
“For longevity so that I may protect the Lost People.”
“And what will you give them in return?”
“My blood. My words. My heart. My life. For this, I would only ask they guide my soul and keep me in the light.”
The priest hands me a ritual dagger with the High Priestess’s emblem on the handle. “For the goddesses make it deep and sincere.”
I take the ceremonial dagger and cut my palm. I watch as my blood drips wildly onto the stone floor but then finds its way into the neatly carved grooves.It’s a replica of the same one at the Grand City Temple in the Capital City, where I took my original oath to protect Earth and serve the High Priestess.
“The goddesses grant you their protection as long as you do not choose to walk in the darkness.”
My eyes dare to look up. “Have you seen a vision?”
His green eyes condescend to meet mine, and he looks like he’s going to say something but then decides against it. He only motions for me to rise.
I get to my feet and bow slowly and deeply. The traveling priest’s long braids with silver highlights touch my hands as he touches my head. “Walk in the goddesses’ light. Protect the Lost People, and the goddesses will protect you. Stray, and you will be alone in the darkness and beyond redemption.”
I should walk away, but I must ask again, “Tell me what you’ve seen.”
The priest looks conflicted, but in the end, he leans over and quietly tells me. “In a year’s time, you will have to make a choice: one is light, and the other is darkness. One is passion, and the other is devotion. You will recognize the choice when it is laid before you.”
“Here on the base?” I ask, surprised. I despise riddles and the way these priests convey information. I open my mind to his as my mother was a telepath, and I carry some of her skills, although I rarely use them. It’s a crime to read someone’s mind without consent, but seldom enforced.
The priest cuts off our mental connection with a sharp skill I rarely feel. “You ask too much of your future. Knowing will poison your mind. Go. Walk in the goddesses’ light,” he reiterates, ushering me away.
I slowly turn and leave as I hear the next officer begin his purification ceremony.
I head down the single men’s corridor of the base, and my door opens as I approach. I enter head directly for my small shrine. I fall to my knees, feeling the familiar ache of pain with prayer. Then, with my own small ceremonial knife, I cut the wound on my hand again, wincing with the renewed pain. I watch the blood drip onto my small shrine and quietly pray to the goddesses, “Allow me to find my true other half.” I know she’s human and somewhere on Earth, but she eludes me.
I’m forbidden to ask for this in the purification ceremony for the next three years because of what happened to my mother. Those are the High Council’s punishments, not the goddesses' wishes. What happened to my mother was a matter of politics, not religion. But, the traveling priest must follow the High Council’s edicts no matter how far away we are from the Capital Planet.
“Please allow me to be guided by your light and to find my true other half,” I ask again while the blood still drips onto my shrine. Then, as almost an afterthought but sounding more like a promise, I add, “And allow me my justice.” I’ve lately had the feeling that these two events in my life are linked. Seeking justice for my mother and finding my true other half.
Internal comms sound. I give my tiny shrine one last look before rising.
“Sem,” I hear the comms officer. “We need you now. There’s a Dulu ship that’s managed to get past us. I don’t know how. Take your team and pull them out of the purification. The traveling priest can wait. You’re on duty early today.”
“Understood.” I don’t even bother to jump in the shower before putting on my black uniform and letting my team know we are going right now. Once I leave my quarters, I begin running for the docking bay. My squire meets me halfway and falls into pace with me. His long black hair is braided in the traditional way to denote he’s a squire.
“May I come?” Vin asks, his grey eyes hopeful. “I’m more than ready.”
“No,” I say firmly. He’s only still a boy at seventeen years old, and he’s my responsibility to train for his position and to be a man. I have sympathy for him because I remember being his age and eager for action too. “Stay here and be ready for when we return. The humans will have to be processed and then returned to Earth. They’ve only been gone a few days at most.”
Vin reigns in his disappointment. “I’ll prepare for your return. Remain in the light.”
Two
Ivy
