Tag: #EnterTheEmpire

I prevail over every circumstance.

In this scene from Origin of Pietas, Six and Pietas are deep into a journey across the planet, hoping to locate the other immortals. Pietas has said he has few lovers, and even fewer friends, and Six asks why.

"My troops all but worship me. Leading the council made me hated. I long for someone with whom I can be myself."

Six leaned forward. "They fed us nothing but lies about you. Well, except to say that you were a supreme fighter. That was true. Watching you in that room..." He uttered an expletive. "You had no defensive moves. Everything was offense. No wonder no one gets close to you. Like trying to hit a tornado."

Such praise from so valued a warrior! Pietas let himself smile.

"Anyway..." Six picked at a broken thumbnail. "I'm sorry we didn't meet under different circumstances."

"Are you?" A long strand of hair had fallen over the ghost's face and Pietas moved it aside. "Why?"

Six tossed his head and that strand fell back into his face. He tucked it behind an ear. "I would have liked sparring with you. Learning from you."

"I will teach you anything you want to know. But I hope here, you'll never have to use it."

"Yeah? Well, we find your people I might."

"Indeed. But not if I can prevent it. You are my friend. I will stand between you and anyone who thinks to harm you."

Six set a fist over his heart in an Ultra salute of tribute. "Thank you, Pietas."

He nodded. No doubt his family would think the ghost stayed with him only for protection, but if there was anything Pietas was good at, it was recognizing honor.

Six blazed with it.

How long had he spent in Six's presence before he'd considered him a friend? Now, he could not imagine life without him. He refused to accept that so mundane a thing as death might take Six away from him.

While his father was the better geneticist, his mother had a deft understanding of human needs. Surely the two of them could find a way to lengthen the ghost's life. Six had often said he'd lived past his "expiration date" and was on borrowed time. They would have to borrow more. How often had Pietas wished for humans to die?

Now he wanted one to live forever.

My will is absolute.

In this scene from Origin of Pietas, Six and Pietas are crossing the planet, searching for the other immortals. After cleaning gear and laying out what little clothing they own to dry, they sit on a grassy area side by side. Pietas asks if Six wants to return to his homeworld.

"Not really. I don't want to go back, except to see family. I have nothing there. All my life, all I've ever known is war. I enlisted at seventeen. Thirty-eight now. Too old to fight. Tired of it."

"Too old? I'm almost two thousand. Try another excuse."

"Best I got. Thirty-eight's old, in my book."

"I've been thirty-eight a few times. Most lives I'm dead by then."

Six's attention snapped back to Pietas. "What?"

"I'm a warrior. I don't live to see forty. Hazards of the profession." He picked a yellow wildflower and twirled it between his fingers.

"How many times have you died?"

Pietas tossed the flower aside. "I've lost count. Felt like a thousand times in that pod." He shuddered.

"If it would get you off this planet, would you get in the pod?"

"Six, I will never do that again, but if we get stuck here, ask me in a few thousand years. Might be a different story then. I think I'd go crazy if all I had to do every day was hunt and fish, eat and sleep." He tossed himself back on the grass and tucked his hands behind his head. The bright blue sky held wisps of clouds, moving on the wind. "I miss entertainment more sophisticated than deciding what shapes the clouds are taking."

Chuckling, Six stretched out beside him. "I hear you. I miss women."

"So do I. And men, too."

"You weren't kidding about having sex with whoever cut your hair in that ritual?"

Pietas gave a short laugh. "That was a joke, ghost. I was-- How do you say it? Messing with you."

"Get out!" He shoved Pietas's shoulder. "Okay, so you're not bisexual."

"I'm pansexual. Most Ultras are. When you live forever you get bored with the same thing every day. At least I do."

"Pansexual. What? Someone with a pulse?"

"I'm a bit more discriminating than that, thank you. But I'm open-minded. I appreciate sexual activities of various kinds. Ultras can never become pregnant or sire children--except for my parents--impart or contract sexually transmitted diseases. For us, sex is pure pleasure. One we never grow immune to, the way we do drugs and alcohol."

"So you didn't grow up being slapped down for experimenting?"

Pietas coughed. "I wouldn't say that, but my people are born adults and we're far less restrictive than humans. According to my friends, I'm less picky about lovers than I am about food. Sex is one of the few times I don't feel the need to be in charge. I like equality in a lover. Someone who can be as strong as I am." He let out a long, sighing breath. "The longer I live, the less of those there are."