Empyrean Iris

Chapter 44

Adam grunted as he was thrown to the ground a burst of white particles erupting into the air with the weight of his body. He groaned in pain which was cut off as a foot rammed hard into his ribs. He choked off and curled into a ball on the ground in an attempt to cover his internal organs.

Despite the pain in his body, his mind felt numb.

"Take them away!" The big purple scarab shouted, slamming her spear against the stone.

The marines cursed and spit as they were dragged away, Maverick even managing to bite one of her attackers before being clocked about the head. Adam watched in horror as her knees locked up and she sagged, unconscious in the Drev's arms.

How could this have happened?

He struggled to his knees forcing himself not to look at the SPY and the traitor standing to his right, "Where are you taking them?" He spat, only to be kicked over again, by one of the Scarabs' powerful kicks. He gasped for air, fighting past his stunned diaphragm.

She leaned down, "You do not ask the questions here human."

A hand rested on his arm, and he looked up to see Sunny crouched over him, her wide golden eyes brimming with.... What.... Sorrow? Fear?

He jerked away from her, the bitterness rising to his lips as his voice cracked, "How could you?"

She flinched as if she had been hit across the face, "I."

"Spy!" He hissed, his voice cracking. He had meant the word to be more jarring, but he just couldn't. It was his own fault he was in this predicament, he had trusted her, despite all she was, he had trusted her and now he was reaping the rewards of his own naivete. He lowered his head. He should have learned from the Tesraki, he should have known that no good would come from her, but still he had given her the benefit of the doubt.

And because of that, everyone he cared about was going to.... To what.....

He lifted his head, that was part of this he didn't understand.

Where were they taking his friends? Why didn't they just kill them on the spot?

He understood well enough why he had been left alive: for more revenge, of course.

If what he understood was correct, the Purple one was Sunny's mother which meant he had killed her husband or something, and now they were looking for revenge. That he understood, but the rest of it hardly made sense.

Adam was hauled to his feet from behind and urged to keep walking, turning his head to try to catch sight of his men, but they were already gone.

The sun was beginning to sink towards the horizon, and shadows were growing long over the land before them.

The moss was strange and spongy below his feet, where once it had crunched, dead and decaying under a layer of ash.

Everything from this angle appeared strange. Much of the bright season he had witnessed from above in his jet looking down, so the rolling lay of the land was hardly familiar. From above it had been nothing more than a mottled patchwork of bright and inviting colors.

A hand dug into the skin of his arm, "Keep moving."

They were just cresting a low rise when the little village came into view before him.

It wasn't that large, maybe two hundred dwellings all together, situated around a large central cathedral constructed of black obsidian impossibly thin spires rising to pierce the fading blue of the sky above.