31. Unfolding Shadows
31
Unfolding Shadows
Ki’REMI
A longside his woman, Ki’Remi strode into their temporary prison, his posture rigid with controlled frustration.
The door hissed shut behind them, sealing off the world of gods and their insufferable power games.
Issa exhaled beside him, the tension in her shoulders uncoiling, but only somewhat.
They turned and fell into each other’s arms.
Neither of them spoke for a long moment.
‘Need to get us the fokk out of here, kidaya ,’ he rasped.
She took a shaky breath and stepped back from him. ‘I’ll pack what we brought with us.’
He brushed his lips over hers and tracked her exit.
Then, he rolled his neck and flexed his fingers, activating his link to SysNet with a cerebral command.
A light pulse glinted across his vision as the galaxy-wide comms grid reestablished, pathways of encrypted information spiraling through his optic overlay.
He had access again.
The Perseus Prime was a few days away, but fokk waiting around. Also, he was unsure the dreadnought could navigate or even find the Celestial Pathway.
He tapped into his neural node and accessed the secured SableNet channel, bypassing Sivania’s firewalls.
A ghost-like shimmer flickered into view in his HUD, resolving into a sinuous, obsidian-skinned form.
She lounged in a hovering armchair within the abstract code-generated space of her domain, dressed in a shimmering wrap dress of liquid starlight that shifted with her every move.
Glowing lines of ancient runes ran along her ebony arms, her impossibly long legs crossed as if she had all the time in the galaxy.
‘Well, well, well.’ Her voice purred into his neural link, laced with silken amusement. ‘Look who it is. I was starting to wonder if you ascended to godhood yourself.’
Ki’Remi exhaled through his nose. ‘We came close. Mirage, we require a lift.’
Her luminous, pupil-less eyes flared with interest. ‘Do you now? Mission accomplished?’
‘I’ll fill you in later,’ he growled. ‘First, we need to dust off this chaotic realm before I lose my damn fokkin ’ mind.’
She arched a sculpted brow. ‘That savage?’
‘Extremely. Please get to my location. Fast.’
Mirage sighed, conjuring a holographic data sphere in her hand and spinning it with lazy indulgence. ‘You realize that reaching a divine astral field through multi-dimensional pathways requires an astronomic amount of calculations I have to run in real-time, which is super exhausting.’
Ki’Remi smirked. ‘You? Exhausted? Never.’
She snorted. ‘Ungrateful. Fine. I’ll get the Alatyr through your little celestial no-fly zone. However, this is going on your tab, Sable. At the least, you owe me five packs of my best, rarest brand of synth cheroots. Do they stock any in the heavens? A deified cheroot might be quite mind-blowing.’
‘Mirage,’ he warned in a growl.
‘So impatient.’
Her fingers danced across the floating code sphere, and reality itself hummed.
After a beat of silence, she gave him a broad beam. ‘Done. The Alatyr will be with you in a few hours. I’m pushing its xentium engines as fast I can get to you.’
She leaned forward, grinning like a predator. ‘Now, tell me, Sable. What kind of mess did you land yourself in this time?’
Ki’Remi’s gaze flicked to Issa, who had been listening from the sidelines.
‘Let’s just say gods make terrible hosts.’
‘I can’t wait to hear that story when you get back. My node will be onboard to guide you home as always.’
Mirage laughed, rich and wicked, vanishing in a cascade of glowing runes.
ISSA
They waited for the Alatyr on the Celestial Seat’s diamond-slabbed landing pad.
A ripple in the ether and Zenas appeared out of thin air, in the Sedevan way of materializing out of the blue.
He strode toward them as behind him, shadowed against the skyline, rose a fleet of divine warships, their sleek, gilded hulls reflecting the Sacran sun.
He slowed to a stop before them, his expression carved from stone and sorrow.
‘I’ve come to bid you farewell,’ Zenas said, voice steady despite the maelstrom building around them. ‘Also, to ensure you get an escort out of Sivania.’
Issa leaned in and hugged him. ‘ Sante Zenas.’
‘ Nada , all appreciation belongs to you. As you can see, the various factions move across the heavens, maneuvering their fleets into position. Their banners of power rippled in cosmic winds, each claiming dominion over what is now a shattered realm. All due to you both.’
He said the last sentence with a wink. ‘ Nada , you’re not responsible for this shit show, but you sure lit the spark that set it off. Now it is up to the honorable still left among us to wage and win the good fight.’
Issa’s heart clenched.
She searched his face, recalling how she had laughed with him as they played in the gardens of their childhood home.
The boy who once trained beside her in the twilight skies of Sacra, their wooden swords clashing under the watchful eyes of their elders.
Those days were long gone.
‘Lead cousin, defy all these complacent gods. I salute you for taking a stand against the divine tyranny that poisoned our realm for an interminable millennia,’ she murmured.
A ghost of a smile touched his lips. ‘I’m merely guiding fate. The power vacuum left by Zavei and Somayeh’s deaths and Sulfiqar’s fall to Hades has already unleashed a storm. Fractured and enraged, the immortal deities will wage war, and the innocent, the demigods, and the mortals will suffer collateral damage. However, we fight while they flounder in the throne room, thanks to whateverthefokk you two did to them. We are attacking while they are at their weakest and splintered so we can save the heavenly realms.’
Ki’Remi crossed his arms and jerked his chin to the Sedevan major. ‘You know what you’re up against?’
Zenas gave a quick nod, his golden eyes flicking to the looming warships in the firmament, his jaw tight with resolve. ‘The gods have ruled without question for too long. They’ve forgotten mercy and discarded goodwill. All of Sacra wants them gone or at least replaced by leaders with true concern for them. We are the ones who will break them apart.’
A pulse of energy rippled across the city as another fleet materialized, streaking toward the conflict, their celestial engines roaring through the sky.
Sivania would burn before the sun rose again.
Issa reached for her cousin’s hands, gripping them tight. ‘Survive this.’
‘I will.’ His fingers squeezed hers in return. ‘Go well, and my regards to your family. This is your fight no longer. Tis time for your rest now.’
Zenas turned to Ki’Remi, their gazes locking in silent understanding.
The Sableman extended a hand. ‘May your immortal blades and lasers cut true.’
Zenas clasped it, his grip iron and fate woven together. ‘May your love bloom like the celestial flora of Sedeva. Rooted in starlight, unfolding through shadow, and thriving where even time forgets to pass.’
‘Prosaic,’ the Rider murmured. ‘ Sante .’
Without another word, the Sacran warrior vanished into the shadows, his figure shimmering away.
Issa imagined him re-materializing in the labyrinth of Sivania’s warring streets, where the rebellion had already begun, the distant thunder of celestial cannons shaking the ground beneath their feet.
Ki’Remi exhaled, eyes on the graceful, beautiful, and oh-so-deadly warships arcing above them.
Issa noted how his fingers twitched with the instinct to fight, defend, and wade into the thick of battle, but this was not their war.
Issa swiveled to him, her eyes reflecting the fire-lit sky, her voice soft but firm. ‘We have to leave.’
A muscle ticked in his jaw, but he nodded, flicking his eyes to track his ship’s descent.
The Alatyr descended from the heavens in a silent glide, its sleek, obsidian hull gleaming against the rays of a dying sun.
Its matte black skin swallowed the ambient glow of Sivania like a void-given form.
Twin propulsion drives pulsed with raw power and a seismic growl.
It settled onto the pad with a whisper.
Its reinforced exo-armor was an interlocking weave of metal steel and runed alloy.
It throbbed with silver etchings, a security feature designed by Ki’Remi himself to thwart invasive scans and energy-based weaponry.
As the landing gears extended, talon-like against the pristine surface, a hatch hissed open, and a boarding ramp stretched out with crisp efficiency.
‘Stunning, but tis not a ship,’ Issa reflected. ‘Tis a promise of glorious war if provoked.’
Her man huffed. ‘Tis the only way we Sablemen ride. Welcome to the Alatyr, kidaya .’
‘How poetic,’ she mused. ‘A vessel named after a sacred stone containing runes endowed with healing properties.’
‘Also, the navel of existence, a relic of immense power, tied to the balance of the world,’ he intoned as they stepped forward.
Her voice was wry. ‘I take it you didn’t pick the name?’
‘Mirage did,’ he admitted. ‘I wanted The Unfokkwitable .’
Issa’s laugh was soft.
‘Tis my second ship,’ he went on. ‘The Technocracy destroyed my first one, the Umbra, sometime back. Long story.’
With not even one look behind them, they strode aboard.
When the doors were sealed, Ki’Remi’s neural node pulsed with a familiar presence.
‘That was exhausting.’
Mirage’s out-loud utterance was laced with mock irritation.
‘Do you know how many real-time calculations I had to process to access an astral field and navigate a multi-dimensional gate? Not to mention the security layers, and now, a fleet of looming warships is gathering for a cosmic battle. These celestials are paranoid bastards.’
Ki’Remi smirked. ‘Yet, you still made it.’
‘Because I’m brilliant.’
‘Debatable.’
‘Ungrateful.’
Issa settled into the ship as the two Sable Riders squabbled in good nature.
She stowed her things away, then sat, her spine molding into the comfort and gel of the high-tech crash couch.
Just as the Alatyr commenced take off, she asked, ‘May I use your comms, please?’
Ki’Remi gave her a keen glance from his second chair’s seat and nodded, pointing to the console before her. ‘No need to ask, kidaya . What’s mine is yours.’
Issa gifted him a soft smile as she tapped a sequence into the holo-interface, initiating a secure link.
Outside, two divine celestial Sedevan gunships provided an escort as the Alatyr headed toward the jump gates.
‘Issa?’
The face of her father filled the display.
Aged, weathered, but alive.
A shuddering breath left her as relief, joy, and agony tangled into one.
She pressed a hand to the screen as if she could touch him across the vast space.
‘ Baba ,’ she whispered.
Tears welled in her eyes as she drank in his sight, the exhaustion on his face, the hope, the sorrow. He’d weathered years of pain, of stolen time etched into every line, but he was standing.
He was free.
‘My daughter.’ His voice was a rasp of emotion restrained. ‘I did not believe I would see you again.’
‘I would have burned down the heavens to get to you.’
His torso shook with quiet laughter. ‘I gathered you halfway got there and also that you were responsible for the soul stone destruction.’
He rubbed a scar on his upper chest as he spoke.
‘It took some doing, baba , and immense help. You owe one man your gratitude more than myself.’
She turned, glancing at her man. He sat at a respectful distance, silent, present, unwavering.
‘Who is this?’ her father asked, eyes narrowing.
The Rider inclined his head. ‘Ki’Remi Sable. Surgeon. Pilot. Reluctant celestial diplomat. And your daughter’s,’ He hesitated for the briefest moment. ‘Companion.’
Issa’s father gave him an arched brow. ‘You survived the storm with her?’
Ki’Remi’s lips twitched. ‘Not without a few scars.’
Her father studied him and, with a nod, declared, ‘You have my thanks. I look forward to hearing more. Sante .’
‘ De nada ,’ the Sableman intoned.
‘Where are you now?’
‘Leaving Sacran airspace, we hope to be with you before long.’
‘You’re coming here?’
‘We’re burning as fast as we can. Please don’t tell Mother, let it be our surprise,’ Issa breathed.
Her father’s face broke into a wide smile. ‘I cannot wait to hold you, kipepeo .’
‘Soon,’ she promised.
The holo call ended, and Issa wiped her eyes as Ki’Remi reached for her and held her in his arms.
‘Prep for full g burn, which should ease once we’re in hyperspace,’ came Mirage’s dulcet voice from the inner workings of the vessel.
They strapped in as a significant, shuddering shift in reality rippled through the air.
Their Sacran escorts peeled away as a deep bass vibration, not of sound but of existence itself, pulsed through the ship, resonating in their bones, marrow, and every breath.
Space warped, bent, and fractured.
The darkness beyond the viewscreen tore open into a vast vortex.
The Celestial Pathway emerged through the rift, a corridor of light and shadow, a spiraling current of cosmic energy, shifting like a river of auroras coiling through the void.
The couple linked hands as the stealth craft hurtled through the divine passage, one carved between dimensions.
Leading them away from the turmoil and world of gods toward home and Pegasi.
Ki’REMI
Once the ship settled into a smooth slipstream, Ki’Remi unstrapped from his seat and reached a hand out to his woman.
He led her down a flight of stairs, heading for a sophisticated galley.
With a quiet hiss, a glass case slid open at his neural command.
Revealing a single, dark crystal decanter resting on an anti-grav stand, its contents so decadent it was almost inky black with an amber glow at its heart.
The label, handwritten in elegant strokes, bore a solitary name: Vharian Fire 1726.
Issa’s brows elevated. ‘Isn’t that the rarest aged rum in the Pegasi System?’
‘Tis,’ her man growled.
Ki’Remi withdrew the bottle with reverence, pouring the molten gold liquid into two crystal glasses.
‘Getting out of celestial dodge merits its opening.’
He handed her a glass, his fingers brushing hers, which set off a spark.
Their eyes locked in a tether of impassioned promise.
She brought it to her lips, inhaling the deep spice, honeyed smoke, and an almost electric aroma.
She took a sip and sighed, welcoming a burn that didn’t scald but caressed.
Her lashes fluttered. ‘Shit. That’s good.’
Ki’Remi chuckled. ‘Only the best, kidaya .’
He wrapped an arm around her waist, drawing her against him as they gazed at the ever-shifting vortex outside the viewport.
The Alatyr streaked through the astral corridor, slicing through divine space with the elegance of a predator moving through the void.
He turned to glance at her, bathed in the varying celestial light.
She stared at the swirling aurora of silver-blue and star-fire gold, the same cosmic energy flickering in her wild, luminous eyes.
She was stunning with the curve of her jaw and the glow of her Sedevan skin.
The way her curls tumbled down her back in a cascade of midnight and fire, but it was more than that.
She was a force, a paradox of warmth and untouchable mystery, a warrior wrapped in divinity.
His woman.
His throat tightened at the thought.
She turned as if sensing his gaze, and her lips curled into a soft upturn as she stepped forward.
Ki’Remi met her halfway.
Their hands found each other in the dim, celestial-lit chamber, fingers threading together, palms aligning.
Her breath shuddered as he pulled her in, tilting her face up, his thumb brushing her lower lip.
He lowered his head and brushed his mouth over hers.
It started slow, with a press of lips and an unspoken promise. Then, it deepened.
He slid his palm down her spine, lower, massaging her ass, loving the tremor in her exhale as she arched into him.
Her hands moved over his broad chest, spreading over the muscles that flexed beneath her touch, the heat of him soaking into her skin.
She pulled away just enough to whisper, ‘Say it.’
His pulse slammed against his ribs.
He understood what she meant.
His hand glided to the back of her neck, pressing into her warm flesh, keeping her close as he lowered his forehead to hers.
‘I love you, Issa.’
Her lips parted on a soft, broken inhale.
She gave a small laugh of pure joy, and hell, he loved the sound of it
A rare vulnerability, a rawness of emotion, flickered in her eyes as she gripped the fabric of his shirt, fisting it as she exhaled, whispering the words back.
‘I love you, Sable, more than light, life, and time itself.’
His insides fractured, so gone for her.
He crushed his mouth to hers, and the kiss was different now.
Fierce, consuming, a collision of souls rather than bodies.
His hands swept over her curves, claiming, revering, as he walked her backward until her spine met the cool steel of the bulkhead.
Her breath hitched as she took a slight jump, so her legs wrapped around his waist.
He carried her to the sleeping quarters, melding together, his mouth devouring hers as if starving.
They tumbled onto the bed in a tangle of limbs and urgent touches.
She tore at his shirt, revealing the shifting gold-and-silver metanoid tattoos that glowed like constellations over his muscled chest.
With a sigh of pleasure, she traced the patterns, her touch searing, branding.
‘You are like discovering an uncharted galaxy,’ he murmured into her throat, kissing the delicate curve there, feeling her pulse flutter beneath his lips. ‘A celestial wonder I never want to leave. I want to be lost in you, Issa. Always.’
She moaned, her fingers tightening in his hair as she arched into him.
Her tongue outlined his ear, her breath a whisper of heat snaking down his spine.
And then, she spoke in the ancient poetic tongue of Sacran High.
Words of endless skies, collapsing stars, and two infinite souls’ bodies locked in eternal orbit.
Of a warrior who found his home not in a place but in the arms of the woman who could burn him to ash.
His throat constricted.
Gods.
She was wrecking him.
Killing him slowly.
His hand slid between them, finding her wetness, her slick pussy, even as his name escaped her lips in a breathless cry as she clenched around his fingers.
Fokk . His cock throbbed, turgid and pulsing, so ready for her.
And when he finally entered her, it was slow, reverent.
A claiming.
A fusion, followed by fire.
He kissed her long and hard, swallowing her gasps, their bodies moving in perfect synchrony.
He stroked her tits and bent his head to suckle as her knees caged him.
Their groins melded over and over again. His shaft was enveloped in the sweetest heat he’d ever experienced.
It ignited from where they joined, streaking over her skin, her Ssignakht star firepower unleashing radiant waves of amethyst and cerulean flares.
Ki’Remi groaned, his head dropping against her shoulder, his body caught in the violent beauty of it.
It was cosmic, all-consuming.
She wasn’t just a woman beneath him; she was an eclipse, a supernova, and an explosion of raw, celestial energy, and he was burning in her light.
He pushed deeper, hips moving with slow, devastating precision, savoring the feel of her, the way she tightened, her pussy walls gripping him, her nails sinking into his broad back.
His name was a chant, a plea, a benediction on her lips.
And when they reached the precipice together, shattering in a whirl of radiance, the universe seemed to tremble with them.
She gasped, clutching his shoulders as the last ripples of pleasure rolled through her, her body still pulsing around him.
He didn’t move.
Didn’t pull away.
He just held her.
Their breath tangled in the aftermath, bodies slick with heat, chests rising and falling in unsteady rhythm.
She turned her head, pressing a soft kiss to his shoulder, her fingers tracing lazy patterns over the corded muscles of his back as their heartbeats synced, and the celestial glow slowly faded from her skin.
At that moment, he comprehended where he belonged.
With her. Now and for eternity.