“Right. Now, Xaleyp.” The Emperor stood and walked around the desk to the younger man, kneeling beside him. “You say you don’t know this Maxwell Worthshire? Never heard of him, seen him, nothing?”

“Not that I know of, sir. The name doesn’t even sound familiar.”

“Curious.” The Emperor cleared his throat and rubbed his hands together. “Well, I would like to find him and go meet him. No offense, Xaleyp, but I dislike putting all my eggs in one basket, if you know what I mean. If this other boy is capable as well, I’d like to start training with both of you immediately.”

“Training, sir?”

“Yes, training, that thing you’ve been doing here. I think with the proper discipline and knowledge, one or both of you may learn to unlock that sword’s potential.”

“Sir, with all due respect, I don’t know if I would want to mess with that thing again. As much as I understand and want what you’ve told me it is, it’s… unsettling, to say the least.”

“I see. I fully understand your hesitation, but this could bring peace to the galaxy. All of this war and senseless fighting could come to an end. Isn’t that something worth sacrificing for?”

Xaleyp felt his heart thudding in his chest. Did the Emperor know that it’s exactly what he was looking for? That it would help keep his friends safe? He tried to answer, but no words came out.

“I’ll let you think it over. It is, after all, a monumental decision to be making, and I don’t want you to rush into it. Sleep on it, and let me know. I’m scheduled to be here for a week, so I’ll expect your answer by that time.

“Praetorian Tyner, please escort Xaleyp back to the space station.” The Emperor’s eye twitched as he accessed his CAM. “See to it he makes it to his dormitory okay.”

The ride back in the lift seemed much shorter than to the carrier. Xaleyp felt nauseous. Could those voices infect him somehow? Several times, he had to put his hand against the wall to steady himself, much to the dismay of the guard. On each occurrence, he reassured the man that he was okay.

Could it really be gods inside? From everything he learned in the past, there was no real evidence of any sort of deity, and now to believe that there were many stuffed into a single sword? That he was one of the few that could hear them? It seemed mental, like a faraway, impossible dream.

But even if it was crazy, he couldn’t deny the power that he felt when he touched it. It was overwhelming, astonishing even. As he held it, he felt like he could do anything, like he was invincible, like he could keep everyone safe. At the same time, though, it was terrifying. With all that power, and no one to keep him in check, he could do terrible things with it without even meaning to, the same way he almost attached the Emperor.

The thought sent a chill down his spine. It was a frightening responsibility to hold. The fate of entire worlds, even the entire galaxy, in his hands? It sounded good when he just wanted to protect his friends with no actual plan to do it. Now that he actually could have it, it was scary.

Walking through the space station was a blur of motion and activity with people moving in every direction. Some cadets loitered around in the corridors with the classes done for the week before being told off and sent back to their dormitories. Before he knew it, they were up the lift and out on the next floor, walking down the hallway to his dormitory.

“Well, this is where we part ways,” the soldier said once they were outside the door. “Good luck, cadet.”

The man walked away without waiting for a response. Xaleyp opened the dormitory door and walked in. There were a few groups of people throughout the room, and both holoprojectors were being used to watch different sports games. The sound of the activity combined with talking filled the room. Towards the back, he spotted Lina, sitting on the ground alone and against the wall. Her datapad was sitting in her lap, and she was looking intensely at it.

“What are you drawing now?” Xaleyp asked, flopping down next to her. She jumped at the sudden intrusion, putting a smear through her art with the stylus. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s fine.” She undid the stroke and turned off the screen, her face blushing slightly. From the brief glance Xaleyp got of the drawing, it was a person, but he didn’t have time to make out any details. “Nothing, it’s nothing. So how did it go with the Emperor?”

She smiled slyly at him and nudged his ribs with her elbow. As she stared, he debated whether to tell her the truth. It was clear he wanted to be able to protect those around him, but like this? Was it worth the risk? Was it worth it if he hurt someone he cared about in the process? Would she even understand what he was feeling, what he was going through, the turmoil that raged inside him like a seething whirlpool?

“It was…” he started to say, hesitating. He had found it so easy to talk to her about everything else. Now, this was what he had an issue with? “Truthfully?”

“Well, I wouldn’t like it if you lied to me, but I guess I could forgive you.”

“It was exhilarating, but at the same time terrifying.”

“What happened?” She turned sideways to look directly at him. “What did he do?”

“He wanted to show me a sword,” he said, keeping his voice low. “It’s supposedly pretty old.”

“A sword?” She tried to keep herself from laughing. “The Emperor of Hyperia wanted to talk to you to show you an old sword?”

“He said that gods made it, that their power was inside it. Lina.” He turned to her himself, placing his hand on her knee. “He wants to train me to use its power, and I could use it to keep you safe, everyone safe, in a way that I couldn’t with my parents, but, it’s scary. The feeling of it was horrible, and I’m not sure I want to experience it again. I don’t know what I’d do if I hurt you or anyone else I care about.”

“Xaleyp, you have to do whatever you feel is right.” She squeezed his hand. “If you don’t think you’d be able to control it, then forget it. It’s not like you’re being forced to do this. Now, tell me all about your new girlfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend.” He turned away from her, his face turning red. She laughed, covering her mouth to try to stifle it. When she settled down, he continued, “She seems nice, though, and said she’s been here for seven years, but I swear I’ve never seen her before that day in the mess hall.”

“There are thousands of people here, Xaleyp. Some people are going to slip through the cracks, and you’re not going to see them at first.”

“But when’s the last time you’ve heard of someone switching dorms? Something just isn’t adding up here.”

“It’s unusual, but I’m sure it’s not impossible.” She shrugged. “I think you’re just looking too much into this. You gotta kick back and relax sometimes.”

She made a show of leaning against the wall, slipping down it until she was laying flat on the floor. Her hands moved behind her head and her legs crossed at the ankles as she breathed a sigh of relief.

“It is the weekend after all, and it’s been a tough week with the extra training they’ve been making us do.”

“I guess you’re right.” Xaleyp joined her in laying on the floor, folding his hands on his stomach and staring at the ceiling. “Maybe I’m just overthinking it.”

“Attention, cadets,” a voice blared through the speaker system. “Colonel Augusta Ire has been placed under arrest and relieved of command of Training Facility Vertyn. Effective immediately, he will be replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Austin Linkovich. You should direct all inquiries to your immediate officer. Classes and simulation training will continue as scheduled.”

A buzz of conversation went through the room, drowning out the holoprojectors. Other cadets looked at each other, the younger ones not knowing exactly who the colonel was, and the older ones surprised he was arrested. Lina immediately turned and raised an eyebrow to Xaleyp.

“Forget to tell me something?”

“Well… you see…” Xaleyp stammered. “The Emperor asked me some questions, I answered, and apparently Ire has been threatening cadets and soldiers across the empire. The Emperor had enough of it and had him arrested for treason.”

Before Lina could respond, Mian came out of the dormitory door, looked right at him, and walked over. With a plop, she sat down next to them. Her body was stiff, as if there were something she was dying to say but couldn’t form the words. Her eyes twitched as she accessed her CAM.

“Everything alright?” Xaleyp asked as he eyed her carefully. It’d only been a few hours since they met, and he wasn’t able to read her yet. “You seem tense.”

“Huh?” She looked at him as if he appeared out of nowhere. “Sorry, I was just thinking. Do you know a boy named Maxwell Worthshire?”

“No,” Xaleyp said, “but that’s the second time I’ve heard his name so far today.”

“He’s in our history session, Xaleyp.” Lina rolled her eyes. “Don’t you know anyone around here?”

“Well, I know you, and Keith, and now Mian. That’s three people. Oh, and I met some of my old friends at that meeting, so that brings me to five.”

As he said the words, he made a mental note to message them through the CAM.

“You really need to get out more.”

They both laughed, looking at each other on the ground.

“Out where? It’s not like we have a planet we can walk around anymore.”

“Anyway,” Mian interrupted. “I asked because I overheard Colonel Ire say something about him as he was arrested. That he would do the right thing?”

Do the right thing? Could that mean that Maxwell would use the sword? Use it to break Ire out? Use it to take its power as his own?

Xaleyp pushed himself up, standing so quickly his vision swam. Mian and Lina both stared at him. He needed to find out what Ire’s plan was, find out what Maxwell would be doing. As much as he hated the thought of trying to use the sword and failing, the chance that it would fall into someone else’s hands scared him even more.