Exhaustion crept in. My breathing quickened and my muscles ached, yet I couldn't stop. I had her on the run.
My eyes darted around, trying to find my opponent amidst the dark forest.
Hearing the shuffle of footsteps, I spin around, and spot a flash darting toward my neck. I instinctively raise my ion blade, parrying the attack.
Dropping my shoulder, I crash into my opponent, making her stumble backwards. Before she is able to regain her footing, I follow up with a quick slash, just grazing her side.
Desperate for a quick victory, I swing again, aiming for her neck.
My opponent expects that. She bends her knees, ducking below the blade.
Panic surges through me as I stagger back, desperate to create some space.
I was too late.
Seeing my chest unguarded, my opponent springs up, thrusting her ion blade deep into my stomach.
a deep and unpleasant grunt escapes me as the ion blade pierces my body. My stomach feels like it's been lit on fire. I feel the blood pouring out of me, staining the green grass below.
"What a shame. You were so close this time." a female voice giggles as my body crumples to the floor.
In my last moments, the starless night begins to fade, the grass begins to sink, and the ion blade stuck in my chest begins to disappear, pixel by pixel, returning to the reality I know.
"You need to stop overcommitting!" the female voice berates. "you threw an extra attack, and with my speed, I was able to easily duck and counter before you were even able to react!"
As the pain begins to fade, my eyes dart up. Standing above me was a blonde girl, her expression a mixture of amusement and concern.
"There was no point in throwing that last slash; I had already recovered from your previous attacks, what were you thinking?" she asks, offering me her hand. My lips curl into a sly smile as a devious thought crosses my mind.
Taking her hand, I pull her down into my arms, giving her a warm smile. "I was distracted by your beautiful face." I say shamelessly, kissing her neck as my legs and arms wrap around her small body.
"Ewww! You're all sweaty!" She giggles, attempting to wriggle out of my arms. I can't help but chuckle. She was so beautiful, so sweet, so dangerous! How could I not love her?
"Ahem…"
I turn my head toward the irritated voice, only to find an old man standing before me. He looked to be in his mid-to-late 60s. His perfectly tanned and smooth skin making him seem like a model. His physique was much like one of those ancient sculptures from the planet of Terra. Five small, black tattoo-like dashes ran down his right arm, each seeming very important. His piercing brown eyes lock onto mine, narrowing with great intensity. He clearly was not enjoying my antics.
"Sorry sir. I got distracted." I tell him, trying to get him to loosen up a little.
He continues to stare at me for a little while, his fearsome gaze sending a small shiver down my spine. "You can go Aurelia, Achilles seems to need some disciplinary action." he says, clearly annoyed with my behavior.
Aurelia giggles as I released her from my embrace. While leaving the illusion room, she playfully sticks her tongue out at me, making fun of me for getting in trouble. I can only sigh as I watch her leave, the automatic heavy door shutting behind her.
"Your blade work is good, your footwork is decent and you've learned to use a plethora of weapons, yet your stamina and decision making can use some work." he says calmly.
"Aurelia is a great opponent for you, if you want to beat her, you need to stop tiring out and acting on instinct." He says, pressing various buttons on his tablet.
I nod in agreement. I get tired too fast.
"So, what is my punishment?" I ask, knowing exactly what the man has in mind.
"Just some stamina training" he said, his lips curling into a cruel smile.
For some reason, I just knew it would be a long day…
…
Maids stand at attention as I walk by. Most averting their gazes, showing their respect while some blatantly stared. Each maid wore a normal maid uniform that contained a cut out slit on a part of the uniform's sleeve, exposing the square mark like tattoos they bore on their arms.
At this point, I no longer cared about those peasants filthy eyes which dared to lay upon me. It was normal for my brother, Ares's maids to disrespect me. They served and were protected by the heir of the house and for some reason saw me, the second son, as some sort of competitor to their master.
Nevertheless, they were still merely peasants, one of the lowest groups of society. They only bore one square mark, and that's all they deserved. Their kind lack both loyalty and ambition. Their whole lives, they leach off the Aeperium, which brings them jobs, order, and security. For most peasants, their mark serves as a reminder to them that they are not special, and that most of them will never amount to anything more than being a white or blue colored worker, born to serve both the Aeperium and their overlords. To me, the square seems like their mark of shame, a brand of their worthlessness.
Finally entering our room, I am met with the sound of running water and the faint smell of lavender. Seeing that Aurelia was already bathing, I decide to sit on the large couch in the center of our quarters and scroll on my communicator.
The quarters itself were quite large as one would expect. In fact it was kind of like a large luxury apartment. It had a kitchen with a dining table, a bathroom with a shower, a bed, closets, and even a large living room with a couch and T.V.
I take the communicator out of my pocket, its screen lighting up as soon as it recognizes my face. I scroll on social media for a while, smiling at both memes and funny videos.
Recently, videos of a curious feline called a cat has taken over my page.
It was a furry type creature that seemed to come from Terra, and other earth like planets. Looking at the videos, I couldn't help but desire one of these cute little creatures.
I was so infatuated with the furry felines, that I didn't even notice Aurelia, who now stood behind the couch, stalking me as I scrolled.
Stopping on a particular video, I watch as a lady utilizes a laser pointer, pointing it around while the feline chases the beam of light. It was quite entertaining watching it jump and run around.
"We should get one." Aurelia whispers into my ear.
"Agh!" I scream, throwing the communicator into the air as I jump off the couch onto my feet.
Aurelia acts quickly, managing to easily catch my communicator before it was able to shatter on the wooden floor below.
"You should really be more aware of your surroundings" she says, handing me my communicator
"If I was an enemy, you'd be dead." she continues, her lips curling into a sly smile. "Luckily, I'm just your beautiful wife." she continues, looking down at her body which was covered with only a towel.
I can hear her voice continuing to go off, yet I am to distracted to listen. I am spend more than a few moments, ogling at her body before she catches me.
"Hey, eyes up here" she says, waving her little finger in front of my face, grabbing my attention. "Did you hear a single thing I said?" she asked, furrowing her brows.
"No… I was too busy admiring how beautiful you were." I respond, a sly smile once again forming on my face as I reached out in an attempt to grab her waist.
"No!" Aurelia laughs, running away from me. "You need to go shower. We have a guest coming and your mother wants us to have dinner with him!" she screams, running around the couch.
"But I want to hang out with my beautiful wife…" I pout, knowing it's a futile attempt but could someone really blame me?
"You can hang out with me tonight." She says, giving me a playful wink before entering her nearly endless walk in closet.
"Go shower and Ill help you get dressed."
Excited, I decide to just get this night over with to spend more… quality time with my amazing wife.
As I enter, I can still feel the warmth and smell the lavender from Aurelia's Bath. It smelt just like her…
Running the bath, I undressing in front of the mirror, revealing my physique. At this moment, I was quite lean, my muscles defined through years of weight lifting and training. Being 17, I was quite large for my age, probably due to my superior genes and expectation of become a warrior.
Twisting my body slightly, I revealed my right arm which bears 4 black tattoo like dashes. Dashes were the marks of warriors and soldiers. It was one of the 2 pathways that allowed for someone to become a crowned, a leader of society. The other being a scholar's mark, a circle. All children of the crowned were given these marks, dividing them into 2 systems that led to the same output. A person needed 5 of either of these marks before earning their first crown.
They are rewarded by vicars, the powerful ruling class made up of only the elite crowned who own territory and lead massive armies on behalf of the Aeperium. I believe that I will easily become a crowned. My goal however has always been to become a vicar, something nearly impossible due to my position as a second son.
I will not be inheriting my family's fortunes, territories, and armies. Yet I've long since accepted that I would need to make my own money, build up my own armies and conquer my own territory.
When I was born, I was given 2 warrior marks solely based on the family I was born into. In my 17 years of life, I've only ever earned 2 marks. I received one by winning a grappling tournament just last year when I was 16 years old. I received the other by playing a certain board game called chess. I was 13 at the time and I heard of this new game originating from the homeworld of all of humanity, Terra.
Though made thousands of years ago, far before the landing of mars, chess was never really popular outside of the core of the explored portions of the known galaxy which was under the firm control of the democratic republic of Terra. Only a few years ago had it grown in popularity here in the less explored outer reaches of the Milky Way, the Aeperium.
Although I was a warrior and not a scholar, my mother encouraged me to play the board game as it involved mind games, tactics and predicting your opponents moves. These were all skills that great crowned individuals would need. She'd buy me the best of scholars and sign me up for different tournaments. One being at the Imperion's palace.
It was there where I earned 3rd place among many of the universe's greatest prodigies. Due to me being a warrior and not a scholar, it wasn't expected for me to do so well against such great minds. According to my mother, my placement and my abilities in chess showed that I would be a great Crowned. This apparently caused the Imperion himself to order me a new mark.
In comparison, my wife also had 4 marks, yet to my knowledge, Aurelia wasn't born to a noble family like I was. Instead, she was one of the many individuals who were born from a peasant family and given a single warrior mark in order to join the Aerperium's ranks. Afterall, the Aeperium needed loyal soldiers, not just a small group of spoiled brats from powerful houses. She earned her 3 marks through various achievements, tournaments, and even a duel. She was extremely skilled and currently a high third rank dueler. Similar to me, the only reason she wasn't a crown yet was due to her age, lack of experience, and the fact that she has yet to see actual battle.
Submerging myself deep into the tub. The hot water seems to melt away the stress and built-up tension in my muscles. The steam rides around me, and I close my eyes, letting the warmth seep into every part of my body as my mind drifts back to Aurelia.
I remember the first time I ever saw her. Many years ago, she was walking hand in hand with my mother, who led her straight through our estate's front door. She looked much different then. She was smaller, thinner, and very shy. At the time, all I knew about her was that she was orphaned due to a small conflict between 2 minor houses at the edge of our territory. At first, I had seen her as just another person in my life, yet I had no clue why my mother had brought her home.
It only took me a few months before I began to admire her. I don't know if it was her fierceness, her dedication, or her personality, but we seemed to kind of click. I loved how she carried herself, how she saw me as a person to interact with, and even her little attitude. To me, she seemed so much more human compared to the maids and the noble girls of other families.
My mother must have recognized her strengthtoo, since she trained her with the an even harder rigor than she trained me. I don't think it was to surprising that after a few years she had already surpassed me in skill.
We had grown close together through shared interests, and hours spent practicing swordsmanship, It was kind of inevitable, really. As the only two people of similar age in the estate, we spent many hours together and my respect for her eventually seemed to grow into admiration.
Even my mother seemed to know of my feelings, for even though I did not reveal them to her, she continued pushing us closer and closer together as if she knew what would happen.
The day my mother found out about our relationship, she had us wed. She said that it was improper for those of our status to not be wed, even if we were still young.
It wasn't the grand ceremony normal for noble houses, yet it made Aurelia happy and that was all I cared about.
Sometimes, I couldn't help but wonder whether I deserved her. She was so much more than what many thought her to be. She was a strong warrior, a leader, yet also my partner who has been with me ever since my adolescents.
Aurelia never seemed to care about noble heritage, nor what the others saw her as. She instead continued to not only grow but thrive, bringing everyone around her up. She was special. To me, she didn't really seem fake or artificial like most others are. Maybe that is why I trusted her?
She knew everything about me and I knew everything about her. I feel like that's what made me her's and what made her mine.