7 Chapter 6: Celestial Essence

Hadrian watched his monitors from the comfort of a chair with a bottle of whiskey in his hands.

"You know that the defenses alone won't be enough right? Your going to have to wake up the guardian."

"I know, but right now I'm kind of tired, it takes a lot out of a man to argue with a woman verbally and I just got done sword fighting with one." Kat didn't respond so he went back to watching the destruction playing out across the monitors. There were countless imperial drones being shot down but at the same time many of the defenses were destroyed in the process. A few minutes passed before Kat spoke again.

"It seems the hunter is willing to talk now."

Hadrian sighed, removing his feet from the control panel and walking back to the med bay. Aliviana lay just where he left her, bonds and all.

"I thought you'd have escaped those by now, being so famous and all. Since you were lacking in combat I thought you'd make up in cunning, I suppose I was wrong." Aliviana didn't speak, instead she opted to stare holes in him. He took a seat next to her bed. "I'll make you a deal, you help me get off this planet and I'll help you solve whatever problem it is that you have with The Order."

She continued staring for a moment before speaking. "How do you expect to get off of a planet surrounded by The Order with a single ship?"

"I'll show you." He began walking away. "Kat?" As if reading his mind Aliviana's bonds released and the hunter obediently followed. It wasn't as if she had another choice. He walked across the hall where the door slid open revealing walls lined with all sorts of weapons. "Take your pick."

"If this is your plan I might as well turn myself over to them."

"Just hurry up."

Hadrian walked straight to a wall filled with different types of gadgets and grabbed a gauntlet. He turned to toss it to the hunter only to find a plasma blaster aimed at his head.

A smile spread across his face.

"You don't want to do that."

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't."

"Well first of all, I saved you so it would just be rude but also you can't get off the planet without me, let alone out of the system. And if you killed me, my family would kill you. Trust me, you couldn't handle my brother or sister." The gun stayed as steady as a statue, she wouldn't be swayed so easily. "Plus," He said while reaching out with his hand. "The weapons can't be fired unless Kat activates them." He wrenched the weapon from her grip and aimed it at her head. "Kat?" He squeezed the trigger at the same time moving the barrel slightly to the side, firing a single shot. Aliviana didn't even flinch. He nodded his head "now," grabbing a gauntlet from the wall he tossed it to her and then the blaster next. "Quit messing around and get ready."

She collected another blaster and a few small explosives some knives and a sword before speaking. "So what's the plan."

"We're going to meet an old friend. Also, we're going to have to go on foot."

"How do you expect to do that with hundreds of drones in the sky."

"Don't worry, Kat will buy us enough time, we're only going a few miles." With that, Hadrian exited the room and headed to the back of his ship. Aliviana followed silently. "Once we exit the ship we'll no longer be cloaked so do as I say and keep up." Any hints of defiance disappeared, at least for the time being. She nodded. "Okay let's go." The ramp descended and a wave of desert heat flooded the ship.

The moment the ramp began its descent Kat spoke. "The drones have locked on, there are 15 in the area, I can handle them but when the rest arrive you better be in the catacombs. They'll deploy androids so be ready, once they're locked on they will be able to follow you into the tunnels. Hadrian nodded and began jogging down the ramp.

"Keep up hunter, it would be a shame to see you fall on our first mission together, don't let me down, I'll consider this an interview."

***

An interview? Nothing that came out of Hadrian's mouth made any sense. She watched as he descended the ramp into the dessert and wondered what it was he planned to do. As soon as his feet hit the sand, he took off in a dead sprint, his body turning into a blur. Thankfully, her affinity to the wind gave her a speed boost. Without that, she never would have been able to keep up.

The moment they took off, the song of battle erupted behind her and she felt a powerful gust of air accompanied by the sound of the ship taking flight. Explosions went off but she didn't turn. It was all she could do to stay focused on Hadrian's blurry figure as it dashed into a grouping of trees around a shimmering spring. The trees were unusually large, scaling with the planet itself. As he charged through, dozens of birds took flight, a cacophony of greens and blues mingling with some reds and yellows.

Abruptly, Hadrian stopped and she skidded to a halt as well. A spring of sparkling water reflected the sun behind him, casting a strange glimmer on his black battle suit. Her eyes widened, he was pointing a blaster at her and already squeezing the trigger. She ducked. The sound of metal being ripped to shreds by a plasma bolt reverberated through her ears.

She shouted, "A warning would be nice!"

A grin from ear to ear lit up his face as he fired again into the lifeless pile of metal. "For good measure. That was a tracker, he's probably already locked on to us and transmitted to whatever else they sent, this place is going to be swarming pretty soon." Upon finishing his sentence, Hadrian dove into the water and disappeared into the sparkling depths of the spring

Aliviana followed suit, diving into the cool oasis water, it was a nice reprieve from the desert. She opened her eyes and a new world appeared before her. The spring was clear and beautiful. The fish were huge just as everything else on New Sol. Catching sight of Hadrian, she swam towards him further into the depths. His battle suit hugged tighter, defining his muscles even more. Under the gaze of the shining sun, filtered through the glittering water, he cut a fierce figure.

He disappeared into a tunnel near the bottom and she dipped into it as well. Shortly after following the tunnel, the surface appeared, she emerged from the water into a dim cave. It was lit by a faint golden light coming from crystals along the walls. Hadrian was already heading deeper into the tunnel, his outline disappearing around a corner . It seemed as if the crystals lead somewhere. Speeding up, she caught him lead by a path of dripping water.

"What is this place?"

"It's called the catacombs, it's the only way to get to the guardian."

"Guardian?"

"You'll see." Another of his devilish smiles possessed his features. His white teeth glowed in the darkness, and his jawline became more pronounced. The faint golden light outlined it, making it even more defined. When he turned, she found herself wishing he hadn't. Aliviana caught the emotions and shoved them back down as quickly as they came.

"What are those crystals." She gestured to the walls.

"All space fairing beasts such as dragons, manticores and even the smaller ones like fairies give off something called a celestial essence. Of course those are just the names derived from earth's tales and myths, you may know them as something different."

It wasn't odd to her that she hadn't heard of them. The hunters strictly dealt in the discovery and capture of true cultivators. There were other divisions that handled divine beasts.

Hadrian continued. "Space fairing beasts tend to roam the cosmos in search of a suitable planet to take up residence on. Similar to cultivators, they take in energy from their surroundings. The difference being that they tend to spend a large portion of their lives in space. This is what causes the phenomenon known as celestial essence. Humans and most humanoid species can't take in this energy causing most to keep other sources when going into space for long periods of time." He paused, frowning. "I suppose you wouldn't know." As if his mood changed in a split second, he smiled again. "As long as the interview goes well, I can fix that for you."

The narrow cave opened up into a massive cavern as Hadrian continued his lecture. "Once a beast settles on a planet, depending on which kind, they usually take up closed doors cultivation and as they take in the world energy it mingles with the abundance of spatial energy in their bodies which in turn births the crystals.

The whole process left her in awe, she never knew how much their really was to the forbidden art. She recalled some memories, some of which were fairly recent. Wires and other gadgets were attached as they inserted the false qi into her body. She eventually got used to the pain but it never went away. Even in that moment a nagging constantly harassed her.

As the cavern was slowly revealed to her through the dim light of the crystals she heard something, a noise, steady and quiet but clearly audible. She scanned the cavern and an enormous silhouette took up a huge portion in the center of the cavern, she noticed it was also where the noise came from.

Hadrian turned to her. "Are you ready."

"Ready for wh…" as the words came out Hadrian's hand lit up with a bright orange and yellow glow. The flickering light grew larger and she could feel the heat on her face and body as it washed away the cold and clammy embrace of the water. Abruptly, he thrust his hand upward and the flame grew even larger as it ascended and the giant silhouette was revealed. Her normally resolute heart attempted to leap from her chest. Her eyes widened and her stomach fluttered. She realized that steady noise was the sound of the massive creature breathing.

Coiled up in the center of the cavern was a serpent with blood red scales, it's head was the size of Hadrian's ship and it's body thick and powerful, thrumming with life. She stepped back, taking in the sight and then almost fell over in retreat as something else happened.

It began to wake up.