Filling the Void - Chapter Twenty-five
"No, and that's final!" With that, Negin Rudex Mal slammed the door in Victus's face. It wasn't the first time he'd done something like that. It wasn't even the fiftieth time. Victus thought the man was taking a perverse pleasure in blatantly ignoring...
Filling the Void - Chapter Twenty-four
Lucas went through his morning routine the same way he and Victus did on any other day, but going through the motions without the other man by his side was disconcerting. He knew the moves, he could perform the duties, but without having Victus there...
Filling the Void - Chapter Twenty-three
Moving as one, the small class of young ken-shi brought their bamboo practice swords down, slashing diagonally across their chests. "Hai!" They regrouped, pulled their swords close to their centers of gravity, then pulled their free arms around in a...
Filling the Void - Chapter Twenty-One
"I'm worried about my boy." Dagen pulled a used paper napkin out of his pocket and wrung it in his hands, absentmindedly twisting it this way and that. Even though dead air was generally discouraged while on long-distance vid calls, he was glad that...
Filling the Void - Chapter Twenty
Negin Mal was as perturbed as Victus had ever seen him. "Is this really necessary?" he spat, his single-minded resistance against the inevitable reminding Victus of the time he had given Master Uhlu's cat a flea bath. Leland took his attention away...
Filling the Void - Chapter Nineteen
"So what's this guy like?" Lucas asked, as he smoothed wrinkles from his shirt. "You know, really. The way everyone gets that weird look in their eyes whenever someone mentions his name, he must be a real piece of work." "If by, 'a piece of work' you...
Filling the Void - Chapter Eighteen
Their hunger sated, Lucas and Victus retired to their shared room. As they passed the negin's private suite, the sound of a child's giggly laughter reached them through the closed door. Lucas raised an eyebrow. "He has kids?" "No," Victus said, trying...
Filling the Void - Chapter Seventeen
Victus flowed through his Tai Chi forms with the peaceful grace of a fish gliding through water. The cool dawn air, made humid by the surrounding acres of grass growing unnaturally on this near-desert world, felt dense and energizing as it moved in and...
Filling the Void - Chapter Sixteen
"He hardly calls any more," Dagen complained, knowing full well that he sounded like a churlish old fishwife but not caring enough to stop. "I almost feel as if I've been abandoned." "You got along just fine before you had Victus in your life," Abbot...
Filling the Void - Chapter Fifteen
The door to the passenger cell of the robotic shuttle opened with a pneumatic hiss. The lone passenger stepped into a large aerodome that smelled strongly of the same ozone and synthetic lubricants that seemed ubiquitous among spaceports across the...
Filling the Void - Chapter Fourteen
**_Boundaries, boundaries, boundaries..._ Victus thought, as he scanned the surrounding terrain with his ocular magnifiers. The child is always pushing boundaries... He'd arrived at his client's manor three months earlier as an honored guest, the pomp...
Filling the Void - Chapter Eleven
Dagen was well into his sixth hour of sleep when something small and warm poked his exposed arm. In a stupor he shuffled away from the intrusion, his tired body encouraging his mind to return to its rightful place beneath the evening tides. "Mister...