The two on the floor looked like masters of martial arts that Adrian had sparred years ago, before the forming of the Empire. His mind recreating them exactly as they looked like, both young looking as all humans now looked. Their styles of fighting were different both from Adrian’s and from each other, but ultimately Adrian knew that they were just shadows of real people, Adrian was fighting his own impressions of those people. They might have the styles of those two people, but ultimately the two were figments of Adrian’s mind, they ‘thought’ like he thought. He was fighting himself.
Adrian stepped back and relaxed, the two opponents on the ground immediately dissolved. He closed his eyes and then opened them to see Sora and Akash sitting in front of him in his quarters. The two of them always sat and gazed at him attentively when he went into mind space, watching over him. Adrian tried to smile but his body still felt numb and unresponsive, he always needed a few minutes to recover completely, for his brain to reassume control over his body’s functions from Iris and his implant.
“A productive session I assume?” Iris asked through the implant.
“Yes.” Adrian responded simply, he was still a bit unbalanced from the experience, his mind needed to adjust to the waking world again.
“How long were you in there this time?”
“Somewhere between a few days and two weeks I think.” Adrian responded, it was very hard to keep ‘local’ time inside mind space, his perception of time was so warped that he couldn’t keep an accurate account of how much time has passed. “How long was I out?” Adrian asked.
“An hour and seventeen minutes.” Iris answered.
“Hmm… Closer to a week then.” Adrian said. They had a rough estimate of how fast time passed in mind space compared to the time that passed in the real world.
“Well…” Adrian started speaking as he stretched his arms above his head and then moved to stand, shaking off the last bit of stiffness. “How long do I have until my match?” Adrian asked.
“The semi-finals ended a few minutes ago. So about an hour and a half I would say.” Iris said.
Adrian nodded absently as he started walking around the room and stretching. The martial-arts tournament, which was held twice a year was extremely important for Warpath, every citizen of the clan prepared for it intensely. Not every hand to hand specialist attended every tournament, people in Warpath were very busy, but they tried to attend at least once a year. Adrian could have entered the tournament as any other person that was fighting, but he chose not to. He had already won the tournament once and didn’t need, nor had the time to fight through the ranks until he reached the finale. But he needed to show his people that he was still strong, better than anyone else.
There had been rumors circulating for the past three years about how he wasn’t the best hand to hand specialist anymore, probably originating from the knowledge that Adrian was rarely seen training, with his mind space he didn’t have to. But as the leader of the Warpath clan, he needed to put those rumors to rest. People needed to see him as something more than an ordinary person, he needed to be a goal they all strived to reach. He was still the undisputed champion of fleet command, as he held the top scores in Warpath.
There were two ways that Warpath citizens advanced and showed their prowess. One was the tournament, where people fought against each other in hand to hand combat, although it wasn’t as crucial as the second. The trials, these were yearlong events that a citizen could enter whenever he wanted, they ranged from solo trials to group. And they ranged across every area of significance, from simulated fleet scenarios to weapon courses and physical feats. Each accomplished trial gave a certain amount of points with every citizen of Warpath having his place at the clan Leaderboard. Adrian rarely did the trials, but when he did he always chose the hardest ones, those that were worth the most points. By doing that he had managed to keep his name in the top 10 spots, even without doing a lot of trials, quality over quantity.
“I guess it’s time.” Adrian said, Sora and Akash tilted their heads and then got to their feet, together they started towards the arena.
Clara Bengtsdotter and Meifeng Zhao sat in the Warpath’s arena, the tournament was a bit of a surprise. The winner was actually someone who was on the tech path. It was the first time someone who wasn’t on the warrior’s path won. Now the two of them and the rest of the arena watched the five people on the rectangular platform in the middle of the arena, and even more watched via video. Clara could see the five of them bickering among themselves, laughing and teasing, they were the five people that accepted the Clan Leaders challenge.
Adrian didn’t join the tournament, instead he organized an event and he issued a challenge to anyone who wanted to accept. And the five people on the platform were those that accepted, two were former winners of the tournaments a Nel –Isurani, a human Olja Itic, three were Sentinels that Clara and Meifeng knew very well as they trained together often, Mario, and two Nel, Banei and Lei.
They were supposed to fight Adrian in one on one matched one after another, although they believed that Adrian wouldn’t get past the first match. Clara on the other hand wasn’t so sure, she and Meifeng had spent a lot of time with Adrian and they knew that he didn’t train his martial arts at all, save for a few training sessions once every few months. He was however spending time training his body, pushing his physical limits. But simple strength and speed wouldn’t help him much against the people in the arena.
And yet, Clara had seen in him yesterday complete confidence. And thinking back about all the time she spent with him, the way he moved, how he was always aware of everything and everyone around him made her doubt her initial judgment. Adrian Farkas was not a man who was overconfident, who was rash and impulsive, if anything he was calmer and more contained than anyone Clara had ever known.
But still she worried about this event, there had been rumors about Adrian, how his prowess in hand to hand combat was no longer absolute, and in any other leader it wouldn’t have mattered. A leader didn’t need to be someone who can fight, he only needed to lead. But Warpath was different, to them strength and knowledge in all its forms mattered, and most of all fighting ability. Adrian had turned this clan into a warrior society, they applied the teachings of the ancient martial arts in a modern form to all areas of their lives. They didn’t just train in them, they lived them. It mattered to the people of Warpath whether their leader was the best fighter or not.
Then suddenly, a person walked into the arena. Immediately the arena quieted and the five straightened. Adrian Farkas walked slowly onto the platform, his two wolions following and stopping just below the platform. Adrian walked onto the platform and then stopped in front of the five who had accepted his challenge. Adrian, like every other person in the Empire, wore a skintight suit based on Nel skin-suits, it fulfilled all functions that conventional clothes did during the Human history.
It was a mixture of bio materials and a nanite mesh, it kept the body at the optimal temperature, providing protection from heat and cold, while also satisfying the need for modesty. It felt like a second skin, giving the wearer full range of movement. It was also easily removed or put on, using an implant the wearer could send a signal to the nanites mesh that would release the charge and make the suit loose and separate it into parts, similar to clothing’s of the past, which could be taken off in the usual manner. The need for fashion identity was satisfied by people wearing overcoats in different shapes and colors. The skin-suits were the norm.