Finally the meeting came to an end, and the Emperor dismissed everyone. The Clan Leaders stood up and slowly made their way out of the room. Elias stood up as well and started towards the doors, but before leaving he glanced back at the Emperor, only to see him studying him in return. Elias hadn’t spoken with his friend since he accepted to lead the Hand of the Empire thirty years ago, not as Elias anyway. He wondered if Tomas knew that it was he who sat through the meeting with him today. Elias turned and left the room, he had a lot of work to do.
Chapter Two
Adrian Farkas Reiss, Clan Leader of the Clan Warpath walked out of the Council meeting. As soon as he exited the room his guard stepped in behind him. Two figures dressed in Warpath clan’s battle suits and two massive beasts Sora and Akash, the wolions, animal native to Sanctuary that Adrian adopted when they were just born. The two animals were 700 kg of muscle, claws, and teeth, they had heads that looked a little bit like those of a wolf, though fatter and wider like a cat, with the nostrils higher on the snout, their teeth were more like that of a cat than those of a wolf. Their bodies were thick and powerful. They were about the size of a very large lion from Earth, but about a third heavier thanks to their denser muscles and bones which they developed from Sanctuary’s slightly higher gravity.
“Where to now boss?” Clara Bengtsdotter asked on their private network, Adrian heard her voice through his implant.
“The Emperor wants to speak with me privately.” Adrian responded via his implant. Immediately he heard his other guard, Meifeng Zhao groan as she brought one of her hands up to her helmet making a shoot me through the head gesture with her fingers.
“Great, that means more door-guard duty.” Meifeng said.
Adrian couldn’t help but be amused. His guards were two of the best warriors Warpath had to offer, and they were also complete opposites of each other. Meifeng was short and lean, while Clara was tall and heavily built. But each had risen to the top of Warpath’s warriors. Both of them were Sentinels, the elite of Clan Warpath.
Adrian’s Clan was a lot different than the others. When Adrian’s proposal got sent to the Emperor (without his knowledge) it was just an exercise that he was doing in his spare time. He tried to imagine and plan out a society that was very different than anything that they had previously. He still drew from a lot of older cultures and societies. But in the end he created something new.
The main difference from the other Clan’s was that Warpath didn’t have its own progeny centers. No one was born into Clan Warpath, one had to pass certain tests before he or she was accepted. There were still natural births in Warpath of course, but the children born of Warpath members weren’t really a part of the Clan until they reached maturity and passed the tests. If they failed, they would be sent to Sanctuary or some other Clan, and they had the option of not even taking the tests and simply leaving, with the option of taking the test later in life, if that was their wish. That was why Clan Warpath had a lot less people, their population was barely twenty five thousand, spread across three asteroid habitats.
Clan Warpath was a clan of warriors. Every member of the clan, from the technicians to scientists and fleet personnel was also a warrior. Proficient in at least one area of warfare, as well as martial arts. Adrian wanted to create a society of warrior philosophers, people who were smart and wise. And now when they didn’t have to worry about old age, it was possible to achieve that. He didn’t want soldiers or armies, but specialists and leaders. People who could adapt to any situation. Ultimately, he wanted to create a group of people who were so formidable that they could be considered armies in themselves.
There were of course some problems. Not everyone is capable of reaching such heights, that is why he made Warpath a clan that accepted new people only if they were worthy. Having someone born into the clan didn’t guarantee that they had what it takes to become what he envisioned. He gave them all an opportunity to be unique. The goal of Warpath was to push the boundaries of human capabilities, to push their physical limits to the edge, to perfect the art of war, and explore every warrior path.
They arrived at their destination, Clara and Meifeng stopped at the door, along with Akash. Adrian and Sora entered. The room was furnished with furniture that was brought from Earth when Olympus left, wooden chairs, bookshelves with paper books, fabric carpets. To anyone who wasn’t born on Earth this room would look extremely strange, antiquated. Emperor Tomas Klein sat behind his big desk at the far end of the room, and as Adrian and Sora entered he stood up and came around to meet them.
“Adrian.” Tomas said as he reached them and offered his hand. Adrian reached out to shake it. In the past thirty years Adrian and Tomas got to know each other well, as they worked closely in building Warpath, and had become friends. After shaking his hand, Tomas reached over and scratched Sora behind the ears, immediately she released a sound that would scare anyone who didn’t know her. But this wasn’t the first time Tomas was in the presence of a wolion, and he knew that the sound was wolions equivalent of purring.
Tomas gestured at the two sofas to the side and they moved to sit there, Sora finding a spot on the ground close to Adrian’s feet.
“How are things, with Warpath I mean?” Tomas asked. Adrian raised an eyebrow at the question.
“Fine, things are progressing according to the plans.” Adrian answered.
“Good, good.” Tomas said distracted. “I see that you added another aspect to your mantle since we last saw each other.” Tomas commented, looking at the back of Adrian’s hand. Adrian put both his arms in front of himself, with the back of the hands turned upwards, looking at the intricate tattoos drawn there.
His left hand held three black circles, each with a different symbol inside. Stylish lines and arcs in different colors connected each circle to the other two. His right hand also held three circles with symbols. Each circle had small orbs tattooed close to them. Each of the symbols represented a learned aspect, an area in which the wearer of the tattoos was proficient in, and the small orbs represented the level of their proficiency.
Over the course of his life Adrian had learned six aspects, leadership, hand to hand, weapons, fleet command, ground command, and history. Adrian was most proficient in hand to hand and fleet command aspects, so those symbols had the most orbs tattooed around the circle, both had six orbs. While his weapons had five, leadership three, ground command two, and history one. His symbols were also black in color, signifying that his main focus was in the combat paths. Other people had different colored symbols, according to their main focus.
The idea of tattoos came from a few of Warpath citizens who first got them as a way to mark their progress, the practice then spread until it was officially adopted. The location and the appearance differed from person to person. Some chose to place the marks on their shoulders or chest, some even on their face. Each chose a different way to fill the space in between the symbols and orbs, Adrian saw one soldier whose mark was a tree, symbols hanged like fruits from the branches. In time the marks would grow as people learned more and more, especially now that most would live long lives.
It was a Warpath thing, something that showed that in just thirty years they had managed to create their own culture and customs.