Above the Earth, where Dreams Die

The day Pierce left Protea again, the sky broke into colors no camera could capture. He stood beneath the glowing leaves of the Luminary Tree, eyes half-closed, as if trying to memorize the light. Will clung to him like a shadow, while Faye stood back, arms folded, pretending she wasn't crying.

"Be safe," she said, and it sounded like a warning more than a farewell.

"I'll write," Pierce promised, though they both knew he'd forget.

He boarded the transport before he could change his mind.

The station was colder this time. Not in temperature, but in tone. People moved with speed, not purpose. He passed students and technicians with blank eyes and louder voices, but nothing seemed to touch him.

Pierce had one thought, one glimmer of anticipation keeping him steady: Yuri.

They hadn't seen each other in three months. She was deep in the Lunar Genetics Initiative program, juggling research and fieldwork. But her last message had been hopeful. There's something I need to tell you.

He found her in their old meeting spot—Observation Deck C. It overlooked the blue marble, its stormy eye salways spinning, always watching.

She stood there, hair tied back, her silhouette sharp against the glass.

"You look... different," he said.

She didn't turn.

"You look tired."

"I'm not."

A lie, so casual it might as well have been habit.

They sat. She didn't hold his hand. He told her about Protea, about the sanctuary status, about the Luminary Tree blooming over their parents' graves.

"Things are changing. It's like… it's like they have a future again. We do. I mean, all of us. The city's safe now, and—"

"Pierce."

"—and it's the kind of future I wanted to build with you. You always believed in what Luna stood for. And now—"

"Pierce. Stop."

His voice died. He turned to her, suddenly aware of the space between them. The kind of distance you can't walk across.

"I don't feel anything anymore."

He blinked.

"What?"

"I tried to hold onto it. Us. But I think... I think I only loved what you represented. Not who you are."

Each word was a pin through soft cloth. Nothing dramatic. Just small, surgical ruptures.

He sat still. Waiting. Hoping she'd say it was a mistake. A test. Anything.

She looked down.

"I've met someone. He's in my program. I didn't mean for it to happen."

The silence that followed wasn't empty. It was full. Thick. And Pierce couldn't breathe through it.

He nodded once. That was all he could manage.

Yuri stood, uncertain. She wanted to say something. Offer closure, a clean ending. But she saw the look in his eyes and chose retreat.

"I hope you find peace, Pierce. I really do."

He didn't respond. Not even when the door hissed closed behind her.

He wandered the station. Not in any direction. Just away. Away from Observation Deck C. Away from the future he thought was finally arriving.

He missed calls. Missed lectures. Skipped his advisory meeting for the Archimedean extension.

His body moved. His mind didn't.

He finally stopped in the atrium, where banners for service enrollment waved like forgotten prayers. Silver Council Protectorate. Sword Companies. Vanguard of the Sovereigns.

He looked at the faces. Bright-eyed. Brave. Purposeless.

There was a kiosk. A recruiting officer who didn't bother with a pitch. Rather, he couldn't finish his recruitment ad before the dataslate was taken from his hands.

Pierce signed the form.

The Mirror didn't reflect light. It drank it. A rippling sheet of metal that bent perception and peeled back thought.

Pierce stepped forward.

It scanned. And they waited.

No projection. No known psyche-profile. 

The officer beside him frowned.

"Blank."

Not a failure. Not a deviation.

A void.

Pierce stared at the Mirror. It gave nothing back.

"That's fine," he said, his voice a whisper in a graveyard.

"You understand what this means?" the officer asked.

"I understand that I don't want to feel anything either."

Enrollment complete. Papers processed. Body scanned. Soul archived.

Pierce walked out of the facility wearing a uniform that didn't quite fit.

He was no longer a son. No longer a student. No longer a dreamer.

Just a blade.

Something sharp and quiet.

Something no one would bother to mourn.

"Cadet, you will address me as Captain-General Thalia Camejo. From this day until your last."

"Ma'am" The instinct to salute overruled any other response, standing at attention.

"That uniform does not make your a soldier, Cadet. What is your name?"

"Pierce, ma'am"

'Ah, the Blank'

A moment longer of his hardened gaze fixed on her would have peeled away her distant focus to find where her thoughts lie, so she did not dwadle. 

"I would make a great protector out of you. You lack intent, I will instruct you. You find your resolve tested, I would see it succeed and as long as you honor my teachers,"

Her words tugged at him, bringing his fallen eyes up to finally greet her. Hollow, carrying a voidful sea.

"I will give you purpose"

Pointing to the door down the corridor, after seeing how confused he was but after looking back at the entrance, he stepped forward. Quickly joined by the Captain-General.

"Cadets, starting today you will begin your journey towards becoming instruments of the Silver Council's authority, as symbols of peace for all its citizens."

"This sounds less like a interstellar peace force and more like a cult."

"And because of this cult, the people of this galaxy enjoy peace, prosperity and the knowledge that there is someone our there looking out for them, that will be you." Shredding the comment with barely a change in her tone, never granting the now meek cadet a glance

"I hope you're comfortable, you won't be sitting for long. This ship makes for Luna as we speak, central operations for the Protectrate's Silver Command within the Sol System. It will be in your benefit to remember all of this, it will be your home."

"A shaking hand was raised following her statement."

"Note that should you decide to quit, you cannot. You are all now in service of the Protectorate. And yes, you will be fairly compensated."

The room Pierce walked into lit up showing a group sprinkled around the room, the group mates being of all kinds of races and gender but most seemed somewhat eager, making him feel a little strange at the thought of being here as an act of rebellion.

But his expression remained the same. Even as the Commander stepped away from the group, making her way to the bridge.

Finding a seat just as the room to began moving.

"Calm yourself, cadets. The ship is taking off" One of the individuals spoke up.

"Shut up. No one's interested in your goody goody act. Save it for when your superiors are looking"

"I was simply alleviating everyone's concerns, Terran."

"This is unfortunate..." Pierce sighed at their display before watching as the ship left the station, catching the snicker of another distant cadet after making his comment.

"I'm surprised you managed to get more than a peep out of her. she wouldn't give me a name" A spry voice chirped up as he got comfortable, sitting beside him.