Chapter 18: Home
Arbus's eyes fluttered open as he slowly sat up in his disheveled bed.
He ran his hand through his messy crimson hair as he gathered his thoughts silently.
After what felt like a long while, he massaged his eyelids with his fingers, then sighed deeply.
The memories of his comrades bloody faces and mangled bodies had once again kept him up all night.
Still, the fact that he had barely slept was almost unnoticeable.
Eventually, he shook himself from his thoughts.
None of them mattered at the moment.
The day had finally come.
His gaze wandered, surveying his room for a few moments.
It was a small, slightly cluttered room with clean brightly coloured walls.
Arbus couldn't help but remember when he had painted the walls himself a few years ago.
It was a way his younger self had come up with to remind him of his real home.
The one he couldn't go back to, since it had long been destroyed.
His old training gear was neatly arranged at the corners of the room, just like he'd left them.
Although, they were cleaner than he had expected them to be.
In fact, the house had been far cleaner than he had expected when he'd returned here a few days earlier.
He wasn't sure who had been taken care of his house while he was away, but no one had appeared around the property since.
He had even wondered if it was his master's doing at one point.
He had quickly dismissed that thought.
His master might have been retired, but he knew he still had a lot of things to take care of.
After all, it was hard for a Heart-shard user to simply 'retire' after being given all that power by the organisation.
He'd eventually just guessed that his master had assigned someone else to take care of this old house.
Still, he couldn't help but smile slightly at the thought of his master being forced to do housework.
The house would probably be long gone.
"It's finally time." He said as he let out a long breath.
It had been days since he had been brought back to KT on a compact ship piloted by an anxious Renegade Vanguard.
It was pretty evident that the Vanguard was shocked by the human looking passenger he had been summoned to the hold to transport.
Despite his fear and hesitation, he had obeyed Commander Ophilia's orders to bring Arbus to KT – without even a single question or word of protest.
Arbus shook his head again, focusing on the present.
he quickly rose to his feet and washed up, before randomly picking out a set of clothes from the line of clothing his master had gotten him. Thanks to the mysterious housekeeper, all of them still seemed just as new as before.
That was also thanks to him never bothering to wear them.
After he was done, he turned to his drawers with a look of hesitation.
"..."
Eventually, he opened it up and took out the only item he had stored inside it.
His mother's bracelet.
And the only thing that he had to remember his friend by.
"Damn it, what's wrong with me? Why am I always getting so emotional recently?" He mumbled while holding on to the bracelet tightly.
He had left it behind last time since there was no point in taking it to the outpost on Terytl-B.
He had also been under the assumption that he would only be a Sentry for a few months at the very most.
This time though, he was truly becoming a Renegade.
He quickly got out a rope and fastened it around the bracelet. Then he hung it around his neck like a necklace and tucked it beneath his shirt.
After that, he went around the small undecorated house and packed up anything he thought would actually be useful to him on his new assignment.
After he was done, he quickly stepped outside, into the crater surrounding the small house.
All around him, the endless darkness of space was visible through the dome surrounding the refugee settlement of KT.
It seemed the transport that was supposed to take him to the training facility on Tomber hadn't arrived yet.
Which meant he had to wait for a while.
Arbus turned back to look at the house one last time as a series of memories flooded his mind.
"..."
"It's time to move forward."
He said as he turned away from the house, quickly climbing out of the steep crater.
When he did, he was met with the view of the most beautiful planet he had ever seen, or set foot on.
His true home, Tarok.
It was a large planet primarily dominated by the species known as Tarokians.
A towering Mornaniod species with extremely powerful senses, and terrifying physical abilities. The most powerful Tarokian male and female warriors were known to be capable of destroying mountains and wiping out large cities with a single attack.
Even the usually arrogant elites of the Mornan species had respect for their kind.
And Arbus, was the prince of the entire species of Tarokians across the protected galaxies.
His family line had ruled the Tarokian race for thousands of years.
His grandfather was the current 'Chief' of the planet.
His mother, Angel, was set to become the next ruler, after his grandfather's retirement.
That was until she met his father and committed the gravest sin in the universe.
Falling in love with a Human.
When his father had been exposed, he had been ostracised and forced to live on his own and fend for himself.
He had been all alone.
At least, until he met her.
Eventually, Arbus sighed deeply as he strode over to a rock formation and dropped down loudly.
In the distance, he could see bright lights coming from the main areas of KT.
His house had been built at the very edge of the large dome, as a precaution to avoid causing a commotion among the troubled refugees of KT – who were just trying to get their lives back together.
It was an unspoken rule among the refugees to stay away from his home.
He'd made sure to keep his return a secret as well, since no one here would care that he was back.
Less than an hour later, a Renegade transport ship finally arrived through the entrance on the other side of the Dome and made its way toward Arbus.
Arbus watched it land with a hint of impatience.
Then, he stood up and moved toward the vessel with steady steps.
"..."
His steps suddenly faltered momentarily, as he sensed something he hadn't expected.
A faint smile appeared on his face as he reached the ship's entrance.
When the door slid open, Arbus was momentarily taken aback when he laid his eyes on the Qus pilot.
He'd never seen one besides High commander Respen before, because of how rare they were in this star system.
The featureless face of the Qus made Arbus a bit tense.
He was also inwardly shocked when he instinctively felt that the Qus was at least a stage 3 Heart-shard user.
The male Qus transmitted nothing as he simply stared at Arbus patiently.
"Oh! right, sorry."
Arbus muttered as he realised the Qus was waiting for him to get on.
He quickly entered and found a seat at the back of the small ship that resembled a long windowless bus.
There was no one else onboard.
That made the awkward silence more noticeable.
Arbus noticed The Qus's expressionless face focusing on him through the ship's mirror for several moments.
His expression tightened In slight alarm.
Eventually, the Qus turned away as he started the ship back up and flew off.
Down below them, behind one of the moon's steep hills. A young boy watched the ship fly off with a somber expression.