BloodStar

An announcer bellowed throughout the stadium, “We enter half time with a tie game at 10-10!”

The entire populous within the suite breathed a collective sigh of relief as the football game entered half-time. Erika, Monroe, and the rest of the members all began to make their exits, “Constance, this has been a true joy. Thank you for diplomacy over war. We all very much appreciate the BloodStar Empire’s understanding.”

One after one, they all filtered out of the suite overlooking the stadium. As Erika began to leave, Constance called out, “Erika! Might you lend me a few of your attendants to keep me company seeing as everyone is leaving me to myself? I will feel quite alone otherwise.”

Erika nodded and motioned for just one of her attendants to stay behind. Erika called out, “This is Maribel, she is my most capable attendant. You two enjoy the rest of the game!”

As Erika walked out of the room, she glanced at her phone to see 10 missed calls and countless missed text messages from Jacek. She smiled to herself as she thought, “Good. I hope he continues to miss me while I ignore him. He needs to learn the lesson of not taking what he has for granted. He had Master Sage, but he will have to work to earn me back.”

Maribel took a seat next to Constance, and Constance asked her, “Maribel, is this your first football game too?”

Maribel nodded, “Yes, indeed it is Ms. Khan.”

“Please, call me Constance.” Constance talked so casually, it was relief to Maribel and a welcome change from the overbearing seriousness of serving Erika, a head of state.

Constance took a drink of her mojito and said, “Here, have one as well!” She handed Maribel a mojito and Maribel looked at it with hesitancy. Constance encouraged her, “Go on! I order you too less you want to cause an international tussle over a mojito.”

Maribel laughed and began to take a sip. Constance laughed and said, “That’s better. Cheers!”

Both girls took a drink and Constance said, “I don’t understand football. It wants to be a Gladiator game, but it fails so miserably. Rather than physically defeating your opponent, you defeat them by moving a ball around. It’s ridiculous!”

Maribel laughed and said, “I quite agree with you Constance.”

Constance wore a maroon jersey with white shorts and lamented her outfit, “And now I am stuck wearing this ridiculous outfit supporting such an embarrassing game.”

Maribel laughed and said, “It’s not all bad. The boys will go crazy over that outfit. They love girls who show interest in football.”

Constance took an interest in the comment and said, “Is that so? Fascinating.”

Constance asked Maribel, “You must be great with men Maribel. Are you married?”

Maribel laughed as she continued to drink feeling rather tipsy, “Gosh no! I hardly have time to date as Master Sage’s attendant, but I do see her and Jacek interact quite frequently.”

Constance leaned over to her and said, “Okay, spill the tea. That sounds way more interesting than this game.” Half time was now over, and the game had re-commenced.

Maribel hesitated but Constance said, “Oh come now, I just prevented a war this evening. I have no sinister intentions with gossip. I genuinely just need a distraction from this dreadful game.”

Maribel found Constance to be quite charming and funny, “Okay, okay. Get this. You promise to tell no one?”

Constance said, “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

Maribel whispered, “Rumor has it that Erika and Jacek are taking a break from one another. But shhhh. Not a word.”

Constance gasped and said, “No? Really! Why?”

Maribel said, “No one knows for sure. But I think they aren’t compatible. Erika is so calm and passive. Jacek is aggressive and needs a more assertive woman. Their families have urged them to make it work though given the history of their families.”

Constance leaned back and said, “Maribel you know just as well as I do what the problem is.”

Maribel looked on and said, “What?! I don’t. Tell me!”

Constance took a sip of her mojito and said, “Sounds like they aren’t compatible in the bedroom.”

Maribel hunched over laughing as she was now quite drunk from her alcohol intake and she laughed saying, “You jest Constance, but get this! Rumors say that even though Jacek is obviously so powerful, what he really craves is a powerful woman… to dominate him.”

Constance acted shocked and said, “Really?! No! Well, that certainly isn’t Erika!” She stopped herself and said, “No disrespect.”

Maribel laughed with her and said, “None taken. Erika is a gracious leader but a dominant presence in the bedroom she is not. I can attest.”

Constance looked at Maribel and said, “This has been very fun. Thank you for staying to keep me company. If you ever need anything at all, call me.” Constance took Maribel’s phone and entered her contact info into it.

Maribel was shocked and said, “Ms. Khan! I mean… Constance! You honor me. I will do my best to never bother you.”

Constance turned her bottoms up and finished her drink, “Nonsense, you better call me at least once a quarter, or I’ll be upset!”

The two ladies laughed and shared conversation until the game came to an end. Constance had one of her driver’s return Maribel safely to Erika’s lodging.

Meanwhile, Constance took this opportunity to make a phone call to Xenia. The phone began to ring, and Xenia picked up, “Is everything okay? I told you to assume full control and authority while over there.”

Constance smiled and said, “Oh, everything is going great. But, I just heard some rumors regarding Jacek and Master Sage from a sage attendant by the name of Maribel. I think you may find that these rumors play to your strengths very, very well. Get this…”

_______________________________

Xenia had a single bag packed of only her essentials as not much would fit in her fighter jet which she planned to take to the Saber Province.

As this was a sparring trip in essence, she wore tight, form-fitting, shiny black dry fit leggings and a matching shiny black sports bra. Although hardly appropriate for a diplomatic meeting of this high of importance, she was focusing more on the sparring at hand in the invitation.

She grabbed her bag and made for her fighter jet. As she entered the garden, she noticed her gardener assessing the damage of the previously perfect shrub design that had been destroyed by Xenia landing her fighter jet in the middle of the garden.

She walked up behind him and said, “Very sorry for my landing here like this. I won’t be back for at least a couple of days, and I promise to land on the landing pad next time. Promise!”

The gardener bowed at her unexpected presence and said, “My general, do not apologize to the likes of me. You have given me an opportunity to redesign this portion of the garden. For that, I am grateful.”

She smiled and said, “Then I will be looking forward to your new designs upon my return.”

She then grabbed her black flight suit and inched her way into the tight-fitting suit. After zipping it up, she donned her reflective aviator glasses and ascended into the cockpit.

She secured her helmet, started the engines, and began to check all of the status lights. Lastly, she made sure to connect her flight suit to the ki transmitter on the plane.

The ki transmitter was an invention of her own design that allowed her to use her own ki to propel the jet at hypersonic speeds. It could also be used to defend and attack from the jet. Her fighter jet was the fastest, fiercest, and most maneuverable jet in the world, and yet no one even knew of its existence outside of the empire.

She performed a vertical takeoff over the garden and cruised out of the empire airspace before turning up the speed. As she flew over the ocean, she increased her speed to Mach 3 using the jet engines alone.

Once reaching Mach 3, she began to raise her own ki aura allowing the ki to funnel to her specially designed engines. The ki also emanated to her flight suit to activate protective measures on her body from hypersonic speeds.

The jet climbed to Mach 4… Mach 5… Mach 6… she kept accelerating at a pace that wouldn’t harm her body until she finally reached Mach 10!

The materials needed for the jet were incredibly rare and had to be made within BloodStar Empire laboratories. Furthermore, the craftsmanship of the jet required infused ki in order to travel at such high speeds and remain intact for many years of use. The stress and heat on a normal jet would simply shred it to pieces.

Xenia thought to herself, “The Saber Province is just about 12,000 miles away, so I should be there in… just over 90 minutes.”

She said aloud to herself, “90 minutes is too long.” She enjoyed flying her jet to the extreme, and as she powered up even further, she laughed with excitement.

The plane accelerated at a constant pace until she reached Mach 20 or around 15,345 miles per hour. Traveling this speed in atmosphere created enough friction to melt steel; however, the entire jet was enveloped in a protective bubble of ki that Xenia worked constantly to maintain.

She then said aloud to herself, “Ah yes, that’s much better. At Mach 20, I should arrive in… just over 45 minutes. Just a short trip to the other side of the world!”

She gripped the control throttle lever with her flight suit gloves and settled in for her short flight half way around the world.