Ayden had to admit, he hadn't expected that life away from Earth would include jumping from place to place, with barely any time to breath in between.
The idea that they were heading to a stellar wasteland didn't help.
He knew enough about astronomy from Jax, who would lecture him about different subjects whenever they had a moment of quiet. Her favorite topic was black holes. He particularly remembered what she had said about the event horizon.
"The event horizon is where all the action is. Nobody's ever been able to get that far or see beyond it, but it's speculated that your death would be so chaotic, we don't even have a word to describe it!" Of course, since she was fascinated by that kind of thing, she said it with excitement.
Besides black holes, she also loved to talk about piloting challenges she hoped to try one day. The hardest, she said, was dodging asteroids, especially in a field of them. And according to Kajin, they weren't heading into just an asteroid field, but a graveyard of destructive rock and ice.
So when, exactly, had Ayden decided it would be a good idea to leave Earth as soon as possible?
All these thoughts ran through his head as he listened to Jax try to explain the mechanics of the tunnel drive and how it took ships of of phase with real space and allowed them to get world to world in a straight line, instead of plotting complicated courses to avoid crashing into stars. That right there was about all he could understand about the subject.
Over the years, he had developed ways to make it appear like he was listening when he really wasn't, otherwise his brain would have exploded by now. Every time she found a book that was capable of being handled without falling apart, Jax would absorb it in a matter of hours, then tell Ayden all about it. She soaked up information like a sponge.
In the middle of Max's dialogue, Ayden heard a muffled curse from the bridge. Strangely, he also couldn't help noticing the distinctive smell of smoke.
"Hey," he said, cutting off Jax. "Do you smell that?"
He got up and peeked through the hatch into the bridge, Jax close behind.

Kajin crossed his arms and stared at what had a moment before been the controls of the ship like they had bitten him.
He didn't want to admit that it scared him.
He didn't know what happened. One second, he had been making adjustments to the drives. The next, they had melted into a heap of scorched circuitry. And his hands weren't even singed!
First the lock, and now this! What's happening to me?
Kajin practically leaped out of his skin when someone cleared their throat behind him. Turning, he saw Ayden and Jax peering through the hatch. Ayden looked curious, but when Jax saw the melted controls, her expression resembled an angry cat. "What happened?"
Kajin shrugged and tried to look nonchalant, even though inside, he felt like his stomach had moved into his throat. "Don't know. The ioka thing just started sparking. I was just about to get Tyri."
Jax looked skeptical, but she let him pass when he stepped off the bridge.
He walked into the washroom and closed the door behind him. He splashed cold water over his face and gripped the edge of the water basin, trying to still his shaking hands. He looked in the mirror, squeezed his eyes shut, and looked again. Had those flame-red flecks always been in his eyes?
Ask Tyri. She has the answers you seek.
Kajin blinked. Now I'm hearing voices in my head. Great. He couldn't argue with the facts, though. Tyri had said that the Azkiar gained power by bonding with a spirit of the Iriko, accompanied by dreams of a chosen domain. The dream part was definitely true. The only thing she hadn't mentioned was the kind of power.
When he felt he had composed himself enough, he left the washroom and knocked on the door of Tyri's room.
As soon as she saw Kajin, she smiled and said, "You can feel it, can't you?"
Kajin had been absolutely certain that he had erased every trace of worry from his face, but somehow Tyri seemed to know exactly what happened. She stepped aside, inviting him in. Her room only contained a bed and a desk with an old-fashioned chair with legs.
She gestured at the bed. "Sit."
He did, and noticed his hands were shaking again.
Tyri pulled out the chair and sat across from him. "I had hoped the Iri would wait until we arrived, but they have obviously lost patience."
Kajin swallowed. "Iri?"
"The name of the spirits who inhabit the Iriko. And one of them has decided to attach itself to you." She watched him for a moment, then leaned back and crossed her arms, her eyes closed. "A fire spirit, it must be. The red should be proof enough."
Kajin was starting to feel extremely confused. "Red?"
Tyri opened her eyes again and smiled. "In your eyes. Surely you've noticed by now." Ignoring Kajin's look of shock, she continued. "The color of your eyes is an indicator for your caste. The stronger your bond gets, the redder your eyes will become. Now lay down."
Hesitantly, he did.
"Now close your eyes and relax."
Somehow, his awareness of his surroundings had dimmed, but he briefly felt Tyri's hand placed on his forehead. Everything suddenly seemed completely peaceful, and the post-battle stress that had been hanging around Kajin disappeared.
Abruptly, his awareness came back in a rush. Kajin's eyes snapped open, but instead of Tyri's room, he was in a wasteland of volcanoes and smoke. The same place he saw the dragon.
At least, he thought it was a dragon. All he had seen was a massive silhouette in the smoke and two flame-red eyes watching him.
The ground rumbled and a sound like thunder rolled through the air, and a mountain in the distance lit up with a shower of lightning and lava. Smoke made it hard to see, and the smell of sulfur was everywhere. Yet somehow, Kajin felt at home here, like he had finally found where he belonged.
A jolt like electricity shot down his spine, just as a growling sound started behind him, like an angry Salan. Kajin's whole body tensed and he fought his immediate instinct to run. Instead, he slowed his breathing and closed his eyes, concentrating on the sound of his heartbeat.
The growling slowly moved from behind him to his left, accompanied by a slight rustling noise, like scales rubbing against each other. Kajin nearly lost control when he felt something brush his arm, but he gritted his teeth and stayed completely still.
The growling was in front of him. Strangely, he found that it was starting to remind him of a slightly curious sound, like purring, not a sound of aggression.
Welcome home, Source bearer.
Kajin gasped. It was the same voice he had heard in his head earlier! He opened his eyes a crack and practically froze in fright, but he forced them to open slowly.
It really was a dragon!
It was huge, each one of it's talons bigger than Kajin. The scales seemed orange, red, and yellow all at once, and shimmered with fire. The horns and claws looked to be made of obsidian, and the eyes gleamed with intelligence. And somehow, Kajin knew it's name: Ember.
Suddenly, he was back in Tyri's room, gasping and sitting upright, his heart thudding painfully against his ribs. Beside him, Tyri was slumped in her chair, looking just as winded as he felt, but her face wore a look of wonder. "So I was right. Source bearer."
Source bearer. That was what the dragon Ember had called him. What the krik is going on?