"Commander, Laura Croft wishes to see you. She has an order signed by the Emperor."
The deputy's voice roused Aparajita from his contemplation. He opened his eyes and looked at the Golden Eagle statue and the longsword before him. Aparajita could no longer remember his life before becoming a knight. Even if he could recall fragments of it, they could not shake his resolve; instead, those memories seemed as dull as a bad film. The War Prayer, which guided the thoughts of Gene-modded Warriors, was required reading for every knight. This thick tome defined the Gene-modded Warriors' mission and how they were to wield the power granted to them by the Emperor.
Besides the War Prayer, every knight repeated their oaths of loyalty and victory to the Emperor over and over during meditation. Aparajita was kneeling on one knee, savoring each word he had long committed to memory. He still remembered completing the Trial of Death, dragging his exhausted body and unyielding spirit through the sandstorm of an alien desert wasteland before kneeling to the Emperor. The Emperor had praised the courage, passion, and wisdom he displayed in that trial, granting him a glorious cloak. It was a moment of honor he could never forget. Aparajita could still smell monster blood, his own blood, and bolt propellant in his nostrils. He still remembered the corpses scattered across a ten-kilometer radius—the gift he had offered to the Emperor.
"I shall offer bone and blood, bolts and blades, loyalty and victory. I am the sword in the Emperor's hand. I am the shield in the Emperor's hand. I shall protect his subjects according to his will." The prayer still echoed at the edge of Aparajita's mind, its lengthy words seeming to have been carved into his consciousness. "I am the thunder of