The lieutenant accepted Tixus’s invitation without hesitation, and immediately grabbed all of his equipment. As he prepared, he appointed his right hand woman, Major Zena Dragil with being in charge of their units until he returned. He also said if he were to not return, she would have command of the starship during battle. Zena, looking a bit hesitant to accept her commander’s orders, did so, before slowly turning. Then, she faced Gryxus again, and noticed he had an eager and agitated energy to him. When she inquired what it was about the mission he faced that had him behaving differently, Gryxus informed her of his past…

Lieutenant Gryxus hailed from the planet Siopi in the Monaxia System on a far edge of the galaxy. It was a place that had been under Tromokratesian rule for a long time, after brutal and devastating war against Emperor Kako and his armies. Gryxus then toldZena, 197 years before their conversation he was born into this world. His father was killed in the war, and his mother was the last surviving member of her family, meaning she was the only blood tie he had growing up. However, the Siopian way was one of community, even in times of slavery. Thus, he was raised by all those surrounding him. Everyone looked out for everyone else. It was how they survived.

Gryxus continued by saying, by the time he was 5, he was ordered into the mines to begin his slave duty. His early years were mentally grueling, as he was repeatedly sent into the tiniest areas of the mines to lay explosives and retrieve the hardest to reach mineral rocks. Sometimes for days on end, he would be isolated in a cavern, separated from his mother and community by hundreds of feet of rock. They would lower him down in a basket with enough food and water only a small child could survive on, along with pounds of explosives he needed to strategically place throughout the cavern. There was no room to be scared or to make mistakes. Thus, early on, Gryxus was molded to be fearless and proficient in his tasks.

Climbing the slick cave walls was very dangerous, and living inside the heart of an unknown mountain for days with virtually no light drove many other kids insane. Plus, he had to deal with the occasional attacks from cave dwelling creatures. Gryxus persevered, though. Every time he was sent into a cavern alone for long durations, he always completed his task, regardless of the obstacles he faced. This was due to him having become a master climber and efficient with a knife in combat, enabling him to kill anything with a few strikes in their natural cave habitats.

Gryxus also mastered his young mind and body, enabling himself to be pushed to the limit without breaking. His resolve was iron clad. Deep in those mines, he told Zena, a warrior unlike anything he ever imagined he could become was being forged.

Then, after a couple of growth spurts over the next few years, Gryxus was too large to fit into the tight passages leading to the remote caverns. Therefore, he was forced to join the regular slave mining crews at the age of 9. By the time he was 16, he had grown even taller and stronger than most fully developed Siopian men. This meant he was looked at by the Tromokratesian slave drivers to produce more each day. He never missed a quota.

In addition to his physical prowess, Gryxus was also advanced in intellect. His mother would give him books, constantly risking her safety, for it was forbidden for the slaves to read or write. Nevertheless, she stole science books, math books, classic literature, history books, as well as books on military strategy, the martial sciences, weapons combat, and intergalactic politics; all came from old, abandoned libraries and studies their oppressors never bothered to burn down. Gryxus devoured the texts, becoming a voracious reader and learner. For 11 years, he digested as much knowledge as he could. He was also a prominent member of the community around him, emerging as a person who was able to be of help to everyone. Thus, his intellect, along with his physical superiority and charisma, made Gryxus a natural born leader. The slaves looked up to him, even his elders.

Naturally, this fact made him a target to the vicious Tromokratesian slave masters. They sought for ways to break him and make him an example before the other slaves. However, they could never get him to act out or break any rules, despite their taunts and prodding. That was, until Gryxus’ mother was caught smuggling books to her quarters. The slave drivers did not hesitate to punish her severely as a way to hurt Gryxus, and they whipped her within inches of her life in front of everyone, including her son, who eventually could not stop himself from running over to her.

While Gryxus recited this part of his life to Zena, he grew visibly somber. He continued by saying that after the flogging ended, he carried his mother to their quarters and over the next few weeks, spent every spare moment away from the mines caring for her. When he was away from her, other slaves would continue her care. Gryxus smiled proudly while tears silently streamed down his face as he said that his mother was a fighter, too, just like him. Her strong will saw her recover slowly but surely, which brought great joy to Gryxus. However, the happier in spirit he became, the angrier the slave drivers grew, for their plans to break Gryxus continued to fail. Ultimately, this pushed them to commit a vile act.

One day while Gryxus was working in a mine, two slave drivers went to his mother while she rested in the company of a fellow slave. The two Tromokratesians killed the caretakers and then set fire to the quarters, making it look like an accident. Word spread fast throughout the mines about the fire, and it quickly reached Gryxus. He ran to his mother, pummeling all the slave drivers who tried to stop him. When he reached his home, all he could do was stand and watch as the flames raged on. Gryxus said, the orange and red inferno reflected in his eyes as he glared at the scene with tears pooling in them, before streaming down his face. Motionless, time stood still. Gryxus knew she was murdered, though some people told him they heard the Tromokratesians say the blaze occurred because the slave with his mother was making a fire to boil some water for tea, and it grew out of control. However, the one problem with their story was that he knew his mother hated tea. She always said it tasted like boiled grass and that she couldn’t stand it. The slave watching over her knew this as well, as she was a close friend. The story about the cause of the fire was a lie, and Gryxus knew the slave drivers murdered his mother.

After a week of mourning and then burying her, Gryxus said he plotted his revenge. He told Zena how he was inspired by the story of his hero, General Tixus, about when Tixus snuck into battle with the GKF to help recapture his home planet of Spiti from the Tromokratesians at the age of 16. Thus, Gryxus believed if Tixus could help reclaim his home, he could help reclaim Siopi. They were both 16 when they experienced tragedy, and they both lost their parents to the Tromokratesians. So, in the deep cover of night he set out for revenge.

Gryxus used his incredible climbing skills to invade the homes of the slave drivers in his area, and killed them in their sleep one by one. Come morning, there were no Tromokratesians around in their section of the mines. The slaves were perplexed as to what was going on, and when they discovered the slave drivers’ fate, they also realized Gryxus was gone.

However, in his absence a legend grew. As the years passed, slave drivers continued to be found dead all over Siopi. Gryxus told Zena, he was using the vast sets of tunnels in the mines all over the planet to travel from mining colony to mining colony, slaying the oppressors swiftly and stealthily. Soon, word reached the commanding officers of the Tromokratesians, and they sent soldiers to help fortify the colonies with military personnel. This did not matter. All it did was raise the body count. Gryxus was decimating the slave drivers and their troops, and his crusade earned him the nickname “The Spirit of Siopi”.

Soon, Gryxus’s legend became something of a myth, for nobody ever saw him, but he continued to slay hundreds. Eventually, the slaves – who greatly outnumbered the slave drivers and their troops – began to rise up, inspired by the Spirit of Siopi. The Tromokratesians on Siopi tried communicating for help, but at that point the planet had been nearly stripped of its most valuable resources, and the Tromokratesian leaders commanding them decided it was not worth waging a full-fledged war over the extremely remote and pillaged planet.

Thus, the revolution raged on, and soon after it started, Gryxus emerged from the mines to lead his people. He became their general, and through brilliant strategy, easily led the Siopians to victory over their oppressors, ending numerous centuries of Tromokratesian rule and enslavement.

After the revolution was over and not a single Tromokratesian remained, Gryxus was asked why it took so long for him to finally emerge and begin fighting the Tromokratesians in the open. He told Zena his reply to his people was, as long as they continued to live as slaves, they could never defeat their oppressors. He knew they needed to be encouraged to rise up and claim their freedom. Thus, after burying his mother, he plotted to strike using stealth. If he had attacked the slave drivers head on, he would certainly have lost his life, too. He also knew, assassination techniques and covert military strategies he learned from studying great warrior cultures was the best way to go about exacting his revenge and inciting a revolution, and believed in doing so, he could create a symbol that both inspired his people, and was striking fear into the hearts of the Tromokratesians. He ultimately put their oppressors on the defensive, while giving the Siopians the encouragement they needed to fight.

The Siopians realized that Gryxus was right. It was not until they decided to fight as free men and women that it made sense for him to return, and his words resonated with the Siopians. This ideal to fight instead of allowing themselves to be oppressed became their race’s mantra, and it spread across the planet, creating a renewed culture of community, resilience and strength, ushering in the dawn of a prosperous and enlightened age.

Gryxus continued telling Zena that following this, Siopi eventually joined the Sympan Treaty of Galaxies, and once word traveled throughout the cosmos of the mythical Spirit of Siopi, it was not long before the stories reached General Tixus. When the general heard them and how it was he who inspired the leader of one of the greatest revolutions in the history of the galaxy, Tixus decided to travel to Siopi to meet the mythical warrior in the flesh.

When Tixus arrived in Siopi, he was greeted by Gryxus himself. The two instantly clicked, telling one another their life stories and all they endured over their battle-hardened years. Beyond impressed by not only the great advancements Siopi made since their liberation, but also by their leader, General Tixus knew he must recruit Gryxus to join the Galaxias Kyklos Force. Gryxus did not want to leave his home, though, which Tixus understood. However, the general argued that the Spirit of Siopi would be more helpful throughout the galaxy inspiring thousands of planets to rise up against alien terrorists like the Tromokratesians. The general said, through the GKF Gryxus could lead fights for freedom in star systems across the galaxy, and do for others what he’d done for his home. Tixus’s argument was compelling enough for Gryxus. So, with the blessing of Siopi, he left to join the GKF and eventually became a lieutenant general.

‍