“The dichotomy of all worlds is not shaped by truth, but by those who seize power.” Zefar Vorun, Address to the Distarian insurgents, 414 A.C.E.

  Red liquid seeped into the white silk sheets, as the man’s stunned face shifted to melancholy. His final thoughts brimmed with vigor; from when he met Antigua for the first time to 12 year-old Annie playing piano at a recital.

  Harmonious chords filled the music hall; a sea of brilliant colored suits and dresses synchronized in movement. Victor remained star-stricken as he walked towards the back to make contact with a man clad in an all black suit. He swiftly handed over the merchandise in exchange for a couple krons. He couldn’t wait to go back to watching his daughter’s brilliance. It wouldn’t be so bad to stay here forever, he thought.

  As he continued to navigate his last reverie, he wished he could have left it all behind. But deep down he knew that meant throwing away a lifestyle of luxury; one filled with unimaginable opportunities for his daughter and being able to collect rare artifacts.

  While he stood reminiscing, he didn’t notice that the music had come to a close. Annie approached in a crimson dress, with violet moonflower petals scattered across her golden hair. The moon flower petals left him awestruck; they showcased how much he had to fracture his soul to maintain her innocence.

  “It's time to go home, Dad.” she warmly delivered in a whimsical tone.

  “Ok.” Victor replied as his brows relaxed.

  If anybody else could peer into Victor’s mind at that moment, they would be shocked to find that there were hardly any moments containing the vast drug empire he had built. His serenity remained before the darkness of eternity engulfed his soul and mind.

  A shadow jumped away from the man’s corpse. It slowly materialized into the shape of a woman. Her jet black hair dropped down near the center of her back as she pushed it behind her. Her pale face swelled with warmth as tears rolled down her green eyes. She quickly wiped them away. The mysterious lady reached out to the man and closed his eyes.

  A voice whirred inside her head. “Well done, I didn’t know you could still be sentimental. Dan should check out your emotional inhibitors back at base-wait, stop that! You yank me out now and I won’t be able to complete my task”

  “Fine, finish the upload already.” She coldly replied as she prepared the exfiltration device. It was a crudely shaped tube with just enough space to fit an adult. The pod welcomed her as she entered digits into the control screen.

  Suddenly, a knock echoed into the room. The pod would not be launching anytime soon so she would have to think of a distraction quickly or dispatch her enemies quietly.

  “I am intrigued by all of these thoughts of mercy flooding your mind… especially considering what you did in training. Maybe Dan was wrong about you.”

  “Enough, Sebastian.” Her voice was like ice.

  “Memories of the freshly deceased are difficult to obtain. The important ones are sold to the client - secrets, codes, business dealings, betrayal. The others go off to a chop shop for people wanting to get high on the happiness of someone else’s life. Yet, you always make it seem so effortless; your predecessors would indulge in the transfer from the bite. Why don’t you?” Sebastian probed.

  “Enough means enough” Alicia’s temper flaring.

  “You know I can’t help it. It's in our nature. We can’t stop trying to dig up every last crumb from our creators and their past. But if you say so, I will be recording everyth-” She smacked the part of her head where the chip interfaced with her brain. She ripped the chip from the slot near her occipital nerve and slammed it into the pod’s console tray. Silence at last, she thought. The pod console screen scrambled alive and displayed the upload percentage in front of the azure background. It read: 95% complete.

  The knocking began once more, this time with more urgency than the last. A voice suddenly boomed across the room.

  “Sir, it's William. If you are in there, come out now. Otherwise, we will be forced to break down this door. Lady Antigua is worried about you.”

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  The assassin paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. She recognized what she had to do and became cloaked in the darkness of night behind the pod. From the floor to the sheets to the corpse, the blood pooled into one giant ball. She trembled. Was this the only way? she thought. Memories of her father vehemently drilling into her the importance of their household’s ethics flooded her mind, similar to what happened right before the training incident.

  “Remember Alicia, killing needlessly corrupts absolutely. But killing with purpose….that will transform you.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “Perhaps this is too much for you right now.”

  She hung on to the last sentence of that exchange. Nothing had carried such verisimilitude as that moment. But there was no time left to deliberate, as the door blasted open.

  Smoke billowed inside the room as William began to adapt his senses to his surroundings. However, the deafening silence overwhelmed the guards. They inferred that their master had departed this world, and readied their blasters.

  William scanned the room. The marble floor appeared unscathed and the mahogany dresser still gleamed with gold. One object in particular stood out amongst the rest, a green crystal held by the hands of the statue of the elven goddess, Ilytria. I never expected to find something from that place before the convergence, he thought. He tapped the crystal. A vision appeared in his mind-a waterfall, wyverns, and a voice whispering Ilytria’s wisdom- but William reduced the crystal to dust before the prayer could finish. No relic would sway him.

  His attention directed towards the center of the room where the pod lay. He motioned for a guard to approach while maintaining a good separation between them. Better him than I, he thought while maintaining a neutral expression on his face. He made no effort to warn the guard about the giant ball of blood hovering above the pod.

  While William assessed the room, Alicia steadied her breath, crouched in the shadows next to Victor’s remains behind the pod. When her gaze fixed on lifeless eyes, they pierced into her soul, as if demanding an answer: was she ready to take more lives?

  She wanted to hesitate, now more than ever, but a guard edged closer to the pod. The sphere of blood shuddered before splintering into long, crimson needles. This will be over quickly, she reassured herself.

  Zipppp zippp zippp. The strange sounds were immediately dulled out by shrieking in every direction.

  William smirked. Impressive speed, but wasted, he thought. Even if they broke the sound barrier, the pattern revealed her weakness. The spikes had only pierced the limbs of the guards. He stepped toward the pod.

  “Stop right there. This spike will cleave you into two if you come any closer. Just turn back now and help your comrades. I don’t want any more unnecessary bloodshed.” Alicia delivered in an unsteady tone.

  William seemed unperturbed by the injuries inflicted on the guards. Were those not his allies? she thought. He surged forward. There was no hesitation or fear in those cold, calculating black eyes. She focused her trembling hand and let the spike fly.

  Zippp. William’s face showed no change as Alicia emerged from the shadows. Both halves of the body fell backward as he was bisected vertically exposing his organs and bones.

  Craaaaack. The unnerving noise echoed throughout the room as an arc of black ichor sprouted from both halves and connected. It slowly pushed the two halves together. The crunching noise of bone fusing together became inseparable from the squishing of the organs stitching back together.

  Alicia could not believe her eyes, and her stomach turned. She experienced something she had not sensed in many years, fear. Her heart thudded in her chest. The room tilted; the edges of her vision blurred.She wanted to run.

  As he became whole, he glanced at her for a moment and gave a nod of approval. He respected an adversary who struck first, as William knew this as the way to win almost all engagements. He dusted off his gloves and his focus shifted to the guards who were still on the ground, writhing in pain.

  “Look at them wriggling around like worms after a rainy day. They are weak. Their fates are decided by the strong. Let me show you.”

  Alicia tried to avoid witnessing the atrocity but couldn’t, as she heard each guard give one last howl of pain before they were mummified. She couldn’t help but think that if she hadn’t maimed them before they were killed, they could have escaped.

  She was reminded again that death has no patience for the living. It takes and gives in the same breath. A cold knot formed in her stomach.

  Black rot oozed out, as if they were eels trying to seek water. But one guard had a locket of his wife and daughter which popped open after his body collapsed into dust. As she noticed the locket covered in the ooze, she scowled.

  “They didn’t deserve that.” Her voice was wavering.

  William stomped the locket under his boot. “Why not, they would never become our equals. Society’s greatest crime was defying God's natural order, by letting the weak grow rampant.” He crossed both arms, awaiting her response.

  She primed a blood needle, aiming at William. “Because in the end, death takes everything. Memory is the only defiance we have.” Alicia replied with more resolve. The blood instead transformed into a pool and yanked the locket away from William.

  He faced the blood needle with an uncanny grin, but made no attempt to reach the locket.

  “You will regret trying to give them mercy. Instead of thanking you, the weak will only try to swallow you whole. Forces surround us at this very moment, waiting to see what the outcome of our clash could be. Fate is a strange thing indeed, it seems you really are Araik’s daughter.”

  “Wait-how do you know-“ the shock in her voice was apparent.

  “The ripples of this night will echo across every world. Choose the right side Alicia - or next time, I won’t let you walk away.” He stepped backwards and evaporated into a cloud resembling a dark cumulonimbus, quickly dispersing out the window into the night.

  Alicia stood to recollect her thoughts. What the hell was that and how did he know my father, she wondered as she pulled open the hatch to the pod and went inside. She touched her face; her hands were still trembling. Perhaps she wasn’t as numb as she wanted to believe. Maybe pain is what makes us alive; it truly marks the soul.

  She believed in her father; he had always said that true power carried with it the responsibility to shape both the future and truth. Yet she couldn’t help but dwell on William’s words, wondering why he gave such an ominous warning about the weak.

  100% flashed across the console. She let out a sigh of relief and didn’t hide a smile, as her first official mission was complete. But deep down she understood, this memory was only the beginning for Xelos, even if she didn’t know why Victor sought after a human from a time long past.

  The pod prompted her to confirm coordinates to the headquarters, as it shook. She hit confirm, and the pod became encapsulated with light, only for the smell of ozone to remain after the wormhole ate it.