“If she is found alive and taken to Doku, will the Gandole do to them what they did to Aidon?” I accidentally ask out loud.

“What hast thou so troubled?” Lucy asks as she puts her hand on my leg. “Thy face is of grief; speak thy heart’s quandary to me.”

I can feel the worry in her voice and as much as I try to fight it, I cannot help but stare at her lips. I force myself to look into her eyes.

“I’m worried about my sister. She is back in Aidon,” I say as I grab the hand she placed on my leg.

“Thou hast a sister?” she asks.

“She is not my real sister but we have been through so much I think of her as family.”

“Why aren’t both of thee blessed with freedom?”

I tell her the grim story of my final days in Aidon, the pain of losing my second father and brother. The terror of coming face to face with the Myrmidon, the resentment of working with the very person that betrayed the Brotherhood and doomed Aidon’s capitol to fall without the slightest resistance. Finally, the little boy I saved and, my capture by Reaka and Aihl.

I cannot help but cry as I think of my painful past but, she stays with me holding my hand, cries with me. I can feel my heart connect with hers. I tighten my grip on her hand and for a moment I feel at peace. Not once can I call myself Aidoshian and I cannot say I was one of them. I say “their war” or “those Aidoshians” always excluding myself. I cannot say what I am beginning to doubt.

Suddenly the armor personnel carriers stop in front of us and the Jeep driver slams on breaks. I can’t see why we are stopped but soon a man opens the hatch on the top of the first armored vehicle and aims at something in front of them.

“Thou hast no business here. Make haste,” the man yells.

A woman appears standing right over him with a shield in her left hand. She has a metal mask on that conceals her face including her eyes but, I immediately know it is Reaka.

“I’m sorry…” she says as she quickly kicks the man in the jaw so hard his head spins nearly 180 degrees around “…but I was here first,” she says innocently.

The man’s neck snaps loudly as he falls back into the armored vehicle. Another man pops out of the second armored vehicle and immediately grabs the heavy machine gun. Before he has the chance to fire, Reaka disappears. The soldiers rush out of the armored vehicles, guns in hand, ready to fire. The driver of the Jeep gets out as well and they search the area for any signs of the woman. Lucy unbuckles her seatbelt and gets ready to get out of the Jeep.

“Don’t go,” I say in hopes of stopping her as she reaches for the door handle.

“Doth worry too much. Settle thyself. Here thou stands amongst family,” she says as she opens the door and grabs her pistol.

“Family can be broken apart,” I mumble as I follow her out of the car.

We reach the Father who is with his men surveying the area.

“Father, be cautious.” Lucy says as she joins him. “We deal not with a normal woman but a foul Aidoshian traitor. She hath committed herself to the will of the Gandole scorn. She is imbued with the dreaded Black Technology. Kai hast told me of this woman, Reaka Kimpu.”

She remembers the description I gave her during my stories and puts it together on her own. Before he can fully assess the situation, we hear dreadful wails coming from the opposite side of the armored vehicle we are standing beside. The gunners start shooting in that direction but by the time we get there all that remains is dismembered bodies, and before the Father can ask the gunners what happened, they too are dead. Their corpses hold on to that last terrifying stare. In hopes of saving some of his men from this onslaught.

“What hateful beast have thou uncovered in this wood,” the father says. “To all the remaining under my command return to your vehicles. Tis a battle we cannot win. Not against such a villainous wretch.”

Lucy cannot understand what is going on. Never before has she seen something with such power. I grab her hand and start walking her to the Jeep. She looks as terrified as I did when I first saw the Myrmidon point its massive cannon at me. I don’t know what to say to calm her.

“Kai…is that you?” Reaka’s voice is coming from right in front of us. “You won’t believe how hard it is to find you!”

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Lucy and I quickly look up to see where the voice is coming from; Reaka is standing on the T-37 Mammoth. She punches down on the tank with the arm that had the shield, and just like when she was in the woods a field of light extends from the shield. This field of light cuts straight through the tank’s armor and nearly slices it in half. Unexpectedly, the tank ignites. The deadly red explosion forces me and Lucy off the ground.

The next thing I know I am on the earth. My vision is blurred and there is a constant buzz in my head that makes it hard to hear. Gunshots pierce through the buzzing. I quickly check on Lucy who is lying beside me. She is breathing and is not bleeding anywhere. I am so grateful she is alive. I start praying for the first time in days.

Reaka appears in front of me. “What’s this, Kai? Did you go off and find a girlfriend in one day? What’s the matter? Am I not enough woman for you?” She asks in a playful tone as she takes off her mask. “I have to say I never thought you of all people would cheat on me… You know how easily I get jealous.”

I get up to stand face to face with Reaka. I try with all my might to deliver at least one hit on her but she is far too quick and easily dodges every punch, kick or bullet. Nothing is fast enough to graze her graceful movements. In one swift motion, Reaka kicks me in my head and forces me to the ground though not hard enough to kill me. She then grabs me by my shirt collar and while I am too dazed to retaliate, she drags me over to Lucy.

“Kai, I feel as though I have to punish you for cheating on me with this bimbo,” she says as she lifts me up by my hair so we would meet eye to eye. “So I’ll give you the pleasure of watching her suffer.”

She punches me in the leg so hard I feel it break. I refused to scream and give her the satisfaction. She laughs at my attempt to resist then throws me against the Jeep’s passenger door. I slide down to the clay.

Lucy awakes and reaches for her rifle that was blasted out of her hands when the tank exploded. Reaka skips blissfully over to her. Lucy can’t reach it before Reaka is standing over her. I can do nothing but watch as Lucy, my angel, is beaten before my eyes.

“Stop,” I cry with all my heart. “Not her…not her. Kill me in her place!”

Reaka laughs and moans with desire and unimaginable delight. I try to stand up and as I limp towards them, Reaka stops her merciless torture of Lucy and kicks me in the gut so hard I fly back to the Jeep. Warm blood rushes from my mouth. I am in searing pain.

“No, no,” she says with a smile viciously stretched across her face. “Kai, you must wait your turn like everyone else did.”

I turn away unable to watch this gruesome beating anymore. Then I see the cloth that wraps Reaka’s claymore. I reach for the sword with the remaining strength I have and drag it out of the car. The sword’s blade is so sharp it has cut completely through the cloth. In the sun the blade is so clear it can’t be seen and the cloth covers the handle which works perfectly.

“Reaka, stop or I’ll shoot,” I yell.

“Do you really think you can shoot me after all we’ve been through?” she asks as she turns to look at me. “The blow to your head must have made you delusional. At least you have that warrior spirit in you again. It’ll make killing you a lot more satisfying” She says as she drops near lifeless Lucy.

I hold the blade straight out in front of me as if I’m holding a gun underneath the cloth. She smiles before she disappears and then reappears in a state of shock. Blood rushes from Reaka’s mouth and stomach. She looks down at me and reaches for the cloth. She then removes it and sees the claymore’s handle.

She smiles. “My sword? Damn… I have to say nothing beats this feeling, the frightening cold of death’s embrace. All I wanted to do is share it with you.”

She reaches forward sliding further down the blade. She viciously grabs my throat squeezing the little strength I have left from me. Her hands loosen and fall to her sides.

“What have I become?” she asks staring up at me as she falls to her knees, tears flowing freely. “My beloved, Saquel, I can finally rest with you.”

I don’t know who Saquel is but after she says the name for a moment I see her true self. The one that regrets everything she has done. She closes her eyes and gives up on this world.

She slides down the sword and lands on top of me. Her blood is pooling on my shirt. I push her off and crawl on the ground with almost no strength to Lucy, motionless with her back towards me. A vision of Nova and Timpuji take over me and for a second I see them instead of her.

“No, not again I won’t lose them because I am afraid of death. I’m not afraid anymore. I have felt death’s embrace but I want to live, with her now. I will fight for her.” When I reach Lucy, she is breathing but coughing heavily. I turn her over. Her eyes once brimming with life are now faded and deeply grieving. I hold her in my embrace as tightly as I can. I do not want to let her go.

“Kai,” she says in a soft voice, an echo of its former self. “Be ye not sad. I go now to a place of wonder.”

“No. It’s not fair for you to tell me that… I want you here. You gave me hope again. Don’t leave me.”

“My dear Kai, promise me thou will not die here,” she says as her voice fades. “Thy heart is strong. It beats to the drum of the Gods of Aidon. Now don’t let thy heart tremble for me.”

I press my lips against hers and then I pull away. My eyes are sopping wet with tears as I put her head on the ground and close her lifeless eyes for her final sleep.

“You told me only good lies ahead and I believed you… I hoped your words were true… but now all hope is gone from me and I know not what to believe in. My savior… my angel is gone.” I look away and see her rifle lying on the ground just out of reach. “What use is a broken soul like me in the world?” I ask as I crawl for the gun.

When I finally reach the gun, I sit up with it in my lap, death forever tattooed in my eye’s as I look up at the blue sky. I think of all the people I let die because I was not strong enough to defend—Timpuji, Nova, Sokon, The Brotherhood, Lucy, and Reaka all dead because I failed. Maybe it is time I atoned for these sins with the only thing I have left to offer.

“May Univer cleanse my soul of this evil for I have failed Him as His child and holy disciple. His people lie slaughtered in the streets of Aidon and His Great Oracle lost. May my soul be sent to you as payment of my transgressions and weakness,” I say as I point the gun at my head ready to pull the trigger. “Lucy, I can’t keep your last request. My time has come as well.”