I look up at the cloudless sky, whose emptiness mimics my own soul as I cradle Lucy’s rifle under my chin. Everything I once held dear has been taken. Everything that was once undeniable facts are now questionable and foggy. The great God Univer now cries for retribution and all I have to offer is the heart within my chest. I inch the trigger closer and closer to firing thinking of the final days of my life that replay at lightning fast speed.

“Look at what you have been reduced to,” says a familiar voice as the gun vanishes from my hands.

I look down to see Aihl standing over Reaka’s body. With a smirk he puts his foot on her face and swiftly removes the sword from her stomach. He then grabs her with his free hand by her left arm and drags her over to me. Then carelessly throws her limp form in front of me. Seeing him treat the body of a comrade so harshly ticks me off especially since it is the corpse of someone I once considered a sister.

“I’m surprised you managed to kill someone with a Black Seed,” Aihl says swinging the sword carelessly around. “You don’t know how rare that is.”

“Kill me if you want,” I snarl.

“Kill you?” Aihl challenges.

He stabs the sword into the tree next to my head nicking the rim of my ear.

He leans in over me, “I would never kill such raw potential.”

“Why?” I ask. “You hate Aidoshians.”

“I have nothing against you, Kai. You are no Aidoshian, remember? You’re a Januian,” he says as he yanks the sword out of the tree.

“No, you are wrong,” I say.

“What have those Aidoshians done for you but drive you down a road to self-destruction?” he asks as he swings the sword with deadly skill. “I will offer you a chance to lead a true life, one you will forge yourself.”

“You are asking me to join you?” I yell outraged but, after I throw up from the pain in my chest.

“You were about to commit suicide and for what?” Aihl questions. “Univer, a faceless God who has not only willingly let His people die but has also forsaken you. By now I’m sure you have noticed. Even with all of your praying and all of your faith. When you are alone, you are just that. Alone. Talking to no more than the shadows and the walls.”

I try not to listen to his words but they grab my attention and don’t let go, and the pain in my chest keeps me from responding in my defense. Lately I do feel as though I have lost sight of who I am. The faith I once felt in Univer is fading. Have I given my life to Gods who would refuse to call me their child? Gods who refuse a willing heart because my blood is different than the Aidoshians? What a crude joke that would be; to kill myself for redemption when I was damned from the beginning.

“I can’t deny I have questioned who I am but, I know I am no traitor,” I say.

“Of course not,” Aihl says. “How could you betray something you never were? You were used then thrown away when you were no longer of value. That’s why you are not with the Oracle now, right? They got rid of you like the trash they believe you to be.”

“Shut up,” I snap without thinking. “You don’t know what you’re talking about… Fantasia is my family. She wouldn’t…”

“Fantasia?” he cut me off. “So it was the young Oracle heiress that survived and you don’t believe she used you as a Januian scapegoat? I bet when you were separated all of the “true” Aidoshian with you got through just fine.” He stops and watches my shock emerge. “Ha ha. By the look on your face I could not be more right. Aidoshians are monsters and you have been fooled by their cruel nature.”

“How can you say they are cruel when your people drove Reaka insane?” I question.

“All we did was offer her a gift to shed her falsehoods and become who she truly was.” He says as he grabs Reaka by the back of the neck and picks her up so that she is facing me. “This thing before you is nothing more than what all Aidoshian are, if given the power. Look at what she has done; look at this destruction that is all around. Do you think we perverted her mind? No. This is who she really was. All we did was unleash her.”

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“This is nothing compared to what the Gandole have done.” I murmur.

“Gandole did what we had to, to stop this from happening to the world,” he drops Reaka and walks over to Lucy.

“Don’t touch her,” I yell and then cough up blood.

He stabs the sword into the ground then waves his hand over a metal band on his left wrist and a holographic screen emerges.

“She can still be saved you know,” he says as he kneels down and scans her body.

“She is dead. How can you save her?” I ask.

“Hm. If you are willing, come with me. I promise you she will live,” he says as he looks up at me. “What do you have to lose?”

I sit stunned not only by the aching pain but also by Aihl’s heavy words. I lean my head down, hoping this time Univer answers. Am I at fault or is He? Have I given my life to a cause that was not my own to follow? I have a sin to atone for and one day I will but, for now I must try to save Lucy.

“I will go.” I say in my resolve.

“I am glad you see reason,” he says as he swipes his hand over the bracelet and the screen vanishes. He then gently picks up Lucy’s body, cradling her in his arms as if she was asleep trying not to wake her. “I will take her to the base first. You have my word she will be brought back.”

I nod my head unable to talk anymore because of the intense pressure surging in my chest. He smirks before vanishing in front of me as Reaka did. I find it difficult to keep my eyes open and to breathe. I feel liquid fill my lungs and then everything goes completely dark.

∞

Suddenly a jolt wakes me and I find myself in a snow white bed. Tubes pump blood and pain killers into my body and another goes down into my throat helping me breathe. I turn my head to look outside the window. Clouds block off the warmth of the sun.

“Aidon has such strange weather,” says a man in the doorway. “Sunny one minute; cold the next and, it only happens here it baffles scientists and meteorologists alike.”

I turn to look at the person. He is a small, sickly-looking man who is well up in age. He is wearing a black business suit with a scarlet red tie.

“The ecosystem is unlike any other in the world, more biodiversity than any other place on land. The soil here is the richest and most fertile in this great world Valisa. Truly a blessing. Almost like a promise-land.”

The man twirls his hand in the air as he walks towards me signaling two doctors to come into the room. They quickly walk to the bed and check my vitals as the mystery man stands and watches from a distance. The doctors begin taking out the tubes in my arms. As soon as they remove the tubes, they move on to the breathing aid. They slowly pull the long tube from my throat.

“You can thank Aihl for saving you,” he says as the doctors finish. “However if it weren’t for the nanites you already had inside you, you would be dead.”

“Who are you?” I immediately force out. “Where is Lucy?”

“My name is Dr. Genome head of the Gandole’s Black Technology Bioengineering and Genetics. As for your female friend she is alive, but she is in stasis. We are busy reconstructing her bones and finding suitable organs to replace the ones that were damaged.” Dr. Genome sits down in one of the visitor’s chairs next to my bed.

“Creator,” Aihl says as he enters, “I retrieved the data collected from Reaka’s blood; she is missing over half of her nanites.”

“Well, that explains why a simple stab wound killed her and where you got your nanites,” Dr. Genome says. “She did have an obsession with hunting and killing members of the Aidoshian Brotherhood. It’s not surprising she’d try to extend the hunt, with you being the last member.”

“What are nanites?” I ask. “I don’t remember her ever injecting me with anything.”

“And, she did not do it on the way here the first time I brought him, Creator,” adds Ailh.

“Nanites are microscopic machines that act as healing agents for the body. She must have injected you at some point when you were unconscious, before Aihl’s involvement.” Dr. Genome says.

I think back to my first encounter with Reaka in Aidon’s sewer. I remember her throwing me a round before revealing herself to me. Then toss me out of the sewer where I hit the manhole’s metal lid headfirst and blacked out. When I awoke though I wasn’t in any pain. I actually felt better. She must have done it while I was comatose.

“Do you know why we saved you?” Dr. Genome asks.

“No. You sent Reaka to kill me then Aihl to save me from killing myself,” I yell. “What do you have to gain from keeping me alive?”

“You are what we want,” Dr. Genome says. “Aihl secretly followed you and witnessed first-hand your ingenuity even in a pinch. You don’t know how rare a rough diamond of your caliber is to find.”

“Is that the reason you have told me I’m not Aidoshian?” I ask but in an accusing way.

“Don’t twist my words,” Dr. Genome replies. “We told you what we have proven to be true. You can deny all you want. You can even try once again to fight for those who will just betray you. All we will do is offer you a real life, one that you will lead for yourself. What you seek is redemption but where you’re looking you will never find it.”

“You don’t know what you are talking about,” I exclaim.

“On the contrary. I know exactly what I’m speaking of,” says Dr. Genome as he stands up from the seat. “You’re the one that is lost. I have found my way and I’m only trying to help you find yours.” He turns away. “Come now, Ailh. I believe we have bothered our patient enough.”

“Of course, Creator,” Ailh says as he opens the door.

Dr. Genome walks to the doorway and signals the doctors to go with him. They do so quickly and vanish in the hall behind the closing door. I sit back and stare up at the white tiled ceiling. Tears run down my face and pool on the pillow. I once had hope, I once had faith but now that light is fading. That once bright ray is no more than a small glimmer. Who is at fault? The Gandole or the Aidoshians? What Gods would bring me to this point? What have I done to deserve to live past my usefulness?