Nox stood on red soil surrounded by disarmed mines while Li blazed in the sky beyond Elden’s Sphere. Cinder smelled of dust and ashes. It was not the scent of his home, but the aroma of his prison. He couldn’t wait to leave it behind for cloudy Earth skies and the smell of fresh life. Fresh blood.

He stared at his signet ring as he twisted it. The symbol of his triumph, the Pretiosum Cruor, glinted in silver. The means of his salvation powered by a single woman.

Rayne would stop him.

Nox snarled as he hurled the ring at his father’s spire. He howled at that black shadow of a monstrosity which only existed to him in the deepest recesses of hell. He didn’t need Rayne to send him there. He’d already been.

Why? Why didn’t he see it before? She was never—

“Are you done with your tantrum?”

Instinct sent a scream down Nox’s spine. Tread carefully; danger lurked nearby. No one, not even Korac, would speak to him in such a manner. With exception to this particular Tritan. “You’re late.”

“Young man, you grow impatient and disrespectful of your elders.” The male’s words came slowly, drawing out the syllables in a deep bass crawl. “Must we revisit the consequences of disrespecting me?”

“No.” Nox resisted the urge to shudder at the recollection. His skin crawled into itself.

“Good. Let’s get this out of the way, shall we? I have more important business to attend on this pitiful planet.” As Nox kept his curiosity and disdain to himself, the dark blue tyrant paced in a circle around him with his hands clasped behind his back. “You did well capturing the girl. Better than we expected. You took your own liberties with her, of course. We didn’t agree to that, but we accept your baser needs overrode your intellect.”

Nox clenched his jaw and clamped his mouth shut.

The infuriating alien stopped and faced him. “I’m proud of you, son.”

Unable to contain it this time, Nox flinched. “Make no mistake, Umbra was my father no matter who else you sired in our home.”

The Tritan went on as if Nox said nothing, “We’re supplying you with a new drug made especially for the Vast Collective’s greatest threat. Administer it to her. Immediately.”

“What are the effects? How long do they last?”

Holding the vial to the sky, he peered at the purple liquid within. “Oblivion. Permanently. Stops everything but her heart and basic brain functions. She will still serve as the Pretiosum Cruor, but it eliminates the threat to us.” He tossed the vial to Nox, who caught it with a frown. “Oh, don’t worry. Her body will still be warm for you; although, I understand you appreciate more of a fight. As you well know, I don’t mind them comatose.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Monster. Nox growled deep in his chest, prepared to kill his brother’s sire or die in the attempt. Anything to protect the honor of his mother’s memory. Before he rushed him, the ground spun into the sky, and he collapsed onto his knee. Something irritated his face. He wiped over his mouth and came away with blue blood smeared on the back of his hand. Nausea set in, and he fought to keep his roiling stomach from regurgitating his last meal. He failed. On his hands and knees with sweat dripping down his brow, he glared up at the smirking Tritan.

“You’re so easy to bait. You and the Weapon have that in common. I suppose I should be grateful you are not nearly as gifted as she.” He tossed a handkerchief to Nox. “Clean yourself up. Administer the drug. Collect your reward.” He took a few steps away before he said over his shoulder, “If you fail to contain her, you’ll return with me to Enki. You know what that means.”

Nox wiped away the blood and the sick, fuming all the while. His entire body thrummed with the need to murder the bastard who tormented his family for millions of years. Longer, if one considered Elden. “What business do you have on my planet?”

The bastard stomped back over to Nox and put his face close enough to touch the Icarus’ nose. “No business of yours, son.” He peered into Nox’s eyes for a long while. “You need a distraction. Something to get you out of that desert fortress you hide in to avoid the ticking atomic weapon beneath your castle.”

Nox clenched his fists at his side but kept his composure.

“Good. Consider this a charity. In the desert at these coordinates is a stronghold under the sand. You know the one. Good luck getting inside.” With that, the Tritan sauntered away without another backward glance.

Nox Seamswalked at twelve-foot increments toward his castle until he put a significant distance between him and the abomination. He hated the Tritans and everything they represented. They revered the Probability Matrix as sacrosanct.

The moment Nox learned of Cascading Light, he installed a vast pyre of it in his own quarters. He focused on one particular event. The fall of Enki. Coincidentally, it was the only cataclysm the Matrix guaranteed one hundred percent without fail.

Rayne.

He watched the destruction unfold innumerable times. It brought him peace aside from one aspect it attested. Two words repeated over and over. Alone and afraid. She would die alone and afraid.

Flying into the chamber which contained the Martyr Complex, Nox’s teeth and fists clenched until the bones threatened to fracture. He needed the pain for what came next.

The sight of her asleep inside the glass prism eased him. The beautiful smile on her face did not. He’d consult Korac later regarding any changes to her countenance. With the vial in hand, he stood over the nacre glass device and the young woman encased within it. His victim. His love. His end.

Rayne symbolized retribution. Her gaze as Nox secured her inside the box haunted him. He did not want her to die, and if he gave her the drug she simply existed beneath his castle, never to fulfill her destiny. Never alone or afraid. Just empty. All the fire he cultivated in her over the years snuffed out with one injection while he went on to realize his vision, incomplete and unmatched.

No.

He broke the vial in his fist and allowed the liquid to empty into the surrounding lake. Let the Tritans attempt to seize him and take him to Enki. It won’t save them. Not from her. He smiled and reached a hand over the glass.

Rayne was his weapon for justice. For Cinder. For Elden. For his mother. For all the crimes the Tritans committed upon the Vast Collective without condemnation.

Once Rayne finished with Nox, she would annihilate Enki. He only wished he could live to see it.

“That would be a sight worth dying for.”