I… I feel ok, don’t I? I killed them all painlessly, humanely even. I moved so quickly that I’m sure none of them even realized they were dead by the time I froze their brains… solid. I-It was civilized. It needed to be done! It was… easy.

He honestly feels more confused than anything. He actually feels no guilt whatsoever for what he had to do. He had always thought that if he were placed in a situation like this, he would feel differently. If he were forced onto a battlefield, wouldn’t he feel at least some anguish and sorrow at every single life he stole?

His heart starts racing as he wonders if he’s a psychopath.

On the other hand, isn’t this the natural way of things, considering the people he was facing? They weren’t innocent. They weren’t minding their own business either. They were terrorists who were trying to complete a destructive, violent action that would have resulted in hundreds of men, women and children being killed, solely due to their race.

They were heinous criminals, every single one of them. Even the cowards among them, the ones who tried not to be in the spotlight or lead.

That woman who was about to take that young demihuman boy hostage…

He grits his teeth, his eyes trembling. He is enraged at the audacity of that woman to attempt such a vile action. Only enraged. He feels no guilt even though he killed her by impaling her chest with his fist instead of painlessly. Isn’t that normal?

I feel no regret or guilt killing that lunatic. Even though she felt the momentary pain of having her heart lanced… I don’t feel guilty at all for letting her feel that pain, pain that she deserved… But… is this how it’s supposed to be?

Ajax had considered in the past what it would mean for people to die. He has seen loss such as the deaths of relatives somewhat distant from his family. For the most part, he has been lucky to not experience such tragedies closer to home.

He has had such a minimal experience with death that he thought about it often in curiosity. He knew nothing about what he thought about it before he became a teenager. Upon adolescence, he has had thoughts about what it would mean for individuals to die in car accidents or while getting hit by trains.

Certain intrusive thoughts of this nature would hit him, almost out of nowhere.

Death is all around, yet it still felt like something distant to him. If people died around him, they died where he could not see them. They died on TV, in the news, in movies, in neighborhood stories and urban legends.

But, these people that he had personally killed weren’t just random people killed by happenstance. These terrorists were ended directly by him. They were born as infants. They grew up into little children. They experienced a life, hardship, love… or perhaps not. Their lives were all full of something human nonetheless.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

They had to have been something blameless before they went down their paths and wound up before Ajax. How did they get here?

Ajax doesn’t believe that people were born with inherent good or inherent evil. For the most part, circumstance orders life and as such it must order their lives as well. Even the true sociopaths and psychopaths were mere victims of a dark genetic (or environmental) lottery.

That woman who I had killed… what would she have been like if she didn’t go down this path? What if she wasn’t born a psychopath? What if she never joined the people here? Would she have been happy? Would she have helped rather than hurt others… No, don’t think about that.

Ajax shakes away these unsettling thoughts as his soft and careful footsteps lead him upstairs towards the second floor of this apartment building. In the end, he knows that there is no room for second thoughts right now.

He reaches the second floor, confident that he has taken the due diligence to be as silent as possible. With any luck, his targets won’t even look back towards him. Yet, when he enters the second floor of the hallway, he realizes that the heart rates of the people have already quickened.

Oh… I see.

Several people in front of him are standing with their weapons drawn. Their eyes are looking directly at him, or at least directly in his direction. Though Ajax doesn’t know how, the terrorists he is about to confront were aware of his presence and as prepared for battle as they could hope to be.

It surprises him to see their readiness. But, it seems there is nothing he can do about it at this point. He sighs. He speaks so that only he can hear the words he speaks.

“Fine. I guess I have to do things the hard way here.”

His perception increases to a high degree once again. His eyes turn into tunnels as he sees his targets start sprinting towards him.

***

They’re getting closer.

Shaula is walking with Angelidis who is still clinging to her right arm. She is listening for the people who are currently targeting Barden at the moment. Her hearing can pick up the whispering chatter of the undercover guards nearby.

She wasn’t imagining anything, there are even more undercovers among the crowd around her now.

Angelidis is also watching the surroundings cautiously, her eyes turning from circular to reptilian and back as she tries to detect events of possible import. She tries to catch whatever her instincts tell her would prove a challenge to overcome for herself, Shaula and Barden’s group.

The people around her keep their distance at her imposing stare. Some of them understand the similarity between draconid eyes and the eyes of actual dragons, while others feel uneasy about what the woman is watching out for. More people in the crowd feel like this end to the statue march is too easy as it is.

The group of anti-statue march protesters have already passed the entrance to Maz square, now on the road towards the apartment complex with the fire. Shaula and Angelidis are walking in the middle of this large crowd, next to Barden and Prisca.

The group has actually slowed down as several demihuman and human healers are taking care of the people who have suffered mild to severe burn damage. There’s a lot of pandemonium currently and the crowd has started to disperse, leaving slightly less protection around the center where Barden remains walking forward.