Unity, the man-made Continent located in the heart of the Pacific was also a country which was divided into 6 different provinces.

Cynosure the capital, Chac, Ix Chel, Xipe Totec, Acan and Kukulkan.

“Shit.” I muttered.

“Umm… it has been quite some time, but I think Mr. Quinn would help us if I found a way to contact him.” Zuri said.

“But doesn’t he live in Cynosure?”

“Yes.”

“Mmm… we could use an internet Café and see if we can contact him from there because there is no way we are making a several hundred kilometre journey with no money.” I said.

“But… don’t you need money to use internet Café’s?” Zuri asked.

“Yes.”

[Hehe, we are probably the most powerful people on this planet right now. We could just take or do whatever we wanted to! Why not just dash there while proclaiming your lordship!]

Kenos…

[Sorry.]

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

I technically died, meaning I couldn’t get a job, even if I wanted to and Zuri’s documents were probably all the way in Cynosure.

[Hehe, we could create a ship and use it to sail across the dark world at blazing speeds.]

That’s… actually not a bad idea.

But I didn’t know the layout of Unity and we’d risk the chance of getting spotted every time we surfaced…

[We’ll just have to be extra careful.]

I let out a low drone.

“Katsíki?” Zuri called.

“Oh- Umm… I have an idea.” I said before wheeling myself closer to her.

“Have you ever been to any of the lower realms?” I asked making Zuri fearfully shake her head.

“Take my hand. We’ll sail to the capital while thinking of ways to generate income.”

Zuri nervously accepted my extended hand and she loudly eeped as I took us both into the dark world.

From here, I could see that the earth did have light and darkness magicians now, but… they were like embers in the dark.

If it wasn’t for the fact that I was the host of darkness, I wouldn’t have spotted them at all.

Zuri and I landed on a ship that I modelled after a seventeenth century ship and I moved it southward towards the capital.

“Wow…” Zuri gasped as we set sail.

She peered out into the world of darkness and saw a reflection of the real world. I moved myself to the helm where I pointlessly placed my hand on the wheel.

Zuri walked onto the helm and she joined me into looking out into the darkness beyond.

“Beautiful.” She muttered and all I could do was nod.

.

..

We had sailed for several tens of kilometres and I was beginning to grow weak from hunger and so I moored the boat the shadows of a small town in Southern Kukulkan.

I rested my head against my chair as my head and stomach ached painfully all while Zuri watched.

[Ugh, I can’t watch this any longer…]

Zuri gasped as a cloud of smoke rose next to her.

It then took shape, resembling a certain someone.

[Greetings, milady. I am Kenos, Katsíki’s other half.]

“Oh… hello. Nice to meet you.” Zuri greeted while shaking Kenos’s hand which was made from wisps of black smoke.

“How are you able to speak?” I asked.

[Sound is the vibration of air. I created an pseudo voice box and I’m channelling air out of an artificial mouth and-]

“Alright, whatever. Why are you out here?” I asked.

[Ah, I’m afraid I’m going to have to stain your oh so pure soul.]

Kenos said. His voice sounded robotic and raspy.

“Cut to the chase.”

[We’re gonna have to steal-]

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“No.”

[We’ve killed hundreds of men but you draw the line at theft?]

Kenos asked while narrowing his dark eyes.

“Well… it is an emergency. I’m sure Summus would forgive us if we repented.” Zuri said with a worried expression.

I winced before sighing.

“Fine. Just don’t get caught-“

[YES! Also, can you give me control later? I really wanna taste earth food first hand!] Kenos sang.

“Sure, whatever.” I said before taking Zuri to the surface.

We found ourselves in an alley yet again only it was night-time.

I created a dark jacket for Zuri and she wore it while joining me in watching as Kenos, an ethereal dark ghost, stretched his muscles?

[Uah! I’ll be back before you can say Kenos is the greatest Rendaro prince!]

He yelled before suddenly disappearing.

“You’re the only Rendaro prince.” I weakly chuckled.

I then sighed before looking up into the night sky.

“Beautiful.” Zuri said and again, I nodded.

“Yeah-“

“Not the sky. Your relationship with Mr. Kenos.”

I frowned while lowering my eyes to meet Zuri’s gaze.

“I… Zuri, I’d advise you not to speak so… strongly on things you know little of.” I said. My voice a tired whisper.

“What you know of me is but a crude summation. I know you mean well, but please… Take what I said into consideration.” I said but Zuri took a deep breath before pressing both of her hands together by her legs.

“I apologize, but, to me at least, it seems as though, even after all that may have happened between you two, you gave him a second chance.”

“What? He and I are stuck together. I had very little choice in how everything turned out.” I said before realizing something.

“Do you think you would have accomplished or survived as long on Edenton without Caligo?” I asked.

“I- I cannot say for sure, but life would surely have been more challenging.”

“Exactly. That’s what it’s like with me and Kenos except there’s the bonus of us being glued together. I need Kenos. I may be more tolerating towards him nowadays but that doesn’t mean that he has been forgiven.”

“But does he not deserve a second chance? Don’t we all?” Zuri asked with a pained expression but I simply laughed in response.

“If only you knew. Yes, people deserve second chances, but there is a line that one cannot cross. Anything beyond that is unforgivable. You can lie a bit, cheat, steal but… killing… violating others-“

“Going by that logic, I guess, in your eyes, Yna was irredeemable.”

My eyes narrowed as the already dark night sky darkened.

I glared at Zuri but she remained unshaken.

“What are you trying to do?” I asked.

“I am trying to get you to see that the path forward requires acceptance and, like you said, tolerance. I am not asking you to forget the past, or forgive those who wronged you. I am asking you to accept what is and find a way to move on.” Zuri said with a frown.

“Oh…” I sounded.

“Hoho. All this has been a roundabout way of telling me to that I should let Caligo off the hook, hasn’t it?” I asked with a twisted grin but this only made Zuri frown even more.

“Well, I have great news for ya. First off, we are on earth and who knows how long it’ll take us to get back to Edenton, if that’s even possible! Secondly, I am wounded, so even I tried, his highness would probably chop my head off. So spare me whatever the fuck that was and let’s focus on getting you to Mr. whats-his-name.” I snapped.

“Alright.” Zuri said.

[Err… am I interrupting something important?]

Kenos asked and my eyes widened upon seeing that, standing behind what I assumed was his main self, were several other dark ghosts and they each held in their hands dark boxes.

[No, I didn’t rob a bank. I found some shady guys and followed them to their hideout where I proceeded to snatch all of their cash, hehe.]

Kenos said while his ghosts placed the boxes into the dark realm.

He then walked up to Zuri.

He then handed her a wallet which was stuffed with money.

[There’s a restaurant around the corner. Let go!]

He yelled before disappearing.

Zuri and I exchanged perplexed glances but we both sighed.

“May I?” She asked while walking to the back of my wheelchair.

“Mmm.” I sounded in agreement.

Kenos and his ghosts disappeared as Zuri wheeled my out of the alleyway.

It was quite late and so the streets were mostly empty.

A few stragglers here and there but we ignored them before making our way to a restaurant that was part of a super popular franchise that made fast food extremely quickly. Almost suspiciously so, but no law suits related to health or death had been filed against the parent company when I was still alive and so any suspicions were mostly quelled.

We entered the brightly lit restaurant to find three sleepy employees and they greeted us with looks that varied from confused, perplexed to apathetic.

“Good evening, how may I help you?” The first employee asked from behind the counter.

She said the line as though she had repeated it countless times.

To the point where it seemed more like a reflex.

I ordered an extra, extra large box of chips, a large bowl of chicken pieces and an entire two litre bottle of soda.

Our order arrived almost as quickly as made it and, after thanking the employees, much to their surprise, we made our way to one of the many empty tables.

[Alright, I’ll take over once you eat half of everything!]

Kenos yelled.

I sighed before eating… well, half of everything.

I knew Zuri was augmented, meaning she didn’t have to eat much, if at all, but she ate a few chips and a piece of chicken.

She then watched in horror as Kenos violently ate everything that was left.

“Phew!” I sounded while tapping my stuffed stomach.

I savoured all the salty and tangy tastes in my mouth before handing things back to Katsíki.

[Scientists are still baffled by the event known as “The Collision” and have yet to come to a consensus. Some theories point to dark energy being the cause of the dimensional convulsions but while academia struggles to find any concrete evidence to prove any claims made, others believe the answer may be more fantastical. Although every visitor from the other world has been detained by government agencies all around the world, some say those visitors spoke of a prophesized event that is marks the beginning of some sort of apocalypse.]

The news reporter on one of the many TV’s in the restaurant said making my eyes narrow.

“So they are detaining everyone from Edenton.” Zuri muttered.

“So it seems. That’s why it’s imperative that we exercise caution.” I said while keeping my eyes glued to the screen.

[We have with us on call archaeologist professor Fredrick Achebe in the hopes that he could shed light on all this. Hello, doctor.]

[Hello.]

The professor greeted, his voice deep yet inviting.

[Tell us, what is the collision?]

[In order to answer that question I ask that we turn to history. At first glance, everything that has ever happened and been documented by man has been capped on both ends by transitional periods. Wars are waged between two groups and the victory gradually impose their customs onto the defeated. We can see the gradual change over time as documented by those who wrote what they saw. However, there are some things that remain a mystery to this day and those things are usually sudden dips on the historical time-line. An artefact may found but its design does not match to any found where it was unearthed. It becomes a mystery, not because of something fantastical, but simply because we are missing the clues that indicate where it’s existence began and or ended. The same can be applied to collisions. Who’s to say that the two we have experienced in the modern age are the only ones? What if they are frequent and we only managed to feel these last two? We are missing so many clues and so, to answer your question, a collision is a dip, a sudden and rather literal advancement through space and time. Although, I must say that everything I just said is founded on the opinion of this old scholar, hehe.]