All her generals were laying out reports, and quite nicely.

Almost everything went perfectly well with the conquering of Everton, the sad town that hadn’t quite felt the sweet taste of fresh technology. The people there liked staying with old fashion, and some of their homes lacked even the most simple of necessities. Of course, that was all fixed now, thanks to her.

Not only that, all the government revolts in Kramery, the big city, had been ended with a little help from her. She now ruled Kramery, and facilities of her own with new research were being installed. Everton would soon be converted.

The door opened, and one of her best generals, General Alvarez, walked through. “Mistress.” He said, dipping his head. “We’ve captured someone I think you would personally like to interrogate.”

“Bring them here.” She kicked up her legs onto the desk and lit her cigarette.

He walked out, and she soon picked up on someone kicking and fighting. They were muttering things and giving all her soldiers a hard time. But she ignored it and waited patiently for them to bring him over.

Eventually, he was dragged through the doorway by five different guards, one for each of his limbs.

“Aww. Were you struggling the whole way here? Must’ve been tiring.” She mocked, batting an eye at him.

“Thana, we all know it’s you behind this blasphemy!” The Cognate spat, lunging forward.

Thana snorted, spinning her cigarette in her hand. “Took you that long to figure out?” She glanced over at him, identifying his name. “Now, tell me Ijiy, what are you doing here? I thought you had an important Enipok meeting to go to.”

He returned her comment with a glare that could knock down a skyscraper. Good thing Thana used fortified bunkers. “I’ll kill you, you bloody fool. I’ll tear off each and every-”

“Look who’s making threats. The poor little governor, who found himself in a battle he couldn’t win.” She pouted her lips, aggravating him. The more angry a Cognate was, the harder it was for them to use magic. “You’re powerless now. You’re only a figurehead, thinking you’re representing the people for the High Council, and helping with their decisions. They’re better off with their powerful Defender serving what is right.”

Ijiy whipped around and kneed the first guard, stabbed the second with a knife he conformed, punched the third into the concrete wall, and threw the fourth onto the ground. He then proceeded to throw a sharp dagger at the first guard, and split open the guts of the other two. The final guard tried to stop him, but he grabbed her by the scruff and broke her neck, tossing her corpse onto the ground. “Now who’s making threats?”

Logically, he immediately went for Thana’s neck too. She grabbed her gun off her desk and pointed it at him, still not taking her feet down. “Keep trying, son; see where it gets you.” Her biggest secret was the fact that the gun wasn’t loaded. It didn’t even have a magazine in it. But the sight would discontinue his attempt too, like everyone else’s.

Ijiy grumbled as this time, six soldiers came into the dark room and seized him. He didn’t struggle like before, instead stared Thana down. She stared right back.

They pulled him out, and General Alveraz returned from before. “He’s a member of the Council, otherwise known as the Lower Council, which means we now have a good bargaining chip for Finx.” He was perfectly right. Thana had never managed to waver Finx from the inside, because of how developed the city and its entire country was.

“Or they’ll give up on him. Like the rest of these Cognates I have.” She blew a puff of smoke.

“That too,” He laughed. Before he left, Thana got his attention one more time.

“Bring me the vehement one. You know who I’m talking about.”

Her general snorted. “Yes, I do. He’ll be right with you.”

She turned her chair around and turned on the holographic television in the corner, rewinding the video footage she had prepared to the right spot.

It wasn’t long before a single warden walked the middle-aged wolf in. When he saw Thana, it was like his face brightened up. “You have to let me go.” He repeated.

“... because your eight-year-old daughter is all alone in your house, she’s got no concept of money or food or other basic necessities in her head.” Thana finished, rolling her eyes. “You yell this into the halls every day.”

Arlag stared back at her, his expression quickly fading. “So what do you want with me?”

Thana held back laughter, instead speaking in her favorite tone. “So you’re a tejh, everyone knows that. We knew that one of your daughters-”

“Child.”

Thana scowled at him “One of your children was a Cognate, and the other wasn’t. We killed the first one immediately, obviously because of how malformed their poor mind was.”

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“Stop telling me things we both know, and get to the point.” Arlag snapped.

Looking up from her cigarette, she took her feet down and smothered it into the ashtray on her desk. She leaned in and stared him down, giving him an ugly look. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

She sat back, groaning. “You ruin all the fun.” She glanced back at the tape, putting her serious face on for once. “Your precious eight-year-old daughter is now dead, so you don’t have to worry about her fending for herself anymore.”

“You’re lying. I’ve heard this countless times.” True, she’d tried to convince him that she was dead just so that he’d be quiet for once. Every time she did, he’d demand evidence, and now she had it.

“See for yourself,” She beckoned, starting the footage.

It began immediately, with the fight going on between Caste and Keoni. Thana knew Caste from when she confronted him on the roof during his escape, and Keoni from Arlag’s constant nagging about her. She also knew Caste almost on a personal level, from thousands of years ago, but he’d long forgotten. Now, she hated him. And she had a right to: multiple times did he try to kill her, multiple occasions did he kill her generals and soldiers, and multiple times did her mind refresh her memory on the one moment: the moment where he scarred her face. It still had a little mark, and that was now a solid month ago. Not only that, his escape inspired many other sad little attempts from other Cognates. It was infuriating, trying to contain so many trying escapees.

The recording was too far away to pick up audio, so the dialogue between the two couldn’t be heard. There was a second recording with audio, but there was a lot going on and she couldn’t make out either of their voices.

She made sure to select somewhere where Keoni stopped using her magic, so it looked more like Caste was attacking her. His blows were hard and the video neared its end with Caste sending her into Limbo. Luckily, Caste’s privacy barrier didn’t work on film, so it was plain as day.

Thana tapped her desk where a bunch of useless files were scattered. “That Cognate went rogue long ago. He’s always been insane, and has killed nearly a hundred people in this facility.”

The look of true horror on his face said it all. “No.” He whispered in the world’s quietest voice. Thana saw immediate tears well up in his eyes. She didn’t even finish her awesome speech. The very news had delivered the exact same message.

She cleared her throat. “Now, you’re welcome to tell me more about the Tejh, since you really have no reason to fight against me anymore. I’ll give you a couple more hours to grieve while we wait.”

She’d lied her way through all of that. She knew Keoni had been the one to try and kill Caste first. And obviously, Caste was the one who died, not her. General Alvarez had seen and shot him on the spot, thankfully. His complete willingness to fight was kind of an issue.

On her signal, the warden dragged Arlag back out. He was now silent. General Alvarez stepped back inside. “Will there be anything more?”

“Yes.” Thana glanced back at the footage, which now showed Caste’s death in more bloody detail than she remembered. “I want Keoni dead.”

“Of course, Mistress.”

“And bring me her body alive, if possible.”

Alvarez knew exactly what she would do with Keoni. He nodded, stepping out.

All obstacles had to be taken out of the way and terminated. Thana would remain one step ahead, and nobody would stay around to challenge her.

She turned around to turn off the recording, spotting it looping again. To entertain herself, Thana watched the fight going on between them, then the bullet going through the Cognate’s body. He fell onto the ground, curling up into a fetal position, then reaching and touching Keoni on the neck, then a Mir-Gate consuming him and closing once Keoni and he were through.

But something was off. Thana played back the footage, watching again. As the Mir-Gate opened, only he and Keoni were taken in. None of the people surrounding them, not a pebble or shard or piece of debris was dragged inside.

Which meant that the gate was stable. And gates opening because a Cognate died were never stable. They’d drag literally everything into them and Keoni would also be dead from the sheer thrashing of her body in the unstable link. Unstable Mir-Gates roared, and shrieked, and sucked everything in like a two-way vacuum. This gate did none of this.

Caste had opened the gate himself, which meant he hadn’t died.

With the Mirae’s life-preserving properties, Caste was laying on the ground right this very moment, waiting for someone to help him.

That Sokrupion was still alive. Thana ground her teeth and clenched her fists. He’d outsmarted not only her, but Keoni. The wolf’s face of shock was clearly visible in the footage, meaning he’d fooled her too.

Now why would you fake your own death? She narrowed her eyes as she grabbed the controls and slowed the recording down to frame-by-frame. This was where the Cognitive power of quinx-kouxinv would come in handy, where she could sense his exact thoughts like she did on the roof.

Then again, he couldn’t stay away. Everyone in their own cells always had to yell something at their guards. Caste had always said “I’m getting out of here soon. I’m breaking each and every one of these people out, and you won’t stop me.” Quite touching words, but Thana was ready for him. She’d held onto him for seven years before he, and he alone, managed to escape. Plus, her technicians were now working on modifying the nerve attachment to activate with dark magic, too, not just light. Finally, he was literally insane. Beyond help when Thana had him. His behavior was unpredictable. One day he’d be completely still, completely silent, then others, he’d commit homicide on any guard he got his hands on. Sometimes without using any magic.

Either way, the most effective form of torture for him was keeping him away from the Mirae. That’s what drove him insane in the first place. Any Cognate isolated like that for too long would start to become more aggressive, not think straight, and start using magic with no control. They’d mostly think for themselves, and that’s when Thana was able to break into their minds and convince them to serve her.

Because, just like them, she was out of control with her thoughts and emotions, and her magic. She didn’t kill Trin. According to everyone else, she did. No trial was held for her. Nobody was willing to defend her.

Thana had now spent centuries around her exile. She understood the worlds. She knew what they wanted, and how she could get that from them. Again. Nobody could dare to stop her while she remained in power.

Finx would soon be hers, and her revenge would - after all these years - finally be served.