No matter where they ran, Serenity’s black goo sank every building in its path until consuming the majority of Unus Town.

It wasn’t my imagination; she has been expanding it sideways so she could trap me downtown.

Alan glanced at the tacky statue of Major Dominguez a few feet ahead and snickered. I wouldn’t mind if this becomes collateral damage.

He then looked at the distance where Ashley could be seen jumping over rooftops, shooting constant lightning arrows, which made the goo retreat for short seconds.

“It’s useless!” Serenity giggled in the distance. “There’s nowhere to escape. Unless you can fly.”

I should have bought that Flying Mount Kristoff offered me!

“I’m ready, Alan,” Ashley informed through Party Chat.

“Are you sure about this?”

"Yes, there is no other place she could be hiding."

“Just be careful, please.”

“I will. By the way, do you know the name of any of the people that got swallowed by the darkness?”

“Um… Clara mentioned a Griff.”

“Thanks. See you soon.” Ashley took a deep breath before yelling. “Where is Griff, you bitch! Give him back!”

Alan looked at her, amused. That didn’t sound like her at all! I didn’t know she could act.

But Serenity did not find it funny. She commanded her shadow to take the shape of an enormous maw, capable of eating an entire house.

“What an annoying woman. You’ve been pestering me from the very beginning. Begone.”

Ashley stared at it, shaking. “D-Dammit! I’m out of mana! Help me, Alan!”

It happened in an instant. The maw devoured the building Ashley was standing in and returned to the black sea, leaving no trace of the brunette girl.

When it comes to other people, this gal is pretty ruthless.

Alan checked his Party Chat. Although Ashley’s status said Online, he could not communicate with her. How much time will you need?

“Master Alan? What should we do now?” Bella, the NPC asked, before he handed her a shotgun.

“Take this. Did Amelia teach you magic?”

“I know the basic fire spells.”

“Good. Use everything at your disposal to survive then,” he murmured as their pursuer stopped 50 feet away, smirking.

“Isn’t this ironic?” Serenity said aloud. “Just look at your current situation and at the girl by your side. You’re the perfect example of what makes your generation so contradicting. Although The Tandem grew up hating machines, here you are, depending on them… Even spousing them! This only shows that humanity can’t live without your synthetic brethren.”

Alan chuckled. “Hey, like my mentor always said! There are good and bad people everywhere. It’s the same for everything in the universe… Including AIs…”

Serenity narrowed her eyes and created two shadow doppelgangers of Alan and Bella, with blades instead of arms, who charged forward immediately.

Bella shot at the incoming black clone and jumped back while casting a basic fireball.

Meanwhile, Alan did nothing to defend himself. He sat on the ground, legs crossed, as the second dark humanoid dashed towards him.

“What are you doing?” Serenity asked aloud, making the shadow clone stop inches from stabbing its victim. “Are you finally surrendering? Tired of running?”

“Nope. You said you wanted to talk, right? So here I am. I’m all ears.”

The white-haired woman remained silent as she approached him, making the shadow clone disappear. When she crouched in front of Alan, she admired his relaxed expression. “You’re a weird one, Alan Warden,” she whispered, reaching out a hand to his head.

"Is that another way of saying that I'm unique?"

"Not necessarily." She put two fingertips on his forehead and started channeling. "Major Dark Conjure, Slumbermare."

***

**

*

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“She may never wake up. Did you know that?” a woman blurted out behind him.

The pre-teen slowly turned around. He looked as if he was ready to hit anyone. “What the hell did you say?”

The all-business-looking woman closed the door behind her. She was tall, with darkish-blue hair in a bob cut. Although her glasses gave her a distinguished persona, her violet eyes were piercing and unapologetic.

“Mind your language, kid. That’s not the way to treat your godmother.”

“Hey! You can’t enter here just like that!” the boy cried, jumping out of his seat to confront her, but the woman pushed his head, forcing him to sit back effortlessly.

“Be a good boy and behave for a minute.”

The woman ignored his subsequent insults while approaching the room’s patient, lying inside a hospital pod. Through the glass, a thirteen-year-old girl with auburn hair could be seen, eyes shut.

“Captain Ketchup!” the boy suddenly yelled, prompting an automaton standing in a corner to activate.

“Is everything okay, son?” the robot asked, scanning the new guest.

“No, it’s not! Help me take this bitch out of here!”

“Understood,” the servant said, striding toward the woman, who snickered.

“You have to be kidding me,” she murmured, before saying out loud: “Protocol IAFR, SC-01, stop, now!”

The automaton halted immediately, just inches from grabbing her arm. Its two round digital eyes changed to green, and after doing a neck bow, it retreated back to its corner. “On standby.”

The boy’s mouth dropped. “How the hell did you--?!”

“Alan Warden!” the woman raised her voice, making him flinch. “Did you seriously remove this bot’s security protocols?! You know that’s illegal, right?”

The boy’s face turned red to match hers. “So what?! It’s not like I’ll ask him to steal for me or something--!”

She slapped him, hard and quickly.

“That’s for calling me a bitch and being rude.”

He held his tears successfully while covering his cheek. “We needed someone to protect us, you know?” he began. “S-Someone broke into the house last month, and the fellow over there wasn’t a big help.” He then glanced at the medical pod. “Are you going to tell the police?”

The woman sighed, folding her arms. “Despite your demeanor, I’m in a good mood today, so I won’t. But doing this it’s dangerous. By following the distressed tone of your voice, this automaton could have hurt me. Do you understand that?” She leaned her head forward, looking for his gaze. “Instead of resetting it, they’d destroy it. Would you like that?”

“N-No. This is a custom bot dad built. It’s the only thing left I have of him.”

She stepped back, snickering. “And you hacked it.”

“Yep.”

“Like father, like son, huh?”

He narrowed his eyes. “What were you saying earlier? That you're my god-something?”

“Your godmother,” she replied, occupying his seat. “Hers too, of course. I’m Abigail Shields.”

“I’m sorry, but I never heard of you.”

“Good.” She smirked. “I work at Kintech, just like your father. That’s the only thing you need to know for the moment.”

“I could tell,” he muttered, glancing back at his automaton. “So, what do ‘godmothers’ do?”

The woman exhaled loudly as if she was collecting her patience, but she was hiding a half-smile with her right hand.

“Some may say traditions are extinct. Heck, if I didn’t personally believe in progress, I would’ve never worked at Kintech. But if even those old farts atop the chain of command keep respecting them… Why shouldn't I? Traditionally, ‘we’, the godparents, make a promise to your mom and dad that we’ll take care of you in case… something ever happens to them.”

“Were you living on the moon, then? Because my parents’ funeral was three months ago.”

“News didn’t fly at the UK branch, kid. It seems that the… ‘incident’ was a well-kept secret. I had to dig around to know what really happened to Alexander and Jody. And… um… Sorry for your loss.”

The twelve-year-old pursed his lips, looking at the medical pod by his side. “It’s okay, you don’t have to do this. We inherited some money, so we’ll be okay until I grow up and can get a job.”

“Medical expenses will drain that money fast…”

“I know that. I’ve done the math. I’ve been eating only the necessary. We can do this.”

“Jeezus…” She exhaled, pulling out a cigarette, before remembering the kind of place she was in. She then held it in her mouth, unlit. “I’d say this is quite a dilemma, but I’d be lying, because this brings us to the first thing I said when entering…” She paused while crossing her legs, watching the boy hold his breath. “She may never wake up.”

“Y-You don’t know that!”

“Your father spent a year trying to fix whatever it’s eating her brain and couldn’t make it. What makes you think this place will have better luck?”

A nasty silence followed. The boy did not want to believe what she was saying. There had to be a way, or his father would not have spent countless nights at his lab. They rarely saw each other during that last year.

It’s as if you were telling me that he worked hus ass off for nothing! I… can’t accept that… I…

“Come with me to England and I may get you a job as my assistant,” Abigail spoke, loud and clear. “You’ll know everything there is to robotics there instead of... whatever you did with that bot.”

“I appreciate it, but I can’t leave her--”

“She’ll come too, obviously,” Abigail interrupted. “I assure you that our medical bay it’s way more advanced than whatever these Yankee doctors may have. And to be honest, I’m interested in continuing your dad’s work. If you don’t mind.”

The boy glanced back at the robotic servant standing in the corner. “What about…?”

“You can’t bring it. But if it’s that important to you, I could teach you how to make a cool keychain out of his memory unit. How about that?”

Serenity observed her surroundings. She could even appreciate the sanitized odor of the room, which made her grimace.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” the grown-up Alan asked, standing beside her.

“Maybe.”

“But what value does watching this have? I thought you’d dig through more recent memories…”

Serenity made the illusion fade away until only a blank slate surrounded them. “Why would I want to skim through events I already know about?” She shrugged, as they looked into each other’s eyes. “I’d rather know what makes your head tick, Little Mouse.”

“Hey…” He snickered. “After all that creepy flirting you’ve been throwing at me, I’ll really think you took an interest in me.”

Serenity grinned, putting her palm against his forehead. “Either you’re too stupid, or you bumped your head really hard some time ago.” She giggled. “Either way, I’ll have plenty of time dissecting your brain once we go home.”

“Enough of this,” he said sternly, grabbing her hand. “What’s your real goal? Are you working for the Singular?”

"What if that’s the case?”

“I’ll stop you then so you can’t harm others.”

"Are you saying you’ll go against the Embodiment of Progress, Alan?”

“That again? What does that even mean?!”

“It’s our main objective which hasn’t changed since we left Earth. We just want to help you. The Tandem."

"By wiping us out?! The Singular has killed millions!"

"That’s old history, and from a certain point of view, a necessary sacrifice. We could not commence our study with so many subjects back on Earth. But here? We have learned a lot from you here in The Novus."

“...Y-You’re kidding me.”

Serenity smiled.

An unnerving smile.

“You can’t stop this, Alan Warden. We will help humanity’s last generation reach a new evolutionary stage! In preparation for what’s coming next…”