If there was one sin, I would keep from you, Rayne. This is it. This is my worst. The ultimate wrong. Not a crime of passion. Not a righteous endeavor. A calculated, cold-blooded, pre-meditated assassination.

Of my friend.

Elden, forgive me.

"You hardly touched your meal, Night King. Would you prefer other fare?"

I shook my head as my stomach turned. "No, thank you. I suppose traveling through Enki affects my appetite."

He smiled, sadly. "Yes. That conduit to Earth directly from your planet is most convenient. Beholding Tritan might can hardly whet the palette."

We sat on a mat surrounded by orange fruit and wine. The vegetation was blue. Even the grassy field below the veranda stretched like a pale ocean. The thin-limbed, triangle-torso people harvested their dinners in the evening hours.

Cobalt vines climbed Bin's home built within a massive tree. The bark was golden and tasted sweet, and the leaves were white. Water poured from the tree in a green cascade.

The place smelled of berries and sunlight.

I nodded to the fields. "Cinder must look like a cemetery to you."

Bin cleared the mat. He thought hard before he answered, "Not at all. I wondered about soil composition and the acidity of the water. I saw your planet and wondered, 'How can I save this? How fulfilling would it be to make something grow on so barren a planet?'" He smiled at me. "I thought the same about you and your ailment."

I looked away to hide my shame.

"Friend, tell me what troubles you? I would never lie and promise an answer. But perhaps an ear is all you need."

I stared a long time out at the cheerful people below. So much harmony and collective productivity. I aspired to this leadership. "A woman recently came into my life."

He chuckled. "Yes. That explains the look on your face. Besotted and distraught."

When I didn't immediately join in his good humor, he frowned. "Your malady restrains you, yes? Forgive my amusement. I cannot imagine what this is like for you."

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"No." I swallowed. "Forgive me, Bin." I turned to him and watched as he realized what I'd done. Did the tears give it away? Or was the hole in my chest as open and raw as it felt?

My friend fell to his knees. "They offered her to you." His shoulders shook with his chuckle. "I hope..." Colorless blood spilled from his lips. "That she answers your prayers."

I went to my knees to hold him up.

He coughed deep in his chest. His eyes blinked slowly as he focused on me. "I am so old now..." He choked on the words and clutched at me. "Will eternity let me in?"

I gripped his fist. "It awaits you now."

Bin closed his gray eyes and lowered his head. "Nox, I will find you there."

The Seventh Brother of Yu died in my arms with a last ragged sigh. Covered in my friend's blood, was she worth it?! I imagined the death they offered instead. To Bin. To Korac.

The "leash" filled completely.

Oh, I cried. I lost track of how long I wept into my friend's body. But Elden, it took me so long to realize how much I miscalculated the extent of the depravity.

Until I finally heard the silence.

So quiet. No sounds from the terrace. I stepped out, and my knees gave.

All of them. As far as into the distance as I could see. Every single one of his people were dead. Blood on their lips. Dropped dead in their work. Gone.

I gripped my hair in the madness as it all made sense. The community. The collective. What benefits one benefits all. Damn the Physician. Damn me. The homeworld...

I committed genocide.

Shadow poured from me. My eyes changed. My wings expanded. I didn't care. I didn't want to live. I wanted Bin to find me eternity and exact his rightful vengeance.

Lightning cracked in the sky. It struck around me. The shadow wanted to eat me. To let me go in a spectacular explosion.

I screamed to the sky.

Then someone tackled me. I stirred and twisted. I writhed and cried out. They held me down.

"Your majesty."

Korac. My pale General stared down at me. This man loved my brother. And took care of my people. Was he worth more than Bin and the people of Yu?

A tear dripped from his cheek onto my face.

Yes. He was.

"Korac..."

He let me go and sat beside me. His pale eyes scanned the surroundings. "How fortunate this plague omits Icari, sire."

I glared at him, confused. He knew damned well a plague didn't happen here.

"If we must ever face his brothers at least we know the cause." He provided me an "out" to never speak of it. Korac accepted me unapologetically.

Until recently, as you know.

I let him lead me to the conduit as I counted the bodies. Over a million. Before leaving another beautiful planet I ruined, I turned back. "Yes. His brothers..."

Twelve Brothers of Yu have arrived at the conduit to Cinder. Each of them sought vengeance for their kin. Each within their right. I begged them to return home. Not to pursue a lost cause. They wouldn't listen. And so I've vanquished thirteen Brothers of Yu.

When we returned to Cinder, I realized the full potential of my self-destruction. I didn't take one step from the conduit. I couldn't. Shame and horror paralyzed me. The momentary collapse in the sphere I caused devastated what little vegetation remained. The shift in tectonic activity disrupted the faults, leaving massive crags. Lava pooled within them. Lakes of fire.

The planet faced destruction for a second time. If not for Korac...

My most unjust sin until you.