{2002 CE}

I stared at that vision of you every day. For sixteen centuries. I am mad. I know. I also know you don't find it flattering. So, imagine how Colita felt...

"Won't the image vanish once you have her?" She glared at the fire in my bedroom.

We commissioned special weapons for the journey bearing the Pretiosum Cruor. Korac opted for twin battle axes. I checked my newly forged nacre sword for sharpness. "Are you jealous of a fire?"

Her voice grated in its petulance. "Korac jeers and mocks me. That I'm so easily replaced with a picture."

Satisfied, I added it to the pile of my belongings. We were packing for the first invasion. Firmly, I reminded her, "We were never exclusively together. I don't begrudge your harem. Why are you attacking the Progeny descendant?"

She ignored my reasoning. "You haven't taken me in a millennium. You only drink from me in this room. In front of this pyre. Isn't there truth to Korac's words?"

I stepped up to her. She grew still, and her scent filled the space. "I appreciate you reminding me why I called on you in the first place." With my hand in her hair, I tilted her head to the side, and she stretched further.

I leaned in to feed when she suddenly straightened. Her eyes seethed with jealousy. "Once we claim her for the Complex, it's over with her. If you want to keep feeding, you'll fuck me in the pit."

"Get. Out."

The color drained from her angelic face. "What?!"

I walked around her and gazed out a window over my homeworld, easing my temper. Ice in my voice, "You want to leave. Now. Before I turn back."

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Colita burst into tears and rushed to my side. "Master?"

I clenched my jaw, refusing to look at her. "If you ever want to fall back into my favor, follow Korac's orders and maintain the mission. Go."

Alone in the room, I considered my sanity. I tight-walked over a precipice that waited to swallow me every day. And every day, only one light led me back...

A girl blazing brighter than a star. Alone and afraid.

I joined the others at the conduit. Korac passed me the medical vial of blood provided to us by your physician. A member of CoN. I poured it along the line for the conduit. I tasted your blood from it. I needed it to form the connection.

Electricity sparked the air and kissed the rocky ground until we gazed at the desert night beyond.

"My legion, one hundred thousand strong, welcome home."

Korac grinned. Colita pouted. We returned to our brighter future. The conduit closed behind us. We restored the fortress and set up camp there. Human satellite technology advanced greatly while we were exiled on Cinder, but our projectors prevented detection. We situated soldiers in CoN compounds throughout the world to establish the new order of things. Yet the sphere required more time. We waited.

Too close. Too much. I needed to see how capable you were. We knew Xelan initiated contact. That he trained you and the other Progeny. But I worried about my brother's gentle manner lessening your resilience.

My second night on Earth, I found the two of you training in your backyard. You were younger than your future in the vision. I could wait.

But I wouldn't tolerate your dissatisfying education. Call outs, pulled punches, near-miss blows. No. I visited you that night in your dreams to teach you how to fight properly. Rayne, I needed you strong to fight what you'd yet to face.

Through that vein, I discovered a most interesting side effect. Injuring you granted the "leash" seven days. Consequently, touching you cost me ten days. You kept me stabilized and on the brink of destruction for years. And it only worsened over time.

By 2005, I was lost in my pursuit of you. Our more intimate interactions cost me twenty days.

The last dream almost destroyed Cinder. My emotional responses to you affected Elden's Sphere through the empathetic reactor. It almost set the planet on fire.

I was burning Cinder just to touch you.

I forced myself to stop seeing you or risk falling into your Celindria's designs all over again.