When he noticed what he was chasing, he almost fell into the water, messing up the timing for the formation of those ice islands.

Why was he even doing that so close to the surface?

Anyway, he managed to recover, and during the next jump, he tossed a small spell towards it. A tiny flaming arrow.

Small, but powerful. The moment it connected, and it did without issue; his aim was on point; the stone suddenly burst into flames, and just like a piece of wood, burned into a coal.

That was the last jump.

After that, he just landed at yet another of his frozen islands and just stared at the spot where his “target” had just vanished from.

He didn’t say a word. But I could feel his rage burning.

Honestly, it was almost as powerful as what I felt from that tiny piece of ILMA back then, a “weapon” that got destroyed.

Silent till now, I was wondering if I should try and speak up. Maybe ask him about the meaning of this pursuit.

But I couldn’t.

I was not stupid enough to pull the pin on that grenade.

And believe me, that one was easily the most volatile I’ve seen so far.

But, he was the one who broke the silence.

-I know what you’re thinking.

I mean, I wasn’t really trying to hide my thoughts, and him carrying me was giving him an easy way to peek on my mind, so…

-If she is not stopped, we are going to soon be the target of the whole world. Again.

The fuck?

Now, that was not something I expected to hear right now.

Target of the whole world? Like there was much left from it to begin with.

Most of it being his fault.

-And I am not being overdramatic - he continued, again reading my thoughts. - If she manages to break this… and they learn she broke confinement… there’s going to be hell to pay.

Okay, feeding me those buzzwords, I couldn’t help myself.

I had to ask.

-What the fuck are you on about?

-Ah. So now you talk.

-I never said I wasn’t going to. Just didn’t want to interrupt your… whatever that was.

He shrugged.

-I might have been a bit… preoccupied. Yes.

That’s one way to put it.

-Eh… look, I know it’s been a bit hectic. I am sorry. I should’ve been more considerate of my savior.

-Savior?

-You called to me, didn’t you? You managed to pull me out of that mangle of souls… Without your guidance, I probably still would be with her.

-Wait a second. You were part of her? And managed to escape?

-Yes…? - he said, sounding very confused. - Didn’t you know? ILMA is an amalgamation of people, who…

-Oh, yes yes, I know that - I shot him off, trying to wave my hand, but remembered that I didn’t have a body so just rolled my eyes. - It’s just surprising that you escaped. I thought the process of assimilation was a bit more permanent.

-Oh, it is - he assured me. - I’ve been in there for a long time. Every time another soul joined it only took a handful of minutes for her to wipe it from existence.

-And yet, you’re here.

-Of course. I have been a part of that crystal for almost as long as she was. I have a lot of resistance to something like that.

-That means we still have time!

-Time?

-To get some people out. Or, well, at least For and Kon - I corrected myself. - I bet most of them are already wiped out.

-I guess that would weaken her, true… - he agreed, a bit half-heartedly if you ask me. - Doesn’t matter in the long run, though.

-And you say just calling them would be enough? That can’t be true.

-I never said it was “just” calling for them. What you did… was something I never expected… But scratch that, it’s not something that is possible.

-Why? How do you know?

-Because I was there.

-I told you. I heard voices. And heard them being silenced.

-So what. Like everyone would…

-No. When I say “voice” I mean their soul. I can hear them. And I can tell when they stop existing.

-Then what’s she’s doing? Just wiping people for fun? No, she has to be keeping them for later use, don’t you think?

-Of course she is. But not in the state you’re picturing. She’s just turning them into… well, data, for lack of a better term.

-She’s back to her AI roots?

-She never left them - he announced, sad. - We failed at that.

-I mean… I’ve seen some shit. And believe me, she’s more human than a lot of people I’ve met.

-You mean her speaking like a robot? Still following procedures, even after all those years?

-...

-Let’s look at this objectively. She is an enemy and nothing more. She has already taken away a lot of people from us. Friends, loved ones, you name it.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

So did he. But I didn’t want to tell him that flat out…

Too bad he heard that anyway.

-I did it because I had to! - he said with pain in his voice. - You think it was easy to commit a literal genocide?

-Well, from what I saw, they weren’t really resisting, just standing and waiting for execution.

-That was just some of… Wait. You saw that.

Ah. I forgot he didn’t know.

-I might have peeked at some of your activities.

-So you know about her atrocities! About all those people she murdered, turning into mindless slaves. And you still were on her side?!

-Hold up. I never knew about any of that - I stopped him before he did anything rash. - Mindless? First “mindless” I saw were For and Kon!

-Ha. No you didn’t. You said you saw… my executions?

-Well, yes. And a bit of other murder… those ones were actual fights, though.

-Oh, so you saw that too. Well, doesn’t matter, because all of those were already dead.

-Pretty lively for dead people.

-So were your For and Kon.

-They weren’t “mine”... or, well, scratch that, maybe… Wait, you’re saying that she already took them over…?

-Already? Those were the later ones! All those were just activated recently. I guess she moved to the next step in her plan…

-Activated? Plan? What is that all about?

-I see she really kept you in the dark.

-It’s not like I asked… I didn’t really…

-I get it. It’s hard to get adjusted to living in prison.

-The fuck?

-So you don’t know about that either? I guess you should be informed….

-We do have time. She’s gone.

-She’s… Eh. Fine. Okay. Great… Let me explain.

-It started… a long time ago.

I kind of regained my confidence a bit. I figured out since he’s been more talkative and less destructive he was not planning to end me.

And since he was in the mood to explain things, at least he could make it as clear as possible.

-Ehe… What started? Your kingdom?

-Kingdom…? Oh, hell no. That’s not what I am talking about. I mean even before that. When we worked in MIRE.

-Oh.

-Yeah. I don’t know if you are aware, but I was the first hire there.

I knew he was one of the employees. I never really knew about the time he joined or anything.

-I guess someone had to be first.

-Well… yeah. They scouted me a long time before you and Il joined.

-...

-Yeah… - he continued, noticing my silence. - For some reason, the higher-ups observed us for a long while. And I was the first on the chopping block. I was chosen to be a leader of the newly formed group. But, what am I talking about, you know that already.

He wasn’t wrong.

-So. Why does that matter?

-Well, because after everything went to shit, they came after me.

I blinked.

After?

-Went to shit? What do you mean?

-The catastrophe of the crystal and ILMA, of course. What else could be worse?

-Well, sure, that was a failure of great proportions - I agreed. - But went after you? How? Aren’t we… a bit isolated?

-We are. But we weren’t.

-What?!

I didn’t hide my surprise. He knew quite a lot.

-Hah - he chuckled. - Right. You don’t know. You see… that crystal… the explosion… It did not teleport us anywhere. Hell, it didn’t do much, besides destruction.

-What do you mean?! How did we end up here then!?

-How? This is our punishment. Our prison. We were sent here.

I needed a moment to process his words.

Punishment? Prison?

-Wait. Wait wait. How? What are you even talking about! I vividly remember you disappearing. And everyone else! Even…

-Even yourself, right?

I paused.

Yeah, I did remember. I never really was sure why, I remembered that moment from various perspectives.

I thought it was because of the Origin Crystal in my body being part of ILMA and her having memories of everyone else…

-Those are not only your memories - confirmed Mike. - Those were everyones. All of us had the same one implanted.

-Implanted? By what? The explosion?

-Yes and no. It was because of the explosion, but not just the effect of it.

-What are you talking about?!

-Mor. We died. All of us.

I stared at him, puzzled.

What was he talking about? Died?

So how the hell was he here? How was everyone else… here, in this new world, this “prison”, as he called it.

-I see you don’t understand. Let me explain.

-Yeah. That’d help.

-During the failure, our bodies have been wiped out. Dematerialized. Disintegrated. However else you want to call it. Along with the whole city. And not only that, a lot of other places had been blown up as well… Our crystal was powerful.

-It rippled through the leylines?

-Yeah, pretty much - he nodded, seeing as I was starting to understand. - Every major center that housed a similar power spot has been destroyed at the same time.You can imagine the aftermath.

Yeah, you bet I could.

Those centers were maybe not the most important places in the world, but they housed plenty of power and research.

If what he was saying was true, it would be like blowing up a nuclear reactor. In every major city on the continent. Hell, in the whole world.

An uncontained failure.

-We killed a lot of people - he said flatly. - And the world was not going to let that go.

-Let go? Weren’t we presumed dead?

He laughed, dryly.

-Hah, you underestimate people. Especially people with power.

-Like you?

-If you think I ever had anything remotely comparable to that, you’re delusional. What I am talking about is more than just a country’s worth of influence. And even then, my country… was subpar.

-Subpar? You’ve got to be kidding me…

I stopped mid-sentence.

Did he just say “only” a country's worth?

Doesn’t that imply…

-What do you mean, a country's worth? Were you working for… something more…?

-Something more…? What do you mean? Ah. Right. I keep forgetting you weren’t aware…

-Aware of what?

-The MIRE. Mire didn’t just work for one country. It was an international organization.

-We had branches everywhere, but we were…

-No, no. I don’t mean like that. Sure, we were working for just our local branch, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t ruled by an international council.

-International? I thought…

-You thought wrong. It was more akin to an international alliance than you think.

-I guess that would explain why we were able to get away with so much…

-Hah, no. You think one government wouldn’t be enough? Especially if we were just limited to one place?

-...

-But you got one thing right. They do get away with a lot. Everything, pretty much, is in their power.

-You are overestimating them…

-Oh, believe me, I am not.

He paused for a second, sighing.

-That’s why we are in such deep shit right now.

-You keep mentioning that. Yet I still don’t understand what exactly is going on. And the prison…

-Right… right. I got distracted a little bit.