Humans are cursed. They are a flawed, imperfect race, yet draw immense strength from these weaknesses. Among their afflictions, the Curse Of Slow Death is the most severe. Where other species would crumble from shock or poison, a human lingers on, prolonging their suffering until their task is complete.
It is a curse and also their greatest blessing. Humans are tough, yes, but others can surpass them in resilience. They are clever, but some species are wiser. What innately sets humans apart is their perseverance.
If you tear down the palace of a Tianshe, stripping them of wealth and power, they will crumble, never to be seen again. A human though...
They will return. And they will demand much more than what was stolen. They have an immutable and utterly immortal soul.
I, Carolino Swane, vote against the Third Decree.
* Legate Swane, Heir Of Gold, in her written testimony to Congress, Year 3068.
A human dashed past an alley, dragging a young man behind him as they hid from the shadowy figures in the dark. Blood stained their steps, and the light grew, consuming the countless who once inhabited this place.
Dante kept quiet despite the danger surrounding him and his small group at every turn. Steadily, they ventured toward the Starsinger at the dock. They edged toward the Starsinger at the landlocked pier. The journey from the prison had taken half an hour, but they could see their destination ahead.
The towering structure held hundreds of starships at once, reaching toward the sky. However, it was no longer the marvel it once was. Although the Lightsea had grounded itself just six hours ago, it already irrevocably altered the planet.
Gore dripped from the roof of the hangar, and Dante placed a hand over Pythagoras’ eyes. Sonna scoffed, finding his gesture pointless. She couldn’t tell if he was being genuine or manipulative, but either way, she preferred having his genius on their side.
Dante ignored her, sticking close to the building walls. The presence of the Dirge nearby had diminshed through their journey. Dante didn’t understand where they had gone, so he kept up his alertness.
Without any apparent threats, they moved a bit quicker, finally reaching the building opposite the hangar.
Dante stared up at the structure. The roof was open for ships, but Dante knew the others couldn’t manage the climb. The sole option was to enter from the front. While uncertain about underground passages, time didn’t allow for investigation.
So, the man dug his heels into the alleyway they lived in. He surveyed the area with his eyes, noticing an open street devoid of danger. The extent and duration of such, however, remained uncertain.
“We’re not seriously running that, are we? What happened to staying in the darkness?” Sonna said to the human with a hiss while the boy nodded.
A vertical finger went to Dante’s lip, and the human shook his head. Then he pointed at the door slightly ajar across the multi-lane street. Sonna cursed under her breath, stretching her limbs.
Despite her unhappiness, the Weren woman understood her purpose in being there. Dante didn’t trust her, or more specifically, he didn’t trust her Qualae. She still didn’t believe she had one, though.
She had felt nothing different, but Sonna had to believe the expert. At least, she believed the Martian was an expert. She’d never heard of one with gray hair, after all. Not that she’d met one before. The strands concealed his age, and his experience.
And that terrified her.
As the woman’s focus narrowed to the doorway, not even feigning jealousy for Archimedes, whom Dante tossed onto his back, she thought back to all the mighty figures she had met while with standing behind Irys Lisera.
She’d seen dozens of Judges, thousands of merited soldiers, and even one Praetor. There was one common feature.
None were old. Most with power died young. Those few who lived… they lived long, however. The Praetor she met was the oldest of them all, but that was because they ascended from Judgehood early for their strength. The credits used to buy his allegiance were worth tens of planets out on the Wings. Yearly.
Lucius terrified Sonna, so she stuck closer to Dante. While the human brought horror to her veins, she knew a brutal truth. As long as she did not betray him, Dante would protect her. And he would do so to his death.
She knew this because she had read his file to her ‘owner’ before their mission to sabotage the delivery and bring out the horrors within, and it was very clear in one aspect.
Dante never betrayed a crewmember, no matter how many times he was screwed over by past friends or lovers. Loyalty was his greatest weakness, on top of his pride. That was why they used him for Qualae transportation, she supposed. They knew he would trust his crew and not ask any more questions than required.
Suddenly, Sonna’s eyes opened to their maximum as she realized she was already on the other end of the street, inches from Dante as the human set down Archimedes.
Her eyes swept behind her, scouring the road for danger, only to find none.
Was it really that easy? I zoned out and everything!? I guess... it kept out the fear, though...
Despite wanting to slap herself, the Weren refrained and stayed present. She stepped through the already-opened door behind her companions, wondering aloud, “Where are they all? This is fishy.”
A pair of eyes scattered their lights across the street for a twelfth time, nodding as Dante found nothing watching of them. He rolled his hand forward, deeper into the building as the darkness beckoned them onward, “Yes, it is. Astraeus must be planning something. I don’t know, but our goal here is escape, not war. We don’t know how to use our powers. We cannot, and will not, play the Judge’s game.”
API’s eyes widened at the hushed conversation between the two adults, and he had a question for himself as they all strode down the empty hallway inside the Starport. Disregarding the need to lower his voice, Archimedes asked, “Why not?” So many are hurt or hiding. Shouldn’t we help?”
The adults’ footsteps halted as Isaac’s voice echoed along the impenetrable passage. Goosebumps crept up Dante’s spine, and the human knew something was wrong.
No bodies. No blood. And no crashed ships.
The quick observations entered his mind as it began turning.
Without bodies, he surmised that whatever lurked here was clever enough to hide its prey. Not a single corpse decayed in the hallway, yet they passed a dozen closed doors.
Whatever spawned here must be able to kill without drawing blood. Dante’s brain went to one thing first before the others.
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Mental attacks.
No crashed starships outside or inside suggested that nobody reached their ships during the blackout. In contrast, however, there were no Dirge in the general vicinity.
Dante’s knowledge of Qualae was limited, but he understood animals and men. If an apex predator had its nest nearby, then the prey wouldn’t approach.
These theories spun in a fraction of a second, a definitive conclusion only made several feet into the Starport after collecting crucial information.
The human caught the petite Weren’s hand in the air as she went to hold Archimedes’ mouth shut. Dante knew Arch hated to be touched on his skin. The boy would scream if she did, worsening the situation.
This place couldn’t have an Anathema. It wouldn’t make sense. If a Dirge could bring more of its same rank through an incomplete Domain, it would have annihilated this city hours ago. Moreover, the galaxy would have already been consumed.
It couldn’t be an Anarchy or an Anaphage either, though. That meant it was the next one up. An Anachronism. Dante recalled the name, the last of the Qualae that he knew of, and he stood frozen.
His eyes begged the other two to stay silent, nearly praying that the monster hadn’t heard them before.
And as the seconds passed, the echo no longer in the air, a slow exhale of relief came from the three. Even the young boy understood his error, courtesy of his intelligence.
For all his smarts... he is so dumb about other things. Like a machine. Perfect for one task, awful for others. But that’s alright. He’ll grow.
Dante’s outlook on Archimedes was positive, swayed by how much he needed the boy.
Sonna’s view, however, was hostile, and she glowered at the boy who came close to exposing their position. In response, Pythagoras hid behind Dante, the frail and scrawny form doing so without effort.
Dante brought the two closer, ensuring that his voice was so low that it could not be heard past his arm, he whispered, “No noise. There is something here. We cannot fight it. But... I think we can sneak past it. It’s worth a shot. Either that, or we resign ourselves to fighting Astraeus.”
Despite her fear of death and much worse, the Weren nodded deeply. She never wanted to see that monster again, while Archimedes stood confused. They told the boy much, but he did not comprehend the foe that was on this planet.
However, Sonna’s agreement was enough. Archimedes would follow him because the boy trusted him. Perhaps he abused that trust, but Dante didn’t believe so.
And so, the human crept forward, step by step, with the other two behind him.
The hallway before then was long, and even with Dante’s augments to his eyes, he could not see in utter darkness. The end of the corridor, once filled with paper trails and desks that one would have stopped at, sat silent. Doors lined the side, rooms where one would set up deals for how long the ship would be in stay or to rent a starship, but all of them were closed, leaving behind an oppressive silence.
It was as if, behind each door, an unimaginable terror reigned.
Sonna shivered with each footfall forward, and Archimedes bawled his eyes out. Nonetheless, they followed their allegedly fearless leader. The former cursed Dante, while the latter prayed to the human in his mind.
However, as Dante passed a random door, the glass that acted as a window revealed the inside to him. And it came close to breaking him.
The lights were all off, the usual hum of technology absent, for the Lightsea’s presence had rendered all electronics useless. Yet, despite the pervasive darkness, Dante’s eyes could pierce through the gloom, drawn by a faint, uncanny glow emanating from the room beyond.
Inside, the sight that met his eyes made his blood run cold. Tens—no, hundreds—of glowing green sacks lined the room, each one pulsing and undulating with some unknown, rhythmic breath. The sacks were semi-transparent, just enough for Dante to make out the figures trapped within. Humanoid figures.
His stomach churned, and he recoiled in an instant, a wave of nausea threatening to overwhelm him.
He had seen plenty of fucked up fauna before, but this was something else.
The sight was grotesque beyond his memories; the figures inside the sacks distorted in some nightmarish gestation. Dante’s mind raced, the horrifying implications sinking in. These weren’t just bodies—they were being kept alive for a purpose he didn’t dare to imagine.
They were food. Or wombs.
The two possibilities entered his mind despite his wishes, reminding him of his shakes.
With the scene burned into his retina, he reached for the vial of Nullify in his pocket, longing for the familiar numbness that would calm his spiraling thoughts. But his fingers found nothing.
The human had left it on the ship, not possessing the foresight to know that his first plan would have gone so awry. After all, how was he to know that Rejo was harboring an Anathema?
Dante forced himself to take a deep breath, trying to steady his nerves. The other two glanced up at him in bewilderment, but he needed this moment.
The image of those glowing sacks burned into his mind, a guarantee of the horrors the Lightsea had unleashed. The squirming insides hinted at a looming threat, with an approaching terror. And that they would not stop.
Something shifted in the human’s mind. He was naïve to think he could gather a crew and sail into the center of the galaxy. And for what? So he could investigate his father’s death?
Or was it revenge for his brother?
What about making a name for himself?
Maybe it was to prevent him from starving near to death again.
Perhaps… it was a meager effort to eradicate that eternal loneliness he felt?
No matter the reason, none of it mattered compared to these... abominations. It is one thing to kill something.
It is another to do... that...
The Weren and the mechanic tapped at Dante’s legs, rushing him to do something, anything at this moment. Their fear was palpable, and it spread to Dante.
He prided himself on his analytical thinking, calm mind, and logical decisions. Right here, though... the emotions swirled. And, as usual, they rose far beyond what he could handle.
The man wanted to scream. He wanted to fight. He wanted to destroy all those sacs and free those within, even if they were already dead. But he didn’t. He couldn’t.
Hands ascended and tensed his ruffled collar before he turned around. Then, without uttering a single word, the man backed out of the building. The other two followed, as mum as imaginable.
Nothing harried or attacked them the whole while, and the moment Dante left the Starport, his eyes rose to the skies above the darkness that shrouded the sun. His ears replayed the sound of screaming people, the Anaphages or Anarchies finding them in their homes. Some of those noises were old. Others were new.
The deaths had since slowed, as many had watched precautionary videos in case of such attacks. Families had panic shelters, weapons in the home, etc. Those that were ill-prepared were already gone. Those were the majority, and still, more would still die.
A conservative estimate would say two-thirds of the city was dead already.
Dante thought he didn’t care. Truly. He didn’t. He had only ever cared for those close to him. So, that was why he couldn’t understand his repulsion.
“You’re not wrong, Dante. You don’t care for those wretches in there. You just don’t want that happening to those you left behind,” Judas’ cackling laughter superseded the noise inside Dante’s mind.
Eyes shifted to Judas, the unknown being standing with his back against a streetlight. Dante did not answer, the depths of the human refusing to meet his own evil.
“Oh? You won’t be honest with them? Even me? You were going to just leave. With you three, even if the starship didn’t work, you’d sneak out until you exited the bounds of the Lightsea. Isn’t that right? You, Dante, are worse than me. I would at least kill them myself instead of leaving them as prey for such... varmints,” the words of Judas brought Dante’s emotions to a boiling point, and he struggled to control them any further.
He wanted to deny it; he wanted to say that he never planned such things, but he couldn’t. After all, it was a blatant lie that the others had to remain behind. The truth was that Dante could only escape the city with the two beside him, the small and stealthy ones.
It was impossible to navigate the city unheard with a group any larger. If they had to fight their way through, then they would never escape. More and more would just keep coming until Dante and his crew died.
But why? Why had he made this choice? Dante wasn’t sure why he chose this over any other option. The betrayal on the Starsinger had stung more deeply than expected.
The two who were closest to him, Joan and Rejo, he had to push away. Because if they betrayed him, what would he do?
How much more would he break?
Judas inched toward the human while his companions panicked over his bizarre silence. They grabbed at his arms, but he was too stable, immobile to their feeble strengths.
The figure seemed to gain height under the cover of night as he leaned down. With that grown shadow, Judas pleaded to Dante, “Come on, Dante. Just admit it. You are evil. Betray Rejo? Man... he believes in you so much! Joan, I kind of understand, but really? Didn’t you see the look on her face? She was SO excited to join you! To her... it must have been everything she was waiting for! A scene to display her brilliance! Her inventions! We’ve been through this before! And you wanted to leave them all to die!”
“Rule one. Never leave a crewmate behind,” Dante’s voice cut through the terrible sickness in his mind, leaving Judas in complete disarray.
First, Dante spoke aloud, and then he spoke only within.
“I have never said I am a good man. Good men do not need rules. If I am to do this... to go all the way... To rise into the ranks of the Legates, Gravitors, and Endless, to see all that I wish to, and to become all that I must, then I need to do it right. If I play it the way I have in the past... they’ll kill me and leave my corpse to rot with no legacy or history.”
A firm smile rested on Judas’ face before vanishing into the dormant pieces of Dante’s mind. Its approval only made him more concerned about his future. Still, Dante hated he had wavered on leaving people behind twice in one day. That was not right.
That was not him. It was Judas, or whatever this thing was, tampering with him. He needed to set rules. And not pass them. He could exploit, cheat, and betray others, but not these people.
Why? He did not know why for most of them.
For the Araki, it was clear. Rejo had proven his trust with his own blood. As for the others…
Perhaps they were in the right place at the right time. Perhaps it was the Lightsea fucking with the man some more. Regardless of the circumstances, Dante became determined.
The lengthened smile was the last thing Dante saw of the departing figure.
After it did so, the human came to with a woman whisper-shouting into his ear, “What are you talking about, Dante? We’re in the middle of the street! And I hear something within the Starport clattering! Come on! What are we doing!?”
Dante shook his head, dismissing her concerns, and moved on to what he believed was a more pressing matter, “We won’t make it to the ship. Not with what I saw in that room. We only have one option as a group. And that is to help Claudius. We three could sneak out of the city to the barrens and let Arch tinker until we escape, but the rest would die.”
Sonna waved her hands wildly in front of the two, incapable of believing Dante’s words, “Are you serious? You? Don’t want to leave them behind? Come on! Let’s just go! You know the routes, right? Take us. Please?”
A hand delved into Dante’s pocket and retrieved a slim device. It was the only working piece of electricity on the planet, built to transmit signals over short distances, even through the muck that was the Lightsea.
The light from the device was unnatural to Dante’s eyes, and there was only one contact on the phone.
Claudius Vermillion.
The human dialed the number while taking steps back toward the prison. He wouldn’t abandon Joan or shatter Rejo’s faith, nor would he dismiss such an opportunity for strength.
It was a gamble, and yet, to Dante, everything had been since he set foot on his first starship. The thing was, one had to calculate the odds and only bid when the time was right.
Dante had nothing to lose.
He was already going crazy; some daemon in his mind was pulling him every which way with some chaotic agenda. Dante didn’t even know if Judas was real. It could just be some parasite in his head. If the man was real, then that was worse. A figure more terrifying than Astraeus could appear at any time.
Such woes were not the end of the line, however.
Dante’s family died long ago, and the only ‘friend’ he had left may be insane as well. His head would soon get a massive bounty now that Claudius knew him.
Oppositely, though, he had everything to gain.
Power. Fame. Fortune. It was all possible; just beyond his fingertips, he could taste it. Did he want all three? No. No, he didn’t.
He didn’t even want power; he just needed it as a means. What he truly desired...
Was to find his father, and figure out why he never returned. Why did he choose to do those things to Dante? Why did he sell him? That was the grandest reason of them all, beyond the desire for life, liberty, or happiness.
The man wanted to hit his father just one time for what he had done.
After several long seconds, the line clicked into tune, a firm voice on the other end speaking aloud, “Oh, hold on! I got a call! Eight, leave the Martian alone! Hello, Dante. I was hoping you would call soon. I believe you already know where I am.”