For two days Tessa crawled and scraped her way through the keyhole passage hidden in Dante’s quarters. She slept once only to be awakened by the tickling legs of a red centipede the size of her arm. The passage became a steep slope, and she climbed ever upward like a drowning sailor reaching for the surface.

Desperate for water, she drank from a small pool swirling with strange bioluminescent fish. They spoke to her of a time long ago when all humans were forced to live underground and gave her unsolicited tips on catching delicious cave worms. Thankfully, the hallucinations didn’t last long.

Tessa was born again into the light of the surface only to find the passage had led her in the wrong direction. Heathen’s Rest was hidden a safe distance from the capitol near the edge of the Barrens. The hideout was far enough from Company patrols to be safe but close enough to Aeos to scavenge for supplies. But Tessa was no longer on the edge of the Barrens. She was in the wasteland proper. An ocean of blood-red sand stretched out before her with no refuge in sight.

She decided to rest in the shaded alcove of Dante’s hidden passage. With nothing else to do, Tessa opened the smooth leather cover of the journal and read.

To whoever finds this solemn account, I hope you will use the information within as a blueprint for avoiding disaster. As the death rattle of our civilization gives its final shake, we now realize that our great power has been corrupted by outside forces. A nameless and faceless enemy has turned our brightest minds against us. We know not if our true enemy is man or God, one entity or many, but we refer to it simply as the voice.

I have no doubt that by the time this journal is found most of our history will be lost or rewritten. So, for the sake of our distant children, I will start at the beginning.

In the ninth generation of the Great Peace, Solarian physicists began to make tremendous advancements in the field of particle science. One such genius was Marova Carvane, who published many books that formed the bedrock of our knowledge. In addition to being the most brilliant mind of her generation, she was also a wonderful mother. Although, I will admit I may have some bias on the latter point.

Tessa scratched at a tangle of red hair.

She was confused by Marova’s names. Were there really so many people back then that everyone had two names? In Tessa’s world, when a person is born the Company assigns them a number in addition to the name their parents choose. Sure, there were occurrences of people sharing a name, but that’s what the number was for. If you just keep adding names, when does it stop? Three names? Four? She couldn’t tell if she was just institutionalized by the Company’s overbearing policies, or if the number was just more efficient.

She shook her head and kept reading.

In the tenth generation, I expanded upon my mother’s work to find practical applications for particle science. The great minds of my generation were able to make breakthroughs in transportation, medicine, and eventually weaponry. But as our technology advanced so did something else.

Tessa thought she saw something in her peripheral but ignored it as her mind extracted the information like a syringe.

They called it Realmcasting. At first, there were just rumors, then firsthand accounts, and finally, I saw the magic with my own eyes. I watched an elderly man move through a busy street at impossible speed. His entire body seethed with vibrations like the string of a musical instrument. The scene was eerily similar to how our particle engines worked. Everything changed after that. Realmcasting and particle technology mirrored each other in every aspect, dividing the population between them.

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Out of the corner of her eye, Tessa saw something moving across the sand. Fear gripped her full attention, and she closed the journal. Her tiny ember of hope began to fade under the weight of doubt. Did she think she could escape the Company that easily?

You are a fool, Tessa, she thought to herself.

But the dagger-shaped flyer slicing its way through red sand was not a hunter of vagrants, just a breaker of hearts. And her heart broke again when she realized the Skyblade was headed directly for Heathen’s Rest.

Dante wore no uniform and had no gleaming captain’s insignia, but still he stood while others were on their knees.

The compliance officers had the surviving residents of Heathen’s Rest bound and shackled just outside the cave’s entrance. Once upon a time, he called these people his friends. He had given them his life even, thinking they could do much better with it than he had. Sadly, that time was at an end. Dante’s life was now back in the hands of its rightful owner.

Ruin spoke to his mind.

Time to go get your life back, Captain.

Lieutenant—now captain by the looks of it—Zion was giving out enthusiastic orders to a group of officers as Dante approached. The newly promoted commander had an air of ignorant superiority that showed from his oiled hair down to his pearl-handled revolver.

Dante slipped back into the persona of his old life like a shell in the chamber.

“What took you so long Lieutenant?” he said to the captain.

Zion’s brow furrowed as he went from rage to confusion.

“Is that you Dante? I never thought I’d find an ex-captain on a raid, but hey it’s been a day of days. Speaking of captains—current and former—I’ve been promoted in your absence.”

The ostentatious shit leaned over to let the light reflect from his polished insignia.

Dante cleared the gap between them in three strides and stuck an index finger right between the man’s eyes.

“I’ve been stuck in this cave for twenty cycles working undercover, while you have accomplished nothing but shining your boots and strutting around the Barrens like an idiot. If you question my rank or assignment, we can go before the Prognosticator herself, and perhaps I can get the brilliant one to re-think your desperate promotion.”

Nice touch my old friend, bold, but nice indeed, Ruin said.

Like most smallminded men struck by the gall of someone standing up to them, Zion conceded. His hot air and gusto deflated like a punctured balloon.

Dante let out an annoyed sigh and pointed up to the solar panels raised on their previously hidden pedestals. They now reflected sunlight like beacons of the damned.

“Who do you think signaled you to come here in the first place?”

Zion nodded and looked to the ground

“Very well Captain, you may accompany us back to Aeos so that you may be debriefed on the findings of your assignment.”

Linus was shaking with anger at the forefront of the shackled prisoners. The old man had always been the de facto leader of Heathen’s rest. He spoke out with a broken voice.

“It was you all along!” he shouted at Dante.

“You raised the solar panels so they would come to steal our children and destroy our home. We took you into this sanctuary and you sold us out in return. You made toys for the children, my daughter included. You helped us when none would. Dante, how could you do this?”

Something flinched deep within his soul, but he didn’t let it show on his face. He already lived this pain the moment Ruin returned. The whole sequence of events had already played out in his head. There comes a time when a man has been broken too many times to repair. For Dante, that time was long ago.

The compliance officers ignored the old man’s rambling and looked to Zion for instructions.

“Kill half of them and load up the rest to be taken back to Aeos,” Zion said.

Dante’s blood went cold.

“No.”

Ahh, the old greater good bit huh? One for the many? I love this part, Ruin said to his mind.

“We may share the same rank, but do not forget who the senior officer is here Zion,” Dante snapped.

“We need as many workers as we can get back in the mines. An example must be made, but I will not waste half of the Company’s property to repair your ego.”

Murder had become a permanent stain on Dante’s soul. He grabbed the pearl-handled revolver straight from Zion’s holster and brought it level with Linus’s head.

He pulled the hammer back with a smooth click and squeezed the trigger without hesitation.

The last gunshot of the day echoed down into the former home of heathens.

“Load the rest up and get them back to work,” Captain Dante said.