He’d had a bad feeling about this from the start. When Ignateous didn’t do his weekly check-in, alarm bells started ringing in his head. It had been far too early for him to pull a meltdown.
And now, with the woman in front of him looking like she’d rather be anywhere but here, he knew for sure that something had gone tits up.
"Sir," a woman in uniform said, giving Cristan Toriklas a crisp salute. "I have news about the operation down at the Third Ring."
"Good news or bad news?"
“Bad news, I’m afraid, Sir. The reports we were able to compile suggested that the agent is dead, and the package is nowhere to be seen.”
“What happened?” Cristan growled, his dark blue eyes narrowing.
“We don’t... really know, sir,” she said for the first time, showing any signs of hesitation. “We were unable to find any witnesses that were sober or perceptive enough to offer any information. The best we got was that there was some electric failure, and everyone evacuated in a hurry. Then, the sounds of a gunfight. At that point, everyone fled.”
“Any physical evidence?”
“We couldn’t investigate the site where the agent allegedly perished, sir. A group of Cardinals has closed the building off, and they refuse to let anybody enter. We assume their continued presence means the gem is not in their custody.” He tapped his foot on the ground impatiently, and the officer in front of him fidgeted. “I am sorry, general. I’m afraid the trail has gone cold.”
"No digital traces either?"
The woman shook her head. "None, sir. Either everyone in that club had a mass hallucination, or whoever absconded with the chairman was able to wipe all traces of their presence despite having a very loud and very violent gunfight in the middle of a crowded club."
Toriklas took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "All right," he nodded.
"What should we do now, sir?"
He gritted his teeth and shook his head. He’d already spent far too many resources on his master’s side project. “Put out some feelers, see if we can get any information at all. Until we do, we need to focus on domestic issues.”
“Is this about the ColaFizz Tower bombing?”
Cristan nodded with a bitter grimace.
“They’re getting bold, sir.”
“That they are, Lieutenant.” He agreed with a grunt. “Dismissed.”
The woman gave him another crisp salute and walked out of his office.
Cristan Toriklas turned around and stared at the map with hard eyes. He pulled up his terminal and started a voice recording.
“It’s me. The gem is gone. Put out an open bounty for information on it. I can’t do anything more on my end without people starting to ask questions. And find out what the Cardinals are up to.”
…
“What the fuck happened here?” Clarissa asked, shaking her head and looking into the two emergency stasis pods before her.
“I am afraid he won’t answer you until we open the pod,” Marius replied, brushing a strand of blonde hair from his eyes.
Clarissa leveled a flat stare at him. “Well? What do you expect me to do about it? Open it.”
Marius chuckled softly and shook his head, clicking a big green button on the pod's side containing Varhas Corax.
With a hiss, the capsule opened, spilling the fluid Corax had been floating in all over Marius’ and Clarissas’ shoes.
“Gah, oh man, it stinks.” Clarissa said, stepping back and pinching her nose.
Varhas’ eyes snapped open, and the filter mask in front of his mouth and nose dissolved. He took a deep, shaking breath as if on the edge of fury. He turned to look at the faces of his fellow Faithful, and his breathing calmed.
“The Gem is gone,” Varhas grunted, sitting up and wiping his palms on his jacket. It didn’t do much.
Marius reached into his jacket, produced a large, navy blue handkerchief, and offered it to Varhas, who happily accepted and started wiping himself off. "What happened, Varhas? You said you could handle it."
"Yeah, well, I expected to find an Ignatius with a few barely competent guards."
Clarissa folded her arms and looked down at the pod with distaste. "Instead, you ended up in this." She gave the pod a kick. "How?"
Varhas slowly got up and stumbled towards a nearby chair, collapsing into it. He lit up a cigarette and took a deep drag. "Complications."
"The fuck is that supposed to mean?" grumbled Clarissa.
"From what I understand, by the time I came in, Ignatius Toriklas was already dead. So were all of his guards." Varhas said bitterly, "The Gem was nowhere to be seen, and the club was empty save for two people. One was a giant oaf that grabbed me and jumped into the Dark. The other one was Razel Ibicas. The Rust Reaver."
“The Rust Reaver?” Clarissa asked, looking at Varhas in alarm. “He’s working again?”
Varhas snorted with a smug smile. “I think past tense is more appropriate, considering I used my Faith to shoot him straight in the chest. I saw the projectile land before that lumbering moron shoved me through the elevator doors. There is no way he survived.”
Marius looked at Varhas with raised eyebrows. “You seem awfully cavalier about losing the Gem’s trail.”
Varhas shrugged and stood up with a grunt. “His body isn’t here, so someone must have carried it off. And, even in his heyday, the Rust Reaver couldn’t have pulled this off solo. I’ll just hunt down the bastard’s allies and drag the information out of them one scream at a time.” He gave Marius a vicious smile.
“You’ll be doing no such thing, brother.” Marius shut him down, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Varhas looked up with a dangerous glint in his eyes. “Explain.”
Marius gave him a sardonic smile. “We have a mission. We have three days to rest and recuperate, and we’re off.”
“What about the Gem?” Varhas said, looking between his two companions.
Clarissa shrugged. “Orders are orders. Go spend time with your wife, Varhas.”
His wife. Yes. He relaxed at the thought of his Geona. “Three days?”
“Aye, brother,” Marius said with a warm smile, patting Varhas on the shoulder. “The Ring remembers.”
Varhas looked across the destroyed club, scorch marks and bulletholes riddling every wall. “Once we’re done with whatever mission this is, I’m hunting the gem down.”
“And we’ll help,” Marius said with a smile. “We’ll find the Reaver’s allies and, with them, the trail to our Gem.”
"What should we do with her?" Clarissa asked, pointing at the second pod, her lips twisted in distaste.
"Bring her with us," Varhas said, "I think she's earned a reward."
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
…
“No, that… That can’t be. He can’t be dead.” The huge man said pleadingly.
Farrah shook her head with a snarl. “He is. Before we went on the mission, he told me he got life insurance with me as the beneficiary, just in case something happened. In hindsight, maybe he knew something like this would happen.”
He collapsed to his knees, staring at his shaking hands. “But… How?”
“I don’t know, Rota,” Farrah said, her voice cracking. “All I know is this. Razel Ibicas sent us off and said there was only one enemy left, an easy one, and that he and Sothog would handle him. A few minutes later, I receive payment from Sothog’s life insurance, and Razel Ibicas stumbles in the getaway vehicle we parked outside of the club on the verge of death, covered in scorched marks and with Sothog’s lightning coursing all over his body. He flexed his hand, and the lightning grew stronger, and then it disappeared. He was controlling it.”
Rota Kosasho’s head snapped up. “Sothog’s lightning?”
She nodded, her eyes blazing with fury. “I don’t know how, but it didn’t harm him. He collapsed unconscious before he could answer me.”
Rota jumped to his feet and stomped towards Farrah, his expression dark with murderous intent. “Why did you not force the answers out of him?”
Farrah let out a bitter-sounding laugh. “Zuri Hiwara, the heiress of the Molten Fist, came to the mission with us and restrained me when I tried to get some answers out of him. When we got to the Orphanage, neither she nor Sister Silver allowed me to see the son of a bitch.”
Rota looked down at the floor, the massive man’s obsidian skin glittering in the artificial firelight of Farrah’s home. “Do we know anything about what happened?”
“Not as such,” Farrah replied. “But when I tried questioning Lady Hiwara, something in her expression told me she knew something. I don’t know what, but she wouldn’t answer any of my questions.”
“So…” Rota took a deep breath. “Our brother is dead, and someone out there is running around with his powers.”
“Yes,” Farrah spat, digging her nails into her armchair.
Rota looked up and stared into her eyes. “He did something to Sothog, didn’t he?”
“I think so.”
“We’ll make him tell us what he did. Then, he will die.” Rota’s voice had a finality that made a shiver race down Farrah’s spine. His eyes blazed with a madness that reassured and terrified Farrah.
“Family above all, brother.”
“Family above all, sister.”
…
He woke up in complete darkness. His mind shrieked in terror. He had failed. They’d put him in a Prophet. Then, sweet, sweet agony assaulted him. Pain meant he still had a body. He had not ascended yet. Thank the Father.
He looked down at his body, turned his dark vision on, and, with a mix of horror and delight, saw that a large part of his chest had been augmented. He did not know why he deserved such honor, but this, too, was a step closer to true death, so he would not complain.
He looked up to the sky and let out a shriek full of pain and pleasure. That bastard. That heretic. To steal from him and then harm his divine body. He would find him and tear his heart out with his bare hands.
----------------------------------------
REQUEST DENIED
----------------------------------------
A voice thundered in his head. It was so loud, so pure. Unmistakable. A voice that had spoken to him only once before, the day his eyes had been opened. His god spoke to him. To him!
“Oh, Father,” he said, prostrating himself on the slab of metal he’d been lying on. “What is your will?”
----------------------------------------
STATE YOUR IDENTITY
----------------------------------------
“I was named Narilaeon, Father.”
----------------------------------------
NARILAEON IS NO MORE
----------------------------------------
“Father?” Narilaeon looked up. Would his lord strike him down for his failure?
----------------------------------------
YOU ARE NOW NEMESIS
----------------------------------------
Needles struck Nemesis all over his body. The agony disappeared. Bliss. Oh, such bliss. And a feeling of strength, unlike anything he’d ever felt before.
“Father, why do you give me this gift,” he gasped in rapturous pleasure. “Am I to continue my hunt? Will you allow me to repent for my failure?”
----------------------------------------
REQUEST DENIED
PROJECT IN PROGRESS
----------------------------------------
“Then what will you have of me, lord?” Nemesis said, feeling the needles stab deeper. The pain mixed with the bliss, and he relaxed.
----------------------------------------
IMITATE
----------------------------------------
With a heaving chest, Nemesis looked up and, for the first time, noticed the low, red light illuminating the room, revealing that he had been lying on a sacred altar. He shivered and kept moving his gaze upwards.
His eyes stopped when they fell upon a gigantic metal sculpture of a snake eating its own tail. Its body was black metal, and its eyes were ruby red.
Nemesis stared at the sculpture in adoration. It’s eyes shifted and focused on him.
He locked up. He could only move his eyes.
----------------------------------------
EVOLVE
----------------------------------------
He heard a slithering sound. He looked down to see a smaller version of the sculpture wrap itself around him. His god was… embracing him. The snake kept climbing until it was up to his chest. Then, it turned its head towards the middle of his chest, and its head split in half at the mouth, revealing a small white gem. It stood on eight spider-like legs and gingerly jumped on his chest.
----------------------------------------
SUFFER
----------------------------------------
The creature screeched and burrowed into his flesh.
Nemesis screamed.
Then, he started laughing.
…
Two months. It had taken me two bloody months to get all the paperwork and everything else figured out. But finally, it was done. I sighed as I relaxed on my brand-new couch.
“I like this place,” Hob chirped.
I nodded back with a faint smile as I looked around at my new Hab. It was smaller than the previous one, and the neighborhood wasn’t the best, but I had enough space for my purposes and an elevator to the Otherside within walking distance, so I wasn’t about to complain. Sector 26 has over 21 million people living in it, but this place was not as prominent as Sector 1, so hiding and starting a new life was easier. Maybe find a new bar, too. Wait.
“Ah, shit,” I groaned, remembering something important.
“What is it, sir?” Hob asked, sounding concerned.
I rubbed my eyes with my left hand. I still didn’t have great control over [Apostate’s Blade], so I kept that hand away from my organs and, more importantly, my face. “I forgot to pay my tab.”
Hob looked at me from his little window, perplexed. “Your tab, sir?”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “The bar I used to go to in Sector 16.”
“Oh! Shall we go?” Hob said, sounding excited.
I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “You’re not worried about someone spotting us?”
He gave me a little shrug. “I was there when you received your [Life-Reset] package, remember? Even if you don’t wear your visual scrambler, finding any accurate information about you will be nearly impossible.”
I looked at Hob with pride. “Well said.” He basked in my admiration with a wide smile.
I left my Hab and took the monorail to Sector 16. Walking through the familiar streets was strange. Silvina and I first moved here eight years ago, and whilst she had left, I remained. It had started feeling like home. And now, it was home no more.
I opened my notifications window. Empty. With a grimace of dissatisfaction, I closed it. Over the last two months, I had reached out to Farrah a dozen times, asking to meet. Trying to explain.
No reply.
I'd even gone to the Guild in person, requesting to see her, but I was told nobody had been able to contact or locate her since our mission. I sighed and shook my head. I sent her enough messages trying to explain what happened that, at this point, if Farrah didn't want to see me, I would respect her decision and hope for the best. I just hoped she was safe.
I made my way to the Bar, but a familiar voice stopped me as I was about to cross the street.
“Razel, my boy! Are you well?” Flon said jovially, waving at me from his food cart, still opposite the bar.
I walked up to him with a wide grin. “Flon, I see you’re still here.”
“I am. This is a good spot, believe it or not.” He gave me a wide grin. “What have you been up to? I haven’t heard from you in a couple months, was afraid you got killed.”
I shrugged. “Nothing much to report. Had to move to a different sector. I haven’t found a mission broker that suits me, so I’m considering picking up public contracts. Not the best money, but it’ll be enough to get my new life started.”
“Oho,” Flon said with a tone that made me wary. “So, you’re saying you are open to side dishes today?” he asked with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
I snorted and rolled my eyes. “Fine, yes. Let’s hear what kind of missions you have. I’m about to pay off my tab, so any money is welcome.”
Flon opened his mouth to speak, but I raised my finger, interrupting him. “Ah. Hold that thought. You have a terminal?”
Flon looked at me confused but nodded. “I do. Here, connect to this,” he said, revealing a small blue circle on the side of his cart.
I placed my right hand on that circle and clicked on the message notification that had popped up.
----------------------------------------
[MESSAGE]
From: Zuri Hiwara
My father is missing.
I need your help.
----------------------------------------
I went still.
The day had arrived sooner than I expected.
“Never mind, Flon. No side dishes for me. Seems like I’ll be going on a Delve.”
The End of Book 1 of The Rings of Jupiter