Rena stood in the white void of her prison. Her hair appeared disheveled, a gigantic pile of her hair was torn from her head. Many would have damned her mental stability with this practice, but surrounding her were piles of severed limbs, amputated hands cut into sections. The void had been dyed a shade of dark crimson in certain areas where she had established base camps. Needs like hunger and thirst were forgotten here. If she felt bored and wanted to remember taste, she would simply imagine an extravagant meal and copies of herself would serve her. In this state, she had all the power she could ever need. This world provided her with more power than any born Mortem. Gavilis could not stop her. Strength was hers if she so chose.

The experiments would not stop if she remained here forever. This was one of the few certainties she adored. Her life was filled with nothing but chance and the opportunity. The circumstance became something cathartic for her.

One of her other images approached her. They shifted into the image of Ovelia and she scowled. Around her the void changed into the cluttered space of the Sanguine Overlord’s living quarters. She invited many people here and servants tended to the area in between all the meetings. These were some of the details she had grown accustomed to gaining access to once she had been promoted. Gelehrter’s disappearance caused a chain reaction and all Justicar were advised to be even more cautious.

Their knowledge, even an apprentice, was vital.

Since Rena was now considered missing--though everyone involved with the case including Arden were advised of the implications of her supposed disappearance--she surmised the Sanguine Overlord would have her Soul Cube under high surveillance. Gavilis would be the one appointed to the task. His body required no sleep because of the Dwyn curse and he would be the perfect candidate.

Rena focused onto the mundane memory. In the past, she would have paid close attention to every detail of the secret meeting with Ovelia, but time spent within the Soul Cube was taxed her. For every one discovery she made within her eternal prison, she was forced to review thousands of memories.

The familiar presence of the Sanguine Overlord reminded her to mind her manners even though it was only a memory. She relinquished all prior knowledge after the meeting and simply acted according to what she had done before.

“You are to accompany Gelehrter tonight. There will be a raid, we will set our armies to apprehend vampires wherever we can and assess the damage. We know our enemy is immense and their influence is felt within. After tonight I will know for certain who is on our side.” Ovelia explained and had placed the map of Sanctuary onto her coffee table. While Gavilis was normally present at these meetings, for this particular meeting she remembered him being absent. Rena mimicked herself contemplating for a few moments, though the thoughts in the current state reflected irritation.

“I am to accompany Gelehrter...what about Arden? She is my partner, I may have worked with Gelehrter ever since he was a mere lad, but I have grown accustomed to her.” This much was true. The two Justicar had grown fond of one another and often required no sharing of mental link like Gelehrter did. She nodded in the similar manner she had when she explained her concerns.

“Gelehrter will be bait. He does not understand what I am truly after here, aside from using this situation to my advantage.” Ovelia did not smirk, though Rena knew her Overlord well enough to interpret the next phrase with a hint of smugness. “I wish to capture a Wrath of the Ancients and have it dismantled so we can better understand it. The vampires have been working with someone on the inside to transport it from place to place. They are harvesting with a massive device in more than one place and to move something like that would require an immense amount of magic or man power. If we were able to capture this, we would also gain more knowledge on what Ernald was after when he built these. He committed them to memory and there are no written records on the Wrath of the Ancients anywhere.”

“You’re gambling many lives on tonight.” Rena commented. From experience, she already knew tonight would be a heavy cost for the Templarate and the Justicar alike. “What will I need Gelehrter for? I can split with him and see if he can handle finding it himself.”

“Do whatever you need to. The Wrath of the Ancients will be here, I have verified many of the sources myself. I took a huge gamble myself by bringing captives into this very room to gain this information.”

Rena nodded and cupped her chin in deep thought. It was in her best interest to keep her assumptions to herself, Ovelia had a better idea of what her thought processes were and would know what Rena was thinking. Even if she played dumb, Ovelia would know otherwise.

“I will see to it if he will take the bait. He's smart, so I will leave it as vague as I can.” Rena lowered her head and mimicked another moment of deep thought. Ovelia reached for her tea kettle and poured them both a helping of the pungent drink. The tea was a Justicar favorite, since the formula to create the beverage could be fabricated from almost nothing. As far as taste, it was infamously bitter but satisfied the mind.

“What about if something were to happen to me? The Wrath of the Ancients is a dangerous thing and no matter how careful I am, I could find myself in its clutches instead.” She crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow to her superior.

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“You will be released if you are trapped in a Soul Cube. If you are consumed by the machine, we will have to improvise. Gelehrter may have survived the Lower Sector, but my daughter and yourself have served Sanctuary with all of your being.” Ovelia sipped at her cup of tea and continued. “The ritual to release you will cost us Gelehrter but your memories will be joined with him.”

“What about Ana?”

“He will give his life wholeheartedly for you.” Ovelia nodded to her with a smirk. This time the Sanguine Overlord indulged in her privileged nature. Rena forced herself to swallow her disgust. At the time, she revered her Sanguine Overlord and practically worshipped her, but being trapped in the Soul Cube has changed her disposition exponentially. She nodded in approval and drained the tea. The heat from the drink scalded her and the pain reminded her of the hurry she was in, for the night raid was going to happen in a few hours. To her the tea was a stimulant and her heart pounded for a few moments, her body tensing as it sensed combat would be close.

“I trust you will ensure this mission a success, no matter the outcome.” Ovelia smiled and Rena responded in kind.

“Your will be done.” Rena assured her, though she knew it would fail miserably to her knowledge. Gelehrter would attempt to flee and keep her safe, this would seal the Overlord's assumptions. Rena knew all too well this feeling of dread. The feeling of the unknown. At another point in her life she had this feeling and could not shake it no matter what. This sensation was amplified ten-fold in her prison and each incarnation of this meeting was pure agony. Every moment she spent in these memories brought more knowledge than hurt, but she had to wade through oceans of pain in order to gain it.

As Rena traced her steps from the entrance of Ovelia’s quarters to Ana’s abode. On the way, she encountered others whom she shared mutual friendships with. Their names were now unimportant, for they served no purpose to her current mission. Since Gelehrter was going to grant her a new chance at life, all other memories were only lived through for the sake of living. Their mundane details granted no further information that she craved concerning her situation.

Then, just as she neared Ana’s abode and the rest of the night would continue like it had, she found herself engulfed in another memory.

This memory was not her own. There were times when she was granted insight into things she did not experience. These types of memories were out of her control and in this instance she looked down at her hands in the fashion the owner had.

An unnamed man she felt obsessed with long after she had been granted her mantle as Justicar. The memories associating with him were always masked in a fog thick enough to render anyone blind. She waded through them and hoped to find any new details she could discern.

Her eyes widened as she experienced the tragedy which had confounded her for as long as she could remember. The Wrath of the Ancients was before her now, the void illuminating pieces of the memory which normally would be obscured. She turned about and saw another man there, but despite his warnings, she found herself rising onto the stage which she knew was death. The man called out repeatedly and before she could decipher his words from his lips, she had turned to face the coming dawn.

Then she found herself surrounded by her experiments in the white void. Her sections where she was transported to each time were only small glimpses of color in the vast emptiness and she climbed onto the massive mound of her copies. Their mutilated corpses had served a double purpose: to mark where she has been and what she has done. This section in particular she determined her own vitality. There were times when herself conquered her and the copy became the original.

Rena reached for her weapon as another illusion of herself rose from the crimson soaked floor. A familiar sensation of her Blessed Star enveloping her body filled her with warmth. She struck out against herself and the copy parried hastily and she lunged forward. The faceless copy stood no chance, for the Blessed Star did not have the chance to fully protect her. Her sword struck true and met purchase in the copy’s stomach. There was no sense of time in the prison, but she recognized her innate speed had increased exponentially. She had accounted for the response from the magical armor to danger and knew where to strike. In Sanctuary, she was taught to wait for her opponent to fully activate before they fought until either one was spent or their weapons were both shattered. A duel between two skilled Justicar either were quick or were drawn out until one or the other was unable to retaliate. The victory would be decided when the only aspect stopping them from death was their enchanted gear.

The Soul Cube offered no answers as to the origins of the Blessed Star of Sanctuary, the gear which had presumably had been crafted by Eisener--or his mentor--and preserved by Gavilis.

She scowled as the man crossed her mind. The man who was the second to Ernald and second to Ovelia, Gavilis was force to be reckoned with. Jealousy drove her into a frenzy and more copies than ever before appeared from the massive pool of the void. Her weapon flashed in a flurry of blows as she systematically dismembered each of them. Whether it was from using their own strikes against them, or her own, she took her anger out on the infinite copies of herself. The gigantic pile which she had established for so long continued to grow as she worked through her fury.

As she took a moment to rest, her Blessed Star deactivated. It was then that another of herself rose from behind and ended her life. The copy absorbed every aspect of Rena, which she had spent--what seemed to be--decades establishing herself. Rena smirked as the Blessed Star grafted to her skin, the corpse dissolving into the endless pool of crimson.

She took a moment to admire her handiwork before guilt reared its ugly head. The humanity she had grown accustomed to appeared lost. Formalities which were only captured in memory resurfaced in a flood of images.

Rena lowered her head as the images were buried deep within her psyche and she renounced them just as she had done before. The white void called to her.

“It is time to continue.” She murmured, for there was no one else alive in this prison.