Andrew awakened in an empty bed.

Again.

It was the second night in a row since they’d returned to the zeppelin outside Nikki’s Iona after Xelan’s Verse. Both nights, Andrew dreamt of Celindria decimating Iona Pax with her mad ambitions. And both nights, he awakened to cold sheets and the ginger scent of Lucas lingering on his pillow.

Andrew had ignored it the first time, but not tonight. With a quick hop into some shorts, he left their room in search of his lover with a clandestine past.

Bathroom.

Kitchen.

Closet.

Living Space—

Where the hell was Lucas?!

Andrew didn’t understand the source of the panic. Maybe it was residual from his nightmare? Maybe it resulted from Xelan’s confession? Whatever the reason, Andrew’s heart threatened to choke him until he ran out the door and opened his wings.

“Lucas?!” Where the fuck—

“Up here.”

Andrew gazed up to the very top of the zeppelin where Lucas sat, waving at him. Within seconds, the Progeny flew up to meet his Icarean partner. The neatness of whom intimidated Andrew, flustered in his shorts. Lucas had already donned a three-piece suit, gelled his sandy-blond hair, and pulled it back to let his molten gold eyes have center stage. Only they were red-rimmed, and the scent of salt permeated the surrounding air.

Concerned, Andrew sat beside Lucas and plopped his chin on the other man’s shoulder. Andrew asked, “Do you want to talk about it?” He could check his lover’s intentions, but doubted he’d find an honest answer there.

Lucas sat with his elbows resting on his knees, hands hanging down. They stared out at the ocean where a non-mutated whaleshark spouted red water into the pre-dawn air. Gull-like birds with horns circled above. It would make for a beautiful sunrise, and Xelan did his best to program realistic ones to the shields, turning around Ishkur’s unnamed star.

So Andrew would sit here, cuddling Lucas, until the Icarus volunteered his woes or the sun greeted them on the horizon.

Several minutes later, when the rays first streaked the sky, Lucas confessed, “I miss my people.”

“The Brethren?”

Lucas shook his head, staring at the beach and not meeting Andrew’s eyes. The ancient spy said, “My father and my brothers.”

They’d never discussed his family before. Andrew assumed it was information Lucas would volunteer if or when he was ready. Wrapping his arms around his lover’s middle, Andrew squeezed and asked, “Can you visit them?”

Lucas shook his head. That was all. He stared out at the rising sun and envisioned a family Andrew couldn’t see, lamenting a loss untold—

Light bulb. Eureka. Epiphany—Whatever. Andrew declared, “You can.”

Now Lucas finally looked at Andrew. With something shifting in his golden eyes, he asked, “How’s that, amos?”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Okay. So. Andrew totally indulged too much in Lucas calling him the pet name Icari often gave their partners. That aside, he said, “Kyle can return you to the memories, and you can relive them. We did the interactive memory walk with the girls and the gorge. Do you remember? We were in Tumu’s sanctum, waiting for the battle—”

“Yes. Yes. I recall, but…” Lucas looked back out to the horizon and swallowed before he said, “I’m afraid that isn’t so in my case.” With a big inhale, moving Andrew a bit with him, Lucas said, “Andrew, thank you for this.”

Still stuck on the whole ‘isn’t so in my case’ bit, Andrew frowned at his lover’s gratitude. “For what?”

Lucas hugged him, saying, “This.” He patted one of Andrew’s hands. “Now come on. We have a long day of work ahead of us, trying to narrow down why the Probability Matrix is shrinking. I won’t fail the Kings and our Emperors.”

They shifted and opened their wings. In flight, Andrew asked, “Do you think Celindria is behind it?”

Back on the ground already, Lucas straightened his bow tie while saying, “We can’t rule her out.”

“You don’t sound certain,” Andrew said while they returned to the zeppelin. He didn’t mind running around the Shadow without a shirt on, but he liked to dress for work to get a semblance of compartmentalization of his life.

From the doorway, Lucas said, “There can always be multiple factors contributing to the dilemma. No need to assume Celindria is entirely responsible.”

Dressed and outside once again, Andrew asked, “You’ve been around Celindria for a while. What was it like?”

They passed through the conduit to their place and entered the Shadow… Foyer? Landing? The place where all their conduits met. As they traveled, Lucas said, “It was like witnessing a powerful toddler throw a tantrum while holding the multi-verse in her hands.”

Andrew gave a bewildered, conceding nod as they entered Ishkur’s bridge. There, they stared down into the swirling maelstrom of Cascading Light while walking along nanite-railed gangplanks. Dizzying and dangerous.

Silence and Smith waited on the level below, ready to begin. One grinned and glowed in her bikini and labcoat. The other smirked because Smith communicated mostly in smiles.

Andrew asked, “Where’s T.a.o.? I thought she wanted to join us—”

The eldest Seamswalker appeared beside him with her violet Atramentous eyes set on the vortex. “There are fewer.”

Silence shot Andrew and Lucas a curious glance.

Smith hopped his ass on the glass gangplank and dangled his legs over the whirlpool. His smirk shifted into something more challenging, as if he dared anyone to tell him to move.

Andrew ignored the look and answered Silence’s wordless question. “It’s true. The Probabilities have been shrinking, especially within the last five days.”

Lucas handed out diagnostic reports on the Matrix, and they all glimpsed over the irrefutable data. Their job today was to meet and discern any patterns. Brainstorm. It might take hours or days, even—

“It’s natural,” Lucas said after swiping one-page of the five-volume analysis.

Silence nodded, agreeing.

Smith, who never once looked at it, stared across the nightmare below and simply did not contribute.

Andrew exchanged a glance with T.a.o., who was the only person that looked confused or even concerned. He said, “I’m sorry. Can you three please share your findings with the rest of the class?”

Lucas did the thing where he gave Andrew a sexy smirk, which Lucas did when he found Andrew adorable for something young or obvious. The Icarus pointed to the readings on the tab. “See this dissolution marker here? And here? It means those Probabilities died of natural causes to put it frankly.”

At Andrew’s frown, Silence explained, “Their Verse ended from some resolution.”

“The end of their story?” T.a.o. seemed faster on the uptake than Andrew.

Musing to himself, Smith asked, “I wonder if it was happy?”

Lucas spared his comrade a bemused look before meeting Andrew’s eyes again. He said, “You’re right, though. We should be concerned. Probabilities rarely end this way—Especially so young. Yet, here we are with evidence of it in our hands. It may even mean our world is at risk of dissolution. We should investigate their endings to learn what brought them on.”

End.

End of the Verse—A universal apocalypse.

And the three most knowledgeable people in the room didn’t look alarmed at all. There was something to this pattern. Something familiar.

Andrew would work with his team to solve this, but he’d also consult some outside help. Sources with less suspicious ties to the Probability Matrix.

Tumu was the first person who came to mind. Andrew only hoped the Tritan Primary wasn’t too busy helping with Xelan to spare a few minutes to brainstorm about the world ending.

So this was simply a normal day at the office.