{Cinder | 2,000,000 Years Ago}

At another conquest celebration on Cinder, Umbra dressed his hair in such a way to display his ugly, scarred face. The reason escaped Remorse. After all, Nox as a mere child had scarred his father with that hideous mug. Then again, most of what Elden’s Coalition lieutenants such as Umbra found pride in befuddled Primary Rem.

Now. The woman on Umbra’s right, Remorse understood.

Savis carried herself with a poise befitting a daughter of Elden. Despite her obvious weakness, her chin was high and her eyes shone with clarity. Savis wore the same severe expression meant only to invoke Umbra’s dismay. Never happy in his presence. The King of Cinder often wept at their incompatibility. Privately, of course.

But when one lurked in the shadows of this Spire, they could witness everything meant for an audience of one. Remorse had learned so much from spying here. Like Amolot spent hours on her knees praying to Elden for Umbra’s demise. Savis met with rebels in secret. And Nox was more father to Xelan than Umbra could ever claim.

This was not a home.

Disguised as a tall Thailean Mystic, Remorse gleaned more secrets from this festival. Karter, the Valkyrie with the rainbow hair, walked by, and he admired her carriage. Para followed Karter, with the most endearing smile—

Xelan.

The half-Icarean toddler rushed by with an emphatic giggle and squealed, “No, Nock!” He kept looking back for his older brother, presumably in chase.

Primary Rem plucked him from the crowd so fast it left the boy—Remorse’s son—blinking in his face.

After a hiccup, Xelan said, “Hi!” Then he grinned so big it showed off his missing tooth.

Remorse’s heart melted. “Hello, son.”

“Give him to me.”

The ice in Savis’ voice instantly chilled Remorse. A threat lay beneath it. Although quite ill for some time now, Remorse knew her to be a pragmatic woman. She was quite capable of murder, especially if she felt her son was threatened.

Primary Rem turned with deliberate slowness. Xelan bubbled at him, unaware of the strife between his parents. Nox appeared behind his mother and stared harder to see under the Thailean robe’s hood.

Savis’ eyes were mystical. Iridescent and shining. They complimented her delicate bone structure and the waves in her hair, but it was the shrewdness in her eyes which had attracted Remorse to her. It’s why he chose her to bear this important merger of their races, and something in those intelligent eyes glinted with knowledge of the truth.

Savis knew.

“My son, sir.” Savis held out her arms.

Xelan reached for her.

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Remorse held on. He liked the warmth and play emanating from his son. The sweetness in him, so foreign now to the rest of Primary Rem’s existence. He and Vi parented many sons, but none like him. “I think I may keep him.”

Without taking those shimmering eyes off Remorse, Savis instructed, “Nox, find your father and sound the alarm. Tell them a Tritan invaded—”

“No. That will not be necessary.” A Primary could level a battlefield with a single blow. He wasn’t concerned for his life, but more for Imminent’s future use for the Icari until they were no longer required.

Xelan giggled for his mother as Remorse handed him to her.

Nox was a child, but his eyes narrowed with suspicion as he gazed between the two adults. Perhaps he’d inherited more of his mother’s intelligence than Remorse had acknowledged in prior interactions.

With her two boys in tow, Savis swept away without another word.

Or so she thought. “You will keep my secret then?” Why Remorse called to her like he had any right escaped him. As a scientist, his impregnating her was clinical and necessary, and Remorse could deceive the others all day why he chose her, the woman so similar to his long gone Vi. Right down to her secret revolution against her unioned partner.

No. Remorse knew exactly why he called after Savis. One last look. A final moment to memorize every feature of her face which fate had denied him of Vi.

Savis stopped with Xelan in her arms and Nox ready at her side. A heavy pause filled the space between them. One she broke with a flat tone. “You understand little of why a woman tolerates the presence of a man. You give us children, and we rear them in love while you plan their futures in war and breeding. Consider your cankerous influence on the Icari? What love will they know with my father gone, and all of them left cowing to the likes of Umbra?”

Remorse needed Silence’s army, and Umbra was a necessary evil. One he despised.

The proud daughter of Elden continued. “No. I keep your secret within my arms.” Xelan giggled like Savis had tickled him. “Never force me to tolerate your presence again or risk learning a hard truth: all women would rather die than endure more of your cancer.”

How did Savis…

Those were Vi’s last words to him.

Remorse winced beneath his hood and a tear squeezed from his voids.

Without a backward glance, denying him a final glimpse of her beauty, Silence’s daughter continued down the hall. “Come, my sons. Let us retire and speak of the future Elden had intended. A future of love and a Cinder free of Li.”

{Enki | New Cinder | Now}

Remorse punched the cave wall with a guttural roar, sending a concussive shockwave through the mountainside and creating an entirely new splinter of tunnels.

Why?! Why was he plagued with this endless stream of frustration?! Every single ordeal in his life centered around a fucking woman. And he tried. Oh, did he try. Primary Rem respected their intelligence and impressive capabilities, but for some reason reason which escaped him, engaging with these women always went horribly wrong.

This was the last time.

Celindria could subdue Remorse inside Karter’s—another fucking woman—formidable, yet inadequate body compared to his own, but even the First Progeny was no match for a Primary. It was beyond time for Remorse to demonstrate how far off she’d underestimated him.

To think. There was a time when he considered loving Celindria.

Hah!

Nothing about her knew of love or its virtues. No, that lonely hollowed-out facsimile of a person couldn’t grasp it, even with her expansive imagination. Remorse pitied Nox for gaining the focus of her attentions, and Rayne for ever pitting herself as a rival.

Now they all spun around this pool of lava, funneling to the end.

Enki.

This was someone’s doing, and Remorse no longer attributed it solely to Project Surra. This stank of…

Aegis.

Remorse stopped charging for Celindria’s lab and peered down the tunnel on his left. Black rock lined the cave and glowing water lit the way. At this junction, the tunnel on the right led to her lab. After he used Aegis blood from his precious store to travel here, should he risk a detour? It would catch her unawares.

One benefited from the element of surprise when killing someone like Celindria, and who didn’t like a grand entrance?

Vi would approve. “Cripple your enemy with their own arrogance.”

Remorse took the tunnel on the left.