"While Rome was falling on Earth, I was earning my reputation as the most deadly warrior in the galaxy," I said while Pax force-fed an orange segment into my mouth. The sweet citrus reinvigorated me, and I smiled my appreciation at my son and his beaming freckles.

Caedes humphed, and Pehton laughed.

Lamassau snorted into his juice. "Truly lethal."

Bones defended my honor. "Deadly doesn't always mean combative. There are other means of delivering mortality onto a populace."

Yes.

There were.

How many nacres had I converted, and how many had failed?

I checked my lab notes, running a hand through my stringy hair. My hygiene wasn't as bad as that one time with Colita and Lucas, but bad enough that I could imagine my close friends' admonishments.

"Prince Xelan, see to your skin. Wash thoroughly to keep the chemicals from corroding it, but also for the smell." My hallucination of Colita wrinkled her nose prettily and affection glowed in her eyes.

Lucas looked me over and, without words, let me know how much help I needed. "To the baths with you. At least this time you can keep your hair."

I wasn't taking care of myself as I had promised. And how could I, while I modified nacres into weapons on Enki's behest?

Primary Rem had tried to justify it to me. "Imagine all the lives you could save by eliminating Nox's horde the moment they step foot onto Earth."

"Eliminate?! Those are my people!" I had cried until my voice broke. I railed until my nails bit into my fists. "I want a peaceful resolution between Earth and Cinder."

The Primary's voids weren't without understanding as he easily worked through my reasoning. "Son, you want peace for Cinder, but you know well enough it means war for Earth. These nacres and the soldiers they would inhabit could deter your brother from ever attacking."

Sound reasoning.

I bit my lip, staring at a nacre in my palm which I'd adjusted it with increased speed and agility. To the universe, I argued, "There must be a better way."

Yet here I was, doing as they told me. Well, not quite.

Easily, I could create nacres with improvements to all things, but I dallied by perfecting one combat attribute at a time. Only eighty more years, and I could be free, leaving Enki without their perfect weapons.

The lab was exceptional. Every surface was sleek, white stone. The devices projected screens onto the walls with my notes and data. The instruments came from Pil, supplied by an inventor there named 2Lip. I was dying to meet him and share information, but the Tritans kept me there alone.

I stole so much stuff.

After I'd finished with a nacre, a younger Tritan would collect it for testing.

"I swear I never knew." I didn't say this to the Shadow in the room. Over their heads, I looked Aria and Torch in their sapphire eyes. Again, I repeated, "I never knew."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Pehton let out a soft noise, and Caedes pulled her against his side.

The room altogether looked uncomfortable and sad.

Tumu muttered, "I wish I'd known. I would have—"

"The manipulators didn't want you to know," Torch said, his voice ringing through the room. "We were kept hidden to soothe your conscience."

"But I could hear your voice," Aria assured. "You were near."

I crossed the room to where they flanked the door, insisting on guarding me despite the sins I'd committed against them. I needed to know more. To understand and perhaps to earn their forgiveness. I asked, "Can you please tell us about your experience?"

Torch and Aria shared a look before Torch said, "We were beneath your floor. Through it, we heard you speak. Kept in tanks not unlike how the Martyr Complex is described, only ours was solid and not glass—"

"There." Aria pointed at my face, saying, "I can see it. You recognize them."

All the blood had drained from my body. I went light and heavy at once.

The tanks.

Primary Rem came to visit me one day and opened with, "You are making excellent progress, son."

I said, "However you simulate the nacres, they are proving adequate." I couldn't keep the agitation from my voice. My mind drifted with the exhaustion, and I missed my friends.

"Would you like a visitor?" the Primary asked as if he'd heard my heart grieving.

His sudden offer left me suspicious. I asked, "Is this visitation in exchange for something more out of me?"

Primary Rem chuckled, and his voids glittered with pride. He said, "You are quick-witted. Despite how hard you have made every conversation since your sentencing here, I prefer your company over the others." He gestured to the hallway. "Out there are failed experiments. Help your assistant dispose of them, and I will permit one visitor of my choosing."

Hardly incentive.

Still.

"Where do we dispose of them?"

I wasn't expecting a trip to the Pantheon after my last rampage through the pale stacks. This conduit was in the middle of an empty field at the great archive's center. Every muscle in my body twitched with the urge to snoop through the stacks, but I kept to the task with fatigue weighing me down.

The tanks weren't heavy for my strength, but their weight still surprised me. "What's in here?" I asked.

"Subjects," the unnamed Tritan answered before chucking one through the lone conduit.

I went to open one—

"No!" The Tritan reached out to stop me. As I blinked at him, he offered an explanation. "They are hazardous. Primary Rem would kill me if I let you risk exposure."

The metal under my hand was solid. More real than this half-living existence. The dream state Enki kept me in beckoned me to return to the haze—

Genuine fear sparked in the other man's eyes, and I couldn't have it on my conscience.

I threw the tank into the conduit without looking inside.

"I'm ashamed of ignoring my instincts."

Aria shook her head. "You still don't understand."

"We love you," Torch finished.

Bewildered, I blinked.

They continued with Aria saying, "We heard your kindness above. All those conversations you had."

Oh.

"We learned of Lucas and Iuo. Tumu. Pehton. Seps—Everyone you loved from the words to yourself. We listened and became your friend," Torch explained.

Their observations left me raw.

Tameka looked a question at me, Tumu frowned, but Korac—

"We all talk to ourselves when we're busy at work. Our imperial majesty simply covered both sides of the conversation. It's not worth analyzing."

I owed Korac an apology. His explanation was pure charity, and I hadn't deserved such kindness in the last few days.

"Thank you." I bowed to my General, to Aria, and to Torch.

Tameka cleared her throat, and everyone's attention went to her. Her folded arms showed off the slightness of her shoulders in my shirt and bunched the material to expose a line of her tawny skin at her midriff. The smirk on her face was meant just for me as she asked, "So do I need three guesses to figure out who Remorse let you have in the lab, or should we all know by now?"

Well, Rayne. Who do you think it was?

Little you shakes your head and grins at me. "I don't even need to guess."