Chapter One — A Broken World’s Nobody
The sun settled as the darkness of the night took over the horizon.
Black, cold, full of smoke from the thousands of factories poisoning it and no stars can be seen anymore.
Instead, millions of artificial lights, neon and LEDs of the city buildings illuminating the once vibrant sky.
The city — not in a much better state. Torn apart by various past human conflicts, destroying the surrounding natural landscape to near total abomination.
Tall concrete towers that were once reaching towards the sky are now merely standing on their own reinforced beams.
Armoured vehicles and destroyed drones scattered around like pebbles. Even the air smells of absolute reeks.
Burned rubber and processed metals from the factories is now the only constant scent that lingers around.
In the past world, wild and feral animals could still be seen in the city streets. But now there were none.
No cats, dogs, not even birds of any kind seem to fly above the smoke-full city.
Even cockroaches, the one and only animals that can thrive in the most hostile environment, didn’t even take residence in the sewers and nook and cranny of the vile city.
Human greed ruined everything they touch. Of course, not all humans.
The elites lived in the top of their luxurious towers, filled with facilities and commodities no commoners and working class individuals could ever hope to buy.
Corporations raced against each other in a battle of who can make the most profit, using every low, inhumane strategy they can think of.
Long hours, obligatory overtime, paying workers right at the minimum wage mark the government has set.
In this economy, the poor get poorer while the rich get richer.
Understandably, no more young people want to get married and have children anymore.
No one in their right mind would, when their monthly salary can barely feed them, provide a roof over their head and keep them off the streets — where prolonged exposure to the toxic fumes, a byproduct of the industrial zones, could kill them within days.
Like any other person her age, Viviana, a twenty one years old corporate slave, has to continue her routine of working 12 hours a day, seven days a week, at the company she worked at, only coming home to eat and sleep to keep doing it until her body shuts down completely and death itself takes over.
Working for a large chemical processing plant is arguably one of the most high risk jobs on her planet of her time.
From the area where her chemical plant was located, the fastest way to get to the lower class residential area where she lived was by taking the metro.
Rusty, decayed, worn, clearly not in their prime any more, every single monorail in the city is still a blessing for Viviana and commoners like her.
With a top speed of 160 km/h, the “people’s circulation” can take workers from where they live to the industrial and commerce zone in around 40 minutes.
Much slower than what the elites took, which can go for more than 450 km/h, the poor man’s monorail is still viewed as the saints made from metal of the planet’s dying population’s economy.
For Viviana and everybody else, the monorail is the only thing other than their job and apartment to be the most important.
Walking was not an option for them. The distance between the residential zone and the industrial zone is just simply too far and the air is just too thick of smoke and toxic fumes that could kill a fully grown adult within days if not protected by a gas mask.
And even then—a gas mask is not a complete guarantee as different factories produce different goods, all with their own respective toxic and poisonous chemicals that once in the air, becomes one with the atmosphere.
When she got home to her apartment complex, Viviana swiped her card on the electronic lock and stepped into her dimly lit small unit apartment.
The electronic door was so rusty and dirty, the sliding mechanism took six full seconds to open and close.
Like everyday, she took off her gas mask, hung it on a nail on the wall and just tiredly tossed her bag onto her bed.
The apartment was small. Only about five by three metres with exactly one bathroom, enough space for her bed and whatever leftover area she called “kitchen”.
And like everyone of her generation of fellow slaves, the kitchen was not even a real kitchen.
Instead a short, two compartment refrigerator, a single burner mini stove and a slightly dinky table she bought from a street sale were the only things making the leftover space her “kitchen”.
She opened her refrigerator and sighed at what was left inside.
Three one and a half litre water bottles and two bags of MREs that will expire next month. Not like she can buy more and better quality food anyway.
“Food…”
She grabbed one pack from the opened bag of MRE.
While waiting for the water to boil, she took a quick shower in her barely spacious bathroom to rinse the sweat and dirt she got from work off of her body.
And the small bottle of 3-in-1 body and hair product being everybody’s cleaning purposes bestfriends.
Small, cheap, and she could swear she smells the faint scent of what she believes is “vanilla”.
After rinsing and drying herself using her one and only towel, she put her dirty clothes into the washing machine.
Provided by the apartment complex, the washing machine was a small single spinner with no dryer nor an option for a warmer.
She opened her wardrobe and grabbed one of her pyjamas and wore it.
Not like she can have the opportunity to buy more as the major hit the apparel industry has suffered over the last twenty years.
But from her and every commoner's perspective, every industry is basically suffering from the almost completely drained natural resources.
The planet that they’re on is no longer suited for living.
Soon, when everything is out, the elites are going to move to another planet on their ships. Soon, they will leave the commoners, like her, to die from whatever cause is getting them first.
Viviana, and practically anybody of her generation, have developed and believed in a nihilistic mentality.
There is no god, singular or plural, that can save them.
There is no justice for their rights to live.
There is no hope for them to crawl out of their lives of living off debts and wages.
The world is not fair.
Never has.
Never will.
After opening the MRE pack with hot water, she sat on the side of her bed, looking at the “news” on the television broadcast projected on her walls.
Not like there are other programs she could afford an entertainment off anyway.
Watching the daily evening news or other freely provided government broadcasts feels like torture at this point.
It’s either daily reports of which factory exploded, what government facility the rioters are attacking or which representatives are involved in corruption this week.
Luckily for her, the MRE pack has boiled and it is time for dinner.
She opened the steaming pack and slowly blew air into it.
The soup, if anyone can even call it that, is merely broth with bits of mass produced carrots, corn and meat, likely contaminated with pesticide.
But who can complain — It’s either MRE or dying of hunger so she slowly eats the soup.
She forces herself to enjoy every bite and swallow, knowing well that sooner or later, she too would join the homeless population.
Before going to bed, she noticed a single notification popping up on her phone. She read the email sender, the Department of Taxes and Monetary.
“Oh, not now, please…”
Taxes – every citizen’s worst nightmare, commoners and elites alike.
To give a fraction of one’s income to their ruling government that does ambiguous things behind the scenes, both beneficial or not, for simply existing.
She had to take a day off to handle her submissions at the department’s building tomorrow, which would be a huge hit for her.
As even a single absence completely voided her incentive which was an additional ten percent of her monthly wage.
That ten percent is what enables her to save a little bit of money for whatever emergencies she might have in the future.
Without that ten percent, she set her savings and entire financial back a full month.
But she still had to pay her taxes either way. If even the elites and criminals don’t want to face the department of tax, then no one is dumb enough to try to run away from their “obligations” to the state.
That’s for tomorrow. Tonight, she just wants to rest and sleep through the night.
Her first and only priority is herself. An enough rest is the difference between living in a dinky apartment or dying in the streets.
On the other side of the city…
In the cold air of the night, a fleet of police cruisers rush down the street with their sirens blaring loudly.
Not five minutes ago, one of their colleagues reported sounds of multiple gunfire in one of the warehouses in the industrial block.
Once they arrived in the warehouse’s parking area, they slammed their brakes and stopped just outside the massive front gate, screeching their tires as their car came to a full stop.
One leads the way with his shotgun in hand and flashes his torch in the dark, pitch-black building.
He ran his hand on the wall next to the door and looked for the light switch.
Finally he found it and flicked the switch up—what they found horrified them.
Inside the warehouse, they find mutilated dead bodies scattered everywhere – on the floor in disarray, splattered and stuck to the walls and ceiling, hanging on the many hooks and jammed inside a goods processing conveyor belt.
Their conditions weren’t exactly convenient for forensics either.
Most of them are barely in shape, almost all of their limbs are separated from their bodies in absolute mess.
The smell is what topped it off.
“Oh dear god.”
The officer looked around the warehouse with two other officers and heard a stammering sound from behind one of the cold storage inside.
The three hurdled against the sealed door and slowly opened the door, revealing a naked, ungodly terrified woman sitting in the far right corner, clutching her knees.
She seems injured but her body completely shaken in terror, unable to utter a single word out.
One officer quickly takes off his jacket and puts it around the terrified woman.
Her face looks blank, almost like a doll as her jaw shakes.
“Ma’am… It's alright. We’re the police. You are safe now–”
As quick as he said it, the woman shouted at his face.
“No!”
She shakes again and pulls his jacket tighter.
“You – You don’t understand! There’s – There’s a… monster… here!”
The officer looked back to the other two in confusion and raised his brows, now concerned about the crime scene they were in.
The woman got up and shoved the officer away from her.
“Get away!”
Her face was completely terrified and her voice strained.
“If you value your lives you should leave… now!”
“Ma’am, calm down—” the officer tried to calm her but she kept insisting in panic.
“No! Get. Away!”
Suddenly, the three officers in the cold storage room heard gunfire and screams of their other officers who were in the goods area.
Their wailing shocked them in and sent shivers down their spines in an instant.
“What the hell?”
The woman fell to her knees again and started to pull her hair out, trembling even more than before.
“She – She’s back.”
The three officers looked at her, their faces tensing up.
“Who?”
The woman could only turn her head very slowly at the officers before uttering, “The devil.”
The lights in the cold storage then went out.
The officers turned their torches back on and looked around in surprise before they heard the sound of something falling on the floor right at the door.
They instinctively reached for their weapons when they saw a girl wearing a trench coat standing in front of them in complete silence.
“Hands where I can see them!”
The girl simply pulled out a lighter from her pocket and flicked it sideways, lighting a fire that dimly illuminated the room.
“Oh, Tina~”
The girl looked at the naked and terrified woman behind the police officers.
The woman screamed in terror and kicked herself back against the wall. Her face was tearing up.
“No no no no! Please!”
“Time to square up, T. I don’t like repeating myself.”
Her eyes darted to the police officers who were equally confused at her.
“Lights out—” She paused momentarily before shutting her lighter off and finished with, “Cops.”
In an unknown and mysterious way, the officers’ torches went out and they started to shoot blindly in front of them.
Not a second later, they started screaming in pain accompanied with a sound of blood splattering all over the place until their screaming stopped completely with the sound of bone shattering.
The girl flicked her lighter open again and tossed it on the floor, igniting the blood of the officers like oil and setting the room ablaze.
The woman looks even more terrified as the girl walks slowly to her.
“A deal is a deal, T… I want my intel… and I want them now,” the girl said in a low, growly voice before letting out a sinister giggle. “Give me the name.”
“Please, please—”
“The name!”
“I– I don’t know! All I know is that she worked at the chemical company, Galleon. Please! That’s all I know!”
The girl laid her palms on the woman’s neck and pulled her up with one hand.
“You see, you might not understand something, T. But when you send me a bill of half a million credits for ‘intelligence gathering’, I expect the result to be superb. As in their full name, their DOB, SSN, their mother's maiden name, their dad's childhood pets, their family's history, their fucking ancestors and what they do… not just “she worked at Galleon.”
“The server's security was very tight! I– I could barely put myself through the firewall! I burned six CPUs from this job alone— ”
“That's your problem, not mine. I pay you, you should find a way to do your things professionally, as promised, or find another employment!”
Her eyes flashing red like a pool of blood staring directly into her soul.
“You clearly left out something, T. Say it now or I’ll make your suffering worse than what you have experienced already.”
The woman swallowed before relenting and saying, “Alright! She will go to the tax building tomorrow!”
“Is that everything?”
“I heard words from the street that there would be a crew hitting the building — Four ground men and a suit… that’s all I know. No, wait! I saw her employee ID!”
“Go on.”
“Dark hair… bob cut… her name sounds like that one witch of the lake from old, Arthurian shite. Vivi-something something along those lines!”
‘Vivianne?’
The girl released her grip on the woman and let her fall back to the floor hard.
“There… that wasn’t so hard now wasn’t it?”
She smirked before kicking the woman in the face and pressed her boots on the side of her neck.
“Also, correction! She's not a witch, she’s an enchantress. Know the difference.”
The woman struggled to breathe as she pressed harder and harder. Her airway was completely blocked and her skin turned blue.
“You– You said you wouldn’t kill me– Why?”
The girl lowered herself and brought her face closer to the woman.
“I said I wouldn’t kill you by drawing out your suffering, T. You ran off before I could finish, you should've let me finish. You're lucky I'm not gutting you like a fish or tossing you into a wood chipper. Consider yourself lucky… your men died worse, I mean have you seen the bloke who got stuck in the conveyor belt and blended by the gears? Now–”
She began to press her boot down on her neck while looking at the woman completely unfazed by her plea.
“Time to pay for your sins of incompetence, T. Sayonara. I hereby conclude your contract.”
After an excruciatingly long ten seconds, the girl’s boot completely crushed the woman’s neck.
Her bones shattered like porcelain and severed her head from her body.
“You were always a difficult informant, T… Well, not anymore. Oh, dang it! She still owes me ten credits! Ah, what the hell.”
She kicked her feet a few times to get rid of the blood before letting out a whistle.
“Oh, Esther~”
From behind the girl, a young maid appeared from the darkness dragging an unconscious man with her bloody gauntlets.
The man's head split open revealing his brain.
“Yes, my liege? What is your order?”
“Call our intelligence boys and have them scour through every employee of Galleon Chemicals. Look for a female, young, early twenties with dark, bob cut hair, most likely an orphan and is poor. I have a feeling her name starts with a V… Look out for any European influenced ones.”
The maid dropped the man, bowed her head and lifted her skirt slightly.
“It will be done. Anything else?”
“Yeah—” The girl turned to the maid and flashes out a grin. “Bring the car around… we’re going to the tax building. Time to file my taxes.”
The next day…
As per her obligation to the state, Viviana goes to the Department of Taxes building located in the central market district.
Being one of the better districts of the city, the district is one of the most important districts to people of all kinds of economy.
It has many buildings from every public department, all of which are vital to the people.
The streets are still good, according to their standards, with bricks still holding on years after the war ended two centuries ago.
The park, being a leftover from the past, collects dust and dirt as the toxic air prevents anyone from enjoying outdoor activities.
She walked up the stairs in the front yard, seeing two building security guards violently drag a helpless homeless man down the stairs.
“Come on, you lazy bum! This is not a facility for rubbish like you!”
The homeless man resisted the two guards and tried to break free from their hold. But his old age and weak body basically screamed he can’t.
“Please! Please!”
The two guards dumped the man to the ground right outside the building. One opened his gas mask and spit on his face.
Viviana stood there, watching the helpless man getting berated and beaten physically by the guards.
“Take that you old fuck!”
“Yeah! Don’t you dare come back here, old fart!”
‘What cruel men!’
Her feet moved and took one step forward before stopping completely.
She wanted to stop them and leave the man alone. But her courage suddenly disappeared.
Did she move a foot to defend the man out of sympathy or out of adrenaline?
On one hand, their acts need to be stopped. But on the other hand, fighting against members of a public department, like the guards, will end up with her in court.
Since the government is super corrupt and has been known by commoners to receive bribes, her trial is guaranteed to be one sided.
Finally with a heavy heart, she decided not to intervene and leave the guards and the homeless man alone.
She stepped through the main electronic door and stood in a line at the information centre, waiting for her turn.
When it was finally her turn, she inserted her legal name, social security number and other legal documents before taking a seat in the waiting area with the rest of the taxpayers.
As she and everyone else were waiting, she couldn’t help but notice that the treasury’s own vault was also located in the same building, just right behind the reception tables.
Though she couldn’t see the full size of the vault, she guessed that the vault must be massive, spanning several levels down with thick and heavy secure doors protecting it.
She knows that no one is dumb enough to evade or worse, take something from the Department of Taxes.
But the location of the vault behind the receptionists is basically asking for criminals to come and try their chances of becoming the richest alive.
A man sitting beside her noticed her eyes fixed on the vault and decided to converse with her.
“An extremely convenient place for a vault, don’t you think?”
Viviana turned to the man and nodded her head.
“Yeah… Whoever designed this building needs to get shot, stat.”
“Exactly! Anyone with military grade tools and equipment could swoop in and take our ‘obligations’ for themselves. If they do, they’d be richer than those fuckers at the Parliament building.”
Then from behind them, a girl chimed in.
“They won’t.”
Viviana and the man turn around at the girl.
She sat behind them in a completely relaxed expression with her legs crossed.
Her long dark hair looks incredibly smooth and silky despite the toxic fumes polluting the air of the planet.
The light complexity and unfairly buttery smooth skin looked way better than even the richest elites of the planet.
Her body was also impossibly well endowed, way better than even the top tier models.
All of the girl’s physical attributes brought a little envy to Viviana.
Tall, lean, curvaceous, diva-like looks. She is the personification of a perfect woman in Viviana’s eyes.
She has never seen anyone looking so flawless, so beautiful, so angelic like the girl a metre away from her.
“That vault contains absolutely nothing. It’s just a dummy vault that the department uses to trick and bait foolish criminals out.”
Her face was completely calm as she continued her explanation with her eyes closed as if she did not care in the slightest.
“All of your taxes are turned into digital money and are now stored within the state’s very own safe bank account. The closest thing to a real vault the city has is the one beneath the Immigration Services building one block away from here that they still used to store files in paper form. Even then, that vault is protected by two giant metal doors, each weighing at 45 tonnes made from titanium and solid steel alloy. A regular ‘military grade tools and equipment’ you assume could, can never cut through.”
Both the man and Viviana were equally startled and fascinated at the same time at her quip.
She didn’t seem to be a government agent type based on the plain black buttoned shirt, black shorts, black boots and the somewhat unusual military style black trench coat that she wears.
The man gazed at her in curiosity and so was Viviana.
“How would you know that?”
“It’s hard to explain, but trust me. That thing behind the reception tables… Is not the one everyone’s looking for.”
The woman then leaned back against her seat.
“If any criminals with a fully functional frontal lobe want easy money, the easiest to hit would be the Department of Education building. They store real money there for educational purposes. Even a single crew of four could be in and out in less than five minutes.”
When she opened her eyes, both Viviana and the old man were already looking at her weirdly.
Though she did not like anyone gazing their eyes on her, her face lit up slightly when she noticed Viviana.
Seeing a young girl with a dark, bob cut hair in the building that handles taxes with very minimum clothing and exactly zero accessories seems to bring a wave of intrigue within her.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Where are my manners… I’m Harina”
She reached her hand out to Viviana, completely ignoring the man beside her.
“Harina Dea.”
Viviana took her hand and held it tightly in a polite manner.
“Viviana… Viviana Voluntas.”
Harina raised one brow, a slight smirk adorning her face.
“Viviana? As in Vivianne? The lady of the Lake? That is quite unique.”
She nodded impressed.
“I’ve yet to meet another with a King Arthur reference.”
Viviana nodded while wondering how she knew the origin of her name, which according to her mom, was already lost in time.
“I’m sorry, how did you know that? I thought no one knew that reference…”
“It’s harder to NOT know that reference. When one has been alive for quite some time, one is bound to learn about things from the past, whether willingly or not.”
“What does that supposed to mean?”
“Knowledge is both a gift and a curse. So… Viviana… What are you in here for?”
“Paying my taxes? You?”
“Oh, I was waiting for something to happen, that’s all.”
Viviana blinked a few times, trying to process her words.
“Are you saying you’re only here because you’re bored?”
In a deadpan expression, Harina shrugged it off casually.
“I’m on vacation—I have all day to waste.”
Viviana quickly suppressed her reaction. She was about to say something she’s not supposed to.
Harina brought her face closer to her and sniffed her. Surprised by her weird action, Viviana backed away slightly.
“What are you doing?”
“I smell sulphur and polyphenylene sulphide on you. Do you happen to work on some kind of chemical plant or something?”
How did she even catch the scent of those chemicals? Both are supposed to be scentless even to dogs.
Though strange, Viviana decided to ignore the unorthodox and just respond politely.
“Yeah, Galleon's. On block 34, south side.”
Harina instantaneously perked her ears up in surprise but a welcomed one.
‘Found her!’
“Ah, a dangerous job. Your skin… It’s remarkably fine. I presume no accident has befallen you yet?”
“No, not yet.”
Though not exactly offensive, Viviana felt slightly startled by her overly casual remark.
“Oh, no offence, dear. I just heard that so many people die annually around chemical processing facilities. 250 deaths just last year. 18% drop from previous year. That’s a lot of open casket funerals.”
“I’m careful at what I do. Most of the people on my production floor are not so lucky.”
“Luck can only get one so far. Maybe today you’d finally get a scar on you.”
Just as she finished her sentence, a large armoured mechanical suit bursts through the building, sending glass shatters and bricks everywhere.
Everyone in the waiting area quickly ducks under their seats and covers their heads.
One of the shattered glass flew and cut Viviana’s hand as she took cover under her seat.
Harina darted between the breaching mech suit and Viviana.
“Wow, apparently it is.”
The pilot of the mechanical suit then aimed the suit’s left arm cannon at the vault door and blasted it off its hinges.
The giant metal door then rolled haphazardly away from the corridor and crashed into a concrete pillar.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Then, four men with body armour and assault rifles ran into the building through the hole the mechanical suit bursts from and headed straight to the corridor where the vault was.
After a while, all four men rushed back to the waiting area where everyone was ducking under their seats, cowering in fear. All except Harina.
The four seem to argue with each other with heated tones.
Viviana looked up from under her seat at Harina, genuinely puzzled at her nonchalant attitude.
“Are you crazy?!”
Viviana whispered slowly to Harina but weirdly, she remained extremely calm.
“They’re going to shoot you if you don’t duck here! Come on!”
But Harina shrugged in a completely relaxed tone.
“I’m not afraid. I made those rifles and that suit, I know what they can and can’t do…”
What does she mean by made? What could Harina possibly know about military hardwares that the robbers had?
“Made?! What are you talking about?”
“Give me a minute, I’ll deal with these arseholes first.”
Harina stood up from the covering crowd and Viviana and walked towards the armed men.
‘Wait, what? What is she doing?!’
Harina shouted at the men. “Hey! Pick on someone your own size, nigga.”
She clasped her hand, getting all of the robber’s attention in an instant.
One of the armed men points his rifle at her and exclaims in an offended tone.
“Shut the fuck up, bitch! Get down on the floor like the rest of these bitches or we’ll smoke you!”
“I’m not scared, chocolate. Do me a favour and pull your triggers.”
The armed men quickly pull their triggers and empty their entire cells on her.
But instead of riddled with charred holes like one does when shot with a 100 kilowatt laser rifle, Harina just stood there — unfazed and completely without any scratches.
The barrage of short laser beams does hit her but they didn’t even injure her in the slightest.
Like they hit a solid rock.
The four armed men looked at each other and their partner in the suit in confusion.
“What the fuck?!”
Harina looked down to the floor, biting her lower lips, her face looking disappointed.
“Well, that was disappointing.”
They turned their guns back to Harina and in a fraction of a second, all four men fell to the floor with holes on their chests.
Viviana looked at Harina’s hand and saw four still beating hearts on her hand with blood still dripping from them.
She puts her hand on her mouth and tries not to vomit from the scene.
She and the rest in the waiting area didn’t even see Harina move at all and somehow she’s standing behind the armed men in front of the reception tables with four hearts in her hand.
The one in the mechanical suit then walked up and raised his suit’s large sword over his head before slamming it down at Harina and Viviana as hard as he could.
Viviana closes her eyes and covers her head with her arms.
But for a moment, she didn’t seem to hear any crushing sound and the fact that she can still breathe confused her even more.
When she opened her eyes, Harina was standing in front of her holding the sword with only her left hand.
Viviana was shocked beyond anything, completely wordless.
How could a 170-something cm tall, 60-something kilogram woman could hold a sword weighing several tonnes carried by 12 metres tall combat mechanical suits with only one hand?
“How—How?!”
Viviana exclaimed, completely flabbergasted. Harina cackled like a mad man.
“This isn’t even a percent of me!”
She tightened her grip and the sword cracked.
The pilot tries to pull the sword back but Harina simply pulls the sword harder and smacks the end of the handle against the suit’s chest, sending it back several metres.
Harina twirled the sword and changed grip before slamming it repeatedly against the suit’s chest area.
She kept slamming the flat side of the sword, handling it like tenderising a meat.
The suit and its pilot getting slowly crushed and flattened, let out a scream that came out of its outer loudspeakers.
After the suit stopped moving completely, Viviana saw blood dripping from the gaps of the suit.
“Wha—What—”
Unable to comprehend anything, Viviana slowly lost her consciousness and fell head first to the ground.
The last thing she heard was the sound of sirens coming in her direction and Harina whispering in her ears.
Hours after the event in the Department of Taxes building, Viviana woke up in panic and found herself laying on her small bed in her own apartment.
She looks around in confusion trying to make sense of what happened earlier in the morning.
When she looked up, she saw the worn ceiling which she had the day she picked the unit.
But when she looked to the left, Harina was sitting on the small plastic chair, looking at her.
“Why are you here?!”
Viviana pulled her blanket up and covered half her face as she waited for Harina’s reply.
“You passed out… I thought it’d be rude for me to just leave you there on the cold, stone floor of the department building where toxic fumes slowly filled the interior after the suit burst through the wall.”
“How did you know where I live?”
“I took your wallet out of your pocket. Don’t worry, I don’t take anything from you. I just wanna know your address.”
Though worrying Viviana, she nodded in appreciation and simply hid behind her blanket.
“I got to say… this is a small unit you got. Must be a pain in the ass for such a young and lonely, most likely depressed single girl like you to live in this dirty, disgusting apartment complex.”
Even though what she said is completely true, Viviana couldn’t help but feel a little offended at her remark.
Judging by the way Harina carried herself, Viviana could only make an educated guess that she must’ve come from a rich, possibly extremely wealthy family as lack of sympathy and total unfiltered honesty is their shared trait.
Harina, noticing Viviana’s change in facial expression, rubbed her head awkwardly.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“That’s okay.”
Viviana slumped back.
“It’s not like you’re wrong in any kind or anything. I’m used to living here.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Seven years. I moved here with my mom when I was 14. She died a week later from epidural hematoma. I looked for and got a job the day after. Been working there ever since.”
“Your dad?”
Viviana looked down and exhaled.
“Dead… When I was two, some gangs were having a territory dispute. One stray shot killed him.”
“So you’re twenty one, huh?”
Viviana nodded her head.
“Twenty two in four months.”
“As bad as this apartment of yours is, isn't it a little pricey for your single mom to acquire? What's her job back then?”
Viviana noticeably recoiled a bit and looked down.
“She's uh… She’s a… a night worker.”
Harina looked at her in surprise.
“Oh… you mean a prostitute?”
“How did you know?”
“You said a night worker. I was going to guess either a drug courier or a pole dancer but considering you were only fourteen when she died, she had to pick a job that makes the most credits without taking the longest time not the risk. A prostitute is a common work for women of her age who I would assume is between early thirties, since one only needs to split their legs and hope that everything would be done as soon as possible.”
“And how did you know those facts? You don’t look the type.”
“And I don’t look like a fighter either and guess who killed the robbers and saved your arse and brought you back to your apartment?”
“I… I guess you’re right.”
“Now back to my question, how did your mom even get the credits to apply for this crib?”
“She took a thousand credits from her… handler.”
“I see… pimp.”
“She never told me that one of her clients abused her which soon caused her head and cerebral trauma.”
“Your dad… was he a—”
“Yes, he was once a client too. I know that I'm that kind of child. I'm lucky that my mother is the kind of night worker who actually takes care of their… offspring—others are not so lucky.”
“You have someone else? Relatives? Lover? Anyone?”
“No one is marrying these days. The economy is just not suitable for any kind of relationship. Besides, let’s be honest, how are people supposed to raise children with toxic fumes permeating the air?”
“I suppose that makes sense.”
“What about you? How old are you? Where do you live? What’s your job?”
“I’m quite old – older than my youthful, twenties appearance. I lived in Verdun, a planet in the system called Cincinaly about 600-something light years away from this planet of yours. As for what I do – I’m a criminal.”
Her response intrigued Viviana. But from how straight and relaxed her expression was, Viviana simply thought that Harina was merely joking.
“Nice joke.”
Hoping for Harina to simply chuck it off, she only continued to fix her eyes at her. Her face was dead serious.
“No, really – I founded and led a criminal enterprise. A quite powerful one at that. We’re actually a Universe-class wanted.”
Universe-class – a wanted level classification given to those who are deemed extremely dangerous and pose a major galactical threat to any hospitable planet and/or space colony.
Reserved to only the worst of the worst. And the woman in front of her casually told her that she’s one of them.
“That’s funny.”
Viviana continued to chuckle at her explanation. But looking at Harina’s stoic face, she quickly realised that she was not joking.
“No way! You’re kidding, right? Right?!”
Harina giggled from how long it took for Viviana to connect the dots together..
“Look up my name. You’ll see what I mean.”
Viviana fearfully kept her eyes on Harina, tapping her hands on her bedside counter to grab her phone.
She opened the web and looked up “Harina Dea” and the result instantly shocked her.
Harina Dea – Former Supreme Enforcer of Regnum Dei, also founder of several special forces such as Regnum Dei Black Sky Division, Holy Knights Division, 72 Knights of Lemegeton Division, while also founded Regnum Dei’s very own Special Intelligence Service and first daughter of Primordial God of Life and Death, Groß.
Founder and leader of an interstellar criminal syndicate, Quindecim Umbra. Wanted for mass murder, genocide, countless first, second and third degree murder, conspiracy, coup d’etat, blasphemy, treason, multiple accounts of complete planetary destruction, systematic purge, and many more.
Threat assessment, top universal priority. Wanted level, Universe’s most wanted #1. Total bounty, 150 decillion credits dead, 150 undecillion credits alive.
Viviana’s face changed dramatically the more she read the record.
“Just how worse can she get?”
Then her brain clicked.
“Wait a minute!”
Hundred, thousand, million, billion, trillion, quadrillion, quintillion, sextillion, septillion, octillion, nonillion, decillion, undecillion.
“That’s 36 zeros!”
Taking a deep breath, she darted back to Harina.
“Uh… wow. That is quite the rap sheet you have.”
Harina smirked with an arrogance and a twisted pride,
“I take it that you believe me now? I do think that the conspiracy part is a little exaggerated, though. It’s not exactly conspiracy and coup if you’re trying to demolish genuinely fucked up rulers.”
“How– How did you even end up like this– No! Here’s a better question… Why are you here, on my planet specifically!?”
“Why does that matter?”
“Because you’re in my apartment!”
Her tone rose and her breath became heaving.
“I’m hiding basically a universal super terrorist in my place! That already made me an accomplice or an accessory!”
Viviana pulled her hair out in panic.
“I don’t want to see the Galactic Peace Federation’s warships descending from the sky and raining down massive metal slugs at several times the speed of sound at me!”
Harina chuckled and scoffed off her worries.
“Oh, would you relax? Those fuckers won’t find me here.”
Her immediate and curt response only worried her even more.
“How are you so sure?!”
“I’m rich… I have the entirety of my enterprise at my disposal. I told my subordinates to intercept their hunting fleet as soon as they exit FTL jump.”
She wanted to scream and lash out at her but Harina’s calmness seemed genuine to her.
“They're as dead as George Michael and deader than Elvis in the bathroom.”
Viviana blinked repeatedly, trying to process her snide remark.
“Who?!”
“My point is they won’t be a problem. Not now, not tomorrow. Definitely not ever.”
“Okay…”
Then her face changed.
“NOW TELL ME WHY ARE YOU HERE!?”
“Like I said in the tax building, I was bored. Even a crime boss like me needs time off too. Your dying planet just so happens to give me the much needed opportunity.”
“What are you talking about?! This planet is horrible, on the brink of extinction and total societal collapse. There’s exactly zero tourist attraction on this planet!”
“How about this… I long for that feeling of rush of battle, that rush of getting absolutely fucked in the street. You feel me?”
In a complete deadpan expression, Viviana blinked in confusion.
“No… Dear God.”
Harina chuckled uncontrollably at her words before going silent right after that.
“God, huh? God is a fucking joke, girl. Mortals shouldn’t put their faith in idiots like them.”
Viviana was quick to notice Harina’s rapid change in behaviour. Her witty, snarky, smugly smile disappeared as soon as she uttered the word “God” at her.
“Take it from me, V. Don’t believe in God. He, she or they won’t care. Religion and faith are complete and total bollocks.”
For a brief second, Viviana could see Harina tried to put up an unserious face. But she could sense that a pain escaped from her sigh.
“You’ll only set yourself down a path of absolute disappointment in your darkest time.”
“I’m sorry to say this because you won’t understand my predicament but I’m already in my darkest time. I'm a corporate slave like everyone else. I live in a dump. I eat crappy MREs. I don’t know what real meat tastes like. I haven’t even seen one real tree since the day I was born. So yeah… my time is always the darkest.”
Harina perked up from her plastic chair and locked eyes with Viviana.
“Would you like to change that?”
Viviana lifted her head up, intrigued but confused.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t mean to brag but as a daughter of a god, which is also the head of his pantheon, I am blessed with many things.”
“Okay?”
“I have a near-absolutely accurate gut feeling. Looking at you, I can see potential in you. Call it a hunch. I see that you have what it takes.”
“To?”
“Be my successor.”
“Say what?”
“You heard me—”
“Yeah I know I heard you but… be your successor? What are you talking about?”
“I don’t always like living a life of luxury and getting chased by galactical law enforcement everytime I want to go out for a cookie, V. I came from a background of struggle, full of beheaded motherfuckers, bloody conflict and all the crimes in the wiki. Me and my pals, the founders, want to enjoy our lives too. Most of them have someone to fight for… I don’t. I just want to get out.”
“That sounds a little contradictory and a bit nonsensical.”
“The way I see it you have two options.”
Harina kicked her feet up and lied on her side on Viviana’s already compact bed.
“One, you ignore my offer, I leave you alone and you can continue working until you can’t anymore and die. Probably still poor and alone just like what you are right now.”
Viviana backed away slightly. Pulling her blanket up to her nose.
“Or?”
“Or two, you take my offer, I taught you everything I know and you can, theoretically, let the cycle continue.”
“I don’t know…”
Harina sighed.
“You have potential, V. I can see it. You let your fear and morality dictate how you live your life. That's a pussy move. Believe me, you don’t want to die in this shithole. Die better. Die being remembered for something. Die a legend. Every legend is remembered, no poor asshole ever did.”
Harina’s words seem to have struck some of Viviana’s nerves as she now lowered her head in silence, perhaps pondering the sentence over and over again.
“I– I don’t know if I can do that…”
Harina stood up and put on her shoes before walking to the door. She stopped and turned around at Viviana again.
“Wait, hold on a minute.”
Viviana bit her lower lip. Trying to find the right word to express her thoughts.
“What’s in it for me?”
Harina smiled deviously.
“Everything I have. Every credit, every ship, every armament, every fucking thing I own… they can be yours too.”
The mention of wealth and financial security intrigued her even more.
“What’s the catch?”
Harina looked up for a bit. She darted back to Viviana.
“Every bad thing about me will be yours too. The world of crime is not a world for the weak… it’s a kill or be killed… a literal snake’s den.”
“Kill or be killed… huh?”
“Well, we are predators after all.”
“What about me? You’re not going to kill me?”
“Why, I only kill idiots who are dumb enough to rob me in broad daylight or criminals equally bad as me.”
Harina sighed then let out a whistle.
“But realistically speaking, since I’m literally the most wanted individual in the universe, Numero uno, no one is worse than me. I am the worst.”
Viviana turned to Harina. She looked directly into her eyes. There was no sign of fear nor doubt behind those crimson red eyes of hers.
“How can you be so calm and collected knowing the GPF could send a warship or warships to your location and fire hundreds if not thousands of railgun sabot rounds at you?”
Harina shrugged.
“Like animals in general… no provocation equals no bite.”
Harina turned back to the door. Peering over her shoulders to give Viviana one last smug smirk.
“I’ll give you 24 hours to think it over, V. Don’t waste yourself as a slave when you can be a queen.”
She waved her hand at the electronic lock and walked away.
Not wanting to think about her offer more and more, Viviana just laid her back down on her bed and covered herself with her blanket.
Harina’s offer intrigued her but the risk of being stamped as a terrorist frightens her unlike anything else.
All her life, Viviana always kept herself to the legal side of life. But her words keep ringing in her head over and over again.
“You let your fear and morality dictate how you live your life.”
“Fear and morality… huh?”
What if Harina was right? As harsh and cruel her words might be, all of what she was saying was right.
Morality is what keeps her cowering in fear and oppressed as slaves – just like everybody else.
“I suppose she might be onto something.”
Out of curiosity, Viviana turned her tv on and opened her browser. She typed in Harina’s name again and read every available article linked to her.
From various unsolved murder, political manipulation, to all kinds of space heists involving trading fleets and military units.
Her name, and her organisation as a whole, seems to be linked to numerous cases throughout the universe.
She swiped pages through pages, reading more and more about her until one section intrigued her the most.
“Hmm? What is this?”
“Although the super terrorist, Harina Dea, is believed to be a complete and utterly vicious psychopath, some experts in the field such as Dr. Krimsky Zaigolach of the University of Preliboras of Fargo theorised that her evil and crimes are more precise and extremely specific.”
“After hundreds of hours of cross examination examining multiple evidence GPF has openly given them, Dr. Krimsky and many psychologists suggest that the super terrorist acts on a moral compass of her own.”
“One of the most striking patterns in all of the cases linked to her was that the super terrorist never seeks to harm nor kill children.”
“The sole exception to that rule is if a child is proven to be a monster in the making. For example, the murder of Jill Orphs, age seven, who was the prime suspect of many arson.”
“The super terrorist also sends compensation to the children of every “sinner” she has killed, further suggesting that her motives are not as direct as investigators might have concluded.”
“Other evidence also suggests that out of all of the bombings and destruction she has caused, every death has been involved in some kind of illegal actions, minor or severe.”
“When an innocent is harmed accidentally, the super terrorist tracks them down and sends compensation for their medical treatment.”
“One such example is the bombing of the Parliament building on the planet Guisler, killing hundreds and injuring many civilians, all of whom are given compensation accordingly by her.”
After reading enough of her, Viviana turned her tv off, laid her head on her pillow and took the rest of the day to sleep.
“What kind of evil is she exactly?”
Because tomorrow, she still has to work again.
“I hate my life.”
The next day…
In the morning after, Viviana continued with her routine. She woke up at five in the morning, took a morning shower, ate a disgusting MRE and got ready for work.
As she took her gas mask, Harina’s words rang again in her mind.
“Believe me, you don’t want to die in this shithole. Die better. Die being remembered for something. Die a legend. Every legend is remembered, no poor asshole ever did.”
“What does she mean by that? What did she see in me that I don’t? Why me? Why not someone better?”
She finally collected her thoughts again and took the gas mask off the hook and put it on before stepping out of her apartment.
Like everyday, today the toxic fumes seem to only worsen. It’s slightly thicker than yesterday’s, darker and also slightly denser.
She walked to the monorail stop and hopped on at the first arriving train. On the way there, she kept thinking about Harina over and over again.
She knows that her planet won’t have much time before its resources are completely drained and die.
And when it does happen, no elites will lend a hand to commoners like her.
All she can think over is why is it so cruel and unfair that her only two options are either become a super terrorist’s successor or work as slave until death.
Time passes so fast when she keeps thinking about it.
At work, when Viviana was so lost with her own thoughts, her coworkers began to shout at her. Trying to get her off her thoughts in the dangerous production floor.
“Hey! Hey, stupid!”
Viviana snapped back to reality and saw the angry faces of her colleague as they waited for her to return from spacing out.
“Oh! Uh, sorry!”
Viviana moves quickly to grab the hanging machinery remote beside her.
She can’t believe that she has been losing her focus so often that she’s already in her workplace in a hazmat suit without her awareness
Losing concentration in her line of work could spell disaster, either for her or anyone in her work floor.
She pressed the button and the overhead pulley arm moved from the end of the line to her position, stopping right above her.
She pressed another button and lowered the orange, glowing metal bucket down to her height.
Her colleagues moved to insert bars of raw ore into it and she controlled the pulley arm again, moving it to the furnace.
After they finished scraping the floor, they proceed to take the casted processed bars out of their mould and put them on a large cart to transport them to the second oven.
With the cart placed inside the oven with dozens of other carts, they secured the cart to the floor with heavy-duty chains and prepared to exit the second oven.
As they walk away from the oven, one man in the rearmost row looks around. Viviana was nowhere to be seen.
Not around them where she usually walks in the third row from the front.
“Hey. Where’s V?”
“Umm…”
The other one turned his head too before seeing Viviana still inside the oven. His facial expression changed to that of oops.
“Shit…”
They began to run back to the oven. Some run towards the control tower, shouting as loud as they can.
They flail their hands and point at the oven which was already locked tight.
“Stop! Stop! Stop the procedure! Chug the emergency power now!”
Viviana, who was preoccupied securing the cart's chains, immediately looked up and noticed that she’s still inside the oven with the airtight door completely secured.
“No no no no no!”
In a panic, she quickly ran towards the door and bangs her hands on it, screaming for help.
But the door was not only airtight, it was also blocking every sound coming in and out of the oven.
“Hey! Get me out of here! Someone! Please!”
Her screams fell on deaf ears but she could see that they were rushing to open the door for her from the outside.
She could see a technician try to override the electronic lock but to her growing despair, the electronic locking unit suddenly burst, sparks coming off of it.
“Come on! The solution is about to spray!”
She tried to scream again, begging for them to open the door but none seemed to be able to hear her from the other side.
The chemical solution sprayer lowered from the walls of the oven and red lights flashing inside the oven chamber.
At that moment she knew her life was gone.
The sprayer showered her with excruciating sprays of chemical solution in steam form.
Her vision vanished in an instant. The burning sensation quickly overwhelmed her as she succumbed to the floor, gasping for air.
She reached her hand up at the wall in the oven trying to pull herself up and find a way to get out.
She dragged herself to one of the secured carts and grabbed the metal handle on it.
But what she thought was a handle turns out to be the cart’s coupling.
Once she fully pulled it off, the cart went unsecure and started to roll forward.
The rolling several tonnes cart slammed into her and ran over her legs.
She screamed in pain as her legs got completely severed from the knee down.
Her hands continue to rummage her surroundings, unknowingly laying her hands onto the cart's rails.
Another cart came rolling down and severed her hands from the middle of her forearms. The pain was too much for her and she began opening her eyes and let out an agonising scream.
When she tried to inhale from the hyperventilation and the adrenaline rush, the solution attacked her lungs and she could feel her insides getting burned.
The pain felt like an eternity and when she couldn't handle it anymore, she fell and lost consciousness.
Somewhere else in the city, Harina laid down on the ground flat with her feet up. Around her were white powder, illegal substances of a gang she raided just minutes ago.
The smell of blood still fresh with many recently dead men scattered all over the den, their heads completely blown off.
The maid entered the living room where Harina and several corpses were and bowed her head respectfully.
Harina looked up at the maid.
“This better be something.”
“My liege, your prediction has come to a reality – a grim one at that.”
“Viviana?”
“There was an accident in her production floor, my liege. She was trapped in one of the ovens. Our intelligence division has hacked into the company's network and confirmed it from the cameras overlooking that floor.”
“What's her status?”
“Terminal. She has also lost her hands and legs, both.”
“How?”
“She pulled a couple of couplings that secured the heavy carts. Two rolled over her. One took her arms, the second her legs.”
Harina took a pinchful of the powdery substance and dropped it down across her upper lips.
“What’s their reaction?”
“They're sending in a med-bot. My humble guess is that she will be terminated without treatment nor severance check.”
Harina tapped her feet while pondering.
“What is your order, my liege?”
“Hmm… do we have a ship in this system?”
“We have eight destroyers, three light cruisers and one heavy cruiser. They've been here ever since you arrived. They're waiting for your order.”
“They're armed, yes?”
“Yes, my liege. Always.”
“Good. Contact the heavy cruiser, tell them to arm every… single… fucking… weapons onboard and enter the atmosphere. Time to do a little spring cleaning.”
“Ma'am, it's winter–”
“Potato, tomato.”
“Target?”
“Galleon Chemicals.”
“Are we not going to conduct our operation according to your regulations, my liege?”
“Hmm, you’re right.”
Harina tapped the device mounted on her forearm and swiped through the touch screen. She connected herself to their intelligence division.
After the call was connected, the sound of a young female spoke into her earpiece.
“Intelligence, codename and password?”
“What about just my voice? I mean, come on. I own all of you.”
The intelligence division girl quickly adjusted her posture based on the background noise. She was clearly not expecting Harina to call today.
“Lady Harina, ma’am! How– How can we help you today?”
“Pull up everything we have on Galleon Chemicals Limited, planet Oniedai. Tap into their network and tell me about their employee’s records.”
“They’re clean, ma’am. Most of them are low economy commoners. Nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Hmm, that makes things more complicated then. What if I say they’re dirty?”
The girl on the other side was quickly confused by her request.
“Ma’am?”
“Do a little tomfoolery, hack into the planet’s population database and uh… do a little editing, will you?”
“You– You want me to edit their records?”
“I see ten million credits swimming into your bank account–”
Without hesitation, the girl nodded and interrupted her with a firm tone.
“Understood, ma’am. These people are now sinners and criminals. I’ll make sure that my edits are inconspicuous.”
“Aye, good girl.”
Harina turned the call off and looked back at the maid.
“Done.”
The maid straightened herself and nodded.
“I see… about the airstrike?”
Harina flashed a cruel, sadistic smile.
“Spare no one. Once Viviana is out, I want you to get her out and back to her apartment. I'll meet you there myself after I'm done. You have twenty minutes. Now go…”
“Understood, my liege. I will be out then.”
The maid bowed her head again and left the den.
Harina took a pinch of the white powder she laid on and sprinkled them over her nostril. She pressed one finger to her nose, closing the right nostril and whiffed the powder with her left.
“Ahh… there's that good stuff.”
She wiped her nose before chuckling.
“Motherfucker was right. A better high really does mean customers will pay more. This is some grade A shite.”
When Viviana opened her eyes, the oven floor was already open with numerous people looking at her from behind a yellow line at the door.
A robot then moves into the oven on its metal track and flashes its lights at her.
“Scan complete. Viviana Voluntas. You have damaged lungs, acute respiratory distress syndrome, severe chemical pneumonitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Galleon Chemicals cannot be held legally accountable per your contract employment status and the circumstances of your work-related accident. Would you like to end your employment and receive the available treatment for your terminal diseases?”
The robot lowered its touch screen at her face and waited. Viviana could barely see the flickering screen and the signature section.
She choked out for air as she weakly raised her head but her body couldn’t handle it and her head fell back down to the floor.
She raised her arm and put her bloodied stump on the touch screen, using whatever was left inside of her to scribble on the pad.
The robot pulled the screen back into its compartment and dropped a plastic canister of pills to her.
“Thank you for your service, Ms. Voluntas. From this day onward, you are no longer an employee of Galleon Chemicals Ltd. Have a good day.”
The robot then turned back and rolled away from her. Viviana fainted again on the oven floor before two men in hazmat suits picked her up onto a wheelbarrow and brought her out of the plant.
A few minutes later after the men dumped her in front of the plant courtyard, Viviana sees a faint shape of someone walking towards her through her severely impaired eyes.
The figure seems to be a woman holding an umbrella with what appears to be a maid-like dress. She could see the maid tapping her left ear.
“Yes, m’lady. I found her. Yes. I will bring her home. Understood.”
Viviana looked up at her to see her better and weakly mutter.
“W– Who are you?”
“All in due time, Ms. Voluntas. All in due time.”
The maid picked her up onto her shoulder and Viviana fainted again.
Hours later, she regained her consciousness again. She could smell the cheap lemon-scented room fragrance she put in her apartment seeping into her nose as she woke up.
But to her, even after opening her eyes, her vision remains pitch black. She realises that she must’ve gone completely blind after the incident a few hours ago.
When she tried to sit on her bed, she felt a searing pain on her legs. With her eyes blinded, she tapped her hands on her knees and noticed that she had also lost her legs.
“The– The cart.”
To her right, she could hear her holographic telly was on, with news broadcasts playing in the background.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Breaking news, coming at you live from industrial block 34, south of Diveport. Galleon Chemicals, a producer of chemicals, was subjected to an unknown and mysterious hostile bombardment by an unidentified party an hour ago.”
The news broadcast then switched to an aerial view from a drone overlooking an obliterated industrial complex.
She could hear the sound of firefighters and the tense cries of the people coming off of the tv.
“The attack lasted for a whole seven minutes, destroying all eight plants, killing more than forty four thousand Galleon workers and hundreds of other companies' workers.”
“Witness reports said that a heavy cruiser entered the atmosphere and fired hundreds if not thousands of high-explosive incendiary railgun rounds and launched countless other rockets and explosive ordnance.”
“Authorities have already started their investigations but so far no individual has been suspected to be involved or tied to the tragic act of terrorism. We do know however that the attack fits schemes to a known criminal enterprise, Quindecim Umbra, the universe's most dangerous criminal syndicate.”
“The group is also believed to be responsible for the destruction of two Galactic Peace Federation's fleets that killed sixty thousand souls just two days ago.”
“Residents are advised to stay inside for the moment until further notice. If you happen to see or hear anything about the group, a hefty price awaits any information that could help brings them to justice and—”
The maid turned telly off and picked up a bowl of hot water and rubbed the towel on Viviana’s face. She doesn’t speak, yet Viviana could feel that she wanted to say something to her.
“Who– Who are you?”
“You can call me Esther.”
The maid rubbed the warm towel across Vivina’s blistered face. She recoiled back from the pain but held it back.
“That is the name my mistress gave me.”
“Your mistress? Who?”
“My one and only liege, Goddess Harina.”
“Harina?”
“My mistress tasked me to collect you from that chemical processing plant that you worked at. She said that something bad will befall you. And looking at what happened three hours ago, I would say that she was right. Not that I ever doubt her.”
“The plant… was that your doing? Did you really kill all those people?”
“Does it matter to you? I don’t see a reason for you to get sentimental over their deaths.”
Viviana bit her lips in seething rage.
“You people are monsters! You god damn–”
“Incorrect.” Esther, the maid, cut her off.
“The real monsters are the corporate directors cutting corners and ignoring the pleas from people like you and your colleagues.”
“You people still kill all those innocent lives! For what? That makes you all just as bad as them!”
“We at Quindecim Umbra are closer to demons. We have our own view of the definition of evil. We target our cruelty, brutality and savagery to only those we think and know deserve. We leave innocents out.”
“Then why does my perception–”
“Perception like yours is the single biggest misconception and the reason we criminals have a bad name.”
“Fuc– Why do Harina want me to become her successor?! Why me?! I’m just a nobody! I’m just a weakling in a broken world… she could and should have picked someone better.”
“Maybe according to you. But from her eyes, she could see the most hidden potential within someone just by looking at their eyes once. She has never been wrong once ever since I served her and her assumptions always hit their marks. If she had such high opinion on you, you should be fucking grateful.”
Viviana felt Esther’s fingers opening her eyelids and flashed a torch into her eyes.
“Yep. All those chemicals have burned your corneas, probably severing your optic nerves too. Can you see my torch?”
“No– I could feel the heat, though only faintly.”
“It’s worse than I thought. Well, nothing that our best medical facilities can’t handle. Damn thing could regenerate a new spine with all the disgusting innards for our disabled and combat-injured members. A new set of eyes is nothing but a small increase in the number in the electric bill.”
A few moments later, Viviana could hear her electronic door slide open and someone walk into her apartment.
The footsteps sounded heavy – like someone wearing a combat boot. And that smell – black musk. There’s only one person she knew using that scent.
Her mind quickly ran back to her seething rage once more.
“HARINA!!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, YOU SICK F—”
Harina just whistled and closed the electronic door.
“Nice to see you too, V.”
“You heartless monster! You killed all those people!. All those innocent souls lost because of you!”
“Yeah… sorry to pop your bubble, sweetie. But the guys in my Intelligence Division would disagree with you big time.”
“What are you talking about, you sick woman?!”
“You see, I can’t just kill thousands of fuckers in your company, well… former company. No, that would be a galactic violation. So I asked my people to look into everyone’s background, their personal lives, their families, basically their entire existence that can give me the slightest justification and reason to send them straight to heaven. What I find is quite amusing.”
“What?”
“Everyone is working a side hustle to make that extra cash, you know. Most of them are low drug movers, some are in the espionage business. The ironic thing is that you’re genuinely the only innocent in Galleon. Everyone else is a sinner. So without further ado, I called one of our heavy cruisers in this system and asked them if they wanted to stretch their cannons a bit. They said yes. PS: This week was supposed to be our scheduled inventory cleaning, specifically our heavy artillery shells. You just happen to give my guys their accelerated date so in a way, thanks, I guess?”
As Viviana was heaving heavily, Esther walked over to Harina and bowed deeply.
“My lady, I have completed my task you have given me.”
“Good. Your diagnosis?”
“Damaged lungs, ARDS, Chemical pneumonitis, COPD. Estimated lifespan… less than 40 hours if not shorter.”
“Oof!”
Harina turned to Viviana.
“You hear that, V? 40 hours! That’s about a couple seasons of Friends.”
Viviana groaned in anger. She would jump at Harina if it weren’t for her weakened body.
“What do you want with me?!”
“Become my successor, V. I can see souls, I see yours are barely holding on to your body.”
Harina knocked the side of Viviana’s temple a few times in a mocking gesture.
“Do you really want to die on this shit-biscuit planet? Your life could be something much more. You can set these chains of slavery off. Why stay? You have no one here? Be with me. You can have every fucking thing you could’ve wanted in your life but can’t. Better education. Actual meals, clothes, wealth, your own fucking fleet of warships guarding you twenty four seven. I’m giving you a chance at a better life here–”
“By making me a criminal just like you! You’re asking me to cast my innocence and morality aside and trash them into a bin! Oh, my God–”
Harina quickly slapped Viviana across her face in reflex.
“Don’t you bring God, Goddess or any of them divine motherfuckers into this conversation, V!”
The slap was way more powerful than she anticipated that Viviana’s face and body was rolled to her side.
“I’m sorry… but you kinda ask for it.”
Viviana wiped her cheek and spit out.
“Has anybody ever told you that you are the spitting image of the devil himself?!”
“Quite a few times, actually.”
“You’re shoving your offer to my face and expect me to just take it without some nasty consequences murking me later down the line!”
Harina grabbed Viviana on her forehead and shoved her down to the pillow.
“I’m honest, okay? Look at you, V. You tried so hard to be a saint all your life and look what happened to you. Society treats you like shit and easily discards you like you’re a cheap prostitute after a night filled with cocaine and five bottles of liquor. Look around you. There is no justice for you in this world. There is no God. There is no tooth fairy. There is no one that will pull you out of your misery EXCEPT ME! Use your brain for once and reconsider my offer before my old man comes and claims your soul.”
Viviana swat Harina’s hand off of her.
“Let me ask you something… after death, what comes after? Complete nothingness or fiery hell?”
“For you? Complete nothingness. You live your life with a nihilistic mindset. Your death will result in your conscience being permanently deleted from existence like before you were born. You will feel nothing. Not fear, not sadness, nor happiness. Do you want to give your lives for that shit?”
“I’m blind! I’m sick! I’m already dying! I lost both of my fucking hands and legs! Death is a mercy for me. I’m sick of living a shite of a life–”
“Then change your course, you fucking moron! You’re like a little insolent, stubborn duck swimming in a pond of highly combustible nitroglycerin with your tail on fire while someone on the edge is laying a hand and trying to get you the fuck out.”
Esther pulled the small refrigerator and dragged it closer to her. Harina then sat on it.
“You complain about hating your life but do nothing to improve your life. That’s that weak, slave mentality you have, V. The world is not pretty. It’s dirty, damp, bloody and cull the weak. Try to see things in a more realistic approach. See that nothing will get better and accept it as fact. No one can save you but yourself. So you either die here, on this planet, like a little bitch that you are or shake my hand and fuck everyone else before they can grow a chance to fuck you. What’s it going to be? Defiant until the end? Or be a slave?”
Vivina bit her lips, forcing herself to ponder for one last time and simulate how her life will turn inside her own head. Finally, after a silenced frustration, she relented to the idea…
“Fine! I’ll take your stupid offer.”
From the edge of her evil over the shoulder peer, a maleficent smile adorned Harina’s face. She pivoted around and shook Viviana’s hand.
“Good.” Her smile widened even more. Wise choice.”
Harina placed her hand on Viviana’s head and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Once she opened her eyes, they turned red and glowed in her dimly lit room. At that point Viviana knew this would mark her point of no return.
Harina began chanting a charm in a language Viviana had never heard before.
“Hodie animam hanc mea reclamare conor. Ab hac die, anima haec semper mecum connexi. Omnem potestatem quam habeo et eius ipsam esse volo. Quod videt, odorat, audit vel sentit, etiam meum est.”
Viviana felt a sudden rush of strange feelings seeping into her brain as Harina finished her sentence.
Whatever she just did, she felt weak and made her gasp for air. She rolled from her bed and fell to the floor, still gasping for air until she fainted again.
Esther picks her up onto her shoulder and puts a gas mask to Viviana’s face. Harina stood up and tilted her head at the door.
“Let’s go.” She walked towards the door and tapped her earpiece. “Attention all ships, all hands to battle stations. Commence Ashen Surface right this instance, drop everything you have. I want this planet obliterated within a minute. Set teleportation for three at my location.”
Harina and Esther stepped out of the apartment with Viviana on her shoulder and a beam came from the sky. Millions of bolts tearing the atmosphere and descending from the sky towards the planet's surface. Their lights illuminating the sky and shone through the thick smoke covering the air.
“Burn…”
Esther rotated and leaned forward slightly. Harina rubbed Viviana on her forehead.
“From this day onward… this planet, your old life… is dead, V. You’ll be reborn as a new you. You will no longer be the weak and oppressed Viviana Voluntas anymore, you will be Viviana the World-Eater.”
The second the three of them disappeared from the apartment complex, fire and explosion took the scenery.
Complete, unadulterated force tears the surface until it becomes a hellscape.
And when the rain of death has finished, ash is what remains of the planet and their inhabitants dead and incinerated to ashes until nothing remains.
Viviana Voluntas is no more.