Chapter Four — Turner Estri, Black Market of The Amateurs
Taking Esther’s advice, Viviana laid down and fell asleep before the ship departed from the hangar.
She was transported back to her realm of dream. Expecting a different, calmer, happier dream, she was shocked to find herself waking up in the same dream she saw two days ago.
Everything around her was the same black, gelatinous liquid but with a more acrid smell this time around.
She walked around the creepy, desolate, rubble of a city. The sounds of screaming and mad cackles begin to get louder and louder the more steps she takes.
Before long, the shadowy figure she saw in the first dream returns. It jumped from atop of a destroyed skyscraper and landed on the pile of metal ahead of her. Debris and shattered pieces of metal flew everywhere but not harmed her in the slightest.
The sight terrified Viviana once more, her heart racing as the shadowy figure flashes its red eyes at her.
Viviana swallowed before growing enough courage to approach it.
“Hey,” she said. “What—What are you?”
The shadowy figure growled in response and Viviana recoiled back slightly.
But something snapped inside her and she spit aside and continued forward. “Come on, I just want an answer… or answers.”
“You were not supposed to be here.” The shadowy figure begins to speak to Viviana. “This is not a path you’re supposed to take.”
Viviana grows confused at its cryptic response. “What—What are you talking about?”
“You made a really grave mistake by allowing your soul to be tethered to her…” The shadowy figure lets out a disgusted growl.
“Her? Who are you talking about?”
“Who else?”
“Harina?”
The shadowy figure chuckled slightly. “Bingo.”
“What about her? Tell me…”
“She’s playing with you—She is not making you a successor, she’s making you a weapon of retribution.”
“What? How?”
“Your powers.”
“I’m not powerful in the slightest.”
“No—not now, at least.”
“What do you mean?”
“She told you about her foresight ability, yes?”
Viviana was confused momentarily but nodded her head as she recalled her memories.
“She knows that you will become even stronger than she is in the future. She capitalised on that very opportunity to groom you into a living weapon—an anti-god, anti-goddess type of living weapon. She can’t even topple her own pantheon—that’s why you’re her biggest project yet. You are her WMD—a living tool to exterminate the old gods!”
“That’s preposterous!”
“Is it? That soul tethering contract you made grants you access to all of her powers—what it didn’t say is that you can still grow beyond what you will receive from hers. The now you are still constrained by your fear despite her already growing influence on your morality and humanity. Soon all of that will be shed, soon the feeling of first blood will make you go for another, and another, until you change from killing humans to killing gods…”
“No no no—Esther said that Harina is incapable of lying. There must be a mistake—”
“Mistake? There is none. You believe that whore, Esther? Big mistake on your part. Not like it matters, though—She’ll be dead the next volume. And it’s gonna be really really grotesque…”
“But she can’t lie, can’t she? Harina…”
“She can’t—That doesn’t mean she can’t manipulate people through other means. Did you really think lying is the only way to control via subterfuge? No. Technically, and I’m being really generous here, she’s not lying—she just doesn't tell the whole thing.”
“How—how are you so sure about that?”
“Wouldn’t be a really good story to read if I straight up told you the ending now, wouldn’t it?”
“Stop playing around! This is my life we’re talking about! This is my future—”
“Future?!” The shadowy figure cackled uncontrollably at her naivety. “Our—I mean, your future, oh Viviana the World-Eater, consists of travelling to different worlds, picking a fight with whatever pantheons inhabiting that world, killing them, syphoning their powers and further corrupting your already corrupted soul. You want spoilers, there—I said it. Your fate is sealed, your future is inevitably bleak! Reek of absolute shite! Painted by divine blood, deaths and destruction! You're nothing but a slab of metal being heated and hammered until you start to take shape and have defined edges. When two worlds collide, you are the sharp that will cut—and Harina's the wielder. Today you will make your first kill, tomorrow you will have collected a hundred.”
Viviana pulled her hair in frustrated anger and groaned. “What does that even mean?!”
“You’ll see what I mean, you will always be what you are always destined to be—a killer and a conqueror.”
“No,” she rejected out loud. “I may take over her but I would never stoop into that kind of monster level.”
“I’m going to enjoy your suffering.” The shadowy figure let out a whispered chuckle. It walked away from Viviana while holding its head, seemingly in pain.
Viviana could hear a faint mechanical whirring coming off of its shadowy arms and legs. Somehow, something doesn’t feel right to her.
“Are you alright?” she asked.
Why does she feel the whirring sound sounded incredibly familiar to her. They sound almost identical to her own prosthetics.
“It’s just these accursed things,” the shadowy figure replied as it shrugged off its own annoyance to its arms and legs. “I should’ve cut them a long time ago.”
“Those whirring sounds—Why do they sound familiar to me? Do you wear prosthetics too?” Viviana asked, her face completely worried.
The shadowy figure only nodded in silence, lowering its head. “I do—I lost my arms and legs. These prosthetics give me many pros… but they come with their own cons. I could’ve gotten rid of them a long time ago—but I don’t know why I couldn’t. They just felt like, I don’t know, a memento for me.”
“A memento? Was the person who gave those to you important to you? Do you care or love them?”
“Yes, yes, and yes. I resented that person for many years but when she lost her soul, I felt empty. I never figured out how important that person is until she is gone forever.”
“Well, it is hard to differentiate between love and hate on the surface.”
“You don’t say.”
“Tell me, shadow—Do we know each other?”
The shadowy figure turned to her and looked down, like someone feeling guilty. Its flashing red eyes are now downtrodden.
“I know you the best… Viviana.”
Before she could ponder further, suddenly she woke up again in the real world, where Esther was already standing beside her bed and tapping her cheeks lightly.
‘What just happened?’
“Lady Viviana, please be awakened. We are arriving,” said Esther.
She slowly sat up on her bed and tried to calm her breath as she returned from her dream realm.
Esther poured hot cocoa from a steaming pot into a cup and handed it to Viviana. She could notice her unease as she huffed and puffed her chest.
“Are you ill? Do you need medical attention?” she asked.
“No,” replied Viviana. “It’s just a silly dream, that’s all.”
“Oh, yeah? What were you dreaming?”
“I don’t know. I was standing around a destroyed city, the ground was sticky, black, gelatinous goo, and there’s a shadowy figure talking to me.”
Esther’s face changed nearly instantly, her smile turned flat completely. She put the pot down on the table and cleared her throat.
“What—What else did you see in this silly dream of yours?” she asked cautiously.
Viviana got up from the bed and opened her wardrobe. She grabbed one of the plain black dresses inside and put it on.
“I don’t know, the thing was kind of rambling nonsensically. Something something world eating, something something anti god weapon.”
Weirdly, Viviana’s sonar vision suddenly enhances and allows her to feel Esther’s fastening heartbeat.
‘Why is her heart pacing faster?’
“Uh, Esther,” she called. “Are you alright? You seem tense.”
Esther collected herself and nodded in response. “Yes—I was thinking of something. Don’t worry, it’s not that important.”
“Okay?” Somehow Viviana doesn’t believe her in the slightest. “Where’s Harina?”
“My liege is down in the lower deck. She’s waiting for you. I suggest we hurry and meet her there. She is not the kind who likes to wait around doing absolutely nothing.”
After finishing with helping Viviana dress, Esther guided her to the main lobby located on the lower deck where Harina was waiting for them.
Harina was sitting on one of the sofas there with her feet up on the table in front of her while munching candies from a cocktail glass with a smug smile.
“My liege,” Esther said, bowing respectfully at Harina. “Lady Viviana is dressed and ready.”
“Good.”
Harina put the glass down and gestured at Viviana to sit down. Viviana took the sofa right across from her and sat down cautiously.
Esther leaned into Harina and whispered into her ears.
“My liege, lady Viviana—her dream has occurred. Your predictions are correct once again, as expected of you.”
“Wait, what? It’s way ahead of schedule. Something is terribly off, Essy. Someone else is behind the scene.”
“What do you mean, my liege?”
“This shouldn’t happen, not for another year. This is not right!”
Esther recoiled in Harina’s distress and bowed her head lower.
“I’m very sorry, my liege, but her description is just as what you told me. Desolate and rubbly city and gelatinous black liquid covering the ground.”
“Did she say anything else?!”
“She mentioned something about a shadowy figure talking to her in her dream. I haven’t inquire further but—”
“You should’ve told me sooner!”
“My apologies, my liege!”
“You fail me, Esther. I will remember this.”
Harina bit her tongue, her mind racing to come up with a theory of but none seem to come up.
‘This is wrong. Viviana shouldn’t be dreaming about that for another year! Something is fucking with me! I have to find the reason why and who.’
She put the thought aside and dismissed Esther with a wave of her hand. She then turned to Viviana.
“Why the glum face?” asked Harina, her tone mocking. “Restless sleep? Bad dream? Unable to do the deed?”
“Eww, you’re actually disgusting,” scoffed Viviana. “No—What the hell is the matter with you?”
“Oi oi oi, calm down. You’re a big girl, V. I just thought that, you know… you might want to release your pent up feelings but can’t. I’m not judging you.”
“There’s so many things wrong with your brain, Har. Not everything needs to be sexualised.”
“That’s what a closet perv always said.”
“How am I a perv when I’m—”
“A virgin?” Harina chuckled. “Let me tell you something real quick. I have travelled to many worlds, okay. I have seen literally millions of dirty minded virgins, closet or not.”
“Can we just drop this—whatever we’re talking about and please, for the love of God, fill me in on this debt collecting field trip you plan for me.”
“Hold on a second.”
Harina turned her tablet on and tapped into it. A short while later, a bird whistle sound could be heard as she turned it off and tossed her tablet off to Esther who quickly caught it with her hands.
“You still have your electronic implants in your head right? The one everyone got when they were little?”
“Yeah. What about it?”
“I just transferred some walking around money to your account. Turner Estri is quite a sizable hub. Your stomach might rumble after we’re done doing our debt collection. You can explore around, grab a bite, buy new things that you might be interested in while I talk with the head of the syndicate that oversees that hub.”
“Who?”
“Some guy named Edon—his syndicate is a joke compared to ours but he has his uses so I’ve been allowing him to live.”
“That’s not really a fair comparison don’t you think? You’re comparing QU, the literal biggest and most dangerous in the universe, to a small-time, fifth rate organisation.”
“Sounds like his problem, not mine.”
“That aside, how much did you give me?”
“Four and a half quintillion credits—”
Viviana quickly jumped in surprise. “Say what?!”
“What? It’s just a pocket change, V. Stop being surprised already.”
“I don’t think you know how batshite insane it is to give a young girl FOUR AND A HALF QUINTILLION CREDITS! I mean, for God’s sake, Har, I come from a background of poverty! My bank account never even reached a hundred thousand let alone one quintillion. Do you know how many zeros there are in a quintillion?”
“Eighteen.”
“Correct!” Viviana exclaimed in frustration.
“Look, it’s just—consider those your monthly allowance, okay. I understand that you might be expecting a little more—”
“A little more?!” Viviana twitched, trying to process whether Harina is genuinely joking or was being serious. “If you give me fifty thousand—I wouldn’t even be sure I could spend it all in a single day. Like, come on! How much is it for street food?!”
“Shut the fuck up, V. Sheesh, calm the hell down. It’s just an allowance, use it, don't use it, that’s your call. I’m just giving you money. You might not get it because your slut of a mother could even barely feed you but I have money to waste. Try to live a little, would you?”
“What did you just say?”
“I said that you’re poor and I’m not. What are you going to do about it?”
“You motherfu—”
Viviana quickly stood up in anger, trying to reach to Harina but she casually kicked the table forward, knocking Viviana by her feet,
As Viviana landed on the table, Harina picked up a bread knife and stabbed Viviana on her left shoulder.
Viviana let out an agonising scream as the dull, slightly serrated knife penetrated deep into her shoulder and shattered her clavicle on the first insertion.
The extreme regeneration quickly closed her entry wound and regrow her shattered clavicle in two seconds but due to the knife still sticking inside and acting as a plug, the regeneration caused her pain to escalate.
“So weak,” sneered Harina. “At this rate, you’ll never be a worthy leader to Quindecim Umbra.”
“You monster…” Viviana growled through her gritted teeth, wincing in pain.
“You are beyond weak—You’re an embarrassment. Your parents are rolling in their graves if they could see you.”
“Don’t you dare bring them up! I swear to God I’ll fucking—”
Harina lifted her feet up and stomped on the handle of the knife, thrusting it deeper and penetrated both Viviana and through the table.
Viviana screamed even louder as blood continued to flow out of her wound.
“What? You’ll fucking what me? I know that you wish to be a hero of somekind, what a fucking joke. You wish to save the world, yet you can’t even save your mother from selling herself out. You wish that you could kill yourself, well too bad! You ain’t dying any time soon!”
In rage, Viviana punched the table with her fist. The prosthetic arm Harina gave her proved to be much more powerful than she expected, exerting enough energy to tear the table in two.
She stood up angrily and pulled the bread knife stuck in her shoulder. Harina chuckled slightly and whistled as Viviana walked over to her.
“Eat this—”
Viviana thrusted the knife forward but Harina simply slapped her hand aside, grabbed the flower vase behind her and slammed it at Viviana’s head.
Viviana falls again as her head begins to bleed profusely with a wide cut on her left side. She rolled her body in pain as Harina shook her head in disappointment.
“Don’t get over yourself, V. You threw one punch, that’s it.”
Viviana dragged herself away from Harina, her hand reaching for a broken piece of the vase on the floor.
Harina walked to Viviana and kicked her hand away. She proceeds to lift Viviana up above her shoulder and slam her back first into her knee.
The bone cracking sound was so audible that the main lobby staff recoiled in horror behind their counter. Once Viviana fell to the ground, she found herself unable to move any part of her or even utter a word out.
“What—What—” Viviana tried to speak but she could only muster enough strength to stutter with air escaping her as she spoke.
“I just broke your back,” Harina replied in a completely casual tone. “I would say thoracic vertebrae five to eight, I remember that distinct ugh ugh sound of pneumothorax very, very well. In fact, I got it on speed dial.”
“You—You—”
Harina snapped her finger, gesturing at Esther who was watching them from the corner of the lobby. She stood up and pulled her sleeves before opening her palms flatly and struck them on Viviana’s back.
Her spine returned to its previous shape and allowed her to breathe again. But the pain from Esther’s lightning fast punches still lingers and stung her.
“You like it?” Harina smirked smugly. “That’s an ancient martial art I learned from one of the worlds I visited a long time ago. The country it originates from used it for self defence purposes but some big brained monks found some niche medical uses. They rely more on swift, open palm movements than exerting their energies with the usual knuckle punches.”
“Oh my God—”
Viviana felt her arms and legs moving again. She stood up and brushed the glass shards off of her, still clutching her shoulder.
“Look, V,” Harina sighed, rubbing her nose. “I don’t like to fuck and toss you around like a ragdoll, okay. Just do me one favour—stop fucking around like a five years old and do what I told you, when I told you, okay? We cool?”
Viviana didn’t immediately respond and instead walked over to the counter in the bar area. The two girls behind the counter quickly ducked behind their station as Viviana grabbed the marble stone slab laid on top and ripped it off using her prosthetic arms enhanced strength.
“I paid good money for that marble,” Harina murmured.
Harina sighed again and lowered her head in exasperation as Viviana walked back towards her with the slab raised above her head, her face stoic but full of rage.
“I wouldn't do it if I were you.”
Viviana pulled her arms back and prepared to slam the slab as hard as she could at Harina. A red glow suddenly appeared above Harina, forming into a reddish black halo, completely made of metal with nineteen spikes facing out.
The halo expands outward and lights up brighter before a red sword materialises from the centre and falls into Harina’s hand. She sliced the slab into three and delivered a powerful spin kick at Viviana, launching her back against the wall.
Harina spun the red sword with her hand before throwing it at Viviana, penetrating her chest and into the wall behind her, nailing Viviana on the wall like a painting.
“Should’ve listened, V.”
As she began to bleed from the stabbing wound, she began to notice something—something that brought fears back into her.
“W—What? How?” she muttered stutteringly.
She seems to keep bleeding out as the sword glows redder and brighter—her bleeding not only didn’t stop, her wounds didn’t close at all.
“What—What is this?”
“That’s one of my swords, Corpus—Sword of Body Extermination,” Harina said with a smirk. “It only damages the physical body and nullifies any native regenerative capabilities, essentially preventing its target to heal. Any stab, cut, hack or slash is basically turning into haemophilia.”
Viviana was getting used to the feel of getting stabbed or cut by Harina from her previous injuries as Harina’s gift of extreme regeneration gives her the consolation of constant healing.
But in this instance, where her extreme regeneration turned off completely and didn't heal her, she felt fear once more.
She winced and groaned in pain, breathing heavily from the agonising pain but tried to slow her breath down to lessen the gushing blood as adrenaline began to take effect to keep her awake.
Harina approached her closer and pushed the handle inward, pushing the sword deeper into the wall. Viviana used her hands to grip the sword, unable to resist Harina’s more powerful physical strength and cutting her fingers on the edge.
She poked Viviana’s forehead and lightly slapped her cheeks in sadistic amusement. Her smile was completely out of remorse nor disgust and instead lit up in cruel enjoyment.
“I want to make something VERY clear to you, V,” she said, giggling slightly. “I do not like to hurt people, at least not when I don’t have to, especially you, the person I trusted to succeed me. BUT—You seem to enjoy provoking me worse and worse. How fucking hard is it to get the line please, don’t anger me, o’succeesor into your frontal lobe, V? You seem to have a habit of fucking around and finding out for the past 24 hours—the first two irked me, but the third straight up annoy me. DO NOT TEST ME, YOU LOWLY DAUGHTER OF A BITCH! YOU DO NOT BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS!”
Harina took a deep breath and calmed herself down before putting her hand around the handle again.
“Come on, V. Let’s just—forget all of these never happened, yeah? Let’s just shake hands, collect the debts and grab a bite later. What you say?”
When she tried to pull the sword out of the wall—and her mentee—Viviana gripped the sharp edge tightly and instead tried to pull the sword back into her.
“I’m being REALLY generous, V. Enough is enough, let the fucking shank go.”
Viviana didn’t say anything back to Harina, only letting out a pained groan as the sword moved back to her millimetre at a time.
“I—If I die here—the contract will be broken… Hehe…” she said between her breaths. “There won’t be anyone t—to succeed you if I just killed m—myself, right?”
“Very funny,” Harina smirked before pulling her right arm back and punching Viviana in the face with force, knocking her out. “Too bad it doesn’t work like that, dumb bitch.”
With Viviana unconscious, Harina shook her head in disappointment and pulled the sword out of her completely. Once the sword was no longer through her chest and she fell to the floor, the extreme regeneration began to take effect once more—gradually closing her wound until it closed entirely.
Viviana falls right back to her dream realm, landing on the black liquid and bounces up and down momentarily before coming to a full stop.
When she looked around, the shadowy figure was still waiting there, sitting on top of a rubble of a collapsed building.
“I take it that you got your arse kicked?” it asked mockingly.
Harina shook her head, stood up and threw a small pebble at it, only for the pebble to go through it like it wasn’t even there.
“Rude.”
“Oh, piss off, shade,” snark Viviana.
“You can’t fight her one on one right now—she killed more people before you finished your breakfast. What chance did you think you had with that marble slab at her?” it continued to make fun of her.
“I DON’T KNOW!” shout Viviana in frustration. “I’m just so angry, I grabbed the first thing I see and the god damn thing just ripped off of the—”
Viviana stopped for a second, thinking about what the shadowy figure just said. She turned her head slowly at it confused.
“Hang on for a bloody sec!” Her brows are rising in perplexity. “How did you know that? I mean the counter’s marble slab? I haven’t said anything about that.”
The shadowy figure scoffed in response. Its eyes moving in a way that looks like it’s rolling them.
“I just did—nothing more, nothing less.”
“That’s something that just happened minutes ago—in the real world. How did you even know that when you’re here—in this dank realm?”
The shadowy figure seemed to shift around uncomfortably as Viviana kept gazing at it.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“No no no no, shade. You don’t get to use the I don’t want to card on me.”
Viviana walks up the rubble and approaches the shadowy figure but it slides down and walks away from her.
“I said I don’t want to talk about it.”
Viviana persists to follow her and inquire further. “No no—let’s talk, shade. I’m already curious.”
“Curiosity kills the cat.”
“I'd rather take death than ruling the universe’s criminal underworld with an iron fist like her!” Viviana continued to follow it as it sped up its pace.
“You are not going to die—Harina will.”
“See, that’s what I’m talking about you knowing my future. Why and how did you even know about that?”
“Leave me alone.”
“We’re not done talking.”
“You’re not—I have.”
“Shade, you seem to know something—a lot of things about my future. What is it?”
“The future is uncertain. No future is as certain as people might think.”
“What the bloody hell does that even mean?!”
“It means give it up and stop, return to the real world. Harina is going to suspect something if you fall unconscious for too long.”
“Nah, bruv. I’m sticking around until you give me an explanation—actual. fucking. explanation.”
The shadowy figure suddenly stopped in its tracks and turned around at Viviana. It raises its index finger up and points at her, scowling its eyes.
“Listen here, you little shite. Do as I say and wake up. This conversation we have is taking too long—don’t risk the future with your stubbornness.”
Viviana walked up to its shadowy face and stood her ground. “Make me.”
It turned around again, pulling its hair in exasperation and let out a very audible groan. While it stresses out, its shadowy prosthetic arms whir and a small blip flash from the elbow.
Viviana looked down and noticed that her prosthetic arms were also blipping in a similar white flash just like it.
Her mind races, completely bewildered by the identical, nearly instantaneous timing. ‘What the hell?’
“We can’t talk about this anymore. Sorry—I’m gonna have to end our session.”
“What?”
“Bye-bye.”
Suddenly, the same invisible arms grabbed around her waist and pulled her up into the blinding sky again.
She woke up in the real world with her face splashed and wet, still on the ground in the lower deck’s main lobby. Harina sat on the same sofa and Esther stood up with an empty glass in her hand.
Harina shook her glass of candy and leaned back. “Welcome back, I was waiting to see whether you’re going to wake up again after having your chest penetrated and your regeneration deactivated for a short period of time.”
“What just happened?” ask Viviana, she turned around in confusion.
Her vision behaves differently between her dream realm and the real world. In her own realm, she could see normally but when she returned to the real world, her vision still hadn't returned and she had to rely on her sonar vision again.
Harina watched how Viviana blinked her eyes repeatedly, seemingly confused and lost. Her suspicion begins to deepen. Esther’s report on Viviana’s dream puts her in unease.
‘She’s hiding something. I fucking know for a fact that her vision hadn’t returned—she saw something while she was out. Something’s not right. Something’s fucking with me right now. Whoever, whatever it is, I will find it and fuck it up!’
“You pass out—for two minutes and sixteen seconds,” said Harina, her eyes never leaving Viviana, who was still blinking. “I asked Esther to pour water on your face, but you only woke up after the ninth glass—that’s quite unusual. Another weird dream, V?”
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
Viviana stood back up and looked down to her chest, already healed with her blood still marked on her dress.
“Something like that,” she replied, not bothering to say anything more.
Harina’s suspicion grew even more. She decided to put her glass of candy down and activated one of her ocular powers.
Her vision changed, now showing her fine astral lines around every person she sees. Everyone in the lobby—Esther, the two girls behind the counter, 6-0 and his team—still showed only one outline around them.
Viviana on the other hand showed two different outlines—one of her and one much darker than hers but still hers regardless.
‘This is not right. It’s like there’s two Viviana here. Hold on—’
She closed her eyes and tapped into her foresight. She saw the present Viviana who stood before her and the future Viviana she saw in the vision of her inevitable death.
But no matter how hard she tried to access the foreshadowed fate, something was actively blocking her from seeing them. Her foresight could only see black.
Even weirder, the line of time seems to give off an indescribable vibration, like a computation machine hanging from performing a complex computation beyond their intended capabilities.
‘Oh ho ho—what do we have here? A temporal ripple—looks like someone is trying to alter this timeline.’
Harina continued to snoop around a little bit more, turning her foresight back on and sees her own future death—someway, somehow—something even blocked her from viewing her own future.
‘Very interesting—very interesting indeed.’
Viviana looked at Harina who seemed to be preoccupied with her own mind in silence, smirking smugly the whole time.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Don’t mind me, I’m having the best time of my life—so to speak,” Harina responded, grinning entertainingly.
Esther walked to her back and leaned into her ears, whispering, “My liege, we’re approaching the docking sequence. Mr. Edon is awaiting your arrival at his office.”
“Good, tell him to stick around—I have a lot to say to him,” Harina said, flashing a sadistic grin. She turned back to Viviana and continued, “We are docking. Once we disembark, this ship is going back out into firing range. Stick close to me or Esther during our walk. People here don’t know that you’re with me yet, they might try to do anything funny to you. If one does, I want you to snap your finger—6-0 and his team will do the shooting. Intimidation is a criminal’s first layer of defence, after all.”
“That’s a little too over the top, no?” Viviana argued but Harina casually shrugged her shoulders.
“Everyone here is a criminal, V. Even the small-time, poor, least armed ones would still try their chance. Especially when they see a young, 150-something cm tall girl surrounded by eight highly armed and armoured personal details following her every step. No one is an exception here—everyone can get mugged, molested, assaulted, raped or even mutilated and have their organs harvested.”
The warning sent shivers down Viviana’s spine and put her at unease and extremely uncomfortable.
“You mean everyone except you,” she snarked out loud, knowing very well that everyone there most definitely already knew Harina and what she’s capable of.
“Well, duhh… that’s like common sense around here. I am the current most wanted list record holder, after all.”
“Whatever. So what about the two people we came here for?”
“My insider already sent me her intel—the four million borrower barred himself inside his crack den in one of the slum districts, the twenty trillion borrower already prepared to leave—he’s loading up his ships to leave.”
“Are we going to let him just disappear? I thought you said we collect debt not because of the amount, but the principle?”
“Correct—I had people stalling him from leaving.”
“You do?”
Harina chuckled in her seat. “Crazy how many things and permutations of things you can do with money right?”
“Okay, so how are we going to collect their debt?”
“Let’s make a bet,” Harina giggled. “I would dare guess the first borrower to start shooting us the second we—I knock at his door and the second would just straight up try to jump into light speed the moment he saw me approaching.”
“Alright, so what are we talking about here?” VIviana asked, interested in the outcomes.
Harina smirked deviously. “How does five sextillion credits sound to your ears?”
Viviana was quick to scoff at her attempt at bribery. “I don’t want your money. I want something—more lucrative for me in the long run.”
Harina whistled in intrigue and nodded her head. “What do you have in mine?”
“I want to ask you ten questions, no holds barred, any topic,” Viviana said.
“Nice—let’s do a little bargain—five questions, unfiltered, any topics you wanted.”
Viviana shook her head rejecting her bargaining and pressed further.
“Seven questions, every little detail, super personal questions.”
“Four questions, micro details and I’ll throw in an order to our shipyard for your personal ship.”
Viviana shook again, this time getting bolder than before. “Three questions, anything I want, no one around, not even Esther.”
“One question, incriminating evidence and I’ll let you choose your own ship’s specifications, no limit.”
“Two questions, right to your deepest, darkest, smallest secret you haven’t told anybody!”
“Does that include my sexual fantasies?” Harina asked, her tone half serious, half joking.
“Eww, no! You can keep it.”
“Final offer—two questions—one past, one present—face to face and I’ll ask Esther to step out.”
“Two questions—one past, one present—Esther can stick around but I want a full, actual thorough explanation—no matter how long, winded or crazy they are.”
Harina sighed audibly, nodding in relent. “Fine, two questions, past and present, with explanation. What’s your guess?”
Suddenly, the shadowy figure from her dream realm speaks to Viviana inside her head.
“You tell her exactly what I told you.”
‘How are you—’
“I’ll explain later! Just do it!”
‘Okay, okay! What is it?’
“The first borrower will shoot at you through the door with a shotgun—two of the bolts will injure two of Six’s men. The second borrower will have a catastrophic engine failure while trying to jump into light speed—he and his entire crew will die from the explosion and you and Harina would lose the twenty trillion credits he borrowed.”
‘That is extremely specific.’
“Just tell her, stop fucking around, cunt!”
‘You’re in a bad mood today!’
Viviana pretended to cup her chin in thought while Harina waited for her. From Harina’s perspective, she left her astral sight activated and could see the faint second outline around Viviana, seemingly vibrating weirdly and fade into her for a moment.
‘Yep… a second Viviana. That is not a split personality—that’s another existing Viviana. What are you doing, o’future World-Eater? Why are you actively trying to block my foresight? What have you done in the future?’
Viviana turned back to Harina and said, “I would say… the first will shoot us through his door, I would guess that some of his shots will injure us—but since I’m protected, I would say that unfortunately either him or his men might get shot—non fatal, of course.”
Harina only raised her brows at her extremely detailed and specific guess, her suspicions slowly turning into confirmation.
‘Knowledge from the future, future V—you’re gonna cause causality or worse—paradox. Fucking bitch-arse moron.’
“That’s quite specific, V—coming off of you,” Harina said. “What about the second borrower?”
“Hmm… I’m guessing he would immediately escape by jumping into light speed, but his ship might have a malfunction as he frantically tries to save his skin. The engine might fail completely and explode, killing him and the twenty trillion credits he owed us.”
‘Actual retard… you’re quoting the other you word for word, aren’t you? I know that our soul tethering hasn't reached a point where my intelligence is passed on to you yet. This is either a really good bait—or you are actually that stupid, V.’
“Impressive,” she nodded, pretending to be impressed by the detail she’s giving her. “I’m not even going to ask how you can be that accurate but whatever.”
Viviana’s smile faded into a slight confusion. “Sarcasm?”
Harina scoffed lightly. “I don’t know—you tell me.”
The ship slowly approached the docking bay of Turner Estri, releasing multiple gigantic magnetic modules that connected to the bay, allowing the ship to extend its gangway into the station.
Once the ship’s gangway’s airtight door opened, 6-0 and his team was the first to disembark, completely pointing their weapons forward at the ready before securing the way for Harina, Esther and Viviana.
As Viviana stepped off, her sonar vision went overdrive again, completely overwhelmed by the incredibly noisy and busy station. She stumbled a few times before adjusting herself with her cane.
“You okay?” Harina asked, her tone slightly worried but still suspicious.
“Yeah,” Viviana brushes off. “Slight inconvenience, that’s all.”
Though worried, Harina returned to her usual condescending self. “Are you sure? You look like a drunkard who just got out of a bar.”
Viviana chuckled in annoyance. “Always quick with your quips.”
“You’d be surprised how many comebacks I have written in my diaries.”
They proceed to walk through the bustling market section of the hub. Viviana held a part of Esther’s dress to prevent her from getting lost, but even with 6-0 and his entire team creating a barrier between Viviana and everyone in the crowded street, it proved more difficult than she had anticipated.
Her sonar vision worked by sensing the vibration and sounds that reflected back to her hearing. It worked incredibly well in dark, isolated space, not crowded open space like the market street where every sound coming to her constantly overpower her hearing to a point it became a cacophony of noise.
When they were cruising through the crowd, a hooded female bumped into Harina and handed her an envelope that she quickly caught in her hand. Rather than stopping, Harina continued without batting an eye and only pulled a pocket knife to cut the top of the envelope.
Viviana too continued but looking back at the hooded female who went on like nothing even happened before disappearing into the crowd, indistinguishable from the others.
She turned to Harina and asked, “Who—What was that?”
Harina rips the adhesive tape sealing the envelope and pulls out a small piece of paper, folded multiple times. “That’s my insider,” she replied. “Well, one of the many, anyway.”
“What intel did she give you?” Viviana asked curiously.
“The address of the first borrower, the pier number of the second borrower and his ship’s name, type, identification number and specs—and also a little something you don’t need to know.”
“Is it sensitive?”
“Well, not really but I don’t like people snooping around my nose, even if they are my own successor.”
Viviana audibly sighed. “I thought I’m special to you,” she said in mock disappointment.
“Technically you are—I just have certain rules that no one is omitted as an exception.”
“I thought that you—we as a whole already know that the first borrower is barricading himself inside his apartment and the second is preparing to escape our debt collection visitation?”
“I did—I never said anything about where the first lived and where the second docked the ship. You need to learn how to read between the lines and not make an immediate assumption.”
“What does that even—”
“Since we’re already here, I’m just going to start our class.”
“Class?”
“Three lessons for now, I’ll tell you the rest when we have the time. Lesson one in Crime Management 101: Behind every successful criminal organisation, there is a strong information provider. To know one’s enemies, one needs to be able to know oneself with perfect accuracy and detail,” she began to ramble. “V, information is the backbone of every successful job—it means the difference between succeeding or failing miserably.”
“Okay… so why separate the information?” Viviana asked. “Why not just ask your insider to send you the information as one rather than differently? Isn’t that wasting time and resources?”
“A very good question and argument. You see, in the world of crime, everything and everyone is open season. There is literally no treaty nor unwritten law that governs or guides how one can commit their acts and separate which is right and which is wrong—everything is subjective—everything is ambiguously available.”
“I don’t understand…”
‘Of course you won’t, even your future self doesn’t know the oversight you made. Retard…’
“It means that every act of crime can be done to anyone however possible or plausible—which may or may not include communication interception. Which can really make one syndicate rise while the other fall.”
“Oh! Is that the reason why? Sounds exhausting.”
“Safety is premium around here. You don’t want your valuable intel to fall in the wrong hands, especially your rival syndicate or even worse, law enforcement bodies. By separating the information that you need and have acquired, you leave tighter windows and bigger gaps, reducing or outright eliminating the chance of anyone outsmarting or outmanoeuvring you and your syndicate. As the old saying goes, you can’t fight what you can’t see. It’s no difference.”
“But doesn't that mean that we have to pay more and exert more resources to be able to afford and acquire that information? Isn’t that a little contradictory and resource-depleting?”
“Absolutely correct. Lesson two: Behind every successful organisation, there is a strong financial and risk assessment manager. To combat one’s expenses, one needs to know the scope of their maximum theoretical spending and be able to manage how much they can allocate for each specific task.”
“Okay, wait… I think I can picture that lesson.”
“Go ahead, my dear pupil,” Harina said in intrigue. “Explain.”
“You’re saying that every syndicate needs to know their exact financial capabilities and note what they can and can’t buy, right? I think that’s how it goes.”
“In short, yes, that is very close—essentially, everyone needs to have a list of everything they own, both in tangible and intangible assets, what they have in their current inventory and what they can do with what they have in order to earn more profits to grow. Every upcoming or planned operation needs to set a realistic standard based on their financial and maximum potential capabilities, set aside unused assets to act as failsafe in case of any failure in operation management. I’m not even going to list every possible factor and formula because there’s just too many to spit out in a single sentence but the ones you should know the best are liability, liquidity and debt-to-equity ratio. They’re going to be your best friend while also your business nightmare in the later micromanagement level.”
Viviana shakes her head in confusion from the amount of info dumped into her brain. “Wait, wait—slow down. That’s—That’s too much!”
“Now you know how stressful my job and task is,” Harina scoffed mockingly.
“Okay… so what’s the third lesson?”
“Lesson three: Behind every successful organisation, there is a strong daily business operation handler. To have a guaranteed quality that every customer can attest to, one needs to be able to find the right talent for each specific operation and train them until they meet the industry standard, if not better.”
“I feel like I’ve heard that from one of the conversations my old plant’s upper directors had. I don’t know about whatever it is, though. I didn’t finish school.”
“The shortest way to explain it is to know how to read, judge, measure and estimate a person’s value and worth, usually in only one instance as business very rarely have second chances.”
“Okay… so what’s the longer way?”
“This one is actually difficult to pull off accurately and consistently even for the most seasoned human resources. One, this lesson leans more on the psychological side of things, meaning that you need to know a person’s origins, background, their academic background, their past experiences and how they carry themselves. Two, the lesson also somewhat objectively leans into the more neuroscience side of things, but also neuropsychology and biopsychology.”
“I have zero idea what you just said.”
“It means that you don’t just judge a person from the outside, you need to be able to understand how they think, what micro expressions they made during your interaction with them and how their bodies move and react to certain questions you throw at them, each escalate in difficulty, personality and ambiguity. Every person is different so you need to do all that in a single interaction, remember everything about them, do it all over again with the next person, and so on and on before making your conclusion on who’s the best talent for you. It can get really speculative and extremely theoretical and you will experience what’s called a recruitment bias. When I said that even the most seasoned human resources can fail to make an accurate and consistent prediction is because even counting every variable based on those interactions doesn’t always guarantee the result you wanted or you thought you knew.”
“That is actually insane. How are you able to do that to me—or even your entire organisation.”
“I am a daughter of a primordial god, V—firstborn of the second divine generation—you’d think that I would be blessed with many ridiculous and definitely overpowered abilities.”
“And are you?”
“Of course, I can do it much better than regular humans but it’s not always fallible—the future is never certain and very very VERY malleable like clay. The best you can do is make predictions, not confirmation.”
“Alright, but hang on a sec—how are we going to collect the debt the first borrower took?”
‘See? That’s what I’m talking about you quoting the other you word for word. You don’t even care about telling the present you about how we actually collect debts in the future. You are such a disappointment, World-Eater—such small oversight.’
Harina cleared her throat. “I have a little—device that can persuade even the most stubborn to talk.”
Viviana quickly recoiled at the thought. “It’s another torture thingy, isn’t it? Just how many ways of cutting people up do you have?!”
“I don’t know, how many MREs have you eaten in your entire life?” Harina quipped as soon as Viviana finished.
They finally reached the end of the market street and descended down the access stairs into the slum district. The place was absolutely horrible, with rubbish thrown around as far as the eyes could see. The stench too was unbearable, every step they took felt like a dive into a bin.
Although in a way the noise was so much less than the market street and allowed her to see much clearer, the sight didn’t appeal to her in the slightest. Homeless people, beggars and those too sick to afford housing laid on the incredibly filthy street.
Their eyes lit up as they saw her and the others walking down the slum’s street. Their hands raised at them in response, begging for whatever they could spare.
“Spare credits madam.” “Spare bread, ma’am.” “Madam! Madam!” “Please, good lady—”
Everyone was quick to start begging as Harina got closer to them, their faces full of desperation and hunger. Esther swiftly walked past Harina and pulled a tube strapped on her right thighs.
The tube extended out into a baton, which she used to smack their hands trying to touch Harina. One even persisted and Esther responded with a swift and harsh backhand swing at his face with the baton.
“Back off!” she hissed. “You peasants will not touch my liege with your dirty hands. Back away.”
Another homeless woman tried to touch Viviana’s dress and 6-0 reacted quickly. He butted his rifle’s stock against her face, knocking her back and out cold. Viviana was startled by the violence.
She slapped his rifle with her cane and got into his face. “Six, what the bloody hell are you doing?”
He only turned to the homeless again and pointed his rifle at the rest. “Protecting you, my lady,” he said.
“I didn’t ask you to smack a helpless homeless woman!” she exclaimed.
“I’m very sorry, lady Viviana, but securing your perimeter and ensuring enough space between you and the unknown is within our job description,” he added, showing almost no remorse.
“Let’s just go, V,” Harina said. “I don’t want to spend another second here. This place reeks.”
Though she disagreed with her method of ensuring her security, Viviana only nodded and continued, 6-0 signed to his men with his hand and they began to tighten their formation around Viviana once again.
Fifteen minutes after walking through the disgusting street, they finally arrived at the first borrower’s “den.” The place was a rundown shack with overhead cables and scrap metal and plastic rubbish scattered everywhere within the vicinity.
“Oh my god, this place is absolutely disgusting,” Viviana said in disgust, covering her nose.
“Yeah, not every criminal can afford the Ritz, can’t they?” Harina scoffed. She turned to 6-0 and his men and tilted her head, gesturing at the rusty front door.
6-0 and two others stack up on each side of the door, switching their safeties off. He gave the signal and one in the right side of the door knocked twice. Out of a sudden, multiple bolts go through the door, surprising them.
The men not near the door quickly opened fire at the shack. Esther stepped forward in front of Viviana and activated her energy shield. As the laser fire subsided, Harina walked nonchalantly towards the door. She knocked again with a smirk on her face.
From behind the door, the borrower shouted, “Who—Who the fuck are you?!”
“This is your financing agency speaking,” Harina replied, her tone unserious and giggling. “You know we don’t like our calls turned down. Rules are rules, you agreed to our terms and conditions. Why don’t you open the door nicely, have our money ready and shake hands—you can continue watching telly again when we’re done.”
“Look, man. I don’t have the fucking money right now!” the borrower shouted back.
“That is not an excuse. As written under section three, paragraph two of borrower’s responsibility and liability—every and all borrower are required to submit an agreed report if they are unable to pay their monthly payment in time. If a borrower fails to submit their report and their reasons without any explanation after three days, the lender will give three calls to remind them of their responsibilities. Failure to comply will result in forced repossession as per financing contract and may or may not include hostile takeover and full submission to slavery.”
“I said I don’t have the fucking money, bitch!” he continued to shout through the door. “Now why don’t you shut the fuck up and get out of here before I blast your face off!”
Harina stifled her laughs and let out a small chuckle. “Now now, there’s no need to get bloody here. And by bloody, I mean you and yourself, not us.”
“Back the fuck off! I have a gun!”
“And so are we. That’s like saying your cereal is wet because you pour the milk after,” Harina scoffed nonchalantly.
“Please! I really don’t have the money right now! I—I’ll pay you tomorrow!”
“Really? You don’t have the money? Yet you have just enough to buy one or two power cells for your shotgun? I begin to doubt a little here.”
“I—I bought them way before I took the loan!”
“You don’t sound very convincing. Come on, now, just open the door and I’ll forget our little standoff ever happened. You know how this goes, you can surrender yourself and our money, or we can keep shouting nonsense and lies until you dried your throat completely, fainted, and we burst through your door and tied your hands with cuffs.”
“Is there any other way? I—I really don’t have the money! I swear! The job was a bust! GPF raided our ops before the deal was done! There was no money coming in, I swear to God!”
“Sounds like a you problem, chief. Why do you think I put up the entire rule, eh stupid? You have three days—three fucking chances to submit your payment inability report and you miss all three. You are either dyslexic or just an idiot. Now pay up, either with credits that you took or your servitude. Either way, Quindecim Umbra never walks out empty handed—never has, never will.”
The pressurised borrower screamed from behind the door and opened fire again. As predicted, one of the stray bolts hit one of 6-0’s men while one bounced off Esther’s energy shield and struck another in the leg.
The two men instantly fall to the ground bleeding, 6-0 and the rest swiftly return fire at the borrower’s door. Harina casually turned around to look at the injured men and whistled.
‘Wow—they really did get shot. Two men. Impressive.’
“Alright, I say we call it a day,” Harina sighed then whistled at Esther.
Esther bowed her head and approached the door. She pulled out a small, circular metal object and put it on the door, pressing the button. The object began to beep rapidly as Harina and Esther stepped back.
“Is—Is that a bomb?!” Viviana asked in shock.
“Eh, close—it’s a breaching charge—essentially just a bomb for doors and vaults,” Harian replied, shrugging her shoulders.
The object then blew off, sending broken pieces of metal and dust everywhere. Harina and Esther walked back into the den nonchalantly, gesturing at Viviana to come with them.
Inside, Esther tapped her bracelet. The bracelet suddenly materialised a combat gauntlet nearly instantly on her hand. She approached the downed borrower. He was laying on the floor bloodied, his legs blown off completely from the charge.
“Please—”
Esther quickly punched the man in the face with her gauntlet so hard that three of his teeth flew out of his mouth and dislocated his jaw.
“Shut up!” She hissed then punched him again in the chest, causing him to struggle to breathe.
Harina and Viviana stepped into the den, each with completely different expressions. Harina didn’t utter a single word and continued towards the man while Viviana visibly held herself from vomiting.
“We wouldn’t have this problem if you just opened the bloody door,” Harina said.
She pulls out a machete from her trench coat and twirls it around. Viviana, even though she can only see with her sonar vision, could see the razor sharp edge of the machete, the light it reflected gave her chills.
“Look, mate. I already killed twenty six blokes just before breakfast alone, I do not want to round my kill count to a hundred before sundown. Help a sister out and pay your debt back, what do you say?”
Viviana turned to Harina, confused. “Didn’t we meet in the morning? How did you kill twenty six before ten in the morning?!”
“The beauty of multitasking—fried rice on the left hand and a chainsaw on the right,” Harina quipped. “Hear, hear. I can torture people all day long, okay? Do I enjoy it? Kind of, but I don’t like wasting my precious time—I had an empire to run and it is very, very, VERY time consuming.”
“Look—Look, I—I don’t have them on me right now!” The borrower cried out.
Harina swung the machete downward, piercing his right thigh and pinning him to the floor. Her eyes turned to suppressed anger.
“That is just simply not true,” she said. “Did you really think I didn’t have a strong network of information to track every borrower’s moves?”
“What are you talking about—”
“Let’s start with the Station 810 job—you said the job was a bust and yet my source told me that one of your hackers got into the station’s main network, syphoning four hundred million credits in thirty seven seconds. I know that you wankers party hard after the supposedly bust job. So let me ask you again—where is my money?”
“I don’t have—”
“Bollocks—you think I would believe that you stole four hundred million credits and still can’t pay your meagre four million credits debt? Actual retard.”
“Please—I don’t—”
“Alright, fine. You make me do this.”
Harina stood up and handed the machete to Viviana. Viviana looked up at Harina, puzzled.
“What—What are you doing?” she asked, confused and scared.
“I want you… to cut his throat. Let’s do a quick, little biology lesson,” Harina replied.
“Eww! No way!”
“Take the fucking machete, V. This is not a request—it’s an order. I’m not going to ask you again.”
“You—Are you expecting me to kill this man?!”
“No, I want you to cut his throat and pull his pipe out—If he dies, I wouldn’t mind either.”
Viviana grabbed the machete and tossed it away, completely disgusted. “I am not going to kill him! Are you out of your mind?!”
Harina stretched her left hand out in the direction the machete was tossed and it suddenly flew back into her hand. Viviana’s hand then moved on its own and took the machete off of Harina.
“What—What just happened?”
“You might not like it—but I own you, V. I can make you do anything, even the most depraved, the most disgusting thing without you being able to fight it off or do anything about it.”
Viviana tried to move her body but it didn’t move at all, like an immovable statue.
Harina giggled before flashing a sadistic grin. “Do as I say—or I’ll turn the extreme regeneration off of you and carve you up with a blunt and rusty cardboard cutter for an entire afternoon and then showered you with lemon and salted water.”
She can feel her body moving again at her own volition. Shaken and afraid, she hesitated for a second while holding the machete in her hand, slowly walking towards the downed and injured borrower.
The man looked up at her, noticing her pale eyes, like she couldn't see him with those eyes.
“Have—Have mercy…”
Esther grabbed the man’s hair and pulled his head back, exposing his neck for Viviana. Viviana pulled a deep breath, her heart racing wildly.
“Sorry…” she said, closing her eyes.
She began to slice the man on his neck, her hands shaking intensely from the repulsive and sickening action she did. Blood gushes out profusely as the man gurgles and choked on his own blood.
His blood flowed around them, VIviana could feel her sandals and feet getting wet and warm from his blood. She dropped the machete and looked at her bloodied hands. She slowly let out a cry.
Harina grabbed her shoulder and gestured at the dying man. “Don’t do halfsies—if you can harm—you need to be able to end their sufferings too.”
Viviana, shaken by fear, looked at Harina. “What—What do you expect me to do?”
Harina took Viviana’s hands and guided them back to the man’s slit neck, inserting her fingers into the opening.
“Pull it quickly and spontaneously—one crack and he will cease to suffer,” Harina said slowly. “If you do it slowly, he will suffer more.”
Viviana inserts her fingers deeper into his neck, feeling the squishy and still bleeding trachea. The moment she held his trachea, her fear began to overpower her again. She sniffed, still crying.
“I—I can’t,” she murmured.
“Yes, you can,” Harina cheered. “Just do it quickly, he has suffered enough.”
Viviana mustered the courage and tried to pull it out to break but her fear and disgust weakened her trembling hands. She pulled again and again but it just won’t break. She groaned between her cries and rising frustration at her inability to end the man’s life.
She pulled her hand out and stepped back. Esther was about to drop the man’s head but Harina stopped her as Viviana reached to grab the machete. Her face now indistinguishable from her previous innocence, now wielding the machete with the struggling breathing.
Viviana raised the machete above her head with both hands and hacked his neck multiple times. She keeps hitting the bone from holding the machete incorrectly and swinging it uncontrollably.
It took seven swings until his head completely separated from his body. Viviana roared and threw the machete from her, crying harder and louder. Harina took his head from Esther and placed it on the table next to Viviana.
She kicked the head off of the table in anger with enough force that the severed head flew across the room and stuck to the wall.
From Viviana’s perspective, the second she successfully ended his life, her left eye flashes a short blip of red. Gradually, she could begin to see with her left eye while her right still showed her only black.
For the first time since she lost her vision, she could see things again. She looked down and looked at her bloodied hands, completely red from his almost dried blood.
Inside her heart, she could hear a single faint click sound. Her fear subsided and was replaced with a weird tingly feeling of dissatisfaction. Like she wanted to do it again.
‘What is this? Is—Is this bloodlust? What have I become?’
She turned to Esther. Her newly awakened vision allowed her to see Esther inside and out, through her skin and see her internal organs incredibly clearly. She blinked and the vision changed, now showing Esther’s blood flow and heart race. She blinked again, now seeing a blue flame circulation inside Esther. She blinked again, now seeing multiple fading silhouettes of Esther, like she could predict what her next movement is, where and when.
‘Harina’s eyes—so this is what she’s capable of.’
Harina looked at Viviana’s newly activated left eye and chuckled internally.
“Aww,” she said mockingly. “My successor just had her first kill ever—I am speechless—beyond words.”
“You are an actual monster,” Viviana muttered.
“Aww, don’t be too moody, killa’,” Harina continued, her tone more sarcastic. “Come, let’s get something to eat. I’m sure swinging that machete drained your belly.”
“I’m not hungry, bugger.”
“You ate like ten hours ago. It’s almost eight—you are fucking lying if you said you’re not hungry.”
“I am not!”
“Alright, alright. Still not done moping your innocence, I see.”
Esther approached Harina, leaning into her ears. “My liege,” she began. “A Jane Doe wants to see you—the subject matter seems to be rather urgent.”
Harina raised a brow in not so delighted intrigue. “I smell the wind of bad news,” she responded. Slinging the machete back into her trench coat, she took Viviana by the hand and pulled her up to her feet.
“I said I’m not—”
“I don’t care what you feel, Lucy Li!” Harina cut her off immediately. “We’re going. Now move your arse and follow me.”
After her first very disturbing and surreal murder experience, Viviana followed Harian and Esther to another location in the space station. Their next destination, to say the least, surprised her in a good way.
Harina took her to what seems to be a very fancy restaurant where a choir and orchestral band played in the far front while diners in lavish suits and dresses enjoyed their meals.
With the ability to see everything again, Viviana felt a strange enjoyment in seeing an actual restaurant with her own eyes and not like watching it on her telly. Though, in another twist, because she has gotten used to seeing and sensing her surroundings using sound, the musical piece played by the restaurant’s very own musicians somewhat overwhelmed her.
She followed Harina and Esther to a table near the far right corner of the restaurant. Four servers welcomed them and set their table with incredible professionality and majesty.
Once sitting down, Viviana turned her head back to look for 6-0 and his team, they stood right in the restaurant’s lobby and guarding the entrance. She focused her attention back to the table, noticing that Esther only stood a few steps away from the table.
“Esther?” she called. “Are you not going to eat?”
“A maid should not dine nor share a table with their lords and ladies,” Esther replied with a graceful bow. “It is not permitted as per history taught.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Just forget about it,” cut Harina. “I tried to convince her a long time ago myself. I’d rather talk to a brick wall. I figure I should just respect her decision and let her do as she wishes—you should too.”
She flipped the menu book to the next page and slid Viviana another menu.
“Do yourself a favour and pick a dish—any dish you want to eat. Tonight’s on me.”
Viviana, feeling a little suspicious of Harina, who suddenly and randomly pulled her into the restaurant, looked at her intently. “What are we doing here?” she asked.
Harina, as usual, only replied in a very short, very crude answer. “Dinner,” she said, her eyes still darting from each dish in the menu.
The musical choir and orchestra finished their piece and Viviana turned to each corner of the restaurant, noting that most of the staff either stealthily listened to their conversation or outright performed their task while reducing the sounds they made.
“No,” added Viviana. “What are we doing here really?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” replied Harina, waving at a waiter. The waiter walked to their table with a tablet in his hands. Harina smiled slyfully and told the waiter, “I will have this one right here—crisp tuna paupiettes and a sweet and spicy tofu on the side.”
“A fine choice, madam,” the waiter said, putting her order on his tablet. “What about the drinks?”
“Hmm, what wine do you people have?”
“May I know your budget, respectfully, of course.”
“Unlimited, what is the most expensive one you have?”
“May I recommend our finest bottle available, the Caine-La Rouche Monterey?”
“Finest bottle, you said? Elaborate.”
“It’s a renowned Cabernet Sauvignon in the six neighbouring star system, madam. Made from the best grapes, harvested from the most fertile vineyard of the planet Eustrice at their most ripe time. Processed with extreme precision, care and love by the most passionate winemakers, bottled in their unique, homemade, custom glass bottle. Given how they only produced at max fifteen bottles per year, I would dare wage my employment that that wine is the best we have.”
“Yeah, I will take one bottle then.” She turned to Viviana and asked, “What about you, love?”
Viviana still looked at Harina in suspicion but then opened the menu and picked the first meat-based dish on the first page.
“I will take a fi—filee—filet mignon,” Viviana said, finding the dish’s name difficult to say. “And a glass of water.”
“Very fine choice, madam. What about your water? Spring-clear, sparkling, vitaminised, what is your preference?”
“Just—Just water. No—whatever the hell you just mentioned.”
“I see. Now if you excuse me, I will submit your orders to our kitchen. Please wait and enjoy the freshly baked garlic bread in the meantime.”
After the waiter left their table, Viviana turned back to Harina. “Come on, Har, you’re not fooling anyone, especially me.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Quit your rubbish! Look at them,” Viviana gestured at the various staff throughout the restaurant. “I know damn well they are not here to play the fancy house game.”
“And what led you to this silly conclusion?”
“For starters, the choir and the orchestra stopped playing already, the staff are too bloody quiet and the noise level dropped by a whole lot since we sat down!” She calmed herself down. “Just tell me what is going on, will you?”
“Hmm, nice—it seems that even one eye has given you enough leverage to know your surroundings with decent precision. I am thoroughly impressed.” Harina nodded in approval.
“I have sonar vision too, damn you!”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m just messing with you.”
“So tell me!”
“I just want to see how far you can inspect your surroundings with one of your eyes activated. The safest way is by testing you in a controlled space, this restaurant.”
“What do you mean controlled? Are you saying this is your restaurant?”
“Well—”
“Yes.” Then came a woman wearing a black dress and a tophat. “By sheer technicality alone, it is,” she said as she approached their table.
Viviana looked at the woman and went back to Harina. “Who the bloody hell is this?”
“My name is Vaibea Cillian,” the woman said, introducing herself before taking a seat. “I welcome you, Lady Viviana, to my humble establishment, the Maleficent Roads.”
“How did you know my name?”
“When the biggest, most dangerous, most wanted person is visiting Turner Estri—word spreads very fast around here. And for elites like me, that means premium case to be onboard,” the woman replied with clever wording.
Viviana looked at her in blank confusion, blinked a few times before asking, “What?”
“Sorry,” Harina said, tearing the garlic bread in two. “She’s not that initiated yet.”
“Of course, I would expect the initiation process you have for her must be very strict,” Vaibea said, bowing slightly.
“V, this is Vaibea, one of the many insiders I have around the station. She is unique compared to rest for one, being the only elites selling information and actively hating the GPF and two, for being one of the most useful and least disappointing informants I have ever known.”
“Oh, please, my liege. I wouldn’t be here without your interference in the past. Hell, this whole establishment is a testament of my loyalty to you.”
“Nice try, but you’re not getting additional points for that weak alibi.”
“What is she talking about, Har?” Viviana asked.
“Long story short, she was one of the many child labour slaves of this station many years ago. When one of the ruling syndicates tried to rob one of my logistic fleet, I paid a little visit and maybe killed six thousand in the following hour. After liberating this station and giving the control to the last remaining syndicate, we made a deal that the leader of each generation would report to me annually and give me five percent of everything.”
“Five percent?” Viviana repeats. “That’s a little bit short, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but five percent times millions is still a very hefty number and a ridiculous passive income.”
“I suppose so.”
“Then, one of my lieutenants proposed an adoption and educational facility. I said yes for the hell of it and realised a little late that the child slaves I saved turned out to be very successful in life years later, both legally and illegally. As you can see, one of them is sitting right across you, still hugging the tree I planted a long time ago.”
“Okay, I think I get the bigger picture here.”
Harina closed the garlic bread basket and turned to Vaibea. “Tell me what you got.”
Vaibea leaned forward at them, her face turning serious.
“I’ve been hearing things, my liege. I don’t know how true or serious they are but I thought you might want to know,” she began. “A few days ago, twelve ships docked here, all of their identification numbers and star-navigation tags were completely scrubbed clean.”
“Ghost cargo?” Harina asked.
Vaibea shook her head. “No, they’re completely different, I think they belong to a different faction entirely, one that we haven’t heard yet.”
“Okay, so what’s weird about them?”
“They didn’t disembark entirely for the whole time since they docked—until today, exactly thirty minutes before your ship docked and dropped you and your group.”
“Stalker alert. I assume you have people following them, yes?”
“Yes, I have asked my off-work employees to follow them around and see what they are doing, where they are going and with whom they converse.”
“Nice. A little spying bonus for the working class. I like your way of thinking.”
“So here’s where things get interesting. Most of them were staying close to pier 119 and eyed one ship, the "Dilcan" and its owner, Biager. They're all masked with full robes and report to only one person, the one wearing a red mask.”
Harina turned to Esther and asked her to come closer.
“Isn’t that our second borrower? The one with the broken ship?” she asked, Esther nodded in confirmation.
“Yes, my liege. That is indeed true.”
“I see,” Harina muttered. “So someone is following me, trailing me. Must be another one of GPF’s failure of a hunting party.”
“I don’t think so,” Vaibea added. “For once, they seem to pay, threaten or coerce every ship owner docking in the vicinity of pier 119 to remove themselves. All thirty slots near 119 are completely empty and put up a maintenance warning. I called my guy working at the station’s vehicular department, he said no maintenance work is scheduled for another four months.”
“Hm, that’s something only special forces or black ops would pull,” Harina said. “They want me captured but minimising unnecessary casualties near the engagement zone. Very by-the-book strategy. This is interesting.”
“How do you know that?” Viviana asked.
“V, I founded my country’s intelligence agency—you’d think I would know everything written in the handbook.”
“I’m just asking, no need to be all snarky.”
Harina’s face turned serious. “But this is the worrying part, though—they would absolutely know that I know what they’re trying to do once we approach the second borrower. The question is, are they just doing the bust according to the handbook or do they know that I know and expect me to anticipate their bust and turns out it wasn’t their plan all along or they might have another strategy to get me, one that is not in the book yet? I like the prospect of this guessing game.”
“You got me confused again, Har.”
“This is a trap but they know that I know this is a trap so they’re planning another trap to trap me,” Harina continued, turning to Vaibea again. “How many are they in total?”
“1630, including the one with the red mask,” Vaibea replied. “They’re very spread throughout the station, though most of them are focused in the docking area.”
“Yep, I knew it.” Harina sighed. “Mamba assault strat. Damn, even my past is chasing me.”
“What’s that?” asked Viviana.
“Mamba assault strat, named after a really infamous and sneaky animal, is an assault-ambush strategy uncommon in the world of unsanctioned transgalactic operations.”
“Is it bad?”
“Considering I was the one who coined the idea and suggested its insertion into the handbook—yes, very. It is intended to fully neutralise the targeted individual or group to a complete and total paralysis by cutting their way of escape and access to other area with combat assets spread throughout a certain distance around the main engagement zone and one fire-focused asset fixed in the engagement, functioning as the main combatant, escape-deterrent and ambusher. That strategy is a very difficult strategy to execute due to the countless variables that can affect the operation and the very conditional requirement. Very niche and very difficult but very effective if executed properly.”
“With that information in your hand, I have to ask,” Vaibae said. “What are you going to do?”
Without hesitation Harina said, “Going there, of course.”
“Uh, Har? Getting a little suicidal vibe here,” Viviana muttered, looking at her warrily.
“Vai, how many fixers do you know that can take a spontaneous job?” Harina asked.
“I got everyone in my contact list,” replied Vaibea.
“Good.” Harina nodded. “I want to put up a job.”
Vaibea looked at her in confusion. “Right now?”
“Yes. Now. If they planned a mamba strat but expect me to do something else entirely, then I’m going to humour them in my own twisted way.”
“Okay… how much do you need?”
“All of them.”
“All of them? What about the pay?”
“One hundred trillion credits—open contract. Save me the one with the red mask, she’s mine.”
“She?” Viviana repeats. “Do you know her?”
“I have an idea,” replied Harina.
“Who?”
“The Rose Red Hunter herself—Vakkert Valkyrien.”
After a while, the waiter came out of the kitchen pushing a cart towards their table. He placed the dishes on the table and lifted the covers, revealing the smoking gourmet meals and began pouring Harina’s wine.
Harina shakes the wineglass momentarily before eyeing the colour of the liquid. From her seat, Viviana could see Harina’s eyes flashing with the same red of the wine. Slightly darker red, like dried blood, a colour as old as time.
Harina chuckled before sipping on the wine, enjoying the rich taste. Viviana whistled at her.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Nothing,” said Harina, smiling mysteriously. “En annen familiemedlem, en annen krig—kona til broren min.”