Lucian dies. And is reborn again and again, bouncing across battles that took place—God only knows how many years ago.


    As he is repeatedly subjected to death upon death, he begins to collect bits and pieces of information on where he is. The beach where he fought was called Normandy; the day he stormed it was affectionately named D-Day, which took place during a war called World War Two. His second battle was just a regular day in the trenches of World War One.


    It seemed to Lucian that he was being ping-ponged back and forth between these two great wars. Lucian dropped bombs from great flying metal machines, he jumped out of the same metal machines, parachuting down into active war zones, he manned machine guns, he attacked towns and cities, he held towns and cities, he was a commander, a common soldier. He had done it all.


    Each time he died, he could feel his mind shed a layer of sanity. A person could only die so many times before their mind began to unravel itself.


    That''s why, when he died for the one hundred and fifty-third time, it was a pleasant surprise to find himself in a pitch-black void. Maybe he had finally died. Maybe, just maybe, it was finally over.


    Lucian tried to steady his breath, but it was no use. He fell to his hands and knees, gasping, clutching his chest, his heart beating a mile a minute. This was beginning to become a common occurrence. His body was having trouble accepting the fact that he was no longer mortally wounded and was trying to heal and do damage control where it wasn''t needed.


    Suddenly, a vaguely familiar voice called out to him from the darkness.


    "Much better than last time we met," the shadow clapped as it stood.


    "You alright? I didn''t pull you out too early again, did I?" The shadow inched closer, inspecting him.


    "No, you''re not bleeding," the shadow said matter-of-factly. "Ahh, I see. Well, take your time. I hear it''s quite jarring—dying, I mean."


    Lucian huddled there, gasping, trying to get himself under control. The memories of every torturous life seared themselves into his brain like a burn scar, making it impossible to think or do much else.


    The shadow, growing impatient, waved his hand. A sparse wooden chair with thin armrests seeped out of the ground and into existence next to Lucian. A copy of the same chair appeared right behind the shadow. It sat lazily, like it was waiting for someone who was late.


    "We are on a schedule, so please hurry and collect yourself." The shadow crossed his arms and began tapping his finger.


    After a while of Lucian shivering and heaving on the cold floor, he clambered into the offered chair and faced the shadow, still breathing heavily.


    "Well, I''m sure you have your questions. Ask away." The shadow slouched in his chair. If it had a face, it would most likely be grinning.


    "What... what the hell was that?" Lucian''s brain began to restart, and anger started to take the place of his panic. "Those people I killed... were they real?"


    "No, no, they were not. I am glad you asked that, though." The shadow seemed a little proud of Lucian for whatever reason, but Lucian didn''t really have the mental fortitude to grasp why.


    "I must admit I have conducted this test before, but not to this extreme. Special circumstances, you see."


    "Special circumstances? What could possibly warrant that type of test?"


    "You, my uneducated friend, have two cores instead of one, so I thought I would up the ante a little bit to see if you could be trusted or be capable enough to handle that power."


    Lucian ignored the insult and raised his eyebrow. "So that''s what the P.C.A. really does? Figure out if people can be trusted or are qualified to become pillars. I knew it."


    The shadow chortled and waved his hand. "No, you mistake me. I am not a part of the P.C.A., nor am I a part of any other organization responsible for pillars. I am here on my own business."


    "Could you be any more vague?"


    The annoyingly smug shadow shrugged. "I really can''t say much until you become one of my blessed, which can''t happen until you awaken one of your cores."


    "One of your blessed?"


    The shadow shifted. "Listen, buddy, we''re getting off topic here. The reason I''m doing this to you is, in short, I am investing in your potential. In the future, we will each have things that the other desperately wants. If you agree, I will give you what you will want when that time comes, and I hope you will do the same."


    "There are literally a million ways to interpret that," Lucian said, deadpan, a bit of the anger leaving him. He was beginning to think that he was in another life but had just gone insane and was now seeing things.


    The shadow facepalmed. "Listen," he said slowly. "I can''t tell you very much right now because I have a certain restriction placed on me. What I have told you is all I am able to. The reason why I am trying to make the deal now instead of when you awaken your core is because—"


    The shadow cut off abruptly. He sat there motionless for a moment, then his whole body convulsed and nearly fell out of his chair, catching himself on the armrest. Golden fluid leaked out of the shadow''s golden eyes and spurted out of its chest. It sat there, slumped for a moment, and then steadily righted itself.


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    "See, I told you, restrictions."


    "Are you... alright?"


    "Yeah, I''m fine. We need to hurry, though—they''ll know this is happening now, and if they find out that it''s you I''m talking to, they''ll—" This time, it was the shadow that cut himself off.


    Lucian weighed his options. He could be crazy, so the only consequence of agreeing with the shadow would be the loss of his sanity. On the other hand, if this was real and his test had been interrupted, he could be dealing with a rogue pillar or something else just as dangerous.


    "And what? Am I just supposed to trust you? Some shadowy figure claiming to be interfering in government testing, saying that he wants to be my friend after sending me off to fight in two of humanity''s cruelest wars?"


    "A shadow? That''s what you see? How odd... Maybe it''s to do with... never mind. Do you want my help or not? I''m sorry for the test—it was in bad taste. I promise to have your best interest at heart."


    The shadow glossed over what amounted to some of the worst months of Lucian''s life like it was nothing.


    "You promise." What a joke.


    Lucian thought about it for a moment. Assuming he wasn''t insane, he could trust this shady figure and reap rewards that supposedly he would desperately need. However, the shadow could be trying to scam him for something. Maybe it was a monster from outside the tower? Lucian had never seen one in person before, but he had seen pictures on the internet. They came in all shapes and sizes, but he''d never seen a human-looking one before. Maybe it was another Pillar that somehow hijacked the P.C.A.''s testing and was just messing with him. A million possibilities zoomed past Lucian''s mind.


    Lucian''s life had been uneventful. He had never done anything meaningful for anyone. He was just living, one day at a time, rotting away in that factory. But if he was going to be forced into becoming a Pillar, the pinnacle of humanity, he was going to live that life to the fullest. He would be the best.


    Screw it.


    "Sure, why not? What''s the worst that can happen?"


    A white line appeared where the shadow''s mouth should have been and curved upward.


    The shadow laughed.


    "Oh, you have no idea." The shadow shivered, ecstasy playing at his glowing white eyes.


    "You, my friend, have just made a deal with a god."


    Lucian felt a knot form in his head—a mass of something pushing slightly at the center of his brain.


    "This contract is legally binding under Article Seven, Paragraph Thirteen, Lines Three through Fifteen of the Tower Pact."


    A phantom wind played with Lucian''s hair as a faint pain touched the inside of his skull.


    The shadow stuck out his hand. Lucian took it. The thing smiled.


    "When you find a fragment, shard, whatever people call it these days, save it until you kill enough monsters to jump-start your core—then absorb it," the shadow explained. "Your teachers will tell you that absorbing a shard is the only way to do it—to awaken your core, I mean."


    The shadow''s speech began to quicken. He began to look around nervously. "But that isn''t the case, although it is the fastest. You might be thinking, ''Well, if I can find two shards, I''ll just absorb one, awaken my core, then use the other.'' No, that won''t work. You will only be able to handle absorbing a shard once—the process of absorbing one is tedious enough."


    The edges of the dark place where this odd conversation was taking place began to fray.Lucian''s light headache turned into a storm of broken glass in his mind. Lucian screamed and clutched his head, hunching over in the chair, red flowing from his nose and ears.


    "I''ll let you sleep for a bit!" the shadow called over the now howling wind. "When you wake up in the real world, you''ll find a ring on your finger! Do not, under any circumstances, take it off! It will hide your second core from anyone who takes a close look at you!"


    Lucian''s headache started to subside a bit, allowing for speech, but he still felt like he was being stabbed.


    "I... was already... scanned," Lucian groaned, still clutching his head.


    "Not to worry! I took care of that! I told you I was on your side!" The shadow was basically yelling at this point over the wind. Then, one of its glowing white eyes winked at Lucian as his eyelids grew heavy. The last thing he remembered was curling into a ball and clutching his head, a blissful sleep enveloping him. At least he wished it was.


    Nightmares of what he had done and gone through attacked him, making him relive the worst of what had happened to him. Guns fired, bullets killed, bayonets stabbed, mortar shells exploded. Men died. And so did Lucian. Again and again. Was he crazy? Did he imagine his brief reprieve with the shadow? Was this all in his head?


    Lucian tried to huddle into a ball, but his limbs were snugly shackled. Sweat slicked his chest, stinging his burn. His whole body shook. Then he realized he was shaking, and then the rest of his surroundings.


    He was no longer on the beach, nor in a trench, nor anywhere close to a battlefield. He was in a dark room, lying in an overly cushioned bed. Wasn''t it supposed to be a chair? An IV was injected into his arm, giving him slight discomfort from when he thrashed around. Wires slithered under his hospital gown and stuck to his chest and stomach. A heart monitor beeped in the corner.


    Lucian settled back down into the bed. Its too-squishy nature didn''t bother him that much anymore. It was nice to sleep on something that wasn''t solid or something close to it.


    The lights of the room burst to life, igniting his bright white surroundings. The door in the left corner of the room burst open, and a man and a woman hustled in wearing blue scrubs.


    The woman started tapping at a panel at the foot of Lucian''s bed, while the other began to check Lucian''s vitals on another panel that was connected to the wires stuck to him. The leather straps undid themselves and were sucked back into the sides of the bed. Lucian sighed as he sat up and rubbed his wrists and ankles. There were itchy red marks from where they had eaten into his skin.


    A hint of fear bloomed in the eyes of both the nurses. They nervously glanced at Lucian every so often but never met his eye.


    Lucian was about to ask the two nurses where he was, but as soon as he opened his mouth, a man as imposing as his citadel walked into the room. With a wave of his hand, the nurses bowed to him, and then, surprisingly, to Lucian. Lucian was about to get out of his bed and do the same, but Lord Julius waved him back down.


    "There will be no need for that, son." The lord''s voice was gravelly and deep. He outstretched his rough hand and, after a moment, Lucian took it.


    "Lord Julius, I''m honored." Lucian knew Pillars demanded certain privileges, but having the ruler of your floor come personally check in on you was another thing entirely.


    Lucian knew his sharp face from his portrait in his old classroom, as well as from ad campaigns from the government making him out to be the pinnacle of benevolence and justice in all of the tower. Despite having lived thousands of years, his full head of black hair was perfectly styled, his beard perfectly fitting his sharp features with no sight of wrinkles, all of this was complemented perfectly by a pristine black suit, and a gold tie and watch.


    This man now standing at the side of Lucian''s bed was as close to a deity as one could get as far as a common person like him was concerned.


    So why was it that he was paying Lucian a visit?