《Abnormal》


 Chapter 1:

    The unmistakable sound of a punching bag getting the non-existent life beaten out


    of it echoed through the raggedy apartment of one Catherine Tharros. She was


    sleepless yet another night. There were a lot of things to blame: her less than ideal


    diet or even her drifting internal clock that had never quite set, but she always blamed


    it on the recurring memories of her young adulthood training under her teacher. He


    had trained her, but he had also given her an inescapable burden; one so heavy she


    had joined the military against his wishes as an act of rebellion to prove a point.


    She let out a sigh of annoyance, stopping the punching bag mid-swing with the palm of her hand, letting herself catch her breath. She looked at the clock, two fifteen in the morning. Letting out another sigh, she walked over to her bed, and drew an imaginary door frame out of thin air, starting at the floor, and tracing her finger along the aged wood, stopping after three feet before ascending toward the roof, stopping just above her head and repeating the motion in reverse for the other side.


    Taking a step back, the imaginary lines turned blue, with her index finger, she pushed in the dead center, and reality itself moved forward, revealing darkness. Walking in, and shutting the ¡°door¡± behind her, there was no sound, there was no light, no air, no feeling. Snapping her fingers, a ball of light emerged from the abyss, lighting her invisible walkway. Below her feet were rows upon rows of shelving one would find in a warehouse, taking a seat she waved her finger in the air, one by one a shelving unit flew up to showcase its contents. When its contents didn¡¯t meet her need, she scoffed and swiped left with her finger, sending it away to the back of the line. She repeated this several more times, a shelving unit housing clothing, guns, vehicles such as cars, motorcycles, an aircraft carrier, full suits of armor from her brief time in the military, another three sets of shelving units full of books, crime novels, and photos of her family. A private unit marked with gold trimming marked specifically for the books of her ancient order housing the books she¡¯d taken from the storehouses, the secret hideouts, and the grand library she¡¯d collected in her five year exile, taken under orders she¡¯d been given. She stopped the assembly line to look at the books, running a hand across the old leather, sadness overwhelming her senses, an unbearable feeling crept up her stomach, an old familiar feeling she didn¡¯t want, or need to feel at the moment. Careful not to mistakenly hurl the contents all over her personal abyss, she carefully sent it away, continuing the assembly line until finally, after what felt like an eternity, she found what she was looking for, the personal shrine she¡¯d dedicated, to the Sigils of the Pantheon.


    Six items rested on the shrine, each sitting on it¡¯s own special red velvet pillow. The first Sigil, the Ring of Balance, a golden-silver ring with an infinity symbol separated by a small line of blue-silver representing its purpose, to grant a regular human the power of a God in case the pantheon itself grew too content and needed to be taught a lesson in fear, and in the hands of an Abnormal, granted them greater level of power of what they already had, and temporarily unlocked those that were kept from them.


    Next, the Trident of Poseidon, it granted those the power over the seas.


    The Logbook of Hades, it granted the user the power over the domain of Hades, able to call forth the spirits of the dead, and send those who perished to the Underworld.


    The Sword of Athena, truth be told, she had no idea what it granted, nor did she want to.


    The Boots of Hermes, it granted the user speed. Catherine remembered fondly in her childhood, Alexander allowed her to wear them briefly, she remembered the feeling it gave her to be able to run across the entire continent in a matter of seconds, the feeling of joy that it gave her was near unmeasurable, but she had to push the happiness aside.


    The Hammer of Hephaestus, it allowed the user to craft whatever item they wanted, as long as proper materials were around.


    And finally, the Bolt of Zeus, it was fairly self explanatory it was a literal lightning bolt that granted the user the power of Zeus, from her reading Catherine learned it had only seen usage once in a Great War, that by legend is why the three continents split apart. While there were six Sigils, there are seven spots on this shrine. The seventh item was never found, the Fire of Prometheus: What was said to be a fiery orange gemstone that housed the original fire given to humanity by the God, capable of setting the entire world ablaze with a single spark. She¡¯d never found it, and during her journey she had found several leads, all pointing to the conclusion that it was destroyed at some point before the Pantheon had crashed. Not satisfied with the result, but content with it, she had decided to head home, fulfilling her unofficial Task that was given to her.


    Catherine looked around her Void, remembering the day she was taught how to access it by Alexander, she remembered when he told her he would be entrusting her with housing the Sigils he collected, and how one day, she would have to collect them as well, after he visited an Oracle, she forewarned him of a great evil that would one day collect the weapons of power, and Alexander would not be able to stop it. Catherine remembered being told what the Void was, a space where those of her race would store their most prized possessions without fear of theft or loss. It was an endless space, one that could be changed and altered through her own desires. She could make it rain candy, the ground could be changed to sponge cake, or constantly play her favorite music but she never did. She loved the quiet, she loved the ambiance, the feeling of being able to be alone for a while, with no threat of someone walking in, as the only way to get in, was if an Abnormal personally walked someone into their Void. Catherine remembered journeying around the world for several months with Alexander, gathering the Bolt of Zeus, and the Boots of Hermes with him, being told how to shift and change her Void, and him sternly telling her never to let anyone in her Void, or else risk the balance of the world. She remembered not understanding the very weight of the situation, but she was confident she would see it through, and she did. It only took her five years to hunt down and collect the mystical items. She did often wonder what would happen if some normal human would collect them, what would they do? Would they really be able to cause that much damage? More damage than had already been done to the planet?


    Catherine, satisfied with her trip down memory lane, and the small break she¡¯d given to herself in the peace and quiet, decided it was time to get back to reality, she stood up and began to walk toward the door, out of her Void.


    Looking at the clock, it now read six-ten. Four hours had passed in what was only a few minutes to her within the Void. This had always perplexed her, as she remembered falling asleep within the Void, and upon exiting, only ten minutes had gone by. After taking a quick shower, she looked at herself in the mirror, the steam fogging up the glass, wiping it away, she thought to herself ¡°How do I want to look today?¡±, imagining several different options, blue lines appeared over her nude form, spreading out to beams of light, perfectly fitting fabric appeared over her, an all-leather bodysuit, black as the night sky. ¡°No, at least, not in the daylight.¡± With the blink of an eye, her clothing had disappeared, shattering into little pieces of glass, vanishing from existence. Next, she tried a simple blue sundress that went down to her knees. ¡°No, too formal.¡± Trying one more time, blue jeans, a black tank-top with an image of her created character, Ronin staring down at a blue rose, with blood emerging from his hand. With a smile, she thought to herself, ¡°Perfect.¡± Creating a leather jacket with a logo of a cartoon white fox on the back flashed into existence over her t-shirt, she walked outside her door, locking it behind her, only to be greeted by a horrid, putrid smell of rotting garbage, and gasoline. The smell nearly made her double over in disgust, but she chose to hide out here, not wanting to draw attention to herself. Walking past her neighbors, not trying to look them in the eye, she made her way downstairs, and North toward the main city, hopefully to find some breakfast, praying the stench of her surroundings wouldn¡¯t attach itself to her.


    Catherine walked up the crowded street, littered with trash from the night before, carefully stepping over the occasional passed out person, the smell of alcohol radiating off of them. She contemplated to herself, wondering if she¡¯d made the right choice not buying an apartment in the richer section of the city, knowing it would place a bigger target on her back, and arouse more attention from anyone who would know her from her past. But now she was surrounded by a constant feeling of sadness, the section of the city she was in was the home to not only the lazy, the unmotivated, but it was home to an alarming number of war veterans from the last Spartan Conflict, the same war her father had fought in. At the end of that decade-long conflict, the government had offered them monthly checks, in return they were to not divulge anything about what they saw overseas, what they did, who they fought, how many people died. Some took the offer, but tried to spread the word through anonymous outlets, it never worked, the government always tracked down the reporter and made them talk, through bribery or pain, and the veterans were cut off, hit with heavy fines, normally double whatever they were paid to spread their story. Those who didn¡¯t take the bribe would be placed under heavy surveillance for an undisclosed amount of time. One of Catherine¡¯s father¡¯s old squadmates refused the offer, not out of anger, or intent to talk, but out of sheer pride, she remembered a late summer night on the porch where he told her father, Troy that he was always being followed, monitored, he found his phones tapped, and later he found a GPS device by his car tire. Catherine hated the thought the government would go to such lengths to cover up what they did to people who were now being touted as their close friends and allies.


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    Catherine¡¯s other neighbors, also war veterans, but fought on the other side, the Spartans. They were driven to from the East to Athens in search of work for their families, she did a report during high school where she interviewed a Spartan war veteran who lost his left arm in a battle, and could only find work in a shipyard, and his salary barely provided for his family due to the heavy taxes that were involved with hiring someone of his origin. In recent years, new policies had been enacted to alleviate this, but most Spartans were still treated as the enemy, to many in Athens. The current leader of the country, Robert Grace touted equality for all under his banner, one of his slogans being, ¡°If you can earn it, you deserve it!¡±, frankly, a garbage slogan, but it earned him the Spartan vote, as they worked ten times as hard as the average worker, but earned half of it. Catherine mused to herself, thinking about the possibility of going into politics, to destroy the invisible barrier to make everyone happy, but she knew it would be impossible. If anyone found out she was a member of the Ichor Brotherhood, or an Abnormal, no one would vote for her, and condeem her for attempting to rule them as a God, she could almost imagine the reporters scurrying to cover that story now.


    Catherine, after almost a half hour of walking, had finally made it to the city proper, gone was the grit and grime, instead, a dozen cleaning robots sweeping the streets, flying beneath her feet, not allowing a single speck of dirt to dare invade her space. Cars floating inches above the ground, flying past her, not so much as disturbing the water puddles at the side of the road. The people enjoying the fruits of the country¡¯s partnership with Orion, their neighbors to the North. After the Battle of Bloody Bay, in which a band of cultists attacked the city of Benin where the last Oracle was in the middle of a harmony tour to symbolize the arrival of Orion citizens onto Hades soil for the first time in centuries, lead to a, three day long battle between Athens¡¯ military, and around a hundred cultists, which lead to the deaths of thousands due to the explosives strapped to each individual cultist member. In the ensuing fighting, a member of the cult had infiltrated the capitol building where the Oracle was being housed and set off a bomb, killing her, and the three dozen citizens around her, including two representatives from Orion. Following the incident, the countries of Orion and Athens came to an agreement, a treaty was signed, in which Orion would share their scientists, and technology with Athens, in return, Orion would be able to immigrate to Hades, and assist in the radiation clean up of Sparta, which had been hit with a Saf¨ª Bomb, an experimental weapon using ore found in the center of Mount Olympus, which ashed half of Sparta, turned the other half into an irradiated wasteland uninhabitable by natural, human life, and only a year later, it was found the radiation was starting to spread East and South due to the wind tunnel the surrounding mountains, as two hikers noticed that the plant life was starting to die off, unnaturally. Henry Tavis, the Exarch placed in charge of Hades did only the bare minimum to help the people of Hades, issuing a lockdown of Sparta and its surrounding area, however, it was discovered that the radiation was changing local rock formations into crystals, clear rocks who¡¯s centers seemed to glow different colors. These crystals became hot items on the market, and people rushed into the areas, ignoring the warnings, and returned home with heavy radiation poisoning, only to die hours later. Robert Grace in retaliation ordered a heavy border be placed, and care packages be dropped for those in affected zones.


    Catherine arrived at a coffee shop, The Cooper & MacGrath Caffeine Courier, a popular hangout from her childhood, Catherine opened the door, expecting bright colors, a ball pit, and a jungle gym, but was greeted with crushing disappointment of a drab brown interior, normal looking swivel seats, and half the shop being cut off with private ball booths. Catherine starred in disbelief for a hot second when a waitress walked up to her.


    The woman chirped, ¡°Good morning! Would you like a booth, or a chair?¡±


    Catherine cleared her throat, ¡°Uh I¡¯m meeting a friend here, have you se-¡±


    ¡°Oh so you would like a private booth, right this way!¡± The woman said cheerfully interrupting her mid-word, mildly annoying Catherine


    Catherine watched as the woman pressed a seven digit code into the pod, and two invisible doors opened. Inside there was a single round table, and a couch cushion that spread around the interior of the pod. Catherine stepped inside, the roof barely eclipsing her head.


    The woman bent over to meet Catherine eye-level, ¡°I¡¯ll be back to get your order!¡±


    Catherine raised a hand to stop her, but she¡¯d already turned away, ¡°Hey wai-¡± as the door slid closed behind her. Catherine mumbled, ¡°This place is god damn weird.¡±


    After only a few minutes, the door opened again, and plopped down a different woman, a raven haired, green eyed beauty with tanned skin, and a popping multi colored tank top shirt, and a button up blazer folded neatly on her wrist. It was the one and only, Jessica Ravel.


    Catherine gave her best practiced smile at Jessica she could, showing off her pearly whites, and spouting cheerfully, ¡°Morning, nightshade.¡±


    Jessica returned her smile, and slapped her hand on the table with force, but the table itself refused to budge. ¡°Alright!¡± she shouted with gusto ¡°Lay it on me.¡±


    Catherine sighed, reaching into her non-existent pocket and materializing a thick stack of papers, and placing it in front of Jessica, before repeating the process with three different highly detailed paintings.


    ¡°Six volumes completed, three different covers, whichever you think would sell best, I really don¡¯t care.¡± Catherine said with a literal hand wave.


    Jessica ignored the covers, reading through the comics Catherine had created, giving approving noises with each page turn, ¡°So¡± she said, keeping her eyes on the book, ¡°She¡¯s in prison for this section, and it¡¯s one of those break out stories, yeah?¡±


    Catherine eyed her, she really didn¡¯t want to continue the conversation, she just wanted to get out of here, return to her apartment, hide from the lights, the sounds, the people, she squirmed in her seat a bit, her growing discomfort was not hard to spot, but she did not want to be rude, or cause any ill feelings from her long-time friend.


    Catherine cleared her throat, ¡°Yeah it¡¯s...she allowed herself to be imprisoned in the last Arc to prevent the Empire from directing it¡¯s vengeance onto an innocent village of common...people.¡±


    Jessica nodded, turning her attention to the covers Catherine provided, looking them over, her smile never vanishing from her face, as if the amount of pride and joy she felt for Catherine overrided any faults she¡¯d find in the writing, or the artwork, or in Catherine¡¯s own mental state right in front of her.


    ¡°So we have, woman half naked in bright, light chains, kinky,¡± Jessica said, choking down a laugh, much to Catherine¡¯s embarrassment, ¡°A nice shot of the protagonist in full color, handcuffed being walked down a hallway with the guards in black and white, very symbolic, I like it, Or lastly, a very generic shot of the protag in a center shot while looking at an endless jail maze.¡±


    Catherine cleared her throat, ¡°Yup.¡±


    ¡°I think I know which one we¡¯re gonna pick.¡±


    ¡°Please don¡¯t pick the kinky one.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re going with the walk of death one.¡±


    ¡°Oh thank god.¡± Catherine said, thankfully, sinking into her seat.


    Jessica hummed a light tune, carefully packing her new belongings into her bag, ¡°So are we donating all your kickback into relief funds again, or do you want a check for it?¡± She asked, knowing the answer, but had to ask for legal issues.


    Catherine nodded, ¡°Yeah but, to Spartans, specifically.¡±


    Jessica stopped, raising an eyebrow, ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡±


    Catherine looked at her, ¡°You know, the slums? Give money to their relief fund, something to help them get through.¡±


    Jessica nodded, her smile wavering, ¡°I mean, your stuff sells, and you¡¯d be getting more if you just green lit the movie rights, but this¡¯ll get them a few meals, maybe some new clothes, but it¡¯s not going to save them, you know that.¡±


    Catherine nodded slightly, ¡°I know. Just¡­ something.¡±


    Jessica finished packing her things, and looked Catherine dead in the eye, ¡°So new topic, what were you doing these past few years? Really long vacation?¡±


    Catherine spread her hands, almost shrugging, ¡°Classified.¡±


    Jessica glared with annoyance written all over her face, ¡°Of course it is. Well, my advice, go out and talk to people, but not all at once, don¡¯t throw some huge party, I know you. You¡¯d slink off to your room and hide till everyone¡¯s gone. Just start small, have one-on-ones till you¡¯re more comfortable with being out in public again.¡±


    Catherine gawked in anger, ¡°What do you mean!? I¡¯m doing fine!¡±


    Jessica let out a tiny laugh, ¡°You haven¡¯t been able to sit still since I got in here, I get you¡¯re an intro, I get people make you uncomfortable, but this would be good for you, trust me. Also, you really need to get out of that apartment of yours more often, okay?¡±


    Catherine sighed, defeated, ¡°She¡¯s right,¡± Catherine thought to herself, but she didn¡¯t want to really admit it.


    ¡°What are you gonna do when whatever money you have runs out? You don¡¯t exactly strike me for a dock worker.¡± Jessica said, ¡°And you don¡¯t take any money from these comics you make.¡±


    Catherine sat back in her seat, folding one leg over the other, ¡°Oh, I got that covered.¡±


    Jessica smirked, ¡°You got some secret war time gold stache I don¡¯t know about?¡±


    ¡°Oh, even if I did, I wouldn¡¯t tell you.¡±


    The two laughed a bit as the waitress returned, they ordered a pair of coffees, and Catherine listened as Jessica told her about her day-to-day job working at the local law firm, Kyle & Yost, and part-time at the local publishing company, PARROT Publishing, and her regular hardships and annoyances that go along with it, but how at the end of the day she loved both her jobs, as she only worked four days a week, at most a nine hour shift, and more than enough money to have a steady, enjoyable home life. After about an hour, with the two coffees finished the pair decided to leave.


    Catherine rubbed her neck, struggling to find something to say, to leave their meeting on a happy note, but nothing came to mind that she liked, Jessica took note of the struggle and cleared her throat, ¡°Anyway, I gotta get to work, you, please take my advice, take it slow, seriously.¡±


    Catherine nodded, but turning her head away a bit, ¡°I¡¯ll think about it.¡±


    Jessica put a hand on Catherine¡¯s shoulder, ¡°That¡¯s all I ask.¡±


    Jessica hailed a cab, and hopped in, blowing a good-bye kiss as the car drove off.


    Catherine looked up into the sky, reaching into her jacket she withdrew her pack of cigarettes, prepped to light one while she pondered what to do with the rest of her day now that she was alone...


    At that moment, her phone started buzzing, taking it out, a text message appeared.


    ¡°MEET ME AT THE OBSERVATORY, TEN MINUTES. ~ MP.¡±


    Catherine sighed, ¡°God dammit.¡±

 Chapter 2

    Catherine exited the taxi cab, stepping onto the pavement, paying the driver as she did so, waving him goodbye without saying a word, and took a look at the building she was meant to meet her contact at. The Thales Observatory. It was an older building, one of the earliest still standing that had yet to be renovated since the overture that started when the people of Orion began immigrating en masse to Athens. A popular tourist attraction, especially to younger children, it still garners massive crowds who might want to get nice scenery photos while on vacation, but now as Catherine wandered into the door, she found it¡¯s halls empty of citizens or staff, not even someone at the ticket counter to ask for her entrance fee.


    She rolled her eyes, and made her way up the stairs, ignoring the voice in the back of her mind screaming at her that this was a bad idea, at the top floor, she spotted a single person, and younger man in his mid forties, bushy brown beard with a single white streak below is lip, buzz cut, and wearing a black leather coat, and worn blue-white jeans. His head was down, nose-deep in a pile of paperwork, either he didn¡¯t notice Catherine¡¯s arrival, or he knew and he was trying to look cool.


    ¡°Y¡¯know, if you wanted to talk to me¡­¡± Catherine began with a snarky smile, ¡°You coulda just met me at my apartment,¡± she continued, leaning against the railing to look at the scenery, ¡°Or are you gonna say you government boys aren¡¯t keeping tabs on me?¡±


    The man side eyed her before clearing his throat, ¡°We were keeping tabs on you, yeah,¡± his voice gravelly, almost strained, ¡°but once we realized you were keeping to yourself, we started to back off.¡±


    Catherine looked out over the horizon, out toward the coastline where the waves smashed into the rocks, out another hundred feet where snow sprinkled against the energy field Orion placed to allow those inside the bubble to control the weather climate, she lamented a bit, waited for the man to start talking, ¡°So, Al-¡±


    The man interrupted her, putting down his paperwork, ¡°Nope, Magnus today.¡±


    Catherine let out a laugh, ¡°Magnus¡­?¡±


    ¡°Paige.¡±


    ¡°God that name sucks¡±


    ¡°You came up with it.¡±


    ¡°In my defense: I was drunk, and I didn¡¯t expect you to use it.¡±


    ¡°Well it¡¯s on all my paperwork.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I am so sorry,¡± Catherine said, trying hard not to laugh.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a really bad name. Hope you¡¯re not stuck with it for long.¡±


    Magnus shrugged his shoulders a bit, ¡°At most, one or two assignments, before it¡¯s on to the next.¡±  He said, joining her, leaning his back against the guard railing.


    ¡°So, Magnus,¡± she said, putting emphasis on his name out of jest, ¡°Why¡¯d you call me out here?¡±


    Magnus slid her a manilla envelope, and a small package wrapped in blue twine, ¡°Open the package second.¡±


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Catherine nodded, taking the folder, and opening it. It was full of soil readings, rock formations, mathematics she could only hope to understand, radiation spikes and dips, and photos of people with silver-blue rock forming on their body like scales.


    Catherine, trying to keep her composure at the sight of the people in the photos suffering, asked, ¡°What is this?¡±


    Magnus sighed, ¡°That¡¯s from Sparta, or what remains of it. In the last fifteen years, the radiation inside the dome has dissipated, it¡¯s almost¡­soaked into the rocks, the dirt, the plants around Sparta, weakening the rocks. The boys in the lab, mainly those Orion fucks, they¡¯re saying if we don¡¯t do something in the next two or three years, those rocks are gonna turn into putty-sand, and once it falls, the radiation is gonna start spreading throughout the rest of the continent.¡±


    Catherine held up a photo of one of the people, ¡°And what¡¯s this?¡±


    ¡°Some kinda radiation sickness, those rocks grow on people¡¯s skin, and if it does, it means they might have a week, two weeks at-best before they croak. The people who are still in Sparta began burning their bodies to prevent the spread, but one of the medics I talked to think that¡¯s just making it worse.¡±


    Catherine, still staring at the photos, asked, ¡°Why are there still people inside the city? It was bombed to hell over a decade ago.¡±


    ¡°Bunch of them were either stuck there during the bombing, a lot returned in the years following the war, hoping to regroup, recoup their losses, only to get radiation poisioning.¡±


    ¡°Is there any way to help them?¡±


    Magnus¡¯ face turned grim, ¡°A bullet.¡±


    ¡°Magnus!¡± Catherine shouted ¡°What the hell!?¡±


    ¡°A quick death is better than living in agony for a week.¡± He said. Catherine crushed the photo in her hand, shaking in anger at his response. ¡°That¡­isn¡¯t the only reason I called you out here,¡± Magnus continued, ¡°Decon Robert Grace would like a word with you.¡±


    Catherine looked at him, ¡°Why, what did I do?¡±


    ¡°Dunno, wouldn¡¯t tell me.¡± Magnus said, ¡°He just has an offer for you, and I think you should take it.¡±


    Catherine looked back out over the horizon toward the waves, and let out a sigh, ¡°Tell him I¡¯ll consider.¡±


    Magnus slid what looked like a business card into Catherine¡¯s pocket, ¡°I can¡¯t, you have to tell him in person.¡±


    Catherine glared at him, ¡°You government types are weird.¡±


    Magnus let out a small laugh, almost inaudible, ¡°Better than being an Orion freak.¡±


    Catherine ignored his remark, again looking at the technological advancement they¡¯d gifted Athens, ¡°Y¡¯know, ever since I¡¯ve come back, I¡¯ve seen the stuff they¡¯ve given us, the weather changing, the floating cars, the digital technology¡­¡±


    Magnus interrupted, ¡°The laser weapons.¡±


    ¡°The what?¡±


    ¡°Oh, right.¡± Magnus said, digging into his leather coat before pulling out what looked like a normal revolver, ¡°a gift from Grace.¡± Catherine took it, trying to open the ammo cylinder. ¡°That¡¯s not  how it works. It¡¯s self-fed coolant, it just fires by itself.¡±


    ¡°So how do I reload?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the neat part.¡± Magnus said, tapping his temple with his forefinger, ¡°you don¡¯t. It feeds off a piece of what they call Hades plasma inside the grip of the revolver, feeds into the cylinder which has coolant upon firing. Once you shoot, the cylinder moves to the next chamber, and the one you fired last re-cools itself with gel.¡±


    Catherine remarked, ¡°Got that memorized do ya?¡±


    ¡°Look, I had to attend like, five orientations, be thankful you don¡¯t have to.¡± Catherine went to hand the revolver back, but Magnus shook his head, ¡°Think of it as a gift.¡±


    Catherine nodded, before making the gun vanish into her Void, making it vanish like a magician¡¯s card trick. ¡°If Aiden had Ascended, if he were the big boss up on that mountain, humans wouldn¡¯t have reached this state of¡­advancement for another hundred-maybe hundred-fifty years if it was up to him.¡±


    Magnus nodded, ¡°But what about you?¡±


    ¡°What about me?¡±


    ¡°What do you think of all his rich advancement?¡±


    Catherine pondered for a moment, carefully considering her answer, ¡°It¡¯s cool¡­but scary, I feel like it¡¯s too much, too fast. But I¡¯m not against it.¡±


    ¡°Good to know.¡± Magnus said, getting up to leave, ¡°But I gotta get going, duty calls.¡±


    ¡°Whoa wait, where are you going?¡±


    ¡°Hades, bosses upstairs want me to look in on Soul, apparently there¡¯s some kinda gang war happening there.¡±


    Catherine raised her eyebrow, ¡°The Athenian government¡­is overseeing an Orion project, on Hades soil?¡±


    Magnus threw his hands in the air, ¡°I don¡¯t make the rules Catherine, I just enforce ¡®em¡±


    Catherine smiled and waved him off, before turning her attention to the package. Opening it up, revealed a rose medallion, colored blue instead of red. Her eyes widened in shock, looking all over it for a note, lettering, any kind of blue, she turned her attention to the packaging, on the inside which housed the medallion, in tiny reverse lettering was an inscription.


    ¡°IT¡¯S TIME TO REJOIN OUR SECT. - M¡±


    Catherine rolled her eyes, ¡°Oh what, we¡¯re spies now?¡±

 Chapter 3

    Catherine stood outside of a building, one that in her childhood, used to be one that was held in such respect, where citizens would bow their heads in fear, or respect as they passed by it, averting their gaze from those who inhabited it. It¡¯s windows shined bright like diamonds in a dim cave, the exterior wood would glisten with such greatness, it would blind those around it, now stood looking dilapidated, uncared for, the windows fogged with cigarette smoke, the wood somehow aged fifty years in the seven since she¡¯d seen it.


    The former headquarters of the Athenian branch of the Icor Brotherhood. Catherine knocked on the door, and waited several seconds, to no answer. She tried again, tapping a bit harder, not wanting to strain or break the wood.


    ¡°Don¡¯t want my first meeting in years to be ¡®oh hey sorry guys, just broke your goddamn door.¡± she thought to herself as she knocked again, and waited for no answer; ¡°You call me all the way out here and you won¡¯t open the door?¡± Catherine said internally, getting frustrated now, as she considered just kicking down the door.


    Before she could, she heard the door unlock and a dark skinned man stood before her, graying around the temples, wearing an all-white version of the Brotherhood¡¯s old robes, with minor changes, namely a strange crest she¡¯d never seen before.


    ¡°Yes?¡± asked the man, ¡°May I help you?¡±


    Catherine flashed the note to him, allowing him to take it, ¡°Catherine Tharros.¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± he said, flashing a smile, ¡°You kept us waiting.¡±


    ¡°Door was locked.¡±


    The man nodded, and gave a small bow as he moved out of the way for her to enter, ¡°Take the spiral staircase down to the-¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I know, I lived here before,¡± she said, walking past him, hands in her pockets, but stopped short just before entering the stairwell, ¡°Sorry, that was¡­ rude, I guess.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s no trouble.¡± he replied


    Catherine turned her neck to look at him, ¡°Never got your name.¡±


    ¡°Christopher Aeacus, on the Circuit Court of Athens.¡±


    Catherine¡¯s eyes narrowed, ¡°What are you doing here, your honor?¡±


    Christopher nodded, ¡°Hard as is to believe,¡± he said as he started down the stairwell in front of her, ¡°I am one of your¡­sect.¡±


    Catherine blinked, ¡°An Abnormal?¡±


    ¡°Precisely.¡±


    ¡°How¡¯d you figure that out?¡±


    ¡°Well you see, after a court case went the way someone didn¡¯t want, one of his friends tried to have me assassinated later that evening, he stabbed me right between my ribs, but it didn¡¯t go deep enough to damage anything important.¡±


    ¡°That sucks, sorry to hear that, but that doesn¡¯t-¡±


    He raised his hand a bit, silencing her, ¡°When police stopped him from trying again, some of my blood pooled into a fallen lantern, the fire ignited my blood, and it burned gold. While in the hospital, one of your members approached me, and offered membership, I accepted, however as I am too old to begin training, I still wanted to help, and I help fund our sect¡¯s acts in private, while I continued my practices in the Courts.¡±


    ¡°Much appreciated.¡± Catherine said, ¡°Sorry again you got stabbed.¡±


    Christopher let out a hearty belly laugh, ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry, if it makes you feel any better, his friend got ten years over something petty.¡±


    Catherine thought for a moment, ¡°Lemme guess, public intoxication?¡±


    ¡°Oh Gods no, horrid parking.¡±


    ¡°He got ten years for parking like an idiot?¡±


    ¡°No¡­ The ten years was for attempted murder of a city official. He would have only gotten ninety days for parking where he did.¡±


    Catherine nodded, pretending to know what kind of joke he was trying to lead her into. However, the staircase had finally stopped showing the man-made concrete of the building above, and being greeted by natural forming rock in a cave system, the floor of the cave being made from what appeared to be a purple-like opaque, allowing one to see straight down to the bottom, where Catherine could see rushing water coming in from the ocean. Overlooking the water, kneeling at the edge of the crevice, was a woman, and at the edge of the cave system was a brawly man, both she was well acquainted with.


    Christopher maneuvered around Catherine as she approached, doing another bow before clearing his throat, ¡°My lady, Maria Mnemosne, for you is one Cath-¡±


    ¡°Catherine Tharros,¡± Maria said, turning, revealing the hood she wore adorned a mesh that prevented her face from being seen, ¡°It¡¯s been too long,¡± Maria finished, there was no friendliness in her voice, no joy, but no anger either.


    ¡°Maria,¡± Catherine said, giving a small nod.


    Angered at Catherine¡¯s lack of bowing, or her general lack of respect in her voice as Catherine addressed her, Maria nodded back, ¡°Seven years since you left our sect, five years since you went on your journey, ordained by you by our leader, Aiden Aldrich, and what do you have to show for it, I wonder?¡±


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    Catherine simply leaned, giving Maria no sway, no power over her, Maria had no authority, as far as Catherine knew, Maria was still below her in rank in the Brotherhood.


    Maria let out a huff, ¡°Present what your time away has earned you.¡±


    Catherine simply shrugged, ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Maria repeated, ¡°Why do you need clarification?¡±


    ¡°Why are you acting like you¡¯re our Mentor?¡±


    ¡°In the absence of our Mentor, Aiden Aldrich, I was to be made acting Ment-¡±


    ¡°Says who? Did you vote, because last I checked there were only two of you.¡±


    Maria got into Catherine¡¯s face, to which Catherine tried to make eye contact, but could not see through the mesh on her hood, ¡°You will respect your superiors.¡±


    Catherine leaned in, an action that Maria did not expect, faltering a bit, and leaning back against Catherine¡¯s show of force, ¡°Show me a superior to follow, who I am willing to follow, and I will gladly take their orders. But until then, I ain¡¯t gonna listen to a command from a Shika.¡±


    ¡°Enough!¡± The man in the corner finally shouted, stepping into the illumination of the glowing rocks on the walls, revealing his graying hair and long beard, and his piercing silver eyes, ¡°Save your arguing for later.¡±


    ¡°Jaro.¡± Catherine said, giving him a salute with her initial fingers to her forehead. The man grunted and nodded at her in response.


    Maria cleared her throat in an authoritative tone, ¡°Yes, now would you be so kind?¡±


    Catherine sighed, and took a few steps back before stretching out her hand, a blue light illuminated her hand as three cinder block sized novels materialized out of thin air, ¡°Firstly, three old texts from our old storehouses.¡± Maria quickly snatched them from Catherine¡¯s hand without so much as a thank you, or acknowledgement, ¡°The only ones I found from the entire region.¡±


    A long silence befell the group, as they all knew that raiders, and pillagers would have pilfered most of the Brotherhood¡¯s belongings as soon as they evacuated their storehouses, Bureaus, and safehouses years ago.


    Catherine pretended to reach into her coat, hiding a white light as she summoned her sword to her hand, holding it out for all to see, to the others it was only a hilt, but she knew the truth.


    Jaro leaned in to examine it, arms folded, ¡°Fancy. What¡¯s it do?¡±


    Catherine concentrated for a moment before a dim golden outline of a blade came into existence from the hilt, the ¡°blade¡± itself being as opaque as the floor they were standing on now, ¡°Nemorian creation, what they call hard light.¡±


    Jaro extended a hand, ¡°May I?¡±  Catherine nodded, and he carefully took it from her hand, and in an instant he was on the floor, the blade piercing through the rock like a hot knife through ice, ¡°What in the name of Hephestus!?¡±


    Catherine playfully extended a hand, pointing at the sword sticking straight up out of the rock, ¡°By all means.¡±


    Jaro scoffed, gripping the hilt and pulled, his muscles straining, but nothing happened.


    ¡°C¡¯mon Spartan, is that all ya got?¡± Catherine jested


    Jaro gripped it with both hands and yanked, but again, nothing, not even an inch. Catherine shooed him away before pulling it up herself with ease, the blade sliding out of the stone before she offered it to him again, hilt first, ¡°Go ahead.¡±


    Jaro reluctantly took it again, Catherine raised her hands to show she was no longer assisting, this time, he was able to hold it. He let out a gasp of amazement.


    ¡°Alright, now hit me.¡±


    Jaro looked at her and blinked, ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Hit. Me.¡±


    ¡°With the blade.¡±


    ¡°With the blade,¡± Catherine said nodding, stretching out her hands, ¡°Free shot.¡±


    ¡°Kid, this thing just cut through rocks like nothing, I ain¡¯t gonna dismember you over a bit of embarrassment.¡±


    ¡°Trust me.¡±


    Jaro sighed, knowing there was likely a trick coming from her, he squared up, evened his shoulders before making a leaping strike, the blade coming ever closer to her, he closed his eyes as he landed, but there was no thump, no impact on the ground, he turned his neck to see Catherine looking back at him, one hand on her pocket as she approached him her other hand outstretched waiting for the blade. He handed it to her and in a moment the blade was gone, vanishing into thin air, and then the hilt itself was gone.


    ¡°How did-¡±


    ¡°It was forged with a drop of my blood, designed to only work for me, or the people I tell it to work for mentally. It can never bring harm to me, either the blade will phase right through me, or the blade itself will stop you mid-attack.¡±


    ¡°Fascinating¡­¡±  Jaro muttered to himself, rubbing his beard in heavy thought, ¡°And the Nemorians just made this for you?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m shocked you found them.¡± Maria muttered rather loudly under her breath, unconcerned with the showcase that had happened mere feet away from her.


    ¡°They did, as an old favor to Aiden, they even offered to make me a set of armor, but I was in a rush.¡±


    Maria raised her head in their direction, ¡°And why is that?¡±


    Catherine let her head down, keeping her gaze at Jaro, ¡°I was tracking a member of the Crimson Order.¡±


    Maria scoffed, ¡°They¡¯ve been gone for twenty years.¡±


    ¡°Straggler, I guess. Or the child of one.¡±


    ¡°Is this¡­ straggler with us?¡±


    Jaro laughed, ¡°Would you think she would return to us if she let him live?¡±


    Catherine nudged her shoulder toward Jaro, ¡°He tried to beg for his life, but I refused, he feeds the wildlife now.¡±


    ¡°And you think there are more of them?¡± Maria asked


    ¡°Dunno, I¡¯d need a spy network for that.¡±


    Maria slammed the book she was reading shut, ¡°And that we have, yes?¡±


    Catherine blinked, ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Your meeting with the government agent, were you not meeting with your informant?¡±


    ¡°Technically no.¡±


    ¡°Technically?¡±


    Catherine closed her eyes, already feeling the regret she would feel for once she told the group what¡¯d went down, ¡°The leader of Athens apparently wants to offer a¡­truce, an olive branch.¡±


    Maria tilted her head, quizickly


    ¡°An offer, I can only assume he wants to start where we left off. He wants to re-align with our Brotherhood.¡±


    Maria shuttered, backing away, ¡°No! We must not! We must stay in hiding, who knows what they¡¯ll do to us if they ever find out how many of us remain, where we are.¡±


    Catherine looked around, ¡°Four of us?¡±


    Jaro walked forward ¡°We got two hundred strong around the planet, all were told to go in hiding, we used the old bird messaging to give the order.¡±


    Catherine nodded in understanding, ¡°Well¡­ on the ride over I thought about it, I¡¯m open to giving it a shot, we need their spy network, we need to find more Abnormals. We need to find Aiden.¡±


    Maria scoffed, ¡°And why do we need that old man?¡±


    Catherine shoved Maria into the stalag formation behind her, ¡°Because it¡¯s obvious none of us are fit to lead, and if something goes wrong, I don¡¯t want someone like you calling the shots, hiding in a goddamn cave while the world burns around us!¡±


    Jaro raised his hand slightly, ¡°I second that¡­a bit, I say let¡¯s go public, we take the fame, we take the glory, we¡¯re basically Gods, right? We should be treated as such, imagine the admiration from the public, the statues in our image adorning every street corner.¡±


    ¡°Says the Spartan.¡± Maria mumbled, ¡°Tell me, how would the public react to a SPARTAN God, hmm?¡±


    ¡°Watch your mouth, girl.¡±


    Catherine stepped between them, despite being as hot headed against Maria a moment ago, Catherine did not want to see Maria¡¯s bloody head on the floor from Jaro¡¯s rage.


    Christopher cleared his throat, the first sound he¡¯d made since this informal meeting had started, ¡°May I offer a compromise, a bit of each from all three of your stances?¡±


    Catherine dumbfounded a bit, ¡°Oh¡­sure?¡± Catherine looked between the other two, who each nodded, ¡°Go ahead.¡±


    Christopher clasped his hands behind his back before speaking, ¡°Catherine, you take the role the good Daemon gives you, but you do not reveal our true number, or locations. We go a bit public, but not too much in case of public backlash, Jaro, you get to go out in said public, and risk adoration¡­ or retaliation, and Maria, you get to continue reading your rather large novels in the peace, and safety of this cave.¡±


    Catherine let the idea fester in her brain for a moment, ¡°Sounds good to me.¡±


    Jaro grunted, ¡°Deal.¡±


    Maria simply nodded before going back to her books.


    Catherine walked forward, clasping a hand on the judge¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Good job,¡± she whispered to him, to which the judge nodded.


    Catherine then said in a louder voice, addressing the other two, ¡°I¡¯ll make the call to the Daemon, I¡¯ll meet with him and try to get his spy network, maybe we can look into helping sort out Hades.¡±


    Jaro laughed at that statement, ¡°That¡¯s a God¡¯s errand, girl.¡±


    Catherine shot him a grin, ¡°And are we not Gods?¡±

 Chapter 4

    Another day, another meeting, another dozen voices yelling in his ear from either two buildings down, or from the other side of the world in their own cushy office, sometimes a debate, sometimes a call for help, but it was always, always yelling, no one ever called the Deacon of Athens just to chat about last night¡¯s game, never a friendly call, even just to ask for a few obals to go see a movie, no, it was always someone wanting to yell at Robert Grace, the leader of the United Cities of Athens, or the United Republic of Athens, they hadn¡¯t really decided on a name, the vote always ended in a tie. Robert had insisted his fellow confidant, the leader of Orion, the Daemon, a woman named Iris ¡°stood¡± in front of him, at least, her hologram did. Using cutting edge communication equipment made by the people of Orion, the two were able to have near intimate conversations, with the other person¡¯s form being represented by micro orbs reflecting the person, or people¡¯s movements.


    ¡°-need to control your people, Mr. Grace.¡± Iris said, as Robert began to pay attention to their conversation again, he¡¯d begun spacing out several minutes earlier.


    ¡°Deacon Grace, Iris.¡± Robert replied, ¡°And why do I need to control my people?¡±


    ¡°Because, my people who are minding their own business, living their own lives on your soil are being targeted and harassed simply for living there.¡±


    ¡°And where specifically is this happening?¡±


    ¡°In the City-States on the Eastern shore of-¡±


    Robert held his hand up, ¡°Iris, we have been over this two dozen times, I cannot control what the people of Hades say or do, I am not their leader. I cannot just command them, as you can¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Then force them!¡±


    A laugh emitted from just outside the blue outline on the floor around Robert, which represented the limit of what the machine could transmit audio and visually to the other person on the opposite end of the call, meaning, Iris did not hear the laugh herself, but she did notice Robert¡¯s head jerk in the direction of said laugh.


    ¡°Iris¡­¡± Robert started, still glaring in the direction of the laugh, ¡°What would you have me do? March an army of one thousand men and women I am legally allowed to have in Hades territories, spread them thin as razor wire to every corner of land I can and demand each and every citizen treat your people more nicely?¡±  Iris didn¡¯t respond to the stupid question, she simply stared at him, waiting for him to continue, ¡°The territories need their own leader, their own structure, only then can their people be properly regulated, and rules be enforced.¡±


    Iris scoffed, ¡°It¡¯ll be fifty years before any proper leadership can be installed in those lands¡­ might as well just let us take it all over.¡±


    Robert¡¯s kindness, or at least attempted kindness toward the woman faded, ¡°Then that would make you no better than the Spartans from barely twenty years ago¡­wanting to enforce their own ideals, beliefs¡­systems on people who didn¡¯t want them.¡±


    Iris didn¡¯t take kindly to such a comparison, her nostrils flaring, and her silver eyes burning with rage, ¡°How dare you? What makes you think you are so much better than us?¡±


    Robert smiled, not a kind one, not a friendly one, but a politician one, ¡°Because I am not one to even playfully suggest a hostile takeover of forgein territory to suit my own gains, Ms. Daemon.¡±


    Iris leaned forward, her bald head nearly ¡°touching¡± Robert, ¡°Your country¡¯s entire history is that of backroom deals for military might to do exactly that, Mr. Deacon. You just make different deals these days.¡±


    ¡°No, my dear, my only concern is the safety of the common man.¡±


    ¡°Keep telling yourself that.¡± Iris said, as the machine shut off, the little marbles clattering to the ground, rolling systematically into the slots on the ground, a small clicking noise indicating it was ready to make another call if needed as the lights turned off.


    Robert let out a sigh of relief as he stepped out of the ring and walked to his desk, the man who made the laugh already holding a glass of scotch in his hand.


    Robert accepted it with a nod, and downed it in a single gulb, the booze burning his throat on the way down. The man at his side looked in concern, his scraggly snow white hair almost covering his green eyes stared at him.


    ¡°What is it Michael?¡±


    ¡°Did my laugh make her mad?¡± Michael asked, knowing there was no real way for her to hear him, he just wanted to break Robert¡¯s bad mood.


    Robert let out a chuckle, ¡°No, just getting old¡­ it¡¯s just getting very old.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±  Michael asked, pouring another glass, likely for himself


    ¡°I¡¯m leading Athens¡­and I feel like I¡¯m micromanaging Hades¡­and babysitting the people of Orion living abroad who decided to immigrate to Hades, and expected to be welcomed with open arms, and cheers from people who hated them a couple centuries ago.¡±


    ¡°Then don¡¯t worry about it.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°You heard me. Pull back all our troops, stop sending support to Hades, reinforce our own borders, and watch as the people of Hades and Orion burn themselves up fighting each other.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fucked up, Mike.¡±


    ¡°World¡¯s fucked up, I¡¯m just playing the hand we¡¯re dealt.¡±


    ¡°My predecessor gave them a shit hand when they launched that bomb, Michael.¡±


    ¡°And that¡¯s none of your concern. That¡¯s none of our concern. It¡¯s not our problem!¡±  Michael shouted, slamming his glass onto the table, ¡°Why¡­why do you care so much about this?¡±


    ¡°Michael, as long as one person from Hades goes to bed, exhausted, starving, suffering because of what we did to them, while our people can go to bed eating twice their body weight, not having to worry about fucking radiation poisioning, or the looming threat of some Beast snatching them during the night, I have failed as a leader.¡±


    ¡°But, they¡¯re not YOUR PEOPLE!¡±


    ¡°No, but they¡¯re still my responsibility. We set off that bomb, we have to clean up the mess we started.¡±


    The two stood still, staring into each other''s souls, Michael breathing heavily, he likely wanted to punch Robert in the face, but had enough sense to hold himself back. It was clear Robert and Michael were going to be arguing about this for the rest of his tenure as Deacon, thankfully, Robert thought to himself it was only another four years.


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    Michael sighed, and turned his back on Robert, resigning himself to the alcohol tray. Robert ran a hand through his dark hair, as he tried to sort the information in his head, as another voice in the room cleared their throat.


    Robert turned to see a young woman, short blonde hair in a ponytail, a dark hoodie, and blue jeans staring at them, a lit cigarette in her mouth.


    Before he could ask anything, seven guards burst into the room, weapons raised at the woman, laser targeting all aimed at her chest and head, but she was nonplussed by it, keeping her attention on Robert, a bored expression on her face.


    ¡°Can I¡­help you?¡± Robert asked


    ¡°You invited me.¡± The woman said, holding a business card in her left hand


    Robert cautiously took it, much to the confused, angry look from the closest guard, reading it, Robert¡¯s stance and mood dropped, ¡°Men¡­stand down.¡±


    The guards did as they were told, lowering their weapons, and stood back, but refused to leave the room.


    Michael stood between them, ¡°Who the hell is this, how did she get in here!?¡±


    Robert sighed, keeping his attention on the woman, who simply waved at the guards, a cute smile, and threw up a peace sign, ¡°That¡­is Catherine Anne Tharros¡­ Member of the Ichor Brotherhood, Commander of the Royal Forces of Athens¡­and ex-leader of the Dead Mans Hand squadron.¡±


    ¡°Impressive¡± Catherine said, ¡°Didn¡¯t think you read my file.¡±


    ¡°I had to,¡± Robert said, ¡°Wanted to know all about who I wanted to recruit.¡±


    Catherine blinked, ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­you weren¡¯t¡­alright, so-¡±


    Michael pushed Robert, rather violently ¡°Shut¡­the fuck¡­ up! What in the Nine Hells do you think you¡¯re doing!?¡±


    Robert shrugged, ¡°Trying to recruit someone?¡±


    Catherine raised her hand, ¡°Yo¡­I¡¯m still here, I can hear you, you know that right?¡±


    Michael turned his attention to her, ¡°And who are you to be so important that Robert would make these kinds of decisions without me?¡± He asked, getting a little too close to Catherine for Robert¡¯s comfort


    Catherine simply held out her hand, and in a flash, a sword hilt appeared in her hand, ¡°An Abnormal.¡±


    Michael¡¯s eyes widened, and he turned to Robert, ¡°You had an Abnormal on your books and you didn¡¯t tell me!?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Michael said simply, ¡°She¡¯s not on my books, I literally just met her.¡±


    Michael pointed in her direction, ¡°And you didn¡¯t think to warn me, at all? What if she makes a gun magically appear and just shoots everyone here dead?¡±


    Catherine cleared her throat, ¡°Still right here¡­ Also, why would I want to do that?¡±


    Michael did a one eighty, smoke coming out of his ears, Robert could almost hear his blood pressure rising as the conversation continued, ¡°And why wouldn¡¯t you want to? You could kill us all, take over, rule the world, no one could stop you!¡±


    ¡°Mr¡­¡± Catherine started


    ¡°Griffon¡±


    Catherine blinked ¡°Idris¡­Griffon?¡±


    ¡°No, that¡¯s my husband.¡±


    Catherine nodded, ¡°Right. Again¡­why would I want to do any of that? I just met you.¡±


    ¡°And why should we trust you?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­going by your logic, I didn¡¯t just¡­walk into this room and kill you all.¡±


    Michael squinted, ¡°Don¡¯t be cute.¡±


    Catherine smiled, ¡°I¡¯m adorable.¡±


    Robert laughed, ¡°Miss Tharros¡­ this is Michael Griffon, my second in command. I am Deacon Robert Grace.¡± Catherine extended her hand for a handshake, which Robert happily accepted.


    ¡°Catherine Tharros¡­but you already knew that. So why am I here?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ I have an offer for you, and your people.¡±


    ¡°The Brotherhood.¡±


    ¡°The Brotherhood, exactly.¡±


    ¡°And that is¡­?¡±


    Robert extended his hand past Catherine, ¡°Please, follow me.¡±


    Robert started walking out of his office, down the hall, two guards at every column, guns at the ready, eyes of steel staring Catherine down.


    ¡°Security hasn¡¯t lightened up since I was here last time,¡± Catherine mumbled


    ¡°When were you last here?¡± Robert asked


    ¡°I was¡­ten? My mentor Aiden took me here to meet one of your predecessors about  their plan to unify the City-States.¡±


    ¡°Oh? How¡¯d that go?¡±


    ¡°I was ten, man, I didn¡¯t care. I had to stay out in the hall.¡±


    Robert let out a chuckle. ¡°Sounds about right.¡±


    Robert lead Catherine, Michael, and a couple guards to a panel in the wall, indistinguishable from the others, before turning the four squares in different directions, each making a distinct clicking sound, like that of a bank vault lock, before the panel compressed, the wall made a hissing sound, and retracted, revealing a staircase highlighted by neon lights.


    Robert continued down several flights, he would look back at Catherine every now and again who was scanning every inch she could , possibly looking for potential escape routes in case this was a trap, and she needed to fight her way out. Robert wanted to reassure Catherine, say something to take her edge off, but decided it would come across as suspicious if he did so, so he remained silent.


    Eventually, they came into the underground testing and training facility, the VIP section were a series of tubes that overlooked the thousands of soldiers, as the scientists inhabited a second series of similar maze like tubes a floor below the VIP floor, also overlooking the soldiers, and keeping an eye on their weapons and equipment as they were tested.


    ¡°What is this?¡±  Catherine asked


    ¡°Welcome to The Underworld. It¡¯s a site off the books, undetectable, unreachable to everyone except government officials and members of the Valkyrie¡­ and of course, the scientists, and soldiers chosen to take part.¡± Michael said, finally being a bit friendly to Catherine.


    Catherine leaned on the railing to look out the window at the soldiers in the firing field, shooting lasers at the multicolored targets with the new weapons they were assigned to test, the walking tanks testing traversal on different kinds of terrain, ¡°It looks like you guys are prepping for another war¡­¡± Fear and concern returning to her face.


    Michael spread his hands, ¡°Our intel¡­the boys are telling us they predict with how the people of Hades and Orion are going, we might be looking at another war within three years. We don¡¯t want it, but we¡¯re prepping for an all-out war. Again.¡±


    Robert chimed in, ¡°Hope for peace, prepare for violence.¡±


    Catherine grimaced at their casual discussion regarding the loss of life, and yet another, potentially long conflict between three parties, ¡°So¡­where do I come in?¡±


    Robert nodded, ¡°I would like to offer you a place in the Valkyries.¡±


    Catherine blinked, ¡°What?¡±


    Robert, confused, cleared his throat, ¡°Did Magnus not tell you? They¡¯re our agents, they operate directly for the leaders of their respective nations, they have access to the highest tier of weapons, ships, people, intel, our spy networks, the works. They¡¯re given the go ahead to bend every rule, every law they can¡­within reason to accomplish their mission.¡±


    Catherine sighed, ¡°Define¡­within reason.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t blow up a hospital to kill one target,¡± Michael said with a dark laugh


    Catherine glared at him, ¡°And why are you being so generous with this high position? You literally just met me.¡±


    Robert shrugged at the completely fair question, ¡°I would like to re-establish the foundation between your Brotherhood and our government. I fear if the war we think is going to happen breaks out, we will want every possible bit of help we can.¡±


    Catherine stepped away from the railing and glared at Robert, examining him, ¡°There¡¯s more than just Orion and Hades¡­isn¡¯t there?¡±


    Robert shook his head, ¡°As far as I know¡­no. But it¡¯s better to fight someone with a revolver with six shots, then a revolver with two.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    Michael bent in again, ¡°It¡¯s better to have extra shots in case you miss then to go into a fight unprepared.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    ¡°As a show of good faith¡­¡± Robert said, taking a data tablet from a passing scientist, and inputting a few codes before handing it to Catherine, ¡°As much intel and information as I¡¯m comfortable giving you, and a tour of our weapons lab.¡±


    Catherine eyed him, ¡°And¡­what?¡±


    ¡°Either a yes¡­or a no, in three days. I¡¯ll give you a number to call me on.¡±


    Catherine looked at the tablet, and answered, keeping her eyes away from Robert, ¡°I think you already know my answer.¡±


    ¡°Good! Then let¡¯s continue.¡±


    The next door opened revealing four doctors in white lab coats dashing around their lab space at high speeds, no words being said, eyes laser focused in front of them, but always avoiding collision like two sides of the same magnet.


    ¡°This¡­is where half the magic happens.¡± Robert said with pride


    ¡°And what about the other half?¡±


    ¡°The field, the fighting.¡± Robert said


    Catherine rolled her eyes, ¡°Right¡­¡±


    One of the doctors approached Catherine holding a rifle, his short black hair slicked back, with an unhealthy amount of hair gel cemented to keep it back, sweat pouring down his face.


    ¡°Can I¡­help you?¡±


    ¡°My name is Doctor Daedalus, I am the lead scientist on the weapons proj-¡±


    ¡°No he¡¯s not!¡± a woman¡¯s voice shouted as she rounded the corner, a she was at least ten years his senior, with similarly black colored hair, and brown eyes, her vest was more open, and she carried herself more casually, ¡°I am the lead of this project, Dean.¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± Daedalus said, hissing, ¡°Doctor Jaeger¡­ how lovely.¡±


    ¡°Still pretending to be in charge, I see.¡± Dr. Jaeger said, annoyed, ¡°Bothering the Deacon and his guest?¡±


    Catherine spread her hands, ¡°He was trying to sell me a gun. I think.¡±


    Daedalus nodded, handing her the rifle, ¡°Our newest model, a multi action blaster, capable of switching between three firing modes at the user¡¯s command, a flip of a switch between shotgun, assault rifle, and sniper rifle. Using the cooldown system, rather than switching between multiple charge packs.¡±


    Catherine starred, ¡°It does¡­what?¡±


    Robert cleared his throat, ¡°Our newest agent has been in deep cover for the last few years, please excuse her,¡± he waved the two doctors away, and they bowed to him, they were only a few feet away before Jaeger started yelling at Daedalus, when they were far enough away, Robert continued talking to Catherine, ¡°It¡¯s all in the files I gave you, you can study in private.¡±


    Catherine nodded, ¡°Thank you.¡± As she said that, a thin blue light spread across the rifle, as she handed it off to another passing doctor.


    ¡°What was that?¡± Michael asked


    Catherine froze briefly, ¡°Think of it as a¡­scan. Making sure I didn¡¯t pass any germs around, wouldn¡¯t want a lockdown all the way down here.¡±


    Robert nodded, ¡°Some Abnormal thing,¡± he said, internally he said to himself, ¡°She¡¯s a shit liar¡­¡±  Though that meant she hasn¡¯t been lying so far, which put him at ease a bit, ¡°I¡¯ll have Michael give you the tour of the rest of the facility, and escort you out, Ms. Tharros, I¡¯ll expect an answer in three days time and we¡¯ll discuss the rest.¡±


    Catherine nodded, ¡°Thank you, Deacon Grace.¡±


    Robert winked, ¡°Call me Robert.¡±

 Chapter 5

    Two dozen red opaque holographic screens lit up with information, lines of code, documentation, words and numbers each representing its own set of information, each telling the reader the information he desired, flying by at a speed incomprehensible to a normal human being, but Percival Graves was not a normal human, not in this sense. He¡¯d been trained to process information differently, faster, more efficiently since childhood, he never went to school, he never had friends, his family had always brought the best and brightest teachers to him to avoid attachments, to avoid distractions, even after he hit twenty he refused to engage in frivolous social activity. For him there was always another milestone to hit, another invention to green light, another equipment test to watch, another product to sell, another footnote in history to achieve. Percival was only thirty-four, and he was already being taught in schools around the globe.


    About six years earlier, Percival and his company, Karrion Industries had become the leading member in the weapons business, he was making more money than anyone in his field by simply showing up to a press conference, he was arming the military of Athens with a lucrative contract that people would only dream of having, but that was not enough, Percival had other hopes, he had other plans. Only a few months ago he¡¯d made a handshake deal with Asclepius Industries, the leading company in medicine, Hephaestus Corporation, the leader in machinery, as no money was changing hands, no buyouts were happening, it was all perfectly legal, it was an alliance of necessity, even if some news outlets would paint it as a cycle that could only harm the public, as one outspoken journalist described it as, ¡°They sell us their weapons, their vehicles of war, our brothers and sisters get hurt, and then they sell us the medicine to patch them up so we can do it again.¡± Percival had no intention of starting proxy wars, he had no intention of spreading violence, he only wanted to control and regulate the weaponry, it was true his main client was the Athenian military, but he also sold weapons to the people of Hades, the common folk, as he did not want one side to get too far ahead of the other. But that did not change the fact that on the side, he dabbled in information collection, he loved the profession, a year or so earlier, one of his regular spies had helped him set up an information network so Percival could better regulate and predict business fluctuations, but somehow it evolved into collecting information on absolutely everything one could think of. Information from everyone from the leaders of each individual nation right down to normal citizens looking for the best deal on a used blender, information that, if he wanted to, he could anonymously leak and start multiple wars. But he couldn¡¯t, he wouldn¡¯t, not out of fear or guilt, but because it wouldn¡¯t be fun, there¡¯d be no challenge to it, for Percival it¡¯d be a half dozen button presses and boom, total chaos. But he had no worry about that, Percival had kept busy trying as best he could to find a way to aide the uneasy alliance between Orion and Athens ever since the disaster at Bloody Bay five years prior, Orion citizens had begun migrating from the North ice continent to Athens, but the people had no money, they¡¯d never had to deal with money, their society was a cashless one, they¡¯d always operated on an ideal of progress. So Percival had the idea to hire them, to buy the ideas to their equipment for a small fortune, but the people of Orion now had steady income, and Percival than made a deal with the government of Athens to ¡°outsource¡± said workers to them to improve their equipment on behalf of Karrion Industries in their little labs, on the agreement that any and all advancements are also given to Percival for ¡°approval¡±. It was a modest endeavor, if not a fruitful one for all three parties, as it had lead to the extreme advancements to weaponry, and armor.


    Five years earlier, the military was relying on metal bullets, and frequently jamming, and kevlar body armor, but now the armor was a poly plastic, and their weapons fired low grade lasers that could cut through a person, but left buildings and roads relatively intact. And now, the Athenian government was seeking a larger, more lucrative contract with Percival and his company, they wanted bigger weapons, faster, more scientists, more freedom to experiment with the creation of weaponry¡­


    This bothered Percival a bit, it was peacetime, there was no underlying threat, at least nothing warranting Percival¡¯s attention, nothing he felt the Athenian military would be worried about. Percival always dodged the question, not out of fear, or their demands being too much, or compensation itself being too low, but Percival himself always tried to sneak in a caveat for the deal, he wanted a chunk of land in Hades, only five hundred miles or eight hundred and four kilometers, as Percival had a dream to build the first supercity in Hades, he¡¯d designed the blue prints himself, drawn up plans, he had the money to finance the construction, the electricity, the water, he was willing to even pay for the security of the city itself, he just wanted the land, but he was always denied, and was always given the same hollow excuse from the Deacon Robert Grace.


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    ¡°I have no legal jurisdiction to sell you a plot of land in a country, on a continent I have no control over.¡±


    Now this, this made Percival livid, as there was no one to talk to on Hades to discuss the acquisition, Hades had no infrastructure after the Spartan Conflicts and the disaster at Bloody Bay, the continent had no leadership, at least no formal singular voice, it was all a series of City-States run by morons who only wanted to look out for themselves and their small tribes of people. This was an annoyance that Graves felt Grace needed to correct, he¡¯d always pushed for Grace to take action, take charge, make the people of Hades get together and choose a leader. From a business sense, there was just so much land opportunity to use in Hades that was going to waste, something someone as smart as Percival could not take advantage of because of this trivial legal garbage.


    Percival let his thoughts on the petty squabbles of the governments ease to the back of his mind as the door behind him opened, and out of the shadows a person decked in a black leather trench coat, and underneath in a suit made out of a special ¡°fluid glass¡±, a temperament commissioned by Graves himself after he found Fade in Ihwn, a small City-State in Hades with horrific injuries, designed to keep the elements off their damaged body. They also had, a katana in sheath on their hip standing before Percival, their blank black ¡°eye¡± looking at him emotionless.


    Percival sighed, ¡°What is it, Fade?¡±


    Whenever Fade decided to appear before Graves, the man they were supposed to be guarding, it was either ¡°I have killed yet another who wanted to take your life¡± or it was bad news. Graves truthfully hoped it was the latter, as it was generally easier to clean up.


    ¡°I¡¯ve arrived with reports from Hades, the southern City-States.¡± Fade replied, their voice a robot recreation after their vocal cords were discovered to have suffered chemical burns.


    ¡°Out with it, Fade,¡± Graves not even turning to address Fade, pouring himself a glass of whiskey.


    ¡°My spies tell me of a group harassing locals, they call themselves The Acolytes of Albatross..¡±


    ¡°And I care because, why? A group of teenagers beating up the elderly does not warrant my attention, nor concern.¡±


    Fade simply stared, the blank armor not letting any emotion, and the black void making it impossible to read what Fade might have been thinking, how they were reacting.


    Fade simply said, ¡°They are hunting Abnormals. Kidnapping those they deem strong, and culling those they deem weak.¡±


    ¡°


    Graves'' ears perked, ¡°And where are they being taken?¡±


    ¡°That alludes me.¡±


    Graves frowned, ¡°And you¡¯re certain they¡¯re abducting Abnormals? How can they be sure the people they¡¯re taking are what they are?¡±


    ¡°Burn their blood, is my first thought, Mr. Graves.¡±


    Graves pondered for a moment, ¡°No¡­no¡­ it unless they were carrying a thousand petri dishes ready to burn each individual pool of blood to see if it burned gold, no they must have another method of identification.¡± Graves again lost in thought, ¡°But now we need to think of what to do with this information.¡±


    ¡°Shall we mobilize a security team to neutralize the threat?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯d need legal permission, Fade.¡±


    Fade titled his head at Graves, ¡°When has that ever stopped you before?¡±


    ¡°The threat of facing the military I helped prop up is a proverbial bear I do not wish to poke.¡±


    ¡°Then why not sell the information to Athens, some of their leadership is looking for any excuse to install more military in the continent.¡±


    Graves considered that for a moment, ¡°Alright. But tell your spies to get video, photographic, or audio proof of this happening before we plant the seeds.¡±


    ¡°As you wish, sir.¡± Fade said, giving a bow before heading out.


    Graves returned to his monitors, the stocks on his company hitting green again for the one hundred and sixtieth week straight. A sly smile graced Graves lips as he took another drink of alcohol, and he began to imagine once again, his dream supercity under construction, with him overlooking yet another horizon.

 Chapter 6

    Catherine sat cross-legged on the floor of her apartment, a small data pad the size of an envelope sat in front of her, displaying hundreds of flashing images, files, videos in the air via tiny holograms waiting to be selected, each unlocked for her eyes only, each one containing enough information to likely start a war within minutes if leaked to the internet if she so chose, not that the thought actually crossed her mind, but it amused her something so small could contain such vital information and it was just given to her by the Deacon himself.


    She¡¯d spent the last few days combing over information she saw as important to her cause, or something that¡¯d caught her eye, a helpful tool was the filter option to suss out key words or terms she was looking for, and even after days of searching, she was no closer to her end goal, nor did she feel like she¡¯d even scratched the surface of the information on this tiny device. She stretched out her arms and heard a satisfying popping sound, she¡¯d been sitting way too long, and part of her ached for sleep, her brain was fuzzy and her eyes were burning, likely from her lack of blinking. Another part of her brain told her to keep going, push through, and that what she was looking for was in the next file she would open, don¡¯t give up now.


    She sighed, not wanting to cave to either half of her waring brain, contemplated just turning off the device and talking a walk to clear her mind, maybe tell the Brotherhood what¡¯s been happening, but the thought crossed her mind that she really had nothing to give them outside of ¡°Hey I got a fuck ton of information.¡± She groaned and collapsed on the floor rubbing her tired eyes. For the first time in days, she noticed the pounding pain from her brain had ceased, a feeling of calmness washed over her and she focused on healing¡­ Which was interrupted by a pounding on her door. Catherine sighed, kipped up onto her feet and summoned a gun into her hand, ready to attack. Pressing a key on the video monitor, she was greeted by an image of Maya in street wear waiting outside.


    Catherine rolled her eyes, ¡°Screw today¡­¡± she mumbled to herself as she opened the door, not even pretending to smile, ¡°What?¡±


    Maya gave a fake, joyful smile back at her, ¡°Is that anyway to greet a friend?¡±


    Catherine turned around, waving the gun at the ceiling, ¡°Almost blasted you to Kingdom Come.¡±


    ¡°Uh huh.¡± Maya said, unimpressed as she closed the door behind her, ¡°We¡¯ve been trying to reach you.¡±


    ¡°Been busy.¡±


    ¡°Locking yourself away again?¡±


    ¡°Working.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be short with me, Catherine.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t try to order me around like a child,¡± she shot back, ¡°I¡¯m not ten, you¡¯re not my superior.¡±


    Maya glared at her statement, ¡°And you are not the Mentor of our sect, Catherine.¡±


    Catherine spread her hands, ¡°And what makes you think I want to be? Never asked to, but what were you doing in the last five years outside of hiding in a cave?¡±


    Maya threw her bag to the ground, Catherine looked at her still unimpressed, ¡°I was keeping our Brotherhood together while you were off in exile for something you did!¡±


    ¡°By¡­hiding. In Athens. The one place on this planet that doesn¡¯t despise us, musta been real hard, right?¡±


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    ¡°Why are you like this!?¡±


    ¡°Why are you acting like you had to hold the gates from thousands of angry protestors, or had to watch as a buncha innocents died? You and what, five people hid in a cave while the east tore itself apart.¡± Catherine said, pointing at her, ¡°Did you even bother to check up on half the damn planet, read the news, anything on what was happening? Or was your nose buried in books?¡±


    ¡°How dare you?¡±


    ¡°And there it is. You try to act all high and mighty about protecting the world from itself, when you were too chickenshit to do anything about it.¡±


    ¡°And what were you doing in the last five years? Drinking yourself into a stupor over your failure?¡±


    Catherine let out a laugh that sounded more sinister than anticipated, ¡°I spent my time protecting people, making amends, gathering the belongings of our Order from around Hades, and killing any bastard who thought it¡¯d be a good idea to try and attack someone with a fucking magic science-sword thing!¡±


    Maya leaned against the island in the kitchen, ¡°So your bloodlust is a-okay, but me protecting the foundation of our Brotherhood makes me a monster?¡±


    ¡°At least I was actually doing something besides protecting fucking books.¡±


    ¡°So in your mind, murder trumps preservation.¡±


    Catherine pointed, ¡°Protection of the innocent,¡± she corrected


    ¡°Saving your bottle of whiskey doesn¡¯t count.¡±


    ¡°Fuck you.¡±


    ¡°Uh huh.¡±


    Catherine sighed, ¡°Why are you even here?¡±


    ¡°Again, we haven¡¯t heard from you in days, wanted to make sure you didn¡¯t rabbit on us again.¡±


    Catherine pointed to the tablet, and swiped in the air, the machine activated, sending the thousands of holographic files into the air once again, ¡°Working, Maya. I¡¯ve been working.¡±


    Maya gawked at all of it, enraptured by the plethora of information in front of her, ¡°On what¡­?¡±


    Catherine grinned, ¡°Well, I took the Valkyrie job with the Deacon¡­¡± she started, Maya shot her an accusatory look, ¡°It was my choice, and I didn¡¯t tell them everything. They have no idea what our numbers are, or where we are.¡±


    ¡°What do they know?¡±


    ¡°That we¡¯re open to an alliance, to go back to what we used to be.¡±


    ¡°And you didn¡¯t feel the need to discuss this with us¡­why.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t an actual question, Catherine could tell Maya was pissed, she was probably thinking right now that Catherine was acting no different than Aiden did in his prime, but back then he had the prospect of being the Mentor of the Brotherhood.


    ¡°Again, it was my decision, my burden, if it blows up in my face, I won¡¯t take anyone with me, unless they follow me that is.¡±


    Maya sighed, ¡°Well what¡¯s done is done can¡¯t talk you out of it¡­ what have you found?¡±


    ¡°Lot of fucked up stuff in here¡­ but, first, I told the spy network to start looking out for potential Abnormals, but domestic¡­and abroad.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°We need to rebuild the Brotherhood somehow. Bag ¡®em and tag ¡®em.¡±


    ¡°And if they don¡¯t want to come?¡±


    ¡°Try to convince them, if not, leave ¡®em be.¡±


    ¡°You make it sound easy.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve been doing it for thousands of generations. Now, we have technology to help us.¡±


    Maya nodded, ¡°I get it¡­ what else?¡±


    Catherine selected a few files from the bunch and passed them her way, ¡°The government was keeping tabs on most of us, Jarro slipped by somehow, despite being in the military during the Spartan Conflicts, and they started watching the Judge after he got stabbed.¡±


    ¡°Anything on me?¡±


    Catherine shrugged, ¡°Not much, just that you rarely leave your book store.¡±


    ¡°Funny.¡± Maya mumbled


    ¡°Ain¡¯t funny, it¡¯s true.¡±


    ¡°Says the woman who doesn¡¯t leave her apartment.¡±


    Catherine side eyed her, ¡°Shut up.¡±


    ¡°Anything else?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna book a trip to Tardis.¡±


    ¡°The hell¡¯s that?¡±


    Catherine siphoned through some files, and some images of a rock face between Hades and Athens appeared, ¡°It¡¯s a prison station, war criminals, crime lords, inescapable, gets one shipment of supplies a week, rains like a bitch all the time. Break out of your cage, you still got nowhere to go, no ships come aside from the supply ones, rocks are too sharp if you try to swim, you¡¯ll be skewered on ¡®em. And the guards are all guys who are there as punishment, anger issues, violent streaks, most of them are there as some sort of therapy if they refuse Hypno.¡±


    ¡°Sounds terrible. Why are you going?¡±


    ¡°Got rumors of an Abnormal being kept there.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re gonna break in?¡±


    ¡°No, gonna fly in.¡±

 Chapter 7

    The solid floor rocked beneath Catherine''s feet as she rode the monorail back toward the capital, the rest of the sleek silver car empty beside herself and Maya who''d tagged along, fussing the entire time, but had finally calmed down a bit after they boarded the train. Catherine was holding onto one of the straps, watching the buildings morph into a colorful matte painting as they flew by.  Catherine herself was starting to feel antsy, nervous. She felt like she''d just gotten here to Athens and was trying to come up with some speech in her head to give to Deacon Grace as to why she should be sent overseas back to Hades, a place she had just spent five years in exile. Running over any potential excuses, any real reasonings to avoid telling him her true purpose, any lie she could give she could stretch.


    "I don''t know why you''re so obsessed with this." Maya spoke softly, thinking the sounds of the train would cover her "Even if we could train potential children in our ways, we have plenty of members."


    Catherine raised an eye brow "What are you talking about, four people in a cave isn''t enough to do anything."


    Maya coughed, "Nothing."


    Catherine stamped over, grabbing Maya by her shirt collar, "Answer me now."


    "Or what, you''ll throw me out the window of a moving train?" Maya scoffed


    "I''ll make it look like an accident."


    Maya let out a sigh, "I truly meant nothing by it, just talking to myself."


    "How many of us are there left, truly?"


    Maya spread her hands outward, "Up to a hundred, maybe. But I keep minimal contact."


    Catherine''s nostrils flared, felt her pupils dilate, "So you lied to me"


    "No, only withholding information"


    "And you want me to trust you."


    "Trust goes both ways, Catherine."


    "This shit again... so tell me, what stops you from continuing to lie to my face even if I told you everything? What makes you think I can trust you when again, you lied to my face?"


    Maya leaned in, "I guess that''s a risk you have to take isn''t it?"


    "Not one I''m willing to risk my neck over, Maya."


    Maya glared, "Alright... look. We have an ally within the government."


    "The Deacon."


    "No, lower."


    "What?"


    "He''s a Senator from Hades, he runs a kind of underground network, spies, shipment, soldiers, mid scale but he helps smuggle people in and out of Hades, for a fee."


    "Why?"


    Maya sighed, "When we get to the Capital, I''ll take you to him."


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    Catherine leaned on the railing again, "Why the sudden trust?"


    "If you aren''t going to offer the olive branch, figure I should be the one to."


    Catherine side eyed her, "Were the books I gave you not an olive branch?"


    "They were an apology."


    Catherine rolled her eyes, "What''s this senator like, how''d you meet him?"


    "He was studying our kind when I met him in the Grand Library. We got to talking and he told me about his grand ambition of helping jump start the Brotherhood, and he helped us and our people get secret identities and move around the globe, new names, new jobs, backgrounds, fully legal, untraceable to the source, he could set you up with a new life for a price."


    "What''s the generosity for?"


    "Life isn''t a catch, Catherine."


    "No, but all kindness comes with a price. Especially politicians."


    "Don''t be like that."


    "Name five Senators who aren''t just trying to line their pockets or get their fifteen minutes of net fame, Maya."


    "Senator Theo Dion. Emma Shaw."


    Catherine held up two fingers in a V formation, "That''s only two."


    "Those are the only two I talk with. I''m not like you who skips straight to the top."


    Catherine bent one finger back to give Maya gesture, "Least I''m trying to get things done."


    "And I wasn''t?"


    "I wasn''t aware you were doing that!"


    "Right..."


    As the train slowed to a halt at the station, the two disembarked and made their way into the Capitol building where Senators from across the three  continents began to converge in the amphitheater for the weekly meeting. Maya lead Catherine up a maze of stairs before getting to room 909. She knocked three times before a servant opened the door and allowed them in. There Catherine was greeted with an assault to her eyes of golds, reds, blues, and greens of all kinds of objects and decorations, even the sofas were an off shade of pink.


    Catherine bent over, "Is this supposed to throw off attackers, what the fuck?"


    "He''s eccentric."


    Catherine took a closer look at the valuables in the room, each one costing just as much as her entire apartment building, coming from a man who''s supposed to represent a City-State in a war torn, decentralized continent, it made Catherine a tad upset seeing this representative blow so much money in frivols things. As they waited, a man rounded the corner, short buzz cut white hair, a fabulous three piece black suit with a purple undershirt beamed at them, straightening his tie revealing a silver-purple ring on his left hand, he let out a belly laugh, "Ah my dear Maya, to what do I owe this pleasure?"


    Catherine eyed him as Maya gave a small bow, "Senator Dion, this is Catherine Tharros, a member of our Brotherhood, I would like to introduce her to you as she will be taking...missions within Hades and may require your help."


    Theo extended a hand for a handshake, which she accepted, keeping one hand in her pocket, "Charmed, Senator."


    "You''re the lady I was told about, the newest Valkyrie."


    Catherine blinked, "How did you..."


    "Nothing stays secret around here for long, my dear.  Trust in my words when I say, I may be the first, if not second person to hear this, but I shall not be the last. Money makes lies into truths, and truths into double truths around here."


    Catherine sighed, "So may I ask what your specialty is? Maya was a bit vague."  Maya elbowed Catherine lightly for the rude comment


    "Well you see," Theo started, "Even before the Spartan conflicts, my family ran the ports in Hades, and after the wars ended, my company bought up most of the destroyed land as possible, leading to many investment opportunities."


    "You took advantage of the chaos and death." Catherine finished


    "A way to look at it, yes. But no different than our mutual friend, Graves and his Karrion Industries does, no? Besides, those bastards have been trying to edge my family''s company out of the country for years, bullying and buying off our land for cheap. I''ve been using my people, my money, my contacts, my businesses to get people in and out of Hades with whatever life they need, what they want, and I shall continue to do so if I lose re-election."


    "Why?"


    "Everyone deserves a chance at a new life, a redemption, Catherine. Human, monster, or Abnormal."


    Catherine smiled at his honesty, "And your reason for such a charity?"


    "When I was young, my grandfather told me of the days your kind were treated as witch and wizardfolk, hunted down and killed, slaughtered for what was thought to be their laziness, their lack of wanting to Ascend to Godhood as the world started to come apart at the stitches with violence. So, when I got old enough, and my money was in a comfortable place, I decided to start a small side project where I would help those wayward find their light at the end of the tunnel, a chance at a fresh start without the shadows of their past looming over them."


    "And your interest in us?"


    "When the last Oracle died, I feared another set of retaliation like the ones my grandfather described, so I increased the workload, increased the smuggling of people in and out, and the protection of Abnormals. I fear though, the birth rate for your kind has drastically decreased in the last fifteen years."


    Catherine and Maya eyed each other, Catherine spoke up, "What do you mean?"


    "Twenty years ago, there was one Abnormal birth for every fifty people. Now there''s one Abnormal birth for every seventy-five or eighty people. No one knows how or why, but it''s alarming. The guys from Orion I''ve talked to believe it''s this Evolution of our race, a sign that the universe is edging your folk out... but I believe something else is going on."


    Catherine nodded, "Thank you for your help...and concern. For the people, ours and yours."


    Theo smiled, "My pleasure young miss. Now to you, what is it our glorious new agent wishes of me?"


    Catherine pretended to reach into her back pocket, "How much per person to smuggle in and out?"


    Theo did some mental math, "A hundred Obals each, new identities is a thousand."


    A dim blue flash and Catherine tossed the Senator a brown bag. Opening it, a plethora of silver, blue, and gold coins were inside, "Ten thousand."


    "Wha..."


    "Consider it a down payment on the next ten people you help. As for me, I need to get into Hades, I''m afraid there''s a new group of people targeting our kind and I want to assess and get as many as I can out and to the Brotherhood for safety and training."


    Maya thought for a second, "I can set up a Bureau here in Athens, an immigration spot, Theo and his people can funnel them to the Bureau and we can get  them where they need to go."


    Theo flashed a golden smile, "I''ll start the paperwork, and get you on a boat within four days, until then... please... come join me for our weekly meeting I''m sure it''ll be educational."

 Chapter 8

    Ca


    herine¡¯s unpleasant, dreamless night of sleep was interrupted by the ringing of her video phone, a holographic display brightened in front of her eyes. Hitting accept she was greeted by the face of Jaro waiting, staring a little too hard into the camera on his end, those silver eyes piercing her.


    ¡°Sup Jaro?¡± Catherine asked, rubbing whatever sleep she had from her eyes


    ¡°Fuck¡¯s the matter with you kid? Get your beauty sleep?¡±


    Not having the energy to give a proper response, she merely flipped him off, ¡°Sorry not everyone¡¯s a morning person.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s time you got up. Meet me at the pier, I¡¯ll get you a coffee.¡±


    Arguments being out of the question, she just nodded, ¡°Carmel, please.¡±


    ¡°With two sugars, I know, I know.¡± As Jaro hung up


    Catherine sat up, leaning on the edge of her bed, a dull headache pounding on the sides of her temples. She took a moment to sift through different holographic displays until she found the one she was looking for. It gave her a display stating she went to bed eight hours ago, and she fell asleep four, stayed asleep two straight hours.


    ¡°Gonna be one of those days¡­¡± she muttered to herself


    Forcing herself up, she got a quick shower, got changed, and was out the door within ten minutes, hitching a ride on the local tram, she arrived at the pier leaning against the railing overlooking the ocean, where Jaro was waiting, coffee in hand. She took it with a nod before taking a drink.


    ¡°Morning.¡± Jaro said in a kinder tone than he did on the phone


    ¡°What¡¯s this about?¡± Catherine slurred over her burned tongue


    ¡°Right to the point aren¡¯t we.¡±


    ¡°You never wanna hang out, Jaro. You¡¯re not one for meetings, or to socialize. You want something.¡±


    Jaro smirked, ¡°Just like Aiden.¡±


    Catherine took another drink, ¡°Is this about Maya? Is she raising a storm about me again?¡±


    ¡°Oh, she¡¯s not happy. Doing things without asking permission, going against the unwritten¡­and written rules. She wants to be seen as the new leader, and when she sees you burning the rule book in front of her, undermining her authority, doing things like what you are doing, going around her back to get some job for the government¡­ she sees it as you gunning for the orle she wants.¡±


    Catherine waved a hand in dismissal, ¡°I don¡¯t know how many times I gotta say it. I don¡¯t want leadership in the Brotherhood. She can have it, I just don¡¯t wanna deal with a middleman when I¡¯m trying to get my job done.¡±


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    Jaro raised his eyebrow at her, ¡°What job?¡±


    Catherine lowered her cup, ¡°My Task. One I gave myself after I came back here. I spent too long hold up in that apartment after I came back from Athens.¡±


    ¡°Elaborate.¡±


    ¡°When I spent the five years in Hades, even when I wasn¡¯t doing what Aiden told me to do, I felt like I was helping people, I was saving villages, killing pirates, restoring crops, whatever. Here¡­¡± she waved at the prospering society, the buildings, the marketplace, the abundance of resources, ¡°What am I supposed to be doing here? These people don¡¯t need me. The ones with limited net, food, water, weapons, soldiers. Those need me.¡±


    Jaro nodded, ¡°Being in Senate meetings and board rooms was never going to be a fit for you, kid.¡±


    ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be enough for any of us.¡± Catherine added, ¡°just look at what we coulda done with the last Spartan War.¡±


    Jaro let out a hearty belly laugh, ¡°Kid you were like five when that shit show ended.¡±


    She shot him a look, ¡°I¡¯ve studied all the notes, news clippings, reports, if our people woulda gotten involved the war would¡¯ve maybe lasted two or three years, not ten. Just imagine all the lives that woulda been saved.¡±


    ¡°Whoa hold up, none of that shit is on you.¡±


    ¡°No, but Grace is right. When you have the power to undo the wrongdoings of those who came before, why not take the chance to do it?¡±


    ¡°Like what?¡±


    Catherine spread her hands, ¡°I dunno, give what Spartans are left a place to regrow? Repopulate? The last census there were only a couple thousand left at best?¡±


    Jaro nodded, ¡°And what, you going to magically whisk away that radiation in Sparta? Be heralded as a god, get a bunch of worshipers?¡±


    Catherine pointed at the statue of Poseidon that overlooked the beach, meant as a symbol of the power of the sea and it¡¯s dangers, she nodded toward the people still worshiping the dead God despite having been gone for almost a millennium, ¡°That¡­ I don¡¯t want that either, I¡¯ve never wanted that.¡±


    ¡°Then what do you want, straight up, tell me.¡±


    Catherine side eyed him, he wasn¡¯t like Maya, he wasn¡¯t actively looking for something to use against her, she knew that. Like Aiden would, he was trying to coax something out of her.


    ¡°I just wanna help those  powers that be cannot, or will not. And I know even if we did ascend, I¡¯d rather be here, feet on the ground, body filthy, hands bloody, tears in my eyes with the rest of humanity, rather on some mountain overlooking, just watching the people suffer.¡±


    ¡°Hope you don¡¯t mind me saying, but this is childish, a fairy tail. Help ten people, a thousand more will suffer elsewhere while you¡¯re busy with the ten.¡±


    Catherine shrugged, ¡°Fools errand, but I got four hundred years on this planet if I¡¯m lucky. And if I¡¯m gonna be here that long, I¡¯d rather spend the four hundred years handing out bread and water than sitting in front of a holo screen watching wrestling till I fucking die.¡±


    Jaro smiled, ¡°There¡¯s the Catherine I know. So, when¡¯s your boat leave?¡±


    ¡°Any day now, gotta get word from a contact, once I¡¯m gone I¡¯m not coming back for a bit.¡±


    Jaro dug in his pocket and tossed her a small hexagonal device, it was granite colored and had the sigil of the Brotherhood, ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Catherine asked


    Jaro nodded, ¡°Something the nerds cooked up at Karrion Industries, worldwide communicator, near limitless range, just gotta be out in the open. Encrypted, scrambles every signal to make sure no one can listen in. Keep it on ya in case you need backup.¡±


    Catherine nodded, ¡°Thanks Jaro.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it, literally.¡± He gave her a playful wink.


    Catherine sighed, ¡°Can you do me a solid?¡±


    ¡°Another one?¡±  he asked jokingly


    ¡°Can you¡­ keep an eye on the Brotherhood for me? Make sure Maya doesn¡¯t do anything to it.¡±


    ¡°Like¡­?¡±


    ¡°Like how I had to be sold by another person you guys have been talking to the government in secret.¡±


    Jaro¡¯s eyes started darting rapidly. ¡°Didn¡¯t¡­ know you knew, Maya left that out.¡±


    ¡°Of course she did.¡±


    Jaro sighed, ¡°Yeah, me and Judge can at least hold votes, keep her from doing anything too drastic¡­ unless she gets a fourth member of the council¡­ then she can do the tie breaker bullshit.¡± he kept going, muttering under his breath


    Catherine hid her face from Jaro¡¯s field of view, ignoring his ramblings, ¡°Hey uh¡­ Jaro¡­ we good?¡±


    Jaro glared, ¡°Yeah we¡¯re fine, why?¡±


    ¡°Like¡­ you¡¯re not just being friendly¡­ loyal to met out of some¡­ bullshit with Aiden, are you?¡±


    ¡°Where¡¯s this coming fro-¡±


    ¡°Answer me. Please.¡±


    ¡°No, kid. I¡¯ve known you since you were seven, I got your back, I¡¯d literally go to war for you. Ain''t got nothing to do with Aiden.¡±


    Catherine nodded, ¡°Thanks, Jaro.¡±


    Jaro clapped her on the back, nearly knocking her over the ledge, ¡°You worry too much!¡± he shouted, laughing a bit


    ¡°Sometimes I feel like I don¡¯t worry enough¡­¡± she whispered

 Chapter 9

    A clean, pristine room who¡¯s floors were made of the most fine white marble, the walls adorned with glass like stone, who¡¯s interiors almost pulsed with an orange lava like substance to give the area a warm, welcoming vibe, six dozen people crowded in, talking amongst themselves, identical masks, featureless faces to conceal identities stood in front of a raised platform with four chairs awaiting their leader. Sophia removed herself slightly to avoid conversation with those she deemed unworthy of her time, those who decided to indulge in crime, the booze smugglers, the front runners like the woman who ran the maid cafe who always had her bodyguard hooked to her at the hip making it very obvious they knew each other, the baker who smuggled drugs within his freshly baked bread, or the one who pretended to be homeless as to not rouse suspicion. No, she always tried to stay with the ones who wanted to control the continent, its kingdoms, cities, towns, villages, everything from the shadows rather than out in the open. A far cry from her youth when she wanted to be the Goddess of War, decided when, and who would wage war on each other, how long it would last, and how violent and costly it would become, but that path was denied to her, and now here she was with the remnants of the Crimson Myst, now re-forming after their crushing defeat at the hands of the Ichor Brotherhood under the Cult of Albatross. She loved coming to these meetings some months ago, as they would all get together, announce their progress, and decide what course of action to take to stealthily take over the continent one step at a time, rather than try to take it over by force and risk the wrath of the Brotherhood again, a fight they¡¯d surely lose. But now, ever since the spring, all these meetings felt less like a group of equals, but now it was one person at the top¡­ and everyone else was equal, under his boot.


    Sophia eyed the door as a figure dressed in a red and gold robe, long slicked back black hair and a short beard entered, his hands clasped together in front of him, rubbing them together with a sickeningly evil grin. The Abnormal wanna be, the wizard from Dabakana- Albatross, a name he took after killing a son of Zeus to spite the dead God who stripped the gold from his blood. Now he serves the same Master as Sophia, in the hopes that one day Albatross will be made a god himself.


    Albatross cleared his throat and held his left hand up toward the door he just exited himself, ¡°Friends, confidants¡­ may I present to you¡­ our Master, the God-king, Reign!¡±


    Those in attendance clapped respectfully, lightly as the man entered in a set of robes that engulfed him, dragged six feet behind him and dwarfed him, making him look oddly small, and he wore a silver helmet to conceal his face. He sat down in the largest chair, raising his hands as he did so to hush the audience.


    ¡°Our first order of business¡­ if you please¡± Reign said in a cool, calm, and casual tone


    A member to Sophia¡¯s right stepped forward, ¡°Our spies within the governments to the North tell us that Orion¡¯s efforts to de- radiate Sparta have not progressed much further, the Spartans themselves have either all moved into a neighboring City-State that used to belong to them, the port City-State of Elis, my Lord. They even elected a Spartan to be their representative in the Athenian court, a man who was given the name - Hune, he lives within the walls of Athens away from us, and advocates for his people who chose to immigrate to Athens on their behalf.¡±


    ¡°And has he made progress?¡± asked Reign


    ¡°No, my Lord. His words fall upon ears of the uncaring.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡± Reign said, waving the member to sink back into the crowd, ¡°What next?¡±


    Another member to Sophia¡¯s right stepped forward, ¡°My spies within the walls of Athenian government have told me that their leader, the Deacon has made contact with the Ichor Brotherhood, and have made strives to re-connect, they seek to re-establish themselves as a powerhouse in the world stage, but refuse to give up their numbers. Their representative was¡­vague, likely out of distrust, or they feared spies.¡±


    ¡°Do they suspect our existence?¡±


    ¡°No, my Lord. But I¡¯m told in their final days, the leaders of the Brotherhood suspected us wiped out, and the Cult of Albatross are simply a group of fanatics, those who seek human superiority. None know our true methods.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡± Reign said, drawing out the o¡¯s in a devilish tone, as he turned to Albatross, ¡°Any word on the search for the artifacts, or the smiths?¡± For the first time there was genuine interest in his voice, rather than some theatrics for the sake of having the meeting.


    ¡°No. No, my Lord, nothing has come of them. But rest assured they will be found.¡±


    That last bit caught Sophia¡¯s ears, why was Reign so interested in these artifacts? He brought them up in every single meeting, was this some show of force? Something to make him seem mysterious?


    Sophia leaned over to one of her confidants named Erik, and whispered, ¡°Does anyone know why he is so interested in these objects? He¡¯s been hunting them from the moment he took over this troop. It¡¯s getting not only annoying, but it¡¯s starting to interfere with our grander plans.¡±


    ¡°No, not a word spoken. Some of the others joke that he just really likes collecting things from his age, which makes him feel more at home.¡± Erik said, lightly spreading his hands to not be noticed by the larger crowd


    ¡°A waste of resources¡­¡± Sophia muttered under her breath, ¡°Resources we could be using to conquer the land. We need to speak up.¡± Sophia said as she went to turn, Erik grabbed her arm, ¡°What is the meaning of this?!¡±


    Erik hushed her, ¡°We cannot make a scene in the middle of one of his meetings, you saw what happened to poor Amon, they had to clean pieces of his brain off the floor.¡±


    ¡°For months all we¡¯ve heard is, where¡¯s my magic this, where¡¯s the magic that. And I¡¯m sick of waiting until he collects his cabinet of trinkets before we can start acting! Let him keep that as a side project, but we must move beyond act one of our plan before the sun dies out!¡±


    Erik raised his hand, trying to calm her down, ¡°Just¡­ wait a moment. I¡¯ll speak in your place.¡±


    Sophia eyed him, ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°If you are cut down for speaking against him, our supporters will scatter, and I am not one to lead.¡±


    Sophia nodded, ¡°I¡¯m sure he will not kill you, he is not that vain.¡±


    Erik sighed, ¡°Let¡¯s hope¡­¡±


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Sophia watched Erik glacially step up to the stage, as she motioned for her followers to crowd around her. Erik cleared his throat, the words catching before they could leave his mouth¡­


    Reign glared at him, ¡°What is the meaning of this, I did not summon you.¡± Erik stood defiantly, refusing to speak, ¡°If you have something to share¡­-¡± he raised his hands- ¡°Share.¡±


    ¡°What does the almighty God-King need with useless trinkets?¡± Erik asked, mimicking Sophia¡¯s speech pattern, ¡°If you¡¯re so powerful, why do you need golden spheres, or silver spears? Why not just snap your fingers and wipe our enemies from the face of this planet? Or is it that you are not truly Reign at all, but a meat puppet made by Albatross to make himself seem more powerful than he seems!?¡±


    Reign let out a howling laugh, one that shook Sophia to her bones as he stood up, removing the helmet with a hiss escaping the metal, dropping it to the floor revealing a rather youthful, if heavily scarred face, looking as though it had been burned, his hair a rather neat, military haircut, and his beard well rounded, both a dark brown with shades of gray around his temples, ¡°You question my motives, my reasonings, boy? Do you not know who I am? I am the man who took the fight to Zeus and his pathetic family, I am the man who waged war against the Gods of Olympus, and I am the man who murdered Ares, Hades Triton, and Posiedon!¡±


    Erik scoffed, a fake sign of a lack of fear ¡°Yet here you are, cowering with the rest of us in some cave, plotting our Illuminati takeover of the world, with nothing to show for it. I ask again, if you are so powerful, why did it take you thousands of years to recover from the beating Zeus gave you? Why do you need us to search for useless trinkets of an age gone by?¡±


    Sophia sighed, Erik was getting too into his role as a stand in, trying to rile Reign up was not going the same way it would trying to rile up Albatross, clearly.


    ¡°As powerful as I am, I can easily kill all of you without breaking a sweat, but I do not know the lengths, the depths of the power the Ichor Brotherhood holds within their walls, for all I know, they could have their very own Zeus, their very own Kraken ready on their beck and call. I need those I seek to restore my body, my power to its former God-killing glory. And you, boy , need to learn your place, and speak only when spoken to.¡±


    Erik let out a low laugh, the situation finally dawning on him, but it was too late to go back now, ¡°We will not serve a God-King so weak he needs his underlings to do everything for him, we are conspirators, spies, and warriors in our own right. What makes you think we cannot, no, will not kill your ourselves, and take your throne? We were doing just fine before you supposedly came back from the dead, and we will continue to do fine once your body has withered away.¡±


    ¡°Mm, yes, doing so well, cowering in the dark, hoping¡­ praying the Republic of Athens does not find you, hoping your maid cafe front isn¡¯t raided by the local government, Once I am restored to my glory, we will take back what is rightfully mine, and we shall rule this world. Now you may choose to stay, or you will be forced out. The choice is yours.¡±


    Erik raised his hands, ¡°My supporters and I, we choose to leave, then continue to sit and hide in these caves, hoping your illustrious God-King decides today is the day we strike¡­.¡± And that was it, the point of no return¡­


    After a few tense moments, Reign let out another belly laugh, Sophia¡¯s smile faded as she turned, her supporters were not only standing beside her ready to drop their masks and leave, but they had stepped backwards further into the pool of bodies, hiding their masked faces in shame.


    ¡°You cowards, you worms¡­¡± Sophia muttered to herself


    ¡°Then.¡± Reign started, waving to Albatross, who snapped his fingers causing a green spark to emit from between his fingers, ¡°You have chosen exile. I could have easily shown you the mercy you deserve for speaking out against me, but I am feeling lenient today.¡±


    As Sophia turned back to Reign, another figure emerged on stage, a person decked out in armor that seemed to be one giant piece of glass, mirror, and an overcoat over their arms, a katana on their hip. Sophia tried to read them, but there was nothing, no facial features, they moved almost robotically, making her think maybe this was some kind of new machine Albatross had devised in his labs, or stolen off Orion. The figure leapt from the stage and approached Erik , their left hand on their katana, clicking it with their thumb, the blade was a dark orange energy blade¡­  Sophia could only sit and watch as Fade approached Erik, a menacing shadow engulfed the young man as the monster stepped ever closer, blocking Erik from the unnatural light of the cave. She wanted to leap between them, but something about Fade¡¯s presence unnerved her, made her feet like solid steel, welded to the ground.


    Reign cleared his throat, ¡°Acolyte, I would like you to meet my left hand, my living weapon¡­ the warrior named Fade. You may try to fight, by all means¡­ but it will result in your demise.¡±


    ¡°I do not fear your glass warrior, Reign.¡± Erik spat out, ¡°And I shall not die here today.¡± He drew his twin swords from beneath his cloak, and readied for a fight.


    ¡°Mhm, not the first time I¡¯ve heard that one. Fade, if you please.¡±


    Without warning, Fade launched forward, the orange energy blade slashing and cutting at Erik at such lightning fast speed, he found it difficult to block, impossible to counter or mount an offensive, as he felt his swords melt a bit with each strike, soon the sword in his right hand snapped in half, clattering to the floor, Erik moved to attack with his left sword, but Fade grabbed his left hand with his own right, and forced his energy blade through Erik¡¯s arm with one swift motion. Erik fell to the floor howling in pain, as Fade tossed his hand to the side before picking him up by the shirt collar.


    ¡°Thirty seconds, lasted longer than the last one.¡± Reign mused, ¡°Now¡­¡±


    Fade ripped the mask from his face, crushing it with ease, the plastic and metal crumbling to the floor like sand, ¡°Erik Mance¡­ I exile you, not only from our order, but from these lands. While you may find refuge with the commoners, please take note, within the coming days, even those will not be safe for you.¡±


    Sophia¡¯s eyes burned with anger as she tried to focus, she fought the urge to try and rush Reign¡¯s weapon, to sink her daggers into its throat, but as she locked eyes with Erik, he shook his head just enough for it to register, he raised his remaining hand, and struggled to his feet.


    ¡°Am I an example to those who would speak out against you, Reign? All mighty God-king¡± Erik said, spitting at the last bit


    ¡°You know, for one such as you who just¡­lost their hand in thirty seconds, one would expect you to learn when to shut up and take your loss with pride.¡±


    ¡°Fuck you.¡± Erik stated casually


    Sophia and Erik¡¯s gaze met one more time, Sophia shaking her head, silently pleading for him to stop talking and live to fight another day, but her thoughts were interrupted as Fade began smashing Erik¡¯s head into the adjacent wall again, and again, and again, Sophia lost track after the fourth or fifth before he finally released his grip, Erik fell to the floor, her nose bleeding as Fade gently lifted his head up, and turning to Reign who only nodded, to which Fade delivered one final punch to his temple, and Erik¡¯s body went limp as blood began pouring from his nose and mouth.


    Reign cleared his throat, ¡°Let it be known I take no issue with anyone speaking against any of my decisions, during a meeting or not. I do take issue with those who would question my motives without proper cause. And now that everyone here knows why am I searching for these¡­ trinkets-¡± he said that last word with a bit of bite to it, staring right at Sophia, ¡°- we can continue our plans. Albatross.¡±


    ¡°Yes, my Lord?¡± he replied ever the snake, gleefully still looking at Erik¡¯s body


    ¡°Give Erik a proper burial and inform his kin that he was killed¡­ heroically standing for justice.¡±


    Sophia stared in confusion at this act, why have him killed then turn around and perform such an act of kindness?


    ¡°Until next time, my friends. To unity!¡± Reign shouted, holding up a glass of crimson wine


    ¡°TO UNITY!¡± his followers shouted in unison as Sophia imagined digging her dagger into Reign¡¯s throat