“I’ve thought over your words that day and decided to refuse your offer.” Before Silvano could react with wide eyes he continued. “A child needs care and love to grow up well. When you were unconscious the doctor advised me to talk to him a lot and that he needs to feel touch to develop the right amount of connection and security about the outside world. But I know for sure that in the couple of days that you’re awake he has been developing much-much better. The connection between you two is quite amazing. You know that I can see the soul of a person, right? When you’re excited or happy I can see him thriving in those emotions, when you are startled he also jolts and gets anxious.” 

Silvano started contemplating, trying to figure out what exactly the Admiral was refusing. 

“About what you offered. I don’t want you to think of yourself as a servant or subordinate here. I’d much prefer if we were considered as partners in raising this rascal. You don’t need to worry about the future, you are not sick in any way, you just need time to strengthen your muscles and body. And also with me all busy and loaded with responsibilities I don’t think I can give enough attention and care to the baby, so if we could partner up to raise him that would be nice. And it’s not good for him to grow up thinking his parents are in hierarchical positions. And as you can see there are many people working here, and I can hire more so you don’t need to work here in that sense.” 

The Admiral’s sincerity touched Silvano’s heartstrings. 

“You are still very young, later you might find a field that interests you, a profession that you want to learn. You don’t need to limit yourself in those decisions now. The only thing I want you to do is to unconditionally love this baby. You are free about everything else.” The Admiral made a pause to let him think over his words. As for Silvano, he was amazed and concluded in his mind that this should be how a mature, adequate and capable adult must behave. 

He couldn’t help but question the realness of the moment. He was outside witnessing a beautiful dawn and hearing unimaginable words, about a future he could never ever dream of. And the person speaking is none other than Admiral Carnage, the hero of their entire planet, the person who liberated millions of slaves and was the cornerstone of the new society that formed. If someone like that tells you that you are free you can’t help but want to believe in it. He didn’t want to seem like a wimp that cried at every word so he gathered his courage and looked straight into the Admiral’s eyes. 

“So, Silvano, do you agree to be fellow parents and raise this little one together? You can rely on me in many different ways until you’re standing firm on your own.” 

“Y-yes…but that s-sounds too good to b-be true.” 

“It’s true, I’ve thought about it for several months.” 

“Then h-how can I thank y-you, Admir-ral S-Sir?” 

“Jass”

“W-what?”

“Jass, that’s my name, my first name. As we are partners in crime to look over this brat, who I can already tell will be a troublemaker, you don’t need formal titles to address me. You can use my name.” Silvano was blown away by this statement. Calling The Admiral Carnage by his first name? Wait, but was there such a name, he didn’t remember ever learning one. 

“What is it?” From his perplexed expression the Admiral guessed his thoughts. “That name hasn’t been used for quite some time now actually. And it’s not a documented name either. They don’t speak of this fact much but I was born a slave, you know, and didn’t receive a name at birth, it came about later.”

Silvano had never heard of it before, he was sure that the Admiral was in the military all his life, before that probably grew up in a family with military traditions. But a slave? A strange anger rose in him thinking of a newborn baby being labelled as a slave, denied the right of having even a name. A picture of a small child with shining blue eyes and chains confining him formed in his imagination, filling him with an instinct to protect. 

“What is it, Silvano?” Jass asked not sure about the youngster’s expression. “You don’t need to worry too much, it was over a century ago.” 

“Was it s-scary, back then, l-life on Nest 5 I m-mean?” There were many things he wanted to ask but decided to ask something general. 

“Well, it was very different. This same city seemed like a completely different place. But not really in a good way, perhaps it was for some, but not for many.” 

It seemed like the Admiral thought of something but was contemplating whether to say or not. 

“Silvano, I don’t want to burden you but I need to ask you about something.” The Admiral continued only after Silvano nodded. “How much do you know about your parents?” 

This question caught Silvano off guard. 

“M-my p-parents?” Jass gave a quiet affirmation. Silvano’s face was filled with contempt and grievance. 

“You’ve met Anita Gratis, right?” 

Silvano nodded, biting his lower lip. 

“Y-yes, she v-visited tt-twice.” Silvano recalled the breathtakingly beautiful, elegant woman who was also completely heartless, vile and cruel. She was just sitting there enjoying a beverage in the Ulime residence and watching the device connected to both of his arms draining his soul and vitality. At first he didn’t know who that was, but she had the same purple eyes as Bernard Ulime and Silvano himself. 

“She s-said ‘At least h-he is of some use, B-Bernard ho-hhow did you even th-think of this method?’” Silvano was gritting his teeth with enough force that even the Admiral could hear. 

“So you know of her. Then what about your father, do you know who he is?” To this question Silvano was oblivious as he had never heard even a word mentioning him. 

“Let me tell you in a couple of words as you have the right to know. His name is Greg Feecel, General Greg Feecel. Yes, Silvano, he is also from the Military, from Mech Forces to be precise. Apparently they had a short “thing” with Anita Ulime back then, without later involvement. Later she got proposed by her current husband and found out about her pregnancy at the same time. They hid the pregnancy and postponed the marriage to a later date. She gave birth in a remote undocumented place, left the infant with Bernard and prepared for her wedding. Well, there is no need to go into all the details, right?” After checking Silvano’s reactions he continued.

“Actually, I don’t have a very good relationship with Feecel, but I’ll try to give you facts. First of all, he is also a longliver, currently 117 years old. He was a young guard in a slave trading guild when I first met him during the war. His abilities hadn’t fully manifested yet at that point, but I could see his potential. He changed sides just in the last minutes when it got obvious that we were taking over. I could never really trust him, as his values and morals were and are too vague. Alongside that he has no sense of obligation or responsibility in terms of family and relationships. He has more than 65 children and no official partner.” Everything the Admiral said was shocking but the last part made Silvano’s eyes pop out. 

“S-sixty f-five?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure there are more, as he has a very chaotic lifestyle. Well, there is actually a reason for that, not an excuse, but a reason. He is desperately trying to produce longliver children. But so far only one is born that way. I’m not talking about you, Eric Lourel, 53, he is also in the Mech division. Technically speaking both of them are very talented assets in the Military forces but I’m always reluctant about their involvement as Feecel is a part of another so to speak “team”, hm… “political wing” in other terms. They don’t mind overlooking many things for gain, prioritising profit over prosperity of citizens. There are many reasons why I don’t trust him. That is why we are currently trying not to disclose your existence to him. Even though we can’t do that forever, I ask you to let us do so until the baby is born, just to be on the  safe side. Later if you want to meet him or form a relationship, it’s up to you.” 

“N-no, I don’t n-need them!” The Admiral just barely finished his words when Silvano stated quite resolutely. “I d-don’t need those r-relatives.” 

“Well the situation is that their team wants to lessen my influence as there are many negotiations they want to take over and change for their benefit. I’m not trying to scare you here, he is not some evil person, he’s just overly ambitious. But the politicians standing behind him see only numbers and currencies, and they know very well how to use his grandiose aspirations. The fact of Feecel being your biological father and you having had the potential of growing up into a longliver and also carrying my child, I don’t know how they might try to use this situation. So I will feel safer when both you and the child are more stable.”

The Admiral was watching Silvano’s expressions carefully and during this early morning conversation was able to see glimpses of his personality that had been repressed under fear and torment for years. He liked Silvano’s straightforward and decisive nature. It seemed like he was not someone who’d play word games and make schemes. While he was evaluating Silvano’s characteristics in his mind he realised that the kid seemed like he wanted to ask something but was reluctant. 

“What is it? Is there something bothering you?” 

“Um… at the crematory w-why did you help m-me?” 

“Hm… First of all when I noticed that there was a soul alive in a body about to be cremated, I couldn’t possibly allow it. Secondly, it was my first time seeing a soul in a dead body, usually it is the other way around, the soul dissipates then the body dies. So the situation was too unusual to ignore. And thirdly you might find me superstitious saying this, but I had a feeling that something terrible might happen if a soul is cremated with no salvation, as in becoming a vengeful spirit and haunting the land. Don’t laugh at me, I'm just telling you my thoughts at that time.” Silvano wasn’t actually laughing; he just raised his eyebrows, surprised to hear these words from Admiral Carnage. 

“There is actually a fourth reason; the man that was standing beside your body, Jerome Ulime, had your soul particles inside of him.” After a pause he resumed. “It wasn’t the first time in my life that I’ve seen such a thing. Even though the practice of extracting the soul essence of a person and having it consumed by another is strictly forbidden since the establishment of our order and constitution, it was a common occurrence before. People would buy slaves and consume their soul essence and get incredibly high on it. ‘Soul junkies’ that’s what they were often called. If someone consumed more than 2-3 souls they would start showing mental problems, which of course they themselves did not realise. Later, with the number of consumed souls growing, mental issues would get very serious. That procedure was highly addictive and equally destructive, not speaking of it being utterly inhumane. There were even special institutions made for detaining severe cases as they would turn into some kind of mindless, aggressive monsters. In my vision they looked like chimaeras: various soul particles intertwined and corroding each other, confined and deranged. Those institutions were my most hated places. I destroyed them, together with the people inside of them. Later it became a very strictly banned practice and heavily punished if someone was caught performing it. Bernard Ulime, in a desperate need for some kind of solution to his only son’s problem, had somehow dug out the method and the procedure of executing that horrific crime.”