“Maybe we shouldn’t have come here.”

“We should just go back, I can get her to take me back in.”

“I want to go home.”

At one point, I had to crane my neck towards her and snap. “Quiet!” I yelled. I didn’t mean to be so aggressive, but I was stressed out. Iyo put on a very surprised face, then made it disappear. All I saw was a headless body and I knew I made the wrong decision, so I softened my voice. “Listen, I know you probably aren’t used to being out here, I know you miss your family, and I know this isn’t your fight. The thing is… you can’t really go home. Almost any religious person is going to excommunicate a Void worshipper. Believe me, I know, because if I had an ounce of remorse for every time I got kicked out of a meeting with some posh leader for insulting their god by just looking like this, then I could maybe actually care that they treated me that way.”

Her face slowly re-materialized. “People do that…?”

“They do worse, so much worse. I can’t tell you how many have tried to send assassins or- or sent letters full of hatred and curses. They hate me because I’m me- because I am something they don’t recognize as ‘good.’”

Her cheeks were drying up and she sniffled. “How… do you deal with that?”

I looked away, trying not to show emotion on my face. “I don’t. To me, they are nothing.”

“Nothing? How do you mean?”

I turned back and gazed straight into her eyes. “They’re all just objects aiming to do wrong in the world. There’s nothing wrong with snuffing they’re lights out.”

She looked away for a moment, then gave me a worried look. “That’s… not good, Emily.”

“Emi- Oh, huh?” I forgot what we were talking about. Was it about the Isles again? The fog was getting thicker.

“You should care about people, Emily. They aren’t… objects.”

“What do you-“ I stopped and lost my breath. In front of me stood a man kneeling on the ground. His arms were either behind his back or… gone. His beard and mustache- they were so familiar, but I couldn’t put a name to the face.

“Heh, I knew you would be the first to turn,” he said to me, his grizzly voice muffled.

“Wh-what? Who are you?” I knew I knew him, but I couldn’t remember. His face, his features. The decorated, first-generation pistol at his side.

“Get with the times, Emily. You’re just a monster now.” His head dropped and he fell to the side. At the ground, the side of his face was eye-deep in what I could only make out to be blood. “Murderer.”

“Emily!” Iyo’s hand on my shoulder shook me from my trance.

I looked at her, probably appearing to be more spooked than her. “Huh?”

“You scared me. You kept mumbling about something, how it wasn’t your fault, just being weird. Is there something you want to talk about?”

I gave it a few moments. “No, no there isn’t. Come on, let’s go.” As we started walking, I made sure to double check that there really was nothing there in the spot I saw the man. Why couldn’t I remember him? Why was he there right after I had memory loss? Was he a friend?

“Emily?”

“Yeah?”

“Who’s Caviere?”

I stopped and fumbled onto my hands and knees, beginning to feel as if I was asphyxiating. “I remember,” I didn’t know that I said out loud. “I remember, it was all my fault. You weren’t supposed to die, Caviere, you were supposed to leave. I didn’t want you to go- you were like a father to me, how I could you die by my own construct?” I began to hit a muddy hand against my head. “Stupid, stupid, stupid! You’re a monster, a murderer!”

Iyo was tugging on me and begging me to stop. I involuntarily snapped a wrist at her and she was flung back into the mist. After, I sat back on my knees. What happened was a blur, but I felt my nails scratching at my blackened, clawed right hand. I forget how long it was before I stopped, but I remembered seeing Caviere’s body again, crumpled in his own pool of blood. “Murderer!”

Sella Divelle, Divine Interventionist

“You can’t tell me this is for the good of them all, Sella,” the lieutenant told me.

“And you can’t tell me this is too much for the City,” I shot right back at him.

“The City was a failed project, a disaster that ended up losing us the war. Its reinstatement would do nothing but cause us more trouble, and you know whose head that would be on. Is that something you are willing to risk, Operator?”

His blatant use of my title was an act of war, but I wasn’t in the mood. “Reinstating the City under better godship would ensure that it goes all according to our will, and I already have a perfectly suitable candidate for the job.”

He got up from the chair and walked up to be within inches of me, something not many would try. “The City is a bomb, a bomb that will blow up in your face if you try to make it happen. It will not happen under any circumstances.” He turned on his heel and left, negating any argument I had against him. Typical.

“Well then,” a senior leader spoke up after moments of silence. “I guess the board has seen your proposal and has made a decision within seconds.” He stamped my file with a large, red seal. “We apologize, Operator Divelle, but Lekter’s City will not be reopened even under the circumstance of newly placed leadership.”

I had no argument against old Kerg whether I had a chance to talk or not; his word, despite it being rare, was law around here. “Yes, Commandant, I understand.” I gave him and the rest of the board a bow. “Thank you for your time.”

Everyone filed out of the room except for Kerg, who stayed where he was even as I was cleaning up the chalkboard. “You know, I always liked Lekter.”

I spoke while gathering my things. “I did, too, until he broke.”

“Wasn’t it an outside force that broke him, though?”

“The analysis made it out to be an otherworldly creature with otherworldly powers, and we know very few people like that.”

“One of them was incapable at the time and one was gone without a trace.”

I picked up my folder and looked at him. “Yes, the reports still claim that Emily Everlock destroyed Lekter’s City.”

He gestured to a seat, which I obliged and sat down. “Emily Everlock never had access to the key to the City. Remind me again how she managed to do what she did.”

“The reports say that she stole her mother’s records when she was here and found the key, then pocketed the information until she needed it.”

“I want to know what you say, Sella.” He had a way of getting things out of me.

I sighed and recounted my memories. “Well, I still say that she split herself into those beings. I saw that hooded one in my dreams that day and I know it was here.” I looked to the table at my gauntleted left arm. “My therapist insists that I still made it all up.”

“Why would you make that up?”

“I wouldn’t… she says I made it up to mask my failure, though.”

“Was it a failure, Operator?”

“I know it wasn’t, but don’t think I don’t still hear the stories going around. I know you are well-deserving of the position of Commandant, but I would never turn my sword on my own. I’m telling you, that hooded thing was there and it made me stab her.”

His grunt gave away that he was growing tired of this. “We’ve all heard the stories a hundred times, but why would you stab her and instantly do what you did? It would have gone differently if you truly were against us and I know that. Why do you let the younger, ignorant ones who weren’t even there get to you? Like the lieutenant?”

“The lieutenant is just being a child because I didn’t sleep with him.”

“Again, you’re letting them get to you. You’re an Operator, not a recruit, not a lieutenant, and sure as hell not any regular soldier. Why are emotions clouding your mind?”

“Because I know that Emily Everlock is still out there. I know we have no chance of stopping her and I know she forced me to turn my sword on her mother, my leader. I know she-“

He dropped his kind, father-y act, something Kerg doesn’t do often. “Ysella, you were created to be a battle-hardened, battle-ready Operator. You do as you are told and you do it perfectly. Every single mission you’ve done under my control has been flawless. Every. Single. One. If you let one little mistake that was a century ago stop you from ruining your track record now, you can kiss any hope of becoming a Judicator goodbye. Do you understand me?”

I turned my gaze to him and straightened my lips. “Yes. I understand.”

He put back on the disguise with a smile. “Good, I’m glad we have that straightened out. Now, I have some very important business that I must take care of, and that includes the imploding of the City. I really do hope you don’t let it get to you, Ysella.”

I stood up with my folder in hand. “It might not be too wise to call me by that name, Commandant.”

“Just because you lost the letter from that one mission, it doesn’t mean you aren’t still who you were made to be. Trust me when I say that while it isn’t in writing, you are still Ysella, the first and greatest Operator to have ever lived, and I’m proud to be your godfather. Elektra would be so proud to see what you’ve become.”

I didn’t dare to let emotions cloud my work now, so I kept my straight face. “Thank you, Commandant. I’ll get back to my work.”

“I’ll look forward to seeing it.”

Eleanor, Void-Given Ruler

I knew it would take a while for her to get out of my toy world, but I didn’t think she would figure it out so quickly. I felt her release midway into the Isles and would be lying if I told myself that I wasn’t the least bit worried. She’s strong, no doubt. Without her allies, though, will she stand a chance? I’m not so sure.

I made my way through the fog with ease due to my ability to look straight through it. The Void’s gift let me dampen my surroundings and pick out the most important parts, something only the most concentrated minds could even dream of. I passed the horrifying swamps of mindless monsters and found myself at the base of the temple quicker than expected. I climbed the short steps and entered the main hall where the paintings riddled the walls. Depictions of the God of Rot, Morak Serihn, were everywhere: on the walls, on a mural in the ceiling, and even in the statues by the pews. This was a place of worship, yet has likely not been used in a few decades judging by how soiled it had become. Despite all the years, the chalice of Morak Serihn still stood on the pedestal at the front.

Silence, save for my footsteps, was deafening in the quiet temple. If the stories were true, my backup plan could be a success. They say that Morak Serihn cursed his unholy chalice to promise godly powers in exchange for a sacrifice. As long as the glowing amulet under my shirt would be enough, I could harness the god’s power and ascend to something greater. Then, no one will dare to try and make me their slave again. I would make them my slaves and they will do my bidding, anything I wanted. I would have all the power I could dream of, with the cost of nothing to me.

“Eleanor!”

No, there’s no way. I whipped around and saw her clear as day. There’s no mistaking her demon-esque appearance. “Leave, Emily. You are much too late to even try to stop me!” I went to grab the chalice from the pedestal, but it was gone!

From thin air, a gray-skinned abomination appeared. “Looking for this?” she asked with a smug grin on her face.

“No, drop it!” Emily yelled at her. The woman looked confused at first, but then the chalice began to seep a black mist. It began to crawl towards her as she backed away. She fell against a wall as the mist formed into two clawed hands that began to grab at her. They took hold and she began screaming as it pulled her to the chalice. This wasn’t what I was expecting, but it could still go in my favor. I flew forward and snatched up the chalice, letting it pull in the woman.

“You ignorant pests!” I laughed. “Be prepared to bow down to your new god!”

This mist was pulling, but suddenly stopped. From the side, I saw Emily trudging forward with her hands up. When the mist loosened enough for the woman to scramble forward, the chalice was stripped from my hands. It fell to the ground at the witch’s feet and she took it in her hands. The black mist hesitated, but then latched onto her face.

“No, give that back!” I yelled as I went and took hold of the chalice. It snapped back and I felt a lashing pain in my palms as I fell away. This wasn’t supposed to work this way. The stories all went one way: the sacrifice connects with the mist and is sucked in while the new holder of power carries the chalice, but this was going completely different. Emily was both losing something to the chalice and holding it, why? There’s no way she had something in her to sacrifice, did she?