As I reached the foyer, I stepped once more into that world of banal queues. The line for the portals, seeming to stretch on into infinity, nearly reached the elevator doors. It seemed today was a busier day than any. Standing in the foyer, as the light emanated just out of reach from the window across the hall, I sighed as I waited in the line - standing amid that parade of lifeless zombies, slowly becoming one myself. The objective, those portals, felt so close: yet were so far out of reach. As I waited in the queue, about to fall asleep on my feet from the boredom of it all, I heard someone speak from behind me.

"Malarie, what an opportune meeting," a feminine voice said from behind me.

I knew that voice anywhere, from the empty rings of her footsteps to the rhinal affectation of her voice, Esmeralda was an easy person to remember the face of. Great, she was the last person I wanted to spend fifteen minutes next to in this queue.

"Esmeralda," I said. "Wonderful, just wonderful. Am I really going to have to listen to your hair-brained schemes for the next fifteen minutes while I stand in this queue? Don't I suffer enough?"

"Why, how impertinent of you," Esmeralda replied, with a look of disgust on her face.

"What, am I wrong?" I said. 

She remained silent for a moment. Indignation was written on her face, and as she scrunched her nose, she crossed her arms in dissatisfaction. I'd read her like a book, it seems. As the queue slowly shuffled forward, we moved forward a few inches as the line progressed, the sleep-deprived throng of people progressing slowly - just as we did.

"So, I hear you got a new case from Vincent this morning," Esmeralda said. "Hand-delivered, it seems."

"Yes," I said. "That's none of your business though, is it, Es?"

"Everything is my business," Esmeralda replied. "After all, at the end of the day - this whole place is a business, and some day, I intend to make it mine."

I snorted a little at that. Even if she got what little achievement trophy she strived to pry from Dalton's hands, the idea that she'd ever make this place hers - that anybody could wrest control of this decentralised hell, was laughable. Here, where power was diffused through armies of middlemen, no one person would be able to control this place. The idea of real power was little more than a twisted fantasy of hers. 

"Sure, whatever," I replied. "Good luck with that."

Shifting forward, as I tried to ignore Esmeralda, we progressed as the lifeless shuffle brought us closer and closer to the gate. As Esmeralda stood behind me, I kept my gaze firmly fixed forward. I tried to avoid her, but with her literally breathing down my neck and nowhere to go, it was easier said than done. As we stopped, around halfway toward the portal, I heard her begin to whisper behind me. I heard her whisper to me.  

"I know about Vincent's conflict of interest, Malarie," Esmeralda said. "I think it would be best, for both of you, if you listened to what I have to say."

I felt a cold chill run down the length of my spine as I heard her words. Conflict of Interest. The same words I'd heard from Vincent, earlier this morning, as he told me that he'd be thrown out if it came to light.

"Company protocol states that in order to avoid a conflict of interest, an individual must report any pre-existing relationship they might have with a client that may unfairly influence their reincarnation," Esmeralda said. "Has Vincent reported his pre-existing relationship with your newfound client, Malarie?"

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Hush, hush, no need to get hasty," Esmeralda said. "I just wanted to make you aware, of course. Vincent could run a very real risk of being reincarnated for that."

"What do you want, Es?" I reiterated, placing emphasis on my words as I responded with frustration.

The queue slowly continued to shuffle forward, as I stared ahead, trying to avoid meeting her eyes as she stood behind me. Trying to draw me into that world of office politics, of self-service, like some sort of temptress trying to lure me into that darkened world - a place where power was the ultimate narcotic, and where those who pursued it tore themselves apart to reach it. 

"You have a choice, Malarie," Esmeralda stated sinisterly. "Dalton and Vincent both sit against the chopping block, and you, as the executioner - get to choose which head to cut. You can do as I say, cooperate, and I can ensure that no harm comes to either you or Vincent. You can punish Dalton for his sins, all while helping others."

As we sauntered forward, she let her words hang in the air momentarily. I could feel her whispered words clawing at my very heart, my very sense of ethics as I stood there, staring forward - mere inches from an escape to this hellish conversation. As the portal attendant continued to speak with the haggard and sweaty man before me, I impatiently tapped my foot as I waited to run for that watery gate - to let it take me anywhere but here, next to her. She continued to talk as I stood there, trapped as I listened to her whispered, sinister voice.   

"If you refuse to cooperate, however," Esmeralda continued. "Whispers of scandal might just spread - and maybe, the truth about Vincent's little conflict of interest might come to light. You know it would spread like wildfire across that infinite grapevine, don't you, Malarie?"

I remained deathly silent. As the sweaty man wandered down the pathway, moving languidly as he tottered down the steel walkway, I opened my file and read Derrick Rodger's ID aloud to the portal attendant, scanning my pass against the runestone. Wandering down the metal, I could hear the cold echoes of my shoes as I speedwalked toward the portal. Before I stepped into the abyss, Esmeralda called out to me - yelling her parting remarks out to me as I tried to leave.   

"In a world where knowledge is power: rumour, my friend, is king!" Esmeralda called.

I dipped my hand into the portal, letting the soothing water engulf me as Esmeralda waited at the other end of the walkway. I turned back to her, with a solemn look on my face, as I surrendered myself to the dark.

"I've never been big on respecting authority, Es," I responded. "Especially not kings."

Letting my hair flow in the blacked water, I allowed myself to fall backward into the abyss of the dark ocean. I watched as the light of the world yonder slowly faded to a pinprick, and as it did, I waved rebelliously as the portal begun to close - leaving me in the crystalline ebony of the peaceful, midnight sea. Drifting, as the light of the portal finally faded, I was left in complete uninterrupted darkness.

I was alone in the solitary void.