Ace was at Roue park, with Aegean, and their mother Amara.

Tyreceus was at work, so he couldn’t come with them to the park that day.

It was a wonderful day-day in Atlaan, and Ace was so happy to have his mother and little brother there. Aegean and mom had been on a trip and they had returned, absolutely devastated that they had forgotten to tell Ace that they wouldn’t return for quite some time.

It was all fine because today they would meet up and all would be forgiven.

Aegean was all grown, no longer forever five, but seventeen, and Amara had aged as well, gracefully so. Her blue hair was sprinkled with white dots, and wrinkles formed at all the right places where she smiled, a life well-lived.

Aegean was a bit odd for other young men of his age.

Whenever Ace looked at him he thought, he looks just like me!

His hair is blue, just like mom’s, and he is a bit younger and shorter than me, but there doesn’t seem to be a difference at all. Ace was so disappointed, he assumed that maybe Aegean would look like dad, and then he could see him again, but it’s not like he won’t see him ever again, he just went on a trip as well, no worries.

Ace blinked, and then Aegean was now more similar to dad, and now everything was better, he even wore glasses, the same as dad did sometimes. So it was nothing to worry about, everything proper and in its place.

They were going to the beach afterward, and they were all dressed in swimsuits, green, white, and black.

They all sat at a picnic table made of red bark, eating various fish dishes, telling each other of all the things they had done in each other’s absences, always laughing at each other's jokes and promising to meet up at the same time, next week as promised.

“There is no such thing as a living rock,” Aegean said in disbelief.

“Why not,” their mother replied.

“That’s preposterous.”

“If a tree can be alive, why not a rock,” Ace argued.

Their mother nodded, and his brother shook his head in annoyance.

“If a rock is alive then what next? What if-”

A man interrupted their conversation, with a friendly wave, and sat down at the table without asking, but no one was upset when he sat down.

They were, but for a millisecond.

Everyone in the park, from the birds to the people, fish-people, lizards, bugs, and every blade of grass stopped to inspect this man, his ugly tye-dye shirt, but once the alarm system laid eyes upon his face all was well.

“It's so nice you could make it to lunch dad,” Ace said.

Ace gave Tamuz a side hug, and he hugged him back awkwardly.

Tamuz could feel that split second of anger hidden underneath this dream, mixed with a memory, the mind curating everything to protect itself, and it was much more frightening than being inside Nero’s mind.

Nero remembered everything, every horrible detail, unlike Ace, whose mind has more holes than swiss cheese. Every night, Nero had no choice but to relive the experience while Ace had enough memory gaps for the brain to keep lying to itself about anything and everything.

Tamuz looked at everyone on the bench, and then he noticed everyone in the park was standing still. It was a play. It was his turn. He had to say his line, or else the play would come to a standstill. The other actors in the background were getting angry, little frowns from far away were becoming more visible the longer he stayed silent.

He decided to do improv.

“I am so sorry I am late. There was some traffic,” Tamuz replied.

A collective exhale was given by the entire park and the play continued.

“It’s fine, Ace is always late and he can go anywhere at any time, ” Aegean groaned.

Ace said nothing, looked away bashfully and took a sip of his strawberry smoothie.

The play was so well run that Tamuz knew that someone else must have done something to Ace. Everything was too perfect. Dreams that were in stark clarity from his experience that was in fine detail were usually traumatic, even if the recollections were true or false.

Unless Ace was a vampire who hated picnics, nothing about Roue Park was traumatic, from the heat of the sun, the smell of grass, and the sounds of the ocean waves nearby.

Tamuz tried to get Ace out of the trap as best as he could.

“Let’s speak in private,” Tamuz said.

“Why,” Ace, his brother, and mother, said in unison.

“I only want to speak to him in private, it's personal,” Tamuz said.

“Nothing is private between families,” everyone in the park said at the same time.

Aegean pouted, grabbed a fruit kabob from the center tray, and took a bite while looking Tamuz dead in the eye. His chews and smacks could be heard reverberating in the air, echoing throughout Ace’s mind, a wide-open expanse.

He swallowed, and Tamuz flinched when he heard the sound enter.

Aegean opened his mouth, but it was not the voice of a young man, but his own original voice, the voice of a child.

“I think he’s a stranger, mom,” Aegean said.

“What have I said about strangers,” she asked.

“I’m not a stranger,” Tamuz replied, shaking his head no, frantically.

“ They’re dangerous, ” Ace finished.

“Stranger danger,” Aegean shouted.

Everyone heard the cry of a young boy and came to his aid.

Tamuz sat awkwardly at the picnic table while an angry mob descended upon him. The closer they came, the more he felt his head recede into his body, his skin slough off, and his hair wilt away.

All the pedestrians had the face of Tyreceus.

A woman, with the face of Tyreceus, the deep Ionadian voice to match and his stubble, but the body of a woman, in her workout outfit came over and dragged Tamuz off the picnic table by the shirt.

The Tyreceus clones cheered and Tamuz for the first time did not want to send a message, he did not think this was worth it. He held his hands up in the air and tried to find common ground seeing as they had a similar loved one.

“Hey! Hey! You, you know my brother, Tyreceus! It’s fine! I came to visit!”

All the Tyreceus clones in the park looked to Ace for guidance and silently he gave his permission to yield. They made way, and he helped Tamuz to his feet, and then immediately he let go of his hand once he saw his arm.

“ You’re nasty. I see those marks on your arm! Why should I believe a word out of your mouth,” Ace shuddered.

He wiped his hand, multiple times on his trunks, and Tamuz was genuinely hurt because he did not think that someone who knew his brother would ever treat him in such a way.

“You and the other one are horrible. Your entire family is horrible, ” Tamuz said in awe.

“I am-”

“You’re both spoiled and selfish! I was sent here by your mother to get you to return home, but I don’t want to do this job any longer,” Tamuz screamed.

“My mother is right here,” Ace scoffed. He gestured to Amara, who gave a friendly wave, eating another fruit kabob and smiling.

“No. That is not your mother. That is-”

Ace punched him in the throat.

The Tyreceus clones cheered him on, clapping, as he shot the messenger.

“Say it again,” Ace dared him.

Red in the face, coughing, Tamuz chose his words very carefully.

“Our Lady... has tried to send images of her power using mine since she heard of your victory,” Tamuz said.

The term Our Lady sounded very familiar, and Ace looked at the Tyreceus clones for help, and his subconscious aided him. A short Tyreceus, a lawyer, with a briefcase, opened it up, and handed him a piece of paper, which he quickly read, and once the information was digested, the piece of paper disintegrated into thin air.

“Sunshine Bitch has been trying to talk to me,” Ace snickered.

“We don’t like it when you call her that,” Tamuz mumbled.

“Doesn’t the Empire claim that she’s made of the sun? That she shits rainbows or something?”

“ That is propaganda that the Union is feeding you! She has no need to defecate!”

Amara and Aegean laughed at the table and Ace said nothing, already proving his point.

“Why would the Sunshine Bitch-”

“-don’t call her that!”

“Fine. Why would Mrs. Sunshine Bitch try to talk to me?”

“She wants to protect you and can see possible future bad endings. I have been trying to help you, sending bad endings in your dreams, but I don’t think you’ve noticed!”

Ace looked at his mother and brother, who shrugged, and then all the other Tyreceus clones, even lawyer Tyreceus, the smartest of them all, and they had no idea what to make of this.

All the prophetic dreams now made sense, but it still didn’t make any sense to Ace why a random woman would want to protect him from danger. There were so many other people she could help instead.

“I don’t see what this has to do with me,” Ace replied.

“You are her son.”

“You’re a fucking filthy freckled freak, and a born liar, leave me alone,” Ace screamed, turning red in the face.

Tamuz was impressed, disgusted , but very impressed that a young man who had not lived on Ionadis had somehow believed their propaganda, an entire realm away, and refused to listen to reason.

“She is the spitting image of you.”

“I have no idea what Sunshine Bitch looks like. The Union doesn’t talk to the Empire, why would we?”

“I think you should learn-”

“Why would I learn about the woman who killed my family,” Ace shouted.

The play was cut short to an intermission.

It seemed all the actors had died.

All the Tyreceus clones burst into flames, right there, on the spot, screaming, crying, dying, in unison. All that could be heard was them calling out for one person.

Mother.

This hurt Tamuz doubly so because he would never know if it was Mint or Aeris he was calling for.

Ace’s mother and brother were replaced by bloated, rotting corpses, flies buzzing about, maggot-infested. The heat from the sun made the smell intense, the heat of the dying Tyreceus clones stronger, their screams even louder.

“I didn’t know,” Tamuz said. “I am so sorry.”

They didn’t care.

They were dead.

Ace didn’t care.

He was gone.

He opened his mouth, and his voice did not come out, but the voice of someone else’s.

“You can’t come back. Friends don’t hurt each other, ” Invictus said.

“I’m sorry,” Tamuz quietly replied.

“It’s my job to make sure he’s fine as his blanket, and you’re getting in the way. I don’t like that.”

“I’m terribly sorry,” Tamuz said again.

“ Don’t be sorry. Next time, you will be dead. ”

Tamuz left, he was kicked out, an outside force had woken Ace up, and he was happy someone had made the choice for him.