Zero’s forehead beaded with sweat. He lay in his bed in his large quarters, trying to tame his fever and left alone to his turbulent thoughts.
It had been two weeks since the attempt on his life by Myasma and his brief battle with her. Something she had said lingered in the back of his head like an itch, rising to the surface in moments he would feel at peace.
“I’ll be the one to end your bloodline, now and forever!”
This echoed through Zero’s mind, bouncing off the corners of his consciousness over and over. What was it about his bloodline that made her want to kill him so badly? On the surface, this offhand comment would mean nothing, but it reminded him painfully of the incident that had started it all for him. It reminded him of blood, of fire, and a message written in the language of hate. It appeared that that day wasn't an isolated incident.
It appeared that something in his blood was worth killing over.
It appeared that he was the only remaining descendant of Teo Nora.
Zero didn’t know where Myasma would have found the information, but the signs pointed towards this truth. His overwhelming power, his natural leadership skills, and the at first unrelated incidents directed towards purging his bloodline—they all pointed towards the blood of the most powerful conqueror in the known universe flowing through his own veins.
This knowledge of power was intoxicating. Zero reached to his bedside where a glass of water rested and picked it up, feeling the cool glass between his fingers. With but a single thought, he instantly froze the glass and the water inside of it, halting its motion relative to the ceiling. He left it floating there as its tremendous cold began to freeze the atmosphere directly around it, coating the glass and the water inside with a layer of solid air that grew thicker by the moment. This power was the power a god had granted him.
Reuniting the Domain under his iron fist was once a want, a passionate want, but now it had become a need. It was now clear that he was the second coming of Teo Nora that he and his faction had dreamt about, the return of the king of the galaxy. All he needed to complete this dream was reclaim the power of his forefather, the object that must have been left behind solely for Zero. The Terminus.
Zero sat up in his bed, his mind suddenly clear. He knew what he had to do.
“Deja vu, anyone?” Flint said as he returned to the Lucre Main’s interior. He had just broken the ship’s transponder that connected it to Talo once again, well outside of Talo’s territory where anyone might come after them. “I feel like we did this already.”
“Let’s hope not,” Aurein replied. “Last time we broke our Talo transponder and defected, we wound up getting caught by Tymin. I’m sure if we got caught by Keila, a lifetime prison sentence would be the least of our problems.”
“Hey, but last time, you guys didn’t have me,” Allef said, taking off her welding goggles. Because the Lucre Main was only designed to seat two, she was installing a third seat just behind the first set. “Maybe I’ll be your good luck charm.”
“Yeah, right,” Flint joked. “Because things have been going awful smooth ever since you tagged along.”
“Ha. But it’s not my fault you’re a magnet for assassins,” Allef countered. “You should get that checked out, by the way. Maybe they like the fact that they can kill you multiple times. Say, if a hitman gets a contract to kill you, do they get paid for every time they punch your number? Serious question.”
“Where’s our first destination?” Aurein asked, interrupting the conversation.
“Currently the Lucre Main is taking us to a random inhabited planet on the outskirts of Keila,” Flint replied, checking the navigation terminal above the cockpit’s dashboard. “Starting today, we’re going to be Keila citizens on a planet called Malida.”
“Aw, seriously?” Allef protested. “I didn’t know this was part of the plan. You know how much Keila citizens don’t like being Keila citizens?”
“How else are we going to get information on this Tria person? If we want to get deep into Keila, we have to start on the outskirts of Keila territory. At the very least, we need to figure out how to get closer to the capital safely. And to do that, we need to learn to blend in again.”
The surface of Malida was painted with wide swaths of clouds. Not much land or sea could be seen from any given vantage point. Beneath the white streaks and blotches, there was not much difference in color between the bluish oceans and some of the temperate land. For one reason or another, this planet’s plant life was an aquatic light blue. The Lucre Main’s landing path took them to the most inconspicuous town they could find, a small suburban town outside of a large city which, according to the reports they could find, was occupied only by a small population of Keila soldiers.
After a turbulent descent through wide expanses of clouds, Flint parked the Lucre Main in a clearing in what looked to be a small, hilly teal forest far outside the town, out of sight. Rain pattered on the windshield as the three prepared to depart, and with the cabin lights off, the only source of illumination was the scattered grey light from the cloud-covered sky above.
Flint, Allef, and Aurein stepped out of the Lucre Main, leaving the clean, cool, climate-controlled air within and exposing themselves to the wet, earthy atmosphere of Malida. Flint very faintly felt each raindrop as it passed through his ghostly body. Aurein and Allef carried their small bags filled with scant belongings over their heads as a pitiful attempt to avoid the rain, and by the time they had walked from the forest to the greenish lights emitting from the town, the two were soaking wet.
The three stood outside of a small restaurant, taking cover under the oversized awning. From what they could see, the small buildings deeper into the town were very vertically-oriented, taking full advantage of the hilly terrain they were built upon. Built into the streets and atop the tall roofs were stone grooves and aqueducts, funneling the persistent rainfall downhill towards a large facility below. In the distance, towards the top of a faraway hill, was a tall building painted with stripes of Keila’s signature colors of blue, purple, and gold, with glowing lights of the same colors accompanying each stripe.
“I’ll wait outside,” Flint said. “Don’t wanna scare the locals. Remember—we’re just harmlessly asking around. We only need to find out how to get further into Keila territory where we can find this Tria person.”
Aurein and Allef nodded, then stepped readily inside. The restaurant was almost fully occupied, long-haired heads turning towards them following their entrance. Every patron ate in almost total silence.
“Well,” Allef loudly declared. “It looks like this isn’t the planet we were looking for. Right, Deris?” she asked Aurein.
Aurein replied with his eyes, a reply which said, “Really?”
“Play along,” Allef hissed. “We have to seem like foreigners! What, are we going to use our real names and announce that we’re here to infiltrate Keila?”
Aurein rolled his eyes.
“You are right about that… Veris,” Aurein announced in reply.
“Your fake name sounds too similar to my fake name!” Allef whispered.
“I don’t care! This was your idea!”
But before Allef could whisper a retort, a restaurant attendant approached them.
“Hello,” the attendant said. “How can I help you two?”
The restaurant attendant, like all of the restaurant patrons, had a skin color that was a certain shade of blue, wore long, straight hair and had a unique facial structure.
“We’re not from here,” Allef said. “Is this planet called Malida?”
“You are correct. This is Malida, the planet of rain. We’re the rainiest known planet in the galaxy.”
At first, Allef had been unable to place the hidden unifying theme of these Malidian locals’ appearance, but the attendant’s comment helped her piece it together. These people, evolved to survive in an unusually rainy environment, had developed long, slick hair and a unique facial structure that guided falling rain out of their eyes.
“Can you help us find a ship repair shop?” Aurein asked. “Ours broke down and we had to make an emergency landing here.”
“Of course,” the attendant answered, moving to a primitive, bulky computer on a nearby desk and inputting a number of commands. After he waited several seconds for a result, he declared to the two:
“There is a ship repair shop up the hill. It is near the Keila outpost. We Malidians don’t have spacecraft, so only Keila uses the repair shop. Keila owns it.”
“Thank you,” Aurein commented. “We have to get to the Nopetu star system as soon as possible. This breakdown was a major setback.”
There was a brief look of repulsion on the attendant’s face, almost imperceptible. The attendant paused for a moment, as if choosing his next words carefully.
“Are you two planning to join Keila?” he asked.
Allef and Aurein looked at each other, unsure of how to proceed. Before Aurein could say anything, Allef answered:
“No, we’re going to see… uh… family. We have family there.”
From the corner of her eye, Allef could make out Aurein glaring at her.
“Ah…” replied the attendant. “Well, you might not be able to get in. Nopetu is Keila’s capital. It’s a very well-protected place.”
“Why not?” Aurein asked.
The attendant looked around nervously. “Keila only lets in… their people. They check your identity with eye scans.”
“Good to know,” Allef said, nodding. “And, one more thing. Do you know anything about a person named Tria? I heard that she was an important person in Keila.”
The attendant’s expression of apprehension was replaced with intrigue.
“No, I don’t,” he responded. “But my friend Jis might know something. Her family fought for Keila once.” The attendant then turned around to another restaurant employee and said something to her in their native language. The language was very vowel-focused and loud, and Allef couldn’t help but wonder if that language also evolved as a result of the almost constant rain they lived with.
“She said she’s never heard of someone named Tria. Are you sure she worked for Keila?”
Not wanting to press any further, Allef answered:
“No, I could be mistaken.”
“What do you mean, they hadn’t heard of her?” Flint asked.
“I mean, they clearly had never heard of someone named Tria,” replied Aurein. “The attendant looked nervous the whole time we were talking about Keila, like a soldier was ready to sneak up behind him, and the only time he looked like he was genuinely talking about something he had no skin in was when we brought up Tria.”
The three were crouched outside of a hotel on one of Simaru’s rain-filled streets, taking shelter under one of the countless awnings present over each walkway and door. Green light poured onto the damp sidewalk from a window in the hotel, illuminating Aurein and Allef from the back.
“And did you notice how quiet the restaurant was?” Allef said to Aurein. “It was creepy. Why wasn’t anyone talking?”
“It could be a cultural thing,” Aurein proposed. “Not everyone has to be talkative when they eat.”
“I dunno,” Allef said, doubtful. “I’ve seen a lot of different cultures on a lot of different planets. I figured it was a cultural constant every intelligent species has, like swords or hats or something.”
“Or pancakes,” Flint added.
“Regardless,” Aurein interjected, “we now know how to get further into Keila territory. Which, as it sounds now, we will need to do, especially since it’s clear not many people out here have even heard of someone named Tria.”
“We have to fake an eye scan, right?” Flint asked.
“Yes. But we also have to be registered as Keila soldiers to even get close. What it sounds like we need to do is register, get close, and then somehow steal someone else’s identity.”
“It’s still crazy to me how nobody here has heard of Tria,” Flint commented. “The Talo database told us she was one of the Big 5!”
“We’ll have to encounter some evidence of her deeper into Keila territory,” Allef reassured. “That’s where the Big 5 will be working, not all the way out here in the sticks of the galaxy.”
“Then let’s do it,” Flint said. “Let’s register and figure out what the hell’s going on out here.”
“Name?”
“Deris,” Aurein responded. The sound of rain falling outside the interview room was once peaceful, but now Aurein was getting sick of it. He wondered how the Keila soldiers who were stationed here tolerated the almost constant rain for so long.
“And yours?” the interviewer asked, turning to Allef.
“Veris. We’re siblings. Adopted siblings.”
The interviewer’s uniform was sharp—impeccably sharp. It was much neater than Aurein had seen it on his opponents during the heat of battle. Every piece seemed in its perfect place, the sleeves symmetrically tucked round each of the man’s wrists. Saturated lines of blue, purple, and gold were woven into the uniform’s collar, giving the otherwise dark navy suit a stylish pop of color which encircled the Keila insignia in the middle of his chest. But this color didn’t take away from the oppressive air of authority the interviewer radiated, a combination of the Keila uniform’s striking appearance and the man’s now suspicious nod.
“What planet do you hail from?” the interviewer asked.
“Garas, from the nearby star system in Aikajo,” Aurein answered.
“We were sick of living under Aikajo, so we left and came here,” Allef elaborated. Aurein nudged Allef’s arm with one of his elbows, but it being made of metal, Allef could not feel the signal to shut up and let me do the talking.
“I understand,” the interviewer affirmed. “I also came from Aikajo before joining Keila. Aikajo led their planets with weak wills, and I desired to work under a faction with real power. Keila did not disappoint.”
The interviewer paused, reading the expressions of Aurein and Allef.
“Now, can you tell me the three keystone ideologies of Keila?” he asked.
“One, push back against your enemies,” Aurein answered at once. “Always strike back when struck. Two, obey your superiors. A defiant soldier is a useless soldier. And three-”
“Good,” the interviewer interrupted, looking at Allef. “And what is the third, miss?”
“Always strive for greatness,” she answered. “Rise to the top, and nobody will stand above you.”
“Very good. You know the keystones well. Now, I only have one more question for you—what were you doing during the escape from The Ray?”
Aurein tensed. The interviewer stood up and the wall behind him lit up, displaying security footage from The Ray on the day of the escape.
“When The Ray fell, and Tymin with it, Keila was able to capture some of The Ray’s security footage. In it, we spotted the ringleaders of the escape, Myasma Noll and Flint, with figures that look a lot like you two with them.”
The interviewer made a specific hand motion near a sensor in the ceiling and the security footage played, zoomed in on several blurry figures. They ran along the long corridors of The Ray alongside who was clearly Flint’s body at the time and Myasma. The security footage stopped. Aurein looked at the security camera in the interview room with anxiety. That camera was capturing all of this, and if they were to be exposed here, there was nowhere to run.
“Flint,” Aurein whispered under his breath, his teeth clenched. “Get the hell over here already…”
Then, suddenly, a blue glow briefly emerged from one side of the room and impacted the interviewer. There was a subtle, almost imperceptible moment where the interviewer’s eyes went blank, but when the interviewer’s eyes focused on Aurein and Allef again, they were kinder, with more purple irises, and the man’s facial structure looked ever so slightly more like Flint’s.
The interviewer—or, Flint—looked at the footage with a brief moment of confusion.
“On second thought…” Flint began in the interviewer’s voice, “I’m not sure there’s much resemblance. The figure with the metal arms has different colored arms than you do, lady.”
Allef nodded. “You’re right. That can’t be me.”
“I sincerely apologize,” Flint said to the two. “You two pass the test. There was no need for such unnecessary suspicion. I will register you as official Keila members in just a moment.”
Allef and Aurein left, Flint leaving the room just behind. They met again behind the Keila outpost building where no security cameras were to be found.
“I can’t do this anymore,” Flint said, looking down at the hands of his new body. His flawless Keila uniform was being marred by the falling rain, even though the rain had slowed in its pace.
“What?” Aurein said.
“I don’t like this. I don’t want to do this again.”
“Do what?!”
“Possess people!” Flint snapped. “Now, when I… when I possess somebody’s body, and I erase their soul… I can’t stop thinking about the last image of their soul I see before they disappear forever. Forever! That’s exactly what I’m afraid of happening to me! I see a look of fear in their faces when they realize they aren’t just dying, they’re about to be removed from the universe, and it haunts me. Why does my soul deserve to live on more than anyone else’s?”
“Flint, the soul you just erased was the soul of a Keila soldier. That has to be one of the most corrupt kinds of souls out there,” Aurein stated.
“But I don’t get to be the judge of that!” Flint boomed. “I don’t get to judge who should live and who should die.”
“You saved our lives,” Allef reassured. “And your own. Who knows what would have happened to us if Keila caught us?”
“All I know,” Flint said, his face still red, “is I’m not doing that again. I don’t know how, but I want to finish this without erasing any more souls.”
There was a moment of silence between the three, filled only by the sound of falling rain.
“Fine,” Aurein finished. “But you better not let us down.”
“I won’t.”
“Well, now that we’re part of Keila, how do we want to proceed?”
“Well, my body is that of some kind of higher-ranking Keila soldier,” Flint began, gesturing at the crest on his chest, “so we don’t have to worry about me passing the eye scan. You two, on the other hand…”
“Yeah. It’s not like we can get new bodies, regardless of how moral it is,” Allef commented.
“Well… about that. There is a way—kind of—for you two to have your eyes changed,” Flint submitted. “You might remember him, actually.”
At first, Allef’s and Aurein’s faces went blank, confused. Then, almost at once, they realized.
“Flint, that’s just not realistic-” Aurein began.
Flint interrupted, “Now that I’m a Keila soldier, I have access to Keila information. If I can find out where Tro will be stationed next, we can ambush him and force him to change the DNA in our eyes. He’s semi-immortal, like me—he values his life to a greater degree than any mortal does. If we can somehow get him close to death—real, actual, death—then we might be able to make him so desperate he has no choice but to help us.”
“Isn’t he one of the Big 5?” Allef asked. “He almost killed you. It’s not so easy for us to just kill one of Keila’s strongest-”
“But Tro is the weakest of the Big 5,” Flint elaborated. “And we’ll have the first strike in an ambush. This is our only chance. Besides, if we can’t handle Tro, how are we supposed to handle ourselves even deeper into Keila territory, where we might have to face other members of the Big 5? What about Zero?”
Aurein put his hands on Flint’s damp shoulders.
“Flint, you’ve better come up with a damn good plan to beat this guy,” he said. “Like I said, you better not let us down.”
“While I do some digging on Tro, you two get the parts you need for your gravity nuke arm, Allef,” Flint advised. “And see what you can find out on Tro from the civilian perspective. It seems like, for the time being, we have to split up.”
“When should we reconvene?” Aurein asked.
“You’ll know,” replied Flint.
“Yeah. You go have fun being a Keila soldier,” Allef said with a wry smile and a pat on the back.
“Yep,” Flint said sardonically. “I’m sure I will.”
It wasn’t long before Flint found out his name, or rather, his body’s name, but it took longer than he expected. Before that, he was only referred to by other Keila members as “lieutenant,” enough so to where Flint suspected that really was his name.
“Rechnoi, what are you doing here?”
Hearing the name of the body he had stolen made Flint’s heart sink. He turned around from the computer terminal to see another suit-wearing Keila soldier in the doorway. The man’s Keila crest was more ornate than his.
Flint snapped into a salute.
“Sir.”
“There’s no need, lieutenant,” the man said. “But I thought it was clear that only ranks colonel and higher are allowed in the comms room.”
“I’m sorry, sir. I was out of line.” So this man was at least a colonel in Keila’s army. Judging by the fact that Malida was a planet on the outskirts of Keila’s territory, the soldier in front of Flint couldn’t be much higher ranking than a colonel. Keila would be saving its strength for the planets closer to the capital.
The colonel simply nodded, and then walked over to the terminal to view what Flint had been doing. Upon seeing the screen, his eyebrows raised slightly.
“Interested in Tro, I see?”
Flint looked down at his feet. There might be no other way to navigate the situation.
“Yes, sir. I must confess—Tro’s accomplishments are an inspiration to me. I wish one day to be able to rise to his level.”
The colonel laughed a brief laugh.
“You might not truly be able to rise to his level unless you were immortal like him. But it’s good to strive for more. That’s an important virtue. However, Rechnoi, don’t let your admiration get in the way of your work, and, more importantly, your responsibilities. Sentiment can be the downfall of a good soldier.”
“I understand. I only hoped to meet him one day.”
The colonel idly inspected a piece of religious paraphernalia on Rechnoi’s desk as he considered his next words.
“You would have a hard time coming face to face with him—or, really, anyone in the Big 5—without being stationed near or on Nopetu itself. All of this uproar about the Terminus has put Zero on edge. The Big 5 have been confined around the capital, dealing with report after report of the Terminus being found. Of course, sometimes there are reports from elsewhere in Keila, but the capital system Nopetu is where the Terminus is rumored to reside.”
“Really? I hadn’t heard,” replied Flint.
“The news wasn’t broadcast to the outer planets, where we are. Zero declared that, based on a new hidden source of information, the Terminus had to reside somewhere in Keila.”
“That seems like a bold claim. Wouldn’t that put the entire galaxy into chaos?”
“Oh, yes. The Domain is in a frenzy right now. Since the breakout from The Ray and the recent coup within Talo, the galaxy has undoubtedly descended into chaos. Some say there hasn’t been this kind of pandemonium in the Domain since Teo Nora vanished.”
They were silent.
“I think I should take my leave,” Flint offered, walking towards the door. “Thank you for the updates. It really is hard to hear Keila news all the way out here.”
“Oh, yes, that’s right. You shouldn’t be here. Good luck to you, and may Teo Nora help us all.”
Allef was screwing a finger onto what would eventually become her gravity nuke arm when the Keila interviewer from yesterday suddenly occupied the hotel room doorway.
“Whoa! Don’t just appear like that, man! I forgot that was you!” Allef exclaimed. Aurein had already stood up and raised his fists.
“Sorry. I should have warned you,” Flint said. “But there’s an important development.”
It had been over a full day since the three arrived on Malida in search of information on Tria. Aurein and Allef each rented rooms in a local hotel after stealing the parts necessary for Allef’s new arm from Keila’s ship repair facility. With Flint’s help, getting in had been easy. The hotel room, like the rest of the town, was lit with a greenish light. Outside the open window, rain continued to fall, but the edge of the storm cloud was almost in sight. Behind the clouds, she could see that it was almost nighttime.
“What’s up?”
“We can’t reach Tro without getting near Keila’s capital, Nopetu,” Flint answered.
“Well, that ruins the whole point of the plan,” Aurein commented. “We needed him to get near the capital.”
“But there’s more,” Flint continued. “Did you guys know the galaxy is in downright chaos right now? Zero declared a faction-wide state of emergency, telling everyone that the Terminus was in Keila territory. All of the Big 5 are dedicated to searching for the Terminus right now.”
Allef stared blankly out the window, letting Flint’s words wash over her. The storm clouds had receded from the horizon, exposing the bright setting sun. The sunset illuminated the still-falling raindrops over their location, briefly turning them a stunning gold as they passed over the sun. The drops on the window shone like they had been gilded, and with an exhilarating rush of adrenaline, the sight of it gave Allef an idea.
“What if we don’t need to go to him?!” Allef suddenly blurted. “Make Tro come to us! Flint, you said that the Big 5 is chasing the Terminus, right?”
Flint seemed surprised at the sudden outburst. “Yes. That’s why he’s only going to be somewhere near the capital-”
“Fake a sighting of the Terminus! Make it so Tro comes here. That way we won’t have to find him.”
“Here? You want to bring Tro all the way here, to Malida, on the outer edge of Keila?” Aurein confirmed.
“Exactly.”
“Why?”
Allef tried and failed to suppress a wide grin.
