It was a long work week but got a few good ones in. Great way to end the week. Bottom to top:
Pena Large Apache: Mokuti clip & collar, Fat Carbon scales w/ a hint of purple, Handrubbed satin - M390. Best front flipper I've had.
Mini Barber: Green Micarta, M390. Nice little slicey razor.
Hogue Deka: 1 of 1, OG Deka Aluminum Scales & half jimped backspacer - Custom Cerakote. Magnacut. OG did a spectacular job with the splatter. OG scales add just the right amount of weight.
T.C. Bruno Custom Slipjoint (star of the show): #4, Micarta scales are denim and burlap; one side is more blue denim and the other shows more of the burlap brown, just beautiful. Lined with red G10. Came in beautiful packaging: zip up case, COA, moisture absorber, and covered in wax paper. The sheepsfoot blade with a long nail nick, has comfortable jimping. This knife was a hand made custom for me. Couldn't be more happier.
Video: https://imgur.com/a/3sZHfos

This post is intended for discussion and suggestions about how TC could improve their public outreach.
The first thing I want to address is the fanbase. TC has built up an extraordinary fan base and to say anything else doesn't do it justice. For one, look at the size of this subreddit, nearly 400k strong. The fanbase for this single game is amazing and passionate and full of creative potential. TC might not be comfortable interacting with us too much, but they undeniably have influence and sway. Instead of leaving them for radio silence, simple things like art challenges, a monthly community showcase or replies to thought-out theories could go a long.
Okay, maybe they don't want to get so involved in the community and become public figures so to speak. There are still many other ways to interact positively without doing so. Updates every so often –not just on the game or state of development– go a long way. For instance, a look at how they are coming along and how they feel about work, a blog post on what games they themselves are looking forward too, something they think we might be excited for.
Sure, but maybe they don't want to reveal so much personal information. That's fine, but the bottom line is still communication. There are many ways for a company to interact with its fanbase that fosters a positive relationship and community without revealing information or delving into personal details. A couple things could be polls on what plushie to release next, celebrating anniversaries and asking for community input (i.e. "A year since HK released, who is your favorite character in HK?"), and getting community feedback (even years after the game released, simple questions like "What's your favorite HK boss fight?" makes a big difference if it were to come from them).
TC is not perfect and there is a lot to improve on, but they also have their own unique style. I want to respect that and praise the amazing content they've created. This community wouldn't exist if not for them. The purpose of this post is to give some constructive criticism on how they can improve in a department that they are lacking. So lastly...
An example that hopefully might inspire TC to interact just a little more with their passionate, lively community, is a company that has nailed their public outreach: Dragonsteel, led by Brandon Sanderson. I have linked Brandon Sanderson's YouTube channel where he does weekly updates on the work he has done and the projects he has in store. Sometimes it is something as simple as "I was vacationing and didn't do much work this week", other times its along the lines of "We've started a new project that needs to remain secret but we know you guys will love, so stick around!" He often pops by the subreddits surrounding his books ( Stormlight_Archive , Mistborn, etc.) and will do interviews/podcasts/AMAs. Regardless of what he chooses to do, it has a great impact on the community and they support him as he supports them. I hope TC might consider adopting some of these practices in the future, and if you've read this far let me know what you think and what some other positive ways to interact with the community might be.
tl;dr : TC should interact with their passionate community more in whatever way works for them. Brandon Sanderson is a guy who has nailed the public communication aspect of his company and hopefully others follow suit.

Expedition report from RG-5
Area of recon: Shore of Meilume due east of Galdush
Report carried out by Lieutenant Eric Ross
Report states: RG-5 has encountered an elven outpost on its way to the shore. The purpose of these outposts is to act as checkpoints for the Imperial army as well as to maintain surveillance within an area. The outpost encountered by RG-5 had thirty soldiers guarding it. RG-5 attempted peaceful contact, however, the elves engaged and RG-5 retaliated. All enemies have been neutralized and RG-5 has suffered no casualties and the outpost has been searched. Upon reaching the shore, RG-5 made peaceful contact with a local fishing village. They helped in local affairs, such as hunting down several feral welfen and repairing their equipment. In return, the locals gave them information on the coast south of the North Alston river. There are seven villages between the river and the Alston kingdom border and three more north of the river, which make up the fishing community of the southeast coast of the empire. The southeast coast and shore are patrolled by the Imperial third fleet with its center in the port city of Cheemo. Further information is required.
Other news: The airstrip has been finalized and drones have been sent to various locations. New findings include the official location of the river city Kuruk to the north and Imperial fort Mundus to the west. A large cluster of Imperial soldiers has been seen gathering on the opposite side of the North Alston river. Numbers count between one hundred and one hundred and fifty thousand, including auxiliary troops. No signs of any movement south of the river. Will continue to observe. The CIA has been able to establish a network in the Meilume capital and the leading agent, Edward Garcia, has confirmed that the nobility is attempting to flee the area. RG-3 is advised to speed up. As for the city itself, the population is estimated to be roughly six hundred thousand with fortifications and a force of ten thousand soldiers. No elements of any Imperial spy network have been discovered.
28th day of late yellow season, 3000th cycle
Meilume capital, Empire of light
General Laeroth's words reached the nobility of Meilume and they heed its instructions. Lord Bellon Belus rushed his family and the guard commander followed. Servants carried bags and soldiers formed a formation to escort them to Una, where they will meet with the army that will bring them to the other side of the river and then to the city of Imslone. Bellon was always a father and husband first, and lord second. Nearly two hundred thousand soldiers were slaughtered in less than a moon cycle. That was proof enough that he needed to leave the capital and save his family. Abandoning his city in the face of the enemy was an act of cowardice, often severely punished, but he would take any punishment for those he loved. He would not be like his father.
Bellon walked through the halls and double-checked every room. "Hurry up! Leave anything not of use! Leave the valuables, they are only dead weight!"
"Bellon!", a woman called him.
"Nimriel.", he said.
"Must we leave? This has been our home for cycles. And our family's home for far longer. Leaving it is-"
"It is the only way. The only way for us to live. We must, Nimriel. If we do not, the enemy will take us."
"But Bellon-"
"Think of our daughter, Nimriel. Think of Taria. What if those barbarians breach the walls? After they're done with the peasants, do you believe they will spare us? I will not allow such a thing to happen."
And speaking of the devil, Taria appeared from the corner, wearing a battle uniform with a sword sheathed on her left hip and holding a helmet in her right hand. "I am ready father."
Bellon couldn't say he was shocked too much. Since she was little she used to sneak into the courtyard and train with the guard commander. He knew and let her do what she wanted. It made her happy. But this was uncalled for.
"Stop fooling around Taria.", Bellon said, "This is a serious matter."
"Then take me seriously!", Taria responded, "The enemy is coming and I must be ready."
"You are not staying. You are coming with us to Imslone."
"I am not. I will not commit an act of cowardice and leave my post."
"Your post is beside me. I am your father!"
"I am not a little girl anymore! I have trained with Aego for over a hundred cycles! I am ready!"
"This enemy destroyed two armies and bested two generals! We stand no chance! Our only choice is to flee as far as we can and let the armies deal with them. The best we can hope to do is slow them down."
"You dare doubt our guard like that, father! These soldiers are just as strong as those of the Imperial army and our walls have held off the Rosians and ferals! We can-"
"Do you not hear me you stupid girl!", Bellon's voice boomed through the walls and made the servants and guards stop in their tracks, "I do not care for your illusions! The enemy is real! Wars are bloody and repulsive and not a place for you! You are the daughter of a lord! You are the heir to Meilume and a member of the Belus family! You will cease this foolishness at once and act accordingly!"
This was the loudest Bellon ever had to shout. He could feel his throat hurting. Taria could only feel tears falling down her cheeks as she lowered her head in shame. In truth, she just wanted to prove she was as capable as she claimed. That despite being a girl she could live in the world of men. But her dreams would have to wait. Bellon groaned and shook his head as he kept walking down the hall. Nimriel hugged her daughter and tried to reassure her everything will be alright, but her words fell on deaf ears.
As Nimriel left, someone else walked over to Taria from behind. As he placed his hand on her shoulder, Taria turned around and saw a man she thought of as her second father. "Aego.", she said through tears.
"Do not be saddened, my lady.", he said as he wiped her tears, "Your father said what he said because he cares. You are his only daughter, more valuable to him than this entire world. He only wants what is best for you. And right now, the best for you is to go to Imslone."
"B-But the enemy. What will you do?"
"I am coming with you, my lady. I left my first captain in charge. He will make sure these otherworlders bleed for this city."
Taria hugged him, still shedding tears, "Thank you Aego. Thank you."
Aego hugged her back.
---
29th of June, 2070
Since the Rift Groups programs have been initiated, soldiers all around have been eager to join. Some more than others, some less. But none were as stocked as sergeant Emma Davis. The second youngest member of RG-1, she was nicknamed 'Trigger-finger' for a reason. Great results in the shooting range, but not much else. Still, when she heard the 'Prodigy' was joining she couldn't control herself. Ever since they left for Alston, she's been clinging to Logan like a leach.
"Sir, how many people have you killed?", she asked.
"I lost count.", Logan answered.
"Sir, why have you joined the army?"
"It's a family tradition."
"Sir, have you been shot?"
"Yes."
"Sir, may I see it?"
"No."
"Sir, why did you leave the special forces?"
Logan didn't answer that one.
"Sir-"
"Emma shut up already.", Jacob said.
"Yeah, I think you're getting on the captain's nerves.", Michael said.
Staff sergeant Jacob Brown and corporal Michael Hoilman, Emma's friends since high school and pretty much the only reason she's not in jail. They've stuck by her side, being her big brothers for years, and kind of grown attached to her. It was like having a little sister.
"No I'm not.", Emma said.
"Yes you are.", Jacob said.
"You hold your captain in quite a high regard.", said Krolm, the leanoid, "Why?"
"Are you kidding me?", Emma said, "He's Logan Connors. All of Fort Bragg and the rangers know about him."
"Are rangers perhaps elites in your army?", asked Kai, the welfen.
"We're rangers.", said veteran sniper sergeant Nick Harper aka 'Bullseye', "We're a strike fast group made for quick attacks and quick action. We're not like the rest of the army that fights on the front lines. We fight in forests, towns, cities, forts, you name it. We hit fast, hard, and take care of our mission."
"Hell yeah we do!", shouted corporal Lamar Jones, the 'Heavy gunner'.
"Interesting.", said Clara, the lepian, "So that's why you have us with you. It makes sense, you don't really need us on the front lines when you got your large cannons and these armored carriages."
RG-1 wasn't just a normal group. It was the only group with sixty-six soldiers, a captain, and twice as many vehicles. This made them quite a force and that was necessary since they were being deployed to the border of Alston. After prince Bodin agreed to assist REC he chose three people who would aid him. Gregor Bachwich, son of Herwin Bachwich, the baron of the border town of Afa. He will be important in establishing first contact with the Rosians. Lieutenant Pallius Blazewing, son of Lor Blazewing, a great military figure in the Opherin army. The Opherin kingdom prides itself on great military history, having fought more battles than any Rosian kingdom or duchy in history. And finally, a youngster named Matheo Calo. There was nothing special about him besides being prince Bodin's personal squire. He's been with Bodin for years and the two became more than just prince and servant. Furthermore, Bodin promised Matheo he would bring him back to his mother in Olinor. Prince Bodin himself didn't choose to come along. His reasoning was that he wants to present himself in front of all the kings and dukes when they all gathered together. One more person did come with them. Ambassador Eugene Anderson. Together, they will establish peace. Or war.
Right now they were on their way to Afa, only several more minutes. In the LAV where the tribals were, private first-class Ethan Williams sat, writing in his journal. He was the youngest and newest addition to the group. Fresh off the academy, he graduated to be a sniper and was eager to learn from both Logan and Nick. But something kept him from them. Next to him sat Carla, who kept eyeballing him and his weapon. Ethan was nervous, he wasn't used to girls sitting near him, or even looking at him, and Carla seemed interested.
"What is this weapon?", she asked.
"O-Oh Ummm, this?", he stuttered, "This is a modified and modernized Mk22 ASR sniper rifle. I know there are older models but my granddad taught me how to use this one. It can hit a target from about twenty-two hundred yards away. In your measurements, that's four leagues."
Carla's ears went up, "Amazing! I bet I could hunt a lot of meat with it."
"Well, um. It takes a lot of skill to use it. I could show you, sometime."
"Oh?", Carla raised an eyebrow and moved closer smiling, "I think I would like that.". She purred a little which made Ethan stutter and sweat. Across from them, Lin watched with her arms crossed.
"What?", Carla asked, "Envious?"
"Not at all.", Lin said as she grabbed Lamar's arm, "I prefer strong males.". Lamar opened his mouth but couldn't say anything. He and Ethan just stared at each other.
"Before your boners brake your belts and that LAV becomes hotter than a pizza oven at Papa John's, I wanna let you know we're almost there.", said lieutenant James Wilson over the comms from the leading JLTV3, the most veteran among them, chosen to uphold discipline.
"Thank you.", said Logan.
"They seem to be getting along.", said ambassador Anderson.
"Indeed.", said Gregor, "I must say, you humans are more strange than you are frightening. The way you use words with one meaning for another. And your expressions as well. Definitely not the savages Canus described."
"I'm glad we could prove that to you. And it appears we are about to prove it to the rest of your kingdom.". They were nearly at Afa. This town serves as a fortified stronghold against the empire should they attack. Its walls were tall and thick, with bastion towers and a single entry gate. It would be difficult for the elves to take it.
"The town currently has a thousand soldiers protecting it. It's usually three thousand, but two thousand went with me through the rift. Most likely on the orders of the elves, my father would never allow it."
"Only three thousand?", James asked.
"Three thousand official soldiers, but should the need arise we can recruit militia fighters from the residents. The town itself has a population of eighty thousand."
"That's a lot of people.", Eugene said.
"Yes. Luckily, it is able to support them, even if barely. The elves aren't exactly sharing people."
"That will all change soon."
As the convoy approached the gate, a ballista javelin hit the road in front of them. The city defenders had assembled on the wall and aimed their weapons at them. While the vehicles are armored, the JLTVs have weak spots a javelin can pierce.
"Hold it!", shouted a man on the wall, presumably the commander, "Present yourselves immediately."
"I'll take care of this.", Logan said as he exited the JLTV with his hands raised, "I am Captain Logan Connors of the Rift Expeditionary Corps! We are from Galdush and have come to make peaceful relations with the kingdom of Alston!"
"Why should we listen to you!?"
"If not me, then how about someone more familiar!".
At that moment, Gregor stepped out of the JLTV3 and, to put it mildly, made the defenders' hearts skip a beat. "Commander Barion! It is good to see you!"
Barion couldn't even speak for moments. His young baron was alive. Against all odds, he made it back. "Y-Young baron!", he finally spoke, "You... You live! How!? And what are you doing with the enemy?!"
"I assure you, they are not the enemy! I will explain everything, but first, I need to ask you to open this gate and let these soldiers in!"
Barion hesitated for a moment, "B-But young ba-"
"Commander, do not make me order you!"
He immediately understood, "Open this gate immediately! Let them in! Someone inform the baron!"
The gate opened and the convoy made it in. Luckily, there was enough room to fit all of them in. Barion and his men, as well as the people, could only stare in awe at what was before them. Truly, people from another world. The commander stepped down and greeted them as well as Gregor.
"Young baron, you have a lot of explaining to do.", Barion said.
"All will be explained soon.", Gregor said.
"Gregor!", shouted a little girl as she ran towards him.
"Elora.", Gregor said as he hugged her, "My little sister. It is good to see you.". Behind her came his mother and father, who at first walked slowly with tears in their eyes, not believing it was him.
"My son.", Herwin said as he hugged Gregor, "By the heavens. You live."
"Mother. Father. I have returned. Let me introduce you to someone. This is Lord Ambassador Eugene Anderson from the land of America on the other side of the rift. He is here to represent his country and the humans."
Herwin immediately walked to him and bowed, "I am Baron Herwin Bachwich. Thank you for sparing my son's life. It is an honor to have you here, Lord Anderson."
"The honor is mine baron.", Eugene said, "I hope we will be able to discuss peace with you and your kingdom."
This confused Herwin, "Peace?"
"I have much to tell you father.", Gregor said, "The prince lives."
Completely frozen, Herwin took a few moments to process that before replying, "He lives?"
"Enemies!", shouted a soldier from the wall. Commander Barion and Logan rushed up the wall. Logan grabbed his binoculars and observed the enemy from a distance. They came from a treeline, their camp was behind it, otherwise, RG-1 would have spotted them.
"I count five hundred.", Logan said, "Various races. Elves, Rosians, ferals."
"How?", Barion asked.
"These are binoculars. They allow me to see things from a distance. Try it."
Logan handed the binoculars to Barion, who observed them for a few moments before putting them on his eyes and facing the enemy. "Incredible."
Barion handed them back but Logan refused, "Keep it, I have a spare. I get the elves, but why are your people attacking you?"
"Those bastards aren't our people. They are traitors and thieves who think the kingdom is done for. So they run to the empire and beg them for forgiveness.". He spat in disgust.
"And the elves. They don't look like the army."
"They most likely were. They call themselves rogues, those who stray from their so-called 'Path of light'. Both of these traitors sicken me."
"Then let us help you."
"Why would you help us?"
"If we're gonna be at peace with one another, we have to establish a certain level of trust, don't we?"
Barion pondered for a bit before answering, "Very well. I am eager to see the army that defeated the elves."
Nodding Logan walked to the edge of the wall and faced his men. "Jones, take your men and mount the machine guns! Davis, bring the ammo! Williams, Harper, get to higher ground and shoot anyone that looks important or a large threat! Wilson, take Green and set up the mortar! Move it, they'll be here in minutes!"
RG-1 immediately went to work. Jones and his men carried the machine guns from the trucks and mounted them on the walls, Williams and Harper climbed up the tallest tower they could find and got into position. Wilson set up the 60mm mortar in the town square.
"I think we should get to safety.", Eugene said.
"You are right.", Herwin said, "Follow me."
Logan got into position with his Mk4 SCAR chambered in 7.62mm. "Commander, I need a favor."
"What is it, captain?", Barion asked.
"If these guys fire arrows, we don't have shields to defend ourselves. You think your men can take of that?"
"Certainly. Get the shields ready! Protect their soldiers!". In moments, each ranger had a Rosian soldier behind him or her with a shield ready. It was time to fight.
The horde moved closer and closer. First, they walked and then picked up the pace as they put shields above their heads. Naturally, the ferals ran towards the wall like rabid animals. "Hold!", Logan said as he gripped his gun, "Wait for them to get closer!". There was one elf on a horse swinging his sword and giving commands. Not for long.
"It's all you kid.", Harper said as he watched Williams aim his shot.
Letting out a breath, Williams pulled the trigger and splattered the elf's brain all over the field. "Boom boom motherfucker."
"Weapons free! Light them up!", Logan shouted as the rangers opened fire on the ferals. The freaks fell by the dozens as bullets pierced their chest, heads, legs, and arms and turned them into cold, dead corpses. The mortar fired at the enemies behind them, who stopped in their tracks, clearly confused and terrified. The rangers aimed their weapons at them and started cutting them down.
"Get some, blueberries!", Davis shouted, "Come closer! I dare ya!"
The few dozen that survived retreated back to the trees. The rangers cheered, but the Rosians didn't cheer as much as they stared in awe. Now they see why the elves lost, these people are powerful.
Commander Barion walked to Logan, "Thank you for the assistance. But I doubt this is the last we have seen of them."
"I know.", Logan said, "That's why I'll have one of my guys scout those trees with a drone along with Lin and Clara.". Logan walked down to the two of them, "Scot! Get over here!"
"Coming!", Scot answered. Scot Green aka 'Mechanic', was the group's engineer. He was also their drone pilot. "Yes sir?"
"I need you to pilot the Fly into those tree lines and scout for the enemy.". The SPFD Fly was a small recon drone invented by DARPA to save both room and energy. Solar-powered and long-lasting battery, coupled with its long-range and small size made it a very useful tool to have in recon missions. "Lin, Carla, you two are also going. I need good eyes and ears over there."
"Sure thing, sir.", Lin said saluting the best she could.
"You two do know how to use a radio, right?"
"Of course we do.", Clara said, "We're not idiots."
"Good. Go.". Lin and Carla ran to the trees as Scott maneuvered the Fly.
The baron and his family, along with Ambassador Eugene walked over to the soldiers. The baron was first to speak, "That was... most impressive. But I must ask. Why peace? Surely you seem powerful enough to take the kingdoms by force."
"Because my people aren't barbarians, baron.", Anderson said, "If peace can be made, then we will do anything to make it a reality."
"I see. And the prince? What does he say about this?"
"You can ask him yourself.", Anderson said as he nodded to Logan who signaled his men to set up a desk and a large screen. "With this device, we can talk to the prince and even see him."
"Amazing.", said Herwin as he eagerly awaited to see his prince. After some preparations, the screen was ready and it turned on. The lights slightly startled the Rosians before the screen was clear and on it was prince Bodin himself. "My... My prince.", Herwin said as he knelt, "It is a miracle. You truly live."
"Baron Bachwich.", Bodin spoke, "Please, rise. I am not before you just yet. This is strange for me as well. Am I correct to assume the human soldiers have arrived?"
"Yes, my prince. They recently just helped us crush an attack from a bandit horde."
"Do you then see why I have chosen to make peace with these people?"
After a momentary pause, Herwin nodded, "I do, my prince. It is incredible to see that a nation so powerful is willing to make peace with its enemy and not subdue it."
"We are not their enemy, baron. The elves and their empire are. This is why they chose to make peace with us. They understand we are just vassals forced to fight. I suggest you hear Lord Anderson out."
As they were talking, Scot called for Logan, "Sir. I have a visual."
Logan nodded, "Alright. Commander Barion, would you like to see the enemy?"
"Yes.", Barion answered, "Show me."
Scot pulled up the video feed on his screen, "This is their camp. I count roughly three thousand. Lin and Carla confirm."
"Where are those two?", Logan asked.
"In the trees."
"Call them back and give me the radio.", Logan took the radio, "Galdush base. Come in Galdush base. This is Captain Logan Connors of Rift Group 1. Do you copy? Over."
After a few moments, the radio spoke, "Copy Rift Group 1. Sitrep. Over."
"Galdush, we have made contact with border town Afa. Upon entry, we engaged a third party, designated rogue elves, and bandit Rosians. Half a battalion attacked us but we drove them off. We confirm the enemy numbers in three thousand, various races. What's the status of our air forces? Over."
"Three air squadrons of Invictus ACs and a Boeing Stratofortress is currently being fueled and should be ready in half an hour."
"Galdush I request a tactical bombing run. The area will be marked via drone. How copy?"
The radio went silent for a few moments before speaking again, "Affirmative RG-1. Stratofortress will be up in the air as soon as possible. Make sure to mark the area. Galdush out."
"Copy that Galdush. RG-1 out."
"What was that?", Barion asked.
"You're gonna get another demonstration."
"Captain!", Carla shouted as she ran towards him. "I have eliminated an enemy scout.", she said as she extended a severed head toward Logan.
Logan smacked his lips before replying, "I see. Get rid of it."
"Yes sir.", Carla said as she tossed the head into a nearby pile of trash.
'At least she's helping', Logan thought.
---
(Two hours later)
The bandits and rogues were sitting in their tents, trying to plan an attack. The otherworlders were an unexpected problem, but hopefully a problem they could be dealt with.
"Alright, listen.", said an elf, "We'll strike at night. It didn't work last time because there were too many of them, but I reckon there can't be more than a few dozen of them."
"That doesn't matter.", said a Rosian, "I've seen what that few can do."
"You attacked with five hundred to scout their defenses. You were never supposed to win. Besides, we can use the tribals to deal with them. As we are attacking the front, they will go to the sides and strike."
"Are you sure this will work?"
"Yes. Soon, Afa will be ours."
At that moment, an elf rushed into the tent, "Sir, you must come and see this!"
They left the tent and came to the center of the tent. The one who called them pointed upwards into the sky. There they saw something flying. A wyvern? No, it was too big. Its wings didn't flap. What could it be? As it flew over them, something fell from it. Many egg-like things started falling and as they fell to the ground, they engulfed the camp in fire and shook the earth. In moments, the whole camp was on fire and everyone was either dead or dying. The ground was turned into a burning pile of scorched bodies.
If there were any doubts about the power of the otherwolders left, they were long gone now.
---
(Meanwhile)
Road to Una
The Belus family along with commander Aego and two hundred soldiers were on their way to Una. Taria did not wish to ride with her father and so she rode on a horse alongside Aego. Their hopes were that they would reach Una in several days and then cross the river.
"My lady.", Aego spoke, "Are you certain you should be riding alongside me and not in the carriage?"
"I do not wish to speak to my father.", Taria said, "At least not now."
"I assumed we cleared this matter."
"We have but... I still need time."
Aego sighed, "I understand. Still, you should not hate him for-", he stopped and halted the soldiers.
"What?"
"Something is not as it should be. This outpost is quiet.". The soldiers tensed up. They could also feel that something wasn't right. In a split second, Aego was shot by an arrow in the side.
"Ambush!", Taria yelled out. Suddenly, elves, welfen, and leanoids ran from the sides and the outpost. The soldiers prepared but found themselves overwhelmed by the enemies' numbers. Rogue elves fired arrows at them while welfen and leanoids exploited weaknesses and struck. Still, the soldiers fought hard, making sure the traitors and savages suffer. The enemy numbers were dropping, but not quickly enough. Taria used her training and cut down several rogues before crouching down to help Aego.
"Aego!", she yelled, "Aego hold on! You will live! Please!". She cried as he struggled to breathe. He grabbed her arm and pushed her to the side, just in time for her to dodge a spear from a leanoid. She watched as Aego spat blood before dying, his life leaving his body. In pure rage, she screamed and struck the leanoid in the side. Pulling out her sword she blocked a strike from a rogue, stepped closer, and headbutted him before slitting his throat.
Turning to her left she saw the rogues and tribals dragging her family. "Father!", she yelled, but couldn't help as a rogue hit her in the back of the head, knocking her down on the ground. Her blurred vision faded away as the rogue smiled down at her.
"Sweet dreams, little girl.", was what he said before she passed out completely.
End of chapter 9
​
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Expedition report from RG-5
Area of recon: Shore of Meilume due east of Galdush
Report carried out by Lieutenant Eric Ross
Report states: RG-5 has encountered an elven outpost on its way to the shore. The purpose of these outposts is to act as checkpoints for the Imperial army as well as to maintain surveillance within an area. The outpost encountered by RG-5 had thirty soldiers guarding it. RG-5 attempted peaceful contact, however, the elves engaged and RG-5 retaliated. All enemies have been neutralized and RG-5 has suffered no casualties and the outpost has been searched. Upon reaching the shore, RG-5 made peaceful contact with a local fishing village. They helped in local affairs, such as hunting down several feral welfen and repairing their equipment. In return, the locals gave them information on the coast south of the North Alston river. There are seven villages between the river and the Alston kingdom border and three more north of the river, which make up the fishing community of the southeast coast of the empire. The southeast coast and shore are patrolled by the Imperial third fleet with its center in the port city of Cheemo. Further information is required.
Other news: The airstrip has been finalized and drones have been sent to various locations. New findings include the official location of the river city Kuruk to the north and Imperial fort Mundus to the west. A large cluster of Imperial soldiers has been seen gathering on the opposite side of the North Alston river. Numbers count between one hundred and one hundred and fifty thousand, including auxiliary troops. No signs of any movement south of the river. Will continue to observe. The CIA has been able to establish a network in the Meilume capital and the leading agent, Edward Garcia, has confirmed that the nobility is attempting to flee the area. RG-3 is advised to speed up. As for the city itself, the population is estimated to be roughly six hundred thousand with fortifications and a force of ten thousand soldiers. No elements of any Imperial spy network have been discovered.
28th day of late yellow season, 3000th cycle
Meilume capital, Empire of light
General Laeroth's words reached the nobility of Meilume and they heed its instructions. Lord Bellon Belus rushed his family and the guard commander followed. Servants carried bags and soldiers formed a formation to escort them to Una, where they will meet with the army that will bring them to the other side of the river and then to the city of Imslone. Bellon was always a father and husband first, and lord second. Nearly two hundred thousand soldiers were slaughtered in less than a moon cycle. That was proof enough that he needed to leave the capital and save his family. Abandoning his city in the face of the enemy was an act of cowardice, often severely punished, but he would take any punishment for those he loved. He would not be like his father.
Bellon walked through the halls and double-checked every room. "Hurry up! Leave anything not of use! Leave the valuables, they are only dead weight!"
"Bellon!", a woman called him.
"Nimriel.", he said.
"Must we leave? This has been our home for cycles. And our family's home for far longer. Leaving it is-"
"It is the only way. The only way for us to live. We must, Nimriel. If we do not, the enemy will take us."
"But Bellon-"
"Think of our daughter, Nimriel. Think of Taria. What if those barbarians breach the walls? After they're done with the peasants, do you believe they will spare us? I will not allow such a thing to happen."
And speaking of the devil, Taria appeared from the corner, wearing a battle uniform with a sword sheathed on her left hip and holding a helmet in her right hand. "I am ready father."
Bellon couldn't say he was shocked too much. Since she was little she used to sneak into the courtyard and train with the guard commander. He knew and let her do what she wanted. It made her happy. But this was uncalled for.
"Stop fooling around Taria.", Bellon said, "This is a serious matter."
"Then take me seriously!", Taria responded, "The enemy is coming and I must be ready."
"You are not staying. You are coming with us to Imslone."
"I am not. I will not commit an act of cowardice and leave my post."
"Your post is beside me. I am your father!"
"I am not a little girl anymore! I have trained with Aego for over a hundred cycles! I am ready!"
"This enemy destroyed two armies and bested two generals! We stand no chance! Our only choice is to flee as far as we can and let the armies deal with them. The best we can hope to do is slow them down."
"You dare doubt our guard like that, father! These soldiers are just as strong as those of the Imperial army and our walls have held off the Rosians and ferals! We can-"
"Do you not hear me you stupid girl!", Bellon's voice boomed through the walls and made the servants and guards stop in their tracks, "I do not care for your illusions! The enemy is real! Wars are bloody and repulsive and not a place for you! You are the daughter of a lord! You are the heir to Meilume and a member of the Belus family! You will cease this foolishness at once and act accordingly!"
This was the loudest Bellon ever had to shout. He could feel his throat hurting. Taria could only feel tears falling down her cheeks as she lowered her head in shame. In truth, she just wanted to prove she was as capable as she claimed. That despite being a girl she could live in the world of men. But her dreams would have to wait. Bellon groaned and shook his head as he kept walking down the hall. Nimriel hugged her daughter and tried to reassure her everything will be alright, but her words fell on deaf ears.
As Nimriel left, someone else walked over to Taria from behind. As he placed his hand on her shoulder, Taria turned around and saw a man she thought of as her second father. "Aego.", she said through tears.
"Do not be saddened, my lady.", he said as he wiped her tears, "Your father said what he said because he cares. You are his only daughter, more valuable to him than this entire world. He only wants what is best for you. And right now, the best for you is to go to Imslone."
"B-But the enemy. What will you do?"
"I am coming with you, my lady. I left my first captain in charge. He will make sure these otherworlders bleed for this city."
Taria hugged him, still shedding tears, "Thank you Aego. Thank you."
Aego hugged her back.
---
29th of June, 2070
Since the Rift Groups programs have been initiated, soldiers all around have been eager to join. Some more than others, some less. But none were as stocked as sergeant Emma Davis. The second youngest member of RG-1, she was nicknamed 'Trigger-finger' for a reason. Great results in the shooting range, but not much else. Still, when she heard the 'Prodigy' was joining she couldn't control herself. Ever since they left for Alston, she's been clinging to Logan like a leach.
"Sir, how many people have you killed?", she asked.
"I lost count.", Logan answered.
"Sir, why have you joined the army?"
"It's a family tradition."
"Sir, have you been shot?"
"Yes."
"Sir, may I see it?"
"No."
"Sir, why did you leave the special forces?"
Logan didn't answer that one.
"Sir-"
"Emma shut up already.", Jacob said.
"Yeah, I think you're getting on the captain's nerves.", Michael said.
Staff sergeant Jacob Brown and corporal Michael Hoilman, Emma's friends since high school and pretty much the only reason she's not in jail. They've stuck by her side, being her big brothers for years, and kind of grown attached to her. It was like having a little sister.
"No I'm not.", Emma said.
"Yes you are.", Jacob said.
"You hold your captain in quite a high regard.", said Krolm, the leanoid, "Why?"
"Are you kidding me?", Emma said, "He's Logan Connors. All of Fort Bragg and the rangers know about him."
"Are rangers perhaps elites in your army?", asked Kai, the welfen.
"We're rangers.", said veteran sniper sergeant Nick Harper aka 'Bullseye', "We're a strike fast group made for quick attacks and quick action. We're not like the rest of the army that fights on the front lines. We fight in forests, towns, cities, forts, you name it. We hit fast, hard, and take care of our mission."
"Hell yeah we do!", shouted corporal Lamar Jones, the 'Heavy gunner'.
"Interesting.", said Clara, the lepian, "So that's why you have us with you. It makes sense, you don't really need us on the front lines when you got your large cannons and these armored carriages."
RG-1 wasn't just a normal group. It was the only group with sixty-six soldiers, a captain, and twice as many vehicles. This made them quite a force and that was necessary since they were being deployed to the border of Alston. After prince Bodin agreed to assist REC he chose three people who would aid him. Gregor Bachwich, son of Herwin Bachwich, the baron of the border town of Afa. He will be important in establishing first contact with the Rosians. Lieutenant Pallius Blazewing, son of Lor Blazewing, a great military figure in the Opherin army. The Opherin kingdom prides itself on great military history, having fought more battles than any Rosian kingdom or duchy in history. And finally, a youngster named Matheo Calo. There was nothing special about him besides being prince Bodin's personal squire. He's been with Bodin for years and the two became more than just prince and servant. Furthermore, Bodin promised Matheo he would bring him back to his mother in Olinor. Prince Bodin himself didn't choose to come along. His reasoning was that he wants to present himself in front of all the kings and dukes when they all gathered together. One more person did come with them. Ambassador Eugene Anderson. Together, they will establish peace. Or war.
Right now they were on their way to Afa, only several more minutes. In the LAV where the tribals were, private first-class Ethan Williams sat, writing in his journal. He was the youngest and newest addition to the group. Fresh off the academy, he graduated to be a sniper and was eager to learn from both Logan and Nick. But something kept him from them. Next to him sat Carla, who kept eyeballing him and his weapon. Ethan was nervous, he wasn't used to girls sitting near him, or even looking at him, and Carla seemed interested.
"What is this weapon?", she asked.
"O-Oh Ummm, this?", he stuttered, "This is a modified and modernized Mk22 ASR sniper rifle. I know there are older models but my granddad taught me how to use this one. It can hit a target from about twenty-two hundred yards away. In your measurements, that's four leagues."
Carla's ears went up, "Amazing! I bet I could hunt a lot of meat with it."
"Well, um. It takes a lot of skill to use it. I could show you, sometime."
"Oh?", Carla raised an eyebrow and moved closer smiling, "I think I would like that.". She purred a little which made Ethan stutter and sweat. Across from them, Lin watched with her arms crossed.
"What?", Carla asked, "Envious?"
"Not at all.", Lin said as she grabbed Lamar's arm, "I prefer strong males.". Lamar opened his mouth but couldn't say anything. He and Ethan just stared at each other.
"Before your boners brake your belts and that LAV becomes hotter than a pizza oven at Papa John's, I wanna let you know we're almost there.", said lieutenant James Wilson over the comms from the leading JLTV3, the most veteran among them, chosen to uphold discipline.
"Thank you.", said Logan.
"They seem to be getting along.", said ambassador Anderson.
"Indeed.", said Gregor, "I must say, you humans are more strange than you are frightening. The way you use words with one meaning for another. And your expressions as well. Definitely not the savages Canus described."
"I'm glad we could prove that to you. And it appears we are about to prove it to the rest of your kingdom.". They were nearly at Afa. This town serves as a fortified stronghold against the empire should they attack. Its walls were tall and thick, with bastion towers and a single entry gate. It would be difficult for the elves to take it.
"The town currently has a thousand soldiers protecting it. It's usually three thousand, but two thousand went with me through the rift. Most likely on the orders of the elves, my father would never allow it."
"Only three thousand?", James asked.
"Three thousand official soldiers, but should the need arise we can recruit militia fighters from the residents. The town itself has a population of eighty thousand."
"That's a lot of people.", Eugene said.
"Yes. Luckily, it is able to support them, even if barely. The elves aren't exactly sharing people."
"That will all change soon."
As the convoy approached the gate, a ballista javelin hit the road in front of them. The city defenders had assembled on the wall and aimed their weapons at them. While the vehicles are armored, the JLTVs have weak spots a javelin can pierce.
"Hold it!", shouted a man on the wall, presumably the commander, "Present yourselves immediately."
"I'll take care of this.", Logan said as he exited the JLTV with his hands raised, "I am Captain Logan Connors of the Rift Expeditionary Corps! We are from Galdush and have come to make peaceful relations with the kingdom of Alston!"
"Why should we listen to you!?"
"If not me, then how about someone more familiar!".
At that moment, Gregor stepped out of the JLTV3 and, to put it mildly, made the defenders' hearts skip a beat. "Commander Barion! It is good to see you!"
Barion couldn't even speak for moments. His young baron was alive. Against all odds, he made it back. "Y-Young baron!", he finally spoke, "You... You live! How!? And what are you doing with the enemy?!"
"I assure you, they are not the enemy! I will explain everything, but first, I need to ask you to open this gate and let these soldiers in!"
Barion hesitated for a moment, "B-But young ba-"
"Commander, do not make me order you!"
He immediately understood, "Open this gate immediately! Let them in! Someone inform the baron!"
The gate opened and the convoy made it in. Luckily, there was enough room to fit all of them in. Barion and his men, as well as the people, could only stare in awe at what was before them. Truly, people from another world. The commander stepped down and greeted them as well as Gregor.
"Young baron, you have a lot of explaining to do.", Barion said.
"All will be explained soon.", Gregor said.
"Gregor!", shouted a little girl as she ran towards him.
"Elora.", Gregor said as he hugged her, "My little sister. It is good to see you.". Behind her came his mother and father, who at first walked slowly with tears in their eyes, not believing it was him.
"My son.", Herwin said as he hugged Gregor, "By the heavens. You live."
"Mother. Father. I have returned. Let me introduce you to someone. This is Lord Ambassador Eugene Anderson from the land of America on the other side of the rift. He is here to represent his country and the humans."
Herwin immediately walked to him and bowed, "I am Baron Herwin Bachwich. Thank you for sparing my son's life. It is an honor to have you here, Lord Anderson."
"The honor is mine baron.", Eugene said, "I hope we will be able to discuss peace with you and your kingdom."
This confused Herwin, "Peace?"
"I have much to tell you father.", Gregor said, "The prince lives."
Completely frozen, Herwin took a few moments to process that before replying, "He lives?"
"Enemies!", shouted a soldier from the wall. Commander Barion and Logan rushed up the wall. Logan grabbed his binoculars and observed the enemy from a distance. They came from a treeline, their camp was behind it, otherwise, RG-1 would have spotted them.
"I count five hundred.", Logan said, "Various races. Elves, Rosians, ferals."
"How?", Barion asked.
"These are binoculars. They allow me to see things from a distance. Try it."
Logan handed the binoculars to Barion, who observed them for a few moments before putting them on his eyes and facing the enemy. "Incredible."
Barion handed them back but Logan refused, "Keep it, I have a spare. I get the elves, but why are your people attacking you?"
"Those bastards aren't our people. They are traitors and thieves who think the kingdom is done for. So they run to the empire and beg them for forgiveness.". He spat in disgust.
"And the elves. They don't look like the army."
"They most likely were. They call themselves rogues, those who stray from their so-called 'Path of light'. Both of these traitors sicken me."
"Then let us help you."
"Why would you help us?"
"If we're gonna be at peace with one another, we have to establish a certain level of trust, don't we?"
Barion pondered for a bit before answering, "Very well. I am eager to see the army that defeated the elves."
Nodding Logan walked to the edge of the wall and faced his men. "Jones, take your men and mount the machine guns! Davis, bring the ammo! Williams, Harper, get to higher ground and shoot anyone that looks important or a large threat! Wilson, take Green and set up the mortar! Move it, they'll be here in minutes!"
RG-1 immediately went to work. Jones and his men carried the machine guns from the trucks and mounted them on the walls, Williams and Harper climbed up the tallest tower they could find and got into position. Wilson set up the 60mm mortar in the town square.
"I think we should get to safety.", Eugene said.
"You are right.", Herwin said, "Follow me."
Logan got into position with his Mk4 SCAR chambered in 7.62mm. "Commander, I need a favor."
"What is it, captain?", Barion asked.
"If these guys fire arrows, we don't have shields to defend ourselves. You think your men can take of that?"
"Certainly. Get the shields ready! Protect their soldiers!". In moments, each ranger had a Rosian soldier behind him or her with a shield ready. It was time to fight.
The horde moved closer and closer. First, they walked and then picked up the pace as they put shields above their heads. Naturally, the ferals ran towards the wall like rabid animals. "Hold!", Logan said as he gripped his gun, "Wait for them to get closer!". There was one elf on a horse swinging his sword and giving commands. Not for long.
"It's all you kid.", Harper said as he watched Williams aim his shot.
Letting out a breath, Williams pulled the trigger and splattered the elf's brain all over the field. "Boom boom motherfucker."
"Weapons free! Light them up!", Logan shouted as the rangers opened fire on the ferals. The freaks fell by the dozens as bullets pierced their chest, heads, legs, and arms and turned them into cold, dead corpses. The mortar fired at the enemies behind them, who stopped in their tracks, clearly confused and terrified. The rangers aimed their weapons at them and started cutting them down.
"Get some, blueberries!", Davis shouted, "Come closer! I dare ya!"
The few dozen that survived retreated back to the trees. The rangers cheered, but the Rosians didn't cheer as much as they stared in awe. Now they see why the elves lost, these people are powerful.
Commander Barion walked to Logan, "Thank you for the assistance. But I doubt this is the last we have seen of them."
"I know.", Logan said, "That's why I'll have one of my guys scout those trees with a drone along with Lin and Clara.". Logan walked down to the two of them, "Scot! Get over here!"
"Coming!", Scot answered. Scot Green aka 'Mechanic', was the group's engineer. He was also their drone pilot. "Yes sir?"
"I need you to pilot the Fly into those tree lines and scout for the enemy.". The SPFD Fly was a small recon drone invented by DARPA to save both room and energy. Solar-powered and long-lasting battery, coupled with its long-range and small size made it a very useful tool to have in recon missions. "Lin, Carla, you two are also going. I need good eyes and ears over there."
"Sure thing, sir.", Lin said saluting the best she could.
"You two do know how to use a radio, right?"
"Of course we do.", Clara said, "We're not idiots."
"Good. Go.". Lin and Carla ran to the trees as Scott maneuvered the Fly.
The baron and his family, along with Ambassador Eugene walked over to the soldiers. The baron was first to speak, "That was... most impressive. But I must ask. Why peace? Surely you seem powerful enough to take the kingdoms by force."
"Because my people aren't barbarians, baron.", Anderson said, "If peace can be made, then we will do anything to make it a reality."
"I see. And the prince? What does he say about this?"
"You can ask him yourself.", Anderson said as he nodded to Logan who signaled his men to set up a desk and a large screen. "With this device, we can talk to the prince and even see him."
"Amazing.", said Herwin as he eagerly awaited to see his prince. After some preparations, the screen was ready and it turned on. The lights slightly startled the Rosians before the screen was clear and on it was prince Bodin himself. "My... My prince.", Herwin said as he knelt, "It is a miracle. You truly live."
"Baron Bachwich.", Bodin spoke, "Please, rise. I am not before you just yet. This is strange for me as well. Am I correct to assume the human soldiers have arrived?"
"Yes, my prince. They recently just helped us crush an attack from a bandit horde."
"Do you then see why I have chosen to make peace with these people?"
After a momentary pause, Herwin nodded, "I do, my prince. It is incredible to see that a nation so powerful is willing to make peace with its enemy and not subdue it."
"We are not their enemy, baron. The elves and their empire are. This is why they chose to make peace with us. They understand we are just vassals forced to fight. I suggest you hear Lord Anderson out."
As they were talking, Scot called for Logan, "Sir. I have a visual."
Logan nodded, "Alright. Commander Barion, would you like to see the enemy?"
"Yes.", Barion answered, "Show me."
Scot pulled up the video feed on his screen, "This is their camp. I count roughly three thousand. Lin and Carla confirm."
"Where are those two?", Logan asked.
"In the trees."
"Call them back and give me the radio.", Logan took the radio, "Galdush base. Come in Galdush base. This is Captain Logan Connors of Rift Group 1. Do you copy? Over."
After a few moments, the radio spoke, "Copy Rift Group 1. Sitrep. Over."
"Galdush, we have made contact with border town Afa. Upon entry, we engaged a third party, designated rogue elves, and bandit Rosians. Half a battalion attacked us but we drove them off. We confirm the enemy numbers in three thousand, various races. What's the status of our air forces? Over."
"Three air squadrons of Invictus ACs and a Boeing Stratofortress is currently being fueled and should be ready in half an hour."
"Galdush I request a tactical bombing run. The area will be marked via drone. How copy?"
The radio went silent for a few moments before speaking again, "Affirmative RG-1. Stratofortress will be up in the air as soon as possible. Make sure to mark the area. Galdush out."
"Copy that Galdush. RG-1 out."
"What was that?", Barion asked.
"You're gonna get another demonstration."
"Captain!", Carla shouted as she ran towards him. "I have eliminated an enemy scout.", she said as she extended a severed head toward Logan.
Logan smacked his lips before replying, "I see. Get rid of it."
"Yes sir.", Carla said as she tossed the head into a nearby pile of trash.
'At least she's helping', Logan thought.
---
(Two hours later)
The bandits and rogues were sitting in their tents, trying to plan an attack. The otherworlders were an unexpected problem, but hopefully a problem they could be dealt with.
"Alright, listen.", said an elf, "We'll strike at night. It didn't work last time because there were too many of them, but I reckon there can't be more than a few dozen of them."
"That doesn't matter.", said a Rosian, "I've seen what that few can do."
"You attacked with five hundred to scout their defenses. You were never supposed to win. Besides, we can use the tribals to deal with them. As we are attacking the front, they will go to the sides and strike."
"Are you sure this will work?"
"Yes. Soon, Afa will be ours."
At that moment, an elf rushed into the tent, "Sir, you must come and see this!"
They left the tent and came to the center of the tent. The one who called them pointed upwards into the sky. There they saw something flying. A wyvern? No, it was too big. Its wings didn't flap. What could it be? As it flew over them, something fell from it. Many egg-like things started falling and as they fell to the ground, they engulfed the camp in fire and shook the earth. In moments, the whole camp was on fire and everyone was either dead or dying. The ground was turned into a burning pile of scorched bodies.
If there were any doubts about the power of the otherwolders left, they were long gone now.
---
(Meanwhile)
Road to Una
The Belus family along with commander Aego and two hundred soldiers were on their way to Una. Taria did not wish to ride with her father and so she rode on a horse alongside Aego. Their hopes were that they would reach Una in several days and then cross the river.
"My lady.", Aego spoke, "Are you certain you should be riding alongside me and not in the carriage?"
"I do not wish to speak to my father.", Taria said, "At least not now."
"I assumed we cleared this matter."
"We have but... I still need time."
Aego sighed, "I understand. Still, you should not hate him for-", he stopped and halted the soldiers.
"What?"
"Something is not as it should be. This outpost is quiet.". The soldiers tensed up. They could also feel that something wasn't right. In a split second, Aego was shot by an arrow in the side.
"Ambush!", Taria yelled out. Suddenly, elves, welfen, and leanoids ran from the sides and the outpost. The soldiers prepared but found themselves overwhelmed by the enemies' numbers. Rogue elves fired arrows at them while welfen and leanoids exploited weaknesses and struck. Still, the soldiers fought hard, making sure the traitors and savages suffer. The enemy numbers were dropping, but not quickly enough. Taria used her training and cut down several rogues before crouching down to help Aego.
"Aego!", she yelled, "Aego hold on! You will live! Please!". She cried as he struggled to breathe. He grabbed her arm and pushed her to the side, just in time for her to dodge a spear from a leanoid. She watched as Aego spat blood before dying, his life leaving his body. In pure rage, she screamed and struck the leanoid in the side. Pulling out her sword she blocked a strike from a rogue, stepped closer, and headbutted him before slitting his throat.
Turning to her left she saw the rogues and tribals dragging her family. "Father!", she yelled, but couldn't help as a rogue hit her in the back of the head, knocking her down on the ground. Her blurred vision faded away as the rogue smiled down at her.
"Sweet dreams, little girl.", was what he said before she passed out completely.
End of chapter 9
​
---
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The gas giant loomed large in the viewport, ballooning as the ship coasted toward it, the colorful blue hues of its swirling bands reflecting the glow of the system’s star.
Darren could make out the bright, scarred surface of an ice moon drifting lazily past, framed against the rivers of flowing hydrogen and helium. Silhouetted against the Jupiter-mass object was their destination – Halfpoint Station.
Having come from Earth, which was still a backwater when compared to many of the Imperium’s more developed worlds, the sheer size and grandeur of the structure took his breath away.
It was hard to gauge its true scale in the vacuum of space where there was no atmospheric haze, and there were no landmarks for reference, the unfiltered light creating harsh shadows. As they drew nearer, however, he was able to pick out some of the massive fuel tankers that swarmed its ports like clouds of gnats.
Those vessels put anything created by Humanity to shame – their purpose being to dip into the upper atmosphere of the gas giant, harvesting its resources to fuel the ships that made their berth here.
Calling it enormous was an understatement. It must have been nine miles tall, the main hull of the station forming a long, relatively thin vertical shaft. Surrounding that shaft were half a dozen rotating rings, each one connected to the central column by spokes, the pinpoints of innumerable windows glinting as they slowly turned.
At its apex was a dome of immense proportions, sitting proudly atop the structure, the crystalline material that made up its transparent hull glittering in the starlight. Inside, he could make out glimpses of regal skyscrapers and patches of parkland – an entire city encapsulated in a habitat that had a breathtaking view of the planet.
Darren pursed his lips as he looked down at the device on his wrist, the tiny display showing the familiar text of an article he must have read at least a dozen times by this point.
Halfpoint Station was situated on the outskirts of the Imperium’s sphere of influence, a region of space known only as the Periphery. This put it soundly outside of Purp jurisdiction, but the place still saw a lot of traffic, as the station was right in the middle of a relatively well-traveled shipping route between the three big powers.
While it had started its life as little more than a place to fuel up and get resupplied, being located outside any of the major spheres of influence had its benefits, and the station had garnered a bit of a reputation for its more permissive policies. Now, it was said to be populated by hired guns, smugglers, gamblers, and anyone else who might appreciate discretion.
The Human frowned as he looked out the window once more and tried to reconcile the gleaming edifice before him with the dark reputation the article in his hands presented.
He didn’t have long to dwell on it before the pilot’s crackly voice came through a hidden intercom in the cabin, informing the passengers that they were commencing docking procedures.
The woman spoke in accented Shil. What that accent was, Darren had no clue, but he knew it wasn’t the same one spoken by his professors – linguistic or mechanical.
He glanced around at his fellow travelers, seeing a few species that he didn’t recognize, along with the more familiar Shil’vati. The aliens were easily identifiable by the purple hue of their skin, their sharp tusks, and their seven-foot height.
Several of them returned his gaze, some curious, some covetous.
Males were rare in the Imperium.
Hell, males were rare, period.
By the standards of most races out in the galaxy, Humanity were the strange ones for having an equal number of men and women. Even six years into the occupation, most were still struggling to adapt to the new paradigm brought on by that reality.
Darren was no exception.
Still, he managed to ignore the stares, turning his attention to the smart display on his wrist, bringing up his itinerary. He was headed to Hab-Ring Five, and the only information that he’d been given beyond that were some coordinates to who-knew-where.
He sighed, wishing – not for the first time – that he might have a fellow first timer to converse with.
Unfortunately, that was a pipe dream.
The lack of other Humans on his ship wasn’t surprising. The Imperium had only recently relaxed enough to begin authorizing travel visas allowing Humans to leave Earth, and his kind were still a rarity on the Galactic stage.
As to why he was out here out in the ass end of space?
He’d been offered a job.
He was an engineer by trade, at least according to his degree, and he specialized in the combination of alien and Human technology. It might seem like an oddly specific skillset, but it was one that was in high demand, as just about every industry on Earth was trying to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the Imperium’s literal space-age technology.
It was complicated work, but he was quite good at it, if he said so himself – and his professors seemed to agree. His gift had catapulted him through university and had apparently landed him a very lucrative offer to take up a position on Halfpoint.
How they’d heard of him, he wasn’t too sure. Nor did he truthfully know exactly what the job entailed. Apparently, he was to be briefed on-location.
Regardless, off-world work was a rare opportunity for any Human, let alone one fresh out of school, and visiting an alien space station was a lot more interesting than backpacking around Europe for a year.
Whatever happened, it was going to be an adventure.
The ship matched velocity with one of the rotating rings, the structure at least half a mile tall in its own right, covered in tiny windows that made it look like a whole city block had been condensed down into the shape of a donut.
Now that he was a little closer, Darren could see that the station was actually far from pristine. Its hull was pocked with haphazard repairs, the newer sections shining brighter than their older counterparts, its armored panels pitted with little craters from space debris and micro-meteorite impacts.
The ship lined up with a docking port, and an umbilical walkway began to extrude from the ring, reaching out towards them. It looked like the jib of a crane, covered over with a flexible material that bore a suspicious resemblance to a grey tarp.
Surely it wasn’t actually a tarp? No, it had to be some kind of alien supertech – too advanced for him to recognize at a glance.
Right?
His thoughts did little to reassure him as the umbilical connected to the shuttle’s airlock with a tangible thud.
Shaking his head, he retrieved his travel bag, then made his way down the aisle to join the queue of passengers who were waiting to disembark. More of them crammed in behind him, and he tried to ignore their uncomfortable proximity.
He hadn’t actually spent a lot of time around aliens during his schooling. One of his professors had been a Shil, but she had been professional to a fault and had always kept a healthy distance from her students.
Of course, she had still managed to be rather intimidating despite that, her head seeming to scrape the ceiling every time she stepped into the classroom. However, Darren was rapidly discovering that being surrounded by women who stood head and shoulders above him was a different experience altogether.
It was nothing to get worked up over, though. He just needed to-
The Shil standing behind him pressed close – uncomfortably close – Darren swearing that there was room enough in the aisle for her to keep her distance. Suddenly, he felt a sharp twinge in his rear.
Had she just...pinched him? No, it had to have been a mistake.
He turned to glance over his shoulder, looking up at the towering Purp. “Sorry, Ma’am, I must have bumped into you.”
Her sly smile faded as she furrowed her brow in confusion. Before she had time to formulate a reply, the intercom above the exit beeped.
“Oh, looks like we’re moving again!” Darren chimed as he began to follow the queue. “Sorry!”
He followed the procession of towering women into the passenger ship’s airlock. Both of the pressurized doors were open, and before him stretched the umbilical. The worryingly thin material that protected them from the deadly vacuum of space was wrapped taut around a metal frame, and the walkway beneath his feet was made up of a simple grate.
After a short walk, they emerged into a cavernous dock area, so large that it was more like standing in some kind of indoor stadium than anything that could be compared to a space station. There were stacks of shipping containers and unidentifiable machinery everywhere he looked.
It was a challenge not to stop and examine the equipment, each new sight piquing his interest, each strange device begging to be investigated. As he followed the other passengers to the far end of the room – his head on a swivel – he almost bumped into one of the containers. To his surprise, it was floating a foot off the ground, suspended on an anti-gravity cushion.
It was funny – no matter how many times he saw it, it never stopped being surreal to see something just…float.
As he stooped to look beneath it, an irritated dockworker leaned out from behind it to yell at whoever was in her way. She stopped when she saw him, raising a skeptical eyebrow. She was a Rakiri, if Darren remembered correctly. She resembled a towering werewolf, a pair of cat-like eyes peering out from beneath her black fur, her facial features strangely leonine. She was clad in dirty, yellow coveralls that hung loosely from her broad shoulders, exposing the ragged tank top that she wore beneath it. Tufts of her dark coat poked out around the faded garment, giving her a surprisingly fluffy appearance.
“You lost, boy?” she asked as she shooed him out of her path. “Stay behind the yellow warning markings unless you want to get that cute butt smushed,” she added with a nod toward the deck. She continued to push her heavy container, moving it effortlessly on its gravity cushion.
More dock workers were assembling to stare at him, perhaps having never seen a Human before. Or perhaps it was because he was male? It was hard to tell. Either way, a small crowd of yellow-clad women saw him off, a couple of them hooting at him and waving. Not sure if this was some kind of alien greeting, he shyly waved back, eliciting laughter from them after a moment of surprise.
One started to make her way over to him before a menacing growl from her superior made her freeze in place sheepishly. Darren took that as his cue to move on – he didn’t want to get anyone else in trouble by being in the way.
He arrived at a security gate, and after being asked to show his visa, he was subjected to a very thorough – and in his opinion unnecessary – pat-down. Once he was cleared, he emerged into the station proper. He stepped out of the way of the women behind him, then set his travel bag down on the metal deck, taking in the alien sights and sounds for a moment.
Far from being a sterile, clinical environment, he found himself in a bustling bazaar worthy of any city back on Earth. It scarcely felt like he was standing inside a station at all, what passed for the ceiling so high above his head that he could barely make out the crisscrossing support beams and maintenance catwalks.
It was styled like a cramped street, too small for cars, almost like the city center of some old European town had been reimagined in an industrial style. Civilian quarters that resembled apartment blocks rose up towards the ceiling, connecting to it in some places, likely leading up to higher levels of the station.
In every nook and cranny – anywhere there was room – the denizens of the hab-ring had set up little stalls where they were hawking their wares to the tourists who had just boarded. Colorful awnings fluttered in the artificial breeze from the air recyclers, and insulated cables that had been patched from the station’s systems trailed along walls and floors, powering streetside food stands and colorful neon signs.
Speaking of the denizens, they came in all shapes and sizes. Darren had never seen so many varieties of alien in one place before. He could make out a few Shil and Rakiri, but most were unknown to him, the varied hues of their skin and clothes creating a bustling sea of color.
He checked the device on his wrist again, pulling up the coordinates that his new employer had forwarded to him. This was indeed Hab-Ring Five, and he’d been given what passed for an address in this strange environment. Hefting his bag once more, he made his way into the throng, having to dodge and weave between the towering aliens. Many of them barely seemed to register his presence, probably due to his comparatively small stature, though some seemed to stop and stare in confusion.
Well, I suppose Humans are pretty new on the galactic scene, he thought to himself.
The scents of strange, alien food assailed him as he navigated the cramped streets, a few of the criers singling him out. They had sharp instincts, he’d give them that. It seemed the locals could smell a tourist at thirty paces.
Maybe it was all the staring he was doing?
Eventually, he arrived at his destination, glancing up from his display to see a dingy bar. It was open to the street, built into an overhang at the base of one of the many buildings, little more than a long counter with a few stools. Above it was a blinking neon sign in a script that he couldn’t read. As he made his way inside and struggled up onto one of the tall stools, the small handful of patrons who were sitting off to his left paused their conversation to examine him.
They were Nighkru, their goat-like horns and the bruise-purple hue of their skin giving them away. Their silver eyes were striking, almost seeming to glow in the dim light of the bar, as reflective as those of a cat. Their clothing was all tight leather and straps, their skin strategically exposed in places to show off their stunning bioluminescent tattoos, the swirling patterns trailing down slender limbs and across toned midriffs.
He kept his gaze aimed forward, knowing that their kind didn’t think much of the Imperium to which he now belonged.
…Then again, that was true for pretty much every race that wasn’t a part of the massive interstellar empire. Say what you would about the Purps, but they knew how to make an impression.
The bartender walked over to him, leaning on the counter as she looked him up and down skeptically. It was another Rakiri like the dockworkers, her feline nose twitching as she took in his scent.
“You lost, or do you want something to drink?” she asked.
“No thank you, I’m waiting for someone,” he replied sheepishly as he lowered his eyes to his device again.
He was right on time, but as he looked around, there was no sign of his contact. He was supposed to meet them here, right?
The Rakiri shrugged her furry shoulders, then left him to his own devices, moving over to the small group of Nighkru.
Perhaps one of them was his contact?
He certainly hoped not. While he didn’t have anything against a person enjoying themselves with a good drink after hours, it wasn’t a good way to make a positive first impression on a prospective employee.
Fortunately for him, the surprise on one of the trio’s grey skinned faces when she happened to blearily peer in his direction dashed that possibility. Just a trio of young women out for a drink.
Unfortunately for him, after a few hastily whispered words to her friends, the group made their way over to him.
“Don’t see many males round these parts,” one of them said, her faux leather getup creaking as she planted her hands on the bar to his left. Another leaned on the counter to his right, the third posting up behind him.
“A Human, too,” the woman to his right added with a sly chuckle. “Now, what’s a Human doing all alone out on the Periphery?”
“I didn’t think the Purps were letting their pets off the leash.” the one behind him snickered.
“I don’t know,” the first said with an exaggerated shrug. “Maybe he snuck out in search of a real woman? I think we’ve all heard how Humans can be.”
That set the three of them laughing.
All the while, Darren wasn’t sure where to look, turning his head left and right as he struggled to pick a Nighkru. He settled on the woman to his left, having to lift his head to meet her gaze, those reflective eyes shining like a pair of silver coins.
“I...uh...was actually supposed to be meeting someone here.” he stammered, a little of his anxiety bleeding through.
The Nighkru gave him a warm smile that wasn’t reflected in her eyes, leaning a little closer. He tried to pull away reflexively but found another Nighkru waiting for him, something rather soft pressing against his back.
“Well, I don’t see anyone else in here but me and my friends,” one of them said as she tutted dramatically. “Maybe they stood you up?”
“Poor form, that,” the one behind him whispered into his ear. He lurched in his seat, surprised by her proximity. “Leaving a pretty young thing like you hanging.”
The first one nodded, as if that was a piece of sagely wisdom. “I know – how about my friends and I give you a personal tour of the station to make up for it?” she asked, reaching out to brush a piece of errant fluff from his collar. “We’ll even carry your luggage for you – we’re nice like that.”
She signaled to one of her compatriots with a curt nod, who then plucked his travel bag off the deck.
“Oh, that’s really not-”
He tried to stand, but he was cut off as two of the women placed their hands on his shoulders, pushing him back down into his seat. Their touch was gentle, but firm, letting him know that he wasn't going anywhere.
Darren looked to the Rakiri bartender for help, feeling more than a little overwhelmed by the turn of events, but she was staying out of it. She was feigning disinterest, cleaning a glass with a rag that didn’t look clean enough for the job.
It was clear that he wouldn’t be getting any help from her.
Was this really going to be his first experience on the station – kidnapped by a gang of alien grifters?
Just as he was getting ready to – likely ineffectually – start swinging like his life depended on it, he heard a voice ring out in a language he didn’t recognize.
The Nighkru turned their heads as one, and he followed their gaze, seeing another of their kind step in from the street. Her skin had the same twilight hue, her silvery hair pulled back into a long ponytail that trailed behind her as she strode towards them. She wore a jet-black body suit that left little to the imagination, so tight that it might have been sewn onto her, the garment open at the front to expose a chiseled midriff and the beginnings of her cleavage. Her eyes were mesmerizing, his gaze drawn to the glowing tattoos that served to accentuate them.
Oddly, unlike the trio surrounding him, she had no horns.
The stranger walked with purpose, her heels clicking on the deck, her hair swishing behind her as she came to a stop to stare down the three other women. They were already backing off, the Nighkru who had taken his bag setting it back down gingerly beside his seat. Did they know this person? They seemed so wary of her.
“Maybe we’ll see you around,” one of them whispered, her hand lingering on his shoulder for a moment before she followed her friends out into the street.
Once they were finally out of sight, Darren breathed a sigh of relief and turned to thank the newcomer. Before he could utter so much as a word, she beat him to the punch.
“You shouldn’t wander around Halfpoint alone,” she said, skipping the preamble. Her voice had a melodic tone, one that was almost musical to Darren’s ears. She planted her hands on her hips, scrutinizing him with a skeptical expression. “You’re just asking for trouble.”
“I’m just...waiting for someone,” he replied. “Thank you, by the way. I’m-”
“Do you have a weapon on you?” she asked, cutting him off. “A handgun under that jacket? Defense spray? A pocket knife?”
“What? No,” he replied, his brow furrowing. “Why would I have a gun?”
Even with a few inches of titanium-alloy plating between everyone aboard and a messy death by explosive decompression, using a firearm on the station seemed risky.
She snorted derisively, almost as though she couldn’t believe his reply.
“For your sake, I hope that whoever you’re waiting for is smarter than you are,” she said with a roll of her silver eyes. “This isn’t Earth, boy. There are no Shil Marines around to babysit you. Next time you want to play tourist, go somewhere closer to home.”
With a flick of her long hair, she turned about, vanishing into the crowd once more to leave him sitting at the bar in confusion.
Darren felt another hand on his shoulder and turned to see an Edixi wearing grease-stained overalls standing behind him. The tool belt that hung loosely about her hips let him know that she was a mechanic before she’d even had time to open her mouth.
Her kind were evolved for an aquatic environment, and although they were fully amphibious, they retained many of their ancient features. Their bodies were smooth and streamlined, with lean, lightly-muscled frames that made them look like Olympic swimmers. Her eyes were a striking ocean-green, and her azure skin was patterned with faded tiger stripes, darkening as it neared her extremities.
“You’re the new engineer, right?” she chirped excitedly.
“Darren Fogle, pleased to meet you,” he confirmed as he extended a hand. She took it, shaking it eagerly, and he noted that her fingers were webbed.
He was a little surprised by how smooth her skin was. Given the sharklike appearance of the Edixi – and her vocation – he’d expected it to be rough and scaly. Maybe cold and slimy, too. By contrast, it was warm and soft, her small scales smooth like a snake’s rather than sharp like those of a fish.
Odd.
“Oh, it is. It very much is. The boss told me to fetch you,” she said before turning back towards the street. “Don’t get lost, you hear? There are some rough types around these parts.”
Yes, she could say that again. He stooped to pick up his bag, then hurried after her, trying not to lose sight of her in the crowd. He also belatedly realized that she hadn’t told him her own name.
Was that an Edixi thing or was she just in a hurry?
The mechanic led him through the streets, which seemed to be arranged in a kind of grid pattern, always flanked by the towering hab-blocks. It was as challenging as ever to navigate when so many of the station’s inhabitants stood a head taller than him. It made him feel like a bug that was trying to avoid being stepped on.
He could only assume he’d get used to it. His guide seemed to have no problem getting around, and she was a few inches shorter than him.
Their destination was some kind of service elevator – a large platform that seemed designed to carry heavy cargo up from the docks, wide enough that a couple of trucks could have parked on it side by side. There were still a few cargo containers stacked off to one side that hadn’t been unloaded yet.
He watched as the woman hit a touch panel beside the double doors, and they began to slide shut, the platform lurching as Darren felt it start to rise. There was no grinding of machinery, no vibrations, only a sensation of getting heavier. It was obviously gravity-manipulation tech. It wasn’t too surprising – the Shil seemed to use it for just about everything, so it wasn’t too strange that the rest of the universe did as well.
Convergent technological development, he could almost imagine his Shil instructor saying as they started to descend. Good tech is good tech.
The hab-ring’s many levels flashed by one by one, until finally, the elevator slid to a smooth stop. Darren followed the happily humming mechanic out into a garage, his eyes lighting up as he took in his new surroundings.
Were those… mecha?
The bay’s walls were lined with bulky harnesses that were obviously designed to hold the machines in place, a few of the berths already occupied by half-disassembled vehicles.
They were!
“Real life mecha,” he mumbled.
As a mechanic, he wasn’t ignorant of the genre. After all, what kind of engineer didn’t hold a soft spot for giant stompy robots? Of course, as an engineer, he also held an inherent disdain for anyone that actually thought said machines were even remotely practical outside of the realm of fiction.
The Square Cube Law was a harsh mistress.
The long and short of it was that if you doubled a machine's height while keeping it the same shape, you ended up with four times the muscle power moving eight times the mass. As a result, instead of having the same relative agility as the original, the double-sized machine actually had only half.
That was why ants could lift so much relative to their weight. If you scaled one up, you’d end up with a much less impressive power to weight ration.
And, the problem only got worse the bigger you went. Giant robots would be slow, cumbersome, and they would inevitably suffer from exploding ankles if they tried to move too fast. They’d also sink in just about any terrain that was even slightly porous.
All in all, mecha were a cool concept with absolutely zero real world applications.
Which was why he was so stunned to see some in real life. Sure, the Shil military liked to use exos, but they were really just power armor by any other name with thrusters attached. Besides, the only reason those things could skip around like they did was because they had anti-grav generators…
His thoughts trailed off as an idea occurred to him. He jogged over to the nearest machine, peering up at the twenty-foot humanoid monstrosity. Its legs had been detached, leaving only a bulky torso covered in half-stripped sensory equipment, lenses and scanners visible where their protective covers had been removed. The cockpit was open, revealing the pilot’s seat, along with the surrounding neural interface cables that hung loose like the entrails of some mechanical beast. Its weapon attachments were empty, but it was nonetheless an awe-inspiring sight.
Sure enough, there were two oversized humps on the back. One was clearly for the thing’s fusion engine – and the other must have held the anti-grav generator.
“Darren?” the mechanic asked, having only just realized that he wasn’t behind her. “Aren’t you coming?”
“Y-yeah,” he said, jogging for a few paces to catch up. “That’s a mecha!”
The blue-hued alien nodded slowly. “Yes?”
“A mecha,” he reiterated.
Which prompted another slow nod. “You’ve never seen a gladiator mech before?”
“No.”
“Didn’t they tell you what job you’d be doing?” the mechanic asked, cocking her head in a rather adorable manner.
“No?” This time it was his turn to cock his head.
Several emotions seemed to fly across the alien’s face. He saw surprise, confusion, and dismay before she finally settled on irritation.
“Typical,” she grunted. “Just… follow me.”
AN: https://youtu.be/a3Xp1WhRQ9Q

Hello all,
I have been diagnosed with TMJ a while back for my constant teeth grinding, so much so that my dental doctor noticed how my teeth were going through some wear and tear and suggested that I get a nightguard. These teeth grinding issues i've had for a while and sometimes, they'd get so bad that I would also get numerous headaches, too. I wear my nightguard almost nightly.
However, earlier this month, the first week of March to be exact, I was given a small jar of Dubble Bubble gum. This should've been a red flag for me not to do this, but I did it anyway cause I'm silly. I chewed the entire half jar of gum a week straight. Near the end of it, my jaw actually snapped really loud twice in two different instances. After the gum was all gone, about a day or two later, my jaw and face were in extreme amount of pain. A day after that, my hearing suddenly went muffled.
I'm assuming the muscles in my face/jaw became so inflamed that it was pressing against my eustachian tube, which is a given with anyone who has TMJ. However, it's nearly been 2 and a half weeks and now my ear issues have only gotten a bit worse(?). My facial and jaw pain no longer hurt, all seems fine and dandy there.
Now, onto the ear issue. This past week, I've noticed that my right ear (my left ear is also affected, by the right seems to be doing a little more here) seemed to popping in a way that fluid was draining out of it, and sometimes, i'd feel it coming out of my ear. I don't know if that's possible at all, unless I have somehow, gotten a perforated eardrum. Another detail is that with the ear issues I'm having, I have had NO PAIN whatsoever. Everything is just muffled, and I'm willing to bet that my eustachian tubes are either: sticky with mucus because my jaw muscles were pressing them closed for a good while and that caused fluid build up in my middle ear and now I have an infection?
Sometimes, I'll wake up with my right hear a little crusty, like the fluid crystalized or something. It's completely ear-wax colored though, but there are also times that a mucus like substance will come out of my ear too. Again, no pain whatsoever. It's taking a lot in me to not hold my nose and blow gently to "open my eustachian tubes" but I have a feeling I'll just make it worse.
TL;DR
TMJ related issues possibly caused muffled hearing due to a week of over-chewing. Facial and Jaw pain from over-chewing event has gotten better, but my hearing remains muffled with these symptoms:
Left ear:
- Muffled - Eustachian tube feels "cemented" together - Soft popping noises - Itchy (middle ear feels itchy)
Right ear:
- Muffled - Starts popping softly when I lay on my right side - Ear-wax liquid coming out of ear while sleeping and dries as crust(?) in the morning - Mucus-like substance coming out of ear (whitish/yellowish) in small amounts sometimes, not consistently

Slimefoot and Squee's Alliteration Abomination: https://www.moxfield.com/decks/h8j4hpGZOkadKDX6owKRQQ
[[Slimefoot and Squee]] really caught my attention for a number of reasons, it's a mechanically unique Jund saproling and reanimation commander. The characters are two of my favorite guys! I've been toying with the idea of building Jund for a while, but I could never find a commander I was really excited to build. Until Slimefoot and Squee manifested directly out of my dreams, that is.
Upon first viewing the card, I was absolutely enraptured by the alliteration in its name. Immediately I had a gut wrenching idea. The kind of idea that haunts you like a specter until you do something about it.
Slimefoot and Squee, but every card starts with S.
It started as a funny joke of an idea, followed by a quick edhrec scroll with cocked eyebrows. The real nail in the coffin was finding the Scryfall syntax to search for cards with a specific first letter in their name. This deck was being build.
I spent a while just looking at all the cards that start with S, but it turns out there's a fucking lot of Magic cards so I refined the searches to look for "Saproling" "sacrifice" or "graveyard" in the body text, and that helped the process some. I also asked chatGPT for list of Jund cards that start with S that interact with tokens or my graveyard. It was shockingly competent at the task, and upon further testing is very capable at building decks in general. The more parameters you give it the better. Give it ramp/draw/removal thresholds to reach and a land/nonland balance and it just straight up builds a deck for you to use as a jumping off point.
Anyway let me know what you think of the deck! I think it came together quite well despite the restriction. Surely I'm missing some killer S cards for this list, if you can think of anything that fits I would love to hear it. In my play testing the deck needs more ways sac creatures, the board kinda just grows while you think about how cool a sac outlet would be.
I will build a real Slimefoot and Squee deck one day, but I get to get this idea out of my head or I was gonna go crazy.
Thanks for reading!

Slimefoot and Squee's Alliteration Abomination: https://www.moxfield.com/decks/h8j4hpGZOkadKDX6owKRQQ
[[Slimefoot and Squee]] really caught my attention for a number of reasons, it's a mechanically unique Jund saproling and reanimation commander. Those are two of my favorite guys! I've been toying with the idea of building Jund for a while, but I could never find a commander I was really excited to build. Until Slimefoot and Squee manifested directly out of my dreams, that is.
Upon first viewing the card, I was absolutely enraptured by the alliteration in its name. Immediately I had a gut wrenching idea. The kind of idea that haunts you like a specter until you do something about it.
Slimefoot and Squee, but every card starts with S.
It started as a funny joke of an idea, followed by a quick edhrec scroll with cocked eyebrows. The real nail in the coffin was finding the Scryfall syntax to search for cards with a specific first letter in their name. This deck was being build.
I spent a while just looking at all the cards that start with S, but it turns out there's a fucking lot of Magic cards so I refined the searches to look for "Saproling" "sacrifice" or "graveyard" in the body text, and that helped the process some. I also asked chatGPT for list of Jund cards that start with S that interact with tokens or my graveyard. It was shockingly competent at the task, and upon further testing is very capable at building decks in general. The more parameters you give it the better. Give it ramp/draw/removal thresholds to reach and a land/nonland balance and it just straight up builds a deck for you to use as a jumping off point.
Anyway let me know what you think of the deck! I think it came together quite well despite the restriction. Surely I'm missing some killer S cards for this list, if you can think of anything that fits I would love to hear it. In my play testing the deck needs more ways sac creatures, the board kinda just grows while you think about how cool a sac outlet would be.
I will build a real Slimefoot and Squee deck one day, but I get to get this idea out of my head or I was gonna go crazy.
Thanks for reading!

Lothli woke up bright and early this Saturday, as always. Then, with a yawn, she checked her phone: April 1st.
Was there something important happening today? I don’t quite remember…
Her thoughts were quickly swept away by the mundanity of her morning routine. Pulling on clothes, brushing her teeth, doing her hair…
And so, she was entirely caught off guard when she arrived in the kitchen.
Her twin sister cackled like a madwoman, stirring a gigantic cauldron smelling burnt iron, cotton candy, and writer’s tears.
“Maishul, what exactly have you done?” Lothli sighed, ambling over to the bubbling cauldron.
“This? Oh, just a little April Fool’s prank!” the other twin giggled before pulling out a miniature figurine of a strange humanoid insect. With a snap of her fingers, the statuette grew to full size, glancing around warily.
“Oh goodness! What’s going on here?” the moth woman exclaimed, seeming more confused than frightened. “What kind of insect are you? I’ve never seen anyone with just four limbs like you two!”
Lothli turned to Maishul, a frown on her face. “Is this Minerva? Did you STEAL her? We’re going to get banned, you know.”
The other twin continued cackling, heedless of Lothli’s wrath. “No, no, I got permission! Look!”
Indeed, the paper Maishul pulled out did have the signatures of one, two… how many authors?!
“Maishul, what the heck have you done?” Lothli huffed. “This is— how do we—”
“Excuse me, but I believe I may be lost?” Minerva asked, her wings fluttering nervously. “While I would love to ask the two of you some questions, I need to return to my lab, if you could point me in the right direction?”
“Oh, I apologize, Dr. Minerva. You’re currently experiencing a dream. Please do forget about this,” Lothli sighed before snapping her fingers and reverting the insectoid woman to her figurine form.
“How exactly are we going to explain this to Polaris?” Lothli deadpanned with her gaze on her happy-go-lucky sibling.
“Oh, I have a good ‘ol industrial barrel of Remove-Yo-Memory. I’m sure it’ll turn out fine!” Maishul grinned back. “Look, look! Let me show you what wonderful scenes I’ve cooked up for everyone!”
Scene One: Art’s Very Bad, No Good Day
I was not having a good day. First, I was thrown into yet another random plane of existence. Dimension hopping was something I wanted to experience no more than one time in my life; thank you very much. And yet, here I was. In yet another random plane of existence with absolutely no say.
“Iklem.”
Second all, I found myself surrounded by these strange creatures. Four legs, shimmering black pelt, bizarre snake-like neck, flat head, creepy singular eye, and that weirdly human voice. Definitely not a fan.
“Iklem.”
The three Iklems crept—
Ahem. The plural of Iklem is Iklemli, Art.
And thirdly, that obnoxious voice ringing out in my head. Who was that? Why were they in my head? And why could they read my thoughts?
Fine. The three Iklemli crept closer and closer, predatory intent clear. I backed away slowly before my phone suddenly burst out with the cheery tune of Weird Al singing, “Just eat it (eat it), eat it (eat it)...”
“I’m in the mother of all situations here, Demoness, and you choose a freaking parody song? Can you at least tell me what the hell is happening here?” I snarled into my phone’s mic, watching the approaching monsters closely.
“M’dear, I hate to say it, but I have no clue what’s happening.” The slight strain in the Demoness’s usually sultry voice gave me pause. That Demoness? Confused? I really was in some deep shit, wasn’t I?
“Could you at least tell me what an Iklem is?” I said, imitating those creatures as best I could.
“My love, how do I explain this? As best as I could tell, at least five foreign dimensions have been forced together into one singular mess. And whoever did it had no grace or finesse at all.”
Tell the Demoness that she has no grace or finesse, either! Hmph!
Rolling my eyes, I communicated the feelings of my new head neighbor to the Demoness.
“Well, dear, tell your new friend that they should consider undoing this fiasco,” the Demoness replied with a sigh. “Whatever the case is, those Iklemli you mentioned are from one of those other dimensions. I can’t tell you a thing about them.”
With that good news, I turned back to the advancing beasts. This was going to be a fun one…
“Maishul, you can’t just break the fourth wall and shove your thoughts into the scene,” Lothli huffed, shaking her head.
“Pfffft!” Maishul blew a raspberry before turning back to her abomination of a cauldron.
“Also, you can’t just swap to first-person narration. We’re in third-person narration.”
“Well, Matt writes in first-person. And I respect our fellow author’s intent; thank you very much!”
Lothli raised an eyebrow in response before pointing to the bubbling cauldron of doom. “You call THAT respecting our fellow authors’ intents?”
“They gave permission!” Maishul pouted before turning back to her inglorious creation. “And you won’t complain once you see my next glorious scene!”
Scene Two: Sloth Squared
Pride’s scowl only grew deeper as he dragged his erstwhile companion along. The swampland around them had warped into a blooming forest, with trees looming large overhead. The various fully intact buildings were most concerning, indicating that the pair had passed into a rift.
“Sloth, GET UP!” he hissed, shaking the lazy layabout.
“Huh? Wuzzit? I’m sleepin…” Sloth snored, already back asleep.
“We’ve got a MAJOR problem here. Pretty sure a rift opened around us, so stay on guard!”
Sloth blearily stumbled to his feet before glancing wide-eyed at his surroundings.
“Holy cow, you’re right! I didn’t even notice. But, man, Pride, I’m so tired… I…” Sloth stumbled a bit further before faceplanting directly into a bed of flowers.
“Dammit, Sloth. This is ridiculous, even for your standards.” Pride leaned down to pick Sloth back up, but something strange was afoot. As soon as he leaned down, an overwhelming surge of exhaustion passed through him as well, and he collapsed on top of his companion.
“Dude, you’re sleeping right on top of a good patch. Can you two move?” A voice lazily drifted into Pride’s mind before he rocketed up ramrod straight.
“Hwa— what!? Oh. A rifter.” Pride composed himself as he stared down at the man who awoke him. About five foot six, with short white hair and red eyes.
“Uh, I’m not a rifter or whatever you just called me. I’m Clear, prince of Sloth. And you?” Clear tilted his head.
“Prince… of me? Ehehe, there’s no prince of me…” Sloth murmured in his sleep.
“Typical rifter, spewing nonsense. Come on, you lazy bum. We’re gonna hide before this gets violent.” Pride turned to drag Sloth away but found his legs unwilling to move.
“Hey, man. C’mon now. You haven’t noticed you’re in a dream yet?” Clear said, his hand extended. “Let’s just talk, alright?”
Pride struggled for a few more moments, then back at Clear. “Alright, alright, never seen a rifter do that before. Calm down, yeah? I’ll chat until this rift collapses.”
“So please, introduce yourself properly this time,” Clear responded, freeing Pride with a flick of his hand.
“Right. I’m Pride, that’s Sloth.” Pride pointed at himself, then at his companion. “Can we go?” “No. Please explain what you are doing here and those wings on your back.” Clear yawned. “Also, don’t use our nation’s name as a moniker. It’s probably disrespectful… or something. Eh, we don’t actually care that much.”
“Huh? We’re here because your stupid rift pulled us in,” Pride hissed. “And these wings? We were born with ’em. No story here. Also, pretty sure we were the ones who had those names first.”
“Eh, the kingdom of Pride wouldn’t be very happy to hear about that,” Clear responded. “But whatever, man. Things have been rather chill ever since a random blob named Sparky fell on top of the Demon King and ate him or whatever. So enjoy the nap, I guess. Mind if I join in?”
Pride rolled his eyes before scooting over to allow Clear access to the flowers. Before long, Sloth and Clear were snuggled up together, much to the chagrin of Pride.
“What the hell am I supposed to do now?”
“Aren’t they just the cutest?!” Maishul exclaimed. “We should make that our newest OTP. I bet Haru would approve.”
“Please don’t ship characters across two different SerSuns,” Lothli replied with a shake of her head. “Also what was that about Sparky eating the Demon King—”
“OKAYNEXTSCENE!!”
Scene Three: Machines, Demons, and The World Tree
There was a rather strange rash of oddly dressed folk in Lugavya lately. Or rather, just odd folk in general.
Rumors flew of a human with bird wings who passed over the town, carried through hurried whispers between the residents. A strange man with fierce red eyes insisting on making ‘deals,’ much to the annoyance of passersby trying to get through their day.
Lena and Veska had met to investigate, unable to keep themselves still while such strange events abounded. No sooner had the two exchanged greetings did two strange men approach, flagrantly discarding any sensibilities on their right to free speech.
“Hello!” the younger one called out before getting his head gently bonked by the older.
“W-what was it? Oh! The greeting we use should have been ‘well met,’ right?” the teenage boy puzzled himself, rubbing his head.
“No. Firstly, as foreign visitors, we do not use that greeting. Secondly, we do not greet them. They greet us,” the older whispered, turning his eyes to Lena and Veska. It seemed at least one of them remembered their manners.
“Peace, strangers. We will not begrudge you for your transgressions. Tell me, what business have you with us?” Lena began.
“We are looking for directions. We have lost our way. Please, would you tell us our current location? Latitude and longitude are preferred, but any notable landmarks will do.” The older man bowed slightly, with the younger following shortly after.
Latitude? Longitude? These words were unfamiliar to Lena and Veska.
“This is Lugavya. Home to Alvedos, the World Tree?” Veska explained, an eyebrow raised. Were these folks raised under a rock or something?
The two men conversed among themselves, their frowns deepening.
“Apologies, but I am unaware of Lugavya. Could you perhaps point us in the direction of the United States?” the older asked, tilting his head slightly.
“Oh, and if you know of any demons, could you put in a word for me? I can’t figure out the ritual to get home without one of them…” the younger added.
The United States? Demons? More unfamiliar terms. Lena and Veska knew these newcomers were oddballs, but this was a bit much.
“I’m sorry—really! But we simply don’t have the knowledge to help the two of you. Perhaps you could head to the Foresters? I’ll give you their location.” Lena rattled off directions to the nearby Foresters’ hall.
“Thank you very much.” The older man stalked off after a stiff bow, and the younger man quickly followed.
“Sticks and stones, what is the world coming to?”
“Was that Megan’s SerSun? All that intricately balanced worldbuilding, and you just shoved random crap in.” Lothli barely held back a sigh. “Also, you didn’t even introduce those two characters. How are our readers supposed to know who they are?”
“This is left as an exercise to the reader,” Maishul tittered into the camera before returning to the glorious mess in her cauldron.
“Next scene!”
Scene Four: The One With No Chill
There wasn’t much that could faze a Huntress.
It was often said that their wills were unshakable. Nothing could cause them to stop them from single-mindedly accomplishing their goal. And yet, Olivia stood dead in her tracks, staring at the abomination across the Dam square.
“I AM OLIVIA. DARK HUNTRESS. SMASHER OF SQUEAKERS. AND THE ONE WITH NO CHILL,” the awful creature that vaguely resembled Olivia boomed.
“That young lass a friend of yours?” Barlow remarked, barely holding back a chuckle.
“Nope.” Olivia chucked one of her daggers at the offending sight, but she deflected the blade with a ripple of its musculature.
“You are weak. You have no strength. Witness me, false Olivia.” The muscle monster took up a ridiculous pose, her muscles overtly flexing.
“I will destroy you. And after that, I will destroy your creator. And I’ll salt your entire bloodline, while I’m at it,” Olivia snarled.
“I would like to see you try, false Olivia. Last time, I was overcome by the power of the Deus Ex Machina. But this time, I will not be struck down.” The monster took a step forward, the cobblestones cracking under her feet.
Olivia flinched. A Huntress does not feel fear. A Huntress does not back down. Yet… in the face of this horrible being… Her mind recalled the near-death experience she had with the Beast. Did she really want to face that again?
She shook her head, clearing it. No. She would finish this. Olivia raced at the mocking facsimile of herself, her onyx daggers at the ready. As she drew closer, she summoned every ounce of strength and struck.
As Olivia flew through the air, the world seemed to slow down.
Ah… this feels… familiar…
“‘Admittedly, Huntress, you are quite the entertainer—”
“No!” Lothli slapped the figurines out of Maishul’s hands, sinking them into the dreadful mire of the cauldron below. “You can’t reuse that line for the third time!”
“But you used it, Lothli. That’s hypocritical!” Maishul harrumphed.
“Yes, because it was the first time we used it. You can’t just reuse jokes like that!” Lothli glared. “And don’t think I forgot about that comment Clear made about Sparky. What. Exactly. Did you do?”
“Uhm, uhh…” Maishul stuttered. “W-Well, I maybe kinda spilled some my Story-Breaking-Plot-Devices into the cauldron on accident…”
“Your WHATS?!” Lothli stared at her twin in disbelief.
“Uhh, it wasn’t a big deal or anything. Just, uh... Scarlet, the Demon King, Sparky, Wan, Pre-Geas Dread Lord Ardus, the plague from , the Deus Ex Machina, the Beast, and the entirety of the United States’ arsenal of nuclear weaponry.”
Lothli shook her head with a sigh. “I’m pretty sure you caused mass human extinction at least three times over.”
“Well! No time to worry about it! Next scene!”
Scene Five: Bea and Ophelia Discover The Wonders of Nuclear Physics
Bea and Ophelia stared at the booklet that had just materialized before them. “Maishul’s Simple Guide to Stealing and Utilizing the Entirety of the United States’ Arsenal of Nuclear Weaponry: For Dummies!” The booklet was decorated with garish stickers of rainbows and glitter, along with cartoonish mushroom clouds.
With a glance at Ophelia, Bea picked up the book. Immediately, her mind was flooded with images and knowledge. Where exactly every nuclear silo in the United States was located. The launch codes and how to bypass the two-key rule. The birth and loving families of each and every nuclear warhead…?
“Bea? Dear? Are you alright?” Ophelia shook Bea gently, concerned. Bea wordlessly handed over the booklet and watched the same information flow through her. The two shared a meaningful glance before turning the manual over. A bright red button sat there, glowing ominously amongst the childish stickers and drawings of shocked faces.
“This is absolutely too dangerous to be left just lying around,” Bea murmured, staring at the booklet intently. Maybe it was a prank some lesser fae put together to induce some concerning but ultimately harmless illusions. But deep down, the two knew this was far more sinister than a simple prank. Plus, there was no fae named “Maishul” that either of them knew of.
“I’m going to have to seal this thing away with the strongest magic I have,” Ophelia declared. With a wave of her hand, ethereal chains weaved around the book. Magical seals whirled through the air, all concentrated on the offending manual. The horrors of nuclear annihilation have been contained with a final clap of her hands.
For around five seconds. Immediately after the ritual was complete, as if to spite Ophelia’s work, a glowing sword descended from the heavens, slicing through the glowing chains and seals like butter. The two barely managed to glimpse the name written on the side: “The Deus Ex Machina,” before the blade landed squarely on the big red button with a satisfying click!
“Shit.”
“So what exactly were you saying about ‘not worrying about it’?” Lothli shook her head in dismay. “How are we going to explain this mess to their poor, poor writers? What are we going to say to Bay?”
“It’ll be fine! I’m not breaking any of the rules on shortstories, which means I totally can’t be banned!” Maishul quipped cheerily.
“That is 100% not how it works.” Lothli crossed her arms. “Don’t drag me down with you.”
“I dunno! You’ll bail me out, right?” Maishul shrugged before returning to her appalling project. “Next scene!”
Scene Six: Sanguia Loses a Fight
These were the end times. The world felt… sideways. The government was in shambles. A plague that turned people into fine, yellow dust had apparently appeared, sweeping the continent from east to west. Yet, there was nothing I could do. Right in front of me, I had my own foes to contend with on the roof of Holos Lucidium.
On my right was a shapeless mass, writhing and transforming, throwing vicious barbs my way. It never introduced itself, but I knew its name from within myself: the Beast.
On my left was a much more innocent figure, at least on the surface. He had slicked-back black hair, brown eyes simmering with self-assured pride, and an easy smirk. And to cap it off, he introduced himself promptly and with great gusto; he was Dread Lord Ardus.
I could attempt to flee, but what purpose would that serve? Even if I got away, which my gut told me was highly unlikely, I would be abandoning my guild to die to these two monsters. So no. I stood my ground here.
“Sanguia. Member of Holos Lucidium.” I balanced my stance between my two flanks, watching both. With a smirk from Ardus and a ripple from the Beast, the fight began.
I quickly discarded the idea of even fighting the rippling mass on my right. It had no blood I could control, and impacting it with my blade would make me stuck. But the Dread Lord was no slouch, either.
As I rushed at Ardus, a tingle in my spine screamed at me to duck. I tucked into a combat roll as a great blast of flame roared right where I used to be.
“Fiesty, aren’t you? Well, that’s what makes it fun,” the Dread Lord growled, licking his lips.
I had no time to respond as a raging, shimmering bull attempted to ram its gleaming horns directly through me. I sprung off the ground, landing just behind the writhing bull. There was no time to go on the offensive; it took all I could to stay alive.
“Stop struggling, Interloper,” the Beast snarled. “I have plans I have to attend to. Plans that do not involve you.”
I kept the undulating mass between myself and my second opponent. My only hope was to promote crossfire. The dagger I held in my right hand felt woefully inadequate for this task.
“You heard the fella. I’ll end this, here and now.” Ardus thrust his hand straight up into the air as if grasping something far above him.
“Dread Lord. May I take this as a sign of betrayal?” The Beast rumbled, a dangerous edge to its voice.
“Nah, I never said I was working with you. You’re too… icky for my tastes.” The Dread Lord tapped his chin thoughtfully. “It’s a good thing you’ll be obliterated in an instant. Ta ta!”
I looked up with a heavy heart, knowing how outclassed I was. There was barely time to say goodbye before a massive ball of light enveloped me in its all-consuming shine. The last thing I managed to think was:
That was an utterly unfair fight.
“Well, the protagonist of our SerSun just died. What now?” Lothli looked at the cauldron in dismay.
“Hey, it’s not so bad! Scarlet is still alive, right?” Maishul dug around in the cauldron before pulling out yet another distended scene. “Look! Here she is!”
“What… is that?” Lothli looked at the scene with equal parts awe and disgust.
“Oh! Well, I really liked Fye’s SerSun, so I made my own! Isn’t it great?”
“Maishul, I think you missed the entire point of his SerSun. Where’s the inter-character drama? Where’s the mystery? Where’s the actual HISTORY?” Lothli poked the off-kilter scene with distaste. “This version of the story is just <Murder.>.”
“Well too bad, dear ‘ol sis! Here! We! Go!”
Scene Seven: Murder Without the History
Hi, I’m Benedict Lushon, Ben for short. Somehow, I think I just unlocked the secret to teleportation. I stand in the middle of the mansion’s dining room, feeling my stomach turn violently. One moment, I was chained in front of a cackling Kyle, and the next thing I know, we’re back in this blasted room. I crane my head, checking who else is here.
Teddy, check. His monocle and top hat are still crooked as he looks around the room, just as confused as I.
Cornell, check. Unfortunately, he still seems to be out cold.
Kyle, check. Wait—
I stride up to Kyle and grab onto his lapels. “What exactly have you done?” I say, shaking him back and forth.
Unfortunately, he seems even more confused by the current events than I am, judging by the bulging eyes and frothing at the mouth.
“W-What exactly happened here!? We were just— and then—” my former coworker manages to sputter out before a booming feminine voice rings out from the walls.
“Heya! What’s up, characters! It’s me, ya girl Maishul, back at it again with another fun murdery twist!” The cheery voice that booms out from the walls contrasts with all the horrors we’ve seen thus far. Also, who talks like this? Did we get kidnapped by one of those Instagram influencers? Ugh, I hate those kinds of people.
“Who are you?! What have you done?!” Kyle screams, his voice cracking. “I have waited YEARS to take my revenge on these fools, and you—”
“Oh. You.” The voice seems displeased at the interruption. “Sorry, I didn’t think your Tuffy plotline was interesting, so I retconned it!”
Now, that was the mark of a bad writer. As a future multi-bestselling author, I know that one of the most sinful things a writer can do is randomly retcon the story. I’m confident this random influencer girl will never go anywhere in her writing career.
“YOU! We were known as the Tufforo family, and we—” Kyle rages before being cut off by the voice again.
“Sorry, don’t care.” A piece of duct tape manifests itself directly onto Kyle’s mouth. I would find it funny if it didn’t demonstrate how supernatural this influencer’s power seems.
“Anyways! Here’s the rules. I’m not really good at that being cryptic thing, so it’ll be easy!” the voice announces with glee. “Here’s my super special sparkly OC, do not steal, known as Scarlet, Scourge of the Americas. She’ll try and chase you down! She wins when you’re all dead. You all win when, I don’t know, she dies of old age or something. You can try to kill her; it won’t work!”
‘Super special sparkly OC, do not steal?’ So, what, did I find myself in some hellish parody of Earth? That must be it. This must all be a very terrible dream. I sincerely hope that none of my readers would ever consider making fanfiction like this of my stories.
“By jove, those rules seem downright unfair!” Teddy finally seems to have found his voice. “Please, good madam, could you let us go? We have already suffered at the hands of that accursed man—”
“Lalala, can’t hear you!” the girl’s voice sang out. “Here she comes! Give it up for… Scarlet!”
A hidden panel drops a… rather regular-looking young woman onto the floor. Why, if I were in charge, I would have ensured that my villain would have a spectacular appearance. Someone as fascinating and spellbinding as Jack the Ripper—
Scarlet dashes at Kyle and [REDACTED]
… … Technical Difficulties
“MAISHUL! What the hell was that?! Is that how you talk when I’m not around? And what the hell was that last section?” Lothli furiously slapped the tortured scene back into the accursed project bubbling menacingly below.
“Well, Scarlet’s kinda messy, so I tried to cover it up,” Maishul pouted. “Also, I was just trying to liven up the scene a bit! Kyle’s so BORING. He speaks in RIDDLES and they make my brain HURT.”
“That’s because you don’t have a single brain cell in that head of yours,” Lothli huffed. “Don’t make such sweeping changes to people’s stories!”
“Well… dear sis, could I trouble you for a favor, since I’m so head empty ‘n all?” Maishul smiled her widest, most brilliant smile.
“What.” The other twin glared back, unimpressed.
“Well, if you don’t want the two of us to get banned, can you help me separate these stories back out? Please?” With a fluttering of her eyelashes and a winsome wink, this would undoubtedly win her sister to her side—
“Deal with it yourself. I’m going to hand out apologies.” Lothli had no sympathy for her twin’s plight.
“Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!” Maishul cried. For now, she was burdened with her least favorite task; actual work.
And thus, this tale comes to a close. Nevertheless, its name will ring true throughout the land as the legendary fable known only as “In the Shadow of Machines, Scarlet, and the In Between Geas and the Beginning of the Demon Murder History: Dissonance, also How Did We Get Here?”
Thank you very much for your time. And apologies for my sister.
Lothli, signing off.
Credits: Maishul, Lothli, FTF!Olivia, and the Deus Ex Machina, from u/Lothli’s FTF Serial, Minerva and the plague, from u/PolarisStorm’s Art, Demoness Virtua, Sparky, and Dread Lord Ardus from u/mattswritingaccount’s Iklemli, Lena, and Veska from u/MeganBessel’s Pride and Sloth from u/Helicopterdrifter’s Clear and Alex from u/Carrieka23’s Talix, Sanguia, and Scarlet from u/Lothli’s Olivia, Barlow, and the Beast from u/Not_theScrumPolice’s Wan, Bea, and Ophelia from u/ZachtheLitchKing’s Ben, Theodore, Cornell, and Kyle from u/FyeNite’s The Entirety of the United States Arsenal of Nuclear Weaponry from the United States.
Special thanks to u/OldBayJ, which this fantastic feature would be impossible without.

It was so terribly cold. Snow was falling, and it was almost dark, when out of the blue, my wife called me at work. "We're going to Niagara Falls for the weekend. I got us an awesome deal!"
We had both been working at our first "full-fledged" jobs for a year and had reached that moment after graduation when you suddenly realize you can't make that impact on the world your student enthusiasm once promised. At first, I just sighed. It was the dead of January, and I had already expended all my energy on a week of inconsequential stress. I just wanted to collapse on the couch for two days. Sarah felt a similar weary exhaustion. I could tell. Her tone was more hopeful than excited, but she had dreaded the routine we were sinking into and was trying her best to pull us free.
I looked to the ceiling and adjusted my telephone headset. At that time I was working at Stats Canada on the tele-query desk. I took a deep breath and, as convincingly as possible, said, "Sounds good." I don't think she bought it, but we went nonetheless.
This was Niagara Falls before the casinos when there was a very distinct off-season. When we got to the hotel, we were given the details of our "lovers' special". One dinner to be used either Friday or Saturday, two breakfasts, a roll of tokens for the arcade, 10% off some "4D" movie ride experience, and a 2-for-1 coupon to Max Tussaud's. I guessed it was Madame's nephew? We also got a bottle of sparkling wine in our room and chocolate treats on our pillows. I was impressed. It sounded good.
When we got into our room and saw the "bottle" of wine - basically an aeroplane-sized glass and half - and the chocolates - "fun wrapped" Oh Henry's left over from Halloween - we both started to laugh. The tone for two wonderful days had been set. We decided to cash in on our dinner coupon right away.
The restaurant off the lobby had hopes of being better. There were huge panoramic windows that promised a view of the gorge. Unfortunately, they had some winter moisture problems that day, and it felt like we were defrosting amid the dripping streaks and foggy patches. The decor was your standard booths and tables though the "romantic" lighting was unique. Dollar store battery-powered tea lights were lodged inside thick tumbler glasses and shed a muted pleasantness in a "what a great idea for a craft" sort of way. I had a feeling they were created by our waitress since she was the one who always seemed to be fussing with them. Only one other couple was in the dining room, so she attended to us immediately.
"Can I get you something to start?"
"Sure." "Thank you, that would be nice." We both responded simultaneously.
"And what would the lady like this evening?"
Sarah smiled at the flattery. "I think I'll have a glass of white wine." She glanced over at me to see my reaction. This was a subtle cue of the mood to follow. Diet Coke was usually the beverage of choice. She didn't normally drink alcohol. One glass numbed her nose and made her giggle far too easily. When she did drink, however, it meant she was comfortable with my company and open to anything to follow. I raised my eyebrows in a debonair way.
"And for the gentleman?"
"Do you have Foster's on tap?"
"Yes we do."
"I'll have a pint please."
Sarah smiled at the happy memories I invoked. At university, Foster's was my signature beer. It was at a time when Crocodile Dundee was a known name, and Australia was inexplicably cool. 15 cent buffalo wings and a pitcher of Foster's was the Tuesday night special at the London Arms pub. There the Classics Club would meet and, as a group, circle the wagons and drink ourselves into extroverts.
As soon as the waitress left, Sarah smiled at me. She reached out and held my hand across the table. With my gaze on hers, she slipped her foot from her shoe and slowly began sliding it up my pant leg.
"I got a pedicure this morning." She announced seductively.
I nodded and pretended I didn't notice her invitation. "What colour?" I asked.
"I'm not telling." She teased. "You'll just have to find out later." Her devious little smile was gorgeous.
"Mmmm. I can't wait."
When the waitress returned with our drinks, we immediately retreated to our personal spaces as if we had been discovered by the chaperone. Sarah opened the menu and began to salivate at the variety.
"Can we add an appetizer to the package dinner?" Her question seemed innocent enough.
"You're on the package?" Our friendly waitress disappeared, and we were no longer a lady or a gentleman. She ripped the menu out of Sarah's hand and took mine before I had even opened it. She then scurried to her podium and brought back a tattered, grease-stained, photocopied page that we had to share. We both burst out laughing.
The waitress was flustered that we were not as bothered as she was. "The drinks are NOT included!"
"What choices do we have?" I asked, expecting the usual chicken or fish. I had been on many packages before with my parents.
"Coffee or tea." The waitress snapped.
Sarah and I looked at each other in amused disbelief.
"I'll have coffee please." I didn't even flinch at the ridiculously limited package. I was eager to get my order in early.
"And I'll have the tea!" Sarah followed my lead. "Can I have some milk with that?"
"Yes." The waitress snarled.
"Fantastic!" I enthused.
"Yes, great! I'm glad we got the package, Honey." Sarah joked.
The waitress stormed off and returned sometime later with our lettuce-only salads drowned in Kraft's Italian dressing and our chewy chicken dinners, which she had thoughtfully allowed to cool. She tossed the plates on the table and left us to peacefully devour our deal. We didn't see her again until we requested the bill. For some reason, we found it amusing to leave a generous tip, which of course, defeated the purpose of the package, but we didn't care. It was fun.
The rest of the holiday was marred with similar off-season products and services. The wax museum was only half open, so we couldn't see the pop stars of the seventies. I didn't think it was a problem, but Sarah pouted playfully. She really wanted to see young Bowie. Meanwhile, the arcade was particularly stingy about spitting out coupons. So much so that Mike, the scraggly-haired repair guy, ended up escorting us from game to game and repairing the devices on demand. In no time, he was acting like an old drinking buddy. He joked and laughed, then, out of the blue, revealed that working at the Niagara Falls Fun Centre wasn't his career choice, that his dream was to be part of a travelling carnival. He desperately wanted to see more of the world, he explained and socialize with a greater variety of "wildlife." Mike winked at Sarah to punctuate his meaning, then began advising her on which games to play.
Sarah was partial to Skee ball and clearly had career potential in the sport, but Mike quickly pointed out that the token-to-coupon payout was not the best. In a furtive whisper, he revealed that The Storm Stopper was your best bet, provided the arcade had left it on its original factory settings. He assured us the ones here were "cool." The game had lights that ran around the outside in opposite directions and you had to hit the button at just the right spot to win. It looked impossible, but Mike was right; if you calculated tokens in versus coupons won, it was the best deal. It only took a little practice to win a minor jackpot every 5 or 6 times.
We would cheer each win as if Toronto had won the Stanley Cup. I would give a quick fist pump and a full lung "Yes!" while Sarah would jump up and down screaming, "WhoooHooo!" Of course, in the end, when we cashed in, "Mike's secret" only bumped us up from a key-chain flashlight to a "deluxe" nail beauty set. Mind you, it did come complete with clippers, scissors, a file AND a cuticle scraper. Not only that, it was all neatly packaged in a paisley-patterned pink and green plastic vinyl case. Mike was so pleased to give us our prize and to be honest, we were thrilled to win it if only to see his broad chicletted smile. It was more of a trophy than a grooming set.
That night, I made reservations for us at a fancy Chinese food restaurant - the Bamboo Garden. When we arrived, we had half-expected renovations of some sort. Instead, the place was immaculate. Gentle pools teeming with goldfish highlighted the epic black and red Ming dynasty decor. Real candles flickered on crisp white tablecloths. Again, the restaurant was virtually ours. The reservations on my part were entirely unnecessary. In fact, as soon as we entered, they knew us by name and guided us directly to our table. A live lounge piano caressed the air, its notes danced vaguely around familiar harmonies until finally, as if prompted by our presence, a song emerged immediately accompanied by the velvet voice of oriental karaoke. It was our song remastered

I would love the get my hair dyed and eyebrows bleached! I searched the sub, but the only thing that came up was a question about waxing. Does anyone have recs for a salon that offers both services? Thanks in advance!

Consciousness returned slowly, the drugs leaving Lorcan’s system, to find he was moving slowly down, the walls around him made of metal. An elevator. He breathed in deeply. There were those who spoke of it, the Sarcophagus, but no one knew the truth. It seemed as though anyone who walked in never returned. None were missed. He wouldn’t be either, the choices he made no longer making him seem human to most others, the end of his life something they wouldn’t be saddened by.
Not even his mother would cry. Lorcan stared at the door. Escaping the elevator was an impossibility, but there may be other chances. Whatever the others said might be nothing more than stories, to spread fear into those who were chosen, the way he’d been. It was his time to be useful. At least that was what they said, so it was likely he’d be given some kind of job to do.
Finally, his consciousness fully his once more, the elevator reached the right stop, and the door opened automatically. Outside were guards. Each held a firearm, pointed directly at Lorcan, something he’d become used to. Stepping out, knowing it was what he was supposed to do, he looked at each of them in turn, before the sound of footsteps started to come from in front of him. At the same time, the elevator started to move back up.
Glancing back, no sign of an easy route to follow the elevator, Lorcan waited, the footsteps likely belonging to the person who’d explain it all to him. When they stepped into the light, a young woman who looked as though she was barely out of college, he raised an eyebrow. She didn’t seem to pay any attention to his reaction.
“Lorcan O’Connell?” Who else was it going to be? Nodding, not wanting to anger her on the first day, he studied her. “You have been brought to the Sarcophagus to assist us in our research.” She gestured for him to follow her, as though he had any other choice, the guards gently urging him in that direction. “This facility is somewhere you will not be able to escape. Your escapades are well known to us, Mr. O’Connell.”
Saying nothing, certain he wasn’t meant to, Lorcan kept his eyes on where they were going. The guards were watching him closely, but if he was there to assist with some kind of research it was likely he’d be dealing with scientists. All it took was for one of them to make a mistake.
“You, of course, don’t believe me, but you may when I explain more about the work you are to be doing.” She glanced back. “There have been those who thought they may be able to use me as their route out. It didn’t work out for them, and it won’t work out for you.” There was a certainty in her voice Lorcan had never heard before. “Whatever you may imagine I was chosen for a reason. Yes, I am young. However, my father has been working on learning more for many years now, and he is no longer able to deal with the depth.
“We are deep under the sea.” He stared at her back. “This is the deepest I believe any humans have ever been. During one of my father’s journeys down here, he found something. Sadly, due to a lack of understanding of what it was, both his companions died, and it was then he started to understand there was so much more to it than he could have imagined.
“Now, after many years of studying, we understand better. At some point in our distant past someone, or something, built something down here. Father believes it may be some kind of temple, connected to an old god, but, so far, the only thing we are certain of is that we haven’t yet explored everything.
“It’s below us, deeper than we are, and you’re our next explorer. You’ll be going into the ruins. There will be no lights. One of the strangest things about the ruins is light sources of all kinds are useless. In the early days we tried them all, attempting to find a solution to the problem. Back when Father first found it they used ropes, believing it would be enough, and finding it wasn’t the case.
“Before you’re sent in you’ll be given a suit, which uses sound waves in order for you to navigate, similar to a bat. We know these work, although, so far, we haven’t had anyone return to us. We simply have an expanded map, with another disappearance to add to the list. You may be an exception to the rule, Mr. O’Connell.”
That seemed unlikely. Was he permitted to ask questions? Lorcan raked a hand through his hair, eyes still on the back of the woman leading him through the facility, someone who’d never given him a name. What did it matter, when it was obvious he was going to be lost within the ruins like all the others? How many had there been, through the years, so it got to the point where everyone knew about it?
“So far you’ve been very quiet. It’s not unusual. Finding out where you are often has that effect on people, but I am willing to answer any questions you may have at this point, if I have the answers to give you.”
“Does anything actually matter?” Lorcan shook his head when she glanced back at him, her eyes emotionless. “You can answer my questions, but I’m going to walk into that ruin alone, knowing I’m never going to return. Anything you tell me right now means nothing.”
“Maybe it does. Some have been fascinated by the very idea of the ruin, believing they will be the one to find their way out. You, on the other hand, have gone in the opposite direction, not willing to think it’s possible you might be an exception, and therefore all of this means nothing to you. I have found this has an effect on how much deeper you can get. Those who have seen themselves being different have been lost to us far sooner.”
“Have you never been scared one of us might come back out?”
“Why scared? Mr. O’Connell, if one of you does end up becoming the exception to the rule it will change everything for us.” She stopped, turning to look at me, her eyes on mine. “I have no doubt what you think of us, and the decisions we’ve made in order to map these ruins. Had they been anywhere else I’m certain the Government would have closed them up a long time ago. Instead they keep sending you to us, in order to understand more.
“Understanding is more important than I think you could possibly understand. How were they made? Does this mean there were civilisations who were able to get down this deep in order to build their temples? We know so little, and the very thought of one of you returning is something we haven’t dared to have, as there have been hundreds lost. Too many. At times I’ve argued against this, saying it would be best to stop, yet there are those who argue we can’t.
“Not until we know what’s in there. If it’s something dangerous then we need to find a way to stop it, although I have no reason to think it’s something we could do easily. More than anything I want someone to be the exception, to find their way back to tell us what they’ve found, but every time it doesn’t happen my belief it can die a little more.
“One day, I have to believe, something will change, and the person we sent into the ruins will come back. If I didn’t I’d not be able to do my job, something I have to admit I sometimes wish wasn’t mine at all, but I am the only person who followed in Father’s footsteps. He’s unwilling to give up, the same way the Government is.”
“Leading to us being… disposable. We made bad choices in our lives, so it doesn’t matter if we don’t return. If it was someone else everything would be different.”
“Yes, it would, and I don’t see you as disposable, Mr. O’Connell. I want you to return.” She stepped over to a locker, taking out a suit that looked like it might have been based on those divers wore. “Please remove your clothes, and put on the suit, ready to make your journey into the ruin.”
Blinking, Lorcan took it. “You want me to strip right here?”
“It’s nothing we haven’t all seen before.”
Shrugging, certain it didn’t matter, he stripped off his prison wear, slowly shimmying into the suit. As he did she was focused on a screen instead of him, while the guards all had their firearms still pointed at him. There was no way of knowing what he might do, although it wasn’t like he’d try taking on multiple guards at the same time, when he did have a chance of finding a way out down there. Maybe that was why no one returned.
Pulling the hood over his head, a small headphone slipped into his ear. “Let me know if you can hear the voice of the computer.” She tapped a couple of points on the screen. “Should be coming over to you in a second.”
“Good afternoon, Mr. O’Connell.”
“I can hear it.”
Nodding, she looked at him one last time. “This is where you start. Please continue to follow the path. You’ll find a point where the lights stop. When that happens you’ve reached the ruins.”
Breathing in deeply, Lorcan took a moment to work through his emotions, preparing for what leaving probably meant. They didn’t push him to move, seeming to understand the situation. Instead they gave him that time. Maybe she did actually want one of them to return, and saw him as their chance for it to happen. It was impossible to know for certain.
Starting down the path, in silence, Lorcan didn’t look back at any point. All he’d see were those guards, still pointing their firearms at him, ready to shoot at any point should it be necessary, and it wasn’t. He was willing to do what they wanted him to, however illogical it was for them to keep sending people down into a ruin they knew probably killed anyone who entered it.
Reaching the darkness took a few minutes, enough time to put a lot of distance between them and anything that did come out, because if there wasn’t something in there why was no one ever finding their way back… or to somewhere else entirely. Maybe there were, and somewhere within was some kind of teleporter that would take him somewhere else entirely.
Lorcan laughed at himself. Granddad was the one who read him stories about other worlds, up until he wasn’t there anymore, his death hitting hard. The memories were still painful. He sighed, pushing them back, the way he always did. Mom was the one who tried to use that as the explanation for how he’d got himself into the position he was, and maybe it did have something to do with it. If it hadn’t been so sudden, one moment here and the next gone, it might have been easier. Only death was never easy.
Understanding that pain should have been the reason he never forced it on to someone else. Instead Lorcan found himself in a dark place, wanting everyone to hurt the way he did. Some said everything would have been different had he been in therapy, able to actually talk to someone, working through those emotions.
They were probably wrong. Even though it was rare Lorcan thought it was much more likely there was something wrong inside him. If there wasn’t he might have cared when he killed those people. Granddad was the one person he’d truly cared about, and losing him… well, it was an inevitability. All mortals died. Even he would, potentially in the ruins he had almost reached.
It was probably for the best he was there. At least his death would mean something, to those who wanted to understand what was there. Reaching the point where all light stopped, Lorcan gave himself another moment, knowing when he stepped into the darkness everything was going to be different.
Finally, after longer than he should have waited, he stepped into the darkness, losing all sight in the second it took. Touching the wall with one hand, Lorcan at least knew he was somewhere. It wasn’t all a hoax. He breathed in deeply, slowly, running his hand over the cold stone.
“Walk forward, Mr. O’Connell, until I tell you to turn.”
Doing as he was told, the easiest task, Lorcan thought of the woman who’d sent him down there. How similar her voice was to that of the computer. Maybe they’d used her to create it, because she had made the decision to take over from her father, so those who started wandering the ruins would at least have some consistency.
“Left here.”
Knowing he should do what he was told straight away, Lorcan still reached out with one hand to see if there was a wall on the right. There was. Interesting. Going left, the silence lasting longer than it had before, he found himself wondering how large the ruin was. He didn’t have any idea of what it looked like. Maybe he should have asked more questions. Ignoring the fact he was walking into something he knew nothing about was stupid.
“Right now.”
Once again Lorcan reached out for the other wall, realising there was nothing there. As he turned his arm brushed against a wall in front of him, so he’d been moments away from walking directly into a wall, something he definitely would have done had he not reacted differently to the voice.
“You could give me a little more warning.” It wasn’t going to be able to hear him, probably programmed not to say anything more than it did. “Unless you want me to break my nose on a wall.”
There was no response. Exactly what he expected. Lorcan kept walking, not feeling anywhere near close to tired, which might have something to do with the suit. Hopefully there was also something within it that would stop him from becoming hungry or thirsty, otherwise there were going to be issues in the future.
Sighing, Lorcan knew there was nothing else he could do, other than think and wait for the suit to tell him where to go again. Thinking meant going over everything he’d done before, a nightly ritual for him most of the time, as he tried to work out whether his life could have ended differently, or if he was always going to be the kind of person who ended up wandering in the darkness as a disposable explorer, chosen by the Government to do something they wouldn’t let anyone else do.
“Another right.”
More prepared than before, Lorcan checked all the walls around him. They were all open, but he needed to go right, however tempting it was to go against the computer. It might be the way he was able to find a route out of the ruins, although, if he did, was he going to be able to find a way back to the surface? Being deeper than the sea made it that much more complicated, and was probably the main reason they weren’t worried about someone being able to escape if there was a way out.
Glancing left, even though he still couldn’t see anything, he turned right. Had someone else gone the same way as him in the past, so he was simply following their route, and eventually the time would come when Lorcan would step down a path no one had ever been down before. Not that he would know when it was. The computer might have that knowledge, without being able to share it with him.
Walking for what felt like longer than before, Lorcan closed his eyes. It wasn’t as though it mattered whether they were open or closed, the darkness unlike anything he’d seen before. In some ways it was easier to be looking at the soft darkness of his own eyelids, rather than the hard darkness of the ruins around him.
How was it even possible? There was no darkness quite as dark anywhere else, at least not that Lorcan knew of, and it was one of those things he’d learnt about from Granddad. Was it simply his vision, at least when his eyes were open? Closed they couldn’t see anything at all. Granddad would have been fascinated by the ruins. He was the kind of person who would have thrown as many people as necessary at the problem in order to learn as much as possible.
Now Lorcan was one of the people helping with that. Finding answers to a question that was beyond all human understanding, at least right then. Granddad would have wanted him to volunteer for it, and maybe he had, by following the path he’d found himself on, learning more about a different kind of darkness. The darkness someone could have within their soul.
Raking a hand through his hair, Lorcan kept moving. Feeling his hair reminded him he did still exist. He was still a person, walking through a dark ruin, only able to know where he was going thanks to the computer within his suit. Someone might have been able to find their way through a certain distance without help, but why would they try?
Obviously someone had, the first people to find the ruins, walking into a darkness they definitely couldn’t have understood, because they were explorers. It was what they did. No one sane would make the choice to delve deep into the depths the way they had. How was it even possible? Another of the questions he should have asked before.
“Left.”
Going left, not checking the other walls, Lorcan kept walking. What did it matter? He didn’t need to know anything. Someone else was going to learn everything he’d found out, because they’d chosen him as their next explorer. It wasn’t something he’d have ever chosen for himself, but then his choices hadn’t exactly been good ones.
“Do you remember killing him?”
The voice was still the same, but thoughtful. “Killing who?”
“Your list is long. Why did you do it?”
“How long is a piece of string?” Lorcan shrugged. “Pain is sometimes stronger than we are.”
“We are?”
“Humans. Mortals.” He breathed in deeply, half wishing there was someone to look at. “Who are you?”
“Now, that’s an interesting question, but you already know the answer. All you need to do is look deep inside yourself. Who are you? Do you remember dying?”
Switching from female, the voice belonging to the woman upstairs, to male, it seemed as though Lorcan was talking to himself. Another of the many things he wasn’t able to understand. How could the voice change, if everything was programmed to work the way it did? Was it something they were doing to him?
Attempting to turn, to go back, Lorcan found himself trapped in place. Closing his eyes once more, he thought of the questions the voice asked. He’d asked. Who was he? Did he remember dying? How could he remember dying, when he was alive? Deeper than before, memories swirling around him, Lorcan saw himself as he was, long before he found himself in prison.
The man below him was one of the men he’d killed, becoming a serial killer, wanting to find a way to free himself. Only the man didn’t look the way he had before. He looked like Lorcan. Lorcan killed Lorcan. It was the same for every memory. He saw things as they were, as they’d been, and how they were going to be.
Within the prison there were hundreds of Lorcans. Some were the prisoners, all of them arrested for one crime or another, placed together to pay for their bad choices. Others were the guards, watching over the other Lorcans, as Lorcan, the true Lorcan, tried to understand what he was seeing. Was the voice being controlled by something, trying to make him lose his sanity, so he’d spend the rest of his life, however short it would end up being, running through the darkness, never to find his way out?
“Insanity is an interesting theory, but, no, my task is not to break you in that way. You are to know the truth, the whole truth, and make a decision, as you are the next to walk these paths. The next to find their way into the abyss. Do you remember why you created it? Do you understand who you are?”
Lorcan shook his head. It was obvious he didn’t understand who he was, but he knew where to find the answers, if the voice was right, and maybe the voice was right. He breathed in deeply, trying to find his centre, another of the things his grandfather taught him, when he was younger. Controlling his more negative emotions was important, only then he’d lost his centre with his grandfather.
Finding it once more was the beginning. Going back to that lesson, Lorcan found himself looking at himself. His grandfather was him too, a hard thing to ignore, but he managed it, as he heard the right choice in his head, rather than his own. Although, if he was honest with himself, his grandfather almost sounded like he would if he was many years older.
Connecting with the control he’d lost, Lorcan opened his eyes, and it was as though he was able to see the truth for the first time in his life. He was in the middle of what looked to be some kind of nebula, alone like he’d always been, something slowly becoming more painful, as the years passed by. Years, decades, centuries, millennia. Everything was the same way it had always been.
Earth almost called to him, looking as it always had. Beautiful. Lush. Home to animals, and nothing more. Going down to it, Lorcan walked through the trees, breathing in the air, and thought about what to do next. How was he going to change things for the better? Was it even possible?
The animals didn’t seem to fear him. One, a wolf, moved closer. It didn’t have a name then, but Lorcan knew it as it had become, a dog. The kind of pet he’d once had when he was younger, until the time came when it left him too, the pain probably what ended up breaking him. Death was complicated, in so many ways.
Petting the wolf, Lorcan thought of what his future was going to hold. Nothing in the universe. He was alone, and would always be alone, unless he did something to change that future. It wasn’t as though he couldn’t. Leaving the wolf with one last scratch behind the ears, he delved deep into Earth.
Going through the layers, deep enough it was likely never to be found, Lorcan started work. If it was it needed to be a safe place, for those who learnt the whole truth about who he was. Somewhere he could make the choice once more, if it was right to keep up with things as they were. Maybe the time would come when he’d bring an end to it all, but there was no way of knowing if it would happen, or when it would be, or who might make the choice, in the end.
Little by little, he created the ‘ruin’. The abyss. A hiding place for the truth. It wouldn’t be easy to find, but those who did would learn everything. From the beginning to that moment, as they stood within the darkness, making a decision that might change everything, the very way he’d made a decision he knew would change everything for the best.
Moving from the ruin to the surface once more, Lorcan started work on the next stage. Beings made from his consciousness, slowly dwindling himself down to nothing, and yet he was everything. He was everyone. Man, woman, child. Not the animals. They were something else entirely, but it didn’t matter, because finally he felt like he’d made the right choice.
As he had that thought he let himself forget. Lorcan no longer knew who he was. He was simply another human, and from there came the billions who inhabited Earth, all of them part of the beginning. Unlike anyone else he knew the whole truth about the world. Others had made the same journey, learnt the same truth, with none of them making the decision to return.
The darkness was no longer impenetrable. Able to see the ruin, which was better called a maze, somewhere his selves would wander until they touched the truth, the suit becoming part of them in a way it hadn’t been before. Breathing in deeply, Lorcan sat down on the stone. If he left the ruin everything would fade away. Like before he’d be alone, but the worst part was that he’d know he was alone. Maybe he’d remember all the lives he’d lived, able to dwell in those memories, only it would never be the same as it was.
Yet humans had done so much bad. The choice he’d made changed Earth in multiple ways, most of them terrible, and Lorcan knew if he headed back through the maze, gaining all those people as a part of him once more, everything would be different. Earth would return to how it was before - a paradise.
Was he truly willing to be selfish enough to let himself destroy a planet? Biting down on his lip, feeling the pain, he thought of all the lives he’d lived where he’d hurt in one way or another, traumatised by those around him, because they were traumatised themselves. It went down from one generation to the next, Lorcan’s own life a reminder of that, something that broke him.
Others were broken in a similar way. Hence prison. Being sent down to the Sarcophagus, knowing he was likely to die, but death wasn’t the worst possibility, and he’d never known. Never had a way to, the truth hidden in the very deepest depths of Earth, something people were going to keep exploring. Another thing he could keep from happening, if he made the decision to walk back. All it took was him walking back through the maze, to find there was no one there.
No one anywhere. Alone. Closing his eyes, Lorcan thought of the good in the world. It existed. Everywhere. He might not have been able to see it, his own pain that much stronger, but he was able to see it as he sat in the maze, the ruin, the abyss, the sarcophagus, and, more than anything else, the truth.
“How did the others decide?”
“Exactly the way you are. Those who come down here have found life to be the most complicated it could be. It’s part of the reason you’re the ones who need to make the choice. You’re the ones who truly understand pain, in a way those who are happy cannot. They aren’t able to understand how bad things are at times. Yet, as you have thought, there is also good.”
Pain was something Lorcan felt before, as he wandered the universe, searching for someone to be with. To not be alone any longer. Millennia of hunting for that one thing, and in the end he found it, but it wasn’t what he expected it to be. Instead it was a world he was able to claim for his own, to build something, which wasn’t perfect. Nothing could be perfect. He was fallible, so his creation was fallible.
They make mistakes. Lorcan made mistakes, letting the pain get the better of him, and he wasn’t the only one who did. Had it not been for the others, those who made bright choices, he might have made the decision to walk back through the maze, to where she was waiting, only she wouldn’t be there any longer. She’d be one of the first to become part of him again, along with the guards, and anyone else in the facility.
From there it would be the rest of humanity, little by little, until he was the only one left. He wouldn’t be Lorcan anymore. Instead he’d be the wanderer once more, with nothing. Earth would be able to return to how it was, and maybe it was the choice he should make for the planet, but he couldn’t.
Leaving would destroy him. Able to see it, in a way he couldn’t before, he saw how loneliness was slowly transforming him, and that was part of the reason there was both dark and light within the human race. How he might have become dark enough to destroy the entire universe, because it hadn’t given him what he wanted - a companion. Someone to love, the way he’d come to love in so many different ways.
Maybe he would destroy Earth by staying, but surely it was better to sacrifice one planet than it was to sacrifice them all. Lorcan’s decision was made. He stayed sat in the ruins, the same way all the others had done before him, hundreds of them having made a similar choice. They chose the universe over Earth.
They chose their own sanity over anything else. Yes, a selfish choice, and yet it was the logical one. The most logical one for everything. He thought back to the wolf, scratching ears, one animal giving him a moment of something he could never have imagined before. It was then he knew what he needed, in a way he hadn’t before, so he took it. One day he might not need it, but that day hadn’t yet come.

Consciousness returned slowly, the drugs leaving Lorcan’s system, to find he was moving slowly down, the walls around him made of metal. An elevator. He breathed in deeply. There were those who spoke of it, the Sarcophagus, but no one knew the truth. It seemed as though anyone who walked in never returned. None were missed. He wouldn’t be either, the choices he made no longer making him seem human to most others, the end of his life something they wouldn’t be saddened by.
Not even his mother would cry. Lorcan stared at the door. Escaping the elevator was an impossibility, but there may be other chances. Whatever the others said might be nothing more than stories, to spread fear into those who were chosen, the way he’d been. It was his time to be useful. At least that was what they said, so it was likely he’d be given some kind of job to do.
Finally, his consciousness fully his once more, the elevator reached the right stop, and the door opened automatically. Outside were guards. Each held a firearm, pointed directly at Lorcan, something he’d become used to. Stepping out, knowing it was what he was supposed to do, he looked at each of them in turn, before the sound of footsteps started to come from in front of him. At the same time, the elevator started to move back up.
Glancing back, no sign of an easy route to follow the elevator, Lorcan waited, the footsteps likely belonging to the person who’d explain it all to him. When they stepped into the light, a young woman who looked as though she was barely out of college, he raised an eyebrow. She didn’t seem to pay any attention to his reaction.
“Lorcan O’Connell?” Who else was it going to be? Nodding, not wanting to anger her on the first day, he studied her. “You have been brought to the Sarcophagus to assist us in our research.” She gestured for him to follow her, as though he had any other choice, the guards gently urging him in that direction. “This facility is somewhere you will not be able to escape. Your escapades are well known to us, Mr. O’Connell.”
Saying nothing, certain he wasn’t meant to, Lorcan kept his eyes on where they were going. The guards were watching him closely, but if he was there to assist with some kind of research it was likely he’d be dealing with scientists. All it took was for one of them to make a mistake.
“You, of course, don’t believe me, but you may when I explain more about the work you are to be doing.” She glanced back. “There have been those who thought they may be able to use me as their route out. It didn’t work out for them, and it won’t work out for you.” There was a certainty in her voice Lorcan had never heard before. “Whatever you may imagine I was chosen for a reason. Yes, I am young. However, my father has been working on learning more for many years now, and he is no longer able to deal with the depth.
“We are deep under the sea.” He stared at her back. “This is the deepest I believe any humans have ever been. During one of my father’s journeys down here, he found something. Sadly, due to a lack of understanding of what it was, both his companions died, and it was then he started to understand there was so much more to it than he could have imagined.
“Now, after many years of studying, we understand better. At some point in our distant past someone, or something, built something down here. Father believes it may be some kind of temple, connected to an old god, but, so far, the only thing we are certain of is that we haven’t yet explored everything.
“It’s below us, deeper than we are, and you’re our next explorer. You’ll be going into the ruins. There will be no lights. One of the strangest things about the ruins is light sources of all kinds are useless. In the early days we tried them all, attempting to find a solution to the problem. Back when Father first found it they used ropes, believing it would be enough, and finding it wasn’t the case.
“Before you’re sent in you’ll be given a suit, which uses sound waves in order for you to navigate, similar to a bat. We know these work, although, so far, we haven’t had anyone return to us. We simply have an expanded map, with another disappearance to add to the list. You may be an exception to the rule, Mr. O’Connell.”
That seemed unlikely. Was he permitted to ask questions? Lorcan raked a hand through his hair, eyes still on the back of the woman leading him through the facility, someone who’d never given him a name. What did it matter, when it was obvious he was going to be lost within the ruins like all the others? How many had there been, through the years, so it got to the point where everyone knew about it?
“So far you’ve been very quiet. It’s not unusual. Finding out where you are often has that effect on people, but I am willing to answer any questions you may have at this point, if I have the answers to give you.”
“Does anything actually matter?” Lorcan shook his head when she glanced back at him, her eyes emotionless. “You can answer my questions, but I’m going to walk into that ruin alone, knowing I’m never going to return. Anything you tell me right now means nothing.”
“Maybe it does. Some have been fascinated by the very idea of the ruin, believing they will be the one to find their way out. You, on the other hand, have gone in the opposite direction, not willing to think it’s possible you might be an exception, and therefore all of this means nothing to you. I have found this has an effect on how much deeper you can get. Those who have seen themselves being different have been lost to us far sooner.”
“Have you never been scared one of us might come back out?”
“Why scared? Mr. O’Connell, if one of you does end up becoming the exception to the rule it will change everything for us.” She stopped, turning to look at me, her eyes on mine. “I have no doubt what you think of us, and the decisions we’ve made in order to map these ruins. Had they been anywhere else I’m certain the Government would have closed them up a long time ago. Instead they keep sending you to us, in order to understand more.
“Understanding is more important than I think you could possibly understand. How were they made? Does this mean there were civilisations who were able to get down this deep in order to build their temples? We know so little, and the very thought of one of you returning is something we haven’t dared to have, as there have been hundreds lost. Too many. At times I’ve argued against this, saying it would be best to stop, yet there are those who argue we can’t.
“Not until we know what’s in there. If it’s something dangerous then we need to find a way to stop it, although I have no reason to think it’s something we could do easily. More than anything I want someone to be the exception, to find their way back to tell us what they’ve found, but every time it doesn’t happen my belief it can die a little more.
“One day, I have to believe, something will change, and the person we sent into the ruins will come back. If I didn’t I’d not be able to do my job, something I have to admit I sometimes wish wasn’t mine at all, but I am the only person who followed in Father’s footsteps. He’s unwilling to give up, the same way the Government is.”
“Leading to us being… disposable. We made bad choices in our lives, so it doesn’t matter if we don’t return. If it was someone else everything would be different.”
“Yes, it would, and I don’t see you as disposable, Mr. O’Connell. I want you to return.” She stepped over to a locker, taking out a suit that looked like it might have been based on those divers wore. “Please remove your clothes, and put on the suit, ready to make your journey into the ruin.”
Blinking, Lorcan took it. “You want me to strip right here?”
“It’s nothing we haven’t all seen before.”
Shrugging, certain it didn’t matter, he stripped off his prison wear, slowly shimmying into the suit. As he did she was focused on a screen instead of him, while the guards all had their firearms still pointed at him. There was no way of knowing what he might do, although it wasn’t like he’d try taking on multiple guards at the same time, when he did have a chance of finding a way out down there. Maybe that was why no one returned.
Pulling the hood over his head, a small headphone slipped into his ear. “Let me know if you can hear the voice of the computer.” She tapped a couple of points on the screen. “Should be coming over to you in a second.”
“Good afternoon, Mr. O’Connell.”
“I can hear it.”
Nodding, she looked at him one last time. “This is where you start. Please continue to follow the path. You’ll find a point where the lights stop. When that happens you’ve reached the ruins.”
Breathing in deeply, Lorcan took a moment to work through his emotions, preparing for what leaving probably meant. They didn’t push him to move, seeming to understand the situation. Instead they gave him that time. Maybe she did actually want one of them to return, and saw him as their chance for it to happen. It was impossible to know for certain.
Starting down the path, in silence, Lorcan didn’t look back at any point. All he’d see were those guards, still pointing their firearms at him, ready to shoot at any point should it be necessary, and it wasn’t. He was willing to do what they wanted him to, however illogical it was for them to keep sending people down into a ruin they knew probably killed anyone who entered it.
Reaching the darkness took a few minutes, enough time to put a lot of distance between them and anything that did come out, because if there wasn’t something in there why was no one ever finding their way back… or to somewhere else entirely. Maybe there were, and somewhere within was some kind of teleporter that would take him somewhere else entirely.
Lorcan laughed at himself. Granddad was the one who read him stories about other worlds, up until he wasn’t there anymore, his death hitting hard. The memories were still painful. He sighed, pushing them back, the way he always did. Mom was the one who tried to use that as the explanation for how he’d got himself into the position he was, and maybe it did have something to do with it. If it hadn’t been so sudden, one moment here and the next gone, it might have been easier. Only death was never easy.
Understanding that pain should have been the reason he never forced it on to someone else. Instead Lorcan found himself in a dark place, wanting everyone to hurt the way he did. Some said everything would have been different had he been in therapy, able to actually talk to someone, working through those emotions.
They were probably wrong. Even though it was rare Lorcan thought it was much more likely there was something wrong inside him. If there wasn’t he might have cared when he killed those people. Granddad was the one person he’d truly cared about, and losing him… well, it was an inevitability. All mortals died. Even he would, potentially in the ruins he had almost reached.
It was probably for the best he was there. At least his death would mean something, to those who wanted to understand what was there. Reaching the point where all light stopped, Lorcan gave himself another moment, knowing when he stepped into the darkness everything was going to be different.
Finally, after longer than he should have waited, he stepped into the darkness, losing all sight in the second it took. Touching the wall with one hand, Lorcan at least knew he was somewhere. It wasn’t all a hoax. He breathed in deeply, slowly, running his hand over the cold stone.
“Walk forward, Mr. O’Connell, until I tell you to turn.”
Doing as he was told, the easiest task, Lorcan thought of the woman who’d sent him down there. How similar her voice was to that of the computer. Maybe they’d used her to create it, because she had made the decision to take over from her father, so those who started wandering the ruins would at least have some consistency.
“Left here.”
Knowing he should do what he was told straight away, Lorcan still reached out with one hand to see if there was a wall on the right. There was. Interesting. Going left, the silence lasting longer than it had before, he found himself wondering how large the ruin was. He didn’t have any idea of what it looked like. Maybe he should have asked more questions. Ignoring the fact he was walking into something he knew nothing about was stupid.
“Right now.”
Once again Lorcan reached out for the other wall, realising there was nothing there. As he turned his arm brushed against a wall in front of him, so he’d been moments away from walking directly into a wall, something he definitely would have done had he not reacted differently to the voice.
“You could give me a little more warning.” It wasn’t going to be able to hear him, probably programmed not to say anything more than it did. “Unless you want me to break my nose on a wall.”
There was no response. Exactly what he expected. Lorcan kept walking, not feeling anywhere near close to tired, which might have something to do with the suit. Hopefully there was also something within it that would stop him from becoming hungry or thirsty, otherwise there were going to be issues in the future.
Sighing, Lorcan knew there was nothing else he could do, other than think and wait for the suit to tell him where to go again. Thinking meant going over everything he’d done before, a nightly ritual for him most of the time, as he tried to work out whether his life could have ended differently, or if he was always going to be the kind of person who ended up wandering in the darkness as a disposable explorer, chosen by the Government to do something they wouldn’t let anyone else do.
“Another right.”
More prepared than before, Lorcan checked all the walls around him. They were all open, but he needed to go right, however tempting it was to go against the computer. It might be the way he was able to find a route out of the ruins, although, if he did, was he going to be able to find a way back to the surface? Being deeper than the sea made it that much more complicated, and was probably the main reason they weren’t worried about someone being able to escape if there was a way out.
Glancing left, even though he still couldn’t see anything, he turned right. Had someone else gone the same way as him in the past, so he was simply following their route, and eventually the time would come when Lorcan would step down a path no one had ever been down before. Not that he would know when it was. The computer might have that knowledge, without being able to share it with him.
Walking for what felt like longer than before, Lorcan closed his eyes. It wasn’t as though it mattered whether they were open or closed, the darkness unlike anything he’d seen before. In some ways it was easier to be looking at the soft darkness of his own eyelids, rather than the hard darkness of the ruins around him.
How was it even possible? There was no darkness quite as dark anywhere else, at least not that Lorcan knew of, and it was one of those things he’d learnt about from Granddad. Was it simply his vision, at least when his eyes were open? Closed they couldn’t see anything at all. Granddad would have been fascinated by the ruins. He was the kind of person who would have thrown as many people as necessary at the problem in order to learn as much as possible.
Now Lorcan was one of the people helping with that. Finding answers to a question that was beyond all human understanding, at least right then. Granddad would have wanted him to volunteer for it, and maybe he had, by following the path he’d found himself on, learning more about a different kind of darkness. The darkness someone could have within their soul.
Raking a hand through his hair, Lorcan kept moving. Feeling his hair reminded him he did still exist. He was still a person, walking through a dark ruin, only able to know where he was going thanks to the computer within his suit. Someone might have been able to find their way through a certain distance without help, but why would they try?
Obviously someone had, the first people to find the ruins, walking into a darkness they definitely couldn’t have understood, because they were explorers. It was what they did. No one sane would make the choice to delve deep into the depths the way they had. How was it even possible? Another of the questions he should have asked before.
“Left.”
Going left, not checking the other walls, Lorcan kept walking. What did it matter? He didn’t need to know anything. Someone else was going to learn everything he’d found out, because they’d chosen him as their next explorer. It wasn’t something he’d have ever chosen for himself, but then his choices hadn’t exactly been good ones.
“Do you remember killing him?”
The voice was still the same, but thoughtful. “Killing who?”
“Your list is long. Why did you do it?”
“How long is a piece of string?” Lorcan shrugged. “Pain is sometimes stronger than we are.”
“We are?”
“Humans. Mortals.” He breathed in deeply, half wishing there was someone to look at. “Who are you?”
“Now, that’s an interesting question, but you already know the answer. All you need to do is look deep inside yourself. Who are you? Do you remember dying?”
Switching from female, the voice belonging to the woman upstairs, to male, it seemed as though Lorcan was talking to himself. Another of the many things he wasn’t able to understand. How could the voice change, if everything was programmed to work the way it did? Was it something they were doing to him?
Attempting to turn, to go back, Lorcan found himself trapped in place. Closing his eyes once more, he thought of the questions the voice asked. He’d asked. Who was he? Did he remember dying? How could he remember dying, when he was alive? Deeper than before, memories swirling around him, Lorcan saw himself as he was, long before he found himself in prison.
The man below him was one of the men he’d killed, becoming a serial killer, wanting to find a way to free himself. Only the man didn’t look the way he had before. He looked like Lorcan. Lorcan killed Lorcan. It was the same for every memory. He saw things as they were, as they’d been, and how they were going to be.
Within the prison there were hundreds of Lorcans. Some were the prisoners, all of them arrested for one crime or another, placed together to pay for their bad choices. Others were the guards, watching over the other Lorcans, as Lorcan, the true Lorcan, tried to understand what he was seeing. Was the voice being controlled by something, trying to make him lose his sanity, so he’d spend the rest of his life, however short it would end up being, running through the darkness, never to find his way out?
“Insanity is an interesting theory, but, no, my task is not to break you in that way. You are to know the truth, the whole truth, and make a decision, as you are the next to walk these paths. The next to find their way into the abyss. Do you remember why you created it? Do you understand who you are?”
Lorcan shook his head. It was obvious he didn’t understand who he was, but he knew where to find the answers, if the voice was right, and maybe the voice was right. He breathed in deeply, trying to find his centre, another of the things his grandfather taught him, when he was younger. Controlling his more negative emotions was important, only then he’d lost his centre with his grandfather.
Finding it once more was the beginning. Going back to that lesson, Lorcan found himself looking at himself. His grandfather was him too, a hard thing to ignore, but he managed it, as he heard the right choice in his head, rather than his own. Although, if he was honest with himself, his grandfather almost sounded like he would if he was many years older.
Connecting with the control he’d lost, Lorcan opened his eyes, and it was as though he was able to see the truth for the first time in his life. He was in the middle of what looked to be some kind of nebula, alone like he’d always been, something slowly becoming more painful, as the years passed by. Years, decades, centuries, millennia. Everything was the same way it had always been.
Earth almost called to him, looking as it always had. Beautiful. Lush. Home to animals, and nothing more. Going down to it, Lorcan walked through the trees, breathing in the air, and thought about what to do next. How was he going to change things for the better? Was it even possible?
The animals didn’t seem to fear him. One, a wolf, moved closer. It didn’t have a name then, but Lorcan knew it as it had become, a dog. The kind of pet he’d once had when he was younger, until the time came when it left him too, the pain probably what ended up breaking him. Death was complicated, in so many ways.
Petting the wolf, Lorcan thought of what his future was going to hold. Nothing in the universe. He was alone, and would always be alone, unless he did something to change that future. It wasn’t as though he couldn’t. Leaving the wolf with one last scratch behind the ears, he delved deep into Earth.
Going through the layers, deep enough it was likely never to be found, Lorcan started work. If it was it needed to be a safe place, for those who learnt the whole truth about who he was. Somewhere he could make the choice once more, if it was right to keep up with things as they were. Maybe the time would come when he’d bring an end to it all, but there was no way of knowing if it would happen, or when it would be, or who might make the choice, in the end.
Little by little, he created the ‘ruin’. The abyss. A hiding place for the truth. It wouldn’t be easy to find, but those who did would learn everything. From the beginning to that moment, as they stood within the darkness, making a decision that might change everything, the very way he’d made a decision he knew would change everything for the best.
Moving from the ruin to the surface once more, Lorcan started work on the next stage. Beings made from his consciousness, slowly dwindling himself down to nothing, and yet he was everything. He was everyone. Man, woman, child. Not the animals. They were something else entirely, but it didn’t matter, because finally he felt like he’d made the right choice.
As he had that thought he let himself forget. Lorcan no longer knew who he was. He was simply another human, and from there came the billions who inhabited Earth, all of them part of the beginning. Unlike anyone else he knew the whole truth about the world. Others had made the same journey, learnt the same truth, with none of them making the decision to return.
The darkness was no longer impenetrable. Able to see the ruin, which was better called a maze, somewhere his selves would wander until they touched the truth, the suit becoming part of them in a way it hadn’t been before. Breathing in deeply, Lorcan sat down on the stone. If he left the ruin everything would fade away. Like before he’d be alone, but the worst part was that he’d know he was alone. Maybe he’d remember all the lives he’d lived, able to dwell in those memories, only it would never be the same as it was.
Yet humans had done so much bad. The choice he’d made changed Earth in multiple ways, most of them terrible, and Lorcan knew if he headed back through the maze, gaining all those people as a part of him once more, everything would be different. Earth would return to how it was before - a paradise.
Was he truly willing to be selfish enough to let himself destroy a planet? Biting down on his lip, feeling the pain, he thought of all the lives he’d lived where he’d hurt in one way or another, traumatised by those around him, because they were traumatised themselves. It went down from one generation to the next, Lorcan’s own life a reminder of that, something that broke him.
Others were broken in a similar way. Hence prison. Being sent down to the Sarcophagus, knowing he was likely to die, but death wasn’t the worst possibility, and he’d never known. Never had a way to, the truth hidden in the very deepest depths of Earth, something people were going to keep exploring. Another thing he could keep from happening, if he made the decision to walk back. All it took was him walking back through the maze, to find there was no one there.
No one anywhere. Alone. Closing his eyes, Lorcan thought of the good in the world. It existed. Everywhere. He might not have been able to see it, his own pain that much stronger, but he was able to see it as he sat in the maze, the ruin, the abyss, the sarcophagus, and, more than anything else, the truth.
“How did the others decide?”
“Exactly the way you are. Those who come down here have found life to be the most complicated it could be. It’s part of the reason you’re the ones who need to make the choice. You’re the ones who truly understand pain, in a way those who are happy cannot. They aren’t able to understand how bad things are at times. Yet, as you have thought, there is also good.”
Pain was something Lorcan felt before, as he wandered the universe, searching for someone to be with. To not be alone any longer. Millennia of hunting for that one thing, and in the end he found it, but it wasn’t what he expected it to be. Instead it was a world he was able to claim for his own, to build something, which wasn’t perfect. Nothing could be perfect. He was fallible, so his creation was fallible.
They make mistakes. Lorcan made mistakes, letting the pain get the better of him, and he wasn’t the only one who did. Had it not been for the others, those who made bright choices, he might have made the decision to walk back through the maze, to where she was waiting, only she wouldn’t be there any longer. She’d be one of the first to become part of him again, along with the guards, and anyone else in the facility.
From there it would be the rest of humanity, little by little, until he was the only one left. He wouldn’t be Lorcan anymore. Instead he’d be the wanderer once more, with nothing. Earth would be able to return to how it was, and maybe it was the choice he should make for the planet, but he couldn’t.
Leaving would destroy him. Able to see it, in a way he couldn’t before, he saw how loneliness was slowly transforming him, and that was part of the reason there was both dark and light within the human race. How he might have become dark enough to destroy the entire universe, because it hadn’t given him what he wanted - a companion. Someone to love, the way he’d come to love in so many different ways.
Maybe he would destroy Earth by staying, but surely it was better to sacrifice one planet than it was to sacrifice them all. Lorcan’s decision was made. He stayed sat in the ruins, the same way all the others had done before him, hundreds of them having made a similar choice. They chose the universe over Earth.
They chose their own sanity over anything else. Yes, a selfish choice, and yet it was the logical one. The most logical one for everything. He thought back to the wolf, scratching ears, one animal giving him a moment of something he could never have imagined before. It was then he knew what he needed, in a way he hadn’t before, so he took it. One day he might not need it, but that day hadn’t yet come.

Consciousness returned slowly, the drugs leaving Lorcan’s system, to find he was moving slowly down, the walls around him made of metal. An elevator. He breathed in deeply. There were those who spoke of it, the Sarcophagus, but no one knew the truth. It seemed as though anyone who walked in never returned. None were missed. He wouldn’t be either, the choices he made no longer making him seem human to most others, the end of his life something they wouldn’t be saddened by.
Not even his mother would cry. Lorcan stared at the door. Escaping the elevator was an impossibility, but there may be other chances. Whatever the others said might be nothing more than stories, to spread fear into those who were chosen, the way he’d been. It was his time to be useful. At least that was what they said, so it was likely he’d be given some kind of job to do.
Finally, his consciousness fully his once more, the elevator reached the right stop, and the door opened automatically. Outside were guards. Each held a firearm, pointed directly at Lorcan, something he’d become used to. Stepping out, knowing it was what he was supposed to do, he looked at each of them in turn, before the sound of footsteps started to come from in front of him. At the same time, the elevator started to move back up.
Glancing back, no sign of an easy route to follow the elevator, Lorcan waited, the footsteps likely belonging to the person who’d explain it all to him. When they stepped into the light, a young woman who looked as though she was barely out of college, he raised an eyebrow. She didn’t seem to pay any attention to his reaction.
“Lorcan O’Connell?” Who else was it going to be? Nodding, not wanting to anger her on the first day, he studied her. “You have been brought to the Sarcophagus to assist us in our research.” She gestured for him to follow her, as though he had any other choice, the guards gently urging him in that direction. “This facility is somewhere you will not be able to escape. Your escapades are well known to us, Mr. O’Connell.”
Saying nothing, certain he wasn’t meant to, Lorcan kept his eyes on where they were going. The guards were watching him closely, but if he was there to assist with some kind of research it was likely he’d be dealing with scientists. All it took was for one of them to make a mistake.
“You, of course, don’t believe me, but you may when I explain more about the work you are to be doing.” She glanced back. “There have been those who thought they may be able to use me as their route out. It didn’t work out for them, and it won’t work out for you.” There was a certainty in her voice Lorcan had never heard before. “Whatever you may imagine I was chosen for a reason. Yes, I am young. However, my father has been working on learning more for many years now, and he is no longer able to deal with the depth.
“We are deep under the sea.” He stared at her back. “This is the deepest I believe any humans have ever been. During one of my father’s journeys down here, he found something. Sadly, due to a lack of understanding of what it was, both his companions died, and it was then he started to understand there was so much more to it than he could have imagined.
“Now, after many years of studying, we understand better. At some point in our distant past someone, or something, built something down here. Father believes it may be some kind of temple, connected to an old god, but, so far, the only thing we are certain of is that we haven’t yet explored everything.
“It’s below us, deeper than we are, and you’re our next explorer. You’ll be going into the ruins. There will be no lights. One of the strangest things about the ruins is light sources of all kinds are useless. In the early days we tried them all, attempting to find a solution to the problem. Back when Father first found it they used ropes, believing it would be enough, and finding it wasn’t the case.
“Before you’re sent in you’ll be given a suit, which uses sound waves in order for you to navigate, similar to a bat. We know these work, although, so far, we haven’t had anyone return to us. We simply have an expanded map, with another disappearance to add to the list. You may be an exception to the rule, Mr. O’Connell.”
That seemed unlikely. Was he permitted to ask questions? Lorcan raked a hand through his hair, eyes still on the back of the woman leading him through the facility, someone who’d never given him a name. What did it matter, when it was obvious he was going to be lost within the ruins like all the others? How many had there been, through the years, so it got to the point where everyone knew about it?
“So far you’ve been very quiet. It’s not unusual. Finding out where you are often has that effect on people, but I am willing to answer any questions you may have at this point, if I have the answers to give you.”
“Does anything actually matter?” Lorcan shook his head when she glanced back at him, her eyes emotionless. “You can answer my questions, but I’m going to walk into that ruin alone, knowing I’m never going to return. Anything you tell me right now means nothing.”
“Maybe it does. Some have been fascinated by the very idea of the ruin, believing they will be the one to find their way out. You, on the other hand, have gone in the opposite direction, not willing to think it’s possible you might be an exception, and therefore all of this means nothing to you. I have found this has an effect on how much deeper you can get. Those who have seen themselves being different have been lost to us far sooner.”
“Have you never been scared one of us might come back out?”
“Why scared? Mr. O’Connell, if one of you does end up becoming the exception to the rule it will change everything for us.” She stopped, turning to look at me, her eyes on mine. “I have no doubt what you think of us, and the decisions we’ve made in order to map these ruins. Had they been anywhere else I’m certain the Government would have closed them up a long time ago. Instead they keep sending you to us, in order to understand more.
“Understanding is more important than I think you could possibly understand. How were they made? Does this mean there were civilisations who were able to get down this deep in order to build their temples? We know so little, and the very thought of one of you returning is something we haven’t dared to have, as there have been hundreds lost. Too many. At times I’ve argued against this, saying it would be best to stop, yet there are those who argue we can’t.
“Not until we know what’s in there. If it’s something dangerous then we need to find a way to stop it, although I have no reason to think it’s something we could do easily. More than anything I want someone to be the exception, to find their way back to tell us what they’ve found, but every time it doesn’t happen my belief it can die a little more.
“One day, I have to believe, something will change, and the person we sent into the ruins will come back. If I didn’t I’d not be able to do my job, something I have to admit I sometimes wish wasn’t mine at all, but I am the only person who followed in Father’s footsteps. He’s unwilling to give up, the same way the Government is.”
“Leading to us being… disposable. We made bad choices in our lives, so it doesn’t matter if we don’t return. If it was someone else everything would be different.”
“Yes, it would, and I don’t see you as disposable, Mr. O’Connell. I want you to return.” She stepped over to a locker, taking out a suit that looked like it might have been based on those divers wore. “Please remove your clothes, and put on the suit, ready to make your journey into the ruin.”
Blinking, Lorcan took it. “You want me to strip right here?”
“It’s nothing we haven’t all seen before.”
Shrugging, certain it didn’t matter, he stripped off his prison wear, slowly shimmying into the suit. As he did she was focused on a screen instead of him, while the guards all had their firearms still pointed at him. There was no way of knowing what he might do, although it wasn’t like he’d try taking on multiple guards at the same time, when he did have a chance of finding a way out down there. Maybe that was why no one returned.
Pulling the hood over his head, a small headphone slipped into his ear. “Let me know if you can hear the voice of the computer.” She tapped a couple of points on the screen. “Should be coming over to you in a second.”
“Good afternoon, Mr. O’Connell.”
“I can hear it.”
Nodding, she looked at him one last time. “This is where you start. Please continue to follow the path. You’ll find a point where the lights stop. When that happens you’ve reached the ruins.”
Breathing in deeply, Lorcan took a moment to work through his emotions, preparing for what leaving probably meant. They didn’t push him to move, seeming to understand the situation. Instead they gave him that time. Maybe she did actually want one of them to return, and saw him as their chance for it to happen. It was impossible to know for certain.
Starting down the path, in silence, Lorcan didn’t look back at any point. All he’d see were those guards, still pointing their firearms at him, ready to shoot at any point should it be necessary, and it wasn’t. He was willing to do what they wanted him to, however illogical it was for them to keep sending people down into a ruin they knew probably killed anyone who entered it.
Reaching the darkness took a few minutes, enough time to put a lot of distance between them and anything that did come out, because if there wasn’t something in there why was no one ever finding their way back… or to somewhere else entirely. Maybe there were, and somewhere within was some kind of teleporter that would take him somewhere else entirely.
Lorcan laughed at himself. Granddad was the one who read him stories about other worlds, up until he wasn’t there anymore, his death hitting hard. The memories were still painful. He sighed, pushing them back, the way he always did. Mom was the one who tried to use that as the explanation for how he’d got himself into the position he was, and maybe it did have something to do with it. If it hadn’t been so sudden, one moment here and the next gone, it might have been easier. Only death was never easy.
Understanding that pain should have been the reason he never forced it on to someone else. Instead Lorcan found himself in a dark place, wanting everyone to hurt the way he did. Some said everything would have been different had he been in therapy, able to actually talk to someone, working through those emotions.
They were probably wrong. Even though it was rare Lorcan thought it was much more likely there was something wrong inside him. If there wasn’t he might have cared when he killed those people. Granddad was the one person he’d truly cared about, and losing him… well, it was an inevitability. All mortals died. Even he would, potentially in the ruins he had almost reached.
It was probably for the best he was there. At least his death would mean something, to those who wanted to understand what was there. Reaching the point where all light stopped, Lorcan gave himself another moment, knowing when he stepped into the darkness everything was going to be different.
Finally, after longer than he should have waited, he stepped into the darkness, losing all sight in the second it took. Touching the wall with one hand, Lorcan at least knew he was somewhere. It wasn’t all a hoax. He breathed in deeply, slowly, running his hand over the cold stone.
“Walk forward, Mr. O’Connell, until I tell you to turn.”
Doing as he was told, the easiest task, Lorcan thought of the woman who’d sent him down there. How similar her voice was to that of the computer. Maybe they’d used her to create it, because she had made the decision to take over from her father, so those who started wandering the ruins would at least have some consistency.
“Left here.”
Knowing he should do what he was told straight away, Lorcan still reached out with one hand to see if there was a wall on the right. There was. Interesting. Going left, the silence lasting longer than it had before, he found himself wondering how large the ruin was. He didn’t have any idea of what it looked like. Maybe he should have asked more questions. Ignoring the fact he was walking into something he knew nothing about was stupid.
“Right now.”
Once again Lorcan reached out for the other wall, realising there was nothing there. As he turned his arm brushed against a wall in front of him, so he’d been moments away from walking directly into a wall, something he definitely would have done had he not reacted differently to the voice.
“You could give me a little more warning.” It wasn’t going to be able to hear him, probably programmed not to say anything more than it did. “Unless you want me to break my nose on a wall.”
There was no response. Exactly what he expected. Lorcan kept walking, not feeling anywhere near close to tired, which might have something to do with the suit. Hopefully there was also something within it that would stop him from becoming hungry or thirsty, otherwise there were going to be issues in the future.
Sighing, Lorcan knew there was nothing else he could do, other than think and wait for the suit to tell him where to go again. Thinking meant going over everything he’d done before, a nightly ritual for him most of the time, as he tried to work out whether his life could have ended differently, or if he was always going to be the kind of person who ended up wandering in the darkness as a disposable explorer, chosen by the Government to do something they wouldn’t let anyone else do.
“Another right.”
More prepared than before, Lorcan checked all the walls around him. They were all open, but he needed to go right, however tempting it was to go against the computer. It might be the way he was able to find a route out of the ruins, although, if he did, was he going to be able to find a way back to the surface? Being deeper than the sea made it that much more complicated, and was probably the main reason they weren’t worried about someone being able to escape if there was a way out.
Glancing left, even though he still couldn’t see anything, he turned right. Had someone else gone the same way as him in the past, so he was simply following their route, and eventually the time would come when Lorcan would step down a path no one had ever been down before. Not that he would know when it was. The computer might have that knowledge, without being able to share it with him.
Walking for what felt like longer than before, Lorcan closed his eyes. It wasn’t as though it mattered whether they were open or closed, the darkness unlike anything he’d seen before. In some ways it was easier to be looking at the soft darkness of his own eyelids, rather than the hard darkness of the ruins around him.
How was it even possible? There was no darkness quite as dark anywhere else, at least not that Lorcan knew of, and it was one of those things he’d learnt about from Granddad. Was it simply his vision, at least when his eyes were open? Closed they couldn’t see anything at all. Granddad would have been fascinated by the ruins. He was the kind of person who would have thrown as many people as necessary at the problem in order to learn as much as possible.
Now Lorcan was one of the people helping with that. Finding answers to a question that was beyond all human understanding, at least right then. Granddad would have wanted him to volunteer for it, and maybe he had, by following the path he’d found himself on, learning more about a different kind of darkness. The darkness someone could have within their soul.
Raking a hand through his hair, Lorcan kept moving. Feeling his hair reminded him he did still exist. He was still a person, walking through a dark ruin, only able to know where he was going thanks to the computer within his suit. Someone might have been able to find their way through a certain distance without help, but why would they try?
Obviously someone had, the first people to find the ruins, walking into a darkness they definitely couldn’t have understood, because they were explorers. It was what they did. No one sane would make the choice to delve deep into the depths the way they had. How was it even possible? Another of the questions he should have asked before.
“Left.”
Going left, not checking the other walls, Lorcan kept walking. What did it matter? He didn’t need to know anything. Someone else was going to learn everything he’d found out, because they’d chosen him as their next explorer. It wasn’t something he’d have ever chosen for himself, but then his choices hadn’t exactly been good ones.
“Do you remember killing him?”
The voice was still the same, but thoughtful. “Killing who?”
“Your list is long. Why did you do it?”
“How long is a piece of string?” Lorcan shrugged. “Pain is sometimes stronger than we are.”
“We are?”
“Humans. Mortals.” He breathed in deeply, half wishing there was someone to look at. “Who are you?”
“Now, that’s an interesting question, but you already know the answer. All you need to do is look deep inside yourself. Who are you? Do you remember dying?”
Switching from female, the voice belonging to the woman upstairs, to male, it seemed as though Lorcan was talking to himself. Another of the many things he wasn’t able to understand. How could the voice change, if everything was programmed to work the way it did? Was it something they were doing to him?
Attempting to turn, to go back, Lorcan found himself trapped in place. Closing his eyes once more, he thought of the questions the voice asked. He’d asked. Who was he? Did he remember dying? How could he remember dying, when he was alive? Deeper than before, memories swirling around him, Lorcan saw himself as he was, long before he found himself in prison.
The man below him was one of the men he’d killed, becoming a serial killer, wanting to find a way to free himself. Only the man didn’t look the way he had before. He looked like Lorcan. Lorcan killed Lorcan. It was the same for every memory. He saw things as they were, as they’d been, and how they were going to be.
Within the prison there were hundreds of Lorcans. Some were the prisoners, all of them arrested for one crime or another, placed together to pay for their bad choices. Others were the guards, watching over the other Lorcans, as Lorcan, the true Lorcan, tried to understand what he was seeing. Was the voice being controlled by something, trying to make him lose his sanity, so he’d spend the rest of his life, however short it would end up being, running through the darkness, never to find his way out?
“Insanity is an interesting theory, but, no, my task is not to break you in that way. You are to know the truth, the whole truth, and make a decision, as you are the next to walk these paths. The next to find their way into the abyss. Do you remember why you created it? Do you understand who you are?”
Lorcan shook his head. It was obvious he didn’t understand who he was, but he knew where to find the answers, if the voice was right, and maybe the voice was right. He breathed in deeply, trying to find his centre, another of the things his grandfather taught him, when he was younger. Controlling his more negative emotions was important, only then he’d lost his centre with his grandfather.
Finding it once more was the beginning. Going back to that lesson, Lorcan found himself looking at himself. His grandfather was him too, a hard thing to ignore, but he managed it, as he heard the right choice in his head, rather than his own. Although, if he was honest with himself, his grandfather almost sounded like he would if he was many years older.
Connecting with the control he’d lost, Lorcan opened his eyes, and it was as though he was able to see the truth for the first time in his life. He was in the middle of what looked to be some kind of nebula, alone like he’d always been, something slowly becoming more painful, as the years passed by. Years, decades, centuries, millennia. Everything was the same way it had always been.
Earth almost called to him, looking as it always had. Beautiful. Lush. Home to animals, and nothing more. Going down to it, Lorcan walked through the trees, breathing in the air, and thought about what to do next. How was he going to change things for the better? Was it even possible?
The animals didn’t seem to fear him. One, a wolf, moved closer. It didn’t have a name then, but Lorcan knew it as it had become, a dog. The kind of pet he’d once had when he was younger, until the time came when it left him too, the pain probably what ended up breaking him. Death was complicated, in so many ways.
Petting the wolf, Lorcan thought of what his future was going to hold. Nothing in the universe. He was alone, and would always be alone, unless he did something to change that future. It wasn’t as though he couldn’t. Leaving the wolf with one last scratch behind the ears, he delved deep into Earth.
Going through the layers, deep enough it was likely never to be found, Lorcan started work. If it was it needed to be a safe place, for those who learnt the whole truth about who he was. Somewhere he could make the choice once more, if it was right to keep up with things as they were. Maybe the time would come when he’d bring an end to it all, but there was no way of knowing if it would happen, or when it would be, or who might make the choice, in the end.
Little by little, he created the ‘ruin’. The abyss. A hiding place for the truth. It wouldn’t be easy to find, but those who did would learn everything. From the beginning to that moment, as they stood within the darkness, making a decision that might change everything, the very way he’d made a decision he knew would change everything for the best.
Moving from the ruin to the surface once more, Lorcan started work on the next stage. Beings made from his consciousness, slowly dwindling himself down to nothing, and yet he was everything. He was everyone. Man, woman, child. Not the animals. They were something else entirely, but it didn’t matter, because finally he felt like he’d made the right choice.
As he had that thought he let himself forget. Lorcan no longer knew who he was. He was simply another human, and from there came the billions who inhabited Earth, all of them part of the beginning. Unlike anyone else he knew the whole truth about the world. Others had made the same journey, learnt the same truth, with none of them making the decision to return.
The darkness was no longer impenetrable. Able to see the ruin, which was better called a maze, somewhere his selves would wander until they touched the truth, the suit becoming part of them in a way it hadn’t been before. Breathing in deeply, Lorcan sat down on the stone. If he left the ruin everything would fade away. Like before he’d be alone, but the worst part was that he’d know he was alone. Maybe he’d remember all the lives he’d lived, able to dwell in those memories, only it would never be the same as it was.
Yet humans had done so much bad. The choice he’d made changed Earth in multiple ways, most of them terrible, and Lorcan knew if he headed back through the maze, gaining all those people as a part of him once more, everything would be different. Earth would return to how it was before - a paradise.
Was he truly willing to be selfish enough to let himself destroy a planet? Biting down on his lip, feeling the pain, he thought of all the lives he’d lived where he’d hurt in one way or another, traumatised by those around him, because they were traumatised themselves. It went down from one generation to the next, Lorcan’s own life a reminder of that, something that broke him.
Others were broken in a similar way. Hence prison. Being sent down to the Sarcophagus, knowing he was likely to die, but death wasn’t the worst possibility, and he’d never known. Never had a way to, the truth hidden in the very deepest depths of Earth, something people were going to keep exploring. Another thing he could keep from happening, if he made the decision to walk back. All it took was him walking back through the maze, to find there was no one there.
No one anywhere. Alone. Closing his eyes, Lorcan thought of the good in the world. It existed. Everywhere. He might not have been able to see it, his own pain that much stronger, but he was able to see it as he sat in the maze, the ruin, the abyss, the sarcophagus, and, more than anything else, the truth.
“How did the others decide?”
“Exactly the way you are. Those who come down here have found life to be the most complicated it could be. It’s part of the reason you’re the ones who need to make the choice. You’re the ones who truly understand pain, in a way those who are happy cannot. They aren’t able to understand how bad things are at times. Yet, as you have thought, there is also good.”
Pain was something Lorcan felt before, as he wandered the universe, searching for someone to be with. To not be alone any longer. Millennia of hunting for that one thing, and in the end he found it, but it wasn’t what he expected it to be. Instead it was a world he was able to claim for his own, to build something, which wasn’t perfect. Nothing could be perfect. He was fallible, so his creation was fallible.
They make mistakes. Lorcan made mistakes, letting the pain get the better of him, and he wasn’t the only one who did. Had it not been for the others, those who made bright choices, he might have made the decision to walk back through the maze, to where she was waiting, only she wouldn’t be there any longer. She’d be one of the first to become part of him again, along with the guards, and anyone else in the facility.
From there it would be the rest of humanity, little by little, until he was the only one left. He wouldn’t be Lorcan anymore. Instead he’d be the wanderer once more, with nothing. Earth would be able to return to how it was, and maybe it was the choice he should make for the planet, but he couldn’t.
Leaving would destroy him. Able to see it, in a way he couldn’t before, he saw how loneliness was slowly transforming him, and that was part of the reason there was both dark and light within the human race. How he might have become dark enough to destroy the entire universe, because it hadn’t given him what he wanted - a companion. Someone to love, the way he’d come to love in so many different ways.
Maybe he would destroy Earth by staying, but surely it was better to sacrifice one planet than it was to sacrifice them all. Lorcan’s decision was made. He stayed sat in the ruins, the same way all the others had done before him, hundreds of them having made a similar choice. They chose the universe over Earth.
They chose their own sanity over anything else. Yes, a selfish choice, and yet it was the logical one. The most logical one for everything. He thought back to the wolf, scratching ears, one animal giving him a moment of something he could never have imagined before. It was then he knew what he needed, in a way he hadn’t before, so he took it. One day he might not need it, but that day hadn’t yet come.

Consciousness returned slowly, the drugs leaving Lorcan’s system, to find he was moving slowly down, the walls around him made of metal. An elevator. He breathed in deeply. There were those who spoke of it, the Sarcophagus, but no one knew the truth. It seemed as though anyone who walked in never returned. None were missed. He wouldn’t be either, the choices he made no longer making him seem human to most others, the end of his life something they wouldn’t be saddened by.
Not even his mother would cry. Lorcan stared at the door. Escaping the elevator was an impossibility, but there may be other chances. Whatever the others said might be nothing more than stories, to spread fear into those who were chosen, the way he’d been. It was his time to be useful. At least that was what they said, so it was likely he’d be given some kind of job to do.
Finally, his consciousness fully his once more, the elevator reached the right stop, and the door opened automatically. Outside were guards. Each held a firearm, pointed directly at Lorcan, something he’d become used to. Stepping out, knowing it was what he was supposed to do, he looked at each of them in turn, before the sound of footsteps started to come from in front of him. At the same time, the elevator started to move back up.
Glancing back, no sign of an easy route to follow the elevator, Lorcan waited, the footsteps likely belonging to the person who’d explain it all to him. When they stepped into the light, a young woman who looked as though she was barely out of college, he raised an eyebrow. She didn’t seem to pay any attention to his reaction.
“Lorcan O’Connell?” Who else was it going to be? Nodding, not wanting to anger her on the first day, he studied her. “You have been brought to the Sarcophagus to assist us in our research.” She gestured for him to follow her, as though he had any other choice, the guards gently urging him in that direction. “This facility is somewhere you will not be able to escape. Your escapades are well known to us, Mr. O’Connell.”
Saying nothing, certain he wasn’t meant to, Lorcan kept his eyes on where they were going. The guards were watching him closely, but if he was there to assist with some kind of research it was likely he’d be dealing with scientists. All it took was for one of them to make a mistake.
“You, of course, don’t believe me, but you may when I explain more about the work you are to be doing.” She glanced back. “There have been those who thought they may be able to use me as their route out. It didn’t work out for them, and it won’t work out for you.” There was a certainty in her voice Lorcan had never heard before. “Whatever you may imagine I was chosen for a reason. Yes, I am young. However, my father has been working on learning more for many years now, and he is no longer able to deal with the depth.
“We are deep under the sea.” He stared at her back. “This is the deepest I believe any humans have ever been. During one of my father’s journeys down here, he found something. Sadly, due to a lack of understanding of what it was, both his companions died, and it was then he started to understand there was so much more to it than he could have imagined.
“Now, after many years of studying, we understand better. At some point in our distant past someone, or something, built something down here. Father believes it may be some kind of temple, connected to an old god, but, so far, the only thing we are certain of is that we haven’t yet explored everything.
“It’s below us, deeper than we are, and you’re our next explorer. You’ll be going into the ruins. There will be no lights. One of the strangest things about the ruins is light sources of all kinds are useless. In the early days we tried them all, attempting to find a solution to the problem. Back when Father first found it they used ropes, believing it would be enough, and finding it wasn’t the case.
“Before you’re sent in you’ll be given a suit, which uses sound waves in order for you to navigate, similar to a bat. We know these work, although, so far, we haven’t had anyone return to us. We simply have an expanded map, with another disappearance to add to the list. You may be an exception to the rule, Mr. O’Connell.”
That seemed unlikely. Was he permitted to ask questions? Lorcan raked a hand through his hair, eyes still on the back of the woman leading him through the facility, someone who’d never given him a name. What did it matter, when it was obvious he was going to be lost within the ruins like all the others? How many had there been, through the years, so it got to the point where everyone knew about it?
“So far you’ve been very quiet. It’s not unusual. Finding out where you are often has that effect on people, but I am willing to answer any questions you may have at this point, if I have the answers to give you.”
“Does anything actually matter?” Lorcan shook his head when she glanced back at him, her eyes emotionless. “You can answer my questions, but I’m going to walk into that ruin alone, knowing I’m never going to return. Anything you tell me right now means nothing.”
“Maybe it does. Some have been fascinated by the very idea of the ruin, believing they will be the one to find their way out. You, on the other hand, have gone in the opposite direction, not willing to think it’s possible you might be an exception, and therefore all of this means nothing to you. I have found this has an effect on how much deeper you can get. Those who have seen themselves being different have been lost to us far sooner.”
“Have you never been scared one of us might come back out?”
“Why scared? Mr. O’Connell, if one of you does end up becoming the exception to the rule it will change everything for us.” She stopped, turning to look at me, her eyes on mine. “I have no doubt what you think of us, and the decisions we’ve made in order to map these ruins. Had they been anywhere else I’m certain the Government would have closed them up a long time ago. Instead they keep sending you to us, in order to understand more.
“Understanding is more important than I think you could possibly understand. How were they made? Does this mean there were civilisations who were able to get down this deep in order to build their temples? We know so little, and the very thought of one of you returning is something we haven’t dared to have, as there have been hundreds lost. Too many. At times I’ve argued against this, saying it would be best to stop, yet there are those who argue we can’t.
“Not until we know what’s in there. If it’s something dangerous then we need to find a way to stop it, although I have no reason to think it’s something we could do easily. More than anything I want someone to be the exception, to find their way back to tell us what they’ve found, but every time it doesn’t happen my belief it can die a little more.
“One day, I have to believe, something will change, and the person we sent into the ruins will come back. If I didn’t I’d not be able to do my job, something I have to admit I sometimes wish wasn’t mine at all, but I am the only person who followed in Father’s footsteps. He’s unwilling to give up, the same way the Government is.”
“Leading to us being… disposable. We made bad choices in our lives, so it doesn’t matter if we don’t return. If it was someone else everything would be different.”
“Yes, it would, and I don’t see you as disposable, Mr. O’Connell. I want you to return.” She stepped over to a locker, taking out a suit that looked like it might have been based on those divers wore. “Please remove your clothes, and put on the suit, ready to make your journey into the ruin.”
Blinking, Lorcan took it. “You want me to strip right here?”
“It’s nothing we haven’t all seen before.”
Shrugging, certain it didn’t matter, he stripped off his prison wear, slowly shimmying into the suit. As he did she was focused on a screen instead of him, while the guards all had their firearms still pointed at him. There was no way of knowing what he might do, although it wasn’t like he’d try taking on multiple guards at the same time, when he did have a chance of finding a way out down there. Maybe that was why no one returned.
Pulling the hood over his head, a small headphone slipped into his ear. “Let me know if you can hear the voice of the computer.” She tapped a couple of points on the screen. “Should be coming over to you in a second.”
“Good afternoon, Mr. O’Connell.”
“I can hear it.”
Nodding, she looked at him one last time. “This is where you start. Please continue to follow the path. You’ll find a point where the lights stop. When that happens you’ve reached the ruins.”
Breathing in deeply, Lorcan took a moment to work through his emotions, preparing for what leaving probably meant. They didn’t push him to move, seeming to understand the situation. Instead they gave him that time. Maybe she did actually want one of them to return, and saw him as their chance for it to happen. It was impossible to know for certain.
Starting down the path, in silence, Lorcan didn’t look back at any point. All he’d see were those guards, still pointing their firearms at him, ready to shoot at any point should it be necessary, and it wasn’t. He was willing to do what they wanted him to, however illogical it was for them to keep sending people down into a ruin they knew probably killed anyone who entered it.
Reaching the darkness took a few minutes, enough time to put a lot of distance between them and anything that did come out, because if there wasn’t something in there why was no one ever finding their way back… or to somewhere else entirely. Maybe there were, and somewhere within was some kind of teleporter that would take him somewhere else entirely.
Lorcan laughed at himself. Granddad was the one who read him stories about other worlds, up until he wasn’t there anymore, his death hitting hard. The memories were still painful. He sighed, pushing them back, the way he always did. Mom was the one who tried to use that as the explanation for how he’d got himself into the position he was, and maybe it did have something to do with it. If it hadn’t been so sudden, one moment here and the next gone, it might have been easier. Only death was never easy.
Understanding that pain should have been the reason he never forced it on to someone else. Instead Lorcan found himself in a dark place, wanting everyone to hurt the way he did. Some said everything would have been different had he been in therapy, able to actually talk to someone, working through those emotions.
They were probably wrong. Even though it was rare Lorcan thought it was much more likely there was something wrong inside him. If there wasn’t he might have cared when he killed those people. Granddad was the one person he’d truly cared about, and losing him… well, it was an inevitability. All mortals died. Even he would, potentially in the ruins he had almost reached.
It was probably for the best he was there. At least his death would mean something, to those who wanted to understand what was there. Reaching the point where all light stopped, Lorcan gave himself another moment, knowing when he stepped into the darkness everything was going to be different.
Finally, after longer than he should have waited, he stepped into the darkness, losing all sight in the second it took. Touching the wall with one hand, Lorcan at least knew he was somewhere. It wasn’t all a hoax. He breathed in deeply, slowly, running his hand over the cold stone.
“Walk forward, Mr. O’Connell, until I tell you to turn.”
Doing as he was told, the easiest task, Lorcan thought of the woman who’d sent him down there. How similar her voice was to that of the computer. Maybe they’d used her to create it, because she had made the decision to take over from her father, so those who started wandering the ruins would at least have some consistency.
“Left here.”
Knowing he should do what he was told straight away, Lorcan still reached out with one hand to see if there was a wall on the right. There was. Interesting. Going left, the silence lasting longer than it had before, he found himself wondering how large the ruin was. He didn’t have any idea of what it looked like. Maybe he should have asked more questions. Ignoring the fact he was walking into something he knew nothing about was stupid.
“Right now.”
Once again Lorcan reached out for the other wall, realising there was nothing there. As he turned his arm brushed against a wall in front of him, so he’d been moments away from walking directly into a wall, something he definitely would have done had he not reacted differently to the voice.
“You could give me a little more warning.” It wasn’t going to be able to hear him, probably programmed not to say anything more than it did. “Unless you want me to break my nose on a wall.”
There was no response. Exactly what he expected. Lorcan kept walking, not feeling anywhere near close to tired, which might have something to do with the suit. Hopefully there was also something within it that would stop him from becoming hungry or thirsty, otherwise there were going to be issues in the future.
Sighing, Lorcan knew there was nothing else he could do, other than think and wait for the suit to tell him where to go again. Thinking meant going over everything he’d done before, a nightly ritual for him most of the time, as he tried to work out whether his life could have ended differently, or if he was always going to be the kind of person who ended up wandering in the darkness as a disposable explorer, chosen by the Government to do something they wouldn’t let anyone else do.
“Another right.”
More prepared than before, Lorcan checked all the walls around him. They were all open, but he needed to go right, however tempting it was to go against the computer. It might be the way he was able to find a route out of the ruins, although, if he did, was he going to be able to find a way back to the surface? Being deeper than the sea made it that much more complicated, and was probably the main reason they weren’t worried about someone being able to escape if there was a way out.
Glancing left, even though he still couldn’t see anything, he turned right. Had someone else gone the same way as him in the past, so he was simply following their route, and eventually the time would come when Lorcan would step down a path no one had ever been down before. Not that he would know when it was. The computer might have that knowledge, without being able to share it with him.
Walking for what felt like longer than before, Lorcan closed his eyes. It wasn’t as though it mattered whether they were open or closed, the darkness unlike anything he’d seen before. In some ways it was easier to be looking at the soft darkness of his own eyelids, rather than the hard darkness of the ruins around him.
How was it even possible? There was no darkness quite as dark anywhere else, at least not that Lorcan knew of, and it was one of those things he’d learnt about from Granddad. Was it simply his vision, at least when his eyes were open? Closed they couldn’t see anything at all. Granddad would have been fascinated by the ruins. He was the kind of person who would have thrown as many people as necessary at the problem in order to learn as much as possible.
Now Lorcan was one of the people helping with that. Finding answers to a question that was beyond all human understanding, at least right then. Granddad would have wanted him to volunteer for it, and maybe he had, by following the path he’d found himself on, learning more about a different kind of darkness. The darkness someone could have within their soul.
Raking a hand through his hair, Lorcan kept moving. Feeling his hair reminded him he did still exist. He was still a person, walking through a dark ruin, only able to know where he was going thanks to the computer within his suit. Someone might have been able to find their way through a certain distance without help, but why would they try?
Obviously someone had, the first people to find the ruins, walking into a darkness they definitely couldn’t have understood, because they were explorers. It was what they did. No one sane would make the choice to delve deep into the depths the way they had. How was it even possible? Another of the questions he should have asked before.
“Left.”
Going left, not checking the other walls, Lorcan kept walking. What did it matter? He didn’t need to know anything. Someone else was going to learn everything he’d found out, because they’d chosen him as their next explorer. It wasn’t something he’d have ever chosen for himself, but then his choices hadn’t exactly been good ones.
“Do you remember killing him?”
The voice was still the same, but thoughtful. “Killing who?”
“Your list is long. Why did you do it?”
“How long is a piece of string?” Lorcan shrugged. “Pain is sometimes stronger than we are.”
“We are?”
“Humans. Mortals.” He breathed in deeply, half wishing there was someone to look at. “Who are you?”
“Now, that’s an interesting question, but you already know the answer. All you need to do is look deep inside yourself. Who are you? Do you remember dying?”
Switching from female, the voice belonging to the woman upstairs, to male, it seemed as though Lorcan was talking to himself. Another of the many things he wasn’t able to understand. How could the voice change, if everything was programmed to work the way it did? Was it something they were doing to him?
Attempting to turn, to go back, Lorcan found himself trapped in place. Closing his eyes once more, he thought of the questions the voice asked. He’d asked. Who was he? Did he remember dying? How could he remember dying, when he was alive? Deeper than before, memories swirling around him, Lorcan saw himself as he was, long before he found himself in prison.
The man below him was one of the men he’d killed, becoming a serial killer, wanting to find a way to free himself. Only the man didn’t look the way he had before. He looked like Lorcan. Lorcan killed Lorcan. It was the same for every memory. He saw things as they were, as they’d been, and how they were going to be.
Within the prison there were hundreds of Lorcans. Some were the prisoners, all of them arrested for one crime or another, placed together to pay for their bad choices. Others were the guards, watching over the other Lorcans, as Lorcan, the true Lorcan, tried to understand what he was seeing. Was the voice being controlled by something, trying to make him lose his sanity, so he’d spend the rest of his life, however short it would end up being, running through the darkness, never to find his way out?
“Insanity is an interesting theory, but, no, my task is not to break you in that way. You are to know the truth, the whole truth, and make a decision, as you are the next to walk these paths. The next to find their way into the abyss. Do you remember why you created it? Do you understand who you are?”
Lorcan shook his head. It was obvious he didn’t understand who he was, but he knew where to find the answers, if the voice was right, and maybe the voice was right. He breathed in deeply, trying to find his centre, another of the things his grandfather taught him, when he was younger. Controlling his more negative emotions was important, only then he’d lost his centre with his grandfather.
Finding it once more was the beginning. Going back to that lesson, Lorcan found himself looking at himself. His grandfather was him too, a hard thing to ignore, but he managed it, as he heard the right choice in his head, rather than his own. Although, if he was honest with himself, his grandfather almost sounded like he would if he was many years older.
Connecting with the control he’d lost, Lorcan opened his eyes, and it was as though he was able to see the truth for the first time in his life. He was in the middle of what looked to be some kind of nebula, alone like he’d always been, something slowly becoming more painful, as the years passed by. Years, decades, centuries, millennia. Everything was the same way it had always been.
Earth almost called to him, looking as it always had. Beautiful. Lush. Home to animals, and nothing more. Going down to it, Lorcan walked through the trees, breathing in the air, and thought about what to do next. How was he going to change things for the better? Was it even possible?
The animals didn’t seem to fear him. One, a wolf, moved closer. It didn’t have a name then, but Lorcan knew it as it had become, a dog. The kind of pet he’d once had when he was younger, until the time came when it left him too, the pain probably what ended up breaking him. Death was complicated, in so many ways.
Petting the wolf, Lorcan thought of what his future was going to hold. Nothing in the universe. He was alone, and would always be alone, unless he did something to change that future. It wasn’t as though he couldn’t. Leaving the wolf with one last scratch behind the ears, he delved deep into Earth.
Going through the layers, deep enough it was likely never to be found, Lorcan started work. If it was it needed to be a safe place, for those who learnt the whole truth about who he was. Somewhere he could make the choice once more, if it was right to keep up with things as they were. Maybe the time would come when he’d bring an end to it all, but there was no way of knowing if it would happen, or when it would be, or who might make the choice, in the end.
Little by little, he created the ‘ruin’. The abyss. A hiding place for the truth. It wouldn’t be easy to find, but those who did would learn everything. From the beginning to that moment, as they stood within the darkness, making a decision that might change everything, the very way he’d made a decision he knew would change everything for the best.
Moving from the ruin to the surface once more, Lorcan started work on the next stage. Beings made from his consciousness, slowly dwindling himself down to nothing, and yet he was everything. He was everyone. Man, woman, child. Not the animals. They were something else entirely, but it didn’t matter, because finally he felt like he’d made the right choice.
As he had that thought he let himself forget. Lorcan no longer knew who he was. He was simply another human, and from there came the billions who inhabited Earth, all of them part of the beginning. Unlike anyone else he knew the whole truth about the world. Others had made the same journey, learnt the same truth, with none of them making the decision to return.
The darkness was no longer impenetrable. Able to see the ruin, which was better called a maze, somewhere his selves would wander until they touched the truth, the suit becoming part of them in a way it hadn’t been before. Breathing in deeply, Lorcan sat down on the stone. If he left the ruin everything would fade away. Like before he’d be alone, but the worst part was that he’d know he was alone. Maybe he’d remember all the lives he’d lived, able to dwell in those memories, only it would never be the same as it was.
Yet humans had done so much bad. The choice he’d made changed Earth in multiple ways, most of them terrible, and Lorcan knew if he headed back through the maze, gaining all those people as a part of him once more, everything would be different. Earth would return to how it was before - a paradise.
Was he truly willing to be selfish enough to let himself destroy a planet? Biting down on his lip, feeling the pain, he thought of all the lives he’d lived where he’d hurt in one way or another, traumatised by those around him, because they were traumatised themselves. It went down from one generation to the next, Lorcan’s own life a reminder of that, something that broke him.
Others were broken in a similar way. Hence prison. Being sent down to the Sarcophagus, knowing he was likely to die, but death wasn’t the worst possibility, and he’d never known. Never had a way to, the truth hidden in the very deepest depths of Earth, something people were going to keep exploring. Another thing he could keep from happening, if he made the decision to walk back. All it took was him walking back through the maze, to find there was no one there.
No one anywhere. Alone. Closing his eyes, Lorcan thought of the good in the world. It existed. Everywhere. He might not have been able to see it, his own pain that much stronger, but he was able to see it as he sat in the maze, the ruin, the abyss, the sarcophagus, and, more than anything else, the truth.
“How did the others decide?”
“Exactly the way you are. Those who come down here have found life to be the most complicated it could be. It’s part of the reason you’re the ones who need to make the choice. You’re the ones who truly understand pain, in a way those who are happy cannot. They aren’t able to understand how bad things are at times. Yet, as you have thought, there is also good.”
Pain was something Lorcan felt before, as he wandered the universe, searching for someone to be with. To not be alone any longer. Millennia of hunting for that one thing, and in the end he found it, but it wasn’t what he expected it to be. Instead it was a world he was able to claim for his own, to build something, which wasn’t perfect. Nothing could be perfect. He was fallible, so his creation was fallible.
They make mistakes. Lorcan made mistakes, letting the pain get the better of him, and he wasn’t the only one who did. Had it not been for the others, those who made bright choices, he might have made the decision to walk back through the maze, to where she was waiting, only she wouldn’t be there any longer. She’d be one of the first to become part of him again, along with the guards, and anyone else in the facility.
From there it would be the rest of humanity, little by little, until he was the only one left. He wouldn’t be Lorcan anymore. Instead he’d be the wanderer once more, with nothing. Earth would be able to return to how it was, and maybe it was the choice he should make for the planet, but he couldn’t.
Leaving would destroy him. Able to see it, in a way he couldn’t before, he saw how loneliness was slowly transforming him, and that was part of the reason there was both dark and light within the human race. How he might have become dark enough to destroy the entire universe, because it hadn’t given him what he wanted - a companion. Someone to love, the way he’d come to love in so many different ways.
Maybe he would destroy Earth by staying, but surely it was better to sacrifice one planet than it was to sacrifice them all. Lorcan’s decision was made. He stayed sat in the ruins, the same way all the others had done before him, hundreds of them having made a similar choice. They chose the universe over Earth.
They chose their own sanity over anything else. Yes, a selfish choice, and yet it was the logical one. The most logical one for everything. He thought back to the wolf, scratching ears, one animal giving him a moment of something he could never have imagined before. It was then he knew what he needed, in a way he hadn’t before, so he took it. One day he might not need it, but that day hadn’t yet come.

Consciousness returned slowly, the drugs leaving Lorcan’s system, to find he was moving slowly down, the walls around him made of metal. An elevator. He breathed in deeply. There were those who spoke of it, the Sarcophagus, but no one knew the truth. It seemed as though anyone who walked in never returned. None were missed. He wouldn’t be either, the choices he made no longer making him seem human to most others, the end of his life something they wouldn’t be saddened by.
Not even his mother would cry. Lorcan stared at the door. Escaping the elevator was an impossibility, but there may be other chances. Whatever the others said might be nothing more than stories, to spread fear into those who were chosen, the way he’d been. It was his time to be useful. At least that was what they said, so it was likely he’d be given some kind of job to do.
Finally, his consciousness fully his once more, the elevator reached the right stop, and the door opened automatically. Outside were guards. Each held a firearm, pointed directly at Lorcan, something he’d become used to. Stepping out, knowing it was what he was supposed to do, he looked at each of them in turn, before the sound of footsteps started to come from in front of him. At the same time, the elevator started to move back up.
Glancing back, no sign of an easy route to follow the elevator, Lorcan waited, the footsteps likely belonging to the person who’d explain it all to him. When they stepped into the light, a young woman who looked as though she was barely out of college, he raised an eyebrow. She didn’t seem to pay any attention to his reaction.
“Lorcan O’Connell?” Who else was it going to be? Nodding, not wanting to anger her on the first day, he studied her. “You have been brought to the Sarcophagus to assist us in our research.” She gestured for him to follow her, as though he had any other choice, the guards gently urging him in that direction. “This facility is somewhere you will not be able to escape. Your escapades are well known to us, Mr. O’Connell.”
Saying nothing, certain he wasn’t meant to, Lorcan kept his eyes on where they were going. The guards were watching him closely, but if he was there to assist with some kind of research it was likely he’d be dealing with scientists. All it took was for one of them to make a mistake.
“You, of course, don’t believe me, but you may when I explain more about the work you are to be doing.” She glanced back. “There have been those who thought they may be able to use me as their route out. It didn’t work out for them, and it won’t work out for you.” There was a certainty in her voice Lorcan had never heard before. “Whatever you may imagine I was chosen for a reason. Yes, I am young. However, my father has been working on learning more for many years now, and he is no longer able to deal with the depth.
“We are deep under the sea.” He stared at her back. “This is the deepest I believe any humans have ever been. During one of my father’s journeys down here, he found something. Sadly, due to a lack of understanding of what it was, both his companions died, and it was then he started to understand there was so much more to it than he could have imagined.
“Now, after many years of studying, we understand better. At some point in our distant past someone, or something, built something down here. Father believes it may be some kind of temple, connected to an old god, but, so far, the only thing we are certain of is that we haven’t yet explored everything.
“It’s below us, deeper than we are, and you’re our next explorer. You’ll be going into the ruins. There will be no lights. One of the strangest things about the ruins is light sources of all kinds are useless. In the early days we tried them all, attempting to find a solution to the problem. Back when Father first found it they used ropes, believing it would be enough, and finding it wasn’t the case.
“Before you’re sent in you’ll be given a suit, which uses sound waves in order for you to navigate, similar to a bat. We know these work, although, so far, we haven’t had anyone return to us. We simply have an expanded map, with another disappearance to add to the list. You may be an exception to the rule, Mr. O’Connell.”
That seemed unlikely. Was he permitted to ask questions? Lorcan raked a hand through his hair, eyes still on the back of the woman leading him through the facility, someone who’d never given him a name. What did it matter, when it was obvious he was going to be lost within the ruins like all the others? How many had there been, through the years, so it got to the point where everyone knew about it?
“So far you’ve been very quiet. It’s not unusual. Finding out where you are often has that effect on people, but I am willing to answer any questions you may have at this point, if I have the answers to give you.”
“Does anything actually matter?” Lorcan shook his head when she glanced back at him, her eyes emotionless. “You can answer my questions, but I’m going to walk into that ruin alone, knowing I’m never going to return. Anything you tell me right now means nothing.”
“Maybe it does. Some have been fascinated by the very idea of the ruin, believing they will be the one to find their way out. You, on the other hand, have gone in the opposite direction, not willing to think it’s possible you might be an exception, and therefore all of this means nothing to you. I have found this has an effect on how much deeper you can get. Those who have seen themselves being different have been lost to us far sooner.”
“Have you never been scared one of us might come back out?”
“Why scared? Mr. O’Connell, if one of you does end up becoming the exception to the rule it will change everything for us.” She stopped, turning to look at me, her eyes on mine. “I have no doubt what you think of us, and the decisions we’ve made in order to map these ruins. Had they been anywhere else I’m certain the Government would have closed them up a long time ago. Instead they keep sending you to us, in order to understand more.
“Understanding is more important than I think you could possibly understand. How were they made? Does this mean there were civilisations who were able to get down this deep in order to build their temples? We know so little, and the very thought of one of you returning is something we haven’t dared to have, as there have been hundreds lost. Too many. At times I’ve argued against this, saying it would be best to stop, yet there are those who argue we can’t.
“Not until we know what’s in there. If it’s something dangerous then we need to find a way to stop it, although I have no reason to think it’s something we could do easily. More than anything I want someone to be the exception, to find their way back to tell us what they’ve found, but every time it doesn’t happen my belief it can die a little more.
“One day, I have to believe, something will change, and the person we sent into the ruins will come back. If I didn’t I’d not be able to do my job, something I have to admit I sometimes wish wasn’t mine at all, but I am the only person who followed in Father’s footsteps. He’s unwilling to give up, the same way the Government is.”
“Leading to us being… disposable. We made bad choices in our lives, so it doesn’t matter if we don’t return. If it was someone else everything would be different.”
“Yes, it would, and I don’t see you as disposable, Mr. O’Connell. I want you to return.” She stepped over to a locker, taking out a suit that looked like it might have been based on those divers wore. “Please remove your clothes, and put on the suit, ready to make your journey into the ruin.”
Blinking, Lorcan took it. “You want me to strip right here?”
“It’s nothing we haven’t all seen before.”
Shrugging, certain it didn’t matter, he stripped off his prison wear, slowly shimmying into the suit. As he did she was focused on a screen instead of him, while the guards all had their firearms still pointed at him. There was no way of knowing what he might do, although it wasn’t like he’d try taking on multiple guards at the same time, when he did have a chance of finding a way out down there. Maybe that was why no one returned.
Pulling the hood over his head, a small headphone slipped into his ear. “Let me know if you can hear the voice of the computer.” She tapped a couple of points on the screen. “Should be coming over to you in a second.”
“Good afternoon, Mr. O’Connell.”
“I can hear it.”
Nodding, she looked at him one last time. “This is where you start. Please continue to follow the path. You’ll find a point where the lights stop. When that happens you’ve reached the ruins.”
Breathing in deeply, Lorcan took a moment to work through his emotions, preparing for what leaving probably meant. They didn’t push him to move, seeming to understand the situation. Instead they gave him that time. Maybe she did actually want one of them to return, and saw him as their chance for it to happen. It was impossible to know for certain.
Starting down the path, in silence, Lorcan didn’t look back at any point. All he’d see were those guards, still pointing their firearms at him, ready to shoot at any point should it be necessary, and it wasn’t. He was willing to do what they wanted him to, however illogical it was for them to keep sending people down into a ruin they knew probably killed anyone who entered it.
Reaching the darkness took a few minutes, enough time to put a lot of distance between them and anything that did come out, because if there wasn’t something in there why was no one ever finding their way back… or to somewhere else entirely. Maybe there were, and somewhere within was some kind of teleporter that would take him somewhere else entirely.
Lorcan laughed at himself. Granddad was the one who read him stories about other worlds, up until he wasn’t there anymore, his death hitting hard. The memories were still painful. He sighed, pushing them back, the way he always did. Mom was the one who tried to use that as the explanation for how he’d got himself into the position he was, and maybe it did have something to do with it. If it hadn’t been so sudden, one moment here and the next gone, it might have been easier. Only death was never easy.
Understanding that pain should have been the reason he never forced it on to someone else. Instead Lorcan found himself in a dark place, wanting everyone to hurt the way he did. Some said everything would have been different had he been in therapy, able to actually talk to someone, working through those emotions.
They were probably wrong. Even though it was rare Lorcan thought it was much more likely there was something wrong inside him. If there wasn’t he might have cared when he killed those people. Granddad was the one person he’d truly cared about, and losing him… well, it was an inevitability. All mortals died. Even he would, potentially in the ruins he had almost reached.
It was probably for the best he was there. At least his death would mean something, to those who wanted to understand what was there. Reaching the point where all light stopped, Lorcan gave himself another moment, knowing when he stepped into the darkness everything was going to be different.
Finally, after longer than he should have waited, he stepped into the darkness, losing all sight in the second it took. Touching the wall with one hand, Lorcan at least knew he was somewhere. It wasn’t all a hoax. He breathed in deeply, slowly, running his hand over the cold stone.
“Walk forward, Mr. O’Connell, until I tell you to turn.”
Doing as he was told, the easiest task, Lorcan thought of the woman who’d sent him down there. How similar her voice was to that of the computer. Maybe they’d used her to create it, because she had made the decision to take over from her father, so those who started wandering the ruins would at least have some consistency.
“Left here.”
Knowing he should do what he was told straight away, Lorcan still reached out with one hand to see if there was a wall on the right. There was. Interesting. Going left, the silence lasting longer than it had before, he found himself wondering how large the ruin was. He didn’t have any idea of what it looked like. Maybe he should have asked more questions. Ignoring the fact he was walking into something he knew nothing about was stupid.
“Right now.”
Once again Lorcan reached out for the other wall, realising there was nothing there. As he turned his arm brushed against a wall in front of him, so he’d been moments away from walking directly into a wall, something he definitely would have done had he not reacted differently to the voice.
“You could give me a little more warning.” It wasn’t going to be able to hear him, probably programmed not to say anything more than it did. “Unless you want me to break my nose on a wall.”
There was no response. Exactly what he expected. Lorcan kept walking, not feeling anywhere near close to tired, which might have something to do with the suit. Hopefully there was also something within it that would stop him from becoming hungry or thirsty, otherwise there were going to be issues in the future.
Sighing, Lorcan knew there was nothing else he could do, other than think and wait for the suit to tell him where to go again. Thinking meant going over everything he’d done before, a nightly ritual for him most of the time, as he tried to work out whether his life could have ended differently, or if he was always going to be the kind of person who ended up wandering in the darkness as a disposable explorer, chosen by the Government to do something they wouldn’t let anyone else do.
“Another right.”
More prepared than before, Lorcan checked all the walls around him. They were all open, but he needed to go right, however tempting it was to go against the computer. It might be the way he was able to find a route out of the ruins, although, if he did, was he going to be able to find a way back to the surface? Being deeper than the sea made it that much more complicated, and was probably the main reason they weren’t worried about someone being able to escape if there was a way out.
Glancing left, even though he still couldn’t see anything, he turned right. Had someone else gone the same way as him in the past, so he was simply following their route, and eventually the time would come when Lorcan would step down a path no one had ever been down before. Not that he would know when it was. The computer might have that knowledge, without being able to share it with him.
Walking for what felt like longer than before, Lorcan closed his eyes. It wasn’t as though it mattered whether they were open or closed, the darkness unlike anything he’d seen before. In some ways it was easier to be looking at the soft darkness of his own eyelids, rather than the hard darkness of the ruins around him.
How was it even possible? There was no darkness quite as dark anywhere else, at least not that Lorcan knew of, and it was one of those things he’d learnt about from Granddad. Was it simply his vision, at least when his eyes were open? Closed they couldn’t see anything at all. Granddad would have been fascinated by the ruins. He was the kind of person who would have thrown as many people as necessary at the problem in order to learn as much as possible.
Now Lorcan was one of the people helping with that. Finding answers to a question that was beyond all human understanding, at least right then. Granddad would have wanted him to volunteer for it, and maybe he had, by following the path he’d found himself on, learning more about a different kind of darkness. The darkness someone could have within their soul.
Raking a hand through his hair, Lorcan kept moving. Feeling his hair reminded him he did still exist. He was still a person, walking through a dark ruin, only able to know where he was going thanks to the computer within his suit. Someone might have been able to find their way through a certain distance without help, but why would they try?
Obviously someone had, the first people to find the ruins, walking into a darkness they definitely couldn’t have understood, because they were explorers. It was what they did. No one sane would make the choice to delve deep into the depths the way they had. How was it even possible? Another of the questions he should have asked before.
“Left.”
Going left, not checking the other walls, Lorcan kept walking. What did it matter? He didn’t need to know anything. Someone else was going to learn everything he’d found out, because they’d chosen him as their next explorer. It wasn’t something he’d have ever chosen for himself, but then his choices hadn’t exactly been good ones.
“Do you remember killing him?”
The voice was still the same, but thoughtful. “Killing who?”
“Your list is long. Why did you do it?”
“How long is a piece of string?” Lorcan shrugged. “Pain is sometimes stronger than we are.”
“We are?”
“Humans. Mortals.” He breathed in deeply, half wishing there was someone to look at. “Who are you?”
“Now, that’s an interesting question, but you already know the answer. All you need to do is look deep inside yourself. Who are you? Do you remember dying?”
Switching from female, the voice belonging to the woman upstairs, to male, it seemed as though Lorcan was talking to himself. Another of the many things he wasn’t able to understand. How could the voice change, if everything was programmed to work the way it did? Was it something they were doing to him?
Attempting to turn, to go back, Lorcan found himself trapped in place. Closing his eyes once more, he thought of the questions the voice asked. He’d asked. Who was he? Did he remember dying? How could he remember dying, when he was alive? Deeper than before, memories swirling around him, Lorcan saw himself as he was, long before he found himself in prison.
The man below him was one of the men he’d killed, becoming a serial killer, wanting to find a way to free himself. Only the man didn’t look the way he had before. He looked like Lorcan. Lorcan killed Lorcan. It was the same for every memory. He saw things as they were, as they’d been, and how they were going to be.
Within the prison there were hundreds of Lorcans. Some were the prisoners, all of them arrested for one crime or another, placed together to pay for their bad choices. Others were the guards, watching over the other Lorcans, as Lorcan, the true Lorcan, tried to understand what he was seeing. Was the voice being controlled by something, trying to make him lose his sanity, so he’d spend the rest of his life, however short it would end up being, running through the darkness, never to find his way out?
“Insanity is an interesting theory, but, no, my task is not to break you in that way. You are to know the truth, the whole truth, and make a decision, as you are the next to walk these paths. The next to find their way into the abyss. Do you remember why you created it? Do you understand who you are?”
Lorcan shook his head. It was obvious he didn’t understand who he was, but he knew where to find the answers, if the voice was right, and maybe the voice was right. He breathed in deeply, trying to find his centre, another of the things his grandfather taught him, when he was younger. Controlling his more negative emotions was important, only then he’d lost his centre with his grandfather.
Finding it once more was the beginning. Going back to that lesson, Lorcan found himself looking at himself. His grandfather was him too, a hard thing to ignore, but he managed it, as he heard the right choice in his head, rather than his own. Although, if he was honest with himself, his grandfather almost sounded like he would if he was many years older.
Connecting with the control he’d lost, Lorcan opened his eyes, and it was as though he was able to see the truth for the first time in his life. He was in the middle of what looked to be some kind of nebula, alone like he’d always been, something slowly becoming more painful, as the years passed by. Years, decades, centuries, millennia. Everything was the same way it had always been.
Earth almost called to him, looking as it always had. Beautiful. Lush. Home to animals, and nothing more. Going down to it, Lorcan walked through the trees, breathing in the air, and thought about what to do next. How was he going to change things for the better? Was it even possible?
The animals didn’t seem to fear him. One, a wolf, moved closer. It didn’t have a name then, but Lorcan knew it as it had become, a dog. The kind of pet he’d once had when he was younger, until the time came when it left him too, the pain probably what ended up breaking him. Death was complicated, in so many ways.
Petting the wolf, Lorcan thought of what his future was going to hold. Nothing in the universe. He was alone, and would always be alone, unless he did something to change that future. It wasn’t as though he couldn’t. Leaving the wolf with one last scratch behind the ears, he delved deep into Earth.
Going through the layers, deep enough it was likely never to be found, Lorcan started work. If it was it needed to be a safe place, for those who learnt the whole truth about who he was. Somewhere he could make the choice once more, if it was right to keep up with things as they were. Maybe the time would come when he’d bring an end to it all, but there was no way of knowing if it would happen, or when it would be, or who might make the choice, in the end.
Little by little, he created the ‘ruin’. The abyss. A hiding place for the truth. It wouldn’t be easy to find, but those who did would learn everything. From the beginning to that moment, as they stood within the darkness, making a decision that might change everything, the very way he’d made a decision he knew would change everything for the best.
Moving from the ruin to the surface once more, Lorcan started work on the next stage. Beings made from his consciousness, slowly dwindling himself down to nothing, and yet he was everything. He was everyone. Man, woman, child. Not the animals. They were something else entirely, but it didn’t matter, because finally he felt like he’d made the right choice.
As he had that thought he let himself forget. Lorcan no longer knew who he was. He was simply another human, and from there came the billions who inhabited Earth, all of them part of the beginning. Unlike anyone else he knew the whole truth about the world. Others had made the same journey, learnt the same truth, with none of them making the decision to return.
The darkness was no longer impenetrable. Able to see the ruin, which was better called a maze, somewhere his selves would wander until they touched the truth, the suit becoming part of them in a way it hadn’t been before. Breathing in deeply, Lorcan sat down on the stone. If he left the ruin everything would fade away. Like before he’d be alone, but the worst part was that he’d know he was alone. Maybe he’d remember all the lives he’d lived, able to dwell in those memories, only it would never be the same as it was.
Yet humans had done so much bad. The choice he’d made changed Earth in multiple ways, most of them terrible, and Lorcan knew if he headed back through the maze, gaining all those people as a part of him once more, everything would be different. Earth would return to how it was before - a paradise.
Was he truly willing to be selfish enough to let himself destroy a planet? Biting down on his lip, feeling the pain, he thought of all the lives he’d lived where he’d hurt in one way or another, traumatised by those around him, because they were traumatised themselves. It went down from one generation to the next, Lorcan’s own life a reminder of that, something that broke him.
Others were broken in a similar way. Hence prison. Being sent down to the Sarcophagus, knowing he was likely to die, but death wasn’t the worst possibility, and he’d never known. Never had a way to, the truth hidden in the very deepest depths of Earth, something people were going to keep exploring. Another thing he could keep from happening, if he made the decision to walk back. All it took was him walking back through the maze, to find there was no one there.
No one anywhere. Alone. Closing his eyes, Lorcan thought of the good in the world. It existed. Everywhere. He might not have been able to see it, his own pain that much stronger, but he was able to see it as he sat in the maze, the ruin, the abyss, the sarcophagus, and, more than anything else, the truth.
“How did the others decide?”
“Exactly the way you are. Those who come down here have found life to be the most complicated it could be. It’s part of the reason you’re the ones who need to make the choice. You’re the ones who truly understand pain, in a way those who are happy cannot. They aren’t able to understand how bad things are at times. Yet, as you have thought, there is also good.”
Pain was something Lorcan felt before, as he wandered the universe, searching for someone to be with. To not be alone any longer. Millennia of hunting for that one thing, and in the end he found it, but it wasn’t what he expected it to be. Instead it was a world he was able to claim for his own, to build something, which wasn’t perfect. Nothing could be perfect. He was fallible, so his creation was fallible.
They make mistakes. Lorcan made mistakes, letting the pain get the better of him, and he wasn’t the only one who did. Had it not been for the others, those who made bright choices, he might have made the decision to walk back through the maze, to where she was waiting, only she wouldn’t be there any longer. She’d be one of the first to become part of him again, along with the guards, and anyone else in the facility.
From there it would be the rest of humanity, little by little, until he was the only one left. He wouldn’t be Lorcan anymore. Instead he’d be the wanderer once more, with nothing. Earth would be able to return to how it was, and maybe it was the choice he should make for the planet, but he couldn’t.
Leaving would destroy him. Able to see it, in a way he couldn’t before, he saw how loneliness was slowly transforming him, and that was part of the reason there was both dark and light within the human race. How he might have become dark enough to destroy the entire universe, because it hadn’t given him what he wanted - a companion. Someone to love, the way he’d come to love in so many different ways.
Maybe he would destroy Earth by staying, but surely it was better to sacrifice one planet than it was to sacrifice them all. Lorcan’s decision was made. He stayed sat in the ruins, the same way all the others had done before him, hundreds of them having made a similar choice. They chose the universe over Earth.
They chose their own sanity over anything else. Yes, a selfish choice, and yet it was the logical one. The most logical one for everything. He thought back to the wolf, scratching ears, one animal giving him a moment of something he could never have imagined before. It was then he knew what he needed, in a way he hadn’t before, so he took it. One day he might not need it, but that day hadn’t yet come.

Consciousness returned slowly, the drugs leaving Lorcan’s system, to find he was moving slowly down, the walls around him made of metal. An elevator. He breathed in deeply. There were those who spoke of it, the Sarcophagus, but no one knew the truth. It seemed as though anyone who walked in never returned. None were missed. He wouldn’t be either, the choices he made no longer making him seem human to most others, the end of his life something they wouldn’t be saddened by.
Not even his mother would cry. Lorcan stared at the door. Escaping the elevator was an impossibility, but there may be other chances. Whatever the others said might be nothing more than stories, to spread fear into those who were chosen, the way he’d been. It was his time to be useful. At least that was what they said, so it was likely he’d be given some kind of job to do.
Finally, his consciousness fully his once more, the elevator reached the right stop, and the door opened automatically. Outside were guards. Each held a firearm, pointed directly at Lorcan, something he’d become used to. Stepping out, knowing it was what he was supposed to do, he looked at each of them in turn, before the sound of footsteps started to come from in front of him. At the same time, the elevator started to move back up.
Glancing back, no sign of an easy route to follow the elevator, Lorcan waited, the footsteps likely belonging to the person who’d explain it all to him. When they stepped into the light, a young woman who looked as though she was barely out of college, he raised an eyebrow. She didn’t seem to pay any attention to his reaction.
“Lorcan O’Connell?” Who else was it going to be? Nodding, not wanting to anger her on the first day, he studied her. “You have been brought to the Sarcophagus to assist us in our research.” She gestured for him to follow her, as though he had any other choice, the guards gently urging him in that direction. “This facility is somewhere you will not be able to escape. Your escapades are well known to us, Mr. O’Connell.”
Saying nothing, certain he wasn’t meant to, Lorcan kept his eyes on where they were going. The guards were watching him closely, but if he was there to assist with some kind of research it was likely he’d be dealing with scientists. All it took was for one of them to make a mistake.
“You, of course, don’t believe me, but you may when I explain more about the work you are to be doing.” She glanced back. “There have been those who thought they may be able to use me as their route out. It didn’t work out for them, and it won’t work out for you.” There was a certainty in her voice Lorcan had never heard before. “Whatever you may imagine I was chosen for a reason. Yes, I am young. However, my father has been working on learning more for many years now, and he is no longer able to deal with the depth.
“We are deep under the sea.” He stared at her back. “This is the deepest I believe any humans have ever been. During one of my father’s journeys down here, he found something. Sadly, due to a lack of understanding of what it was, both his companions died, and it was then he started to understand there was so much more to it than he could have imagined.
“Now, after many years of studying, we understand better. At some point in our distant past someone, or something, built something down here. Father believes it may be some kind of temple, connected to an old god, but, so far, the only thing we are certain of is that we haven’t yet explored everything.
“It’s below us, deeper than we are, and you’re our next explorer. You’ll be going into the ruins. There will be no lights. One of the strangest things about the ruins is light sources of all kinds are useless. In the early days we tried them all, attempting to find a solution to the problem. Back when Father first found it they used ropes, believing it would be enough, and finding it wasn’t the case.
“Before you’re sent in you’ll be given a suit, which uses sound waves in order for you to navigate, similar to a bat. We know these work, although, so far, we haven’t had anyone return to us. We simply have an expanded map, with another disappearance to add to the list. You may be an exception to the rule, Mr. O’Connell.”
That seemed unlikely. Was he permitted to ask questions? Lorcan raked a hand through his hair, eyes still on the back of the woman leading him through the facility, someone who’d never given him a name. What did it matter, when it was obvious he was going to be lost within the ruins like all the others? How many had there been, through the years, so it got to the point where everyone knew about it?
“So far you’ve been very quiet. It’s not unusual. Finding out where you are often has that effect on people, but I am willing to answer any questions you may have at this point, if I have the answers to give you.”
“Does anything actually matter?” Lorcan shook his head when she glanced back at him, her eyes emotionless. “You can answer my questions, but I’m going to walk into that ruin alone, knowing I’m never going to return. Anything you tell me right now means nothing.”
“Maybe it does. Some have been fascinated by the very idea of the ruin, believing they will be the one to find their way out. You, on the other hand, have gone in the opposite direction, not willing to think it’s possible you might be an exception, and therefore all of this means nothing to you. I have found this has an effect on how much deeper you can get. Those who have seen themselves being different have been lost to us far sooner.”
“Have you never been scared one of us might come back out?”
“Why scared? Mr. O’Connell, if one of you does end up becoming the exception to the rule it will change everything for us.” She stopped, turning to look at me, her eyes on mine. “I have no doubt what you think of us, and the decisions we’ve made in order to map these ruins. Had they been anywhere else I’m certain the Government would have closed them up a long time ago. Instead they keep sending you to us, in order to understand more.
“Understanding is more important than I think you could possibly understand. How were they made? Does this mean there were civilisations who were able to get down this deep in order to build their temples? We know so little, and the very thought of one of you returning is something we haven’t dared to have, as there have been hundreds lost. Too many. At times I’ve argued against this, saying it would be best to stop, yet there are those who argue we can’t.
“Not until we know what’s in there. If it’s something dangerous then we need to find a way to stop it, although I have no reason to think it’s something we could do easily. More than anything I want someone to be the exception, to find their way back to tell us what they’ve found, but every time it doesn’t happen my belief it can die a little more.
“One day, I have to believe, something will change, and the person we sent into the ruins will come back. If I didn’t I’d not be able to do my job, something I have to admit I sometimes wish wasn’t mine at all, but I am the only person who followed in Father’s footsteps. He’s unwilling to give up, the same way the Government is.”
“Leading to us being… disposable. We made bad choices in our lives, so it doesn’t matter if we don’t return. If it was someone else everything would be different.”
“Yes, it would, and I don’t see you as disposable, Mr. O’Connell. I want you to return.” She stepped over to a locker, taking out a suit that looked like it might have been based on those divers wore. “Please remove your clothes, and put on the suit, ready to make your journey into the ruin.”
Blinking, Lorcan took it. “You want me to strip right here?”
“It’s nothing we haven’t all seen before.”
Shrugging, certain it didn’t matter, he stripped off his prison wear, slowly shimmying into the suit. As he did she was focused on a screen instead of him, while the guards all had their firearms still pointed at him. There was no way of knowing what he might do, although it wasn’t like he’d try taking on multiple guards at the same time, when he did have a chance of finding a way out down there. Maybe that was why no one returned.
Pulling the hood over his head, a small headphone slipped into his ear. “Let me know if you can hear the voice of the computer.” She tapped a couple of points on the screen. “Should be coming over to you in a second.”
“Good afternoon, Mr. O’Connell.”
“I can hear it.”
Nodding, she looked at him one last time. “This is where you start. Please continue to follow the path. You’ll find a point where the lights stop. When that happens you’ve reached the ruins.”
Breathing in deeply, Lorcan took a moment to work through his emotions, preparing for what leaving probably meant. They didn’t push him to move, seeming to understand the situation. Instead they gave him that time. Maybe she did actually want one of them to return, and saw him as their chance for it to happen. It was impossible to know for certain.
Starting down the path, in silence, Lorcan didn’t look back at any point. All he’d see were those guards, still pointing their firearms at him, ready to shoot at any point should it be necessary, and it wasn’t. He was willing to do what they wanted him to, however illogical it was for them to keep sending people down into a ruin they knew probably killed anyone who entered it.
Reaching the darkness took a few minutes, enough time to put a lot of distance between them and anything that did come out, because if there wasn’t something in there why was no one ever finding their way back… or to somewhere else entirely. Maybe there were, and somewhere within was some kind of teleporter that would take him somewhere else entirely.
Lorcan laughed at himself. Granddad was the one who read him stories about other worlds, up until he wasn’t there anymore, his death hitting hard. The memories were still painful. He sighed, pushing them back, the way he always did. Mom was the one who tried to use that as the explanation for how he’d got himself into the position he was, and maybe it did have something to do with it. If it hadn’t been so sudden, one moment here and the next gone, it might have been easier. Only death was never easy.
Understanding that pain should have been the reason he never forced it on to someone else. Instead Lorcan found himself in a dark place, wanting everyone to hurt the way he did. Some said everything would have been different had he been in therapy, able to actually talk to someone, working through those emotions.
They were probably wrong. Even though it was rare Lorcan thought it was much more likely there was something wrong inside him. If there wasn’t he might have cared when he killed those people. Granddad was the one person he’d truly cared about, and losing him… well, it was an inevitability. All mortals died. Even he would, potentially in the ruins he had almost reached.
It was probably for the best he was there. At least his death would mean something, to those who wanted to understand what was there. Reaching the point where all light stopped, Lorcan gave himself another moment, knowing when he stepped into the darkness everything was going to be different.
Finally, after longer than he should have waited, he stepped into the darkness, losing all sight in the second it took. Touching the wall with one hand, Lorcan at least knew he was somewhere. It wasn’t all a hoax. He breathed in deeply, slowly, running his hand over the cold stone.
“Walk forward, Mr. O’Connell, until I tell you to turn.”
Doing as he was told, the easiest task, Lorcan thought of the woman who’d sent him down there. How similar her voice was to that of the computer. Maybe they’d used her to create it, because she had made the decision to take over from her father, so those who started wandering the ruins would at least have some consistency.
“Left here.”
Knowing he should do what he was told straight away, Lorcan still reached out with one hand to see if there was a wall on the right. There was. Interesting. Going left, the silence lasting longer than it had before, he found himself wondering how large the ruin was. He didn’t have any idea of what it looked like. Maybe he should have asked more questions. Ignoring the fact he was walking into something he knew nothing about was stupid.
“Right now.”
Once again Lorcan reached out for the other wall, realising there was nothing there. As he turned his arm brushed against a wall in front of him, so he’d been moments away from walking directly into a wall, something he definitely would have done had he not reacted differently to the voice.
“You could give me a little more warning.” It wasn’t going to be able to hear him, probably programmed not to say anything more than it did. “Unless you want me to break my nose on a wall.”
There was no response. Exactly what he expected. Lorcan kept walking, not feeling anywhere near close to tired, which might have something to do with the suit. Hopefully there was also something within it that would stop him from becoming hungry or thirsty, otherwise there were going to be issues in the future.
Sighing, Lorcan knew there was nothing else he could do, other than think and wait for the suit to tell him where to go again. Thinking meant going over everything he’d done before, a nightly ritual for him most of the time, as he tried to work out whether his life could have ended differently, or if he was always going to be the kind of person who ended up wandering in the darkness as a disposable explorer, chosen by the Government to do something they wouldn’t let anyone else do.
“Another right.”
More prepared than before, Lorcan checked all the walls around him. They were all open, but he needed to go right, however tempting it was to go against the computer. It might be the way he was able to find a route out of the ruins, although, if he did, was he going to be able to find a way back to the surface? Being deeper than the sea made it that much more complicated, and was probably the main reason they weren’t worried about someone being able to escape if there was a way out.
Glancing left, even though he still couldn’t see anything, he turned right. Had someone else gone the same way as him in the past, so he was simply following their route, and eventually the time would come when Lorcan would step down a path no one had ever been down before. Not that he would know when it was. The computer might have that knowledge, without being able to share it with him.
Walking for what felt like longer than before, Lorcan closed his eyes. It wasn’t as though it mattered whether they were open or closed, the darkness unlike anything he’d seen before. In some ways it was easier to be looking at the soft darkness of his own eyelids, rather than the hard darkness of the ruins around him.
How was it even possible? There was no darkness quite as dark anywhere else, at least not that Lorcan knew of, and it was one of those things he’d learnt about from Granddad. Was it simply his vision, at least when his eyes were open? Closed they couldn’t see anything at all. Granddad would have been fascinated by the ruins. He was the kind of person who would have thrown as many people as necessary at the problem in order to learn as much as possible.
Now Lorcan was one of the people helping with that. Finding answers to a question that was beyond all human understanding, at least right then. Granddad would have wanted him to volunteer for it, and maybe he had, by following the path he’d found himself on, learning more about a different kind of darkness. The darkness someone could have within their soul.
Raking a hand through his hair, Lorcan kept moving. Feeling his hair reminded him he did still exist. He was still a person, walking through a dark ruin, only able to know where he was going thanks to the computer within his suit. Someone might have been able to find their way through a certain distance without help, but why would they try?
Obviously someone had, the first people to find the ruins, walking into a darkness they definitely couldn’t have understood, because they were explorers. It was what they did. No one sane would make the choice to delve deep into the depths the way they had. How was it even possible? Another of the questions he should have asked before.
“Left.”
Going left, not checking the other walls, Lorcan kept walking. What did it matter? He didn’t need to know anything. Someone else was going to learn everything he’d found out, because they’d chosen him as their next explorer. It wasn’t something he’d have ever chosen for himself, but then his choices hadn’t exactly been good ones.
“Do you remember killing him?”
The voice was still the same, but thoughtful. “Killing who?”
“Your list is long. Why did you do it?”
“How long is a piece of string?” Lorcan shrugged. “Pain is sometimes stronger than we are.”
“We are?”
“Humans. Mortals.” He breathed in deeply, half wishing there was someone to look at. “Who are you?”
“Now, that’s an interesting question, but you already know the answer. All you need to do is look deep inside yourself. Who are you? Do you remember dying?”
Switching from female, the voice belonging to the woman upstairs, to male, it seemed as though Lorcan was talking to himself. Another of the many things he wasn’t able to understand. How could the voice change, if everything was programmed to work the way it did? Was it something they were doing to him?
Attempting to turn, to go back, Lorcan found himself trapped in place. Closing his eyes once more, he thought of the questions the voice asked. He’d asked. Who was he? Did he remember dying? How could he remember dying, when he was alive? Deeper than before, memories swirling around him, Lorcan saw himself as he was, long before he found himself in prison.
The man below him was one of the men he’d killed, becoming a serial killer, wanting to find a way to free himself. Only the man didn’t look the way he had before. He looked like Lorcan. Lorcan killed Lorcan. It was the same for every memory. He saw things as they were, as they’d been, and how they were going to be.
Within the prison there were hundreds of Lorcans. Some were the prisoners, all of them arrested for one crime or another, placed together to pay for their bad choices. Others were the guards, watching over the other Lorcans, as Lorcan, the true Lorcan, tried to understand what he was seeing. Was the voice being controlled by something, trying to make him lose his sanity, so he’d spend the rest of his life, however short it would end up being, running through the darkness, never to find his way out?
“Insanity is an interesting theory, but, no, my task is not to break you in that way. You are to know the truth, the whole truth, and make a decision, as you are the next to walk these paths. The next to find their way into the abyss. Do you remember why you created it? Do you understand who you are?”
Lorcan shook his head. It was obvious he didn’t understand who he was, but he knew where to find the answers, if the voice was right, and maybe the voice was right. He breathed in deeply, trying to find his centre, another of the things his grandfather taught him, when he was younger. Controlling his more negative emotions was important, only then he’d lost his centre with his grandfather.
Finding it once more was the beginning. Going back to that lesson, Lorcan found himself looking at himself. His grandfather was him too, a hard thing to ignore, but he managed it, as he heard the right choice in his head, rather than his own. Although, if he was honest with himself, his grandfather almost sounded like he would if he was many years older.
Connecting with the control he’d lost, Lorcan opened his eyes, and it was as though he was able to see the truth for the first time in his life. He was in the middle of what looked to be some kind of nebula, alone like he’d always been, something slowly becoming more painful, as the years passed by. Years, decades, centuries, millennia. Everything was the same way it had always been.
Earth almost called to him, looking as it always had. Beautiful. Lush. Home to animals, and nothing more. Going down to it, Lorcan walked through the trees, breathing in the air, and thought about what to do next. How was he going to change things for the better? Was it even possible?
The animals didn’t seem to fear him. One, a wolf, moved closer. It didn’t have a name then, but Lorcan knew it as it had become, a dog. The kind of pet he’d once had when he was younger, until the time came when it left him too, the pain probably what ended up breaking him. Death was complicated, in so many ways.
Petting the wolf, Lorcan thought of what his future was going to hold. Nothing in the universe. He was alone, and would always be alone, unless he did something to change that future. It wasn’t as though he couldn’t. Leaving the wolf with one last scratch behind the ears, he delved deep into Earth.
Going through the layers, deep enough it was likely never to be found, Lorcan started work. If it was it needed to be a safe place, for those who learnt the whole truth about who he was. Somewhere he could make the choice once more, if it was right to keep up with things as they were. Maybe the time would come when he’d bring an end to it all, but there was no way of knowing if it would happen, or when it would be, or who might make the choice, in the end.
Little by little, he created the ‘ruin’. The abyss. A hiding place for the truth. It wouldn’t be easy to find, but those who did would learn everything. From the beginning to that moment, as they stood within the darkness, making a decision that might change everything, the very way he’d made a decision he knew would change everything for the best.
Moving from the ruin to the surface once more, Lorcan started work on the next stage. Beings made from his consciousness, slowly dwindling himself down to nothing, and yet he was everything. He was everyone. Man, woman, child. Not the animals. They were something else entirely, but it didn’t matter, because finally he felt like he’d made the right choice.
As he had that thought he let himself forget. Lorcan no longer knew who he was. He was simply another human, and from there came the billions who inhabited Earth, all of them part of the beginning. Unlike anyone else he knew the whole truth about the world. Others had made the same journey, learnt the same truth, with none of them making the decision to return.
The darkness was no longer impenetrable. Able to see the ruin, which was better called a maze, somewhere his selves would wander until they touched the truth, the suit becoming part of them in a way it hadn’t been before. Breathing in deeply, Lorcan sat down on the stone. If he left the ruin everything would fade away. Like before he’d be alone, but the worst part was that he’d know he was alone. Maybe he’d remember all the lives he’d lived, able to dwell in those memories, only it would never be the same as it was.
Yet humans had done so much bad. The choice he’d made changed Earth in multiple ways, most of them terrible, and Lorcan knew if he headed back through the maze, gaining all those people as a part of him once more, everything would be different. Earth would return to how it was before - a paradise.
Was he truly willing to be selfish enough to let himself destroy a planet? Biting down on his lip, feeling the pain, he thought of all the lives he’d lived where he’d hurt in one way or another, traumatised by those around him, because they were traumatised themselves. It went down from one generation to the next, Lorcan’s own life a reminder of that, something that broke him.
Others were broken in a similar way. Hence prison. Being sent down to the Sarcophagus, knowing he was likely to die, but death wasn’t the worst possibility, and he’d never known. Never had a way to, the truth hidden in the very deepest depths of Earth, something people were going to keep exploring. Another thing he could keep from happening, if he made the decision to walk back. All it took was him walking back through the maze, to find there was no one there.
No one anywhere. Alone. Closing his eyes, Lorcan thought of the good in the world. It existed. Everywhere. He might not have been able to see it, his own pain that much stronger, but he was able to see it as he sat in the maze, the ruin, the abyss, the sarcophagus, and, more than anything else, the truth.
“How did the others decide?”
“Exactly the way you are. Those who come down here have found life to be the most complicated it could be. It’s part of the reason you’re the ones who need to make the choice. You’re the ones who truly understand pain, in a way those who are happy cannot. They aren’t able to understand how bad things are at times. Yet, as you have thought, there is also good.”
Pain was something Lorcan felt before, as he wandered the universe, searching for someone to be with. To not be alone any longer. Millennia of hunting for that one thing, and in the end he found it, but it wasn’t what he expected it to be. Instead it was a world he was able to claim for his own, to build something, which wasn’t perfect. Nothing could be perfect. He was fallible, so his creation was fallible.
They make mistakes. Lorcan made mistakes, letting the pain get the better of him, and he wasn’t the only one who did. Had it not been for the others, those who made bright choices, he might have made the decision to walk back through the maze, to where she was waiting, only she wouldn’t be there any longer. She’d be one of the first to become part of him again, along with the guards, and anyone else in the facility.
From there it would be the rest of humanity, little by little, until he was the only one left. He wouldn’t be Lorcan anymore. Instead he’d be the wanderer once more, with nothing. Earth would be able to return to how it was, and maybe it was the choice he should make for the planet, but he couldn’t.
Leaving would destroy him. Able to see it, in a way he couldn’t before, he saw how loneliness was slowly transforming him, and that was part of the reason there was both dark and light within the human race. How he might have become dark enough to destroy the entire universe, because it hadn’t given him what he wanted - a companion. Someone to love, the way he’d come to love in so many different ways.
Maybe he would destroy Earth by staying, but surely it was better to sacrifice one planet than it was to sacrifice them all. Lorcan’s decision was made. He stayed sat in the ruins, the same way all the others had done before him, hundreds of them having made a similar choice. They chose the universe over Earth.
They chose their own sanity over anything else. Yes, a selfish choice, and yet it was the logical one. The most logical one for everything. He thought back to the wolf, scratching ears, one animal giving him a moment of something he could never have imagined before. It was then he knew what he needed, in a way he hadn’t before, so he took it. One day he might not need it, but that day hadn’t yet come.

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Consciousness returned slowly, the drugs leaving Lorcan’s system, to find he was moving slowly down, the walls around him made of metal. An elevator. He breathed in deeply. There were those who spoke of it, the Sarcophagus, but no one knew the truth. It seemed as though anyone who walked in never returned. None were missed. He wouldn’t be either, the choices he made no longer making him seem human to most others, the end of his life something they wouldn’t be saddened by.
Not even his mother would cry. Lorcan stared at the door. Escaping the elevator was an impossibility, but there may be other chances. Whatever the others said might be nothing more than stories, to spread fear into those who were chosen, the way he’d been. It was his time to be useful. At least that was what they said, so it was likely he’d be given some kind of job to do.
Finally, his consciousness fully his once more, the elevator reached the right stop, and the door opened automatically. Outside were guards. Each held a firearm, pointed directly at Lorcan, something he’d become used to. Stepping out, knowing it was what he was supposed to do, he looked at each of them in turn, before the sound of footsteps started to come from in front of him. At the same time, the elevator started to move back up.
Glancing back, no sign of an easy route to follow the elevator, Lorcan waited, the footsteps likely belonging to the person who’d explain it all to him. When they stepped into the light, a young woman who looked as though she was barely out of college, he raised an eyebrow. She didn’t seem to pay any attention to his reaction.
“Lorcan O’Connell?” Who else was it going to be? Nodding, not wanting to anger her on the first day, he studied her. “You have been brought to the Sarcophagus to assist us in our research.” She gestured for him to follow her, as though he had any other choice, the guards gently urging him in that direction. “This facility is somewhere you will not be able to escape. Your escapades are well known to us, Mr. O’Connell.”
Saying nothing, certain he wasn’t meant to, Lorcan kept his eyes on where they were going. The guards were watching him closely, but if he was there to assist with some kind of research it was likely he’d be dealing with scientists. All it took was for one of them to make a mistake.
“You, of course, don’t believe me, but you may when I explain more about the work you are to be doing.” She glanced back. “There have been those who thought they may be able to use me as their route out. It didn’t work out for them, and it won’t work out for you.” There was a certainty in her voice Lorcan had never heard before. “Whatever you may imagine I was chosen for a reason. Yes, I am young. However, my father has been working on learning more for many years now, and he is no longer able to deal with the depth.
“We are deep under the sea.” He stared at her back. “This is the deepest I believe any humans have ever been. During one of my father’s journeys down here, he found something. Sadly, due to a lack of understanding of what it was, both his companions died, and it was then he started to understand there was so much more to it than he could have imagined.
“Now, after many years of studying, we understand better. At some point in our distant past someone, or something, built something down here. Father believes it may be some kind of temple, connected to an old god, but, so far, the only thing we are certain of is that we haven’t yet explored everything.
“It’s below us, deeper than we are, and you’re our next explorer. You’ll be going into the ruins. There will be no lights. One of the strangest things about the ruins is light sources of all kinds are useless. In the early days we tried them all, attempting to find a solution to the problem. Back when Father first found it they used ropes, believing it would be enough, and finding it wasn’t the case.
“Before you’re sent in you’ll be given a suit, which uses sound waves in order for you to navigate, similar to a bat. We know these work, although, so far, we haven’t had anyone return to us. We simply have an expanded map, with another disappearance to add to the list. You may be an exception to the rule, Mr. O’Connell.”
That seemed unlikely. Was he permitted to ask questions? Lorcan raked a hand through his hair, eyes still on the back of the woman leading him through the facility, someone who’d never given him a name. What did it matter, when it was obvious he was going to be lost within the ruins like all the others? How many had there been, through the years, so it got to the point where everyone knew about it?
“So far you’ve been very quiet. It’s not unusual. Finding out where you are often has that effect on people, but I am willing to answer any questions you may have at this point, if I have the answers to give you.”
“Does anything actually matter?” Lorcan shook his head when she glanced back at him, her eyes emotionless. “You can answer my questions, but I’m going to walk into that ruin alone, knowing I’m never going to return. Anything you tell me right now means nothing.”
“Maybe it does. Some have been fascinated by the very idea of the ruin, believing they will be the one to find their way out. You, on the other hand, have gone in the opposite direction, not willing to think it’s possible you might be an exception, and therefore all of this means nothing to you. I have found this has an effect on how much deeper you can get. Those who have seen themselves being different have been lost to us far sooner.”
“Have you never been scared one of us might come back out?”
“Why scared? Mr. O’Connell, if one of you does end up becoming the exception to the rule it will change everything for us.” She stopped, turning to look at me, her eyes on mine. “I have no doubt what you think of us, and the decisions we’ve made in order to map these ruins. Had they been anywhere else I’m certain the Government would have closed them up a long time ago. Instead they keep sending you to us, in order to understand more.
“Understanding is more important than I think you could possibly understand. How were they made? Does this mean there were civilisations who were able to get down this deep in order to build their temples? We know so little, and the very thought of one of you returning is something we haven’t dared to have, as there have been hundreds lost. Too many. At times I’ve argued against this, saying it would be best to stop, yet there are those who argue we can’t.
“Not until we know what’s in there. If it’s something dangerous then we need to find a way to stop it, although I have no reason to think it’s something we could do easily. More than anything I want someone to be the exception, to find their way back to tell us what they’ve found, but every time it doesn’t happen my belief it can die a little more.
“One day, I have to believe, something will change, and the person we sent into the ruins will come back. If I didn’t I’d not be able to do my job, something I have to admit I sometimes wish wasn’t mine at all, but I am the only person who followed in Father’s footsteps. He’s unwilling to give up, the same way the Government is.”
“Leading to us being… disposable. We made bad choices in our lives, so it doesn’t matter if we don’t return. If it was someone else everything would be different.”
“Yes, it would, and I don’t see you as disposable, Mr. O’Connell. I want you to return.” She stepped over to a locker, taking out a suit that looked like it might have been based on those divers wore. “Please remove your clothes, and put on the suit, ready to make your journey into the ruin.”
Blinking, Lorcan took it. “You want me to strip right here?”
“It’s nothing we haven’t all seen before.”
Shrugging, certain it didn’t matter, he stripped off his prison wear, slowly shimmying into the suit. As he did she was focused on a screen instead of him, while the guards all had their firearms still pointed at him. There was no way of knowing what he might do, although it wasn’t like he’d try taking on multiple guards at the same time, when he did have a chance of finding a way out down there. Maybe that was why no one returned.
Pulling the hood over his head, a small headphone slipped into his ear. “Let me know if you can hear the voice of the computer.” She tapped a couple of points on the screen. “Should be coming over to you in a second.”
“Good afternoon, Mr. O’Connell.”
“I can hear it.”
Nodding, she looked at him one last time. “This is where you start. Please continue to follow the path. You’ll find a point where the lights stop. When that happens you’ve reached the ruins.”
Breathing in deeply, Lorcan took a moment to work through his emotions, preparing for what leaving probably meant. They didn’t push him to move, seeming to understand the situation. Instead they gave him that time. Maybe she did actually want one of them to return, and saw him as their chance for it to happen. It was impossible to know for certain.
Starting down the path, in silence, Lorcan didn’t look back at any point. All he’d see were those guards, still pointing their firearms at him, ready to shoot at any point should it be necessary, and it wasn’t. He was willing to do what they wanted him to, however illogical it was for them to keep sending people down into a ruin they knew probably killed anyone who entered it.
Reaching the darkness took a few minutes, enough time to put a lot of distance between them and anything that did come out, because if there wasn’t something in there why was no one ever finding their way back… or to somewhere else entirely. Maybe there were, and somewhere within was some kind of teleporter that would take him somewhere else entirely.
Lorcan laughed at himself. Granddad was the one who read him stories about other worlds, up until he wasn’t there anymore, his death hitting hard. The memories were still painful. He sighed, pushing them back, the way he always did. Mom was the one who tried to use that as the explanation for how he’d got himself into the position he was, and maybe it did have something to do with it. If it hadn’t been so sudden, one moment here and the next gone, it might have been easier. Only death was never easy.
Understanding that pain should have been the reason he never forced it on to someone else. Instead Lorcan found himself in a dark place, wanting everyone to hurt the way he did. Some said everything would have been different had he been in therapy, able to actually talk to someone, working through those emotions.
They were probably wrong. Even though it was rare Lorcan thought it was much more likely there was something wrong inside him. If there wasn’t he might have cared when he killed those people. Granddad was the one person he’d truly cared about, and losing him… well, it was an inevitability. All mortals died. Even he would, potentially in the ruins he had almost reached.
It was probably for the best he was there. At least his death would mean something, to those who wanted to understand what was there. Reaching the point where all light stopped, Lorcan gave himself another moment, knowing when he stepped into the darkness everything was going to be different.
Finally, after longer than he should have waited, he stepped into the darkness, losing all sight in the second it took. Touching the wall with one hand, Lorcan at least knew he was somewhere. It wasn’t all a hoax. He breathed in deeply, slowly, running his hand over the cold stone.
“Walk forward, Mr. O’Connell, until I tell you to turn.”
Doing as he was told, the easiest task, Lorcan thought of the woman who’d sent him down there. How similar her voice was to that of the computer. Maybe they’d used her to create it, because she had made the decision to take over from her father, so those who started wandering the ruins would at least have some consistency.
“Left here.”
Knowing he should do what he was told straight away, Lorcan still reached out with one hand to see if there was a wall on the right. There was. Interesting. Going left, the silence lasting longer than it had before, he found himself wondering how large the ruin was. He didn’t have any idea of what it looked like. Maybe he should have asked more questions. Ignoring the fact he was walking into something he knew nothing about was stupid.
“Right now.”
Once again Lorcan reached out for the other wall, realising there was nothing there. As he turned his arm brushed against a wall in front of him, so he’d been moments away from walking directly into a wall, something he definitely would have done had he not reacted differently to the voice.
“You could give me a little more warning.” It wasn’t going to be able to hear him, probably programmed not to say anything more than it did. “Unless you want me to break my nose on a wall.”
There was no response. Exactly what he expected. Lorcan kept walking, not feeling anywhere near close to tired, which might have something to do with the suit. Hopefully there was also something within it that would stop him from becoming hungry or thirsty, otherwise there were going to be issues in the future.
Sighing, Lorcan knew there was nothing else he could do, other than think and wait for the suit to tell him where to go again. Thinking meant going over everything he’d done before, a nightly ritual for him most of the time, as he tried to work out whether his life could have ended differently, or if he was always going to be the kind of person who ended up wandering in the darkness as a disposable explorer, chosen by the Government to do something they wouldn’t let anyone else do.
“Another right.”
More prepared than before, Lorcan checked all the walls around him. They were all open, but he needed to go right, however tempting it was to go against the computer. It might be the way he was able to find a route out of the ruins, although, if he did, was he going to be able to find a way back to the surface? Being deeper than the sea made it that much more complicated, and was probably the main reason they weren’t worried about someone being able to escape if there was a way out.
Glancing left, even though he still couldn’t see anything, he turned right. Had someone else gone the same way as him in the past, so he was simply following their route, and eventually the time would come when Lorcan would step down a path no one had ever been down before. Not that he would know when it was. The computer might have that knowledge, without being able to share it with him.
Walking for what felt like longer than before, Lorcan closed his eyes. It wasn’t as though it mattered whether they were open or closed, the darkness unlike anything he’d seen before. In some ways it was easier to be looking at the soft darkness of his own eyelids, rather than the hard darkness of the ruins around him.
How was it even possible? There was no darkness quite as dark anywhere else, at least not that Lorcan knew of, and it was one of those things he’d learnt about from Granddad. Was it simply his vision, at least when his eyes were open? Closed they couldn’t see anything at all. Granddad would have been fascinated by the ruins. He was the kind of person who would have thrown as many people as necessary at the problem in order to learn as much as possible.
Now Lorcan was one of the people helping with that. Finding answers to a question that was beyond all human understanding, at least right then. Granddad would have wanted him to volunteer for it, and maybe he had, by following the path he’d found himself on, learning more about a different kind of darkness. The darkness someone could have within their soul.
Raking a hand through his hair, Lorcan kept moving. Feeling his hair reminded him he did still exist. He was still a person, walking through a dark ruin, only able to know where he was going thanks to the computer within his suit. Someone might have been able to find their way through a certain distance without help, but why would they try?
Obviously someone had, the first people to find the ruins, walking into a darkness they definitely couldn’t have understood, because they were explorers. It was what they did. No one sane would make the choice to delve deep into the depths the way they had. How was it even possible? Another of the questions he should have asked before.
“Left.”
Going left, not checking the other walls, Lorcan kept walking. What did it matter? He didn’t need to know anything. Someone else was going to learn everything he’d found out, because they’d chosen him as their next explorer. It wasn’t something he’d have ever chosen for himself, but then his choices hadn’t exactly been good ones.
“Do you remember killing him?”
The voice was still the same, but thoughtful. “Killing who?”
“Your list is long. Why did you do it?”
“How long is a piece of string?” Lorcan shrugged. “Pain is sometimes stronger than we are.”
“We are?”
“Humans. Mortals.” He breathed in deeply, half wishing there was someone to look at. “Who are you?”
“Now, that’s an interesting question, but you already know the answer. All you need to do is look deep inside yourself. Who are you? Do you remember dying?”
Switching from female, the voice belonging to the woman upstairs, to male, it seemed as though Lorcan was talking to himself. Another of the many things he wasn’t able to understand. How could the voice change, if everything was programmed to work the way it did? Was it something they were doing to him?
Attempting to turn, to go back, Lorcan found himself trapped in place. Closing his eyes once more, he thought of the questions the voice asked. He’d asked. Who was he? Did he remember dying? How could he remember dying, when he was alive? Deeper than before, memories swirling around him, Lorcan saw himself as he was, long before he found himself in prison.
The man below him was one of the men he’d killed, becoming a serial killer, wanting to find a way to free himself. Only the man didn’t look the way he had before. He looked like Lorcan. Lorcan killed Lorcan. It was the same for every memory. He saw things as they were, as they’d been, and how they were going to be.
Within the prison there were hundreds of Lorcans. Some were the prisoners, all of them arrested for one crime or another, placed together to pay for their bad choices. Others were the guards, watching over the other Lorcans, as Lorcan, the true Lorcan, tried to understand what he was seeing. Was the voice being controlled by something, trying to make him lose his sanity, so he’d spend the rest of his life, however short it would end up being, running through the darkness, never to find his way out?
“Insanity is an interesting theory, but, no, my task is not to break you in that way. You are to know the truth, the whole truth, and make a decision, as you are the next to walk these paths. The next to find their way into the abyss. Do you remember why you created it? Do you understand who you are?”
Lorcan shook his head. It was obvious he didn’t understand who he was, but he knew where to find the answers, if the voice was right, and maybe the voice was right. He breathed in deeply, trying to find his centre, another of the things his grandfather taught him, when he was younger. Controlling his more negative emotions was important, only then he’d lost his centre with his grandfather.
Finding it once more was the beginning. Going back to that lesson, Lorcan found himself looking at himself. His grandfather was him too, a hard thing to ignore, but he managed it, as he heard the right choice in his head, rather than his own. Although, if he was honest with himself, his grandfather almost sounded like he would if he was many years older.
Connecting with the control he’d lost, Lorcan opened his eyes, and it was as though he was able to see the truth for the first time in his life. He was in the middle of what looked to be some kind of nebula, alone like he’d always been, something slowly becoming more painful, as the years passed by. Years, decades, centuries, millennia. Everything was the same way it had always been.
Earth almost called to him, looking as it always had. Beautiful. Lush. Home to animals, and nothing more. Going down to it, Lorcan walked through the trees, breathing in the air, and thought about what to do next. How was he going to change things for the better? Was it even possible?
The animals didn’t seem to fear him. One, a wolf, moved closer. It didn’t have a name then, but Lorcan knew it as it had become, a dog. The kind of pet he’d once had when he was younger, until the time came when it left him too, the pain probably what ended up breaking him. Death was complicated, in so many ways.
Petting the wolf, Lorcan thought of what his future was going to hold. Nothing in the universe. He was alone, and would always be alone, unless he did something to change that future. It wasn’t as though he couldn’t. Leaving the wolf with one last scratch behind the ears, he delved deep into Earth.
Going through the layers, deep enough it was likely never to be found, Lorcan started work. If it was it needed to be a safe place, for those who learnt the whole truth about who he was. Somewhere he could make the choice once more, if it was right to keep up with things as they were. Maybe the time would come when he’d bring an end to it all, but there was no way of knowing if it would happen, or when it would be, or who might make the choice, in the end.
Little by little, he created the ‘ruin’. The abyss. A hiding place for the truth. It wouldn’t be easy to find, but those who did would learn everything. From the beginning to that moment, as they stood within the darkness, making a decision that might change everything, the very way he’d made a decision he knew would change everything for the best.
Moving from the ruin to the surface once more, Lorcan started work on the next stage. Beings made from his consciousness, slowly dwindling himself down to nothing, and yet he was everything. He was everyone. Man, woman, child. Not the animals. They were something else entirely, but it didn’t matter, because finally he felt like he’d made the right choice.
As he had that thought he let himself forget. Lorcan no longer knew who he was. He was simply another human, and from there came the billions who inhabited Earth, all of them part of the beginning. Unlike anyone else he knew the whole truth about the world. Others had made the same journey, learnt the same truth, with none of them making the decision to return.
The darkness was no longer impenetrable. Able to see the ruin, which was better called a maze, somewhere his selves would wander until they touched the truth, the suit becoming part of them in a way it hadn’t been before. Breathing in deeply, Lorcan sat down on the stone. If he left the ruin everything would fade away. Like before he’d be alone, but the worst part was that he’d know he was alone. Maybe he’d remember all the lives he’d lived, able to dwell in those memories, only it would never be the same as it was.
Yet humans had done so much bad. The choice he’d made changed Earth in multiple ways, most of them terrible, and Lorcan knew if he headed back through the maze, gaining all those people as a part of him once more, everything would be different. Earth would return to how it was before - a paradise.
Was he truly willing to be selfish enough to let himself destroy a planet? Biting down on his lip, feeling the pain, he thought of all the lives he’d lived where he’d hurt in one way or another, traumatised by those around him, because they were traumatised themselves. It went down from one generation to the next, Lorcan’s own life a reminder of that, something that broke him.
Others were broken in a similar way. Hence prison. Being sent down to the Sarcophagus, knowing he was likely to die, but death wasn’t the worst possibility, and he’d never known. Never had a way to, the truth hidden in the very deepest depths of Earth, something people were going to keep exploring. Another thing he could keep from happening, if he made the decision to walk back. All it took was him walking back through the maze, to find there was no one there.
No one anywhere. Alone. Closing his eyes, Lorcan thought of the good in the world. It existed. Everywhere. He might not have been able to see it, his own pain that much stronger, but he was able to see it as he sat in the maze, the ruin, the abyss, the sarcophagus, and, more than anything else, the truth.
“How did the others decide?”
“Exactly the way you are. Those who come down here have found life to be the most complicated it could be. It’s part of the reason you’re the ones who need to make the choice. You’re the ones who truly understand pain, in a way those who are happy cannot. They aren’t able to understand how bad things are at times. Yet, as you have thought, there is also good.”
Pain was something Lorcan felt before, as he wandered the universe, searching for someone to be with. To not be alone any longer. Millennia of hunting for that one thing, and in the end he found it, but it wasn’t what he expected it to be. Instead it was a world he was able to claim for his own, to build something, which wasn’t perfect. Nothing could be perfect. He was fallible, so his creation was fallible.
They make mistakes. Lorcan made mistakes, letting the pain get the better of him, and he wasn’t the only one who did. Had it not been for the others, those who made bright choices, he might have made the decision to walk back through the maze, to where she was waiting, only she wouldn’t be there any longer. She’d be one of the first to become part of him again, along with the guards, and anyone else in the facility.
From there it would be the rest of humanity, little by little, until he was the only one left. He wouldn’t be Lorcan anymore. Instead he’d be the wanderer once more, with nothing. Earth would be able to return to how it was, and maybe it was the choice he should make for the planet, but he couldn’t.
Leaving would destroy him. Able to see it, in a way he couldn’t before, he saw how loneliness was slowly transforming him, and that was part of the reason there was both dark and light within the human race. How he might have become dark enough to destroy the entire universe, because it hadn’t given him what he wanted - a companion. Someone to love, the way he’d come to love in so many different ways.
Maybe he would destroy Earth by staying, but surely it was better to sacrifice one planet than it was to sacrifice them all. Lorcan’s decision was made. He stayed sat in the ruins, the same way all the others had done before him, hundreds of them having made a similar choice. They chose the universe over Earth.
They chose their own sanity over anything else. Yes, a selfish choice, and yet it was the logical one. The most logical one for everything. He thought back to the wolf, scratching ears, one animal giving him a moment of something he could never have imagined before. It was then he knew what he needed, in a way he hadn’t before, so he took it. One day he might not need it, but that day hadn’t yet come.