Theo
“Dad? What’s happening? Dad, I’m scared.”
I gripped the wheel tighter as I sped down the never-ending road due North. The voice of a ghost echoing in my head. Only it wasn’t a ghost. They were very much alive.
My wheels seemed to be spinning in place. The scenery never changed. Although maybe the bare winter trees were getting smaller and sparser very, very gradually. I thought about turning around more than once. But I couldn’t.
This trip wouldn’t only lessen my guilt, I would be using it as an opportunity to set us up for success in Cyciciah. I could turn my burden into strength. I had a plan.
Once the roads turned from dirt to gravel, I knew I was getting close.
G.P.O.’s headquarters were on the southern edge of Virylan, in the most unassuming abandoned barn you’d ever see.
I could still remember the first time I’d been brought here.
Twenty years old, ready to make a difference in the world for a pretty paycheck. What more could a young male ask for?
I pulled off the road, well-aware I was already being watched. But they’d recognize me. No matter how hard I tried to be forgotten.
The setting stars on the horizon triggered a sickly nostalgia in me.
How many times had I driven here and left with a debrief folder on who I’d be killing next?
My heart thudded against my ribs, ready to resume its role as executioner.
The touch of pink in the purpling evening sky might as well have been blood smeared across the clouds.
I approached the aged, overgrown barn doors and waited. They didn’t open immediately.
It was dusk, which meant assignment time. It would be all hands on deck while files were passed out, information was exchanged, and hitmen geared up. It could get chaotic.
I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel while I waited.
My presence was probably causing a heated debate amongst newer staff.
Should they let my car in? Maybe somebody recognized me and pled my case.
Maybe a new grunt insisted my vehicle wasn’t on the access list, even though it’d been a parting gift all those years ago.
Eventually, a higher-up would be summoned to make the call, and I’d be granted entrance.
“Took you long enough,” I grumbled to myself when the doors began to part painstakingly slow.
The straw and dirt floor inside lowered to form a ramp into a cold, artificially lit concrete tunnel.
Fuck I hated this place. Worse, I hated that it felt like I’d never left.
Familiar. Almost comfortable if I could get past all the baggage.
I drove down, pulling into one of a dozen or so parking spaces as the ramp closed behind me, sealing the operation underground once again.
My knuckles were turning white as I gripped the steering wheel.
I was doing the right thing. This is what it would take to set Vivian up for a life of peace.
It wasn’t as simple as just her field; that I could handle alone.
Ida and Drifael mattered to her. They needed protection I couldn’t provide on my own.
A female Lychan strapped with at least fifty pounds of weaponry walked towards my car.
I inhaled sharply through my nose and kicked the door open, stepping out to face the climax of everything I’d worked towards.
It wasn’t some grandiose achievement or story of true redemption, but it was enough.
And if it was for Vivian, it meant everything.
“Theo?” the female asked.
I nodded.
“Arne is in a meeting, but will see you shortly. Follow me.”
Ah, so I’d caught the attention of Arne that quickly? The founder of the cause was usually harder to get a hold of. He boasted an impressive kill count himself, refusing to stop field work to manage the bureaucracy of leading a revolution. His mission was personal.
The cement and concrete of their underground operation hadn’t changed in twelve years. My eyes panned around a corner to a short hallway. Memories flashed, still fresh.
“What the fuck were you thinking?!”
“My gods, somebody get medical! Arne fucked him up pretty bad!”
“What did he expect?!”
The taste of copper, the ache of a broken nose, the cold floor dragging under my palms as I was pulled by my ankles down the hallway…
“You can wait in here,” the Lychan said as she pushed a heavy metal door open for me.
“Thanks.”
It was something between a conference room and an interrogation cell.
We usually put people in here when we wanted to make them comfortable, while the possibility remained of shit going down.
The shackles on the ground by the chairs proved as much.
There was a floor drain for easy clean up.
Décor was limited so there were less objects to break and use as weapons.
And they chose to put me in here of all places.
I guess they remembered what happened to Arne’s office the last time we… talked.
I sat in a jade leather chair on one side of the bare desk and ran my finger over the wood grain.
I’d once been called in as the “bad cop” in an interrogation here.
It was a scientist from E.A.R.T.H. We had questions about the technology in the energy pods, and he wouldn’t talk.
He paid for his silence with his hand. Then, when the light in the top corner of the room flickered red, I’d broken his neck.
Just as I was supposed to. It wasn’t like we could let him leave. Right?
“Son of a bitch, it is you!” A gruff voice greeted me before the door was fully open.
Arne was half Thornian, half Quadmos. He had four arms plated in armor-like scales, horns far longer than any Quadmos, black eyes, and perpetually sharp teeth.
Most children from interspecies parents were genetically one or the other, but every once in a while genetics threw a curve ball and made some form of Hybrid.
I couldn’t think of a more formidable combination of genes than this huge, sharp, and blood-thirsty male.
“It’s been a while,” I replied, knowing he was remembering the violence between us just as I had.
He sank into the opposing chair, crossing a foot lazily over his knee and stretching his arms out. “No hard feelings of course.”
I eyed the shackles on the desk between us. “Of course.”
“Oh, don’t take the room choice personally. They’re painting my office.” He huffed out a full-bellied laugh. “To what do I owe the honor? I’m told you’ve been going on a lot of adventures these days.”
Part of me wanted to keep my mouth shut. We were on the same side, but I strongly disagreed with Arne’s methods. My rage over what he had me do was already bubbling up. Our last argument rang in my ears. I was still furious that I’d been used so thoughtlessly. So cruelly.
“I’ve been documenting the undiscovered fields.”
He raised a brow. “Now that’s interesting. How many did you find?”
“Many. But almost all of them were unpaired or abandoned.” I was reluctant to share any of it, but I wouldn’t be continuing that work.
Somebody should know about what I’d found, since I intended to retire from that mission and focus solely on protecting Cyciciah going forward.
Maybe it could help another goddess in the future.
“Look, I know we have our disagreements.” He shifted forward and rested his elbows on the table.
“But if you tell me where they are I can send people to monitor them. We can prevent the capturing of more goddesses. The construction of more factories. We can get ahead of the spread. It could save lives. That’s what you’re about these days right? Saving lives instead of ending them.”
He was playing my moral code, and it made me sick. Where was that understanding when I’d confronted him before? “I’ll tell you everything, but I need a favor in return.”
“You don’t need to use information as leverage, Theo. You need only ask and I’d be happy to help you with anything you need. I thought they told you that when you left all those years ago. We gave you a fucking car without question. You know how expensive those are?”
There was some truth to that; when I’d left, they hadn’t skimped on the severance package. I’d been told I could always come back.
Their generosity wasn’t a total surprise.
In addition to having been their prized killer, there was once a time where Arne was my closest friend.
Before Graysen. Before Mykie. Long before Vivian.
I was his right-hand man. We were carnage unleashed on the world together.
We’d killed. We’d kept each other alive.
But I was trying to wash my hands of it all, and I wasn’t sure what kind of a bond would remain without all the sticky gore acting as glue.
At the very least, I was confident that Arne truly wanted to protect the goddesses. He was dedicated to this side of the war. So, I carried on with my bargain.
“There’s one field I’ve found with a goddess living in it.
Cyciciah. I’ve chosen her as my mate and will be spending the rest of my days guarding her field.
She has a mother figure in Drifael that needs protection through association.
I want two people stationed there to keep an eye on her and the town so my female can enjoy her life peacefully. ”
Arne’s expression shifted serious; he understood the stakes of my situation. Before he founded G.P.O., he’d been in love with a goddess himself. She’d lost her life fighting capture. He’d confided in me years ago, and I suspected I was still the only one who held that information about him.
“You want two of our team permanently stationed in Drifael?” His lips pursed.
“In exchange for the information I have, yes.”
This was why I needed leverage. There would be little for them to accomplish there if all went well. I was essentially requesting two paid employees do nothing but chill in a small town and keep an eye on things in perpetuity. It was a big ask of already limited resources.