INTERLUDE - ANTONIY

Antoniy sat on a crate as he ate his sandwich. The bread was hard, so he chewed loudly and thoroughly. The cheese was tasteless, but the change in texture felt welcome anyway. As for the ham? They’d run out of ham a week ago. Antoniy scratched his head, not caring about the grease getting into his hair. He had hoped that he wouldn’t feel nervous about going on missions anymore after so many years under his belt, but unfortunately, it didn’t work like that. So to keep himself from panicking, he ate. It was his ritual, and it worked every time.

A loud clang resonated through the building— the noise going twice as far because it was abandoned. Well, abandoned was probably the wrong expression. Empty worked better. Antoniy nodded to himself as he swallowed. Empty. That was a good word. The Prophet always told him to empty his mind before a mission.

But he was getting off track. He finished his sandwich and gripped his armband. Red for the bloodshed fighting the war and his Goddess drawn in white for purity. He muttered a quick prayer and jumped off the box. It was time.

The building was bustling with other Salvation Army members, and they all wore the armband. She kept them safe. It was one of their many bases of operations, and they never stayed in one place too long. Antoniy didn’t know what it had been before, but it was made entirely of concrete. Either the paint was long gone, or the people that made it didn’t even bother with any cosmetics. As of now, the building mainly served to store things— mostly ammo and food, and it sat on the outskirts of some random town he hadn’t even bothered to remember the name of.

“Antoniy, my friend! Getting ready for the mission, eh? Come walk with me!” A male voice called out behind him. Antoniy instantly recognized him.

“Good morning, Adam. You seem very chipper.” He replied.

Adam was a newer recruit, so new in fact that he had been recruited in Azeris. He had grown to hate his country after witnessing the horrors of genocide, and when the MSA showed up, he had instantly looked to join. Antoniy admired his companion’s fiery attitude, and joining the group was primarily luck-based. If they showed up in your town, you had a chance to find them, and then they recruited you. Or, in some instances, they found you.

“Of course! It is my first mission, after all. I am very excited!” Adam exclaimed, tapping him on the shoulder. Antoniy wondered how such a scrawny man managed to get such an outgoing personality.

Antoniy nodded. Adam was well versed in Saverian, but he still sounded odd and spoke slowly. “I was on my way to see the Prophet. I wanted to get one last meeting in before we go, yeah?”

“The Prophet already summoned us, my friend! Everyone will be there before going on the mission.” He said, his voice booming.

“Everyone? Even the Commanders?”

“Everyone, and the Commanders that are available at the moment. I feel blessed by Eureidis! It will be my first time being so close to the Commanders and the Prophet. What can you tell me about them, eh?”

Antoniy felt a few eyes turn his way at the mention of the organization’s leaders.

“Not so loud. And I guess I can tell you a little bit. I don’t want to be blasphemous. Commander Sanković is a man with an iron will, and you will never find someone that inspires respect like him. Plus, he led our first glorious attack against the murderous government.” Antoniy said, feeling pride swell up in his chest. He smiled.

“Ah yes, I saw it on T.V.! I joined right after that. But tell me something I don’t know, Antoniy.”

“I can’t go more in-depth than that without breaking the rules. Sorry, Adam. Now, Commander Palmer is a veteran of the Salvation Army, and he is unbeatable in combat thanks to his power. He was clearly blessed at birth by Eureidis.”

They made it to the deepest part of the building. They were close.

“Palmer, right. That is not a Saverian name, I am curious, where is he from?”

“Oh, Commander Palmer’s from Escann.” Antoniy noticed the frown on Adam’s face form after the mention of the country. “Be at ease, Adam. Remember that everything you had learned before coming here was a lie. Escann is no more malicious than Azeris. They will all yield to us in the end, so petty rivalries do not matter.”

“Of course. Apologies, Antoniy.”

The rest of the walk was silent, and eventually, the two men reached a metallic door. The atmosphere felt heavier around it, and Antoniy felt nervous by just being here. More nervous than he was about his impending mission. He took a deep breath and glanced at Adam, who was clearly agitated as well, but Antoniy knew it was for a different reason. He was nervous about meeting the Commanders. Antoniy, however?

“Don’t just stand in front of the door. Enter.”

The Prophet spoke, and when he spoke, you listened.

Antoniy wiped the sweat off his palms before clasping the rusty door handle. He pushed the door open, and in the heart of the darkened room sat the Prophet. He was old, so old Antoniy thought he would wither away with the faintest blow of wind. His face was more wrinkles and blemishes than skin, and he only wore a simple silky red robe. The Prophet was also the only one that didn’t wear a Eureidis armband.

Around him were the two Commanders, Palmer and Sanković, along with Bogdanov the space warper— not a Commander per se, but at a higher level than simple grunts like Antoniy was. Four other soldiers stood in the room, all nervous.

“Welcome, Antoniy and Adam.” The Prophet said as he smiled, revealing yellow teeth. “You all know why you were summoned here.”

He paused. Antoniy nodded, along with his other comrades.

“The Senate has reconvened again. They dare to oppose Eureidis’ will, so they will die. Bogdanov planted his seed in the Assembly during our first conflict with the corrupt Azerian Government, and so he will open the gate between our locations. Your only goal will be the slaughter of every remaining Senator. No hostages, no mercy. They will pay for their crimes against metahumans.”

Another pause.

“Now, due to the distance between our base and Adelind, Bogdanov will only be able to send eight people. I have heard Eureidis’ voice, and she believes that you are the key to our success. All eight of you—”

The Prophet’s eyes rolled back into his skull, and his body started convulsing wildly. Antoniy bit his tongue, watching as his leader’s body collapsed onto the ground. No matter how many times he saw it, the Prophet’s visions still made him uncomfortable. He kept shuddering and muttering nonsense. He spoke in multiple languages, swapping every few seconds. Eventually, the vision stopped, and the Prophet sat up, spit and snot streaming down his face.

“Bogdanov, open the gate now.” He said, breathing hard.”

“Prophet, what did Eureidis show you?” Sanković asked, his voice shaking. The Prophet didn’t answer.

“There is no time. Bogdanov.” He exclaimed.

The space warper nodded and began drawing a circle with his hands. A crack rang through the empty room, echoing past Antoniy’s ears. First, a blur appeared, and then a few minutes later, that blur turned into a hole, tearing through their reality. On the other side, they saw the Senate chamber, along with Marshal Gessner surrounded by guards. Senators sat on the wings of the room, all looking toward them bewildered. Sanković wasted no time and rammed through the portal, and the others followed suit soon after. Antoniy exhaled and took a step.

“Not you, Antoniy. You will stay here, our goddess wills it.” The Prophet stated, his lips curled upward.

“What? Prophet—” He replied, just as the portal collapsed on itself and reality returned to normal. “Why?” He asked again, genuinely confused. “With all due respect, I am one of Eureidis’ most loyal warriors. I want to fight for our cause!”

“She wills it. I will not repeat myself. Unless you would doubt me?” He said, his voice settling into a low growl.

Antoniy straightened his back and shook his head. The Prophet was old and thin, but his words carried power.

“Good. Come closer and sit. Bogdanov, you are dismissed for today.”

“Thank you, Prophet. May Eureidis protect you.” He replied as he left. His face was pale, and creating the portal had clearly tired him.

Antoniy approached the Prophet and sat opposite to him, legs crossed.

“Do you know how old I am, Antoniy?”

The question took him aback, and he took a few seconds to answer. Should he lowball it to avoid offending his leader, or should he be honest?

“Speak your mind, young one.” He reassured him, waving his hand.

“I would guess… ninety to one hundred?” Antoniy answered.

The Prophet chuckled lightly, emitting awful breath. Antoniy forced himself not to gag.

“That is what most would guess, and I assume that is how I look. You are wrong, of course. I am far older. I have seen empires rise and fall, and I have seen metahumans go from ruling the masses to being relegated to second-class citizens after man figured out how to use gunpowder. And yet I still age, and I will still die. Soon.”

Antoniy’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“But how? You have the power of longevity? That is—”

“Unheard of, correct. It is not mine, it is a gift, given to me by Eureidis. I hold a fraction of her power within me.” The Prophet said, closing his first.

“You have met her, Prophet?”

The old man waited for a second before answering.

“I was but a boy. Normal, without a gift. That is how we called it in the olden times. I was normal, just like you. When a man lives this long, memories escape him, but I still remember it as clear as day, and she was beautiful.” His sunken eyes glittered as he said the word. “Only I remember her. Eureidis is lost to history.”

“And she… gave you her power?”

“Her gift. We lived in times of strife— famine had struck after years of bad harvest, and the empire was collapsing to infighting. I assume she simply felt bad for me. I was at the right place at the right time. Eureidis looked at me, she touched me, feeding her gift into my body, and I felt more alive then than I had ever been.”

“Where is she now, Prophet? Can she help us in our goal?”

“I do not know.” He replied quickly. Antoniy deflated. “I do not know what happened to her after that day, but she was never seen again. However, I found myself barely aging past twenty-five, and eventually, the visions— the messages she sends me— started appearing. That is when I decided to create the Metahuman Salvation Army.”

Antoniy finally let himself breathe. He felt like he’d been entirely still during the entire story.

“That is fascinating, Prophet… but why me? I am just a simple warrior. Why not tell this to the Commanders?”

“Well, Antoniy, I see a little bit of my young self in you.”

His chest swelled with pride. The Prophet continued.

“We see the ugliness of the world in a similar fashion, do we not?”

He frowned, not sure what to answer.

“When you look at a country like Azeris— no, when you look at the world, what do you want to do?”

“I want it to be destroyed, along with every bystander that let mass murder of this scale happen.”

“Exactly, and that is also Eureidis’ will. Until today, I believed that we should simply wreak havoc unto the worse oppressors, but the vision I saw? I have never felt so hopeful. So glad.” He stated, raising his voice. “Eureidis calls me. She is dormant but alive, and it is our job to reawaken her. She will save metahumans and bring the empire upon us once more.

---

Adam stepped into the portal and immediately started shooting, aiming first for Gessner and then for the blond woman approaching him. The bullets sunk into her skin, but she just kept advancing. He attempted to grab her— although she was bigger and taller than he was. She grabbed his face by the back of his hair and slammed it against the corner of a wooden chair. At first, he screamed for help, of course, but soon the agony became so atrocious he couldn’t even speak. Adam’s face felt unrecognizable, and he struggled to breathe. He was struggling to breathe in through his deformed nose. Eventually, the woman let up and threw him onto the ground. Adam felt his vision darken as Sanković slammed into his attacker and took her into the air.

Ah.

He can fly.

How beautiful.

I wish I had been blessed by Eureidis.

I wish—