“When are we going to stop this façade?”

“What façade?”

“Don’t play dumb with us,

We don’t know what we are,

We don’t know where we are,

We can’t remember what our purpose is,”

“We?

Who is we?”

“Are we playing dumb now, look at us,

We are we and we are we,”

“..?

You are me?”

Surrounded by nothing but darkness I face a figure that looks identical to me.

“Now we understand”

“We want us to get our priorities straight

Otherwise, we will take control!”

My doppelganger, begins to walk slowly towards me , with a big unnatural smile its bright white teeth looking like miniature knives, the smile just gets wider and wider till his jaws now resemble that of sharks.

(I can’t move!

My body won’t cooperate!)

I just stand there still in fear waiting like an offering as the massive draws open wide and-

….

“Uhh!

Huh, huh!” I spring from under the covers sweating and breathing heavily.

(It was dream)

….

“My that must have been quite the nightmare,” a voce whispers in my ear,

“Ahh!” I fall back off the bed

“Karina?

Don’t scare me like that!”

“I didn’t know you were this easily spooked”

“I’m not I just had a bad dream”

“About?”

“What are you even doing here?” I avoid her question,

“Watching you sleep,”

“What, Why?”

“Because I find you both interesting, and suspicious,

I always feel like you’re hiding something.”

“After all we’ve suffered through,” I frown

“Ok then, tell me what that ‘thing’ is, you have on your hand, that turns into a bow,

What magic is it?”

“I have a name for it, it’s called ‘The Prototype’ and I told you before its some kind of technology”,

“That isn’t even a real word Kage,”

I let out a weak sigh,

“Ok, what else do you think I’m hiding?”

“Hmm, let me see,

Your age, and where you came from,”

“I don’t remember, is that really even suspicious?”

“Yes,” Karina replies dryly,

“Ok, well...” I yawn, “I don’t see you telling me your age,”

“Why?

Do you think I’m young?

Or older than I look?” She asks playfully,

“What kind of question is that?

I know Apollo is seventeen so you can’t be that far off from him,” I assume

“Apollo is the youngest of us actually, well along with Lyra,” Karina explains,

“Darius was the oldest at twenty-five, but I guess now that he’s dead, Pinoki is, at twenty-three,

Zinnia is year younger than Pinoki,

And I’m three years behind her,”

“So, nineteen?” I guess

“Hmmm,”

“What?”

“I figured you were older,”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Karina concedes

“Well, is that all of your suspicions addressed?” I ask tiredly,

“No, there is just one more,

What do you desire Kage?”

She drags her finger gently across my chest,

“What desires are you keeping locked up inside there?”

…

“You know it’s only of the two us in here,”

She moves closer speaking in a soothing tone,

“All you have to do is ask Kage”

“What do want me to do?”

“Well….”

I grab both her hands pulling her close,

I can feel the temperature of her hands instantly rise, her pulse racing fast,

Edging my face close to her ear I whisper:

“Can we….

Can we play a game of chess?”

****

“Move that part over there!”

Slam!

“Not there, you idiot!

I have to do everything by myself!”

A man quarrels frustratedly with other men for not following orders,

Minding my business, I continue on with my work,

It’s been two months since Murdoc’s fall, Apollo an I have been helping around the city, aiding in the construction of new buildings,

It took a while, but Soterra has slowly been finding its footing,

The first week after Murdoc was killed was much worse,

Some people couldn’t accept his death, and took their own lives because of it,

You would think we’d be seen as heroes, but it was the opposite,

We took away their happiness, their peace, even inadvertently killed dozens of innocent people in the process,

But they couldn’t bring themselves to antagonize us either however,

While they lived prosperous for the past decade, people suffered hiding the unholy city

Rarely they would see sunshine,

In a way they understood, this outcome was their fault, it was inevitable….

……..

“I always wonder,

Was there a better way to go about this?

Or was death only way,” Apollo walks up next to me, Darius’ sword strapped to his back, he carries it everywhere with him now,

“It already been done, all you can do is move forward, no use reopening closed wounds,”

“Easy for you, an outsider, to say,” Apollo taunts

“I’m just glad I won’t have to stay here much longer,” I say wiping the sweat off my face,

“Where are you planning to go?”

“Haven’t figured that out yet, well, not until Pinoki finishes gathering everything we need,

Ever since the well you know,

It’s been hard to find a map in one piece,”

“Pinoki’s going with you?”

“Yeah, he wanted the ‘adventure,’ plus I think he’s sick of this place.”

“So am I,” Apollo sighs

“Then come with us.”

“Not possible Kage, I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m the last living member of the royal family, everyone expects me to take charge,”

“So, that system ended when the walls of the city fell,”

“I know, but if not me, who? No-one wants to take charge, everyone has been left scared from Murdoc,”

“So have you,” I reply dryly

“You don’t owe the people of Soterra anything….”

****

“I really think only I can do this!”

“Why though?

What’s gotten into you, Zinnia, you aren’t usually one to take up leadership roles,”

“I know, but I want to make Soterra a prosperous kingdom,

Even before Murdoc took control, we never made relations with other nations or great cities,

I want to change that, start exporting our magic gems, start building relations,”

“Do you think the Apollo would just easily hand over what little authority he has left to you?

More so, would the people readily accept you?” Lyra debates with Zinnia

“I am willing to try….”

…. “What’s all this chatter about?” I stride into the room,

“Surprised your still here,” Lyra retorts

“Why, are you going to miss me when I leave?” I reply teasingly

“What do you want Kage?” she ignores, “Can’t you see we’re in the middle of something,”

“Sounded like pointless bickering to me,”

Zinnia, I need to speak with you,

Alone,”

Zinnia gives Lyra a look,

“Five minutes,” Lyra says annoyedly stomping out the room,

“She hates it here,” Zinnia sighs,

“After years of associating this city with the ‘enemy’

She just can’t bring herself to be comfortable living here.

I assume you have something important to tell me Kage?”

“It’s about Darius,” I say slightly surprising the girl,

“I have not told anyone about this yet, but I feel like I have to share this with you,

Zinnia looks at me quizzingly

“This may sound crazy but, I see things,

No, I experience things that I’m not sure if is real

It usually happens for dead people,

I see their memories, live it,

Back when Darius died, I caught glimpse of his memories,

I know why you want to be the leader of the city, what you and Darius want to tell others,

I was there, I saw it, I felt it,”

Zinnia’s face goes red,

“Are you saying-”

“Yes.”

“I won’t tell anyone until you’re ready to yourself,”

“Why did you decide to tell me now?” Zinnia asks

“I’m leaving, soon so that saves me from the awkwardness of it all,” I’m already walking out the room,

“Wait Kage, I have a request,”

“What is it?” I turn,

“Could you……….”

***

“Stop sulking, Lyra, I wasn’t talking to Zinnia for that long,”

“I’m not upset about that,” Lyra grunts

She kicks up a stone, it knocks into some equipment left scattered on the ground, we stroll around the site,

In front of the giant tree, over the grave of the cathedral is the construction of the Soterra ‘City Hall’ a while back, the people came together to decide what should be done with cathedral/castle’s wreckage,

After a lot of deliberation,

I (told Apollo to say) proposed to rebuild it as city hall, instead being ruled by the royals it can serve as an inn and meet up spot to discus issues in the city……

……. “I just don’t know what I should be doing right now,” Lyra continues,

“Zinnia is already talking about things like leadership,

Apollo might as well be the de facto king,

I haven’t seen Karina in weeks, and Pinoki is going adventuring with you or whatever,”

“We are not,” I stop her,

“He is just overly excited about leaving,”

“It’s still going to be an adventure knowing Pinoki, both of you will be involved in something crazy in no time,

I had one goal, save the people of the unholy city, and die a hero while doing it,

I wasn’t supposed to make it this far,”

“That was a stupid goal,” I chide,

“Make a new plan Lyra, Brandon must still be alive you know,”

“How do you know that name?” Lyra eyes me mistrustingly,

“I never mentioned my brother’s name,

Start talking Kage!” She steps up menacingly in my face,

“No need for the aggression,” I say stepping back,

“I can tell you, but,

You will have to agree to one thing…….”

***

“Kage! My comrade!” Pinoki beams,

“It is almost time for us to leave this godforsaken land and seek out adventure!”

“Do you have the map?” I ask flatly,

“Indeed, I do, took a while but I finally procured one intact,” he hands it to me,

“Hmm,”

(Strange layout)

“How far does this map show?”

“I believe up to Furlheim city, I also have a compass, a lot of magic stones and gold, I err acquired via methods, and I have this book on magic if you need to read up anything,” he hands me a familiar black book,

“Where did you get that?” I grab it

“I always had it on me, “he smiles slyly,

“Ever since I stole it from you a while back.”

“I knew it looked familiar; the queen gave me this when I first met her,”

“Well then you should thank me for stealing it or it would have been ashes right now,” Pinoki tries to flip the situation

“You know what,

You make a fair point………”

***

I stare up the tree towering over Soterra in distance,

‘The tree of life’ I named it as it was born amidst death,

Tapping my feet impatiently I stand by the entrance to the city, a slight nervousness bubbles inside of me,

(Last time I was here, I got chased down into the abyss that was the unholy city,

What awaits me this time?)

“Aghh!” Pinoki finally arrives heaving along four heavy bags,

“I am already regretting this adventure if it means lugging these around the whole time,”

“You shouldn’t have overpacked,” I say taking two of the four bags,

“Says the person who wandered through the desert for days relying on the random chance of finding an oasis to survive,” Pinoki retorts,

“I recall it being easier than carrying around bags filled with bricks,” I lie

“Ha-ha, very funny,” Pinoki says sarcastically….

“Let me hold one.” a person approaches,

“Apollo?” Pinoki looks surprised

“Why are you here?”

“Kage asked me three days ago to come,

I talked it over with Zinnia for a while and well,

Let’s go already, I am sick of this place,”

“You don’t hear me complaining,” Pinoki grins handing him a heavy pack,

“You literally were just complaining,” I bring up,

“Go talk to your mysterious blue flames,” Pinoki snaps back

“What blue flame?” another voice asks, as someone else walks up,

“Lyra, you too?”

“Kage told me to come two days ago,”

…….

“Don’t look at me like that Pinoki,” I say catching Pinoki’s disapproving glance,

“We both know that the two of us should not be venturing into God-knows where, alone,”

“Well, an adventure is always more fun with multiple people, in the novels so I’m ok with this,” Pinoki concedes,

“You should have at least told me yesterday when I gave you the map that they were coming,”

“It must have slipped my mind,”

“Is there anyone else you asked Kage, or can we go now?”

“That’s everyone,” I say handing Lyra a bag,

“Then let the journey begin!” Pinoki rushes through the gate,

Following behind, I turn taking one last look at ‘the tree of life,’

Its leaves flutter majestically in the calm mid-morning breeze, each leaf glows colourfully as they refract the sunlight,

“Goodbye Soterra,” I walk out,

“May you blossom into a place of serenity.”