“But I know that I cannot see his fate and I am certain that this is not by coincidence,” She revealed.
“No. No way,” I said as I shook my head in disbelief. “You know, you almost had me for a second there but you really dropped the ball with the whole thing about Ace trying to kill me,” I continued.
“He will not simply try to kill you, Reaper. He WILL kill you and I have no doubt that your trust in him is what will allow him to do so,” the Goddess warned.
“Okay, we’re done here,” I growled as I turned my back to Her.
“Very well,” the Goddess replied after a few moments of uneasy silence. “But before we part you should know that there is another who wishes to converse with you.”
“What are you talking about now?” I groaned as I angrily peered over my shoulder, but I froze within my tracks as soon as I saw who was now standing behind me.
“Hello, Reaper,” Monica said softly, as she stood before me within the darkness, surrounded by the same heavenly aura that I had witnessed earlier in my vision of the future.
I was completely speechless as I turned to face her, and though I missed her more than anything in life I still found it difficult to even look into her eyes. This was partially because I had been away from her for so long that I wondered if she even still loved me as much as I loved her, but it was also because I felt guilty about having also developed feelings for Audrey during the time that Monica and I had been apart. I had since found out that Audrey was the de facto leader of The Strangers but despite her betrayal, I couldn’t deny that a part of me still loved her. It would have been easier if that wasn’t the case but as much as I wanted to hate Audrey, the part of me that still felt connected to her would not allow me to do so. I didn’t know if I had the resolve to say anything to Monica about Audrey, but as I finally worked up the courage to look her in the eyes, something told me that she already knew.
6. OFFICE POLITICS
AUDREY:
AND IN MY ABSENCE I ONLY ASK THAT YOU ENDURE… AND know that I shall return…
The Suspect’s words echoed repeatedly within my mind as I sat at a wooden desk within a small office in one of our many Stranger strongholds in Manhattan. There were several other chairs and monitors within the area but aside from me the room was completely devoid of people. My long scarlet hair was pulled back into a perfect pony-tail and I was wearing a black, long-sleeved turtle neck along with a pair of formfitting black jeans as I sat in front of a blank computer screen and waited for The Suspect to make contact.
I still didn’t fully understand how any of this was happening because as far as I knew, our leader had sacrificed himself years ago during a confrontation with his brother, The Reaper. So how was it that he had returned? And most importantly, how could he have survived an explosion that leveled the entire building?
This wouldn’t be the first time that he’s come back from the dead, I thought, as I suddenly recalled the school shooting incident that The Suspect had carried out in order to fake his own death and commence the birth of our revolution.
A letter supposedly written by him had recently been sent out via our Stranger Network in order to announce his impending return. While I was still somewhat skeptical as to the letter’s authenticity I couldn’t help but wonder if it was truly him based on the fact that only a handful of people in the world were skilled enough to remotely access our network.
In a perfect world I would have been overjoyed about the possibility of his return; however, in that moment I couldn’t have been more conflicted. A part of me had always longed for his reemergence but another part of me desperately hoped that it was all a hoax. The longer I thought about it the more I realized that if his resurrection was indeed real then perhaps the warnings that he had issued regarding the Anokians were real as well. In the letter that announced his inevitable return he had implied that the Anokians did not intend to maintain the offer of safe passage that The Righteous had originally promised us. Instead they meant to either destroy us all or leave us behind on Earth once their fleet came to rescue them. Now the world stood on the brink of a conflict that could possibly consume the entire planet and The Strangers were stuck somewhere in the middle— not knowing if we should continue to aid the Anokians or attempt to form an alliance with the same nations that we had worked so tirelessly to weaken.
The Anokians were essentially the main reason for the meteoric rise of The Strangers but I also couldn’t discount The Suspect’s role in our ascension as well. I wasn’t willing to simply abandon our alliance with The Righteous just yet but I also knew I owed it to The Suspect to at least listen to what he had to say. A few days ago I had received an untraceable email from him, in which he indicated that he would be contacting me soon in order to discuss our ongoing strategy. There wasn’t very much that could make me nervous, but as I sat there and stared at the blank screensaver on the computer in front of me my heart was pounding faster than ever before.
“Hello, Audrey,” a distorted voice finally rang out from the speakers resting on the desk in front of me.
“Hello? Hello, are you there?” I asked as I abruptly grabbed the wireless mouse on the desk in front of me. The dark screensaver instantly vanished as I touched the mouse and I was completely frozen stiff as I finally laid eyes on him for the first time in over two years.
“Yes, I am here, Audrey, and I trust you know why I have contacted you,” The Suspect answered as I gazed at the screen and stared into the blackened eyes of the chalk-white Greek Tragedy mask that he wore on his face.
“I have a few ideas,” I replied as a nervous tingle shot up my spine.
“I see. I would hope that we could make this transition as smoothly as possible as it would not benefit either of us to—”
“I think we may be getting a bit ahead of ourselves,” I interjected before he could finish his sentence. A thousand butterflies suddenly rampaged in my stomach as The Suspect cocked his head to the side and stared at me.
“Excuse me?” he said as he moved his face a bit closer to his camera.
“I was under the impression that you and I were going to discuss strategy. I don’t remember agreeing to a change in leadership,” I offered.
“And I don’t recall your agreement being necessary,” The Suspect responded. “The Strangers are my organization. That is a fact of which I am sure you are well aware.”
“We haven’t seen or heard from you in years,” I snapped. “What makes you think you can just video chat your way back in and start ordering me around?”
“You forget yourself, Alias! And I urge you to consider the ramifications of your actions before you attempt to defy me. You have done well to lead The Strangers in my absence but you should not mistake the power that you temporarily wield for your true place.”
“And what if I think this is my true place?” I asked, flatly.
“Come now, Audrey, you know as well as I do that your resistance is meaningless. Ever since I penned that letter confirming my continued existence our operatives have clamored for my return— whether you like it or not. If I can cause that kind of frenzy with no more than a few words, imagine what will happen once I inevitably return in the flesh. I invite you to pause for a moment to consider how easily I could convince them all to turn on you.”
“You have no right. I did everything that you asked of me and then you just disappeared!” I snapped.
“Indeed you have, Audrey, but look at what I asked you to do! Because of my wishes you all ultimately betrayed your own people only to further the agenda of extra-terrestrial entities who would stop at nothing to see us all destroyed. That is why I have returned, Audrey. I’ve returned in order to correct my mistakes before they lead us all to oblivion.”
“No. You said yourself that they agreed to spare us if we helped them. You said they would only sacrifice enough lives to bring back the Goddess,” I protested.
“And I was wrong and that is why we must shift our allegiance. I do not fault you fo
r wanting to maintain your current course, for it is a cause with which I was once desperately devoted to as well. But in the end, as much as it pains me to admit, The Righteous cannot be trusted. He will not offer us the safe passage to Eden that was once promised to us. Instead of salvation our efforts to aide them will only lead to our extinction. I thought I was helping to build a better world but I now know that I was only helping them destroy it.”
“And what proof do you have? What proof do you have that you are even really The Suspect?” I asked.
“You once put your faith in me when I was no more than an angry sixteen-year-old kid hell bent on destroying our society so that a greater world could rise from the ashes left behind. You trusted me when I wanted to reshape the world, Audrey, so why not trust me when I’m trying to save it? Also, you should know that I do not wish to replace you as the face of this organization, for in my current state, I doubt that would even be possible. I only wish to resume my role as leader behind the scenes so that I may correct the destructive course upon which this organization currently travels— a path in which I myself am directly responsible for.
“Even if I wanted to help you, what good would that do? There’s no way we could fight the Anokian and win,” I argued.
“Oh, yes we can. Why else would The Righteous have gone to such great lengths to tear us apart? He knew that we wouldn’t stand a chance at defending ourselves if we all fought as individual nations but if we were to unite the people of Earth as one global defense who knows what we could accomplish,” The Suspect explained.
“And how do you suppose we do that? I think you’re forgetting that most of the superpowers absolutely hate each other, and it’s not like the governments will just welcome The Strangers with open arms either,” I said skeptically.
“You’re right. It would be impossible for you or me to unite our planet but we both know of someone who can,” The Suspect replied.
“Reaper,” I said softly.
“Yes. My brother is the symbol that we need to bring our people back together, Audrey. Due to that footage that I leaked, the world witnessed him ultimately sacrifice himself in order to ensure the safety of the soldiers that Darius, The Greater would have otherwise destroyed. Though his current fate remains uncertain in the eyes of the people, we both know that The Reaper still lives. Imagine what would happen if he were to return. Imagine what would happen if he came back to lead them.”
“But how can we bring Reaper back when he’s a thousand miles away in some spaceship right now? And even if he was here what makes you think he’ll help us? I betrayed him, remember? Helping me is probably the last thing on his mind right now,” I said solemnly.
“You have no idea of the complexity of my brother’s emotional spectrum, Audrey. Reaper does not hate you. Despite anything that he might have said to the contrary, Reaper still loves you, and that is exactly why you will convince him to help us.”
“He loves her… not me. And you're a fool if you think I can compete with that,” I said.
“I’m not asking you to compete with Monica. I am simply asking you to talk to him,” The Suspect responded.
“But what if he doesn’t want to listen? And how do you expect us to even have a chance to talk when he's locked away aboard the Pillar of Eden?” I retorted.
“You still have the antimatter bomb, right?”
“Yes,” I answered.
“Then we still have leverage,” The Suspect said ominously.
“You’re talking about mutually assured destruction, aren't you? How can you expect me to gamble the safety of the entire planet when you know that they have the means to destroy it?” I asked.
“Because if it comes down to it, I know that they won't,” The Suspect said firmly.
“You can't possibly know that for sure,” I replied skeptically.
“I am not without a certain level of uncertainty but there are a multitude of factors that lead me to believe that the Anokians will not destroy this world under any circumstances. Furthermore, I have it on good authority that they are now in the midst of an internal power struggle that only serves to further draw their attention away from the threat of our impending revolution.”
“What kind of power struggle?” I asked.
“Haven’t you wondered why The Righteous is still relying so heavily on The Strangers despite the fact that their fleet has been in orbit for weeks?”
“Yes, actually I have, and I also thought that meeting in Manhattan was awfully strange,” I admitted.
“That’s because the Knights of Eden are no longer following the orders of their High King and I do not think they came here to rescue him or The Greater. I think they came so that their commander, Cyrus, The Godhand, can seize power from The Righteous.”
“Interesting… So where does that leave us?” I asked.
“Collateral damage, unless we can do something about it. That’s why we can’t afford to wait around and watch them fight each other. We need to mobilize our forces and unite the nations of Earth into one global defense force whilst our enemy remains distracted. This all starts with freeing The Reaper. The Anokians need the antimatter bomb that your men stole from Area 51 in order to make the sacrifice that will bring back their Goddess and we need to use that as leverage to get our savior back.”
“I think we’re forgetting one major hole in this plan of yours, Sir— Reaper is working with the U.S. Government and we both know that they’re in bed with the Equillians,” I warned.
“I’ll take care of the greys,” The Suspect said darkly. I had no idea of how he meant to do so but something about the way he said it let me know that he meant business. Still, even if we were able to somehow join the people of Earth together in order to face the growing extraterrestrial threats that endangered our world I wasn’t convinced that we had enough firepower to actually win the fight.
“I... I just don’t know if it’s worth the risk, Sir,” I finally admitted as I glanced away from the screen and contemplated his offer.
“Then perhaps you will change your mind once you realize the true gravity of your decision,” The Suspect warned just before he ended his transmission.
I initially took his last remark as a threat on my life but I soon realized my mistake as he sent me a follow-up email containing his theory as to the objectives of both the Anokians and the Equillian Federation. I was completely speechless as I read then reread the documents several times. What he was asking of me was beyond dangerous, it was virtually impossible, but as I poured over the materials that he had sent me I suddenly realized that we had no other choice. We could either figure out a way to stop what was coming or prepare ourselves for extinction.
7. EX-FACTOR
THE GREATER:
- A FEW WEEKS LATER
“HAVE YOU RECEIVED WORD FROM THE PILLAR OF EDEN, father? I asked anxiously as I stepped into my father’s candle lit quarters. He was wearing a comfortable silver and black robe similar to my own and smoking a long pipe as he sat before his personal Altar of Eden, which stood on the far right hand side of his room. His long pale grey hair draped upon his broad shoulders and cascaded further down his back as he stroked his long beard and focused on the gold and ivory altar that stood before him.
“Father? Have you heard anything from The Pillar?” I repeated as I continued to watch him from the entrance of his chamber.
“Yes,” he finally said as he exhaled a large plume of blue and gray pipe smoke. “They will send a shuttle for us shortly. It shall take us aboard The Pillar.”
“And did The Godhand say anything as to his intentions?” I asked.
“The message did not come from the Lord Commander…” The Righteous said before trailing off into silence and inhaling another puff from his pipe.
“Then who has sent for us? Jonas?” I asked, as I wondered what the unusual tone in his voice could have meant.
“Promise me that you will be able to control your emotions, my son. This is a matter that must be handled d
elicately,” The Righteous replied as he took yet another puff of his pipe and dodged my question.
“Who has summoned us, Father?” I insisted.
“It was Lemore, The Supernal. Apparently she is now the second of The Godhand’s Knight Commanders, the other, of course, being Jonas, The Redeemer,” he finally replied as he glanced over at me.
“Lemore? She— she’s aboard the Pillar?” I gasped as my eyes widened with surprise.
“Indeed, and this is no doubt a calculated move by The Godhand. He will attempt to use her as a means to manipulate you, Darius— a means to compel you to turn on your own father,” The Righteous warned as he stood and maintained eye contact.
“And it shall not work. There is nothing that they can do to sway my allegiance,” I said firmly as my blood began to boil.
“You and The Supernal were once engaged to be married, Darius,” The Righteous said as he studied the troubled expression that washed across my face. “Are you certain that her presence will not affect your judgment?”
“Of course it won’t, Father,” I lied as I struggled to bury the rage that was slowly building up inside of me.
“Very well,” he said dismissively as he placed his pipe back into his mouth and took another puff. “I will send for you when the shuttle arrives. Now leave me to my prayers, son.”
“Thank you, Father,” I said with a nod, before turning and exiting his room. Something told me that despite my best attempts to hide my true feelings, my father could still detect that Lemore’s presence was already affecting me. I had wanted to say something else to try to convince him otherwise but unfortunately the thought of seeing Lemore again had my heart racing so much that I was completely incapable of formulating another response. I had always thought that the brewing conflict between my father and Cyrus, The Godhand would ultimately be resolved by way of my fists— but The Supernal’s presence changed everything. I wanted to believe that our time apart would allow me to remain objective once The Righteous and I found ourselves aboard The Pillar, however, in the back of my mind I knew that I didn’t stand a chance. Though I knew she probably still hated me for what had happened all those years ago, The Supernal was still the love of my life and I knew that no amount of time would ever change that.
Savior Part 3: Legion of The Godhand (The Savior Series) Page 6
