Legacies of light

Getting up from my knees, I walk around and pick up all the burned body parts from limbs to organs. I take them all intact then I bring them all and the main bodies through the building. As I walk stark naked, I am unable to think because if I do I will die right here, so all I do is quietly walk outside with the bodies.

When I escape, I see Arthur and Tetra run up to me, but as they get close, they stop in disbelief and Tetra asks me, “Avaram who is that?”

I struggle to say anything but gathering strength I say, “It's Gloria.”

Hearing this Tetra collapsed onto the floor and I hear him say, “My baby girl.” In all the time I have been around him I have never seen him make such a despairing expression.

Arthur standing behind him starts to panic and says, “I should have never let her go, this is all my fault,” with tears falling from his eyes.

Suddenly I start to feel dizzy, it seems I lost too much blood from the fire. Unable to stay awake I collapse.

-Break-

As I open my eyes, I feel something slightly heavy on top of me, looking at what it could be I see Iancu laying on me. Sitting up I take a second to look around the room and see I am in a hospital. Iancu wakes up and he says to me, “DADDY YOU’RE AWAKE!”

Looking at him, I see his eyes are swollen as if he had just been crying. After I notice this, it all suddenly comes crashing down on me; my wife is dead and she is never coming back, Iancu has lost his mother.

Tears start to fall from my eyes as I start screaming. Iancu scared by this says, “Daddy what’s wrong? Whatever is bothering you will be ok.”

But I can’t stop this pathetic sight. My emotions are completely in control of my body, so all I can do is cry and scream, “WHY, WHY DID THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN, FOR WHAT REASON, OH GOD WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME!”

As I screamed in the hospital I was looking for someone to blame, Tetra for raising her like this, Arthur for letting her go in the building, me for not restricting her, the man who asked her to find his child, the aliens for changing her fate, or even god for allowing such misfortune to fall upon her.

But despite my screams of anger at all of them, I knew exactly why this happen. My wife always put others first as some form of repentance for being the one saved by Tetra. Her selflessness is what made her shine so brightly light a star, but it is also what ended her life. This is no one else’s fault but her own.

Despite having family at home, her need to help people made her run into a burning building regardless of the danger. Her actions were the equivalent of spitting in the face of all those who loved her. Even though it is, I still love her with all my heart.

Still, I can’t let something like this ever happen again, so on the day we buried her body I pulled Iancu aside and said to him, “No matter what always put yourself first, others can fend for themselves, always make sure you are safe.”

“But Mama wouldn’t have wanted that.”

“Iancu your mama is dead because of those foolish principles.”

With tears, he tells me, “But they mean so much to her.”

“I don’t care in the slightest. From now on you won’t be allowed to go to Ichnaea for any reason and I don’t want you doing anything dangerous as well.”

“But.”

“NO BUTS, NOW LISTEN IANCU MY WORD IS FINAL.” I won’t allow you to die a death like your mother.

Despite my words, Iancu keeps doing the things he and Gloria used to do in Ichnaea all by himself. No matter how much I talked to him or even hit him he keep doing them. This deteriorated my and Iancu's relationship.

It is like the whole world is against me, why do I have to watch my loved one go down the same path again? And today Iancu has seemingly vanished. I feel the exact same horrible feeling I felt when Gloria died, so all I can do is pray Iancu will be ok.

Orb says to me, “Don’t worry about anything, as long as I am breathing I won’t let harm come to Iancu.”

Looking into his eyes I see they are filled with determination, it seems Captivant left me a rather great gift. “Thanks for that,” I say as we speed up.

-Break-

Φ As I wake up, I am in a room and in front of me are the alien and Arthur. Looking at him I scream, “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING ARTHUR!” But he doesn’t say anything.

“Am I to believe this child is an acquaintance of yours?”

“Yes, he is something like that.”

“HEY, PIECE OF SHIT, DON’T IGNORE ME. You are one of my mom's closes friends and now you’re working with the aliens. You and my mom used to stand for justice and now you’re doing shit like this, I will never forgive YOU, BASTARD!”

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ANYTHING!” Arthur screams back at me. “Justice, all that is gone, it has completely vanished, the Gpd is finished.”

“What the hell are you on about?”

“Do you know how Tetra became the chief despite being very against the government of Elpída? It is because he racked up achievement after achievement and gather a ridiculous amount of supporters that they had no choice but to elect him commissioner, despite the fact he would have used his power to get in their way whenever he can.”

“You’re still not making sense to me.”

“The issue with this all is that the rulers have taken precautions to make sure someone with Tetra ideals never becomes commissioner again, but at the same time Tetra had also taken precautions and raised a successor, your mother Gloria.

Your mother was even more successful and popular than Tetra ever was. She had quite a ridiculous amount of support to become the next chief. It was almost set in stone, but then tragedy struck and she was ripped off this planet, and that’s when the problem occurred.

There isn’t a single person on Tetra's side who could possibly be his successor now, and because of that the Gpd has started to fall apart. Most of the officers fearing retaliation once the new commissioner is elected have turned tail and have started siding with the government, and who could blame them? Tetras health is declining rapidly, and within one year the government's little dog will be in charge of the Gpd.”

“Tetra hasn’t said anything about this to me.”

“It is because you’re a child who lost his mother, Tetra didn’t want to make you worry unnecessarily. But without a doubt, he will be dead in the next year.”

Gritting my teeth I say, “This doesn’t explain your actions. With both my mom and Tetra gone, it should be your turn to rise up and lead his side, but instead, you have chosen to kidnap people for the aliens for your own benefit, you disgust me.”

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW? Last month, I found out while investigating traitors the truth behind this country.”

“What truth?”

“The government has been helping the aliens kidnap citizens.”

“What!”

“In exchange for gold, they have been aiding them in their efforts to take citizens away. So when that new commissioner takes over in a year their operations will increase and there is nothing we can do about it.

Your mother and Tetra were pillars of Elpída, they gave hope to people that not only were we fighting for the right thing but that it was truly possible to achieve it.

But now that those pillars have vanished everyone is left with crushing despair. We can’t do anything without them. So I have given up, I am going to make this sale and leave Elpída for good.”

I don’t know what to say to Arthur he truly looks like he lost all hope but gathering strength I say, “SO WHAT IF IT SEEMS HOPELESS, DON’T LET THAT STOP YOU. Grandpa also thought it was hopeless, but he worked to overcome that. If you give up, if we all give up, then it is the same as saying my mother died for nothing.”

“Iancu,” Arthur says.

Suddenly, I hear a noise, and looking over at the alien I see he is making sounds and gestures as if he is crying behind that mask. Then he says, “That is truly heart-breaking, I really wish you all the best of luck.”

Angered I say, “DON’T FUCK WITH ME.”

Walking up close he says, “I would never dream of doing such a thing to an esteemed person such as yourself, but I just want to say if you truly wish to be a man of justice, come with me, I am sure we will be able to truly achieve your Gloria ideals.”

I spit on his mask and say, “It is only by the grace of god that I haven’t killed you yet, but if you bring up my mother's name I will end your life without hesitation.”

“Hey, you bastard Iancu is not for sale so back off.”

“What a shame I never always wanted to operate on a vampire, what a missed opportunity.”

Suddenly, I see the door fly through the room, and a well-dressed man comes in leading a group of people. Looking at them, I see that most of them are kids, and after enough of them come in I see that the majority of them are the kids I bring food to.

Seeing me they scream, “IANCU HELP US!”

One of the people leading the kids in says, “SHUT UP,” as he raises his fist.

But then the well-dressed man in front says, “Touch a single one of them and you’re going be shitting through five different holes.”

“Yes, boss.”

The alien repositioning himself says, “You must be Rise the leader of the gang virtuoso. Wow, you’re really tiny like an adorable child.”

“Show some respect to our boss.”

“Now why would I show respect to a criminal.”

“SAY THAT AGIN YOU BASTARD!”

Rise stopping his subordinate says, “Calm down, he has enough money for me to let this little transgression go, well at least this time.”

“Ohh scary, I think I might piss myself.”

While the gang members place the kids down, Arthur says, “Now let's go over our plan. We will transport all these kids across the platform on a special route to the drop-off point, from where the aliens will leave our money and take the kids. Tetra still has guards out looking for any kidnappings, but if we stick to my route we will dodge them all.”

Rise says, “That sounds fine but can you explain to me why Gloria's brat is here listening to our whole conversation.”

“It is a mistake, I made but don’t worry I have some of the drug Astral key with me.”

“The hallucinogenic.”

“Yes, and I am sure from the way you sell this stuff you should also know that it causes short-term memory loss, so he won’t remember a thing.”

“To think the high and mighty Arthur would not only resort to drugging kids but selling them at the same time. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Gloria is turning over in her grave.”

“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY?”

“OH, WHAT DON’T LIKE THE TRUTH.”

The alien slamming his fist into his hand says, “I got it.”

“What are you on about,” Arthur says.

“It is just that the name Gloria was ringing bells in my head and I just remembered where I heard it from. A little girl used to always scream that name ever since the day I took her till her unfortunate demise, what a tragedy.”

Hearing this Arthur freezes for a moment and says, “IT WAS YOU,” then he suddenly tries to attack the alien with his stun weapon.

Stun weapons: These are the standard issued equipment of the Gpd. They all have the ability to release an electric shock of various levels. They are powered by dust from Basileia crystals so they are an Elpída exclusive weapon. They all come in various forms such as gloves, boots, swords, and a special type of weapon that only exists on Elpída; guns.