Clearly my past self had been just as taken by delusions of grandeur as the advisors.

  “I am under no delusions! I know my power, as do others!”

  “So what do we do, Alyssa? Do we run?”

  “Where would we run? We have nowhere to go without endangering the ones we love!”

  “Can we … kill the Emperor?”

  Alyssa clamped a hand over her friend’s mouth, frantically looking around to check no one had heard her words.

  “Why would you say that out loud? If anyone heard you, they’d kill you for saying that!”

  “It was just an idea! A way to save ourselves and everyone else!”

  Suddenly the two ladies looked to their right, down the hallway on their side of the courtyard.

  “The advisors are coming! Go. Now! We’ll speak again later.”

  I watched as both ladies stood and scurried down the hall.

  “Come back to me, Bitsy! Quickly!”

  I watched the plants move as Bitsy raced towards me. Taking the earpiece out, I held it in my palm. Moments later, Bitsy shot out of the bushes, crawled up to my palm, and scooped the earpiece up.

  “Back into watch mode for now, buddy!”

  Bitsy transformed, securing itself to my wrist once more. Only moments later, a hand clamped down onto my shoulder.

  ***

  “Who were you speaking to, Raith?” Zavis asked.

  I looked over my shoulder. “Just myself! I talk to myself sometimes when I’m thinking.”

  “Right. Have you made a decision yet?”

  “Ah, no … no, I have not.”

  “Walk with me – perhaps I can alleviate any concerns or doubts you may have?”

  I didn’t want to walk with Zavis, but his statement seemed more compulsory than optional. I stood, moving to stand beside the advisor and then we started to make our way down the hallway.

  “Where had you gotten to thus far?”

  “Mainly just thinking about what it means to be emperor. I’ve been a simple farmer for two years … it just feels like a far cry from managing a bunch of planets and stuff, you know?”

  “I understand. Once we restore your mind, your knowledge will return. And as always, your faithful advisors will be by your side!”

  I knew what the advisors wanted: a public figure to lead the invasion of the Republic. But I was reminded of their failsafe, as Alyssa’s words echoed through my mind, “If the invasion fails, there’s no better scapegoat than the leader of the Empire.”

  “That does ease my mind, thank you. I ah … I guess the next question is … what would we do after the invasion? What is there to do?”

  “I’m glad to see you’re thinking ahead. Well, the Empire's goal has always been ‘Per Unitatem Nos Ortum.’”

  “‘Through Unity, We Rise,’ right?”

  “Exactly! Humanity united is stronger than humanity divided!”

  “Isn’t the Republic already humanity united?”

  “You’re not wrong, but bureaucracy plagues the Republic, so meaningful change is always slow and cumbersome. So many rules to abide by, so many people to please! The Empire has no such restrictions. Under its control, humanity will be far greater, far stronger, and so much more powerful!” Zavis sneered.

  “And once we obtain unity and power? What then?”

  “Well beyond unification, there are greater issues that require our attention. On Ares, a few years ago, we began detecting a signal from beyond our domain. We sent several ships out in its direction, but we lost contact with them all. Something is out there, in the darkness of space – hidden, forgotten – maybe it slumbers, or maybe it does not. But we must be prepared for it, one way or another. And as the old saying goes, ‘United we stand, divided we fall!’”

  As I listened to Zavis talk, I couldn’t tell if this threat beyond the stars was a convenient lie or an inconvenient truth – nor could I tell if it was working – was I more or less inclined to make the decision Zavis wanted if I thought there was a threat out there?

  “Do you have any other concerns, Raith?”

  “I … I don’t think so?”

  “So you’ve made a decision?”

  “Ah … no, not yet.”

  Zavis frowned. “Tell me something, Raith – on Gaia, how was your life?”

  “I’m not sure I understand?”

  “I mean, were your food choices plentiful and did you eat to the point of satisfaction?”

  “No …”

  “Did you sleep soundly at night, warm, cosy and secure?”

  “Well, no, not really.”

  “And the joys of the flesh? Did you indulge in the pleasures of many a woman?”

  My heart skipped a beat as Amorina flashed through my mind.

  “Ah no, I had …”

  “Let me show you something.”

  Zavis led me down a side passage, which had a large open hall at the end of it. Several large tables were spread around the room, covered in the most varied assortment of food I’d ever seen. There were meats and cheeses, fruits and vegetables, sweets and pastries, pies and puddings – if you could think of it, it was there.

  There was a mixture of chairs, recliners, and mattresses in between the tables. In varying states of undress, many had a man upon it, accompanied by a woman, wearing less than their male partners.

  “All of this can be yours,” Zavis said from behind me. “Every desire, every wish and fantasy fulfilled.”

  My eyes swept across the room, running over the mountains of food and the plethora of bodies in equal measure. With every exotic edible and voluptuous temptress I laid my eyes upon, I could feel a craving stirring within.

  “All of this can be, and is, yours by right! Every carnal pleasure is yours to enjoy, to indulge in – whatever you like to fuck, you can fuck … and whatever you wish to eat, you can eat!”

  “This is what power gets you! You used to have this … you used to spend a lot of time in here …”

  Yes, I thought, this is what power gets you – this is how it corrupts you – tempting you with the kinds of carnal delights only such positions afford.

  “You don’t even have to wait until you’ve been restored, you can have a taste now!”

  I took a step forward, already having grown hard. I wanted to grab the nearest woman and take her, and I knew that such actions were permitted in this place.

  “Do it! Take that which is yours to take!”

  As I took another step forward, my eyes fell upon a pair, on the woman in particular; her oval face framed by her strawberry blonde hair was instantly familiar, but her normally vibrant green eyes were dull, and her usual smile was absent. Despite this, it was unmistakably Amorina.

  My heart swelled with relief while anger swarmed through my mind, causing the edges of my vision to blur. Several questions surged through my mind: was she okay? How had she gotten here from Terranova? What was she doing in here?

  Focusing, the answers to some of the questions quickly became apparent: the man was another one of the advisors, partially disrobed, and sitting in a chair with Amorina upon his knee, adorned in a sheer dress. The advisor tugged at her clothing, groping any exposed flesh, and Amorina turned away from him, unable to look at her abuser.

  My anger grew; Amorina’s situation was precisely what I’d travelled across the stars to prevent.

  “I will not let you turn him into your puppet again!” came a sudden cry from behind me.

  Startled, I turned around to see Alyssa running towards me, brandishing a knife. Immediately I knew that she’d taken her friend’s words to heart, and I understood why. If I let her kill me, it wouldn’t necessarily save Amorina but could foil the Empire’s plans. Maybe. I closed my eyes, willing to let her end me on the chance that it’d help save so many others.

  “But I am not willing!” Instantly the darkness surged through my body, seizing control and forcing my eyes open.

  I watched in horror as my arms came up, blocking Alyssa’s attack. Without hesitation, the darkness capitalised on her surprise, deftly ripping the blade from her grasp. It threw the knife into the air, allowing it to flip so that the tip pointed towards Alyssa, before catching it again. Then it plunged the blade into her chest with such force that her ribs audibly cracked. As Alyssa looked up at me in shock, the darkness relinquished its control. I grabbed hold of her as her legs gave out, slowly lowering her to the ground. A look of realisation flashed across her face.

  “I’m so, so sorry!”

  “He’s still inside you … isn’t he?”

  “Yes!” I said as hot tears ran down my cheeks.

  “I … I was trying to …”

  “I know – to save people.”

  Alyssa nodded. “Who you are now … is better than you used to be … don’t lose that.”

  “I’m trying,” I replied, watching as her eyes slowly closed and her chest stopped moving.

  The spark of anger that had awoken within me now surged with newfound purpose. It grew, unabated and unhinged, transforming into a rage the likes of which I’d never felt. I took hold of the knife in Alyssa’s chest and pulled it free. Spinning on the spot, I sprinted into the hall. I weaved through the fornicating groups, making a beeline for Amorina.

  My dash across the room hadn’t gone unnoticed, and Amorina looked towards me, locking eyes as I ran. Her eyes gleamed, and a smile broke out across her face. She understood what was coming.

  She swiftly elbowed the advisor in the stomach, causing him to let go of her. Freed of his grasp, she dived out of the way, providing unobstructed access to the advisor.

  He looked up, realising what was about to happen. “No! Your Grace, please! Spare me!” he screamed.

  But his pleas came too late and fell upon deaf ears. With the same force that had robbed Alyssa of her life, I drove the knife into the advisors chest. With a startled, indignant grunt, the advisor touched his bleeding chest, then reached his bloodied hand up to grab hold of my neck.

  “Your Grace … why?” he spluttered, his eyes locked with mine.

  “Because you don’t control me. None of you do. I won’t let you make me what I used to be.”

  “But we almost had you convinced! What changed?”

  “Your first mistake was bringing the woman I love here. The second thing was a young woman lost her life because she thought trying to kill me was her best option.”

  “She – she was a nobody! Nothing but a servant and whore!”

  “I’m a nobody. She was a person. Her name was Alyssa. She was the mother of my child, and she deserved better than this. But you don’t!”

  I pulled the knife out of the advisor’s chest and slashed it across his throat. His eyes widened, and he clamped both hands around his neck as blood spurted out of his arteries.

  Turning towards Amorina, I dropped the knife and asked, “Are you okay?”

  She nodded and rushed forward, embracing me. “Yes. Now that you’re here, yes!”

  “Thank goodness!” A wave of relief washed over me.

  “You … you came all this way? For me?”

  “Of course!”

  “I love you!” she said, kissing me. “But what do we do now?”

  “We run!”

  Chapter 10

  Manhunt

  2149, Common Era – Planet Earth, Inner Rim, United Earth Republic

  “The Emperor is fleeing! Find the Emperor!” Zavis’s voice screamed out through the hallways as Amorina and I ran down them.

  “Do you know where we’re going?”

  “No! But I’m hoping it’ll be obvious!”

  It wasn’t. Each hall was the same, lined with identical marble and filled with the same furnishings. Even running past the courtyards didn’t help; although they were different, they all lacked distinguishing features that would allow them to provide any sense of orientation.

  Zavis’s voice echoed through the corridors once more, “Find the Emperor! Capture him!”

  Rounding the next corner, we ran into a woman, knocking her forward. As she spun around, I recognised her: it was Alyssa’s friend.

  “You!” she hissed with venom in her voice, evidently recognising me too.

  “Yep, me ... hi.”

  “You killed Alyssa!”

  “Um … not exactly …”

  “Not exactly? How do you not exactly kill someone?” her tone laced with cynicism.

  “We don’t have much time, but the long and short of it is that I have a split personality: part of me is Tynan, the emperor, part of me is Raith, the farmer. I didn’t kill Alyssa, but Tynan did.”

  “Why should I believe anything that you say?”

  “He’s not lying, Emi,” Amorina said.

  The lady – Emi – glanced at Amorina. “Do you mean that?”

  “I swear it!”

  “Can you help us get out of here? If I get caught, the advisors are going make the dark side of me permanent and I don’t think anyone else wants that.”

  “The Emperor is fleeing! Capture him!” Zavis’s voice yelled out once again.

  Emi glanced between Amorina and I. “If you are good now, you can’t just abandon us! You have the power to change things.”

  “I’m not abandoning anyone – we just need to get away from here for the time being so that we can come up with a plan. Can you show us the way out?”

  Emi’s face brightened a little with my words, and I felt my heart break a little, knowing that the sliver of hope I’d given her was a lie.

  “Promise you’ll come back and save us?”

  “I promise.”

  “Okay, follow me!”

  As Emi turned away from us and broke into a jog, we quickly followed suit. She led us through the passages with a confident familiarity, clearly navigating the buildings disorienting layout.

  Approaching another corner, she slowed down and glanced back at us, signalling to stay quiet.

  First, she peeked around the corner and then indicated that we could too. Glancing around the edge, I could see a large set of doors, and outside of it stood four guards.

  “On the other side is freedom. I’ll try and draw the guards away, and then you run for it, okay?”

  “Okay, sounds good. And Emi …”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thank you!”

  Emi nodded and then jogged around the corner.

  “Guards, guards! I saw the Emperor! He was running towards the basement!”

  “Thank you! Come with us, and we’ll try to find him!”

  We listened to multiple sets of feet clatter away, and then relative silence fell upon the hallway.

  I went to step out when Amorina grabbed me.

  “Wait!” She peeked around the corner. “Okay, the coast is clear. Let’s go!”

  Amorina took my hand, and we rounded the corner together, sprinting towards the exit.

  ***

  My vision turned white, overwhelmed by the harsh light, and a cacophony greeted my ears. As my senses adjusted, I began to make sense of the world around me. The buildings weren’t uniform and modern as they’d been on Gaia, nor industrial and harsh like Astarte and Machina Station; instead, they were varied, some old and small, others new and large. More details came through as my eyes kept adjusting, and I started to notice the people. They were everywhere, more than I’d ever seen, running around, screaming, with looks of terror upon their faces. I looked left and right, but I couldn’t see the source of their distress, so I looked up. Hundreds of Empire dropships were descending from the sky en masse. At first, I was confused – surely the people were used to this – and then I realised the Empire didn’t carry out Soul Harvests here, because Earth didn’t belong to them … yet.

  “Raith! We need to go!” Amorina’s voice snapped me out of my stupor.

  “Yes! Yes, let’s go!”

  We ran down the steps of the Empire’s building and into the crowd. Bodies smashed into us left, right, and centre; scared, panicking people, thinking only for themselves, becoming more frenzied the closer the dropships got.

  “Where do we go, Raith?”

  “I don’t know!” I could feel my panic rising, spurred on by the crowd around me, slowly stripping power away from my frontal cortex.

  “That’s it … keep panicking!”

  I knew if the darkness took control, it’d turn us around and march straight back into the Empire’s grasp. Looking around, I spotted a parked car. “This way!”

  I pulled Amorina through the crowd and then climbed up onto the car, bringing her up with me. “Look for somewhere we can lay low!”

  I ran my eyes over the nearby buildings, looking for any passage that might offer an escape.

  “Over there!” Amorina said, pointing out an alleyway.

  “I see it!”

  Together, we jumped off the car and ran over the alleyway.

  Once there, we ducked into an alcove. Our breath coming in harsh gasps that we tried to control and keep silent. My heart was pounding in my chest, my hands shaking slightly. As the dropships began to land, the buildings around us vibrated, disturbed by the sheer number of engines. Shouted orders now joined the screams as Empire soldiers began to surge through the streets.

  “Will we be okay here?”

  “For now; there’s a lot of people on the streets that they’ll need to sort through.”

  Amorina grabbed my hands and held them tightly.

  “I can’t express how much it means to me that you’re here … but how did you get here?”

  “When the Empire took you, I barely understood what the Soul Harvest meant. Your mother told me that I needed to follow you if I wanted to save you. She distracted the guards, and I got onto one of the dropships.”

  “She distracted the guards? Was … was she okay?” Amorina’s voice hitched as she tried hold back her fear.

  I released her hands and pulled her into my arms, resting my cheek on the top of her head. “I don’t know … I’m sorry. The last I saw of her, she was being beaten with the soldiers’ rifles.”

  Amorina pulled back, staring off into the distance. I could only imagine what was going through her mind. The images of watching her mother being pummelled played through my mind. I didn’t know how to remove that lost look from her eyes knowing what I knew. But I tried. “I’m sure she was okay … a few more scars perhaps, but your mum’s a tough woman.”