A ray of light hits my eyes. I shield myself while I sluggishly get off the ground. Another place I have to mysteriously wake up in.

  The forest seems lively and calm. Is it the middle of spring? Feels like it. The tree leaves rattle against the breeze, my sky covered in green with the sun barely penetrating the leafy shield. I like this place, but I need to move on.

  I scan my surroundings, expecting an attack from somewhere. Yet I am welcomed by the wind brushing against my face. This place, this forest, can be a great home. I can cut down a few trees to build a house near the stream of water. It is all so isolated, but perhaps a break from the world is just what I need.

  Snap!

  My neck darts to my right to May, hiding behind a tree. I lower myself, telling her that everything is safe. But she bolts away before I can even utter a word.

  ‘Wait!’ I say aloud as I chase after her, darting past trees while I close the distance between us. Why is she running? Away from me? I don’t understand these theatrics. She needs to stop!

  ‘May! That is enough! Stop running!’ I shout, but she ignores me, not even daring to look back at me. That little shit! Once I catch her, she'd better have a good reason as to why she is doing all of this.

  I’m close, I can almost reach her. I try to grab her, but she takes a sharp turn, causing me to slide along the leaves and trip over.

  ‘May, for the last time! Stop!’ I pull myself off the ground to continue this foolish chase.

  After taking a corner, it starts to make sense. She isn’t running aimlessly. She’s looking for someone. The woman she hides behind, a Dog of black fur, shares the same green eyes as May. She looks down on me, her gaze full of hate and disgust. Like I am a stranger, someone that needs to be taught a lesson.

  ‘No,’ I mumble, my body locked in place as I realise who it is. Yet my heart sinks, refusing to accept the truth before me. It can’t be, it’s been so long. The mother of our child. My love. Stands in front of me after so many years. She’s as beautiful as the day I lost her. The woman of my heart, right in front of me, after all of those years.

  They took her away from me the moment May was born. I never knew where they took her, where they forced her to work. All I knew was that she died. Or so I believe. Yet she stands there, right there! In front of me for the first time in years! But her presence isn’t welcoming, nor is it loving. She stares me down, her gaze full of wrath.

  The world shifts, tilting upwards. Pulling me away from my family while they stand there unaffected by the world changing, while I fall. The bones of my back crack and pop as I crash into the side of a tree. I latch onto the next tree, my claws digging into the bark. With every ounce of strength in my body, I climb up to catch my breath. The world, for some reason, is upright. May and my lover don’t seem to notice the world is now different.

  With a stretch, I pop my back. A sharp pain jolts throughout my body like a dagger piercing my leg; at least it feels better. Though that is the least of my problems. I’m stuck on this tree, and the world is not on the right side. I need to figure out how to get out of this mess.

  ‘Have you finished pondering?’

  I look up to see my lover looking at me. My mouth struggles to speak a word to her, like my body is in shock.

  ‘I notice you named our daughter after me. Any reason why?’ She waits for a reply, but is only met with my awkward silence. ‘Marak, answer the question.’ Her tone is harsh; it is clear she isn’t interested in a reunion.

  ‘She looks like you,’ I reply. ‘I wanted to honour you in some way.’

  May crosses her arms, ‘so my name can continue to live on during slavery. That is not what I wanted.’

  ‘That is not what I meant…’

  ‘I don’t care what you meant.’ She cuts me off, ‘you had good intentions, but it means I, in a way, will continue to live on as their tool. You didn’t think of that, did you?’

  ‘May, I…’

  ‘I, what, Marak?! You didn’t care about the consequences, only that it made you feel good about yourself.’

  ‘That’s not true! I did everything to keep you two safe. I tried my best for both of you!’

  She scoffs, ‘and here you are. The last one standing. The only reason you decided to fight the Cinari is because you lost what you held dear. When you were chief, you watched hundreds of children die. But no! It is only when our daughter dies is when you finally decide to take action.’

  ‘I didn’t know it was possible to fight them! No one did!’ I argue back, how can she know what it was like? The choice I have to make is to take the mine over!

  ‘That wasn’t the reason that made you fight back. I know you, Marak. I know that it wasn’t the thought of fighting them and winning that would prompt you to fight back. It was the fact that everyone in that mine would stand up with you. You were a chief and yet did nothing with that title!’

  ‘I slaved with them! I worked with them so they can live for another day. I didn’t sit down like the previous chiefs.’

  ‘So they can slave away once more for a while longer! Harvesting that black rock the Cinari wanted. You chose the easy option, the one that made our daughter suffer as a slave for the rest of her life! It would be far more merciful if you let her die.’

  ‘I wanted to keep her safe!’ I retort loudly, my heart burning with rage.

  ‘You didn’t keep her safe,’ May calmly replies. ‘We both know that mine would never keep her safe, yet you forced her to endure it.’

  There is no point in arguing; she has a point. ‘Alright, you’re right. But I did my best with what I have.’

  ‘By becoming just like them?’

  My expression darkens. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘You’ve changed, you became something horrible. I don’t even know why I should even bother looking at you.’

  What does that supposed to mean? Is she referring to my war? ‘I don’t understand. I fought back! I gave our people freedom. Yes, I failed to protect her, but I will do everything in my power to avenge her.’

  May walks down and onto the tree so we can both look at each other on even ground. So she can give me her deathly stare. ‘Vengeance? That is what you want to seek for our daughter?’

  ‘That is what they deserved.’

  ‘Even their children? The people who had nothing to do with our slavery?’

  ‘The Cinari all benefited from our enslavement! Their entire species is rotten to the core, and they need to be annihilated.’

  ‘Ah, so enslaving them and butchering them will make things even? You are no better than the man who killed our child!’

  I snarl at her, ‘I did the impossible! I brought their Empire to their knees, and I took over the South! If that means I have to force them to work to get resources we need. If that means I have to slaughter them and use their flesh as food. So be it! I did it for our people.’

  ‘You did it for yourself.’ She walks up to me, but besides standing my ground, I take a step back.

  ‘This was never for us, for her, or for our people.’ May growls. ‘It was all for you. What you wanted. You pushed them back, you brutalised their children. You became the horror that kept them up at night. With every step you took, you destroyed parts of their history and made the world suffer. That anger, that rage you have for them is… wrong. Our son is right, you can be better than this?’

  ‘Son? We only had May.’

  She frowns, ‘Alex. I am referring to Alex.’

  I want to respond by saying that he doesn’t count, but she cuts me off.

  ‘He didn’t come from my womb, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t part of my family. You adopted him, you treated him as your own. But now you abandoned him, and before that, you hit him. How dare you!’

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  ‘He was na?ve, he wanted to help the enemy!’

  ‘But he is right, Marak! A better world could come between our people and the Cinari. But you made that impossible.’

  ‘A better world? But I…’

  ‘You didn’t wish for anything, Marak.’ She interrupts me, ‘this isn’t a future or a world that you wanted, only a warning, a mirror of what it will become. Because of you, you will doom our people to suffer. Placing a new pair of chains around our necks. Only this time, you directed them to a life of endless war. You saw it, what your legacy will ultimately become.’

  ‘I can avoid it all from happening. I only need to kill them! Our people will be free from that vision! I can lead our people towards a brighter future!’

  ‘No, you can’t. You are nothing more than a brute, a beast only capable of breaking the world apart. It is why you left Alex behind! It is because deep down you know he will hold back and show mercy. You want the North to burn, to salt the earth with their blood. I saw how you marched through that desert and screamed for their Gods and heard nothing. You did all of this because you wanted to make a point, because you enjoy watching them die. Our people don't deserve to be led by a monster.’

  ‘I am no monster!’

  ‘But you are not my Marak!’ May looks at me, her sadness replacing her righteous anger. ‘Our daughter used to look up to you; I did as well. You were a hero to her, someone to become. But she saw what you did, the killings, what you did to Alex. You horrified her the moment you entered Mindas, and you broke my heart the moment you turned your back on Alex.’ May sighs, taking a step away from me. ‘Alex is going to be a father, you know. Yet you didn’t bother. You didn’t even care to figure out the name of his lover or what they would name their babe. You only had one thing on your mind, and that is to kill anyone who opposes you.’

  ‘Someone had to,’ I respond. ‘I… we had to continue the war. You know the Cinari won’t surrender. They will fight to either destroy us or force us to become slaves again.’

  ‘I know, but there was a point in time where peace was possible. However, that is no longer possible. Not with you in charge. Not after what you did. The Cinari will want justice, and I can’t blame them. Their Empire did something unforgivable, and they needed to be stopped. The era of our servitude had to end.’ May’s expression softens, and I turn away, realising what she has to say. ‘But so do you. The world now knows the hate in your heart. Because of that, they don’t care about our struggle. Why would they? Marak, you know peace is not possible anymore. Your hands are now soaked in the blood of the innocent. How can you hope for a better future if you will only bring ruin?’

  I pause; it pains me, but I can see it now. Why does my daughter run away from me? I went too far. What I did was right, it is necessary! I have to stop the Cinari and end my people’s slavery. It was pleasurable to make them suffer, to give them the justice my people crave.

  However, I can’t continue lying to myself. After what I saw, what happened to me. I can see how I am not making a future I would want, what my daughter would want and deserve.

  ‘I can’t,’ I admit to her, it is time to come clean. ‘And I don’t want to. I enjoy it. The fighting, the killing. No matter the pain or injuries I gained from every battle. I love it! The Cinari need to die, and I am the only one who can kill them.’

  May frowns, disproving of my response. She doesn’t like the truth, but she needs to hear it.

  ‘So, you admit you are nothing but a killer?’

  ‘Yes,’ I nod. ‘There is no point in hiding it, no need to deny what is true. Why should I lie about what I like? No, we both have to be honest with ourselves and what my place is in this world. I am proud of what my legacy will bring, for all I want is war. It is also why I shouldn’t lead anymore.’

  ‘What are you getting at?’

  ‘I am a man of my time, someone who is only meant to achieve one thing. But I lived for too long, and I watched so many close to me die. There is a point where someone has to stop what they are doing for a better future to take its place.’ I look down, ashamed to be in front of her, but I need to say it. She needs to hear it. ‘The Cinari will want justice, correct? They will want my head. I will be someone they can blame… It has to be the only way.’

  ‘So that’s it, you’ll just give up.’

  ‘No. Pass the torch. Alex will have to lead our people. He just needs someone to be a bargaining chip for peace negotiations. I think that for good to happen and for both sides to have a semblance of peace. I need to be the enemy of both of them. It won’t be easy; it won’t wash away the damage I’ve caused. But it will be the first step to make amends. It just means that the first step will be me on a Cinari noose.’

  May wants to speak out but cuts herself off. I think she realises it. I won’t change, I don’t want to change, because it is who I am. The deepest depths of my heart yearn for the blood of Cinari, and I will lean into that dark urge.

  However, even old Dogs need to lie down. Even if I can somehow negotiate peace, I will not keep my promise. There will be a point where I will kill them. Not for a sense of justice or some sort of moral standing. But because I want it. I need it. Sure, there is a point where I am the right leader for the time to battle against the Cinari. But with each passing day, I become less and less necessary. My people don’t need a butcher; they need a peacemaker. A proper king.

  Saddened, May takes my left hand and places it on her beating chest. ‘I miss the old you, the person I loved.’

  ‘I miss you as well,’ I reply. ‘I suppose we all have to change.’

  She gives me a soft smile, only for it to die as soon as it was formed. ‘We all do. Sometimes for the best, and sometimes for the worst.’

  My breath becomes heavy as my thumb traces her upper collarbone. Her fur dances between my fingers, just like the day we conceived our child. How I have forgotten her touch, her unique feel of her coat.

  ‘May, what if they took me away instead of you. What would you do?’

  She pauses for a moment, thinking about how she can even answer my question. ‘I’ll become just like you.’

  With a heavy breath, I respond. ‘Are we all destined to become monsters?’

  ‘I don’t know, Marak. But I do know grief can turn us into one.’

  ‘Then how do we stop it? How can we stop from becoming monsters?’

  ‘By crying.’ May pulls me close for a hug. ‘We grieve, my love. Then, soon, we move on and say goodbye. We can’t hold on forever; all that will do is break us. At some point, we have to let go even if it hurts.’

  Can it really be that simple? Letting go and crying? How can I say goodbye to someone when my last words to them were something mundane or an augment? I want my last words to be “I love you”. Yet they were taken away before I could even have a chance to say it. Where is the justice in that?

  As my body becomes heavy, I collapse to my knees. My hands grip May tightly, pulling her close so my head can rest on her stomach. Taking a short, sharp breath. A tear falls from my eye, then, a dozen follow.

  I sob.

  Crying before her, silently grieving as a wave of emotions slam into me all at once. I forgot what it was like to be with her again. How long it has been since they took her away from me and into a different mine. That her touch is my own kind of heaven. A joy they stole from me.

  When our daughter was born, we were both happy. Scared, but excited. She was our little girl, our world. My world. And the Cinari took her from me too. Why them!? Why not me!?

  Breaking down, my head and heart become heavy. May embraces me. Silent, and gentle. She gives me what I need for so long. Someone to grieve. I can’t utter anymore words, say what I need to say. But she knows what I mean. This is our goodbye, our final time together.

  I miss you, so, so much. But I need to go. I have to say goodbye to someone who matters the most to both of us. I need to say goodbye to our daughter.

  A green and blue outline forms around May and my left hand. In a blink, they disappear. Returning to the dome room, my left hand and right eye are now missing once again.

  It’s clear now, the room doesn’t grant me wishes, but warnings. I don’t know if I should destroy this place or walk away.

  No, I can’t. This place did something that no one else could even offer. It showed me my family. It showed me the daughter I lost, and let me speak to the woman I loved. I… I am grateful for it. Even if it is Cinari magic, it doesn’t remove the good it has done. The only good that Cinari has ever done to me.

  So I need to do what is necessary. It is time for me to leave.