Melody stands at a door. Stack of papers in her arms. She gulps. Her hand extends. The cold metal sends a chill up her arm.

  ...Masks...Walls...Chains...Brown eyes...Pink eyes...

  She gasps. "Is that my future?" Then backs away. "A prisoner?"

  I bounce Nathaniel in my arms, then open the door. "Melody..." What's she holding?

  She flinches. "There's something I need to ask you."

  Why does she look nervous? I nod. "What's that?"

  Melody opens her mouth. "Uh..." She hides the paper. "About the other day..."

  I bow my head. "You didn't deserve that."

  She huffs. "I get why you did it." We exchange looks. Her gaze narrows. "You were trying to protect me."

  I shake my head and adjust Nathaniel. "The way I went about it... That was the old me. I shouldn't have hurt you."

  Melody tilts her head. "That's why I'm here." She reveals the papers again. "I want to know what happened in Z3. At the KWCR headquarters."

  My brow furrows. "The headquarters?" I glance at the papers. It's a small stack. I raise a brow. "The last time I was there..." Does she mean... "You know?"

  She swallows, then hands the papers to me. I take the papers and pass Nathaniel to her. She holds him out with a wide eyed stare.

  Den Motto... Be!Fantastic!... Z3... Grruda... KTP... Sompe...

  This doesn't prove anything. It's just information. Still, she wants answers.

  I fold the papers and stuff them into my pocket. "The last time I was in Z3, I was interviewing inmates to recruit for the Wyre."

  Melody passes Nathaniel back. "You recruited inmates? For what?"

  Nathaniel twitches. Eyes closed. I pat his back. "I needed help forming the Wyre and Z3 allowed me to select those who hadn't completed rehabilitation."

  She scoffs. "You turned prisoners into soldiers?"

  I chuckle. "And lieutenants! Farmers. Doctors." I shudder. "Friends."

  Melody crosses her arms. "How did that lead you to this?" She points at my pocket.

  I look around, then open my door and motion for her to enter. We move into the lounge. I sit in a chair. She leans against the window.

  I scan Nathaniel's face. His smooth features. He looks peaceful. "I had access to thousands of prisoners. People who didn't know how to change and those who couldn't. Z3 expected me to rehabilitate them."

  Melody hums. "Heal them."

  I nod. "Those who wanted to... Few had that desire. The muck. The pain. The despair. It had become a part of them—their identities. To undo that requires the will to change. It comes at expense of trading ones survival for the unknown."

  She sighs. "What does this have to do with what I've found?" She leans against the back of a chair. "I know SAAF co-owns Be!Fantastic! and they manufacture medical equipment. Engines! They build hospitals!" Her nails sink into the chair. "It's made me wonder if the Wyre... If you... If I'm...bad."

  Nathaniel tenses. I rock him. "SAAF does build medical units and treatment facilities, but that's not why they made the deal with Be!Fantastic!."

  Melody stares.

  I huff. "When I was interviewing prisoners, I came across a man with 28 abilities. The sole survivor of the Taun, an exiled tribe from Karthwitherspire, Barthelo Enese."

  Her eyes flicker. "Who's that?"

  Book of Despair: Barthelo Enese

  Prisoner: #5692

  Class: Monarch

  Sub Class: REG/CAN/MU

  Threat Level: 250 / 300

  Variation: Calzarian

  Notes: Maintains an estimated power level of 12/10; 10 being maximum predictable and statistical calculations understood in Calzarian variants. Regenerates at a speed of 48 seconds for fatal wounds, 30 seconds for non fatal wounds, 7 seconds for broken bones, and instantly heals from shallow cuts or burns.

  Ruling: 5692 has gone through 5 cycles of rehabilitation and is unable to complete the program. 5692 must be kept under continuous watch and is not allowed to sleep for more than 15 minute intervals with a wake period of 48 hours.

  95 miles below the surface. The Known and Wanted Criminal Registry's headquarters, functioning as the world's largest prison. Empty grey walls. Thick metal doors. Dark cement floors.

  I approached the interrogation chamber. Four guards saluted me, then opened the door. It groaned as they pulled at it's frame.

  Barthelo sat in an uncomfortable looking metal chair. At an unappealing metal table. Dark circles stain his sockets. A curse clamped around his neck. He didn't make eye contact. "You here to finally get rid of me?"

  I shook my head and sat down, setting my documents aside. I pressed my palms against the table. ”I am Zachariah and I have been anxious to meet you."

  He twitched and placed his palms flat on the table. His eyes searched for mine. ”You don’t think that because I am down here that I don’t know of the mighty Zachariah?"

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  I was puzzled... How could he possibly know who I am?

  He laughed. ”I’m sorry, I don’t get many visitors! Watching your expressions brings me joy."

  I smirked. "I'm here to interview you for a potential leadership position." I glanced at my documents. "I've gone through your file and it doesn’t give me much information to go on. Would you be willing to fill me in on what led to you being kept here?"

  He glanced at the door. I read his mind. Kill me, then escape.

  I leaned forward. "Barthelo, I can assure you that I will set you free if you answers my questions."

  He growled. ”I DON’T BELIEVE A FUCKING WORD YOU SAY!"

  I sighed, then stood up and walked around the table. I stopped next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. The curse evaporated. Barthelo choked. His dark eyes softened. He rubbed his throat.

  I huffed, then sat back down in the uncomfortable chair. "Whoever it was that cursed you used one of my incantations. If it weren’t, I would have broken it from across the table."

  I pressed my palms flat. ”At the Wyre, you will be a key to seeking peace. I can take away whatever troubles you. So, tell me... What troubles you?"

  Grruda was settled in the north-west region of Z3, bordering the KTP, and ruled by dictators. Most of the population faced extraordinary famine after its previous dictator, Mint, spent all of his late father’s wealth on technological investments. This created a problem for local farmers who relied on the Sompe, a KTP tribe who shared the border with Grruda, for food and water.

  The soil in Z3 is contaminated by radiation, giving it a span of colors from orange, red, and black. Grruda had black soil meaning nothing could grow there.

  Mint’s great grandfather was once a part of a northern KTP tribe called Saep later changed to Taun after the grandfather traded tribal secrets with Pelaris. He and his entire tribe were exiled. They made their home in a small corner of Z3.

  According to the scarce records Z3 has provided, the Taun snuck into a small village and took all the woman of birthing age. Z3 sent soldiers out to kill the invaders and return the women home. The soldiers were bewitched and used as a labor force. Z3 thought it would be exhausting to fight with the Taun, so they left them alone.

  Barthelo is a great grandson to one of the women who was taken.

  His expression dropped to a cold stare. "When I was a child, I watched my friends slowly die from the poison in the soil. I grew up digging graves during funerals and learning to play by myself in the smooth, silent corner of my room. I was only 9 years old when I became the last child of my generation. At 16, both of my parents fell ill and were stolen from my life.”

  Barthelo stared down at his reflection on the table. ”Digging graves was all I had known, yet I couldn’t bring myself to part with my parents."

  His eyes lit up. "A few months later, a scientist came to my village and told us things we could not believe. Her adventures dazed me. I fell in love. We married when I was 19. Had our first child when I was 20, then the second at 23 and the third at 25.”

  Barthelo's eyes darkened. “My Henaya mothered children like no other and my children were unlike another. My Henaya had love that could fill up dry oceans. My Henaya grew ill after having our third child."

  He shuddered. "Her skin turned red and her bones became so brittle they'd snapped from the slightest movement. My Henaya suffered many days of torment.”

  Barthelo sat up and clenched his fists. ”She called for me! Crying, moaning, and wheezing! I pressed my ear to her lips and she asked me to stop her pain."

  He chuckled. "It must have been a tragic twist of fate because my eldest child fell ill the same day. The next day, my second child fell ill."

  Barthelo's lips quivered and he leaned in. "Do you understand the stress I went through?"

  I nodded. "It sounds unbearable!"

  His head hung. "My Henaya researched the soil years before she came to my village. It was because of her research that I could have saved my third child. After having killed my other two children, I found instructions for building a prototype vaccine that would render us immune to radiation. I spent the better half of that year gathering the necessary supplies until I had created it."

  Barthelo shifted in his seat and spat on the floor. ”I tested his blood to see the reaction her vaccine had and it proved to be successful."

  He stared at me for a long time, then broke the silence. ”I gave them all such beautiful graves. Their quiet funerals spoke more words than any I could have mustered." He slouched. "I didn’t give him the vaccine.”

  I jolted. "You knew the vaccine would work! Why didn't you give it to your child?"

  Barthelo grinned. ”I was only an infant when I became so ill that my parents threatened to kill themselves if I didn’t survive. If I were to have a child, then I expected nothing less of them than to survive despite the odds."

  Angry at Mint’s stupidity and Z3 for leaving them all to rot, Barthelo went on a rampage...

  Barthelo leaned in close with wide, dead eyes. ”i accepted that we weren’t blind to terrible things, but we relished in lying to ourselves about the way our reality warps itself. My father raped my mother, and if he were drunk enough, he’d have his way with me, too!"

  He growled. "The man I grew up to be wasn’t like my father, but when I saw Mint’s daughter and wife something came over me." A smirk curled at the corner of his purple lips. "You ever heard a little girl scream?”

  I gulped.

  He laughed. “It didn’t take much to strangle her—her body tightening and fighting for air." He moaned. "Had I not known better, I would have had a go at her again, but the girl’s lips were white and her heavy eyes were dark blue."

  My stomach clenched.

  Barthelo didn't blink. "A mother’s watchful eyes locking onto the man who destroyed her daughter. She must’ve felt hopeless! Her daughter tasted like disease! Spoiled meat souring in a broth of decaying fruit!"

  I covered my mouth and gagged.

  He smiled. "I didn’t know her name. I didn’t have to! The mother was next. She tried to fight—as I thrust myself into her crying, shivering body, I pulled down her shirt and took a bite of her breast."

  I hunched over and puked on the floor.

  Barthelo cackled. "Mother and daughter taste the same!"

  I glared at him. "Are you trying to disgust me?"

  He tilted his head. "I have never been a man to believe in anything other than what is before me. You may think I’m evil, but I was angry!"

  I wiped my mouth. My hands shook against the table. "Get on with it!"

  Barthelo's expression became stern. "Have you ever heard the sound a grown man makes, one who rules and leads, a sound that represents his frugality when you slide a knife inside him? Or felt the tremble of his body under the pressure of your thumb?"

  I shook my head.

  Barthelo licked his lips. "Before I killed Mint, I cut his arms and legs off, cooked them over a fire, and let him watch as I ate him piece by piece. Nothing stopped the hunger! When my father and mother died, they gave me their remains as sentiment. I had never felt closer to someone than I did when I boiled my father’s right hand inside a pot."

  Those who weren't eaten or murdered fearfully stood with Barthelo as he planned an attack on the Sompe.

  Melody shivers. Her eyes shaking. Words forming on her lips.

  I gulp. "That man is Barthelemy's father. His testimony led me to request the information you gathered on Den Motto and Be!Fantastic!. I told you his story because in the end he asked me to heal him."

  She holds her stomach and covers her mouth. "How could you heal someone like that?"

  I look down at Nathaniel. "Take his memory away." I rise and motion for her to follow.

  We enter my bedroom. She freezes. "Barthelemy..."

  I rock Nathaniel. "He begged me to wipe his mind, too."

  Melody sways and falls into the door. "What does any of this have to do with...anything?"

  I walk over to Barthelemy. "I'm taking him to Z3. He'll be safer with the humans. Far away from me and this place."

  Melody wipes her eyes. "What about SAAF? What about the Wyre? Us?"

  I stare down at Barthelemy. "A long time ago, someone told me what SAAF's real agenda was. To manipulate DNA. Control who's born with abilities. Remove them from others."

  Melody's mouth hangs open and she drops to the floor.

  Nathaniel stirs. I hush him. "The Wyre. Val Basec. It's to stop the world from turning into a monster."

  She hugs her knees. "If the people knew..."

  I march over and glare. "It would be catastrophic."

  Melody nods. "I understand now... You're not trying to protect me from the truth." She looks up. "You're protecting us from them."

  I stare. "Everything I do... Everything I built... It's to keep the people I love safe." But, love isn't enough.

  She rises. "You may have carved the path, but I need to choose if I want to follow in your footsteps."

  I bow my head. "You're right."

  Her eyes focus. Fists clench. Voice sharp. "I'm going with you."

  A vision... Burning metal... A masked presence... Blood... Melody...

  I reach for her. She flinches. I cup her cheek. "I'm sorry."

  She huffs, then hugs me. "Me too."