The rational thing to do would have been for us to leave Antarticum. Right there and then. We had boats; we were within a short reach of the oceans. The milder weather had arrived…

But that is not what we did.

This is not how the story went.

In hindsight, it is always so easy to point out all the mistakes, to identify all the bad choices. Regrets can weight heavily so it is better not to reflect too much about the past. But what can be said, without any doubt, on that night, as we turned our back on a safe escape route, we had no idea how many people would pay for our mistake.

“Who is she?” Eli asked. “Who is Nadja Bari?”

“She was, with Hardi, another one of Senex Centralis scientist’ who fervently opposed Shan Li’s research,” explained Meyer. “She still, to this day, teaches at Senex Centralis so I don’t see how she can be of any help to us. With everything that has happened, I don’t think she’ll willingly put her life on the line for criminals.”

“Yeah… I see what you mean. I just don’t think we are going to give her a choice,” retorted Arno.

“She hates Evian,” Meyer feebly tried as a counter argument.

Fiori chuckled. “Yeah, not many people like him…”

“I can see why, though… he’s not exactly personable,” added Eli.

“I like him,” said Meyer. “I mean, he’s always been nice to me.”

They all looked at me.

“It’s my brother, you’re all talking about. Evian’s the only reason we are still alive. Be nice. Please.”

It felt weird. I had talked without thinking. I had defended my little brother.

Fiori frowned as his stare caught my empty gaze. He slightly shook his head.

“Never mind that. We need to get to Senex Centralis. We need to find Dr. Bari. Fenn, you need medical attention. That bullet through your arm isn’t going to come out by itself. That should be no problem for Dr. Bari. And it will give me the occasion to have a little talk with her.

“That’s if she even accepts to see us…” retorted Meyer.

Completely ignoring that last comment, Fiori went on: “Arno! Meyer! We will need your help to navigate through Senex Centralis.”

“Undetected, right?” Meyer asked, skeptical.

“That would be ideal.” Fiori rubbed the back of his neck before continuing: “But not very likely.”

“Great,” Meyer mumbled.

I was with him on that one.

“Good, so it is all agreed. We are going to pay Senex Centralis a little visit!”

“Just where I wanted to go…” Meyer grumbled.

“Then, we will all head over to Doran parent’s house,” Fiori suggested.

“No! We need to keep them out of this,” Doran retorted.

But Fiori had expected his reaction. His answer had already been rehearsed: “At this point, I don’t think there is anywhere else for us to go. By association, the government will already have targeted them.

“So why go there?” a visibly annoyed Meyer questioned.

“For one thing, the government won’t expect us to go right into their territory. And worst-case scenario, by being there… perhaps… we can keep them safe.”

Doran lowered his head in approval.

“Do you think they will hunt us down, all the way there?” naively asked Eli.

“They expect us to sail away from Antarticum. I think we will be fine,” quickly answered Arno.

“They are constantly monitoring the coast. They will know we didn’t leave. At most, we can hope for a few hours head start, as they will need to regroup. They will need a new General. The entire squadron was slaughtered. It depends how far the next troupe is. As for Eva, I didn’t know she had it in her to hesitate. I didn’t know that girl could feel empathy. It worked in our favor this time, but don’t be fooled. She’s dangerous.”

“She was cold. Heartless. Yet, there was a time she was my friend. I don’t understand” I quickly said with mixed feelings.

“She’s part of a special operation unit. She’s the devil in person, Fenn.”

“She spared my life! Doesn’t that count!”

“If she spared your life, that means there is something she needs from you. Don’t kid yourself. She never was your friend. She said it herself. From the start. From the very beginning in Nova Urbi, she used you. She made you an assassin. She made you a killer.”

“Her father made her do it!”

“She volunteered. And did you see her shed a tear while I clobbered her father to death. She takes pleasure in killing, Fenn. She takes pleasure in seeing people die. She takes pleasure in torturing people. The General was a man to be feared but he was righteous. She’s just damn crazy!”

“Even so… I…”

“I’m sorry Fenn. She’s just not who you thought she was…”

“And it seems that neither are you…” I blurted out in rage, “…tell me Fiori, how ruthless was I, the first time I killed?”

The blood drained from his face. He slumped over and made his way to a rock. He slowly took a seat, collecting his thoughts.

I waited. Placid.

“… how ruthless was I?”

Fiori took his head between his hands. “We don’t have time for this Fenn. Not now. Not here. We need to get moving if we want to…”

“… how ruthless?”

“You don’t want to know. You don’t want to remember. Believe me Fenn. It is better this way. Knowing won’t make anything better…”

“How do you know so much? It sounds like… you were part of it… what is Project Eden?” Eli cautiously asked.

“I was there, well at least in the beginning. It was Marshall’s idea. He introduced me to the leader of Project EDEN. Marshall had always sought ways to control his men and strengthen the military. I had an idea. I had heard about Dr. Bari’s work. Dr. Bari was a renown neurologist that had just come up with the Signal. She had created the device to restore sight in patients who had suffered severe ocular damages. The device was none intrusive, the procedure quick and simple. But where the device really shinned, was at the possibilities it offered. I knew, this device could have tremendous military potential. Marshall brought me to the project. I showcased my idea. Soon enough, all non-melior military personnel were outfitted with the chip, and that included Yuki.”

“But not you?” I probed. “You are not Melior, you are Human.”

“Not me… I was trusted… I’m the one who suggested we reprogram the device…”

Fiori winced as he admitted this last part. I could tell there was more to it… This wasn’t the whole story. But I let it go.

Yuki took over: “Shortly after, a separate organization was created, the idea was to use Shan Li’s research to produce humans with super weapon qualities.”

“And by qualities, we mean Heighten Characteristics,” Fiori interrupted.

Yuki continued: “This quickly became the main objective of Project EDEN. Creating and mass-producing children possessing all the Heighten Characteristics at once.”

“Mass producing children!” I exclaimed horrified.

“Like cattle?” Eli asked aghast.

“The specifics I didn’t know,” Fiori explained. “I was only given the information that was needed for me to act on. However, I know things weren’t going as smoothly as Marshall would have liked it. Shan Li was out of his mind, wrecking havoc amongst the scientific circles. Around that time, Marshall’s daughter was viciously infected. Instead of lashing out on the Li, Marshall seized the opportunity and had his own child join the program. By then, Marshall had managed to put his hand on a Heighten Characteristic infected baby but there was no real sense of what the outcome would be. The child got older and started intensive training. A few years later, you were brought in, Fenn. You were 9 years old, that’s the first time you and I met.”

My whole body went limb. “ENOUGH!” I screamed.

“Just tell me… how ruthless was I?”

The weight of the silence nearly crushed me.

Fiori looked up at me with a sadden look on his face.

After hesitation, he finally answered.

“You loved it.”