“What’s your name?” she asked out of the blue, in the midst of telling her story.

The Source’s black eyes stared back at her without as much as a blink.

“I mean, I’ve been here for a while now…” Was it…for a while? A few days, perhaps? Less than that? She lost her sense of time. There were no clocks on the walls and the illumination was always the same. The Sanctuary was too deep inside the rock to be affected by the changes of natural light. “…and you never told me your name. How should I call you?”

“Sariel.”

“Sariel? That’s an unusual name. Sariel…” she muttered the name between her teeth. “Does it mean anything?”

“There’s an intent behind the names we were given.”

“We? You mean the Sources?”

“Yes.”

“Were there other Sources here?” She glanced from the corner of her eye around the room. Perhaps she had missed some body remains under all that rubble.

“They were, but they got damaged,” said the Source.

She suddenly noticed the blinking of his eyes. Its frequency was quite normal, but since the Source up until now had blinked so rarely, it stood out.

“Where are they now?”

“Away.” Another blink.

“Was their name Sariel too?”

“Yes.”

His willingness to answer her questions surprised her. She should find out more before he changes his mind.

“Did you know any Sources that were named Gabriel?”

“Yes.”

“Which Sanctuary were they in?”

The Source didn’t answer. But he blinked three times.

“Come on, tell me….Gabriel, where were they, which Sanctuary?”

No response.

“Why can’t you just fucking tell me!” She hit her palm against the seat of the couch. “Did they really treat Tengu? Just tell me.”

“I cannot. I need more of your story.”

She tilted her head backward, hitting it against the coach’s backrest a few times.

“Okay, fine. At least tell me what was the intent behind your name,” she said once the feeling of frustration left her. It was a genuine request for a piece of useless information, which had nothing to do with the information she needed. Yet, at that moment, she craved for some exchange of a more personal nature, something that would humanize the Source, so that she wouldn’t feel like she was talking to a recording machine. She knew that her story, the one he wanted to hear, would become harder and harder to tell. Getting to know her listener, even if only just a little, would make it easier for her to tell it. “Please…”

“We are named after angels from different religious traditions of the pre-modern era.”

“Angles? Oh, how poetic. Doesn’t each angel have a meaning?”

“Yes, with small variations, Sariel is the angel of Death.”

She chuckled, swinging slightly back and forth with a blank stare. “Isn’t that befitting…”

“We have nothing in common with the angels from the old scripts, we just bear their names.”

“What about Gabriel, what kind of angel was he?”

“He’s was the messenger of God.”

*****

Ana sat with her arms crossed at a small dining table. The wooden chair beneath her felt rough and uncomfortable. Her eyes were drawn to the bowl of apples in the middle of the table. She refused to look at Tengu, who sat across her, fiddling with the brim of the lace tablecloth. He looked very comfortable in his plain white shirt, which, just as last night, caused Ana all kinds of inappropriate thoughts.

“I think H and Margot should be present as well,” she said.

“Whatever we discuss you can tell them later. My dealings are only with you.”

“Then why invite them to come here?”

“I wanted them to enjoy the last night’s festivity. They are a part of the team after all, and they are your closest friends, thus important to me too.”

As if I was that important to you, she scoffed angrily, thinking about how he ditched her on the top of the hill.

“Why does he get to be here?” Her eyes turned at Ichiro, who was half sitting half lying on a small bench in the corner of the cabin. His legs were spread out in a leisurely manner and his eyes closed, he looked asleep, although Ana was certain he listened to every word between her and Tengu.

“Well, it’s his cabin too. You should not preoccupy yourself with him.”

“Okay,” she unfolded her arms, moved her chair closer to the table, and leaned her elbows on it. “Here’s what I want to say to you. This gut feeling is pestering me ever since I’ve met you and I simply cannot shake it off. I feel like I, my friends, and my company…we’re all used as pawns in some twisted plan of yours. I also think there’s something you’re hiding, something crucial. And I don’t think you give a fuck whether we live or die in the process as long as you get what you want.”

Tengu observed her quietly for a moment without any particular expression on his face. His fingers stopped playing with the tablecloth. “Ana, were you also so demanding with your previous clients, asking them to explain themselves?”

“With my previous clients, things were simple and clear, and nearly not as demanding or dangerous.”

“Weren’t they? Once, when trying to buy the raw parts for a client from the smugglers at the docks you were chased by the Imperial guards. You barely escaped their bullets. Luckily, they were after the smugglers and not you.“

“Yes, but—“

“And once you were attacked by the thugs of the rival boss, who was after your client, also a boss, and on that occasion…I believe you got stabbed?”

She sighed and looked upwards. The very fact that he knew about those things was disturbing.

“Do you want me to continue?”

She frowned at him. “Why would you know about all that? And just so you know, it was I that stabbed somebody.”

He smiled complacently. “What I want to say is, that you should not treat me any differently—“

“But you treat me differently too, or do you take every body-part artisan for night walks in the forest and watch stars with them?”

From the corner of her eye, she saw Ichiro pulling himself into a more upright position. His previously shut eyes were now squinting in the direction of the table.

The way Tengu smirked, irritatingly and without his usual addition of the half-smile, told her she hit a nerve.

“What happened last night, Ten….Gabriel?” She leaned forward across the table and covering her mouth with her hand she whispered loudly: “And I don’t mean the kiss…”

Glancing sideways Tengu caught Ichiro’s bewildering stare. He then stood up, and dragged his chair with him, making a scraping sound against the floor. He firmly placed the chair on all four legs right in front of Ana and sat on it. His stare riveted on her. His eyes sparkled with flirtatious energy as he watched her with his head slightly tilted to the right.

Arching backward against the chair, Ana swallowed down the lump that formed in her throat. Her whole body was tingling with awareness of his closeness. If before she relished the small victory over him, she now felt quite disarmed.

“Can you now please tell me how did your meeting with Akayev go?”

She stared at him with her mouth parted, her mind completely blank.

“If you want I can send Ichiro for Hanneghan and Margot,” he said.

His sudden compliant behaviour threw her off. “Umm…no need, I guess….they already know what I’m going to tell you.”

He nodded and she reported to him everything that had happened from the beginning to the end. He listened to her without once interrupting her, and remained silent after she finished.

She flinched as he placed his left hand over hers. “I’m sorry, Ana, that you had to go through all that,” he said, looking at her steadily with a most tender gaze. “I truly am, and I appreciate it.”

She bit at her lower lip, feeling embarrassed by his caring approach, and removed her hand from beneath his. Folding her arms to herself she scoffed and averted her stare to the side. “What the fuck is this…” she muttered under her breath.

He sat back, giving her finally some very much-needed space.

“So once we’re in…we can count on your assistance?” she asked.

“Of course, I will make sure that our inside contact—“

The large bearded man with puffy cheeks that H had punched at their first meeting, burst into the room.

“Boss, you won’t believe—“ Seeing Ana he stopped in the middle of his sentence and looked at Tengu with a confused expression.

“Yes, Valteri?” said Tengu, turning on his chair towards him.

“Ehmm….I’m not sure, Boss, I should say it in front of…” He shifted his eyes and nudged his big head in Ana’s direction.

“I see,” Tengu said. “Ana, could you give us a moment and wait outside?”

She complied but as soon as she was outside the cabin she pressed her ear at the door. Their discussion being muffled, she could barely hear a few words. Imperial guards…captured….the old safe house. She pressed her ear even more against the rough surface of the door when Ichiro opened them. Stumbling forward, she smiled awkwardly at his serious face.

“I was just…” She realized it was a waste of time trying to invent some silly excuse. “I just wanted to know what are they talking about,” she said in the end, looking past Ichiro into the room at the two men talking. “It seems quite serious…”

“You have no dignity,” Ichiro said so blatantly, her lower jaw dropped open.

Tengu came to the door and bid farewell to Valteri.

“I apologize, Ana,” he said. “You can come in now and we’ll continue to discuss the plan.”

He held the door open for her and let Ichiro re-enter before he did.

They talked for more than an hour, going back and forth over the plan. Although he seemed invested in their discussion, Ana noticed by his frequent glances at the wristwatch and occasional looks at Ichiro, that something was bothering him. Just as they were finalizing the last details, Valteri interrupted them again, this time bringing with him an older man.

“I’m sorry, boss, to disturb you…Do you remember the old Ariel from the Settlements? He says he has an urgent message for you.”

The old man wiped the sweat from his forehead with a shaking hand. “Yes, yes…” his voice was trembling and he was gasping for air. “I’m sorry… to get here was not so easy for an old man like me.”

“Uncle Ariel,” Tengu exclaimed in a loving voice. He promptly stood up, moved his chair closer to the old man, and gestured for him to sit.

Ariel accepted the offer with a grateful smile.

“You didn’t have to come all the way up here by yourself. Why didn’t you send your son?”

“Bartag is away on an errand, and they said it was urgent, so I thought I should bring the message myself.”

While the old man checked his pockets, Ana observed the situation with keen eyes, noticing a little nervous look in Tengus’s stare. The old man finally pulled out a small piece of paper and gave it to him. Ana managed to catch a glance of it, but all she saw was a few rows of numbers. Tengu passed the paper to Ichiro, who took a pencil and began scribbling on it, flipping it several times from one side to another. Within a minute he handed the paper back to Tenegu with a heavy look in his eyes.

Tengu stared at the small piece of paper, his eyes moving over it again and again as if he couldn’t believe what was written on it.

“What does it say?” asked Ana breaking the silence that descended on the room.

“Boss?” asked Valteri with a worried look.

Tengu stuck the paper in the pocket and put on his coat. Then he walked to one of the closets and took out a handgun. Ana’s eyes opened wide at the deadly object with a beautiful white handle. It was a handgun made for the officers of the Imperial guard.

“Valteri, stay here, give the old man food and drinks. I need to leave.”

“But, boss…” objected Valteri, his eyes occupied with the gun in Tengu’s hand. “Shouldn’t I go with you?”

“No, you need to stay here. Most of our men are out already.” He stashed the gun behind his back. “Ichiro?”

The Aynu was already waiting with his katana fastened over his back.

Ana, her eyes darting from one person to another, could barely follow the fast sequence of events. Before she knew it, Tengu and Ichiro headed toward the door.

“Hey!” she called, rushing after them.

Tengu turned to her while walking away. There was a sense of urgency in his gaze and he spoke without stopping: “You can stay here in the village. You’ll be safe. I’ll be back sometime in the evening.”

She caught up with him and grasped the sleeve of his thick coat. “Take me with you!”

“Mmm?” his eyebrows arched at her, then he shook his head. “No, it’s too dangerous.”

She didn’t let go of his sleeve. “Gain my trust, take me with you,” she persisted, staring boldly into his eyes.

“Gabriel…“said Ichiro, begging him with his stare not to take her.

“Okay,” Tengu agreed despite the objection of his second in command.

“Great, I’ll get H and Margot.”

“No, no….I told you… it’s dangerous.”

“H only then, he can be of help.”

After a moment of consideration, he nodded. Ichiro scoffed and shook his head, turning away from both of them.

***

“You can say whatever you want…I’m going with you.”

Pressed for time Ana grabbed Margot by the shoulders. “Margot, please, I need you to stay here. I don’t have time to--”

“No, Stemetski, no fucking way.“

She shook her lightly. “I need you to look around the village, speak to Ren and other people, and find out as much as you can.”

Margot stamped her feet. “Dammit, Stemetski…”

“Can you do that, Margot?” asked Ana, pinning Margot with her stare.

Margot blew air out heavily through puffy cheeks. “Of course, I can do that.”

“Great. H, ready?”

H, who up until now observed the interaction between Ana and Margot quietly, abandoned his relaxed stance against the wall and nodded. They left without goodbyes, leaving Margot sulking behind.

****

They walked up the slope as if there was fire chasing them and descended on the other side of it at an even faster speed. Ichiro moved through the unpredictable forest terrain with impressive elegancy and efficiency. Tengu was quick, but with heavier steps, his stiff prostatic arm occasionally disturbing his balance. H could have walked faster but he lagged behind to stay with Ana. Without uttering a single complaint, Ana did her best not to slow down the men too much. She didn’t take anything with her, no jars, not even her katana, just so that she could move faster.

She surprised herself with how much her hiking abilities improved with the right motivation, which in this case was her eagerness to find out the cause behind Tengu’s sudden departure. Of course, the message was the trigger, but what could possibly be so important?

Tengu and Ichiro almost disappeared from her sight, when, luckily for her, the forest ended and they entered the Lowlands where the view was much clearer. Ana spotted them not far ahead, and together with H they soon caught up. Ichiro was folding a camouflaged blanket, which he pulled from the car Ren used at their first meeting.

They all hopped in, with Ichiro as the driver, and drove near the edge of the forest for quite some time. Driving at a high speed, Ichiro didn’t put much effort into avoiding smaller rocks or holes which weren’t a few on the barely recognizable path. Ana held tightly at the seat, afraid she might be thrown out of the doorless and windowless car.

After a couple of hours of bumpy ride Ana, who sat in the back, leaned over at Tengu in the front seat and shouted in his ear: Where are we going?”

The car bounced and she half fell over Tengu’s shoulder grasping at his clothes with undignified clumsiness. Ichiro threw her a glare and slowed down.

Tengu turned his head to her and shouted back in her ear: “We’re going to one of our safe- houses. We use it.....when special circumstances demand our presence in this area.”

She nodded and sat back, smiling. Clenched in her hand was the small piece of paper, she snatched from Tengu’s pocket while grabbing at him during that pretended fall.

The expression on H’s face told her that he knew something had happened. She confirmed it with a small nod, her lips spelling out the word later in silence. It wasn’t her intent to hide anything from him, it all just happened so fast there was no good opportunity to share her suspicions…or the fact that they spoke of Imperial guards… or that Tengu had a gun.

The dusk set in by the time they reached the safe house, which was in its essence a deserted stone house on the edge of the Forrest. Its windows were patched up with wooden boards, and the stone on the walls was crumbling in places. But its red roof seemed in a surprisingly good condition and the house in its cottage-like shape gave off a very rustic vibe.

About ten of Tengu’s men approached them as soon as they stepped out of the car, at least half of them holding guns. They greeted their boss and cast a few wary glances in Ana’s and H’s direction.

“It’s all right. They can be trusted,” he told them and the men accepted it, not paying any more attention to them.

“They fell right into our trap, boss,” said one of the men, enthusiasm permeating his voice.

“They put up quite a fight…. I’m certain they are members of the Imperial guard. The way they look, so superior….” the other rushed to explain.

“One of them is a woman…they wouldn’t say anything, They insisted to see you.”

“Probably they wanted to infiltrate us…Leto, Chris, and Mara are inside with them. They’ll make them talk,” one of the men said with confidence.

Tengu listened to them silently and started moving together with them towards the house, leaving Ana and H behind.

“Tell me now,” said H looking steadily at the departing group.

Ana stepped closer to him. ”I stole the message from Tengu, the one he’d received before he rushed here.” She spread the paper in her hand and read, her lips moving without the sound.

They are not human, it was written in tiny cursive letters.

“They are not human,” she repeated it out loud, then looked at H, furrowing her eyebrows. “What the fuck was that supposed to mean?”

H shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“See, it was written in numbers like a code, then Ichiro must have deciphered it. A man from the Settlements brought it. The prisoners they spoke about…fuck…if it’s imperial guards it’s bad enough but if….” Her thought trailed off. She dropped the paper and hurried after Tengu.

He and Ichiro stood by the door and were about to enter the house. Tengu’s eyes set upon her as he spoke: “No one follows us inside! Take your guarding positions and cover every corner. If anyone else but us comes out of the house, shoot to kill!”

He spoke with a commanding voice, she wasn’t used to hearing from him. It was seen on the men’s faces that his instructions surprised them, but they didn’t ask any questions and immediately spread out. Two men with guns remained in front of the house.

“Wait, Gabriel, let me go with you!”

Tengu ignored her, opened the door, and disappeared inside with Ichiro. The men blocked her way as she moved a step forward.

H pulled her to his side. “Are you out of your fucking mind, Stem?”

“I want to go inside.”

“Why? This is none of our concern.”

Ana leaned closer to him and lowered her voice considerably: “But something’s off, I can feel it. That message… and Tengu has a gun.”

H scoffed. “One more reason to stay out of it. We just need to wait and see how things resolve. We don’t need to stick our noses in every bloody matter of that rebel.”

“If something happens to him--“ she hissed in his face.

“Yeah? So what?”

She couldn’t stand his aloof behaviour anymore. Shaking her head angrily she rubbed her hand nervously over the back of her neck. “Dammit, H, we lose a client that’s what. Think all we went through to get this deal done. We can’t risk it now…”

“You’re crazy, Stem…I’m not going to let you go in. No fucking way!”

They were at each other’s throats when the sound of a gun came from inside the house. Ana ran toward the door, just to be stopped by the two men again.

“Let me go in!” The two men stood like a wall and didn’t even bother to answer.

“Won’t you even check? What if your boss is in danger?”

“He said nobody goes in,” one of them replied and aimed the gun at her.

H grabbed her by her shoulders and started pulling her away forcefully.

At that moment, one of the rebels came from another post and started talking with the two guards. Ana saw a tiny window of opportunity opening up and used it. She slipped out of H’s grip and bolted toward the door past the two guards, who were still engaged in the conversation. The guards at first turned toward her with the guns, but it was too late. She was already half inside, and so, in order to minimize the damage, they turned their guns at H, preventing him from going after her.

“Stem!” She heard H’s angry call, just as she closed the door behind her.

The moment she stepped from the small hallway into the room the scene that was unfolding before her eyes consumed all her attention.

A stunning woman stood a couple of meters from her. Her face, framed by her ginger hair cut into a sharply angled bob, emanated a perfect, gentle beauty, which stayed intact despite visible signs of violent beating. Her almond-shaped green eyes, clear as virgin mountain lakes, gazed at Ana calmly, showing no sign of surprise. Her long-limbed body would have matched her face in its perfection, if her right arm hadn’t been disfigured into an ugly stump, missing the whole forearm from the elbow down, and her left arm wasn’t so badly contorted at all joints. A blade and a bone peeked out of her twisted left palm as if naturally growing out of it.

Across her, on the other side of the room, was Tengu, with a gun in his hand, and behind him, lying on the floor with his back against the wall was Ichiro, beaten up pretty badly.

Another person was there on the floor, between Ichiro and Tengu, but all Ana could see was his legs, because the upper part of his body was hidden behind the sofa. She did notice that the man’s left foot had been cut at the ankle.

Contrary to the woman, an emotion sparkled in Tengu’s eyes when he saw Ana. Before she could decipher it into a warning, the woman with incredible speed seized her from the back and pushed her grotesquely damaged blade hand at Ana’s neck.

They all stood frozen for a moment, and then as if a silent agreement took place between the woman and Tengu, Tengu pointed his gun upwards and lifted his other arm. “Let her go, I just want to talk to you.”

“This is interesting,” the woman said, her voice so calm, Ana felt all the hair on her back standing up. “I will give you an offer. Her life in exchange for my death.”

“Your death?” Tengu asked, starting to move towards her, but as soon as he made a step the woman tightened the grip over Ana pulling her backward.

Tengu stopped and slowly placed the gun on the small table next to him. Ana followed his movements, her brain trying to interpret what she was seeing.

“Do you agree?” the woman asked.

“I have no reasons to object, I gladly exchange her life for your death,” Tengu said. “Just...make me understand -- I know you let yourself get caught on purpose, just to get to me. You must have expected things won’t go down so easy.”

“He was not supposed to die,” she said, her voice quivering for the first time. Ana realized she meant the man, who was lying on the floor behind the sofa. “ And your strength was not anticipated.”

“My strength?” Tengu asked.

“I see. You still don’t know.”

“Know what? “

“If you don’t know, I cannot explain.”

“Then it hardly matters. Why not continue to fight?” he pressed on. “Perhaps the last person standing will be you.”

Why is he talking like this? Why is he talking at all? Being in such a helpless position and at the mercy of the woman, began to irritate her more than frighten her. “Just let me go, lady. Nobody has to die. I’m sure we can come to an agreement. Right, Gabriel?”

Her words were ignored by everyone in the room as if she had never spoken them.

“Not perhaps, that will be the outcome. It is also the worst possible outcome,” the woman answered Tengu in a cold, calm tone.

He frowned. “Not for your superiors.”

“I know you care about this one very much and also about your man over there. And you know if we continue to fight, she will be the first to die and he will be next. According to my calculations, the chances of me killing you are far greater than the opposite.” She spoke with such impartiality and certainty as if she was stating some undisputable mathematical truth. “I hate wasting time. Do we have a deal or not?”

Tengu looked at Ana, then at Ichiro, and nodded.

“I’d be a fool not to. But I have one condition –“

“No, no conditions,” she refused immediately.

“Umm…Gabriel?” muttered Ana, feeling pressure on her neck.

“I just want to talk...”

“There is nothing to talk about. I cannot tell you any strategically valuable information.”

“I understand that, nevertheless…I’d still like to ask you, why do you want to die?”

Ichiro didn’t say anything but Ana saw in his tired eyes he too was silently questioning Tengu’s behaviour.

“Because when death is the fate for one of us, the same is preferable for the other,” the woman responded.

“Should a machine have such considerations? Doesn’t this lead you to disobey the orders?”

A machine? What’s he talking about? Ana screamed in her head.

The woman nodded to his question.

“It doesn’t make you a very good soldier.”

“It was never my choice to be one.”

“These are human sentiments, you are not supposed to have.”

“We are not supposed to have…” she repeated in a detached, mechanical manner.

“Wouldn’t he want you to live? Or give his life to save yours if he had a chance?”

Ana heard a thin, metallic sound, like that of a camera shutter, as the woman blinked with exaggerated slowness. “Yes, humans would do that, sacrifice their lives so that the ones they love can live on. But our…sentiments are different. Do not think your notion of love is satisfactory to understand the bond we share. He makes this world tangible for me. To seize the moment of common departure means more to me than linger on alone with memories. The sacrifice you are talking about is meaningless to us.”

Tengu’s tone turned provocative. “There is always a possibility for a different outcome, no matter how impossible or how bad things might seem. Failing to see that or simply giving up when the calculations are not in one’s favour, is what at the end of the day makes you nothing else but a machine. In your case, a machine with a minor malfunction perhaps, but nonetheless a machine.”

“Leading all these people that support you to their deaths, based on something as unsubstantial as hope, isn’t that a malfunction too?” the woman retorted.

“You are mistaken. I don’t lead anyone. We are all led by the natural course of things, which aims at restoring the balance, upset by the ones that sent you here.”

“Then why are you debating with a machine about motives? Are you still so insecure about yours that despite all your devotees you are trying to get validation from the enemy? From a machine?

“I’m just curious.”

“No, you’re searching. But you’re nothing more than an inadequate piece of art aspiring to unattainable perfection.”

“At least I have no doubts about my mission.”

From the corner of her eye, Ana saw a faint smile appearing on the woman’s lips.

“For now, perhaps,” the woman said tilting her head slightly to the right. “We are done talking. Push the sword over. I want her to kill me.”

“Let me do it,” Tengu suddenly raised his voice. “I promise, I will.”

“The sword!” the woman demanded in a threatening manner, pushing the tip of her blade closer to Ana’s throat.

“Fuck! Let me do it! Let me fucking do it!” growled Ana, looking down with horror at the distorted limb that grasped her.

His lips pursed in anger, Tengu pushed the sword, which lay next to Ichiro on the floor, towards the woman and Ana.

“Take the sword!” the woman commanded. Ana together with her captor lowered herself toward the sword and picked it up. Once she had it in her hand, the woman dragged her along with her to the other side of the sofa.

Tengu turned on the place, following their movements closely with his eyes

“Stay there!” the woman warned him.

A strong male torso -- the upper part of the lying body, which was so far hidden by the sofa, came into Ana’s view. It was missing a head, which lay not far from it. A face displaying the very ideal of manly beauty stared at Ana with greyish, dead eyes. There was a lot of blood on the floor focused around the neck of the headless torso.

“Unless you do exactly as I tell you, I will kill you on the spot, and then I will proceed to kill them too. Do you understand?” said the woman and waited for Ana’s confirmation.

Ana, her mind distracted by the gruesome scene, nodded absently. The woman slowly released the grip on her neck and slid her broken arm down her body until her knee. Wrapping it around it she kneeled beside Ana. She lowered her head while keeping her gaze on the severed head of the man. Her hair fell forward exposing the back of her neck. Ana noticed a small tattoo in a shape of an Aynu character just near the woman’s left ear.

Then, as if the situation was not already extreme enough, the woman began to sing a song in the Aynu language. The way her quiet yet emotionally charged voice filled the cabin was simply beautiful. Ana’s confused eyes turned at Tengu, then at Ichiro, who looked even more stricken by the song than her. Feeling the hilt of the sword under her fingers, was the only consolation she could find at that moment.

A single tear slid over the woman’s cheek to the edge of her chin and dropped to the floor as she finished the verse. “Cut my head off,” she said.

Ana, feeling her grip firmly around her leg, looked at Tengu. He made a slow nod, his eyes trying to encourage her. With trembling hands, she readied the sword, lifting it above her head. She had killed only one person with the sword so far, and as H always reminded her, it was not really a planned kill, because the man had stumbled from H’s punch and fallen on her sword, which she wielded around purely for defense purposes. She learned a few sword techniques and how to cut properly in her trainings, but this was a real person and not a bamboo mat. No! it struck her suddenly. She wasn’t a person either. It was a machine, even though it was hard to believe it. The cyborgs produced during the war could never be mistaken for a human, but this one, the way it looked, talked, and felt…that was a human -- a different kind of human.

“Ana!”

Tengu’s call awakened her from her frozen state and forced her to act. The glow of light followed the sword as she swung it down in one motion.

One silent, clean cut. A head detached. The grip over her leg was lessened and the headless body fell forward. Blood squirted out of its neck, spattering all over, mixing with the blood that was already on the floor.

Ana dropped the sword. The metallic sound it made as it hit the floor, ominously echoed within the dusty room, the dull colour of which was revived by the considerable amount of blood on its floor and walls.

“Fuuck!” Ana cried out in full voice.

Tengu ran over to her, but she drew away from him, rubbing nervously the back of her neck and staring at the bodies. “I’m fine, go, take care of Ichiro”, she said to him.

While Tengu was checking on his friend she noticed another door in the room. She pushed it open and saw three bodies on the floor, two with deep cuts across their necks and one, a woman’s, with no visible injuries except for her head turned in an unnatural position. She figured it was Tengu’s men.

Tengu helped Ichiro to the seat and fetched him his sword, for which Ichiro asked several times. As soon as he got it, he slid it over the sofa to wipe off the blood and sheathed it in the scabbard across his back. Ana squatted by the head of the woman’s partner and poked it until it rolled to the other side. An Aynu character was also tattooed behind his left ear, although different from the one she saw on the woman.

With Tengu examining the woman’s body, she approached Ichiro. His exhausted eyes looked up at her.

“What was the meaning of that song?” she asked.

He stared at her with a blank expression on his bloodied face and didn’t respond.

“Tell me!” she yelled at him. She could see anger and frustration building in his eyes. If he wasn’t so badly injured, he’d probably hit her.

“A man's life of fifty years under the sky

is nothing compared to the age of this world.

Life is but a fleeting dream, an illusion.

Is there anything that lasts forever?”

Tengu recited the verses, while he was walking toward them.

“You know Aynu langauge?” Ana asked surprised.

He nodded. “It’s an old Aynu song.”

“Atsumori,” muttered Ichiro absently. “Yuki used to sing it all the time. It’s her, Gabriel.”

“What? Who is Yuki?”

The two men stared at each other in mutual understanding, without providing Ana with an answer.

“Look, I found this…” she squatted by the head of the man and pushed his hair from the neck. “This is an Aynu character. Do you know what it means?”

Tengu squatted next to her, looking at the mark thoughtfully. “This reads Shin.”

“She has it too, but it’s different,” said Ana, moving briskly from the man’s to the woman’s head. “Do you think Aynu are making them? Are they really machines? I mean look at all the blood, it’s …I just can’t believe it….”

Tengu was still bent over the men’s head, but something didn’t look right about him.

“Gabriel?”

His body was tensed up, his fists clenched and he gave no response. The muffled sounds that came from him next were those of pain.

She half stood up. “Hey, what’s going on? Is it the headache again?”

With a loud sigh, he suddenly collapsed, falling on the top of the head. She leaped towards him and turned him around, pulling him onto her lap. He looked like he passed out.

She shook him slightly. “Fuck, Gabriel, wake up!”

“Gabriel! What happened to him?” shouted Ichiro, who in an attempt to come closer fell on the floor as soon as he left the sofa, making a faint thumping sound.

“I don’t know..I…” She was staring with dread at Tengu’s pale, lifeless face. Suddenly, his eyelids fluttered and he slowly opened his eyes. Staring at her for a second, he rose to his feet and smiled awkwardly.

“What happened?” she uttered, directing a bewildered look at him.

“Nothing…” he replied, but traces of surprise and shock were visible on his face too.

“Gabriel!” Ichiro called, trying, still unsuccessfully, to stand up.

“I’m fine Ichiro, don’t worry. Ana,” he tilted his head in Ichiro’s direction; “help me. We need to get out of here before Imperial soldiers come.”

“Imperial soldiers? Do you really think these two have something to do with the Emperor? If they really are machines….the Emperor is the biggest opposer to any kind of advanced machinery, let alone cyborgs, or whatever the two of them were. He made that very clear from the beginning of his reign. I think this is some sort of Aynu conspiracy… They were both marked with their characters…”

Tengu didn’t seem interested in her theory and said nothing in response. He picked up his gun, stashed it behind his back, and spoke to Ichiro instead: “This was not simple, not at all, my friend. I haven’t seen you so beaten up…well…never.” They both smiled, then Tengu helped Ichiro to his feet. Supporting him with his left arm around his waist they headed towards the door.

Ana rushed to help from the other side, but Ichiro blatantly refused her, leaning only on Tengu.

When they stepped out of the house, the first thing she saw was H with guns pointed at his head. She noticed how relieved he was when he saw her, but then quite quickly his relieved expression was replaced by an angry glare. He said nothing and made a few steps backward to move away from the guns. When she approached him he ignored her. His stubborn silence spoke of how angry he was with her.

Tengu took Ichiro to the car and then called for all his men to gather around him.

“We lost three comrades today. We shall honor them the same way we always do. Now burn this place to the ground!”

“What?” Ana objected. “Don’t you think we should at least examine—“

“There’s nothing to examine. This place has been compromised,” he said firmly, his men already spreading out to execute his orders.

Ana gazed at the fire from afar. Her mind was working hard, trying to make sense of it all. The message she stole from Tengu was a warning. But a warning from who? Who could have known that those two were not humans but some kind of super advanced machines, singing in Aynu language, and bearing Aynu marks? They came to kill Tengu and the only reason they failed was due to the strange behaviour of the woman, who rather died than finish her mission, just because Tengu, or Ichiro, killed her partner first. What exactly went down there before she entered, she’d probably never know. It was clear, though, that Tengu as well as Ichiro knew more than she did and they were not willing to share their information with her.

Thinking about it, it dawned on her that she killed somebody. The fact that the woman was just a machine seemed somehow unimportant. She cut her head off as if she’d cut through a bamboo mat. The woman’s song crept from the edges of her consciousness into her thoughts. Remembering the verses from Tengu, her lips whispered the last lines: Life is but a fleeting dream, an illusion, Is there anything that lasts forever?

Is there? she repeated the question to herself. Her emotions began to become overloaded, choking her. She badly wanted to talk to H, to tell him everything, but he, in his anger, was completely inaccessible. With incomprehensible jealousy, she remembered the intricate bond that the two machines shared. At that moment, she felt so terribly alone that it physically pained her.