The lights in the corridor finally flickered back to life. Cinder morphed into an Aerial and landed on his shoulder. She didn’t speak as she guided him. At each intersection he would just ‘know’ what way to go. Her ability to send mental messages was much more subtle and precise than his own. It was a stark contrast from her brutal use of physical force.

He tried to ignore the swirl of conflicting emotions that sat on his shoulder as he tried to hide his own. He was more confused about everything now than before he had opened his dumb mouth. He decided to try and focus on the other task at hand.

Cinder spoke first, “I am taking you to the holding cells for new test subjects. You will practice your powers on one of them.”

“I feel like we are going in circles. I think we have crossed our own path at least twice on different levels. I am completely lost.”

“Getting in an elevator right now would be foolish and several bulkheads were closed by the power fluctuations. This is the only open route.”

“How is mind speaking to some test subjects supposed to help me?”

“You are to push your limits. See what else you can do. Attack them. Dominate their will. Erase their memories. Implant suggestions. Hurt them. Break them.”

Guilt washed over him.

“These test subjects are not your concern. You agreed to do whatever was necessary. Today is your first lesson in necessary.”

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“Test subjects are merely tools, a means towards accomplishing our goals.”

“I saw that mark on your arm. You are a test subject too.”

“I accept that. I play my part. And you will play yours. Remember the First Rule.”

Zagreus stopped walking and just stared off into nowhere as a memory came to him. The last person he killed, a young man with a crude spear. Zagreus had felt the pain, the fear, the hatred, the silence.

Her hand caressed his neck. “I think I understand now.”

“Understand what?”

“My Mecromancer power is called Impact. I get a kinetic force multiplier when I hit something. But that means I have to physically hit things for it to work. When I kill, I am usually close and focused on them. I hear their dying thoughts, their cries and regrets. So for me, killing someone is personal. But for you… it’s intimate. You feel it. You feel, all of it, when they die.”

He nodded hesitantly.

“You must do this. If you need to vent your frustrations afterwards I will spar with you until you pass out from exhaustion.”

He shook off the feelings. The stuff earlier had worn at his nerves more than he wanted to admit. “I am ok. I knew what I agreed to. I will play my part. I will do it for me. I will do it for Jade. If tormenting test subjects is what you want, I will do it until you get bored of the screaming.”

“The screaming got boring millennia ago.”

“Damn woman, steal all my badassery why don’t you.”

“I am the Goddess of Skulls. I have toppled kingdoms and razed cities. Armies scream and run when they see me. Boring.”

“You can be truly frightening at times.”

“I know.”

They continued. The lights flickered and faded randomly. Constantly being forced to swap back and forth between his light and dark vision was only adding to his headache from getting backhanded. He eventually sensed the presence of some people nearby as he was guided to stop at a door.

The power was off when they arrived so he had to crank the door open.

Cinder flew into the room and flicked switches on some backup batteries. A row of monitors and control panels lit up. “They arrived this morning but with everything that’s happening I haven’t even been able to process them yet. You can go down to the cells and pick which one you want to try working with first. I will be there in a few minutes. Don’t start until I get there.”

The door to the cells opened as he neared it. It was a large room. The back wall was covered it two floors of six narrow cells. The front of each cell was a wall of thick bars. Only three of the rooms were lit. One held a remnant male who cowered in the back of his cell. The second was female dragonite with golden scales sat on her bed…

A soft cough caught his attention. The last cell had wire mesh covering the bars. An aerial with bright blue butterfly wings lay curled up on the normal sized bed. She coughed again.

“Hey.”

She strained to sit up. “Kill. me.” She choked out. Her other wing looked soggy and purple.

“What?”

“Burn. Me. Now.”

*Hey Cinder?* He sent.

*What?* She sent.

*This aerial looks sick, she wants to be burned.*

*Stop talking to the test subjects. It is not going to…* Her tone was suddenly serious and tinged with fear. *Did you say aerial? Describe what you see.*

*She’s coughing and her wing looks melted and purple.*

Cinder’s fear hit him. It was not a sensation. It felt like a solid mass the size of a moon pressed down on him. *STRIP OFF YOUR CLOTHES AND GET TO THE CIRCLE BY THE DOOR NOW!*

An alarm blared. Lights flashed. He did as ordered and moved as fast as he could. The circle was a meter wide grate. He was inside it before his clothes hit the floor. A green tinged wall of force went up around the edge. Water poured from the ceiling of the circle. A moment later the room erupted in fire with a deafening roar. He could see nothing but flames pressed against his small cylinder of safety.

He could feel Cinder crying. Her thoughts were screaming. NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

The pouring water and roaring flames created an all consuming sound. *Cinder* He sent softly. *Cinder!* He sent harder.

NO! NO! NO!

*CINDER!* He sent as forcefully as he could. The arcane from whatever was making the fire was making it more difficult to send.

He felt her trying to calm herself. *Tell…Lili…Code… Purple.*

*I can’t talk to Lili.*

*I will not suffer your lies! TELL HER NOW!*

*She can’t hear me when she’s dead!*

*The power is still out! I can’t reach them! You must warn them! You have to do it! They must know! The whole mission is at risk!*

*I can try Jade. Give me a minute.*

*Quickly. Code Purple.* She felt so desperate.

He took a breath and focused. Sending through the fire was like trying to run through an ocean the farther he pushed the harder it got. *Jade?* He sent several times before he got a response.

*Zaggy? What’s wrong? I’ll come help.*

With her focused on him it was a little easier. *No. Don’t come here. It’s not safe.*

*What is Bug-Girl doing to you? Can I eat her?*

*I need you to tell Lili Code Purple.*

*What’s a purple cote?*

*I don’t know. Just tell her now. It’s really important. I will give you all my candy for a month if you do it right now. Code Purple.*

*OK!*

He collapsed against the wall of force. Fuck me.

*Eleventh?* Lilithana sent a few moments later.

*Code Purple.*

*I don’t know where you found that term but that is nothing to joke about.*

*No joke. Cinder told me it’s a Code Purple.*

*Hold please.*

Hold? Has everyone gone insane today? *Hey, Cinder, Lili knows.*

*Thank you.* Cinder sent back weakly like she was talking through tears.

*What in the world is going on? Why did you burn everyone?*

*That aerial was sick with a plague called the Wither. There is no treatment. No cure. It has a high infection rate. A slow progression. And one hundred percent fatality rate for aerials. It is a horrible way to die. It can easily wipe out entire settlements.*

*What about me?*

*Tall ones don’t get usually sick from the Wither, but they can carry it, so you will have to be quarantined for a while. In theory, the mecromails should protect us, but we can’t take any chances on something this dangerous.*

*Are you ok?*

*No! I am completely NOT OK!*

*I mean are you safe?*

She sighed wearily. *As safe as I can be. I’m in a decontamination shower like you are. The aerial was here for hours. This whole section of the lab has to be sterilized then we will be safely moved to temporary quarters. Just wait there.*

*Ok.* He could feel her stress, so he left her alone.

A few minutes later Lilithana sent. *Everything is being taken care of. Was the containment complete?*

*I don’t know what that means. But I saw a sick aerial now I am surrounded by fire.*

*Excuse me?* Her voice was disturbingly calm. *It sounds like you just told me Cinder allowed you to go into the holding cells with an infected aerial. And now you have to be quarantined. I certainly must be mistaken.*

*Yea quarantine.*

*You tell THAT STUPID BITCH I hope she gets the Wither because if she ever gets out of quarantine I am going to kick her ass until my leg falls off!*

He had never seen Lilithana really angry. He couldn’t imagine it. It was terrifying just to hear. *What?*

*Cinder broke protocol and endangered the lab. Now you are going to be stuck in quarantine for two years.*

*TWO YEARS?!* He growled to himself and stood. Naked and soaked. *Hey Cinder? Lili says something about breaking protocol and two years of quarantine.*

*Tell that DAMNED CORPSE the main power junctions are supposed to have fail safes and overcharge capacitors so the whole thing doesn’t blow to pieces! If I hadn’t had to pick up behind her I would have had these test subjects processed already!*

His head was throbbing. Arguing between them was pointless. *Lili?* He said softly.

*Yes? Did she respond?*

*Looks like I’m going to miss our date tonight.*

*Yes, I am not taking the news well.*

*I’m not going anywhere. You can go back to your dead mode if you need to.*

*Thank you.* She was quiet for a bit then added. *Losing these two years saddens me greatly. I will miss being alive.*

*I’m sorry.*

*It’s not your fault. I’m trying to calm down and be rational. We haven’t even heard a rumor about wither in over a millennium. Cinder took short cuts processing prisoners. I assume she is complaining about my maintenance short cuts again. If you do something long enough you will have little left but short cuts. We both screwed up.*

He sent her the feeling of his hand holding her cheek.

*Oooh. That’s nice. When did you learn that?*

*Cinder forced me to improvise earlier. Found out I can send sensations. Wasn’t sure I could send them long distance until now.*

*Maybe we can experiment with that soon.*

*Soon. But not right now. This water is really cold.*

She laughed, *There is no good time to say this so I will just get it over with. I know about your order. I am willing to share but I am not willing to surrender you until you have to leave.*

He hadn’t had time to consider the long term effects of the order. He sent. *Thank you.*

*It will get you out of there as soon as possible. I can’t focus in this mode right now. I’m sorry. I have to go.*

*It’s ok.*

The fires soon went out. There was nothing left but stone, glowing metal and ash. The entire room erupted into a torrential downpour. Grey rivulets drained out of the cells.