By the end of the activity, those who were already weak-willed turned even more towards themselves, and those that contemplated doubts and discoveries returned with more than they could chew. Seven judged that this was likely the main purpose of Ai, to screw over everyone and let them use the beach for a little change of pace.

The rest of the afternoon he passed there, reading some brainless novella that didn’t hinder his thoughts, much like the rest of them, silently accepting Ai’s random offers of a drink. The latter, an unusual display, might have elicited again the doubts of him colluding with the murderous program, but all the heat was taken off by the absurdity of the Alice theory, which he, too, was pondering, but not as hard as his origins.

“Whenever I try to remember the Whitefields or anything around the time of St. Claire, I get a nasty headache. If I force myself, I end up fainting, it is all pointless...”

The way it was, there was no use in pursuing it any further, which was infuriating at first, but he quickly came to terms.

“No matter. I should check on the others to see what they’re doing. Maybe I’ll get some inspiration”.

Normally he would seek Natalya, but he already knew where she was. Riding some distant waves, far, far away from his sight. Even if that was the case, though, he wanted a productive conversation right now, in between them there was only silence, which he didn’t think would thaw so easily.

Walking alongside the beach, the first person he saw was Nathan. He fanned himself with one hand while holding a parasol with the other, gazing at the sea as it ebbed on the wood of his sandals. Noticing the approaching Seven, he closed the fan and gestured for him to approach, a smile that was not a smile plastered on his face.

-How’s your head? - he resumed fanning as a drop of sweat flowed down his cheek.

His laid-back attitude made Seven’s missing member twitch. It was something akin to feeling the absence of it after a long time, quite uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as his chest. If Nathan was a stupid fool as he made everyone believe, Seven wouldn’t care as much about it, but Nathan proved to be more than what he showed on the outside. A good actor, indeed.

-I’m better now – he replied flatly.

The two people chatted for a while, as Seven joined him in appreciating the sun which they would probably only see in books for the next few days, if anything. None of them mentioned what happened in the past, even if it was fresh in their memories, but inevitably it would reach that point. Even if he didn’t want to mind it and focus on other things, he needed to come to terms with this.

-Nathan – he interrupted – did you really want to kill me?

The man raised an eyebrow.

-Would you feel better if I answered with yes or no?

-Not really.

-Then why do you ask me?

-I just wanted to know.

A minute of silence encompassed them.

-You feel uncomfortable about things you don’t understand – Nathan concluded – very well then. I didn’t want to kill you. I followed orders, staying with Kyel was to my benefit, and it still is to some extent. Matters of life or death are of little consequence to me, it is all about benefit.

-Then why do you work for SIU? Weren’t you a famous actor?

-You are right in that I had everything within my reach. But the reason I agreed to their invitation was... A sense of duty, I suppose. At the time, I felt like it was simply something I had to do, but in retrospective, I was young and hot-blooded, and the existence of something completely different from all I’ve seen, in parallel to our world, must have played a role in my choice. Now, it is simply what I’ve become, and I accepted it.

“But it was my arm that was severed, and my life that was on the line...”

A satisfying conclusion, that was what Seven wanted, but of course it wouldn’t come. In a way, he wished for Nathan to face retribution for his actions, but that would be hypocritical of Seven, considering he would’ve done the same thing if it aligned to his benefits. “In the end, I just want him to suffer a bit. After that, though... It would be pointless”

-I could’ve recovered my arm with Ai’s reward.

-Is that so? - Nathan opened his eyes a bit wider. It was mild surprise, not enough to elicit his curiosity. Regardless, Seven proceeded. It was he who needed an ear, not Nathan, anyway.

-I don’t have much left on me, so I kept quiet about it. I did wish you had instead punctured a spear in my other arm, since it came down to it.

-I’ll keep it in mind next time I have to do something similar.

With that, they wordlessly bid their farewells, and Seven continued his stroll around the sands. His feet took him to an uncommon pair, the kid who’s been deceived by Kyel, and a tall woman that constantly bit on her nails. Something in the way she nervously nibbled on her fingers held Seven’s attention for a while.

Soon, she noticed his gaze and closed her hand, hiding her fingers.

-What?

-Don’t mind me – he turned to leave.

-Wait! - she motioned to bite her nails again but quickly covered the action – you. How did you kill the Queen?

-Why do you ask that?

-Why? I don’t know... To kill it?

-By the time we leave this place, Natalya should wipe out the remaining ones. There is no need to bother.

-Then why don’t we leave now and try our chance?

“Is she crazy?”

Seven looked at the kid, but he showed no reaction to her mad ramblings. In a way, though, he didn’t dislike her antics, maybe it was the magnetic trait of her voice when inviting him to do something completely crazy, constantly pulling and swaying. And in that moment of madness, he had a string on his brain detached as he moved his lips.

-Okay – as the word left his mouth, something strange reverberated inside him. What kind of clown was he to blindly follow this proposition, knowing all the while it was unreasonable beyond belief and disregarded everything in the ways of smart thinking? Yet, it was that exactly that so much compelled him.

The woman herself wasn’t too serious about this idea initially, as she was motivated by her disappointments with the recent events and was acting out of her mind. As soon as she mentioned it, she thought of pulling back, but the answer came faster than her thoughts, and the words she had muttered and doubted right afterward, sucked her in like a black hole. Now she contemplated the idea.

The force of the absurd.

-Then, let’s go – she said after a long silence, and Seven stared blankly at the sky before grinning stupidly. “Is this what the practitioners of extreme sports feel when imposing on themselves a ridiculous situation?”

-Why not, right? - he whispered inaudible words.

***

Near the terminal of a subterranean path, Seven took the chance to better observe the woman that momentarily held his interests. She was taller than him, much taller, but that was an easy feat, regardless she could easily go on par with Arthur. His initial thought was that she was with his group, but he didn’t remember her amongst the few remaining ones. Her skin was a bit tan and the hair cut short, her build was that of a fighter, and her movements, unlike the others, weren’t slumped, but straight and determined.

“Why did she ask for my help?”

-So, how did you kill the Queen? You haven’t answered me yet – she reiterated while fiddling with a few supply crates.

Seven glanced sideways, and for some time he entertained the idea of lying. The magic of the moment was gone, after all, he had to consider how to feasibly kill a mature Queen, rather than an already dying one.

-It was an abandoned Queen, all I had to do was give her the last push.

-Was that all there was to it?

-I had to bypass some ants, and I learned something on the way, but yes.

Out of the crate, the woman recovered a better version of the ant armor he had seen Arthur wear, along with weapons he could recognize as a long spear attached to a short spear. He had seen it before but in the guise of a rifle.

-You don’t mind? - he asked.

-I was a bit skeptical about this... But thinking about it, I just wanted to try my luck. This is a tutorial and I’ve learned just about nothing, riding on Kyel’s strength, but this last trial made me understand even he doesn’t know everything. Hm, that was quite obvious actually, but originally I wanted to believe in an infallible leader.

-There are other ways to catch up with the lost time.

-Haha! I wish that was the case, otherwise, I wouldn’t be doing this.

-What do you mean?

She threw a suit, a weapon and a bag of other supplies to Seven, then motioned him to turn around as she changed into it. He did the same.

-Arthur, he screwed us. A lot of crazy shit happened so it flew under the radar, but from what I gather Natalya should be the only one alive from DOOM, but he made contact with someone or something. Whatever it is, it’s coming for us

“That’s playing a worst-case scenario with a worst-case scenario...” Even if there was a monster coming their way, facing a Queen out of the blue wasn’t a good approach, in his eyes. There was some information she was keeping to herself, but he didn’t dwell on that. Rather than facing a Queen, he was much more interested in the preparations: it was like the woman had everything planned already, she just needed someone to give her confidence, and ironically it happened to be him.

-I am Milen, by the way, if you didn’t know already.

-Hm. - he nodded and they both went down the slope.

-This is the cave Arthur explored yesterday. I have some knowledge of hidden passages he missed on his visit, and of what awaits us there. I believe the biggest obstacle in dealing with a Queen should be its Royal Guard, rather than the monster itself.

-If you are talking about the entourage, I find it so, too.

-The warriors? No no, I’m talking about the real deal. The Royal Guard is made up of three special ants. One of them is responsible for patrolling and checking the workers, supervising the river of blood. The other two stay at its side at all times. We have to deal with the roaming one if we want any chance of approaching it.

Some twenty minutes later, they made a pause so that Milen could check on one hidden passage. It was right above them, and normally it wouldn’t be visible due to the poor lighting, but if you knew it was there, it was difficult to miss.

-Help me up.

Seven propelled her and thought idly if this was the major reason, she needed someone: to navigate the tunnels, and it wasn’t far from the truth.

-I discovered this place after Arthur’s group was surrounded by worker ants. “There ought to be another entryway”, I thought.

-It’s the first time I’m hearing this.

-Oh sorry, I just assumed you were in on it. Everyone in Kyel’s shares knowledge, I got ahead of myself.

She narrated the events of the previous day while navigating the passage and occasionally asking for help to climb up. Occasionally they had to deal with roaming worker ants, but those were easily dealt with. If a huge group approached, the problem would be having none of them alert the colony rather than dealing with them. In many ways, Milen worked like Seven – not nearly as strong as Natalya, and for this reason, employing tactics and subterfuge.

-Did you map the maze?

-I didn’t have the leisure to do so, unfortunately. This is why we have to do this right now, before anyone comes in to clean the place. I’m talking about Natalya, and Kyel set his eyes here, too.

The light gradually invaded the tunnel as they finally emerged to the surface, outside of the labyrinth. The entry to it was a few meters away, and ant armies passed by regularly.

-You ready?

Seven bit his finger in contemplation. “Am I really doing this?”, he quickly considered his odds for the mission. Milen was well equipped with all the tools he previously used, and a few more that would come in handy, and they worked in good resonance with each other. Even if he failed, hearing how Arthur managed to escape, he thought he had a chance.

“If this plan turns into smoke, it will turn into it very quickly, in which case I have a good probability of retreating, unless it’s all a trap and Kyel baited me into my death”.

-Let’s move.

Gazing upon each other’s eyes, they went their separate directions and silently made their way in the patches of darkness.