Another slender, young female who had to be in her late teens with long white blonde hair done in a ponytail with yellow cat-like eyes were spending a couple of hours at a bar alone in London, England.

She had to be a teenager with her slender tomboyish looks, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt to hide her body, baggy black jeans, and black boots. Bored, she headed out to a bakery just a few blocks from the bar she and her entourage were staying.

As she went into the bakery, the sweet smell of spices filled the room. The young woman meticulously scrutinized the entire bakery. They have such a vast selection of baked goods. Again, it was nothing this fancy back at home. Finally, she found something that caught her eye: A pumpkin roll.

She remembered having a pumpkin roll when she was younger. It was something that really took her back when she sneaked a bite for herself. The godliness of the pumpkin filling, the fluffiness of the pastry, and the decadent icing that covered the pastry not entirely but enough that you want to take off the icing and eat it first.

The young woman made her purchases and left the store. Later that afternoon, the sun was almost setting, and they decided to go back to the Embassy. At the entrance, someone was waiting for her holding an envelope: The Aetheral Queen of the Crux Nexus, Lycka Benibara. Of course, her style of dress was Gothic Lolita inspired as a secretary.

“Nope. Still can’t get over it,” the teenager criticized as she approached Lycka.

“What perfect timing, Syverine. I was wondering where you guys were. I thought you’re out drinking again with your Daemon Knights,” Lycka teased.

“Nope, we had that covered earlier,” the young woman named Syverine proudly stated.

Lycka groans in contempt, “Of course I knew you ladies would be. I just wanted to let you and the ladies know that we have another meeting tomorrow night at ten. So don’t be late.” She informed.

“Why so late at night?” Syverine curiously asks.

“Nothing serious, but it is about more information that we discovered personally. And the Royal Nephalem Order wants you there in attendance,” Lycka downplays as Syverine looks away. Lycka sees this and tries to console Syverine, “I know this must be hard for you, but… when you get settled, Revan wants to see you before the end of the day. Also, this envelope is for you. It has just arrived hours ago.”

Lycka handed her the envelope. Syverine nodded as she makes her way to her living quarters. As she examined the letter, it was sealed with a familiar marker. A marker bearing her Royal Nephalem Order’s symbol. She didn’t bother reading it.

She dreaded what it would say about her parents and her existence. About them contemplating on giving her father capital punishment, while her mother sits cozily in some country club nut house in London.

In more ways than one, this infuriated Syverine. Not because she was wrong, it’s because her supposed friends and partners have been entirely silent about everything. Even though it was getting late, she has to talk to her mother.

She rested for about an hour and went to visit her mother in Broadmoor Hospital at Crowthorne in Berkshire, England. Arriving at the hospital, Syverine asked about her mother as many people who worked there tried to help her. Alas, no one knew much of anything. Not only her mother did not want to see anyone, but she demanded that the whereabouts of her own living quarters were secret.

Finally, she talked to one of her physical therapists, and he reluctantly told her exactly where she was. All this time, she was in the southern wing of Broadmoor, their infirmary. It was no surprise she was still recuperating what torture her father did to her.

This frightened Syverine as she thought her mother would try to commit suicide again. Finally, she found her mother’s room. On the door, it read, “Patient 23448 – Boutonnière, Maria.”

Syverine opened the door only to see her mother alive in her wheelchair, staring out the window. Her ankles were both encased in hard casting as well as her forearms and all ten of her fingers. Her mother, Maria, had grown her white blonde hair and stopped dying it different colors now as it came to her waist with most of her hair was covering her eyes. Syverine let out a sigh of relief as she walked into the room.

Syverine laid down the pumpkin log that she bought in the bakery, wrapped in wax paper on the table as she went over to her mother and gave her a hug. However, her mother didn’t reciprocate.

Weeping for her mother, Maria didn’t bother turning around to see her. Breaking away from the embrace, Syverine managed to get a chair for the table. She pulled up a chair and sat next to her.

“It has been so long, I was worried about you,” Syverine said. “I literally have to ask almost everyone about where you were in this place.”

Maria stood silent, still looking out the window as Syverine continued, “I guess you could say; the Crux Nexus are very… strong. If that is a word. I mean, the things they endure and accomplish is just amazing. And of course, their personalities can use some work. To be honest with you, all of them are a work in progress,” Syverine jokes as Maria remained silent.

But Syverine pushed forward, “I’m doing very… well, with my introduction to the order. I’ve been very relentless with my training and studies. But it’s just like what Miss Kaleido keeps trying to tell me, I have to slow down and work smarter.”

Maria remained silent as Syverine tries one more time to get through to her, “I know for a fact… this has to be hard for you. I mean, going through that again. But I just want to say that you are definitely in good hands here. Yes, people around here are a bit… obnoxiously positive, but when you sit down and talk to them, you truly gain perspective on who they are and what they are. I guess what I’m trying to say is… are we okay?”

Sadly, Maria didn’t say a word.

“Okay, I understand,” Syverine accepted. “But for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I’m sorry this happened to you. I’m sorry you had to go through with something like this again. And if you don’t want to see me again, I understand. I just want to say that I… I don’t blame you. If you don’t want me in your life…”

As Syverine rose from her chair and about to leave the room, Maria finally spoke in a weak and raw voice, “I didn’t know you would give up so easily.”

Syverine turned around, stunned to hear Maria’s voice again, “M-Maria--? Mother! You can--”

“Talk? Of course, I can talk,” Maria teased. “I mean, here I am sitting in this room wheelchair-bound while you are shooting the shit with those monsters. The great Syverine, they all tout around. Like you are some second coming to those Godless fucks. Even gaining a seal of approval from that ageless cosplaying Loli and that overgrown pigeon.” She chuckles, trying hard not to cough or cry.

Even though Syverine was happy that she was at least talking to her, Maria’s bitterness frightened her, “Mother, what are you talking about?”

Then, Maria looked at Syverine eye-to-eye. As Syverine looked into Maria’s eyes, they were always cheerful and full of life. Maria’s eyes were now sunken in, cold and pretty much emotionally dead, “You and I both know, this is not the first time this happened to me. I get that. It’s not the first time you had to open up your legs to get rid of some pus-filled maggot those bastards put inside of you. I get that. As a matter of fact, I understand plenty.”

Syverine tries to console her mother, “Please, take a breath--”

“I mean, I do recall you being hunted down by my men,” Maria lectured. “They wanted to purge my lineage by killing you, and I knew about it. I didn’t even stop them…

“Of all the other times that you have taken your vengeance on others and made them pay for even opposing you… of all the times that you didn’t show, not one ounce of mercy… Why, Syverine? Why did you fell hard on a scrawny, spineless lightweight like Mordechai?

“All because he had some half-baked sense of morality of making the world a better place. You bought into a child’s super-heroic fantasy. How about I give you a fucking grocery list of the men, women, and children who said the same thing! Yet, they don’t put on their mommy’s panties and play the superhero.”

At that moment, Severine's fear turned into anger, “You know damn well it is not so simple. Adrian’s power and influence were just too much for us. She destroyed you both in one fell swoop, and then the scavengers picked off the bones. And as far as this whole entire situation, it is not that simple either. This was wrong-- You and my father were wrong! If you want to be the ‘wounded bird’ in this situation now, acting coy and broken with me, then go right ahead and play that card. You play that card, mother, but you’re not going to con me. I’d been around you for too damn long--!”

Suddenly, Maria and interrupted her with her maniacal laughter, “That’s the problem, little Syverine! That is the SOLE problem in this situation! I CAN’T BE MAD AT ANYONE, CAN I?! THE ONLY PERSON THAT I HAVE TO BE ANGRY IS MYSELF!” Maria shouted… or try to shout. “Oh, and by the way, I know for a fact I am no saint. And neither are you, being born through heinous means. As a matter of fact, when we all die, we are pretty much going to hell for what we’ve done way before we set those ‘innocent’ on fire, and that is pretty much the greatest reward that we will ever achieve because we earned it together! Side by fucking side!”

Syverine was mortified by Maria’s way of thinking, “How dare you!?” Syverine bellowed. “How. Dare. You. Do you really want to talk about going to hell? Hell is right here, mother! We are in hell! You don’t have to go to hell because hell is already here. You and I, we all tried so hard to build some paradise whether if it’s killing somebody who is a hell of a lot weaker than us or those who encourage it the Oleander Syndicate--”

“And let’s not forget the Crux Nexus who secretly pray for it, to make them look good!. The same fucking bitches who disavowed me for telling the truth!” Maria finished.

Syverine who is now boiling with anger is trying her best to be the levelheaded one, “Mother, you really need to come down off that soapbox--”

“Oh yeah, I forgot! I went from being the elite, and now I am nothing more than the just a piece of dog shit beneath someone else’s shoe in that fucking place! But that’s fine, right!? I mean, you never have to worry about money problems or have to worry about your next meal or any of that shit ever again. Your fucking father lets you have everything, carving out a good life for you. Me, this is pretty much all I will ever have. And now you expect me to be happy for you? My product of ‘demonic rape’--?!”

“SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!” Syverine shouted as she finally snapped. Covering her mouth with her hand in disgust, she never lashed out at anyone. Especially to her suffering mother, Maria, who just had her whole entire life ripped right from under her. However, Maria was no saint either and beyond receiving any kind of pity from many others who knew her most.

Syverine began to cry as she tried her best to apologize, “M-mother, I… I don’t know what came over me, I…”

Maria just shook her head as she just chuckled, “You can cuss me out. You can chastise me. You can even patronize me. But you can’t do that to your own father?” Maria challenged. “The same guy who murdered many people like just like me? Who’d took great pleasure breaking my arms, my legs and my spine in half? But no. What did you do instead? You had Storytime with him. You held hands. You looked into his beady eyes of his and you forgave him. Hell, you even cried for that sick fuck and gave him a great big hug afterward.”

Syverine was shocked by this revelation. It turns out that Maria eavesdropped on her and her father’s conversation. With tears in her eyes, Syverine tries to explain her actions, “Mother, you have to understand that… it’s not that easy. None of this is easy. Especially for father. And especially for you. The both of you have done terrible things to each other and to other people. But I have forgiven him. Just like I have forgiven you for not loving me as your daughter.”

Maria, chuckles, “You and I, we’re good. I understand now, Syverine. After I lost so much… after we lost so much, all we cared about was the adventure. ‘The game’ as your ‘father’ and I liked to call it. Who can last longer than anyone else? Who can take the most heads left and right and live another day? That was your father and me.

“‘The game’ kept us going forward and never looking back at our past. We became invincible. Untouchable. Inseparable. Nobody went to war with us, and even if they did, at least they would tell the story to give warning… if we let them. It’s was all we ever had when it came to… our relationship. But I guess it doesn’t take much to make you realize you’re not so invincible as you once thought, now does it?” Maria wondered.

Syverine recollected herself and wiped her tears away as she gave one final attempt to talk some sense into her mother, “That is something both had agreed on. ‘The game.’ To become the best not only in our own organizations but throughout the world and who would get there first. We did everything it took to become what we were. There many times, we had to turn a moral blind eye to get there.”

Maria intently looked at her daughter as she gave her confession, “We stepped on a lot of people’s throats both figuratively and literally until it became biblically, Syverine. Back then, it was simple, get it first before somebody else does. But over the years, I must admit… it had gotten a lot tougher to deal with. I’ve always said it was about the mission and all about the mission. And nothing else fit; family, love relationships, emotion. I even consider that as a weakness.

“But something… something had changed that made me not only open up eyes but my heart. I guess you can say… weirdly, I’m glad this happened. You’re right about one thing: your ‘father’ and I were going down… down into a deep, dark abyss that I know for a fact, we would have never got out alive. And I guess it takes something like… ‘this’ to realize who we are and what we are as mortals… At the end of the day, we are all the same, and no one is safe.”

A look of fear and disgust made Maria laugh out loud again as she continued, “So what do you want me to say now? Let’s have all forgive each other, and the three of us should hop on a Winnebago and… and…” And then Maria just stopped. To her, talking down to Syverine was pointless and a waste of energy. She pretty much had enough and threw her hands up, “You know what, you do what you need to do, Syverine. I really don’t care anymore.”

As Maria looked away and started to stare outside the window again, Syverine realized that this conversation was pretty much over.

As she made her way to the door, Maria made a final demand to Syverine, “And take that piece of shit with you. It stinks.” Referring to the pumpkin log that Syverine had bought in the bakery.

Syverine decided it was best to take it with her. As Syverine was about to shut the door behind her, she gave Maria some words of comfort, and hopefully, she’ll listen, “After everything that has happened, I still love you…”

Shutting the door, Maria didn’t even say a word. In fact, long before Syverine was gone, she was staring out the window.

Of course, you do, Syverine… Of course, you do.