He tossed it to the floor and grew to his original size of ten feet seven inches, and then sat down and put his feet on the console. He pressed a series of buttons on it, and suddenly the image of another cyclops—a Cyril projected from the center of the console.

“This is Kayden Royal reporting. I’ve apprehended the suspect. I’ll be arriving within seven hours at the Quarter Six trading outpost. Send someone over to collect him. He’s on ice,” Kayden said, and the Cyril nodded. The man on the other end of the comms was quite aged looking with several wrinkles on his forehead and at the corners of his eye. He had to be way beyond several tens of thousands of years old and then some, but no gray in his short brown hair. Cyril did not get gray hair, only occasionally white hair naturally but that had nothing to do with age.

“Good work, Kayden…for a rogue Guardian, you still haven’t lost your touch,” the Cyril said. Kayden winced.

“You know you are sorely missed. Have you ever thought about coming back?” the Cyril asked.

“I’ve thought about it enough. It’s not on my list of things I plan on doing in the near future. Kayden out,” he said as he pressed a button, and the conversation ceased as the image disappeared. The truth was that he was let go as a Guardian after he lost his shit. But the ever low-recruitment rate and growing threat in the galaxy made a position with the Guardianship Citadel possible once again. However, he would be starting at the very bottom. He looked out at the stars as he traveled past them to where they were literally streaks of lights. He passed the occasional planet on his way through space. He stood up and walked over to his private quarters and set an Earthling alarm clock for six hours and thirty minutes. He jumped onto his lower bunk and rested his head against his hands as he folded them under his head.

“I better not be heading back to Earth anytime soon. I hate that place,” he said bitterly.

He closed his eye, and he saw the image of a woman—a brunette with curly long hair and green eyes laughing as she held his hand and they tackled each other in the grass in a park on a sunny day. Kayden was disguised as a human with two eyes and at the height of seven feet tall—which was a bit on the abnormally tall side. He refused to go any shorter since he was proud of his height, even as a Cyril. The rain started to come down, and before long, it was a downpour. They raced to the cover of a shop, and Kayden looked for his car keys.

“I’ll bring the car around, stay here,” Kayden said as he headed out to the rain and got drenched, but he made it to the car. He drove a couple of blocks, hearing a sudden loud POP! Just as he got close to where he’d left her. He glared through the rain to find the woman on the sidewalk lying in a pool of blood. Kayden gasped as he exited the car in a hurry and ran to her side.

“Felicia!” he shouted while he tried to staunch the bleeding in her stomach.

“Kayden…I…I love you,” she whispered painfully.

“I love you too, but, please—save your strength!” he exclaimed.

“Listen, Kayden…while you were away, I had our daugh—” she stopped mid-sentence as her head rolled back and her eyes closed.

“Felicia?!” Kayden gasped. He gently shook her body, but she did not rouse.

“Felicia!!” he cried out as he lunged his face against her bosom. His eyes merged to one in his moment of distress, but his total transformation did not let up, not yet. The downpour of rain muffled his cries as he howled in sorrow while clutching her limp form. He gently rocked her in his arms as he wept, barely noticing two men in hoodies holding glocks. Then he inspected her wound, it was a gunshot wound. Rage filled his hearts as he looked up at the two thugs while rising to his feet.

“Did you do this!?” he bellowed.

“Bitch was trying to call the police!” one man said as he pointed his gun. Kayden ran toward the thug just before he got shot in the chest, but it didn’t stop or even scathe him. He began to grow in stature as his shirt ripped from the strain—growing to be ten feet seven inches tall. The thugs dropped their guns with startled gasps. Kayden cried out as he began to beat both thugs down with his bare hands. Images of Felicia flashed before his eyes as he saw glimpses of her warm smile but they began to fade as the last imagery of her still lying form blinded him to see nothing else. Not even the red spatter flying from his knuckles. He continued long past their last breath until neither one of their faces were recognizable. After his rage was quelled, he looked on in horror at what he’d just done to the thugs who were long dead and nothing but a mess. He covered his face with his bloodied hands. He suddenly came back to himself as his rage was overshadowed by the intense dread and sadness overtaking his hearts.

“No…No!!” he cried out as he fell to his knees in the rain.

A man exited the shop and gasped at the sight of Kayden, who was now shirtless, taller than him even while kneeling, and with blood up to his forearms. Kayden just stared at the shopkeeper before it dawned on him that he should leave. He picked up his lover’s body and cradled her as he headed for his car. He tried to focus on sizing down with his artifact but all he could do is barely hold her body without gripping her too tightly. He cried out as he rushed past the car and down the street. People shrieked as they saw him run past in his giant form. He wasn’t exactly sure where he was going but knew he had to get away from the scene. He immediately had an idea and pinged someone on his wristband. He suddenly staggered in his gait as he felt his hearts struggle to remain in a rhythm. He felt the onset of Heartbreak. He grimaced as he felt one heart stop beating and his second one slow down considerably. He trodded down an alleyway and fell to his knees. Kayden gazed down at his lover’s body with her still features and tried to keep conscious but felt himself wane. He set her body down gently as his arms trembled and he felt his remaining heart slow even more dramatically. He breathed out a foggy vapor as his eye split to two before his irises turned white and his sclera black and a line appeared down his lower lip and chin. A man with short silver hair and white on black eyes appeared clothed in white robes. He knelt to him and wore a fret.

“No, Kayden, you’re not going to die here,” the man said in a deep voice. Kayden just stared up at him as if in a daze.

“Ping your location so they can find you,” the man said. Kayden silently complied and pinged his location on his wristband. He slowly passed out.

Hours later, Kayden stirred to find himself in a bed while still in his Cyril form. He was hooked up to a heart monitor and several leads, in a medical room of some kind. He felt hazy and slowly looked around. A female Safaress with four purple eyes wearing a lab coat and a name tag that said ‘Akala’ on it stood nearby looking over a digital tablet while taking a puff of a cigarette.

“Felicia…” Kayden whispered, catching the woman—Akala’s attention.

“Easy does it, big guy. You’re experiencing some pretty severe Heartbreak,” she said. Kayden eyed her and then looked at the heart monitor. He focused before realizing he heard only one beat which was slow in its pace.

“Where is Felicia?” Kayden asked hazily. The woman sighed.

“She’s gone. But you’re still here,” Akala said. Kayden grimaced as he gripped his chest and turned on his side.

“Don’t even think about killing over until the Guardianship comes to get your ass and pays for it, alive and well,” Akala said in annoyance. Kayden reached for the leads to his chest and ripped them out before he started huffing for breath. He teared up as he felt his single beating heart slow. His eye parted to two eyes and changed to white on black once more as he breathed a frosty vapor. A line appeared down his lower lip and chin as he struggled for breath. Akala’s cigarette fell out of her mouth as she witnessed it. She growled and grabbed two circular panels and charged them. She shoved them against his chest and pulsed them like a human would do similarly with a defibrillator. Kayden cried out as his body spasmed. The man with short silver hair appeared again, but somehow, he wasn’t visible to Akala. He put his hand on Kayden’s forehead and gently pushed back his bangs.

“No, Kayden. This isn’t the end for you,” the man said. Akala pulsed him twice until hooking him back up to the leads and hearing a racing heartbeat. Kayden’s eyes slowly returned to normal but filled with tears. He looked up to the silver-haired man and just stared—unsure if he was hallucinating.

“I’m assuming that woman was your lover, just think what she would think of you if she knew you tried to kill yourself off like that,” Akala said sternly. Kayden eyed her as tears striped his cheeks. He looked back up to the man who gently smiled.

“Don’t waste what the Creator gave you,” the man said sadly. Kayden bit his lower lip and shut his eyes as he lost himself to the bitter sadness.