Eric stopped halfway down the hall as fifteen guards rushed toward him through a penetrated checkpoint. He closed his eyes and let a long breath flow through his lips at their words. “Stay where you are! We’re putting restraints on you, don’t resist!”

Sitting in a nearby chair, Eric closed his eyes and breathed, letting the men surround him. I don’t have time for this, but I need to be patient. My eagerness set me back again. Soon I’ll have Mia’s blood, and then it will be over.

Eric’s eyes opened as a deep voice carried over the men preparing to restrain him. “Don’t bother.” He found a commanding man walking down the hall. Every soldier saluted him as he entered their midst. He stopped in front of Eric and said, “If those four-inch steel doors wouldn’t stop him, restraints won't.”

The silence stretched for several seconds as he looked into Eric’s eyes. Eric didn’t like him; he seemed too calm, too relaxed. Finally, the man said, “My name’s Benjamin. I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.”

Eric’s mouth didn’t curve in the least; he wasn’t feeling happy. “Your name means nothing.”

Benjamin huffed with a smirk. “Of course it doesn’t.” Eric’s face darkened with contempt as the man pulled out an extremely large magnum and pointed it at Eric’s head. Coldly Benjamin said, “However, you should remember the name Pfeifer Zeliska.” Smile twisting, he cocked the gun. “This is a Pfeifer Zeliska point six-hundred nitro express revolver with nine-hundred-grain silver bullets. A lot different than the bullets those other men were firing at you.”

He gestured at his men. “Each man has similar ammunition, and defensive points are being added throughout the base with fifty-caliber machine guns, housing silver ammunition—you heard right,” he said, emphasizing each word, “fifty—caliber—machine guns.”

Eric didn’t speak as his eyes bore into Benjamin’s. Taking the gun away from Eric’s forehead, Benjamin said, “I suggest you start behaving yourself. Unlike your sister, silver affects you, minor as it is, I think a fifty-caliber bullet will punch a hole right through you. Now, let these capable men take you back to your room, where you’ll be placed under locked confinement, and any resistance will initiate a fully sanctioned death sentence. That one comes from the U.S. government, imagine that.”

Keeping his boiling temper in check, Eric stood and began walking toward the elevators. That man will rest in my stomach when this is over.

Trying to pacify his emotions, he made it to the elevator and waited for his armed escort to call the box. It wasn’t hard for him to shift his thoughts. Sora, Mia’s daughter, her power awakened again, but how? Her body shouldn’t be able to handle that spiritual energy. Why did it release, and in such ferocity?

Stepping into the area, he watched a few guards enter the elevator with him, and his mind shifted directive.

It would be easy to kill these men, use their credentials to get to my sister and free her since Diane showed me where she is held. She’d at least wait till we are out of this place to try and fight me, but in my current state, I don’t know if I can beat her. I used almost all the energy I gained from those monsters getting into that room. If only that Bai-Hu hadn’t shown up, and now they are doubling their security. I need Aiden’s feathers most of all, but he’s been shockingly resistant as of late … moreover, he left the cell with the fox … why?

His eyes shifted to the guard as he typed in a code and identified his biometrics by hand, eye, and then voice. Eric resisted a growl. They added more security … that means I can’t use the guards. Can I break through the elevator?

Examining the box, he frowned. No access point on top, it is completely sealed besides the doors, which have thick deadbolts, it is at least six inches thick. No, not at my current strength.

The elevator lowered and stopped shortly after. As they exited, Eric noticed huge guns stationed down all three branching hallways. The man wasn’t bluffing.

Several more men joined his escort as they exited and he followed them back to his appointed living place. After walking for fifteen minutes and going past three improved checkpoints, they came to a small branch hallway that would lead to his room. He’d already scouted out every single space he had access within the base and found this area might be the best to act as there were no cameras, but he knew with the machine guns that it was a risky move at the moment.

His senses went on full alert as a hostile aura washed over every man around him, the presence bursting into existence from nothing. He watched the men drop immediately to the floor, souls unable to combat the entity. Eric growled as he looked around, but could find no source and his senses were no help at all; the aura was being directed around him, singling him out as if caught in the eye of a hurricane of power.

Eric’s blood began to scorch hot as rage bubbled up his chest. Another monster decided to crash…

Thought vanished from his mind as if drowned, the veil over the dark being’s sheer power lifting to sweep over him in unfathomable density. Unable to breathe, the space in front of him cracked, dark fractures soundlessly forming in midair to break apart and reveal an endless swirling obscurity.

He knew this creature—whatever it was—he could not fight. His mother had once instructed him on what to do upon such a meeting. Dropping to his knees, Eric let his head bow to the floor, meekly waiting as his body went limp. It was something so foreign to him, yet felt so natural in front of this authority.

The malevolent presence washed over him, but Eric refused to resist, letting it crawl into his skin and through his body, abruptly the evil was gone. However, the pressure of infinite power continued to press down upon him like an unending weight.

It took several seconds before a lustrous voice entered his ears, infiltrating his blank mind, a woman’s voice. “Very wise, Young Wolf, many cannot escape the vice of malice. You were taught well.”

His mother’s lessons began to ebb back into his mind, instructions on how to respond to such a being. “May I have your name?” Eric asked docilely.

The voice seemed pleased at his response; however, her reply sent shivers down Eric’s spine. “The question is correct, yet the response would bring enmity beyond your ability. For my name brings chaos; therefore, I am known. You may call me what you will.”

Remembering her entrance, Eric said, “If you will permit, may I call you Ádísa?”

The woman seemed amused at his chosen name. “You are not the first that has called me such; a name to depict terror and awe while denoting wisdom and a female deity. An appropriate name for such a meeting.”

Keeping his head lowered, Eric swallowed and asked, “What do you wish of me, Ádísa?”

Every time Ádísa’s words struck his mind, it shattered his thoughts, making it hard not to catch every word she spoke. “Since my notice, I have kept an eye fixated on you and have seen your past and your potential future.”

Knowing this being knew him perfectly made him tremble. “I am honored that you would devote such attention to me.”

Eric could imagine Ádísa smiling. “You should not be; I have many to spare.” Eric’s breath caught in his chest at the thought of countless eyes watching him. “What do I want of you?” Her succulent laughter seemed to deafen and tickle his ears. “You will cease your fruitless endeavor.” Eric’s heart froze at her words; it wasn’t a request or command. It was a reality, certainty.

Humility waning, the malicious presence returned in spades, overpowering Eric’s senses as chills ran down his back and sweat beat down his brow. It only took a second to let his ambition fade into memory, even without the evil presence, Ádísa’s next words crushed him entirely.

“You will become a black knight on the field, weaving around enemies stronger than yourself. You will be an initiator for progress of the current game to the stage beyond; your original intentions will be fulfilled to the extent of the service and trust in which you demonstrate.”

Ádísa’s voice was pure and distinct. “Young Wolf, you are mine; your ambitions, mine; your hatred, mine; your loyalty, mine; your soul, is mine. Because you are mine, in me you share knowledge and support. Fate’s strings are ever spun as the planned future is molded with subtlety, the perception will be yours.”

Eric’s body, mind, and spirit filled with clarity as understanding washed over him; a peace he’d searched for in vain all his life. Even with this amity, he couldn’t help but feel sorrowful for the things to come and the things he’d done; the pain he’d caused, the hatred sown, but knowing that it had to be, knowing that as it was, it is, and the past can never be changed. Though the waters of time may flow along new paths, they can never change where they have been.

He knew that if he accomplished what he should, his original unreachable goals would be attainable, and all thanks to Ádísa, but hard sacrifices had to be made. Sacrifices that burned through his soul, but he knew it could not be changed. Prostrating himself upon the ground, Eric said, “I was bent, and you broke me, to renew me in a plan so great and terrible. I cringe at the things I must suffer to happen, but I will bear them, for my promise will be fulfilled through your works.”

Ádísa’s light chuckle followed his statement. “Yes, it will be difficult to endure, but you have the resolve. That is what I first saw in you and why I made myself known. I am Chaos itself, the Herald of Sakura, renewal epitomized, the Flower of Life and Death; antipathy and adoration follow as ruin I leave in my wake. Structure comes from disorder, and things must be broken to be renewed. You will know how to act; being a new piece to the board, I welcome you.”

Eric’s body felt light as a cloud. He never thought he could feel so free, yet be bound by such unbreakable threads. He knew Ádísa had left, but he still felt a portion of her around, watching. With her exit, his thoughts began to return.

Sighing, he leaned up against the wall, waiting for his escort to awaken. This will be a hard journey; scars will be formed.