“Do you remember who you are?” I asked her as I fetched a robe and handed it to her. “Not just your name, that is.”

I had already given her that one as an accidental freebie.

“I…” Livia hesitated.

“Do you remember where you are?” I said next.

“No.” She said warily, slipping the clothing on.

Physically the transition had gone magnificently, she had become the spitting image of a Silver Imperator. The result was still bittersweet for the rest.

I changed tactics.

“What do you know or remember? I’ll explain everything, but help me help you.” I said.

“Nothing.” Livia said, panicked. Uncontrolled telekinetic force radiated out from her, crushing expensive equipment and carving deep furrows into the hangar bay floor.

“Well, you can speak the same language as me, so you do know some things.” I said. “Let’s work outwards. Do you know what I am?”

“I’m telling you I don’t know anything!” Livia said, lightning buzzing around her fingers, the surgical table warping with the screeching sound of bending metal.

“What do I look like?” I pressed her.

“Don’t you have a mirror of your own?” She said sarcastically.

“Humor me.” I replied.

“Pale. No, not pale, bleached of color. Like snow or paper. Purple eyes with gold metal around the purple irises. Tall.” Livia said.

“How do you know I’m tall?” I said.

“What? You’re freaking tall, are you dumb?” She said.

“Tall is comparative. Tallness doesn’t exist without something being short existing alongside it, and you can’t know that I’m tall unless you know that there are shorter things than me.” I reasoned.

“Well, there’s me.” She argued.

“You’re the same height as me.” I said, leaving out the “now” from the end of the sentence. Best not to give her too much directly from me. “And you don’t have a mirror yourself to tell you if you were short.”

“I guess.” Livia muttered.

“What else about me? Anything else seem strange to you? Off or different?” I said.

Livia looked down at her new statue-like hands. “We’re the same, other than you being a boy.”

“Not entirely. Our eyes are different. I have Golden sclera where you have Silver sclera surrounding your irises. Why do you think that is?” I said.

“Look, mister, I think I’m going to go now.” Livia said, standing up.

“Take a seat, please.” I said firmly.

She slammed back down onto the damaged table, ruining it even further. Her heart was pounding like a drum in her chest.

“How did you do that? Your voice got all freaky.” Livia said. Her eyes were wide.

“Why do you think our eyes are different?” I pressed.

“Your parents had gold ones while mine had silver ones.” She offered.

“I wasn’t born with these.” I said. Far from it. And neither were you. “Why do I have them?”

“You’re vain.” Livia said. “You had them surgically put in.”

“Probably true on the vanity point. But no doctor placed them for me.” I said. “Keep going.”

“You put them in yourself.” She said.

“They’re the color they are because of me, but I did not use surgery. What do they signify? Think. Why do we have metal in our eyes?” I said.

“I’m not going to get it, I’m being honest. I have no idea how you modify your body without medical help. They signify… rank?” Livia said.

Excitement briefly flared in me, but something about the way she had emphasized the word made me think she had said “rank” rather than “Rank.”

“Let’s try something else. Where are you?” I asked her.

“Wherever insane kidnappers take young women, which is apparently a well-lit warehouse filled with science-y junk.” Livia said.

“I’m not a kidnapper- whatever, it doesn’t matter.” I pointed behind her. “Look.”

Livia peered over her shoulder to see the empty void of deep space held at bay only by a forcefield.

“Space. We’re in outer space. On a spaceship.” She said. “Did you kidnap me and take me off planet??”

“Still not a kidnapper. Where are we going? And where did we leave from?” I said.

“How should I know? You’re the abductor.” Livia replied.

“How about the name of the empire we live in?” I said.

Livia hesitated, confused and then frustrated.

“Alright. I’m done being the one asked all these stupid questions. Who the hell are you?” She said.

“We’ll hold off on that one for now.” I said. “I want to keep testing what you can recall. You can have my name in due time.”

Antonias walked in, his spider leg-like wings folding up to let him walk through the hangar’s door into the room.

“Oh hey, Adrias.” He said, ruining it barely a moment after I refused. Due time was apparently whenever it was Toni’s whim. “I see you managed to remake Livia into an Imperator.”

I tossed a chunk of destroyed machinery at his head. Antonias didn’t even bother to catch it, letting it shatter at high speeds against his forehead.

“Why hello, Toni. Thank you for violating my orders for privacy during the experiment.” I said.

“You’re very welcome, my dear friend.” He said, flashing his fangs in a lightly mocking smile.

“What in Olympas’s name is that thing?” Livia said, copying me in throwing random damaged objects at Antonias.

“There’s no need to be rude.” Antonias said, pretending to sulk.

“Hey, you remember Olympas!” I said.

“Why wouldn’t she remember the seat of the gods?” Antonias said.

“I said, what is that thing??” Livia hissed.

“I’m going to consider getting upset if you keep on calling me a thing.” Antonias bickered.

He took another step closer to Livia and I.

Livia reacted by hopping off the surgical table and chucking it at the Leechling Imperator with the full might of a Silver’s strength and dexterity.

“What if we didn’t throw everything expensive in here.” I suggested.

“Glass houses, my brother. You had a hurl of your own.” Antonias said.

“I threw one thing, now if we could just get back to civilized conversation-“

Livia grabbed a full cauldron of alchemical potions and threw that too. It arced through the air.

Antonias caught it with one hand, deftly catching every drop of the elixir before it could spill out. He sniffed it.

“Hey, this smells kinda good. Can I drink this? Smells like fresh blood.” Antonias said.

“Toni, do not drink that.” I said.

“Is he a vampire?” Livia asked fearfully.

“He’s not a vampire.” I said. “He’s more like…”

“I’m kind of a vampire.” He said to her, stretching out his hideous red wings and letting his halo of corrupted blood materialize above his head. “A angelic vampire. Or maybe a vampiric angel.”

“You people are children.” I said, exasperated.

“Livia and I are both older than you Adrias.” Antonias said.

“I am?” Livia said.

“You’re only by a year. And that’s not exactly the excuse you think it is. Anyways, stop telling her things.” I said.

“Why wouldn’t she know her age?” My friend asked.

“I mostly succeeded at accomplishing a full switch between Servus to Imperator.” I said.

“Mostly? I told you it would go off the rails.” Antonias laughed. “Well good.”

“How is that good?” I said with a tight smile.

“Fulvion and I had a bet on how well Miss Needy’s grand mutation would go. Can’t say I’m surprised, Persias only gambled against me because he thought it would be blasphemous to doubt his god’s genius. I, of course, know better.” He said. “How did you screw it up?”

Livia glared at me.

I rubbed my temples, a headache somehow manifesting despite my Golden nature. A testament to the company I kept and their ability to frustrate me.

“Things were going well but when I accelerated her aging after altering her genes, there was spiritual backlash. She was going into a seizure and bleeding everywhere. I used Heracles’s flames to remove what was holding Livia back from becoming an Imperator and it affected her memories.” I explained.

“That’s so- that’s so unethical! You can’t just force that on people. What am I a lab rat? Forcing people to participate in whatever this was against their will is wrong.” Livia said.

Antonias approached to be side by side with me, watching her curiously.

“Actually, you asked me to do this.” I said.

“Asked? More like you begged him.” Antonias said.

I kicked his shin.

“Ow!” He said, though I could tell he was only faking. The force of it was nothing more than that of a Bronze Imperator’s kicks.

“Well, you should have explained to me that something so terrible could have happened.” Livia said.

“You said you wanted me to do it even if you weren’t yourself anymore.” I said softly.

“Why would I do that?” Livia said, bewildered.

“Because you hated being weak.” I said. “And you didn’t want to be yourself if that Livia was lesser.”

The hanger went silent, leaving only the background noise of the remaining machines still functioning.

“What do we do now then?” She said.

“I’ve made you strong just as you asked. The remaining three months we have on our journey, I’ll try to make you whole.” I promised her.

“How do I know you? Are we… are we friends?” Livia asked.

“I-“ I said, pausing.

“Yes.” Antonias said. “Trust me. He’s really bad at recognizing and maintaining these things, but you’re his friend. And mine too, I suppose.”

There was something remarkably human in his words and expression, despite all the monstrous changes that had befallen him.

“Yes.” I said. “You’re my friend. Both of you are. I started my journey with you two and I’ll finish it with you.”