The sun was already dimmed when Jace marched out the hall. He felt the cold wind blowing past him, the silent hum of the drones overseeing the city leaving, as their replacements arrived.

  Jace took a glance up at the drones. He watched them, his eyes following their path as he heard an aged voice from behind him. “You’re leaving tomorrow?”

  “Hey,” Jace exclaimed as he turned, his eyes red. Just walking out the hall was Edgis. His cane struck the ground as he sidled up to Jace’s side, looking up at the drones.

  The two remained there silently for a second. Finally, the elderly man asked, “What do you want?”

  “What?” Jace asked as Edgis rubbed his gray hair, his eyes fixed on Jace. For a second, he truly looked like the Famed General, the Advisor of the Black Stars.

  “I’m asking, What do you want, because frankly I don’t know. No one does.”

  Edgis turned, his cane smacking the ground as he walked. Jace followed, uncertain. The two walked softly as they left behind the orchestral music alongside the cheers of something long forgotten.

  “When did the invasion happen?” Edgis posed, his cane still clacking as he threw the question. Jace frowned, “The year 2036, the month is still unk–”

  “How did abilities come to be?” Jace’s frown deepened. “An initiative created to study the alien lifeform responsible for the invasion led to crystals being found in their ship. These crystals were confirmed to have given ab–”

  “Why did the aliens invade?” Jace’s frown turned to confusion. “I don’t know. No evidence has been found to give enough reas–”

  “Exactly!” Edgis exclaimed, the library–his home–mere metres from him yet he fixed his eyes on Jace. “I can ask you a billion questions on history, on the Black stars, on everything and you would know them. I can ask you the exact pattern my friend–your great grandfather–used to take a shit and even if you don’t know you would still respond.”

  Edgis pressed on amidst Jace’s silent confusion “I don’t know–That’d be your response. Yet why? Why is it that when I ask your purpose, your goal, you remain silent. You jump off buildings yet avoid risks. You flaunt your power, yet hate the taste. You flounder around yet desire stability. You enjoy peace yet welcome war. Why? What is your goal? What is that thing that you chase, that you salivate for?”

  Jace remained silent under the elderly man’s words as Edgis sighed heavily. Finally, he spoke, his voice growing softer. “You desire power, you want it yet you don’t hold purpose.”

  Edgis quieted. He leaned on his cane as he gazed deeply at the heir. “I'm asking you, the reckless risk taker, the heir of the Black Stars, Jace Vicea, what do you want?”

  A soft smile tugged at Jace's lips “You’re right. I want power without a purpose. I don’t know what I want and I do not care. But purpose doesn’t drive power. Power drives whatever is there and I want enough power to make a decision, for me.”

  The drone zipped overhead as the last ray of light faded, replaced by a crescent moon. A soft click could be heard in the distance–the air pressure had changed. For a second the two remained motionless, the older man's eyes still fixed on Jace.

  Edgis chuckled softly as he stroked his beard. He looked away from Jace for a second, muttering under his breath. “You look so much like my friend.”

  He turned, hiding his face away as he surveyed the library. “We’re here,” Jace’s smile dimmed as Edgis’s gaze left him, his hand reaching up to the amulet on his neck.

  Feeling it, Jace took a glance at the library. The structure leaned–literally. It was a shoddily constructed building, leaning to its right. Apparently, it had been created by Edgis and the Founder of the Black Stars–the two working with what they had, which wasn’t much.

  Edgis had prevented further work on it, choosing to leave it as a symbol of the past and evidence of previous lacks.

  Edgis swung the door open as Jace walked in, noting the structure. It was a simple room, the walls holding books, a stairwell opposite the door leading to the top, and a counter lying beside the stairs. A young man with his head stuffed into a book sat at the table.

  Edgis rapped the glass counter as the young man’s head came up, his glasses affixed to his face. He took one glance at Edgis then at Jace. The young man smiled instantly as he stood, walking over top Jace and wrapping him in a hug. “Hey,”

  “Hey Eric,” Jace greeted, his lungs hurting from the older man’s tight hug. “You weren’t at the banquet?”

  Eric–the young man–snorted as he held his book to the side “Why on apnea’s moons would I do that? To keep my job I just need to keep kissing your Dad’s as–”

  “Uhmm,” Edgis cleared his throat as Eric stopped. Eric was once a student at the academy, like Jace was going to be. But the Academy had deemed Eric’s ability too low-level to invest in and so Jace’s father had gotten him into the Black stars, one of the few third rate factions with potential to become a second rate.

  Eric glanced at Edgis as he asked vaguely, “Right now?” Edgis nodded as Eric brightened. He winked as he glanced at Jace, leaving the room as quickly as he could.

  “So, what was that?” Jace asked, yet Edgis waved it off with a flick of his fingers.

  “Nothing, you need to worry about. You see, you have a more important choice in front of you.”

  Jace frowned, clearly feeling a question coming, and he was right “Do you remember or recall the Stone of Death?”

  The answer came to him quickly–Yes. The stone of death was one of the fairytales Edgis had told a young child, one who desperately believed in legends and legacies, in mystics and magics, in power acquired by yourself through trials.

  “Why are you asking me about it?” Jace asked, his eyes drifting around.

  “As I said, you have a choice,”

  Edgis tapped his cane as he walked to a shelf and placed his hand on a book “And that choice begins now.”

  The wall split open, a small line separating two sides as the crack widened to form a doorway without a door. Edgis smiled at the younger boy as he walked into the crack, vanishing in the darkness beyond.

  Jace watched as he fiddled with the amulet. The stone of death was a myth. A myth with immeasurable power, a myth that killed those who touched it. Jace turned, ready to ignore what he had seen, heard.

  Then he stopped. Sighing, Jace filled his lungs with air before storming into the crack. As he followed into the thick suffocating darkness, Jace could hear the wall shutting him in. He had chosen.

  Jace hated the dark. Like every child he simply hated being stuck in an environment he couldn't see or comprehend.

  But that all changed when he had snuck out from bed. As usual the house had been silent and quiet.

  A bright light had shone in the distance, originating from the small room in the corner–The Study.

  Jace had approached the light like a curious mouse and there, he had seen it. His father, one hand gripping a pen as he scribbled notes and watched a video.

  A video of an exploration gone wrong. Jace had seen it, watched it–the bright red blood, the darkness and finally the screams, as the Rache tore through the group with the ease of ripping a piece of paper.

  Jace had crept back into bed unseen and unheard, but with a new fear. A fear of something much greater than mere darkness.

  As Jace gazed down the stairs and into the endless darkness, he was reminded of why he had once feared it, but that was another him in another lifetime far away.

  Edgis slammed his staff on the ground as a small light shone from a crystal at the top of the staff. The light was small, barely illuminating the walls of the stairwell.

  “Luminous crystals,” Edgis replied to a question unasked as he walked down the stairs.

  Jace followed quietly, the smell of stale air grew thicker the deeper they went. In only a few steps, Jace clutched his nose, almost choking in the stench.

  Edgis meanwhile, seemed unperturbed. He continued on his walk as Jace gazed at the walls, or specifically the drawings on them.

  The drawings were a mix of various symbols and words that seemed almost ancient. One of the drawings portrayed a giant elephant almost roaring, a glowing sun at its back.

  Jace asked curiously as they walked “So, do the drawings here mean something or did you just draw the first thing that came to your mind?”

  “Both,” Edgis replied mischievously “Some day, you'll understand. Probably sooner than you think.”

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  Jace almost bumped into Edgis's back as the elderly man declared “We're here.”

  The room obeyed, the light flickering on in an instant. As it did, it offered Jace the chance to finally see what lay in the room.

  Gazing about at the room, Jace glanced back, confusion evident. Edgis simply shrugged as Jace glanced back into the room.

  The room was surrounded by rotting walls, rough and sharp with over half a dozen symbols inscribed on them. But that didn't catch Jace's eyes. It was the items in the room that did.

  It was filled with weapons. That would have been fine if it hadn't been for the fact that most of the weapons seemed to still be covered with blood. That and they looked more like relics of old than modern weapons.

  Jace strolled amidst the maze of weapons, his gaze lingering on a hammer trapped within a glass cage.

  With a brown smear Jace recognized to be blood, at its side and a golden liquid on the other, the hammer looked more threatening than ever before.

  As Jace reached out his fingers almost resting against the glass, it was slapped away by Edgis who had seemingly appeared from across.

  “Don't touch anything,” Edgis whispered through his teeth. Jace raised his hands in mock surrender, a slight smile playing on his lips, as Edgis turned, his footsteps sounding as he traveled past the weapons.

  “What is this place anyways? And what are these weapons?” Edgis paused at Jace's question.

  “Keep your mouth shut and you'll get a weapon from here.”

  Jace smiled as he used his hands to motion, zipping his lips. Edgis sighed once more as he continued his journey, heading over to one of the few walls. He gazed at it, thoughts Jace couldn't comprehend, swirling in Edgis's head. Finally, Edgis lifted his bony hand and placed it against the muddy wall.

  A slow creaking noise echoed through the room as a narrow slit formed, dividing the wall.

  The slit widened as a tall thin stand came into view. The stand was sleek, its three legs digging thin holes in the ground.

  A round circular plate was fitted onto its top, a glass case standing over it. The glass was transparent, allowing Jace to instantly notice the crystal trapped within it.

  The crystal was a hexagonal structure, its surface a tint of purple hue. Jace watched the purple crystal with curiosity as a dark viscous liquid flowed within, imprisoned inside it.

  The liquid moved as if living and as Jace drew nearer, the liquid suddenly moved, heading towards Jace, but blocked by its impenetrable prison.

  The sudden movement still gave Jace a fright as he backed away slowly.

  Looking toward Edgis, the old man simply smiled as he approached the crystal. “It is said that the stone of death contains the essence of an entity, an entity known for its power and destructive nature, The Destroyer of Worlds.”

  As Edgis spoke, Jace watched the viscous liquid, his palms damp with sweat as he felt his spine grow cold.

  An oppressive feeling slowly floated around him, calmly, carefully, coldly. The feeling intensified as Jace felt the very air begin to choke him.

  He felt like he was in the presence of an anomaly. An existence that was rejected by nature. Instincts thrummed beneath his skin, telling, instructing him to bow. To worship this abominable being.

  Edgis watched Jace carefully as he asked, his voice silent yet like thunder “So, do you still wish to try your luck?”

  Jace shivered as his gaze stayed on the crystal. How many years had he spent yearning for this moment.

  For the opportunity, the chance to change his fate. Here it was, right in front of him and yet. Jace gazed down as he examined his trembling legs.

  ‘Was he afraid? Was this all he could amount to?’ Jace opened his mouth, ready to accept his destiny. Ready to challenge the item that had taken the lives of so many people.

  But what came out of his mouth shocked even him “No. No, I don't,”

  Jace's gaze fell toward the ground as he muttered, whether to Edgis or to himself “I'm sorry.”

  A flash of disappointment and a hint of disgust flashed across Edgis's features before disappearing as if it never existed.

  Instead, Edgis sidled up to Jace as he placed his arm on Jace's shoulder. “You don't need to say you're sorry. It's fine,”

  Edgis laughed awkwardly as he continued “Ignore everything I said concerning this. You being chosen, it was just an old man's delusion."

  Jace glanced at the crystal one last time before turning away.

  Years ago, Jace had once salivated at the opportunity of gaining power, of getting strength. But now.

  Jace. The voice spoke softly, so quietly that Jace couldn't tell whether it was an imagination.

  Jace Blank. What a wonderful name. The voice spoke again, this time louder and filled with a trace of ...desperation?

  Jace paused as he saw it. He sat on a golden throne, his head propped against his hand as he gazed below indifferently.

  His crown, heavy yet firm and by his side, loyal knights which would never betray you. I can give you that.

  Jace saw it, humanity rallying behind Jace as the war was won. His father looking at him with a gaze filled with respect but most of all, acknowledgement.

  I can give you everything you want, if you only ask. Just take me. Touch me and all the power you can dream of, will be yours.

  Jace closed his eyes as he muttered “No. I don't want that. I don't”. Beside him Edgis watched, fascination in his eyes.

  The voice continued leading Jace closer to it. You do. I know you do. I'm in your mind. I can see everything.

  “You don't see everything” Jace struggled to say, his body betraying him inching ever closer to the crystal.

  But I do, and that's why I know that the old man beside you isn't all he seems.

  “What?” Jace paused as the voice in his head simply chuckled.

  “Jace?” Edgis called out, his voice filled with a sense of urgency and, .. anticipation?

  Jace could feel his body disobeying his mind, his fingers right at the cusp of touching the crystal.

  You want this, don't you. You've lived your life entirely on the edge so this isn't foreign to you. You want this, the terror, the horror, the adrenaline.

  At that moment a smile crossed Jace's face. This time his body wasn't disobeying him, no, this was Jace himself.

  “You're right. I do want this. Whether I die or not, who cares? This is honestly so much fun”

  For a second, Jace could tell that the voice had frozen over in shock until a raucous laughter burst out in Jace's head.

  And Jace laughed too. The voice laughed louder, one of absolute insanity and Jace couldn't help but do the same. That was right. They were both insane.

  At the same time, his fingers grasped the cold stone as the viscous liquid in the stone moved to meet Jace.

  Pain enveloped Jace as he screamed out. This wasn't the pain where you smashed your foot against a stone. This was one where you felt like your skin was being peeled off.

  Jace screamed as his black curly hair slowly grew darker, his hazel eyes turning a darker shade.

  Edgis had looked on in amazement at the beginning, but now. His eyes were calm while his previously clenched fists were released.

  He watched Jace's transformation as he muttered a single word “Disappointing”. He had waited so long yet this was the result.

  He turned to leave just as the pendant resting on Jace's neck lit up. Lighting up with a bright blue color, it clung to Jace's chest, almost attempting to meld with him.

  Jace meanwhile, was floating. One second he was in the dark dimly lit room. The next, he was here. Floating, or at least he thought he was floating.

  He couldn't see, couldn't hear. It was like he was among the clouds. Slowly he could see them–the clouds.

  They floated calmly, slowly. They hung over his body, like sovereign entities looking down on the world.

  “Hello,” Jace attempted to call out only to realize he couldn't. For some reason, his lips couldn't move.

  Jace flailed around even as his body lay stagnant. As he did, he heard a voice.

  The first voice was faint yet filled with a hint of silent power. “He's here, isn't he? The question is how did he get here?”

  Another voice echoed, this time younger and far more powerful. As he spoke, Jace couldn't help but curl up, or attempt to. “I brought him here. He's your descendant after all.”

  “Descendant? What do you mean descendant? No, scratch that. How does she have a descendant?”

  The young voice spoke once more “The normal way. She married, had children. You know, the normal way,”

  For a second nobody spoke. That was until the elderly voice sounded again. With a tone full of disbelief, the mysterious being declared “Married? How did I not know this? Who was the unlucky fellow?”

  A sigh sounded as the young voice spoke again “You don't need to know that. All you need to know is that your descendant is here. And you need to help him.”

  For a second there was a strange calm. That was before the elderly voice spoke again “Hey, you. Do you want me to save you?”

  For a second Jace wondered who they were talking about. Understanding it to be him he attempted to open his mouth.

  Even as he tried, he struggled to speak, only able to let out a quiet “eek”

  The elderly voice spoke again “I'll take that as a yes. I'll have you know though, that if I do choose to save you, your life will change irreparably. Are you sure you want that?”

  Jace reached out as he struggled to answer just as he felt a force pulling him down.

  Dark tendrils wrapped around his leg as they dragged him down from the fluffy clouds to the deepest Abyss.

  The tendrils continued to twirl around his body as Jace clawed up. Mustering all of his strength, he managed to muttered “Whatever it takes,”

  Jace descended as his face met that of the elderly man. The face was obscured by an invisible wall but Jace could still see his eyes, one completely blank and the other, as dark as the depths of a sea.

  A fear seized Jace’s heart. Fear that it was too late. That the man wouldn't be able to save him. That his words hadn't reached him.

  Then a coin rang

  A smile appeared on the man's wrinkled face. He showed the descending Jace a side of the coin as he muttered “Heads. It's your lucky day”

  A bright light shone eradicating all the tendrils which had once surrounded Jace. The light was overpowering, surrounding. The light was divine. It had no sound, no meaning. It existed beyond the boundaries of time and space, of reality. Jace's mind hurt just thinking about it, imagining i–No. The light couldn't be imagined.

  As the light dissipated, Jace saw it.

  The exact same symbol he had seen on the pendant, his mother's pendant. Before Jace could think any further the light vanished, as swiftly as the twinkling of an eye.

  And then there was darkness.

  Yet the clouds remained the same. The darkness below was gone and the voices spoke once more. “It wasn’t heads,”

  “What?” The old voice asked.

  “The coin. It was tails, not heads.”

  There was silence for a while and then the old voice came again, “As I told the child, it was his lucky day.”