HE was on a throne of sorts. His old life as a scientist was long behind him, laboratories replaced with large, imposing halls filled with arms guards and soldiers. His mind was there but it was spent causing pain. Sure, he still tampered with the occasional harvested soul or prisoner, but his greatest concern was that he was heard and obeyed. Recently, that had come into question.Â
The return of MV Boli to his domain was...Upsetting.
She was one of his greatest mistakes, next to trusting her parents. Her father had been his greatest confidant, his most trusted scientific ally. Keeping his children alive had been a sort of... Monument to that. And she had shown such promise as a soldier, rising through his ranks with such ease. She always did what she was told without hesitation. Without fear, she would torment, torture, and kill all he told her to, even after all that he did to her and the idiot brother of hers... She still listened and answered to him with pride.
But then, something changed. Sheâd vanished, deserted their cause entirely, coming back once to denounce it entirely. Heâd tried to kill her then, but sheâd escaped. But now, he had her again. Her spirit and body had been broken numerous times, more than it had ever been in her youth. Â
He figured she must have been forming some sort of rebellion, but sheâd yet to crack, no information was spilled. It was troubling and infuriating to have such a major threat around and still alive, but he had no choice, he had to find out what she was up to out there in the world.
She was due for another session, in fact. He straightens up in his seat, calling to one of his guards.
âWhere is the Corporal? I sent him for the prisoner an hour ago.â
âPerhaps he was met with insubordination. That prisoner is very volatile.â
âIâm well aware. The Corporal has his orders.â The Czar groans, sitting up a little straighter. It wasnât like the Corporal to be late, especially for not such a simple task.  âFour of you, come with me. Heâs obviously had some trouble along the way.â Four of the guards shuffle forward, flanking him.  âUnless if- God forbid- sheâs managed to turn him against me-â
Heâs cut off by several gasps. Followed by cracking and a few garbled groans as the four men around him have all been skewered by over a dozen sharpened bone attacks. The others in the hall all arm themselves and move forward, but after a few seconds, more bones shoot up, impaling the others. The bones all shift suddenly to the left, tearing them to boney pieces. In seconds, his elite are dust. Footsteps echo through the now empty space, and a pointed voice, heavy with quiet rage, booms over the silence.
âNah, he was a faithful bootlicker til the end.â
She approaches with a slight limp, reaching up to dust off her shoulder. A small cloud of fine white dust wafts around her as she walks. In her free hand, a bone club drags behind her, carving a line in the settling dust.
He flinches. His old name. He hadnât heard it in years. The last person who used it had been... Him. The girlâs father. What a fool heâd been. His mind is racing. How many of his men had she taken out? Sheâd taken out about fifteen of his men just now- He was such a fool. Sheâd done it that first day, killing one of his guards. And he kept her around. If her father had lived, he would have told him not to trust her. That look in her eye, it was... Terrifying. It was... Determined.
âNot so tough without your sorry little army, huh? Not so tough and strong when you arenât surrounded by your freaks and super soldiers... Not so tough when youâre up against your Chief enforcer, huh?â She cracks her neck to one side, and then the other.  âIâve been here hundreds of times but Iâll never forget that first time. I was ten. Your Corporal dragged me and my brother out of our beds and dragged us here in the middle of the night. You tied us up in front of our parents, threatening to pull us apart or dust us... It was a punishment for my parents.â
âThey betrayed me, they betrayed our society-â
âThis isnât a society, itâs a prison. You know that.â She withdraws a cigarette and lights it with a flit of fire magic. She takes a deep drag, letting the smoke billow out of her eyes and nose.  âYou killed them for wanting a better life for their kids.â She spits the cigarette out at his feet, snuffing it out with the end of a club. He winces, disgusted.
âYou dare speak to me-â
âOh, hell yeah I do.â Â
More bone attacks then heâs ever seen shoot from the earth, surrounding the pair. Every inch of the ground is covered. The force of the bones shift the dust again. He canât even step back. Heâs stuck fast. When he tries to speak, a bone comes out and juts through him completely, widening slightly wth each second. He gasps, his chest filling with dust.
âSorry, canât let you walk away, Escrow. My mom couldnât walk away. Dad neither. Or my brother. Or any of the other members of our âsocietyâ that you killed.â The bones part for her so she can come closer.  âWhen youâre gone, thereâs gonna be next to no one left, you killed so many people.â She reaches and lights another cigarette, blowing the smoke into his face.  âYouâre the Czar of an empire of dust.â
âWhat?â She grabs him and pulls him off the bone club thatâs holding him in place, âActivate what, scum? Youâve got nothing left. I know you, I know you in a couple timelines. Youâre nothing without your soldiers.â
âHehh...You forget who I am, Dingbat.â He reaches up, putting his boney hand over hers, âI may be your leader, you Czar, but before that, I am..A..Scientist.â He coughs her smoke back at her, as well as dust from his crumbling body.  âActivate... The Test subjects. All of them. Protocol Omega-â
The bones all shoot inward towards the pair. Blinded suddenly by rage and fear, it takes less than a second to obliterate Escrow. Several of the blows glance off of Chief too, knocking her down about two hundred HP. It hurts. For the first time in years, it hurts.
And soon, sheâs alone. The bones vanish and thereâs only dust and the remains of armor and robes, left by Escrow and his men. Sheâs shaking. Itâs over, its really over- HE is over. She drops to her knees. Breaths coming out slowly and unevenly. Tears, the first since she was a child, cut through the dust and grime on her cheeks. What now?
Thereâs a roar. Then thereâs a second roar, a third and a fourth follow. A memory blooms in her mind, something Skinny had said about âsecret projectsâ and locked doors- Chief had always figured her Escrow didnât have projects like that. But as she turned around, wiping her lone tears away, she realized that there were shreds of horrifying truth. Four massive, lumbering figures approach her, four hideous creations of Escrowâs design. To her horror, there were faces she recognized, melded into the âfleshâ of this figures. Â
Her master was dead. He whole reason for living. Might as well go out with a bang.