Whatever lies on the depths of her soul

The fight was very bloody.

Rolf stood impatiently outside the cage watching the fight between Nei and Neifirst. He couldn't understand why he and his companions had to keep back while Nei fought alone against the strongest opponent they have faced until that point.

- I can't stay here watching Nei being hurt like this, as I was watching boxing on TV! - said Rolf, shaking the cage.
- We are not comfortable as well – answered Amy – but she chose to do so and she may have good reasons. Afterall, she knows Neifirst.
- Yes, but she is like a sister to me. I can't stay here watching my sister being killed and stay calm.

Amy felt the bitterness in Rolf's voice and decided to end the conversation. No one else had the courage to talk to Rolf about the fight and stayed in silence watching the fierce fight.

Inside the cage, the fight had reached and stalemate. At the beginning of the fight, Nei was thrashed by the powerful blows of his twin, but as the time passed, the experience acquired in the previous fights started to make the difference in her favor. Nei had deep cuts all over her skin, with some blood dripping and she was already starting to feel the weakness caused by the blood loss. Neifirst, on the other hand, was in a better shape, but was much more tired and more scared by the last blows received and a pain that she was not accustomed with, unlike Nei. She had received some cuts in the last serious struggle and was having a hard time dealing with the pain and blood loss. Neifirst knew also that attacking at that point would be suicide, because Nei was much more experienced in fighting and a perfect blow in a counterattack would prove to be fatal.

Meanwhile, Rolf was still shaking the bars of the cage and screaming. His companions were restless as well. Shir prefered to close her eyes and ears, for she couldn't stand anymore. Rudolf stayed quiet, looking almost relaxed, as he appeared to be in the battles they have endured, but his mind was uneasy. Anna approached Rolf and softly put her arm in his shoulder in a friendly way, making Rolf look at her and forget about the fight for few seconds, before he started the shouting again.

Nei knew that the time was running out for her and, though a better fighter, she couldn't breach Neifirst defense properly. She had to do something, and she knew what to do, but she was reluctant since it was a suicide plan. She couldn't win the fight attacking and she knew that Neifirst would only attack if she was sure she would score an excellent blow and leave unharmed.

Neifirst was waiting, scared, with a million different thoughts through her mind when she noticed a change in Nei's semblance. A second later, everybody saw Nei collapsing on the floor.

- Nei, hold on! - Rolf screamed in dispair.

Neifirst spent some seconds trying to rearrange her ideas, but then decided it was time to give a last blow on her twin. She was somewhat puzzled, because she has seem Nei collapse on the floor with a grin in her face, but as Nei didn't move after that, she went full speed to the final blow.

Outside the gate, Rolf was in dispair and ordered:

- Rudo, shoot the lock! I can't stand this anymore!

Rudolf got his gun and shoot three times before it broke. Rolf opened the door of the cage in a hurry and was running towards Nei, but he suddenly halted. Others were shocked as well by a deep scream in agony followed by a shorter but louder scream and a strong thud of a body collapsing on the floor. Neifirst had come in full speed, aiming her claw at Nei's neck. In the last second, Nei put her right arm in the way and received the full blow in her arm. She, then, screaming in pain, swung her body under Neifirst and inserted her left-hand claws straight in Neifirst's throat, tearing it open. With the force of the blow, Nei stood up and raised Neifirst's body in the air, where the later gave her last scream. Nei swung her body, freeing herself from Neifirst's claw and dropping Neifirst's lifeless body on the ground. Then she arched, holding her perfurated arm with her hand and fell on her knees again.

In a second, Rolf reached her, followed by his companions. Rolf made Nei lean on his lap and Amy rushed to administer the first care. Nei was heavily injured and soaked in blood, both her own and Neifirst's. She had already sustained worse injuries before, to the point of needing a clone of her body. But this time, something was different.

- Hold on, Nei, you will be fine now. - said Rolf with a calm voice, while caressing Nei's blood-soaked hair.
- Sorry, Rolf, I can't stand it. If Neifirst and the other biomonsters go, I must go as well. - replied Nei, with a weak voice.
- Don't say that, Nei, everything will be alright. We love you and we will go through all this together.
- Rolf, don't let this ever happen again, please. I must go. Don't forget me, I love you too.
- Nei!

And Nei fell unconscious. Though Amy managed to stabilize her condition, she seemed to have already given up life. The party rushed out of the Climatrol, as it began collapsing, and rushed to the nearest hospital. Nei arrived there in a critical condition, but her body seemed to be recovering, though she never recovered conscience. They decided to take her to the Clone Labs and tried to revive her.

While in the waiting room of the Clone Labs, Rolf was desperate and mad. Nei has been in the cloning room for longer than the usual and there was no information. The old woman appeared and said:

- Unfortunately, we can't clone biomonsters. There is nothing we can do to help your friend.
- How can't you clone her? You have already cloned her before! What are you trying to do? - Screamed Rolf in despair. He hit the wooden counter with so much strength that it broke.
- Keep cool! We have done everything we could. Your friend has lived a full live. Let her rest in peace now. - Replied the old woman, afraid of Rolf's reactions.

Rolf stormed into the cloning room where he saw Nei's body lying still, alive, but her mind was completely halted. Rolf started crying over her body and stayed there for a long time. His companions followed him into the room and despite the protests of the scientists, they wouldn't leave.

- I don't know why, but it looks like her soul has abandoned her body after she said her last words. - commented Rudolf.

Everybody was taken by surprise, for Rudolf was the last person they would expect to believe in souls and afterlife, but everybody was still in shock, so nobody has made any remark about that. One by one, they left the room, remaining only Anna and Rolf. Anna embraced Rolf in a loving manner and whispered in his ear:

- Dear, she is gone. Let's leave her rest in peace.
- Go... go... ne? - Rolf said in a torment of feelings, sobbing bitterly.
- Yes, gone, my dear, let's go, please.
- No, no, Nei.... - protested Rolf.

He then noticed that Nei's breath and heart had stopped screamed one last time “Nei”, before surrendering to Anna's pull. She embraced him tightly and led him to a bench in the corner of the clone room, where both sit. She held his head pressed in her breasts, caressing his hair very lightly. After some minutes in silence, Rolf started talking lots of things that represented his tormented feelings:

- I have lost my parents in that spaceship crash, when I was still a boy. I have grown up alone all these years and my heart was hardened like a stone. Nei was a blessing in my life. Since I've found her, homeless and hunted, I discovered a new meaning to my life. She had triggered the rebirth of my feelings towards the mankind. But caring for her as my little sister, I learned many things about people, love and respect. Then I decided to take this job as a government agent to help people. Now I have lost the only person who cared for me and I am considered a criminal! Is it what I deserve, after all?
- Rolf, you are a good man and you are doing everything according to what you believe it is right. There are people who trust you and like you for who you are. - answered Anna, in a gentle voice, while still caressing Rolf's head.
- I see people that still need my services, but I don't see a person that loves me.
- But they do, they do.
- Nei loved me... - Rolf says that in pain and starts weeping again.

Anna resumes her comforting task, in silence. After some minutes in silence, Rolf becomes sick of crying and started thinking again, about his future. The first thought was about Anna. He used to think of her as a cold, tough and mysterious woman, but now she was being the most comprehensive of his partners. She was being sweet and was caring for him, when he most needed someone. It was a long time since he has felt some motherly love for the last time and Anna's affection for him was something close to the love he had lost long before. He noticed also how comfortable was Anna's embrace. He knew that she was a very beautiful and sexy woman and, though his mind was still set in problems and filled with sorrow, it was the first time he let romantic feelings arouse toward any of his companions. His three female companions were all pretty and Shir showed some infatuation with him, but Anna was by far the prettiest, with her femme-fatale style. And she was kind to him. And she was closer to him than the others. And she was caring for him in one of the most difficult moments of his life. And had a warm and comfortable body, And had nice breasts to rest his head on...

Rolf, shocked with his own train of thought, let himself out from Anna's embrace and, subduing the last tears, said in an assured tone:

- We must carry on. Let's have my dear sister buried.
- Yes, let's talk with the clerk in order to provide a proper burial – agreed Anna.

They were getting out the room, when suddenly Rolf halted and turned to look again at Nei's corpse. Anna became worried that he would return to the suffering state as before, but he just whispered his beloved sister name, shook his head and left.

---

The funeral was coming to an end. The gravedigger had already put all the earth over the coffin and was hitting the mound to flatten its top a bit. Beside the mound, rested a gravestone with three names on it, being two of Rolf's deceased parents and the third was Nei's name, with Rolf's family name added as her surname. Despite the protests, Rolf was paying the last homage to his beloved sister, officially adopting her as member of his family.

The group returned in silence to Rolf's house. No one wanted to speak, in respect to Rolf. Anna walked beside him, with a hand over his shoulder, while he was trying to dry his last tears. He had already accepted Nei's loss, but was sorrowful. Anna was feeling sad as well, but more relieved because she knew that, tough sad, Rolf had stopped denying Nei's loss and from that time on, time would slowly heal his wounds. The evening was clear, cold and the sky was filled with stars, providing a beautiful landscape and invoking sadness.

They arrived home and everybody wanted to sleep, since they were tired of the last battles and the long process of the funeral. Rolf, had received an urgent letter from the Motavian Commander and would check it after some sleep. He said, more to himself than to Anna, but she could hear him saying in not so convincing tones:

- Well, life must go on.

Anna smiled at him with a loving smile and left to her room. Rolf tried to think again about Anna´s behavior, but tiredness took less than five minutes to make him sleep.

When Rolf woke up, the day had already dawned. He readied himself and went to the Central Tower, advising his companions to get ready for more troubles. He left with a bad mood, but he had to face the life and, by commander´s letter, there would be more problems ahead. So, he walked the three blocks that separated his house and the Central Tower in a fast pace. When he arrived there, there was a great mess, and a man, running and screaming:

- Omigosh! The lake is overflowing! There must have been an accident at Climatrol! All of the rain supply has flowed into the lake! Mota is going to flood! Run for your lives! It's a catastrophe!

Rolf entered the Central Tower worried about the news. By talking to the commander, Rolf got the reports about the impending flooding that would be caused by their raid on Climatrol, which culminated with Neifirst death. He become informed as well of the persecution ordered by Palmian government, although he had already hear about them being considered criminals. He and the commander agreed that he and his companions should try to slip past the security robots and open the dams before the cities got underwater.

He returned immediately to his home, dispirited by the last outcomes and worried about the new problems presented to him. When he arrived home, Rudo was in the front door waiting for him, weapons in hand.

- Rolf, did you hear the news? We are being hunted by the security robots, as if we were responsible for the climate crisis after we got rid of the biomonsters in Climatrol. We must do something now! - said Rudo, clearly shocked.
- Yes, Rudo, I know. The commander told me about that. We are off to the dams. We shall unlock them to prevent the flooding of the cities. - Answered Rolf, calmly.
- If it is so, it is better take leave now. I thought it would be the end of our journey, but things are getting worse, those bastard robots will be a nuisance, but once we got inside all this mess, we must go until the end. Besides, it will be easier for us to avoid troubles roaming in the country than to stay here at your home or returning to our homes.
- Yes, you are right. Help me spread the word among our comrades.

They went inside and started spreading the word. All of them were uneasy with the news, mainly Hugh and Amy, which weren't accustomed to fighting and were hoping for piece. Shir saw the opportunity to stay close to Rolf more time as a silver lining in the dark clouds ahead. Only Anna didn't show any emotion. She was already ready, with her deadly slicers in hand and her "takes no prisoners" attitude. While the others were readying themselves, Rolf tried to start a conversation with Anna, but the lovely woman in her disappeared again, and she was again the tough, sometimes harsh woman of the past, trying to conceal her emotions and mainly her past from him. Rolf was caught off guard and talked no more to Anna during the start of their new journey. But his thoughts were almost all about her. He couldn't understand the sudden changes in her behavior. He was even falling in love with her, when she was being supportive and lovely, but now it looked as if he had only dreamed about a kind and lovely Anna. He tried to guess what could have happened to her in the past that could justify her behavior, but he just couldn't and wished she could be again the woman that embraced him in the Clone Labs, while he was crying over Nei's body. But he examined her seated in the jet scooter as if he was trying to see the depths of her soul, but could only see a cold and tough woman, who seemed to feel nothing at all. He would give everything he had just to know whatever lies on the depths of her soul.

On the other bench, Anna was looking down, with her mysterious semblance. She knew that Rolf couldn't take his eyes of her, but she knew she shouldn't look at him, at least now. She had to finish something before she could look straight at his face again.

For now, Anna had to fight her strongest foe. Inside herself.

The Missing Piece

The blonde girl looked the sea through the window.

She had just finished combing her long hair, but just for passing time. She could go nowhere with the ongoing war, so she had to spend her time reading books, doing minor handworks, playing the harpsichord or taking care of herself. But most of the time she stayed looking the sea carrying large snow blocks to the sand, where they stayed melting, while thinking about her life. She had a lot to think about, since her life was in a huge turmoil in the last months, and the sea was the key to her past, forgotten in the depths of her own mind.

The war was going full force outside, and she was forced to stay inside the castle not only because she was the heir princess to the kingdom but because she was, in a certain way, responsible for the war, though she didn´t do anything herself. At least nothing that she could remember of, but actually there weren´t many things about her own life she remembered.

She looked to the mirror and saw her image. Her pale ruby blue eyes were filled with sorrow. Her beautiful face couldn´t hide her suffering, as she was alone carrying the world upon her tiny shoulders. She couldn´t stop thinking “Why did all these things happen because of me? What had I done?” But she couldn´t find an explanation.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. The girl stood up and opened the door. She could see the humble smile of Rheia. The servant was a woman in her fifties, gray-haired and with age signs clearly stamped in her face. She had a lot of motherly affection to the girl, because she had always cared for the girl as the daughter she never had. The girl didn´t remember anything about her prior to the last two weeks, when she was abducted from her former home and taken to the castle, but she liked her because she was one of the few persons that tried to lighten the pressure on her.

- Princess Marlena, excuse me. The lunch will be served in a few minutes and your father, the king, demands your presence. He is worried about you. Will you come?

The girl closed her eyes for a moment, thinking, and answered:

- I´m not in a mood to face them. I would love to be left alone.
- Oh, my dear Maia... - Rheia exclaimed in a sincere tone of compassion – I know you are not in the mood, but your father really worries about you. You are his only daughter and he loves you more than you will ever know.
- Yes, Rheia, I acknowledge that, but everything is so confusing and painful to me… - Marlena stopped talking, with the last words choking with the tears coming from her blue eyes.
- Yes, my Lady. I will say to your father that you are still reading yourself and will come in fifteen minutes, right? - Rheia said so blinking to the girl, with her heart torn apart by seeing the kaleidoscopic tones of cyan and blue shining from the girl´s wet eyes.
- Thank you so much, Rheia. I will be there in fifteen minutes.

Rheia went back downstairs thinking about the princess. She knew that the princess was facing a real hard time, but most of all she was glad that she was alive and well. The life was always so harsh to the girl. She had lost her mom while still a little child and lived alone with her father. She hadn't any friends and few acquaintances, because of her position as princess heiress. One day she disappeared mysteriously. Extensive searches were promoted by her father, the king, but they were fruitless and the only daughter of the king was presumed dead. The whole kingdom mourned with the king the loss of “the most beautiful flower of the whole world”, till Prince Lyle from Shusoran, a nearby city of the kingdom, who was Marlena´s cousin discovered she was alive and living in a far kingdom. He secretly kidnapped her and brought her home. She was back home, but uneasy, because she had lost her memory after she disappeared, so her former home, her family and acquaintances were strangers to her. Worse than that, her kidnapping started a war between both kingdoms.

Marlena closed the door and let her body fall on her bed, belly up, with arms stretched by her sides and her golden hair scattered in the bed. She abandoned her body as if she was abandoning her problems too. And she started wondering why all these things were happening. Her memory was lost. She only remembered that she was found in a distant beach, unconscious and almost lifeless, by a kind man. The man had taken her home and provided for her until she was fully recovered from the accident. The man has been kind to her and fell in love with her. It was nothing new to her, because, though she could not remember her past, it was like it always happened with the young men. She was considered the most beautiful girl of the entire realm. But she was alone, had no past, no one to care for her and the man was kind, good natured and honest. He was crazy to marry her and, without other acquaintances beyond people from this man´s home and without any other knowledge of the past, she resigned to his affections and accepted. She discovered that his benefactor was Prince Rhys of Landen and she even considered herself lucky, but there were strange things about everything. First, their language was the same as hers, but had many different words and expressions, almost like a different dialect, making her sure that his people were not her people. Also, the prince conducted an extensive research in the nearby cities and kingdoms and no one has ever heard about her. Worse than that, the only other people known in their world was the evil and mythic Layan people, considered non-humans, so she was clearly not Layan as well.

Before her marriage, she met a very beautiful woman, who presented herself as Princess Lena of Satera. She made Marlena vow that she would never talk about their conversation to Prince Rhys, and explained that though she didn´t held any rancorous feelings towards the girl, she didn´t know why Rhys has decided to marry Marlena, once Lena´s and Rhys´ parents had already arranged a marriage between their sons. This revelation was shocking to Marlena, that didn´t know what to do, but princess Lena almost obliged Marlena to carry on, as he was her former fiancé will and she would not marry him knowing he loved another woman.

Things became bleaker when she was kidnapped by a monster in the day of her marriage and taken to a strange place. There she learned that the flying monster was a Layan creature, the historical enemies of the Orakians, Rhys´ people. But the speaking dragon, as soon as he reached a castle in a far place, place that Orakians believed didn´t exist, metamorphosed into a man, that resembled her in some ways. There he told Marlena that she was Layan as well, princess and heir to the Layan kingdom. He told her that his name was Lyle and that he was her cousin and Prince of Shusoran, a nearby Layan city. Since then, her mind was in a complete confusion. She had lost her memories and she didn´t recover almost anything after returning home, so she didn´t know who to trust. Why should an Orakian prince marry a completely strange girl, when he had already a marriage arranged with an Orakian princess? Why did no one opposed to the marriage? If Lyle had means to become a dragon and fly to Orakian realm, why did he wait until the day of the marriage? If they had previously knowledge of the Orakians, why didn´t they keep contact with the Orakians?

Trying to answer these questions, Princess Marlena studied a lot about the past and present of Layan and Orakian people. She read many books, talked to many wise men and she only have found more questions. Legends of the past talked about a green world, orbiting a binary star system along with a brown and a white planet. But her planet did not orbit any star, did not have different seasons, did not have brother planets orbiting along and was moving straight towards "who knows where", but everyone could notice, the movements of the faint lights of distant stars coming and going through the sky in a straight line. They didn´t know why there was day and night without a star nearby, but day and night succeded in their planet. Legends of the past talked about machines that transported people among the planets of their solar system, but, though they didn´t have technology to leave the planet, they knew that the horizon blended with the sky making a concave frontier with the outerspace that could not be crossed. They knew as well that there were underground caves linking their world to other "worlds", like Orakian "world", where they had another flat land with the same concave boundaries. This went against the legends and ancient histories, that talked of a round world.

Bits of these thoughts and random past images were circling princess Marlena´s mind in a kaleidoscopic turmoil as she laid in her bed. She was completely confused, in a state of semi-conscience, drowned in millions of thoughts when a sudden thud woke her up from her mental turmoil. It was a block of snow falling from the rooftops that made the noise and made Marlena become aware of herself again. She looked her image in the mirror, as she was still lain on the bed. She could see a pretty and innocent girl, and that was all that she was. But at the same time, she was the center of lots of things going on in her world, and she couldn´t understand them. She remembered of the lunch and decided to prepare herself to face her father. Afterall, liking it or not, there was no other way out. She had to be strong and face the world. Resolutely, she stood up and arranged herself for the lunch. She wanted to be as beautiful as she could be to show to the world that she was a strong woman. She was indeed a strong woman, and she wanted to appear to the world that way.

When she was about to leave her room, Rheia gently knocked the door and called:

- Are you ready for lunch, princess?
- Yes, dear Rheia, I am ready. - She replied, while opening the door, with an assuring voice.

Rheia couldn´t prevent smiling at the pompous air of the girl, that was crying a short while ago. She was happy about the change in the girl´s mood and hoped it would stick longer than the usual.

Princess Marlena was happy also, with her new mood and her strong looks. She was almost convincing herself that everything was really as she was trying to make it appear to be, but a thought came to her mind and restarted the internal turmoil. Though she did her best to keep her strong image to Rheia and the people she would meet in the lunch, there was a missing piece in everything, the most important one. If she could recover this missing piece, maybe she could understand everything. But the missing piece was lost with her memories. "How was it possible for me to appear in Landen shores?"

And the mystery remained stronger than ever inside the blonde girl´s mind.