The ticking of the click made the room feel emptier than it was. The clunky ticks and tocks echoed around the circular hall, bouncing off sleek walls and plastic enclosures. Those plastic screens were nine inches thick but reflected like sleek polished glass. Whether that shield of plastic was designed to keep him inside or keep everyone else out had never been explained to Maika."You just sit and watch him," she had been told. That was the sum of her responsibilities. The entire explanation. "Sit in the outer ring. Use your enhanced focus. Don't take your eyes away from him for a second.""Him... Eigen."As they turned onto a glass-lined corridor she squinted. Harsh light shone through the panels of glass, reflecting directly into her retinas. She looked at the floor until the final approach, where the huge mechanical guards lined the walls. They never moved but Maika felt as if they watched. Of course, they were watching. But watching without seeing. The thought gave her chills, li
The ticking of the click made the room feel emptier than it was. The clunky ticks and tocks echoed around the circular hall, bouncing off sleek walls and plastic enclosures. Those plastic screens were nine inches thick but reflected like sleek polished glass. Whether that shield of plastic was designed to keep him inside or keep everyone else out had never been explained to Maika."You just sit and watch him," she had been told. That was the sum of her responsibilities. The entire explanation. "Sit in the outer ring. Use your enhanced focus. Don't take your eyes away from him for a second.""Him... Eigen."As they turned onto a glass-lined corridor she squinted. Harsh light shone through the panels of glass, reflecting directly into her retinas. She looked at the floor until the final approach, where the huge mechanical guards lined the walls. They never moved but Maika felt as if they watched. Of course, they were watching. But watching without seeing. The thought gave her chills, li
Chapter 3'How am I still alive?' Mika wondered.That question was her only focus. 'I was supposed to be dead by now. I didn't plan for this. I have no idea what to do past this point.'Kai turned on the porch lights and entered the apartment building, kicking the front door open with a hefty thud. Lights flickered in the hallway as they climbed the stairs and led her into the most unlikely room.Numerous display cases boasted relics of the old world in conditions she had up to then only dreamed were possible.They had everything. Mika's eyes scanned the relics, trying to identify them. "You have a music player?" she cried, falling to her knees. "What sort of music do you have?"Kai cocked his head to the side before raising an eyebrow and shrugging. "All types. What do you like?"A shadow fell over Mika, and she looked up to him looming over her. 'He's figured me out,' she thought. 'He's going to kill me now.'He smiled. "You don't have to look so scared.""I feel like I should b
Chapter 4Mika blinked back tears."I... I don't want to die," she whispered. "Please... I beg you...""Nobody ever does," Kai said with a shrug. He must hear these words too often for them to have any real effect on his heart."I... I can help you," she spluttered, speaking up. A last-ditch attempt to stay alive. She felt herself begin to glitch - her hands snaking - as an idea occured to her. "I'll do anything.""Anything?" Kai asked, tilting his head to the side. 'That means he's considering it!' she thought, not daring to count her chickens....'Where does that saying even come from?' she wondered. An inopportune time to be pondering the legitimacy of the old warning."Don't even think about it," Vrethie warned him. "Aww," Kai complained, pursing his lips. "But she's just way too hot to kill, man.""If we keep her alive, she is your responsibility," Vrethie warned. "She will have to get approval but I can swing that.""You acctually gonna do anything I say?" Kai asked, bending
Eigen sat in his seat, dying of boredom.It was always boring when Miaka went off on a mission. He wanted to follow her, but was it a good idea to leave the enclosure."Probably not," he muttered to himself. But he did not care.Not in the slightest."I'm off," he announced to the mechanical guards with a wide, terrifying grin.They mirrored him, staring back in horror as he stood, shaking off the wires and stale air as he went."You can't go," they were crying in union as he slipped through the net. The net designed to keep him in was all the use of a chocolate tea pot.He laughed at their cries as he took flight, flying away from their cries for his return."Please," they cried. "If you go we will be unprotected. WE ALL NEED YOU! We will die if you Goooooo!!!"He didn't even look back as they begged and pleaded."She needs me more," he muttered, focused only on his one true love. Her. The one. Maika.She was on her way to find the monster he dispised the most. Kai. His polar opposit
Miaka smiled as the three boys decided her fate."I almost wish Eigen were here.""Who is Eigen?" Vrethie asked. She shook her head, not aware she had spoken the words out loud. "yOU Didn't" he replied. "I am the worlds most powerful psychic.A boast - but not one that wasn't completely true. This guy had real power."It's his eyes," she thought. "All psychics have those same ice blue orbs."As she stared into his eyes now, she couldn't help but wonder what he thought about when nobody was listening in. What would she think about if she had one spare second to herself."Me." Eigen whispered into her brain. "I am still with you. In spirit and in body."A rush of wind almost knocked over the house and she heard him landing outside."Oh geez," she cried, looking out of the rear house window. "He really did it. He really left.""Who is he?" Vrethie cried."So much for being the worlds best psychic." Eigen cried, grinning widely as he entered the house through the window - how a gaping