Chapter 8

The True Enemy

*Life is a funny thing. Such a wonderful mystery we can never hope to understand.*

"I don't intend to explain. Nor do I intend to introduce a solution."

"Did you really think you could hide from yourself?"

"You know better than anyone that only agony can force us to think and reflect."

"Have you forgotten then?"

"Well allow me to reacquaint you."

Salem awoke with a violent gasp. She hadn't a clue as to who she heard. Not even her previous encounters could match the feeling of unease that grew in her heart. Something had awakened deep inside the girl deep in the pits of Glacia, and now it finally had something to say.

Only moments ago Salem lay peacefully in her stuffy room at Cora's observatory. Things had been calm for weeks, and the memories of Cora had become more of a painful reminder as her grieving came to an end. Life had grown easy, even boring at times. Every now and again Salem would visit the frail princess she had met earlier. Her impression of the Tella's royalty had only improved with the passing of time, causing Salem to grow quite comfortable in the presence of Ina. Valor especially took the chance to acquaint himself with everyone he could, proving his eagerness was not merely a fading aspect of his birth. Anger on the other hand preferred to stay away from both Ina and Valor. In his mind, the concept of family was nothing but a distraction from his service to Salem.

But peaceful times had made the pale girl weak. Salem was left alone with nothing but her own restless mind and the unbearable guilt that welled up in her heart. That night her powers had been unleashed upon the city of Lacuna was not an event so easily forgotten, and soon she became desperate to understand what exactly possessed her.

"Hello," a dark voice echoed through Salem's mind.

The unseen phantom had a masculine tone to its voice. It sounded confident and intimidating, yet genuinely caring and curious.

"Who-" Salem stuttered.

"Over here."

Salem raised her head and noticed a white and red flower that lay before her. The delicate plant was similar, if not identical to the power she had seen so many times before during the creation of her children. But this paranormal figure had no place in a simple bedroom. As far as Salem knew, the red flower had only ever appeared from within her own body.

"What do you want?" Salem barked at the flower, not seeming to be frightened by its ghostly existence.

"You," the flower replied with an icy snap.

"Why?"

The flower seemed to laugh as it began subverting Salem's perception of reality. The floor around her dissipated and reformed as if it were made of rippling water. Salem's bedroom then became an eerie void with nothing but the glow of a white flowerbed beneath her bottom. In an instant, the voice had already surrounded her.

"I'm here to set you on track."

"I don't understand," Salem panicked.

"Did you think you could just sit around all your life and count the years? You have a purpose, and I intend to see it through."

"What purpose?"

"You do not ask the questions here. That is something only I can do."

The flower began to flood the small room, painting its petals in crimson red. Salem soon found herself enveloped by the familiar scent of blood, frowning in disgust at the obvious notion.

"What is the one thing you have always been good at?" The flower asked.

"I…"

"Killing. You will always be good at that. This is how I will convince you."

"But...I'm no warrior. I….I'm broken. I rely on others to help me," Salem replied with a saddened and regretful look on her face.

"Do you have to be? Everywhere you go death follows you. You are a force of nature, cold and careless."

Salem could not argue against the flower. It spoke the truth, and she knew it. Whether it was her own child dismantling that wretched Tella named Pyri, or the flower causing hundreds to lose their minds, Salem always had a hand in the death of others. But more importantly, she knew how little she would care if the time came for her to take a life herself. In the past, it wasn't uncommon for her to engage in violence and murder. And now here in Lacuna, there were no signs of pacifism from the red-eyed girl.

"Why...are you telling me this."

"Because this is who you are!" The flower screamed.

The ear-piercing scream summoned several appendages from a swamp of blood around the girl. They did not attempt to grab Salem or harm her - instead, they seemed to worship their savior. The pale girl gasped as she began to realize the flower's message to her. It no doubt desired for her to appreciate her lethal talents and enjoy them.

"If I'm meant to take life. Then why do you keep haunting me with those I've slain!" Salem asked.

"Look again, more closely now. you've saved them," the flower gestured towards the gentle grasp of the corpses.

"From what!?"

"Life."

Salem began to lose her patience. All this time she had allowed this flower to meddle with her mind. But now, she intended to be the one in control.

"Enough!" Salem screamed as she broke the illusion with her mind. "No one controls me, no matter what. This power is mine, not yours, I can feel it!"

"You're right. Which is why I'm right."

"What?!"

"Ask me who I am."

Hesitating for a moment, Salem decided to play along with the flower's devious game.

"Who are you?"

"...You."

And at that moment, everything became clear to Salem. She had never been in an intellectual debate with some sort of invading creature. She was simply in a battle of self-denial. One question had been answered, only to be followed by a dozen more. But the conversation had ended, leaving Salem with a flood of beliefs she could never disagree with.

A strange pair of voices then spoke to the girl, as if relaying some sort of divine promise.

"This is a message from beyond. Hear it, and hear it well. Life is an endless cycle of pain and misery."

"No matter how hard we try, there will always be suffering."

"It's a sick joke, no matter how the game is played. There is no grand plan, no scheme to overthrow it all. There is no God."

"There is no life without death. There is no light without dark. And there is certainly no comfort without pain."

"We will suffer. And the fear of suffering will never stop making us wish we never knew comfort.

"Life is a means to an end."

"It's pointless."

"Meaningless."

The flower then spoke with one voice, more similar to Salem's.

"Those who control this world have no divine plan for you. It is all a game. And we can break it."

"We will end them all…."

Salem clutched her heart as she began to accept her internal desires. Whether she knew it or not, all this had been the goal from the start. At some point during her long life of failure, her cause had become absolute, and the flower within had become inseparable. Salem never did feel like she had a purpose. But now she felt as if her destiny was finally realized.

Fate had brought Salem to Lacuna-the most advanced location in the world protected by the most lethal army. Fate had given her powers to create life within the bodies of perfect soldiers. Destiny had put her within arms reach of royalty and power.

"I will lead others on this path of truth."

"I will lead them. As their queen."

"I...Salem…..will end us all."

A crimson glow began to emanate from Salem's body. Books, blankets, and all manner of objects began to lose their footing as the girl elevated herself into the air. The very structure of Cora's home shook at its seams. The old Salem was being eradicated by this newfound power.

There would no doubt be remnants of stupidity and weakness in the girl's mind. Her struggle with her own true ambitions would continue, even after the influence of the flower had seeped into her heart. But still, that lost little girl was gone. From that day forward, Salem had an objective - a reason to live.

"So many problems with this place, and with me, I have yet to even see them all," Salem smiled as she continued to speak to herself. "But I can solve it."

"My malice...my Anger...my Valor...my Sorrow…my Regret…..my Exuberance...they all have a purpose now."

Gathering her darkest ambitions, the girl began to sense the presence of another.

"Ina," she growled. "You've searched yourself as well, haven't you? I knew something wasn't right about your smile. You saw who I was long ago."

The image of a circular diagram revealed itself before Salem as she began to practice a strange art not unlike Ina's. Red was malice and was placed close to insanity which bore a dark purple. Blue was love, while its orange counterpart symbolized faith. And green was envy, which lay in tandem with yellowish fear. These six symbols had been seen by Ina before and were the tools by which she located Salem.

"I get it now. So much more clever than I could have possibly imagined," Salem laughed as her anger towards Ina turned into respect and admiration. "But I know you aren't my only peer."

Salem would never forget the entity that so effortlessly manipulated her before. The night Cora died, there was a purple flower, its center eye filled with immeasurable insanity. It was this flower that triggered Salem's power, it was the purple insanity that indirectly killed her friend.

"I see you," Salem hissed as she stared into the purple symbol on Ina's graph, her eyes set on the dark-skinned figure whose image appeared as clear as day.

From that moment on the crimson witch felt an unstable amount of hostility against this new foe. It was not at all like the princess, whose soothing love brought calm and serenity. But what more could be expected from the new wielder of malice?

______________________________

Elsewhere in Lacuna, a shadowy masculine form slipped through the cracks of the station's most desolate reaches; and unlike Salem who had notoriously taken a more direct route, the slippery figure was far more discreet as he navigated his away around the official docking routes and Valekry outposts.

"Identity number recognized," a crackling robotic voice uttered in a barely audible tone.

"Can't believe this stuff still works," the man laughed with a strangely organic rasp as she furiously tapped away at a blue holographic terminal that seemed far too old to operate.

"Welcome Corian," the terminal replied in a much louder tone.

"Shit, wait no shut up," Corian grimaced as he looked behind him. "Please don't do anything stupid like login."

"Shall I inform the Flora command you have-,"

"I said no! Just open this door here, anything else will be obvious."

"Very well then," the ancient device approved as a large rusty door began to reveal itself through all the moss and stone that had grown over it. "Please have a pleasant visit to the-,"

But before the rather advanced system could finish, Corian smashed it to pieces by thrusting an old blade into the ground where its physical form was located. Whatever the man planned to do in Lacuna was clearly a secret. And as time would soon tell, he was hot on the trail of someone he deemed most important.