The Sanctuary Side-Story (16/17)

My heart shattered.

As soon as the sentence left her mouth, everything felt zoomed out for me. It felt like I lost a grip on who I was, and for a brief moment, I felt something I had never felt before.

It was hatred. Hatred for a person I once was friends with. The hatred from that betrayal, looking at my wife who was on death's door, my unborn child whom she killed, and my son who almost died as well.

Nova. That bitch.

It rattled my head, becoming an insurmountable emotion I couldn't process without screaming out in pain.

Inora's head fell limp in my arms and her breathing came to a complete stop as I finally screamed as loudly as possible.

This life, the one I had been taking for granted, the one I had been working so hard for, was immediately ruined, all by a girl I took in with a false pretense of friendship.

I hated her. I hated everything.

I wanted to kill her and leave this place. I wanted my son, I wanted my wife to come back... yet, she has taken everything from me.

As I was processing the raw emotions I felt, a figure came out of the sky, landed on the ground, and kicked up a cloud of dust and dirt around herself as she summoned a sword with strands that I had.

Her light-brown hair and blue eyes shifted to a white color in her hair and a baby blue in her eyes.

"Sorry I'm late, Genesis. This is the problem child?" She said.

"About time, Illya. Yes, this is her. This is Nova Eternia." Genesis blatantly said.

I was absent from my mind, only listening to the conversation between the two.

"Tsk, an Eternia? What are they still doing alive? Do you want me to take care of her?" The girl named Illya asked Genesis.

"If you can. I need to retreat, I trust you'll handle the situation with Kire?" Genesis asked her, pointing toward me.

"No problem." She muttered.

The sword in her hand, shaped like two cylinders connected by one of their ends, lit up in golden color and Illya walked toward where Nova used to be standing.

Genesis was gone, as was Ra, and my wife was dead, only leaving this girl named Illya with me.

"I figured that would happen. Hey, you, your name is Kire?" Illya asked me.

"Y-Yeah, that's my name. I'm not really in the mood to talk right now." I told Illya, however, she disregarded my feelings.

"Yeah, that doesn't matter much. You were just used by Genesis and Nova." She told me.

"W-What?!" I screamed out in confusion. What did this girl mean?!

"Look, I don't know what Genesis told you, but he's trying to revive the strands that were once dying out in the Arkians. Have you been implanted with them?" Illya asked me.

"Yeah. Genesis told me that he planted them into me to make sure he could come to fight Nova and save at least me..." I told her, but she only clicked her tongue and looked up at the sky.

"That was all planned. He got your strands to awaken by using your anger to amplify their growth, and he stole your kid who will probably be exposed to strands as well." She explained to me.

"You're kidding..." I pleaded.

My hair fell in front of my eyes and blocked her body language from me... but I could tell she was being sincere.

"Both of those idiots have been on my radar for a very, long time. I'm sorry I couldn't get here to save you sooner... and I'm not entirely sure where he took your child." Illya told me.

Again, my heart pulsed with anger.

I was used, that entire time?! Genesis and Nova... they were together all along?!

"Then... there's not much left for me," I told her.

I picked up a sword that fell off the shelf, which I once used fourteen years ago, and held the blade's tip close to my stomach.

Illya grasped the handle with her bare hand and looked at me with her red eyes, which were transitioning back to the blue color.

"Instead of killing yourself here... why don't you try to look for your kid?" She asked me.

"Look where? Genesis and Nova are nowhere to be found... I'd have to look through the entire Isle before they stain my son with those strands... I can't do it." I said out loud.

"Try a larger scale. They're probably down on Earth if I had to guess. However, that doesn't mean it's hopeless. Your strands aren't a plague, it's just a guarantee that you will be stronger in the future given enough time. I don't usually do this, but come with me." Illya told me.

"Come with you? Don't be ridiculous... my family is still here... I can't leave them..." I muttered, looking back down at Inora.

Illya wrapped the strands around the rock that pierced her stomach and split her in half, and lifted it without trouble, throwing it into the cliffside beside her body.

"I'm sorry, I'll repair her for what it's worth, and see if I can revive her." She told me, crouching down by Inora's side, and pushing strands into her body. I was hesitant at first, I didn't want Inora to have these strands given to me by Genesis, but I also didn't want her to die.

"Brain activity has been out for too long. I could revive her, but she would be brain dead. Of course, I could put a soul back into her body, but she would no longer be the woman you once loved. Strands let me repair the brain and boost it back into function, but that's all it can do. She would be a zombie." Illya said.

"Then, forget it. Thank you, for at least making her body less appealing to look at." I said to Illya lightly bowing my head.

"I'll bring Inora with me. Come with me, and I'll help you get your child back." Illya told me.

"Yeah, are you sure you're not going to betray me as Genesis did?" I yelled back at her, knowing that she meant well. I felt guilty right after, but she didn't seem to have hard feelings about it.

"You have nothing left to lose, what could I take advantage of you for? Your kid? Your wife's dead body? Name something I can gain from manipulating you." Illya asked me... to which I couldn't find a thing.

"Where are we going?" I asked her. Illya looked back at me and then explained as she walked toward the forest.

"There exists a group of people that was made for the sole reason of stopping Genesis, and anybody he collaborates with. In this case, Nova would be stopped by the group's efforts as well. I'm a part of it, and we can help you exact revenge, but only if you help our cause." She explained to me.

...

...

...

Before I knew it, she had used this weird machine on the island by a hidden cliffside to take us into this weird, metallic structure. There was grass in it, trees blowing wildly in the wind, and buildings that touched the top of the very large building.

"This is home of that group I told you about. We have a saying... but you can't make fun of us when you hear it." Illya told me.

Holding my dead wife, I nodded, waiting to hear what she was about to say.

"The world stands no chance in the state it is in. With nothing left to do or say, the last hope we have is one last shake. An Earthquake." Illya said.

"Nothing is wrong with that... then, your group is called..." I paused, waiting for Illya to finish.

"Quake." She blatantly said.

"Our goal in Quake is to shut down Genesis and save the world from his overarching reach. Once that's done, we'll find your son without a problem, and we can bring you and him back together." Illya told me.