"Join Heathen," the man said to me.
My blood quickly ran cold. Words I never would have expected to hear had just been spoken at me.
"You want me to join Heathen…?"
"I will not repeat myself. No one gets an opportunity like this the way I have given it to you. Normally I force people in through the use of my Fractal, either by taking full control of them physically, or by meddling with their minds mentally, giving them room to take up the morals of Heathen. But for you, I will do neither. It would only stain your potential."
Potential? What is he talking about?
"What potential? I'm a Fractless. I have no powers for you to use, and no Fractal to possibly activate into something big. I'm nothing more than a burden!"
The tenant giggled. "This is exactly why I want you to join. You don't even notice your own capabilities. Your mentality is your own downfall. We at Heathen can help you realize your true prowess, and in return, you can help us bring about our function."
"What function?"
"That isn't something we disclose to those not part of Heathen. Join, and I will inform you on everything you need and want to know."
My mind went blank.
There is no way I am being offered to join Heathen right now.
The very mystery I'd been trying to uncover alongside Garren, Cynthia, and Kyra all this time was now asking me to join them.
Kyra.
The name quickly rung in my head. My eyes darted towards the ground, back at a river of red that led to a pool of blood that formed beneath my beloved.
Kyra is dead.
I looked at her lifeless body that laid at the tenant's feet, the very tenant that asked me to join them on their activity.
My mind caved-in. Reality had broken through and I could no longer reject what had happened.
"You killed Kyra!!!" I screamed, nearly shredding my vocal chords. Like a dam that had burst, rivers of tears streamed down my face as I poured all my emotion out onto the floor. Realization had finally broken-through, delayed, but heavy nonetheless.
I watched Kyra die.
Kyra was the only person who made me feel like I truly belonged. She recognized me even through all my faults and errors. Even when we'd been met with a hopeless cause, she came out on top with intent to keep me safe.
She kept the promise she'd made to me.
But now she was dead. She was dead because of Darius. Darius was from Heathen. Heathen killed Kyra.
"I'll never fucking join your stupid-ass organization! You killed Kyra! You killed her! You fucking murdered her!!!"
I was sobbing. Every twisted emotion I'd held inside until now had broken past its containment. My eyes were swelling, puffed up with sorrow and anger. I held solid resentment at the people behind Kyra's death. They'd taken away the one who mattered most to me, and the worst part being that I only realized that now that she was dead.
"Stop crying."
The cursed voice rung my ears with a frequency that would shut down every intention in my body that caused me to cry. My tears had suddenly came to a halt because of his horrendous Fractal.
This horrible man would not even let me mourn.
"It's pointless, what you're doing. No matter the amount of tears you cry, it won't float that girl back up to the surface of the living. Give it up, Klyson."
"Who the fuck are you to say all that...?"
"I am the one who will show you truly what it means to be a Fractless. Let go of those burdens in your head and join us at Heathen."
I had made up my mind by now. "No."
"Join Heathen."
"Fuck no."
"Are you really in the position to be declining my offer?"
I tried to move, but I still couldn't budge. I didn't know what to do, or what to say at that point.
"You really don't understand the level of mercy I've given you, do you? I could have taken full control of your mind by now and turned you into one of my proxies, just like all the other mindless tenants victim to my Fractal."
The idea horrified me. But the idea of joining the very organization that terrorized all these innocent tenants, and killed Kyra, disturbed me even more. I could never let myself stoop that low.
The man could tell what I was thinking by my facial expression alone. "Very well then. You've chosen to decline my offer?"
"I'd never join the likes of someone like you."
"So be it then. But before I show you the consequences of your actions, consider it one last time, Klyson. Your true potential awaits you at Heathen, not at A.X.A."
I thought about it one last time before giving my final answer. "No."
The tenant sighed. "Throughout the hell that awaits you, just know that my offer still stands."
Suddenly, the tenant speaking to me jerked out of commission. I could tell that the presence of that man, Ian, had left his body with nothing but a command.
"Kill Klyson," the tenant spoke its final words. It then dropped to the floor and laid motionless.
The voice command echoed across the hall, followed by a sudden rumble from the floor above. I knew exactly what that meant.
There must be more tenants in this building, within the vicinity of that man's Fractal being emitted through this tenant in front of me.
Tenants then began dropping through the hole in the ceiling, from the fifth floor down to the fourth. Just when I thought there couldn't be any more of them, more came to appear after Ian left them with the task to kill me.
It's over. I'm done.
I watched as a new wave of mind-controlled tenants rushed towards me with arms stretched out, ready to rip me apart. I had no one left to defend me anymore. The only person who was willing to step-up for me even while paralyzed with fear was now dead on the floor, gone from this world.
I'm so sorry Kyra.
I realized it now, the burden I was. Now being in the very same position—stuck in place, unable to move—but this time with intent to run and do something about the situation, I realized just how much weight Kyra had to carry in her final moments. Only now was I finally willing to do something about the threats that approached me, unlike the time when I should have acted, alongside Kyra. Not being able to do anything when I wanted to do something the most—that was the situation I currently stood in. It was like I was being given the karma I deserved from placing all that responsibility on Kyra.
I deserve this.
The tenants were soon to make contact with me. And when they did, I could leave this world and hopefully meet Kyra in the afterlife.
I deserve worse than this.
"Secondary Form: Akimbo Amplified."
I'd suddenly heard a dull voice speak those distinct words from across the hall, and in an instant, bright blue flashed against my eyes.
Shlrk—!!!
In one fell swoop, all the tenants that ran towards me had been severed in half. As their divided bodies fell to each side of the hall, a dark figure was left standing at the forefront to the butchery.
A man in black.
"J!" I'd almost forgotten about him. Too much had happened since I'd been separated from him. I watched as he sheathed his swords, the Duality, back together into a singular beam before equipping it to his back.
"Klyson!" I heard my name be called. Two individuals suddenly dropped through the hole in the ceiling. At first I thought they were more tenants, until I recognized the familiar faces.
Celeste and Sav.
"Hey, Klyson!" They rushed over to me, joining J by his side.
"Where's Kyra?" Sav asked.
My heart strained from those words.
Where were you three when Kyra and I needed you the most?
"Klyson?" Celeste tried to catch my attention. It wasn't until he squinted his eyes, focusing his lacking eyesight on the numerous bodies surrounding me, that he'd suddenly went quiet. As if both Celeste and Sav's pairs of eyes laid on the same figure at the same time, I watched as both of their faces widened with shocking expression in unison.
"Kyra…?"
The view in front of me was indescribable, all but a single clear sight—Kyra face down in a pool of red.
"Is that Kyra…?"