52nd of Treelus, 2992
6748 days to the Cataclysm

Alexandria walked through the halls of the Zilevan penitentiary, either side lined by cells of men and women convicted of rape and murder. They rattled the cells and threw derogatory insults at her, insults that Alexandria chose to phase out.

Her mind was focused, but her thoughts were conflicted. Was she angry at her mother for what she did? Was she concerned about what her brother had become? She didn't know, she never did. She reached the end of her hall and stood in front of her mother's cell and took a deep breath. A guard arrived and patted her down for any concealed weapons. He handed her a metal collar and instructed her to wear it.

"What for?" she asked.

"To suppress your abilities, we can't have you killing the prisoner," he said.

"What do you do with them, then?" she asked as she put on the collar.

"The chains aren't exactly the blunt, if they try to struggle, the chains slowly cut into their wrists. If they stay still, they're safe, but how long do you think they'll last in a dark room with no movement? We don't kill our prisoners, we just make them want to kill themselves"

Alexandria nodded and entered the cell as the guard closed it behind her.

She looked around the dark room and saw the silhouette of her mother curled up in the corner of the room. "Smells like a sewer in here," she thought as she sat down on a stone slab a few feet from her and waited. Olivia weakly lifted up her head and saw her daughter. Immediately she got up to embrace her but was held back by her chains. When her full person came into view, Alexandria saw the punishment she went through. She was chained up to the corner of the room, naked and soiled in her own urine, feces, and blood. Her once spotless skin was now shriveled and covered with scars. Most of her fingers were missing and the ones that were left, had their fleshed ripped out, exposing the bone underneath. Her long black hair that once majestically rested over her shoulders was burnt off, leaving only a few patchy remnants. Her right eye was missing, the blood vessels and nerves dangling out through the crevice of her closed eyelid, and her left eye just didn't give Alexandria the same warmth it once did.

"My daughter, I missed you," her voice crackled, to no reply.

Alexandria just glared at her mother, with anger.

"Say something, please. I'm begging you. They wouldn't let me talk to you two."

"And why would they, mother? Tell me, why exactly would they?" replied Alexandria

"Because you're my blood. My own children."

"Yet you destroyed our lives."

"I did what I had to do. There was no other choice. I pro-"

"YOU CHOPPED UP YOUR HUSBAND, AND FED HIM TO MY BROTHER!" Alexandria screamed, getting up from her seat. She immediately stopped herself, sat back down, took a deep breath, and spoke in a reduced tone this time. 

"What kind of a psychopath does that?"

"You don't understand how much I love you two. I couldn't bear to see him go to bed on an empty stomach," replied Olivia.

"Yeah, you did a damn good job at that. You filled his stomach but emptied his soul."

"I didn't know that would happen."

"What did you expect would happen then? You think Alexander would knowingly feast on the flesh of his own father because it tasted good? And what about father? Didn't you love him?"

"I loved him, but he destroyed our family, and he wouldn't even tell me why."

"Doesn't love entail trust? Why couldn't you trust him when he said the fate of the world depended on it?"

"Listen, daughter. You are young, and you do not understand this yet, but nothing in this world is black and white, it's all grey. The same honor that co-"

"I don't need a lecture from you now," interjected Alexandria. "You lost that right the moment you chopped up my father."

"Daughter, please, don't leave me," Olivia pleaded.

Alexandria got up from her seat and walked towards her mother. Olivia tugged against her chains and reached for her daughter's face, only a few centimeters short of it. She was so close, yet so far all the same. Alexandria looked right into her eye, and said;

"Listen, mo-, I mean, Listen Olivia. If I if ever find it in my heart to forgive you, I swear I'll come back for you, but until then, burn in hell."

With that, Alexandria turned to leave, ignoring her mother's cries behind her. All of a sudden, the cries stopped for a moment and then turned into heavy panting. She looked back at her mother and saw blood spurting out from her wrists. The chains sawed right through them.

"PLEASE DAUGHTER, DON'T LET ME DIE HERE. I WANT TO MEET ALEXANDER," she screamed.

Alexandria didn't say a word. She didn't move a muscle. All she did was watch. Watch the blood flow down her wrists like tears down the bark of a putrescent tree. She stared blankly at her and couldn't help but be a little bit scared. Not because her mother was dying, but because she didn't feel a thing. Did she just become the monster her mother was? Or was she watching divine justice at play here? She didn't know if she was confused or doubtful, but what she did know, was that she definitely wasn't remorseful.

"Pp-lease I'm -- be--gging you, d-on't l-et me d" Olivia managed to say just before the life left her body . Alexandria watched the pool of blood slowly grow larger, only stepping away as it almost seeped under her boots.

"Looks like forgiveness is out of the question," she said under her breath and walked out of the cell. She handed over the collar to the guard and walked out.

"Hey, what happened in there?" asked the guard.

Alexandria was silent for a moment. "What really did happen in there?" she thought. After what seemed like a long wait to the guard, Alexandria said, coldly;

"Justice."

While Alexandria confronted her mother, Alexander sulked in the corner of his crooked house, covered in his own shadows.

Two days have passed since the incident, but to him, he never left, he's still there. It's still happening, it always will. He could still feel the cold blast of air that preceded the sight of his father's dismembered body. He could still see his little hands covered in the blood, refusing to wash off. The feel of his father's head, subtly resting against his leg never left him. The scream of his friend Raynard still rang in his ears and the sight of his mother, hastily barging into the kitchen, that's one sight he can never forget. "Who is that woman? Is she my mother? Or a monster?" he thought at the time.

He relived that moment, again, and again, and again, and hours later, he lost his composure and burst out screaming. He started pulling at his hair and banging his head on the floor until the cracks brimmed with his blood. Suddenly, his head landed against something soft. He looked up and saw his sister kneeling in front of him. His eyes welled up with tears, and he hugged her.

"It's okay, brother. It's okay, I'm here now," she said

"It isn't, it's my fault, it's my fault. Just look at my hands, the blood won't wash off," he said, showing her his hands.

"There's nothing there, you're just imagining it. And who told you it's your fault."

"Nobody did," sniffed Alexander.

"Exactly, nobody thinks it's your fault. Our mother was a complicated person."

"She wasn't."

"What do you mean?" asked Alexandria, narrowing her eyebrows in confusion.

"There were so many signs, so many signs, I just missed them all. It's my fault I didn't know it would lead to this"

"Nobody thought it would lead to this, okay? Nobody could have imagined that"

"I could have. Father and mother would fight every single day. She would beat him up, and he didn't resist at all," he said.

"It's okay. What's done is done. There's nothing we can do to change what happened okay?"

"But we can make sure something like this will never happen again, ever, to anyone."

"Brother, you do not have to bear such a burden."

"Well, I have to. I promise you, from this day onward, I will never misjudge anyone, ever again. Never will anyone's evil intentions ever miss my intuition, that I promise."

"That's not nece-" said Alexandria before she was interrupted by a knock on the door.

She gently let go of her brother, and suspiciously walked towards the front entrance.

"Who is it?" she said out loud, forming shadows around her just in case the situation called for it.

"I am from the army," said a man's voice from behind the door.

"What does the army want with us?" she replied.

"We have come to offer you a place among our ranks."

"I don't want it, now leave," she said as she walked away from the door.

"Really? Do you not want stable living conditions for your brother?" said the man.

Alexandria stopped in her tracks and thought for a moment. This was all she wanted. A good life for her family, but not like this. She didn't want to fight, she just wanted to get a simple civilian job good enough to keep her family off the streets. Several minutes of consideration later, she decided against it.

"I'm sorry I mu-"

"I accept," said Alexander, interrupting her sister.

"What do you mean by 'I accept'? You stay out of this."

"I'm afraid I will not, sister," said Alexander as he got up and walked towards the door.

"I will learn to stand on my own feet, and there's no better place to teach you that than the military."

"Nonsense!" snapped back, Alexandria.

"Maybe it is, but you do not make my decisions for me," he replied, calmly as he looked right into her eyes and opened the door.

"Its abou- OH MY GOODNESS" exclaimed Alexander as he opened the door. Alexandria too was wonderstruck at what she saw. Never had any of them seen a person that tall, let alone the terrifying build that accompanied. They both fell back, unable to say a word, afraid.

"Do not worry kids," said the man as he got on one knee and helped them both up.

"Wh-o are y-you? Wh-at are you" stammered Alexandria.

"Well, for the what, I'm just a really tall Sapiocyte, nothing crazy there. As for the who, you can just call me Marshal Odysseus."