Destiny.

It's a queer word, and has an even more queer meaning.

To think our futures are pre-ordained, to think we have no control over it, is, quite frankly, the wrong attitude. We're the only ones in charge of our future, of our DESTINY. We decide which path we want to take, and how far we get on it. Some would cite the events out of our control as reason for their thought processes, but they, too, are wrong. The events out of our control can only affect our surroundings, not us. And we can change our surroundings. Therefore, if we deem them undesirable in any way, we have the power to change them to our liking. After all, humans have been doing that for the past 7 million years or so.

When the General offered me those two choices, I was in complete charge of my destiny. Yes, my surroundings thrust this opportunity upon me, but whether I took it or not was left entirely up to me. Till date, I have not regretted my decision.

This is not to say, however, that my decision didn't have any consequences. It did, and by the sun, there were some big ones that I could never have foreseen. One of these major changes, was, of course, the sharpening of my wit and the heightening of my intellect. Another one of these changes was not even in me, but in my friends. Unbeknownst to me, they had broken at least 6 different Laws in their desperate but futile attempts to locate me, and this had fostered in them a rebellious spirit which ensured they would never be given the same opportunity as me. Slowly, however, as realisation that I would not return settled, they changed in different ways.

Evgenomorfus became angry, ready to blast any living or non-living thing to shreds at the slightest provocation.

Xotik became morose and increasingly sought solace in his own company, away from everyone else.

Blemat became a delightfully cheerful person, trying his level best to raise the spirits of our friends in any way possible, yet failing nonetheless.

The three of them stopped communicating with each other, despite the best attempts of Blemat, and the efficiency with which our group used to function, was now destroyed. Soon, Lord Tafos began relieving them of responsibility, until they were being assigned missions falling under Category F (the lowest category, comprising of missions of little importance).

I, on the other hand, was having the time of my life as a General. My life had never been better, and I couldn't be happier. The Supreme Commander was happy with my performance as the General, I had patched things up with my dear mother and I would set aside time every week to have a bottle of apple cider with The Emperor. It was a good time in my life, but it was soon going to get much, much worse.

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I was poring over the latest updates coming in from the army at the various frontiers, marking the areas where we needed to change things in red holo-pen (some practices never change, even after millions of years). I was swiping to my right to see the next update after finishing one on the North-East Frontier when a soft voice ran through my head. It was so filled with pain and anguish that even I quivered, from just hearing it.

Melsur.... Come back....

Blemat? Is that you?

We need you.

What happened??

Something terrible has happened. Please come back.

By the sun, what's happened?!

Xotik-

The transmission stopped abruptly. I broke out in a cold sweat. Xotik? What had happened to him?

"Blemat!" I screamed, "Tell me what happened!"

I instantly teleported to my old quarters at the Quentalorion.

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I'd teleported into a room filled with people who barely came up to my knee, surrounding a bed. From this sea of tiny elves, I spotted Morfus, clenching his fists as angry tears streamed down his cheeks. Blemat was kneeling by the side of the bed, silently convulsing. And Xotik...

He was lying on a bed, a gaping hole in his chest. He was taking laboured breaths, which grew increasingly shorter as time passed. I rushed towards him, pushing the elves away. Before I could reach, however, a fist crashed into my face and I was thrown backwards. I barely registered Morfus' blood-red face before he began pummeling me with angry punches, each of which created a crater in that part of body. 

"You did this!" Morfus angrily screamed, smashing his fist into my nose, "This is all because of you!" He collapsed, and began crying uncontrollably. "You did this.... you did th-this."

I knelt by him, controlling my anger at being attacked with great difficulty, my anger being eclipsed by the tremendous grief I felt too at seeing one dear friend lying on the bed like that, and the other lying on the floor by his bed like this.

"What happened, Morfus? How did this happen?" I choked out.

He turned away from me silently, his fists still clenched. Blemat walked towards me and helped me up.

We were on a mission. In case you didn't know, ever since you left and refused to come back, Tafos has been giving us Category F missions. We were out on one of those, we had to inspect some fluctuations in the matter-antimatter balance at U-Sector 57. It all happened so suddenly. One second we were using the meter, not talking to each other and recording the fluctuations, trying to figure out a cause, and the next... A group of Machites ambushed us. I and Morfus were busy taking the recordings, but Xotik was just pacing irritably- he used to do that a lot these days. That's why he was the first one they saw, and he saw them too. Gave us enough warning so that we could get ready- he even killed 10 of the Machites himself. We finished the rest off, and we'd just begun congratulating each other, when we heard Xotik let out a groan as he fell. He'd-

He again began convulsing, as he threw himself to the side of the bed, clutching Xotik's small hands tightly.

I was thunderstruck and I slowly walked towards the bed. I looked at him for three seconds, and yelled, "We can do something, can't we?! We have so many facilities, the Emergency Kit, we'll get him the best healers! Come on, guys, don't give up, we have to do something! Guys-" My voice got choked off by the tears threatening to escape my eyes. Xotik's unfortunate father got up from Xotik's bedside and gingerly patted the highest part of me he could reach, my elbow. 

Xotik had heard my voice, and with great difficulty, he looked up.  His eyes sparkled with joy, despite the tremendous pain he must have been in, and smiled at me. He weakly squeaked, "We found you, friend." He turned to Morfus and Blemat and held their hands. "We found him, guys! We found-" He gasped, let out a terrible, heart-wrenching groan, and his head fell upon the pillow, his eyes closing for the final time.

He then shut off the recorder, his eyes closing tightly to prevent any tears leaking out. He shakily stumbled out of the room.