Just outside the cave, Asceia watched the elders of the Order hold their hands. Even if she was not reading their minds but she knew right away they were controlling every mind and body of serceans. She was about to attack and stop them when suddenly, her sight went dark and she can’t feel her body anymore. Asceia’s body trembled for a second and then her eyes opened.

“This body is nice,” a familiar voice spoke in her mind.

“But we can’t inhabit this body together,” another voice argued.

“There they are, the serceans who fed us to the memraes,” one of them said and they all focused on the Order.

“It’s time for payback. Let’s take those bodies.”

The consciousness that was using Asceia’s body went back inside the cave and swam down to the deepest part of the cave, to the memory chamber. Her hands scooped some memrae that was crawling out of the cracks and quickly headed back outside. As the organism started settling on her scaly claws, it tapped into Asceia’s body and began expanding, wrapping around her arms. The consciousness using Asceia’s body peeled off the memrae and let the currents carry it toward the elders that were clueless as to what will happen. The organism that relies on feeding memories to survive, shaped itself like a leaf and moved in the water in an undulating manner. It was attracted to the nearest living organism it can find, so it divided itself into five.

Unaware of the presence of the organism, the parents of the Order were horrified when the memrae clung to their bodies. They were about to peel it off of them when they were attacked by Asceia. They were scratched by her claws and whipped by her tail with a stinger. With their divided attention and fear, the memrae made its way to their head and started sucking their memories. The Order lost their influence on their people as they try to remove the memrae and fought Asceia at the same time. Until they stopped struggling and their body just shake involuntarily.

Asceia woke up confused. She found herself near her mother and the rest of the elders of the Order. But it wasn’t them, she can’t sense the presence of the Order. They were all looking at her. As her eyes landed on the Mother of Faunanceans, she witnessed how she manipulated the memrae off of their bodies and made it wrap into her arms. Right at that moment, the truth struck her.

“Yrevia...”

“Thank you for setting us free.” The voice of Yrevia came from her mother’s body. She was speechless, she had no words to explain the fear and anger filling up her insides. She was about to attack them when Yrevia screamed so loud. Her sound swept her away. She felt her flesh and scales were bruised and torn from the vibrations of her voice. Without the Song and the Voice of the Ocean, she has nothing against them.

“We know what’s going on. The Order waged a war against humans, if we existed during those critical times, I would also ask for their blood...but today we’re not. I’m giving you a favor, Asceia. For saving our consciousness, we are giving you a chance. We’re going to stop the attack and reform this Order, in exchange for your silence. Leave the water and never come back. There will be no bloodshed for our Order will focus on a different path.”

“The serceans will know.”

“Oh, they won’t. We’ll make sure of that, as long as you leave. You’re already dead to them, right?”

“You won’t get away with this---” She attempted to attack again, but she failed when several thick kelps wrapped her arms, tail, and body, constricting her from moving. She fought hard to break free but the being possessing the body of the Father of Floraceans kept making the kelps stronger.

“You’re stubborn, aren’t you?” Yrevia wearing her mother’s body came closer to her. “I was like you before...and look what happened.” She chuckled and the other beings inhabiting the body of the members of the Order surrounded her. “We gave you a chance and you wasted that. You did this to yourself.”

And they all started chanting words.

••°°••

THE SUPERIOR IN one of the Herozoan Genetics’ secret bases of operations watched the thermal imaging on the coast where they detected the presence of serceans near the surface. He was looking at them intently, trying to figure out their next move.

“Our men are getting closer to the drop sites, sir,” Helena informed him through the earpiece he was wearing.

“Let’s catch them properly this time...” he muttered and took a deep breath.

His phone rang from his pocket, diverting his attention. He took it out and stared at the unregistered number calling. His brows furrowed as he removed his earpiece. He answered the call and put the device on his left ear. “Hello? Who’s this?”

“Your organization has been disobeying my decisions for a while.” The cold voice of a man brought fear to him when he recognized who it was. “Your operations are risking us.”

“S...Sir, I’m just mopping the mess of Mr. Santos---”

“His mess is also your mess.” The man scoffed. “It’s funny they call you the Superior, do they even know that you are serving us?”

“Sir, w...we have made significant breakthroughs.” He was breathless. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead despite the low temperature of the room. “Give us a chance.”

“Yes, I know. Your discovery advanced our projects. But what we need is a team that operates in the dark, no breadcrumbs left in the way.”

“Sir, please...”

“Don’t worry, we’ll continue the project. In respect of your loyalty to the cause, I’ll give you a ten-second headstart.”

The call ended. He froze. His tears started streaming down his face, mixing with his sweat. His hands were trembling and he lost his grip on his phone. The next thing he heard was the sound of his phone that dropped to the floor and the screams of people just outside his office. His eyes darted to the vent on the corner of the ceiling, even though his vision was blurry, he still noticed the smoke flooding in and filling up his room. As much as he wanted to contain his agony and discomfort, he can’t stop himself from screaming out the burning pain inside his nose, throat, chest, and stomach after inhaling the gas. The pain was too much that he lost his strength and consciousness at the same time.

As the wail of the scientists, doctors, and guards faded, silence filled the secret base of Herozoan Genetics. The toxic gas kept spreading, burning the flesh of anyone in contact, breaking down the organic matter, until there was nothing but dust.

••°°••

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