"Is she her sister?"

I frowned. "Who?"

A guy unlocked the door to a room and opened it for us to enter. Mom walked in first then turned in to face the guard.

"You can leave. Tell everyone I want to be alone," she waited for the guy to leave and shut the door behind him, "Karleen."

"Yeah, she's her younger sister."

She blew out air from her mouth and walked around the room. It was empty, save some dark paintings on the wall. "I heard you failed the mission because of Ade's daughter."

I stared blankly back at her, not knowing to say, I murmured some stupid words.

"Karleen, that's her name. I still remember her, she used to be a small girl then. She's beautiful, yes?"

I tried to keep pace with her but I failed. "Yes, mom."

"And that's why you're here, right?" She asked, turning back to face me.

I was glued to a spot. "Yes."

Her eyes narrowed, sparkling in devilry. "Come," she inserted a key into a hole I never saw before and opened the door. It led to a brighter room.

There was a mahogany desk at the center of the room, around it were five short chairs. She sat on one and urged me to sit in the one directly opposite her. I sat.

She brought out some books from a drawer and opened them. "For over ten years, I've been mapping out a plan to destroy the cult and her project." She slid the book over to me.

I flipped through the pages not really understanding the figures and words. I understood however, that she kept a yearly date. I opened the book from the back. The last date was last year. "You stopped?"

She whistled. "Yes."

"Why?"

"The plan," she blinked, "will never work."

"So you're giving up?"

"Yes. It's becoming a world project, son. It will be the rise of the demons and the fall of humans."

"Lives are at stake here. Karleen, mom, I love her," maybe I wasn't making enough sense to her.

"You chose the wrong person, son. She has been chosen before she was born. Ade and his wife knew their first daughter would be the specimen of the final invasion."

"Why was she chosen?" I didn't know when my hands balled into fists.

"Ask the Oracle."

I shook my head. "Mom, you're not understanding. I love her. There has to be something we can do. These plans...they have to work," I wiped the beads of sweat that formed on my temples.

She smiled, understandingly. "Things don't always go according to the plan. The eternity kingdom will worth her death."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Let. Her. Go.!"

Her words were cold water that woke me to a harsh reality. "Do u know how it feels? Why was I ever given this goddamn mission?"

"To set yourself and Jenna free! Isn't that enough reason to let go of a living dead?! Do you think I sacrificed all these years to hear my son talk like an idiot in love?"

I banged the table hard. "Is that your excuse for being scared of them? It's cowardice. Deal with it!"

"How dare you talk that way to me?"

I laughed. "Really? Who the hell are you? A mother?" I laughed sarcastically, "a woman that leaves her children to the claws of a beastly father isn't a mother!"

"Joshua!"

"Deal with it! All these years, I've dealt with the chaos. Dealt with the pain, the denial, the guilt... Of having a father. Sometimes, I just wish I fell down from the sky. Sometimes, I just wish I don't have to do the bad things because I want to be free. And you sit there telling me trash?"

"Joshua!!!"

I shook my head. "Don't 'Joshua' me. Don't. The plan can't work? Why is everyone I cherished on the other side? Why can't they see what I'm seeing?"

She stood up, her eyes were moist. "Because that would mean standing against your father!"

"So? If you can't face my father how would you face the Dread?"

She closed her eyes and tears dropped down her cheeks. She sniffed. "You don't know. Do you?"

"Know what?" I bit my lip hard, something i learnt from Karleen.

"You can't stop the Dread. Never," Tumise said, pacing round the room.

I tried to be calm. "Why?"

"He's the Almighty Dread. You're my little boy, I don't want to lose you. Not again," her voice lacked the right emotions, making me doubt her words.

"That's not all. Hasn't it always been your plan to destroy the Dread and their project? Wasn't that why you left us? To go in search for enough power, you said. Now," I swallowed, "you suddenly don't want to stop him."

"The Dread is my husband," she said, maintaining eye contact.

I creased my eyebrows. "You didn't tell me you remarried."

She pulled a chair for balance and support. Leaving me to steel myself for the weight of her next words. "No. The Dread is your father."

My world spined a thousand and one times in a second. Oops! My shock absorber just crashed. I just stared, void of the right emotions.

***
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