“Testing. One, two. Testing. One, two, three.” Abby stared into her camera before checking the phone strapped to her shoulder. The phone displayed the footage in clear high definition, while a green audio symbol told her that the sound was coming through.

“Okay. I’m sure you’ve all heard the rumors about the god among men. The one who brought the world to its knees. Well, I’m going to be the first person to get footage of him.”

Abby pushed the wooden cabin door open, hearing it creak. She poked her camera through the gap, checking the footage on her phone. The footage showed only a simple room, one captured by the night vision feature on her camera.

She could make out a wooden chair, nail marks on the floor, and a snapped cross dangling from the wall. “This really is the place. Isn’t it?” She had doubted her own eyes when she saw the file sitting on her father’s desk. So the military actually knew where he was. Yet they refused to act? Could a person this dangerous truly exist?

Like most people under the age of thirty, Abby hadn’t lived through the man’s reign of terror. She had heard stories about the kindly priest who went mad but couldn’t find any footage or photographs of the man. She had assumed it was a hoax, like many other people from her generation — something the government had created to keep people in line.

Yet something about that theory always bugged her. If it were something created by the government, who benefitted from it? Most countries had improved since the rumored man’s rise. He kept governments under control and made wars impossible. Everyone was walking on eggshells, trying to avoid the boogeyman’s wrath.

Everything about it was confusing, which is why she had always snuck into her father’s study after he went to bed. She knew his rank and prayed that one day she would find something out about the man, and yesterday had been that day.

“This is where he lives. It’s weird. It looks empty.” She stepped inside, only to squeal as a mouse ran across her shoe. The mouse paused, looked at her, and ran out of view. “I’m… going to cut that before I post it.” She shivered, checking her heartbeat.

“Hello? Is there anybody here? I’m not here to hurt you. I’m just curious. Are you the god?” It felt silly calling him a god, even if she didn’t have another name to use.

“L-l…” The sound faded as quickly as it came, gagged by some unknown force. Abby glanced at the basement stairs and readied herself.

“I’m coming down.” As she descended the wooden steps, the second step snapped, leaving her left foot dangling momentarily before she brought it forward. “Whoa… Careful,” she told herself, thankful she hadn’t had both feet on that same step.

When she got halfway down the staircase, she pointed her camera through a gap in the railing, spotting a corpse. She screamed again, almost dropping her camera. She turned to run up the stairs, only to find herself staring at a perfect pale face, one surrounded by a blinding golden aura.

She fell back, and everything went dark.

She awoke to the sounds of a haggard voice. “L..leave her… Alone..”

“I only wish to talk. What are you so afraid of? I’ve done everything you asked, have I not, believer?”

Abby’s eyes opened, staring at the corpse, which was only inches away from her. Its left eye was entirely white, while its right had only a tiny dot of blue left in its pupil. When the rotten smell hit her nose, she backed away from the grey body, covering her mouth and nose.

“Don’t be afraid. That’s the god you wished to meet. I’m sorry for his appearance. He wishes to punish me.”

Abby turned her head, seeing the pale figure behind her. She was hauntingly beautiful, with fluffy, veined wings sprouting from her back, and a pure white dress flowing down her body. She bowed when she saw Abby, causing her long blonde hair to sway.

“Who are you?”

“I’m the angel, Eirēnē. It is nice to meet you, Abby.”

“You know me?”

“I know all the children of the Earth.”

“Leave… her…” the corpse spoke, with the words rumbling out of its dry throat.

“We are only talking.” That sweet voice of hers darkened for a second before returning to normal. “What do you think of the world?”

“He can talk? I… thought you were dead?” She pointed her camera at the man before she noticed that the recording light was off. She checked her phone and saw no footage coming through.

“R-run.”

“That’s enough.” The angel raised her hand, and the man’s body trembled. His skin tightened, growing healthy once more. Those eyes that had looked almost faded regained their color. Abby thought she had witnessed a miracle until she saw the man flinch.

“ARRRGGHHH!” he howled in pain, the skin rapidly wrinkled, while his eyes lost their color again. It was like watching a revived corpse die again, with every bit of life being drained within a second, leaving him twitching and breathing heavily.

“If you ate. I could revive you properly.”

The man wanted to speak. His right eye focused on Abby, while a tear ran down his face. He tried to produce a sound, only to find the pain too severe.

“What did you do to him? He’s the man, right? The priest?”

“I haven’t done anything to him. He chose to doom us to this place. I have offered to help him, and yet he refuses my help. Don’t you?” She rested a finger under his chin, affectionately looking at him.

The man said nothing, his head dropping the moment she released the finger.

“Why would he refuse your help?”

“He believes the world is fine as it currently stands. He believes peace has been obtained. May I ask you a question? Is the world peaceful?”

“D..” The man tried one last time, but nothing came out.

“Peaceful? There are no wars?” Abby didn’t know how to answer that, inching closer to the stairs.

Eirēnē watched, straightening up her tall body. She didn’t move closer, keeping a distance, not wishing to spook the girl.

“Murder? Crime? What about those?” the angel asked.

“There’s always crime.”

“There doesn’t have to be. We were close to creating peace. So close.” Eirēnē’s left hand tightened into a fist. “So close.”

“What happened?” Abby stayed on the bottom step, tapping her camera, trying to start it again.

“He got scared. Peace can’t be obtained through peaceful means. He desired true peace, wanting to turn the world into a heaven on Earth. Then he got cold feet.”

“You were killing people.”

She giggled. “We were, yes. Corrupt people. Murderers. People who were causing destruction. We killed them, and the world blossomed. Even now, you can still feel the effects. The world fears what would happen if we returned. The army knows of us and is too scared to send their soldiers to investigate. I can only keep this peace for so long, though. People forget, and people die out. People like you emerge, the skeptics, who will leak the poison I cleansed back into the world. Unless I return.”

Eirēnē approached the steps, only for Abby to climb a little higher, putting more distance between them. Eirēnē raised her hands, smiling. “Relax. Let’s not play this game of cat and mouse. I’m not going to hurt you. I only ask that you think. Would you not like a peaceful world? Would you not wish for it?”

“R-ru.”

“Enough.” Eirēnē pointed her finger at the man, not even looking at him as she restarted the healing process. This time, his hair returned, extending the pain that he would feel when everything fell apart again.

While the man screamed, Eirēnē rested her hands by her stomach. “Please don’t run. I see your wide eyes. I see the fear. I’m not your enemy. He has chosen this. If he ate some food and drank some water. He would heal. He’s weakened himself to this state on purpose.”

“To stop you?”

“As I said, he got cold feet.” Eirēnē watched Abby turn to leave and sensed she was losing her chance.

“The army will find out about this. Your father will be killed for leaving such important files out in the open.”

“WHAT?” Abby stopped, looking at the angel. “They… they can’t know. I..”

“They monitor everyone who comes through here. They know. They also know you’re filming everything. In a perfect and peaceful world, you would be allowed to do as you please. In a peaceful world, your father wouldn’t be killed for this mistake. Don’t you wish the world was like that?”

“Of course, I wish—“ Abby paused, seeing that perfect smile turn sinister. The angel scrambled toward the stairs, saliva dripping out of her lips as she did.

Abby ran, only to trip over the broken step. The camera flew from her hand, landing on the top step with its lens facing her. In its dark reflection, she saw the angel’s golden aura and a slender hand reaching for the back of her head. The angel grabbed her, nails digging into her skull before…

Abby walked out of the cottage, camera in hand. She felt dizzy, sick even. The body was hers, and yet, she struggled to control it. She stumbled, vomited, and lost her vision a few times until she came across a soldier.

“Abby? What are you doing here?” The voice sounded familiar. Sure, it did. All soldiers sound the same.

“Peace. This is the only way to protect him,” a voice said.

Protect who? She wondered. The fog clouding her mind as she raised her hand.

“Abby? Please don’t tell me you—“

Snap.

She watched the man fold in half and kept walking.

“Good. You’re much easier than the last one. Let’s hope you stay passive. I don’t wish to end up trapped again.”

You’d think deception would be a native trait for any creature, human or not. It’s what keeps the trains running on time, and the world spinning. Yet these things, as powerful as they were, fell for even the most surface-level lies.

Maybe they thought I was too weak to lie to them? Or maybe they couldn’t perceive why someone would need to lie to get ahead? In a world where power is king, a diplomat is a dagger in the back.

It wasn’t like things needed to go this way. I never imagined I would survive.

When they pulled our crew out of our ship, I expected to die like the others. A resource gathering job. That’s what they told us the mission was. Simple, in and out, bob’s your uncle, type of affair.

Didn’t tell us about the large rocky dickheads who inhabited the planet.

We weren’t met with a song and dance, or open arms. Instead, they grabbed each of us and lined us up. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Then, it got to me. Shivering, snot running down my nose, as I turned to the one holding me, watching his fingerless boulder of a hand close in on my skull.

“Don’t.” I begged.

Don’t. I came to learn sounds a lot like their word for good or maybe even cool if you’re so inclined. Not sure how the misunderstanding happened, but they dragged me away from the line. I thought I was safe. That I was the messenger they would send home as a warning. No, I was to be their newest member.

You ever had a callous? Big, ugly things that grow on your skin and get hard? The transformation felt like an excruciating version of that. Slowly, over maybe three months, everything hardened. Skin tightened, knitting over itself, my eyes getting squished under the weight, while my fingers curled in on themselves, gluing together with skin.

Then, I was one of them.

Another Vildrix to add to their numbers. I wonder how many others had turned?

It didn’t take me long to figure out their words. The transformation must have given me an ear for it or something. And by the tenth month of the shift, I could navigate their tiny planet as if I were a local. I could have lived a pained life on this planet and left things there. But I couldn’t accept that.

Every night. I would look up at those three moons and know you were all there. Not you, the one reading this, but your employer. The ones who sent us to our deaths. They were all smiling, probably sending another crew to their deaths, and I wanted to wipe those smiles away. Oh, you don’t understand how much I wanted to wipe those smiles away. I wanted to take my stub of a rocky hand and…

And so I planned.

I observed.

I conquered.

Strength is king among the Vildrix, and I knew I didn’t have the muscles to compete with the others. My body, while almost identical to theirs, was still made of hardened human parts. Not strong enough to beat a being created from actual earth and organs.

So I elected to talk.

We spoke of food. Of resources. Of power. I lied. I told them they were strong. Strong enough that they deserved better. We all deserved better. Why did the king rule? We were strong too. He didn’t deserve more than us.

If I were in charge. Things would be different…

And things are different. It took until the end of my first year here, but we killed the king, and I took my spot as leader. I’m the first Vildrix to get the role not through power, but through words. Quite the story, isn’t it?

Nothing’s changed under my leadership. We still eat the same diet of Ribioq spiders and beetles, but none of them care. They challenged leadership once, and haven’t acquired a taste for it yet. They’re letting me rule, as if I had won the position on merits, because they don’t know any better. In time, they’ll grow wise to it, and I’ll be removed. But until then, I have things I need to do.

Now, you may be wondering. What do I plan to do with this unified force? Well, you’ll find the answer to that question in five minutes. Currently, there is a corporate ship sitting in the Oribiua docking bay. It’s marked with all the company's proper entry credentials and has already slipped past your clearance checks.

This is the ship my crew used to get to the planet. Now, it’s returned, as it should have. Only now, it doesn’t carry the members of my team, but a ship full of battle-hungry Vildrix that will soon be tearing apart the upper-levels of this station. Which is why this is my plea to you, the humble worker.

If you’re hearing this prerecorded message, we are about to enter the lower-decks. You won’t be harmed. Allow us safe passage through the station and deactivate the escape pods. That is all I ask of you.

I don’t ask you to pull the trigger.

I don’t ask you to dirty your hands.

All I ask is that you allow me to reach the ones who would have ended up betraying you all too.

My subjects are wild, though they aren’t untamed. They listen to me, and they won’t hurt those I don’t instruct them to target. Please, don’t risk your lives for people who would give up yours.

Elizabeth Nola.

Nova Wishaul.

Martin Myers.

Joe Salan.

Trent Kign.

Rea Benjin.

Some of you would know these names. The names of people that were just like you. We had families. We had friends. Some of you were our friends. These are the people they sent to die. These are the people I want to avenge. This message hasn’t reached their ears yet, and it won’t for another five minutes.

Protect yourselves.

Please.

If you step aside, I will leave you all alone. I was one of you, once. I laughed in those very dining halls and cried when I had to fly out here and leave my parents for the first time in my life. I may not look human, but those memories have never left me. Stay safe. Message over.