Lord of Annihilation

Chapter 364: Interlude. Part 1

Tak. Tak. Tak. Tak.

The rhythmic clatters of a pair of stilettos as they struck against the metal floor resounded throughout the narrow corridor. 

"HumuHmmhumu," softly humming the catchy tune of a song, the woman in the stilettos continued through the empty corridor.

Her steps had a slight pep to them while her slender fingers rhythmically tapped on the transparent, tablet-like device that she held in her hands. Judging solely from her actions alone, it was quite evident that the woman was in an excellent mood.

Arriving at the end of the corridor, she stopped before a white door with a metallic sheen and an inlaid silver emblem embossed in its center; a triangular spaceship surrounded by a wreath of olive branches.

This was the symbol of the largest technological manufacturing company in the Southern Quadrant of the Universe, the UEM or to expand, United Empire of Mankind.

Tapping once on the surface of a circle-shaped device resting above her let ear to pause the music, the woman then raised the silver badge hanging around her neck and scanned it against the terminal by the side of the door.

{ID Confirmed. Welcome Lady Reyna Snowden}

The AI announced in its usual mechanical tone and the white-colored door opened. 

Cheerfully stepping into the room, Reyna then walked a few steps before stopping. Lifting the transparent device resting in her arms, she glanced at her face to confirm her appearance.

Behind a pair of sleek, silver-rimmed glasses laid her round, brilliantly glittering emerald-colored eyes. Her pale, beautiful face had matured wonderfully over the last five years, giving her an elegant yet sophisticated office-lady vibes. 

Her height and figure hadn't seen any significant changes in recent years and had only matured with her age; which was in the late-twenties.

That was not to say that she was without any changes.

Reyna's soft and shimmering blonde hair which previously extended to cover her entire back was now cut to just above her shoulders, assuming the bob-cut style. 

"Haah. Good thing I remember to check my hair," Reyna quietly spoke to herself and used her hand to part the bang covering her forehead. 

Brushing the rest of her hair woodenly using her hands, she then confirmed her final appearance and nodded with satisfaction.

"Perfect."

Lowering the makeshift mirror, she then proceeded to walk atop the carpeted floor and arrived before a semi-transparent, glass door leading to an office.

Knock. Knock.

Carefully knocking on the surface of the door, she then proceeded to wait while hugging the device within her hands.

"Come in," a soullessly frigid voice replied. 

Exhaling a light sigh, Reyna pushed open the glass door and entered. 

"Heey, Anya!~ How are you doing?" she asked, enthusiastically.

Sitting behind a large, silver desk, Anya, whose eyes were focused on the holographic monitor on her table and fingers were tapping on a transparent keyboard, bluntly replied.

"Functional."

Hearing that response, the smile on Reyna's face grew strained. An awkward expression appeared on her face as she cringingly replied, "haha, that's wonderful. Glad to hear that."

Silence descended and the air inside the room turned even more awkward.

Pausing her rhythmic tapping, Anya turned her gaze towards Reyna and asked, "Your report?"

"Uh? Oh yes, my report! Got it right here!" Reyna raised the transparent tablet within her hand and waved it. 

She then proceeded to open the device, selected a few files, and sent them to the terminal on Anya's desk.

"There. I sent it to your system. Anyways, to briefly sum it up," seeing Anya's gaze return to the holographic screen, Reyna continued, "We got two new recruits on the team, both at Low-Level Stage 2. Really nice and creative people, I quite like them."

"Keep it brief." 

Rolling her eyes, Reyna continued, "The factory produced thirteen more Androids this week, all ready to enter the workforce. No major breakthrough in any of our projects, no injuries, no deaths, yada, yada, yada, it's basically the same thing as last week." She concluded with a sigh.

"Understood. You may leave," Anya bitingly dismissed.

Hearing that cold reply, Reyna hung her head, turned around, and walked towards the glass doors. Touching the semi-transparent door with her palm, she suddenly paused and turned around.

"You know, I've been feeling very worried about you," wearing an expression of concern, she softly spoke, "You've been different ever since Alex'sdisappearance."

"His death," came the reply.

"We don't know that for sure!" Reyna raised her head and strongly inserted. "There was no body or traces of blood in the scene. Plus, you saw those readings from the scan! There were signs of spatial instability in that area and the time matches with the day they had that fight!"

"There is a high chance that he is still alive!" Reyna encouragingly declared. "He's just stuck in a distant part of space. Somewhere far away."

Reyna's speech seemed to have finally elicited a reaction from Anya as the latter raised her unusually pale, bloodless face and looked at the former.

A cold, detached gaze was present within her eyes and a mocking smile appeared on her lips.

"High chance? Are you kidding me, Reyna?" Anya loudly scoffed. "The chances of him surviving are the same as a black hole manifesting within this office in the next instant."

She then paused for an instant and continued, "See? Zero."

"Well, technically, it isn't zero but rather, 0.0000"

"What do you want?" Anya impatiently asked.

"I want you to leave this room! Go outside somewhere! Anywhere!" Reyna said in exasperation. "I've been coming to his room weekly to hand you my reports for the last year! Do you know how many weeks that is? 52! FIFTY-TWO!!"

"No one, apart from me, has seen you in an entire year! Hell, some of the management staff are wondering whether you're alive or not!"

Slamming her hands on the desk, Anya rose to her feet and screamed, "What do you want me to do then!!?"

"Do you know how painful it is for me every day!? DO YOU!? I- I-" 

Tears started to fall down Anya's eyes and her shoulders started to tremble. Seeing this, Reyna immediately rushed towards her friend and held her in a tight hug.

"Ev-every waking moment, I think back to that day. To our last interaction," Anya tightly hugged Reyna and clenched her fists. "We fought. We fu*king FOUGHT! And I refused to talk to him, listen to his explanation, or even see him!"

"N-now I wonder if only I-I had been by his side that day. I-if only I had talked to him. I-If only w-we hadn't fought. Wou-would he still be here to-today?" she sobbed.

"Can you imagine the pain, the guilt that I have to live with? I-I can't sleep at night because I always end up dreaming about that day! I can't eat as it always makes me feel sick in the stomach!"

Anya buried herself into Reyna's hug and continued to cry. As the former held her within her arms, she realized for the first time how unnaturally thin and weak Anya's body was.

For the past five years, Reyna had seen Anya's though outward demeanor, her strong battle strength as she dealt with some troubles, her efficient, no-nonsense work ethic, etc.

But only now, did she realize that all of it was a mask. 

A mask, Anya had desperately worn to hide the pain and guilt within her heart.

"I-if only I-I hadn't instigated that fight. If o-only it h-had been me instead of him. I wouldn't have to live with this pain every day!"

"I-it's all, my fault!!" 

Reyna's eyes suddenly shot open as she grabbed her friend by her trembling shoulders. Pulling her from the hug, she fiercely stared into her eyes and strongly said, "Take that back."

"It's not your fault! Don't ever, EVER think that!!"

"You didn't cause that monster to come and you sure as hell didn't tell Alex to jump headfirst into danger!"

"Alex's actions that day were solely his own. Not you or anybody forced him! Was it incredibly stupid? Without a doubt! But he always was a little dumb. Remember how long it took him to realize that you liked him?" 

Hearing that sentence caused Anya to lightly chuckle through her tears as she fondly recalled. 

Seeing that her words had an effect, Reyna continued. "Man, he was so utterly dumb! I literally had to tell it to his face for him to realize! Even then, that bastard had the audacity to call me a liar and dismiss it as a joke!"

"I remember thinking to myself at that time, 'Maybe it's better that Anya doesn't end up with this idiot. Life with such an idiot would be torturous!'" 

"Hehe"Anya's giggle got a little louder and the tremble in her shoulder's stopped. With her face still facing the floor below her, Anya faintly said, "he really is a dumb idiot, isn't he?"

With her sharp hearing and even sharper mind, Reyna immediately caught the unconscious nuance in Anya's sentence.

Wearing a smile on her face, Reyna enthusiastically said, "Yep. A dumb but handsome idiot. Well, not as handsome as that other guy, though." She said recalling an earlier childish crush of hers.

Overseeing the growth of Mankind and leading a massive department of her own had allowed Reyna to really grow as a person over the last five years. 

Thinking back now, she truly realized how childish, one-sided and stupid her crush had been on Lucius. Her later outburst against him and Olivia, now had her physically cringing with shame and embarrassment whenever she recalled it. 

Still, he couldn't bring herself to call Lucius by his name. She often referred to him as 'that guy', 'him', 'you know who', and other names of similar effect.

Patting and rubbing Anya's back, Reyna released her from the hug and asked, "Feeling better now?"

"Uh-uhn," Anya nodded her head, her face still stiff and marked with tears.

"Remember, don't ever lose hope. We live in a world where magic, LITERALLY, exists! Even if he somehow managed to die, I'm sure there is some way to revive him."

"So lighten up and come with me. Let's have a girl's night out, just the two of us," Reyna suggested with a smile.

Anya's forehead furrowed in thought as she mentally ran over the number of tasks she had pending. Just as she was about to answer, the computer on her desk suddenly flashed with a message.

"This is" Being the one nearer to the machine, Reyna leaned over and checked the message. Instantly, a look of surprise and worry appeared on her face.

Anya, who also managed to check the message, immediately went into 'work' mode.

"Looks like our Captain is in trouble."

The decrypted message on the computer read

{TRAINING OVER. CURRENTLY FUGITIVES. 

SECRETLY MEET US AT 'XX-XXXX-XXX-XXXXXXXXXX-XXX-XXXXX'

- OLIVIA M}