I didn’t know who Jay was anymore. His Dark, parasitic self, the bloodlust filled monster that never missed a chance to fight, had saved me twice now in less than a day. I was certain he didn’t do it for me, but I couldn’t deny the fact that he had first plunged at me and then at the warriors.

The three of them moved too fast for me to keep up with their moves. I didn’t know who was winning or losing, and I certainly couldn’t find a good way to help Dark Jay.

But, at the end of the day, I didn’t know if he needed any help. He seemed to be going par-to-par with the two warriors, if not getting the best of them. From what I picked up, Jay used the back of his hands to minimize the damage, and his feet to attack.

So good a job he did that his two enemies were starting to back away. They talked to each other to a strange language, something from the North Quarter of the Known Galaxy. I couldn’t pick up a word, but I stood up and ran towards Silver.

“What did they say?”

Only a moment later, my assistant translated everything to me: “They have a mission. They want to stop us from getting to the top, even if they have to die in the process.”

Shit. They’re ready to go down to stop him.

At that moment, I felt like I couldn’t pick sides in this battle. Dark Jay had saved me twice now, but his monstrous strength intimidated and frightened me. But the other two men tried to kill me, so it was not easy to feel compassionate about them.

“Zan, no! Stop!” I heard Silver suddenly shouting.

I turned and saw the young Zan running to take part in the battle. He blended in quite well, using his young and supple physique to help Dark Jay. Only that something was wrong with him.

“He’s losing speed. He’s turning back to the other Jay,” I finally noticed.

I felt somehow relieved that Dark Jay returned to his slumber, but right now I thought that there was no way he could handle the two men in front of him.

Zan must have realized that before us because he got there just in time to save him. The young boy wasn’t so physically adept as Jay, but he seemed like he had a plan.

“Jay, attack!” the boy said, shouting.

Jay used his hands to punch in front of him. One of his two adversaries tried to stop him only for Zan to kick the man’s arm. Jay’s punch connected, breaking his target’s neck, while the other guy fell on the ground with a broken arm, unable to move.

The battle ended with Jay stomping the other man on the head, making him lose his senses. At that moment, he turned and looked at me.

“Where am I? What’s going on Eladia?”

And that was when it dawned on me. Every time in the past, when he turned to Dark Jay, we could somehow explain the transition. Now, many hours later and after changing our location, he must have been really confused on what had happened.

“Jay, I’ll explain things to you later. Now we have to hurry to the top floor.”

He didn’t move. He stood there, looking at his hands, searching for a clue of what had happened but he was unable to find any.

Shit, I fucked everything up.

“Jay, please trust me on this. We have to go. Now!” I said to him one last time.

This time, he heard me and managed to snap from his deep thoughts. I felt bad for not telling the truth, but something was wrong here, and it was closely connected to the cube reacting to something in this building.

We ran all the way to the elevators, and we all rode one. In a moment, we were on the top floor, the only lit up place of the whole building. I could hear the clanking of metal on metal, the distinctive sound of a fight.

“It comes from the main room. We have to hurry,” Silver said.

As we ran to the main area of the floor, I could see three men fighting. I recognized the tattoos on the sleeveless arms of the two of them, signs of the Originators.

I stopped and urged the rest of them to do the same. “Stop. We’ll only get on their way. They are Originators, the most elite soldiers of the known galaxy. We’ll only make things worse if we rush in there now.”

I had seen Originators fight in the past, but this was nothing like that. The duo moved in perfect unison, backing each other up, using their bodies as support, making the impossible possible. Exactly like Dark Jay had done before.

I looked at Jay, but he seemed way too lost in his thoughts. I didn’t know what to do to make him come back, but it was like our time together was not enough for him to get more intimate with me.

I was ready to say something when I heard a loud shout coming from inside the room, where the battle raged.

“Antony!” a woman bellowed.

Their adversary, a man with a dark red demon mask in the style of the ancient Japanese ones, ornate with black lines and two, small horns, managed to kill one of the two Originators.

I capped my mouth with my hand, and I tried to understand what was going on. Then, with one broad swing, the red demon decapitated the other Originator.

All of us stood still, frozen in the sight of two of the most elite soldiers getting killed by a total stranger. I wanted to run and help them, but I was too late. The other man picked something up from their bodies and headed for the window leading outside.

Before he jumped, he looked straight to our way and waved. I didn’t know if that was meant as some kind of taunt or something, but I felt anger boiling inside my chest.

“What has happened?” Silver was the first one to talk.

I rushed into the room, Jay and Zan behind me. “Silver, scan their bodies for traces of the Nusae energy. We have to know what was that this man took,” I said, trying to hold back my tears.

I wanted to promise I would avenge them, but I didn’t know if I could. So, my best hope was to make sure I solved this Great Mystery so that their deaths weren’t in vain.

“Eladia, we have a problem. There is a bomb on the ground floor, a bomb ready to burst. We have to hurry, now!”

“Shit. No signs about any Nusae artifacts?”

“No! Please, let’s go! We don’t have enough time!”

I swore behind my teeth once again, and I decided it was too late now to search their bodies. Only that Jay thought otherwise.

“Jay! Jay, we have to go! Come on!”

But there was something shining in his hand. While holding the cube, he revealed the faces of the two fallen Originators. I charged next to him only to see two very familiar faces on the floor.

“Jessie? Antony?”

I heard someone calling that name before but I thought what were the chances it was that Antony?

“Do you know them?” Jay asked me.

“Yes. Well, I thought I knew them. I’ll make sure to explain everything to you Jay, but we have to go. Now!”

He nodded and we quickly used the elevator to get downstairs. It was not the safer choice, not by far, but we were fifty floors up in the sky and using the stairs would make it impossible to make it in time.

We ran towards the entrance only to see Ron, the guard, waiting for us on the ground floor.

“Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you for over ten minutes.”

“Run Ron. Run if you want to live!” I said out loud, but it was too late.

The bomb exploded only a second after we took a step out of the building. I saw Ron get buried under the falling rumbles. There was nothing I can do but cry.

We were alive but so many people died today because of this Nusae artifact. I didn’t know that for sure, but something in my mind told me that this tiny thing was the reason behind everything that had happened here today.

I turned around me to look at Jay, only to see him walk away. I rushed to his side and stopped him before taking another step forward.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“Leave me alone. You lied to me. You were lying to me from the start. There is something inside me, right? Something that takes over my body and kills in my place?”

He knows.

“I can explain. Please…”

“Just leave it human. Esuh means lonely, and now I understand why.”

I wanted to follow him but at that moment, amidst the dirt of the destroyed embassy, I saw someone moving straight into a back alley.

Another demon, this one with a blue mask, ran away from the crime scene. It was either that or my imagination was playing tricks on me.

Either way, once again, I ran after Jay, the man with the two faces, the alien I had started to fall in love with.

The only thing I could do now was to chase him and talk to him but in my mind, I cherished the moments we spent together on that chilly roof.

I wished that that moment had never ended.