I manage to infiltrate the building with only bruises from the laser guns. I have forgotten how thick my skin is now that I’m in this form. After I take two steps inside, a man is looking at me.

His mask is pitch black and resembles a demon, reminding me of the masks that Dale and Pyro wear all the time. He looks a bit intimidating, but being on his battle attire, it makes him human enough for me to charge towards him. I chase him upstairs, trying to find a way to take him down in the meantime.

The building inside is empty. It strikes me as weird at first, but then again, that could also mean that I’m just really lucky. Maybe Pyro was wrong after all and most of their force was amassed in the entrance of the building. They were strong, I’m sure about that, but they couldn’t stop us from barging in.

Shame fills my chest after I realize that I did nothing to help them with their mission. Still, I keep running upstairs, keep chasing the man with the black mask.

The staircase is endless for a two-storey building. The building looked smaller on the outside. He’s always a step ahead of me, and even though I’m trying my best to keep up with him, I’m way too slow. In the end, we finally get to the roof of the City Hall, the place where the final battle is to be fought.

When I open the door leading outside, I see the man standing still on the other side of the roof. He’s looking at me from behind that nightmarish mask, but he can’t scare me. I’m here to unlock the cube and take back my life, even if that means I have to choose to destroy all the humans.

“Congratulations Prime Officer Jasih for making it this far. I commend you for giving it your all even though you’re in so dire a situation,” he says in a thunderous voice.

Strange, he surely sounds familiar.

‘Who are you?”

“Well, that’s irrelevant. I trust you know by now who your friends and enemies are. Eladia made it perfectly clear that we, humans, are the race fit to rule the whole galaxy. The Phadh are some glorified, old men that think they know what’s best for the Known Galaxy only to give in to their illusions of wealth and power. After all, money greases the system better than fear or hope, as it always did,” the man says.

“I’m not here to hear your ranting. If you’re not here to stop me, then move to the side and let me finish my job,” I say to him.

He grins and looks at me like he’s in my head and knows what I’m thinking. Only that he doesn’t. No one does. To them, I’m just a parasite. So beware now that this parasite will conquer the Galaxy.

It takes me a while to follow the events. He grins...like he’s not wearing a mask. His face is not covered by that black thing anymore. So, I see that behind the devilish faucet, a man with black hair is hiding. The same man I saw in the news many days ago. He’s the human that announced the Purge of Yaerus, the ambassador that broke out the news to the rest of the world.

“Oh, it seems you finally recognized me! Well, the feelings are mutual. Go on then, do whatever you have to do. I’ll be standing here.”

He takes a step behind and sits on the floor, crossing his feet, waiting. I don’t like where this is going.

Still, this night is still full of surprises.

The door opens again, only for Eladia to appear this time.

“Get down!” she screams, but for some reason, I can’t hear her. I feel like I’m losing the ground from below my feet and at that moment, everything changes...

...the light comes again, only, this time, it’s not blinding. I can see everyone around me and even feel the air whip my face.

I’m free at last.

Dark Jay, my other side, isn’t strong enough to speak right now. After the cube activated, and for some reason he lost his footing, he also lost his focus for a fraction of a second, just enough for me to take over. Now, I’m the one holding the shining cube, and I will be the one to make this decision.

The cube starts growing around me, growing fast enough that I thought it would enclose the whole planet inside it. I can’t feel the tips of my fingers anymore, and everything around me is frozen still. The building is collapsing around us, and Eladia has jumped towards me, trying to save me. The black-haired man is still grinning like everything is going according to his plan. Maybe it did go according to his plan until now. Now that I’m here, though, I can take matters into my own hands again.

“Jasih...” I hear a female voice calling me.

I raise my head and look at her; she’s even more beautiful than she was back then when she gave her life to protect me.

“Lenora...you’re really here,” I say.

“It has been a long time since we last saw each other. You’ve changed quite a bit. You’re...different.”

She’s right; I don’t feel like the man I was before.

“Lenora...I’m sorry that I’m asking you this, but can you please save her? I don’t want her to die here if it’s possible.”

With a nod, she envelops her with a radiating light and slowly moves her away from the crumbling building. When she makes sure she’s safe, she returns to me.

“Now, tell me Jasih. What is your choice? Will you choose war or peace?”

I take a moment to savor her image; her hair is golden, and her face seems serene. She doesn’t blink, she just looks at me, stoically. Regret overtakes my feelings, but I don’t let it consume me. I’m here to stop the cube from killing anyone, and that’s the only thing I will do.

“I choose nothing, sweet Lenora. I choose life. Only that. Peace and war are two sides of the same coin like me and Dark Jay were all this time. You can’t have the one without having the other. Peace can be maintained only if there’s life, to begin with, so I choose life, and I leave the other choices to the world.”

Lenora smiles. “Then, that’s the way it will be.”

She lowers her head and looks around her; countless lights shine throughout the city. If I have to guess, then I think that she used her powers to cure all those who could be cured, and lay to rest all those that should have laid so long ago.

After this is over, she looks at me one last time. “Now, the cube needs a new guardian. You have an hour before you have to surrender yourself to the cube; an hour reserved for goodbyes. Use it well, Jasih.”

And just like that, she vanishes into thin air.

I look around me and see the building exploding in pieces. It seems that I’ll spend this hour moving up and down this space frozen in time. I decide to head towards Eladia when...

...when I manage to take control of our body once again.

What? How...how did you do that?

Jasih is panicking inside my body, trying to understand.

“Well, my old friend, your wife never meant you. I’m the new guardian of the cube; I’m the sacrifice needed for all those people to come back to life. That’s the only reason I ever lived in the first place. Your wife brought me to life all these years ago only to die right here, right now. I was never meant to love or be loved. I was just a helpless parasite,” I say out loud.

I never thought possible for a man like me to shed any tears, but in the end, I do just that.