7 - Genesis 6:5

“Hey, Ana, is everything alright?” Dima asked over the phone.

“Where are you?” Ana asked back.

“I’m in Prague right now. Got some business I gotta handle. Some personal stuff.”

“And why are you calling me? I...there’s a lot of questions I need to ask. You shouldn’t be calling me, you should be standing in front of me and talking to me face to face.”

“I’m sorry, but the sooner I am finished with this, the better it is for both of us.” Dima said. The night sky was pitch black, as if it was painted over.

“I’m getting tired of this, Dima.” Ana said. “I want you to be honest with me. I have no clue what they were talking about and why they treated you like that.”

“Look, it’s a long story-”

“Is that true? Did you abandon them?”

“Listen...”

Dima took a deep breath, closing and squeezing his eyes with his fingers. It was a difficult conversation for him, akin to dancing on top of a minefield.

“There’s a lot of shit that happened to me, okay? Yes, I did switch sides, but that was because I had not just myself in mind, but you. I cared about you, okay?”

“I wanted to get out of this mess.”

“I want myself to be safe, that’s true, but what’s most important is that I want you to be safe. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if something happened to you because of me.”

“I just wanted to live a normal life.”

“A quiet, normal life with this girl that I’m close with. Doing what everyone else does and being content with it. Away from all the soulful bullshit. I’m willing to choose happiness over my status as a soulful.”

“I...I don’t know.” Ana said. “You say that, and you’re all the way in Prague...”

“Because this is where I can hopefully get away from everything. Hey, I might keep you waiting for a little bit, but I’ll get back to you. The next time we go to a city, we’ll do it the normal way. We’ll take a train or a plane, we’ll travel by car or by foot...sounds nice, right?”

“I guess...”

“Keep your chin high, alright? I’ll get in touch with you later. Love you.” Dima said, ending the call. After all this resentment towards the soulful webs, he found himself weaving more and more strings, enriching it more and more, and unable to escape.

It was a little difficult for him to use his soul expression now, it took him a while to fire a portal. Once he did it, he fired the second one at a dark gray castle.

...

He sneakily navigated the castle, keeping his presence as low as possible. His portal landed on one of the walls connecting the towers, so he had to shoot some more to get down to the main entrance, behind the main gates. Once on the lowground, he traversed the area before finding an entrance to the main hall. He started feeling a pretty tough headache, using his soul expression in his current ‘rusty’ state brought him to the point of exhaustion way faster than before.

He climbed upstairs, chasing the eerie soul presence that dwelled in the throne room on the top floor. He portaled all the way up, avoiding the guards and the many cameras. And finally, he entered the throne room.

“She should be here, right? Is there a formal way to enter? Will she attack me on sight?”

“No, if she wanted to kill me, she would’ve probably done that a while ago.”

He walked towards the throne, and what looked like a strange occurrence to him was proven to be reality. There was no one sitting on it. He expected a monarch to never leave their domain for some reason, but for someone like Aizawa, who enjoys simply sitting in the seat that reigned with terror and indulging in literature for hours, it was an unusual occurrence.

He snapped out of that confusion as soon as he heard the large doors close behind him. With the corner of his eye, he could see a figure walk around the hall, circling the pillars, shrouded in the partial darkness of the room.

“How fascinating...”

“The most powerful people are often stationed in offices hidden deep inside glass and cement buildings...”

“And yet here I am, living in a castle, akin to our predecessors hundreds of years ago. Perhaps I took the word ‘stronghold’ a bit too literally.”

“Wouldn’t you agree, Dmitry?”

Dmitry heard a sound similar to a sharp but very sudden gust of wind. He also heard a few chipped away rocks hit the ground.

“I come here with peace. I am here to talk and negotiate.” Dima said, raising his arms, as if surrendering.

“Negotiate?” Aizawa asked. She was in a different part of the area now, circling behind another pillar, but ultimately encircling Dima himself, like a cobra choking out its prey or a shark intimidating a lone fishing boat. “I do not doubt your peaceful intentions, but it has been a while since someone tried to negotiate with me.”

She stood still.

“But I’ve never had someone like you try and negotiate with me.”

“What do you mean?” Dima asked, taking a step back. He tried to not take his eyes off of her, but it now seemed that she was done with the intimidation. She slowly walked towards the throne and took a seat.

“You said you wanted to negotiate, right? Let us negotiate. What do you offer me?” She asked, leaning her head on her hand and putting her elbow on the side of the throne.

“I can offer you information.” Dima said. “Information about some of the soulful factions. This is...this is more of a request on my behalf rather than a fair trade. I apologize.” Dima said.

“You apologize? Information is priceless.” Aizawa said. She had a calm and almost immobile smile on her face, and she stared at Dima like there was no tomorrow. “It is the weapon against which all can crumble. Here is some wisdom, never underestimate those with control over information, never believe you can be on equal grounds with them.”

“Right...”

“What do you want, in that case?” Aizawa leaned a little forward. “Money? Recognition? Perhaps something else?”

“I just... I want to escape the soulful world. I don’t want to be entangled in this mess anymore, nor do I want others to drag me in by, say, killing a majority of the global population.” Dima said.

“Oh?”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“That’s...all I request. I mean, I request advice. Or maybe some sort of help, or anything really.” Dima said.

“Do you disagree with Kaito’s intentions?” Aizawa asked. “Were you not a part of the Heisei?”

“I was for some time. But only on paper.” Dima said. “Look, I promise, this isn’t an ambush or anything.”

“It would be an odd choice to trust you. Your loyalty is swaying like a pendulum on an antique clock. That is no way to behave as a soulful.” Aizawa chuckled.

“I don’t want to be a soulful.” Dima said. “You’re the head of the Soulful Research Institute, correct? I want you to help me. I want my identity as a soulful erased, so I can live a normal life.”

“The SRI is now the Eura Stronghold.” Aizawa said, interest sparking in her void eyes. “But I can help you.”

“He’s exactly what I need...”

“And he just walked into my arms.”

“Tell me, Dmitry, what do you think is the difference between an ant and a human?”

“Huh?”

“One would be surprised as to how many similarities we share. An ant is an insect that is programmed to do certain actions, showcase certain behavior, fulfil its role and develop the collective. The same can be said for a bee or any similar creature. A human, in essence, a homo sapiens, should not be too different. It should be born into this world to serve its biological purpose and develop their species.”

“And yet, there is one key difference. It is that humans have something called free will.”

“What is she talking about?” Dima asked himself, still as tense as ever.

“Free will is what allows humans to be humans. It allows us to act as we want, to think as we want, to create, to imagine and to chase the things we want, and not the things that are needed. It is something unexplainable, and that is what makes it so profoundly beautiful.” Aizawa said. “Take a look.” She raised her hand and clenched it into a fist, before slowly releasing it.

“I just did something out of my own free will. Beautiful, isn’t it?” Aizawa asked. “Try it for yourself.”

Dima raised his hand and watched it.

“You doing that, you coming here, and you making most of the decisions in your life, they are all courtesy of that very phenomena. So now, let us visualize what a species with free will looks like.” Aizawa said. Suddenly, her somewhat cold and excited tone turned hateful, as her subtle smile faded away.

“War. Destruction. Hate.” Aizawa listed. “Crimes. Dehumanization. Hedonism. Chaos. Conflict. Those are what humanity is fated to. And just those terms are not enough to break down the inexplicable abyss that lies within the confines of the human mind.”

“Many years ago, a private investigation into the BSBM healthcare operation exposed that the company was experimenting on children for the sake of business interests. The children were taken into hospitals with false diagnoses, overloaded with experimental medicine and forced into artificial amnesia in order to forget the many arrays of tests. Many of them bore long-term side effects, and some simply passed away. Anyone who knew about the process was pressured, hunted down, or, in most cases, killed.”

“Three years ago, an awful situation in a middle school in an American city was uncovered. Five middle schoolers had been repeatedly beating up one of their classmates, humiliating and tormenting him with no end and posting the footage online. The footage had garnered immense support, with people across the world cheering the perpetrators. What happened in the end? The child grabbed his father’s shotgun and sought justice on his own terms, later taking his own life.”

“A report revealed that two years ago a middle-aged woman was forced to prostitution after repeated blackmail and financial manipulation by a group of men. She and her daughter were forced into a world where they would be exploited in the most disgusting ways possible. Due to a mind broken by pain and narcotics, she could only smile and obey. She was found decapitated at the sight of the operation.”

“The war showed Shellerist soldiers hunt down and relentlessly massacre dormant soulfuls. They were wiped out without a trace, all over the fact that they had a certain trait. All because they were soulfuls. They were killed, but who is to say they weren’t subjected to torture, starvation, assault in unforgivable ways or even worse? They were defenseless, but they could still feel and process things, could they not?”

“And how do we know that all those people were soulfuls in the first place? Many were killed after being simply framed as a soulful. The term was used as a weapon to justify personal killings and label them as war efforts.”

“And then there’s the Elemental-Sponsored high school stabbing incident in Tokyo. I’m certain you know a lot about it considering your old ally was a witness. The boy responsible committed suicide, despite all of the claims made against him were nothing but hoaxes and gossip. The boy had never done anything wrong, he was simply unlucky.”

“And all of these are examples that we know of. Can you imagine how many things have happened and are happening right now that we don’t know about? The more vibrant your imagination is, the worse scenarios you can come up with. And what’s saddening is that all those scenarios have probably happened.”

Dima listened in silence.

“Tell me, what other species does those things? What other species choose to exterminate themselves over pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth?” Aizawa asked. “Why are we, the only species with free will, also the only species who indulge in such behavior?”

“What about competition?” Dima asked, surprised at himself that he’s even getting involved in this speech.

“There is a difference.” Aizawa said. “I had always been curious about the psyche, the human heart and the human self. Is it a curse or a blessing? Tell me, Dmitry, from an objective point of view, has humanity not suffered more than it should because of these variables?”

“Maybe...” Dima hesitantly noted.

“What the hell is this even about...”

“Humanity is flawed.” Aizawa said. “It is simply a predicament we must learn to live with. Humans are cruel. More cruel than any other species. Our sinful hearts manipulate our superior intelligence and elevate our cruelty to a level that is only restricted by our imaginations.”

“Wait, what are you in that case?” Dima said. “Aren’t you a human too?”

"Dmitry, do you choose to live in such a world?" She asked. Suddenly, her presence started growing higher and higher. No matter how limited it was, it still felt like it was trying to choke and drown anyone close to her. Dima looked at her in silence, trying to improvise the correct solution to his predicament.

"I...don't know...?" Dima said. "I'm sorry, but I don't really have it in me to think about this type of stuff, you know? I uhh...I think I mistook this place for something else, I should-"

"It appears to be an equation with no solution, does it?" Aizawa asked. "Such a shame. If this was not enough to convince him....ah, what a shame. It would work better if he remained unharmed."

“But I have found the answer.”

Her presence flared up more. Dima took a step back in fear.

“Human emotions, feelings, will...no matter if they are celebrated or frowned upon, they are but a setback. A tumor. They are a weakness that will lead to the self-destruction of mankind as a whole.”

“No, but...” Dima tried to speak up. “That's the same us killing-”

“In theory, a humanity that is hard wired not to act based on its impulses should be devoid of sin.” Aizawa explained.

“I am a human too, but I am one with a purpose. I wield a power that will allow me to become a savior of this failed species.”

“Servata Cordis.”

“By eliminating free will, I will create a perfect humanity.”

“Does that not fall in line with your desires, Dmitry?” Aizawa asked, standing up. “If you join my cause, would you not achieve your ideal outcome for yourself?”

“No, that’s...” Dima took a step back. “That’s not what I’m...”

“Tell me, Dmitry.” Aizawa said, taking a step forward. Her presence flared up a little more. “Since when did you assume I was going to negotiate with you?”

“Shit...I made a mistake...I made a massive fucking mistake...” Dima thought. He aimed his hands at the ground, preparing to fire a portal that would quickly get him out of the castle.

“She makes Kaito Kamiki’s plan sound like a fucking sensible option.”

“I should've just lived in some remote hut instead of coming here for answers. I gotta get out. I gotta get this info out there.”

But the moment he moved his hand, he felt something sharp pierce it. Something similar to a blade with a strong wire attached to its handle. The blade pierced right through his hand and shoved itself into the floor, both disabling the portal and restraining Dima’s movement.

“Damn it, I can’t open the portal like this!”

“Fuck...was she dead set on killing me the moment I walked in here?”

An instant later, the same happened with his other hand. Aizawa slowly approached him.

“You said it yourself, Dmitry. What you have to offer is information.” Aizawa said, standing in front of the restrained soulful. “And information is an unstoppable power.”

“Not only is he the perfect catch, but I should also be more careful who I have these conversations with...”

She slowly raised her arm and put her palm on his forehead.

“I’d love to experiment on him...”

“But I believe this one can serve a special purpose.”

“Memory Extraction.”