A Simple Connection

A Simple Connection
Abigail’s POV…

I looked around the endless white space. There was nothing here. No walls. No ceiling. No floor. Just white. I turned toward Jarox. "What is this place?"

He looked around as though he was trying to understand it himself. "I think it's somewhere inside our minds. A place where our synapses have connected. Our thoughts have somehow created a space where we can communicate."

I studied him carefully. Then it clicked. "You linked your mind to mine."

Jarox didn't deny it. "Is that what you did to those guards?"

"Yes."

I stared at him. So that was how he'd made them obey him. I'd seen it before. The strange way they'd spoken. The way they'd moved as if his thoughts had become their own. "You controlled them."

"I influenced them."

"There's a difference?"

"I didn't force them to become someone else. I simply guided their thoughts."

I considered that. "Personally, I don’t see the difference. Interesting." Then I smiled. "I envy you."

Jarox raised an eyebrow. "Why would you?"

"That kind of power. It’s a very rare one." I looked down at my hands. "But I suppose I have enough powers of my own."

I looked back at him. "So why can't you control me? Why are we speaking, rather than you steering the whell of a car while I’m driving it? You see how it’s twisted?"

"You’re not built like the guards. You’re not built like anyone else. Because you're different."

"I am certainly different. I know why and how. But I wonder what your reasoning is. How am I different, in your perspective??"

"It’s many things. And one thing in particular. Your mind is stronger." He stepped closer. "Your mind is made of iron, Abigail. I can enter it, but I can't bend it the way I bent theirs."

I smiled. "That’s good for me then. I would hate to be bodily enslaved."

"But I can still reach you. Because of your humanity."

My expression changed. "My humanity?"

"Yes." He looked directly into my eyes. "You may have been created differently, but you're still human in ways that matter. You still think. You still feel. You still make choices."

"And?"

"And I can appeal to that part of you."

I shook my head. "You’ll get nothing from that part of me. My Kruggorian genes empower me, yes. But my human side is exactly what drives me."

"To destroy everything?"

"To save everything. You think I am a false bridge, but I am exactly what Yahweh promised. I will bridge the gap, and bond it together. Creating a new legacy. A better one." I stepped toward him. 

"Humans and Krugs have spent generations killing each other. Fighting over land. Fighting over power. Fighting over who deserves to exist. I'm going to end that. I was created to do so."

"Not like this."

"Why not?"

"Because you're going to force everyone to become something they never chose to be."

"They'll be alive and they will thrive."

"That isn't enough. Jarox shook his head. “You’ll be taking away their freewill. You know! My dream was the same as yours. I wanted unity. I still do."

"Then why are we enemies?"

"Because you think unity comes through force."

I stared at him. 

"It doesn't." He stepped closer. "It has to be love."

I laughed. "Love?"

"Yes."

"It cannot be love."

"Why?"

"Because I don't believe in it. I wasn't born because two people loved each other, or because one person loved me." My voice became colder. "I was born because someone had a dream."

I looked at my hands. "My body was designed by your sister, but my mind was designed by Yahweh himself." I looked back at him. "And I intend to fulfill that design."

Jarox's expression hardened. "I can't allow you to do that."

I smiled. "How do you intend to stop me?"

He looked at me. "Like this."

The white space began to disappear. Darkness swallowed everything.

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Jarox’s POV…

I opened my eyes. I was back. Back inside the throne room. But I wasn't standing by the door anymore. I was standing directly in front of Abigail. My hands were still gripping the power-dampening cuffs. And Feran was still suspended in the air behind her.

Abigail opened her eyes at exactly the same moment. She looked down. Her eyes immediately locked onto the cuffs in my hands. She understood. I moved. I reached for her wrists. But she was faster.

A wave of telekinetic force exploded from her body. I was thrown backward. I crashed into the floor. At the same time, her concentration broke. Feran dropped to the floor.

Abigail turned toward me. She looked ready to attack. Then she heard something. So did I. Footsteps. Dozens of them. Then hundreds. The palace was filling with soldiers. They were coming toward the throne room.

Abigail looked toward the doors. Then back at me. She had a choice. Fight me. Or leave. She chose the latter. Her body disappeared. Invisible. Then she was gone.

I pushed myself to my feet. For the first time in several minutes, I could breathe. But I had no time to think about her. My father was lying on the floor. I rushed toward him. "Father!"

I dropped beside him. His eyes were barely open. I could feel his emotions. Pain. Fear. Regret. His heart was still beating. But barely. I placed my hand against his chest.

"Stay with me."

He looked at me. I could see the damage Abigail had caused. She hadn't completely destroyed his heart. She had done something worse. She had damaged it beyond repair. There was nothing I could do.

"Father..." My voice cracked. "I'm sorry."

He stared at me.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you."

His breathing became weaker. Then he reached for me. I grabbed his hand. His fingers tightened around mine.

"Save..." He struggled to speak. "The empire. Save... the empire."

Those were his final words. His grip loosened. His eyes closed. And his heart stopped. My father was dead. I held him in my arms. Then the doors burst open. Imperial soldiers flooded into the throne room. They stopped immediately. Every one of them saw him. Their emperor. Their ruler. Dead in his son's arms.

For several seconds, nobody moved. Then one soldier dropped to his knees. Another followed. Then another. Within moments, the entire room was filled with kneeling Krugs. Their heads bowed. Their weapons lowered. Their emperor was gone.

And I remained there, holding his lifeless body, wondering what was left of the empire he had commanded. What was left of us.