Rebecca, child, I have something to show you.” The Archon said. She looked at him through the bars of her cell, which she had come to learn was located in the royal palace itself.

  “What is it?” She asked, annoyed. The man hadn’t treated her poorly in her captivity, but he was clearly a tyrant. He had given her a cell that was pretty luxurious by prison standards but thrown all of her people essentially in a hole. Why was she different? He didn’t torture her or do anything untoward. All he really did was talk to her. She got the feeling that the Archon was lonely of all things. He spoke to nobody else as far as she could tell, aside from giving orders.

  “You will see.” He said with a frown. Whatever it was, he seemed unhappy about it somehow. That meant it was probably a good thing.

  He opened her cell and she followed him out. She wasn’t even shackled. She could try to escape but she knew it would be futile. He was too powerful. She would save the essence for when it could be useful.

  “In all of my time in your world, I was amazed by your people's ingenuity. We use magic for so much here and your world is completely devoid of it. Yet you’ve found a way to achieve many of the same things without the use of it, and many more we couldn’t even dream of.” He said to her, almost musing.

  Rebecca had nearly forgotten that detail, that the Archon had somehow been to their world, and thought on it for a moment. Why would he have gone to their world? How did he get back? She would have to fish for these answers later.

  “Magic, essence, makes things easier.” She finally said. “ If that’s the case though, why are you so against it? Because it’s a threat to your rule?” She said pointedly.

  “No. That’s not why. I have seen the destruction that the exploration of magic will bring us. I’m saving these people from a far worse future.” The Archon said.

  “You subjugate them and commit genocide for their own wellbeing? I find that hard to believe.” She said back with a frown.

  “Exactly so. I do what I must. I would scour the world so desolate that it resembles your own if it were to save these people.” He said with grim determination.

  “The ends don’t justify the means.” Rebecca told him.

  “What a quaint and naive worldview. You remind me of my daughter. Sometimes you have to sacrifice a few for the many. Would it be better that we all die? No, I will do what I must.” He said back with a sad smile.

  “You have a family? I’ve never heard that mentioned.” Rebecca asked.

  The Archon looked at her for a moment as they continued walking. He didn’t speak until they got to a room that held two chairs and a table. “We are here, please sit.”

  Rebecca did as instructed. As she sat she noticed the table looked strange. Was it… it couldn’t be. The Archon pressed some glowing runes on the side of the table and the entire top of the table transformed. It suddenly became an image of a room. As it came into focus she could see her dad!

  “What is this?” She asked him in disbelief.

  “This lets us see events occurring far away. For example this is showing us the quarantine section of the prison.” He said neutrally.

  She tried not to show how much this mattered to her, seeing her dad. The fear she felt from the Archon's attention on him. What was he doing there? She watched him slam a hand into the wall. The hand didn’t look right though. It took her a moment to recognize that it wasn’t really his hand, it was some sort of robotic arm. What had happened to him?

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Wait, was that Cleb and Dan? The soldiers she had recruited for the resistance? She felt pride seeing them help her dad break in there. They were good men after all, they just needed the right opportunity.

  A spike of anxiety shot up through Rebecca’s stomach as she saw a group of soldiers enter the room. “What is this?” She asked. “Order them to let them go.” Her voice was tinged in more panic than she wanted to let on.

  “Why would I do that?” He asked her. “These people broke into a government facility to free a criminal, you.”

  Tears welled in her eyes. Her dad had come for her but there was no way he would get out of there with that many soldiers. “Please.” She whispered, “That’s my dad.”

  “I know. Jesse held great importance to my return here.” The archon said. “Your family has become quite the pain lately however.”

  “You have me. You don’t need him.” She begged.

  “I’ll have you both as soon as those soldiers capture him. Don’t worry, I don’t intend to kill either of you. I believe you both could prove useful. Though we will need to remove that AI your father carries around.” The Archon said.

  He wouldn’t kill her dad. She felt a small relief at that. Whatever happened they would be together soon.

  She watched as lightning shot from the red haired man behind her dad. It struck the leader of the soldiers but didn’t seem to have any noticeable effect. In moments all chaos broke out as the commander clashed with another virescent, an old man of all things.

  She watched her dad strike a soldier, killing him. The idea that her dad could kill left a disconnect in her mind. Her dad wasn’t a killer. He couldn’t be. Not the kind hearted man who had read stories to her and held her when she was afraid. She watched him continue to fight. Aegis, the family dog, was with him. She couldn’t believe it! She fought too and seemed to have some sort of magical abilities.

  Finally she saw her dad square up against the virescent. She knew he stood no chance, presumably being a regular person. She screamed as the virescent spun into his guard and cut his leg. Tears streamed down her face as she saw the limb fall free and her dad topple, hitting his head on the hard stone. The Archon stared at the screen with a deep frown. She could see a vein throbbing on his temple.

  “You said they weren’t going to kill him!” She screamed at him.

  “They aren’t supposed to.” He said back with a deadpan voice. “If that soldier does, well then he won’t be long for this world.”

  Rebecca watched in horror as the soldier raised his sword and swung down to deliver the final blow on the man that had raised her for her twenty years of life. Only, the blow never landed. She soon realized he had caught the weapon. His metal hand closed around it. The soldier tried to pull free but only managed to pull him up. Suddenly he was distracted by the arcanescent again and she felt hope well up. Her dad struck the man with his own sword and they both fell to the ground.

  She watched, amazed, as her father tied something around his leg. She then felt her heart sink. Her father had removed the club that had impaled him. He faced the virescent, who spoke to him with raised hands in surrender. She then watched her dad kill him in cold blood. Her father brought the club down on the man's head with the finality of a judges gavel.

  “This is what I wanted to show you. This world is bloody. You can’t refuse to take part or it will end you. Your father has learned this lesson. You will too.” The Archon said softly. Then he scowled as he noticed the resistance forces rallying.

  “Looks like he is going to get away.” Rebecca said, still in shock.

  “No.” The Archon said rising. “I’ll go take care of them myself.”

  “No please! You know my father will come back for me. Capture him then when more lives aren’t on the line!” She begged.

  The Archon studied her for a moment before responding. “I will wait but you will see that mercy now will only lead to greater bloodshed later. This is almost always the case. Take this as a lesson as you see the repercussions of this mercy. It is better to end your enemies swiftly and be done with it.”

  “Then why haven’t you ended me?” She asked him, feeling a spike of defiance.

  The Archon studied her for a moment. “I believe you will be useful. As could all from your world be. I also admit that I have a particular fondness for you. As I said, you remind me of my daughter. I see myself in your father. I think that together we can save this world.”

  “My dad is nothing like you.” She said, chin raised. After a moment she added. “What does the world need saved from anyway?”

  “Past mistakes.” The Archon said simply. “That and itself. Come, this guard will take you back to your cell.” He waved dismissively.

  Rebecca walked with the guard back to her luxurious cell. She thought on the Archon's words and all the death she had seen. My dad is nothing like that tyrant. She thought to herself. Deep down she worried that these new lands and dangers had broken her father.