𝒮𝒽𝒶𝒹𝑜𝓌𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝒰𝓈 ♔𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓺𝓾𝓮𝓵 𝓽𝓸 𝓢𝓞𝓛𝓐𝓑

♔𝓸𝓷𝓮♔

You may think I'm the villain of this story. I sometimes wonder if I am, the same as you do. I do not believe we are born villains, truly. My philosophical conclusion to drive myself farther from the brink of insanity is: villains are born as heroes, but never given the hero's story.

Before I was the monster you've come to know, I would like you to imagine a boy. After all, I was only a boy until I met her. A boy, a man, a lover, a father, then the familiar monster.

I never hated Veila, not really. I acted like it but the truth is I love —loved— her more than anyone to ever live under the moon. She was my everything. Anything I have left of her would never be enough.

Furthermore, here is the world I built before we became shadows of us.

♔

     I am late. I've never been late to something as significant as this, but here I am, raking my fingers through my ink black hair while running out the door of my apartment.

     I live only one block from the new headquarters of the resistance, Resistere, as we like to call it, and it makes it all the more convenient for me to be involved.

     And all the less convenient for me to be late. By the time I reach the doors, the swear from the heat, slowly causing me to sweat. The nerves fade into one thought in the very back of my mind. I pulled open the single wooden door, it creaked as a greeting.

     The unfinished concrete floors stir up dust on my black leather shoes with each step I take. As I near the door to Mr. Forfax's office, I hear a raspy feminine voice. It's light and breathy, but has an edge. I silently curse, thinking it can not be that easy for him to find a replacement for me.

     Chairs are moving and I can faintly hear salutations being muttered so I take my chance and knock. The room in front of me goes still, it's a painful silence. I should've rescheduled.

     The door flies open and Mr. Forfax appears. "If it isn't the man of the hour," he didn't smile, "Mister Desai you are," he glanced at his wrist, "twenty minutes late."

     "Yes, and I couldn't be more sorry, I thought of rescheduling but didn't want to waste more of your time. So, here I am," I tried to offer him a small smile but it didn't seem to break through the icy conversation.

     "Yes, it is a bit too late for that, however, Miss Indu was very early to her meeting so we decided to move yours until you arrived. You both might be working on the same panel so I figured you'd have already met?"

     "No we haven't," the woman stepped out from behind him and fully opened the door. To say she was breathtaking would be an understatement, she was all-consuming. There isn't much to compare her to but space itself, a vast vacuum of shining matter and dangerous beauty. If she wasn't the one thing standing in between me and my success, of course.

     "I'm Veila Indu," she extended her hand to me, drawing me out of my trance. "Azazel Desai, sorry for the interruption."

Mr. Forfax interjected, "It wasn't an interruption at all, Miss Indu has completed her interview and I do have the highest of hopes for her."

I must have made a face because the look Veila gave me was one of pride and surprise. Mr. Forfax has never came close to complementing anyone, much less someone I have not even heard of. I then remembered, I'm simply competing with everyone here, and she may just be my top problem.

A pause, then: "Well, if you'd like the interview could happen now, it'll just be hard to top," he sighed, "Um . . . Mister Desai?"

I was more focused on this strange staring match going on between Velia and I than his pathetic attempt to degrade me. I finally broke the eye contact and I could have sworn she smirked. "Yes, now would work, sir."

I took a step back, allowing her to walk through and Mr. Forfax to recede further into his office. Just as I was about to sigh in relief, a cold hand landed on the back of my shoulder, I felt her short blonde hair on the nape of my neck as she whispered, "Good luck, you'll need it after that."

She walked away, heels echoing behind me. If there is one thing I can not resist, it's a challenge. And then, my game plan was decided. I would trump her in this political game, after all, was she not the one who initiated it?

♔

𝐚/𝐧: 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐢 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫.

𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐥, 𝐢 𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭.

𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐁 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐝.

𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐁 𝐭𝐰𝐨, 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫.

𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥

𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞((: