𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐝𝐞𝐧 | 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯'𝘴 𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥 |

102 | 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧

[play when prompted]

"Shaun, Becs.. Deimos. I.. I had a choice. And I chose to stay. You'll wonder where I am. You might wonder if I am. I don't know how to answer that. But I'm not afraid. And I'm not alone." I direct my eyes to the ground, the sudden message with Layla's voice playing from Rebecca's computer.

"We have work to do. Work that may take us days or years. It's impossible to say. But we'll finish it. What I mean is.. don't come looking for me.. it's too dangerous and.. too late. Take care of yourselves.. of the world you still have.. take care of-." The transmission ends abruptly, her voice having starting to get cut off.

Why? She was innocent? An innocent woman with a physically demanding job, that turned into a mental drainage in the last two years.

An unneeded sacrifice to fulfill dark purposes.

"Earth, Mother of All, greet her." I pray my homelands rite for the dying, never wanting any of this to end the way it did.

"Oh Deimos, she's fine, in a matter of speaking." Basim speaks, breaking the silence in the room.

I ball my hands in fists.

"'A manner of speaking'? Jesus! We need to find her." Rebecca states angrily, glaring at the ancient man from behind her desk, Shaun with his arms clasped together, not believing what is happening.

"There's nothing to find, Becs. The Yggdrasil should've killed her from the inside out. That message was the last she could muster." I turn to the Ancient Assassin, who now stands beside the Animus, his eyes darting to it very few seconds making me frown.

"Because of you! You left her there..." Basim makes his way over to Layla's forgotten computer in a lonesome desk, leaning closer to the screen.

"We're Assassins now, not Hidden Ones?." He turns to me, both clear eyes filled with sadness.

So this is Basim..

I flex my hand, nervousness eating me away as I nod.

"Times change, Basim. And so have the Order of Ancients, more resourceful, stronger, agile and deadlier." He sighs turning to me and placing both hands in front of him.

"And do we have a mentor? Is it you? Is it still in practice?." His eyes never leave mine as he asks, Shaun's figure in my peripheral diverging his eyes between us.

"It's.. no, it's not me I.. left that long ago. We do though. William Miles." He nods and faces the duo on the far end of the room.

"I'd like to meet William Miles. Would you bring him to me?." He looks between all of us, expecting an answer.

Shaun comes around and gets closer to me, probably not liking Basim's attitude with me.

"Encrypted line. You can talk with him right now." He offers, the raven haired man looking to the computer.

"No technology. Face to face. A meeting of minds. I'm used to such, as you should know." Honey colored orbs gleam in my direction, reminding me briefly of his younger days.

Shaun coughs a bit too loud and inches closer, Basim raising a brow in question.

"Well then.. let's go I guess." Shaun takes me by the hand and motions over to Rebecca, the woman scowling at Basim.

*play audio*

His eyes travel to our joined hands, an eye changing color and a smug look taking over.

"So you did get rid of me after all. I only wonder if your dear—by the looks of it—husband is aware of the things you did?." His voice grows lower, Shaun's hand tightening with mine.

And this is Loki.. but how?.

I frown, wondering just what happened that lead to the essence of the arrogant Precursor to land in the body of a faithful and loyal man.

Out of everyone else, it had to be Basim.

"Of every single thing. How the hell did you survive all of that?." I ask, already knowing the answer. He chuckles adjusting the grip on the hidden blade that rests on his wrist.

"Did you think you were the only one hooked to the Tree of Life? I'm surprised you're not jumping in my arms like last time.." He finishes the sentence with an arrogant look, but his voice breaks a bit as his brows furrow slightly. I raise a brow and decide to end this conversation.

"Yeah well I got other things to jump on." Rebecca snorts and Shaun sighs, not exactly reprimanding me for what I said, but neither objecting against it.

Basim's eye color returns, the man's cheeks growing pink. Great, so now he's got control. By the gods, this is a mess.

I beckon Rebecca to follow me, Shaun doing the same as we all telepathically decide to look for Bill together. Both of them exit the cabin, but I turn back just as I reach the doorframe.

"Don't do anything stupid until I get back." He chuckles and nods, gentle smile gracing his bearded lips.

"Understood, Mentor." He walks and sits on the sofa, looking over a piece of informative paper that Shaun wrote a while back.

I walk over to the van, getting in the passenger side, Becs having climbed in the back.

Shaun breathes deeply, looking over at me as he turns on the ignition.

"Do you trust him?." I turn to him after putting my seatbelt on, Rebecca poking her head over the center console.

I turn to look at the cabin again, through the window I see Basim's figure sitting on the sofa looking at his hands, left ring finger missing by the initiation ceremony held for him when he joined our Order.

"There're two minds fighting over one body.. I trust Basim, Loki... I can't say for sure." He sighs and places the van on drive, exiting the cabin hideout and making our way towards the main road.

He takes my hand in his and laces our fingers, worry in his face. I too am worried, how can I not? The man who took me deep down in a rabbit hole that I only just came out of is still alive, while holding the body of an old friend hostage.

So this is the brief answer as to why Basim in his younger days started to behave so irrationally. Bacause it's when that malàkes started to take over.

Whatever is about to happen from here on out, I only hope I'm strong enough to go through this.

For myself, and for my family.