We walked a corridor of vacant cells. In a facility like this, it was unnervingly normal for a prison to be so empty. With each leaden step, I yearned to unleash the fury boiling within me. I had no idea, no capacity for a plan, yet all I wanted was a weapon in my hand. One single weapon, and I could, without a second thought, put a solid bullet into the head of that man, Arthur Vale, who kept smiling at me with a sickening grin. And that... that would bring me immense relief.
"As you see, there are hardly any prisoners here… Just your mind-weaver and this thing." He said, pointing his hand towards a cell that was not empty. Had I succumbed to my rage and kept walking, I would have made one of the gravest mistakes of my life. But thankfully, my foot caught, and I was forced to stop.
In the middle of the glass-walled room, surrounded by metal, stood a creature. Its two lower arms were hoisted to the ceiling by iron chains. Its upper two were chained down. It was covered in thick, stone-colored armor, its head bowed. Despite being hunched, the colossal mass seemed hauntingly familiar.
"This thing…"
"I have no idea what it is," Arthur Vale said, tapping the cell's glass twice. "But it caused us a hell of a lot of trouble."
"What kind of trouble?"
"They showed up a few days ago, while you were passed out in surgery. They were armed and armored. Despite being only two, they were a major problem. Especially this massive one…"
"And the other one?"
"The other was quite different. It had two horns and seemed to be reading the mutants' every move. It was the one giving orders to this big brute. I think it controls this creature like a commander. This creature tore through three of my giant mutants and 129 of my regular ones with its weapons. It killed another 90 with its bare hands. Nothing can pierce its skin, and its strength is enough to easily lift and toss a giant mutant. Luckily, when we killed its horned friend, it calmed down and gave up."
"That's very strange…"
"Yes… When it lost its horned friend, it simply stopped fighting. At first, we thought it was a trick to draw us in, but it seemed to have lost the will to live. We could have killed it, but… we were curious about how we could use its genetics to create new mutants in our Flora's womb."
"Then what happened?"
"This is the most interesting part… For some reason, this creature possesses far too much human genetic code for its appearance. We intended to manipulate its genetics, but its genetic structure was so robust that every time we tried to create a mutant, it would end up looking too human and wouldn't survive long."
"That's so hard to grasp… So why did they come here?"
"It was sent by its prophet to find its king. At least, I could hear it mumble that sometimes. Yes… truly a great absurdity…"
"And what is it doing now?"
"We put it to sleep…"
"Ah… It's sleeping now? But its skin looks incredibly intriguing. I would love to touch it."
"Of course… We can arrange that for you."
The hunched mutant Kohn, after a struggle, found the door handle by the glass and opened it for me. As I stepped inside, the door closed behind me. Looking at the glass, the only thing I saw was my own reflection. It was clear that I was truly alone with that creature in this room.
Next to the creature was a surgical table, cluttered with needles. I could see a needle's hose extending from the joint under the creature's arm. From the needles spilling out of the trash can, I could roughly estimate how many had been used to sedate a creature like this. If that were truly the case, they must be very close to deeming this creature useless and ending its life.
But the creature… that creature was in a class of its own. As it knelt hunched over, I felt as if I was standing next to a crumpled tank. I could feel the sheer weight of this being with every step I took towards it. Its metallic skin was covered in geometric plates that looked like a fortress. I could even see myself as a shadow on its gleaming surface.
Despite its posture, the creature was almost twice my size. It could easily grab my head with a single hand. It could crush my body, to my very lungs, with its foot. It could easily tear me apart with its enormous mouth. This creature… it felt familiar.
With its eyes closed and its head bowed, drool dripped from its mouth. Its throat rose and fell as if it were murmuring. Vale called from behind the glass:
"These creatures' vocal cords aren't well-developed for speech. They communicate telepathically, but a few of my mutants recorded what they said. It goes like this: 'Fuag… Lord of Fire, and the Great Prophet Ogvetna… I'm sorry…'" His voice became tearful. "'I'm sorry, Fuag.'"
It clicked for me in that instant. The great prophet who commanded fire, a four-armed creature, an intensely human-like DNA. The creature before me was a Dermovox. One of the test subjects from Doctor Lara's facility… What was it doing here?
"Don't hesitate…" Vale's voice came from the other side of the glass. "…put your hand on it, it won't do a thing."
When I placed my hand on the creature's skin, it felt like holding a cold boulder. As my hand ran over its coarse surface, I could feel the bony structure formed by countless muscles under my fingertips. Just then, two more mutants entered. They walked swiftly to the operating table. As they filled the syringes, there was no longer a reason for me to stay in that room. Taking one of the needles from the table, I pocketed it and began my slow exit. Before leaving, I gave the Dermovox one last look. A member of John Crowrift's Ground Forces, one of Lara's test subjects, and one of my own subjects…
***
Rose's cell was a side cell. It had no window, and its door was made of rust-ridden, rotting iron. As Kohn reached out to open the door, both Vale and I were impatient. I wondered why Vale was in such a hurry, but once I entered, I understood everything.
Rose was kneeling, her entire body soaked in blood. Her hands were bound together and connected to a rail system in the ceiling. Her feet were tied to a metal ring on the floor with heavy weights. As Kohn entered and stepped aside, Rose, sensing us, tried to angrily hit her chains and scream, but something prevented her. It was a metal mask covering her mouth. The mask had opened her mouth so wide it was almost tearing her cheeks, and her eyes were covered by black metal goggles. Cables from those black goggles led to a transformer on the ceiling. Seeing Rose in this state, I couldn't control my trembling hands from rage, and I pushed Vale with all my might, pinning him against the wall.
"What happened here?" I roared.
"Mr. Mehmet…" Arthur Vale said, motioning to his assistant Kohn to stop. "…I am hosting you here as a guest of John Crowrift, but there are certain rules of hospitality." I could see him clenching his teeth as he spoke. "What happened here was a necessary procedure. Though she is a half-mind-weaver, this woman is a mind-weaver. That makes her very dangerous. Just as we keep the Dermovox sedated, we had to ensure this woman never sleeps. We constantly feed her electricity through her goggles to keep her awake. Even if she were to faint, we do everything we can to prevent her mind from being lucid. Her speaking, her seeing us, or even her smelling us could be a danger."
I took my hand off the man. As Vale brushed himself off, I looked at Rose.
"And the wounds on her body…"
"Ah… As for that…" I saw the brief, eager-to-grow smile on Vale's face. "…I might just say that I got a little familiar with our guest. For me, who has been lonely for years, after all this time with mutants, that feminine body was a pleasant change."
"I see…" I said, placing my hand on Vale's shoulder. "…forgive my sudden outburst. My hatred for this woman angered me for a moment, and I misdirected that fury. I usually don't like it when someone else plays with my toys, but I owed you this for saving my life." I could see Rose hurting herself, angrily thrashing against her chains.
"Please, let's not call it a debt."
"No… It is a debt to you, but I haven't paid it yet. I have many more debts to pay, but first, I will ask you to leave me alone with this mind-weaver."
"Alone?" Vale seemed to reject the idea at first, but he let out a deep sigh and conceded. "Why not? Kohn, I'm heading to my office. I don't know how long Mr. Mehmet will be, but you can bring him to my office when he's finished, if he wishes."
"Yes, master," said Kohn and took his place in the corner of the room.
Before Vale left, I asked: "Can Kohn leave the room too?"
"It would be better if he didn't, Mr. Mehmet. For both your sake and the mind-weaver's…"
"Could he at least turn to face the wall?"
Vale nodded, and Kohn turned his back to us. "I wish you a pleasant time, Mr. Mehmet."
***
As Vale left, a few mutants came in and dropped off some surgical supplies. One mutant even brought a bottle of wine, saying it was a special treat from Vale. I took a sip. It tasted quite good. This meant they had also removed the Hulk tissue from my brain, and my soul would no longer yearn for disinfectant.
I wandered the room for a while, lost. My mind held not a plan, but an action. And I was consumed with curiosity about what would follow. Before I took that step, I wanted to make sure Arthur Vale was as far away as possible.
To pass the time without drawing attention, I picked up a knife and pretended to cut Rose's hands, in a sort of pedicure-like manner. I even kissed the woman's shoulders a few times out of sheer awkwardness. I considered giving her bare buttocks a smack, but then, thinking about what Rose could do to me, I gave up. Instead, I slapped her hip, higher up towards her waist. I walked in front of the woman a few times.
"Master Mehmet… Do you need help?"
"I'm just trying to work myself up. I'm a bit of a dreamer. I like to visualize everything in my head first, and then I finish the job in one swift motion."
"You are wonderful, Mr. Mehmet."
There was nothing else to do. I had no other plan. I could not stand by and let Rose endure any more torture.
"Kohn, you can actually help me with something. Can you help me hold this?" I said, extending a saw towards him. As Kohn reached his arm behind his back, his armpit was exposed. Just as they had injected the Dermovox, I plunged the needle in, putting Kohn to sleep instantly. I was careful to give him as little of the serum as possible because I needed what was in the needle for something else.
When Kohn crumpled to the floor, we were alone with the yellow box on his back. Even though Kohn was unconscious, the yellow box seemed to be working, in fact, it seemed to be working more intensely than before. I could feel it from the trembling of the place where the box was sitting on Kohn's back. A feeling of panic instantly rushed into me, but I had learned how to control it from my time in the Mind Tunnel. I turned to Rose; she was unaware of everything due to the goggles over her eyes. I quickly approached her and took off her goggles. Rose looked at me with bloodshot eyes, filled with rage. She wanted to say something, but the mask on her mouth prevented her. All I did was:
"See you in the mind tunnel…" I said. I took out the syringe I had hidden and plunged it into the woman's arm. As Rose's head fell forward, I looked at the goggles for a moment. The metal pieces inside the goggles went into the eye sockets and seemed to grip the entire eye. It would be incredibly painful, but I had no choice but to put them on.
On the black screen of the assistant, a message appeared on the yellow box on Kohn's back. "Signal sent…" Then the box went still. At that moment, I understood that I didn't have much time. It is fair to say that I was trembling with fear as I put the goggles on my eyes. The next thing I did was sit on the floor and inject myself with that same needle.
***
"You stupid son of a b****!"
We were in the middle of an eternity of white sands. There was no sound, no heat, no feeling. The person swearing at me was Rose. She had approached me with swift steps and wrapped her arms around my neck. Her cold hands exerted enough force to almost break my neck, and her long nails were tearing my skin:
"Just a moment…" I said, but Rose kept squeezing.
"You just watched as my sister was killed. I knew humans couldn't be trusted."
"Please…" I said as all the weariness within me escaped like a single breath. "…let me explain."
"And as if that weren't enough, you came to torture me, huh!" Rose said. "You contemptible human!"
"Rose!"
"You used us until you got to that man!"
"Rose!"
It was time to play with the scenario. I pushed myself as hard as I could and began to change the scene. The sands under our feet vanished, and the battlefield covered with mutant corpses enveloped us. Diana called out to Rose.
"My sister…"
"Don't fall for these games, you traitor! Do you think you can trick me by playing with the scene?"
"I will keep my promise to Diana, Rose. This isn't a deception. This is a memory of mine… If you want to be sure, look carefully. You will understand if this is a scene or a memory…"
When she turned, she saw her sister writhing in agony. As the mutants pulled her arms, she clenched her teeth until they almost broke, all the muscles in her face contorting with pain. But at that moment, a word came: "Don't be sad, Mehmet."
"Why are you showing me this?"
"Because your sister trusted me." My throat was so constricted that when Rose took her hands away, I had to drop to the ground. Blood from the cuts on my throat dripped into my lap as I gasped for air. "And I will have my revenge. I waited… I waited for the right moment, Rose. Just as you tried to teach me in the Mind Tunnel…" I ran my hand over my throat. I placed my bloodied hand on the ground and leaned back for a while, trying to rest.
As Diana's body was being torn apart once again, Rose closed her eyes. "This scene… It is so painful to see this scene once more. A friendship that spanned hundreds of years…" The tears that streamed down her eyes fell to the ground. "…a friendship like that was wasted because of you, Mehmet. My sister died because of you."
"I know this," I said. "I have brought misfortune to every place I have been. The only thing I have had since the moment I was born was the jinx that followed me. My mother's death, Hulk's death, the death of the man named Dante Shade, the deaths of countless people John Crowrift killed, all happened because of me."
"And you! And you expect me to trust you?"
"No…" I said as the wound on my throat healed. "…what I want now is not for anyone to trust me, Rose. What I want is not a peaceful retirement or a happy life either. I have realized that I can't have any of these. If there is peace, I am not there; if I am there, there is no peace… How did I realize this? The things I have done… Those sorrowful and pained faces… Flora, Dante, Joe Stone, and thousands of other people in agony… All of them are because of me. Arthur Vale's sins and John Crowrift's sins are mine."
"So why are you here?"
"I didn't come here to seek absolution from you, Rose. I cannot curb the sorrow in your heart. I cannot take back what has happened!" I said and healed the wound on my throat. "I feel like I'm trapped in an endless cycle." The bloodstains on my hands dissipated with the wind. "I constantly lose the people I love, and there is nothing I can do. As if I will never be free… As if I will never reach peace… If that's the case, why am I so afraid?"
"Are you afraid?"
"Yes, I am afraid, but what I am afraid of is not an object, a person, or a concept. What I was afraid of was admitting that I am a dead man in this dead galaxy. What I was afraid of was my hands becoming stained. What I was afraid of was being a faithless son. What I was afraid of was lying or stealing. What I was afraid of was deceiving people. But then I saw myself. I saw John Crowrift. I saw that man called Arthur Vale. If… If I want to destroy them, I must conquer these fears. Because I want them to suffer. Because I want them to beg for mercy."
"Did you come to the mind tunnel to say this? Whatever you injected with that needle, we might have to stay here for a long time."
"No… I have no desire to stay in the mind tunnel for a long time. Because I put on your goggles, and it's a matter of moments before it wakes me."
"Waking up from a big shock in the mind tunnel could lead to your death, Mehmet. If you are wearing the goggles, it must be a matter of moments before it wakes you."
"My death shouldn't matter to you, Rose."
"Then why are you here?"
"I need to talk to our friend in the next room. Can you reach his mind?"
"A mind tunnel with three people seems very dangerous. A simple human mind, especially, cannot handle it. Your mind will not be able to handle this!"
I slowly straightened myself on the sandy ground. Arthur Vale's ship was taking off while the mutants were tearing apart Diana's corpse. I placed my hand on Rose's shoulder and turned the woman towards me. Noticing her eyes were still closed:
"Look at me, Rose," I said. Her eyes remained shut. "Look at me, Rose!"
When Rose opened her eyes and looked at me, I told her these things.
"I am John Crowrift! I am the man who killed your sister! I can handle this! Summon that creature's mind here!"
Rose pushed my hands off her shoulder. "Okay then… If you're going to die, I hope you die in agony." She sat on the floor, crossed her legs, and began to meditate. "He heard me… And… And he is coming…"
***
Ballistic shells exploding one after another… Four-armed creatures running with bodies covered in corpses while a skull screamed in agony… Wrestling in the mud and bones shattering… Dermovoxes exiled, chained to each other with chains forged into their ankle bones… A holy war… An uprising… Holy warriors whose burned skin is painted with the coals of heretics burning under the prophet's fire… Murdered children, tortured women… Dust, mud, tears, pools of blood, towers of bone… All these symbols were coming from the mind of a single life that could perhaps contain a thousand. As the scenes changed one after another, the only thing I saw was death. The endless death that is the purpose of life.
Another Dermovox crying among the dead Dermovoxes in the ruins… A Dermovox who died of starvation in the cargo section of a spaceship… A herd of Dermovoxes swirling around a leader… A corpse with rotting skin inside a metal armor knelt before the statue in the middle of a square. This four-armed corpse still radiated pride as it sat there with its sword.
Everything I was witnessing was the founding story of a holy war empire, the history of another race. All the visions I was seeing were things that a race that accepted death and war as its religion would see and rejoice in as a nightly dream. I… I was falling into that mind full of slaughter that a human being could not even begin to comprehend.
"A mind game, is that it?"
The Dermovox, a colossal shadow, gleamed in the heart of the darkness. Its mouth did not move as it spoke; its voice went directly into my mind. It stood rigidly with its four arms, its head held high, scrutinizing me. From the glance in its eyes, I could see the arrogance on its face. I didn't know what to say, so the Dermovox continued to speak.
"You cannot break my mind with these simple tricks, human… My will is entrusted to Fuag, and my words are the words of Ogvetna. I act only under the orders of the great prophet. I serve only and only him."
"That is not my intention, Dermovox."
"Dermovox? Only the Holy Shepherd calls us that…" The Dermovox took two steps and moved towards me. It wouldn't be wrong to say that my height barely reached the creature's legs. "Leave my mind alone, human! Your entering my mind and whispering my knowledge to me is nothing more than a tickle to my will! Or else… Or else I will break your neck! I will scrape your bones and carry the spears I make from them as souvenirs across the battlefields! Your organs will be my meal! Your honor will be a joke I tell my warrior friends!" The creature came closer to me. I could feel its hot breath on my head. I had to bend my neck almost to the point of breaking to look at the creature's face.
"Your words had no effect on me, Dermovox."
"And these games you played in my mind had no effect on me, human."
"Aren't you curious why I called you here?"
"I do not swear allegiance to any word other than the words of the Prophet Ogvetna."
"Then you are listening to the right word, Dermovox."
I could feel all of the Dermovox's muscles tense. My words were an insult to him. An insult against his prophet… But his anger did not turn to violence because it seemed he had his own doubts.
"What does this mean, human? Explain yourself…"
"What was your mission in coming here?"
"I will not tell you that."
"I heard you were looking for a king."
"Who told you that?"
"You mumbled it in your sleep… A king, huh? What kind of king? Why a king?"
"I will not tell you that!"
"Ogvetna… The first Dermovox who could command fire, right? I imagine he is different from the other Dermovoxes. Lara Sharon said he would be, at least…"
"You do not know the Holy Shepherd."
"I know her…"
"You are lying!"
"I don't need to lie, Dermovox! I don't know why you need a king. I could try to learn by entering your mind, but I don't want to. If there was one thing I knew, it was that the king you were looking for was not Arthur Vale. Because the king you are looking for is me!"
The Dermovox's mouth did not move, but its laughter was so violent that I could see its vocal cords vibrating. "You are no king, human!"
"Then let's make a deal. I know you lost an Azt. He must have been a valuable Dermovox…"
"I lost the sacred one of my tribe."
"That's why you had nowhere to return. I can understand that. You, just like me, have lost your purpose in life… If I am your king, you can atone for this mistake. If I am not the king I claim to be, you will kill me."
"Appearing before the Prophet Ogvetna with a simple human like you will harm my honor even more."
"A simple human?" I said and smiled. "Yes… I am absolutely a simple human."
I could see the Dermovox watching me thoughtfully. "I am suspicious of you, human. I will take you to my master!"
"Okay… If you want me to come with you, I want you to cooperate with me."
"I can take you by force."
"I will kill myself then."
I could hear the Dermovox's laughter once more. "You truly are a strange simple human. What do you want from me?"
"Help me kill that man called Vale…"
"How will I help?"
"I will wake you up, and you will destroy everything."
"Deal, human!" Then the Dermovox extended its hand. "My name is Epra!"
"And my name is Mehmet."
"Mehmet? I guess these mind games of yours will never end… Well… It's okay. It's been a long time since I had some fun!"
***
The scenes changed, and Rose appeared before me once more, sitting on the floor filled with corpses.
"So this is your plan, is it? Do you think you can take down Vale with a four-armed creature?"
"Enter my mind and show me the image of Jose on the operating table," I told Rose. "It seems we don't have much time…"
The setting changed in a flash. In the middle of the room surrounded by metal walls, Jose lay on an operating table. Above him, the man called Vale was trying to repair Jose with his tools. This was a scene from my memory.
"Jose is in this state, Rose… You understand machines to a certain degree, don't you?"
"Yes, but not this level of advanced technology."
"But you made me a mutant…"
"Biomechanics are simpler… If he were a biomechanical machine."
"Would it be possible for us to connect Jose to a body in a biomechanical way?"
"With the necessary components, why not?"
"You saw Kohn's body, right? Would the necessary parts be in the 210 on his body?"
"Separating those parts could cause Kohn's death."
"That's okay… Just answer my question."
"Yes… The right parts to make such a modification would definitely be in Kohn's body. Why are you asking?"
"Because I will need Jose…"
"You will use your own body? But you can't perform such an operation…"
"I can't, but I can find someone who can. Look… Rose, if I want to win this war, I must use everything I possess. And… And everything I possess is you all."
Just as Rose opened her mouth to speak, everything was shaken by a white light. It was time to leave the mind tunnel.