Five Years Later
Cipher ran across the barren planetoid, Maya chasing after him.
They weaved between rocks and craters, laughing as they played.
Then Cipher collapsed.
His body hit the ground and went still.
Maya skidded to a halt beside him.
"Ma! Cipher died again!" she called out.
Zhu Que watched from a distant cliff, her arms crossed.
She sighed as Cipher's eyes fluttered open and he sat up, looking around in confusion before Maya tackled him back into their game.
Looks like it wasn't all that special, she thought.
She had observed Cipher for a long time now, hoping to discover something unique about his constitution.
But there really wasn't anything.
He was just immortal. That was it.
Apart from that, his talent was worse than mediocre. He wasn't even particularly smart either.
This was a failure.
Maya walked up to her, carrying Cipher in her arms. He had died again mid-game.
"Mom," Maya said softly, "is there really no way to heal Brother?"
