"Damn it!" Mael said, tearing off his mask and tossing it aside. I never would have thought a young man's face could be hidden beneath the mask. Judging by his strange attire, I had assumed this man would be as monstrous as his friend. He brought a hand to his face and rubbed it vigorously. "What did you hit me with?" he demanded, pressing his metal foot into my stomach.
My voice barely came out, as my breath was somewhat constricted. "You…" I whispered. "…you were supposed to be knocked out."
He removed his feet. I tried to rise to strike, but he pointed his gun at my face and said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you." A targeting reticle mark glowed fiery red in his right eye. "I don't even need to aim at your face to shoot you."
He dragged me over to the container. He pulled a cable out of it. The moment he held the cable to my wrists, it spontaneously wrapped around my wrists and feet, securing me. The cable even pinned me face-down to the floor, as if it had a will of its own.
As Mael walked toward his burly friend, he was still trying to shake off the grogginess. He snapped his head side to side, slapped himself, and rubbed his temples. "This stuff… it was potent." He then nudged his friend lying on the ground. "How long until he wakes up?"
"Are you serious? Is that what you ask? That damned bullet is worth thousands of credits!" I shouted, writhing angrily on the ground. "How did you not pass out?"
"My implants must have countered the toxin."
"It's a nerve-stimulant bullet…"
"What does that mean?"
"Any living creature with a human brain, unless their brain is mechanical, falls asleep the instant they're hit with this bullet… Wait a second, are you not human?"
He smiled, spreading his arms wide. "You caught me…"
"Wait… are you a shapeshifter or something? Are you one of those strange, ghoul-like creatures that roam from colony to colony eating people? What nonsense am I talking about… If you were one of them, you couldn't have entered the agency as an officer. The Space Archaeology and Heritage Protection Agency (SAHPA) probably has the strictest officer recruitment controls since its inception. Then… then you're a clone."
"I used to think all Weisshafens were mindless creatures. But it seems there are a few rational ones among them…"
"Thank you, but I think you're the one who owes an explanation here, wouldn't you agree?"
"You want an explanation?" He walked back to the container and picked up another crate. Inside, there were tubes filled with liquids of various colors. He placed one tube into a needle gun and injected himself. "Nothing changed…" he stated. Then he took a different colored tube and injected it into his neck. "See… that seems to have worked better…" He took that tube and threw it into an accelerator, where the liquid was rapidly vibrated, heated, and vaporized.
"Yes, I want an explanation…"
"I'm sorry, Weisshafen… what you'll get won't be an explanation." He took the gaseous substance and placed it into a compartment inside the big man's tank. As the man inhaled the liquid, he slowly opened his eyes and sat up.
Mael grabbed Kaldro by the shoulders, helping him to his feet. Kaldro woke up, his eyes still wide with fear, and asked, "What happened, brother?"
Mael pointed at me. "Weisshafen noticed us."
"What are we going to do? We'll be dishonorably discharged… All our credits will be instantly wiped out. I told you we shouldn't operate without permission…" he said, gripping Mael's shoulder hard. "…didn't I, brother?"
"The reward for this unauthorized operation might be greater than all the credits we've accumulated, Kaldro. But first, there's something we need to do."
"What is it?"
"Before killing Weisshafen, we need to destroy his facility. The facility acts as a satellite and will notify the SWR if Weisshafen dies. We possess the equipment to destroy the entire facility with a single shot," he said, pointing to Kaldro's pressure cannon. The massive weapon lay at Kaldro's feet. "We'll be gone before the SWR can figure out if it was a simple communication outage or an attack. But the signal sent the moment Weisshafen dies will be an attack signal."
These fools thought I was carrying a comms device. Yet, I had nothing on me that could emit a signal. Glancing around, I spotted a small communication jamming satellite vehicle on the container. It was high-tech, but not as advanced as the agency's equipment. It could likely jam the signal but not completely eliminate it.
"This… this is insane…" Kaldro said, clutching his weapon tighter. "Why would we do this? Why would we stand against the SWR!"
Mael pulled his arm free from Kaldro's grip and cupped the man's face between his hands. Their faces were very close. "Brother… What if I told you that what we'll find here is for the SWR's greater good? What if I said that what lies here is the singular purpose humanity has sought since its existence… But you have to trust me! Until the key is turned and the door is opened, I can't tell you what lies on the other side! You just! You just have to trust me, brother…"
Kaldro stood up with a roar of anger. "I trust you, brother! If it's for a grand purpose like you say…"
"For a grand purpose…"
"Then I'll level them, brother!"
As Kaldro walked away with heavy steps, a chill ran through me. With that man's weapon, the facility could truly be reduced to dust instantly. The good news was that my brother, Lucius Varden, was at the facility. I had no choice but to pin my hopes on him.
"So… what do we do now? How about putting on our pink pajamas and talking about men? Especially since I feel overly restricted by men lately. Considering my hands were tied a few days ago, too…"
"I don't find your jokes very amusing, Weisshafen." He opened another crate. What emerged was a hologram communication device, but… But this thing had a quantum core and a Dimensite stone—a crystal that would provide energy for dimensional communication—on it. I let out a slight internal chuckle because this was utter madness. I had only heard rumors that those stones were in the hands of a few fanatics or billionaires. I had chased one of those stones with Belladona on the planet Jolkien for two years, only to find nothing more than a fake diamond. But… But the fact that such a stone was found on a Custodian… That was not a normal situation. This stone could send a cross-dimensional signal instantly and without disruption. It was a crystal that prevented temporal shifts.
As the crystal slowly shimmered, the young Mael, who had removed his helmet, pressed a few buttons, and a silhouette's hologram appeared before us. This man wore a stylish, noble-looking overcoat. The inside of his black overcoat was purple, further indicating his status. It was clear he was a charismatic man. The lower part of his jaw was metal, suggesting he was cybernetic. But there was a strangeness… This man and our young man looked absolutely identical.
"Sir…"
"What is it, Mael? After a century, you're the only person besides Arthur Vale who uses this network. You must have found something incredibly important."
"Yes, sir…" Mael swallowed. "…I found something very important, something very different from the others."
"What did you find?"
"I found our father, Marcin Grom, sir…" he said with an excited tone.
A silent, frozen moment. Despite being a cybernetic, the man in the hologram was genuinely affected by what he heard. Perhaps he even felt a tiny spark of fire break out in his circuits. "This… this is unbelievable. Unexpected, even. Of course, there was a possibility, but… But it seemed impossible even in the best-case scenario. How? How did you manage to find him?"
"By chance…" He pointed at me, lying face down on the ground. "…this is a Weisshafen. He works as a resource collector. When we landed on this man's planet, our sensors detected excessive radioactivity."
"I guess my sensors were the ones that didn't notice that damned capsule!" I lashed out. "What kind of sensors are you even using? I think I found this place by a much bigger stroke of luck."
"A Weisshafen? A very dangerous surname. And why is he awake and listening to everything?"
"Well… Sir, I got excited and wanted to notify you right away."
"Ah… Developments, I suppose… Since there's a troublesome Weisshafen present, I sense a chaotic situation."
"There is chaos here, yes, but I will handle it, sir. Just tell me what I should do."
"What should you do? Ah… You've discovered something that wasn't in our plans, Mael. You've discovered a miracle. What is the miracle itself doing right now?"
Mael took a ball and aimed it at the capsule. "He's resting right now, but I'll wake him up as soon as I crack the password. But the crystal might not last until then."
Indeed, vapors had begun rising from the Dimensite stone. It looked as if it was slowly melting.
"He might be a great stone that can aid our cause…"
"Is our cause more important, or is our father?" Mael asked.
The man facing us said with a flash of anger, "You're trying to be overly loyal to the past for a clone whose memories are already fragmented, Mael!" Then, as if realizing he was a cybernetic, he calmed down. "Of course, both are important. But I don't want to sacrifice my father for the sake of our cause, or the cause for my father."
"What should I do?" Mael repeated his question.
"What should you do? The SWR will suspect you."
"I'm trying to handle everything quietly, without the SWR finding out anything…"
"Is that so? And what's your next step? Conceal everything in a blaze of fire with a massacre? They'll check your ship's archives, follow your trail, and know you landed on that planet. The SWR seems destined to be a problem, but that's fine. Ah… Damn it! Nothing was ready yet."
"You're acting as if I did something wrong, sir," Mael said, clenching his metal fist.
"You are mistaken, Mael. You did something very right. I just wasn't fully prepared for it. I need to advance the plans a bit. The Bioethics Audit Inspector must wake up…"
"Seriously?"
"Yes… He must wake up. Even those creatures at Dante Shade's facility aren't ready; they're still living in a tribal state, but they must wake up. Before the SWR notices that you went to that planet and left the remnants, the Bioethics Audit Inspector must go there and give his approval. A planet approved by the Bioethics Audit Inspector won't be a priority for the SWR. They will focus on the other planets you've been to. The moment the SWR suspects you, they will investigate your entire past step by step… Let's buy as much time as we can, at least."
"I don't care what the SWR or the other clone will do. What should I do?" The vapors intensified. A red light was constantly blinking on the hologram machine.
"You… you wake up Marcin Grom. I don't quite know what the best-case scenario might be there. I'll make my plan based on the worst-case scenario: the one where you've revealed yourself and the SWR starts tracking you… Take my father and come to Rendezvous Point B. Another clone will pick him up from there. It's unlikely to avoid suspicion by maintaining communication with an agency officer. I have to cut off contact with you until you reach Point B. I'm giving you three months, standard time. The moment three months and one day passes, I will blow up and abandon that planet. Understood?"
"Absolutely…"
"And your other officer friend?"
"He's in the palm of my hand… I'll deal with him."
"Wonderful! I'll be waiting for you…" Before he could finish the sentence, the machine overheated, and the image vanished instantly. When the machine started burning fiercely, Mael extinguished it with harsh kicks from his metal foot.
"Your friend…" I said. "…what was his name? He sounds like a funny bastard trying to defy the SWR."
"His name isn't important…"
"You call Marcin Grom 'father,'" I said. Mael picked up my rifle. He checked the ammunition. There were still tranquilizer bullets inside. "And you call Kaldro 'brother.' Either you have a very complicated, Spanish soap opera-like family structure, or you're using some strange terminology."
"You talk too much," Mael said, frowning. "It will only take Kaldro a few minutes to reach the facility with his jetpack… The facility will turn to ashes with your lovely zoo friends in a few minutes. Despite pain being only a few minutes away, you can still enthusiastically continue talking." He aimed the rifle and shot me in the shoulder with a tranquilizer bullet. Then he continued firing successive rounds. Multiple bullets were lodged in various places on my body.
"Ah… It's over! You've passed out, Aldo! You've fallen into a sleep you might not even wake up from, while your friends wait to be hit and killed by Kaldro's pressure cannon," I hear you thinking. Actually, that's not quite right.
I mentioned before that the bullet I fired worked based on genetics, didn't I? What idiot wouldn't add their own genetics as a filter to such a specialized bullet? That idiot was certainly not me. The moment the bullet hit me, I dropped my head forward as if sedated, but in fact, I was wide awake. I was fully conscious of everything.
"Damn it!" Mael shouted. "Everything is too confusing."
I continued pretending to sleep for a while. Mael kept fiddling with the hologram keyboard. Then, as if a thought struck him, he came over and scrutinized me. I won't lie, I was quite afraid he might do something perverted. I even shivered when his metal hand traced my body. But what he was checking for was my pockets…
He pulled a finger-sized hack robot from my pocket and attached it to the edge of the hologram keyboard. This pen-like robot slowly opened and started vibrating. A light turned on at the tip of the pen. A few seconds later, its body lit up all along its length. Finally, the pen opened up like a starfish. Mael started fiddling with the edges of the pen as if he were picking a lock on a door. After a few attempts, I heard a thud from the capsule.
A small vapor spread as the air accumulated over centuries escaped. While Mael shouted, "I did it!" I glanced at the capsule. A hand touched the edge of the capsule. The hand was initially made of nanoderm. Then it took on the color and shape of skin.
As the hand pulled itself up, we saw a human face, but the body was constantly composed of moving nanoparticles. Those particles changed color and first became a formal Weapon Security officer uniform. Then they changed color and became a prisoner uniform. Finally, they transformed into an undershirt and short briefs. Mael helped the man get out of the capsule.
As he let the man, Marcin Grom, rest on the steps next to the capsule, Mael was as careful as if he were handling a rare and fragile porcelain plate. Marcin Grom was in a state of shock similar to Frankenstein's monster's first awakening. He examined his hand, he examined the surroundings. Night hadn't fully fallen yet. The sky was a reddish white. Yet, he kept shielding his eyes with his hand as if the sun was directly overhead and blinding him. I sincerely hoped he wouldn't truly become a problem for us like Frankenstein's monster.
"Where… where am I?" he asked, and then he grabbed the young man next to him by the nape of the neck and shook him. He pulled him closer. "You…"
"Yes, it's me, father…"
"You're alive… My son…" He paused. Would tears come to his eyes? Had he become emotional so soon? "This is impossible… I succeeded, then… But… You…" He looked at Mael's metal body parts and then at the agency symbol on his chest. "…you cannot be my son."
"Yes…" Mael said, hanging his head. "I'm not your original son. I'm a clone."
"A clone?" He tried to stand up, but Mael stopped him with his hand and made him sit back down. "How long have I been sleeping…"
"Close to 400 years…"
"400 years? Damn it! Did the war with the colonies end? Did the Incompatibles return?" He coughed repeatedly. "Where is my son? Where is Yorleny?"
"As a clone, I don't have much memory, to be honest," Mael said. "Your son determines what each of us remembers and doesn't. But I've wondered my whole life. I wanted to access the secrets that your son—and personally, my lord—has hidden. Father… Holding your hand right now is an honor for me. Please… Please tell me what you know. Because I'm afraid of dying without learning if we get into trouble."
"Tell? You want me to tell you things? When 400 years of sleep have passed like a breath, I would expect you—the ones who woke me up—to tell me about this galaxy I haven't opened my eyes to. Even if I wanted to tell you something… what can I remember and tell you with this fragmented memory? But I will try…" He narrowed his eyes and lifted his head. "…I will push my mind hard."
"I… I was the director of the Weapon Security Unit. It was Dante Shade himself who brought this proposal to me. He brought me this duty on Solegard's order because I sometimes helped the SWR in its fight against space pirates, and they were impressed with my methods. At first, the directorate seemed easy. Fighting space pirates was certainly simpler than the Fourth World War. I was living a dream-like life when news arrived. About an alien race called the Incompatibles coming to our star systems."
"You had prior notice?" Mael asked in surprise.
"Not very long prior. A few scientists studying other star systems had noticed anomalies and warned us. Dante Shade came up with a plan. He wanted to form a galactic intelligence team. This team, consisting of the best men in the galaxy, would do the SWR's dirty work. The name of this team was forbidden to be spoken."
"The problem was that weapons didn't work against the Incompatibles. Humans couldn't perceive them with the naked eye. Computers couldn't analyze them or the ships they came in. Our computers were helpless against their presence. But we could sense their existence. They were like an oddity… They filled our brains with pain and made us psychologically sick."
"We were able to detect which planet they landed on based on these symptoms. From the reports of disease, famine, and people saying that something they saw but couldn't understand was driving them mad… We quarantined too many colonies. We wanted to prevent people who had lost their minds or contracted the disease from spreading."
"What… what was done in those quarantines?" Mael asked.
"I… I don't know that," Marcin Grom said, standing up. "They kept that a secret even from me. Only Dante Shade and his mysterious organization knew those secrets. The only thing I knew was the rebellions caused by human communities who didn't believe in the Incompatibles… Pirates taking advantage of the situation and declaring sovereignty over colonies… Such hunger and misery struck the galaxy that a miracle was needed to save it."
"I personally don't know why the Incompatibles came. But I know what caused them to leave."
"Maria…" Mael said. "…I know that name has something to do with it, but your son extracted all the details about her from my mind."
"Because those damned intelligence agents, including my son, were trained by Dante Shade. Some of them grew up under his guidance. That man was an intellectual cannibal, unsurpassed in manipulating people like Hannibal Lecter. He was a criminal who was second to none in creating chaos to serve his own purpose, like the Joker. And a bloodsucker, like Dracula…"
"I wouldn't want to meet Dante Shade," I thought to myself. Meanwhile, Marcin Grom continued his narration.
"I only know what my son told me. They wanted to send the Incompatibles back. They did something that alien races whose civilizations were destroyed by the Incompatibles wouldn't do, but I don't know exactly what. Whatever they did, it involved a girl's child."
"A girl's child?"
"Yes… A little girl saved us from the Incompatibles."
"That's nonsense…" I thought to myself. "…a crazy, rambling story!"
Even Mael was surprised: "What… what kind of girl is this?"
"Many doctors had worked on the girl to make her birth miraculous. The experimental goals were complex. Procedure upon procedure. Even I had to deal with a few procedures during the girl's creation and had countless meetings with Tiberion Solegard. The only thing I knew was that that girl would save us from the Incompatibles. I had been in meetings as Dante Shade's mouthpiece many times and presented secret files to Tiberion Solegard."
"Then one day, the Incompatibles left. We were going to revert everything to normal after they left, but… But the SWR made a decision. Maria had to die."
"Why?"
"I don't know exactly, but my son told me something. Their business with Maria was finished. The girl was too dangerous to live. Whatever power she possessed was strong enough to threaten the very existence of the SWR. So, they decided to kill the girl. My son, Edgard… said he wouldn't abandon the girl to death. He returned to the facility and tried to kidnap her. Many of his friends lost their lives during that kidnapping. Even the girl died."
"Edgard was escaping the facility empty-handed because Oscar Destan was forcibly abducting him. Then the spaceship blew up. Oscar died, but I was able to rescue my son before he took his last breath. The person who told me my son's plan and location was Joe Stone, both an old friend of mine and my son's mentor." He put his hand on Mael's cheek and continued.
"I hid my son as a Bioethics Audit Inspector. Until his wounds healed and his brain tissue recovered, he would overcome the rage he harbored. He had to… Those were chaotic times of war, famine, and scarcity. It wasn't very difficult for me to destroy all the traces that the SWR could follow."
"Then why are you here? What were you escaping from?" Mael asked.
"Lee Kon Jae… He was the most dangerous of those intelligence agents. He was the one who triggered Tiberion Solegard's paranoia. Tiberion Solegard wanted all the evidence of the past concerning the Incompatibles to disappear from the pages of history. So, to erase the past, he was also going to eliminate the people who were memories of the past. Everyone was slowly being hunted, and I knew this hunt would reach me. Before dying, I boarded this capsule and distanced myself from the SWR." He brought his hand to his forehead and rubbed it. "There's something else, but… But I don't fully remember it."
"All of this is great, but…" I interjected. "…it's all topics that don't interest me at all. Do you happen to know a secret about Damon Weisshafen? One that would allow me to take him down."
"You… Weren't you knocked out?" Mael asked, grabbing his gun and aiming it right at my head, when the man named Marcin Grom intervened.
"You… Where do you know Damon Weisshafen from?"
"He is my father. Stepfather, rather…"
"So you're Weisshafen's child, huh… And what is he doing right now?"
"He's piloting the Hyperion ship."
"The Hyperion ship?" he said, suddenly standing up. The words about to come out of his mouth might finally be useful to me. "A Weisshafen?"
"Yes…"
"Those damned intelligence agents didn't kill him after all, then…"
"What do you mean?"
"Weisshafen was Shade's partner when they established the team. Shade was the visible face, while Weisshafen was the one in the background. He managed the finance and policies. Then…. Then he fell out with Shade. That's why Weisshafen was removed from intelligence work and started working as an officer under the Weapon Security agency."
"Why did they fall out, then?"
"Weisshafen was leaking information to Emperor Claudis."
"Holy shit! Emperor Claudis, the leader of the CLAUDIS colonies? That guy who made those huge ships that could self-modify!"
"You're talking about the CHAM spaceships. Yes… Damon was leaking information to Claudis."
"What kind of information?"
"About the Incompatibles…"
"And what was he getting in return?"
"I don't know," Marcin Grom said. "But I know someone who does. Emperor Claudis…"
"I could have guessed that too, but that guy is dead, my friend…" I said. "…you're a little late."
"Are you sure?"
"How can I be sure? The Weapon Security army shot the man in the back during a jihad."
"Only a Hyperion ship could counter Claudis's Cham spaceship. But even that couldn't take down the Cham. What I mean is… Do you think Weapon Security killed Claudis or persuaded him?"
"This… what you're saying could rewrite a hundred years of history. Well… then why would they want to persuade Claudis?"
"I would have liked you to ask him."
"Then if my father is a traitor, why didn't they kill him?"
"I don't know what was done with the information your father leaked. Maybe they weren't brave enough to kill him. Maybe the SWR was afraid of Damon Weisshafen."
"Get the hell out of here!" I said angrily. "The SWR is afraid of no one."
"They used to be afraid. In fact, they used to be very cowardly." He stood up and took a few steps. "They've probably become a fearless empire now. I can more or less guess." He took a few more steps as if trying to wake up his muscles that had been lying dormant for years. "When people first founded the Republic, what they dreamed of was freedom. To escape a world full of wars, famine, and hunger, people ventured into space. In space, they needed an institution to help them. The states of that time were unreliable. They were corrupt from top to bottom, and the constant wars they were involved in had consumed their minds. None of them could think logically. Hate, sorrow, and fear… were the only emotions the earthly states conveyed."
"People went to space for freedom. The galaxy was vast. Planets were countless. Everyone could establish the country, planet, or colony of their own religion and culture. And to stop some bad people, some armed supreme forces were needed. Thus, the Supreme World Union was established, financed by corporations."
"You had very beautiful dreams," I said, still lying curled up on the ground. "But I need to explain something to you. None of this exists in this current f*cking time. I have only one request from you. If I learn Damon Weisshafen's secret… then… can I bring about Damon Weisshafen's end?"
"Why would a son want to bring about his father's end?"
"He's my stepfather…"
Just then, a shadow fell over the already fading sunlight. When I lifted my head to look at the source of the shadow, I saw a man gliding in the air with jets beneath his shoes. I couldn't quite see his face because the sun was hitting his back, yet I could swear he had a big smile on his face.
"Hey kids… I'm not interrupting, am I?" he said, taking off his sunglasses and throwing them aside. His white shirt was fluttering in the gentle wind. What he said was not very clear because of the cigar in his mouth. "Looks like I missed the show…"
"Who are you?" Marcin Grom asked.
"Ah… The old man can talk. I thought his jaw would be rusted after 400 years." He took the cigar in his hand and put his other hand in his pocket. "You look like you're torturing my brother. If you don't know, let me tell you this: no one tortures him but me."
"What are you? An officer or something?"
"An Inspector…" he said, proudly puffing out his chest. "…and you must be a piece of junk. Is that thing on you a nano-armor? There aren't many of those damned things left anymore."
"I am Weapon Security Director Marcin Grom…"
"Ah… The girls mentioned your name many times. Your name didn't ring a bell, but… But then I listened to your conversation a bit and realized that… you mean a huge promotion for me."
"Promotion?"
"Yes… Promotion!" He raised his left arm and clenched his fist. "…You are the promotion that will make me Helmar Voss's chief assistant! Don't worry, the SWR won't know what's going on here! I don't want to share the reward with anyone else."
"Please…" Marcin Grom said. "…I don't want to do this."
"Don't want to do what, old man?"
"Fight you…"
He slowly started descending from his position in the sky, as if stepping down imaginary stairs. "Ah… You can't say you can't fight me either."
"Do you want to risk your life for a promotion?"
"I'm not risking my life or anything, old man," he said, and after planting his feet on the ground, he threw the cigar down and crushed it thoroughly with his foot. He spread his arms out to the sides. "I'm an improved version." Then he pointed at me with his finger. A bullet fired from his finger hit the cable holding me. I was free. I slowly stood up and moved behind my brother.
"You have to kill him, father," Mael said, approaching the man's ear. "Both of them know too much."
"But no one has to die here," Marcin said, stepping a few paces forward.
"Where is Kaldro?" Mael asked from behind.
"Ah… that big, strange guy? I've pretty much dealt with him. The girls are taking care of him," Varden said. Then he added, "Can you stay out of this? The adults are talking right now."
"Please…" Marcin said. "…I know you're a young man. But please don't do something you'll regret." He took a few more steps. He tried to place his hand on my brother's shoulder in a friendly, fatherly way, but my brother suddenly shoved the hand trying to touch his shoulder aside and punched the man's face with all his strength.
"Don't you dare touch me, old man!" The punch was so fierce that the ground beneath our feet shook as if struck by an earthquake. As our clothes fluttered from the speed of the punch and the pressure of the impact, Mael and I stared at Marcin in great surprise.
Marcin was just standing there, his neck bent slightly, with a big red mark on his cheek. He breathed… There was silence for a moment. The fact that the man had not been wounded in any way must have unnerved my brother too, who took a boxer's stance, when these words were heard from Marcin Grom's mouth: "Very well… So be it!"
Marcin Grom leaped from where he stood and grabbed my brother by the stomach. As Marcin Grom jumped, he took my brother with him. Together, they were falling, almost into an eternity, down the hill where the shrine was located.
"Damn it!" I screamed after them. This fight looked like it was going to be chaotic and long.