As we sped through the murky waters, creatures fled underneath us, thrashing in fear like frogs trying to hide from a water snake. Tension was thick in the air. Each soldier was carrying a veritable arsenal and what they could not carry they laid against the edge of the boat - rifles, handguns, grenades and other heavier guns. These men were at war. To them, misguided as they were and stubborn, the city was a hostage that could be rescued. They hoped for this even while they sank deeper into annihilation. Pitiful.

Though I knew Her promise was unfolding before me, I remained afraid. Like the stench of the rotting city, fear clung fast to me. Dread was my crown, the belt about my waist, the shackles round my wrists.

Reassuringly, the cool speech of the dagger resounded in my mind.

“While hard to perceive, do not fear, for a path has been laid. Hold to it. Be steadfast and not afraid.”

Onto the floating fortress we embarked, where I met the author of my capture. Like the Young Woman inside the truck, I knew her as soon as I saw her. It was the Doctor.

Recognition crossed her face but her expression changed in a way I did not expect. There was a mourning in her eyes. A disappointment and a sadness. Quickly, she ordered the men to take me below deck but stressed that I was to be kept safe.

Inside a sterile and brightly lit room, I was inspected and the dagger taken from me. A medic observed the scar on my belly before I was locked in a glass tank. I slumped against the transparent barrier holding my head in my hands. For how was I to reach my Beloved?

As if in answer to my prayers, the dagger’s familiar voice floated through the air.

“Fear not. I am here with thee. A covenant has been made which shall not be broken. Look down-”

I looked and inhaled sharply. In my palm was the blade, the weapon that had been taken from me mere moments before.

“Make of thy blood an offering as thou hast done before.”

I hesitated. The dagger grew warm and swelled with the promise of power.

“Listen,” the knife urged. “For there is a wound in thy nature. An unfair crack making thou weak. Until this has been sealed, Her promise will remain forever out of reach.”

The hairs on my neck bristled. The dagger continued.

“To become whole, thou must wound thyself a final time. For this will cement the covenant and complete the promise. Thou shalt be crowned king - a king of such eminence that thine host will be innumerable as the stars in the sky. Hurry. For She awaits, the Fairest and most Beloved. Hear my words and do not turn from this task.”

In this way, the blade spoke and though my skin was covered in cold sweat and my hands shuddered, I steeled myself to its words. I had come too far. I needed another taste. I would not fail. I would not falter. Slowly, I raised the point of the blade so that it angled directly in front of my left side. As I primed it for a blow, it hovered unsteadily.

I then struck.

I plunged the knife into my flank, twisting it through the gaps in my ribs. It hurt. I wheezed and choked but I refused to die. Fate had stepped in to save me. Blood spluttered onto my hands and dripped onto the cell floor.

At once I felt a new energy course through my body. I looked at my side and saw that the wound had disappeared. No scar could be seen. A powerful force was at work.

Bending back the hinges of my cell door, I dispatched the men on the other side. Unimpeded no more, I dashed into the belly of the ship, sliding down narrow stairwells and slipping through the labyrinth of walkways and chambers.

Careful to attract as little attention as possible, one by one I released the prisoners of that place. As I freed the beasts, my chest swelled with pride. There were so many vicious creatures. One lumbering brute towered above me from within its prison with long, ape-like limbs. Its thick and powerful torso supported a savage face like that of a toad or shark with small beady eyes. Approaching it, I saw that the face was dominated by a massive, crooked maw which bore an expression of violent indignity. I brought the knife to the glass to slice an opening. A gurgling squeal erupted from the being’s wide mouth before it charged head-long through the glass, out of the room and into the subterranean maze.

Carnage reigned. Try as they might with their bullets and firepower, the sheer number of the monsters overwhelmed the crew. The hour of their defeat had arrived. But my work was not done. I skated up through the levels of the ship, up and up toward my rival.

Alarms blared and doors fell down to contain the mayhem but it was too late. The turmoil had taken its toll on the vessel and its reinforced gates slid up and down aimlessly. When I finally reached the Doctor’s quarters, I paused at the threshold. Across the room, trapped under a fortified barrier, the Doctor’s lower body had been crushed. She registered my appearance and laboured to rise with as much strength as she could muster. She laughed bitterly.

“You came back?” she asked. “I thought I’d done enough to make you forget your obsession.”

Eyeing the blade in my right hand, she paused in thought. There were tears in her eyes, as if seeing me caused her much anguish and sorrow. She went on, telling her story as if she knew she was soon to die.

“I dreamed once. I dreamed of something more. Something better, for everyone. I dreamed, like the philosophers and alchemists, of a beautiful hope, of an end to the emptiness we all shared. Though impossible in their time, it became possible for me. You understand that I had to try given the state of our world? I needed to bring those locked secrets to the light of day.”

Mindful of the roars from the decks below yet too intrigued to move, I continued to listen.

“I discovered things beyond the dreams of Einstein and Hawking. Things like the imaginations of Dante or Milton. Inaccessible things to humans. Horrible things. I dived beneath the surface and saw the truth. The truth that everything we know is drained of the real. Our reality is but a refraction. Hollow. Trite. Narrow. Please, don’t make my mistake. I should have stopped a long time ago, when my dreams faded and before obsession took control. But you, you can still turn back. Forget this godforsaken dump and forget what you’ve seen. Leave while you can, before this place is razed to dust.”

For a few moments I considered her tear-stricken plea. I understood what she meant. I knew she had seen what I had seen. I knew she was telling the truth, however misguided she had become. I knew in my heart why my journey frightened and pained her so. Yet I could not turn back. I retorted in irritation.

“Unlocking the secrets for the sake of filling humanity’s emptiness is a pathetic gesture. It speaks to those who are satisfied with their position in the cosmic hierarchy. Our disgusting, miserable state. How can you think it is fair? No, I deserve more. I shall do what others won’t and what you never could. I plan to see this road through to the end, to the places where you dare not tread. Think - if I had not heeded the call, someone else would have. I refuse to submit to a tedious human existence.”

She stared at me, broken. Bringing her hand out from her side and steadying herself with the other, she pointed her gun and fired. She found her mark but the bullet could do little to stem my new vitality. With my right eye shot and blood pouring from my face, I stormed across her quarters, enraged.

“What good is it to struggle against fate?” I spat, clasping the dagger tight within my palm.

I swooped down and slit her throat. It was quick and painless. Better than what she deserved. As with me, she had hidden something inside herself. I carefully pulled her body out from between the doors and made an incision in her stomach. Here, was the second cord. I proceeded to gorge myself on the black organ. Oh, how sweet it tasted!

More…more. I needed more.