Ultima Ratio

Chapter 74: The Little Dove

What's the first thing you remember?

Cold. A chill against her skin from the brisk air at her front and icy metal at her back. A sharp smell of mysterious chemicals, and the low hums and steady beeps of machines. A dull headache that pulsed against the inside of her skull. A room of white walls and white floors bathed in white light. A tongue that scratched the inside of her dry mouth like sandpaper; a stomach that felt like an endless void in her torso.

"Can you hear me?" a voice asked her softly, but the volume seemed to amplify within her head.

She turned towards the source of the sound.

A man was watching her, eyes wide in anticipation. He was perhaps in his early thirties with dark, swooping hair and golden brown skin. Stubble graced his sharp chin, and he absentmindedly ran a hand over it, letting his long fingers linger there for a moment after.

She nodded once.

He burst into a wide smile, his white teeth beaming brighter than the lights above them, brighter than even the sun.

What was the sun? She knew, but she didn't.

"Sun..." she whispered. Her voice was dry and cracked.

The man's smile dimmed, and his excitement was replaced by confusion as he leaned closer to her.

"What was that?" he asked, his voice warm against her skin.

"You... Sun..." she said, not quite sure how to put her thoughts into words.

The man leaned back, surprised, before his smile returned, now warmer than ever.

"I am the sun," he agreed softly, and he ran a hand over her hair, gently patting her head. "I am the sun for you, and for this world. I'll give you and them a new life—a second chance. And that is my one and only purpose."

She didn't know what he was saying. All she knew was that she believed him.

"I am Verus Rex, your king," he said. He ran his hand down the side of her face, his warm fingers settling on her chin. "And you are my little dove; you're my Danya. Do you understand?"

With his fingers resting on her chin, she didn't dare move, not wanting the warmth to abandon her. Still, he asked her a question, and it was her duty to answer.

"You're...Verus Rex," she repeated. "I'm...Danya. I'm...yours."

His smile grew even brighter.

"Yes," Verus Rex whispered, and his gentle touch moved up and down her cheek. "You're mine."

Stop! Sorry, I mean... What else did you do? Like, how did you learn everything?

Danya was standing alone in the middle of a small room, illuminated only by the dozens of video monitors surrounding her. Each played a different type of media, and Danya focused on absorbing all of them at once. While the screens bombarded her with an indiscernible amount of information, her mind easily organized it for her, separating documentaries from movies, fact from fiction, and the 1990s from the 2090s.

Like always, she was surprised when the room suddenly darkened, and while her eyes switched to infrared vision, her ears would temporarily compensate. They would be the first to detect the clicking footsteps outside, and Danya would already be waiting inside the door as soon as it opened.

There, Verus Rex greeted her with the smile of the sun.

"How were today's lessons, my little dove?" he asked, the back of his fingers grazing her cheeks.