Retro-cognition

Chapter 26 - The Reason for Unique's Death

He could feel heat streaming to his cheeks, and he averted his eyes, coughing lightly. "Nothing... Are you ready, hot stuff?"

"Sure... I agreed to one date, didn't I?" She winked.

"You sure did."

Unique forced through and moved her body so far away from Sion as possible. Her muscles strained in the unnatural position, and she was afraid that a vein would pop on her neck.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked.

"I... Can't..." Sion tried. However, no more words came out. Instead, he leaned against her and once more pulled her mind into his past.

"You've killed her!" Sion yelled.

"No—I'd never do that," Envy said. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. "She attacked me—she used her powers on me."

"Unique would never do that, it's too dangerous."

"But she did. I swear on my life, Sion. I didn't kill her."

"You disgust me," he said before turning his back on her.

"Father, please... help," Unique begged. But nothing happened. Her daddy wasn't coming to help her—none of the Gods would help, they'd thoroughly sealed her off.

"Unique..." Sion muttered. "Can't... stop. Need to."

Before she could answer, she was back into a new vision.

"The problem is. Unique was never a Goddess. Her immortality was only borrowed from Lif," Retro said.

"What does that even mean?" Sion frowned. He was sitting across from Unique's father. The plans of reviving Unique were put to a halt.

"Lif didn't want to create another Origin. So instead, she blew life into already dead skin. She'd never been a true Goddess."

"To me she was!" Sion's chair scraped against the floor as he jerked up to a standing position.

"I know, and to me, as well. But the technicalities around her creation made her vulnerable for the likes of Envy." Retro buried his face in his hands. "I can't believe I saw the signs earlier."

"What do you mean?"

"Unique was... broken. She was killed because she lacked the proper knowledge of her creation. She shouldn't have gone after Envy alone; retro-cognition can't solve everything."

"What did she do to Envy?"

Retro met Sion's eyes. "She did what Unique always does--she forced Envy to look back and relive."

"But how did she die?"

"She used her powers."

"What? I don't understand." Sion frowned but slowly took his place on the chair again. He needed to understand this. Retro looked away and refused to answer.

"Tell me!" Sion demanded.

"Passion. Calm down," a third voice resounded through the room. Sion looked up to see Fatus--the God of Fate--coming towards them.

"Fatus, what are you doing here?" he asked.

Fatus never rewarded anyone with the respect of looking into their eyes. From what Sion had gathered, it was impossible for him to hold a conversation like that. Instead, the God walked to Sion's side and started talking, "Unique's essence was from borrowed materials. The blood from Retro, and skin from Mortitia. The Goddess of Death tainted her before she was even born."