Cipher Code {complete}

Chapter Forty Four: Dreamscape.

Corey had never really been a fan of religion till he became a minister.

The idea of abiding by a set of rules created by fanatics who served an unseen being had seemed a tad ludicrous to him. And yet, he had become the minister of North, the nation of Code.

His sudden nomination for the position didn't surprise him as much as the fact that he discovered most citizens in the north had seemed just like him. They did not care about the Wills and Books that controlled every aspect of their lives. They just lived their lives as it came to them.

Corey crossed his fingers over his heart out of habit, suddenly filled with nostalgia as he stared into the holographic world in front of him.

It looked the same, even after five years of never letting the thought of the sanctuary cross his mind.

With careful steps, the minister walked past the ruins of a once great temple and lowered his hand back to his side, silently taking his seat on a broken stone pillar.

He silently wondered how many ministers before him had come to this sacred place in search of their Code—the creator of all they were.

Of course, he was here for entirely different reasons.

"I need your guidance."

For Corey the Code was his father, he had decided that long ago when the Order was all he had and the Wills of Law and Identity were the clay that he was modeled from.

The perfect leader, that was what he was raised to be, but what was he really?

He didn't think that his father would be proud of what he was now, doubting himself, willing to be captured just to get answers. He should be on the battlefield, carving the path to victory with his men, and yet he was here praying to a being that would never reply.

"Corey."

The sound made him jump, and he had almost expected to see no one when he turned around. But there he was, the man that had made Corey everything he was today, standing with his hands clasped behind his back and a warm smile on his lips.

"Father, I. . ." Corey started, his expression contorting into one of extreme awkwardness as he fiddled with his fingers and resisted the urge to cross them in reverence.

He wasn't a child anymore.

"You came for Dawn, didn't you?" The old man asked with a thin smile, his pale eyebrows drawn into a line as he stared at Corey like he was looking straight into the minister's soul.

"I came to pray." Corey answered without hesitation, his tone clipped and defensive.

"So you don't want to know where she is, what she has done?"

"I came here to seek guidance," the minister turned his back to the man and waved his hands at the dilapidated buildings that surrounded him, "from the remnant souls of departed ministers, or from the Code itself."

His father laughed and tucked his hands into the large sleeves of his golden robe. "How hopeful of you."

Corey's shoulders sunk as he levelled his gaze at his own hands, dressed in gloves stained with stray splashes blood. It was true, and it was pointless to try and deny it.

Hope wasn't something he had much of, even when he was here, dreaming.

He could feel the tingling sparks of electricity that danced across his finger tips quiver with each breath he took, even though air didn't exist in such a holy place. The power that raced through his veins felt subdued now compared to hours ago, like a flame about to flicker out. Each time it made a circuit through his body and into his heart, he could feel snakes of lighting striking into him, reaffirming his oath to stay true to his mission. . . killing him slowly.