THE SHADOWVERSE

Nowhere to Hide

Sonovan stood up quickly and paced towards the entrance. His fingers brushed his chin as he contemplated. "I know what has transpired," he said.

Johnny stood up and furrowed his dirty blonde eyebrows. "What are you talking about?"

"Titan likely told her to destroy her past. If what you said is true, that means the only past she had to kill . . . was her father."

"What would that accomplish?" Johnny asked.

"After that, she would be malleable. That was the plan. Titan wanted her broken, to forget the only man she ever loved. It gave him full control."

Ryan's eyes burned with anger. In fact, his friends had never seen him so full of rage. "No!" he roared. "I'll kill him myself!" A kickboxing dummy nearby blew apart in his fury. A single punch diminished it to mere dust.

Rose struggled to balance herself. She glared at Sonovan. "This is your fault! You were the one who opened the Xun to our universe a millennium ago! Why? To satisfy your depressed, selfish life?!" she spat in a frenzy of anger, arms flailing about in animation. "Yeah, I heard the story. You killed all those bugs that were released. But the time vortex! You alone are responsible! If you had never committed such a sin, my father would still be alive! Even my real parents would still be alive! Everyone that monster ever came across would have lived in normalcy. Damn you!" She advanced toward him to discharge her wrath, but Ryan stepped in the way, blocking her path. He held her back.

"No, no one else needs to be hurt, Rose," Ryan said.

"Get out of my way, Ryan," she hissed, glowering at him.

Despite her resistance, he held her steady. He looked her deep in the eyes, almost lost in them. There were trenches of pain inside them. "Please, come with me."

Sonovan lowered his head. He knew she was right. What had he done? Why was he so foolish? The pure Ooris of the Shadowverse bathed him, made him stronger than anyone in history, yet at what cost? "I know, Rose. I know. You are right. It was all my doing. The blood of countless peoples is on me. Because I was foolish. I was selfish. In every sense of the word, I was wrong. Guilty on a trillion counts."

"Yes, you are!" she spat.

"Rose, I beg you," Ryan replied. "Come with me."

Because of his gentleness, she released herself. He nodded in satisfaction and led her to the cliff outside. She backed out, eyes locked on Sonovan as if on prey, but the man did not turn away from her wrath. His eyes held hers.

Hmm, he is strong, she noted, despite her grief.

The breeze cooled them both as they sat on the edge of the cliff, as the night laid its head upon the mountains of Herook. Stars shone as the Milky Way's arms stretched out across the sky. Now it was Ryan's turn to comfort.

Marveling at the view, Rose relaxed—at least, as much as she could. Ryan lay adjacent to her, cross-legged, just as Sonovan had shown him. For some time, neither spoke. When he sensed she had calmed down a bit, he began. The beauty of Herook had worked wonders on her emotions.

"Look, I know you feel hatred," Ryan started. "But you have to listen to me right now. It will get you nowhere. And yeah, I know the feeling."

Without glancing at him, she replied, "No, you don't. I don't think you could."

"I never told you." She glanced at him inquisitively, and he blurted out. "You ever wonder what happened to my Dad?"

She turned fully to face him, for he had piqued her interest. "I thought he just stayed home a lot? Didn't you tell me he was a wrestler?"