The Ouroboros Cycle

Step 001/10

THEN

— - —

In the stillness of the tiny apartment, Vincent Arians sipped his drink. A half-finished bottle and a loaded pistol sat on the countertop nearby. Thin bands of twilight peeked in through the slits of the blinds, illuminating the prone form of Aaron Siegel on the ground in front of him.

Arians sat the glass aside and took a long drag on a cigarette, his eyes squinting against the luminescence. A moment later, Aaron stirred. He pushed himself up onto his elbows, one hand wiping sleep and saliva out of his beard. His face, puffy and red, turned to face Arians.

“What happened?” he croaked. “Where are we?” He looked down at his hands. They were still trembling. “Did it work?”

Arians took another drag of the cigarette. Smoke flowed slowly out of his nostrils, catching the light in front of him. He was barely visible behind the haze. “He’s dead.” Arian’s eyes focused on some point in the distance. “It worked.”

For a long moment, Aaron did not move. Then — suddenly — he slammed his fist into the ground.

“Yes,” he hissed through his clenched jaw. “Yes.”

Arians’ expression was distant. “We almost died, you know.” He dribbled ash on the carpet to his right. “Some of us didn’t make it.”

Aaron staggered upright, then fell down with his back against the wall. He held out his hand; Arians passed him the cigarette.

“How many?” Aaron asked.

“You and I. Felix. Conrad. Ingrid.” Arians counted on his fingers. “Five total. Felix has already reached out to researchers at other sites. Some of them are reaching out to us. Everyone is scared shitless.” He took another drink. “Thought you might be dead.”

Aaron rubbed his temples. “I don’t remember much.” He looked over at Arians. “You look younger.”

“Yeah. We all do. That water will do that.” He finished his glass. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, Aaron. But before we start, you need to tell me why you did it.”

Aaron shook his head. “It doesn’t matter now. It’s done.”

“Fuck you. It does matter.” Something had changed; there was a distance between them. “We did things — I did things — that will haunt me till the day I die. But we did them anyway, because we were saving the world. You had the chance to destroy Abaddon. And you didn’t.”

His voice grew hard and cold. “You told me to run the moment you activated them, the Children. You told me not to ask why. So that’s what I did. I trusted you, because you’ve never given me a reason not to. But now? I’ve got several. You need to tell me why you killed Frederick Williams.”

They were silent for a good, long while. Aaron worked on finishing the cigarette; Arians poured himself another drink. As he leaned back against the wall, Aaron could see faint, pinkish swelling around Arians’ eyes.

“There was no Abaddon,” Aaron finally said. “There never was. It was bait.”

Arians drew in a ragged breath. “How do you know?”