the story

author's corner

gemini headquarters

—  2010; 2:30a.m.

  It was a time when everyone should be asleep. At least, that was what the humans say. Underworlders never bother to follow the humans' rules.

  They had no reason to.

  But nonetheless, when one had been working for almost a week without sleep or rest, one might consider to abide by the rules that one lived by in the daytime. And so, the King was seriously contemplating returning to his quarters for a well-deserved nap after having brushed his nose against the surface of his desk for nearly two hours, when a portal opened in the middle of his study.

  The King sighed and rubbed his thumb against his temples, trying to ease the tension and the fatigue seeping in. It didn't work.

  "Greetings, Your Majesty." A familiar figure landed out of the dark swirling mess onto a kneeling position on the carpet gracefully. Reminding himself to maintain a dignified demeanor, the King observed the female cooly.

  "Good thing you didn't say 'good day'," The man reclining on the chair behind a massive desk finally decided to detach himself from the leather and to lean forward. "It would have had such an immense influence on our cheery and lovely mood here." 

  Chess gave a soft sigh before standing up, willing patience. She met the King's cool gaze with an equal one of her own, and approached his desk. "I have carried out your orders - "

  "I issued you orders? That's news. When was that again?" 

  " - which you did not give me, but I had percieved so on the assumption that you did not stop me from carrying it out," The faery finished, handing a manila folder that she had seemingly produced from thin air to the man. He stared at her, as if weighing whether it was worth his time and attention, before taking it and flipping it open.

  "Profiles of our new recruits?" 

  "Yes sir." 

  "Interesting," The King took the papers and flipped through them, scrutinizing each of them in turn. "And there are - "

  "- six of them," Chess concluded, and for the first time she noticed a shift in emotions on the King's face. 

  "Six," The man repeated. "Barely half of the original number." As he reached the last page, the slightest of frowns shadowed his face and he looked up to the girl. "Where's the last one?" 

  "The last recruit had...disappeared under curious circumstances. I had tried to reach out to all of their connections and relationships, have-been places, everywhere. Their existence was deleted. Erased from every corner of the world possible. It was as if this individual had vanished from the very face of the earth itself." 

  "All the more reason that we must recruit them, then," The King replied, tossing the manila folder back onto his desk. "You may lead the others here if they have consented to you plucking them from the fabric of reality."

  "And the curious individual?"

  "Pursue them."

  "I take that as an order, then, Your Majesty?" A smirk curled at the corner of Chess' lips, which did not pass unseen under the King's watchful eyes, and the tiniest of frowns pass through his lips. 

  "You may percieve it however you wish. Now begone." 

  As the faery disappeared back through the portal she had came through, the King of Gemini picked up the manila folder and looked at the blank papers again, scrutinizing it once more.

  "Curious indeed."