When the artificial night sky became its darkest, and the world of Olympus readied itself to sleep. Jackson left the confines of his unit’s facility to go for a walk to really see what had changed with the people of the realm he helped find for them. It had been a long time to really explore a place that housed an organisation that promised to defend humanity, to see if they held their core principles.

  Some things remained: shops where people sell crafts and supplies, a few hospitality areas where people come together to share a meal and have a place to talk. The spaces of places that can create a community and a sense of identity for the people of Olympus. Yet they were all just decorations, an empty facade that helped occupy the mind with trivial things besides dwelling on the horrors the Order tasked itself with fighting against.

  The archipelago nation is nothing more than a glorified self-sufficient fortress. Every island has concrete structures littered about; the streets are narrow and difficult to navigate as they were structured like a maze, and every colour all around was nothing more but a harsh grey or steel black. Besides some islands dedicated to a species that isn’t human, the architecture was brutalist and efficiently simplistic. There was no art, no sense of pride or hope. Nor did anyone rebel and paint or tag a wall to give the surrounding area a sense of life. Jackson hated every aspect of it. The coldness of the Order’s violent identity.

  After centuries of defending humanity, the Order lost the aspect that made them human. All around the reptile is a sickening sense of dread and hopelessness. That the only thing the people of Olympus had: a never-ending duty to a cause to which they were forced to participate. The defence of humanity. Yet how could one claim to be the defender of humanity when they stripped everything that made them human?

  Olympus should have a culture, an identity that makes them stand out. Instead, the art they have in their homes be it video games, movies, or posters. Were stolen from the people of Earth. Because deep down, they had robbed themselves of the capability to express their humanity in exchange for serving a cause that, while noble, was outdated and harmful to the average member.

  Heading towards Memorial Park, Jackson stumbled near the graveyard area. Which was just a large cube with boxes inside it. It made sense for the Order to favour cremation, as land was a precious resource on Olympus. Yet the sarcophagus disgusted Jackson, as the boxes inside were a temporary thing. That once the cube was full, they would empty the ashes of their dead into the ocean and fill it up again to repeat the cycle once more.

  There was nothing good about the Order from where he stood. They created a society of self-sacrifice and selfless determination. A lie they told themselves. Their culture, if one could call it that, never valued them as humans. Every person in the Order was a resource to be used for the mission. Dying was expected because the Order expected that people would die and be replaced by someone younger and fiercer. It made sense, for the Order had a long list of bodies they could use to throw at the problem.

  As Jackson examined the cube, Frank walked inside. An Englishman with blond hair and a mutton-chop beard. He smiled at Jackson, though it died down as soon as he stood in front of a box with the name Alek on it. ‘Paying respects to someone?’ Frank said with a heavy sigh.

  ‘No, just looking.’

  ‘Oh,’ Frank paused, staring at the plaque with a teary eye. ‘Are you open to talk?’

  It had been almost a century since they last saw each other, and ever since Jackson returned, neither of them had a conversation that was long overdue. Deep down, the reptile knew he owed Frank some time. He couldn’t hold it off any longer.

  ‘Yes,’ Jackson said as he walked out of the cube. Giving Frank some needed space to pay their respects. Jackson never knew who Alek was or the relationship Frank had with them. But he was familiar with the darkened expression Frank showed. A pain he knew all too well. Frank outlived someone once again, someone who should have a life ahead of them, only to be taken away too early.

  After a time, Frank walked out of the cube. Rubbing his eyes, he stood next to his old friend. ‘Thank you,’ he mumbled. ‘It is good to have someone to talk to after this.’

  ‘They are?’ Jackson emotionlessly asked, though he didn’t intend to come off as harsh or uncaring. Fortunately, Frank understood what the reptile meant.

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  ‘A former student of mine. Got them to join the Order Discovery to be… no… it’s best I leave it behind. I don’t want to open up old wounds again.’ Frank glanced at the cube, his heart sinking at the sight of the ugly monstrosity. ‘They are going to empty it soon, you know. Dump their ashes into the ocean as if they were nothing. Not even his family or friends visit his grave; no one visits this place. I hate it here.’

  ‘I hate it here as well.’

  ‘But you weren’t forced to live here. They gave you the freedom to leave whenever you like, while I have to stay behind. I tried to find my peace here, but the place is just… wrong. Sometimes I feel no one here knows how to grieve. They come to the funeral, but they make it look like an inconvenience more than anything else. I feel sorry for all of those names, the people in there who died. They deserve a better resting place.’

  ‘A lot has changed, and I fear for the worse.’

  ‘While you and I stagnate, going through the motions of time. Staying the same age while the world moves on.’ Frank sighed, reaching into his pocket to pull out a mirror to rub his thumb along the grooves. ‘How do you do it? Knowing the world moves on from you?’

  ‘You don’t,’ Jackson replied coldly. ‘You could never move on.’

  ‘But you can remember, at least. Remember the world before all of this. I can’t. The older I get, the more I struggle to remember the past. I can’t even remember my mother’s face. It is also becoming harder to remember what life was like before coming here, before my curse. It scares me, you know. That I will wake up believing that I was always here, maybe even born here. Every passing day, I am losing myself, with the only person who can keep me company for the longest time being the dark urge inside of me. Even they worry about the future and dread being here. I will be blunt, but I was terrified when I heard news of your return, yet at the same time, I was relieved. Because it can give me some purpose, a push to keep me going.’

  Jackson shook his head. ‘You shouldn’t use me to find purpose.’

  ‘You didn’t leave me with a choice.’ Frank replied before gesturing to the open ocean where an old frigate patrolled the waters. Still carrying with it scars of its previous battle. ‘Every year, there is a war with some other realm. Every time I look out there, I see ships coming in and out of a battle, damaged and hauling the dead. The Cascade is no different; only this time the battles are taking place on Earth and not some dying realm.’

  ‘It will end…’

  ‘And quickly.’ Frank finished Jackson’s sentence before Jackson could finish. ‘I was a high school teacher before coming back to the Order Horrfica. I’ve taught thousands of kids, watched them become the best and worst versions of themselves. But the hardest thing about being a teacher is watching them die. They should be doing something else besides fighting our battles. They should be… be…’

  Seeing that his friend was becoming more upset, Jackson stepped closer and rested a hand on Frank’s back. ‘They will be better than us. We just have to do what is necessary. Fight for a future so they don’t have to. It is our burden, not theirs.’

  ‘But how can we if this is who we are fighting for?’ The two men paused, looking out at the ocean and at the other fortified islands. ‘I don’t know why we should fight for them anymore. There is nothing good here.’

  ‘Is there a choice?’ Jackson softly spoke up. ‘They have what we need to fight.’

  ‘Yet they also lack the means to keep us fighting.’ Frank pushed himself away from the fence and walked away. ‘Thank you, Jackson. I needed this. Even if we both know that we don’t belong here.’

  Letting him leave, the reptile stayed a bit longer. His mind circled back to the question from the meeting about the Vaults. With The Cascade being his fault, and the Vaults having the means to combat the new threats effectively, even if they carried with them some risks. Seeing a man he had a lot of respect for become a shell of their former self, a mirror of who Jackson was.

  He saw it as clear as day, which surprised me about him at that moment. He chose that some Vaults needed to be opened to put an end to the crisis. The Order Horrifica was about to end, and it should end as soon as the new-age of monsters was put to rest.