God’s Cube

A few days had passed since the memorial and the evening was well underway. Thesi walked along the outskirts of Pescara, the pace of his steps deliberate and cold, concurrent with the disturbing rhythm of his thoughts. A lot of hours had disappeared from the time when he left the streets where he knew every single stone behind his back. Now, night was growing, and his brain swarmed with questions. The Mediterranean Academy was waiting for him, a new chapter in life, shortly after spending some time with Augusto he had decided that’d be his path, but as he was walking a figure emerged from the dim light ahead, clothed in a dark, full-length coat. At once, Thesi's body went stiff, the instinctive result of the sudden appearance. He froze, his muscles motionless with anticipation.

"Well done."

A voice called out, as smooth and slow-witted as one could make it, cutting through the quietness. 

Thesi's heart skipped a beat. He knew that voice. He knew the figure stepping out of the darkness. The Tamer. The man who raised him and his peers with the objective to send a child, himself, into the Red Cube they held.

"You…" 

Thesi muttered, his fists clenching at his sides. The tension ripples through him like a wave.

Tamer, as Thesi knew him, the Dagda as everyone else knew him as, smiled wryly-an expression serene and predatory at the same time. 

"Oh, come now, Thesi. Is that any kind of greeting one gives his maker?"

"You are not my maker." 

Thesi returned in a flash, his tone smooth, yet catching, like a blade held just below the surface. 

The Tamer's smile grew broader, his eyes sparkling with just a flicker of pride. 

"And yet, here you are. Alive. Strong. More than alive, really. You've become Violet." 

His voice slid on the word like it was honey. 

"I'd call that a success, wouldn't you?"

Thesi said nothing, his mind whirring. There was something disconcertingly familiar in the way Tamer was looking at him, peering at him like a piece of art he had crafted himself. A twisted sense of ownership gleamed within the older man's eyes. Tamer went on, taking another step closer - his tone soft but piercing.

"You've done well to hide it, Thesi but I know what happened in that day, when you were thirteen. Whether you remember it all or not, I do. I know because I put you in that Cube, I saw the door close and reopen, I know what that means."

These words sent a shiver down Thesi's spine. He had never fully understood what had happened inside that Cube, his memories of the experience were fragmented, distorted, as if pieces of the puzzle were missing. 

"You were my best work, the first real success of my project. And look at you now-living, breathing proof that the Cubes are a means of ascension, the risk involved simply a way to weed out the weak, no matter the age.”

Tamer said, his voice full of wonder and yet commanding too. Thesi's heart bucked in his chest in a crazy, erratic rhythm, but he kept his outer shell impassive. He asked, his voice cold and reined in.

"What do you want?" 

Tamer paused, leaving the question hanging in the air until he finally spoke, his voice dropping down to a conspiratorial whisper. 

"I don't want anything from you, Thesi. I simply wanted to remind you who you are, and what you're capable of. One more challenge, become complete for me, I know it’s your desire."

Thesi's gaze hardened, his jaw clenched tight. 

"You don't know me."

"Oh, but I do,I know you better than you know yourself. You were born for something much greater. It's in your blood, in the very core of your being. I put it there, the means for you to become something more."

Anger flared in Thesi, a deep bubbling rage that pulsed through him. He hated the way Tamer spoke, as if he were some experiment, some great design engineered. Yet a small part of him couldn't help but wonder if there was some kernel of truth in what Tamer had said. How much of who he was now had been designed by him?

Tamer's voice cut into his thoughts once more, soft, yet commanding. 

"When the time comes, and you know it will, you'll have to make a choice. Ater, this is the next step, you’ll become complete, someone who made it all the way through the challenges, yellow awaits after the Academy, your path after that will lead you back to me. That is how I designed it.”

Thesi said nothing. He wasn't about to give the Tamer the satisfaction of any kind of response. But deep inside, he knew. Had known since that day, that day he had stood outside the Red Cube, as a boy, shaking with fear and confusion. The choice had been made long ago, whether he had realized it or not. Something inexplicable, it wasn’t orders, it was instinct, that force that constantly dragged him back to the Cube. Those 5 years had been insufferable, his mind constantly screaming to jump in, only his will attempting to keep composure. He should’ve gone to a non preparatory highschool, tried for a normal life, but every inch of his being yelled to attempt it, even now, until he was complete.

Tamer's figure started to retreat into darkness once more, as his voice was whipped away by the cold night air. 

"You are my best work, Thesi. And soon enough, you'll know what that means.”

Thesi long stood there, the weight of the Tamer's words leaning upon him. His despise for the man burnt bright. He hated everything that the Tamer represented. Yet, his words still plagued his thoughts, after all they were true. He knew more than anyone else. Yet, a fire of conviction resonated in himself. Whatever the future held, Thesi knew with certainty one thing: he was no longer that boy who had willed himself through the Red Cube. The Tamer had played his part in that, willing or not, but he would never own him. He didn’t know what would happen after the yellow Cube, but nothing would drag him back, he’d break that prediction. 

Thesi cast one last glance in the direction where the Tamer disappeared into the night. The air was cooler now, the night had fully settled in, and the lights of the city shivered from afar like stars. He could hear ahead the faint hum of life, the steady rhythm of a world that kept moving even as he wrestled with the weight of his past.

He was to attend the Mediterranean Academy. A fresh start. Still, his demons weren't far behind him.