9. The First Marcus

I sat on the steps across from the recruitment office. People moved past, other recruits entering and leaving. Their faces carried the same hollow look I imagined mine wore. None of them looked at me. None of them spoke.

Hours passed while the sun bled out over Acheron’s skyline. Glares of rust, copper, and old blood passed over and through the city. A new generation survived the testing. A new generation stepped up. A new generation doomed.

I started walking.

Holobanners flickered overhead—Wei’s face, Alexei’s face, and a dozen others who had tested A-Grade. Purple and gold letters blazing through the sky, cutting through the orange hue.

A family pushed past. Parents beaming. Their daughter wore a C-Grade sash over her Commons uniform. They didn’t notice me. Why would they? I was just another body. Just another F-Grade.

“Where am I going?”

Home was gone—the word now felt foreign, like something said so often it had lost all meaning.

I could still picture my room: the achievement certificates on the walls, the graduation photo, Lydia’s datapad still hidden under my pillow. All awaited Marcus Tiernan, a boy who no longer existed. Mother would be there. Probably waiting by the door. I couldn’t face her. Not yet.

Father would be there too. Or not. Maybe he had already retreated into his office to pore over Grade reports, adding my name to the list of expendable soldiers. Already drafting the announcement:

“The Tiernan family regrets to inform you that Marcus Tiernan is no longer affiliated with—”

I stopped walking.

Where do I go?

Not ho— Not the Tiernan house. Not the arena, they’d have locked the Legacy halls by now. Not Wei’s compound or Alexei’s; they’d both be drowning in either handlers or recruiters. Too busy for a nobody. The thought landed heavy in my chest.

Nowhere.

I had nowhere.

The realisation should have hurt more than it did. But the numbness from the arena lingered inside me, dulling everything like a painkiller. I knew the wound was there—I could trace its edges—but I was spared from its consequence.

My feet started moving again. Slower now, but with direction.

There was one place left. One place that didn’t belong to the Tiernans or the Federation. One place that was real, even if it lasted only one night. It wouldn’t fix how I felt, nor would it change what was coming. But at the very least, it was mine.

A hand here, a foot there, swing wide around the broken section, then, finally, at the top. My body remembered the movements, the muscle memory of a boy who once existed, carrying a foreign mind.

The platform materialised beneath me: the same rusted metal, the same view of Acheron, the same amber glow, the same twin moons. I stood in the same spot as last night, the same spot where Chen Wei had pressed up against me, the same spot opposite where Alexei sprawled. Same—everything.

Yet it felt wrong, it felt alien.

It felt as if I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I expected copper to flood my mouth; instead, there was nothing.

My commlink buzzed, interrupting my thoughts. I didn’t look, knowing who it was.

It buzzed again.

And again.

And again.

Probably Mother. Trying to reach the distance I’d put between us, her calls a never-ending reminder of my cowardice. Each vibration a question that I couldn’t answer.

Where are you? Are you safe? Please, Marcus, just tell me where—

I pulled the commlink from my pocket; her name glowed against the dark. In that moment, the distance between us felt insurmountable. The commlink’s soft light, a reminder of everything I was losing. A reminder of everything I couldn’t face.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

[INCOMING CALL: SOPHIA.T]

It pulsed. Once. Twice. The call ended.

[INCOMING CALL: SOPHIA.T]

My hand hovered over the answer button; all it took was one tap to hear her voice again. One tap and she’d tell me to come home, that Father didn’t mean it and that they could fix this. One tap and I’d have to explain why I couldn’t, why home wasn’t home anymore. Why I had already walked into a recruitment centre and signed my own life away.

Anxiety began to bubble, and before I realised it, I had tossed the commlink over the edge of the observation tower. It fell, spinning end over end, still glowing with her name, into the darkness below.

For a moment, the world was quiet; I felt at peace. The questions and voice in my head stopped—just silence. But as that clarity faded, a flare of realisation cut through.

The message.

The notification from before the testing, the one I didn’t open. The one sent by Wei, Alexei, and Diana—their words that waited for me.

Gone.

“Fuck!”

The word tore out of me, sharp and loud. My hands balled into fists.

“FUCK!“

I slammed the railing. Pain flared through my wrist. I wanted to hit something. Break something. I wanted to scream until my throat gave out.

But who would I be screaming at?

Father? The Machine? The Federation? Wei? Alexei? Diana? Mother? The entire damn city?

I turned, looking for something—anything—to blame. The universe offered nothing; just rust, moonlight and an empty bottle. I stopped, my breath catching in my throat.

I did this.