Duncan is an outlaw-hunter who is tasked with capturing the rogue outlaw X, who slaughtered Duncan's hometown. Duncan kills X in a brutal fight but is then plagued by a mysterious figure, Carox, who appears and slaughters prisoners. Carox reveals to Duncan that he is actually a dark alter-ego that has emerged from within Duncan's subconscious after he took pleasure in killing X. Carox has been controlling Duncan's body and making him appear responsible for the murders. Duncan must now stop Carox from taking full control of his body.

1. Collin McGrath
12/7/15
“Duncan, are you listening to me?”
Louis Conrad’s voice rang in Duncan’s optech earpiece effectively interrupting
his brooding.
“No, I was just wondering when we go in and kill this bastard.” Duncan grimaced
starring at the fortified building in the distance.
Louis sighed. “Duncan, you’ll never be an outlaw-hunter if you keep letting your
emotions take over. Our orders are to detain X and take as many of his army hostage as
possible while rescuing the civilians. You have to let go of your vendetta.”
“Why would the politicians want us to take the rogue outlaw hunter who
slaughtered an entire city?” Duncan asked scowling when he remembered his friends and
family murdered.
“The politicians? Really? Do you have any idea who were taking orders from?”
Duncan’s comrade Jesper Eckhart had to poke fun at Duncan whenever possible.
Duncan rolled his blue eyes. He didn’t exactly specialize in politics at all. He was
an outlaw-hunter, plain and simple. He only knew what an outlaw-hunter should do;
crush armies and bad guys with their superhuman abilities. Protect the innocent by taking
on tasks beyond that of an ordinary human and all that crap. He didn’t choose this life; he
was bred for it. He just wanted something to slice apart with his super sword already.
“In all seriousness, Duncan,” Jesper continued “, Louis is right. You can’t let X
get under your skin. We all know what he took from you, but if you forget to watch our
backs, we won’t make it. And then who’s going to watch your back?”
Duncan glared at Jesper and then softened his glare. He just couldn’t stay angry
with his lifelong friend. Jesper was the only hunter at the training camps Duncan could
tolerate. Everyone else felt intrusive on his peace of mind, unnecessary to his life, or just
weak. Jesper was the only one who Duncan felt kinship with, the only one who enriched
his life by trying to understand him as a person rather than a tool, and one of the few
hunters who could match him in combat.
1

2. He understood his anger shouldn’t be directed at his mentor, Louis. He was just
looking out for Duncan like always and teaching him to be a better person.
“I just don’t understand why the people higher up would want him alive.”
“Outlaw-hunters are valuable assets. Just one can match dozens or hundreds of
ordinary soldiers in combat,” Louis stated, although his tone hinted he had his own
thoughts of their status as “assets”. “The boys back home want to know what went wrong
with him.”
“What went wrong is he killed an entire city. Why should we even give this guy
or his followers a chance to live?”
“Because we are not them.”
“Considering all the people we murder, I wouldn’t call us all that good in
comparison” Duncan commented, rubbing sand out of his eyes and preparing for one of
Louis’ famous lectures.
“You know we kill when necessary. And even then, we try not to take sick joy in
it. But yes, some would say murder is still murder. We should have this debate later.
Right now, we have a job to do. I’m approaching the base from the south, you two from
the north. Try to be stealthy.”
“Right.” The time for talking was over. Duncan and Jesper approached the base
with weapons drawn.
***
It wasn’t Duncan’s fault. Really. How could he just stand by quietly in the
shadows while X’s army executed hostages? In any event, this army was largely
composed of regular humans with stupid guns, no challenge for a well-trained outlaw-
hunter.
“Great plan Duncan,” Jesper said clearly irritated as he took down ten soldiers at
once with his shuriken.
“I’m not standing by to watch innocents get slaughtered,” Duncan replied
catching a bullet out of midair while swatting several other bullets away with his sword.
Within minutes the army was subdued. Louis was unhappy at losing their cover
but quickly ordered them to evacuate the civilians.
2

3. Duncan smelled someone approaching him quickly and instinctively raised his
sword to deflect a blow from another super sword. A man matching X’s description
smirked at him. He leapt to the top of a building with a single bound and Duncan
pursued, leaving Jesper with the civilians.
Their swords clashed once more igniting hydrogen in the air. X was strong. No
way would Duncan win this if he didn’t aim to kill. Especially since X had already scored
three wounds while Duncan blinked. His regenerative powers would only protect him for
so long.
“You know you’re outnumbered, right?” Duncan calmly spoke. “You could just
come quietly and save us all the trouble.”
X snorted “Numbers don’t matter. They didn’t matter when I slaughtered that
town.”
X knew he hit a nerve on Duncan and continued, “It was all good fun, watching a
city burn and people die.”
He dare mock the thousands of people he killed? That’s all it was to him, fun?
Suddenly Duncan was overcome with the most profound rage he ever felt in his life. No,
this wasn’t rage. It was bloodlust. X thrust his sword at Duncan and this time Duncan
allowed himself to be impaled. He couldn’t even feel the pain as the sword pierced his
body. Before X could withdraw his sword, Duncan decapitated him with one powerful
swing. As X’s corpse collapsed in a pool of blood, Duncan reflected on his satisfaction.
Duncan heard his name and turned around ready to cut down anyone in his path.
Until, he saw Louis staring at him with visible horror in his eyes. Duncan stopped and his
senses returned.
Louis saw Duncan had calmed down and carefully pulled X’s sword from
Duncan’s gut. Without a word, he walked away to subdue soldiers who had not escaped.
As the full weight of his brutal actions dawned on him, Duncan could have sworn
for an instant he saw someone unfamiliar and yet not a stranger standing on an adjacent
building. But as he blinked from the sun’s glare, there was nothing.
Dismissing the event completely, he wiped the blood from his snow-white hair
and followed his leader back into the fight.
***
3

4. The trio returned to their base with ten prisoners. All guilty criminals heavily
involved in the slaughtering of Duncan’s hometown. They didn’t have orders to take
these prisoners alive but Louis explained it was the next best thing after X. He ushered
them into a special containment field with ray barriers. Only one of the trio could enter
and exit and only the leader could let others out, leaving the prisoners essentially
immobilized.
After a quick meal, Jesper and Louis retired for the night. Duncan didn’t even
have an appetite much less the desire to sleep.
He wandered out into night and stared at the stars. What he did, it was unpleasant
but truly it was necessary. Of course he would feel justified in killing X but should he
have felt such … elation? Duncan sat on the sand and folded his arms behind his head.
What’s done is done he decided as he closed his eyes.
Then he heard a scream. A man’s scream, a dying scream coming from the
prisoners detainment field. Instantly, he sprinted into action and reached the field within
nine seconds. Each of these seconds was marred with a similar scream and wailing.
What he saw. Good God. Body parts of prisoners littered the field, entire organs
on display, and blood staining the entire field. Then he saw the final prisoner choke on
his own blood and die. The very something he saw after his fight with X, now very
visible and unarguably real with yellow eyes, unruly brown hair, and a sadistic smirk.
Duncan thanked Louis for teaching him to always have his sword in hostile territory as he
drew his super sword and rushed at the offender. The person nonchalantly drew a super
sword of his own and blocked Duncan’s attacks with no visible effort.
“Who are you?” Duncan barked as he followed up his attacks, “Some remnant of
X’s army?”
The warrior smirked even further revealing sharp teeth. “You know me, Duncan,”
he spoke with a voice that Duncan did know but did not know how he knew it. “You can
call me Carox, and I,” he quickly scored a deep blow on Duncan’s chest and several other
blows his healing factor could not instantly mend “, am ancient, inescapable reality.”
Duncan fell to his knees, his blood dripping on the floor, as he waited for the final
blow he could not block. It never came. Duncan raised his eyes and found no one.
4

5. “Duncan!” Louis stood and stared at the carnage, “what the hell is this?”
Duncan quickly rose to his knees and explained everything. Jesper appalled by the
carnage began examining the field for traces of another person. Nothing, he couldn’t even
pick up a scent much less a footprint. The only footprints and scent he could detect was
Duncan’s, making him the immediate suspect.
“There was someone,” Duncan insisted. “Where do you think I got these cuts…?”
His voice trailed down as he realized the cuts were gone. His healing factor must
have fixed them. He looked for the ground where his blood had fallen and found nothing.
Louis frowned “Duncan, are you sure you saw someone?”
Duncan frustrated stomped his foot. “I didn’t do this!!” He ran back to the base,
went to his room, and locked the door. Sure, rushing away like that made him look guilty
but he honestly didn’t care. How could his friends even think for a second that he could
do something like that?
***
Louis reprimanded Duncan. He didn’t directly accuse Duncan of anything, mostly
told him not to wander off on his own without telling his teammates. Duncan only half
listened. They were going back home to the Province soon, where everything makes
sense. Of course, they first had to finish off the remnants of X’s army, which included a
few weaker rogue outlaw-hunters and portions of the larger army that had escaped.
Duncan had been lucky enough to defeat X but he would need Jesper and Louis to defeat
multiple outlaw-hunters. Probably.
Tracking down the hunters was easy enough with Jesper’s superb sense of smell
and tracking abilities. Now they would have to defeat these hunters. The plan was simple
enough; put a containment field around their base, close in on the base and pick them off
one by one. Naturally, they had to split up to set up the field generators but Louis
reminded Duncan he was keeping an eye on him.
Duncan set up a generator and pulled the switch. He then sat down and waited.
Jesper was the stealthy assassination expert, Duncan would stand back and provide
muscle if he needed it. He lied on the ground looked at the constantly cloudy desert sky
recalling the brief moment when the sun shone in his eyes.
5

6. Then he heard screams and the high frequency of super swords clashing. The
stealth must have gone awry. He leapt to his feet and ran to the source where he saw
Carox lopping off a rogue outlaw-hunter’s head and cutting another in half, all with a sick
grin. Duncan tried to contact Louis and Jesper through the optech earpiece but found no
response. Now of all times it would malfunction. He lunged at Carox with enough force
to shake the ground. Carox effortlessly dodged and came back at him.
“So, I take it your not a fan of X,” Duncan said blocking as many blows as he
could, “but you don’t seem to be on our side. So who are you?”
Carox eyes glinted like a predator about to strike. “You already know me. You
have always known me. I finally woke up and thought I’d do what makes me feel alive.
Murder. These people just happened to give me the perfect chance to test out my growing
strength.”
Duncan scowled. Wonderful, another psychopathic rogue outlaw-hunter who
finds the thrill in the kill.
“Wow,” Carox said with flat surprise. “So close and yet so far.”
Wait, did he just read my mind?
Carox chuckled as Duncan stumbled and almost lost his head. “Well, I suppose it
is too late for you anyways. If you want to know the truth, come find me.”
Carox bounded away while gleefully chanting, “We’re going to have so much fun
and nobody’s going to stop us!”
Louis and Jesper had arrived or maybe they had been there all along and just
stared at where Carox had leapt away to, completely dumbfounded.
“Now do you believe me?” Duncan asked. They didn’t even look at him or seem
to notice him. This was odd. Psychopaths and murderers weren’t anything they hadn’t
seen before, so why were they so speechless?
Finally, Jesper looked at Louis and said in a nervous voice, “What are we going to
do about him?”
Duncan blinked in surprise at Jesper’s question. Obviously, they should go and
kill the psychopath.
Louis didn’t even meet Jesper’s glance. “I don’t want to believe it, but we both
saw it,” Louis spoke with pain in his voice that baffled Duncan, “he’s gone insane and
6

7. can no longer function. Outlaw-hunters who can no longer perform their duties or
jeopardize the safety of the Province must be executed.”
Duncan sighed, I already know this stuff, and I’m going after him. He quickly
bounded away, following Carox’s scent trail. If these morons want to stand around
talking all day, fine.
“Duncan must die.” And his heart skipped a beat.
***
Finally, he tracked Carox down to an oasis and found him leaning against a tree
grinning. “Took you long enough.”
“Alright,” Duncan drew his super sword and took a fighting stance, “why is
everyone blaming me for what you’ve been doing?”
“You mean you really haven’t figured it out yet?” Carox asked with an arrogant
laugh that chilled Duncan.
“How about I show you,” Carox said standing up from the tree, “what everyone
has been seeing these past few days?”
He snapped his fingers and Duncan’s vision suddenly changed. He was back at
X’s base or some part he had not seen of it. He heard super swords clashing and found his
body running towards the sight. Then, he saw himself killing X with savage delight. He
called out to Duncan in Louis’ voice. The Duncan in front of him turned around with a
barbaric grin and blood covering his face.
Instantly, the vision changed to the prison detainment field. He looked down at
his hands and saw they were chained. Then he looked up as someone entered the field,
drew his sword, and killed all of the prisoners within seconds. As the person approached
Duncan, he found an unfamiliar voice begging for mercy and for an instant saw another
Duncan, killing prisoners with visible joy.
Before he could comprehend this, the vision changed again. He was back in his
own body setting up the generator. But he did not lie down as he did before. He ran into
the base and attacked all of the rogue outlaw-hunters. He heard Louis ordering him to fall
back and threatening him to which his voice responded with words that did not seem
remotely human. With each enemy that fell, Duncan experienced revolting elation. Then
7

8. he turned and saw Louis and Jesper staring at him like he was a monster. He threatened to
kill them. Kill the entire Province, the whole universe.
The visions stopped and Duncan returned to the Oasis. His eyes widened. In
Carox’s place, there was no brown hair, yellow eyes, or cruel grin. There was blonde
hair, blue eyes, and a face soaked in the blood of his enemies. Duncan was standing
before another Duncan.
The other Duncan spoke with Carox’s unmistakable voice. “Like I said before, I
got tired of sleeping and thought I would test out my new powers. Do you know where I
was sleeping?”
This Duncan walked towards him “, Inside of you. Your primitive subconscious
that you awoke when you reveled in X’s death. I’ve been taking your body for test drives,
and you never even noticed. Then again, how could you notice losing control over your
own body?”
They now stood face to face and Duncan finally recognized Carox’s voice. “I’m
you. The real you. The you that your kind have sought to resist since the dawn of time.”
There was no mistaking it. He knew the voice. “I’m the beast within.”
Duncan staggered back and raised his sword. He finally found the will to speak,
“You can’t be me. I don’t—“
“Don’t what? Don’t enjoy senseless violence?” Carox’s voice released an
animalistic laugh, “I am you and I can certainly say you have. Every time I killed, your
body felt such elation.”
Duncan felt his body growing heavy and felt nauseous as the Duncan/Carox
hybrid spoke. “You asked before what I wanted? I want to slaughter everything left on
this planet, then everything on the Providence. Who knows? Maybe then I’ll go to other
planets and rinse and repeat.”
“Why?”
“Fun. And your body is going to make such a wonderful vessel.”
“If you think I’ll let you take my body, you’ve got another thing coming.”
“You don’t really have a choice. Take a good look at your hands.”
Duncan looked down and saw his hands fading, his body, no, his essence, his
being was vanishing.
8

9. “I’ve been whittling away what little is left of you. Pretty soon, you’ll be the
sleeping subconscious. Don’t worry though,” Duncan looked up and stared into his own
blue eyes, but they were no longer his, “you can still enjoy the slaughtering. And
speaking of which.”
Louis and Jesper emerged from the trees and charged the other Duncan with their
swords drawn.
“Don’t you touch them!” Duncan could no longer hold his sword and tried to
punch the other Duncan, only to find his fist pass through his face.
“I don’t want to do this Duncan,” said Jesper throwing lighting fast shuriken,
“please, we want to help you!”
The other Duncan snarled as he effortlessly avoided the shuriken, “I don’t want
your help. I’ve never felt so alive!”
“Then I’m sorry, Duncan,” Louis rushed in with his super sword drawn back for a
powerful swing, “you leave us no choice.”
Before he could even swing, the other Duncan had impaled Louis’ heart and he
fell. Duncan could only watch horrified. Louis’ healing factor could attend to his heart
but only with enough time. The other Duncan ran faster than Duncan ever could behind
Jesper and pierced his heart.
“I’ve become more powerful than any other hunter, than any other creature. I’ve
realized something,” he ran his sword though Jesper’s side, “there is no greater joy than
hurting others.”
Duncan felt his vision blurring. He was almost gone. No some remaining part of
his consciousness cried not like this. His mind on fire and his entire being slipping away,
he stumbled towards the other Duncan with his fist raised.
The other Duncan raised his sword to decapitate Jesper, “the strong shall not
suffer the weak.”
Duncan threw his fist with what little strength he had left and felt his fist make
contact.
Suddenly, he was flying off his feet where the other Duncan had been standing
with no sign of the other Duncan. He had his body back.
Duncan looked at his friends, his family, and tried to explain everything
9

10. frightened he would lose control again. Soon, Jesper and Louis were back on their feet
and staring at him bewildered.
“Please, kill me.” Duncan pleaded, “I can’t do it myself and I don’t want to hurt
you.”
They couldn’t kill Duncan. They wouldn’t.
***
Soon Duncan was in the prisoner containment field bearing shackles capable of
restraining superhumans. He leaned against a pillar and looked out at Louis and Jesper
staring at him in concern.
“You know this won’t hold him back,” Duncan sighed. “He’s just going to come
back after me.”
Jesper glanced at Louis and then back to Duncan. “What is ‘he’ anyways?”
“I already told you,” Duncan said with exasperation, “He is me, a darker side of
me that wants to take over my body.”
“He’s not you,” Louis’ sharp voice made both Jesper and Duncan flinch. “You
may have problems with authority and a violent streak, but you have never reveled in
violence as this Carox clearly does.”
Duncan was touched at his teacher’s words but quickly remembered the truth.
“But he is me. I did have some subconscious delight at killing X and all those people, I
can’t deny that.”
Louis rubbed his chin in contemplation. “You said he was taking control of your
body and your body experienced the elation?”
“I don’t know. I can’t pretend to understand it all. What I know is he represents
the bad side of me and I have to beat him or he’ll use my body for genocide. He’s always
been there but now he’s awake.”
“So to understand him, we need to understand what he represents. Some people
regard evil and good as a necessary duality, you know,” Louis was going off on another
one of his spoken ruminations “, that you can’t have good without evil or vice versa.”
“So?”
“So, maybe he has always been a part of you but you may have always been a part
10

11. of him.”
“Gee, that really helps me know how to beat him.” Duncan said completely
frustrated, “You know I’m not a good person or his opposite right?”
“I said you were his vessel not his opposite, at least, in theory. I’m just
considering the depth of his nature. It will help us understand how we can deal with him.
Back to my point, if good does not exist without bad and vice versa, than we can assume
that perhaps you can’t exist without Carox but Carox cannot exist without you, someone
to act through.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Remind me,” Louis spoke with growing excitement, “Carox said you will
become the sleep subconscious, correct?”
Duncan nodded, beginning to think he understood where his mentor was going
with this.
“So if Carox was not merely lying, this means even if he took control over your
body, your conscious would still exist. Perhaps at a diminished state as he once was but
you would still be there.”
Duncan leaned back in disappointment, “So I can be his prisoner as he kills
everything, joy.”
“No, this means that Carox is not you. He might be a part of you, yes, but he
doesn’t make the whole of your being.”
“How does that help me beat him?” Duncan asked.
“Maybe, it’s not that you have to beat him,” Jesper took off where Louis left off,
“maybe you just have to put him back to sleep in your mind.”
“How?”
Jesper’s gaze fell, as he had no answer.
“How do we even know there is a good or evil?” Duncan sighed, “What if it’s all
just relative?”
“Would you really have that much difficulty discerning whether excessively
violent murders and genocide are evil?” Louis frowned, “Do you really not think of your
effort to save Jesper and me as admirable and good?”
“I don’t know.”
11

12. “Then Carox will come again and overrun your being.”
Duncan fought back his mounting panic, “What do I do? How do I get back to
normal?”
“Accept that you have evil within you and recognize it’s not who you are.”
“Then kick Carox’s butt,” Jesper added, trying to lighten the mood.
Louis glared at Jesper hard and spoke without looking at either of them, “If you
cannot win, I suppose I might have to leave you behind.”
Duncan and Jesper stared at Louis with shock. Leaving Duncan behind would be
killing him! Did he really want to abandon his student? Louis turned back to Duncan and
gave a strange look. Duncan recognized it as the look that Louis often gave students at
the hunter camp when he wanted them to understand some underlying meaning of his
message.
Louis’ special optech device sparked. He had to make his report back to the
Province soon. Duncan could only wonder how he would explain all of this. He went
back to the base but Jesper stayed behind for a moment longer.
“Maybe Carox isn’t even you. Maybe he exists apart from you.” Jesper shrugged
and laid his super sword on the ground outside the field, “what do I know? If you don’t
figure out something soon, who knows what Louis may have to do to you?”
Jesper turned and walked away without another word. Duncan really didn’t
understand his friend sometimes. Did he really believe Louis could kill him even if
ordered to? And why did he just leave his sword out like that? Was he trying to tell
Duncan something or –?
Duncan turned around, as he smelled someone to see Carox leaning against an
adjacent pillar with his arms folded. Duncan took particular satisfaction seeing his usual
smirk gone.
“I’ll admit,” Carox said, “you surprised me. I never have thought you could have
kept control and shut me out for a while there. But you won’t get another chance like
that. Soon I’ll take control of your body and raze this world.”
“Neither will you,” Duncan replied, Louis and Jesper’s words were finally
making sense.
“What?” Carox turned to face him.
12

13. “Neither will you get another chance to take me over,” Duncan continued
feigning confidence as best he could. “While you were out, I told Louis and Jesper they
should just kill me. You won’t get a chance to do anything.”
Carox blinked and then chuckled. “As if. They couldn’t kill you then and they
certainly won’t now. They could barely raise their swords against you.”
“You’re right,” Duncan said giving Carox a moment of unease, “They wouldn’t
kill me like that,” he pressed on, “they would abandon me to this desert, leave on their
ship back to the Province billions of miles away from here. You would be trapped here
forever, never to see another world. My body won’t be your vessel; it will be your prison.
For as long as I live and until I die.”
Carox’s eyes narrowed and Duncan felt greater satisfaction at giving Carox such
unease. “You don’t have enough time to take me over, Carox. They’ll be leaving me
soon. Unless…”
Carox glanced at Duncan hard, “unless what?”
“Unless one of us goes back to sleep.”
“What are you proposing?”
“A duel to the death. Our ‘essences’ or whatever, fight for control of this body.
The winner goes home with Jesper and Louis, the loser stays behind or goes back to
sleep, never to wake up again.”
Carox’s lips slid into a small smirk, “You’re bluffing. If they were really going to
leave you, why give me the chance to take over you?”
“Come on, Carox,” Duncan smirked right back, “I want to go home as much as
you want to destroy it. Being trapped with you is as much a prison to me as it is to you.”
Carox stared at Duncan for a moment. Then, he snapped his fingers. Duncan saw
his body shackled back in the field and realized they were both in whatever was that state
Carox put him in at the oasis. Carox held out his hand and a super sword materialized. “I
accept your terms and your challenge, but I hope you realize something,” Carox lunged at
Duncan sword poised to sever his spine, “you should never make deals with a devil!”
Duncan dodged as best he could, grabbed Carox’s sword arm, and punched him in
the face. Oh, all satisfaction before was nothing compared to this. Until, Carox, barely
fazed, looked back with a smirk and punched him right back, sending him flying into ray
13

14. barriers. He needed a sword. Jesper’s sword lay just outside of the barrier, but even if he
got past the barrier, could this form even pick up a sword? Duncan decided he would
have to try.
Carox once again interrupted his thoughts as he leapt at Duncan and his sword
flew in a deadly arc turning the ground where Duncan stood half a second ago into dust.
No way was Duncan going to make this without a sword. He needed to get past
the barriers. He ducked under a swing aimed at his head, only to have Carox kick him in
the face into another barrier. No, he flew past the barrier. It was deactivated. How? Only
the team leader could have … Louis. He flipped into a standing position and lunged
towards Jesper’s sword. Duncan didn’t know if he could grab it, he would have to try as
Carox was coming in with an overhead sword swing he had no time to dodge. To his
surprise, he grabbed the sword and managed to deflect Carox’s blow.
“Your friends are very meddlesome,” Carox snarled, “when you’re gone, I think I
will enjoy slowly killing them.”
Duncan didn’t feel anger or hate. He only felt determination and a strange peace
of mind. His friends believed in him enough to give him this chance, to help him fight.
He would not disappoint.
Carox lunged at Duncan’s heart while Duncan lunged at Carox’s heart. Both
swords hit their marks simultaneously and both Duncan and Carox felt blood welling in
their throats. They stared into each other’s eyes and saw the core of their counterpart.
Within Carox, Duncan recognized the ancient, primitive nature, present since a
time before time. It was powerful, it was chilling, and it was a part of him. Yet, it was not
him. Perhaps it was always present, but it was never him no matter what power it held
over him. He recognized a power that could evoke cruelty from ordinary people and even
animals, cruelty on both small and large scales. Yet, this power did not hold complete
sway over them. They could resist it, they could do good. Where did this force come
from? Was it some malicious being who served as antithesis to some other being or was it
simply one side of the duality of the human psyche? Did it even truly exist or was it
merely an absence of the other side of its duality? Duncan knew he could never
understand this force. Maybe, no one could.
Within Duncan, Carox recognized humanity, a species so barbaric and ruthless it
14

15. would commit atrocities and smaller transgressions to maintain its pathetic hold on the
world, yet this species was not without compassion and mercy. Perhaps they could be
shortsighted and cruel, but they were far from hopeless. He recognized a species that
could unite to face a common threat even when that threat came from itself, a species
capable of perseverance, perhaps even of change. This species was unlike any other
creature Carox had encountered in his entire existence. When had they arrived on their
first planet and why? Perhaps, Carox once knew whether it was some divine being that
made them or they were just primates capable of functioning beyond normal primates.
They were now here, what did it matter to him where they came from? Yet, they truly
were fascinating in their propensity for good and evil if nothing else.
Finally, the ancient being acknowledged Duncan, if not as his antithesis or
counterpart, then the tool through which his true antithesis or counterpart and he
struggled for control of. Carox fell to his knees with a strange grin, acknowledging their
relationship that neither of them might ever truly understand and returned to sleep.
***
Duncan woke up back in the field in his body with shackles still tight on his fist.
Jesper’s sword lay where he had left it and the barriers were now inactive.
Jesper and Louis quickly rushed out exclaiming the barriers were monitoring his
heart pulse and it had simply stopped sometime after Duncan entered what looked like a
deep sleep.
Numbly, Duncan explained everything that had transpired. Louis and Jesper
exchanged glances then broke Duncan’s shackles and lifted him to his feet.
“Our mission is complete,” Louis stated supporting Duncan under his arm as he
walked, “we’ve been authorized to return home.”
Duncan wanted to ask what Louis had told the authorities regarding his actions
but Louis simply replied, “I told the authorities we had no choice but to execute all of X’s
followers or they would have executed the hostages. They’ve all been put on our shuttle
back to the Province.”
As they entered their enormous spacecraft, Jesper helped Duncan into a chair as
their mentor left to the flight deck. Finally, he spoke, “So you finally beat that Carox,
15

16. huh? Gone for good, I hope?”
Duncan shook his head, “Carox is still inside me. He’s just asleep. I think it
means he won’t have as much control over me as before.”
“As much control?” Jesper asked, “You talk like he’s had some influence on you
before.”
“Maybe he has and we never noticed. Maybe he exists in more than just me or
maybe he never existed at all. I honestly don’t understand it all myself.”
“Well, the point is I hope we won’t see him again any time soon.”
“I don’t know,” Duncan said thoughtfully, “I’m still not completely sure if he is
me or I am him or whatever.”
“I doubt he’s you,” said Jesper strapping himself into his own seat, “more like
what you could have been. And I doubt you’re him. He’s too sadistic to be all that much
like you. Besides,” Jesper’s eyes twinkled mischievously, “you could never beat me like
he did even if you wanted to.”
Duncan grinned at his friend, “Have you forgotten who beat you an upwards of
five times at the training camp?”
“I seem to recall a certain someone losing their own five matches to another
certain someone.”
They both laughed as the ship rose out of the desert and escaped the atmosphere,
ready to take the passengers back to the Province and them back home.
16