The universe is an ouroboros, chewing and swallowing its tail. It cycles itself between construction and destruction, birth and death.

I. Boyfriend

  Boyfriend Vox Akuma was killed. She killed him with her own hands.

  When the doorbell ringed and she opened the door with blood all over her body, the friend took to their heels. They were there for supper and never thought it was the last supper.

  She was shaking all over and couldn’t even stand still. The friend wanted to hold her, but they were so afraid that they reached out their hand for a second and then drew it back. She had to lean against the wall and led the friend inside.

  Vox was lying on the kitchen floor, with a knife stabbed into the lower part of his chest. The blood oozed from the cut. It flowed along the gap among the kitchen tiles like a river to the outside and vanished into the red carpet in living room.

  She propped up her body with hands on the kitchen bar. The friend faltered and hesitated to say a word. With her mind drifting around, she said, “He ran after me and punched me. I had nowhere to hide so I fought back. And then…”

  The friend now noticed the long scratch mark on the side of her forehead and the red lump near her eyebrow. The friend wide opened their mouth and stared at the scene for a while before finally saying the first words tonight, “What you just twittered… ‘my man slays’… is literally ‘slay’?”

  “What should I do?” She slowly lowered her body and sat on the floor. She held her forehead still, ignoring all the blood on her hands.

  “Call the police!” Coming back from the shock, the friend almost screamed to her. “Now! It cannot wait any longer! This is justification defense. You don’t need to panic.”

  Her hands quivered a lot when reaching out to the cell phone near the sink. She stared at the shaky phone screen, unable to press any button. Without Vox aside, she could barely remember the emergency number.

  Finally, the friend called the police for her. They held her tight until the alarm came near and she was brought on the police car. When stepping out of the house, she tilted her head a little. It seemed that she wanted to take a final glimpse at Vox. But she didn’t turn around at last.

  She sat in the back of the car and bit her fingernail anxiously. She was painfully recalling the words Vox said to her two hours ago.

  Two hours ago, she and Vox were preparing dinner in the kitchen. She loved watching Vox cooking. He looked like a perfect blend of the almighty and the mortal. Vox looked at her mind wandering. He rubbed her nose with some meat stuck on his fingers. He said, “You know what? I keep having a same dream these days. In the dream we live in a castle. I’m the lord and you are one in the clan. You see, so here’s your lord cooking for you every day. Don’t you know how lucky you are?”

  She grunted and said like a brat, “Save it! You are already the master in bed and still want to be the master in kitchen?” She stood on her tiptoes and cupped Vox's face. She aggressively kissed Vox on his lips. Vox put the knife aside and turned around, leaving his back to the counter. She reached out more and pressed herself totally on Vox.

  She couldn’t remember how the knife was stabbed into Vox’s body. She only remembered that she heard Vox’s strange moaning and immediately released her hold. She saw Vox’s shirt was soaked in blood and even so was the chopping board behind him. She screamed and jumped backwards, hitting the back side of her head on the refrigerator so hard that she nearly fell in a faint.

  She panicked and tried to reach out to her phone on the counter. She wanted to call the police, but her shaking hands couldn’t even hold the phone. A big hand grabbed her wrist. She looked up and saw Vox’s face with sweat oozing from his forehead.

  “Don’t. It’s no use.” When Vox opened his mouth, she saw his teeth in red. The blood couldn’t help itself dripping down along his lips. The blood would only flood out of the mouth when the internal organs were broken. She knew it was hopeless now.

  He pressed on the wound and lowered his body against the refrigerator, leaving a trail of blood on it. He sat on the floor. “Come here. Come here. Listen to me.” She kneeled by his side like a good puppy, as she always did.

  Vox held her shoulders with blood covering his hands. He was propping up both her shaking body and his dying one. “Remember, I’m not a good boyfriend. I always beat you and swear at you. I was beating you and swearing at you just now.”

  “Please don’t say something stupid, Vox. We are going to hospital now. Come on please!”

  “I beat you so hard just now that you chose to defend yourself. Remember it.”

  She aimlessly wiped away the blood from Vox mouth and made it all over his face. “What are you talking about, Vox? You love me so much and I love you so much too…”

  She barely finished the sentence when Vox held her face and heavily pushed it backwards. Her head hit on the handle of the cupboard. Vox quickly pulled her back and looked at the bleeding cut on his forehead. This cut seemed to be sharper than the knife, stabbing Vox and making him in tears.

  “Do you remember it, stupid ass?”

  “Remember what?”

  “Remember that I cursed at you, pushed you hard and beat you. You couldn’t bear it, so you fought back.” Vox pressed at the lump near her eyebrow, and she couldn’t help screaming loudly in pain.

  “I’ll remember it… I’ll remember it…”

  “Who calls you stupid, foolish and bitch every day?”

  “It’s you…”

  “Who always pulls your hair and makes you kneel on the floor?”

  “It’s you.”

  “Why did you go to hospital for your injured wrists a month ago?”

  “It’s you. You cuffed me.”

  “Why is there cut and lump on your forehead?”

  “You pushed me hard!”

  “What is the scream that neighbors heard of?”

  “I was in pain…”

  Vox put on a satisfying smile. His voice went weaker.

  “Sweetheart, do you remember the dream that I mentioned? I didn’t dare to tell you that in the dream, I didn’t protect you well and lost you.”

  Vox never thought that the flashback before his death was not his unlucky life, but the illusory dream.

  “It’s OK. Don’t cry. I protect you well this time.”

II. Officer

  Shooting the suspect dead, Officer Vox Akuma smiled with satisfaction. This desperate woman even tried to assault a police officer.

  Vox stood on the roof of this apartment building. He looked down at the body on the ground and the nasty city underneath.

  Vox was about to report the situation to Sarge when Sarge called him first. “Vox, you’re under the order to go for a suspected murderer at large. I’ve sent her info and moving course to your comm. Your partner has already got off for her.” Vox looked at his communicator and started to quiver. “Sarge, this woman…” “Stop your bullshit! Go for the order!”

  The communicator was disconnected. “You fucking dickhead, Sarge.”

  Vox bent over and put the communicator near the face of the female body on the ground. He looked at the photo on screen and then looked at the face of the body. “Am I insane? The new suspect and this dead one… Are they the same person?”

  Vox quickly ran downstairs as if he saw a ghost. He was still murmuring when he got on his car.

  He was thinking about this woman while driving to the destination at speed.

  The recently dead woman was brought to the police station last week. She looked pitiable and pathetic at that time. Who wouldn’t show mercy to someone suffering from domestic violence? Vox found her attractive. He even felt pity that she committed justification defense. If she was put in prison for manslaughter, there would be more chance for him to get handsy on her. But the identification office found some key evidence later. So he headed as fast as possible to the mall where the woman was located. Vox should have approached her silently and taken her without disturbing others. But the woman took to her heels at the sight of Vox. Vox drove and chased after the woman in her car around half of the city, but he never thought that she would drive back to her own apartment and rush upstairs to the roof. Why did she driver herself up the wall? Vox held his pistol and moved towards the woman on the roof. When he was about to handcuff her, she suddenly pulled a knife out of her coat. Vox pulled the trigger without hesitation. He didn’t understand why she gave such dying kicks.

  “Hello? Did you get here? I had my eye on her.” The partner said rudely through the communicator, interrupting Vox’s mind. “Almost there. Don’t be so rude. Can’t you get the suspect without me?” “Fuck you.” The partner disconnected the line. Vox felt more confident since he caught the previous woman on his own.

  Ten minutes later, Vox arrived at the mall. He saw partner’s car pulling up across the street. Ten minutes had passed and they still didn’t catch the woman. Vox muttered and quickly equipped himself. He got off the car when he saw a person in police uniform walking leisurely out of the mall alone and heading to the partner’s car. Vox was about to scold them for being so negligent without catching the suspect, but he realized that this person had a wrong height and didn’t fit the uniform. He was suddenly aware of what happened and shouted to them across the street. The person turned around and a familiar face fell into Vox’s sight. She quickly got on the car and ran away.

  Vox chased after her tightly. He couldn’t get it why this woman was so capable that she even beat the partner and took their uniform away, even when the partner was a well-trained police officer. Those two raced against each other around the city with one in front of the other. The passerby got the luck to see the strange scene of one police car chasing after another one.

  Vox drove and chased after the woman in her car around half of the city, but he never thought that she would drive back to her own apartment and rush upstairs to the roof. Why did she driver herself up the wall? The situation was so familiar that if the headache didn’t hit him hard, Vox would have thought he was in a dream loop. Thankfully the woman wasn’t wearing her own coat this time, so she wouldn’t have that knife hidden in her pocket. He could finally bring her back to the station alive. When he was about to handcuff her, the woman suddenly pulled partner’s pistol out of the uniform. She pulled the trigger before Vox could even react.

  The woman stood on the roof of this apartment building. She looked down at the body on the ground and the nasty city underneath.

  She got rid of the uniform and dropped the unlucky partner’s pistol and communicator on the ground near Vox. She left without looking back.

  The communicator on the ground buzzed. There showed on the screen a new message of a suspect to be arrested. The face in the photo looked exactly the same as the face of the male body nearby.

III. Merman

  Merman Vox Akuma opened his eyes and found himself in a small bathtub. He knew he was saved.

  Two days ago, Vox stranded himself on the beach. He tried several times to get back to the sea, but the sharp gravels cut his tail and made him unable to move. He thought he was dying anyway. The only choice was to die of dehydration or to die as a specimen in a noble’s collection hall. He closed his eyes and let the pain deprived him of his consciousness.

  The woman who saved him heard the noise from the bathtub and showed up in front of him. Vox knew this woman. She just arrived here recently. This was a very small and remote town by the sea. Vox knew every single face of the people living here.

  Why did this abject and lonely woman save a merman? Maybe she felt alone and wanted someone by her side. Maybe she was doing the good and tried to atone for her past crime. Maybe she was addicted to his fish scales which looked like shiny stars in the night sky.

  The woman walked towards the merman gingerly. She knew very well how scary this ancient creature was. Their beautiful voice was like poisonous wine. It could bewitch people and took away their lives. However, this merman seemed to have lost this deadly power. He was dumb and could only make rumbling noise out of his throat.

  The woman was a criminal at large who was accused of manslaughter. She didn’t dare to take a real job in the town. She even didn’t reveal her face in public. She could only pick up the fish scales falling from Vox’s tail in the bathtub and brought them to the black market for money. She was able to maintain her existence and finally got rid of the life depending on others when she first came to this town. Sometimes, she could even spare some money to buy a beautiful wreath from the old granny and put it on Vox’s head. She looked at Vox’s luminous eyes. His eyes reflected the colorful flowers. He maintained his innocence after experiencing all the hardships. The woman felt so affected that she even started to worship this merman. She was looking at an injured god, formidable and pitiable.

  The woman couldn’t help shedding tears. Vox leant his upper body out of the bathtub. His lips approached her face and he started to lick her sparkling tear drops. The salty tear tasted like the sea water. The woman felt more guilty. She looked at the scars left by sharp gravels on Vox’s body and promised to herself that she would send him back to the sea once he fully recovered.

  However, human’s greed was a sleeping lion. The bloody smell of meat would definitely wake it up. After the sweet taste of life, she started to hanker for more. She had never experienced such greed before that she didn’t even realize herself being greedy. She began to demand more fish scales from Vox. At first, she couldn’t bear looking into Vox’s eyes filled with tears. When Vox peeled the scales off the tail with his sharp claws, she even stayed out of the bathroom to avoid the suppressed and painful moans. But ups and downs of life made her super flexible to any situation. The guilty feelings faded away from her heart. Vox’s whining gradually became a trail of white noise. She exchanged more fish scales for more money. She bought better ointment and deluded herself that as long as she took good care of Vox and his injuries, he would rely on her and never part from her. This kind of mutual supply and demand was a wonderful beginning of the reciprocal relationship.

  Loads of days had passed before the day when the woman came back from the black market with a bag of money heavier than ever. Vox’s fish scales had always been of high value. But recently, the scales Vox gave to her were perfect and flawless, superior to any previous ones, so the price of those scales soared up. The woman exchanged them for tens of times more than before. She couldn’t hold back her wide joy. Vox seemed to be infected by her happiness. His face was no longer pale and painful. He held the rim of the bathtub and propped up his upper body out above the water. He’d never been in higher spirits before. The woman walked towards him and pressed a deep kiss on his lips. This lingering kiss was full of appreciation, desire, guilt and pain, and finally became a lugubrious scream.

  Vox poked his sharp claws through the woman’s chest and took out her pulsing heart.

  Vox stepped out of the bathtub. He couldn’t fully control this pair of long legs yet. He stumbled to the wall and leant himself against it. At the bottom of the bathtub was a huge bulk of his sloughed skin. It was covered by no fish scales, but beads of scars and wounds.

  Scale sloughing was the path for merfolk to evolve their legs. It only accelerated the process to peel off those scales.

  Vox cut his own chest open with his claws. There was nothing inside the cavity. He placed the woman’s heart in it with great caution.

  The final step to become a human and the key he was looking for so long was a perfect heart that wouldn’t repel him. The definition of “perfect” was not exclusive from any flaw, but inclusive of good and evil. Vox had overcome all the pain in months for this perfect heart relying on him and full of love, hate, guilt, attachment, greed, apathy…

  The woman feebly lay on the floor. She wanted to say something but there was only blood flooding out of her mouth.

  Vox pressed his long index finger on her lips. “Thank you.” This was the first time the woman heard him speaking, with his voice like an angel who could heal everything. “Sleep.” Eyes closed, the woman left all the pain behind.

  A most beautiful lullaby flowed out from the little house. People in the town stopped what they were doing and started to listen with all ears.

IV. Butler

  This was the first day that Butler Vox Akuma came into office in this manor. The lord here was a noble collector. She was keen on collecting perfect things all over the world.

  Vox came here days ago and presented a perfect heart to the noble collector. She held the transparent box and looked at it up and down. She loved it so much that she even showed it off immediately to other noble guests there for party.

  The collector kindly invited Vox to stay for dinner. During the dinner, she asked Vox how much he wanted in return of this perfect heart. Vox said, “I’ve drifted here and there all my life. I just want a resting place.” Vox sounded like an angel. The collector felt butterflies in her stomach. She answered right away, “No problem. As my collections grow more and more, I need someone to take care of them. I now appoint you as my butler.” Vox stood up and bowed to the collector with smile on his face. He looked humble and respectable.

  Vox officially took office after the collector introduced every detail of the manor to him. He arranged all the servants to work in perfect order with each performing their own functions. But the collection hall was an exception. He always took care of it on his own.

  It was not merely for the reason that the collections in the hall valued too much that Vox was afraid the servants would break any of the showcase. On the other hand, Vox loved those collections very much. The prefix “perfect” made everything attractive even for an extremely normal item. There were various “perfect” collections in the hall. There were non-living things and once-lived things. Vox showed more interest and curiosity in those once-lived things. He always asked the collector how she acquired all those specimens and how she managed to preserve them as fresh as possible. He also asked a lot about the stories behind those once-lived things.

  There was a man killed by knife cut. The label near his showcase wrote “perfect death for love” and the collector said that this man forged fake evidence for his girlfriend who was accused of manslaughter.

  There was an officer shot dead. The label near his showcase wrote “perfect time loop” and the collector said that this officer was killed by the suspect he just shot dead.

  There was a mermaid with a shiny tail. The label near her showcase wrote “perfect singing voice” and the collector said that she was head over heels for the mermaid’s beautiful singing.

  There was an interesting story behind every collection and Vox was addicted to it. He wasn’t authorized to open those showcase and touch all the bodies which had been alive and kicking. But he could almost sense the energetic pulses beating against his skin. Every pulse was a gift from universe, and a miracle he could never experience in his limited life.

  The collector was so satisfied with Vox’s ability that she couldn’t believe this was Vox’s first time to be a butler. She thought that only an experienced and weathered old man could serve with such smart coordination and great ability to read atmosphere. She’d never expected all of this from a young and beautiful guy. Vox was not only a great manager, but also a perfect partner. He accompanied the collector to play chess and attend exhibitions. He dressed her and read her books. His learning was so profound and immense that he always came up with novel and original ideas every time they talked about something. The collector was addicted to his bedtime stories. Those stories varied from eastern to western, from ancient to present. It seemed that he had experienced thousands of years.

  The collector trusted and relied on Vox more and more. She handed him the keys of the collection hall, including the controller of all showcases. She let Vox take over all the playthings from the past, so she could look forward and seek more treasure that had not been collected.

  Days had passed and the collector immersed herself in the joy of this cozy life. One day in the morning, she woke up and sensed the stench all around her manor. It was the smell of rotten flesh. She wasn’t sure if the smell came into being lately because the smell was too strong that she might have been a frog in warm water and only realized the situation after the water seethed. She first thought that it might be a servant dead by accident. But after she checked the number of servants at home, she found out it went far beyond what she had thought of. A terrible idea flashed into her mind and she nearly screamed to Vox, “Bring me to the collection hall! Now!”

  Vox was calm as usual. He took the key to the collection hall and unhurriedly led the collector to the hall, with a smile on his face. The moment the door of the collection hall was opened, she nearly fell in a faint by the overwhelming stench. All the showcases of once-lived collections were wide open, and all the bodies were rotten without the special protective gas. But the mermaid was an exception. Maybe there was blessing in her ancient and mysterious genes. The mermaid tail still shone bright. The collector rushed into the mermaid showcase without hesitation, trying to switch on the vent.

  The door of the mermaid showcase shut down all at once and caught the collector off guard. She turned around and saw Vox holding the showcase controller with his usual calm smile. The collector pounded on the door like crazy. Her harsh scream was almost able to break all the glass in the collection hall. The gas was hissing out from the vent, depriving the hysterical woman of her consciousness. She passed out in the showcase.

  When she finally woke up, the gas in the showcase had become normal air that she could breathe in. The mermaid specimen was gone. There was only oxygen and other gas fed into the showcase at a stable speed.

  Vox came in and his smile was unchanged. The collector was suffering from heavy headache. She murmured out a word, “Why?”

  Vox looked happy, singing while approaching her. This was the first time that she heard Vox singing. His voice was even better than the mermaid she collected, able to heal everything. All the pain and tiredness the collector felt was gone.

  This was enough to answer her question just now.

  Vox asked in smile, “How does it feel to be a collection, my lord?” His voice was magical. The collector was nearly tempted to nod her head.

  Vox looked satisfied. He sat on the chair near the showcase and opened the book with yellowed pages. He continued with his alluring voice, “Very good. Then let’s start the bedtime story today, shall we?”

V. Dragon

  This story happened long long ago, when the underage princess could not step out of her boudoir.

  Dragon Vox Akuma had been listed as wanted all over the country for almost a year. The king couldn’t wait to arrest Vox even at the cost of all the gold in treasury. Vox took the princess away every now and then. She was the apple of the king’s eye.

  Every time the princess was taken away, the king would send a picked troop to the high mountain where Vox settled in to save the princess. But the troop would always return with failure. According to the soldiers, that dragon never truly hurt any of them, but drove them down the mountain with a huge blow. Those soldiers didn’t even have a chance to see the princess.

  The king put up the wanted everywhere. There were loads of warriors volunteering their services but none of them ever succeeded. They were all blown away and returned to the kingdom in frustration.

  After some time, the king found out someone was stealing gold in treasury, clothes in collections and even delicacy in kitchen. The discomfited king blamed all of it on Dragon Vox and swore to God that he would bring Vox to justice.

  When the king was about to go furious, the princess came back like a miracle. One day in the morning, the maid went to clean the princess’s boudoir and found her sleeping tight in bed. The silk quilt covering her was the one missing from the treasury days ago. The princess was surprisingly whole without any injury, except that her hair was braided into a messy bun. The king was overjoyed and decided to set a feast that night to celebrate. However, the princess was gone again even before the night fell. Days after, it wasn’t even enough time for the king to prepare a troop and the princess was back in her boudoir again.

  This situation repeated dozens of times and the king almost experienced mental breakdown for it. He felt like being teased by two mysterious forces. One was Dragon Vox occupying the high mountain. The other one was the hero who could not be found anywhere.

  One day, a kid, who sneaked to the border to play around, went to the castle and told the king that he saw a knight carrying the princess at night. The knight jumped out of the high wall and ran at high speed to send the princess back in the castle. But the knight’s face was covered by a mask, so the kid didn’t see him clearly.

  The king was excited and rewarded this kid. The king even earnestly wished the princess was taken away at once so that he could wait at the border for the heroic knight to show up.

  As expected, the princess was taken away before one day passed. The king called out all the soldiers to ambush around the border and set traps under the wall. He even tried harder than going out to fight the dragon. The king thought that after marrying the brave knight, the princess would have a peaceful life for good.

  The king and soldiers waited at the border for several days. This time, the princess seemed to return later than ever. The king almost thought he missed the knight once again. When he was about to give up, a dark figure nearly flew by and jumped down from the wall. The delicately designed trap took effect. All the soldiers rushed forward and restrained the knight with well-knit rope nets.

  The king walked towards the knight full of apology and admiration. He bowed to the knight and said, “I’m sorry. I have to do this only to find you.” The king reached out his hand and took off the mask covering the knight’s face.

  Suddenly, the king fell to the ground with a horrible scream. He pointed at the knight’s face. He was shaking all over and could barely say a word. The soldiers became silent as well and stepped back.

  Under the mask was the face of Dragon Vox heavily breathing.

  The dragon wings were locked. The four claws were bounded into strange postures so he could not move a bit. The princess covered by silk quilt in his arms was still sound asleep.

  The king didn’t know if he should still restrain Vox or loose the nets to let the princess out. He asked in a shaky voice, “You… Why you?”

  Vox tilted his head for some space to breathe but he was afraid to wake up the princess in his arm, “Yeah… It’s me…”

  The king made a bold move forward and asked in confuse, “Then… who took her away?”

  Vox suddenly raised his volume and almost shouted, “Who are you to ask this? Such an irresponsible father? You cannot even manage your own daughter and let her run away every now and then. It’s she herself that comes to my place every time. It’s none of my business. I may have tolerated it if she only comes to me and behaves herself. But she still wants to stay like a royal member and always asks for this and that. I have to take risks and sneak into your treasury to steal everything for her. I’m a dragon, lazy but innocent. I just want to sunbathe every day on the mountain and eat some little animals. But now I have to degrade myself and do all of this? She even asks me to braid her hair! Fuck the braid. Even though I tied a knot with her hair, she’ll be happy as hell. But you won’t even let her stay at my place peacefully. You motherfucker always send troop after troop to the mountain. They know it clearly that they are not my match, and they are definitely about to be blown down. But they still make huge gong and drum noise just to fake it for you. I can’t even fall asleep! So I have to send her back to you again and again. It’s too annoying!”

  The sleeping princess in Vox’s arms woke up by his scream. The bad mood followed her getting up from the wrong bed, which had always been the case for more than ten years. She punched the quilt and cried, “Don’t you dare make a noise again! Would y’all just let me sleep?” But at the sight of the king by her side, she suddenly shut up and avoided any eye contact.

  She turned her head and saw the shining dragon scales outside the quil. She looked up at Vox’s face, with joy flashing in her eyes. She pouted and pretended to be angry, “I knew it was you! Just take me back home with you!”

VI. Knight

  Vox Akuma cleaned his body and put on the white shirt and red robe. White meant a pure body and red meant sacrifice on a battlefield. He had to fast today. He kneeled in front of the huge shield with his sword in his hand. He prayed to Jesus to forgive and purify him. He was also ready for a fight. Anyone who disagreed with his knighting ceremony would come and attack the shield. He had to defend the shield even though he was starving.

  As expected, a man in mask rushed out of the corner and pointed his sword towards the shield. Vox stood up and made a defense rapidly. Two swords collided and the sound echoed in the big hall. Starvation and kneeling for long time almost deprived Vox of his consciousness for a second. But he swiftly held up his body by clicking the sword on the ground. He got closer to the attacker and found out the weak point. He punched the handle of the sword on the attacker’s mask and split it into two. Vox placed his sword on the attacker’s shoulder while the attacker was lost for a moment. Vox only wanted to defend, but not to hurt anyone, especially this guy in front of him. He recognized the attacker, who was his servant.

  Vox looked around and saw the queen’s gown vanished into the corner. In his endless life, he had travelled around hundreds of countries and experienced innumerable knighting ceremonies. As long as it was a deliberate monarch, they would send someone to test him for his skills, courage and mercy. He apparently passed the test this time.

  He lifted up his servant and accepted apology. He gave his servant a big hug and praised him for his courage and loyalty to the queen. This was the first time he met a challenger who would listen to his full speech. All the challengers he previously met would have run away even before he finished one sentence. They were too impatient and lack of respect.

  The next day was the knighting ceremony. Vox got down on one knee under the stages. His sword was by his side. He put his right hand on his chest and felt his heart beating like a drum. He raised his head. He looked at the queen standing up from the throne on the stage and elegantly walking down the stairs. She took Sword of Mercy and dub Vox on the shoulder with it. Vox could sense the sword shaking a bit. Vox already heard that the queen was once a spoiled princess. She always sneaked out of the castle and played tricks on an evil dragon. He didn’t know how the sudden death of the former king left cruel impact on her happy childhood and how panicky she was when she took over the whole country. This was such burden that normal people couldn’t bear. But she had to shoulder it. Vox suddenly felt that the sword granted him not only the title but also the burden of trust.

  Since then, Knight Vox Akuma gradually gained considerable fame. The troop was always invincible if Vox led them. Soldiers loved and admired him. People around the country viewed him as divine. His contribution to the peace all over the country was recognized by everyone. Admiration and adoration also welled up in the young queen’s heart. She usually called Vox for feasts in the castle. He sometimes even showed up on royal family feasts. Vox knew it well how the queen felt about him. But as a troop leader to guard the country, he could not immerse himself in love. He had to leave all his personal feelings behind so that he could move the national glory forward. Needless to say, there was Sword of Damocles hanging above his head, which only he himself knew.

  Vox had never believed in destiny until the tenth failure in Death Valley. It was the place of devils. The devil king would challenge all the nearby countries one by one. The monarch being challenged didn’t want the war breaking out in their own territory, because it would surely lead to ruthless massacre against their own people. They would always send experienced soldiers to Death Valley for a near escape from failure which they knew did not exist. Every country that Vox had travelled perished after the war at Death Valley. And there was a traitor in the troop every time and they let out the operation plan to enemies, which led to disastrous defeat by the devils. Vox had tried many times to find out the traitor, but the repeated failure bent him over to the fate. There seemed to be an invisible hand making fun of his life and he was only a marionette, forced to perform a bitter dance on the grand historical stage.

  Finally, the letter of challenge from the devil king arrived in this country. Vox knew that Sword of Damocles would soon stab through him. On that day, Vox led the troop to Death Valley, like marching to the real death. He still tried hard to find out the real traitor, but he knew he stood no chance. He comforted himself that each failure meant to start again with more knowledge. But fate could always adjust the bias, getting him back on track repeatedly.

  He was defeated again, and he felt no surprise. When devil’s sword stabbed into his stomach, he was not even painful, but numb and helpless. No one could ever run off rails of the powerful destiny.

  The fate always went on accurately. When Vox was about to go unconscious because of loss of blood, the queen arrived there, just like what had happened hundreds of times before. The queen kneeled by Vox’s side, crying. She tried to wrap his wound, but all was in vain. Vox reached out his hand to caress the queen’s face. This had happened hundreds of times. It was hard to be emotionally affected again, but he had to.

  He said the farewell lines and poured out his true feelings to the queen. His voice became weak. All the tragedy of Knight Akuma was integrated in this five-minute monologue. The queen listened to him with tears in her eyes. But Vox could never figure out who would win the queen’s heart, him or the dragon on the mountain. Maybe there were a thousand answers in a thousand queen’s hearts.

  This was the first time Vox finished his monologue. The queen listened all the way to the end patiently. He almost fell in love with this country. Everyone seemed so patient, from the challenger to the queen. He finished his last word and embraced his ending scene even before closing his eyes.

  The curtain fell for this world. The epic background music started in time. The sight of the queen went dark. After ten seconds that never felt so long, the credit name list for the game started to scroll.

  The player dragged their heels to step out of the huge VR equipment. They were reluctant to leave all the sense and experience that felt so real, like they truly went through all the sweet stories and cruel battles. They wanted to stay as the monarch of mediaeval times as long as possible.

  In the digital flood on the other side of the VR equipment, there was a new tragic memory added into the storage space for NPC Vox. He let the huge amount of game codes drift him to the next country. This was the fate he could never win. He was one of the main characters and the most glorious puppet in this epic game.

  Floating among all the digits, he finally closed his eyes. He was waiting silently to wake up by players’ commands. If he woke up again, please offer him your passionate eyes and patient ears that he always deserved.

VII. Mad Scientist

  Vox Akuma had his fame when he was young. He was smart, weak, and mischievous. He was a muddle of contradictions. He was born in a distinguished family and spoiled by his parents. He was always feeble and sick, so his parents had to give him whatever he wanted once he pretended the ache. He rarely went out of the house and did not have any friends. He always played the bully when he went outdoors. The neighbors had seen him make a scene several times.

  His family had been occupied in a secret business for centuries. This profession required physical agility and high skills. His parents had to face the fact that their business would come to an end at the generation of their son. However, Vox was smart enough to find the field he had interest and talent in. He was obsessed with science, and he was a quick learner. He had invented some gadgets by himself even before ten years old. It was said that it was not terrible of bad people being bad, but them being smart. The neighbors were all worried about what destruction Vox would bring to the world when he grew up.

  At the age of ten, Vox bumped into a white fox on street and brought it home. The white fox looked cute with thick and long white fur. It felt like a large blanket when held in arms. But that white fox was unable to walk freely and always stumbled. It might be too old or too sick. Vox seemed to have found his best friend. The neighbors saw him taking the white fox to the backyard and playing with it every day. They all assumed this white fox might rouse his inner conscience. But there was rumor that Vox also brought the white fox to his laboratory at home and that there might be some secret experiment ongoing. The neighbors sighed that a leopard could never change its spot.

  Finally, Vox exposed his true nature. It snowed heavily that day and the snow covered the ground. Vox’s parents went out for a mission in the morning after their long break. Suddenly Vox’s roar spread all over the neighborhood. “Fuck off!” He threw the white fox out of the gate. The white fox tried to force a way back inside several times but was kicked out again and again. At last, the white fox staggered away and vanished into the white snow, leaving a trail of blood behind. The neighbors looked at all of it from their windows. They didn’t know what happened and could only hold their silent anger.

  Since then, Vox became more unsocial. He spent days and nights in his lab. After his parents died in a mission, their house became a haunted one. There seemed to be ghosts fumed out from the roof.

  Though Vox’s achievements received universal compliments in the scientific community, no one would either accept him or assist him in scientific research. So everyone was shocked when a young, lately graduated female researcher went to his house and served as his research assistant. People assumed that the female researcher had disability and was not accepted by any research institutions who claimed themselves as “inclusive”.

  This assistant started to live under the same roof and eat at the same table with Vox. Sometimes they even went out together. No one would ever believe that Vox could get along with another person so well. It was said that Vox was developing something terrible with the female assistant. He was inspired by a VR game from long time ago. He wanted to create an equipment to control others’ mind.

  The intelligence and ability of these two minds together were incredible. The equipment was created before long. However, they delayed announcing it to the public, as Vox’s health situation became so bad that he needed wheelchair to support his daily life.

  Vox knew his time was running out, so he proposed to be the guinea pig for this equipment.

  On the day of the first experiment, the assistant helped Vox to enter the equipment and lay him down. She asked, “Do you know that once we start the experiment, there might be no way back for you to this world?” Vox nodded. Of course, he knew. This was all his ideas. “I’ve made up for all my regret in this world.”

  The assistant hesitated. She looked into Vox’s eyes, eager to gain an insight of him. She asked, “All of it?” Vox paused for a while. He pointed at the recording camera in the front. “Turn it off please.” The assistant was confused but did as command anyway.

  Vox took a deep breath, like purifying himself by this world for the last time. He said, “I know who you are. I always know. I have never forgot your eyes in the heavy snow that day. I am sorry that you had eye problem because of me.”

  The assistant had a bright golden right eye, but her left eye looked like a foggy marble.

  “I am sorry. If I knew my parents were treasure hunters, I would never have brought you home. But I was too self-centered at that time and never cared about what happened in my family. They never told me anything about their business because of my serious health conditions. One day I heard by accident that my parents had their eyes on you. They said you were a kitsune who was unable to shapeshift into human form at that time. So I… If they had you, you would have been dead for sure. I am sorry but I had to drive you away, even at the cost of hurting you.”

  The assistant widened her eyes. “So you knew me from the very beginning?”

  Vox nodded.

  The assistant swallowed nervously and asked, “Then… the drugs?”

  Vox put on a calm smile and said, “I knew. I knew my body would decay sooner or later. Your drugs… I assume that is what I have to suffer to atone for my sin.”

  The assistant started to quiver, and tears flooded out of her eyes. Hate was a waste of emotions. She finally understood it by heart. Vox gave her an affectionate pat on the shoulder and tried to comfort her. “But you helped me to invent this equipment. If it works, we both can leave the clumsy body behind and live our life in that virtual but real world, shall we?”

  “Now, turn on the camera. Let’s upload my mind.”

VIII. Painter

  Painter Vox Akuma was the most famous person in his world. Everyone knew him. His every painting was like a Mona Lisa for us, and people were all eager to see the authentic works. His art seemed magical. He could tell a whole story by just one single frame. People could imagine a series of scenes at one sight of the painting. Vox always centered his paintings on a faceless male character. Critics said that Vox was telling people his own story and exploring “who am I”.

  But no one was lucky enough to meet Vox in person or know his real look. He was low key and never showed up to the media. Maybe one day, you saw a strange guy play monkey tricks on street and that was him. Who knew? Lots of journalists wanted to interview him and get a sneak peak of his paintings, but he refused them all. Critics said that it was because of his calm and loneliness that he could keep such high motivation and quality for painting.

  Therefore, when receiving the invitation from Vox, the female charitarian was so excited that she jumped with joy on the board meeting. She realized her misbehavior at once and apologized to the board again and again. Back to her seat, she was still wearing the wide smile.

  She was the only one invited. She didn’t know the reason, but she wouldn’t miss this now-or-never chance.

  On the day of the invitation, she drove to Vox’s house. She had never thought it was just an ordinary house located in suburb. She imagined that for such a successful and mysterious painter, he should live on an island or in a castle. During the one-hour drive, she was reviewing Vox’s paintings again and again and hoped not to waste this precious chance. The theme of Vox’s works always led to heated discussions. He never just painted a simple portrait or landscape. He wanted to go into something serious. Was it love, death or himself?

  At the first sight of Vox, the female charitarian understood everything. “It’s you.” She laughed and said, “Switched from a scientist to a painter. It’s really the way you are.”

  Vox laughed as well. “I’m not lying but I find myself pretty interested in art. And a charitarian for environment protection? It suits you well too.”

  They looked like old friends who had not seen each other for hundreds of years. They walked into the house, chatting and laughing.

  “Have you got used to the life in this world yet?” Vox took a sip of tea. Whether in this world or his previous world, he loved drinking tea as always.

  The woman twitched her mouth a bit. “Everything is fine, and I even got rid of the eye problem. The only thing is that I prefer my previous eye color.” She winked, with her blue eyes like sea.

  Vox cleared his throat, ready for his speech. “I invited you here today to ask for a favor. I want you to publish my last painting for me. Hope it’s not a bother.”

  The woman shook her hands rapidly and said, “Of course not! It’s my honor to publish the work for the greatest artist in this world.” She looked at the direction behind Vox and saw a huge frame covered by white sheet. This one was much bigger than any of his other paintings. “May I have a sneak peak of it?” Her excitement overflowed.

  “Not yet.” Vox refused with a mysterious smile. “After publishing this painting, you can make it public of what I’ll say next. Because I might not be here when it happens.”

  “What do you mean?” The woman became nervous suddenly. She couldn’t tell if this man was telling a joke.

  Vox said, “Don’t be upset. This is only my guess right now. After arriving in this world with my uploaded mind, I connected myself with computers. I’ve always wanted to trace back to the origin of universe. In the previous real world, I had my limits. But now in here, a computer-like brain would absolutely help me a lot.”

  The woman felt confused. “The origin of universe? Is it the well-known Big Bang Theory?”

  Vox shook his head and said, “No. I mean the origin of this universe, this mysterious universe. Since my brain can acquire and process infinite information, I started to find out a lot of interesting things. Who am I? I’m always curious about it. All my paintings were inspired by those interesting things in the process of tracing back to the origin. All the time and space seems entangled with each other. I found a lot of different ‘me’ in the flood of information. There’s an officer, a butler, a knight and even a merman. Does it sound funny? But every piece of information that I processed feels so real, like I have really experienced all of that. Everything comes in its order and what goes around comes around. I traced back along this thread and I believed that I could figure out where the thread end was. And I did it.” Vox pointed to the huge painting behind him. “This is my last painting. And according to the timeline, this should be the first painting… if time exists in my universe.”

  “But what I’m afraid of and what I’m unaware of is how powerful the truth is. Will the truth still exist the moment it’s revealed? Maybe the Big Bang is not the true origin, because no one can go back to that time. Maybe the universe is an ouroboros without a start or an end. Maybe when the so-called origin goes public, I’ll be forced into the next loop of my universe.”

  The woman’s mind drifted. She nodded but didn’t fully understand. Vox smiled and said, “It’s OK. It’s been many years, but I’m still not used to the brain capable of processing so much information. You can just leave it as I was self-talking.”

  Vox stood up and walked towards that painting. He gazed at it full of emotions.

  The woman followed him and looked at the painting as well. She could only see the white sheet. Under the white sheet was indistinctly seen the flaming fire soaring to the sky.

IX. Demon Lord

  Demon Lord Vox Akuma stared at the castle in distant with flaming fire soaring to the sky. Tears winded down his cheeks.

  It’s because of his mistake. It’s because of his incompetence. It’s all because of him… He blamed himself for everything again and again. He even wanted to rush into the fire and die with the past glory.

  Even in the fire, he could still see the castle full of delicacies and richly ornamented. He could still see the kindreds dancing around. He could still see kids braiding flowers around his long hair like a running waterfall.

  It should have been like this. But he was defeated. The fire burnt down the castle, the clan, and all his hope.

  There was no future for him. His future was as dark as the billowing smoke fumed up from the castle. When he surmounted the abyss and got ready to fight against the infinite future, he lost his banner.

  With a big bang, the castle crashed down to the ground. His heartbeat and breath stopped for a second. The time in his world seemed to collapse as well at that moment.

  He swung his blood-stained sword into the air. It ripped the sky apart. The air surrounding him looked like a piece of fragile glass. Numbers of cracks appeared on it.

  He saw a lot of himself in those cracks. One was painting. One was experimenting. One was leading a troop. One was flying in the night sky. One was managing a huge manor. One was swimming in sea. One was chasing after a suspect…

  His eyes were fixed to the last crack. That one was chatting and laughing with his loved one in a couch. The house was not full of delicacies or richly ornamented. But there was tasty dishes and a soft bed. He never expected to stamp his name in the hall of fame. He only wanted to live a peaceful life, especially with someone he loved.

  Vox couldn’t help reaching out his hand to touch the reality he longed for. No, it might just be an illusion.

  When his hand connected with the last crack, a great power from the crack sucked him inside. He fell into the crack of time and space. The crack narrowed and vanished with Vox inside. The demon lord was gone.

  Time started to fly at high speed, like a song playing fast forward. The ruins of the castle disappeared quickly. Some little houses took the place and then vanished in no time. The successive buildings became higher and higher until there appeared a tall modern apartment. It was not luxury, but beautiful.

  If you looked at the apartment carefully, you could see through one of the windows that a couple of love birds were preparing the dinner for their friend in the kitchen. They were laughing and messing around with each other, as if time had promised them the happiest future.

(This fanart is my private commission. Please DO NOT use, repost or edit for any purpose. Credit name on bottom right. Thank you, ACL!)