Orcilla was standing in the atrium of the Carvaress Building in the Capital City. She was wearing the beautiful gown she wore all those years ago for the ball.
‘You look absolutely stunning tonight,’ said Pardi, who had just appeared by her side. ‘Let’s enter the ballroom together. I want the world to see my beautiful daughter.’
Pardi held Orcilla’s hand as the ballroom doors opened before them. The ballroom was full of guests. They were all wearing masks. Orcilla turned to look at Pardi, but he was also wearing a mask. Pardi responded by gently nodding.
The guests turned to look at Orcilla. They moved aside to create a path for her. At the other end of the ballroom stood two females. They were both wearing masks. They gestured towards her to join. She walked across the dance floor through the path cleared for her by the other guests. The guests who had cleared the way bowed as she walked past them. When she reached the two females, one of them held her hand out to Orcilla. Orcilla turned to find Pardi, but he was gone. Orcilla turned to face the females. She still had her hand held out. Orcilla took her hand and moved to her side.
Music began to play, and the guests started to dance.
‘Does this please you, my daughter?’ asked the female to her left.
‘I don’t understand,’ replied Orcilla in a confused tone.
‘You’re the face of the Carvaress Company,’ answered the female to her right.
‘Is that why I’m not wearing a mask?’ asked Orcilla.
Both females turned to look at her but did not speak. Orcilla began to feel very uncomfortable. She walked onto the dance floor. This time the guests did not move out of her way. Orcilla made her way between them to get back to the entrance. She opened the entrance door to leave. Instead of entering the atrium, she re-entered the ballroom.
Like in the first ballroom, the guests moved aside, creating a path to the two females standing at the other end of the ballroom. Orcilla turned around. The guests from the first ballroom had stopped dancing, and they were staring at her. Orcilla walked down the path made by the guests in the second ballroom towards the two females.
‘Who are you?’ demanded Orcilla when she reached the two females. ‘Where am I?’
The two females removed their masks. One of them was Lily, and the other was Milly.
‘How is this possible?’ asked Orcilla as she looked at Milly in amazement.
‘The world is nothing more than an illusion,’ replied Milly. ‘It is what you want it to be.’
Orcilla was about to reach out to Milly, but the guests grabbed her from behind. They pulled her hard until she fell over. They continued to grab and pull her. Orcilla tried to push them off her, but she could not. She screamed as loud as she could.
The guests suddenly disappeared. Orcilla got back to her feet. Milly was standing at the other end of the ballroom. Orcilla began to walk towards her. The more she walked, the further Milly appeared from her. Orcilla began to run, but the faster she ran, the further Milly appeared to be.
Orcilla stopped running. She stared at Milly, who now appeared in the distance. The ballroom appeared twenty times bigger than it was when she entered it.
‘Why is it doing this?’ Orcilla screamed out to Milly.
‘It is only giving you what you want,’ replied Milly in a calm voice.
‘I want you,’ shouted Orcilla.
The room went completely black. Orcilla looked around. She could not see or hear anything. Then Pardi walked out of the darkness. The room began to brighten. She was in Pardi’s private laboratory.
‘Are you my daughter or are you my son?’ asked Pardi.
‘I was only ever your daughter,’ replied Orcilla.
‘Do you deny my existence?’ said a voice from behind.
Orcilla turned around. Standing there was Orcille.
‘I was in denial because of you,’ replied Orcilla as she turned around to face Pardi, but he was gone. Instead, Yassmay and Yassme were standing in front of her.
‘Do you deny our existence?’ they both asked at the same time.
‘No, of course not,’ replied Orcilla as she was about to reach out and hold them.
Suddenly the room spun around, and she was face to face with Orcille. ‘They are here because of me,’ shouted Orcille. ‘When Yassmeay died, I was born, as were Yassme and Yassmay.’
‘I’m Yassmeay,’ said Orcilla. ‘You were forced on me by Pardi.’
‘Yassmeay died right here,’ shouted Orcille as he pointed to the operating table where Pardi mutilated her.
‘I’m not you anymore,’ said Orcilla angrily.
‘When you moved to Downs, you thought you killed me,’ said Orcille. ‘All my pain remained, but all my strength drained.’
‘Because of you, hundreds of thousands were killed,’ shouted Orcilla.
‘Because of you, all those who survived will be enslaved,’ shouted Orcille.
‘Just shut up!’ shouted Orcilla.
‘Stay here,’ said Orcille. ‘You can have everything.’
Orcilla looked over at the laboratory door where Pardi and Milly were standing. They were holding a baby.
‘Start again with a family that loves you,’ said Orcille.
Orcilla looked at them longingly.
‘You’re too weak for anything else,’ chuckled Orcille.
Milly crumbled into ash. Pardi angrily hurled the baby across the room.
‘That’s the past,’ said Orcilla as she looked at Orcille.
‘Looks like you have made your choice,’ chuckled Orcille. ‘You’ll stay here in the darkness for all eternity.’
‘The past has happened,’ said Orcilla. ‘I must… we must move forward.’
‘Yes, you are now the past,’ said Orcille. ‘The world will move on without you.’
A bright light shone through the window. Orcilla walked over to the window. She saw the Downs residents at a campsite. They had chains around their ankles. They were dirty and malnourished. The Sentray were outside the campsite. They were acting almost like guards.
The room spun around. There was a pile of dead bodies. In the pile were Vulay, Denise, Daily, Scott, Alex, and Yassmay. A cart had just arrived. It dumped several more bodies next to the existing pile.
The room spun around again. There was a huge parade. Tiberius and Lily were riding in a chariot together. There was a huge crowd of underground Linap cheering them. The room tilted backwards to focus on two tall Linap standing on the top of the hotel. Orcilla did not recognise them.
‘The amazing future that you’ll sadly miss out on,’ remarked Orcille.
‘None of this is going to happen,’ said Orcilla as she turned to look at Orcille.
‘This is just a brief glance into the future,’ replied Orcille. ‘It gets much juicier.’
‘I’ll stop it from happening,’ said Orcilla as she looked at Orcille intensely.
‘You let yourself fall so sick you couldn’t even stand,’ shouted Orcille. ‘You let a master manipulator live in a hotel. Then let her control your sister. To top it all off, you let a tyrant take over Downs because he has a very powerful fertility drug.’
‘You have no right to lecture me,’ shouted Orcilla. ‘Look what you did!’
‘I stopped the Linap,’ shouted Orcille. ‘They were going to slaughter half and enslave the other half of the Sapiens. I gave you freedom, but you blew it because you are self-loathing and so weak.’
‘I’m going back,’ said Orcilla with a determined look in her eyes.
‘So you can fail again. I don’t think so,’ replied Orcille. ‘Sorry, you’ve blown your chance.’
Through the window, Orcilla could see Daily and Yassmay holding her hands in the back of a vehicle.
‘I suggest you just sit back and watch the show unfold,’ said Orcille, who was now sitting back in a recliner chair.
‘Stuff you,’ replied Orcilla as she approached the window. The window suddenly moved into the distance.
‘Not playing ball,’ said Orcille smugly. ‘How about some alternative entertainment?’
Arville suddenly appeared in front of Orcilla.
‘Fancy a rematch?’ chuckled Arville. ‘I think my odds have vastly improved.’
Orcilla tried to push past Arville, but he punched her hard in the stomach. Orcilla bent forward in pain. Arville smashed her across the back of the head. She dropped to her knees. Arville began kicking her hard.
‘This is so pathetic,’ remarked Orcille as he sipped on his tea.
Orcilla lay on the floor, struggling to breathe.
Arville looked down at Orcilla and smiled. As he was about to stomp on her face, Orcilla put her arms up to block. In doing so, she grabbed his foot. Arville tried to pull it free, but he fell over backwards. Both Arville and Orcilla got back to their feet. Arville punched Orcilla in the face. She stepped backwards. Arville followed up with several more punches. Orcilla dropped to one knee. Arville ran forward to kick her in the head. She caught his leg. She yanked it up hard, causing him to fall on his back.
Orcilla followed up with a hard kick to Arville’s throat. Arville could barely breathe. She then grabbed Arville’s head as he pushed himself up on one knee. She snapped his head around as hard as she could. This immediately broke his neck. He flopped harmlessly to the ground.
Orcille got up from his recliner. He began to applaud.
‘I passed your stupid test,’ said Orcilla as she turned around to look at Orcille.
‘That wasn’t a test,’ chuckled Orcille. ‘That was just some light entertainment.’
‘I don’t care. I’m leaving now,’ said Orcilla as she turned towards the window.
Orcille appeared in front of her.
‘How about an actual test?’ said Orcille. ‘Get me out of the way once and for all, and you can have one more shot at pretending to be a hero.’
Orcilla shrugged her shoulders and then punched Orcille in the face.
Orcille shapeshifted into Milly. ‘How could you hit your own mother!’ cried out Orcille.
Orcilla punched Orcille again. Orcille stepped back.
‘Not so tough now,’ said Orcilla in a determined voice.
‘You… you… you… punch like a girl,’ stammered Orcille before he began to laugh.
Orcilla continued to punch Orcille as hard as she could. Orcille staggered backwards until he fell to the ground.
Orcilla was about to jump on Orcille when Orcille disappeared.
‘Is that all you can do?’ shouted Orcilla. ‘You call me… pathetic. You’re nothing.’
Orcilla suddenly felt an intense pain in her back.
‘You should never let anyone stab you in the back,’ said Orcille as he appeared behind Orcilla.
Orcilla swung wildly at Orcille and missed. Orcille punched Orcilla on the head. Orcilla fell to the ground. Orcille climbed on top of Orcilla. He pushed the knife he was holding to her throat.
‘Now, will you stay here and enjoy the show?’ asked Orcille.
‘Go to hell!’ shouted Orcilla.
Orcille slit Orcilla’s throat. Orcilla began to gasp desperately for breath.
Orcille got back to his feet. He looked down at Orcilla as she continued to struggle.
‘Still going for it,’ chuckled Orcille. ‘I must admit, you still have some fight in you. Pity it’s not enough.’
Orcilla slowly began to get to her feet as the blood gushed from her throat.
Orcille watched in amazement. Orcilla stared into Orcille's eyes as she stood before him.
Orcille drove the knife hard into Orcilla’s chest. ‘Okay, so you prefer it this way,’ remarked Orcille.
Orcilla continued to stare at Orcille. She did not even flinch.
Orcille began to walk backwards. ‘You’re done. Understand me, you’re done,’ said Orcille with a slight desperation in his voice.
Orcilla grabbed the handle of the knife in her chest. She slowly pulled it out.
Orcille disappeared. Orcilla closed her eyes. Then she suddenly swung around. As she did, she held the knife up. The tip of the knife caught Orcille’s throat just as he appeared behind her.
Orcille touched his throat. Then he looked down at his blood-covered hands.
‘I want to go back,’ said Orcilla as she looked at Orcille.
‘Then finish the job,’ said Orcille as blood spluttered from his mouth.
‘No,’ said Orcilla. ‘You’re a part of me. I need you.’
Orcille looked down and frowned. After a few moments, he looked up. Orcilla and Orcille walked towards each other. Their bodies merged into one. Orcilla turned around and looked at the window.
Orcilla and Yassmay were lying in the wreckage of the crashed vehicle. There was complete silence. Yassmay’s fingers began to move, and Orcilla’s eyes opened.
Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time is the sequel to the book Sapien Loop: End of an Era. Sapien Loop: End of an Era is available on Amazon, in collection series on my 
