Kelvin asked, "What did they do all of these for anyway?"
She replied, "What else is worth any of these? They did it all for power."
Then she said, "Mind you, I am not saying that they are wrong or that they are evil. That kind of talk is for ignorant people. I know for a fact that there can be worse things than our situation and the situation of the world's that have been enslaved."
Wrath went on to point out, "I say that as a possibility because it all depends on who you ask. For many people, death is better than slavery. So it is debatable if there are worse civilizations out there than the Yggdrassil civilization. But there can be."
"I can also tell you another thing with certainty. It is that if the Yggdrassil civilization doesn't become strong enough to protect themselves, they will become slaves to someone else or worse. As I said, things could be worse, but it depends on who you ask."
What Wrath said weighed heavily on his mind as it pointed to a greater conflict than squabbles on who gets to be paragon. He could picture giant predators like the Yggdrassil civilization roaming the cosmos looking for prey. It was scary to think about, but it was not something he couldn't accept.
He said, "I am no stranger to the concept of survival of the fittest. I was raised early on to learn that lesson."
Wrath asked, "Who taught you that? Your father or your teachers in military school?"
He replied, "My teachers in military school taught me that. They taught me how to be a soldier. They told me that 90% of being a good soldier was having the right mindset. You mustn't empathize with the enemy. You must treat them like obstacles to be removed."
Wrath exclaimed, "Yeesh. How come you only hate your father? You should hate the military school too."
Kelvin replied, "I don't see anything wrong with the teachings. I just hate my father for sending me there to experience pain."
Wrath shook her head in wonder. "You are one complicated person."
He asked, "Aren't we all?"
That made Wrath chuckle.
Then he said, "But my motives are straight forward. I want what everyone else wants. I want my freedom. I don't want the illusion of it. I want true freedom, and I am willing to do anything for it. I don't want to trust someone who might turn on me later on. I only want power, as it is the only thing that I can count on."
Wrath stopped chuckling. In fact, she stopped speaking entirely. The two of them became silent as he whizzed through the wilds to his destination.
The two of them still didn't talk when he reached his destination. It was a run-down, two-story building in an abandoned hamlet that is partly forest and partly cement.
There was nothing in front of the building to indicate that anything was going on there. There was no one at all. He had to trust that he was at the right place.
He put on a mask and entered the building. The mask is a special item that binds to the face and scrambles identification systems as well as obscures the facial features of the person wearing them.
He didn't need it, but it was not a good idea to stand out in a dangerous location. Besides, he needed something like this to be granted access to the black market. Without it, they won't trust him enough to open their door to him.
But first, he had to find their door. He followed the instructions to achieve that. He looked around the first floor for the entrance to the basement and took the stairs down. Then he knocked on the rusty door blocking his way.
He knocked according to the rhythm he was informed to use. The door opened for him to enter. There was only darkness beyond the door, but he stepped into it.
There was a flash of light as the darkness cleared up to reveal the inside of a vast mall. He had to go through a security check before he could access the rest of the mall.
Robots and other machines scanned him for weapons and other dangerous items. Wrath spoke in his ear beside him.
"In case you were wondering, you were just teleported somewhere. You probably saw a flash of light when you went through a door. It is because the door is a spatial channel. It is built really well too. So you might not be anywhere near New London currently."
He nodded as he went through the scans. Meanwhile, Wrath continued talking.
"Now that I think about it, there might be many doors like the one you went through. They are probably scattered all over the world. I am betting that there is a security system put in place at the doors too. You might enter through the door and become lost in spatial streams or be torn to shreds. This is ingenious. I am genuinely impressed."
She had a lot more to say about the transportation system that the black market is using. He could only nod and listen with half of his attention. The other half of his attention was spent on the sights around him.
It was quite a lot to see. The mall had three floors, all filled with goods. The center of the mall was open, so anyone could access the third floor by flying there. They could also take the escalators like normal people.
He was one of those normal people. He had to take the stairs, but there were bigger problems than being unable to fly. He doesn't know where to go. It is a problem he would have even if he could fly.
Fortunately, the mall was considerate of his plight. They assigned a bot on wheels to help him find anything he wanted.
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A/N: Its a dog-eat-dog world out there folks. Be careful.