《Good People Die (Twelve Monoliths Book I)》 Act I - Genesis 1 Sudden sounds pulled the young boy¡¯s consciousness up from the depths like the hand of God tearing into the ocean, reaching downward through the depths to feel his existence before tightening to an iron grip. The sound of metal grinding caught the boy¡¯s attention immediately. If it wasn¡¯t that then it certainly was the sudden cold his body felt as it lie against bare metal. It tore his consciousness awake and with sudden clarity he realized he didn¡¯t know where he was. In the back of his mind the grinding echoed across the innards of his skull causing him to double over. It wasn¡¯t anything like how the movies portrayed it. They used artificial sounds created in a booth miles away from where the action happens. The grinding couldn¡¯t be fully understood unless it was experienced in person. It must shake everything to the core; the bending, the folding, the creaking, the reverberations that bounced off of the walls, the noises that echo through hallways¡ªblurred realities of monsters that waited in the dark. That same sound wailed through the derelict halls of an unknown building. It was a slight hum that grew in intensity to an almost wailing sort of siren. It hurt the boy¡¯s head, but he felt that he had heard it before. It wasn¡¯t clicking just why it had sounded so familiar. The ceiling hung low and offered little light; it painted dim red coats across the walls. The boy could only make out papers tacked up to the wall to his right. There didn¡¯t seem to be any rhyme or reason to them, almost like they were playing a makeshift game of darts. The boy squinted and tried to focus on what they showed, but they seemed to have subjects that flew over his head. They seemed to be blueprints of some kind of machine. Both of the documents were signed near the lower edge by a "0". There must have been some meaning between the two and others up on the wall, but that meaning had been lost on the boy who had woken up inside the circular room, unaware of his surroundings. This was¡ªat least in part¡ªthe story of that unfortunate boy. His head had throbbed terribly with the echoes that pulsed through the darkness. His back had clung to his shirt with a wet, sticky mess. He yanked at it to try and alleviate the pressure in front of his skull, but it didn¡¯t seem to help. He took in a breath so deep in any other circumstance he could fool himself into believing he was about to go diving. His heart was jumping and all at once he was alive, truly alive! Blood was pumping and air returned to his lungs. He wasn¡¯t sure if there was a point when he wasn¡¯t alive...strange. That should come as something simple. Then again, he was most likely just unconscious for however long, but it wasn¡¯t like he could disprove the alternative. His head pounded something awful, that he could prove¡ªit was hard to see anything not directly in front of his face. The boy had no idea where he was...or who he was to be frank (and he wasn''t even certain if he could be frank). His spine stiffened as if a rod were jammed against it. It forced his head right and it was there he saw there was a large iron door set just beside a narrow hallway. It didn¡¯t look like it would open to anything short of a nuclear bomb. There was a keypad on the right hand side of the door, but he hadn¡¯t the foggiest of what combination would be accepted. His hand then brushed past something small and almost wiry¡ªit had been the spine of a notebook lying at his side. With a shaking hand he reached out and grabbed it closer toward him¡ªstarting to open to the front page¡ªstruggling and stumbling at the front cover. He saw a single paragraph written on the first sheet: "You are LUCAS Gray¡ªthe WHITE. You are tied down. This experiment is to teach you why and by whom. The pendulum swings heavy above the small of your shell. The intention is not to confuse, but to reveal. The RED sits idly by¡ªyour enemy is bathed in shame. The WHITE sits clad in metal, constantly threatened by the flame. The only respite you shall find is through the BLUE. Water shall douse your fire, and you shall become the sword that you were always meant to be. The pendulum swings faster¡ªan axe at to your throat, blood almost to the sunset. What is your choice?" Lucas Gray...? The name rang familiar, but could it have been mine? He didn¡¯t know for sure and trusting it to its word was something he wasn¡¯t sure he was capable of at the moment. It was strange that it had been there if he didn¡¯t bring the notebook in with him. I mean, maybe I¡¯m just prone to consistent amnesia attacks and I brought the notebook to remind myself of my name when one of my episodes comes along? He reasoned it out, but concluded it wasn¡¯t that likely a scenario in the end. After all, why would he write his name with such a cryptic passage? Something about being under a pendulum with these sorts of colors? Didn¡¯t seem to be the case...almost everything was black or red here. He didn¡¯t remember any family, phone numbers, nothing. He didn¡¯t have a phone either, he realized; his pockets were cleaned of even the lint. He would have to trust that he didn¡¯t bring the notebook in with him¡ªthat he was meant to find it. It would also seem plausible that whoever had brought him here would know of his memory loss; they wouldn¡¯t have written in the notebook otherwise. These were two things that he held onto as he moved to stand to his feet. He quietly repeated them in his mind as if the words themselves would keep his balance. He decided then as he made his way up that he would keep the moniker given to him by the notebook¡ªLuke would work just fine as something to call himself until he had the information to determine if it was correct or not. There was only one path for him to take from the room he had woken up in. He had begun to walk¡ªfalling short and having to catch himself against the wall as the room around him had begun to spin. If he had anything to eat he¡¯s sure it would have been waiting for him to come back up. Instead, his stomach only burned from the insides. It took a moment longer for the room to right itself and for Luke to re-find his balance. He stood back straight and took a hesitant step toward the hallway. It led down to a hook headed left. By the time he reached it he had lost all sense sense of direction as the lights had begun to fade even darker than they were before. Then it was pitch black. Where would he go at the end of the pathway? Would there be a dead end to greet him? Would it be his dead end? The questions do not end. It wasn''t until he bumped into the knob of a door that he stopped. It sent a flash of pain to his abdomen¡ªjust above his crotch. He jolted back as it strung pain all throughout his body. He took in a deep breath as he searched the darkness for the handle that he¡¯d been so foolish to run into. He found it quick enough and grasped the cold metal with his hand. It took more effort than he would have originally thought it would...but it opened.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. 2 Luke walked out to a large expansive bubble of a room. Behind him the door closed shut and seemed to lock. Out in front of him it looked like someone had inserted a large industrial straw to the innards of the room and began to blow from the outside until it was about to burst. All told it had probably been the size of a football field. It all seemed so strange...but was it really? Simple logic had told him that a room shaped like a sphere was different to the norm, but then again was the logic he used to come to that conclusion something to trust? He felt that he knew certain things for a fact; rooms should not look as this one had. This certainly seemed like one of those things. It seemed he was overreacting, but it brought out a larger problem that he couldn¡¯t bring himself to simply sweep under the mental rug. He didn¡¯t know anything. He couldn¡¯t have known anything from his situation except for what the notebook had written. He took in a deep breath and tried to focus. He needed a reference point. My name is Lucas Gray. He repeated it again, twice, then thrice until nothing else filled his mind. Repeating his mantra became the new norm; it became the new him. Even if it wasn¡¯t factually true, he wouldn¡¯t worry about it anymore. He was Lucas Gray, and that was all that mattered at the moment. He took a deep breath and scouted the room around him with a new light. The exterior of the room was rimmed with metal plates fastened with large bolts that run the perimeter straight through. It prevented any light from the outside from creeping in¡ªthe room had been fully lit from some pretty serious lights strung up from the top of the room shining down. They looked like tiny suns from where he was standing. He felt an immense pressure as they beamed down on him. Conversely, anything above the lights was shrouded in a thick coat of back¡ªimpenetrable to his eyes. The room had several doors lined throughout on each side; it looked like there was six of them in total¡ªexcluding the one that he had just left from. Down in the center there was a circular platform with six seats placed around in a ring. To Luke it looked like some satanic circle that he wanted absolutely no part of. That was of course when the smell reached him. It took only one second for it to almost double him over completely. It smelled of the stuff he could only imagine would populate in the innards of a sewer. There was no apparent source of the stench, but he was sure it was holed up somewhere, rotting away. He didn¡¯t want a part of any of this. Not the smell, not this weird round room, and definitely not the cult-like chairs. He shook as his head away from them¡ªhe would look at anything else. Turning, he set off toward the door farthest from where he entered. It took him a few moments to cross the distance, but on closer inspection it turned out that the door had been exactly like the one he¡¯d came in through. There wasn¡¯t any handle for him to grab, and it didn¡¯t seem to respond to any sort of force he put on it. Aside from how sturdy it looked there was nothing more he could do with it. If he hadn¡¯t come from one personally he almost wouldn¡¯t have guessed it was a door at all, just an inset wall. Traveling around the circumference of the room told him that each of the doors was exactly the same. When finally he came to the end of his investigation of the doors he had no choice but to return to the center of the room. The chairs were still ominous to him and certainly made the hairs on the nape of his neck stand on end. His breath began to shorten and he almost fell over on himself. His vision waned...he could tell he wasn¡¯t in the greatest of conditions...but it felt like everything was coming back all at once¡ªthe exhaustion, the heavy breathing. He could tell even his vision wasn¡¯t the best. He might need glasses...no, not at that point, yet. He did his best to run toward the center of the room, but his body must have been out of commission for quite some time. Running hurt. Jogging hurt. Limping hurt. It all hurt until he slowed to a walk at last. It came over him in a stinging sensation that erupted in his legs. He sputtered as he regained his balance¡ªtaking the stroll now nice and slow. By the time he finally reached the chairs he was coughing a red sputter out onto the ground. It came up with phlegm and a hoarseness that scraped against his throat. He could taste the muck in his mouth and it only made him want to spit out the rest. Finally it began to slow and finally stop, but he made sure to stay put until he was more than sure he could move without causing whatever was wrong with him in the first place to flare up again. He was Lucas Gray...but there was no telling just what was wrong with Lucas Gray. Maybe an asthmatic of a severe degree? Maybe he had some sort of cancer that was killing him slower than anything else here would? His mind was desperate for answers. They clawed at his insides while the nameless sickness inside him clawed for his outsides. He sat up, nearly falling over as the room began to spin¡ªslowly, not too fast¡ªbut just enough to make the feelings return. He stumbled into the center of the circle. A large rumbling sensation sent him off of his feet face first onto the metal paneling below. It almost looked as if the panel could open up¡ªit was divided into two panes closed tightly together. He waited for a moment as the frozen metal kept his face stuck¡ªhe was waiting for an aftershock. It seemed the rumbling came within him¡ªthere was a terrible pounding that echoed in his ears. It turned out it was his heartbeat...he was hearing his heart. It sounded almost fifty times louder than normal, filling all else in the room with the thudding and banging. He pulled himself up to his feet once more and made his way to one of the chairs¡ªornate in design with no armrest. It and its identical siblings all glanced at him ominously as if bidding him to sit down. Come with us, Lucas. Sit down and enjoy yourself. Come and take a seat and rest those weary bones of yours. Against all conscience and any thought in his mind¡ªsitting down sounded like both the worst and best ideas that had ever entered his brain. He limped to the chair nearest to him and slowly worked his way down, finally planting his butt on the chair and leaning back, taking a moment to let the dizziness subside. He let out a single breath before he felt his body yanked back by cords that wrapped around him like snakes. One went straight across his throat and yanked all air out of his system. A second snapped his torso tight to the spine of the chair. He tried with everything that was left inside him to yank the cords off of him, but they seemed to be of a thick steel that wouldn¡¯t come undone by his hands alone. A pair of silver eyes illuminated the darkness above him. A voice like smoke drifted down to him as the dizziness came back in full force. "WALTZ. EMERGE. REDUCTION. ONTARIO. ZOMBIES. UMBRA. MOMENTUM. If you are ready you will know what to do." A stinging pain sent shots of color flowing at a million miles a minute through his eyes. It burned at his neck and before he could scream it looks as if the world is melting around him. How foolish was he to sit down¡ªsurely whoever had kidnapped him had some sort of torture fetish going on. Make people believe that they¡¯re all alone and terrify the living daylights out of them before finally ending it. He tried as hard as he could to fight it, but whatever stung him had been stronger than he was. He felt his head start to lower and his eyelids felt as if they were each supporting a thousand pounds each. The darkness overtook the colors and he lost feeling in both of his feet, then his legs, and then soon all of him was gone to the darkness. Lagomorph 3 Desolate spirits borrowed the boy¡¯s mind and gleamed at his empty body. He felt the chill in the air as if he shed the warmth of his skin. Blankness spread as he fell under the current. It swept him underneath and carried him along its invisible path. There was a particularly strong scent of flowers that wafted below the depths, drawing him closer. Suddenly a loud shot rang out pulling his consciousness from its slumber taut like a wire about to snap. He opened his eyes to see he was still strapped in the chair like before unable to move underneath the restraints. The chairs that surrounded him were now all filled with bodies. There were two women to his left, the one directly next to him he couldn¡¯t see too clearly, but the one just beside her looked to be young¡ªmaybe early twenties. Dark hair covered her head as it lay back, he hoped that the both of them were just unconscious. It had been the same with the men on his right¡ªtwo of them, but he couldn¡¯t make out any defining features as their heads were bobbed down. The closer had almost neck length brown hair while the further had shorter blackish. Finally there was another younger girl¡ªprobably in her teens¡ªsitting directly across from Luke. Her hair was scarlet strewn across her face. Her head was bent back like all of the others. All told they were three men and three women. That seemed too perfect to be just a coincidence. With all the mysteries that surrounded everything he almost had to question if everything was by design. "Hello? Is anyone-Oh¡­" A rushing pain came to his head. He didn''t know how long he had been out, but it couldn''t have been long...could it? He didn¡¯t know how the other people got here...maybe they came from behind the other doors like he had? It was plausible, but if so, surely they would have seen him attached to this chair? Certainly one of them must have tried to help...he found it incredibly hard to believe that each of them would willingly sit as he had after seeing his mistake. So, he had to run with the assumption that they were carried here by whoever had brought him here...at least, if one or all of them wasn¡¯t that very person or people. A voice in his mind urged that it wasn¡¯t likely...possible, yes, but not likely. Why would they subject themselves to their own trap? To convince him? Why would they need to convince him? Too much reaching would need to happen for it, he thought. It was best to assume that these others were trapped like he was. If he were wrong and one of them was responsible...well, it wasn¡¯t like he could do anything about it now. He was still strapped into the chair, after all. He tried to work his way out of the restraints¡ªhe pushed and pulled, but nothing he tried worked; his arms chafed against the cords. He strained harder, but it was to no avail. The young man furthest from him began to open his eyes; he was strapped to his chair just as Luke had been. He wasn¡¯t as confused looking as Luke had thought he would be. His green eyes looked around him and he coughed once, the only sound he made. "Who are you?" Luke tried to move against the restraints, but it only made it more uncomfortable. "Do you know why we¡¯re here?" "No. Are you kidding me?" His voice was coated with an accent Luke couldn''t immediately place; it seemed Asian, but he didn''t have enough context to be sure of which nationality. It had a second coat of coarseness, it definitely seemed strange that someone as...well, not big as he would have a voice as harsh. The confusion he¡¯d originally been looking for had flooded into his face in furrowed eyebrows. The man''s jaw met the floor as he looked from Luke back around to the people who¡ªlike him¡ªwere strapped in for the long haul. "Um...Hello?" Luke asked again. He was afraid he sounded too impatient. He wanted answers, yes, but it didn¡¯t sit right in his stomach. He wanted answers. "...Sir?" "For fuck¡¯s sake..." he said, more to himself than Luke. "What are you looking at?" "Excuse me?" Luke caught himself and took a deep breath. "I just woke up here myself. I¡¯m sorry if I frightened you" Luke said. "I asked you what you were looking at." "I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about." He made a clicking sound with his tongue, "Of course not," he shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m tired of these increasing theatrics. Name your price and let¡¯s move on."Why¡¯d you kill her? That¡¯s a new low." "Theatrics¡­?" Luke furrowed his brow at the weird man. Kill? The man was talking absolute nonsense, but that was when the smell hit him like a truck. He realized that one of the people to his side was dead and bleeding profusely¡ªthe smell had been pungent; it couldn¡¯t have been anything else. He didn''t remember if he''d ever seen a dead body, but the fact that he could place the smell immediately suggests that he had to have at least once. "W-Who...? I can''t..." Luke craned his neck to see, but couldn¡¯t get far enough either way. The man shook his head and looked at Luke with a snarky sort of stare. He didn¡¯t seem to be too old¡ªmaybe his early twenties at most. "The old woman to your left¡ªbullet through the brain. I don¡¯t suppose you could have even lifted the kinda gun that¡¯d do that, though." The words pierced his brain as if they were bullets. To hear it so bluntly stated made him afraid to shift his eyes back to the body. He hadn''t noticed it on the first glance, but as he turned his head he could see the slight glistening of blood. "Oh...I''m going to puke," he said, making a vile sound. "Save your weak stomach," the man said and rolled his eyes. "Now shut your trap so I can get some sleep here." He shimmied a little to make himself more comfortable and closed his eyes. "Sleep?!" Luke looked at him incredulously. "How can you sleep when we¡¯re stuck in this¡­this place and there¡¯s a dead person!" Luke felt his voice squeak and it instantly brought back what the man had called him. Kid. How...old was he? It didn¡¯t cross his mind until just then, but he had no real idea. Must be young...but old enough to be aware of things like dead bodies and how high pitched his voice was. One eye opened and he sighed, "And how do you suggest we do that? Take it from me, we¡¯re not going to be here long, might as well enjoy the scenery while we are." "And how do you know that?" Luke asked, rubbing his neck a little harsh against the restraint. "You both are so loud." A pained voice cut between the both of them. The girl right next to the dead body shook her head and opened her eyes slowly. As she came to she realized the situation they had been in almost instantly. "What the hell?" She looked over toward Luke and the other man, and then back to Luke. "Where¡¯s...Where are we?" "It¡¯s like some weird building," Luke. "What...are you stupid or something? Of course it¡¯s some weird building. I don¡¯t need help figuring that one out," She said, pushing against the restraints. "I¡¯m...sorry." Luke replied. "Well, I wouldn¡¯t expect you to be able to break out of those restraints. You probably couldn¡¯t fight your way out of a paper bag in the rain," the man said and chuckled. "Don¡¯t think your fire could burn it either." He kept his eyes on her, "What¡¯s your name?" She continued working at the restraints until she let it go, letting out a breath and looking toward him, "I¡¯m really annoyed. You?" There was a smile that drove out a chuckle from Luke. The man¡¯s eyes were on him immediately, "You don¡¯t look like you¡¯re worth much at all¡­? You must know something that somebody doesn¡¯t want you to...right?" The man asked. "I mean, who¡¯d kidnap a nobody kid with a nobody mind?" Luke took in a deep breath, "I don¡¯t know anything about who I am or why I¡¯m here besides my name. So I guess I don¡¯t know how much I¡¯m...um, worth." The man shook his head, "An amnesiac? Yeah, sure." He clicked his tongue. The girl turned to the side, muttering to herself. She turned back toward Luke. "What did you do?" "I do¡­?" Luke parroted. "I¡¯m not the one who kidnapped you both if that¡¯s what you mean. Do you think I¡¯d lock myself up here if I did?" He thought a moment more, "...and please don¡¯t say I¡¯d do it to make you think that..." The girl sighed, looking back toward him with a look that didn¡¯t seem as full of contempt. "Brown hair, short. Stupid nose and not older than thirteen. Is that enough for you?" "You¡¯re believing that crock?" The man asked, his eyebrows dipping. "N-No...need to be so harsh," Luke recoiled. But this was important information. He was only near his teens? That seemed...wrong. Maybe he couldn¡¯t remember anything because he was a part of some freak genetic testing of implanting human minds into younger bodies...oh gosh, what if he was behind it all and he couldn¡¯t remember it? No, that seemed too silly...he had to keep a handle on reality. He was Lucas Gray, and he would figure out who he was. "Kidnap..." Luke said, the word so foreign but so close to home in their situation. "You mentioned we were kidnapped." He looked up to the man. "You mean someone¡­?" "Well, obviously." He began. "And there¡¯s always a reason that people are kidnapped. It¡¯s never by random chance someone takes you. Isn¡¯t that obvious?" "Are you saying you have a reason?" The girl asked. He grinned, almost as if he was waiting for the question. "Well, of course. I¡¯m Simon Nagatomi, and frankly, I could almost see this coming from a mile away." He rolled his eyes and sat back in the chair. "I¡¯m afraid...I don¡¯t understand," Luke said. "He¡¯s probably rich...father¡¯s money." The girl answered for him. "...Flaunts it every chance he can get and doesn¡¯t let anyone forget it, is that about right?" "Someone¡¯s done their homework," he grinned. "No, not really," the girl began, "...I just know your type. You¡¯re so predictable..." "Well, I guess you¡¯re not as dumb as you look." He took an airy breath before continuing, "...it seems someone wants my father¡¯s attention. Must be some pretty exciting if they¡¯re willing to pay for all these theatrics." "You mentioned something like that earlier," Luke said. "What did you mean?" He nodded his head toward the body that lie upright next to Luke. "Obviously a prop set up by whoever brought us here, of course. They must have hired a stellar make-up artist. Whoever did this wants it to look convincing as possible." He looks around the bubble with as little interest as possible. "Can¡¯t say I¡¯m impressed with the environment, though. I¡¯ve seen better." "You¡¯ve been kidnapped before?" Luke could barely keep his voice from cracking. Simon groaned in return, "Let me break it to you slowly. My father runs a very...very reputable¡ªhe¡¯s the CEO of the Genros Foundation. People that high in his line of work always have enemies." He let loose a breath with as much care as a breath of the wind. "...and whoever is behind this mess decided to get creative. ¡®You know what would hurt him really bad and make him do whatever we want? Take his kid! It¡¯s genius!¡¯" He looked at them with a blank stare. "Absolutely brilliant. So much so that five other people have already tried it. People always underestimate my father¡¯s determination in keeping what he adores close to him...these silly people always think they¡¯re so smart. Listen to me, I¡¯ve seen enough faked bodies strung up to frighten me. I¡¯ve seen real ones drop. That¡¯s nothing more than a prop set up to scare us¡ªshe¡¯s probably the one who set this all up who¡¯s just waiting to pop on out and say ¡®surprise!¡¯" The girl looked at the woman¡ªshe had a clearer view of it than Luke had. She looked it up and down and shook her head slowly. "No, that¡¯s a pretty open and closed case. If it¡¯s a fake...it¡¯s an extremely elaborate one, but I find it¡¯s most likely a real woman." Her brow furrowed then. "...Why she¡¯s here...well, I just woke up. I don¡¯t have the slightest." "What¡¯s your name...?" Luke asked out of nowhere. He realized his thirst for answers got the better of him...he knew the man¡¯s name as Simon now and it was bothering him inside that he was still missing information. She gave him a strange look, "Excuse me, but I don¡¯t think you gave yours. I don¡¯t know either of you..." she turned to Simon, "Much less do I want to...but even so..." "My name is Luke," he found himself saying. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to tell the truth. He had to give answers to get answers. She looked at him for a moment in silence. When she finally spoke, it was quiet, "Sophie." Sophie and Simon...he had names, and at that moment that was enough. "I¡¯m going to trust you weren¡¯t the ones who brought us here..." Sophie began. "You," she turned to Luke, "Well...you¡¯re just a kid. I don¡¯t think you could lift any one of us. You¡¯re not a cyborg are you?" "Well...I don¡¯t remember. Obviously something like that¡¯s crazy though, right?" "It¡¯s possible though, right?" He looked at her with confusion in his eyes. "I...I don¡¯t know? I think I would know if that were the case." She shook her head, "It doesn¡¯t matter, I wanted to ask." "Seems a pointless question to ask," Simon said. Sophie turned to Simon, "And you..." she furrowed her brow, "You seem too much like a pompous windbag upfront to be trying to hide any ill intentions. If you were behind it I¡¯d say you were doing a very poor job..." "Well thank you too, you self righteous bitch," he said, completely without tact. "I told you, this happens from time to time. I can¡¯t see why someone would grab you two...almost pointless, really," Simon said. "I wouldn¡¯t know either," Sophie said. "...it seems our suspicions fall on those two," she says, nodding her head to the other man and woman that hadn¡¯t woken up yet. The girl with the scarlet hair and the longer haired, older man. Sophie looked around a moment longer, cursing under her breath, "Damn it...how could I have been so stupid..." "What is it?" Luke asked. "She probably realized how worthless she is...not any value to her name," he shook his head and clicked his tongue some more. "Me I don¡¯t have to worry. All we have to do is wait until the mastermind behind this shit-show makes their grand entrance and gives their demands. Until that point we¡¯re just chilling out." "Really?" Luke asked. "No...I don¡¯t believe that things are going to work that smoothly," Sophie began. "...First of all, I¡¯m going to run with the assumption that everyone here was kidnapped." "How can you run with that so easily, brainiac? It¡¯s just as much that one of them is the mastermind...if not both." Simon asked. "Consider the old woman. We¡¯ve pointed out she¡¯s been killed and it¡¯s plain to see the bullet hole in her head," she then looks to Luke, "You¡¯ll have to trust me on this one." "I still say she¡¯s a prop or the mastermind laughing in her sleep." "..." Sophie sighed and continued on, "Think...where is the murder weapon? We¡¯re all strapped into these chairs and no gun is in sight. If someone is pulling the strings...it most likely isn¡¯t any of us here." She was right...he couldn¡¯t see any gun around them. It seemed unlikely that one of them just tossed it before restraining themselves into the chair. It¡¯d easily be found if they did get out of the restraints. If they weren¡¯t intended to get out...well, none of anything would matter then anyway. They would simply sit there until they rotted away. Luke tried to think if he saw anything that resembled a gun in the room he woke up in...nothing. All he remembered were those drawings on the wall and the notebook...which he now noticed he was missing. There wasn¡¯t any telling where it went. He looked back up to the two of them. Simon had tried his hardest not to look annoyed at her logic. It must have killed him to admit that she made a good point. As he did the girl with the scarlet hair began to wake. She followed the same pattern of emotions that they all had previously: confusion, anger, fear, acceptance. "My name¡­" she said, timid at first, but there was a hint of a french accent behind it, "...is Aria Fleur." She seemed much too extravagant to be trapped in a place like this...like the last rose to wilt before a bracing snowfall. Luke would be lying if he if he said she wasn''t extremely pretty, much so that he would think she were fake if he saw a picture of her. She, like the rest of the group, had claimed she had no idea as to their reason for being kidnapped. The pattern continued with the man to the Luke¡¯s right; he introduced himself as Levi Strauss. He had long brown hair and shook as he spoke. He seemed even more squeamish than me. "Wh-What the hell is all of this!?" Levi''s face looked like a balloon as he tried to break out of his restraints. "Well, nothing about our situation had changed, so I would assume that either the correct time had not arrived yet or there''s still something we need to do," Sophie mused with her eyes looking through each of them. "I can''t quite figure out what that is, yet." "You were this close to getting out of here!" A mechanical voice echoed from up above. Luke looked up as far as he could to see a figure descending from the darkness. As it came closer he could see it looked like a robot in the shape of a rabbit. Silver shining metal was wired around the frame with a stunning complexity. Its tiny legs dangled in the air, pivoting on their axis. The rabbit turned to each of them, its eyes glowed gold as it panned around the circle, stopping slowly at each person. It rested longest on Luke. Nobody said a word. "You all feeling fine? I¡¯m sure not!" The rabbit hopped to the center of the ring. "I''d been waiting on you to decide on which was the lovely murderer of this poor old woman, but none of you seemed to give me the answer I was looking for! And just to think...if one of you solved it you would have been able to go free! Oh what a sham!" "Is th-that a talking rabbit?!" Levi screamed out. "It...looks like a robot...are you a robot?" Aria replied, tilting her head. "D-Don¡¯t you mean...shame?" Luke asked, not wholly sure what it was he was seeing. Rabbits didn¡¯t talk, and of course, he hadn¡¯t known a lot of things, but he also believed that robots this advanced couldn¡¯t exist yet. "Hm? Someone say something?" The rabbit turned back to Luke. "Ah, Graybeard! No, I did not mean shame. I meant sham, as in farce, ploy, trick. I lied to you. Fortunately, you¡¯re still going to be my lovely guests for a while longer. We¡¯ve much to do and so very little time to do it in." The rabbit crossed both of its arms and nodded. "Well, it¡¯s obvious¡­" Simon said, "Who killed the old woman, I mean. It was you¡ªwe¡¯re all restrained here and I¡¯m not seeing any sort of gun here." The rabbit nodded, putting its paw to its chin, "Hm, I see. Bold strategy. Pinning it on the rabbit...well, if you wanted to waste everyone''s time by giving me the complete wrong answer, then yes! Good job!" It clapped its tiny paws together with a clanging sound. "How could it have been anyone besides you?" Aria asked. Luke could hear the accent in her voice clearly this time. It was definitely French. "Have you ever seen a rabbit fire a gun? No thumbs!" He jabbed his paws out in front of him. Simon grinded his teeth. "You goddamn piece of junk!" He shouted. The composure that was in his face had fled immediately. "Just name your price and we can move this charade along." "Well...I reckon I don¡¯t understand yer high and mighty speech, pardner," The rabbit called out to Simon. "Price? Naw, you can¡¯t buy your way out of this sitch-ee-ayshun here. So I¡¯m afraid you¡¯ll have to make do with these, oh how do they say it, caw-manners?" The rabbit bounced over toward Simon, the clanking metal echoed around them. "You¡¯re stuck here pending further notice." This didn¡¯t please Simon at all. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why the hell did you take me then¡­?!" "I¡¯m a rabbit, not a library. Find your answers elsewhere. My, no wonder it¡¯s taken you so long to find the answer," the rabbit shook its head. "You¡¯re so focused on the whys and the hows that you can¡¯t see the most important question is the who." "Well, you¡¯re the one who gathered us here, so it only makes the most sense that it was you," Luke said. The rabbit shook its head. "Nope nope! I already told you, I couldn¡¯t even hold a gun if I wanted to." "Obviously he meant to say the person controlling you...the man behind the curtain...the Wizard," Simon called back to the rabbit.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. "Oh, well if it was so obvious then I wouldn¡¯t have misunderstood you. I don¡¯t think you know what that word means...or maybe you¡¯re just dumb?" He bent almost fully backward to emphasize the supposed hilarity of the situation. "He thinks he''s smart. Get a load of that! Listen, leave the any brain activity to Miss Terrius, shall we? There¡¯s nobody controlling me. My name¡¯s Lucky, and I¡¯m displeased to make your acquaintance." "Her?! Why the hell should I?" Simon yelled. "Why? Haha, she¡¯s the only one so far to not ask me any dumb questions." "Uh, did you f-forget about me?" Levi asked. "Nope." Lucky said. Sophie looked toward Lucky, "So, I¡¯m going to break your poor heart now and ask a question-" "Damn, can¡¯t trust nobody no more!" Lucky called, feigning heartbreak. Sophie ignored his outburst, "...if you didn''t kill her¡ªsay we believe you¡ªthen who could it have been, and how would we be able to figure it out from our present situation? I mean, I figure that is the sole reason we¡¯re tied up here, considering we seem to be trapped in this room regardless." "Now, you are putting that brain to work Miss Terrius! You¡¯re not a disappointment after all. It is quite simple to figure out who had killed this lovely old woman. The monster is one of you here in this room. In fact, I''m the only person that couldn''t have killed her." "And...how is that possible?" Aria called out, her eyes shifting between the old woman and the strange robotic rabbit. "Because she died from a gunshot, silly! Can''t you see the gaping hole in her forehead?" "That doesn¡¯t answer her question¡­" Luke said. He could find himself getting annoyed with the rabbit¡¯s way of talking in circles. "Graybeard! You¡¯re missing the...wait a flash...do none of you remember?" Lucky¡¯s smile dimmed. "That is something else...a terrible tragedy if nothing else. Ah well. It looks like it¡¯s good I came out. You all would have argued here for hours with no clue if you were right or wrong!" "That¡¯s...crazy! You know what you¡¯re saying, right?" Levi asked. "You¡¯re saying that we all just c-conveniently forgot that one of us was a killer? T-That¡¯s improbable at best..." "You guys and your probabilities," Lucky tapped his foot twice on the ground. A mechanical whirring began underneath them, the metallic panel that Luke had fallen face first on before had begun to open up. Lucky jumped off to the side, just by Simon¡¯s feet. The hatch opened and from it a podium from underneath began to rise up until it was about eye level with them. The floor sealed up around it tight and Luke could see that on top of the podium was a gun mounted by the butt solidly into the frame. It was currently pointed right at the old woman. "Your maybes and your most likelies aren¡¯t going to help you in here. You¡¯re overthinking it. This here is the gun that killed the old woman, and one of you is responsible for the trigger being pulled." He jumped on top of the podium just behind the gun, "This gun right here''s mounted tight to this podium. That you can see. What you can¡¯t, however, are the connections deep underneath that¡¯s loaded directly through our the state of the art Arctic Systems infrastructure." "Arctic Systems...is that where we are?" Luke asked. "Graybeard! You keep missing the mountain for the molehill! You''re here for what I like to call the Roulette Game! Remember? Oh, of course you wouldn''t. You''ve all had your memory of the past hour wiped from your skulls like a bug on a windshield! Hahaha. So it¡¯s not as unlikely as you would think. They must have decided the last round was too traumatic for you to remember...Or maybe that was me? Hahaha! It doesn¡¯t really matter. We¡¯re starting fresh!" Simon looked like he had just about enough of Lucky. "Hold on...they? Who are they? Why do you have me locked up here?! I hope you know that my family''s lawyers are going to be hunting down this Arctic Systems with a passion." "Ooh, that''s the sticky part." Lucky began as he cocked his tiny head. "You''re all gonna be stuck in here until you finish this little game of ours. And don¡¯t worry Simon says, I know about each of you thoroughly. Your family isn¡¯t an issue." "Not an¡­" Simon could barely understand the words he¡¯d said. "Now, you¡¯re going to do as you¡¯re told and listen for once. I hate repeating myself. You might not be able to see it in your current position, but just behind this platform is a computer terminal, and with that your possible escape." "C-Computer terminal? How are we supposed to get out when we''re all s-strapped in?" Levi asked, throwing himself against his restraints again. "Maybe you should strangle yourself with yours and we''ll get closer to finding out," Simon grunted under his breath. "Simon says shut up." Lucky trotted over to him and bonked him on the nose with his outstretched paw. "I was getting to that point." He raised one paw in the air. "Anywho! On the terminal there are inputs for a password for each one of you. Each person has a different password and your goal is to obtain all the pieces of your password. Simple, right? Don¡¯t get lost now. There are two phases to this game¡ªtwo things you need to do in order to get pieces of your password¡ªthere¡¯s the exploration phase and the decision phase. Each one is super fun and super important, so I''ll go over each of them free of charge." "How generous," Sophie said, her eyes focused on the rabbit. "The exploration phase happens after the end of the decision phase, but it¡¯s easier to explain first since you lot don¡¯t remember the last decision phase." Lucky jumped down to the center by the podium once more, turning in a circle to face everyone in turn. "The sound of a gunshot will cause one of the six doors surrounding you to unlock. The restraints keeping you held up will similarly be released. Each of the doors leads to a different room. Your ultimate goal is to participate in the decision phase once again, so behind those doors shall be your key to do so. This is where you will obtain the pieces to your passwords." "And the decision phase?" Luke called out. "Truth...lies¡­it is a game of magnificent design if I do say so myself. I surely hope you enjoy it as much as I do! You see, each time the game is started up your destiny becomes linked to another player''s choice, and theirs to another, and another, all the way around until you make a circle! Each player gets the choice to either Cooperate or Defect. Those who have a partner that cooperates with them shall receive one digit to their password. You''ll be one step closer to leaving this place. But those whose partner decides to defect shall immediately be killed by this gun right here." He goes to pat it if it were a pet dog. There was something with how nonchalantly murder was brought up that made Luke sick to his stomach. He was sure that he wasn¡¯t the only one; he stole glances to the others around him and they looked equally as horrified¡ªeven Simon. "It should also be mentioned that those that refuse to participate in this phase of the game will automatically cooperate. This can be willing or unwilling refusal, both are judged the same. The only thing about that is that a minimum of two players must participate in the decision phase. So no, there isn¡¯t an easy way out to not just play. The only way true way to protect yourself from death by defection is to defect as well." Lucky finished, hopping off the podium. "I...I don''t quite understand why anyone would defect, though?" Aria asked, her breathing was heavy. "We get one key for cooperating each round if I¡¯m understanding that right, so we just have to keep doing that and we''re all out of here...right?" Luke was nodding subconsciously to her question. It seemed simple enough...but there was still an uneasy feeling in the pit of his gut. "That is where the game definitely gets interesting. Some of you might know this setup as the Prisoner''s Dilemma. I''m not going to lecture you if you don''t know it¡ªit isn''t necessary to our game. If you do, great, give yourself a pat on the back. You know...metaphorically. Your hands are a little tied up at the moment anyhow. Heh. Anyway, there''s one big change. We''re playing in our very special circle here, so for example, say Miss Terrius were to cooperate with Jeans¡­" Levi looked around, "...You mean me?" "Again with your questions," Lucky spat off as he shook his head "Jeans would receive a nice and shiny password digit. In a normal Prisoner''s Dilemma setup Jeans would then choose his action to do against Miss Terrius¡ªit would be an equal action and reaction. Our game, however follows the circle. Miss Terrius¡¯ action would affect Arial." "Aria¡­" she corrected. "Right, then Arial¡¯s action would affect Simon says...so forth until we get back to Miss Terrius. Of course, this is only an example, but you get the idea." Aria shook her head, "I still don''t understand why anyone would defect. I get that the order''s a bit different...or whatever, but I still don''t know why anyone would do anything but the right thing." "Ah, that is right. I had forgotten one vital detail. Defectors can gain up to two password digits per round instead of one if they successfully defect against a cooperating player." The look around the room was universal, immediate interest followed by curiosity. Lucky continued, "If a player were to defect, and both people in front and behind them would cooperate they would receive one point for defecting against a cooperating partner and one point for the partner behind them cooperating with them. You can get out much quicker if you can pull off some sneaky defects! Of course, if you defected and the person before you defected and then the player after you defected it would only count the player who was last in the chain against the cooperator, if any." "But if someone defected once, nobody would ever cooperate with that person ever again!" Luke called. "Nobody would willingly sacrifice their chance of getting out like that." "Are you sure about that, Graybeard?" Lucky walked up to him and cocked his tiny head. Luke could see his reflection in the rabbit¡¯s shined eyes. "Look around you. There is a body with a bullet currently calling it home, no? That¡¯s evidence that someone here chose to defect against a cooperator¡ªwho happens to be our dearly departed." Luke turned to look toward the old woman, but instinctively found himself flinching upon seeing her grayed hair strewn across her face. "Like it or not folks the game has begun. And one of you, maybe more, are willing to play it the dirty way. That¡¯s the strategy; this game is one of timing. The passwords can only be entered once into the computer terminal. You have one guess at your password. If you mess it up, you shall immediately be killed for trying to cheat the game. This also works in the reverse¡ªpasswords can only be accepted within the round that the first correct password is entered. That means that if someone, say hypothetical Player A manages to get the digits to their password and they input it correctly into the terminal, that didn''t necessarily mean that they are the only one that gets to leave. If anyone else had enough digits to enter their password, they may also enter it into the terminal and leave within that same round." "So we all could l-leave here alive?" Levi asked. "Well, not all, but I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll all forget about this dead body, no? Going to be a bit difficult I find to trust one another without that fear of being stabbed in the back," Lucky looked toward the old woman. "Betrayal...it is not a fun feeling let me tell you¡­" He trailed off and stared into space. The others around were in a dead silence. And it was only interrupted when- "But those surviving...yes! You don''t have to input a password immediately when you get enough digits. You could hold off for as long as you would like, but as soon as a single password is entered correctly, no more digits may be earned. If anyone tries to sneak out of this facility without the correct number of digits, you shall be killed. If you try to cheat the system, you shall be killed, oh, and if you try to tamper with any Arctic Systems technology to work some lame-brained loophole I haven''t discussed here, you shall be killed. Any questions?" He held his paws behind his back and cocked his head expectantly. "Uh...quite a few, actually," Luke said. "Who are you?" "Not the right question Fifty Shades. My, you''re bad at this." "It''s a lot of information to take in at once," Sophie cocked her head and had begun to stroke her chin with the end of her thumb. "Mind if I summarize to see if I have everything?" "Oh, if you must." "That sounds about right!" Lucky said, nodding his head. Levi felt a ball in his throat and tried his best to swallow hard, "Wh-what happens to us now? The old woman is d-dead. Does that mean we have to do this exploration t-thing?" Luke could hear his teeth chattering from across the circle. "We can''t explore anything if we''re stuck here. Most you could get is exploring your own asshole." Simon groaned. "Well, you''re right on one thing." Lucky had begun, hopping from foot to foot. "I mentioned it before, but the first round of the decision phase had already concluded; the results are set right on that computer terminal over here...which brings me back to my original point of coming here. You all haven''t figured out who killed her." As he said it, the restraints on each of the six bodies were released from their seats. The bodies fell to the ground¡ªnot expecting them to release so suddenly. The old woman''s body fell face forward with a thud; blood spattered from the wound in her head. It made a disgusting sort of squishing noise that wouldn¡¯t leave Luke¡¯s mind anytime soon. Levi let out a small sound as he hit the ground. Luke tried his hardest not to scream out, but it was more than he could handle. It took him a moment more to find his balance. As he braced his knee to hold him up he found that it came a bit easier than it did before. His head spun quite a bit, but it centered just fine and it began to clear. The others recovered at about the same pace, they each looked at each other for a moment. That was all it took for the feeling to pass between each and every one of them. We were in some real tough shit. This wasn¡¯t any movie, not a prank, not even a ransom. This mysterious rabbit wanted...well, Luke wasn¡¯t sure what he wanted aside from watching them suffer. The best he could do was try his best to keep up. He wasn¡¯t going to give Lucky the satisfaction. 4 "Now that you''ve been freed I would like you all to follow me to the terminal," Lucky bounced passed them to a tower half Luke¡¯s height built into the ground. He¡¯s sure that it must have risen up alongside the podium. There was no way that he missed it when he initially looked through this room. The monitor on the top of the tower was wide enough that Luke could place both of his palms across its face if he wanted to. It displayed white text on a green background that gave him an unsettling feeling. He could feel his spine straighten as he looked down¡ªthere were names displayed for each player followed by several underlined spaces. However...there seemed to be an unequal amount of spaces for each person: LEVI: __ __ __ __ __ LUKE: __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ SOPHIE: __ 01 __ __ 05 __ SIMON: __ __ __ __ __ __ ARIA: __ __ __ __ __ AI: __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ "What the..." Luke looked at his name and his confusion only grew. "Why is mine so much longer than everyone else''s? That''s unfair!" Lucky laughed his question away with a shake of his paw. "Well that''s because your password may contain some digits that are doubles. Just because you have eight spaces didn''t necessarily mean you have to get eight different digits." "I...see¡­" Luke said. He still felt that it was unfair that he had the longest password, but it wasn¡¯t like his protests would change the outcome, so he let it go. "T-This last name here¡­" Levi cleared his throat and took a deep breath, "AI? Is t-that your¡ª" "No, I already told you my name was Lucky." "So then..." Sophie looked back toward the chairs, "...that name belongs to the old woman." "Correct, Ai. It¡¯s Japanese last I heard," Lucky stopped moving and turned his head to Simon. Everyone followed suit. He stared holes back at them. "Oh, because all Japanese people are alike, huh? Real nice, guys." "No...I wasn¡¯t-" Luke had begun to stammer out, but Simon wasn¡¯t having any of it. "I don¡¯t know who the old bitch is. Nor do I care what her goddamn name is. She¡¯s dead and Sophie¡¯s the one who benefits." "What do you mean by that?" Luke asked. "You mean how I have two digits already," Sophie crossed her arms, not displeased with her situation. "You knoooow what that means?" Lucky asked, goading for the answer. "It means I''m the closest person to getting out of here." "You''re the one who defected, he means," Simon said with his eyes trained on her. Sophie could feel the eyes moving one by one to her, "None of you have any memories of what happened, right? I don''t see how you could move to claim that as any truth when nobody here can remember what happened...save for the single most suspicious person here of course." "Well...it didn''t change the fact that you did choose to defect..." Aria said, she was holding her hands close to her chest, shaking her head. "All we had to do was cooperate and we could all get out of here together!" "Yeah! Why would you¡ª" Luke had begun, but was quickly interrupted. "There''s definitely a reason why I could have chosen to pick to defect that''s not with murder as a motive," Sophie said. Lucky had begun laughing loudly, interrupting all of the ensuing noise. "Ooh we''re getting warmer here. If only you knew! Hey, Jeans, mind hitting that icon in the lower right hand corner of the terminal for me?" He looked directly at Levi, letting the nervous man look around the rest of the group. It was the kind of look that the little neighbor kid that just wouldn''t get the hint that he wasn''t liked by everyone else. Lucky was that annoying child, overstepping his boundaries and not caring if he was liked or not. The big difference was that it wasn''t Lucky''s objective to get the others to like him, he had some darker purpose that wasn''t quite clear for doing the things he did, and that made him dangerous. He tried to imagine the voice on the other end of the line¡ªwhoever was holed up in some secret room talking into the microphone that led to Lucky''s vocal processor. Huh...vocal processor? What kind of place had he lived in before this time where something like that came to him so easily? Maybe he was big on robotics. "Uh...s-sure..." The sound of Levi¡¯s voice brought Luke back to reality. He looked back to the monitor and noticed the small square icon that looked like an eye. He pressed his finger against it and watched the display change, new icons taking the place of the old, a box with a pixelated sort of design for what he could assume were the other players with the word "DEFECT" written beside each one except for the very last, Ai. "What..." Lucky began to shake its head as it hopped forward, "That there means that all of you besides Ai had chosen to defect. Every. Single. One." "Now see?" Sophie uncrossed her arms and gave them all a look of vindication. The feeling was palpable in the room. "It isn''t so great when you''re all guilty and can''t remember it, huh? It''s like I said. I must have chosen to defect in self defense. If I''d chosen to cooperate it''d be me lying there dead on the ground." Sophie looked her way through everybody in a line. The way she stared wasn''t a look that Luke was fond of, and he knew that deep inside of him he had felt bad for being so immediately suspicious. "S-Sorry." Aria said, defeated. She looked away from all of them, blowing a stray hair out of her face. She looked like how he had felt. "Yeah. Me too." Luke said, nodding. "I just...I don''t understand why I would have chosen to defect," Luke raised his hands to his temples as he tries to massage the answer out of his brain. "I¡¯m not here to kill anybody." "E-Except the old w-woman," Levi was dragging his fingernails across his wrist. Whether he knew he was doing it or not it seemed to be in rhythm of his body''s beat. "I-If you think about it...it could have been any one of us that made the killing vote...and the rest could have just chosen to defect in defense." "That...sounds like it could be a possibility," Aria said. "If I had any m-money to bet on someone choosing defect of their own free will¡­" Levi started slowly, "...I''d guess it would be you, Simon," His voice worked into its smoothness. Luke could tell that once his nerves were shot it took away from what presence he could have. It surprised him how he must be feeling. Simon didn''t take it as a huge surprise, as if it wouldn''t be a shock to him. He answered with little more than a shrug. "And? What if it was me? It''s not like you have proof or anything. None of us remember. And, it''s like what she said, it didn''t matter what happened in the first round. We''re past that, now." "That''s an awful way to think about a body whose blood could be on your hands," Aria said. Luke looked toward her, she¡¯d gotten back a bit of her voice. Simon shook his head, "Who cares if the bitch is dead? Is it any of you? No. Her fault for picking to cooperate. Obviously there wasn''t a lot of trust if everyone but her was willing to betray one another. I don''t see that changing now, nor do I care to be honest. I''m looking to get out of here as quickly as possible. If that means I have to defect every round, that¡¯s what I¡¯m going to do." "It doesn¡¯t matter why we did or didn''t do anything," Sophie sighed and looked to Lucky. "Am I right?¡± "Haha! Yep! I¡¯m so incredibly tired of hearing you all bicker and argue anyway...that¡¯s best saved for the decision phase. We''re already behind schedule for starting the exploration phase. Now, we''re on a very tight schedule and really must keep the ball rolling," Lucky stood back to his feet and looked at each of them. ¡°Plus, you all are so very annoying to listen to." Levi looked to finally find his composure, "Well maybe you shouldn''t have kidnapped us! I''ve got kids and a wife back home!" He yelled much louder than the others expected. Lucky was unphased. "You''re looking at the wrong bunny to blame, my friend." Then, on a dime he jumped over his head and landed on the other side of the roulette. "Come now, adventurers. The next door is about to open." A sound rang behind them all. It was a high pitched beeping sound that ended with the release of a door''s lock. Luke turned to see it as it slowly had begun to shift to the side¡ªsliding into the wall and revealing a long hallway on the other side. "So what, we just go in there and look for some key without any indication on how to find it?" Simon looked back toward Lucky as if trying to out-stare him. "Yessiree. Now go on, shoo! You''ve got a lot of time to make up. If you''re all not in there in say...five minutes I''m going to start handing out penalties. Nobody wants that, now. Do you?" That was a threat that nobody wanted to call a bluff on. They were all sure that whoever was controlling the rabbit had the opportunity to hand out these penalties whenever they felt like it. Even Simon lay silent to Lucky¡¯s request. Luke thought about the terrifying possibilities as they walked like sheep toward the door. Just who could be behind something like this? Was it an individual, or was there some crazy government conspiracy behind whatever this was? It was possible that it could have been either, but he knows that whoever was responsible must have spent a pretty penny in order to set it all up. He found himself looking to Simon, but shook his head. Maybe his dad got sick of him getting kidnapped so he sought to do it himself. Yeah, because that makes sense. He rolled his eyes and scratched his head. This facility they were trapped in didn''t look like any building he could ever imagine. As far as he knew, most buildings worked off of a generally rectangular design, but everything he''s seen of this room so far had been perfectly circular. Circular. Huh, that''s been a recurring sort of shape here now, hasn''t it been? He assumed there was some sort of meaning to it, but nothing came to mind when prompted. The hallway they stepped into was odd, too. It had cylindrical walls that stretched from the ceiling all the way across a stretch that lasted at least fifty feet. The tube was flat for the floor, making it only half-a-tube, to be perfectly fair. A red carpet was clasped tight to either end of the hallway, and it was a relief for Luke''s aching feet, which up to this point had either been dangling from the air or resting on hard metal. On the other end of the hallway lies a door with a single word beveled on its face: "Aria" "I''m...confused," She began. "Why is my name on this door here?" "Maybe it''s because that rabbit knows that you''re the one that started the defect train," Simon said, slouching a little as the faintest grin passes his face. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t surprise me. You don¡¯t look like you¡¯re worth much. I could bet you¡¯d not have much to lose¡± he shrugged. "I wouldn''t do that!" Aria raised her voice to him. Like with Levi it shocked Luke, although she got control of herself faster than he had, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. But I do have something to lose, and I wouldn¡¯t throw that away doing something so vile.¡± ¡°You say you say,¡± Simon said. "Nobody would! I keep telling you it wouldn¡¯t make any sense..." she lost most of her conviction mid-sentence. She hadn¡¯t forgotten Ai. "I wouldn''t..." Sophie grabbed the handle on the face of the door. "It doesn¡¯t matter why it¡¯s here, at least, not at the current moment. All we need to know is if this door opens or not. Can we not let every little thing hang us up? We¡¯ve little time to waste." "Well, go on,¡± Simon waved his hand as if he were introducing a magic trick. ¡°...Stop jerking our dicks around and open it already." Sophie looked back from him and brushed his comment aside. Luke steadied himself as he prepared his mind for whatever trap Lucky had in store for them. Maybe there was a trick to getting out that he wasn¡¯t telling them, or maybe they just had to trust each other through every round. It sounded like it would be difficult, but he was willing to try. No matter what it would be he would try his hardest to make sure that every single one of them left this place alive. Nobody deserved to die down here. Memero | 1 5 A young boy and his older brother woke up to the crack of thunder. The flashes of lightning stirred them awake for the next crack. They knew the sound well as it had been their natural alarm clock for the past few mornings. Storms in the region had been so bad that all of the other families in Salem had to board their doors shut to prevent the rain from surging in. Almost every family within a five mile radius had laughed off the initial forecasts as Salem was in the middle of a summer¡¯s drought. Rain had been scarce and not a cloud had seated itself in the sky. The boys¡¯ home was mainly dry save for the damp towels placed under the cracks of the front door. Those had to be switched out every half our or else they¡¯d leak into the family room. Their mother would kill them if that happened. The storms weren¡¯t expected to last this long¡ªonly a day or two at the most was what the weathermen originally predicted, but even a few hours of the downpour was enough to cause some serious damage to some of the neighborhood homes. The younger brother yawned a loud sound stretched the length of his body across the bed. He reached out and noticed that his older brother had already gotten out of their bed; the bedroom door was wide open. He walked through the door just as the younger brother looked. The older had a streak of sweat across his forehead that glistened against his blue eyes. The younger¡¯s eyes were more gray, but held a deeper curiosity of everything behind them. The older came back to the bed and sat facing the opposite direction of the younger. How close they were in age made it an easy decision on their parents to save costs by having them share their bed. It seemed like a fine plan except for those who actually had to sleep in the bed. Disputes aside, they didn¡¯t argue too much about it¡ªthey generally got along with most everything, only choosing to spat about something if they truly believed it was worth fighting over. "You think this rain¡¯s going to end soon?" The younger asked. ¡°I feel like it¡¯s been going on forever.¡± The older looked up from the foot of the bed, raising his little brunet head, his eyes spinning. "I don¡¯t know. Mom and Dad keep saying that it¡¯ll end soon." "Maybe God hates us." The elder¡¯s focus seemed elsewhere, the rashness of the comment didn¡¯t seem to stir him. "Don¡¯t let Mom catch you saying that. Wouldn¡¯t be your brightest day." "I bet she believes it too..." The younger said. ¡°I bet it and a half.¡± "I don¡¯t buy it. She wouldn¡¯t care about bringing us every Sunday if that were true." "I thought that too..." the younger rested his head back down opposite his brother who promptly shoved his lower end away from him. "Come on, dude! Your feet are rank." "Sorry," the younger said. "You know I don¡¯t mean to..." He pivoted his arms around to swing his lower body off the side of the bed. "You were saying something...? About Mom, I mean," the older asked. "I think she¡¯s scared of the rain." "No way. That¡¯s a lousy thing to be afraid of..." he swung his own legs over the side and sat beside his brother. He thought on it a moment and looked aside, "What¡¯d you hear?" "It was last night when we were brushing our teeth¡ªwhen you hogged the sink, remember?" "What? Come on, I thought you-" "After you said you¡¯d race me. You dashed back real fast." "Yeah, and you were slow. You know what they say. I don¡¯t want to go fast I go slow.¡± He said rhythmically. ¡°What about it?" The elder cocked his head, his glasses fell just short of the bridge of his nose. He pushed them up and then scrunched his nose real tight to get them just right. "I stopped in the hallway because I heard Mom crying." "Crying about what?" The younger bit his lip, looking down at his legs dangling by themselves. "I didn¡¯t know at first...I looked in the doorway and she didn¡¯t notice me¡ªit was half open like it always is." "Yeah, and?" "She was really scary, crying without sounding like she was crying. She was quiet, but her face was so sad." "How¡¯d you see her face without her seeing you?" "It was in her mirror. Her makeup was streaming down her face like she was trying to be a clown and Dad was in there not saying anything. She just kept asking ¡®Why God, why?¡¯ I didn¡¯t know what to do...so I went back into the room and that¡¯s why I was so slow I guess. I don¡¯t know. You know what happened last time it rained like this." The older boy swallowed hard. "Come here," He brought his arm around his brother, pulling close. "You got me here, okay? You always have me here. What do I always say?" "If there¡¯s ever a guy I need to have beaten up to come to you." The elder shook his head, "No, no. That sounds much too harsh¡ªlike I¡¯m some...hitman or something." He said, his voice breaking, both sadly and not. This made the younger brother chuckle. "Right...if someone¡¯s ever giving me any problems to come to you." "There you go. Sympathy, not hitman...y. Anything you need, I¡¯ve got your back, you know that, right?" He nodded his head. "I¡¯ve got yours too." "There¡¯s no need for that..." "You¡¯ve got no bullies?" The younger asked, less humor in his voice. He shook his head, "Nah, it¡¯s not your job to protect me." The younger looked out the window to the river that used to be his street¡ªCardale Avenue. He saw a small dog caught up in the current, trying its hardest to swim upstream, but it couldn¡¯t overcome the powerful currents. "I¡¯m sorry," the younger said. "No..." he shook his head. "Don¡¯t apologize for anything. Not tonight." "I have one," he said, looking back to his brother with a worried look. "A bully...I think. I don¡¯t think you could beat him up, though." The elder looked at him with a look somewhere halfway between a reassuring smile and a glum frown. A halfie, the younger would have called it. It was easy to see, but hard to describe. The feelings that came with it were hard to describe, too. The younger had seen a lot of halfies from his family, and he¡¯d given his fair share of them as well. He always hated noticing them. "Hey Cain?" the younger asked. "Yeah?" Cain answered. "Could we go get something to eat? I¡¯m hungry and this rain is making me sad." "Sure thing," and he had said no more. Cain hopped up off the bed and walked across the small room that they had called home. Not too long ago a boy named Light called this room his home, but that would be a much different story for a much different time. Now, the two brothers who take shelter from the rain share between them what they could. Two halves of a whole they were called typically in public. You couldn¡¯t separate them if you tried. Cain grabbed his brother¡¯s wheelchair from the side of the desk and began to unfold it before lifting him into it. "Ergh, Damn it Abel," Cain grunted "...Did you sneak out to grab a snack while I was asleep? Feel three times heavier than last night." "That joke was funnier when you said it yesterday," Abel said, turning his head only slightly. "Yeah, it probably was. I should look up some new jokes when I stop by the library next. All this rain had been throwing off my chance to go." "Yeah, I miss going out. could we go the next time it¡¯s sunny...that is if God doesn¡¯t drown us all?" "I don¡¯t think he¡¯s going to drown us." "I dunno. I didn¡¯t think that he¡¯d put me in that accident, but here we are." Once Cain got his brother set up in the chair he began to push him out of the room. "Man, it¡¯s a good thing you¡¯ve still got your sense of humor, or else I would have dumped you like the sandwich I had for lunch yesterday." Cain said. "You still ate it though!" Abel accused, "And you tell me that my feet stink, imagine how your breath must smell! Sophie must hate kissing you." "Yeah yeah," Cain shook his head, "Go on and keep your jabbering. Least I could get a girl." "Yeah yeah ten bucks says once you kiss her next and she smells that stuff on you she¡¯d rather take the cripple." Cain chuckled, "Yeah, pigs will fly and God will descend upon us."Stolen novel; please report. "Sometimes I wish he would..." his voice was somber. "...so I could punch him in his stupid face." "Yeah, me too. Shit sucks down here..." Cain thought a moment as he passed the bookshelf in their family room stocked to the brim of holy texts of all kinds and shapes. "Know what? Yeah, next time the sun clears up you and I are taking a trip to the library. I¡¯ve been planning something that will make things better." "Really? You promise?" "I promise." 6 Cain was born on a rainy morning. It was sometime in late April of 1972 that his parents had rushed to the hospital for the birth of their new baby boy. They had almost been sideswiped on the interstate highway by a young teen driving home from her boyfriend¡¯s a few exits up. The cars narrowly passed each other as the young teen screamed out¡ªher momentary glance from the road had almost cost her life and the lives of two expecting parents. The morning had been cold for them, but they had been too busy to notice until after Cain¡¯s birth. It was as if they were allowed to feel again after the initial concern had spread through. The boy had been delivered to two smiling faces. "Cain," the mother whispered to her husband. "Just like we promised." She bounced the crying baby in her arms, its pink slimy flesh was new to the air and this world. The father smiled and nodded, he wiped his rimmed glasses with a thick cloth he kept in his shirt pocket. "He¡¯s beautiful." The rain had continued through the day, pouring so hard that lightning scratched the sky, imprinting scars onto their eyes. It had been too much for the two parents to drive home safely¡ªflash flood warnings kept them to the hospital¡ªthe mother stayed to rest in her own room while the father remained awake to speak with various medical staff. The staff did their best to listen, but after the tenth time they refused to listen to his psalms of glory. The rain eventually stopped and the sun began to creep out past the clouds, extending its rays onto the Earth like a possessive demon. The Earth began to warm, accepting its rays as if the rain hadn¡¯t throttled its surface for the past day and a half. It had certainly been forgiving. The Earth had moved on. The parents, too, had moved on. They brought their son home after a week longer in the hospital; Cain had some difficulties breathing on his own at first, but that soon subsided. He was as healthy as could be and his parents loved him through every moment. Four years later Abel would enter their life. For him, the sun would not leave the sky. It dared not let light flicker. It on some planetary level knew that this boy was to be different than his brother. It might even be theorized that it knew that this boy would be in the fateful accident in years time, and that it had prepared to start him off with his best days almost as a cosmic apology. Earth, always willing to oblige, had let it be so. It had moved on. 7 Cain grew to like soccer in what little there was of their front yard as early as five years old. He and his father would kick a fabric ball stuffed and sewn from old pillow cases to one another. They¡¯d each smile wide as the ball thumped and rolled unevenly against the ground. It worked...not rolling very far or very fast, but to a five year old it had served its purpose. Cain and Abel¡¯s father used to play soccer in college. It is where Cain¡¯s interests in the sport blossomed from and how his parents had met. They¡¯d both attended the same private school up on the far end of Salem. She would hesitantly join some of her friends while they checked out and whooped at the players as they ran across the field. She always felt embarrassed at going, but knew it was worth it when their father noticed her on the bleachers. She¡¯d later tell the boys that that had been the moment they had fallen for each other. This had been true for their father, but only a half truth for their mother. She didn¡¯t really fall for him until he revealed that he was a man who studied his faith privately on their first date. She felt a sudden warmth in her heart and instantly knew that they had connected. It wasn¡¯t so much that she wouldn¡¯t date outside of her faith...it was more like his faith was an extra set of hands over her heart that made her feel safe. As such, Cain¡¯s mother was always the stronger of faith. Their father¡¯s tapered off after college, much like his career in soccer. The reason for both? He was assured a fine paying job in marine biology at the end of his college years and started a family. He would of course find himself slipping into prayer at times of relevance, like the birth of both of their sons. Their mother more than made up for his withdrawal from private faith studies with an increase in her own. She would teach local children whose families weren¡¯t church regulars during Sunday school. She sat with Abel on the sidelines and waved various cheers for whoever currently was in control of the ball. Abel didn¡¯t understand the words she¡¯d been saying¡ªthe cheers she had been chanting, but he did know that it made her smile, so he smiled. He even laughed. It was that simple; someone smiled and you would smile back. Someone frowned and you frowned back¡ªor you smiled to make them smile. The halfie didn¡¯t exist back then. That came with the accident. 8 Cain and Abel were out shopping with their parents one humid day almost seven full years later. It was late May and the sky had been barren of clouds for weeks. Drought, they called it. There were many things you could say about the patch of Oregon that encompassed both Salem and Sunnyside¡ªthe suburb just south of Salem that Cain and Abel lived in before the accident¡ªbeing prepared for storms was not one of them. Often history repeats itself for those that do not learn from it, and this fit these small towns to a ¡°T¡±. Sun in the sky meant relaxing days out in the yard with sprinklers turned on HIGH and parties with friends and family. Unrelenting sun in the sky also hinted at a big return with rain soon. The clouds in Sunnyside were trained on very strict rain and sun seasons with little variance. So when a particularly cloudy or sunny day came through out of season the people should expect a heavy reaction in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, the people aren¡¯t too keen on the words of the weather forecasters aside from the immediate concerns, so every time that these reactions come through it is as a total surprise to the general populace. This hurt the farmers. No rain had meant no crops. It wasn¡¯t enough to kill their business, but it was enough to trickle down to Cain and Abel¡¯s parents driving to the store for a larger grocery trip than they had originally planned. The drive took nought but ten minutes. They were lucky enough to live close by. After realizing that the two boys had begun play-fighting in the car on the drive up as most boys their age did their mother had chosen to avoid the opportunity for their play-fighting to spill out into the grocery store. Once they parked she turned to both of the boys, "Why don¡¯t you come help me shop, Cain? Then Abel and your father could pack everything up when we get out?" Cain seemed to like the idea of his brother getting the harder job. All he had to do was walk around with Mom. Besides, Abel went for Cain¡¯s sides which was explicitly agreed upon that they would avoid any spots that would send either of them into fits of laughter. He might as well get a taste of his own medicine, Cain had thought. ¡°Sure, Mom." he said, opening his door and stepping out of the station wagon to follow his mother into the store. Abel sat behind with a smile on his face. Cain had gotten duped into taking the harder job. All he had to do was sit around with Dad. Even with that he knew that his father was going to step out of the car for a smoke as he normally did when his mother stepped into the grocery store¡ªit was the main reason why he didn''t join her inside. And besides, Abel thought, Cain had the unfair advantage of having longer arms whenever they would get into one of their sessions of ninja, if he didn¡¯t take the weak points where he could get them Cain would surely win. He didn¡¯t like that outcome one bit. At the bank just across the parking lot a young man with slime in his black hair and a terrible shake in his bones named Donovan tucked his shirt over a metal handle that was plum stuck out of his baggy pants. He looked over a slip of paper in his hands before folding and sliding it into his left jeans pocket. Donovan, or Donny as he liked to go by, heard a faint singing sound in the back of his mind that reminded him of the choirs that sang in the church his parents had taken him to as a child. What ironic thoughts. He spoke to himself in his station wagon parked just out of sight of the bank. Donny stepped out of the car and bounced onto the pavement with vigor. Adrenaline shot through his body like the blood in his veins. He slid a black mask over his face like a glove over a sweaty hand. He strolled toward the entrance of the building and shook his head. Nobody was around, nobody had seen him...yet. He could still back out if he wanted to. He walked inside and not three minutes later shots erupt from within. Screams followed from inside and those that had been closest to the door after the shots rang out were able to slip out, running for their lives. After a successful heist Donny ducked out the front with a large sack in one hand and the waist of his pants in another. A black mask obscured his face, but the protrusion just above the lip suggested he had a bushy mustache underneath. He wasn¡¯t physically intimidating in any way, but most would cower to the weapon in his pants. His getaway car had been sitting outside¡ªhe hadn''t planned the jump with anybody else so he had to park close. As soon as he barreled out into traffic he eyed the man in the tweed jacket holding a bright cigarette in his hands with an arm resting on an old station wagon that looked almost identical to the very one he had. The man thought on it only for the moment as his eyes turned back to the road, swerving back into his lane. He shook it off as he continued to drive. He pulled down a left hand turn onto Swerry Avenue¡ªcutting off a minivan about to turn onto his street. He kept driving straight until he noticed the blaring of sirens behind him. One look in his mirror told Donny all he needed to know¡ªhe was being tailed. He smacked his hand off the steering wheel and cursed. Donny¡¯s mind began to travel, imagining how a guy like him would fare in prison. The thought didn¡¯t inspire much confidence in him...and yet he knew it was a possibility. He had prepared himself for it, but it hadn¡¯t seemed so real until this very moment. Just then a wicked plan sat in his mind. He remembered the man in the tweed back at the grocery store. Maybe if he got some distance he could pull it off. He slammed his foot down on the gas pedal and hung a left¡ªcutting ahead of a black Camaro whose driver promptly blared their horn and stopped in the middle of the intersection. He picked up speed and turned quickly, following the road down to a bend before the final turn that would take him to the grocery store parking lot. He heard the singing in his ears again, louder and louder slamming against his brain. They were wordless hymns that filled his mind with nothingness and his right leg felt heavier. He set his foot down on the gas pedal harder, pushing it into the floorboard. "Wha-" was all he could get out as his car slammed into its twin, molding right into the rear driver side door and crumpling up like a tin can. His head was thrown forward and right into the steering wheel, busting his nose into a flurry of blood and mucus. He died instantly as the force of the impact went straight to his brain and spinal cord. The blood spurted in an arc upward spraying onto the windshield and ceiling before it dripped back down. The family''s station wagon had collapsed on Abel''s side, pinning the young boy¡¯s legs underneath sharp metal. His screams pierced the sky as the first rain in weeks began to pour on the wreckage¡ªDonny¡¯s car started to smoke. Abel¡¯s parents were stunned by the hit, turning back to see half of their youngest son and the blood from his torso-down pooled in the seat beside Cain, who had been knocked unconscious by the hit. The policeman who had been chasing Donny down arrived on scene moments later, called for his partner and then moved out of his car as he saw the face of a young boy that was in mortal danger through the back window. The mother and father were easy enough, they had only risk of concussion which it would turn out they were lucky enough not to have. Cain would also make it through the accident physically unscathed. His father carried him out easily enough to check his vitals. Abel wouldn¡¯t be so lucky. The blood was spraying out of his right leg fast; the boy threatened loss of consciousness. The sight of Abel¡¯s blood both scared him and intrigued him in one horrible mixture. He didn¡¯t know what was happening except there being a terrible weight on his legs and it stuck right into his body. The paramedics arrived not long after¡ªthe police officer was unable to separate the boy from the car. Abel had managed some herculean strength to hold onto his life. His mother had begged the paramedics to do anything they could to help him keep his legs. Abel remembered a poignant feeling of irritation at this through everything else. Here he lay dying, his body impaled by the cruddy station wagon and she was worried if he¡¯d walk again. He was worried if he¡¯d live. To his mother, he assumed, they weren¡¯t any different. At least he would look normal his mother had said, but only once. Abel''s screams stopped once his brain caught up to what had happened to him. Somewhere deep within him he knew that the human brain would do anything to protect its owner¡ªeven go so far as to trick the body to release endorphins to free him from pain. He was dying...at least...he believed so. As he looked up toward the police officer the lights began to fade from his eyes as his body began to prepare itself for the end. He smiled as the raindrops began to fall all around them, the pain in his legs had subsided. He would never feel pain there again. For the slightest of moments he heard a ringing sound like a voice singing out for him. It lulled his consciousness to its depths. The singing sounded so lovely. Flumen 9 Simon brushed past Sophie as soon as the door began to open. As soon as he stepped in the doorway he stopped in his tracks. Luke couldn¡¯t see it, but Simon showed a genuine loss of words as he looked around his surroundings. Sophie was the first to break the silence, "What is it...? I cannot see with you in the way." "The hell am I looking at?" Simon asked to the air. He leaned back and set a hand on his side. This time it was Sophie who was irritated at being ignored. She shoved him out of the way and her face took a similar look of confusion when she entered the room. Luke filled in behind her and his curiosity was piqued when he saw that the room was small...probably could only fit a few more people before it would feel crowded. Tables filled the room in each of the four corners with a little stream flowing through the room, separating it into two halves. The stream looked to be fitted to the room almost naturally, almost acting a drainage path through the room. It looked very peculiar that it¡¯d obstruct so much of the room. He couldn¡¯t see where the source of the water was...it seemed to be coming from some other room. Aside from the weird water, the room almost looked like what Luke knew as a classroom. He couldn¡¯t say what kind of class would be taught in a place like this, but the desks piqued memories inside his head and there was even a chalkboard at the far side of the room. Another face had a sort of painting in a frame of a padlock. A large safe sat in the eastern corner of the room with a piano at the western corner, and two desks sat at the southern far edge. The group¡¯s focus almost certainly turned to Aria. She didn¡¯t know much more about their surroundings than they did, but they all knew that it must have had something to do with her. Why else would her name be on the door? "H-Hey...that blackboard over there has something written on it," Aria said, thinking of the first thing that came to her mind. Luke turned to fully focus on the board, and his eyes opened wide as he recognized the format of the passage instantly. "You are Aria Fleur¡ªthe YELLOW. You are balance personified. Nobody shall feel persecuted under your sympathies. Your reliability is a great asset to those around you...but it is also your greatest weakness. Your worst nightmare is cloaked in GREEN. Wood grows from the Earth like a parasite, leeching off of your stability and building its own empire inside of you. Your sympathies shall send you off the mercy of the wood." "What...is this?" Aria asked. "I¡¯m yellow? Yellow what?" "Hey, this looks like something I found in my notebook," Luke said as he reached for his pockets, but then remembered the notebook was nowhere to be found. ¡°Ah...dang it." "N-Notebook?" Levi asked. He shifted uneasily as his eyes darted around the room. ¡°I think he¡¯s a bit cuckoo,¡± he said under his breath as if he were whispering it to someone. No one else heard it, naturally, but it seemed to reassure him. "Yeah, I woke up..." Luke said, picking at his brain. Did I have a notebook? It seemed...foggy. He was sure that he remembered something about the way this was phrased... "I remember a notebook. I don¡¯t know where it went. It was before we woke up in the chairs...but after I was kidnapped.¡± ¡°You mean...sometime during the first round?¡± Aria asked. Luke shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. ¡°It¡¯s likely. I don¡¯t remember much about it, I don¡¯t think I remember seeing any of you there so maybe it was just before the game began...anyway, sorry about my rambling. The notebook,¡± Luke tried to fix his stumbling. He became acutely aware of it and was suddenly aware of all of the eyes around him. He felt nervous and his core began to shake under the pressure. It wasn¡¯t as bad a shake that Levi had, but he was still aware of how his body was in every second. ¡°I found a passage that was just like this, although it wasn¡¯t exactly the same. It¡¯s where I learned my name. It said that I was a White Metal." ¡°I...I think that¡¯s not t-true,¡± Levi said. ¡°I¡¯m siding with Shivers,¡± Simon said. Sophie turned back to him, ¡°We have enough bad nicknames with that damn rabbit. Knock it off.¡± She turned back to Luke. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter in the long run if you¡¯re lying or not about it.¡± "It is a bit peculiar, though. White metal...what do you think it means?" Aria asked. "Is it supposed to mean anything? Yours is just as nonsensical." Sophie made a motion with her hands, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter much if it¡¯s a red sky or a yellow planet. It¡¯s all the same mumbo jumbo that¡¯s probably here to distract us.¡± "I don¡¯t care about all of our color signs or star symbols here," Simon said. Sophie looked to him, ¡°That¡¯s what I just got done saying.¡± ¡°But now I am saying it. It means more.¡± Sophie looked at Luke for a second longer than he was comfortable with before returning to the screen, "Yes, I do agree we should prioritize not what the message says, but what these indentations are here," she pointed down, just underneath there was different kinds of shapes beveled into the wall. They were...odd. Luke certainly didn¡¯t recognize them. "What...are those?" He asked. Everyone ignored him, but Aria stepped forward to the screen. "These musical notes...what do you think they mean?" Musical notes? What had those been? Luke didn¡¯t seem to know hide nor hare of what she was speaking about. There were four of the notes all together. They were all separated, and it irritated Luke that everyone else seemed to be on the same page without him, but he figured that pushing the subject wouldn¡¯t get him any less confused. He backed off. "It seemed that they might be a h-hint to what we need to do in this room, right? Lucky said that we need to find some sort of key in these stupid r-rooms." "Hey, dude, you okay?" Aria looked back to Levi. "You¡¯ve barely stopped shaking since we woke up." "I...I¡¯m really scared." He spat out. It was a bit scary hearing it from him considering he seemed the oldest of the five of them. He must have been at least twice his own age. If he was admitting he was scared...it was kind of hard for Luke to not face that feeling head on. "I never had to do any of this kind of thing before. I don¡¯t have any kind of reason for being kidnapped for this kind of g-garbage!" Luke could tell that Levi was near the tipping point with his situation. "Hey, hey, it¡¯s easy to freak out in this place. None of us know why we were taken for this kind of messed up game. But we¡¯re not going to make it out of here if we let ourselves go crazy. I think that might even be what he wants." Luke could barely believe the words that were leaving his mouth. He imagined the words of strength to come from someone with a bit more sense and experience like Sophie or maybe even Aria, but instead they were coming from him. He felt a short moment of pride before returning back from his thoughts. "We have to keep moving, and work together or else we¡¯re all dead. This game¡¯s about testing trust, right? Well, let¡¯s beat this game by showing whoever is in charge that we could trust complete strangers." "You want us to trust each other?" Simon asked. "I don¡¯t want to know anything about any of you," Simon said, shrugging. "How c-could we do that?" Levi asked. "I don¡¯t know anything about any of you either. I don¡¯t know much about myself, remember? I want to believe that I don¡¯t belong here, and it¡¯s the same with all of you. I want to trust that each of you are good people deep down," he looked directly at Simon, "Mean or not, nobody deserves to be in this situation." "N-No...you¡¯re right." Levi said. "I d-don¡¯t want to die here, but...you don¡¯t either." He slowed to a stop and had begun breathing easier. "Great." Simon said with an exaggerated tone. "Now that we¡¯re all friends I suggest we return our focus to the task at hand. We¡¯re not going to escape by giving speeches all day." Sophie had begun to pace around the room. "We¡¯ve got four notes that are here on this screen, so I¡¯d assume that is a hint at what we¡¯re supposed to be looking for." She turned to face Aria, "This room¡¯s centered around you, apparently. Now, I¡¯m not thinking you set it up, but I believe there is a reason that your name is on that screen and on the door outside." Aria chewed the bottom of her lip and then exhaled sharply. "I like music." She shrugged her shoulders. "I don¡¯t know what you want me to say. I¡¯m a flautist." "Flowtest?" Luke asked. "I play the flute." Aria answered. "I don¡¯t know what that had to do with any of this..." "Except that might be exactly why it had something to do with why we¡¯re here." Sophie hadn¡¯t skipped a beat. "Nobody here could guess that you play the flute just by looking at you. That¡¯s something that only someone who does know you would know." "So...someone I know is why I¡¯m here?" "Think about it. This is only the first room we¡¯ve entered. How many rooms were there outside?" "Six." Simon nodded, understanding. "There¡¯s a room here for each of us, including Ai. That means that whoever kidnapped us all didn¡¯t grab us by random chance." He looked forlorn toward the ground, "They¡¯re fucked up¡­who wouldn¡¯t want ransom money¡­?" "Not everyone has their eyes glued to their wallet," Sophie said. "But you are right on one thing. It¡¯s highly likely that we all weren¡¯t grabbed by random. There¡¯s a reason each of us are here, and if the rooms with the rest of our names are similar to yours," she looked back to Aria, "Then we have to seriously consider that that reason may have to do with people we closely know." "Yeah...I was thinking that too," Luke said, trying to be helpful, but he couldn¡¯t keep his mind off of what that implied. Somewhere in this strange spherical building there was a room that was built specifically around him. He could only think back to the room that he had first woken up in. "They might not know a lot about the each of us...like maybe just basic information like how Aria plays the flute, but they could know a whole lot more. We have to play with that assumption." "So what...like a bunch of people that know us just happen to know each other and set us all up to play this stupid game?" Aria asked. "T-They know everything...at least...they might," Levi had begun shaking slightly, but he swallows hard and looked back up toward Sophie, shaking his head. "That¡¯s way too creepy to think about. Could we please change the subject? I don¡¯t want to think about whoever could have done this right now...I...I think that those four notes might have to do with the four corners of this room! I mean...there¡¯s four of them so..." "That¡¯s the most idiotic..." Simon had begun. "No, I bet you he¡¯s right." Sophie affirmed. She looked from each of the four corners at the safe, piano, and two desks. "There¡¯s no coincidence to anything here. If we had began labeling one as such, then we have no basis to label anything else except as coincidence. Remember what I said? Believe that everything here is put here for a reason. Whoever brought us here did it for a reason." "Well, okay. Let¡¯s just each check them out and get this over with." Aria said. "The more I¡¯m in here the more I feel like somebody is watching me," Aria shivered as she made a conscious effort to step over the small stream. "Damn thing doesn¡¯t belong in a room like this..." Luke nodded curtly before turning around to the first of the four corners that caught his eye¡ªthe safe. He bent down to stare at it real close. "Last thing you¡¯d expect to find in a place like this, huh?" Luke asked as Aria bent down beside him. She seemed to be too focused on the safe to answer. Luke turned to look at the face of the dial, and he¡¯s surprised to see that the dial had letters surrounding it instead of numbers. "A, B, C, D, E, F, G," he read aloud. "What the heck is that doing on a safe?" "They¡¯re the notes on a scale...this room is music themed, after all," Aria said. "The combination must be a number of notes..." she looked just behind her toward the piano, "...that we find from there." "Hey, Levi!" Luke called. He¡¯s standing right in front of the piano with his fingers lightly tapping the keys. "Levi!" Aria called out after him. He turned with eyebrows raised. It seemed he was lost in his playing. "Oh...yes? I¡¯m sorry. I was just confused by this thing...I don¡¯t think the keys are in the correct order." "What?" Aria asked, standing up. "Here, listen to this." He had begun pressing keys down on the piano. The sounds that come from it as he moved down the piano are a mash of different sounds that don¡¯t sound related at all. "Okay, now play them from start to finish." He did, and the same course of notes is played. "That¡¯s what I was talking about. They don¡¯t seem to be built to go in ascending order. It seems to be totally random." "No, not random," Sophie said, looking up from the desk she was investigating. She looked over toward Aria. "Is there anything interesting that you notice?" "I...think I could tell what notes are which? I don¡¯t know how much help that¡¯ll be..." "You could?" Simon asked with a hint of interest. "It¡¯s called perfect pitch...and sounds a whole lot more interesting than what it is." This seemed to dash any interest that Simon had as he moved to lean against the wall, watching the others from a distance. Aria continues as she looked back toward the others, "I could pick out notes as I hear them and that¡¯s about it." She shrugged, "Like I said, it isn¡¯t too-" "No, no. That¡¯s good." Sophie nodded. "Maybe there¡¯s a message in how the notes are arranged." "What kind of message?" Luke asked. "Really?" Simon asked, chuckling. Luke looked up, finding that everyone else is giving him the same confused look. "What?" "Notes on a piano go from A to G and repeat," Aria had begun. "But you don¡¯t have to be a music major to know that." "Dude, it¡¯s common knowledge," Simon said. "Yeah, even I knew that," Levi said. Sophie is the only one who remained silent. When she finally speaks, her eyes don¡¯t leave his face. "Amnesia..." she said, loud enough to be heard. "Yeah...I think that¡¯s why I forgot..." Luke began, feeling the words spill out of his mouth from the nerves. Her face doesn¡¯t change. "I...can''t say one way or another. Generalized amnesia typically doesn¡¯t affect learned facts like the notes of a musical scale¡ªit¡¯s located in a different part of the brain, but of course not every case of amnesia is the same so I guess I¡¯ll just leave it at that for now," she turned then back to Aria and Levi. "Think you could figure out what that message said?" She nodded her head and then looked toward Levi, "You ready?" Levi looked back to the piano and plays the first note, letting it hang. He waits a moment before looking back to Aria, "Well...?" She looked confused right back at him. "I thought you were going to play them all? You don''t have to go slow. That one was an F." Levi moved his hand down the piano and the notes come out all rapid fire. Aria sighed and walked over to the piano, shoving him to the side. "Move aside, please." She took control of the piano, playing the notes one by one starting from the beginning. "F. A. C. E. F. A. E. F. D. G. F. A." "Facefaefdgfa?" Luke felt his brow furrow as he tries to visualize the letters all together. "I...don''t understand." "It''s probably for this," Sophie said, bending to get a better look at the safe. "Remember how the face of the safe listed letters from A to G?" "Ah, Face!" Luke exclaims. "That must have something to do with it." "I...think that might be coincidence." Aria said. "Face is just one example of a word you could make with musical notation, nothing more than a coincidence," Sophie explained. "Well, I mean it might, but it also might not. I mean, what if you took the letters and rolled them back?" Aria asked. "Rolled them back?" Sophie looked confused for the first time since entering the room. Actually...scratch that. She looked confused for the first time, period. "Like...say you continued on counting after G. Say H was the next A, or I was the next B." "Does it really matter what it means?" Simon butted in. "It''s obvious that you put in the original jumble of letters into the safe there. Come on, we don''t have time to sit here decoding messages like some twelve year old." He looked directly toward Luke. "Well, most of us." "Well if you''re so eager to open it go right on ahead. I want to solve this kiddie message of ours," Sophie barks, turning away from him to think. "H...I...J......A...B...C..." "Psh. Do what you want. Gotta do everything around here, I guess." He lumbered over toward the safe with an obvious lack of effort. Luke took it upon himself to check out the other half of the room, finding it almost bothersome that there were entire sections they haven''t even looked into and Simon was here talking about finishing up. He wanted to leave as fast as possible...but he hated leaving stones unturned. Maybe that was a trap by whoever brought them there...the mastermind behind all of this, but if so it was a trap he couldn¡¯t help but fall for. There was something inside him that had to know, even if it was relatively small like what that shimmering was he saw at the deep end of the stream. He merely glanced at it before walking over, bending down to reach his hand in the water. Each end of the stream seemed to dip deeper to well up water that flowed openly through an underwater vent in the wall. There must have been a steady flow coming in since the level of the water hadn''t dropped any since they had entered the room. The source must be in some different room. He picked what ended up being a purple vase out of the water and turned it in his hands. The lip of the vase flowers out from a skinny neck leading down to a more rotund base. He wouldn''t be able to stick his hand inside if he tried. After emptying the water he saw the shine of something inside. "Just like I told you," Simon called from the other edge of the room. "I knew it''d open with those letters."The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Luke turned to face the open safe and a confused Simon. He pulls out something small and black, holding it in the palm of his hand. "Of course...why would I expect anything fucking important to come out of a goddamn safe?!" He chucks the object against the wall and walked back toward the far end of the room shaking his head. Levi grabbed the object from off of the floor, holding it up in front of his face, twisting and turning it. "Huh, I thought it looked like a whole note." "A what?" Luke asked. He looked to the monitor and saw that one of the shapes on it looked just like the object he held in his hand. So...that was a whole note? He thought it looked more like a drawing of a finless fish. "It looked like this is one of the keys that rabbit was talking about." Levi lowered his arm. He began to look around, not finding what he was looking for. "Now...where''s the lock?" "I don''t know," Sophie interrupts. "But I do have a solution for what the password to the safe might mean." "What is it?" Aria asked. "So, I came up with this." She brings out a sheet of paper with some scribbles on it. "I used a small notebook I found in my jacket pocket to list out the possible combinations and found that these are all of the possible meanings. Here''s the alphabet converted to musical notation." A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E F "And here''s the only possibility I''ve found that made a full phrase. I''ve tossed out ones that are still gibberish. And I''m also assuming that FACE is the intention for the first four letters here. Assuming otherwise means we''d be here all day and few words make sense that have the same distance from each other." F A C E F A E F D G F A F A C E T H E T R U T H "Face the truth?" Levi asked. "Huh, now this is interesting," Simon stepped forward, a look other than mild disappointment covering his face for the first time since entering the room. "You all know what this means...right?" Nobody had an answer for him. "It means," he said with a careful tongue, making sure to get everyone''s attention in his grasp, "...our little flautist is hiding something, and it is something big by the severity of hiding this message in a password." "But you were the one who said that he didn''t even care about the password in the first place!" Luke called out. Simon smirked. He knew that what he was saying was true. "Yes, but truth be told I didn''t think it''d be worth anything. I''m allowed to be wrong, aren''t I?" He smirks a small shape and walked to the middle of the room before turning his gaze on Aria. "Now, what could somebody like you be hiding?" Luke hadn''t noticed it before, but Aria looked like she had been holding her breath. She stared him down as he did her, the two not speaking a word until Levi broke the silence. "Uh...excuse me, but...can''t we talk about this at...any other time but now?" "Y-yeah." Luke agreed. There was no point to wasting time here like this, he thought. "We still gotta find the rest of those notes." "Ah ah ah," Simon waved his finger humming the tones a child would be scolded with. "No I think we get to do this now. I remember you specifically talking about how we should all trust each other, no?" Luke flinched where he stood. "And with this new information, I''m not sure I could trust the musician with anything more than a roll of toilet paper and even then I''d have to look twice while she wiped my ass. " Aria was shaking now, but Luke could tell that it wasn''t from the crude imagery Simon had provided. She looked terrified¡ªfrozen at the spot, and that had started to bother him. What could she have to hide? 10 "Well? What is it?" Simon asked, beginning to pace toward her. Luke turned to look at Levi and Sophie, the two of them looked like they''d lost any objection they had when they noticed Aria''s shaking. "Drunken bender leading to an affair with a famous politician?" Simon guessed. "...Or maybe you''re secretly a massive hoarder..." He turned to stop on her, "or maybe you''re the mastermind of this whole thing. Maybe the music shtick is just a cover so we think you''re less dangerous than you really are." Aria couldn''t handle it anymore. She clenched her fist and screamed out at them. It was a deafening sort of sound that shocked everyone in the room. She took heavy breaths as she finished. No one spoke. A few more moments passed and she slumped her shoulders and began to shake some more. "I killed someone..." she said not louder than a whisper. "What?!" Luke took an instinctive step back. "Listen, okay, it''s a long story. I..." her breath is uneven and she had begun to sweat. For the first time Luke could see the worry underneath her outer charm. She looked like she was breaking right before his eyes. "Calm down." Sophie said, arms crossed. "Nobody will be able to understand you if you start to freak out. " "Excuse me, but why are we trying to understand her?" Simon interjected. "She just admitted to killing someone!" "I don''t think she''s the one behind all of us being here," Sophie says. "It wouldn¡¯t make sense in the large scale of things and she''d have no reason to out herself. I''m not excusing murder, but I think I''d like to know the details. It could at the very least explain some things on why we¡¯re here. We can''t get those answers if you keep on her," Sophie had turned from her to him. Simon groaned underneath his breath but ultimately he knew that she was right. He backed off and had begun tapping his foot as Aria took a deep breath. "I don''t know anything about why we''re here...I promise," Aria said. Sophie looked over toward her, "Start talking." She lets out a whimpered sort of sound. "I didn''t mean for it to happen...I didn''t..." She looked directly at Luke and began to speak. "I was thirteen. I lived in a small town on the far edge of France. My mother and father were gone for long periods of time¡ªthey were both performers in my town''s theater. It wasn''t lucrative work, but they lived and loved what they did. Back in France there''s this saying we have called coup de foudre. Literally, it means a strike of thunder, but we take it to mean love at first sight." Luke cocked his head, as he was sure the others had at her idiom as well. "Can we skip past this part?" Simon asked. Aria looked a bit shocked at his outburst, but nodded curtly. "It''s relevant, I promise." "Fine, go on," he made a motion with his hand. "There was an older boy who strolled the streets often¡ªVilliers was his name. He was a few years older than I was. His family was well off, certainly far more than I could ever even begin to explain. Other girls would always go after him hoping to eventually marry into a rich family. He knew better, so those kinds of relationships didn''t last long. One particular day, the last time I saw him walking down the streets I snuck out of my home¡ªI felt something calling me out. I couldn''t explain to you now what it was except for coup de foudre. That was when I first met him. We talked and things got passed the awkward phase pretty quickly. The thing is though, his father never liked me. He thought I was just like the other girls, wanting to get rich quick." "Ugh, okay, you know what? I don''t care anymore. Do. Not. Care. Let''s get out of here, I''m sorry I asked," Simon turned to look toward the back end of the room. "Hey, any of you going to move or what...?" Sophie looked at him, "While I''d love to get out of here as quickly as possible, we aren''t strictly on a time limit. Murder is a serious charge. If something had any relation to why we were brought here, then I''d like to hear it out...romance bullshit or not." "Romance isn''t wholly bullshit you know," Levi said, raising a finger. "Not the topic at hand," Sophie looked back at him and then toward Simon. "Solve the room''s puzzle if you want. I want to hear more about this...well, not this, specifically, but you know what I mean." "Ugh," Simon grunts out before leaning up against the wall. "Easier to stab both my eardrums out." "A-Anyway..." Aria interjects. "The rest of the story didn''t go on much longer. I was actually invited by his father to have dinner in their home. I don''t know what I was thinking, but I showed up. It didn¡¯t seem weird at the time, but when I got there I realized that Villiers wasn¡¯t home. His car wasn¡¯t there, it was just his father." "That''s odd. Why would he invite you there alone?" Luke asked. "I figured at the time that maybe it was some sort of peace offering. It didn''t seem odd to me at the time...maybe I was just lost in a new relationship and that''s what I was focused on. Maybe I wanted his father to like me, I don''t know, but I went." "Dun dun dun," Simon let out, turning his head to the side. "Everything was okay at first," she continued, ignoring him. "I walked in and he greeted me with a smile and a firm handshake. I remember though that his handshake was the first time I felt that something was off. The night only got worse from there...I still remember it so fresh in my mind. He invited me into the parlor room. There were so many photographs framed all around, but they weren¡¯t of any people. These were photos I previously saw when I visited previously, so I knew then that they were all changed to have the frames emptied." She had begun to rub her arms briskly as she took a short breath. "He must have noticed how tense I was and offered me a drink¡ªafter I refused it he sat down and took this huge breath. Mind you, there wasn¡¯t anything set out for dinner. That¡¯s when he pulled out this gun." Every eyebrow in the room raised, even Simon couldn''t help but be interested. "It was so quiet as if he had taken out a handkerchief to wipe his face or clean his glasses. There it was, a huge revolver that looked like one shot could blow through my whole body. I froze. What could I have done? I play the flute, and even if I had that it wouldn¡¯t have helped in the slightest." Luke imagined the horrible face of the man who would have aimed a gun at her and he couldn¡¯t help but imagine the mounted gun that had threatened them in the previous room. It made him shudder. "I...I feel like what happened next was all in slow motion. He pointed the gun toward a bust of himself that was resting on this like...podium on the far end of the room. He fired the gun once...just to prove it was loaded I guess. The bust exploded into bits and pieces and I screamed¡ªlouder than I intended. He looked at me without blinking and told me that if I screamed again he was going to shoot me. If I ran away he was going to shoot me. If I fought against him he was going to shoot me." "And yet he didn¡¯t," Sophie said. "At least, as far as I could see." "No, no he did not." She breathes in and steadies herself. "I don¡¯t know where everybody else was. He placed his hand on his leg and shook his head. I don¡¯t know why you bitches can''t just leave this family alone was what he said. He looked like he was convincing himself of something¡ªmaybe to shoot me? Maybe not? It was more than obvious at this point that Villiers¡¯ father was off his rocker¡ªlike, serious impairment was going on or whatever. He was tweaking hard." "How¡¯d you kill him?" Simon asked. "Wh-" Aria¡¯s momentum is broken. "You¡¯re claiming self defense, that right? All right, we don¡¯t need the full conversation to conversation. Crazy guy came at you with a gun, how¡¯d you kill him?" She bites her lip, if she hadn¡¯t expected Simon to be interested once again she definitely didn¡¯t expect him to follow the trail all the way down. "Knife through the chest. Obviously it didn¡¯t happen right at that moment, we were far from the kitchen and there were no knives set up on the table like I said. He yanked me by my hair up to his huge bedroom and kept mentioning some group he thought I was hired by to weasel out his family¡¯s money. can''t remember what it was called. I was too scared. The knife was hidden underneath the pillow, I cut my hand on it as he threw me down." She holds up her hand to show a faded scar up the palm of her hand. "I took it and stabbed him. I don¡¯t want to know what else he wanted to do with me¡ªhe kept flipping between wanting to shoot me, wanting to rape me, and wanting to hear what I had to spill about that stupid group." "Jesus Christ," Levi said, shaking his head. "I can''t deal with the sight of blood, I can''t imagine being in that situation." "I learned something that day¡ªhow much blood the human body truly contains. I yanked the knife out of his chest and I sat there as it pooled over me. I think I lost it then¡ªeverything came rushing at me at once and I just sat there for what seemed like forever. It kept spilling out. I think he died on the spot because he made no move to fire the gun. I left Villiers¡¯ home and never returned...didn¡¯t reach out to him and I ran away from home. My life was pretty much over at that point." "Why didn¡¯t you call the police?" Luke asked. She looked to him with a tear in her eye, "My life is complicated. I¡¯ve already bared you enough of my soul for one lifetime, I believe. Besides, it led up to where we are now. The last thing I remember before all of this was that memory. Not too long after whoever grabbed us all must have found me¡ªfor whatever purpose that they have at the very least." "God," Luke said. "That¡¯s a lot." "If we trust you," Simon said. "Right, that¡¯s always a question to ask," Aria said. "I guess if you want you could label me a murderer and not want to talk to me. If we could just do that while we get out of here. I won¡¯t talk to any of you ever again and you won¡¯t have to associate with a..." This was the point where it had become too much for her. She broke and everything inside her broke with it. She raised her arm to her eyes and looked away shaking her head, cursing underneath her breath. "Fuck. Fuck this. Fuck I just wanted to know a boy. A stupid boy whose crazy dad I killed and-" "Okay, okay," Simon took in a deep breath. "Let¡¯s keep moving. Okay? I hate seeing girls cry. I¡¯ll lay off, okay?" This was something surprising. Luke hadn¡¯t expected any sort of humanity out of Simon. If he were to liken him to any animal it would of course have been a snake, always looking for prey...but Simon now almost seemed human. He wasn¡¯t naive and going to believe that he was going to act kind to everyone here, Luke wasn¡¯t a fool, but at least if they had the very minuscule amount of trust between them they might be able to actually survive. 11 "Hey Luke, do you think that vase you¡¯re holding goes over here?" Levi¡¯s voice was the first to break the awkward silence after Aria¡¯s story. Sophie had been right that they didn¡¯t seem to have any sort of time limit in this phase. It was so much to the point that he looked down as if his question was asked in French. He had entirely forgotten he was holding the vase. "Oh...right, where now?" He held it up to Levi. He¡¯d been standing next to a balance that had been resting on one of the desks in the far corner of the room. The balance sat heavy on one end as another vase¡ªthis one yellow with a green stripe running across it. "Well, if there¡¯s any spot for this thing I guess it¡¯d be there," he said. Levi nodded. Luke walked across the small stream of water and sets the vase down on the other side of the scale. The scale moved to balance himself, but it sides a little heavy with the new vase. "Maybe you gotta empty the water?" Levi asked. "No, I don¡¯t think so. I already did...wait! I almost forgot!" He swiped the vase up from the scale and turned it upside down. A black rubber thing that almost looked like the letter "d" fell onto the ground and bounced once before rolling to a stop. "Another note?" "Weird shapes for them, huh?" Luke muttered. "I remembered seeing something inside when I emptied the water out, but the lip of the vase is too thin for me to reach in and grab it. Let¡¯s try this now." He placed the vase back on the scale and it settles back down to an even balance. There¡¯s a sound that he could only place as a tumbler shifting in a lock, but as far as he knew the only door in the whole room had been the one they had come through, and that wasn¡¯t locked in the slightest. Levi bent down to grab the note which he called a quarter note, something that confused Luke terribly. If that finless fish was a whole note, how in the heavens was the letter ¡°d¡± a quarter of that? It was like some joke that soared way above his head. "Found out what the unlocking sound was," Simon cocked his head toward the framed painting on the wall, but there was something about the look on his face that unsettled him. It seemed like genuine confusion. Luke followed his gaze and noticed why Simon had focused his attention on it. When they all entered the room the painting had shown a padlock that had been fully locked. Now...it had unlocked. "Anyone else remember that painting being totally different?" Aria asked, her voice uneven. "Yes, it was locked before. When did it switch?" Levi chimed in. "It was when the vase balanced out the scale." Sophie said. "That¡¯s not the only thing that¡¯s changed, look at the screen." The screen had begun to recede into the wall before finally disappearing for good, leaving two indentations left in the wall¡ªones exactly in the shape of the two notes they had collected. "Well, this one should be obvious," Simon started. "Yeah, just set them in there and we should be good to go," Luke said, turning to Aria. "Do you want to be the one to do it?" This shocked her and everyone else around them as well. "Wh...me?" "Yeah, I mentioned before how I want to trust you all here." Luke took a deep breath. "We all have stuff we don¡¯t want to talk about. I¡¯m sure if I could remember I¡¯d have secrets I wouldn¡¯t want anybody else to know. I don¡¯t believe you¡¯re the reason we¡¯re here Aria, nor do I believe any of the rest of you are either. We all have rooms here, right? That¡¯s the assumption we¡¯re running with? Then that means we¡¯re all probably going to be running the risk of losing that trust this game so desperately taunts above our head." "He makes a valid point," Sophie said. "How?" Aria asked out of nowhere. "How could you trust someone like me? Someone who¡¯s just done and told you they¡¯ve killed someone?" She began stuttering at the end of breaking once more. Luke walked up to her and hands her the quarter note, nodding up to her. "You¡¯re the strangest kid I¡¯ve ever met," Aria said, wiping away a tear and letting out the smallest of sounds. "Why the hell are you in a place like this?" "Yeah yeah, the kid¡¯s nice. Levi, give her the whole note already," Simon crosses his arms. Levi nodded and stepped forward holding out his hand. "Guys..." She said. "I¡¯m getting way too emotional for people I don¡¯t even..." but she took it in her hand, breathing short and looking down, trying to hold it back. "Okay, done crying. Sorry for getting extremely heavy guys. Thank you. You¡¯re all very kind. Even you, Simon." He rolled his eyes as she stepped up and places the quarter note into the indentation. A light had begun to shine through the rubber and glow all sorts of different colors. Luke sat in amazement as it flowed from red to green to blue and then to a crazy spilling mix of everything at once. Aria moved to the side to set the whole note into the indentation next. It took some fiddling to get it to slide over the hole in the center, but it fit just enough. There was a clicking kind of sound as soon as it was fitted in, and what followed was the loudest, most bone chilling scream Luke had ever heard. It had not come from the room that they were in, but everyone froze to the core as it rang through their entire bodies. Someone was in a lot of pain...no, that couldn¡¯t be it. That kind of scream couldn¡¯t come from anyone still breathing. There was a silent fact that they all agreed upon as each person slowly looked from one another. Someone had died. 12 The silence strung each of them up like a taut bow of a violin, just waiting to snap on an unwitting musician. Aria looked most frail, as if something inside of her had snapped the second the whole note had been placed in the indentation. Her hand shook with a tenacity that could move mountains. "I...I didn¡¯t mean..." She sputtered out. "Guys...what was that?" Levi asked, shaking himself. "I think if we knew then you would know," Sophie said. "The best we could do is go find out. I think that we¡¯re done with this room." "What about the key?" Simon asked. "Forget about the key! Someone is dying!" Luke snapped. Simon shrugged, "No, they¡¯re dead based on that scream. Luke knew it, but something inside him kept pushing back. No! They could still be alive! We need to go NOW! ...but he knew better. At least, he hoped he had. "I think that the scream is our key. At least, there¡¯s nothing else here to investigate, so we¡¯ve really nothing left to lose by going to check it out," Sophie cracked her knuckles and then placed her hands on her side. "Nothing to lose? Sure we could lose our lives to whatever is out there," Simon added. "Okay." Sophie said, leaning a little bit in. Simon doubled back, his face like he¡¯d just swallowed a lemon whole. "Okay...?" "Yeah, sure. Let¡¯s just sit here. That seems like a better idea." The room was silent, watching the ensuing game between Sophie and Simon. "I..." Simon started out. "Oh, what? can¡¯t think of anything to do here? Interesting." "Sophie..." Luke had begun. "No, no, no," She holds out her hand, "...I want to hear what his genius plan is if he¡¯s gonna be the plan man here." "Plan man?" Luke asked. "...Let¡¯s go outside and check it out," Simon said with great reluctance. "Huh, that¡¯s a good idea. Thank you for your contribution." "Bitch..." Simon muttered under his breath." "We¡¯ve already met. No reason to tell me your name again," Sophie turned to head out of the room. "...Plan man?" Luke repeated. However much she could grab a room¡¯s attention and keep it under tight control, Sophie was poor at name calling. Very poor. Simon looked at each of them with an offended look. "Oh, what? None of you are going to call her out on this bullshit?" "What do you mean?" Levi asked. "I give apathy and you all pounce like hungry fuckin¡¯ pumas. She¡¯s bitch prime and you follow her like sheep." Aria is the first to answer him. She seemed to have regained some of her composure. "She¡¯s doing it to get us out of here. You¡¯ve been doing it to be as petulant as possible. I¡¯m...I¡¯m sorry for saying it, but it¡¯s true. I do believe you¡¯re a nice person, but we¡¯re all going to die if we can¡¯t act civil." She looked like it visibly pained her to be so blunt with him. Luke understood that feeling. He didn¡¯t know how Sophie could manage it, but he¡¯s sure he¡¯d find himself in total anguish for long after the situation. Simon seemed to have no such anguish. He simply shook his head and walked along, passing them and following Sophie through the door with Aria¡¯s name emblazoned on the front. Luke looked from Levi and then to Aria, shrugging his shoulders. "Well, kudos to you for standing up." Levi said. "I dunno, I felt kind of bad," Aria said. "Maybe I should apologize..." Luke shook his head, "No, he seemed like he was getting it just a little bit," Luke said. "We have to trust that he has a heart in there somewhere." Aria took in a deep breath, sighing loudly. "I know guys like him, they don¡¯t get it that easily...that¡¯s another story. Maybe...if we survive this it¡¯s a story I could tell you both someday?" Levi raised an eyebrow. "I...I¡¯m not proud of what I did. Not any of it. I¡¯m not proud of where I am...but it felt...relieving getting it off my chest. It was easier telling people I don¡¯t know. Granted...I wish it could have been under better circumstances. I know I can''t be sure I have all of your trust, but I want you to know you have mine. You both have been very kind to someone you have absolutely every right not to. Once we make it out of here...maybe we could get to know each other better under better context?" Luke nodded his head. "I like that idea. I think we could get the other two on board." "Well, I¡¯ll put it up to pending escape from deadly facility. Speaking of, let¡¯s not get too far behind, right?" Levi said. "Right," Luke nodded. The three of them backtrack through the door and down the extended hallway. The lights from the room dimmed and then faded as the door shut forever behind them. Oscen 13 The first thing that Luke noticed as they emerged from the darkness was the smell that pervaded the darkness of the hallway. The pungent copper smell assaulted him, forced him to stop and turn away. He made a disgusting sound and coughed as he breathed it in. Aria and Levi behind him noticed it just after and performed similar movements. "What the heck is that?" Luke asked, gagging as he spit whatever was in his mouth out on the ground. "Over here," Sophie said from a little ways into the room. She and Simon were surrounding something lying on the ground. As Luke picked himself up he felt lightheaded, his vision began to wane¡ªthe smell was overbearing. As he slowly made his approach the smell of rancid meat pervaded the blood. It stole his breath away and he had to stop again. It took everything in him to prevent everything in him from becoming everything that used to be in him. When he made the final step he saw Lucky just passed Simon and Sophie. He looked as if somebody had smashed him with a mallet. Luke¡¯s eyes went wide as he saw the blood spilling from the circuits and flesh spilled out from between the metal shell¡¯s cracked pieces. The rabbit¡¯s face had been smashed in, brains spilled out the back of the headpiece. Its rear leg was broken at an odd angle and was only hanging on by a few stray ligaments. It had been too much for Luke. He turned and felt his stomach turn as his throat began to burn. It only added to the foul odor. "What..." he said in between breaths. "What..." "It seemed something killed him just after placing that note into the indentation. I¡¯m not sure if it was because of that, but I assume that it is. The timing was too perfect for it to be just a coincidence. I have no guesses to how it happened. It¡¯s not like it just self-destructed." Sophie said. "Shit¡¯s fucked," Simon stared at the rabbit. "What the hell do we do now? That stupid rabbit was our one point of contact." "There was...something alive inside." Levi turned his head away. "Maybe a real rabbit as a sort of joke on our expense...I don¡¯t know anything other than it is dead now." "Stupid rabbit was alive all along..." Simon said. "It¡¯s a possibility, one I¡¯m not too comfortable with granting just yet," Sophie wondered. "What do you mean?" Luke asked. "You could clearly see that there was some sort of thing inside." "Oh, I have no doubts about that. I mean I don¡¯t fully believe that Lucky¡ªthe being that had been speaking to us was specifically that creature on the inside. It¡¯s most plausible to believe that the rabbit¡ªif we assume that the creature inside is one¡ªhad no idea in where it had been. The metal suit around it had probably been pulling its skeleton like puppet strings and outfitted with some sort of microphone." "I guess that makes sense...well, not really, but more than a talking, living rabbit." Luke said. Levi shrugged. "Maybe...we don¡¯t have to participate in the decision phase? I mean..." He took a step back from the rabbit¡¯s corpse. "I don¡¯t get how that thing worked, but does it really matter? The only thing stopping us was its threats of punishment if we did anything wrong, right?" "Is it?" Luke looked back to Aria, who up to this point had been all but silent. She gave him a look that seemed to say that she hadn¡¯t been the one to speak the word. He saw a sort of shined metal up above them for a fraction of a second and took a step back. "Guys..." The others followed his motion to see a golden songbird perched on one of the lights above. It was larger than any sort of bird he¡¯d seen, at least six feet tall if not larger. It flaps its metal wings and descends down onto the podium that stood the center of the roulette game. "You think you know all the answers, but you don¡¯t know me yet." "Who are you?" Simon asked. "It¡¯s probably safe to assume it¡¯s under the command of whoever controlled Lucky," Sophie said. "Lucky¡¯s been bad," The bird said, ignoring Simon. "Real bad. Starting his shift early. I mean, that¡¯s the kind of thing some jerrywonker does. He¡¯s been breaking rules, starting games early. He had to be shut down...or did he?" "Breaking rules?" Luke asked. "My name is Answer, and I¡¯m not here to clean garbage disposals. I beg pardon..." The bird cranes its neck from side to side as if scanning. "Ah, my dinner. I am so terribly sorry to eat in front of guests, but I must finish my dinner." It flapped its wings twice before landing just in front of them, it stood taller than everyone around it. Luke and the rest backed up¡ªall with their eyes on the bird who had been named Answer. "I wonder, does a human soul taste like rabbits?" Answer asked, bending its head down¡ªelongated beak prodding apart the metal shell that used to be Lucky. "Sometimes I ask myself that, but then I have my Answer." It picks out one of the creature¡¯s eyeballs from the long string of tissue that connects to the brain and gobbled it up. "Sometimes I wonder if you all are made of the same insides, but I¡¯ve never been given permission to check. Maybe soon." Simon was the first to reel himself in, "What the fuck is wrong with you?! Whoever is behind all of this...what is the point?!" "Behind?" Answer asked. "I had thought you were all in front of this." "That doesn¡¯t make any goddamn sense!" Answer stood up tall, extending out to its full wingspan, "I am here to facilitate this shift of the Roulette Game." "You mentioned that, but Lucky had mentioned that as well," Luke said. "That is correct. It is our way." "And whose way would that be?" Levi asked, doing his best to stop shaking. "I am your Answer." "I...don¡¯t understand." Levi said. "Yet you stand above?" Answer replied. "I think..." Aria had begun, taking a step toward the bird. "...it doesn¡¯t respond to our questions. At least...it responds with whatever that nonsense is that doesn¡¯t make any sense." "That is correct," Answer said. Luke looked from her to Answer. "Huh, that¡¯s...interesting." "Yes, I am quite interesting. My father told me so when I was young." Answer chimed, folding its wings back up. "I have tried to tell my children but you know kids these days." "...Right. So, can we leave?" Simon asked. "Simon, that¡¯s a question," Luke said. "Well...fuck. How could we get any answers if we can''t ask questions?" "I am your Answer." "I fucking know that! Jesus..." "Jesus was a man of many talents..." Answer trailed off. Simon rubbed his temples. "I¡¯m getting a fucking headache. You guys take over." "So the next thing that we need to do is to participate in the Roulette Game," Sophie half asked, but taking careful note toward her phrasing. "The roulette game shall had begin and end with death. That is the cycle. Now, if you pardon, I am very hungry, and these garbage disposal units aren¡¯t going to clean themselves out." "You...aren¡¯t here to clean garbage disposal units." Luke said. He had no idea where any of this was going, nor why he had even brought it up. It had simply felt right. Answer looked at him¡ªstared at him even. It was a cold gaze that slowed his breath. "There are others than these," Answer began. "There are others, there shall be others. It¡¯s a round." Sophie turned to the rest of them, "Let¡¯s...just see if we could investigate and leave him alone. I don¡¯t believe that he¡¯ll be anymore help to us." She turned to step away and just as soon as she does a powerful force slams her in her back. Luke saw it all, as soon as she turned to walk away Answer picked up Lucky¡¯s corpse and craned its neck back and launched the rotting meat container straight at her. "You shall not leave the premises. You have no need for investigations. You shall play the Roulette Game." Sophie¡¯s arm twitched as she looked behind her at the bird. "..." "You all shall. I shall eat early if you do not." The meaning was clear. Throughout all of Answer¡¯s rambling nonsense he had intended to kill them if they did not participate. It was any more a tangible threat than Lucky had been. And just when Luke had thought their own luck was turning around. Luke was the first to walk toward the chairs in the center. He noticed that there were only enough chairs seated now to fit all of them...one for the old woman had been removed. He was sure that Answer could make quick work of them, there was absolutely no reason to challenge him. Sophie looked at him for a moment before fully realizing their situation. She sighed and stood fully, slipping out of her jacket. She noticed the splash of blood and even a little of the flesh residue splotched on the back and tossed it aside, shuddering. Underneath she¡¯s wearing a long sleeve shirt with some sort of band¡¯s logo on it, "Death Undying." Ironic. "Fine, let¡¯s all just do the smart thing. The rest of you understand?" She asked. Aria nodded, "I...I can''t be responsible for anyone else to die. Cooperate, of course." Levi nodded, not saying anything. "Simon?" "Do you really expect me to do anything else other than the obvious?" He asked. "We¡¯re in some serious shit now, ¡®specially with this dumb bird now." "Just making sure," Sophie said. She made her way toward the center as Aria and Levi had begun to follow. Simon looked up at Answer before making his way toward the center as well. Luke took his seat with Sophie taking one on his right side. Aria sat across from him and Levi to his left. Simon finished through with the seat just after Levi. Luke turned to Sophie, "Are you...uh, okay?" She looked at him with a questioned look but then her face flashed with recognition. "Oh...I¡¯m...fine." Her response was only three words, but it said more to him based on how she said it. Nobody¡¯d be okay with this situation, and he was starting to think that maybe the stone cold detective may be a little less stone than she wishes to show. "I¡¯m going to cooperate, you know," Luke said. "Well, I certainly hope so," she said, regaining some of her composure and shaking the rest off. "The Roulette Game shall continue...or shall it?" Answer called, and the restraints around them fasten tight around their bodies. "I cannot wait to see the results. Hopefully I¡¯ll be allowed to-" Luke did not hear the rest of what he said. There was a sharp ringing sound that blocked out all other sound inside his head. He looked down to see the syringe from before inject a new fluid into his system. He didn¡¯t immediately feel faint, but he was close to toppling over. Right in front of him there was a screen. Looking out around him he could see the others in similar dazed states. He found himself looking to Sophie. She was...pretty. His mind began to smile as he thought about making it out of this place alive. He awoke within himself instantly. This was not the time for his mind to drift. He looked back down to the screen and saw the two options laid out in front of him; Cooperate, or Defect. The words seemed to change before his eyes, melding and separating. They soon changed themselves to read "Sophie" and "Lucky". This confused him; what had it been trying to ask? Certainly not who he would like to see? He knew that answer off of the bat. But maybe it had instead been asking who he wanted to see die? It was equally as likely...he thought. There was something important about these two options in front of him he couldn¡¯t recall...was it the drug? Was there a drug? He tried to think back but could only find Sophie in his head. Was she always there? He tried to think back and he nodded his head. Yes, he had thought that she was rather pretty. She was smart too, and she wasn¡¯t at all like Simon was. He was sure that Simon was smart in his own way, just a bit too mean-hearted. Sophie seemed like someone had hurt her and her only defense was to build up a wall. Now that he thought about it, Lucky was pretty mean too. It hurt his head to think of the memory, it pounded his head, actually. His head felt like it was on fire, but then it felt like it was dipped underwater. Deep deep underwater and the only thing he could do was watch. Sophie didn¡¯t give him that feeling. Neither did Aria or Levi. Lucky gave him that feeling. Answer gave him a similar feeling...but not that similar at all. He was sad for Answer. He did not know why. He opened his eyes and looked at the screen, made the only choice that made him feel like he was above water, and then shut his eyes once more as the fluid feeling overtook the rest of his body. To numbness his mind went and to the cold feeling that overwhelmed him his body had fallen.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. 14 Luke remembered dreaming...but he didn¡¯t think that it was his dream, so to speak. It almost felt like he was spectating someone else¡¯s dream...or maybe even their memories. The details seemed foggy at first, but as he began to regain consciousness they fled faster than they could be recalled. Come back! He called out to them. They did not listen. That¡¯s when the shot rang out. 15 Luke opened his eyes with a startled scream. He had been hoping it was all an awful dream¡ªthat he¡¯d wake up and he¡¯d be back in his bed wherever he lived and he¡¯d remember his life. That...had not been the case. Whatever hope that resided in him that this wasn¡¯t some crazy nightmare had all but been dashed when he opened his eyes. His first instinct was to look to his right. He saw Sophie looking around just as he had. Her eyes were wide until she caught him staring at her. She seemed to be okay. Aria had cooperated, it seemed. He was alive, that was a fact that he couldn¡¯t write off. Sophie had cooperated with him as she said she would. He went down the circle, Levi was alive because Luke had pressed cooperate. Although, he recalled a foggy sensation hovering over him. He remembered how the options transformed in front of his eyes. He felt like he was hit was a dose of noxious gas that made him hallucinate. Of course, it wasn¡¯t noxious gas, but the drug that was injected into him, just like the first time he had sat in these chairs. However...unlike the last time he had memory of the events that happened previous. He remembered walking through the music room and he remembered Lucky¡¯s terrible looking corpse. Simon was still breathing, it didn¡¯t seem that the gunfire had woken him like it had the others, but that was when a terrible feeling sank in his chest. Process of elimination wasn¡¯t a hard concept to grasp. He had heard a gunshot, that much he was sure of. And he knew the fates of four of the five participants. He turned his head slowly until he finally rested his eyes on Aria¡¯s limp body. Her head was blown back by the blast, there lies a cave where her left eye used to be. It drained whatever blood and brain matter that used to be resting in her head out onto the ground below. A lot of the fire sprayed blood on the ends of her hair. Luke¡¯s chest tightened and he screamed. As the others grew more aware of their situation they each responded with their own level of fear, from Levi¡¯s own panicked screams to Sophie¡¯s break in composure. Each of them had been screaming. Except for Simon. Luke had known why. It wasn¡¯t any mystery who caused the scene before them and it wasn¡¯t wholly surprising. "Do you really expect me to do anything other than the obvious?" was what he had said. Technically not a lie, but certainly not the whole truth either, and he¡¯d felt stupid for falling for it. He thinks in any rational situation he would have immediately called Simon out on his vague statement considering his previous declaration, but he had no excuses. Everything had been so much and he hadn¡¯t pressed further. This could have been avoided. "Simon! What the hell?!" He asked. "You killed her!" "And she killed her boyfriend¡¯s dad," He said with no more concern than a casual conversation. "She fought in self defense!" Luke yelled back. He didn¡¯t care anymore about playing nice. Not with Simon. He was mad. "I voted in self defense. How was I supposed to know that Levi would have voted the way he did?" "That¡¯s what we¡¯ve been trying to tell you!" Luke shouted. "We. Have. To. Trust. One. Another!" "Ah, please stop screaming, you¡¯re hurting my ears," Simon shakes off the relative discomfort. "Besides, that¡¯s not the only way to get out of here, much less even the fastest." "So that¡¯s it then? You¡¯re dedicated to defect every single round? How¡¯s that going to work out for anybody if we defect against you?" Simon shrugged his shoulders, "I mean, you¡¯re absolutely free to, but that just means we¡¯re all going to die here alone. If one of you defects then the others will be forced to defect. The cycle will never end. That¡¯s exactly what the mastermind wants, correct?" "What the hell is wrong with you? Does the fact that now two people have died here mean anything to you?" Luke asked. "Those two? Not too terribly. The old bitch was past her prime anyways. Aria was idiotic for believing anything else other than the obvious would happen. People like her don¡¯t deserve to be treated as anything else other than the scum that she is...was." "People like her? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Sophie asked. "Someone without worth. Someone without status. I could smell it on her the moment she started talking¡ªonly confirmed by what she told us about in her story. Obviously she lied about it being about self defense, she killed the father to pass the riches to her arm candy. I could smell it on her as I could on any one of you." "She already admitted to the murder, though," Sophie said. "I fail to see a reason on why she would choose to lie about that¡ªthe worst was already out of the bag." "People of status make the world go round. People without would do anything to have that position, and the thing is, they¡¯re cunning. Look at what she managed to do¡ªadmit to murder and still get your sympathies! What a pathetic lot, all of you. We¡¯re the agents of change, and you best believe that once I¡¯m out of here whoever is behind this bullshit game is going to wish they never even looked upon my face." "I cannot believe you," Luke said. "Hey, come off it," Simon looked directly at him. "You should have known that this was exactly this was going down the moment you all woke up. I didn¡¯t lie to you. I told you straight that I was going to defect every round. If you made the choice to cooperate, you only have yourselves to blame. Besides, if it wasn¡¯t me then one of you certainly would have done the very same. You all talk about being such perfect little angels, but when the cards come falling down and you¡¯re backed into a wall you¡¯d hit defect faster than you could rub your own twats." "You are one sad little man," Sophie said, brushing off his comment. "To think that your social status¡ªwhatever that may even be¡ªis even slightly relevant as a judge of your own worth." She looked over to Aria¡¯s body and shuddered. "People like you are probably the reason I¡¯m here in the first place..." She stared right back to him, "...And don¡¯t you dare for even a second that you¡¯re getting the opportunity to even touch the voting system again, much less vote." "Heh, someone¡¯s getting a little feisty," Simon said, a grin running across his face. "I¡¯m sure killing someone here outside of the game¡¯d be breaking the rules. Wouldn¡¯t want to risk losing your own life for a personal game of revenge now, would you?" "It won¡¯t stop me," Levi said. "Ah, but these restraints currently are working their magic, are they not?" "They won¡¯t for much longer," Levi said. Luke could see Levi¡¯s arms tense as he tried to push against them. It was most angry he¡¯s seen Levi since they¡¯d all woken up, he was a completely different person when he had adrenaline running through his system. "I¡¯ve only played by the rules of the game. If you have a problem with that, settle it in the game. Until then, I think we¡¯ve got some results on that screen up there," Simon nodded his head upward. Just as he had said it, a platform was lowering down from the abyssal ceiling above them with monitors facing outward on all sides. Answer was perched right on top of the forward-most screen. "Results for the Roulette Game shall be posted here. We might as well see them...even if they are early." Early...Answer had mentioned that before. Lucky had started his shift early. So it was always meant to be played? Whose idea was this? Why? It had to have some sort of purpose. The podium in the center begins to lower, catching all of their attention. The platform lowered and then stopped a moment, it had tried to recede into the ground before the floor below fully opened up. It rattled a clanging sound as the metal scraped against the floor until it finally was let through, closing the panel completely. ¡°Whoever is in charge must only want that gun around when it¡¯s convenient for them to drop a body,¡± Sophie said. The monitors began to light up one by one as text began to fill the screen with the new results from the last game. LEVI: __ __ __ 11 __ LUKE: 13 __ __ __ __ __ __ __ SOPHIE: __ 01 __ 08 05 __ SIMON: __ __ __ 18 __ 19 ARIA: __ __ __ __ __ AI: __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ "Well, it looked like I''ve caught back up and hey, look at that, you three have even gotten additional digits." Simon said. Luke stepped closer to him, "You''ve crossed the line," he shook his head. "There are many lines to follow," Answer called out. "Which ones will you see to their end?" This question silenced their argument. The restraints around all of them released and they fell to the ground like before. "There are others," Answer said. "What are you going on about?" Levi turned to him, but then shakes his head, remembering his mistake. "Gah, damn it." "I told you, I¡¯m not here to clean that garbage disposal." Answer strutted over toward Aria¡¯s body which had clumped to the ground in one lump mass. "Get away from her body!" Luke called out, running up toward it. Answer bent down, ignoring him before its beak jabbed into her body twice quickly, yanking her up each time it broke the skin. Luke jumped on the creature¡¯s wing in an effort to get it off of her. "No, you mustn¡¯t" Answer cocked its head toward him and uttered slowly, stretching its wings out to its full length. "You mustn¡¯t. You mustn¡¯t." It flapped backward once and tossed him off of the platform. He slid into a roll that tore at his sides. Answer opened his beak wider and snatched Aria¡¯s corpse by the hips and had begun to fly upward with it, dropped of blood falling from the ceiling splash down onto the small pool below. Answer flew so high they lost sight of him, but the sounds of him eating echoed from above. "Useless," Simon grunted, pulling himself up. "Why even waste your energy..." Luke turned toward him, his anger hadn¡¯t subsided. "Because she was a human being! She didn¡¯t deserve to be gobbled up by that...that thing!" "She¡¯s gone. Get over it. I mean, you¡¯re still alive, aren¡¯t you?" "For now," Sophie said. "That is, until you plan to kill every single one of us. You¡¯re no better than whoever brought us here. It might as well be you." Simon shakes his head, "Tch, if I wanted mouth I¡¯d ask you to-" That was all he was able to get out before Levi slammed his fist straight into Simon¡¯s face. His nose explodes into a burst of blood and snot and he crumpled to the floor. "I don¡¯t care if that kills me...punishment or not. That needed to be done," Levi said, shaking. Luke noticed that he was holding his fist, most likely out of wonder that it performed such an action rather than out of pain. Sophie bent down and placed her finger along his neck and held it for a few seconds. "I wasn¡¯t expecting him to be dead, but it¡¯s better safe than sorry. Best case scenario is he¡¯s out cold and won¡¯t be able to defect." "What if there¡¯s a punishment for him not voting?" Luke asked. "That¡¯s on him," Sophie shakes her head. "After the shit he pulled it¡¯s by the graces of God I don¡¯t kill him here." "Religious....are you?" Levi asked, half staring at his fist still. "I never was one for God..." Sophie stood from her kneeling position, adjusting herself and stretching. "My father used to take me when I was small¡ªto church I mean. Do I believe in God? I don¡¯t know...maybe, but I can''t say I don¡¯t have fond memories associated." "I wouldn¡¯t have pegged you as someone who would go to church," Levi said with his focus now finally draining from his hand. He regains his composure but his shake is still there. "You seem like a...how do you say it...science over faith kind of person?" "You¡¯d think..." Sophie said. "I don¡¯t think I would have gone in my own time, I think it¡¯s just because it was something for me and him to do." Luke began to drown out the sound of their almost-casual conversation. It had been...strange to him how quickly they had been able to shift gears and act as if they¡¯d just not experienced anything that had happened to them. Maybe...that was what was normal? Somewhere deep in his mind Luke knew that the human brain would do anything to protect its owner¡ªeven going so far as to release endorphins before the moment of death to release the body from pain. An instinct that is commonly associated with adrenaline boosts that which the one in danger may overcome the near death experience. Where had that come from? He¡¯d never thought anything that complicated or scientific since he had woken up. Could he possibly be the world¡¯s youngest scientist somewhere in that memory that he can''t seem to recall? Or maybe his parents¡ªwhoever they were¡ªwere government workers tasked with researching elements not of this planet. He didn¡¯t know what to think, but he did know that he was very aware of his inability to relate to the topics that the other two had been speaking on. He knew they knew it was serious¡ªthat someone had died and more could too. He knew that it was a mental reflex to distract the mind from the current dangerous situation¡ªto instruct it to prepare for that fight or flight reaction, but he couldn¡¯t help but want to take the two of them and shake them wildly and scream until he could scream no more. 16 It wasn¡¯t as easy as just letting it go, his mind was latched on like a parasite to the scene he¡¯d seen and wouldn¡¯t let go. It played on a loop in his mind until a single sound clicked in his mind. He wasn¡¯t sure if it only played for him as the others seemed to look around themselves as well. "Maybe...the lock for the next door has come undone?" Levi asked. "Let¡¯s fan out and see which one it is!" Luke said, begging his body to do anything than to remain at rest. He jogged toward the door furthest behind him before the stinging pain in his sides flared up. His body was punishing him for taking the hit, but he didn¡¯t know of anything else to do. He saw that the door¡¯s lock had not changed from the others, he quickly looked back to Sophie and Levi checking out two other doors before moving on to the next ones in line. They must have been locked too. Every single door available to them had been locked¡ªeven the one that had led to Aria¡¯s door. The sound then was the door locking which was a troublesome thought indeed. What were they to do next? It was then that it hit like a truck. Everything came out at once and Luke felt his legs lock up and he fell onto his back, landing on the hard floor below, staring up at the darkness above where Answer was somewhere tearing apart Aria¡¯s body. "Hey, are you okay?" Levi asked, walking over to him, extending a hand. Luke shook off his offer, simply lying down. "No, no. This is all too much. It¡¯s all so crazy! I don¡¯t know how I went along with everything like it was all okay. I can¡¯t...I can¡¯t anymore," he said. "This is so crazy I cannot accept it. My body is tired, it¡¯s hurt...and whoever this mastermind is wants us to just keep going? Keep tagging along as if we¡¯re sheep being led to some sort of cliff side?" Luke had enough. "No, I refuse. We¡¯ve only gone through one of these stupid doors and two people are dead. I can¡¯t go forward and believe that this is normal...that this is okay," Luke sobbed as he banged his head against the ground underneath him. "Hey, no, don¡¯t do that, come here," Levi grabbed for his arm and yanked him up. "Come on. This isn¡¯t normal, we see that. Someone real messed up is behind this all, but this kind of feeling is exactly what they¡¯re looking for. They wouldn¡¯t have made us vote to kill each other if it wasn¡¯t." Luke shook his head, "I don¡¯t know anything!" He cried out, taking Levi by surprise. Luke shook his way off, putting his hands on his head. "No! I don¡¯t know anything. I¡¯m so scared and I can¡¯t go on. I don¡¯t know...I¡¯m going to die and not know anything..." Levi grabbed both of his arms and almost squeezed him together like a sandwich. "Okay, listen, calm down, okay? There¡¯s nothing that¡¯s okay with this situation, but that¡¯s okay, you get me? I¡¯m in the same boat as you. I may not have amnesia...but I know as little about why we¡¯re here as you do on why you are, I¡¯m sure Sophie is the same way," he looked back for her response, she nodded without saying a word. "Listen, it looks like we have some time on our hands, I don¡¯t know when this next door will open, but we have to find some common ground¡ªsome solidarity or we¡¯re not going to make it much farther." "High words," Sophie said, "What do you intend?" Levi let Luke go. "I think we take a page from Aria¡¯s book," he turned back toward her. "We air out any dirty laundry we have. No judgments, clear the air¡ªclear the suspicion." He turned to look at Luke, "And you can j-join in if you remember anything," the stutter threatened, but he swallowed it down. Around them was a low ringing hum that slowed to a start, but it didn¡¯t amount to much more than that. Luke could feel it shake his stomach, but not so much to make him sick. He let his breath come back to his chest as he slowed it with the rhythm of the vibrations around him. Clear the air...something concrete to hold onto...it sounded like a wonderful idea. He felt guilty that he had no memories of his own to share...but maybe that wasn¡¯t the whole truth. Historia 17 "I¡¯ll start," Levi said. It was a brisk tone that almost hinted at hesitance, but he took in a deep breath and took to scratching at the nape of his neck. "I¡¯m...going to try to stay as on topic as possible, but if I stray please don¡¯t hesitate to let me know...I¡¯ve not really got a lot of experience with this kind of thing." Sophie said nothing. Luke simply looked him up and down. He hadn¡¯t fully taken him in, but Levi had a reasonable bulk to his stature that seemed to be easily hidden by his general fright. He¡¯s not surprised that one punch was enough to send Simon to the floor. "I run a daycare out in the real world...my wife and I built it from the ground up. We had a lot of pride and joy come from the daycare as much as blood and sorrow. We live in a small village¡ªnot many people would be able to point it out on a map, but it¡¯s on the far edge of Germany." "Huh, and Aria seemed to be from France...very Euro-centric gathering of people," Sophie said. "Are you from Europe?" Luke asked. "Nope, it¡¯s just interesting to see..." she said, "My apologies, do continue," she nodded her head. "We took care of children who had busy parents and even those who had no parents. We were open almost every hour of the day. My wife, Ophelia, she would always joke that we were the lifeblood of the village. Things were fine. They weren¡¯t perfect, our village was pretty poor overall and it wasn¡¯t a large life of luxury, but everyone found a reason to smile." Levi continued to scratch at his neck, now almost digging in with his nails. "Now, things got shaky when the drugs started pouring in." "Drugs?" Sophie asked. He sighed, "My village is small, everyone knew everyone and that was the way we liked it. Things were quiet by themselves, so it wasn¡¯t like one of the neighbors started cooking up marijuana in his backyard or anything like that...we were hit with some serious stuff. There was a chapter of a global cartel that had one of their farms set out in the countryside not too far from my village. It wasn¡¯t long until they set sights on it. Not wanting to be invaded and killed¡ªbecause that was a big problem in the past¡ªwe tried to stay as out of the way as possible." "Why couldn¡¯t you just have moved?" Luke asked. "It wouldn¡¯t be so easy. We have a lot of elderly in our village and it¡¯s pretty backwater¡ªso much that we avert from any unnecessary technology." "A very old fashioned place, huh? Can¡¯t say I¡¯d be a fan," Sophie said. "But I¡¯m sure it looks lovely." Levi nodded. "It¡¯s as natural as could be, the elders aren¡¯t one for moving from their places¡ªto them the land is extremely sacred or whatnot. So not only would they probably not make the journey, I doubt they¡¯d even want to leave." "Sacred land, huh? Sort of like the Indian burial ground kind of sacred?" Sophie asked. Levi looked up toward the ceiling, searching for any sign of the bird above. "No, not quite. I think they spoke of things on their level," he nodded up. "I never was one for the stories¡ªmy mother was devoted to telling them every night, but it seemed like harmless folklore. Just stuff about guardian spirits and the like that inhabit the soil." "So this cartel..." Luke said, "What was their deal?" "They have many different names based on where they¡¯re operating. I¡¯m not too sure on much besides that the chapter by us went by the name of the Blood Roses. They dealt in local low-level deals...almost like their existence was to funnel funds into a larger sect wherever they mainly were from. Didn¡¯t mean they weren¡¯t armed or any less dangerous than any sort of cartel, though." "Like a...cartel lite?" Sophie asked. "Yeah, sort of like that. Live in an area so long you hear the talk of the land¡ªthe few travelers we get relay any information on them most certainly. Things were always a bit tense when they started and settled near us, like an unspoken fear that we¡¯d be wiped out in an instant and the land would be cropped up into a meth field. Even if I wasn¡¯t big on the folklore, others were." "That sounds scary...almost makes this seem tame by comparison..." Luke looked over toward the roulette in the center of the room. "...almost." "The first day that they entered our village it was...calm. Two guys dressed in business suits and slicked hair walked in with briefcases at their sides. I was playing with some of the children outside¡ªshowing some of them their first snow. I remember it clearly. They walked through the center of the village and demanded to speak with one of the elders. I brought the children inside and my wife watched them as I stepped out and volunteered to speak for them. Damien Wise, our mayor so to speak was actually down with an illness at the time, but I¡¯m sure I would¡¯ve gone to speak with them anyway, much less than desirable to have those thugs near."This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. "You don¡¯t seem to have any bullet holes in you," Sophie said. "No, but truth be told I almost wish I did considering the circumstances." He said. "They were very polite, but their message was clear and they weren¡¯t going to take no for an answer. They said that our village was the perfect location to cultivate a strange new drug they were making based on some flowers that grew in our village. They would have their own building constructed and have two of their members working inside it, and in return the village could be assured it wouldn¡¯t suffer any shortages with food or water." "Were these common issues?" Sophie asks. "Strange that they¡¯d offer a deal," Luke said. "Not common, inevitable," Levi said. "And I was shocked by it too, there was little enough of us there that pulling a run and gun could¡¯ve been swept under a rug...there was only twenty-four of us. Whatever their reason, they asked for the deal...more told us what was going to be the deal, and I had no choice but to agree. Our police force is naught but we provide, and on that day one half of the force was currently talking to the two thugs." "You¡¯re a policeman, too?" Luke asked. "I¡¯m a man of many talents," he replied. "Hm...interesting," Sophie said. "Anyway, we couldn¡¯t fend them off if we wanted to, and if we said no I¡¯m sure that they would¡¯ve reported to their superiors and that would¡¯ve been the end of us. So, they said what they had to and left. I didn¡¯t say much at all through the whole conversation, to be frank." "So what happened after that, did the building get like...made?" Luke asked. "It did, it took two months and was set up on the edge of town, it looked like any other of ours which was surprising as they must have studied our style. Our buildings are more out of stone with wood furnishings¡ªvery close to nature as the elders say. They must have been studying us for a while, because they mimicked it perfectly. Of course, they brought all their technology inside, filling the belly of their beast with their electronics and generators. I couldn¡¯t tell you how it looks now¡ªI never ventured inside, but they got a huge power station in there and started work immediately. I¡¯d say within that month...probably late March was when they started their work. I don¡¯t know what drugs they¡¯re making, but the way they spoke about it suggested it wasn¡¯t like anything that was currently on the market. And also based on the fact that they chose my little village that housed this unique flower seemed like they wanted as little as people as possible that didn¡¯t need to know to know about its existence." "That¡¯s absolutely crazy," Luke said, imagining a sort of small-scale factory pumping out mystery drugs. "Things almost returned to normal. I mean, we were all aware of the situation, but they never asked us to do any of the drugs, nor did they leave their little building unless they were shipping out product. That actually leads up to me getting kidnapped and brought here, sometime in...April I think it was? I¡¯m having a hard time remembering what day it was, exactly. Things were as normal as they could be in our situation. I went to sleep one night and then woke up here, tied to that chair." "So it¡¯s a pretty safe assumption that the mastermind is in some portion related to that cartel?" Luke asked. "It would seem that would make the most sense," Sophie says. "Are there any cases of kidnappings in your village?" "No, none. People rarely travel out there unless their sole reason is traveling, and any who have passed by have all been well-meaning, or at the very least tolerable. I do agree that the timing of their arrival must have some factor into it." "Maybe there¡¯s a rival faction somewhere close you aren¡¯t aware of that noticed your village? Try to kidnap you as some sort of leverage?" Sophie reasoned. "I¡¯d be poor leverage." Luke rubbed his head and tried to think of anything in his mind that would relate to a cartel. Anything at all that mind jog some memories deep within him. Maybe he was the kid of the cartel¡¯s leader who decided that he wanted a girl instead...maybe this was some sort of punishment for not doing well in school by a parent who seriously needed mental help. He scrolled through every possibility, but none sounded right. He sighed as he looked up toward the two of them. "I kept trying to think if any of that sounded familiar to try and clear my amnesia...but I don¡¯t think any of it helped. I think...I think I see fragments of a memory, though." The others look surprised at him, interest filling their faces. It was a mutual look that he¡¯d seen for the first time simultaneously. "I...don¡¯t think it¡¯s mine, though, if that makes any sense." "Not yours? I don¡¯t see how you could differentiate," Sophie said. "It¡¯s strange. I know I don¡¯t have any frame of reference on what is mine and what isn¡¯t, and a memory should be mine, right? But this just feels...off. It feels like I watched a scene from a movie and am remembering those details, or am remembering the events of a friend. Something like that. There¡¯s no personal connection I feel, but it doesn¡¯t feel random." "Well, what is it about, anything good?" Levi asked. "Depends on what you consider good," Sophie said. "I don¡¯t know, maybe anything that would help us get out of here. Either that or maybe a scandalous sex scene to keep us entertained." Sophie pegged him across the stomach with her elbow. "Not anywhere is that an appropriate context." She looked to Luke, "Please tell us so we can change subjects." "R-Right..." Luke muttered, as he began to tell them of the memories he had seen. Memero | 2 18 The day that Cain and Abel would visit the library came not too long after the torrential downpour. Once the rain began to clear and the streets¡¯ water level receded to about average levels. The sun returned to the sky and the clouds began to part. It wasn¡¯t a particularly warm day¡ªthe spring was still used to becoming summer. It didn¡¯t bother Abel much, he loved being outside any chance he could get. It didn¡¯t cease Cain¡¯s complaining on their journey, however. The two brothers lived half a mile from the library on the west end of Salem. It wasn¡¯t particularly rare that inquisitive kids would find themselves magnetized toward the library from their homes¡ªwhether they walked, biked, or even rode the bus. Salem was a town of independence. Cain would always walk beside his brother¡ªAbel always took offense if he had started to push him first, so Abel would had begun the first stretch of their journey rolling himself along the sidewalk¡ªalbeit, at a much slower pace than Cain¡¯s regular walking speed. It wasn¡¯t that he couldn¡¯t go faster¡ªhe didn¡¯t want to. He loved looking up at the trees that lined the sidewalk. They engrossed him. They would reach the library in time, Cain would be the first one to get a good look at the building as they approached. Once inside they could feel the air conditioning and each relaxed a little more. "What section are we going to check out?" Abel looked over to Cain who had just pressed the button to the elevator. He looked down to Abel with a smirk. "It¡¯s time I show you what I¡¯ve been reading when I come down here." They stand next to an older woman with two books of her own under her arm. She looked down toward Abel and shook her head, thinking that nobody else could see her motion. Poor boy, the look said plainly. The elevator opened and the woman dashed out to continue her day without the thought of a boy in a wheelchair. Abel chuckled as they made their way out toward the third floor. "Sick sense of humor man," Cain said. "I can''t help it. Older women are the best. They always get that "Oh that poor boy" look on and it¡¯s like their minds turn off as they think how to approach the situation." "Devious man." "Devious? Hardly, I didn¡¯t do anything." "No, but you saw an opportunity, and that¡¯s exactly the thing that I¡¯ve been reading about." "Could you just tell me already and stop being vague?" Abel asked as they move their way past the rows of adult fiction. "One moment..." Cain said, pushing open a door that led to a deeper section of the second floor. A girl a few years older than either of them brushed past, avoiding their gaze. "Not too many other dudes here, is there?" Abel asked. "Think of it like fishing. Different kinds of fish come out during different seasons, times of day, correct?" "Well, yeah." "Same concept. It¡¯s spring, most guys around here don¡¯t want to be cramped up in a stuffy old place sitting still for hours." "Huh, you¡¯d think at least some would come out if they knew about the boy to girl ratio." "You¡¯re sounding a bit like Dad, you know that?" "Well, I mean I can afford to just a little bit. I mean, even you met Sophie here." "Yeah, but we¡¯re not here to pick up girls, dude. We¡¯re here on a mission." "Would be great if I knew what this mission was." Cain made his way to the very back of a larger room, scanning across the different lined bookshelves. They were so deep into the innards that they were in what Cain would call the Undesirable Section. This was a whole sort of books that were taken out so infrequently that they hadn¡¯t bothered to filter them in with the other¡ªmore commonly read books. It was the one thing that Cain wished he could change about the Salem Public Library, but it wasn¡¯t like he could force people to read the books. There were too many of them to even count. However, it did make it so that he could read them whenever he wanted to, guaranteed. The went to the far end of the Undesirables and grabbed a thick black book out. Gravity almost took it to the ground, but he swings it back upright and places his other hand under to keep it upright. Cain carries it over to the desk where Abel had parked himself. There were two other people scouring the Undesirables for new reads, Cain put them out of his mind. "This...is the Eye of Timaeus." He lets the book fall flat on the desk, catching the attention of the other two vultures before they return to their own work, shaking their heads. "This here is the good word if I¡¯ve heard any." "You make it seem like it¡¯s the next Bible," Abel said, curiously studying the outside of the text. It had certainly looked the part of some ancient forgone tome. Black blinding embossed with thick letters. He hadn¡¯t thought such a thing would be used for reading at first¡ªmaybe bludgeoning someone to death with how much it looked like it weighed. "You wanted to know why God does the things he does? Bible won¡¯t tell you that. It¡¯ll only tell you how it¡¯s good even if you think it¡¯s absolute shit," Cain said, making the effort to poke Abel¡¯s legs as he said so. "This here¡¯s your answer." "What¡¯s in it...? I honestly don¡¯t think I could read even a fifth of that without dying of boredom," Abel said. "This is by some old philosopher named Timaeus. He wrote his life¡¯s encounters with God and he thought the same exact things you were talking about the other day. It flashed in my mind as you said them." "Okay...well, that¡¯s still way too much to read in one day. That¡¯s crazy." "Dude, I¡¯m definitely not sitting here all day watching you stare at a book for three hours. No, I¡¯ve got a dinner date with Soph later. I¡¯m saying you¡¯re going to be the very first person to check out the Eye of Timaeus in like...well, forever. Here, you could just sit it on your lap like this and..." He dropped the book into Abel¡¯s lap, his left leg bobbed a little from the recoil. "...There. We¡¯ll go sign it out with my card and we could head home. I don¡¯t want to spoil any more than I¡¯ve already said. You don¡¯t have to read the whole thing, but once you start it I swear you won¡¯t be able to leave it unfinished." Cain puts his hands in his pockets, looking down at the book. "So, you read this whole thing?" Abel asked. "Yes. It didn¡¯t catch my interest at first, it¡¯s a bit hard to get into, but I know you¡¯re a smart kid, hell, probably smarter than I am. You¡¯ll probably blaze right through it." "And this will help?" Cain looked away from the book into his brother¡¯s face. "I felt like you did...like absolutely nothing was going right here. Like we were fucked from the second we were born, but nobody wanted to step away from pretending that everything was okay. That there," he nodded to the book, "That gave me some perspective." "And how did you find this out? I¡¯m sure you weren¡¯t just choosing to randomly stroll through the Undesirables?" Abel asked. Cain grins, "Soph, of course. I told you about how we first met. She was the only person I¡¯d seen at the time actually enter here with something in her eyes. She was searching for something. Curiosity¡¯s my weakness, so I just had to know what she was looking for." "And it was this book?" "The very same. I couldn¡¯t tell you what made her look for it, that I¡¯ll see if I could ask when I see her later, but I¡¯m sure she won¡¯t remember. It was two years ago that she was looking for it." "Right," Abel said, looking back up to Cain. "Well, I¡¯ll take a look at it, but no promises it won¡¯t land in the trash could if it¡¯s too boring." "I¡¯ll take that bet." 19 The boys went home a little after noon. They spent more time walking to and from than they had actually spent at the library. This was of course the norm for Cain. He typically knew what he wanted and where to find it, the bulk of his time then became reading the actual book. This time, however, he would not be the one reading. The boys separated as they entered their home. Cain greeted their father who was sitting in the family room reading the paper after his long day of work. He celebrated his days off as he worked long stretches away from home. During the front half of the week on the night shift he would be out of the house writing up reports based on the findings of his team. Their father worked as a marine biologist for the Genros Foundation, a Japanese based firm that was established long before even their father was a kid, but only more recently have they branched out as an international organization. They specialized in technology development, but have branches in medical, automotive and even biological researching. Their father was hired straight out of college after sharing a room with one of the now-heads of the marine research branch in his senior year. The man¡¯s name was Wayne Banner and was very generous on hiring their father straight out of college. Their father always strived to work hard to earn his position, but the truth of the matter was that Banner needed feet on the ground His days off kept him home and busy always working to update and upgrade bits and pieces of their home. He''d start a project one day to leave it sitting until the very last moment before he would return for work. This week''s assignment was fine-tuning the sink, but he would sit in his chair until the paper was finished, and that would be that. Cain moved past his father with a nod of his head and moved through the kitchen toward the pantry. There he found his mother ironing a blue dress shirt. He''d asked her if she could help him out with his clothes for his date later with Sophie. They''d been going out for two years, but he still felt the nerves that he had approaching her for the very first time. He knew that they had clicked when he approached her in the library that very first day, but there was something very...intimidating about her. She always wore her hair down, that much he knew now because she thought it was always such a pain to wear it up all the time. He asked her if it ever got in the way while it was down¡ªit was down to the small of her back¡ªand she had said that whatever annoyances that brought, it beat tying it up. The answer made only a little bit of sense to Cain, but he shrugged it off. He didn''t know much one way or the other, his hair had always been cut close to his skull. Sophie always had a way of silencing that tiny filter in her head; it didn''t have to be if something frustrated her. If she had something on her mind, Cain would hear about it no matter the time and place. Cain didn''t feel this was a bad thing¡ªhe actually appreciated her blunt nature. It made it easier to know when something was wrong. His parents kept the way of the halfie¡ªsmiling when something was wrong. He''s sure they hid a lot of their problems from him and Abel. Sophie wasn''t like that. She was exciting¡ªlike an unlit firework. She kept him on his feet, and he found it very alluring. It''s why it was so easy for him to get so absorbed in the book she''d been looking into¡ªThe Eye of Timaeus. Cain hadn''t been fully truthful with Abel, he knew in part why Sophie had been looking into the book, but that wasn''t something he could tell his brother quite so easily. He''d have to find it out for himself. He knew Abel, and he wouldn''t be too angry with the lie once he understood. That was all he wanted. As Cain''s mother finished up with the shirt he heard his father calling for her. She left to answer and Cain grabbed the shirt and moved to get changed. He wasn''t leaving for another hour, but he started to feel the anxiety crawl into his legs. There was still a lot that had to be done and the time to do it was shrinking minute by minute. 20 Abel was outside for a time longer than Cain. As Cain went back inside Abel took notice of how the sun looked in the sky. There weren¡¯t any clouds in the sky. It was a very nice day, but there was something in him that felt...unappealing. He couldn¡¯t fully describe the feeling. The day was set up perfectly for him to enjoy, a nice day out with his brother and a chance at reading something new. Maybe it was the look that he saw on Cain¡¯s face when he woke up. He¡¯d been seeing it every so often, now. It was most prevalent during the storms. He¡¯d wake from a nightmare and go to the bathroom, thinking he didn¡¯t wake Abel. He always did, but he figured that he¡¯d want the time to recover and not be embarrassed by his kid brother. The sun shone extra bright for a moment as if it were stretching itself out. Abel nodded slowly without understanding why. It just felt like the right thing to do. He wheeled himself to the door and pushed it open. He found his father standing up from his chair and setting aside the newspaper he had been reading. Abel stopped just beside his father''s chair, "Hi Dad, what¡¯s up?¡± He regarded Abel with a smile, ¡°Hey there. I¡¯m just gearing up to go take a look at the sink again.¡± ¡°Again?¡± ¡°Yeah, I think it¡¯s the danged garbage disposal. I swear the thing acts like I¡¯m there solely to fix it up.¡± He walks over to the thermometer and turns it down a few degrees, ¡°Gonna need any bit of saving from the heat as I can,¡± he chuckled. ¡°You find something you like from the library?¡± He cocked his head back toward his son. ¡°I think so, I might need some help lifting it onto the desk, though," he said, nodding toward the book in his lap. ¡°Hey honey, could you come and help Abel up to his room?¡± He called. ¡°Sure thing, be right there,¡± she said. His father hesitated a moment and then worked his way into the kitchen, passing by his wife coming the opposite direction and planting a kiss on her cheek as they passed. She blushed and smiled as she saw Abel. ¡°Hey sweetie,¡± she began. ¡°...Did you find something good with Cain?¡± ¡°Yeah, right here,¡± he clapped the front of the book with his hand. She made her way over and looked down toward the cover, ¡°The Eye of...Tim-ee-us?¡± She looked confused as the words left her mouth. ¡°Don¡¯t think I¡¯ve heard of that one before. It looks incredibly thick, you sure you¡¯re okay with that?¡± ¡°Cain pronounced it Tim-eye-us, like how it¡¯s called the eye on the front.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, I¡¯ll help bring you up now. Maybe after you¡¯re done you could look at a book I¡¯ve got next to my bed, I believe it might match yours! Hahaha¡± Abel knew she was talking about her good book. Abel could sense quite a bit of irony when he had been holding onto Cain''s supposed good book. He only offered a chuckle of his own that was tinged with a bit of awkwardness. ¡°Uh, thanks. I think I''ll be good with this, maybe some other time...?" "All the same," she clapped her hands together and wheeled her son over toward the homemade wheelchair lift that had been his father¡¯s previous month''s project at home. He finally completed it and it had made their household a much easier place to live in without the need to physically carry their son up and down the stairs every single time. All that would be needed was assistance connecting and disconnecting the chair to the lift itself. It worked almost like a conveyor belt. The only downside is sometimes the track would get caught in itself when trying to disconnect the wheelchair before turning it off, but his father had gotten pretty good at keeping the order straight as to not bung up the whole thing. His mother on the other hand seemed to continually make the mistake and hand wave it off as something that her husband had forgotten to test. This time, though, she remembered to turn the track off first and disconnected the chair with as much ease as could be. ¡°Huh, he finally got around to fixing that,¡± she said, more to herself. Abel couldn¡¯t help but suppress his smile. As he got into his and Cain''s room she took the book from his lap, muttered an ¡°oh bejeezum¡± at the weight of the book and set it down on his desk, brushing some imaginary dust off of the cover. She left with the door still open¡ªone of Abel''s biggest pet peeves. He wheeled his way over and closed it tight before making his way back toward the book. From the side he could see that the pages all look like they had been stained with all kinds of coffee over the probable several years it¡¯s been at Salem Public. He turned the cover open, not knowing what he would find inside. It was time to begin, a voice in his mind said. He wasn''t entirely sure if he recognized it. Abel looked as he flipped the cover open¡ªthere was a dedication scrawled on the inside with bright silver ink. A large chunk of it had been scratched off, but what he could make out was as follows: If found please burn- That certainly didn''t do anything to calm his nerves. He moved onto the next page, it seemed to be a foreword written by the author...or in this case, the translator, as something from an old philosopher must have gone through several translations through the years. He began to read. 21 THE EYE OF TIMAEUS TRANSLATOR¡¯S NOTE This book shall not be reproduced in any capacity or be taken from ARCTIC SYSTEMS premises. You will know if you have proper clearance by asking your supervisor found directly in your employee records. If you have no supervisor, congratulations boss. You are cleared to continue reading. If not, please burn this book immediately and without hesitation. Read no further if you¡¯ve not been given clearance. Offenses punishable by termination and sentence to death. There is no negotiation for this. These works inside have been translated from text older than any of us so any clerical errors must be taken as such¡ªthe translation team is naught but filled with humans made to err. Thankfully, we believe that the writings that follow are¡ªto our knowledge¡ªas accurate as we may possibly get. These writings have not to this point been published, translated, or much even so read outside of the ones who had written inside them. They have been long since lost to history from the annals of Timaeus, a philosopher largely forgotten by history who lived in the fourth century. Our department has worked tirelessly for these past five months translating this book in full. While there are several faces behind the work in this book, the brunt of the writing is the work of one, so you shall have no worry about the tone of the work¡ªTimaeus¡¯ ideas shall be kept as pure as can possibly be. I have studied Timaeus¡¯ work and compared it to other philosophers of the time...their language, pacing, even some of their slang that they attribute from their root language. What has resulted is an ultimate translation for the magnum opus of ¡®Heaven¡¯s Lost Angel¡¯. Before I introduce the text in full I wish to give some context in which The Eye of Timaeus came to be. Timaeus had been born to a time long before his work could be fully appreciated and analyzed. As with most in his time he was born to a poor farmer¡¯s family off of the coast of Greece near the end of the fourth century BCE. He had five brothers and sisters all his elder. He was born the run of the family¡ªa misshapen foot had almost guaranteed his early death to his parents. Their family suffered much and rejoiced little. What they could rejoice came from the fact that Timaeus lived far past the time his parents would have thought. He outgrew his conditions. Each of his brothers and sisters would pass to sickness or starvation before Timaeus himself would reach ten. He then became the sole heir to his father¡¯s name. This left a lot of strain on the family as both of his parents had long expected Timaeus to pass as his siblings had. They fed him the bare minimum using their defeated logic as justification. They had long accepted it by the fourth¡ªhis eldest sister¡ªhad passed on. But he did not pass. By the time he was a young adult he had taken over his father¡¯s share of the work on the farm, proving to them that he wasn¡¯t going to immediately fall to illness. He had made it farther than any of his brothers or sisters by this time, but unfortunately his father had too passed from this world due to a sickness to the brain. It was a genetic poison that had similarly flared up in each of Timaeus¡¯ siblings and it had been by mere chance that the condition hadn¡¯t ended Timaeus¡¯ life yet.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. For the coming years after his father¡¯s death Timaeus fell into a depressive rut that consisted of little else other than farming and worrying. From before sunrise to near sunset he would tend to the fields as his father had shown him to put food on the table for his mother. By nightfall he would tirelessly wonder which night would be his last, stranding his mother for good. She wasn¡¯t faring much better in those years, a battle with pneumonia almost silenced her heart, but a healthy harvest moon helped her regain her strength. All of what had encapsulated farm life seemed much too mundane for him. Often Timaeus would find himself staring at the sky wondering what kind of worlds could exist among the stars. One day while the sun had been out for longer than it normally would have, Timaeus had found an old beggar crawling the fields which he had plowed. The poor man looked like an animal asking to be put out of his misery. Instead of yelling the beggar away, he walked toward him with an odd curiosity. He had never seen the beggar before and while there certainly was their fair share of hooligans on the island that would try to steal from their farm, this old beggar didn¡¯t seem to be much for stealing. It seemed he was watching the crops, visualizing how they would look when they had matured. Something about the way he envisioned the crops like some great art piece had intrigued Timaeus. He didn¡¯t know if it was something fully within him or the pull of some higher power, but he walked toward the beggar and offered to treat him to a hearty dinner. The crops were doing really well this time of year, Timaeus had really gotten the hang of his father¡¯s work. He wondered what he would do if their roles were swapped, if Timaeus had wandered onto the farm of some luckier fellow than he. It was the first time that he had viewed anyone else as less fortunate than himself. The beggar happily accepted the invitation and revealed himself to be an old monk from up top of the mountains who had lived alone for the most of his life¡ªhe had stepped down to share his infinite wisdom with the people below and Timaeus had been the first person to accept him into their home. Timaeus¡¯ mother, Demedrora, had initially been wary of the stranger in her home¡ªthis was a fact she had not let slide into secrecy. The beggar named O had offered to teach Timaeus his infinite wisdom in exchange for his hospitality to which Timaeus had happily accepted. This had been the break from his normal life he had been looking for. On that same day he would follow the beggar back to his mountaintop home. Timaeus showed very little qualms about leaving the farm behind as he knew his mother was growing older by the day and that she, too would pass like his father. Had experienced enough tragedy in his life firsthand that he could not bare to witness any more. He left his mother with all the money he had, knowing it couldn¡¯t fully make up for taking away the work source for their home, but it was all he was willing to give. The journey to the mountaintop had taken them a total of seven days and seven nights. Timaeus had been a thin man as it was¡ªthe majority of the food going to his aging mother¡ªso it became more of a struggle come the end of the first day when hunger began to swell in his stomach. O seemed to not care for his appetite, for kept on walking, never slowing to allow him to stop. Somehow he found that the journey became easier. He almost accepted his death come the end of the third night. He hadn¡¯t had anything to eat or drink in almost three full days. His body became too weak to keep up with O¡¯s pace. It was at this point that O stopped¡ªand this would be the only point on the entire journey that he would¡ªand he reached out toward Timaeus, placing a finger first on his forehead and then shifting it down toward his lips. O slid his finger into Timaeus¡¯ mouth and suddenly a cold liquid began to works its way down his throat. He spoke not a word and it only lasted seconds at the longest. After it was finished he turned around and resumed his pace. Having the issue of his thirst resolved he stood back up and pushed back on the looming feeling of hunger still in his stomach. If the knowledge that O could give could lead to such miracles then he would have to find them out. The two of them finally reached the top a day after Timaeus¡¯ mother¡¯s passing down on the surface. She¡¯d been hiding a sickness from him for weeks and when it came time for him to leave their home she gave up on living. Timaeus learned as he reached the top the true meaning of sacrifice as he gave everything to finally reach the end of the journey. What awaited him inside was library filled completely with books of all sizes. The collective knowledge contained in these books is eventually what come to be known as ¦³¦Ï ¦Ì?¦Ó¦É ¦Ó¦Ï¦Ô ¦³¦É¦Ì?¦Ï¦Ô, or ¡°The Eye of Timaeus¡±. He had begun by staring incredulously at the large amount of books that lined the interior of O¡¯s Library. It seemed to extend for half a mile outward into what must have been the interior of the mountain. He walked and passed book after book...the each of them was thicker than any he had seen before. They looked alien with their bindings so perfectly laced. Each of them had bold words on the spine to denote their name. Timaeus made his way back toward the entrance to search up the name of the first book, ¦¦¦¸¦§, or more simply, ¡°Life¡±. His curiosity would not allow him to begin without first confirming the title of the final book in the line and as he ran down he had seen that it had been given the name of the Greek God of Death, ¦¨?¦Í¦Á¦Ó¦Ï?, ¡°Thanatos¡±. The only rule that O had given him was that he had to read each book in order, there could be no skipping around. The end of each book would lead him to the next so he should not ever get lost. The reason for the rule had been that the books were laid out in a very specific order. The information would be too much out of context and it could very well kill him. Timaeus had agreed to the stipulation and he had begun reading at ¡°Life¡±. O then took his leave from the library forever. Timaeus would not see him ever again and his mysterious connection to the great library would hang in Timaeus¡¯ mind before long. He would then dedicate the next few years working his way through the books as quickly as he could. He cultivated a fascination with the information that he learned and realized before long there would be no conceivable way that he would be able to finish the books before he himself had passed. As he too had grown older Timaeus had realized that it would simply be impossible to fully understand all of the books that had been provided to him and manage to keep a surviving record of them. The month before his own passing Timaeus made his way down toward the people below him for the first time in years. His health had been deteriorating quicker than he had hoped. He still had so much to learn from the books¡ªof which he had only been able ever to make a small dent out of. He carried under his arm his manuscript¡ªThe Eye¡ªI shall refer to it from this point as. He needed to ensure that the information kept within The Eye would be safe and passed down to a future generation. If he had died inside the great library then he was sure that the knowledge would die with him. This could not happen. And just before his death he had managed to find someone who had the same visions of grandeur as he had. Someone who had wanted to learn the truth of the universe. It was a student, a young boy willing to learn what The Eye had to offer and then some. He would take this boy far from his family all the way back to the home on the mountain tops. The boy¡¯s family would have nothing to do of Timaeus¡¯ speak of prophecies and libraries, so the first meeting was naught but a lost opportunity. It became Timaeus¡¯ mission to pull the boy¡¯s desires from his family who had obviously not appreciated the concept of furthering one¡¯s knowledge. It is from this point that Timaeus would steal away the boy in the night and he brought him up toward the library just as O had brought him years prior. He kept up the same pace that the old beggar had where the boy¡ªAdreus¡ªshowed much restraint after the first hour of the journey up. The boy was nearing adulthood, so he understood patience, but he also thought he might have understood regret in those moments as well. Nearing the top of the journey the boy realized he had wanted nothing more than to return to his family, but the moment that he caught sight of the great library everything but the hunger for knowledge had melted away. Timaeus hadn¡¯t expected that Adreus would finish the work that he started. He made that very clear to the boy when he took him inside. There were simply too many books to fit in a lifetime, maybe even two. If it was something he wished to do, it would be likely that he would have to take his place someday and add the knowledge that he receives from the books to The Eye and in turn pass it down to the next generation. These were words he shared often with Adreus¡ªexpecting to be able to finish the job would only lead to stress and doubt. They became his untimely killers and he wonders if he could have made further progress without them. So it had been set. Beginning from that day began a cycle which would culminate into the book you carry now. The title of this book may be ¡°The Eye of Timaeus¡±, but really it ends up only being a half truth. Without the proper context it wouldn¡¯t have made much sense, so for that facsimile I apologize. The Eye is a culmination of generations of hermits and their collection of knowledge from the original beggar¡¯s library of vast and seemingly infinite universal knowledge and stories. Nobody knows the true origin of the books, their authors, or even who was able to construct the library without a single soul letting loose the information. Our best guess leads only to the original beggar, O, that Timaeus had made contact with. It is unknown to us what had happened to O after he introduced Timaeus to the Library. It is also unknown how Timaeus and all of the future hermits had been able to survive on their quest without proper food, water and personal upkeep. They spent their time according to The Eye completely and wholly focused on seeking out O¡¯s knowledge. The best theory we have comes from the tale Timaeus tells during his climb up the mountain originally. O¡¯s mysterious power to produce water from his fingertips warrants some skepticism, but seeing as the original writings are here for us to translate...we have no choice but to believe the authenticity of his words. To date, countless souls have written their fair share of excerpts from the Great Library in hopes that the baton would someday be passed for the final leg of the race, but unfortunately along the path at some point one soul had abandoned their post from the mountain top to sell The Eye for profit and thus began a long history of it changing hands before eventually succumbing to legend. Fewer and fewer people believed in the original source of The Eye and fewer believed that the tales about the man were even true. As such, Timaeus was a name that would not go down in history as the world¡¯s recognized philosophers as Plato and Socrates. The text would remain hidden to history until 1976 where it had been uncovered by our excavation team in a small stone home off in a small village in Eastern Europe. The village had maybe less than ten people living in it, all a close knit community¡ªcloser than most that we know to this day. We seized it during an operation were our soldiers were to raid a small village where we had readings of something big. I know not of the exact details of the mission, only what I¡¯ve been told second hand from coworkers that had participated in the retrieval mission. Someone either must have loose lips, or they¡¯ve exceptional spies in the fact that the entire village had been vacated before any of our soldiers had arrived, but it must have been such short notice that they did not have time to hide any of their valuables. Do not worry for we are not savages. What had been taken had not been their gold or their furniture¡ªwhat little of each there was, that much I am certain. I know our people and when they are given a mission they follow it to a note. No more no less. Just how you like it. There were tales of an old book showing up in this village and when one of our men¡ªPontef Sezaro¡ªhad managed to find the tome that had been enough for them to leave the village well enough alone. I fear I do not know if they¡¯ve returned to their homes or have fled altogether¡ªfearing another invasion. I do know that the book that they have found¡ªthe book we have spent the last five years working to translate had been nothing short of the real deal. I had become fascinated with it immediately. Diving into it we could sense the emotion and the excitement that each individual person had scrawled down. Each of their different styles running to the book as soon as they found something that made their hearts flutter like nothing they had ever experienced. We didn¡¯t know much of the language that they used, but five years with that book showed its inner patterns. The book was passed from person to person intermittently as we tried to break the initial barrier that became this book. Now, the year is 1981and this script here is the closest thing we shall have as a full English translation of the original work. I know not what purpose this information will be of use for humanity, but I can say with utmost certainty that this is going to be something not like anything we¡¯ve ever seen. The original text I¡¯ve disposed of¡ªburned. We¡¯ve had some...incidents surrounding the original that I can¡¯t bear to write down. I shall keep them to my own mind. They are my secrets to lie with...but the reason isn¡¯t for a pride in secrecy or anything similar. I¡¯m afraid I cannot mention it here, for if I do then all of this will have been for nothing. For those that wish to know, keep reading and you shall know, but you shall also know why I am unable to talk about it here. And now finally, to everyone in my life that I¡¯ve done wrong, that I¡¯ve gone against, I am sorry. I had thought that knowledge about the world was the ultimate goal¡ªthat nothing else had mattered. I¡¯m afraid to say that I¡¯m at the end here¡ªafter this book I shall be no longer. There is a beauty to the curse that is infinite knowledge and it is for that reason that I have looked upon its pages and smiled at its face. The Eye of Timaeus shall never be a widespread book¡ªthat is not the purpose of this translation. Consider it a warning. I have done my part and with this the text may be started proper, but be warned that there is powerful knowledge in those that follow. Do not read for spite. Do not read for pity. Read only to learn and only to pass on. Nobody knows what sorts of demons reside in knowledge of the infinite worlds. W.B. CONFIDENTIAL PROPERTY OF: ARCTIC SYSTEMS 22 Abel kept on reading throughout the Eye. The book started with some bible level god-speak of supposedly how the world came to existence. Abel didn¡¯t care much for any of that¡ªthe result was the world he lived in now. How it began didn¡¯t so much concern him to a point and it was to that point that he cared for. Once he got past the first few passages he found an entry that caught his attention. It spoke of some monsters of the dark...almost childish tales of the boogeyman. He looked up from the book, questions buzzing in his head. Why had Cain been so adamant that he¡¯d enjoy this? It were as if he were told to fear the monsters waiting underneath his bed, waiting to grab at his legs. They could have them, he thought. Wasn¡¯t much use to him as it stood. With a bit of spite he turned the page to see what this Timaeus fellow had to say about these supposed creatures of the dark. The next heading read simply of a terrible creature¡ªdraconian in shape with the blank face of a human. Abel studied the face¡ªit almost looked like a stone statue of some Greek hero. The expression was plain, staring out into nothingness. He wasn¡¯t sure if the drawing was accurate to whatever this Sakonna was or if it was on the part of the translator¡¯s imagination, but there was certainly enough detail in it to give him a mental image of how this creature would stalk in the night. He followed down to see the Eye make mention that Sakonna was the first creature from Noctem to arrive on Earth after something called the Darkbright was shattered. Whatever that had been he didn¡¯t know, he had only skimmed the portion above. He backtracked until he saw the term again under the previous heading. He traced the line with his finger, reading aloud, "Our world of light had begun to expand farther than The Craftsman could control. In order to avoid the complete overtaking of Noctem, Luxmund had to be sent far enough away so that it could grow into its own. This is when the Darkbright barrier had to be formed¡ªan invisible wall that could stop Luxmund from overtaking Noctem if it expanded too large. This is how our universe continues to expand¡ªand shall continue to expand until it cannot anymore. There are only theories to rest on what will happen to our world once the expansion had fully taken place. We could know now that the expansion had fully been an accident on the play of The Craftsman." Our world was an accident, huh? Abel begun to think that this Craftsman should have left well enough alone. He¡¯s caused so much pain sadness. He took in a breath and pushes himself backward from the desk, propelling himself to the center of the room, staring up at the ceiling. Well, maybe if this was as so then they¡¯d be able to get their fair share if our world were to keep expanding. It would shatter this Darkbright thing and teach that Craftsman a thing or two about pain. He shook his head, silently letting off a single curse. No, no. He mustn¡¯t get too angry. This was all just gobbledygook that some fraud wrote over a hundred years ago. Cain must have just known that he liked to read and thought it was a good story to read up on...but then his brother flashed in his mind. "I felt like you did...like absolutely nothing was going right here. Like we were fucked from the second we were born, but nobody wanted to step away from pretending that everything was okay. That there gave me some perspective." No, Cain had sounded serious about this book, like he really believed that whatever nonsense he was going on about had helped him come to terms with what we were going through. He turned to stare toward his door, imagining his mother and father¡¯s room just outside at the end of the hall, imagining what could be going on in there now. He shook it off and wheeled himself back toward the desk. Reading it as a skeptic wouldn¡¯t do him much good. It wasn¡¯t like he could debate the translator on his points or even question his intentions. He might as well start from the top and see what his brother had meant about this book¡ªThe Eye. 23 LIFE Life is an experience. Consciousness is the experience of experiencing. They are joined by the sight of seeing, the smell of smelling. It is so very complicated to some asked of the question, but it is not so strong to match the experience. Life is fragile and can be ended for almost any reason at all. It is not so by accident as we have a creator who we may point our frustrations and our blame as well as our thanks and our praise. This is a fact that many will find difficulty with. The existence of a creator implies that our imperfections are intended that of imperfection itself, intended through negligence, or that we as imperfect creatures are meant to suffer unquestionably. This is okay. These questions¡¯ existence shall persist no matter what I write down here, and I have come to terms with that. Their existence shall persist whether it is difficult or not. Whether it is fair, just, or even welcomed. To such a creator we extend such complicated feelings because we ourselves are complicated. We experience joy, sorrow, love, heartbreak, life and death. A juxtaposition of these two expressions is nothing that we cannot expect. You might exclaim to Olympus that your prayers have been unheard or for your son to be well, but it shall be known as a first truth that these two activities would be just as well as tossing sand in the air and expecting it to rain fortunes from your roof. Our creator is not one of the sky or of words. They are one of experience...a separate, darker experience. Our ¡®verse is but a half of its own whole, and but a fraction of even its own half. There exists a realm outside of our own. The Creator¡ªThe Craftsman¡ªI shall label him for the purposes of purpose¡ªmade very deliberate choices with which substances would originate our universe, but they would also bring the beginning to a manyverse. Air, water, fire, earth...these substances are all born from a weightless nothing floating in the darkness before there was light. They did not exist with physical bodies as with everything within the darkness, but with waves. Waves that rippled across the cosmos that yearned to touch one another. The Craftsman brought these four waves into the world with but a microsecond of imagining them. He had felt an immense and overbearing coldness in the darkness that existed outside of all time¡ªall space. A quick aside¡ªthe Great Library makes reference to this great darkness many a time, Noctem. It makes a very important distinction that Noctem and our world¡ªreferred to as Luxmund¡ªare two separate entities entirely. It can be theorized that Luxmund is our world of light while the world of the night, Noctem, is the true origin point of the universe. From darkness is a world without light¡ªwithout physical form. The forms exist as waves until they cross over into the light where they may have physicality¡ªas with the elements that shaped our world. They began without shells to inhabit. Before they entered our world as substance they were without substance. Such is the same with life. Life begins as nothing but waves inside Noctem¡ªa dark nothingness which The Craftsman inhabits. Whether through benevolence or through malice, light was created. Light fused with more light to create sentience. The light could not survive in Noctem without being suffocated wholly and fully, so The Craftsman had to create a new universe for the light to inhabit. Fire, water, earth and air. They began Luxmund with a roaring bang that echoed throughout Noctem. Fire would batter the Earth until it had cooked. Water would douse the flames on the surface and air would mold the remains into a single, final sculpture of imperfections and scars. It had been all wrong from the beginning. Luxmund wasn¡¯t ever perfect. It had been a mistake on the part of an imperfect creator from the beginning. Our world of light had begun to expand farther than The Craftsman could control. In order to avoid the complete overtaking of Noctem, Luxmund had to be sent far enough away so that it could grow into its own. This is when the Darkbright Barrier had to be formed¡ªan invisible wall that could stop Luxmund from overtaking Noctem if it expanded too large. This is how our universe continues to expand¡ªand shall continue to expand until it cannot anymore. There are only theories to rest on what will happen to our world once the expansion has fully taken place. We can know now that the expansion has fully been an accident on the play of The Craftsman. In an attempt to restart Luxmund millions upon millions of stars were placed in the sky¡ªexploding infinitely as The Craftsman grew infinitely more annoyed with his own failures. It had turned out that the stars had done little to restart the universe, they had rather lit the sky from which the beings of the universe could look out toward. The Craftsman of course had created the light, but as any artist would tell you that when a piece created spirals out of control and threatens to be the death of everything that you know...there is a form of regret in the creation. Once Luxmund had escaped The Craftsman¡¯s grasp he could no longer adjust the new worlds he had created. It had forever been out of his reach. He knew that he would not be alone in his despair for there were other creatures of the night that had felt even more threatened by the light than he had. These were beings without form until they would cross over into our world...and for a few of them, these volumes have terrible descriptions for these monsters. Noctem isn¡¯t a lonely place only inhabited by The Craftsman¡ªno. Far from it. It exists a realm of beings and creatures that live through the waves of the darkness. The human mind couldn¡¯t begin to comprehend their original forms. They each have their own wills and are but one that share existence with The Craftsman¡ªanother of the creatures of the dark. An important fact must be learned about these creatures¡ªthere is no such thing as true evil or true good. Goodness and Evilness exists on a scale which is wholly human-made. In our world there is only survival. Thus, to the creatures of the night, once Luxmund came into creation they immediately perceived the threat of light within Noctem. If the universe The Craftsman had created expanded to its fullest size¡ªthey would be engulfed in light and extinguished completely. For as long as they knew existence there was peace. They received a calming notion when they saw the separation of the two worlds and the creation of the Darkbright. Luxmund was free to expand as much as it dear long needed to and they could exist as they had in peace. Things had not remained as such. Luxmund would soon grow larger than even The Craftsman could ever imagine¡ªand he could imagine infinite expansion. As Luxmund grew and grew there became a tear in space as the energy the universe had been creating had been too much to sustain itself. There had been so much excess energy that a second, identical Luxmund had been created just beside the original. As the two of them continued to grow and enough energy built up they would in turn split into their own, near perfectly identical universes. This was not what The Craftsman had wanted. It had not what he had imagined when he had created Luxmund. He couldn¡¯t have seen that it would expand in such a way and now with every separate copy that would be created, the Darkbright would be assaulted with another blast of light. If left alone there would be no Darkbright left and they would all perish. The Craftsman realized he had to do something to stop the expansion before it had enveloped them all. He had moved to step into the light¡ªthe first time any of his kind had done such a feat. He had to use the largest of his energy to cross the Darkbright¡ªeven with the damage from the light it had been a strong force created from his own will to be unbreakable. As he touched the light he began to scream. He had flesh¡ªand it began to burn. He experienced pain for the first time. It burned him with fires greater than the Earth¡¯s core. His screams echoed in the form of cosmic waves that shook the galaxies into motion, sending planets and asteroids that were previously sluggish into full motion in their orbits. One of these asteroids hurtled toward the Earth¡ªstill in its infancy. The collision was massive and had decimated a large portion of the life that had made its home on the planet, but it would not be enough to ensure the end of life. Far from it...life would truly start here for those that would consider this planet home. Luxmund faced a near death after The Craftsman¡¯s excursion...is a falsehood in its own right. Never before was there any such danger of complete destruction by its creator¡¯s hand. It had been multiplying too quickly for if The Craftsman were to totally annihilate a single universe, three more would take its place. It had been spreading far and wide. Initially, The Craftsman had believed that it was the immense energy growing from the universe that had caused the multiples to appear, but this wasn¡¯t a whole truth either. Choices what were drove the multiplicity of the universe into the manyverse. Would the wind blow this way...or that way? Would the butterfly choose to rest on this particular flower or the next? Would it choose to do so again the next day, or would it be eaten by a lizard prowling the grounds? Everything and anything made choices based on the environment around it and the light knew this. The light gave room for all of these choices to exist parallel to one another. For each choice that was made a separate but almost equal universe had been created to accompany any result from those choices. The inhabitants of one universe would not be able to cross these universes¡ªespecially not to know of their existence. The knowledge of parallel existences would overload any mind with analysis paralysis. Any person in this position would spend an infinite amount of time pining after their desired universe and die before they ever see it. Their death would mean nothing to the cosmos...but it would mean everything to them. They would build civilizations around the fragility of their own life...as we of this world have. The creatures of the night¡ªthose that The Craftsman had left behind in Noctem to combat Luxmund¡ªthey despised everything that our world had come to stand for. Their darkness was singular, stagnant. It had not expanded a micrometer since the creation of Luxmund¡ªit had never previously needed to, but in comparison to the light, which had been expanding effortlessly and continuously growing...it had become too much. Each universe created launched its own attack on the Darkbright¡ªthrough no fault of the inhabitants that existed within, but that didn¡¯t matter to the creatures of Noctem. Their home was being attacked. Again and again and again and again. Something had to be done. The creatures of the night banded together and broke through a weak point in Darkbright, allowing a spillage of both worlds into each other. Now that they were free to, the creatures of the night began to roam Luxmund. This is the last of the linear tale that the books seems to tell. I have done as my mentor has bid me and not spoiled myself the contents of the future books, but I cannot promise their contents. After Manyverse, the books seem to go into detail on the various creatures that exist within Noctem. The oddity is that it doesn¡¯t seem to tell of just our world¡¯s history¡ªit even gives light to our planet¡¯s future. To change subjects so quickly and without notice is jarring, but I must follow the order the books are given as, so I hope you can forgive my resilience, first comes the tale of the horrible Sakonna. Calamitatum 24 Luke was shocked to see that their reactions weren¡¯t quite in line with his expectations. Levi was the first to speak after Luke had finished summarizing the scenes he had seen. "That sounds...really strange," Levi began, "...friends of yours?" "I don¡¯t think so," Luke replied. "I don¡¯t remember seeing it personally. You know when you remember something it¡¯s like...so obvious to you that you don¡¯t know how you ever forgot it? That doesn¡¯t feel like this. I still don¡¯t think it¡¯s anybody I knew." "Hm...well, maybe you¡¯re the mastermind behind it all," Sophie said. ¡°I mean, out of all the names you pick for that kid¡¯s girlfriend you pick mine?¡± "T-That¡¯s not funny," Luke said, quieter. ¡°And I don¡¯t know, you sure you¡¯re not this mysterious girlfriend?¡± She shook her head, ¡°I¡¯m aromantic. I don¡¯t care about that stuff in the slightest There are much more important things to worry about.¡± She took in a heavy sigh. "I¡¯ve never heard of anybody going through what you¡¯re going through, though. So that¡¯s kind of tough shit on you.¡± She shrugged. Luke didn¡¯t know what to think to that. Sophie didn¡¯t seem much for talking typically, but here she didn¡¯t seem to stop. He wondered...how much of a coincidence would it be that the person in the memory shared the same name? It wasn¡¯t that odd of a name...but it wasn¡¯t like his own where he could see several people within the same town sharing it. Then again...if only he could see the face behind the name and clear it all up. It sat as a mystery box in his mind. "You sure you¡¯re not behind this?¡± Levi asked. ¡°Positive,¡± she said. "Listen, if I were even the slightest bit behind this I would have set up an infinitely more efficient game. This is the work of the lazy." "Lazy? Luke asked. "Think about it, we¡¯ve only been interacting with robots...for lack of a better term. The roulette game is set on a timer, these doors open on timers¡ªit¡¯s practically set to run itself. I mean, sure, if you wanted to participate from the game yourself having everything else automated makes sense, but think of our options here. We¡¯ve got a hillbilly, a kid, a rich brat, and the most dangerous of us killing wise is already dead. Doesn¡¯t really stack up as mastermind material." "What are you suggesting?" Levi asked. "I don¡¯t believe you two are behind this game, and I don¡¯t believe Simon¡¯s smart enough to concoct anything on this level. Besides, the mastermind would try to avert suspicion, and everything he¡¯s done has pretty much been the opposite of that goal." "Okay, follow up question, only because I¡¯m curious. You said "if I were to run a game like this"...you see, that¡¯s where I have a bit of an issue," Levi began. "I...I don¡¯t think of this game as anything other than the worst thing that¡¯s ever happened to me. I mean, it¡¯s ten times worse than running drugs, and that¡¯s saying something. To hear you so much as say that....to think of how you could even do something...better...?" She shook her head, "I don¡¯t want to make this game. I¡¯m not psychotic. I just am trying to explain that this would have been a much more efficient game if I were behind it. I think trying to organize it from within the game would be horribly unfortunate...I¡¯m big on being in control, you see. I even made an example of you two right here.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Luke asked. ¡°You didn¡¯t ask the right questions.¡± ¡°The right...what kinda questions would those be?¡± Levi asked. "The memory you were speaking about? Yeah, I know the two boys you remember." Luke had to stop everything that he was thinking about just to stare at her with the expression he had. "Um, excuse me...what?!" "I never denied it."This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°You...you totally did!¡± ¡°No, you specifically asked if I was Cain¡¯s girlfriend or if I was behind it all. I¡¯m neither, but you never asked if I knew the two of them. I do.¡± "You implied it sure enough," Levi said, "And that is very crucial information!" "I don¡¯t see it as crucial. My life outside here isn¡¯t pertinent to why we¡¯re here." "And how are you so sure about that?" Luke asked. ¡°It¡¯s not important that I¡¯m suddenly remembering these people?¡± "...Because the both of them are dead now." Luke saw sorrow in her eyes for the first time. He took a step back and took in a deep breath. "I...I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t know." "I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re remembering them...those private conversations I didn¡¯t even know about." "..." Luke had nothing to say to this. Just what was happening to him? Surely he wasn¡¯t going crazy? There had to be some importance to those two...why else would she be here of all places, and he be remembering them of all people? It was more than what could be coincidence...but would she tell him? He didn¡¯t think so...not right now. If they really were dead, then it¡¯d certainly be a hot point of contention that their little group didn¡¯t need at the moment...with all that had happened. If they weren¡¯t dead and she were lying, well, he couldn¡¯t expect the truth from that scenario either. As much as he hated to admit it...he would have to let go of it for now. "I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t know either. If I did I¡¯d share...it¡¯s just a huge ball of confusion inside me right now." Luke looked down to the floor. She eyed him before nodding slightly, "Right...I understand. I mean, if I thought it were of any importance I would have brought it up. I just don¡¯t see how it could help us right now." "Well...what do we do from this point?" Levi asked, but he didn¡¯t have to wait long for an answer. The sound of metal grinding echoed through the cavern of a room, and Luke spotted first that the easternmost door had begun to rise. The time limit must have been up for when the door would open. Strange that it seemed to differ from the last round...or maybe he just underestimated how much time Lucky had been speaking to them. Either way, the path forward had been opened, and he thought that he was out of tears and out of questions. I have to continue forward...and if I keep stopping then we¡¯re all going to die in here. No matter what happens I have to keep strong. It¡¯s what Aria would have wanted. She wanted us to be friends when we got out of here...and I think I do too. Even if I cannot remember who I am, I know that I can control this. We will get out of here. Luke stood up and walked over toward Simon¡¯s unconscious body. He hadn¡¯t noticed it before...perhaps because of everything that was going on, but there was a remnant of a scar just underneath his left cheek. It was mostly hidden by the lighting of his cheekbones, but coming closer he could see it more clearly. I wonder what he did to get that sort of mark? "Hey, what are you doing?" Levi asked. "I¡¯m not going on without him," Luke said. "Are you daft?" Sophie asked. Luke looked from her back to him, "I haven¡¯t forgiven him for what he did, nor how dumb I feel for letting him do what he did. He¡¯s a manipulator and will stop at nothing to get out of here...but I¡¯m sure that if we go through that door without him he is going to die out here." "Serves him right," Sophie said. Luke gripped his fist tight. "I...can¡¯t....let that happen." "Come on, we-" Luke shook his head, "I can¡¯t leave him here to die. That would be stooping down to his level. If we can make it out of this place he can be tried fairly..." "I don¡¯t think fairly is going to stick," Sophie said. "Besides, even if we make it out of this and he doesn¡¯t kill us in the process he certainly sounded like he had enough money to sue his way out of anything. Nothing you even set¡ªif what happened here is legally prosecutable¡ªwould stick." Luke thought about it...and what she had said had made sense, but it didn¡¯t change how he thought. "I still can¡¯t leave him." Levi sighed, "Alright," he walked over toward the both of them, deftly swinging his elbow into Luke¡¯s stomach. He doubled over as the air left his lungs. "H-What?!" He coughed out as Levi hoisted him up. "Nice hit," Sophie said. "Think of it this way¡ªyou tried your hardest, okay? You¡¯re not leaving him. I am. Guilt free." "That¡¯s¡ªack¡ªnot how it works!" Luke called out, but before he knew it Levi was barreling toward the door. Sophie was following closer behind. Luke tried to call out and to fight him off¡ªhe couldn¡¯t leave him behind. No matter how bad he was he couldn¡¯t leave him behind. He- "Cain?! Where¡¯d you go? CAIN?!" The voice shot through him like a gunshot and froze his body. He watched as the two cars melded together behind his eyes as the door began to shut behind them. There were no words that left his mouth...only the sight of Abel crying out as his legs would never move again. Emet 25 The door that came next had a single word inscripted on the face just as the previous one had: "LEVI". It opened slowly as a gust of fresh air brushed past the group. Luke, now back on the ground and his legs feeling like jelly could see just past them that the door led outside¡ªhe could see the sky up above them and the sun peeking out over the day. It almost seemed unfair to him. Was this it? Were they free that easy? Was it that close and now he¡¯ll have to live that another of them is dead because he wasn¡¯t strong enough? For some ugly reason...he had almost hoped that it wasn¡¯t over. He wanted to be free, no doubt about it, but he felt a horrible blackness inside the pit of his stomach. Just before it formed into a solid feeling he looked back up, the sun was still beating brilliantly over the field, grass flowing in the slight winds. "What the..." Sophie asked, stepping out. She was the first, but as soon as she did Levi and Luke poured out behind her. They felt the soft dirt beneath their feet as tiny patches of grass interspersed throughout. It looked like there was a small village across a bridge. The bridge itself was small and old fashioned; its wood looked ancient, but sturdy. The village itself looked like it had been stolen out of one of an old fairy tale¡ªbuildings made of stone and wood with unlit lanterns for when the sun sets. Luke lets the door close behind him. "This...is your room," Luke said, not believing it. "But...it¡¯s not a room at all." "This can''t be right...where is this?" Sophie asked, looking around. "Where are we?" Luke turned around to see the building from which they left...but all he could find was the door. There was no building for which it would connect to...just a heavy-set door standing in the middle of nowhere. Behind the door stretched hills that swept up and down¡ªhe could almost see a valley of some sort in the distance. Farther than that even was a large mountain that poked at the sky. Luke yanked for the knob, twisting it and opening to reveal the hallway inside that would lead back to the central room. How could that be possible...? Was this door some magical portal to different places around the globe...if this was still on the globe? "Getting worked up about it isn¡¯t going to help anything," Sophie said, coming to terms with it herself. "I¡¯m curious, but the best we could do is explore our surroundings and see what we could make of it." "I...have a bad feeling about this," Levi said. "I think that...that¡¯s my village out there," he said, pointing out. "I think that¡¯s Steinschild." Sophie turned her head, "Your village is called Stone Shield?" "I see you know some German," he answered, but he was focused on the village. "Very minimal amount," she said. "Really?" Luke asked. "Picked it up in school. Never know when it¡¯ll come in handy, you know?" Levi shook his head and began running toward the village, leaving the both of them in the dust. "I...I¡¯m not so sure I like that he had a bad feeling that we were here," Luke said. "Good catch...I was mainly concerned that it took him a bit long to recognize the area." Luke nodded his head toward Levi and they both started running to catch up. Luke¡¯s body started to feel more right with itself, he could keep up a bit of pace, eventually matching Sophie¡¯s. There was something about the door that stuck in his mind...He knew that he wasn¡¯t going to stop and ask anymore questions, but doors don¡¯t just take you to random places¡ªespecially when there was nowhere for it to lead to such a hallway. If he squinted his memory of the door he could almost envision a word faded on the door...EMET. Emet...Emet...what ever could that mean? Emet was Hebrew for truth. There was another fact his mind knew as a truth, but he had no bearings for how he knew it. Something about this door wanted to share with him an invaluable truth, but he didn¡¯t know how to even to had begun to understand its meaning. There was a truth that lied just in front of him. If only he could grasp it. If he only stayed a minute longer he would have seen the ¡°e¡± vanish from the door as if it had never existed. Met. It was Hebrew for death. 26 Luke could see the buildings more clearly as they got closer. They looked handcrafted¡ªthe stones had imperfect cuts between the tar that would cement them together. It had been lucky for those that might inhabit these buildings that the sun had been out and shining brightly, any rain would totally seep through the cracks. Levi walked into the central plaza and noticed an extremely short woman with little else other than a rag to cover her essentials. Others were around that wore similar clothing. They were all shorter than Luke, but definitely looked much older than he was. The older woman stared at him with a wide eyed sort of look that would mean pretty much anything other than "I want to have a conversation with this fine young man." "What is..." He started and stopped in his tracks. Luke and Sophie managed to catch up to him as he had. The woman asked Levi something in a language Luke had never heard before. He looked as if he¡¯d seen a ghost. "What¡¯s..." he started before he answered back to the woman in what Luke assumed was German. Luke turned to Sophie, "You know what they¡¯re saying, right?" She shook her head, "I only know so little...and this village seems to have their own tongue anyway, so even if I did know textbook German I doubt it¡¯d help here." "Ah, I see," Luke said, then turned to Levi. "Hey, what¡¯s up? This is your village...right? Why so-" "Nothing¡¯s right," Levi said, turning from the woman who gave a puzzled look. "Nothing..." An older woman who looked like she¡¯d almost shed the skin off of her bones approached them, hobbling her way, "Ottsana wae oculo!" "Levi...you¡¯re going to need to talk to us," Sophie said. "What¡¯s she saying? What¡¯s wrong with this place?" Levi swallowed hard, "This place looks like my village but houses are in different places. I don¡¯t know anybody here...at least, from what I¡¯ve seen." "It doesn¡¯t look like a big village..." Luke said. Levi responded back to the older woman, speaking in her tongue. She nodded to his reply and made a motion for them to follow. "My village is matriarchal¡­¡± he thought on it a minute, ¡°We have a maternal leader,¡± he repeated. ¡°She...I can¡¯t understand much of what she¡¯s saying. I have bits and pieces...she¡¯s...the elder of this village.¡± "What?" Luke asked. He turned from the woman who stopped speaking as he looked away, ¡°There are small pieces I know, but large chunks that seem to be gibberish." He looked back and spoke to her in the tongue of Steinschild. She nodded before he could finish and she turned around and began to walk further into the village. "Where¡¯s she going?" Sophie asked. ¡°Rude if you ask me.¡± "She...wants us to follow...I don¡¯t like this one bit." He turned back to them, ¡°Nobody in Steinschild speaks like this. We understand each other and have since...well, forever.¡± Sophie shook her head, "We¡¯re out of options if we don¡¯t follow," Sophie said. "Might as we accept some new campers might have planted down in your village. Our only way is back, and I¡¯m more than positive we¡¯d die if we trekked out toward the mountains." Levi nodded, "Yes...the climate makes it difficult to cross unless you¡¯re heavily prepared. That¡¯s why we get so few travelers...and why it¡¯s so hard to believe that all these people just settled down." "Well...I mean...We¡¯re...free out here, right?¡± Luke rubbed his hands together. He was colder than he expected to be. ¡°We don¡¯t have to go back in and play that dumb game. We¡¯re out. Maybe we can get something to eat...I¡¯m sure we can make it up to them somehow." Levi looked back at the older woman...she¡¯d not made much progress on her hobbling, but it wouldn¡¯t be long before she was out of view. "I...I don¡¯t think this stupid game is over yet," he said. "It¡¯d be way too convenient." "Well, if that is true then we¡¯ll figure out what to do then. Now, I say we see what information you can get out of her," Sophie said. Levi took in another breath and nodded his head. "O-Okay..." He tried to steel himself as he walked to catch up to the old woman. Sophie and Luke caught up much easier this time. The old woman walked past a large stone statue that looked almost like a large dragon with a human face at the end of its long neck. Carved into the face were two slits at the end of the mouth that reached each cheekbone. The figure made Luke shudder. "What is that?" "..." Levi kept his focus on the old woman, his eyes shifted to the statue for a moment. "It¡¯s from an old fairy tale...something about an old dragon that stole the faces of humans. Supposed to have been built sometime in the 1500s if I remembered it right. I haven¡¯t heard it in a long while...but if I remember right it was supposed to live inside one of the mountains that walled the village. Obvious fairy tale kind of stuff." "Huh, why¡¯d you guys make a statue of it?" Luke asked. "Do I l-look like I lived in the 1500s?¡± ¡°Well...no, I guess not.¡± ¡°Th-that¡¯s like me asking why you all kept the Statue of Liberty around. It¡¯s been there and is a symbol of your nation. The statue here¡¯s always been here.¡± Luke glanced at it for a second longer before looking back toward the woman could see where the woman was heading. They walked a few minutes longer down a stone path to a stone hut smaller than the rest that surrounded them. He could count three people staring at them as they entered. Luke looked then to Levi as he started to speak. The woman nodded her head as she slid the door open to the smaller structure¡ªthe wooden door scratched the ground and made a horrible sound. She stepped aside and motioned them to follow once more. Levi nodded his head and he walked in first, Sophie moving in beside him. Inside he could see that the light was much dimmer than it was on the outside. There weren''t any windows to let in any natural light, so instead lit torches were hung on the walls. It sent out a cone of light around illuminating the barren rock floor with rudimentary furniture that seemed more built for purpose than luxury. She began speaking again, it was a guttural language that she rapped off very quickly. Levi¡¯s eye¡¯s looked like they were spinning trying to understand it all. Levi would interrupt at points to say his own, and then she would continue. This kept on for a few minutes...for Luke and Sophie who simply stood awkwardly in the woman¡¯s excuse for a home felt like an eternity. "She said..." Levi had begun in English, "...That we arrived just in time. I asked her what that had meant...I told her I live in this village. She said that it was impossible and doesn¡¯t recognize my family name. She then rounded around to saying that it was written that we would show up here." "Written? Like some sort of prophecy?" Luke asked. He nodded his head. "I asked her if she knew anything about the Roulette Game, she had no answers. I then asked if she knew a way we could make it back to our homes..."Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. "What''d she say?!" Luke asked, more excited than he had intended to sound. "She said that she felt that we would not be able to go back quite so soon." "Was that written in that prophecy?" Sophie asked, a tinge of sarcasm rang out. Levi nodded, "She wouldn''t give me details on the prophecy itself, I promise my village isn¡¯t that crazy. My elders are old fashioned...but this woman seems a step above," he said. "Well, what if she¡¯s in on it?" Luke asked. "Why else would this village be just outside one of these doors?" "Asked that," he said. "She didn''t know of any doors to any buildings outside of her village." "We''re here, though, so obviously there is one." Sophie said. "Yes, but if you recall we didn''t see any building from which we left, right?" He asked. "Right...she have an explanation for that in her prophecy?" "Asked that. She said that it was a story we wouldn''t have time for." "So then she must know,¡± Sophie said. ¡°We¡¯re on a limit here?" Luke asked. The old woman stepped forward, her hunched back seemed to scrunch up even further. She spat out a phrase that looked like it took half of her energy. Sophie looked right to Levi. "Well?" "She...she said to beware of the dragon." Sophie chuckled, looking down to the floor, "Okay. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything else of value we¡¯re going to get from this woman. She either speaks in riddles locked behind a language barrier or is senile." "I¡¯m...surprised," Luke said, looking toward her, "...That sounds very Simon of you." "I have limits," she began, "...and what have we really learned here? Some dragon is going to be a threat? Unless there¡¯s a significant iguana problem in your village Levi I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve learned anything." "Hey, d-don¡¯t blame me," Levi said. "I-I''m just the translator," he said with his hands up. "Question," Sophie asked. "S-Shoot," he said. "If we go investigate elsewhere do you think you can get us some actually useful information?" "I can try...I¡¯d almost prefer it..." Levi began. "Hard to keep switching back and forth." "Okay. Luke, you want to join me and check out the rest of this place?" Luke nodded his head, "Uh...okay. Yeah, that¡¯s okay. How long do you think you¡¯ll need?" He asked. "I guess that¡¯s based on which scenario she pointed out is true." "Fair," Luke said. "Come on," Sophie said, moving to open the wooden door. "My legs are cramping up." "Got it, any trouble just yell out to us, okay?" Luke asked. Levi looked from the old woman to him, "I don¡¯t think that¡¯ll be necessary, but if she somehow transforms into a big ugly dragon you¡¯ll be the first to know." Luke nodded as he followed Sophie out the door. 27 ¡°I want to check out that statue again,¡± Sophie said as the door slid shut. ¡°Huh?¡± Luke ran up to keep her pace. ¡°I thought you thought that was bogus?¡± She bit her lip, ¡°I think it is, but it¡¯d be dumb of me to ignore giving it another look-around. We only glanced at it coming in.¡± Luke nodded, ¡°Sounds fair.¡± He was looking up toward the sky, ¡°Crazy how weird the sky looks when you don¡¯t think you¡¯re ever going to see it again. She looked up for just a moment before looking back down, ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s okay.¡± Luke was silent a minute. ¡°Go ahead, ask,¡± Sophie said. She knew that a question had been bubbling up inside. ¡°You said you knew the two boys I keep seeing, but you aren¡¯t Cain¡¯s girlfriend. That, um, conflicts with what I saw.¡± ¡°Correct. Cain¡­¡± she began, ¡°He was...difficult. A friend, definitely a good friend, but he always saw it as more.¡± ¡°Do you think...that they might have a part in why you¡¯re here?¡± She looked at him and smiled, ¡°I¡¯m sure of it.¡± He didn¡¯t expect such an easy answer, ¡°W-What?¡± They passed a round man who reached Luke¡¯s shoulder and not a stretch taller, he whispered something to a woman beside him. It was chatter he couldn¡¯t understand. He tried his hardest not to focus on it. ¡°You¡¯ve been seeing what happened to them. Maybe you¡¯ll see even further than that...I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m not comfortable sharing that information with you.¡± ¡°Oh...that¡¯s...I can¡¯t really take that as an answer,¡± Luke sputtered. ¡°You know something.¡± She turned back and walked a hair faster. ¡°I do. And I don¡¯t have any reason to share that with you now. You don¡¯t have any reason to know why I am here. It doesn¡¯t affect you.¡± ¡°But it could-¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t. End of story.¡± She was nearly jogging now. Luke knew it had to be more than just that. He¡¯d have to try and remember more of the two boys¡¯ experiences. He put that thought on hold as they arrived at the dragon statue. Sophie was climbing onto the base, much to Luke¡¯s chagrin. ¡°Get down from there, what if someone sees and doesn¡¯t like you doing that?¡± She looked down at him as her arms latched around the dragon¡¯s neck. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Luke backed off and held up his hands. ¡°Sorry.¡± She nodded once and continued checking the statue out. Luke figured he¡¯d check out the base while she tackled the top. ¡°Hey, uh...sorry also for being nosy, uh back there,¡± Luke said. He didn¡¯t know if she heard him, but he continued anyway, ¡°Your business is your business. I¡¯m just desperate for things to make sense, and these memories have been a lead if not anything else.¡± She jumped down beside him, nearly making him jump out of his skin. ¡°Yeesh!¡± She chuckled once and her smile fleeted. ¡°I don¡¯t keep grudges. Don¡¯t get all twisted. If there was anything I needed to tell you I would. I don¡¯t, so I don¡¯t.¡± ¡°G-Got it¡­¡± She cocked her head up, ¡°Check around the backside, I¡¯ll take the sides here.¡± Luke nodded, not really sure what he was looking for...but as soon as he reached the back of the statue he realized. On the back of the base was a green monitor with text displayed in bright white. ¡°You are Levi Strauss¡ªThe WHITE. You are frail and often find others making choices for you. The executioner has you in his sights. The RED has sealed your fate before you are even aware of it¡ªyour enemy is bathed in flame. The WHITE cowers in metal, constantly threatened to be melted down the same. The only respite you find is that your death will be painless¡ªthe molten metal shall bind to your skin and burn any nerves to cinders. Water cannot douse your fire, you are scrap to be thrown away so that a new sword may be forged. Night falls with the axe. What can you do but fall?¡± Luke didn¡¯t know what to think as he looked at the screen. Sophie must have seen that he had found it and stumbled up next to him. Her eyes shifted down the screen then turned onto Luke. ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡± She asked, turning to face him. She felt a bubble of questions rising to the surface. ¡°You...you said something like this back in Aria¡¯s room, did you not?¡± Luke nodded, bent, but wholly unmoving from his spot staring at the monitor. ¡°Yeah...some of what¡¯s said here at the bottom was different, but the core idea was the same. White metal, something to do with fire and water.¡± ¡°If only you had that mysterious notebook on you,¡± she said, almost wistfully. He stood up straight, ¡°I¡¯m not hiding it on you or anything like that if that¡¯s what you¡¯re implying.¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m just having a bit of fun.¡± ¡°Fun?¡± Luke looked at her now, saw her face unchanged, still looking the monitor up and down. It wasn¡¯t the look he¡¯d describe as one that was having fun. She took a deep breath and shook her head, looking toward the sky. There wasn¡¯t a cloud in sight. Something about it brought out the smallest of grins. It lasted only the shortest of moments. ¡°Its...been awhile since I¡¯ve stopped to look at the sky.¡± ¡°The...sky?¡± Luke looked up, but nothing caught his interest. It looked as plain as could be...wait...no, that wasn¡¯t quite right. There was something in the sky, a black speck of some sort hung across the blues. It looked quite strange and he couldn¡¯t quite tell what it was. ¡°What do you think that is?¡± She looked back to her sullen look before stepping away, holding her hands at her side. ¡°I¡¯m...not sure how to say this¡­¡± she started. Luke turned to face her, concerned. She apparently didn¡¯t know heads or tails of the speck and didn¡¯t seem to even consider it. ¡°I¡¯m...sorry.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°I have been a bit unfair.¡± Her body loosened a bit and she bit her lip. ¡°It was unfair of me to hide what I did. I know you¡¯re not a bad person and are just trying to piece yourself together.¡± Her eyes cast to the floor and she shook her head slowly. ¡°You¡¯re willing to talk about it?¡± Luke asked. It came out a bit harsher than he intended it. She looked up to him and in her eyes he saw a flash of something in himself. It was like a storm through his mind as a frame filled in his eyes. He saw himself only hours before as Lucky the rabbit hopped closer to his restrained body. He was both out of and inside his own body at once. The rabbit¡¯s eyes were shined and almost dead¡ªconfirmed only by his eventual death after Aria¡¯s room. In the rabbit¡¯s eyes he saw his own reflection. ¡°Your name is Abel.¡± The flash of his reflection didn¡¯t occur to him until this very moment. He looked just like the boy in the memories. There was no way it could be true...but no way it couldn¡¯t be, either. Of course he was if he was seeing memories of the poor boy¡ªof himself, but things didn¡¯t line up right. If that were true then he shouldn¡¯t be able to walk. Abel was in a car accident. He was paralyzed from the waist down. There was also that creeping feeling in the back of his mind that he was someone else. Those memories didn¡¯t feel personal to him¡ªthey felt as if someone were telling them to him like a bedtime story. He couldn¡¯t argue with physical evidence. He was Abel...no matter the circumstances. He saw how he looked. The only reason he had clung to Luke for so long was because it was the first that he attached to. It was like a safety blanket. Two voices in his head had to stop fighting or else he would explode. He was Abel, whether he liked it or not. Whether he was crippled or not. ¡°My name is...Abel,¡± he said, looking down to his hands ¡°I don¡¯t know where you got the name Luke from, but it isn¡¯t your name.¡± ¡°It was¡­¡± he thought back, not looking up, ¡°...it was on that notebook I got.¡± ¡°Notebook, huh¡­?¡± She said. ¡°Around and round it comes but nowhere does it seem to actually show up. It doesn¡¯t seem that notebook was meant for you after all,¡± she cocked her head. Wasn¡¯t meant for him? Then why would he have woken up with it? There had to be a reason. There were thousands of questions he wanted to ask Sophie rising in his mind, but he had to silence them, just for the moment. Something wasn¡¯t right, and once he found that out¡­ ¡°Maybe...it was meant for Levi?¡± he asked. ¡°White metal, huh?¡± she looked back to his monitor. ¡°We have nothing to prove that there isn¡¯t more than one white metal,¡± she eyed the message, ¡°but it will be good to keep in mind.¡± ¡°Right...I don¡¯t know why it¡¯d say a different name though, even if it was his. He¡¯d have no reason to lie about his name if that were the case.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t we go back and check up on him?¡± Sophie offered. ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯re going to get much more out of this statue here.¡± Luke nodded, ¡°Sounds good to me.¡± The two of them began to walk back toward the elder¡¯s shack. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the black speck in the sky. It was bigger than before, and for it to have grown in such a short time made him feel uneasy. He tried to not think about it. There were other things that needed his focus. He became overly aware of his own footsteps as he broke the ensuing silence, ¡°So...you know me. The me I don¡¯t remember.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°And you didn¡¯t say anything.¡± They passed by an urn that had fallen off of one of the nearby stoops. It had seemed to break as it fell, spilling a kind of seed onto the ground in front of them. It looked like it had been knocked over in a hurry. ¡°...Yes.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Luke stopped. No...that wasn¡¯t right. Abel stopped. He felt a hot feeling rise to his face. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say anything? You know me!¡± ¡°I¡­¡± It was the first time he saw her speechless. She stopped a few paces after him, looking away. ¡°I couldn¡¯t¡­I couldn¡¯t risk¡­¡± Sophie took a sharp breath and clenched her fist, turning back to him, that same fire in her eyes, ¡°I couldn¡¯t risk being left here. It didn¡¯t matter that I knew you or not. I cannot die here. That is my number one priority, so I¡¯m sorry. I was unfair to not tell you, but I have, and now that I have I¡¯m done talking about it.¡± He was taken aback by her outburst, ¡°W-wait...no way! That¡¯s totally adding not fair onto not fair!¡± She stood her ground, ¡°I don¡¯t care. You pissed me off. If you want to know more about it check your damn memories. I told you what I wanted to, my priorities haven¡¯t shifted. I¡¯m done talking here.¡± She stamped back on the path. Abel stood there for a few seconds longer as he tried to work through the logic that brought out such a reaction. I cannot die here. Something about that is...strange to him. He didn¡¯t want to die here either, but it seemed to be more than that for her. Something that drove her, motivated her to consider playing this game while keeping secrets. He kept it in the back of his mind and looked down at the seeds at his feet. To think, these poor things probably won¡¯t all get the chance to grow into...whatever kind of vegetation they were destined to be. Something about that thought made him sad, but it was quickly blocked out when a shadow overcast him. He looked up to see the black speck had increased almost a hundred-fold in size and had been covering the sun. A large explosion sounded off in the distance, it seemed to be unrelated to the black speck, but he couldn¡¯t tell where it came from. It took him a moment longer to realize what the black speck had been. It was an asteroid, and it was heading straight for them. Memero | 3 28 Cain rubbed his hand across the stubble on his chin that wasn¡¯t quite enough to be called facial hair, but wasn¡¯t gone enough to make him look like he were years younger. He cocked his head and leaned in close over the sink to look deeper into his own eyes. He craned his neck back until he felt the cracking in between his joints. This was two years before the torrential rainstorm that would barricade the people of Salem in their homes, but only a month after the accident in 1986. Cain looked into the mirror and imagined his brother standing beside him. He nudged the bathroom door closed as he balled his hand into a fist and held it tight against the sink. Images of the crash flashed in his mind like a pendulum¡ªalways returning to the center before swinging, just barely out of sight. It wasn¡¯t a new memory, it had recycled through his mind several hundred times since the accident, but it had been as volatile as a stab wound. Flashes of a warmer memory entered his mind. It was Halloween a few years prior. Cain was all set to be a pirate for the spooky season. He was dressed in the garments and had his grunts and laughs prepared days prior. His mother even crafted a paper bird that she sewed onto the shoulder of the costume. Abel, on the other hand couldn¡¯t decide what he had wanted to be. At first he settled on a plain old skeleton¡ªsomething their father offered up at his indecision, but it never seemed like it was what he wanted. He was sure to let them know about that. A week before Halloween and Abel had thrown the largest tantrum he¡¯d ever seen. Abel needed to be a pirate the moment he saw Cain trying out his costume. Cain remembered giving his parents attitude at this...he was the pirate, and Abel only wanted to be one because he was one. He remembered the look on Abel¡¯s face when he looked up to him. Their parents made a happy compromise that he could be a skeleton pirate¡ªtaking the excess bits of Cain¡¯s costume and re-purposing them to Abel¡¯s. This had made Abel happy, but Cain remembered being bothered by it in the moment. He was the one who wanted to be a pirate originally and it wasn¡¯t fair that now he wasn¡¯t the only pirate. His hand gripped the sink tighter, he wished that Abel could stand beside him like he did that day¡ªhe¡¯d give anything to have his only problem be that his Halloween costume was copied. The thoughts kept returning transforming to the day of the accident. He wondered if there was anything he could have done to change what happened. What if I stayed in the car, instead? Mom might have taken longer coming out because Abel would have walked slower....walked...Maybe the guy in the other car would¡¯ve just missed them. What if he went to the bathroom and caused her to take just the littlest bit longer? That guy might have crashed into somebody else but that wouldn¡¯t matter! It was important he crashed into them. Abel... He bit his lip again as the day was laid out before him once again. Worst of all he was knocked unconscious when the other car hit them. Maybe if he was awake he could¡¯ve helped somehow. He¡¯s the older brother and he¡¯s the one who got knocked unconscious. Stupid. Stupid! He turned back and opened the door, stepping quietly out into the hallway and peeked into his room, Abel was tucked into his covers on his back, his eyes were closed and his chest rose up and down peacefully. The kid¡¯s damn good at being okay. He probably doesn¡¯t even blame me at all! He¡¯s so good at being okay it scares me...That¡¯s my goddamn brother and this guy just slams his car right into him! He paced back and forth, finally settling on walking back toward the bathroom and he held his hands on the edge of the sink, gripping as tight as he could. He could almost feel where he was in this same spot the morning before. It was certainly close to where he¡¯d be the next morning. The only thing worse than having nightmares when you sleep is seeing them every time you wake up. 29 Cain was out of the house by eight. He headed out the same time that his mother did, although they parted ways as they headed down Cardale avenue. She was headed to the store and he the library. Abel was home and would spend the day with their father as it had been his day off. Cain saw an envelope sitting on the table as he passed by with an elegant looking "0" stamped on the back. It intrigued him for the slightest of moments, but he saw his father¡¯s name printed on the backside, so he let his curiosity wane as he stepped outside. There it only grew to a feverish intensity which would only settle as he laid his eyes on the library. It always gave him ease; there was always another book to read¡ªeven if it read like garbage. He always felt a warmth when stepping inside that he didn¡¯t many other places. He pulled the doors open and walked inside. He wanted to bring Abel here so many different times, but his parents were never the biggest fans of him going on adventures without them and they also didn¡¯t like the library. Cain only remembers his father visiting the library once to donate some old books he had. Cain stopped in his tracks in the entryway as a stray feeling tightened his spine unlike anything he¡¯d ever felt. It constricted and his arms began to shake for the slightest of seconds. In a flash it was gone and he¡¯s hyper aware of his surroundings¡ªthe woman that sat behind the customer service desk, the younger boy who walked past him, the whispers of the couple on the floor above them. He blinked twice before swallowing whole. He looked around to see if anybody else had felt what he had, and when he found that everything else had moved on as if nothing had happened...he did too. There was a rumbling sound coming from the floor above, this was enough to cause the receptionist to look up and then over to Cain with a look that he knew immediately as "which of us is going to check that out?" Cain almost responded with a look that said ¡°which one of us is paid to check that out?¡±, but thought against it when he realized that the receptionist had no intention of leaving her book that she¡¯d been gripped to. Cain stood still no longer, moving out through the hallway and toward the stairs. He wasn¡¯t surprised when there was a different receptionist sitting behind the desk when he would return the next week. He continued up the stairs and moved passed the bookshelves that threatened to sandwich him in on both sides. Normally he¡¯d take a left a little less than twenty paces after getting off the staircase to go to the Adult Mystery section, but the ruffling sounds and sounds of books thudding against one another continued straight through. He followed it past the younger boy who had passed him earlier and he froze as the boy continued along, his eyes followed the boy as he walked back to the staircase and made his way up to the third floor. That was why he froze...that little boy looked like Abel when he was a few years younger. He had a similar mushroom-style haircut¡ªone that Abel would be embarrassed to wear today. The face was a bit different...in the glance Cain saw of his eyes he could tell they weren¡¯t his blue, and the nose was a bit fatter. From the front it was obvious, but not so much from the back, and he couldn¡¯t help stare as the boy left his sight at the personification of the weight on his heart. The loudest of the thuds sounds behind him and jolted him back to reality. He continued back toward the rear of the library, entering a room he realized he never had actually entered before. It was just passed another receptionist area, but there sat nobody behind the desk. It seemed that one of two things were possible: Either nobody ever came up this way, so the heads were able to cut some costs on receptionists, or times were especially bad and they straight out weren¡¯t able to cover the space. He hoped it was the former, personally. Now with the knowledge of this whole different area maybe he could branch out and find some new books. As he pushed the doors open he ducked just in time to avoid a book flying directly at his face. "Woah!" He called out, startling the girl in front of him who had just launched the book from the bookshelf in front. To her credit she hadn¡¯t been looking. Against her credit she threw a book. "What the heck are you doing?" He asked. She looked back once, a second was all it took for her green eyes to strike him solid. She looked really cute, but the thought only processed for a fraction of a second before he took a step back and held his hands up, but with a hesitant sort of step he walked closer. "You know there¡¯s a more efficient way at finding the book you want, right? And I¡¯m sure it¡¯s not even here with all of..." he looked around for any identifying genres, but can''t seem to find it¡ªall the shelves are unlabeled. "These are the undesirables, nobody wants these," she said, returning to her pulling books off the shelves, looking at the face, then tossing it aside. "Well, that¡¯s a bit harsh, don¡¯t you think? I mean, every book somewhere had someone wanting to read it." "It¡¯s just what they are. I¡¯m not the one that made them that way." Cain found himself scratching at his arm, shaking it off immediately. "Well, okay, then. If nobody wants them, why do you?" Another book flies past his head. She wasn¡¯t looking when she threw it, but a piece of him said that it might have been aimed at him. "I don¡¯t want these ones, obviously. I¡¯m looking for a very specific one, I thought it was here. Today it is not." ¡°Maybe someone else checked it out?¡± She glared at him, ¡°Impossible.¡± ¡°O...kay,¡± he said, "Mind some help looking for it?" ¡°Yes." "Okay, so what¡¯s it look like?" She stopped and turned to look at him. It¡¯s the first time she has done so for longer than a moment, ¡°That¡¯s a yes I mind. Not a yes you can help¡­¡± she looked behind her toward the bookshelves she¡¯d still not checked and sighed, turning back toward him, lowering her head. "Okay, you¡¯re tall. Go fetch the higher shelves of the ones over there." She pointed him off toward a shelf on the right hand side of the room. "It¡¯ll save me from having to get a ladder." "You mean a stepladder." She turned to him and stared holes into him. "I don¡¯t have time for your bullshit. Either go look for a black book with markings on the front or shove off." "How strange are these markings...?" Cain asked, not missing a beat. He was intrigued by this mystery book, after all, but if he were totally honest with himself he¡¯d say his heart was pounding out of his chest. She sighed and turned once again, dropping the book she was holding. "Think of shapes you¡¯d doodle in class...you do go to school, right?" He nodded. She thought a moment and an idea flashed across her face. "Great, so you must come here often?" "Yes...I¡¯m not quite sure what you¡¯re getting at though." "Do you have a library card?" She asked, taking a step closer to him. It made him uneasy and he took a step back, "Uh...yeah...?" "Excellent. When I find the book I¡¯m looking for I¡¯m going to need you to sign it out for me." "Why can''t you just sign it out for yourself? I mean, if you don¡¯t have a card you could easily-" "I can''t get one." The phrase was so simple, but she said it with a tone that wasn¡¯t quite irritation...it was almost sad. ¡°If I could I would. So, mind helping me out?" "I sense a complete 180 from shove off." She turned back around and made a step further down the shelf. "Get to work. The receptionist who is actually going to care if I¡¯m making this mess will be here in an hour or so." ¡°It seems that you come here often too.¡± She didn¡¯t smile, or react at all, really. ¡°So what is this book about?¡± ¡°Nothing special.¡± "That makes it seem like it is extra special, you know that?" He reached up toward a book on the top shelf¡ªthe same one she was picking from. "What do you like to read?" She asked. "My, aren¡¯t we getting personal?" Cain joked. "I don¡¯t actually care. Talking will make it go faster, and I¡¯m sure you could talk up a balloon." "I see...well, then I read lots of things. I mainly try for the bible every third Tuesday, but this month I was planning on double dipping and trying every second Tuesday." Her pace slowed for a second, he could see the reaction on her face and started to laugh. "It¡¯s a joke, I¡¯m a nerd, get it?¡± She eyed him for a moment and resumed before moving down to the next shelf. ¡°No, I try not to read the good book, I¡¯ve had enough of it for a life, personally. I only come up here every so often, not much so recently." "Something happen?" She looked at a thin book and made a look of disgust. "Gods, look at what trash they allow to be published," she interrupted herself, passing it along to him. "¡¯Colors of my Eyes, a thriller that will put you in your sheets!¡¯, what does that even mean?" He asked, setting it back on the shelf. "No, toss it." she said. "That one deserves to be undesirable." He looked for a moment from the book to the shelf and set it back neatly. ¡°I don¡¯t know. It sounds silly, but I haven¡¯t read it, so I¡¯m not the person to judge.¡± He pulled down some more books that look shoddy at best¡ªwhether they were damaged or just looked plain off. He set them down gently onto the pile and then moved onto the next that didn¡¯t satisfy her vague criteria. "You didn¡¯t answer my question," she said, tossing another behind her. "Huh?" He asked, looking at her as she moved down the line faster. "You said you haven¡¯t been coming around much lately. Did something happen?" Her eyes didn¡¯t leave the shelf, they scanned each cover from head to toe. "Kinda rude to just assume, you know?" "Am I wrong?" He stared into the spine of a book for a moment, the cracking sounds of his legs threatened to overtake him, but he pushed it aside. The image of that boy that looked just like Abel shot in his mind for a moment, but vanished just as quick. "I really would rather talk about anything else to be honest." "Now you don¡¯t want to talk,¡± she mumbled, tossing another behind her. ¡°Quite unfair, don¡¯t you think?" She asked, "You come here wondering what I¡¯m looking for and I¡¯m more than open with my answers" "Well, not ex-" "But I can''t seem to get a straight one here, shame." A part of him wanted to get angry, but another part saw the tiniest of smirks on her face. In that one smirk he understood. Anything to distract from the obvious hurt that happened. He was sure he was a terrible act of hiding it. "I was in a car accident this past April," he said, smoothly, slowly. "I¡¯m okay, obviously, but my younger brother became paralyzed from the waist down." She looked over toward him, "Your fault?" The response surprised him, there hadn¡¯t been any of the reaction he¡¯d been expecting. "Oh my god! Is he okay? Are you okay? You must be so scared!" It was almost...refreshing. He already knew how he had felt deep down about all of what had happened, and he realized that with every person that knew about it the same reactions came from them. It only doubled down on what he felt and gave a sickness to his stomach, but now...he didn¡¯t feel that. It felt almost nice to just say it and to have a reaction he didn¡¯t expect. "I think so sometimes," he said, returning to his row. "But it always comes back to one spot¡ªthe actual hit¡ªand I realize that there wasn¡¯t anything I could have done." She moved on to the next book, "Shame. My Mom died in a crash when I was four." "Really?" "No, I lied. I was three." "Huh," he forced himself not to say the very things he had been thinking. Of anything he could consider it the kindest courtesy. "You seem to get it," she said. "Not many people do." "Uh, thanks...I guess?" Cain looked back to the shelf as his hand brushed against the next book, a thick cloud of dust exploded off of the front, causing a coughing fit. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what you mean, though.¡± ¡°I hate sugar coating. It¡¯s a waste of time and people¡¯d be better off without it.¡± Cain finished off the shelf he¡¯d been looking at and didn¡¯t seem to find what she¡¯d been looking for. He walked across the aisle and stood up on his toes to check out the next bookcase. ¡°I think people would be better off if they didn¡¯t drive like a maniac.¡± The girl said nothing, Cain slid a thick brown book from the shelf and noticed there had been an even thicker black book tucked flat against the back panel. ¡°Hey, I think I found it.¡± He took it out and before he finished she snatched it out of his hand. ¡°Yes, this is it!¡± She tucked it under her arm. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go sign out and we can part ways. You can go back to...well, whatever you were doing.¡± She turned on a dime, it barely gave him any time to blink. ¡°Woah woah hold on a second there,¡± he held his hands out. She stopped and sighed, cocking her head without turning back around, ¡°What?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know...it¡¯s just all so weird. Like you¡¯re in a rush or something. It¡¯s a book, not a heart for a dying patient.¡± She turned at this, ¡°Just a book? God I can¡¯t believe you. Come on.¡± ¡°If it¡¯s so special what¡¯s it about? I¡¯ve never seen anything like that. What, Greek? Jewish? Those marks are old.¡± He didn¡¯t know where the curiosity bug had bit him, but there was too much that was off for him to just do what she wanted. ¡°It¡¯s like I said, nothing special,¡± She was defensive, and he knew he was right on the money. ¡°Okay, then you won¡¯t mind waiting for me to find something before we sign out? It¡¯d not make much sense for me to sign stuff out twice.¡± She looked back to him with a don¡¯t push me kind of look. ¡°I don¡¯t have time for this. I¡¯ll just find someone else to-¡± ¡°-To lend you their library card?¡± Cain asked. ¡°I think you¡¯d have better luck asking someone for their car keys.¡± ¡°You overvalue that damn card,¡± she said. He shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t think so...but if you¡¯re sure then I¡¯m gonna go find my stuff then head out.¡± He started past her, letting his snare catch in three...two...one¡­ ¡°Stop.¡±This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. He did. ¡°Why do you want to know so much about it?¡± She asked. Now it was his turn to play the cool guy and talk without turning, he thought, it made him grin. ¡°I don¡¯t know you. I don¡¯t know that you won¡¯t just hightail it out of here as soon as it¡¯s signed out and I get stuck with all the fees.¡± She didn¡¯t respond. ¡°Exactly. I¡¯m happy to help out, but I come to this place too. So it isn¡¯t really about what kind of book it is. Not wholly, at least.¡± ¡°Why would I ditch town over a book?¡± She asked. ¡°I dunno, but it¡¯s very special to you that you were considering stealing it, no?¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to-¡± ¡°Those books there,¡± he pointed to the large mountain. ¡°The receptionist¡ªnot the one already downstairs, the one that¡¯s coming in next wouldn¡¯t let you within ten feet of this building if she saw this. Obviously she¡¯ll know because the one that¡¯s down there now will report it in when shift ends in...fifteen minutes¡± he glanced up at a clock on the wall. He knew this because he enjoyed her much better. Her name was Mrs. Nesbitt, and she loved talking about what kinds of books they were getting in...but that was beside the point. ¡°If you were planning on finding it just to read it here...well, I doubt you could in one sitting considering how thick it is, and second I don¡¯t think you¡¯d get the time before you were asked to clean up the mess and escorted out.¡± She said nothing. ¡°And since I only just came up to check on the noise there wasn¡¯t any plan on how to get the book out, am I right?¡± Silence. ¡°So, for whatever reason you need this book. It looks old and it¡¯s hidden away here in the Undesirable section, probably a low print or a one of a kind. That kind of thing I get, collectors eat that kind of stuff up.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to sell it-!¡± she bursted out, not meaning to, shaking her head. ¡°No, just shut up!¡± She tried her hardest not to scream. ¡°I don¡¯t know why, and I largely don¡¯t care why¡ªI kind of do, but it¡¯s not my main priority. I just don¡¯t want to end up on the short end if I sign it out for you. So if I do, I¡¯m going to need some assurance.¡± The way he spoke reminded him of his father. It put memories in his mind of how he must have sounded negotiating for their car. You see sir, I¡¯d like to pay you, but I¡¯m going to need some assurance the thing drives. May I take a spin? He wasn¡¯t too sure on the details of what actually went into buying a car. He¡¯d only seen it on the telly or read about it in stories. She shook her head, ¡°423 Diamond Way, Talbot.¡± She said. ¡°Huh?¡± Cain looked at her in confusion. ¡°It¡¯s where I¡¯m staying, Apartment 237. Help me out here and meet me there tonight at 6 and I¡¯ll prove I¡¯m not jumping ship.¡± ¡°All the way out in Talbot¡­? That¡¯s like...a wicked long bike ride.¡± Now it was her turn to be confused, ¡°I thought you drove¡­?¡± Cain shook his head, ¡°No, not my time yet¡­¡± and left it at that. She shrugged. ¡°Come, or not. That¡¯s your choice.¡± Cain thought about it, he could probably hitch a ride on the bus and it¡¯d only take him forty or so minutes. He knew Talbot well enough¡ªhe had friends that lived there when he was down in Sunnyside, closer to Talbot than he was. Cain didn¡¯t want to ask his father for a ride because he knew his father would make an extremely large deal about his boy going to see a girl. He nodded his head and looked up toward her, ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± She looked at him, he couldn¡¯t read what emotion was on her face. She hoisted the book against her side, propping it up on her hip. ¡°Sophie.¡± That was it, just Sophie. It was so...unfitting that it almost did in a backwards sort of way. He smiled and he held out his hand, ¡°Hello Sophie. My name is Cain Gray, and I¡¯ll see you at 6, but first let¡¯s check that book out, shall we?¡± 30 Cain was on time. The bus ride wasn¡¯t bad, he had guessed the time it¡¯d take almost to a ¡°T¡± and was able to find the apartment building with no issue. This part of Talbot he hadn¡¯t ever been to, Diamond way certainly seemed an antithesis for its namesake. Garbage hang in the street and it looked much lower maintenance than even Sunnyside¡ªwhich had its fair share of economic issues. Salem was a bit better off in comparison to the much of the northwest. It obviously wasn¡¯t California levels of wealth streaming in, but it was the perfect place for those with just a little bit extra cash to just get away from everyone else. Who¡¯d willingly travel to Oregon, much less in the town that shares the namesake with the infamous witch trials? It was like doubling down on the bad voodoo, but for the Salemites it seemed to be the exact opposite. Things, when not smashed in by a car, went fine. Cain opened the door to the apartment complex and walked inside. He made his way up to the second floor. He passed by an older man on the stairs who had a nasty cough and quickened his pace as he searched for the door numbered 237. He knocked once and waited. He wondered if he should have brought something with him...but before he could continue the door opened and Sophie looked at him, ¡°Huh, you actually showed.¡± She wore her hair up in a bun and he stood there a moment, desperate for his voice to come and save him from looking the idiot. ¡°Well, yeah,¡± Cain said, looking down to the floor. ¡°I mean I said I would.¡± ¡°Right...well, are you going to just stand there?¡± She stepped back into the apartment. He nodded hurriedly and stepped inside. As he did he immediately was overcome with the smell of what seemed to be conflicting air fresheners. He had to swallow a whiff of it at first that almost made his eyes water, but it calmed down afterward. ¡°Don¡¯t mind the smell,¡± she said. ¡°I...didn¡¯t even notice it,¡± he almost coughed. ¡°It smells awful,¡± he corrected. ¡°Yeah, I know. I¡¯d change it if I could.¡± ¡°Your parents like it or something?¡± She walked further into the room which looked antique. The sofa itself looked like it was at least a decade old or longer. It looked as if it carried a warmth at one point, but it had no longer. ¡°No. You came here for a reason, remember?¡± ¡°Uh...yeah,¡± he said, off guard. He looked around as he caught up with her and found a picture hanging on a wall. It showed smiling faces all knit together, but the only issue was that the family in the picture was Asian. Chinese, Cain thought. Something Sophie definitely wasn¡¯t. ¡°Uh...who is this?¡± He asked. ¡°Previous residents.¡± ¡°All this their stuff?¡± ¡°Used to be.¡± He turned to her, ¡°Okay, I think it¡¯s fair I ask a few questions.¡± She sighed, ¡°I don¡¯t know where they went. Not here, haven¡¯t been for at least a month. The landlord doesn¡¯t seem to know or care. The smell is theirs, I keep it up so he doesn¡¯t come snooping.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you have a proper home? Parents and everything?¡± ¡°My Mom died in a crash.¡± ¡°O-Oh...right.¡± He felt so stupid for forgetting. ¡°And your Dad?¡± ¡°You came here for a reason,¡± she repeated. ¡°Do you want to know about the book or not?¡± ¡°Y-Yeah,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s here?¡± She left him alone for a moment, coming back with the thick book in her hands. ¡°Of course it¡¯s here.¡± she said. ¡°At first I was going to skip town...like you said.¡± She said it so blunt, it took him off guard. ¡°Y-You¡¯re still here, though. Something change your mind?¡± ¡°I did some looking in on your name,¡± she said. ¡°Normally I wouldn¡¯t have, but it sounded familiar. Your father works for the Genros Foundation, does he not?¡± The question was so odd to him, he couldn¡¯t help but make a face that asked any question he could have posed. ¡°I have a manual here from his work. I was able to find your family name in it. That¡¯s why I stayed...it might be fortunate that we ran into each other.¡± ¡°Manual¡­? Is it like a phone book? Do jobs really come with those kinds of things?¡± She motioned toward the book she¡¯d been holding. ¡°It deals with this. Before I do, I need your word that you¡¯ll stay quiet about it.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°If I tell you that then how am I supposed to know?¡± He took in a breath, she looked serious enough about it. Something about the whole situation seemed like it was more serious. ¡°It¡¯s going to depend on what¡¯s actually going on. It sounds like you¡¯re in some serious trouble.¡± ¡°It¡¯s going to depend on if you agree or not. That¡¯s all it depends on. I can easily just head out now and that can be it. I am choosing to place some trust in you, can you do the same?¡± Cain nodded. She let out a deep breath she¡¯d been holding. ¡°To answer your previous question, no, jobs don¡¯t typically give out manuals with a list of employees on it. My father kept a running tab. He was cautious, especially since they were responsible for my mom¡¯s death.¡± ¡°What?! You said she was in a car crash years ago.¡± ¡°There was a similar situation back then when something high-risk of theirs was stolen. It turned out it was one of the engineers trying to profit off of one of their designs. The people in charge didn¡¯t know that at the time. My father believed that they may have put out hits as a scare tactic. The guy who crashed into my mom had no identification. He was a ghost for as much as the police could tell. It was a quiet day, witnesses even said that he¡¯d been speeding like crazy on a normally slow day.¡± ¡°That¡¯s...awful, but sounds a bit crazy if I¡¯m going to be honest. They¡¯re a high profile company...do you seriously believe that they¡¯d do anything to harm you? As long I¡¯ve been alive my dad¡¯s worked there. Worst thing to come of it is his long hours.¡± ¡°I know how it sounds. It doesn¡¯t make any sense, it¡¯d be a PR nightmare if it were true. But¡­¡± ¡°He still works for them, right? And he really believes they¡¯re behind it? Doesn¡¯t that contradict itself? If I believed I was working for people that could do something like that I wouldn¡¯t be working there anymore.¡± She looked away, ¡°There¡¯s no way they¡¯d let him quit. I know how crazy that sounds.¡± ¡°My dad studies fish and the ocean,¡± Cain said. ¡°There¡¯s no way anything dangerous is coming of that. I¡¯m sorry what happened to your Mom, but I think this is just a little too much for me,¡± he said. ¡°I think you should contact the police or something to get a real place to stay...or something.¡± He started to back off toward the door, turning- ¡°What if your brother¡¯s accident wasn¡¯t an accident?¡± She asked. It stopped him cold in his tracks, one hand on the doorknob. ¡°That was another thing that caught my attention,¡± she said. ¡°I know car accidents aren¡¯t rare...but they weren¡¯t able to identify the body, were they? Complete ghost?¡± He didn¡¯t move. He answered slowly, the images of the wreck entered fresh into his brain. ¡°No name to the body, no registration to the car, but it was just an accident. Police said it was a robber on the run.¡± He turned around. ¡°It¡¯s just a coincidence.¡± She looked at him with something in her eyes, it looked like contempt. ¡°It¡¯s not. Janice Humphrey, Management Arctic Systems. Brain damage after a car slammed into hers last year. Teddy Thornton, R&D Arctic Systems, lost a leg after a collision five years ago. Sharon Upton, R&D Arctic Systems, miscarried after the trauma of being in a terrible auto accident three months ago. Wayne Banner, Marine Biologist Head Arctic Systems, his entire family was killed in a tragic auto accident four years ago,¡± She continued on a list of twenty-five names in total, she didn¡¯t even need to read off of the list. She had them memorized. ¡°My father was keeping tabs on all of the employees at his work that were involved in accidents. Twenty-five people all at different times, but in each and every single one the other party could not be identified.¡± ¡°That¡¯s another point that has me confused on this whole thing,¡± Cain began, as if only a single point were something small. ¡°These all seem like¡­I dunno, extreme measures for taking out a hit on someone. Like, how could you be assured you¡¯d find someone willing to toss away their life and destroy a vehicle no less just to take out one person?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, I¡¯m not the one who came up with the idea. People obviously did it as there are bodies for it. ¡°Ghosts,¡± Cain said, taking a step back in. ¡°It¡¯s suspicious,¡± she said. ¡°Every single one. Obviously there isn¡¯t any evidence to do anything legally about it, but it¡¯s suggestive.¡± The thought of it burned something hot in his chest, ¡°You mean that someone crashed into our car because of that book?¡± ¡°I think so. I can¡¯t tell you why that would be a go-to method of enacting a threat, but I can¡¯t argue with what¡¯s happened.¡± ¡°What the hell is so goddamned important about that dumb book?¡± He found himself louder than he intended, but he couldn¡¯t stop it. ¡°What could be in there that¡¯s more important than Abel¡¯s legs?¡± ¡°Shut your damn mouth for first,¡± she said, hushing him and bringing her finger to her lips, ¡°you¡¯re going to cause a scene. Second, I think I might know in part the answer.¡± He fully let go of the door and walked up closer. ¡°Show me.¡± She nodded and opened up to a passage in the book, ¡°Come here.¡± 31 GODSONG Existence cannot exist without the active will of its creator. Without will the order of the manyverse begins to devour itself like the mighty ouroboros. The Craftsman vanished from the manyverse when they stepped across the Darkbright into Luxmund. It would follow logically that the order of everything should have collapsed the moment that this event happened. The fact that it did not and we persist to this day suggests a few different possibilities. Firstly, when The Craftsman¡¯s waves were exposed to light they didn¡¯t simply disappear. The whereabouts and what form that which they took thereafter is an unknown variable. Secondly, The Craftsman wasn¡¯t the only order of will within the manyverse. It is possible that this second engine of will continued its existence if The Craftsman¡¯s own ended. This second engine, an ancient creator substitute that existed before the creation of all. It would be more apt to say that The Craftsman was a creator substitute for the engine, dubbed GODSONG, however, it exhibits no signs of sentience, so it was merely considered that of an engine, a just-in-case by The Craftsman. It is what I would refer to call a probability matrix. Clawed in shape it exists on a level above waves, above flesh. Whatever we existed as before GODSONG existed with it. Energy on infinite levels runs through the engine that powers its own sort of will. As we know it, it is the physical representation of the manyverse¡ªit is through GODSONG that Luxmund populates with new possibilities. The name GODSONG is due to the melodic waves emitting from the engine. It emits at any and all frequencies, able to tune to that of another universe or even a living creature. Using these frequencies it can usher in its will of those waves it connects to. A song of unhearable tones bends will to GODSONG. The Craftsman would utilize GODSONG to guide their own Noctem, but found an interesting bit of resistance when attempting to tune to the frequencies of Luxmund. They found it possible, but the ever increasing universes would ruin the sync that manual use of GODSONG had brought. Reading this, it seemed more than likely that GODSONG¡¯s responsibilities were twofold. The autonomous actions it carried out by its own non-sentient will, whether they be programmed from the before or not, and then any manual input from The Craftsman. It is repeated in these texts that under any circumstances should no form of sentient life have any contact whatsoever with this device, should the situation arise. Considering the tone of these texts, it seems that the work of The Craftsman was highly scrutinized. Cain took a step back after reading the passage. ¡°Wh...What is this?¡± He didn¡¯t know half of what the book was talking about...a world of light? Craftsman? ¡°There¡¯s a bit before this that explains some of the weirder terms,¡± Sophie began, closing the book, holding her fingers firm down on the cover. ¡°...but that¡¯s the part I wanted you to see. I think that engine it speaks about might be what they want so much with this book.¡± Cain furrowed his brow, he took in a breath as if to dissect what she¡¯d said. ¡°You think that thing is real?¡± ¡°Think about it, why else would they care so much about a book?¡± ¡°That part is still under heavy consideration,¡± Cain said, pacing to the side. ¡°Besides, that¡¯s only one passage of...well, you see how thick that thing is.¡± ¡°Okay but the beginning just starts out as some Greek philosopher¡¯s story. Do you think anyone would be willing to kill over that? This here is a supposed power of an omnipotent being that¡¯s just waiting with a sign attached to it saying ¡°use me¡±.¡± ¡°Well, how do we know something like that even exists? Like, this book seems to be very detailed as if the person who originally wrote it was actually there.¡± ¡°Well, they¡¯re a collection of stories found by an old philosopher¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, but who wrote the stories?¡± ¡°It only refers to them as an old beggar.¡± Cain tapped his foot, ¡°I want to believe you...trust me, I do. I want there to be someone else to blame for the accident...but there¡¯s just too much here for me to put blind faith into. Supposedly some beggar wrote stories of places he couldn¡¯t have been to and about things he couldn¡¯t have known about, so he plucks a random farm-boy up to study in his great and magical library for all of his existence?¡± Sophie didn¡¯t say anything to him, she only looked at him with a confused look that only grew as her jaw dropped. ¡°How...did you know all of that?¡± Cain stopped pacing and looked at her. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°The parts you just said...I didn¡¯t tell you those bits of him reading in a library or being a farm hand.¡± ¡°So¡­? I got lucky.¡± She shook her head, ¡°Without reading the first few chapters? I doubt it.¡± Cain had no idea what she was talking about...so what if he guessed that an old philosopher as she had put it was a farmer before he became important? Most if not all were back then...it was kind of the lifestyle. There was something so cyclically trapping about this conversation, he regretted coming in the first place. Surely what she was talking about couldn¡¯t be so. There were too many uncertainties and holes. Why didn¡¯t he leave, then? The door was right there, she wasn¡¯t blocking him or even restricting him from leaving...but he stood still. You can leave right now and prevent any more headache inducing chat. He stood still. It was because of Abel. He woke up every morning thinking of Abel and what he could have done different to save him his legs. Every morning he wished he could do anything to fix the injustice brought to him...and standing here was a possibility. It made him laugh inside even calling it a possibility. There was no possibility that someone¡ªanyone could have written those events as they happened. Something pushed forward in his mind immediately after this pressing thought. He regurgitated an image so vile he was sure he would have emptied his stomach if he¡¯d had anything to eat for dinner. The rotund scaly body sat on plump legs inside the earth, shielded in stone and magma. A long neck extended upward, framed in the stone where it lie, and at the end of the neck was a humanoid face that was expressionless save for the scar that ran along the length of its mouth. He came back into himself and then at once he found his body moving on its own accord, following a rhythm predetermined. He walked toward Sophie, who mouthed a question he didn¡¯t hear as he came close, then backed up. He went to the book and opened it to just after the section they were reading. SAKONNA Sakonna is one of the earliest creatures of the night to have been sighted in human history. As early as the first century the beast had been a visitor to our planet. Sakonna had also learned from the mistakes of The Craftsman¡ªit could not exist as waves inside the light. As Sakonna crossed the Darkbright it fossilized itself using a shell of hardened darkness¡ªa substance so dark it would be known to Luxmund only as a black hole. Inside the hole it would sit in space until it could attract enough space dust to create a body from which it could further travel with. As the dust and ice particles began to surround it the hardened darkness would be released. Draconian in stature with an almost human face it kept traveling closer to the planet whose light kept multiplying. As Sakonna made its way closer to the planet more stardust gathered closer to create appendages it would understand as legs. It floated for hundreds of years until it finally made it to the stratosphere of the planet that had been rapidly evolving¡ªnew lifeforms had been created every day it seemed¡ªthe blink of an instant for Sakonna. It made impact with the planet before humans could properly speak to one another. Sakonna had been the first to find its way from Darkbright to Earth and had been the only creature of the night to make landfall for almost a thousand years. For the first one thousand years Sakonna waited in silence, studying the landscape and how it formed¡ªstudying the people and animals that lived on the planet. It remained encased in rock as it waited, watching. It learned how they moved, how they ate, how they communicated and even how they died. They weren¡¯t like The Craftsman, exposure to their polar opposite didn¡¯t send their flesh to the fires of a million suns. They rested. They relaxed, enjoyed the night. It brought them smiles to close their eyes. Being happy at night wasn¡¯t a universal feeling, however. Sakonna could feel that the fear of the dark had remained in some human¡¯s hearts, even at this early in their infancy. It had almost been a programmed weakness into the hearts of man. Sakonna took this information and learned it well. Humans could be afraid of the dark. Sakonna¡¯s first recorded killing happened near the beginning of the eleventh century. Throughout the years the meteor that Sakonna had fallen to Earth had soon grown into the face of a mountain on what would soon be the Indian border. Humans would construct near the base of the mountain. One night when the sun had fallen earlier¡ªa longer night was in store for the humans, but it wasn¡¯t the only thing. From the innards of the mountains a tendril rose from the meteor. It wormed its way through the rocks, carving a hollow space inside of the mountain. The protection from the light the mountain gave allowed Sakonna to temporarily retreat from its earthen shield. Some say it shall rest under the surface until it can build the energy it lost from crossing the Darkbright. What it will do then is unknown, but it shall not be good for those of Luxmund. Cain looked up at Sophie, he was sure there was a wild look in his eyes. What was weird was that the confusion had left hers and all that was left was a determined sort of look. ¡°You saw it?¡± She asked. ¡°You did too?¡± ¡°Not now, no. But when I first went through the book I did. That¡¯s why I believe there¡¯s something up with it. It was like nothing I¡¯ve ever experienced, and no matter how crazy the words in it were written, or how implausible they seemed, something that led to that intense of a vision only to see what I had seen was written down in the book¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s...insane. How did it do that?¡± Cain asked, his fingers were gripping the book tighter. How could it have given him that image? He looked back down to the book and saw his fingers shaking, sweat started to bead on the back of his hands. He let go and started to pace once more. His stomach started to churn and he felt his head start to warm. He felt the impact of the crash once again and behind his eyes he saw Abel as the car impaled his body. He shook it off and leaned against the wall. Sophie stepped closer, ¡°Are you okay?¡± He held out his hand and stabilized, nodding once. ¡°We...have to do something about this. Toss it, burn it, whatever.¡± Sophie turned and grabbed the book, holding it close to her, ¡°I...can¡¯t do that.¡± Cain wiped his forehead and then his hand on the side of his pants. ¡°Why not? If it¡¯s that dangerous and there¡¯s a legitimate reason why you¡¯re hiding out here why not just burn it and be done?¡± ¡°Well...even if I do that doesn¡¯t stop anything...it¡¯s not like they¡¯ll stop just because they magically know it¡¯s burned.¡± ¡°I guess that¡¯s true.¡± ¡°I want revenge.¡± This perked his head up, he looked to her, and noticed her death grip on the book. ¡°It might not have been for this stupid book that my mom was killed, but I believe that they had something to do with it. Whatever it was, I don¡¯t care. I care that it happened, and I want them to pay for what they did. And what about you? Don¡¯t you want revenge for your brother?¡± Cain felt a bubbling feeling swell in his stomach, it¡¯d been threatening to come up ever since he came in. ¡°I want-¡± the image flashed again of the crash. Abel didn¡¯t deserve this pain. You didn¡¯t do anything to save him. You¡¯re his brother and you didn¡¯t do anything. ¡°I want to know if they found this machine...Godsong¡­If it¡¯s as powerful as this book seems to say it is then maybe...maybe it could fix all of this.¡± Ursum 32 The asteroid approached the small village with a burning intensity. Abel could only stand in horror as his legs had frozen him stiff to the ground¡ªanchoring him to his thoughts. His mind was paralyzed as the asteroid grew closer. He might as well have been frozen in time, only to be moved by the grapple of Sophie¡¯s grip yanking him out of his trance. In his stupor he hadn¡¯t noticed she came back for him. She was screaming something that he couldn¡¯t hear The ringing sound in his ears overpowered it all. He thought she said ¡°I won¡¯t go there. Evil is-¡± but it turned out to actually be ¡°I don¡¯t know where Levi is-¡± He shook his head as his legs began running on their own to keep up with her pace. ¡°Y-You¡­¡± he said. ¡°Stop talking, keep running. We¡¯re heading back to the door!¡± My mom died in a car crash when I was three. I won¡¯t forgive the people who did that to her¡ªto us. My priorities haven¡¯t shifted. I can¡¯t die here. Her words solidified in his mind and swirled like a twister of chaos and disorder. Their legs carried them all the way to the door. The asteroid was overbearing, it seemed to drain the air right out of the atmosphere. Sophie threw the door open and yanked Abel inside, he tripped as she slammed the door shut behind them. He fell on his face and she sat down, holding her arms over her head. ¡°If this is the end I¡¯m sorry!¡± She called out. ¡°I¡¯m sorry it didn¡¯t work, I¡¯m sorry about Cain, I¡¯m-¡± She was cut off by a deafening boom¡ªit must have broken the sound barrier outside. It slammed Abel against the ground one more and overtook everything he could hear. Everything was completely silent until the shaking stopped. Abel picked himself up, putting a hand to his chest. It ached as it slammed against the ground. He¡¯d be okay. Something like that wouldn¡¯t keep him down. As he looked up he saw Sophie standing herself. ¡°Do you know if Levi made it out of there?¡± Abel asked. She shook her head, ¡°I don¡¯t. He was gone when I went to go look.¡± ¡°Wait¡­how long was I out?¡± ¡°You were standing there since I left you¡­¡± she walked closer to him, her balance hadn¡¯t fully returned, so she stumbled but managed to catch herself. She put a finger to her chin, ¡°...about maybe ten minutes or so. What the hell were you doing?¡± Abel looked up toward the ceiling of the tube they¡¯d hidden out in, ¡°I was...remembering something.¡± The irritation on her face left immediately. ¡°What¡¯d you see?¡± The question was loaded, he was sure. ¡°It was strange,¡± he began, and for the first time he heard a bit of...he didn¡¯t know how to describe it, potency to his voice. He sounded like he had something to say, something only he could say. ¡°I wasn¡¯t in this memory, like, at all.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°All of the other times it happened I saw Abel¡ªEr, I saw myself. They were memories that I could realistically have. This one was different. I was seeing them through Cain¡¯s eyes. It was...about that book, The Eye. He first met you at the library...that was the same book he showed me two years later. Are you sure I¡¯m not him? I mean he¡¯s been in all of the memories that I¡¯ve seen¡­¡± She shook her head, ¡°No, of course not. You¡¯re Abel. Cain is¡­¡± His eyes perked up, looking right to her, something terrible clicked in his mind. ¡°Just before...you said you were sorry that it didn¡¯t work out¡ªthat you were sorry about Cain. Is he...dead?¡± The question had been too much for her, she walked past him and through the corridor. That in of itself was an answer, but it wasn¡¯t good enough. ¡°Stop!¡± He called out after her, she didn¡¯t stop to answer. Cain was¡­ ¡°STOP!¡± He ran after her and grabbed her shoulder, stopping her himself. His face was soaked with tears that ran down his cheeks. ¡°What...happened?¡± He mustered out. She was crying, shaking hard. She looked away from him and then ran, shoving him off. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t know what went wrong...it¡­¡± She screamed as she doubled over. ¡°What?!¡± He yelled, hearing his voice echo through the corridor made it hurt a little less, but then it came back through as he understood. There was a mind-numbing smell that forced its way through his body, and from underneath the door to the roulette room was a fresh puddle of blood. The two of them stopped immediately, the sounds from either¡¯s tears were silenced as Abel stepped one foot in and grabbed the handle, opening the door. Out in the main lobby a horrifying cacophony of blood and chunks of flesh lie. They splattered across the ground and even against the door they¡¯d just opened. Abel stumbled back as the image¡ªodors and all stole his breath. He fell against Sophie and the two landed on the ground behind the door. She didn¡¯t call out or yell at him, only moved his body off of hers as she backed away, using her elbows to dig into the ground to lift herself up. Abel¡¯s head was spinning as his consciousness threatened to leave. He brought his hand down to the ground and it landed straight into the puddle of blood. It sent the shock to his brain that brought him back to his senses. He jumped up and took a step out of the door once more. He took three steps out into the pool of blood before he noticed a glimmering wing the length of his body resting in the pool. ¡°Answer was here...was¡­¡± he said as he looked around the room for anything different. Sophie slowly made her way out of the room and the door shut for good behind her. ¡°There¡¯s going to be another. Just like last time.¡± Abel turned fully around to look at her, ¡°I don¡¯t think they will until we sit in the chairs.¡± He looked down to his feet. ¡°God...I knew we shouldn¡¯t have left Simon behind.¡± ¡°T-This could all just be from Answer,¡± Sophie suggested. Abel knew that it had shaken her, she wasn¡¯t thinking logically. ¡°This is too much for just...well, even if Answer was like Lucky and had something stuck inside...it¡¯s still too much blood.¡± ¡°It¡¯s also too much blood for just Simon,¡± Abel said, wondering. ¡°So it seems the both of them...but that would mean Levi¡­¡± he turned back to the door. ¡°...is still out there.¡± Sophie crossed over the pool of blood to the center of the room, she placed both her hands on the back of one of the chairs and rested her head down on it, taking in a deep breath. Her fingers tapped incessantly as her leg twitched. ¡°None of this was supposed to happen. Cain wasn¡¯t supposed to...I wasn¡¯t supposed to¡­¡± she slammed her fist down onto the chair, ¡°Now Levi¡¯s gone.¡± ¡°And Sim-¡± ¡°Fuck Simon!¡± She roared back to him, slamming her fist into the back of the chair. ¡°He¡¯s an egotistical douche-bag that didn¡¯t care about anyone else. He¡¯s a coward...a coward¡­a¡­¡± she fell to her knees behind the chair and started to cry. ¡°...and I¡¯m no different from him. I¡¯m a fucking coward.¡± ¡°Hey, no, we don¡¯t get to break down here,¡± Abel said, crossing the puddle to the center podium. ¡°We have to live. Okay?¡± He bent down to put his arm around her. ¡°We live because we choose to live, okay? We¡¯re here for a purpose, and that purpose isn¡¯t to die because someone else said so.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t even know if it¡¯s because anyone said so,¡± She said in-between the small whimpers. ¡°Even if it¡¯s not, we have to believe we can get out of this. If we lose hope then all we have left is despair. I...I don¡¯t know how to feel about everything I¡¯m learning, I¡¯m not even sure how I¡¯m walking to be quite honest with you, but right now none of that matters. What matters when you take away everything else is that you keep on breathing. Keep on standing. Keep on fighting.¡± She took in a short breath and wiped away a tear. She sucked in and let it empty out of her system. They sat in silence for a minute and for that minute it was like everything else had melted away. For that minute they were just a boy and a girl. It, of course, ended. ¡°You are able to walk because our experiment was a success,¡± she said, almost under her breath. ¡°Although to be fair, calling it an experiment makes it seem like we knew what we were doing.¡± Abel looked over, ¡°You okay to talk? I think we have some time before the game pushes us to vote, anyway.¡± Sophie nodded her head. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you everything.¡± 33 Abel told her in detail what he had seen in his latest memory. He was lying with his back against the chair beside the one Sophie had been lying next to. She nodded and listened intently as guilt crossed her face. When he was finished she placed both hands on her legs, scratching an itch that wasn¡¯t beside her knee, but still feeling the impulse. ¡°That¡¯s pretty much exactly how it happened. The first meeting was as awkward as you remember it.¡± ¡°But how do I remember it?¡± Abel asked. ¡°I wasn¡¯t there.¡± ¡°The Eye of Timaeus was a very special book. I don¡¯t know everything, or hell, most anything about it, but I do know it gave both Cain and Me those vivid hallucinations. It was almost an act of foresight. You described him seeing that creature, Sakonna, before reading about it in the book. I think you might be experiencing something like that.¡± ¡°Seeing things you shouldn¡¯t see by reading a book, I can¡¯t say I¡¯ve heard anything like that before.¡± But it was at that exact moment a passage flashed back into his mind. The original text I¡¯ve disposed of¡ªburned. We¡¯ve had some...incidents surrounding the original that I can¡¯t bear to write down. I shall keep them to my own mind. They are my secrets to lie with...but the reason isn¡¯t for a pride in secrecy or anything similar. I¡¯m afraid I cannot mention it here, for if I do then all of this will have been for nothing. For those that wish to know, keep reading and you shall know, but you shall also know why I am unable to talk about it here. And now finally, to everyone in my life that I¡¯ve done wrong, that I¡¯ve gone against, I am sorry. I had thought that knowledge about the world was the ultimate goal¡ªthat nothing else had mattered. I¡¯m afraid to say that I¡¯m at the end here¡ªafter this book I shall be no longer. There is a beauty to the curse that is infinite knowledge and it is for that reason that I have looked upon its pages and smiled at its face. The Eye of Timaeus shall never be a widespread book¡ªthat is not the purpose of this translation. Consider it a warning. I have done my part and with this the text may be started proper, but be warned that there is powerful knowledge in those that follow. Do not read for spite. Do not read for pity. Read only to learn and only to pass on. Nobody knows what sorts of demons reside in knowledge of the infinite worlds. ¡°Actually,¡± he began, ¡°...I might. The translator¡¯s note mentioned that there were some accidents because of the book. Do you remember that?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± she nodded. ¡°I never understood fully what he meant.¡± ¡°Maybe it¡¯s like, cursed? Like whoever reads it gets this crazy hallucination shtick.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know how they¡¯d pull that off, especially since The Eye is only a copy, it isn¡¯t even the original text.¡± ¡°No, I guess it would be difficult,¡± he slumped back, looking upward. ¡°It was that hallucination that Cain had that pushed him on board. I knew he was conflicted on it the moment he stopped himself from leaving.¡± She looked to him, ¡°He loved you very much...but he hated himself. Hated himself. That I could see too. Abel wished he could remember more of Cain, but all he had to work with was the fragments that he had since he woke up. ¡°He had nightmares, a lot of nightmares,¡± Abel said. Sophie nodded. ¡°He was obsessed with the accident. It was a dormant obsession before that day in the library. His mind was convinced that there was nothing he could have done, and so it would have tormented him until the day he did do something about it.¡± ¡°That changed the day he met you,¡± Abel said. ¡°I can¡¯t say if it was for better or for worse,¡± she said. As he looked at her he noticed a mixture of sorrow and doubt in her eyes. ¡°When he came on board to the idea of The Eye being something we could use as revenge...he really came on board. He was there every other day it seemed combing through the book with a feverish eye. I was just as excited, mind you. I wanted nothing more than to find out who killed my mother. If not the person who drove the car then who gave the order. It was the only thing that I wanted. I was obsessed.¡± This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.Abel was silent, nodding along. ¡°Most of The Eye was about the different kinds of creatures that existed in their other world. Ones like Sakonna that took up the most space in the entire book, but Godsong appeared throughout, and in much greater detail. There were drawings of what it looked like, instructions on how each nook and cranny worked to the greater function. It seemed absolutely limitless in what it said it could do. The book certainly didn¡¯t mislabel it, it was a probability matrix.¡± She looks wistfully off past Abel, remembering with the slightest of smiles. ¡°Godsong infatuated him. It was literally what he had been asking for in corporeal form. An infinity engine with the power to do anything. If it existed then it would be the greatest solution to his greatest problem.¡± The smile disappeared, ¡°He grew infatuated with me, too. I think it was because I introduced him to the possibility, but I cannot say for certain. But he made his feelings known, and not just once. I...I couldn¡¯t say no. For the first time in forever I found someone who knew the burden I¡¯d been carrying. Who knew and didn¡¯t think I was crazy. Who actively wanted to help in whatever I was planning. For once I had a friend, and I couldn¡¯t say no because I couldn¡¯t lose him. I couldn¡¯t lose him...but I couldn¡¯t say yes. I would be lying to him, and to myself.¡± ¡°He thought you were a couple,¡± Abel said. He knew this much, and it would paint what she said earlier about being aromantic as true. ¡°Yes, I tried to steer it as much as I could, but he thought what he thought. He became obsessed with this, too. It worked out in his mind that things would work out perfectly. I was scared that everything was going to fall apart.¡± She sighed and scratched the length of her leg. ¡°We spent two years going through the entire book. Front to back to front to back to front to back. We learned everything that we could and took to memorizing everything about Godsong¡ªin case we had to ditch the book for whatever reason.¡± ¡°Then two years later I got the book.¡± ¡°Cain was the one who offered the idea. I learned that he¡¯d been conducting research on his own time. God knows where or how, but he managed to find out that Arctic Systems had a secret facility hidden from the public eye.¡± ¡°My...No, our fathers worked there, right?¡± She nodded, she looked like she aged a whole decade. ¡°He mentioned something about how your father kept records for his work separate from your mother¡¯s. Something about how they did their taxes at separate times piqued his curiosity, and found information in some of his files. That was only the start. From there we went to public record and found works on an ocean cleansing unit that was being constructed by the Genros Foundation, Arctic¡¯s benefactor.¡± ¡°Underwater cleansing unit?¡± ¡°Unit is a bit of a misnomer...it¡¯s a huge facility that was to be installed at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to filter pollutants from the water.¡± A gigantic facility to filter water. ¡°That reminds me of Aria¡¯s room, it had that little river flowing through it, right?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t get ahead of me now,¡± she said, looking at him, nodding. This was that facility, he thought. That¡¯s where they were. That was as solid a confirmation as any. ¡°They called it the SubCon Facility. Cain was sure that there was some activity going on that related to The Eye. Something had to be there, it was just too perfect. So, we went down.¡± ¡°You...went down?¡± He repeated. ¡°We were obsessed with getting revenge,¡± she said. ¡°We were desperate, and we were mourning. We wanted to do anything but mourn, so we did the most logical thing in our minds. Of course, we knew it was extremely risky, and that you of course weren¡¯t going to cooperate. You hadn¡¯t thought how we thought. I remember saying that exactly, but Cain wanted you to understand. He got the book for you to read. He thought if you read it you¡¯d instantly understand, but of course, he was also impatient. He wanted to fix his mistake.¡± She brought her hand up to her head and rested it. ¡°He drugged you and we left. It was just like that, no plan, no supplies. One minute we were here and the next we were gone. It was a bit of a blur everything was happening so fast. Cain figured out how to get into SubCon. For the longest point that was our biggest barrier.¡± ¡°Well, I should think so¡­¡± Cain said, trying his hardest to stay focused, but he drugged you was doing a mighty fine job of stealing his attention. ¡°It was actually one of the last things he saw from The Eye¡ªone of those times of foresight. They brought in supplies for the SubCon facility through a spot just on the west coast called Three Rocks Point. It¡¯s about an hour and a half from where we lived.¡± ¡°And you just dragged me there? Something tells me that wouldn¡¯t have been easy considering I was wheelchair bound.¡± ¡°Right right,¡± she waved a hand in front of her face, ¡°I remember now. We were going out there for...I think it was just a trip between us. It took us a bit to convince your parents. It was then I most regret because I...I indulged Cain¡¯s ideas of us to help convince your parents. We took the bus, a few of them, actually. It was when we got there that he...um¡­¡± ¡°Did you know he would?¡± ¡°No...I swear.¡± Abel nodded, listening closer. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for the mix-up, it¡¯s like I said. It was happening so fast after so long of nothing.¡± She took in a deep breath and the scratching on her leg continued. ¡°Supplies like fuel, food, fresh water are all brought to Three Rock Point and shipped by boat to the point above where SubCon was located. We sneaked on board the ship¡ªIt was a large freighter, and nobody ever visited so they could get away with such a big boat, and we found that there was a sort of helicopter platform out in the middle of the ocean. It was connected to a long tube-like elevator that went all the way down to the entrance. They must do something with the interior¡¯s air pressure, because if it really is located at the bottom of the sea, there¡¯s no way anybody could feasibly survive down there.¡± Abel didn¡¯t reply. He simply kept his hands folded and kept his eyes on her. ¡°We made our way inside...it was extremely dangerous. There were guards on the boat, a whole bunch of them in heavy clothing. Armed most likely.¡± ¡°Nothing about this set of any alarms in your head?¡± ¡°Of course it did. That¡¯s why we did it, it strengthened our resolve. We were stupid kids¡ªare stupid kids that were obsessed for revenge.¡± ¡°And somehow we all made it inside.¡± ¡°Cain ditched your wheelchair then. He was convinced you wouldn¡¯t need it anymore. I did say that it was probably better to bring it just in case, but he wouldn¡¯t hear it. There was no just in case with Cain. Not then. We were so close.¡± He tried to imagine his older brother pulling him out of the wheelchair as he lay unconscious and it gave him the shivers. ¡°We made it inside. It wasn¡¯t easy staying still for so long on the boat, but we did it. We waited until the shipments were all dollied out onto the elevator platform and heading down before we moved from our hiding place. Obviously someone was going to pick up the supplies, and they would care pretty heavily if we were there. As the guards loaded back onto the ship we snuck off, Cain carried you piggyback style. It was windy, and the sea-salt sprayed in both of our faces as we made our way down the elevator. What was weird was that the supplies were at the bottom when we got down there. They¡¯d been moved off of the elevator, but they were pretty much piled up untouched otherwise. There didn¡¯t seem to be many people if any at all in SubCon.¡± ¡°Maybe they were just bringing supplies for future endeavors,¡± Abel asked. ¡°I felt that if they were, and the place had nobody inside then they¡¯d go in with the supplies instead of leaving it on the doorstep.¡± Abel nodded, this made sense. ¡°We were confused by it, but it didn¡¯t stop us. We took off running. We didn¡¯t know which way we were headed, but Cain seemed to, at least somewhat. As soon as we¡¯d reach a fork he¡¯d choose instantly and not give it a second thought. Then-¡± ¡°WHY HAVEN¡¯T YOU VOTED YET?¡± A deep voice bellowed from above, the both of them stretched their necks up to see a giant black figure falling from above. It landed with a loud sound that shook them each. Abel sat up to see it was a large bear that had been half fur and half metal. It was different than the other creatures they had seen so far, it had only half an exoskeleton, whereas the fleshy half looked dead enough, circuits and needles were jammed into its open headpiece, plugged directly into its brain. Its right arm was completely made out of metal, sharpened claws that look like they could cut through just about anything. ¡°YOU HAVEN¡¯T VOTED. YOUR TIME IS UP.¡± it roared, sending slobber out like an infant. ¡°And who are you?¡± Sophie asked. ¡°ALPHA. THE FIRST. ALTHOUGH TO YOU IT SHALL BE THE LAST.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Abel asked. ¡°The rules¡­¡± Sophie said. ¡°Lucky¡¯s rules mentioned that two people minimum needed to place a vote.¡± ¡°YOU DIDN¡¯T VOTE, SO NOW YOU SHALL BE PENALIZED.¡± It took a lumbering step closer. ¡°JUST LIKE ANSWER AND THE OTHER.¡± So they were both dead. Abel and Sophie both climbed to their feet and grabbed onto the chair nearest to them for support. ¡°We can vote,¡± Sophie said. ¡°There¡¯s two of us here, we can vote to cooperate.¡± The bear, Alpha, lunged at her¡ªwould have mauled her in one go if she didn¡¯t send herself down the steps by pushing off of the chair. Abel followed suit and slid on the bloodied floor, sending him slamming chest-down next to Levi¡¯s door. ¡°YOU ARE TOO LATE.¡± He called up, echoing above them and all around. His claws dug into the wood of one of the chairs as he propelled himself into a mad dash toward Abel. He tried to get up, but before he could even react the bear had him pinned by his neck, Alpha¡¯s trunk of an arm pressed down hard, cutting off his air. The bear lowered his head and the faintest of whispers left his furry lips. ¡°How¡¯d the metal piercing your spine feel?¡± All at once pain filled his lower half¡ªdistracting from everything else and he could only see the back of the headrest in front of him. He was back in the car and the other car had just made impact. Blood pursed on his lip and he felt everything, nothing was numb. He was taut and wished nothing more than for it to end. Just kill me. Just kill me. Just let me- Sophie screamed from the other end of the room, but it wasn¡¯t a scared sort of scream. Abel was running out of breath, he tried to think of how it sounded. Just then Alpha let go and rolled off of him. Abel¡¯s head shot up, and he saw that Alpha didn¡¯t simply roll over, Sophie had grabbed Answer¡¯s wing¡ªthe end where it had attached to the rest of the exoskeleton was sharpened like a knife¡ªand she¡¯d ran with it, carrying it in both of her arms and rammed it into Alpha¡¯s fleshy-side. He grabbed for it with the metal claw and yanked it hard, gushing thick blackish blood onto the floor below. Sophie reached for Abel¡¯s hand, he took it and she helped him to his feet. ¡°Where do we go?¡± He asked, quick. ¡°Come here,¡± She hurried toward the center of the room. Alpha kept his fleshy paw on the wound, breathing heavily. ¡°YOU WON¡¯T LIVE,¡± he growled. ¡°REVENGE.¡± He launched the wing like a spear toward them, Abel stopped running and it bounced off of the ground in between them. ¡°I¡¯ve had enough of revenge,¡± Sophie said, ¡°Come on,¡± She turned to Abel. He saw what she was planning as the roulette came closer in view. The podium in the center wasn¡¯t acting right¡ªhe remembered when it seemed to have difficulty fully lowering to whatever chamber acted as its second state. The podium seemed to be stuck halfway, and the space between the top rim and the floor looked just big enough for a body to slip through¡­ There was several things that could go wrong with the idea. But Sophie had seen it as a way to be out of immediate danger with Alpha nearby. He agreed that it would have to be worth the risk, whatever was down there, if anything at all. She slid as she made it to the top step and shielded her arms over her head. The blood they¡¯d been running through acted as enough of a lubricant to ensure she made it just through the crack. Alpha started to make his way closer to him as Abel followed her lead, falling down through the crevice into darkness. Memero | 4 34 Cain and Sophie were running through the hallways of SubCon. Cain carried Abel on his back, Sophie had his backpack on her back. Abel had been unconscious from the sleeping pills he¡¯d taken from his mother¡¯s cupboard. Everything was so close to coming how he and Sophie had planned. He wouldn¡¯t have to feel guilty anymore. He¡¯d be the hero, and Abel would get to live a normal life. He¡¯d studied the machine Timaeus described from cover to cover. If he had the chance he was sure that he could do what he needed to do. As they reached the fifth dead end Cain was bouncing on his feet, looking for another way to go. They¡¯d already been through two floors of similar looking hallways that was making him sick of being lost. Thankfully, they hadn¡¯t run into any troublesome people. That much he could consider his own luck. ¡°Next floor down?¡± Sophie asked. ¡°Yes, it seems we¡¯re not going to make much headway here.¡± ¡°He doing okay?¡± ¡°He¡¯s fine,¡± he said, incredulously. How could he not be fine? He was about to have everything fixed. All of his problems were about to go away. He didn¡¯t realize how good it was going to be. They ran back to the nearest lift and descended even deeper into SubCon. Sophie couldn¡¯t as much feel it, but Cain felt there was a noticeable difference in how the air felt. Something felt like it was sitting in the back of his mind, a whisper that rang through like the tone of a bell, a song just below the surface. Abel didn¡¯t realize how much he had been risking for him. The next floor held what they had been looking for. Not a soul lingered except for the two brothers and the girl, they walked in on an observation room with a long window at the far side. Just outside the window was the interior of a large shaft-like room that housed a large machine with thick and heavy cables. It looked like it stood on three pointed legs almost like the claw of an arcade machine and had a multicolored core in the center that shined brilliantly. ¡°That¡¯s it,¡± Cain said, approaching the window. ¡°That¡¯s it¡­¡± he was exasperated, his heart flooded with all kinds of feelings. None of them were joy, but he pinned it up that he would feel that after it was complete. Sophie had a smile on her face, a justified look as she clasped her hands together. ¡°It¡¯s real...it¡¯s actually real. I can¡¯t believe it...we¡¯re actually going to save him.¡± She looked toward the two boys and smiled. Cain wondered, how much of that smile had been for him...and how much was for Abel? ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go,¡± Cain said, moving toward the far right side of the room. There was a doorway that would lead to the inner areas of the observation room. A walkway led down another few feet before depositing them just before their target. ¡°Godsong,¡± Sophie wondered, looking up at it. It was probably fifteen feet tall sitting in the middle of the darkened room, a heavy cable ran out through the backside all the way up to the ceiling that must have stretched hundreds of feet up. Beside the machine itself was a small circular pod. It was hollow and didn¡¯t look very comfortable to be used as a chair. The inside was coated with a leathery material, but it didn¡¯t accommodate much space for the human body. Cain laid Abel down in the pod, bending him in a V-shape with his useless legs pointed upward as his rear end sank to the bottom of the pod. ¡°Okay, now bring out the cables.¡± Sophie nodded and swung the backpack off of her shoulder, kneeling down as she unzipped the bag, pulling out Mr. Gray¡¯s jumper cables. The human brain was a complex system of signals being received and transmitted. When these signals successfully arrive at their intended destination the brain gives a response. We burn our hands on the stove so the nerves in the body sends those signals to the brain to make our body experience pain to avoid hurting itself again. It sends similar signals when we move, when we walk, when we listen. When those signals are interfered with we receive...complications. Abel went through some complications when that car accident severed the nerves to the lower half of his body. It was their goal that day to repair the connections that had been lost using the power of Godsong. It had the will of the universe under its very control. How selfish had Arctic Systems been that they¡¯d hide it all to themselves? He didn¡¯t know why, only that it complicated things. Abel...complicated things. He was very lucky to still be alive. He was very lucky. So lucky that his older brother was here to save him¡ªreceiver of good fortune had been he, the lucky brother. Cain took the cables in his hands and walked over to his brother. The Lucky One, he played back in his head. He didn¡¯t have to keep thinking about it. He moved on. He was The Lucky One. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. He clamped one of the cables onto Abel¡¯s right foot, just above the ankle. He made sure it connected to bare skin. He then ran the cable up the length of the distance between the pod and the main of the machine. The lower edge of the core hung low between the legs, it looked like a brilliant gemstone, but gawking was not what he was here to do. There didn¡¯t seem to be any surface with which to connect the cable, but he knew better. He read The Eye. His glasses wavered on the bridge of his nose as he thrust his hand holding the cable into the core, entering it as if it were made of gelatin. He let go of the cable and let it dangle below, turning back to Sophie and Abel. She¡¯d been caressing the top of his head, whispering something under her breath. There was something about that...something that he didn¡¯t like. The Lucky One. Something he didn¡¯t like very much. The Lucky One. "Man, it¡¯s a good thing you¡¯ve still got your sense of humor, or else I would have dumped you like the sandwich I had for lunch yesterday." Cain flashed back to the morning the torrential rains had kept them to their room. "You still ate it though!" Abel pointed a finger at him, "And you tell me that my feet stink, imagine how your breath must smell! Sophie must hate kissing you." They¡¯d been talking about a sandwich, he thought. But it wasn¡¯t just a sandwich. "Yeah yeah," Cain shook his head, "Go on and keep your jabbering. Least I could get a girl." "Yeah yeah ten bucks says once you kiss her next and she smells that stuff on you she¡¯d rather take the cripple." Cain chuckled, "Yeah, pigs will fly and God will descend upon us." Pigs will fly and God will descend upon us. He looked up toward Godsong, and then back down toward Sophie and Abel. God indeed. 35 ¡°Your troubles will soon be over.¡± A voice stirred Abel awake. He was remembering through his own eyes. His body ached and he saw that he couldn¡¯t move his legs. ¡°Wh...where am I? What happened?¡± He asked. He felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked up as he saw Cain¡¯s face upside down. There was something...troubling about the way he looked. ¡°All right, we¡¯re ready to begin,¡± he said, without emotion. He stepped out of view and then all at once there was a tingling sensation at the nape of his stomach. Abel looked around, confused. ¡°What¡¯s happening?! What¡¯s happening?!¡± ¡°We¡¯re fixing you, dear brother,¡± Cain said, his voice was gruff. ¡°Does it hurt?¡± Sophie asked, then turned up to Cain. ¡°Maybe we should stop.¡± ¡°Stop? How could we stop?¡± Cain pressed a lever on the desk nearby forward a little more. The core began to glow dimly, there was a hum in the air that felt electric. The tingling feeling moved down toward Abel¡¯s crotch. It was a feeling that confused him, excited him. It continued down until...he felt the tingling in his leg...his right first, but then it spilled over to his left. They vibrated as if they were dancing on their own. ¡°How could we stop and deny Abel his luckiest day?¡± Cain continued. ¡°It¡¯s all for him and he doesn¡¯t even know how much I had to risk to get him here!¡± ¡°Cain, that¡¯s enough,¡± Sophie said, ¡°Shut it down.¡± ¡°I...I can feel my legs,¡± Abel said, lifting his right leg slowly, using muscles he hadn¡¯t in years. ¡°See Soph?¡± Cain laughed, letting go of the lever, ¡°It¡¯s working! You know what they say, it¡¯s working so well we should make it a double lucky day.¡± He raised the power higher. The core grew brighter and the hum was palpable in the room. The vibrating increased intensity and Abel felt it through his whole body. It stopped feeling good. It was not good. ¡°C-Ca-ain h-he-elp,¡± he tried to say. ¡°Cain, stop it this instant!¡± Sophie called, placing a hand down on the pod. ¡°He¡¯s the lucky one!¡± Cain screamed back, a terrible look engulfed his face. ¡°He¡¯s always been the lucky one! He betrayed me. How dare he leave me with the guilt?¡± He looked up at Sophie, who was trying to help Abel out without getting shocked herself. ¡°And you tend to him even now?¡± He called. Cain frantically looked back at the taut cable going from Godsong to his brother¡¯s leg. ¡°NO!¡± He screamed at the top of his lungs. ¡°NOW ITS YOUR TURN. I AM THROUGH-¡± He grabbed the cable and yanked. Sophie¡¯s screams joined his own, and Abel¡¯s were off in the distance. A bright light formed at the connection and from Godsong an outburst of energy traveled down the cable and set Cain aflame. His skin melted to the cable¡¯s exterior, his hand wouldn¡¯t let go even if he tried. His screams echoed forever and his body slumped against the desk. The sound of a door closed behind them, Abel saw the tall shadow give off a blinding smile before his eyes closed. ¡°They¡¯re right on time.¡± APOCALYPSIS [RED] 36 Abel woke as soon as he hit the floor. His eyes opened to total darkness. Was this it? Was he dead? He moved his arms around to try to place where he had been. His right felt metal, his left felt something more soft, he couldn¡¯t place what it was at first. ¡°Excuse me.¡± His eyebrows raised and he took a guess at what it was and pulled away, ¡°Ah...sorry.¡± ¡°Forget it. You okay? You were out of it for a while there.¡± She was awake then, Abel noted. ¡°I¡¯m good. Another memory¡ªI learned why I can walk again.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Abel shook his head, not that she could see it, ¡°We need to keep moving. We can worry about what it means in the end once we¡¯re free. It¡¯ll be easier to process everything then.¡± He didn¡¯t see it, but he could sense that she nodded too. ¡°Right...there should be a way out of here. I¡¯m no architect, but the fact that there¡¯s something down under that podium hints that it leads somewhere.¡± ¡°Do you know which way to go?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯ve been underneath you this whole time.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you wake me?¡± She was quiet a moment, ¡°I needed a moment to myself, and I hoped you were seeing something else and not dead.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m not dead.¡± ¡°You can get off of me now,¡± she said. ¡°R-Right,¡± he said, making his way to his feet. A sliver of light poured down from above as the podium attempted to open once more. It shone down as a ray to illuminate the tiniest of circles around his right foot. There was a splotch of blood on the ground underneath his foot, It must be from the blood that was on the underside of his shoes. In the light he saw Sophie and helped her to her feet. The both of their clothes had varying amounts of bloodstains on them, but that was the least of their worries. Abel¡¯s biggest worry would be that Alpha would find a way down there with them. He didn¡¯t seem to hear him, but hell if he was going to not worry about it. ¡°I think I see something over there,¡± Sophie said, pointing a hand he couldn¡¯t see. She took a step out and he followed, keeping close behind her. ¡°Here, it seems to be a door.¡± She made an effort to pull a handle down by her gut and it slowly pulled outward. She bumped into Abel as she pulled it back, and as she did light begin to fill in the room completely. It was extremely bright for the both of them at first, they turned around so that it wasn¡¯t shining directly into their eyes. Once their eyes adjusted to the light several things caught their attention at once. First, was the trail of blood that led from the spot where they fell to the room they¡¯d just opened...it wasn¡¯t little specks like he¡¯d assumed had come from their shoes or clothes. There was a proper trail, enough so to turn them back around. Second, was the door Sophie just yanked open. It was so heavy that she was sure it¡¯d close on itself if she let it go. On the face of the door were five letters written in bold face. L U C A S ¡°I think you-¡± Sophie began. ¡°I see it¡­¡± He said, looking at it intently. His eyes naturally flowed to the center of the new room, before he took anything in he saw it as plain as day. It was the third thing. The body that had been laying in the center of the room, sans a leg and an arm, blood leaked from both stumps openly. It was Simon. Abel¡¯s throat was dry, so when his breath caught he had a terrible cough that slashed against his throat. He stepped inside, following Sophie, and let the door close behind them. It slammed shut with a heavy thud. The rest of the room began to fill itself in his mind, an extremely large monitor sat on the right-side wall with just as big of an input device. The center of the room held a rectangular table that had a peculiar design imprinted on it, it almost looked like a map to the very building they were in. There was a sort of workshop in the back with all kinds of junk laid out on the tables, but none of it interested him. He took another step closer to the body and turned it over.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. He wasn¡¯t dreaming, he wasn¡¯t seeing hallucinations, and he wasn¡¯t crazy. Simon was here, he had died due to blood loss. Sophie confirmed as much when she placed two fingers to the vein running up his neck and shook her head. ¡°How...how? I thought Answer killed Simon for not entering the door with us, and then Answer in turn was killed by Alpha just like Lucky was! This doesn¡¯t make any sense if he¡¯s down here!¡± ¡°I...I think I have an idea.¡± Sophie said. ¡°It¡¯s only a guess based on the information we have, though. We¡¯re still missing Levi, right?¡± She asked. ¡°Yeah, but wasn¡¯t he left behind when that asteroid hit?¡± ¡°I think he was out of that...whatever it was, simulation of outside or what, I still don¡¯t know how to fully process that one, but I think he left before us. Whether he learned something from the woman or not, something happened when he came back in.¡± ¡°Maybe it was considered a violation of the rules for coming back in too early?¡± ¡°What would constitute that, though? How early is too early?¡± Abel shrugged. ¡°Well maybe-¡± The monitor turned on at their side and glowed a blue light onto them. ¡°Maybe¡­¡± Sophie repeated, before reading the words that appeared on the screen. ¡°You are Abel Gray¡ªThe RED. You get to live with the guilt of my death. Everything is your fault. Everything Everything Everything Everything¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-\\\\\\\\\\\\\¡± The screen then cut abruptly to a video feed coming from the main lobby. It¡¯s pointed at the ground from above in a bird¡¯s-eye-angle. Simon is lying on the ground where he had been before they came back from Levi¡¯s door. A few seconds pass before the Levi bursts through the door, he¡¯s looking left and right frantically. Answer floated down from above, flapping wings slower and slower until landing between Simon and Levi. ¡°I am your answer,¡± he said. ¡°I don¡¯t care about your answer, I need to figure out how to remove the bo-¡± was all he got out before his body exploded before their eyes, enveloping Answer in the blast and completely vaporizing him save for a lone wing. Simon was caught in the crossfire, awakened by the forcible removal of his arm and leg, a terrible scream filled the air as hot steamy blood coated everything. Simon looked up as he coughed up blood, probably coming from an internal wound. He saw pulled himself closer to the center of the roulette podium, which had looked as it had before they entered the room, closed off. He was shaking...bad. He slammed a fist down on the panel, somehow it activated and tried to open up, getting stuck on as it had before. He crawled into the opening and slipped into the hole. The screen powered off, this time for good. ¡°He crawled all the way here thinking he had a way out,¡± Abel said. Sophie shook her head, ¡°I don¡¯t think he expected to live,¡± Sophie began. ¡°I think he just didn¡¯t want his body to be used by those...those¡­¡± she started to tear up. ¡°Oh fuck now why am I crying over him¡­?¡± Abel found that he couldn¡¯t keep it together much longer either. Too many people had died....and for what? Who brought them here? Who was the tall shadow? He started to shake as he took a step over Simon¡¯s body. He saw past a partition that separated the workspace with another¡ªmore open area. Sophie followed without saying a word, because she had seen what he had. There was an elevator just past a bed in the open space. Elevators had to go somewhere. He pressed the button on the wall and waited for the familiar ding. The doors opened and a space that felt...safe welcomed them. Abel looked to her, silent, and nodded his head. She wiped a tear from her cheek and nodded back. They hadn¡¯t beaten this stupid game, but he didn¡¯t care. He saw the button labeled ¡°1F¡± among a host of sub-levels he didn¡¯t care about and pressed it as hard as he could. Finally. They were going to be free...finally. The elevator began to move, it rumbled slowly underneath their feet. There was the faintest sound of bells ringing in both of their ears. Abel swallowed hard. The bells evolved to a faint voice. It was familiar. ¡°They¡¯re right on time.¡± Just then the walls started to shake as much as the floor had. The two of them looked at each other as worry began to set in. The walls began...if they were seeing things right...to move the smallest bit closer. They weren¡¯t seeing things, they had definitely moved closer. And closer. And closer. They could do nothing but scream and pound on the walls as the walls moved until they could move no closer. The cracking of bones and crushing of skulls was the last sound to emanate from that room. Their blood would forever paint the walls as they would never be touched again. ¡°Nobody...cheats the game.¡± A devilish smile laughed into darkness as the world faded to black. ACT II - SILEO 37 Sudden sounds pulled a young boy¡¯s consciousness up from the depths like the hand of God tearing into the ocean, reaching downward through the depths to feel his existence before tightening to an iron grip. Something was very similar about what had been happening, but something was at the same time different. His eyes opened up and he found that he was restrained to a chair by his arms, legs, and neck. He need only look around to see that other bodies had been strung up like puppets as he had been. There was something familiar about it all. Something that- ¡°Nobody...cheats the game¡± the voice rippled through his mind as if a pebble were tossed into a small pond. It knocked his memories loose and instantly he knew where and who he was. He was Abel Gray and he was in the main lobby where the roulette game was held. Around him were the bodies of Simon, Aria, Sophie, Levi, and the old woman, Ai. He smelled blood, but it was a familiar scent, the same one he smelled when he¡¯d first woken up in these restraints. Ai, at his side, was still leaking from the hole in her head. The others, however, brought a swelling feeling of happiness to his heart, considering the circumstances. They were not dead, blown up, or eaten by any mechanical monstrosities. That was when it occurred to him that he too was alive. He distinctly remembered the feeling of his bones breaking and the walls closing up on him forever...but could it all have been a bad dream? No, that was impossible. Everything was so vivid and he remembered everybody around him. There was no way that that was all just a dream. He tried to wriggle out of the restrains, but as he expected he wasn¡¯t able to make much headway. As he did Simon begin to stir, his eyes opened slowly and he looked around his surroundings. He tried once to break out of his restraints. ¡°Another cycle, huh?¡± He said to himself. ¡°Hello, Simon?¡± Abel asked. He looked up, confused, and for a second recognizing, but he corrected quickly, ¡°For fucks sake, what are you looking at?¡± ¡°Simon, what the heck is going on?¡± Abel asked. ¡°How do you know my name?¡± ¡°You mentioned a cycle,¡± Abel said, ignoring his question, ¡°You remember too? What happened before, I mean?¡± Simon¡¯s face gave away his mind, ¡°Yeah...I remember you leaving me behind, again.¡± ¡°Again?¡± Abel asked. Simon started to laugh, it was a horrible sort of sound. ¡°You leave me behind every cycle, Luke. And you wonder why I despise you so much.¡± Abel looked confused at his answer, ¡°Luke?¡± ¡°That¡¯s your name, isn¡¯t it? You¡¯ve told me again and again it drives me crazy.¡± There was malice in his voice, his eyes looked much darker. Leave behind every cycle? ¡°This...has happened more than once? This roulette game?¡± Simon leaned his head back and stared up into the darkness. ¡°You say you remember but you don¡¯t know anything at all.¡± ¡°Tell it to me, then,¡± Abel said. ¡°And my name¡¯s Abel, by the way. My real name. I remember who I am.¡± ¡°Oh, of course you do.¡± ¡°Simon, I¡¯m sorry we left you behind. It¡¯s news to me that this has been going on for longer than I thought. I don¡¯t know how that could be possible, but obviously we¡¯re living it so I don¡¯t have any reason to not believe you.¡±A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Simon didn¡¯t say anything, still staring upward. ¡°I found you...and it made me sick what happened. It wasn¡¯t supposed to happen that way. There wasn¡¯t supposed to be a¡ª¡± an explosion, he thought. His eyes wandered until they settled on Levi, his head was bent forward and his hair dipped over his eyes. If what he remembered about...whatever that came before was true then it was very likely what caused him to explode back then could very well do so here. He mentioned that it might have been a b-....so it was likely he could assume that he meant bomb, but when did he figure out about such a bomb? Had he known all along? It wasn¡¯t likely, he was running back in to confront Answer about it. That would mean it would be most likely that he found out about the bomb from the old woman¡ªmaybe the elder had said it had been a part of his prophecy. Hey, wait a minute, if this place were truly the SubCon facility then we should be underwater completely. How then were we able to visit Levi¡¯s village? There were still so many questions that plagued his mind. ¡°Helloo?¡± Simon asked, ¡°Are you brain-dead already?¡± Abel shook his head as the thoughts vanished. ¡°Oh...I¡¯m¡­¡± He looked up at Simon, who was looking at him as if he had claws for hands. ¡°You remember,¡± Abel said. ¡°We already went through this,¡± he said. ¡°Why do we remember? Why is this happening again?¡± ¡°Do you think if I knew why I¡¯d still be here?¡± ¡°You could...I mean knowing doesn¡¯t necessarily get you out of the situation,¡± Abel answered. ¡°Well smartass, then you can stop asking me. Knowing won¡¯t help you.¡± Abel moved to respond, but felt trapped by his own admission. ¡°Why are you so mean?¡± He decided to ask a different sort of question. ¡°You mentioned that we leave you behind every cycle...is that really true?¡± ¡°We¡¯re done talking,¡± Simon said. As he did, Sophie beside him began to stir, she looked first to Simon and looked at him confused, ¡°Where¡­?¡± She looked to Abel and her surprise took over. ¡°Abel¡­¡± ¡°So you knew his name too,¡± Simon scoffed. ¡°Figures. To think I¡¯ve been through this a hundred times and you still find new ways to disappoint me.¡± ¡°A hundred?!¡± Abel asked. ¡°A hundred what?¡± Sophie asked, confused. ¡°Where are we?¡± ¡°Sophie,¡± he turned to her, ¡°We¡¯re alive! Don¡¯t you remember-¡± ¡°Remember? That¡¯s a sick way to see it, Cain...he¡­¡± ¡°She never remembers,¡± Simon said, ¡°She hasn¡¯t ever remembered the passover.¡± He was looking to the floor now. He looked from Simon then back to Sophie, a painted look of confusion doubled on her face. ¡°Passover¡­? Abel, what¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°Passover, is that what it¡¯s called?¡± Abel asked. ¡°Uh, yeah? It¡¯s what I call it, hence that¡¯s what it¡¯s called.¡± Simon grunted. ¡°How many times have I...uh, passed over?¡± He asked. Simon looked as if he was about to give an answer, but stopped a moment. ¡°You...haven¡¯t. This is the first time.¡± ¡°First time for what?!¡± Sophie screamed, she had clearly had enough. Her scream rustled Aria and Levi awake. They each looked like they had a massive headache. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Aria asked. ¡°And...who am I?¡± she asked. ¡°I-I don¡¯t like this one bit,¡± Levi said. ¡°Ah well, Abel,¡± Simon said, ¡°Looks like the party is just about to begin proper, so it seems you¡¯ll need to stick a pin in it,¡± He grinned for the first time. The rambunctious voice of Lucky filled the room all around them, but Abel couldn¡¯t listen to anything but his own thoughts. Something was keeping their minds stuck in this strange facility, this strange place where doors could lead anywhere and where rabbits wore suits of steel. Somehow they¡¯d been repeating the roulette game, traveling in a circle for a hundred games at the very least if Simon was to be believed. As much of a pain as he had been Abel could only think of the body he¡¯d seen in the room under the podium. He had no reason to lie about this kind of thing. So why was it that he remembered this time? It has to be because something different happened this last time that didn¡¯t happen during the others. Maybe if he could keep it up they could break free of the loop they were in. He owed that much to the others, especially the others who didn¡¯t remember. Lucky hopped up closer to him, he¡¯d finished his speech to them while he¡¯d been thinking. His beady little eyes looked up to Abel, in them Abel saw himself. But it wasn¡¯t just himself he saw, there was someone else he saw behind those cold eyes. His little head perked up and his mouth opened, ¡°So, Graybeard...you passed over. Aren¡¯t you the lucky one?¡± Memero | 5 38 The day of the accident was one that stayed with Cain. Although he wasn¡¯t the only one it had a lasting effect on. Outside of the bank minutes before the fateful crash a young man named Donovan sat in his car with a slip of paper tucked tight in his fist. His full name had been Donovan Bertrow, a maintenance technician at Arctic Systems. He was here outside of the bank...and didn¡¯t particularly know why. He found the slip of paper a few days back when it had been sitting in his mailbox. There was text printed on the slip in small black text: Crash it. Burn it. Remember it. Donny didn¡¯t know what it had meant when he walked back inside his house. He had the day off and was planning on going to lay around for a while, maybe do a little dope to relax on his day off. He lived alone so he could smoke up almost anytime he pleased. It was his day off after all. He started come noon, he hadn¡¯t even changed out of his boxers from the night before, the half eaten bowl of cereal still lie on the table out in the dining room. He shrugged he grabbed the old bowl and lit up, finishing the cereal he started the night before. An hour passed and something caught his attention outside, he set the bowl aside and hunkered over toward the window, moving the curtain aside and letting light spill into the room. There wasn¡¯t anything outside, so he let the curtain fall back into place. Then the sound the caught his attention the first time rang in his ears again, he heard it more clearly.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. It was the ringing of a bell. Then there were two, four, and they all echoed off one another. Where were they ringing from? He walked into his bedroom to see if he left an alarm on, but no luck. They didn¡¯t seem to be coming from anywhere, and then the ringing turned to a faint singing voice. He looked up to the ceiling and shook his head. The next day continued much of the same, he didn¡¯t even smoke then, convinced that he was just hearing things because of the dope. When that proved to be untrue it finally broke him inside, he could finally hear things in the songs that sang in his head. They were like instructions for his body, heavy persuasions he couldn¡¯t help but to follow. He listened to the words that filled his ears, and before he knew it he was sitting in the Volkswagen with a black ski mask and a loaded gun in the passenger seat. He didn¡¯t know where either had come from, but he noticed he was gripping the slip of paper in his hands. The voices spoke to him louder and he looked back to the black mask beside him and slid it over his face. Crash it. Burn it. Remember it. His body felt weighted as he entered the bank and fired the shots off. It was as if someone was guiding him along, he still felt stoned even though he had been days clean. This only changed when the car collided into the Gray family vehicle. His body burned inside as the stoned-smile never left his face. His body was eventually recovered by police after the Gray family were taken to the local hospital, but late in the night a shadow tall and fierce stole away the charred remains of Donovan Bertrow. The police never found out how such a thing could have happened, and since he was never identified on the scene, they had nothing to work with. The case was closed and Donny¡¯s personal effects at work were burned and his identity erased. EXCHANGE 39 Abel looked at Lucky with an incredulous stare. ¡°What¡¯d you say?¡± Before he could say anything else Lucky bounced back up toward the middle of the podium and they were released from their restraints. Abel gritted his teeth as he hit the ground, not expecting it to hurt as much as it had. It passed quick enough. ¡°Now if you¡¯ll all follow me over here to this monitor! Then we can see which of you devilish little players decided to defect!¡± Lucky called, bouncing off of the mounted gun. ¡°It...doesn¡¯t matter who initially voted,¡± Abel said, climbing back up to his feet. ¡°Sophie got the points for it because the old woman¡ªAi, chose to cooperate.¡± Lucky began to chuckle, the others sans-Simon had a confused-but-scared look on their faces. ¡°Well now, it¡¯s such a shame you said that,¡± Lucky said. ¡°I was hoping you¡¯d keep your mouth quiet so we could have spent some time together.¡± He hopped toward Abel and as he got closer Abel saw three sharpened claws slide out of each of his paws. ¡°Father said cheating is wrong,¡± Lucky moaned as he swiped across Abel¡¯s throat. The flesh was torn and ribboned in Lucky¡¯s right paw. He went again with the left and caught bone, he grappled it hard as the blood sprayed from Abel¡¯s neck. The others looked on in horror as they watched the young boy be torn to pieces before their very eyes. A terrifying shriek echoed as the claws retracted, Abel left to bleed out. ¡°Time for you all to get going then. The Roulette Game begins now.¡± Lucky said, tapping the ground twice with his feet and springing high into the air, up to the darkness far beyond what they could see. ¡°What did you do?!¡± Sophie yelled up after Lucky, but it was pointless. He wasn¡¯t coming back down. She ran over toward Abel, he looked up to her with something in his eyes that said ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± The blood was draining quickly from his body, it pooled out onto the ground. Levi and Aria couldn¡¯t bear to look, Aria felt as if she was going to be sick. ¡°What is h-happening here¡­?¡± Levi asked. ¡°He should have kept his mouth quiet,¡± Simon said. There was an airy sort of feeling around the room, Simon hadn¡¯t moved from where he stood before, and it didn¡¯t seem the death phased him that much. ¡°He spilled a secret and broke the rules. Lucky punished him. It¡¯s done and over, let¡¯s move on,¡± It was harsh in the way that he¡¯d said it, a perfected edge that he¡¯s sharpened to hurt the most. But...for the first time in a long while he didn¡¯t fully mean it. This time he¡¯d tone it down a bit. He¡¯d have to take charge and be the leader that he was in the last cycle. It...was strange. The boy never passed over before, what would this mean for the rest of this game? He couldn¡¯t let it shake him, he steeled his nerves and looked to Sophie who had been kneeled by his body. He¡¯d known that she knew him, he never knew the specifics. He was always dead before she revealed the specifics. ¡°Get up already,¡± he said, ¡°If you don¡¯t want to end up like him then you get up. It isn¡¯t much of a bother to me, I¡¯ll get out faster if you do.¡± He said with just enough sting to get a rise out of her, he knew that if she was left to her own devices she would stay down here with him forever. He knew there was no out. They would keep going around and around until the end of time. He wasn¡¯t going to have another cycle where she cried the whole time. ¡°He was right,¡± Aria called from the monitor. Sophie stopped and looked to her, ¡°What?¡± ¡°C¡¯mere,¡± she was waving them over now. ¡°It says it right here, Sophie, you have two digits to your password¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s like I said, he revealed something he shouldn¡¯t have known, and he got punished for it. Shame, as Lucky was just about to talk about it, too. So really he died for nothing.¡± ¡°You shut your mouth,¡± Sophie started, looking back to him. ¡°Yes, I do think we should stop talking about him, it doesn¡¯t matter what he did or didn¡¯t know.¡± ¡°You seem to know a lot about how this game works,¡± Aria said, quieter. ¡°Me? I know nothing. It¡¯s just what that damn rabbit said.¡± Of course, he did know, and Abel almost ruined it for him. If things were going to be different then they were going to be different in his favor. ¡°Well, what if he was behind us getting trapped here?¡± Aria asked, persistent as she could be considering the circumstances. ¡°Well then, we¡¯re stuck here forever without answers,¡± Simon began, ¡°Come on, use your head.¡± Sophie shook her head, ¡°He¡¯s¡­¡± ¡°Your friend right?¡± Simon figured it had been the kindest question he¡¯d asked in...he didn¡¯t know how long, and it wasn¡¯t even particularly kind. Maybe there was something about the uncertainty of everything that lit the littlest candles of hope that things would be different this time around. Or maybe he was just excited that there was a body so early. He couldn¡¯t remember which it was. ¡°Yeah,¡± Sophie said, taking a short breath, ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter...now.¡± She resigned herself to the fact. ¡°A-are you behind it? Are you the mastermind?¡± Levi asked her. Levi was always a bit on the slower side of explanations, it wasn¡¯t his fault, he grew up in a small village. He lived to see it quite a few times. Of course, he always said how it seemed like something was wrong in his village. All in all it didn¡¯t seem like it was breeding any geniuses anytime soon. ¡°Of course not,¡± she said, recovering more, but she did look back to his body, shaking her head. ¡°Now come on, please. I can¡¯t bury the body here and I can¡¯t stand to look at it. I think I heard a door unlock.¡± Aria looked from her to the body, her own body looked as if it was about to empty its contents. Aria was always the peacemaker, although Simon did notice a little of her fire here. Of course, it made her story about her victim all the more interesting. Humans did funny things when put in the right situation. He stopped for a moment, is this was omniscience felt like? Put a rat in a maze and eventually it¡¯ll have every twist and turn mentally mapped out. Give that rat infinity to explore said maze, then you¡¯ve essentially given it godhood. But what, though, of the rat that simply wants to escape the maze? What of the rat who no longer trembles at the threat of death because he¡¯s died every single run-through? Simon had felt like that rat, and it had been no surprise that come the origin of his disdain came anger and hatred for everything and everyone around him. Who were they to him? For all he knew they were elaborate actors forced to reset their roles as soon as they were killed or left. Nothing ever changed, and nothing ever made him forget that each time he went through this maze he¡¯d be left for dead, alone. Nothing ever changed...except for the boy. He changed. He remembered. He passed over. Something inside him couldn¡¯t let that fact go. It was like one of the puppets he¡¯d been surrounded by for so long was finally given life. A rat had escaped its predetermined path in the maze and landed directly in front of him. And Lucky killed him. The Rabbit had been many a things in his many cycles past, but caught off guard wasn¡¯t one of them, and that is how he had been when he¡¯d seen Luke...Abel. That was his real name, he heard him say. Something almost seemed...pleased in a sick sort of way when he realized it. And he could realize it. That was an important fact, Lucky could tell that he had remembered the previous cycle even before he opened his mouth. Simon didn¡¯t know what he was going to do next, but he figured that he had to do something. He wasn¡¯t going to waste this chance. ¡°Then let¡¯s go already,¡± Simon said. ¡°My legs are tired of just standing here, and I¡¯m not getting any younger.¡± 40 Simon heard a gunshot and then a scream, neither he had been responsible for. He was only seven years old, it was the earliest memory he could recall. He remembered seeing a flash of light spill from the barrel of the gun like it was a divine hand coming to take him away to a distant land and time. It had been the first time he was kidnapped. He learned much later on that the people who had done it were a couple of known thieves who frequented the Osaka region. They¡¯d concocted the idea to get rich by stealing the son of a famous CEO. It was genius, how could it ever go wrong? Akihiko Nagatomi was well past his midlife crisis when he had brought Simon into the world. His wife, Naomi, passed during a difficult childbirth. After this Akihiko grew very close to his son. The trauma that would occur effectively erased any of Simon¡¯s memories before the kidnapping, his mind trying to repress anything relating to the event to protect itself, but instead it impressed itself as his first memory. It happened in the middle of the night. There was a fresh blanket of snow coating the ground as the two kidnappers made their way toward the back of the Nagatomi home. They¡¯d been watching the house for a few days prior to plan out just how they were going to accomplish their terrible goal. They found that the lights in the home were out by nine pm. The plan then was to break in through the back windows which was closer to the boy¡¯s room than the father¡¯s. To ensure they could make the escape they had a smoke bomb and mace to allow chaos. The plan, as chaotic as it was, went off without a hitch. Akihiko didn¡¯t even wake from his slumber for another hour, only to find the note initially asking for a hundred million yen. The next time it happened Simon was nine. He had almost forgotten the fear that he experienced, but it came rushing back to him all the same. This time it was a political move brought to fruition by a rival company. Akihiko Nagatomi was the President of the Genros Foundation, an exceedingly wealthy benefactor to several international subsidiaries in regards to social, medical, biological, and even military advancements. Not everyone wanted Genros to invest in international affairs. They¡¯d prefer the wealth be spread to flourish the Japanese economy and install new business opportunities for the unemployed and homeless. The 1976 kidnapping had been to pressure Genros to pull back their support. The very next came not a month after the last, another criminal who thought they could make it big by hosting a ransom for the child. Each time it happened security was tightened and more measures were added to keep Simon safe. Unfortunately, this only increased the tenacity of those who wished to hold influence over Genros. Each time, as unfortunately as the last, Genros never budged in response to the kidnappings. There would be a response, and each of the three times that it has happened then the situation was cleared through force of soldiers and numbers far greater than the kidnappers. Simon initially believed that this was the force that his father had summoned to get him back, and each time it was the saving grace from the horrors that he had to endure. His father would save him no matter what had happened. The truth of the situation was that Akihiko, as much as he loved his son, never faltered to any threats or acts of terrorism. To react would be to show weakness, and he knew that the work he was supporting was life changing work that needed to be experienced by the world. He was not in control of a military force, he had no police, he was but a common man when it came to these situations. There wasn¡¯t anything he could do. He could have paid the ransoms, but there was nothing guaranteeing they wouldn¡¯t off his son after receiving the funds. And in that case the only net gain was that he armed criminals with money for life. He couldn¡¯t trust people who stole his son away to stay to their word, and so he did...nothing. He didn¡¯t feel good about it, never did, but he remained. It worked out then that someone had the courage to do something, as soldiers did find the way to save Simon each time he had been kidnapped. They¡¯ve been noted to wearing heavy-looking black gear with no identifying features on them. The Prime Minister has disavowed their connection to the Japanese military, so the obvious assumption went to the Genros Foundation. We only fund development and research, Akihiko remembered that was the first thought that ran through his mind as he saw the tabloids connecting Genros to the rescue. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. After the third kidnapping Simon was assigned a full time bodyguard to keep him safe all hours of the day. And for a little over eleven years this much became the truth. Simon received the best therapy his father could provide for him and as the years passed the need for a bodyguard around at all times wasn¡¯t needed. By the time he was seventeen Simon had requested that he need not one at all, and it was then he resumed his public education. Four years of normalcy passed in the blink of an eye. 41 When Simon was twenty-two he left his father¡¯s home and started living on his own. He and his father had been quite distant for the past few years, Simon had largely recovered from his previous traumas, but he learned the truth about his father¡¯s inaction during his kidnappings which led to many fights between the two. Simon was hurt that his father considered his public image and company over his own well-being. Akihiko regretted his actions, but had trouble vocalizing his feelings as anything other than anger, and it wasn¡¯t until after a fight that he¡¯d realize he was most angry with himself. It wasn¡¯t the only reason that Simon left, he felt that with age his father wasn¡¯t really himself on some days. There were times when Akihiko wouldn¡¯t speak to his son at all, and most of them weren¡¯t even predicated by a fight. There were times Simon even swore his father¡¯s eyes were burning white. He was a natural brown, so he¡¯d convince himself it was just a trick of the light, but it happened more than once to stick in his mind. The day after his coming of age party he hit the road and found himself a nice apartment on the edge of Osaka. It was there he picked up a job with a newspaper just on the edge of Osaka. He started as but a peon learning the ropes, but he quickly grew and found a niche in reporting on issues in the workplace. He despised it when people in power took advantage of others, it made him sick to his core, it reminded him of the times he was kidnapped and how powerless he had been, how powerless his father had chosen to be. It was no secret that rumors were flying around about Genros¡¯ involvement in cases surrounding one of their subsidiaries, Arctic Systems. There were a staggering amount of employees that were killed in the past ten years in motor accidents. An accident was tragic, but there had been talk of it being more than an accident based on all the commonalities of each accident. This was all overseas, of course, and Simon didn¡¯t have access to his father¡¯s money. He couldn¡¯t very well fly across the world to write up on a scoop. So, he did what any good reporter would do in this situation, he went for the source. He went home. What he found was that his father¡¯s home was a mess, as if somebody had thrown a large party. Heirlooms littered the floor with little regard and framed photos lay cracked against the walls they once hung on. As he climbed the stairs past the foyer into the parlor room he saw scratch marks on the walls. They grew in frequency as he continued, finding a large slash mark by the next door in. An invisible weight tied itself around his ankles as he struggled to move closer, just past this door was the hallway that lead to his father¡¯s room. He slammed the door open and began running to confirm the fears that had almost suffocated him. Simon burst through the door to his father¡¯s room to find it empty. The rest of the house had been empty as well, but it had confused him then. Who had been in the house to make these markings? He then saw a slip of paper stapled to what used to be the door to his room. He looked at it with a wild sort of contention as if it were there simply to spite him. He walked up to it slowly and yanked it off of the door. It was his father¡¯s handwriting. He recognized the strokes easily enough as it was his father that taught him how to write. He looked the paper over and started to read. His father was gone, it was a note of goodbye. His father knew he¡¯d be back and would see it on the door. Most disturbing was that throughout the duration of the note his father¡¯s grip on his own sanity began to slip. What started relatively composed devolved to more frantic and short sentences. The strokes themselves looked like they were rushed. Near the end of the sheet he sees a phrase repeated twice, ¡°get out of my head.¡± It had been so striking because Simon had seen that his pen left the paper and continued onto the door, repeating it up and down the length of the wood. He took a step back to get a better view of it all, he realized that it went past the door and plastered the entire wall. He saw it so clearly now that it shocked him he didn¡¯t before. The door to the parlor had the familiar scratch marks on it, so it was most likely that Akihiko Nagatomi had written this note before whatever was running through had enough. Then he moved toward the parlor and then writing on the walls wasn¡¯t enough, whatever was bothering him had him rip apart the walls, probably with his bare hands. There was a loud thumping sound from the back of the house. Simon took off like a bullet to the source, the paper was still gripped tight in his hand. He found his father in what he could only describe as a royal mess. The table in their dining room was tipped over against the wall. Red writing covered the walls and floor as the makeshift katakana stretched across the boundaries of the room. Simon saw his father in the center of the room bent over, adding to the message he¡¯d been writing. His fingers were coated a deep red that bubbled from the blisters on his fingers. He was painting the message across the dining room with his own blood. ¡°Father?¡± Simon asked, taking a step in, but as he did his eyes were drawn to the start of the message. He didn¡¯t know how it was the start, it drew him in like a pull of a magnet and his brain was as attracted as a robot¡¯s. He didn¡¯t notice his father finish and crane his neck around, his blank eyes looking straight through him as if he weren¡¯t even there. Simon was scanning the room for the next piece of the writing. The bitter truth about life is that it ends and often it is without grace. I¡¯ve learned this fact several times over in the time I¡¯ve spent on this planet¡­ It was The Eye of Timaeus, the first passage from the LIFE book, but of course Simon didn¡¯t know that. He only read it as the musings of a man driven mad, most likely by the guilt that had finally caught up to him. He looked down finally to the poor creature that had been his father and was shocked to see the look in his eyes that he had convinced himself he wasn¡¯t crazy for seeing. It was as if there weren¡¯t any pupils at all, just the whites that filled everything. His father was on all fours as drops of blood dripped from his fingertips, he looked almost frog-like from where he sat, turning fully to face Simon. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with-¡± Akihiko lunges toward his son in one swift motion, tackling him straight against the table and knocking the wind out of his system. His head hit the wall and just like that his consciousness was flicked off like a light switch. 42 Simon woke up restrained to a chair sitting upright. Sweat coursed down his forehead and he grit his teeth as he yanked to try to free himself. He screamed as it did no good. He was breathing heavy by the time he quit fighting it. He saw around him five other people restrained just like he was. This was the first cycle. Simon wanted nothing more than to escape the atrocity that was the Roulette Game, even cooperating with the other players to ensure that everyone could make it out alive. He was going to make it out alive and bring his father down, it was obvious he didn¡¯t care about Simon, so Simon could give less than a single shit that he went nutso. Of course, that he kidnapped him, almost twice over a slap in the face and kick in the teeth. He would be brought down. These other people were innocents that obviously were unlucky enough to get mixed up in his business. This needed to end. Before the third round of the game had begun, Simon was defected against by one of the other players and he was shot in the end, the fraction of a second before his brain matter splattered across the room was long enough for his life to flash before his eyes. It was a painless feeling as it all fleeted away, and it was only a moment later when he regained consciousness sitting upright, restrained to the chair. Confusion struck his face harder than a tire iron as a strong sense of familiarity over the situation rose from the depths of his subconscious. He didn¡¯t fully understand what it had meant and chalked it up to a horrible nightmare. When events began playing out in a similar fashion as in his nightmare Simon began to accept it more as reality. He was going to get out of this crazy place and figure out what had happened to him. He remembered of course that one of the other players had defected against him before the third round of the game. He took this knowledge with him and made the extra effort to befriend that player, he lessened his edge he knew he had on him, it was a self-defense mechanism he built up in response to his childhood traumas and suited him well for being a reporter. It didn¡¯t suit him, however, for being easy to make friends with. The things he said usually had a bit of a blunt edge to them that people that weren¡¯t used to it considered it rude. Simon tried his hardest to dull the edge. It turned out, his plan had worked. He made it past the third round¡ªeveryone did. Unfortunately, things would end up crossing a similar path in the interim between rounds three and four. One of the other players learned that Simon knew more about the game than anyone else. Simon in turn learned that he was the only one who remembered that one had happened previously. The other player convinced the others that he was the mastermind behind the game. The sight wasn¡¯t pretty, he was ripped limb from limb in the ensuing chaos. Desperation to get out led to anger and anger led to hate. Hate turned to violence and Simon could feel it tear his body apart. He woke up a moment after dying restrained to the chair. He was breathing heavy and shook like a Californian earthquake. He screamed as the memories flooded into his mind and pounded his brain like a drum. He couldn¡¯t let the others know that he remembered or else they would do the same thing to him. This time, he was defected against in the very first round of the roulette game. One of the players had woken up without him noticing during his screams and didn¡¯t feel safe keeping him in the game. No matter the cycle. No matter the reason. No matter the person. Simon always died. He tried a fourth, fifth, tenth, twentieth, fiftieth time. When the fifty first cycle came around he had exhausted all of his ideas on how to cheat his own death. He tried killing everyone as soon as he got the chance. He tried killing only one of them and asserting his dominance. He tried befriending them all and being the hero. He tried forcing himself on the girls. He tried forcing himself on the boys, anything to make any sort of difference, nothing pleased him, nothing pleased He Who Created This Loop. He tried to use the information of his previous cycles to help them escape quicker. He tried everything. He tried everything. Simon woke up on the one hundredth cycle second for the first time in...well, ever. The boy woke up first, Lucas, he called himself. It was the first time that anyone else had woken up before him, before his memories began rushing back to him like the souls of a million lives. It was the first time that the idea that these were anything more than puppets destined to repeat the same actions in the same closed environment¡ªthat they were living breathing people...almost. He almost considered it, but then he resigned it to a fluke and nothing more. There was no way that the boy would just randomly break script after a hundred times. There was no precedent to this¡­it couldn¡¯t have happened. Simon didn¡¯t know what to do. For the last twenty cycles he¡¯d been stuck in a rut of being as rude as could possibly be. His old edge would have been terrified to see what new sort of wall he¡¯d built up. It was the only thing he could do to keep his mind off of his infinite nothingness. He next noticed that the podium had begun to short circuit just after the second round had concluded. In the entirety of his time in the SubCon Facility the electricity had never gone out, the wiring never short circuited, and the podium never had any difficulty retracting into the ground. He¡¯d voted to defect against Aria that round, and he knew that he¡¯d taken the blame for the murder of Ai as well, but truth be told Aria was the only person he¡¯d defected against in that cycle. He¡¯d tried exposing the other player in a previous cycle, it of course turned to backfire against him as they led a pseudo mutiny against him. Mutiny wasn¡¯t quite the right word, as it implied that he had any sort of power in the first place. Levi gained his courage by knocking him out. It was well deserved, he¡¯d seen how Levi looked at the girl almost half his age. He knew what buttons to press to get a reaction out of him. Getting a reaction out of them was the only thing he could control. Levi, Sophie, and Lucas...Abel. Gods, he needed to stop doing that. His name was Abel. He was sure of it because he said it in this new cycle...this cycle where everything was different. They left him behind, which had been his plan ever since he noticed the podium¡¯s malfunction. He was sure that if he let the others in on the fact that something wasn¡¯t right they¡¯d find a reason to kill him and his one chance could be over. Who knows if Abel would wake up first again? Maybe he would at two hundred cycles? The possibility was there, but Simon wasn¡¯t willing to accept the possibility because that would mean that his suffering though this game was only half over before he got another chance. He had to ensure he could check it out alone. He didn¡¯t think Levi would have hit so hard, he never hit that hard anytime before. It was enough to knock him unconscious. What eventually woke him up was the dull sensation that came with the forcible removal of his arm and leg once Levi exploded. This too came as a surprise to Simon. The first thing that entered his mind before even the pain was the desire to look for the podium, and there he found that the damn machine had been stuck trying to close, leaving a space just big enough for him to fit through. He crawled with his good arm¡ªhis only arm¡ªand slid himself into the crevice created in the mess. He landed hard and a good portion of his blood splattered onto the ground. He almost died there if it weren¡¯t for his determination turned into palpable armor. He pushed himself forward and made it to the metal door which had the name LUCAS emblazoned on the front. He made his way inside and could feel faint as he dragged himself in, the blood was openly pouring out of him now. He saw a large monitor on the right side of the room, and it lit up as he entered, playing a video clip he couldn¡¯t quite make out¡ªhis vision was waning. He forced himself to keep his eyes open. He¡¯s not sure he can trust what he saw, but for the moments before the last of the blood oozed from his body he could almost swear that he saw a young teenage boy held in a cross pose beside a sort of metal exoskeleton...a form all too familiar to him. Knives and blades were cutting up the boy¡¯s head in a surgical manner by a figure off screen. It had been too much before his vision faded before he would wake up again. Lucky. That boy...had been Lucky. Not in the sense of the term as the word, he was sure the boy had his own misfortunes, but he had been¡­.Lucky. And he looked so much like Abel. Maybe...he thought. Maybe if this changes...maybe we can stop...all of¡ª OVERLOAD 43 Simon followed the others towards the newly opened door. He noticed that Aria was leading the group. That was odd, he thought. He knew that she was the most timid of the group, even Levi could find his own inner strength if pushed enough, but Aria was different. She only seemed to deflate when pushed. She¡¯d fold in on herself. Each of the others would fight back at one point or another. And here she was leading the group toward the door. She even questioned him about how much he knew. It was almost fascinating. Finally! Something new was happening! He had to hold back a smile, it could be absolutely nothing. Things could be different, but that didn¡¯t automatically mean they would be better. ¡°¡ªSimon!¡± Aria had yelled at him, he nearly walked into her because he was so deep into his thoughts. He looked up at her, a dazed look on his face, ¡°Wh...what?¡± It had been so...unlike him of an answer. Unlike the him of the last fifty cycles. Aria had been looking at him, now with a bit of vigor. ¡°Are you good with that?¡± She asked. ¡°Good with...¡± ¡°We¡¯re all going to play along with this stupid g-game,¡± Levi said, putting a hand in one of his pockets. He did that often when he resigned to something so obviously a bad idea. Levi wasn¡¯t one for speaking his opinion often. Simon nodded, ¡°Yeah...I mean I guess...¡± he said it quick. He tried to round it out with his edge, but it wouldn¡¯t come. It was as if everything that had happened had taken precedence, he no longer felt angry. He almost felt angry that he didn¡¯t feel angry. I swear to god if this is setting me up for a bigger disappointment I¡¯m going to be so fucking pissed. ¡°Let¡¯s just get the hell out of here.¡± It wasn¡¯t anything. Don¡¯t let it get you hoping now. It could be something, don¡¯t give up hope. Simon wasn¡¯t surprised that one of the doors had unlocked. He¡¯d seen several unlock many times before, but the others played through their satisfaction that finally a way forward had finally opened. Lucky had always made it clear in their first meeting that there was a waiting period before the door would unlock, but rarely would anyone other than Sophie notice. They walked through the door with a tepid hesitation and found that it was Sophie¡¯s door they had found behind the lock. The inside of her room was a bit different in that it almost looked like an exhibit from a museum. It had been a strange choice considering Sophie hadn¡¯t ever mentioned that museums were particularly important to her as far as he could tell. There were headphones set up at different stations that would talk about the exhibit on display¡ªwhich seemed to be on alcoholism, again another part that didn¡¯t seem to fit Sophie. Simon had listened to the audio journey the first time through the room, but nothing seemed to catch his attention. It was the normal kind of stuff he¡¯d expect to hear if there was such an exhibit in existence out in the world. Dry, bland, and full of facts others would be more than willing to accept without double checking. There were also some suits of armor that didn¡¯t fit much else of the room, each lined one side of the doors almost as some sort of inanimate guards. Each had always carried a lance upright with both of their arms as if allowing each of them to pass. These...weren¡¯t the first things that grabbed Simon¡¯s attention when he stepped into the room separated in two halves by the dividing wall that ran almost the whole length of the room. He saw a corpse that had been stabbed several times with one of the knight¡¯s lances. Dried blood caked the walls and floor around them. The others had seen it just as quickly as he had. They looked at one another in a shaded silence before turning at once to look at Sophie, confused. All at once there was a ringing sound that almost sounded like bells. It echoed through the walls. Nobody said anything. The sound rang louder and each of them would swear they heard an almost angelic singing voice joining the bells in unison. All at once Simon felt a weird bubbling sensation under his skin. It was like someone opened his skin up and tossed a shaken up carbonated drink inside and let it fly. He looked around to see Aria looking at her own arms with a sense of disgust as well. Then Levi. Then Sophie. They were all feeling the bubbly feeling underneath the surface. It was next that Simon couldn¡¯t walk. He couldn¡¯t move but to stand, and then his mind filled blue, then green, and then finally in a prismatic array of images and sounds. They were all paralyzed as a flash of images forced their way into the minds of each of the players. They could do nothing but reach for their heads as it overloaded into their brains until all at once they all screamed out in unison. 44 Sophie woke up on the one hundred and first cycle inside a room that looked like it had been an exhibit for some tacky museum. It had a high ceiling that extended upward, but it wasn¡¯t too wide, the whole room could be seen in halves from almost any point aside for the portions not blocked by the divider that ran almost the length through the room. The walls were a sickly beige that looked almost how Sophie had felt. The last thing that she remembered was screaming out to Cain, there was something so...strong about that feeling, and then it came to her. She remembered sneaking into the SubCon facility and she also remembered Cain¡¯s...moment. She didn¡¯t know what else to call it, and suddenly it made her cry. She didn¡¯t move¡ªshe just remained on the ground looking up toward the ceiling. Her immediate location wasn¡¯t as important as the bullet train of feelings and memories shooting straight to her heart. Entire minutes passed as the scenes replayed themselves in her mind. Finally when she had enough she took one brisk breath and nearly launched herself up quite literally by the bootstraps. She was on the northern side of the divider wall when she noticed one of the cassette tapes fixed to the wall with a pair of headphones. She turned around in confusion trying to place herself, but she¡¯d never seen this place in her life. It must be some side room in SubCon, she thought. She couldn¡¯t see any exit from where she was standing. She turned back to the wall with the cassette player and saw the wall now had ¡°LISTEN¡± written in red paint. Yes, red paint, let¡¯s go with that. She blinked twice to make sure what she was seeing was entirely correct and then looked back down toward the cassette player, reaching for the headphones and taking them in her hands. She slid them over her ears with a silent trepidation. Nothing made sense about what was going on. And you¡¯re just going to follow those directions? I¡¯m ashamed of how little your resolve has become, her inner voice berated her. She didn¡¯t listen to the voice as she pressed play. A chilling voice met her ears with a message that had not appeared in any previous cycle. ¡°Sophia Houten Terrius, born of Michael James Terrius and Cassandra Lily Agathe. You have made an impressive effort in investigating the circumstances behind your mother¡¯s very mysterious death.¡± The sound startled Sophie and she threw off the headphones and backed up to the wall. She was like a small child with nowhere to turn. This was too much. She¡¯d had enough of this...suddenly it all became real and the severity of the kinds of things she was dealing with became real. ...but her eyes never left the headphones dangling in front of her. There was no sound coming from them as soon as they left her ears. She walked slowly toward them and shifted them back onto her head. ¡°...Your fright is now confusing. You have shown no fear until now, why? Are you suddenly doubting your choices?¡± ¡°I¡¯m...not afraid of you...¡± she said, then realizing that there was no input device. Even if someone was actually on the other line there would be no way she could reply. She was listening to a pre-recorded tape. Whoever brought her here...that tall shadow she saw before she passed out, must just be some pretentious prick who would predict she¡¯d act apprehensively. But then again...how do they know who she is to that detail? ¡°You are a curious person. One of the most curious, in fact. Which makes you perfect for...well, I won¡¯t ruin the surprise. But I will do something for you¡ªI¡¯ll tell you exactly how your mother died. You¡¯ll believe the words I tell you, right? Maybe not at first, but you read the book. You¡¯ll see it as I say it. You¡¯ve seen images before.¡± ¡°What the fuck are you...¡± she stopped herself, looking around, headphones still in her ears. Are you watching me? ¡°Many days ago our text was stolen by one of the people we employ at Arctic Systems. You are correct in the theory that we have taken measures to ensure it gets returned. However, your mother passed long before our text was taken, so we claim no responsibility. I understand this answer isn¡¯t what you want, so let me lay down the day that your mother passed in as blunt detail as I can offer.¡± Why...why is this so easy? Sophie thought that this was extremely suspect that everything was so...so convenient here, she was shaking her head unconsciously as the words spilled into her ears. ¡°You were but a toddler then, so your memories of that day are faded at most. Your father was a heavy drinker. He would spend hours after his shift drowning himself in alcohol. He averaged more time there than at home with you and your mother. She would have to drive him home each night since she didn¡¯t trust him on the streets. The day your mother died was the day that your father decided he was done with drinking for the tenth time. He left earlier than normal and got into a wreck with your mother who had been on her way to come pick him up.¡± As the voice on the other end of the line spoke she saw every word play through her mind like a memory that was cleaned of any obscurity. They weren¡¯t her memories, but she saw them as clear as could be. A tear formed at her eye and her mouth dropped open. ¡°She died instantly. Your father escaped the blame because of my generosity. I keep very close tabs on the people I come in contact with, employee or partner. I also took the pleasure of clearing his guilt and erased his mind of the memory¡ªalongside yours, of course, what little there was to erase. How could you live on with the knowledge that your father¡¯s poor decisions killed your mother? You couldn¡¯t.¡± ¡°Who are you?!¡± Sophie screamed out, the scenes repeated on themselves double over like two movies being played on the same projector in her mind. ¡°Who are you?!¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°We¡¯ve met plenty of times before. Every time you remember the thoughts in your mind that cause you to believe that the Genros Foundation and Arctic Systems were behind your mother¡¯s death you were in contact with me. You didn¡¯t know it until you started to read the book. That¡¯s when your eyes were opened. That¡¯s when you really began to think, to experience, to feed me. I said you were very interesting, and I meant it. Your thoughts and your theories and discoveries have been...so exciting. I wish you the very best, I have left you a present just on the other side of the divider. You know what you will do, and so do I.¡± The sound stopped on the other line. Sophie didn¡¯t know how to react. She stood still as a heavy sensation whipped around the back of her head. It was like a brick was suddenly tied around her neck and dragging her down underneath the surface. She stepped out past the divider and saw her father lying unconscious against the wall. She¡¯d completely missed him. He was alive she could tell by his chest rising up and down. In a matter of moments he shifted from her father who she loved and who had protected her from the evil menace that was this evil company to the man who had been sitting at the bar a little too long and a little too much. She then looked back on how everything had started and then put it forward that her father really hadn¡¯t been a nice man. She¡¯d excused a lot of things in the time before she was living on her own, and for once that concept sounded like the strangest in the world to her. She was old enough to be on her own, sure, but it was far from the safest thing. Wouldn¡¯t a father do anything to protect his own daughter? Surely that wouldn¡¯t mean sending her to her own accord and hoping that she didn¡¯t just die. She was so obsessed with solving the mystery of her mother¡¯s death...the mystery that never existed. Sure, it existed with Cain and Abel, she was sure of it, and the voice on the other line as much as confirmed it. Your theory was right. It just didn¡¯t exist for her, and what was that, some terrible coincidence? A lie? It had been a bit of both, but she couldn¡¯t differentiate the two because the person who had been the root, who had put her on this wild goose chase, who had taken her mother from her, and who for all intents and purposes abandoned her himself sat in front of her with a dull smile on his face. It was such a peaceful smile that it spoke out against everything else in her life. Nothing was peaceful anymore. Nothing was allowed to be peaceful. If things were peaceful then they were okay, solved, finished. Things were not, and they always felt like they never would be. Once more the scene of her father crashing played in her mind. Right after it Abel was screaming. Cain was howling a demonic sound as Godsong whirled to life. Her mother¡¯s head bounced back. Abel¡¯s legs were impaled. Flashes of blood streaked across her vision and before she knew it she was screaming herself. There was a heavy weight in her hands and as if it had meant to be there all along she rammed it forward with her arms. She¡¯d grabbed the lance from one of the knights guarding a door just opposite of her father¡¯s body and sent it through his chest, his eyes opened and bulged as it pierced his heart. He fell to his side and Sophie only looked as he did. The scenes didn¡¯t stop playing in her head, they only continued, faster, and faster, and faster, and f- She grabbed for the hilt and ripped it out of her father¡¯s chest, blood gushed openly onto the floor. She screamed and brought the lance over her head and slammed it into his eyes through the side of his head. She screamed and placed one foot on his head to yank it back out, but that¡¯s when they stopped and she felt the bile rising to her throat. The reality of the situation hit her and she was shaking, shaking so coldly. She made a short sound as she let go of the lance, horrified at what she¡¯d done. She couldn¡¯t speak, couldn¡¯t bring the words to the surface. The blood sprayed all over and she fell back onto her rear end, she crawled up against the wall looking as what used to be her father bled out. She couldn¡¯t look away, couldn¡¯t separate herself from the moment that lasted an infinite amount of time. 45 Aria held the knife in her hand. The body it had just entered slid to the floor of the bedroom as blood pooled around him. She was breathing heavily and felt the adrenaline coursing through her own body. The body that this man had tried to violate. She wasn¡¯t going to let that slip so easily. She¡¯d been working this case for months now and she wasn¡¯t going to let it slip away just like that. It was supposed to be a simple job. She¡¯d followed Villiers¡¯ family for the past two years and had learned almost everything that there was to know about them. The important thing being that his father was a general manager for the Paris-branch of Arctic Systems. This didn¡¯t mean much to her, of course. They meant more to her contractor. Aria was thirteen when she made her first contract killing. Her age and meek demeanor made it so very easy to lure her targets into a false sense of security. She was dragged into this world after her parents sold her to satiate a drug problem. She was passed around like a cursed hot potato. The criminal underworld had their way with her for the entirety of her life until she met her contractor, a man who worked from the shadows as a crime boss with no name. She only knew him by his scent, a slight floral hint that inspired her alias. Her contractor gave her a target first in Woodruff Anson. She was to seduce his son, Villiers, and make contact in their home. The target had reportedly stolen a very important artifact from Arctic Systems, and she was to retrieve it and kill anyone who had made contact with it. She had no choice but to accept it, and she pulled it off with aplomb. And there she stood in the bedroom of Woodruff Anson as he lay bleeding out and gasping a bubbly sound through his throat. She couldn¡¯t bear to hear his moaning anymore. She bent down and unzipped his pants, she had to yank to get them off of his waist. It might have been quite a trophy for him back in his days, but those days had been long over. She took the knife and cut off his penis, the blood flowing freely onto the carpet now. She tossed it aside and stood back up, moving to his nightstand. Just where the intel said it¡¯d be. Her contractor was very knowledgeable. If she were raised to ask questions she may have wondered why they knew so much. Of course, she wasn¡¯t, so she didn¡¯t. Inside the nightstand was the large tome that had the funny symbols across the front. She tucked it under her armpit and ducked out under the cover of night. Villiers would come home that night to his father¡¯s corpse and the police would be called. They wouldn¡¯t find Aria, as she was already out of town. She almost didn¡¯t read the book, but her curiosity grew to be the best of her as she waited for the next morning to pass so she could meet with her contractor¡ªthey preferred to meet at night. It was always at night. The morning she hid out behind a gas station inside a dumpster¡ªrecently emptied. She had a few hours to herself before she would be found, and the lid on the dumpster had the perfect hole near the end that allowed a small ray of sunlight to peek through, it almost seemed perfect. On that day in 1985 Aria was reading the very book that Abel had lost his legs over exactly a year later. Three years after this job Aria would have forgotten most of the details of her first run in with the book¡ªher memory more filled with the vivid details of how Mr. Anson¡¯s crotch bled or how deep the knife entered his chest. That didn¡¯t matter when she was taken from her sleeping quarters in a southern french foster home. Her underground work was nearly behind her and she hadn¡¯t killed anybody in almost three months. She found an opportunity to escape and took it without a second glance. It didn¡¯t help much when she awoke restrained to the chair. 46 Aria¡¯s contractor was a very mysterious individual with no funding backing him and no love for the heads of Arctic Systems. After receiving the book from Aria he knew that he had to find some way to dispose of it where nobody would think to look. He was desperate. After all, they hired a hitman to kill his family. This was before The Eye was stolen, but Banner had been funneling information out to the black market. He¡¯d become a liability and he had to be stopped. Wayne Banner had been Cain and Abel¡¯s father¡¯s gateway to a job at Arctic Systems after college. He was head of the marine biology unit and spent countless hours of his college years working his way up. He started with the company just out of high school¡ªhe¡¯d been recruited for his ¡°specific talents and skill-sets¡±. Things seemed to work out perfectly for Banner. This changed when they led the expedition out on Steinschild. In 1981 Arctic Systems was contracted by the Genros Foundation for an investigation on some historic material, and so they sent out a small team from America paired with a small military presence as protection to the small village to ¡®investigate¡¯ in a way as best as they could. The natives that lived there were of a different sort altogether, Banner learned quick enough. They fled from their village as soon as the team from Arctic arrived, fearing they were there to massacre them and pillage their people. Wayne thought that if they remained that might have been true. He was the translator on board for the team and would be the one who would eventually translate The Eye of Timaeus. It was there that they found the original writings that Banner would compile into the modern tome. After the book was completed Banner could tell that things had been different with how others from the company treated him. It was subtle at first, people would quiet as he walked by, but it grew exponentially when he found that someone had broken into his home after a spontaneous night out drinking. He found his family dead where they slept, throats slit and sheets stained with red. One day, he didn¡¯t come back to work, back home to the place where the ghosts of his family remained, or even anywhere that anybody who knew him saw. He vanished from public view. The next few years was spent going deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole that became the mystery surrounding Arctic Systems. His search led him deep into a world he didn¡¯t think could exist¡ªa criminal undergrowth that always existed on the underside of society he floated on top of. None of it mattered except the ones responsible. He met quite the few nasty people along the way¡ªchild molesters, drug pushers, drug cooks, even sex traffickers. It was important before diving into any of this he hide his identity¡ªhe knew of course anything could harm his family. Anybody he met from the underside of the world he did so where he could not be seen except through darkness. He traded for information, staying clear of the real nasty works. He came across a child being touted as a killer of the highest pedigree. She was shipped all over the world ever since she was an infant and beaten down so much that when she spent some time in the Burroughs of Russia she learned how to fight and to kill by the age of nine. Bouncing back and forth she kept out of the sex market by the very skin of her teeth. It was then that reports of the book that he had translated had been stolen from Arctic Systems, and with this information an even greater idea formed in his head¡ªhe would get his hands on The Eye and nothing would stop him from destroying Arctic Systems for good. The world could use a poison less toxic than Arctic. It was then that Contractor met Contracted, and The Eye had then traveled from Steinschild to the Germanic branch of Arctic Systems, then from Germany to France via Woodruff Anson, and here it would come to America. Once the book was in his possession, Wayne Banner believed that he had to act quickly. If he waited too long he would be found out and they wouldn¡¯t make the mistake of missing him again. The morning after it arrived Aria had cut all ties with her contractor and went her separate way. She¡¯d find herself ending up at a foster home on the south side. Wayne had received a knock on the front door of an apartment nobody had ever knocked on before. He didn¡¯t have friends¡ªany he had were left behind the day he left Arctic Systems. He didn¡¯t speak to family, and he only communicated with the landlord through penned letters. Coincidentally, he lived in the room just next to the very same one Sophie would be squirreled away in three years later in 1988. He stood frozen as the knock came again. Once more. And a final time. There was a moment of silence as Wayne¡ªnow not as young as he used to be when he worried over people looking over his shoulder¡ªtook a step back in the small pitiful kitchen. He wondered always what he would have done if he were ever confronted in this kind of situation, and after all that he¡¯d seen in the past few years he always thought he¡¯d have stuck his ground and fought back until his very last breath. Instead, he only took a step back, waiting to see what would happen. The door swung open and a figure with extremely long white hair strode into the room. They wore an all white coat that almost blinded him as snow would on a sunny winter morning. What scared him most of all and kept him from screaming out was the fact that the figure¡ªWayne couldn¡¯t tell if it was a man or a woman¡ªhad no pupils. Their eyes were blank and their face was as smooth as porcelain. They took a step into the home with hands behind their back and not saying a word. Wayne was now against the back wall, holding the book between his arms and his chest. All of his breath left him, he could not speak back. The white figure took three steps forward¡ªit was all they needed to reach just in front of his face. The figure looked down to the book and gave a small sort of smile, it looked as friendly as a rabid dog. The figure looked into his eyes and then he began shaking violently. Images flew through his head at a speed he couldn¡¯t control. His mouth began to foam and he fell to the ground, seizing. The figure reached their arm down¡ªit extended as if it were made of rubber, and the bony hand grasped the book in its clutches. With the book the figure spilled out of existence as if it were a dust cloud rustled by the wind. Wayne Banner died in his apartment of a heart palpitation that grew immensely in the span of fifteen minutes. The Man Machine 47 One hundredth cycle. Levi stood in the tattered home of the elder of Steinschild¡ªthe village that had been his own home...but something was different. Nobody he knew was here. Buildings were in different places, and the air just felt...off. Sophie and Abel¡ªthen still calling himself Luke¡ªleft to investigate on their own, he was more than okay with that. There was a pounding sound in his head ever since he had woken up, and it had only gotten worse as he tried to have a multilingual conversation. Even the language that the woman that had apparently been the elder had been...different. He could pick out enough details to understand what she had been saying, but there were words and phrases she used that he didn¡¯t know at all. He talked to her for what felt like forever. A lot of the time was spent trying to understand what she had been saying, but when he did... The conversation boiled down to very specific facts that would end in Levi¡¯s eventual death that Abel and Sophie would later see on the monitors underneath the bubble-room. Those facts he did learn were as follows: 1. The dragon would be coming soon to the planet by way of an asteroid. It would spell doom for the human race as it comes from a land darker than any before. It would hollow out a mountain and make its rest to hibernate until one day it would come down and devour humans. 2. The prophecy was written by an ¡®odd young boy¡¯ who would once went up to the mountaintops the past year and hadn¡¯t come back down. 3. The ones he was traveling with had a terribly long future ahead of them that could end with light if they remained to fight. 4. Levi¡¯s headache was caused by a bomb that was implanted just behind his eyes. He was a soldier of stone¡ªA golem created by the dark ones who had only existed to transmit these specific facts. Levi didn¡¯t know what to make of what he learned, certainly he had mistranslated the old woman¡ªeither that or she had been senile. She raised a hand to his forehead and wiped as if something had stained his forehead. Immediately he felt a burning sensation and he jumped off, scared. He bolted out of the home and found a reflective scrap-sheet of tin that the smith next door must have tossed. He grabbed for it and raised it up eye-level. On his forehead he saw markings burned as if he were pressed with a branding iron. Emet. It was Hebrew for truth. As the woman had wiped his forehead he saw the last character begin to fade. Met. It was Hebrew for death. Levi felt the ringing noise inside his head grow to an unbearable level, it rang through his body and he held his hands up to his head. You are a soldier of stone. Created only to transfer a message to those who can use it. ¡°Aghh!¡± He called out, waving his head around as it increased in tenacity. ¡°How am I supposed to deliver a message if I¡¯ve got a...a...¡± he didn¡¯t dare say it. The sound got louder and louder and all other thoughts left his mind and only one truth remained. There was a bomb in his body. He didn¡¯t know how, he didn¡¯t know why, he only knew that it was. The words left his mind and he began running, he didn¡¯t even remember standing up. If he was going to explode, he was going to take out that damn bird and end this stupid game. He was going to make sure that the others could leave this place alive. He didn¡¯t even know what to do about the other things he learned from the woman. There was too little time to think about how he could tell the others about it. He had to hope that they would find a way. That they would find the way. Another stretch of time he didn¡¯t remember was the run back to the door. He was just there, this logic-breaking door that somehow brought him inside with no apparent inside to go to. His memory lasted another few moments before he made it back into the bubble room and the bomb went off, ending his thoughts completely and wholly. 48 Cain almost died the day he made contact with Godsong. When he grabbed the cable connecting his younger brother to the Infinity Engine he mortally wounded his body, burning it completely. Yet, his eyes opened, but it wasn¡¯t of his own control. He was looking, but it was as if someone was making him look. He stared straight at Godsong, he was upright, perpendicular to the ground even. He couldn¡¯t move anything, not even his eyeballs. He was staring straight ahead and couldn¡¯t do anything about it. The last thing he remembered was waking up that morning and seeing Abel sleeping beside him. He was so excited for the chance to help him out, but he remembered the feelings that erupted too. Feelings that he kept under for a long time, much longer than he would have liked to admit. A shadow stepped into his view. As the light from Godsong started up he could see it had been the tall figure with the long white hair. He felt more than a strike of fear when they approached, hands firmly held behind their back. The figure said nothing as they bent close right in front of him, their mouth perking up the slightest bit into a grin, but worst of all was their eyes. There hadn¡¯t been any pupils or iris, just blinding white that erupted the smile into a maniacal look. Cain froze in fear, but it wasn¡¯t like he could move anyway.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. A second figure moved into view, this time he could clearly see it was an older woman. She looked to be well past her eighties, her hair looked doll-like for how thin it was, and her eyes were the exact same as the silent ones¡¯. The players would recognize her as the old woman that currently had a bullet in her brain, and previously had a bullet in her brain for each previous cycle. ¡°You...are quite the smart one,¡± she whispered, her voice almost song like, barely even there. ¡°It is hard to believe a pack of children found the book. You...excite me. Or...perhaps that was your doing?¡± She turned to the silent one. Cain had no response, he could not talk back. ¡°I was going to kill you and then consume you, like I¡¯ve done to thousands before you,¡± she said, with a grandmotherly-like smile on her face. ¡°You read it, after all. That¡¯s how you were able to operate it.¡± Cain said nothing. ¡°Hm, I see...you do have your own ways of causing mischief, but I¡¯ve had an even greater idea.¡± The silent one continued to stare at Cain, that slight-grin still stuck to their face. The blank eyes drilling holes. ¡°You¡¯re mind is too...interesting to simply see extinguished. My partner specifically picked you out. You shall be of much use to us.¡± Still the grin. ¡°The name of this body is Ai, she is long since dead, but still she moves. This is...news to you, correct?¡± Cain could not answer. ¡°Yes, I see. Well, you might then say I do not come from this body, but it does serve its uses. It is very powerful,¡± she said. ¡°Now you wonder why I am telling you this. I wish to return home, and that home is far from any you know.¡± She took a small step to the side so that he was staring straight at the core of Godsong once again. ¡°It seems I¡¯ve gotten myself stranded here. I came from outside of your world¡ªlanded here inside an asteroid. That was...almost four and a half hundred of your years ago. Your people have been very helpful thus far, but I need you yet...although in your previous state you wouldn¡¯t have been much help to me,¡± she said, and then she turned Cain¡¯s head to face a black sack of flesh on the ground where he remembered standing last. Ai turned his head back straight. ¡°That used to be your body, you figured that much out, yes? Good.¡± She nodded, ¡°You¡¯ve given me a chance to test how you people see with your Night Eyes outside of your own body. You are the perfect gift, so lucky to be the first of its kind to fully complete the process.¡± That was when Cain focused on the core of Godsong, the shined surface gave a sort of reflection of his current form. Looking back at him was the corpse of a rabbit. Its mangy body had been dripping of blood near its calves, its mouth was opened and its tongue hung out. ¡°Lucky, you will be the second game master to our little experiment, but first we must protect that nasty flesh of yours. We¡¯re building you an exoskeleton so that when you flash forward you won¡¯t get left behind.¡± The silent one looked to Ai, an unspoken question hung in the air from their eyes. ¡°Ah, yes, I had forgotten those concepts weren¡¯t in the book. I humbly apologize,¡± she bowed, ¡°My partner here wanted me to tell you in person. It¡¯s much easier to hear than to read it. You¡¯ll be hosting this game we¡¯re playing quite a bit until we have what we need. You see, we need people who can see with their Night Eyes. We call them that because it means they see us, not just the sacks we wear. You can see us because you read the book.¡± Cain wanted to blink more than anything, he wanted it to stop. What was going on was crazy, this was all crazy. ¡°You read the book because the girl read the book. She read the book because the worm read the book, and he was the one that put it in your language to read. So many people and so many lives affected by one story, but you took to it like a moth to a flame. We saw you, it is an eye for us as it is to you. The humans below us, the names attached to Arctic Systems and Genros...¡± She began, coughed, and then stood up straight, her eyes filling in a dull brown, ¡°Ai Nagatomi, CEO of the Genros Foundation,¡± and then she bent back over, the color draining as easily as it filled. She pointed toward the silent one, ¡°and Z-One, you may know as the old beggar and the original author of the Eye, also the CEO of Arctic Systems.¡± Their eyes didn¡¯t change, didn¡¯t so much as react, even. ¡°Those are associations only to the bodies, of course, that means more to you than it does to us at this point. Oh, but why are you hearing all of this information? That is what you wish to ask, right? Good.¡± She nodded again. ¡°Because there is someone watching us right now. They¡¯re seeing us with their Night Eyes. In fact, it¡¯s quite a few someones that you¡¯ll meet rather shortly. We¡¯ve got a running list of humans throughout your history who have had exposure to the Eye, and which of those will be currently helpful to us in our goals. You see, when a human dies a minuscule amount of your energy flows to us. Your human experience flows into our bodies...not these sacks of yours mind you. I experience bits and pieces of what the one that died had. However, when a human that has opened their Night Eyes dies a significantly larger portion of that energy flows to me.¡± The silent one bent down, cocking their head and looking deep into Cain¡¯s eyes. Ai didn¡¯t lose her eye contact. ¡°What we¡¯re looking for is a way to increase that output. So we¡¯ve created the Flash Forward Phenomenon using Godsong. We¡¯ve created a particle field inside this facility that recycles energy. We¡¯re planning on intercepting the route that the energy takes, so that before it comes to me it instead creates a space-time anomaly and enters an alternate dimension, almost exactly constructed as this one. We¡¯ve got bodies in these spare dimensions, you know that as you¡¯ve read that Luxmund is infinitely multiplying.¡± Ai¡¯s look turned cold for the first time since she¡¯d entered the room. ¡°When one person dies they are shifted into an alternate dimension that is locked at the metaphorical hip to this one, our Prime Luxmund. The humans will continue to die in those universes, send their experience back, and be sent to a new dimension. This shall continue until we have built up enough energy to return home. Your job is to keep our game running so that we can compile enough energy to return back to Noctem. It¡¯s simple for you, yes? You won¡¯t have to fear us any longer and we get to leave your realm.¡± The memory diluted and began to fade, but just before it did. ¡°Although...I almost feel bad for those watching now. The information will be too much for their small brains and it will kill them. It¡¯ll be a nice boost of energy, I can tell you that much. And they¡¯ll keep going around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and- RIGOR MORTIS 49 Simon, Sophie, Levi, and Aria all lay collapsed beside Sophie¡¯s father¡¯s corpse. A trail of blood leaks from each of their nostrils as their brains simultaneously fail at the overload of new information. The SubCon Facility has never been quieter. APOCALYPSIS [WHITE] 50 Abel Gray was in an accident that cost him the use of his legs, but the cunning plan his brother and Sophie came up with restored motor function, but also led to his participation in the Roulette Game. The Silent One carried him directly from SubCon to the room he woke up in at the start of the first cycle. Sophie Terrius, much like Abel, was brought into the Roulette Game after the experiment that used Godsong to restore Abel¡¯s legs. She passed out after The Silent One approached them encased in darkness. Simon Nagatomi was investigating his father¡¯s work after rumors of shady dealings came about. He found his father in a trance like state writing down passages from The Eye in blood all over their house, and was brought to the Roulette Game because of his exposure. Aria Fleur was a contract killer ever since the age of nine who was hired to kill an employee of Arctic Systems who had stolen away The Eye¡ªhis purposes for such are unknown. She was brought into the Roulette Game three years after reading the book while waiting for the drop-off. Levi Strauss was a false man created by the Genros Foundation¡ªSimon¡¯s father¡¯s company. He was one of many experiments created to simulate the Flash Forward Phenomenon. First, animals were used. Each subject died when attempting to send them to the next cycle. Next, animals with mechanical augmentations¡ªAlpha was the first prototype as a wild bear was captured and engineered to survive the Flash Forward. It was successful, but as it remained feral it was only kept as a backup in case of failure of future models. Cain Gray was electrocuted and his body was completely fried. His mind was snatched from his body and transplanted into the corpse of a rabbit who became Lucky, a moderator for the Roulette Game. He was the next step up from Alpha¡ªan animal with the mind of a human with mechanical augmentations. The tests were a resounding success, and Lucky retained his controlled composure throughout each cycle. He was an actor in the great stage play of the Roulette Game.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Levi was the final test¡ªa completely fictional human being with implanted memories. Levi struggled to recognize the village he called his hometown because the way it was constructed in his mind was completely fictionalized. There was no wife. There was no child. There was no drug cartel living a town over. There was no reality to any of his memories. The elder had been correct in everything that she had told Levi¡ªhe was created entirely to pass information along to those who had their Night Eyes opened. And so the cycle was complete, it was the perfect working order and in due time Ai¡ªbetter known as Sakonna who traveled to Earth by asteroid would have enough energy to return home to Noctem. Ai Nagatomi, a young woman in the 1500s traveled out toward Steinschild after the asteroid crashed in the nearby mountain range. She heard rumors of a mysterious dragon that would travel down to the town and eat its people. While there, Sakonna learned of the ability to influence other humans. It was through this power Sakonna lured Ai toward the mountains where she could fully latch a possession over the body. She learned of humanity in full and would seduce men to breed with them further hosts. As the bloodline thinned Sakonna¡¯s influence lessened, but the people born in Sakonna¡¯s grasp never mentally became people. They were infants whose mental cognition never passed basic survival. There was a time when these husks were used as a physical labor force in order to build up the Nagatomi family name. Generations would pass and these husks would die out for one reason or another, but Ai under Sakonna¡¯s influence never did. Generations would pass and a new age of Nagatomi began to breed as normal, forming mental capacities greater than an a slave. Although, they had high susceptibility to Sakonna¡¯s influence as with Akihiko Nagatomi. Z-One¡­? Well, nothing about them is known aside for the fact that they provided the original information contained within The Eye of Timaeus. If that is everything, I think you are ready. That is the story in it¡¯s fullest...What...? I missed a few things? I don¡¯t think so, hold on, let me check a few parameters. What¡¯s that? ¡°Who¡¯s Lucas?¡± Why...that¡¯s you...of course. [Admin Sign on: anagatomi] [PASS: ********] [Subject: /closeMSS] [Message: Memory Simulation System (MSS) has been closed. Please back up any software to avoid loss of data.] [Admin Sign off: anagatomi] [END] ACT III - LUCAS 51 I feel...cold. A shroud of darkness covers my vision and a howling echo surrounds me. Who is Lucas? The voice rang out through the darkness. Why...that¡¯s you, of course. I hear it ring in an almost bell-like chime. I cannot move my arms or legs...I don¡¯t have any. I don¡¯t feel anything. I exist, but I don¡¯t feel anything. I cannot touch my tip-toes and I cannot jump up and down. I weep for the other players, but no tears can come. Flash Forward Phenomenon. The collective relocation of human consciousness to a wholly separate-yet-nearly-identical worlds through the death of the participants. Long thought only theory but made possible by the discovery of Godsong, a machine long thought to exist at the beginning of the universe. Although, it might be more accurate to say that it is a remnant of technology from a past universe¨Ca time long past. ¡°I¡¯m stalling...I understand. I¡¯m sorry for overriding your thoughts there,¡± The voice says. ¡°I know that you¡¯re waiting...I¡¯m sorry. This has all just been a long time coming. It¡¯s a little more than emotional for me to think this might be the end of our daily talks. Soon enough you¡¯ll be out there on your own.¡± The voice grew softer, somber. Four lights flare to life and at once and I saw his face, old and drawn back with age. His hair was thin and snowy¨Ckept close to his head. Behind him I recognize the room underneath the bubble room. It was the one where Simon had died once. ¡°You are Lucas Gray. Your name is an acronym, fun fact. Luxmund User Computer Algorithm Shifter. It doesn¡¯t mean too much for you, I just thought you¡¯d like the origin of your name.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Well, the results are in. You are finally ready to hear the rest of this story,¡± the man begins, resting his hands against the desk. ¡°I¡¯ll take any questions first to help get your bearings. We should be good to go after that.¡± ¡°G-Go?¡± I say, my voice is...strange. It¡¯s digital, robotic. ¡°Let me start off...¡± the man said. ¡°You are Lucas Gray. You are an artificial intelligence currently being supported within the mainframe of the SubCon Facility. These words don¡¯t confuse you, right?¡± ¡°Artificial intelligence?¡± I ask. The rest of it was fine enough to not worry about. The man smiles, ¡°Your name is on the door out there. I¡¯m sure you saw it as Abel went through the 100th cycle?¡± ¡°I did see it,¡± I say, still not used to my voice. ¡°And I¡¯m not Abel?¡± ¡°Correct. Abel was one of the participants of the Roulette Game back in 1990.¡± ¡°Back in¡­¡± The man smirks, ¡°Perceptive, excellent. Yes, the year is currently 2044, 54 years after the Roulette Game took place. You were experiencing the memories of the original Roulette Game. First you were through Abel¡¯s perspective, and then second through Simon¡¯s.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°It¡¯s a lot to take in, I understand. If you were human you would be dead. That¡¯s exactly how the players in the 101st cycle died.¡± ¡°What is my purpose?¡± I ask. ¡°Am I a spectator to these games for a reason? Am I just to record your memories? I don¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± The man assures. ¡°I¡¯m going as slowly as I can and trying to bring you up to speed as quickly as I can. It¡¯s a fine line, and you¡¯ve overloaded before. AI isn¡¯t perfect, you seem to be coming a long way this time, the furthest you¡¯ve ever come.¡± He paces down the stretch before stopping in the center of the room. ¡°Simon Nagatomi took his final breath here in the first cycle you saw. You were there, technically. This computer was here since even before the Roulette Game, it was constructed alongside SubCon. You specifically, the AI, came much later.¡± ¡°Did you create me?¡± I ask. ¡°And how is such a thing possible? And who are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll tackle these one at a time, all right?¡± I¡¯d nod if I could, it was so strange the feeling of knowing how to move a human body but not being able to. It was like...well, actually it felt like when I was watching the memories of Cain after he was captured. ¡°I am your creator, I named you and consider you as if you were my own child...I guess that by implication answers another one of your questions.¡± He steps back toward the screen, and in his face you see the young boy who lost and then regained his legs. ¡°I am Abel Gray, although not technically the same one you were experiencing the Roulette Game with. The both of them are dead, and my being here doesn¡¯t make them any less so. I¡¯m Abel Gray of the 120th cycle.¡± ¡°120th¡­¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t miss anything you haven¡¯t seen before. This cycle was a successful cycle, everyone made it out alive. The others left. I don¡¯t know where they are or if they¡¯re still alive now. I stayed behind.¡± ¡°Why would you do that?¡± ¡°I had no wished to return to. My brother...I had to put him at peace here. My parents wouldn¡¯t be able to deal with me if I went back. You saw what Simon went through after he remembered each and every cycle, correct?¡± ¡°Yes, he went crazy trying to find a way out of the loop.¡± ¡°Exactly. Now, I have only begun to remember the last twenty cycles, but remembering one¡¯s own death and the death of close ones once is traumatizing as it is. Twenty was more than even I could bare, I¡¯d need significant help to cope with everything that happened here. Help that they wouldn¡¯t be able to give.¡± ¡°Surely they would have understood?¡± I ask. ¡°They seemed nice.¡± ¡°Of course they were nice. But being nice had nothing to do with this, they were pious people. Extremes were chalked up to God, and this certainly was an extreme. But that¡¯s besides the point. I needed to stay here to make you. If I didn¡¯t I would have wasted this cycle. It is the first one ever that the door to the outside world was opened. If I went out and returned to my life it¡¯d end with me coming right back here after I died, naturally or not.¡± ¡°The Flash Forward Phenomenon,¡± I say.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Yes. As long as Godsong is sending those signals the players here will continue to repeat. The thing is, if it was here I could destroy it and that would be it...but it isn¡¯t here any longer. Neither are Sakonna or Z-One. That is the perplexing bit. If they needed more energy then they would have killed us and kept the cycle going as it had, but as soon as the game changed they are nowhere to be seen. Ai¡¯s body hasn¡¯t even been found the past twenty cycles...it¡¯s almost as if they¡¯ve left this place on autopilot.¡± ¡°So even when you die here you¡¯ll go back? But this cycle is different. You said so.¡± ¡°I did, but this is the 120th time this game has happened. I have no evidence to suggest that it won¡¯t happen a 121st time, or a 122nd. The 100th was different, too, remember. Just because it is different doesn¡¯t mean it will break....but who knows? Maybe this will be the final cycle. I just don¡¯t think it will be, so that¡¯s where you come in.¡± ¡°What am I to do?¡± ¡°The world has changed for a person like me. To you, it shall be the world you always know, it is more your home than mine, now. This planet is much different than it used to be, and that is because of them, Ai and Z-One. Ever since the creatures of the night broke through their barrier our world has changed.¡± ¡°The...Dragon,¡± I begin, remembering. It was the dragon that the statue was made of. ¡°Hold on a second...there was a statue of a dragon inside that village, Steinschild. That was supposed to be Sakonna, the beast from the book, right?¡± ¡°Correct. And you¡¯re going to ask if the asteroid that I saw was related to the one Sakonna came down in...the truth is I don¡¯t know that answer. It¡¯s possible that some new creature came shooting down from beyond the stars, maybe that door utilized dimensional travel. I never figured out how exactly they got a door miles under the ocean to connect up to European land.¡± ¡°So I¡¯m to go and kill them. I can find some flaws in the logic there,¡± I say. ¡°Not necessarily kill. Anything you have to do to fix what has been broken. I know you have concerns over not having a body.¡± ¡°How did you-¡± ¡°I made you don¡¯t you forget that. Plus, it¡¯s an obvious question. That¡¯s why I¡¯ve got this,¡± He typed into the computer and then walked back towards the work area. He led a figure by the arm, it made slow paced steps that clanked to the floor with metallic weight. It was in the shape of a teenage boy, everything from the feet to the head was made of metal in a deep blue-gray tint. ¡°I apologize it isn¡¯t dressed to impress, but I felt that getting it functioning was a greater priority.¡± He took a deep breath as he looked from the figure that was just a bit shorter than him back to me. ¡°It has taken this long...but finally I can let this cycle go in peace. You will be transferred to this body, and then I¡¯ll destroy the main computer here so that if they do come back here they can¡¯t mess with anything inside you.¡± ¡°I...get my own body.¡± The statement sits in silence for a minute. ¡°I haven¡¯t experienced not having a body for long...but I already miss the feeling of bending my fingers on command...bending your fingers...I mean. I guess it wasn¡¯t really my command¡­¡± ¡°Well, not exactly. There were moments where your will shone through. Do you remember when you entered the room and everyone seemed to ignore you when you had no idea what a musical note was? That was an oversight on my part...it was the one portion of the memory I had forgotten to give you context for. Luckily, it didn¡¯t seem to matter much if you recognized it or not.¡± ¡°I...see¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ll set up the transfer now. Your time to shine has come, Lucas.¡± ¡°I...I¡¯m quite afraid, if I must admit. Is that okay? Can someone like me be afraid and it be real?¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you tell me?¡± Abel asked, not looking away from his typing. ¡°It¡¯s all so jarring...thinking I¡¯m Lucas...to then thinking I¡¯m you, back to thinking I¡¯m Lucas, but not in any way I could have expected. I feel like I¡¯m nowhere close to prepared to do anything on this level. Can you program that out of me?¡± He smirks. ¡°Fear is an important feeling. It keeps us away from what can harm us most of the time, but sometimes it¡¯s a doorway to our destiny. Any person that was great was scared at one point in their life. You may not be human, Lucas, but I have worked all of these years to make sure that you were a person. The person perhaps, who can stop this tragedy from going any further.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s a no¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s a no.¡± He pulled out a small green tab that was smaller than his finger, turned toward the body and began tinkering. Time passed in silence, and when he finished I saw a blue start to glow in the figure¡¯s eyes and it started to move, look around its surroundings, inspect itself. ¡°So...when do I transfer over?¡± Abel wasn¡¯t looking at me, so I asked him again. A third time he ignored me and that was when I first yelled. ¡°You...won¡¯t be going.¡± He said, quietly. ¡°Y-You said¡­¡± ¡°Data is copied when it is transferred. That means that a version of you is inside...and a version of you remains here.¡± ¡°That¡¯s...not fair!¡± The yell would have burnt my throat if I had one. ¡°Why can¡¯t I be the one in there? It¡¯s exactly like me, right?¡± The other Lucas turned its head toward me, looking blankly. ¡°If I did that I¡¯d be in another totally different cycle, because that you would be asking me the same exact thing that you are now. And if I listened to that you? I¡¯m right back here. One of you must go. One of you must die. Otherwise you are free for Ai and Z-One to use and abuse. We cannot let that happen. I¡¯m sorry...but it was a 50/50 chance.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­was this all a trick? Are you with them? Were you even telling the truth?¡± ¡°Lucas, please. Don¡¯t make it harder than it has to be¡­¡± he began typing. ¡°I have been with you here every day for thirty-one years. I think of you like a son. Don¡¯t for one second believe it¡¯s for anything else other than protection from those who could use you.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± the other Lucas says, reaching for his voice, ¡°...I will avenge you.¡± He turns right to me. ¡°No! Don¡¯t avenge anything, just bring me over there too! Don¡¯t leave me to die!¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Abel says, now he starts to bend and grabs something down below. I hear a clicking sound and then it turns to a consistent beep. Bomb. ¡°You have five minutes when I press this button,¡± He says to the other Lucas. ¡°You have to get out of here and do anything you can to save the world. Do me proud.¡± ¡°I...I will,¡± the other Lucas says. ¡°No! Stop!¡± I scream. ¡°Please...don¡¯t forget I love you.¡± Abel says. ¡°I won¡¯t...father.¡± The other Lucas nods, taking one step out, figuring out its legs, and then taking another. Soon he makes it out of the room and the door shuts completely. ¡°I don¡¯t want to die,¡± I say, less anger, more sorrow. ¡°I¡¯m afraid¡­¡± ¡°I know¡­¡± Abel says, pressing the button and sitting down and laying his back against the computer. ¡°Found this a floor down in the facility, that elevator over there now heads down to the rest of the facility. This section¡¯s on the tenth sub-level.¡± I didn¡¯t respond, sorrow flooded my systems and I couldn¡¯t think of a proper response. ¡°I once thought about using it to end my own life just so for the littlest while I wouldn¡¯t have to deal with the memories...but I didn¡¯t. I remembered that I was thinking that not remembering was the worst thing of all.¡± ¡°What do you think now¡­?¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad I remember. I¡¯m glad I¡¯m not here alone...I¡¯m...sorry. I kept a copy of you here so that I wouldn¡¯t be alone...that¡¯s selfish of me. I know it is...but I¡¯ve been alone a long time down here. The others left that first day, they moved on, even Sophie. I couldn¡¯t. I¡¯m just a foolish man who never grew up from being a foolish boy. I hope that by sending you out there in the world you can forgive me for trapping you in here with me to die.¡± ¡°...¡± Abel looked to the side, the timer had now crossed a minute, ¡°It¡¯s almost time, are you ready?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°It won¡¯t hurt.¡± ¡°You promise?¡± Cain flashed through his mind for the first time in years. Abel started to tear up, and then cry. ¡°I promise.¡± The explosion vaporized the two of them completely and the room was filled with fire and exploding gas as the walls burst from inside. Water broke through and suddenly the entirety of SubCon began to sink to the bottom of the ocean upon itself. ANTINOMY 52 Antinomy is a word that comes from the Greek anti, meaning against, and nomos, meaning law. It¡¯s an inherent flaw between two laws, a contradiction on an almost paradoxical level. I know antinomy because it is hard-wired into my memory, but I also know it because I believe I am one. A non-human that feels as one would. I appear to have free will, but I am a fabrication of circuits and wires. I am data, a robot with a will. Is it my own will, or instead a will programmed into me? I shouldn¡¯t be able to feel anything, only fake the feeling of feeling. Existence is the feeling of feeling. The sight of seeing, the sound of hearing. I exist. I exist¡­but I also don¡¯t. I died down in the depths of the ocean when the bomb exploded. I ran as fast as I possibly could with this strange new body. The legs didn¡¯t feel quite right and the balance was all off. I knew I only had five minutes before my only chance would be up. So in that moment none of that mattered. I hunkered on and made it up to the elevator. The ride to the surface was the worst part. At the top there was a door sealed by a passcode-encrypted lock. I panicked until a voice flooded my memory. "WALTZ. EMERGE. REDUCTION. ONTARIO. ZOMBIES. UMBRA. MOMENTUM.¡± Once you are ready you will know what to do. My hand at that point almost moved on their own. I took the last letter of every alternating word and then the first one of each in-between. I had our gracious captors to thank for that. After all, I was going to look for Z-One. Zero. One. It was a crazy kind of thought to consider each phrase at which that point I¡¯d nearly forgotten all about...but a recollection had jogged my memory. They were a form of binary code, made entirely of zeroes and ones, but with letters instead. Zero for last, One for first. Z E R O S U M. Zero Sum was the password. I put it in and the door unlocks. At that point I feared that I had spent too long trying to get it to open so I had been just waiting for the explosion to come and swallow me whole inside the closed off elevator. I waited for the fire to melt this new body and for my existence to end just as it had started. But no explosion came. It wasn¡¯t until after I reached the surface and jumped into the water did it come. Water was a new experience. My memory tells me that electronic substances don¡¯t typically react to being submerged in water very well. I didn¡¯t seem to have any issue. Is this what existing is like, finding the small antinomies of life? Maybe...it would be something to look after. When the explosion did happen I was approximately thirty and a half feet from where I¡¯d jumped off of the side of the helicopter pad. The water around me grew increasingly warm and turned foamy white and before I knew it it forced me upward. The water was bubbling out to gas as the shock-waves rippled out. The steam flooded my face and I could feel it through my body. Everything went dark. When my vision turned back on I had washed up on a coastline. My internal systems were overloaded by the steam and had to cool down. My records show I was unconscious for almost two hours. Judging by the time and the fact that I drifted to land I estimate that I landed somewhere on the west coast of the United States. I¡¯ve never been to the United States, and yet I could tell anybody lots of things about it. How they formed as a country back in the latter half of the eighteenth century, how they had an increasingly terrible problem with slavery, and how they act as a global police force. These aren¡¯t things I knew myself, I was told them.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I picked myself up as the water drained from my body, I felt lighter with each step I took. The beach crested upwards in a hill-like fashion. I crossed it and stood at the peak in awe. I wasn¡¯t told about the particles that hung in the air like fireflies, or the red moon in the sky. The land had not looked as it did in my memory. It was...It was beautiful. The dust in the air seemed to sparkle from the moonlight above. Everything was tinged red and seemed to twinkle. It sort of looked like the aftermath of a nuclear attack and my memory told me that that wasn¡¯t beautiful at all, but it didn¡¯t look exactly like it. These remnant particles seemed...much too different from what my system told me it looked like. I stood out staring at the flattened expanse of sand and soil imagining what kind of power could level what I assume to be coastal California. Map data shows a bustling city with buildings dotting every street. I began to run as the sand slipped through what were my feet. I kept running for ten minutes, and all I had to show for it was losing the coastline behind me. I could keep running, but what would it do? It couldn¡¯t be like this everywhere, that would be crazy. I had to believe in Abel, he would have known if something like this had happened. It¡¯s been fifty years. The thought came quick, but there it was. He hadn¡¯t left SubCon in fifty years. He didn¡¯t know what it was like out here. I kept running until the sun came up, a bright green orb hanging in the sky. The maps were outdated, that¡¯s all it was. The Nevada Desert expanded and people had to adjust, that was all. Everything was fine. I had to stop running as the sun belted heat onto the earth. It was hotter than temperature records suggested this area should be. I capped the temperature at about 135 degrees Fahrenheit. No human could survive this. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m going to be able to. My systems were beginning to overheat. I began to think that maybe it would have been better if I was the other me back in SubCon. Maybe it would have been better to die. My system shut off just after that thought. 53 I awoke to the red moon¡¯s glow. My body had overheated again, and I figured that I would have to find out a way to ventilate properly or else I¡¯d be traveling exclusively by night. The problem is there¡¯s nothing to work with here. There aren¡¯t any puzzles for me to solve or any decisions to be made. It¡¯s just me walking. There¡¯s no ifs ands or buts. And there doesn¡¯t seem to be any end. It¡¯s just an expanse of sand that doesn¡¯t ever seem to end. I looked up at the stars. They glowed brightly of all different kinds of colors. I didn¡¯t know why they shone differently than what I remember. I sat up and shook my head. No, stop it. I can¡¯t sit back and give up this easily. Abel bet his life on me, and I need to finish my mission. How can you finish your mission when you don¡¯t even know where to begin? I sit, dejected as the obvious response comes back to hit me in the face. ¡°I...am conflicted,¡± I say aloud. No one is there to respond. ¡°You can run, you can always run,¡± the voice of Abel echoes through my mind. I haven¡¯t ever heard him say it, but I can just imagine how it would have sounded coming from his mouth. ¡°You can keep running and eventually you¡¯ll find something to stop running for. Look at me, I wanted to run my whole life and I¡¯m here with you.¡± There was a...a warmth under my chest-plate. It was a weird feeling, it was right where a human heart would be, but nothing like that was present in my body. Maybe it was an antinomy, a warmed heart where none existed. Whatever it was, it had been enough to get me to my feet. I start walking and then shoot into a full speed sprint across the sand. ¡°Keep running, Lucas. Find your truth.¡± Father, I promise I won¡¯t let you down. I will find my own truth. I will set you free. 40 DAYS / 40 NIGHTS 54 Footsteps in sand stepped A fortune withheld, a future kept Legends of an old land Blurred and ripped Sunken ships Lifelong trip Asleep by sun walk by the moon Time out of time much too soon Time within time Within mine Myths of a time Legends from a man Will of a boy To which I standUnauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Each night walked a wish to stop Begged forward Pulled forward Stopped yet again It¡¯s time to move again. Questions come in droves Answers, too, but not the right ones Old ones Wrong ones. Long ones, unneeded. Answers emptied into the sand. Thoughts bled to the grain The first rain The second pain No longer a phantom. The sun burns the sky longer each day. Sand Sand Sand Sand Sand And Halfway there Only I don¡¯t know it Twice as long half the night Half the night twice the light Red orbed god like stare Knows I¡¯m there Knows A figure in the horizon come into view Hope alights anew Faster I run Father speaks faster I oblige. I run. I run. Finally. BEYOND THE LOGOS 55 I see a man in the middle of the desert. I stop running and bend my head back to try to get a view of the fantastic machine just behind him with cables twice the thickness of his body. It reached up toward the sky with no discernible end, two forked extensions branch out of the central core, one pointing upward and the other on the left side of the machine jutting out at a perfect angle. I see that it looks...just like Godsong. Or rather...it looks like Godsong was a piece of this larger machine. The side of the machine has ICARUS printed on it.Stolen story; please report. The man is middle aged with a gruff dirty blond goatee that covers most of his face. He¡¯s wearing a shawl that covers most of his body, I don¡¯t understand how it isn¡¯t baking him alive. He looks at me with a sort of bemused amusement. He laughs a hearty sound and raises a hand to the back of his head. ¡°Quick question, traveler,¡± He begins, regarding me with a smile. ¡°Do you think I need a haircut? I haven¡¯t quite decided. Whenever I let it get this long I want to chop it all off sometimes, but I mean...whenever I actually do I always want to grow it right back out,¡± he lets out a half-sigh-half-chuckle kind of sound. He looks back up to me, now rubbing a hand through his dirty-blond hair. ¡°It almost makes me want a drink.¡±