Chapter Text

Humanity’s Reach for the Stars

CHAPTER 1: THE INVINCIBLE

“Mark, are you sure about this? We don’t even know everything about the warp core, and it could have side effects…”

“The only way to explore the unknown is to take risks, Darc,” Mark responded, nervous. He wasn’t entirely sure what was about to happen either and only wanted to help make history.

The Invincible II was ready for colonists to the planet they found, but so much remained unknown. As they stepped onto the launch site, a sense of unrest was in the air. They were as prepared as they could possibly be, but something still felt off.

Mark took in the surroundings around him. Next to him stood Darcius, one of the smartest modern minds and founders of astro-engineering. Darc’s jet-black hair was as dark as the void of space, only broken by blue highlights in xeir hair. It was only slightly longer than Mark’s hair, a dark brown short cut that didn’t get in his way. Xeir blue eyes looked like the surface of the ocean. Darc said that he intimidated xem, but he could say the same for xem. Maybe knowing almost everything humanity can know about space does that.

Darc glanced over to where the colonists were being prepared for the journey. It seemed as if thousands of people were over there, volunteers in an experiment that could end horribly. They had to leave all of their personal belongings behind on Earth and enter cryogenic sleep until they arrived at their new home in the stars. If xe weren’t the Captain of this ship, xe would be far away from here, but Mark brought xem into this job. At least xe could finally be back out into unknown territory. This wasn’t the first time they have gone on an adventure, however Darc still had some lingering thoughts from last time: “Is this… right? Should we be exploring like this, or are we breaking too many universal laws? Are we simply leading more people to death again?”

But xe still followed him wherever they would go. Xe didn’t have anywhere else to go. Ever since xe started pursuing more opportunities in astronomical engineering and earning the highest level of education possible, xe really didn’t have time to connect with anyone. Other than Mark, who came to xem when he was struggling with finishing his classes in engineering. Xe was the one who pushed him through, encouraged breaks, and watched proudly as he graduated with a masters degree. Once Darc received xeir early PHD, they were starting on their first assignments off Earth. In their college adventures, the world had evolved from moon base to Jupiter base, partly thanks to Darc xemself. It seemed odd that they both were put on the same program, which skipped the usual time-on-Mars assignments and went right into uncharted territories. Perhaps this was due to xeir renown and partial infamy in past astrophysical experiments. With the higher education that Darc received, xe was appointed the head of this expedition, with Mark as xeir assistant.

After years of going back and forth between unmarked planets, asteroids, and moons, with the occasional visit back to the Solar System, something odd broke through. Darc and Mark were unexpectedly called back to Earth “as soon as they can get there”. During an eclipse, a blue streak of light broke the silent, unnatural shadow’s grasp over parts of Earth, catching any and all eyes. It was common for meteors to burn bright colors in the sky, but the blue from this one seemed otherworldly. As something even more unnatural than an eclipse itself, scientists rushed to the possible location of the meteorite and found it still glowing a vibrant shade of blue. They found a fully intact small rock with a crack in it. Before anyone cracked it open to see the source of the light, the scene was closed and the rock was taken to a lab for safe handling. Once Darc and Mark found their way back and were guided to the right place to go, both of them were told about the nature of the discovery and why they needed them specifically by a researcher.

“Both of you lead operations into the unknown cosmos. When such an unknown phenomena happened on Earth, we knew that only you two would be able to figure out what’s going on.”

“So, you were so positive that nobody else could figure it out that you waited years for us specifically?”

“As the genius who tried to accelerate an object past the speed of light and your inseparable engineer… yeah.”

With the two of them there, the research team broke apart the rock, revealing a clean-cut, blue gemstone, shining vibrant like the clear blue sky but in a tone of unfamiliarity. The same blue glow that burned in the sky. This crystal must have had an artificial origin, and seemed to contain an impossibly large amount of energy. There had to be a purpose to this crystal.

Throughout this whole experience, Mark seemed silent, but his mind was akin to a hurricane, thoughts flying by faster than light. He always craved something different, some sort of new discovery that would propel them further into the Universe. The opportunity had introduced itself: now all he had to do was test it. A design flashed in his mind like a wireless data transmission.

“I know exactly why they waited for us. I think… There’s something we can create,an aid for exploring… We perfected light-speed travel by ourselves. Maybe someone chose us for more.”

“What kind of technology though?” Darc asked.

“Well… We have light-speed travel and the ships to support it… But that’s not enough. I think… there is something about the pure energy in this thing that might open a wormhole.”

Everyone inside the room went silent. Man-made wormholes were proved impossible decades ago. Anyone except for him in this situation making the claim of opening a wormhole was insane. Even still, the question was asked:

“Are you insane? Or… Are you a genius?”

Both Darc and Mark laughed at the researcher. Darc responded,

“He’s both.”

“I’m-… Yeah, xe’s right. But if we’re testing something like this, I’m afraid we need to go back out where we were.”

“Testing?” The researcher questioned, “We don’t even know if it IS a device!”

Mark replied, “Trust me. It is.”

He grabbed the unearthed crystal with his bare hands and looked closer.

“Am I allowed to take this?”

The researcher replied,“I don’t see why not. We can’t do anything with it, so you might as well.”

“Allow us to leave, then. I had this vision… I think it matches.”

A few days later, Darc was invited into Mark’s office on their shuttle back to the outer solar system. He opened a drawer and pulled out various sketches. They detailed a device more complex than any existing engineering project, something that seemed alien.

“I had a dream halfway through our voyage home. It was so vivid… Impossible to forget. I built this machine, and put a crystal in it, and it opened a wormhole. I… I don’t know who or what gave me this… But it HAS to work. It might take time to build… Maybe you can enjoy Earth a bit more.”

Darc was surprised that he wanted xem gone. They worked as a group on projects. Maybe he had found the breakthrough of a lifetime.

“Are you sure? I don’t doubt you… I just don’t know if you should do it alone.”

“I don’t think I can explain how to build it even to someone who outranked me as an engineering major. It’s… different. I don’t want to leave you alone, but I don’t know what I would make you do.”

“Ok… I think I understand that. Don’t drive yourself insane.”

He chucked. “I’m already insane.”

Once Mark showed his blueprints to others and acquired every piece of material he needed, he was busy working for months. The universe’s rich foamed at the mouth at the idea of wormhole travel, so they all threw money at him. All believed he held something inside him, and praised him as a genius in space travel. Darc didn’t mind him getting the attention. After all, he always struggled with mental disorders and life in general. Now, he has a passion driving him, and xe couldn’t be happier for him. As xe watched countless sunrises and sunsets, in various places on Earth, Mark worked, barely sleeping, on his ultimate creation. A new ship was being built around the supposed functions of this crystal, called the Invincible. The ship featured the strongest engine power ever seen, as “a wormhole needed the power of the Sun”. Thankfully, fusion reactors were a feasible source of energy at this point in time. Many had already been used on other spaceships, but the one on the Invincible was ten times the size, a portable Sun. Such power was never needed before, but now, it will guide humanity further into the stars. As construction finished, the Invincible was assembled using space assembly, with the various parts launching into space and connecting. It was guided to a place far away from Earth, with Mark and Darc inside.

Their first test confirmed the power of the crystal: a wormhole opened right in front of their eyes. With the conclusion of the test, the first Invincible returned to be manned by more crew members for a first expedition. Mark was assigned the role of Head Engineer for his experience in the field and Darc the Captain. The first expedition was simple: use the device to go through the wormhole and find out what’s on the other side. Despite the clear risk of using unknown technology which could alter more than what could be imagined, the operation was carried out somewhat successfully. Mark claimed that the Invincible only sustained minimal damage in reports, but an inspection of the ship post-mission showed almost catastrophic damages, seemingly from unknown sources. When trying to recall what caused them, Mark turned up silent. Darc had a slight understanding but couldn’t connect all of the dots correctly. Xe marked “loss of certain memories or inability to recall events” as a side effect of wormhole travel. The one thing that they did remember was that they saw a habitable planet: it was in the Goldilocks zone of its orbit, sustained an atmosphere similar to Earth’s, and had the potential to create and sustain life. A lack of lifeforms was a bit concerning, but when they successfully landed using a smaller vessel for exploration, it was quite clear that life could still exist there. There was, at least, vegetation, which did count as life, but nothing similar to animals existed. The silence of the planet with only the wind rustling through familiar, alien trees put Darc in a state of tranquility and fear all at once. How could there be absolutely nothing but plants here? Despite their bad feelings, Mark and Darc immediately suggested that a colony be set up there, with the creation of a new ship to help hold the massive load of people. The Invincible was a smaller ship and couldn’t hold more than 10 people, despite the massive engines. The main plan was to take the original design of the Invincible and expand it further, adding more support for the warp crystal and a cryo chamber for safely transporting a large amount of people through a physics-defying cheat of space-time. Cryogenic technology was created for making space travel much more convenient; instead of being conscious for years, one could simply fall asleep and wake up at their destination in seconds. Even though new accomplishments in science and technology to match the speed of light made the trip from Earth to the edge of the Solar System only about 2 or 3 years instead of 20 or 30, the emptiness of drifting through space at high speeds still impacted the mental health of travelers greatly. Darc followed through with some doubts but knew that humanity couldn’t just step down from an opportunity to grow their cosmic expanse. With the funding for the newer ship approved and construction completed relatively fast, the project continued. Now, they were both getting ready to board their creation.

Mark was more confident in this operation than any other ones. After all, he had someone that he trusted by his side and tried his best to not make anything stupid on the ship. Looking at Darc, he could tell that xe was still caught up in thoughts from last time.

“Hey Darc, are you… ready?” Mark questioned Darc.

“Yeah, just thinking. Did you forget anything?” xe responded back.

“Well… Hopefully nothing,” he said, “or else… it would be quite difficult to get it.” He chucked a bit.

“No chance of returning…”

Darc fell silent as they approached the entrance of the main International Space Gateway building. This location served many different stations across the Solar System, making sure that each spaceship was secure. Launches weren’t as common, so no one else would be disturbing them. As they approached the center for outgoing spaceflights, Mark and Darc pulled out their certification and identification cards. Along with needing identification to get into the building and the Invincible II, they also needed to carry proof that they were crew members. Passing by the lines for citizens boarding, they made their way to a crew check-in. A staff member approached them as they got closer.

“Are you two crew? I think I know who you are, but it’s always good to double check…” he asked.

“Yeah, we’re crew members. Quite important, as I don’t think we’d get anywhere without the Captain.” Darc answered. Mark showed his certification card as head engineer.

“Ah, I was right. I’ll show you where you need to go.” The staff member guided them over to a less crowded area and took their certifications, checking the contents.

“Looks like you two are good. Enjoy your travel to… well, the true unknown.”

“Thanks. It’s a lot to take on, but with a captain like Darc, I think we’ll be fine,” Mark responded.

“Oh Mark… never slow to compliment me.”

Both of them walked away into the restricted crew area, with strong emotions grasping at their minds. None of this seemed real, with how quickly everything progressed. Darc was already getting nervous at going through the wormhole again, knowing that anything could happen to xem and everyone else. This idea of putting a bunch of people through it with the reasoning of “If they’re in cryogenic sleep, nothing bad will happen!” just didn’t seem like enough. This was something beyond human grasp, a tear in space-time created by a substance the size of a human palm. When scientists had attempted to find the mass of the crystal, they came up empty-handed, with their machine spitting errors. After the crystal produced a wormhole when activated in some sort of mechanism that they somehow figured out, scientists estimated that the mass was “light to the touch but extremely heavy and compact, a bomb ready to burst at any moment.” How would they know when the crystal reached a state of matter too unstable to hold it, collapsing into a black hole?

Too much anxiety. Darc shook xeir head, trying to lose those thoughts.

On the other side, Mark was shaking with a mix of excitement and nervousness. These advancements were a blessing to their lives. Having already seen what a wormhole can do, he was ready to charge through and explore whatever met them. Something in the back of his mind was telling him to stop pushing the limits of humanity, but he cast the weak voices aside, focusing on being the first of many humans who would call an interstellar base their home. If he only focused on the positive parts of this expedition, maybe he could feel better about going into something that no one can even comprehend. At this point, they couldn’t back out and had to face whatever problems would eventually arise.

Darc and Mark walked across the staff area to the gate. In order to ensure that everything was running smoothly, both of them had to be on the ship first. To reduce the risk factor, the Invincible II was already out in space. All that they had to do was board a smaller ship that would dock onto the Invincible II. After confirming their identities again as a safety measure, they both entered the ship and sat down.

“…Do you think that we’ll ever be back on Earth?” Darc asked Mark as the crew was preparing for launch.

“No.” Mark responded sharply. After a brief moment of silence, he added, “At least, not this Earth. As in, it might feel like Earth, but it isn’t.”

“I feel ready, but something… something in me is telling me that I missed something… sort of like leaving an area in a game that you can’t come back to later without completing it. Not the first time I’ve felt that way, with how far out we end up.”

“I don’t think we were meant to perfect the game through the first run,” Mark added.

Their conversation was interrupted by the launch sequence. Darc and Mark adjusted their seats and prepared for launches, the same way that they did many times before. Except this one was… different. Mark was correct: there was no believing that they would end up back on Earth. Even if the opportunity to come back was available, activating the Warp Crystal again could bring them anywhere. It had brought them back to Earth once, but they couldn’t assure that it would do the same again. A crew member came around to do final checks and make sure that everyone would be in place in time, and then positioned themself for takeoff. Darc could never deal with that job, since they had to basically race against a countdown for their own safety. Xe never knew why xeir mind wandered to such things when xe were in a meaningful moment.

The engines were humming, energizing themselves for yet another journey. A countdown echoed from the control room:

“Twenty. Nineteen. Eighteen.”

Darc glanced over at Mark, and he smiled at xem. Xe stopped for a moment.

…Something still doesn’t feel right.

The sounds all around xem started fading as new thoughts whispered in xeir head. An unfamiliar scene greeted their memories. Desperate moments of the first Invincible stuck inside a wormhole, Mark laying dead on the ground in front of the warp core, rotting.

“It was a mistake.”

But xe didn’t understand the fate of the universe.

“If ANYONE uses that warp crystal again… If you make the same mistakes over and over again… the universe will not survive.”

Darc was jolted back into reality by the sounds of the ship breaking orbit. Xe didn’t even hear the last seconds of the countdown.

“Mark… I think I’m really tired. I spaced out a minute ago and didn’t hear anything…”

“I was wondering why you were staring off like that. Your expression…” he started, “… You looked both frightened and confused.”

Darc didn’t want to tell Mark what xe heard. There was enough anxiety surrounding this trip, and xe could make the decision on xeir own. The ship stabilized as it finally broke orbit, nearing the Invincible II.

“There’s my beauty!” xe exclaimed.

“..Our beauty…” Mark corrected.

“…Fine. Our beauty.”

The ship docked smoothly. Darc suddenly had a memory flash to this same exact scenario, but they were alone and they had a slight crash as xe entered. Much like the other deja-vu moments that xe experienced, xe set it aside and exited the spacecraft once the airlock shut. Mark was already rambling off about the details of the Invincible II:

“The engine on this thing is like a whole ass star. We weren’t sure how much power the Warp Crystal would need for such a huge ship, so we wanted to be safe… Uh, of course the glass is approved! I promise no one will die from bumping into it. I inserted so many useful protocols for ANY situation, even if we end up getting stuck in a wormhole, though that’s unlikely…”

“Alright, genius.”

“Look, I made this thing with the best intentions in mind.”

Darc moved to the front of the ship as Mark stayed behind to “inspect the warp core.” Xe knew that he just really liked the design of it and couldn’t believe that it existed. The most astonishing detail of the power of the warp crystal was the field of gravity which it provided for the Invincible II. Even Darc xemself couldn’t comprehend how it was even possible that xe were standing with their feet on the floor, and less of how the crystal only affected the area inside the ship. The placement of the warp crystal didn’t even make sense for the pull of gravity it emitted. Staring at the large cryogenic chamber room, xe couldn’t believe that so many people would be here soon. Currently it was empty, but many chambers would be brought up with colonists inside. Obviously, you didn’t want to launch a ship with people inside not knowing if it’ll blow up or not, so they made the decision to use multiple stable ships to transport the chambers separately. They would connect to the main power source of the Invincible II without any cryogenic sleep disturbances, in the best scenario. Right now, the chamber was not pressurized as the outside hatch was still open. As xe were watching, a supply ship pulled close and cautiously towards the outside entrance. In case anything went wrong, xe left and made sure that the door behind xem was airtight. For some reason, Darc was always anxious about something like this. Xe didn’t feel any nervousness towards being in space itself, but the supposed limitations of humans in space made xem nauseous thinking about it.

Mark caught up with xem, startling xem as he opened the door.

“Everything looks good out there. Are you doing ok, with all of this stuff going on?” Mark asked Darc.

“Yeah, I’m good. It’s a bit weird being the Captain of such an expedition. I don’t know how to pilot a spacecraft as well, but I make a good leader, I guess?”

“Don’t worry about it, We have a simple path, and if anything goes wrong, we have ADS. Anything can be solved by guns.” Darc shot him an uncertain look.

“…Most things… Look, just know that there’s a huge group of people supporting you as well. Including me. If you need any help with anything, just… let me know.”

“Thank you, Mark. Are you trying to co-Captain me?”

Mark hesitated, then settled on saying, “…Well, I don’t doubt your skills, I just… want to make sure that you’re not overwhelmed. Most of the crew are moving in now, actually.”

Time was progressing too quickly for Darc. Even though Mark was trying his best to not overstimulate Darc, xe still felt rushed, or that xe was always behind. That added with distortion around the corners of xeir sight made xem sit down for a moment. Xe really couldn’t comprehend anything. It all felt too familiar, too much like a trap… was there really hope for an interstellar colony?

After a few hours of preparing for the longest trip humanity has ever made, Darc was informed that the Invincible II would be launching within the next hour. Xe moved to the control room’s window, watching Earth for the last time ever. Mark stood beside xem.

“…Is it a mistake leaving?” Darc asked Mark.

“…I’m not sure, but… we’re doing something cool, right?”

“..Yeah… I mean, it’s not the first time I’ve felt like this.” Darc sighed.

“I guess the feeling never fades.”

Mark responded, “That’s true. Especially since we really won’t be back this time.” An announcement sounded through the entire ship after he finished speaking:

“Attention! The warp core will activate in 35 minutes. The Invincible II will be launching in 30 seconds. Please brace for engine activation.” A mechanical hum sounded through the control room, and the floor shook as the engines woke, much like a plane getting ready for takeoff but at the level of a huge spaceship. Darc knew that the effects of a spaceship moving were almost undetectable to the human mind, but with the added gravity, xe felt a small amount of nausea from the first move.

“And there it goes.” Mark turned Darc’s attention back to the window, where Earth was growing smaller as the Invincible II charged right into a universe ready to be explored. Both of them watched the window until Earth could barely be seen by the human eye, shrinking to a speck among the vast expanse of space.

By the time they looked back into the control room, thirty minutes had passed. Darc took a seat by the control table, deep in thought. Xe still felt as if something was off. Why had they made a second ship, and why were they going back? It was clear that something wasn’t right about this entire expedition. As if humans weren’t supposed to reach this far.

As if someone was watching, waiting for the right moment to intervene. No, something…

No matter what xe thought, xe knew that it was too late for xem to back out. At this current moment, the Invincible II had traveled far enough to reach the inner asteroid belt of the solar system, reaching light speed from the moment it left Earth’s gravitational pull. Maybe what xe were thinking was actually an opposing force that wanted to drag Darc out of their most knowledgeable subject. Right now, at this moment, xe needed to focus on everything that was happening in front of xeir eyes to make sure that nothing would go wrong. The last time xe entered cryogenic sleep in a wormhole created by this thing, xe lived a whole lifetime of dreams. If the warp crystal did affect the human mind in this way, then every moment spent in it could make or break it. Now, xe only had minutes to mentally prepare xemself for whatever in the universe could happen.

“So, Mark…” Darc started, “…are you ready for, uh, something that I hope doesn’t mess up our minds?”

“It wasn’t too bad last time, right? I don’t even remember what happened other than sleeping and waking up.”

Uh oh. Darc knew at that moment that xe couldn’t warn Mark about anything. If he had already forgotten… xe didn’t even want to think about it any longer. Xe just wanted to deal with it and move on.

“..Yeah, it wasn’t too bad.”

The system’s announcement started: “Crew members, please enter cryogenic sleep now. The Invincible II will activate a wormhole in 30 seconds.” Darc heard some people running around, possibly ones who lost track of time. Xe was right where xe needed to be. Darc looked back at Mark one more time and said,

“Good luck.”

Then, xe stepped into xeir cryogenic chamber.

CHAPTER 2 : PARADOX DETECTED

“…Captain, I’m tired.”

Many overlapping words said by Mark churned in Darc’s mind, creating a tornado of paradoxes and timelines. Xe was still infinitely confused: Where were xe, and why was this even happening in the first place? Xe felt like xe entered the cryo chamber years ago, like xe was stuck in a dream that was both real and eternal. Xe was certain that Mark had done something to destroy the universe and then force it to reboot again. It must be the warp crystal…

Right now, Darc was floating through an endless void, trying to recall everything before moving on. Xe could at least control how fast this wormhole-induced state of instability and odd events pulled xem through, much like pausing a chaotic YouTube video to breathe for a moment. Everything here was both under Darc’s control and completely outside of xeir control, in a way that contradicts every law of physics and existence xe ever learned. Xeir consciousness was being pushed and pulled and stretched to a point that a human could never survive, and Mark was in there somewhere experiencing the same situation. Xe couldn’t even comprehend how he felt right now. Was he in control, or did he have a script of some sort that his mind was bent to fulfill? The more xe tried to put pieces together, the more xe wanted to just get out of this place and wake up. But without the passion to do so, xe could never escape.

One more run. I’ve gone through every possibility, so it has to be the right choice, right?

Before xe could even decide what to do, the world around them suddenly unpaused, sending them flying through the wormhole yet again. A series of images passed by xeir eyes, frames of a video playing too quickly. Xeir mind absorbed the information from the frames: Mark taking the crystal from xem, him almost falling back into the wormhole but Darc holding onto him, the crystal falling through, and the wormhole closing. Just as quickly as it had begun, it ended, leaving Darc standing outside of xeir cryo-pod.

“..Captain? I was talking to you…” Mark’s voice faded into existence as the rest of Darc’s mind caught up.

“Oh.. Sorry. Crazy dream… right?” Xe stared at Mark for a few seconds, then responded, “…It’s over. Let’s just… focus on the…the- Ah! Colonists. New colony. VERY far from Earth.”

“Good. The wormhole didn’t break you. I was worried for a moment when you started blankly staring at me for a full minute.” Mark smiled.

“Wait, I did? I’ll be honest, I don’t even remember walking out. Probably just side effects of the sleep.” After Darc finished xeir statement, a crew member opened the door to the command center.

“Everyone woke up and they seem fine. We should have everyone down in two hour….” They paused. “Wait, is there time here? Anyways, it’s all going according to plan. You can head down too, if you want.”

“Thank you.” Mark turned to Darc.

“Do you want to see if we’re right or wrong about this planet?”

“Of course, Mark. I mean, we’re gonna be living there forever basically. Might as well make sure it’s livable in the first place.” Xe looked to Mark, expecting an answer. He responded:

“Well, duh, it’s liveable! I think we would be facing MANY more problems if it wasn’t. Like, maybe people dying when they try to land?”

“Wait, do we have, like, detection for breathable air or not on the transport ships? I thought that would be a common sense addition…” Darc trailed off. They both sat in silence for a few moments, then Mark finally said,

“Yes? No? Probably. Don’t… worry?” He smiled worryingly. The crew member that greeted them both made their presence known:

“Uh, guys… Ok, Mark, I don’t know what I was expecting. Just be good, ok? Or.. I’ll have to call Celci over, and she will NOT be happy.” They walked out awkwardly, closing the door behind them.

“Yes. They do have systems that will tell you the breathability of the air. You helped our software and technological engineer back at home with that.” Mark said after the door closed fully and the footsteps of the crew member faded.

“Obviously I know, but we’re supposed to look like idiots that don’t know what they’re doing, riight?” Darc smiled, then Mark.

“Exactly. Do you… remember a lot of details about that… dream?” He asked.

“Most of them…” Xe responded.

“Well, there was this one time… where I believe I had this protocol called ‘The Wakey Wakey Protocol. And what it did- it just completely LAUNCHED you out of the cryo chamber. That’s the level of stupidity in there. And I’m pretty sure - but I don’t know fully - that one time, I got launched into the window and it broke. It BROKE. Who would even let that happen?”

“Oh yeah! I remember in the loop, there was always this scene where you would just. Launch into the air like a ragdoll. And it was both funny and disappointing that you just poofed into space. Eventually, I knew that you would do that, so I just pulled you out instead of waiting.”

“Hah, the… The route where you force me to do everything! Ok, I’ll admit, that cryo dream was scary, but there was a lot of interesting scenarios.”

“Didn’t you literally break down your mental state so badly that you just snapped and lost all hope?”

“Yes, BUT, I’m feeling better now. It still hurts, but at least I know it wasn’t really… real? Or that I got out of it.”

Darc looked at Mark directly in the eyes with worry in xeir eyes. “That makes sense, but it could always come back as trauma. Just… take the next few Earth weeks slow, ok?”

“Of course, Darc. Or should I say, Captain Darcius Ga-”

“Head Engineer Mark Edwa-”

“NOoo no-” He cut Darc off before xe could finish, “Only I can do that!” Both of them burst out in laughter. As quickly as the mood had become serious, it turned lighthearted. That was simply the only way to cope with being so far away from home. Darc never even realized how xeir desire for exploring the cosmos was accompanied by a feeling of loneliness, of knowing that there was really nobody else out there. Entering a part of the universe where humanity never existed… It was even worse than finding new worlds with other species on them. When xeir laughter died down, a passing transport ship suddenly distracted Darc, reminding xem that both of them had to get moving soon.

“Oh… Right, we actually have a job now.” Xe walked over to the head crew storage lockers, unlocked xeirs, and pulled out a black backpack.

“I love gravity. Mark, how the hell does this thing even create gravity for itself?” He shook his head.

“I dunno, ask a physicist.”

“You took physics classes while you were majoring in engineering…”

“They didn’t teach me gravity in detail, so I can’t help you.”

“…Fair point.”

Xe put the black backpack on xeir back and closed xeir locker door.

“Also, did I pay attention? Nope. Don’t know how I even qualified for this job.” Darc stopped what xe were doing and stared at him for a moment, then looked away. Xe could almost believe him, but xe knew Mark’s abilities the most. Mark never took credit for his genius ideas and seemed to always create something dumber to undermine himself. Maybe one day, he can learn to believe in his own abilities…

“Come on, Mark. Let’s… do whatever the hell we’re doing now.” Darc led them out of the room. Inside the rest of the ship, activity was dying down as more crew members were sent down to deal with establishing temporary structures for the colonists. A function of the cryo chamber was a detachable bay that could easily be turned into a functioning ship. Another one of Mark’s genius ideas that he refuses to take credit for, as only an extremely skilled engineer could achieve such a feat. This streamlined the transportation of colonists, meaning that the Invincible 2 only had to carry four extra space travel vehicles. Darc and Mark walked down the corridors of the ship, reaching the end where a smaller ship would take them to the new planet. One was already docked, waiting for them. They boarded, taking one last look inside the Invincible 2 in case they never returned.

“Hey, just letting you know that you will experience a bit of zero gravity.” The pilot warned them, “Because I forgot gravity isn’t constant and almost had a heart attack the first time I left.”

Darc expected the gravity to fall once they left the ship, and hoped that xeir tolerance was still high. Xe had spent countless days, maybe close to a year, in zero-gravity environments, but it truly had been at least a month since then. Thankfully, as the ship departed and headed towards the planet, Darc didn’t feel too nauseous. Mark also didn’t show any signs of a struggle, other than a slight surprise at remembering what space is like. After the mind-breaking feelings of a universal paradox, both of them were itching to get back to normalcy, if colonizing an entirely new planet counted as normal. The ship entered the atmosphere, shaking any remaining thoughts of the universe collapsing out of Darc’s mind. Re-entry was still a bit nerve-wracking for xem, much like a plane landing on the runway, as the risks of burning up were only decreased with technological advances. Thankfully, the engineers knew how to test their models before releasing them to the public, and all ships, commercial or not, had specific regulations on withstanding re-entry. The feeling of rapidly descending and the takeover of gravity… Xe felt like xe were returning home for just a moment. However, xe could never be further from home. Xe couldn’t believe that Mark agreed to do this with xem. To sacrifice your entire life and a developed society to build a colony… That showed true dedication to space. Maybe, since he had agreed to this, they weren’t going on a suicide mission. Maybe he had a plan to create something better than Earth. After all, he was the one who built a functioning computer host for the Warp Core. Maybe he knew more about this universe than any human. As the ship descended to the surface, Darc looked outside at the unfolding chaos of the first colonizers. They were hard at work, already setting aside land for temporary structures and identifying hazards. The pilot controlled the ship into a soft landing and switched off the engine.

“Welcome to your new world.”

This is when Darc finally noticed that Mark had said absolutely nothing since they left the ship. Xe looked over at him. Mark was deep in thought, most likely trying to figure out the logistics of setting up a colony in the first place. He always thinks about things as they arrive, instead of in advance. This was an advantage and disadvantage at times. Darc quietly exited the spacecraft, and as soon as they were outside, multiple crew members gathered around and welcomed them. Mark still seemed distant, as if he was contemplating something extremely important. Perhaps he was still thinking of the cryo dream. Whatever it was, it made Mark seem like he was still back on Earth. He made subtle nods to show that he was listening to the reports from the various crew teams, but dismissed them as soon as they asked him any questions. Something was tugging at his mind. After they were directed to a temporary headquarters, Darc finally spoke up:

“Something bothering you, Mark?”

Xe waited for him to respond. Eventually, he loosened his gaze and started speaking.

“…Maybe. I don’t know, it just doesn’t seem right. We shouldn’t be here. But humans show up everywhere they’re not supposed to be. Fuck around and find out style.” He chuckled a little, then settled back into a serious expression.

“If some sort of power was mad at us for doing this, I think we would already be dead.” Darc responded.

“Oh, they don’t have to kill us if they don’t want us doing something. That would be too easy.”

“Mark… I mean, you’re right, but… I feel like you’re overthinking this. Especially with the cryo dream-”

“Well, THAT was a warning sign definitely. It happened twice! Back on the first Invincible, when I was testing the warp core…” His voice trailed off.

Multiple parallel universes, detailing the past, present,and future. All of those universes converged at one point: The destruction of humanity. Every outcome was pre-planned, already deep inside the programming of their multiverse. One mastermind weaving paths in and out of these endings, escaping fate itself…

Mark kept these thoughts to himself. He knew Darc was suspicious of his silence, but memory loss was common in warp travel. Xe would think he just forgot.

“Well, humans do stupid human things, as I like to say.” Mark pulled up the first scans detailing the entire planet’s topography, climate, and possible civilization points. The planet was almost the same size of Earth, with less landmass but more connections by land. A perfect second home, if they ever use the warp crystal again for more settlers and possibly a permanent hook-up to sustain the wormhole.

“Wow. Very habitable planet we have here…” Darc responded,looking through various statistics. “If we brought half of Earth’s population here, they could all fit comfortably for centuries.”

“If we can even go back to Earth and bring more people. We might be on our own for a while.” Mark admitting the truth out loud scared him. He didn’t know how many uses remained for the Warp Core. The thing inside his mind that told him it was a wormhole never specified if it lasted forever or not. He couldn’t test that too many times, as humanity could remain stranded forever. Mark already settled on staying here for the rest of his life, only using the Core in the situation where they cannot sustain civilization here. As a leader, he could ban usage of the Core unless authorized by himself. However, Darc could leave with it, as xe overpowered him. As long as xe didn’t get homesick, everything would be fine.

“Ehhh, we don’t need Earth people anyway. It would be nice to replace some of those billionaires we HAD to bring with us with some poorer Earth citizens though.” While some of the colonists spots were voluntary, many were paid. The lowest someone paid for a spot on this ship was 2 billion US dollars. Others got on for free, as they were researchers or held important positions. This meant that their society had a mix of people who wouldn’t do any work and those who did all the work. Darc knew which side xe were on. Maybe some of the people facing the financial crisis that had plagued Earth for decades would have benefited from this trip, but society was society, and not everyone could be saved. Xe weren’t even sure what xe would do if xe weren’t funded by space exploration. Xe knew Mark had a decent salary, but was it even enough? Making a new society here gave them a buffer to not be overwhelmed financially. As Darc was contemplating this issue, a comms broadcast came through to their room:

“We got everyone down and they’re slowly waking up. It’s about time for our courageous leaders to leave their hiding place…” Mark jokingly scoffed and replied, “Shut up, Celci.” Both Darc and Celci burst out in laughter, much to the sarcastic annoyance of Mark.

“Allriight sir, I’ll leave you alone now. Come out.”

“I’m not gay.”

“I am!” Darc replied instinctively.

“God- Go outside!” The call ended. Mark and Darc set their belongings down on the chairs and headed outside. Outside, their small temporary base was bustling with activity. Darc expected more people to look like they woke up from a long nap, but everyone seemed energized. Maybe cryo sleep didn’t affect the body in such a way. The crowd grew larger the closer they got to the center point, and eventually, a crew member had to part their way to the meeting point. A raised platform sat in the center, so that all audience members could see their leaders. As Darc and Mark climbed up, the crowd grew silent, waiting for their words of wisdom on an unknown planet. Both tried their best to hide the truth: that all of them were just as nervous as they were. As the captain, Darc addressed the crowd first: “Thank you for embarking on this journey to a new, alien world. Such voyages have only taken place on our home planet, but today, we reach further, higher, greater than our ancestors. I am honored to be your captain and leader, but I couldn’t do this alone. As the Head Engineer, Mark holds the important job of, well, making sure everything works. He stands with me today, after countless months of success and failures.” Xe paused. Mark looked at xem, a combination of nervousness and lost on his face. He whispered: “…Darc, how the hell do I trail that?” Xe whispered back, “Just say anything positive. They don’t care that much.”

“Uh… Ok…” He cleared his throat and straightened his posture. “Hello, my fellow colonists. It is true that we wouldn’t be here without me, as I did spend countless hours on the Warp Core design. Thankfully, everything has worked out so far, and despite my worries, nothing has exploded or broken yet.” He paused in anticipation to his words being disproven, but nothing happened.

“..And still not yet! Anyways, I’m honored to be here as well. It would be a shame if I worked for nothing. Thanks for having confidence in me, and let us continue making large leaps for humanity!” The crowd erupted in cheers. He glanced at Darc and was met with xeir approval face. Darc opened xeir digital dashboard - a large, foldable tablet - and opened the latest message. Xe weren’t here just to say opening remarks to the expedition. Xe also had to report on the initial research findings, which excited xem. Xe put xeir tablet away, and the crowd quieted.

“Now, we need to do actual business. Initial scans of the planet show high likelihood of planet-wide civilizations that can thrive off of the ecosystem. And we haven’t found any hostile species, but we did discover signs of animal life unlike our first readings. Many species show similarities to Earth ones, so familiarity is on our side. In a few day cycles of this planet, we will start work on more permanent structures and establish the first city. But there is one question: What do we even name this place? Thankfully, we didn’t forget to name our new planet. Our naming group reached a consensus on one name: Primas. A suggestion brought up that seemed to make sense to all of us. We are infinitely honored to bring a new planet to humanity!” The crowd cheered again. Hope was strong, and the odds were in their favor. Darc wasn’t sure how to give a speech, but xe found success in simply displaying xeir own thoughts with a positive twist. Xe thought that Mark would be a better spokesperson, but in reality, both of them were extremely awkward, and Darc took up the job. The crowd silenced itself again, and xe realized that xe needed a closing statement. Xe turned to speak:

“Finally… Well, there isn’t much else to say. Thank you for trusting us enough to embark on this journey, and I hope you and us all find success here on Primas.” Xe exhaled and relaxed xeir muscles. The crowd understood xeir signal as a conclusion and began to leave, conversing with themselves about various subjects. Mark, who had let Darc take the speaking lead, finally felt like speaking up:

“What kind of name is Primas? I know I heard that was the chosen name, but I wasn’t there for the actual meeting.”

“Oh, Primas? Well, someone got creative and combined a root word ‘primordial’ with a flashy ending that makes it sound like a random Latin word. I thought it sounded good, and the various section leaders said so as well.”

“So… kinda basic?”

“…Meaning wise, yeah. Genesis was an option, but too many sci-fi novels have used that name for some planet or group already.”

“As if people wouldn’t name things after fictional objects.” He smiled and stared at Darc, who stood silent. Darcius’s legal middle name was Wilford.

“Maybe they would.”

Darc inputted the passkey for their temporary main base and opened the door. Xe held it open for Mark to go first. Many of the different leaders in various branches of the program were conversing with themselves, talking about their recent findings. The team for identifying biological lifeforms expressed their astonishment at the similarities they saw in animals so far away from Earth. Landscape surveyors shared how the climate varied in some parts but stayed relatively liveable. Darc listened to bits of their conversations as xe walked by, but xe were more focused on finding xeir room. As captain, xe were given a solitary temporary room with its own bathroom. Darc marveled at how quickly the temporary base had been set up. A system for installing portable bases almost anywhere in the universe was created on Earth with the creation of more space stations, which also doubled as essential temporary structures on Earth. The way that they constructed the living space for this trip was unique: A station with oxygen support was constructed ahead of time and landed on the surface. All of the systems for bathrooms were portable, and all furniture was latched down to prevent debris. This gave the leaders comfort they would need to manage their new colony.

“Hey Mark, I’m exhausted. Gonna go find wherever they put my room.”

“Oh right, they gave the crew leaders those fancy pre-made rooms. Gotta find mine too.”

“Probably close to mine.” Both of them walked down a hall labeled “Living Quarters”, reading the signs to look for their own names. Barely down the hall on the left was a room labeled “Darcius G. - “Captain” / Head of Heads”.

“God, that name is stupid. Why can’t I choose to take ‘Head of Heads’ off?” Xe seemed frustrated, but a smile overtook xeir face. On the right,the title read “Mark F. - Head Engineer” with a blue-penned “ASSHAT” next to it,scratched out by another pen. He laughed when he saw it, for he knew exactly who had written that.

“At least mine is unofficial.”

“Only because they won’t let us put swears on it. The moment they do… Guess who’s Official Asshat?”

“Oh god no. Never. Don’t.” He smiled and shook his head.

“Anyways, it’s about time I relax. You can do whatever you want, Engie.”

“Yea- wait Engie?”

Xe grinned again. “Mhm.” Xe scanned at the door, then opened xeir door, walked in, and shut the door.

Darc took xeir shoes off and laid down on the bed. The room was small with a dresser, a double-size bed tucked in one corner and an endtable on the other side. A door opposite the bed led to the bathroom, a simple portable design that could be adapted to zero gravity or Earth level gravity, depending on where it was used. Xe stretched xeir arms out, then xeir legs, and afterwards xe turned on xeir personal device. Messages constantly came rushing in from various departments communicating to each other. As captain, xe had access to the majority of these chats and was given summaries of their discoveries.

Being captain was a new experience for xem, but xe thought: if they trust me enough for this, then I fit.

Landing crews reported on the status of the second detaching unit from the Invincible II. This one was designed for the colonists, to give them enough resources and space for the initial building phase. All resources had been transported successfully, and no one had died yet. Scouting crews were sent out to confront wildlife to see how hostile they were, and to confirm the survivability of the planet. The nearby star was low on the horizon at their landing spot. Darc turned off xeir personal device and set it on the nightstand, then turned to the closet to find more comfortable clothes. To minimize luggage, clothing was already put into the closet in xeir size, some being chosen by xem to have familiarity. Xe changed into a hoodie and a pair of sweatpants, took xeir socks off, and climbed back into bed. The leadership circle could take care of themselves when the main leader was on break. Darc made sure to mark xemselves as “Do Not Disturb” before putting xeir head down and finally reaching the rest xe had been waiting for forever.

While Darc was preparing for rest, Mark felt quite the opposite. After leaving Darc to sleep for way too long, all Mark could feel was restless. Maybe a walk would help. But first, he had to check out the room. The scan was done with an identifier on each crew member’s personal device. Different levels of access also depended on the device. To safeguard from stealing, the devices required a fingerprint scan to login and enable all of the features. Once the device matched with the door, it unlocked, and Mark opened it. The setup reminded Mark of a smaller hotel room. A bed was tucked in the far corner of the room, with a small end table on one side. A dresser sat on the opposite side of the bed, moved far enough across for easy access. A door to a personal bathroom was directly across from the dresser. At the end of the room was a window with curtains. The last rays of sunlight of the day were drowned out by the white light Mark turned on. He closed the door behind him as he turned on the light and moved to open the curtains. The view outside was a chaotic mess of people working hard to set up various buildings. Soundproofing in the living quarters deafened the construction equipment. Despite wanting to take a walk, Mark decided that he needed to relax and stay in his room for a while. It would be easier to walk around after everything settled anyway. He turned on his personal device, sat down at the desk, and spent multiple hours watching videos and doing whatever random thing he could, until he finally felt tired.

Eventually, the crews took their breaks, and the noise and activities died down, as an unfamiliar patch of stars shone down on the new planet. All was still for a few moments, a respite in the chaos of human discovery.

CHAPTER 3 - ?

IN AN UNKNOWN DIMENSION

DIMENSIONAL SEARCH COMPLETE.

He stared at the monitor screen. Computing something as large as this took hours. Now, all he had to do… was sift through every result to find the one with them. He let out a deep sigh, half relief and half dreadful for the task ahead. Thankfully, he knew exactly what he was looking for. The computer searched for dimensions and categorized them based on changes from his own, through a power still mysterious to even himself. He placed in a simple search query:

“Head Engineer Mark”

256 RESULTS.

“God,this is gonna be a long day. Why did that one instance branch out like that?” Selecting all of the results, he right clicked on the mouse-like controller and selected “ANALYZE”. This would pull any important memories around the differences, revealing names and events in that dimension compared to the root it originated from. Every dimension had a root, a beginning with a specific order of events. Any deviation from the original event happening created a new dimensional instance, resulting in large amounts of similar but different dimensions. The origin for this dimensional set only allowed minimal changes to the path, but through some turn of events, this limit was broken and more and more branches appeared where it was impossible to do so. He sat by the console while the computer processed his request. He stared at the wires connecting a lifeless body to the console, all hidden in his laboratory deep underground. If his experiment succeeded, he would have the biggest genius in all of the universe at his fingertips.

All he had to do was find them first. Every clue pointed directly to one individual, in one deviation from the normal dimensional pattern. As more information about each dimension filled his screen, he grinned as he stared at one entry:

DIMENSIONAL BRANCH IS-HLDNGLTCH2 | DEVIATION FACTOR: 2702 | RANKING: 1 | PROBABILITY OF SUCCESSFUL CONNECTION: 86%

“Now, who will be my willing subject?”

CAPTAIN NAME: DARCIUS WILFORD GALATIC.

There they were. Now, all he had to do was slowly guide them back to the Core.

CONNECTING TO IS-HLDNGLTCH2 CORE…

CHAPTER 4

Darc awoke suddenly, sweating. Despite the climate control functioning, xe were burning hot. It was the dead of night. Immediately, something felt wrong. Xe removed xemself from xeir blankets and turned on xeir personal device. Sure enough, there was a message:

“Unknown Core error on the Invincible II.”

If the warp core was struggling, they had no way back. Whatever was going on was a Mark issue, or an issue for xemself to handle. Darc was confident that xe could do it this time, after witnessing… the paradox. Xe changed into a simple outfit and left xeir room, retracing the steps xe took from the launch and landing site the day before. Nobody would be up to help xem, but with captain clearance, xe could launch a shuttle back up to the Invincible II.

Only xe were at the launch site. All workers took a break at night to ensure proper rest and to help align themselves with the solar cycle of the planet. Xe found a shuttle and scanned xeir device on it, overriding all permissions and stepping inside. Xe turned the autopilot on, and told it to return to the ship. The shuttles were designed to go from the Invincible II to the planet smoothly, as many times as needed. Slowly, the engines of the small shuttle turned on, preparing to break orbit once again. Darc sat in the captain’s chair and buckled in. Xe weren’t the one in charge of navigating the ship, but in order to be a captain, xe had to learn a bit of everything. The ability to take over autopilot systems and bring a ship to safety was one of them. During the paradox, xe thought about overriding all protocols and activating more emergency protocols, but then xe remembered that most of them involved blowing up. As xe watched the navigation system wait for enough engine power to blast off, xe thought about the paradox. Whatever xe were doing alone might have the same experience behind it. And this time, Mark was definetely not present to help fix the problem. As the shuttle started moving, xe let those thoughts fly away like the shuttle’s upward movement to break into the sky itself, entering the heavens beyond where the Invincible II sat, locked in orbit. Darc closed xeir eyes for a moment as the shuttle lifted from the ground, pushing xem into xeir seat, with a nauseating arc upwards. Xe compared it to a very aggressive plane takeoff. However, instead of breaking the sky, they were breaking into the stars themselves. Once xe opened xeir eyes, the colony was a small point of light barely visible. Launching at night meant that the edge between atmospheres was almost invisible. Once the curve of the planet was visible, Darc turned xeir attention back to the navigation screen. They would reach the Invincible II in 2 minutes and 45 seconds. Its orbit was near the colony, joining the stars in the sky above the new planet. Xe unlatched from xeir seat to do a final check on anything else in the shuttle. The weightlessness of zero gravity hit xem harder than xe thought it would. The Warp Core made everything so easy in space, generating enough force to act as the Earth’s core and pull everything downwards towards its central position near the bottom of the ship. Xe relearned how to move in space for two seconds, then did a lap around the inside of the shuttle. Darc didn’t have to leave xeir seat, but xe desired the feeling of floating around for a small time before the shuttle latched onto the Invincible and was subject to the gravity there.

If the Core even still worked.

Xe quickly swam towards xeir seat, then latched in. There was an important job ahead of xem. The Invincible II was much larger in the window now, a grand spaceship reduced to an empty shell. Darc kept a close eye on the autopilot, ready to switch to manual if docking got messed up at all. Thankfully, xe didn’t have to worry about crashing a shuttle into the ship today, as the autopilot sequence guided them towards the ship’s docking bay at the right angle. The bay was already open due to the shuttle communication system, much like a garage controller. After the shuttle was secure and the bay closed to pressurize, Darc instantly noticed something else was off.

There still was no gravity.

At this point, the Core would be close enough to imitate Earth-like gravity. Darc was still floating in zero gravity. They didn’t have a lot of items latched down in the ship, but hopefully it was enough that xe could still reach the Core. Then xe remembered that it’s much easier to move items in zero gravity, so it wouldn’t even be an issue. Xe would just have to not crash anything into important systems. The dashboard told xem the docking bay was pressurized and ready for entering. The life support system was still active, a relief because the suits on the shuttles could only support oxygen for an hour at maximum without extra tanks. Xe floated over to the door and pressed the button to open it. Entering the Invincible II in zero gravity was extremely different. Small items were already floating around. Xe ignored the mess and moved to open the door leading to the ship. As a precaution, Darc sent the shuttle back to Primas with a message attached to it warning those who returned to the ship in the morning. Xe would truly be stranded on this ship, lifeless except for the systems and light.

Maybe not the light. When xe opened the door and floated into the engine room, it was pitch black. The automatic light system must’ve failed, but xe were still alive. Good. Darc pulled an emergency flashlight from xeir emergency kit. Xe grabbed it before leaving xeir room, since it was somewhat of an emergency. Darc looked around for the manual switch to turn on the lights, and eventually located it. The engine room lit up, showing that everything was thankfully held down and working. They didn’t need the engines at this point, but a small fraction of the engine power was left on for correcting the orbit around Primas. Suddenly, emergency lights turned on, startled awake by the manual switch. The intercom carried the same message xe heard before:

“Unknown Core Error. Please fix immediately.”

The emergency lighting illuminated pathways to the various doors. There was a connection from the engine room to the warp core directly. Darc followed the path, struggling a bit to swim around in zero gravity. When xe reached the door, xe instinctively held onto part of the wall. Already xe could feel the presence of something wrong. The door opened to reveal a completely dark room. The Core was supposed to give off a sickening, bright blue glow that most people wore sunglasses to avoid. Right now, nothing radiated from it. Something had disabled the entire Core, and to fix it, xe had to float into the mysterious room. Shining a flashlight in, xe entered. Immediately, the door closed behind xem. With the door closing, all light except for the flashlight disappeared, then the flashlight itself turned off. The room was frigid cold, a reflection of space itself, a cold, unforgiving void. Time stood still, a clock frozen by the temperature of the room. For a while, Darc floated as still as xe could, until finally, a blue light illuminated the room.

You have answered the call, as I expected.

Darc remembered that the Core had a computer voice, but this was different. Was there a consciousness inside it the entire time?

“Uh, yeah. Who are you?”

You will learn soon enough, my subject. Since you are here, we must begin immediately.

The light grew intense. Darc squinted xeir eyes.

“Huh? What are you doing? Oh, don’t tell me you’re gonna destroy everything and turn into a black hole. Please.”

Not yet.

Suddenly, xe knew exactly why the voice was so odd. It almost resembled him.

“…Wait. Mark?”

The voice paused, contemplating.

One, but not yours.

Darc had limited knowledge of parallel universes. Xe couldn’t understand exactly how a Mark could not be xeirs, but xe could understand it happening. Especially with something that has already broken the universe once. Whoever this Mark was, he didn’t seem too friendly to xem.

“Whatever you do… just please, don’t hurt anyone here.”

Don’t worry, my subject. You will not be here to see it.

The sound of ground rumbling and cracking filled the room. The blue glow intensified, and a shadow took shape in the room. A wispy figure made of smoke extended its tendrils towards Darc, as xeir ears ringed harder. The darkness of the smoke consumed xem, and slowly, xe lost consciousness.

TRANSFER IN PROGRESS

Chapter 5 - xe are WHAT

EMERGENCY ALERT - CAPTAIN IN DANGER

Mark woke to the beeping on his device. It took a few seconds for him to process what was being said -

“OH SHIT WHAT??”

He jumped out of bed as fast as he could, grabbing his device. Quickly he scrolled over to where Darc’s vitals were being monitored.

Zero or disconnected.

Last position: The Invincible II.

“Fuckfuckfuck what happened last night?!?!” He grabbed a pair of shoes and threw on a shirt. The station was still silent. If anything went wrong with Darc at night, only he was notified.

Maybe he had prepared for this exact situation. He sprinted to the launch bay, stopping to catch his breath. A shuttle stood with its lights still on. There was no lock on it, and on the console inside was one message:

Do not board the Invincible II until I get back. Unknown Warp Core error.

“UNKNOWN WARP CORE ERROR?” Mark’s world was already spinning. He already lost trust in his own device once, and this had to be the final straw.

If it took Darc…

He responded to the message: “You’re dumb”, and overwrote the shuttle to launch to the Invincible II.

Everything on the ship was normal.

Too normal. No human presence. He walked through the normally lit and functioning ship until he reached the Warp Core. When he opened the door…

A lifeless body on the ground, with an alarm beeping on it signaling loss of pulse. A dark, cold atmosphere settled.

This machine has taken enough.

Without a second thought, he ran towards the Core and tugged at the crystal with all the strength left in his body. He succeeded in ripping it directly from its source, triggering multiple alarms and disabling the artificial gravity. Darc’s body started floating up behind him. He grabbed it and floated towards the docking bay.

Xe were dead. Nobody could lead like xem. Nobody could come for them or return to Earth.

Great power comes at too steep a cost.

The crystal grew brighter in Mark’s hand as he boarded the ship. He didn’t realize how intense the glow was until it was too late. Every emotion in his body was transferred into the crystal, a growing instability.

As the ship approached the landing grounds, everything imploded onto itself, the crystal finally overwhelmed by the human spirit.

Darkness.

Chapter Text

BEGIN - CHAPTER 1

Slowly, the darkness faded into a bright fluorescent light. Their eyes opened, squinting at the brightness. A man was shining a light into them, studying every detail of their awakening. Once he recognized that their eyes were open, he pushed the light away, revealing a large room full of various computers and machines cluttered about. Their hearing returned, bringing the sounds of cooling fans, various beeps for unknown reasons, and the subtle hum of screens and lights. Suddenly, their ears started ringing, but they could not move their hands to cover it. Their senses were still turning on one by one, as if they were a machine waiting for each system to succeed before enabling the next. He backed away, allowing them to fully gain control of their body, wiggling their fingers, feeling physically present again. As the ringing in their ears stopped and their eyes gained the ability to focus, they felt the blood rushing through every part of their body.

They moved their head to get a better look at whoever was watching over them. He was fully enveloped in observing them, staring at how they responded to everything. His messy dark brown hair fell almost to his shoulders, halfway covering his bright red eyes. His skin was pale from lack of sunlight and the intense LED bright white lighting in the room. An intimidating, weirdly red-tinted aura surrounded him. He was wearing a white lab coat with a red collar-up shirt showing underneath it, and black suit pants touching his black shoes. He looked like a mad scientist, but maybe he was one, for this room looked like a massive lab for any experiment. They looked away from him and focused on their body. As they lifted their arm, they felt resistance, and realized that they were connected to a machine as the man said:

“Careful. You’re still connected.”

He had a deep, smooth voice, commanding with every word. It beckoned for them to fall asleep again, to release all their emotions of doubt and insecurity. They relaxed their arms and focused on looking instead of moving. Their body felt… unnatural. Maybe that was why they were connected to a machine. The man seemed satisfied with his results. He took a deep breath and talked again:

“Everything went well. I need to disconnect you and relocate you, so I have to cut your consciousness again, but I’ll explain why you are here after.”

He pressed some buttons that they couldn’t see and waited, while they felt the darkness consume them again. As they returned to the void, they saw him move to disconnect the cables.

They awoke in a smaller room this time, with less light. They were laying on a bed staring up at the bland white ceiling. This time, their senses returned much quicker, but they still felt wrong. The beeping continued, and they recognized it as a medical device monitoring their condition. The walls and room felt like a hospital room, except for the lack of a window. The man was at a screen next to them, most likely looking at their condition and making sure they regained consciousness without struggle. Some cables were still connected to their body, their presence tugging on the edges of their joints. They didn’t know how fragile this body was. Everything still felt wrong.

Was I resurrected, or was I born? Everything in my memory is fragmented…

The man looked away from the screen and at them.

“Welcome to this world, D. My experiment was a success, and now you will become a wonderful assistant. As you spend more time awake, you will remember more about yourself. If I’m thinking about it correctly, it should take a few days for you to feel comfortable in your new body, and after that, your mind will fill with memories as you remember them again. My name is Mark.”

Mark. A faint memory tugged at the back of their mind. Everything was still too cloudy for them to remember. They already felt overwhelmingly tired. At least they knew their name.

Dee finally spoke, in an unfamiliar voice,

“…Why?”

Mark responded:

“You will find out soon that your skills are extraordinary. You have value. However, you came from a different world, so you couldn’t be useful without a way to bridge worlds. You should rest for a while, so that your mind has time to adapt.”

“Yes… I’m tired.”

He unplugged a few wires from them. Every single time he did so, Dee felt like a part of them had been ripped from their body. Some were more painful than others. Finally, he stopped removing wires, and left only a few on their body. They were aware that they were bleeding, and Mark grabbed bandages and disinfectant.

“Sorry about that. Those connect deep into your body, so they come out rough.”

He already felt compassion towards them. What a strange individual. Dee felt him wiping away the blood, then the sting of antibacterial disinfectant, and finally, bandaging the cuts. He grabbed a blanket from the side of the bed and lightly draped it over them, mirroring the care of a concerned parent.

“I’ll be checking on you a few times a day. If you need me, there should be a button by the side of the bed. And if you need to get up, you can do so, but make sure to move this thing with you.” He pointed to a device on wheels. “You’ll be able to move more freely in a few days. Also, there are remotes for turning on and off the lights on the table next to you, and I’ll bring food and stuff as well. I hope you sleep well, my friend.”

Mark walked away and disappeared behind a door, leaving them alone and still questioning whatever the hell was happening. Dee sat up much easier than they thought it would be, then stopped to think. Mark was definitely hinting at them being in a weird human-machine mix body, and they wondered how everything moved. He said they could move more, and soon they would have complete freedom, probably once they had enough time to recover from whatever transfer he did. First, they extended their arm and observed how they looked, feeling every crack and stretch slowly of the new body. They had skin and could bleed, but something inside felt more mechanical than living. Their joint movements were much more streamlined than before, and they felt stronger. Of course he made a human-machine mix, because it was stronger than just remaking a human. They reached their arm over to the table and attempted to grab the light remote. Their fingers worked as expected — better than expected, actually — allowing them to grab it and turn the lights off. Once they placed the remote back on the table, they laid back down and found a comfortable sleeping position. Considering how much Mark seemed to know about them, they trusted that he knew the right way to recover, and they were already exhausted from the new body. Dee slipped into the darkness and into a dream.

Chapter 2 - Doubt

Cold air and snow hit their face as Dee found themselves in an unfamiliar, snowy forest. As the trees around them rustled in the wind, creating a chorus of nature, they saw a figure trudging through the snow.

She had the appearance of a pale white young woman with medium length black hair. She wore a black turtleneck with a winter jacket layered over it, with black pants and black snow boots. Her eyes glowed a scarlet red with a pink center. She couldn’t see them, or the snow was too thick in the air, or she was too focused on a task to notice them. A pocket watch was in her gloved hand. Dee decided to follow her, but noticed that they left no footprints, as if their presence was ghostly or unreal. The woman walked up to the side of a cliff and entered a code into a metal door that extended outwards from it.

The cold air stopped blowing the moment both of them entered, as the door closed behind them. The lights flickered on in the base and she opened another door leading into a bigger room. A large table with chairs around it was in the center, with a large whiteboard on one side. In the opposite corner, a couch and some comfortable chairs surrounded a fireplace. Some of the furniture was coated with dust while others looked cleaned off. There was more to the large living space, but Dee was focused on the woman.As the lights turned on, the heating system slowly sputtered on, struggling to function. Suddenly, to Dee’s surprise, she seemed aware of the presence behind her, and she turned, saying one sentence:

“Come to me, lost one.”

The dream cracked like a mirror, and the entire world turned gray scale. Echoes dominated their ears, reality glitched, a shift so jarring they felt pure terror. Only her eyes glowed red, the rest of her body becoming indistinguishable to their eyes as it distorted and twisted. The ringing in their ears returned as the fragments broke away, destroying the dream.

Dee woke up to Mark walking in. They sat up as he turned on the light.

“You slept for a good twenty hours.” He walked towards them, checking the device still attached to them. Noting that nothing was out of order, he continued:

“I came in a few times to make sure you were sleeping well. You, uh, dreamed of someone, didn’t you?”

Silence.

“How?”

“Your body temperature dropped and your cheeks were red. I know the snow dreams when I see them.”

He knows too much…

“… Do other people have the same dream?”

“Not the same ones, but their bodies react to different environments in dreams as if they are there. Nobody can die from them…” He paused in thought, then continued: “But anyways, I think you should try walking around. I need you up and ready as soon as possible.”

Totally encouraging. Dee didn’t want to go back to sleep. They also still had more questions about this place, and walking around might help. They moved their blanket to the side and slowly lowered their feet to the ground. Mark extended a hand to them for more balance.

What a romantic.

Dee struggled up and touched Mark’s hand with theirs. Warmth radiated from his touch, a contrast to the cold dream. They felt… calmer… and the dream they had completely faded from their memory. After a few awkward moments, they let go of his hand and stood freely. It felt like an eternity since the last time they walked. However, the muscle memory transferred as well, and they were walking without support at a normal pace. Mark still glanced at them worryingly, saying things like “Are you ok?” and, “Does it hurt?” as if they would keel over and die randomly. Finally, Dee and Mark left the room, him leading. The room they were in led to a small hallway with other rooms in it. A secure door with a passkey was at the end of the hallway. Mark put in a code and the door unlocked. He opened the door to the same large experiment room they were in before. He cut through the middle of the room. Most of the devices were off, including the one they recognized as the same one they were connected to. He most likely didn’t need their functions anymore, or wasn’t working on them at the moment. At the end of the room stood another door, this time opening to a small elevator lobby with a door on the right and an elevator in front of them. They noticed labels on the doors:

RESTRICTED ACCESS: FOUNDER OR FOUNDER-APPROVED ONLY.

Expulsion from MMRO if caught trespassing

“Uh, do you run… a company?” The acronym caught their eye.

“…Kind of. More of a research facility. Private research.”

“Oh. And I’m guessing you run the whole thing?”

“Basically.” They entered the elevator. Immediately, they saw eight buttons, the top one labeled G, and the rest labeled 1-7. All of the buttons —except for 7, their current level— lit up when Mark scanned his ID.

“Let’s start with the ground level. I don’t want to keep you down here forever.” He pressed the button marked “G”, and the elevator closed and started moving up. Before this, Dee had no idea they were underground.

“Oh, and let me know if your eyes hurt. The sun is strong around here, given it’s a desert.”

The elevator stopped and opened to another lobby, but this one had windows. The windows showed a surprisingly empty landscape surrounded by a large fence. Small buildings and a few modern houses dotted the area inside the fence around them. Pathways led to each building. Only a few people were around them, all of them outside, walking towards their next task. Mark led them to the door leading outside, and opened it cautiously.

He was right about the sun being intense here. They briefly squinted their eyes, then adjusted to the light, blinking, as they felt the sweltering, dry heat beating down on them. Palm trees and well-kept grass lined the pathways outside. The air felt still, the absence of natural sounds apparent. This environment reminded them of an unfamiliar memory in their mind, one of many that felt like a distant dream they had. They had never been here before, but something in what must have been their past world was similar to it. Dee felt satisfied with the environment around them. After Mark deemed them ok, they continued walking. When the few people walking around noticed them, they stopped and moved aside, showing respect to him and staring curiously at them. He greeted each one he passed. After some walking, he led them to a small area with benches set up and a flower garden blooming around it. The bench was sheltered from the sun by a small structure with solar panels on top of it. As they were walking around, Dee noticed that each building had solar panels on them, some of them more dusty than others. Mark sat down on one of the cushioned benches, Dee sitting down next to him. They still had many questions.

“So, if this place has six underground levels… how many people do you have out here?”

“A lot more than what you see. Most of the core structures and living area is underground. That’s why it feels so uncrowded up here.”

“So, it’s like a peaceful gated community on top with a huge secret facility on bottom?”

“In the middle of nowhere, yes. We have plenty of room, but the underground structure works better than above ground. It was a pain to construct, but many new advances in construction helped to carve out massive areas and a few tunnels. We also have a tiered structure of authority and access, to protect more confidential information and experiments. Mainly what I do.”

That was a lot of jargon that made no sense to them, but felt eerily similar to what they expected “Mark” to do.

“So, uh… nobody knows who I am?”

“They know I made you, but that was recent news. Nobody should look at you weirdly except through curiosity. I assume you haven’t actually seen what you look like, right?”

“…No. I haven’t, actually.”

At their response, he pulled out a small device.

“I’m gonna take a picture of you and show you.” He held the device up and pressed a button, then moved to show them the screen.

Dee finally looked at themselves for the first time, and was a bit surprised. Their hair was dark purple, cut just past their ears. Their eyes swirled a mix of red and blue, amplified by the natural light. Their skin was pale. Two lines ran from their forehead down to the center of both eyes, then continuing below their eyes and connecting at their neck. Other than the lines, they appeared human. After seeing their face, they felt compelled to study their arm. There was another line running down it connecting to their hand and spreading out to their individual fingers, like a power line, or artificial veins. Their skin was smooth and slender, with no hair and a strong structure below it. They felt their arm with their other hand, studying how hard their skin felt. From their fragmented memory, everything felt normal, but a bit more tough, as if they had gained a lot of muscle. Dee traced the lines on their face with their hand and touched each feature, except for their eyes. They felt their hair, becoming hyper aware of the dark purple color. They were wearing a simple white t-shirt and black shorts. Dee realized they were walking barefoot the entire time, but never noticed the feeling of the concrete underneath them. No wonder people were staring.

“Do you like it? I designed it for efficiency and resistance. It should grow like a normal human and you should have needs like one, but your bone structure is reinforced with some mechanical additions. I also added enhancements to the brain structure to help improve cognition and learning.”

“Considering I don’t remember what I looked like before exactly, it’s pretty nice.”

“Good.” He was definitely anxious about their reaction to the body. Given that this was one of his most ambitious projects, his nervousness was justified. Any individual modifying the human body and transferring consciousnesses was subject to so many things going wrong, especially when utilizing unknown, eldritch power. Dee paused to take in their surroundings once more. Multiple people had suddenly appeared near them, most likely due to curiosity, whispering to each other.

“Do you get… fan crowds? Like if you stay in one place enough people show up?”

He chuckled. “Yes, but the only people allowed up here are higher ups, so they don’t bother me too much. Now imagine me walking through the main lobby downstairs…” The group of people around him scattered, pretending to be busy.

“Is that why you have your own elevator?”

“Yeah. I designed some separate areas, because WAY too many people know me and think I’m a genius and want to know all of my secrets. They won’t mind you though. It’s not public information that I created your body, just that I have a new higher-up assistant. Speaking of, if anyone gives you or my assistants hell about me, they know the consequences.” His last sentence carried intimidation behind it. Mark was a man who was respected and feared, but kind to his followers. Dee considered themselves lucky to be an ally and not an enemy — at least for now. Their mind was still conflicted on whether or not to trust the man who stole them from another world. They would have to find out more about this world they came from.

“Thinking?” Mark asked them.

“…Yeah, a bit,” they answered after a few moments.

“Take as long as you need here. Once you’re ready, you can head down to the main lobby area thing. I’ll have to use a device to communicate to you.” He pulled out a second device and handed it to them. “This device is set up for you already. Since you don’t have human fingerprints, I inserted a chip below the fingertips that acts like one for devices, so it’s protected. Just put one of your fingers where the device tells you to put a fingerprint, hold it, and it’ll unlock for you.” Dee pressed the power button and followed Mark’s instructions to unlock it. A home screen welcomed them and showed a few icons for messages, archives, and contacts, along with a few other functions including a camera button. It was small enough to fit in their pocket on their shorts. Mark typed something on his device and Dee received a notification. They clicked on it and typed a response back, re-learning the memory of keyboards. This body seemed to already know how to do everything, but needed some time to remember certain memories. Consciousness transfer was interesting.

“I can type out messages and call you as well. The coverage should be full through the whole base. Oh, and one last thing, for more identification that I totally forgot…” He pulled out an ID card like his own, but with their face on it. Mark handed it to them, and they read the contents:

D

CO-LEADER/ASSISTANT

CLEARANCE: IV

“When did you take this picture?”

“Oh, that was before. I actually wasn’t expecting your eyes to look weird once you woke up, so it’s not exact, but… close enough.” Dee noticed that their eyes appeared the same color as their hair on the card.

“Unexpected things seem to be the norm around me.” They clipped the ID to their shirt.

“Not as different as everything else here. Research happens that way.”

They had a vague memory of agreement.

Mark continued: “So, you ready to go off on your own?”

“Hell yeah I am. Maybe I’ll find out I hate you and never come back.”

“Ah… Not ideal.” Both of them laughed, a mutual sense of comfort in each other’s presence.

“Nah, you’d find me.” They looked around.

“Well, uh, do I just… walk off now? You gonna stay here?”

“Yeah. Go off on your own, and I’ll go back down where we were before. If you need me, just text or call me. The signs will help you find the building that goes down.”

“Alright. I’ll… head out now then.”

“Don’t get lost. And… try not to bring attention to yourself. Uh, one last thing too. Anything I have done with you is confidential information. Don’t tell anyone past what I say, which is ‘I’m a new assistant.’ Kinda like when the government works on something that the public would panic about but it ends up fine because they classified it.” They nodded and walked off, seeking out the nearest sign.

The path to the elevators was simple. Dee saw a few more people around, doing various things from gardening to running around exercising to sunbathing. They guessed it was around afternoon time and remembered that they had a clock now. The time read 14:25. The sky was cloudless, leaving no protection against the burning sun. They felt the dryness on their skin, but thankfully, they didn’t sweat due to the dryness. They must’ve lived in an environment similar to this one for a long time before. Soon, their past would reveal itself fully, giving them bits and pieces every day they existed, until their mind was recovered. Past regrets would definitely rise, and they were worried about harmful actions they may had taken, but knowledge was power, and ignorance was peaceful weakness, even if knowledge harmed the individual. It would happen even if they resisted it, so they would simply learn and not resist their past.

Coming out of thought, they walked through the automatic doors into another elevator lobby. This one had multiple elevators instead of one and a map of the entire area. Dee took a moment to observe the map. On it, LEVELS 1-3 were shown together in a side view, with LEVELS 4-6 obscured and marked as AUTHORIZED/HIGH LEVEL PERSONNEL ONLY - CONFIDENTIAL RESEARCH, LIVING SPACES. Level 7 was missing, but Dee thought it would just be marked as the same thing as 4-6 anyway. On the right, the map showed Level G in detail, an aerial view of what they just saw outside. Residences, entries inside, and exits were marked. They moved to call an elevator down. Some people came out of it, looking at them curiously and trying to divert their eyes when they saw the level on their card. Dee smiled at them, trying not to come off as threatening. They would stare at themselves too. Once they left, Dee entered and swiped their card. All six levels lit up. The most logical course of action to their mind was to start from the top. They pressed the button for Level 1. The elevator quickly descended.

It opened into a nearly identical lobby, this time showing a map of Level 1 in detail. They decided to explore the area first before looking at a map and walked through the automatic double doors into a large oval-shaped area with much more noise. Light conversations and hurried footsteps echoed. The main area was like a large plaza or shopping district, but instead of stores, there were doors leading to other corridors. Dee was amazed by the sheer size of the three-story open area as they looked over the half-wall. Open hallways lined the edges of the area on each level with a few staircases connecting each one. In the center on the lowest level, tables and chairs were set up, not currently in use. A janitor was cleaning some of the tables while striking up conversation with another worker outside of their view. Dee assumed that the ground level had some sort of cafeteria and other seating areas, with various departments, living spaces, and other rooms behind the doors that led into more corridors lining the edges. Suddenly, Dee finally noticed the ceiling, much higher up than they expected. A digital image of the sky was displayed with moving clouds, shining blue light down into the area. One could easily tell it was fake, but it provided the idea of a sky. They did a lap around the walkway, looking as some doors automatically opened at them nearing them. Others were locked behind cards, most likely for security in living areas or research rooms. It made no sense to have everyone live here, but it was extremely convenient, and if Mark could already afford this big building, he could afford to pay for basically everything his employees needed. Once they finished looking around on the first level, they went downstairs to the second level. It was the same as the first floor but with different rooms. A few groups of people passed by as they walked around, all involved in their own work or taking a break. Dee wondered what they all could possibly be doing here. What did Mark need hundreds, maybe thousands, of people for? Maybe they would find out soon. Or maybe he just wanted the work force and gave them random things to do. They would investigate more later. They finished looking around on the third level and realized that they could explore the rooms, but they didn’t want to intrude on privacy. Being known as too much of an investigator along with being second to Mark himself at this point didn’t go well together. As they sat down to rest for a moment in the lounge area, a notification went off on their phone.

“Return ASAP to 7. Found something important.”

Dee opened the navigation app on the phone and looked up the way to the secret elevator Mark had. The app was very useful for finding specific things and only a moment was spent searching through the database of places. It was behind a “RESTRICTED ACCESS” door not too far away. Knowing that he was only steps away from anyone in this building was terrifying. If they worked here, they would pledge absolute loyalty to this guy. They swiped their card and opened the door. After walking through the hallway behind the door and opening another door, they entered the elevator and went straight down to Level 7. When the elevator opened, Mark was waiting for them with a mysteriously concerned look on his face.

“Stay close. Something isn’t right.” He unexpectedly grabbed their hand and guided them back through the lab, into the same room they slept in before. He double-checked the lock.

“I need to do some… adjustments. Maybe. There’s just something that happened with the transferring medium, and it could be a safety concern… Sit down while I re plug some things.” Dee followed his instructions and sat down while Mark rolled a device close, holding up wires and looking for the connection points on them. He removed some of the bandages from taking out wires before and inserted the cords again, a prick of pain much like a needle. They felt energy surging through them as their body recognized the new connections into something much larger. A new feeling of becoming one with a database, a computer with access to all. They were more machine than human, or an ungodly combination of both who could never be one or the other. As he read off the screen, the lights flickered and a multitude of sounds came from Mark’s device.

“I know, I know… security breach, emergency protocol, secure everything…” He sighed. “Stupid resistance trying to take my accomplishments away.” As they were about to ask a question, suddenly a shock went through their body. Their vision blurred, switching to dark black and white impressions of the objects around them.

“Shi….Don’t you…” Dee could hardly hear what Mark was saying, but was aware of him yanking out some cords and laying them down. Ringing in their ears intensified as the entire world spun and another voice entered their mind.

%H#^e d/*@ec#ieves.

They lost the ability to move. They were slightly aware of Mark leaving the room and shutting off the light as he continued to rant wildly.

“…shutdown…old friend…”

He locked the door behind him. A new presence entered the room. One more cable disconnected, severing their consciousness and releasing them into the void once more.

Our eternal anguish

By the lies of the snake

He’s a gambler of fate

But not with a lucky hand

Fill your soul with hate

To one you must banish.

Chapter 3 - nuh uh

Everything was frozen for hours on end. Dee felt the bed beneath them, but couldn’t see, hear, or move. Xe connected more inside xeir mind as xe couldn’t do much else. More of xeir identity became clear, but xeir name before was obscured intentionally. Dee would be enough for now until xe found a way to recover the older name. Mark was recovering xem, but the new question of trust entered in. Something was telling xem to not trust him, even in xeir dreams. There was much doubt in him owning a massive base and leading it all which led xem to believe further in the voices telling xem to not trust him.Despite how warm Mark seemed to xem, and the familiarity felt in xeir mind, he was wrong. It was a solid plan. This world definitely had more to offer than what xe saw before. The best chance of seeing it would be to find a way out.

As xe were contemplating xeir plan, xeir hearing started to return. Dee could still hear a slight ringing in xeir ears, which normalized into the buzzing of the light above xem. Xe could hear Mark typing on something. He was talking to himself.

“Hearing… Hm. They still can’t move… But I don’t know if the things are normal- Oh yeah, they can hear. Think inside my head, not outside.”

He went silent, tapping on a screen. A few minutes later, the darkness slowly turned brighter, until xe could see a blur of light. Xe squinted xeir eyes at the sudden brightness, glad that xe could move xeir eyes. The rest of xeir body still felt disconnected. Based on what xe saw, nothing had moved. Xeir vision was normal again as well, but something felt wrong. The presence had done something to xem, possibly an enhancement to xeir memory recovery… They seemed only to want to help xem. Mark stared at xem, then he pressed more buttons. Dee realized that only xeir head had feeling,meaning that the rest of xeir body was disconnected, when he restored movement. Xe slowly started to sit up. Xe could not make any noise or talk. Mark, content with the re-awakening, started to explain:

“There was an… intruder. They may have altered your recovery speed. How do you feel?”

Silence. A force prevented xem from talking. It felt like trying to talk in a vacuum: the vocal cords moved, but nothing came out.

“Oh. You can’t make noise. Hm…” He moved his gaze back over to the device in his hand, scrolling down and up with his fingers. “Try now. I may have connected you wirelessly and just disabled everything in a panic.”

Dee had no idea how Bluetooth bodily functions worked, but he fixed xeir voice output, so he had some idea of what he was doing, more than xem.

“Ah. Why can you just… do that?”

He stopped. “Uh… emergency protocol?” Dee stared at him suspiciously.

“I.. uh, won’t need to do it again.” He turned back to his monitor, pressing a bunch of random buttons. Everything was silent for a few minutes, until Mark stood up and started to leave. He stopped for a moment, turned to Dee, and said:

“I have to leave you here for some time.” He closed the door and turned the lock from the outside. Since the reawakening, he had become more distant and cold, as if everything before was an act.

Dee was left with only xeir own thoughts. Many of xeir concerns were already confirmed:

I was a forced assistant, taken for my capabilities.

Who else here suffered the same fate?

In the corner of xeir eye, Dee saw a small, cartoon-like figure motioning to xem. Xe turned to face it. He was standing on xeir bed, about half a foot tall, with tall, fluffy hair. A two dimensional figure in a three dimensional space was confusing. When he was sure that he caught xeir attention, he spoke in a hushed tone:

“Yeah, that guy’s hiding something. You seriously don’t trust him, right?”

Dee was surprised to hear him talk, but xe supposed even cartoons had vocal chords. After a moment of silence, he continued:

“There’s no cameras in here. Actually, he only has cameras in the lab. Maybe he wants his prisoners to escape.”

Xe responded, “Interesting. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was doing that. But… am I supposed to solve a puzzle or something? He locked it from the outside.”

The figure spawned a key into existence. “I’m a high-ranked specialist in the organization. This should get you anywhere. Just don’t run into him. Actually…” He spawned another object. “You can just track him. This can send a signal to your brain to tell you exactly where Mark is, but I have to, uhhh… attach it. Hold still for a moment.”

“Great, here we go again.” Xe stood still as the device moved itself, then swiftly implanted itself directly into the back of xeir head. Only a slight sensation followed, despite the device physically breaking skin and bone and replacing it, as if nothing happened.

“So… you can just move things?”

“Ehh… kinda, yeah.”

Slowly, xe felt the signals and frequencies from the sensor melt into xeir consciousness. Xe were aware, but in a new way, as if Mark’s position was an instinct.Dee had no idea what this random cartoon figure wanted from xem, but if they were showing signs of helping, xe could trust him for the moment. After a few moments, he spoke again:

“I have to go now. Don’t tell anyone about me, and do know there’s a way out down here. He’s actually trying to open a portal to where you need to go, so… But anyways, you heard nothing!” He poofed out of existence like an actual cartoon character, leaving xem alone again.

A plan was forming in xeir mind, enhanced by computational programs that doubled the speed of mathematical calculations, inserted to improve xeir efficiency. Explore around while avoiding Mark, or when he wanted xem to explore. Find where this so-called portal is. Escape. And then… follow whoever this person is. Xe believed in dreams with meanings, and after everything xe had faced in the past couple of days, this was the only lead. Sensing that Mark was above ground currently, xe approached the door with the master key and turned to unlock it. He was leaving the base. Xe was walking through the hallway. This was definitely a signal for things to get interesting, or Mark just forgot he was keeping a genius imprisoned. Dee carefully took steps through the lab, making quick, long strides and trying to stay out of sight. If this was deliberate, xe wouldn’t get caught, but the act of stealth was an important act. Xe wouldn’t leave a mediocre performance.

After successfully crossing the treacherous, mysterious-tech-filled lab, xe opened the door to the main elevator area and sneak-walked towards the door labeled RESTRICTED ACCESS that xe saw earlier. The weird little cartoon man’s key did not fail xem once as xe opened the door into another hallway. This area was much more cluttered and felt fragmented in the fabric of space-time. Various objects littered the corridor, but a sense of neatness was kept with the futuristic auto-open and close doors. It reminded xem of a spaceship made by a madman, perhaps one Xe had been in before. Xe hugged one of the walls, taking small peeks in each room as the doors opened and closed to xeir motions. Bedroom, storage room full of even weirder things than what was in the lab, a room full of various questionable paintings of Mark that xe wanted to erase from xeir memory, a cutoff into the void itself, portal room- there it is.

A slightly larger room with a metallic gateway was the second door to the end of the hallway. Multiple wires connected from the frame to a terminal at its side. Xe approached carefully, as the door closed behind xem. For a moment, the room was pitch black, but after touching the wall, xe found a light switch and an overhead light turned on. Fancy enough for automatic doors but not lights. Xe tapped the display and it lit up with various letters and buttons. In a few seconds, xe found out which button made the thing activate and pressed it. Since Mark was quite dumb, there was no security, and it was his personal space anyway, so he had no need to lock it… until now. The portal emitted a soft vibrating sound, increasing in volume as more systems powered up. At this moment, xe realized that this might create a very noticeable spike in power usage, but xe shrugged it off, since xe would be through it by the time Mark got back to stop xem. The overhead light flickered as the noise increased, preparing for the world’s largest concentration of power. Or so xe thought, with how this thing launched like a jet engine on a plane getting ready for takeoff. The noise reached its maximum point, vibrating the entire room at this point, then equalized to a constant hum as the inside of the portal started to emit light. Then, reality’s mirror cracked, splintering across the inside of the structure, until it shattered, revealing a passageway.

PROTOCOL DON’T ACTIVATED.

An intense gut feeling of uncertainty stunned xem. Thousands of words of doubt and fear cycled through xeir mind. However, xe had already fought these demons before. Slowly, xe took a deep breath, and cornered the cycling dialogue with xeir own:

Nah. I’m pretty sure. Also, really man? Is this all you have?

Dee could swear xe heard Mark screaming in anguish as xe stepped into the portal.

I'm out!!!

As Dee stepped through, everything broke, then reconnected itself in a completely different environment. Bitter cold air hit xeir skin as xe felt the crunch of snow under xeir feet. Behind xem, the fragment closed, leaving xem stranded in the forest surrounding xem. Light snow fell, blown slightly by a mild wind. For now, the weather was manageable, but the cold wasn’t. Xe was still wearing a t-shirt and shorts and no shoes, and xe doubted xe had immunity to frostbite. Looking around, xe tried to piece together what xe saw in xeir dream and compare it to xeir surroundings. The base was on the side of a cliff, so Dee looked around for higher ground as xe trudged through the ankle-deep snow. The surroundings were eerily quiet except for the wind whistling through branches of trees and the shifting of snow. Xe tried to move with a sense of urgency, but with no direction, not much progress could be made.

An unknown but long amount of time passed, Dee’s body reaching its limit of how much cold it could take. Xeir fingers numbed over first, followed by xeir arms and even xeir legs, but xe kept walking. Just as xe was about to give up and just accept xeir fate, xe saw a figure in the distance walking towards xem. Xe turned to walk towards it, as there was no other way to get help. The figure sped up as it saw xem and took off a purple cloak that they were wearing. As they approached, they became more similar to the woman xe saw in xeir dream. The details were matching up, and as xeir doubt about being right rose quickly, it fell quickly as xe breathed a sigh of relief. She finally got close enough to wrap the cloak over xeir arms and started guiding xem along the path she came from, saying nothing yet. Warmth radiated from her as xe pushed against her, almost unable to stand from exhaustion. She continued, holding xem up whenever necessary, until they reached the same entrance Dee saw in the dream.

She entered the code again, walked through the various locks, and set xem down gently on a couch in the main living space. Xe felt xeir body slowly defrost and relax as she lit the fireplace and gently placed a blanket over xem. She took a knee down to xem and finally spoke:

“Hello. I’m Diana, and I know everything he has done. I sent signals, hoping they would arrive, and they did. I’ve been looking for you ever since I figured out he was making you… here you are, and we will fight together. But take it slow, because I don’t know how severe the hypothermia is. You will survive.” Her voice was soothing.

“I’m going to get you some tea. Stay here, and don’t fall asleep on me.”

All Dee wanted to do was sleep, but xe needed answers. Xe sat up and set the blanket over xeir legs, adjusting xeir cloak to feel more comfortable. Xe watched the fire until Diana walked over again with a cup of tea, setting it down gently on the coffee table in front of the couch. She sat down next to xem as steam rose from the mug.

“Give it a minute to cool down, but don’t forget it while we talk. You made a big risk getting here, but he made the bigger risk by trying to find me.”

“Honestly, it felt like he wanted me to do it,” xe responded softly, “and I had people helping me. Some random cartoon figure gave me an implant that tracks where he is.” Xe smiled and Diana let out a small chuckle.

“Oh, I know him too. He’s not actually a little cartoon guy, but he can summon one. I’ve been trying to get him out of there, but he seems determined to let the entire organization escape before him. Since Mark started launching his recent campaign or whatever against me, he stopped visiting me, so I’m glad he’s still doing ok.”

“Will Mark punish him for helping me? Does he even know?”

She smiled. “He probably doesn’t. The amount of security holes he has is… either intentional or just his stupidity. Either way, unfortunately it’s not safe to stay in this area.”

“Yeah, I doubt that portal is a one-use thing. Even if it did use way too much power and cut a hole in reality.” Dee picked up the mug and sipped the tea, filling xeir body with warmth and the taste of green tea. Diana continued to talk:

“Exactly. He has the design down, and all he has to do after is pinpoint the dimension. Uh, you probably don’t know this, but a lot of the spaces around this area are separated into dimensions, and they need links. It’s… hard to explain right now.”

Dee remembered doing experiments into dimensions, but nothing could be determined as xe never found a way to break through the fabric of reality. Something broke through to somewhere, but the exact details were robbed from xeir brain. Anything from right before xeir capture was redacted. Maybe Mark had a valid reason to stop xem and take xem away from the world.

“I…. Have I even told you my name yet?”

“Subject D, or, more precisely, Dee. Just some database stealing is all it took. He has thousands of members yet can’t make a high security program. Doesn’t stop him from keeping secrets as he just writes down other stuff, but sometimes, there are gems in there, like you.”

“So, you’re like a secret agent. In a secret base in the middle of nowhere.”

She laughed. “Precisely. I don’t know how I got here or why this thing is even here, but it’s been a massive help. With you… I could even make my own organization.”

“How about the… Dark Markiplier Members Organization?” Xe stammered out in laughs.

“Oh gods no.” Both of them were laughing, enjoying the feeling of warmth and a companion. Diana spent some time out of the base, but this was the first human she ever encountered inside. The presence made a feeling of comfort. They settled down, taking a moment to enjoy the fire eating away at the pile of logs. The fire was more of a decoration, but it provided an extra layer of warmth no heating system could beat. Dee finished the rest of xeir tea and set the mug down, feeling much more tired.

“I think it’s about time both of us rest. I spent the whole day and yesterday scouting for any sign of someone out here.” Diana stood up, grabbed Dee’s mug, and headed into the kitchen to put it in the sink. Then, she returned and guided xem to stand up. They went down a hallway off to the side of the large living room and kitchen combination and Diana opened a door showing a simple bedroom. No window was present as the base was fully enclosed by the mountainside.

“There’s a bathroom to the left, and my room is across and to the right, the one we just passed. I found this place stocked with extra supplies too, so check out the closet and find something warmer than a t shirt and shorts. Please rest.”

“I don’t think I could do anything else right now. Thank you.” Xe stepped inside the room and closed the door. Xeir first instinct was to jump right in bed, but xe needed to change into something else first.

Xe opened the closet door. Inside was a few outfits, including a long sleeve button-up shirt, a pair of baggy cargo pants, a hoodie, some sweatpants, and a long sleeve shirt. In the corner was a pair of shoes. A set of drawers held socks and underwear. The sweatpants were xeir size, but a bit longer and slightly loose. Xe assumed that socks and underwear were universal, and grabbed a pair of underwear to feel fresh. Nothing like mysteriously clean underwear from a mysterious base. Xe took off the cloak and tossed it in a corner, then grabbed the pair of sweatpants and the hoodie. Xe set off to the bathroom to change, curious at how exactly xe looked. Then, xe got an overwhelming urge to take a hot shower once xe entered the bathroom. Xe actually didn’t think that xe showered a single time since the new body. After taking off xeir clothes, xe observed xemself again in the mirror. Xe looked the same as xe did before, but xeir skin was paler and spots of frostbite were showing. After the water turned hot enough, xe stepped in the shower and enjoyed the warmth. Since human skin was made to be waterproof in the first place, xe didn’t worry about short circuiting or water damage, but felt a slight tingle of anxiety when the first droplets hit xem.

After a few minutes of washing and using the random soap bottle on the ledge, xe felt refreshed and walked out, grabbing a towel from a rack nearby. Xe dried off and put on the new clothes, leaving the old ones in a pile in the bathroom. Dee drifted into a dreamless slumber, melting into the bed.

Diana

CITY OF TENEBRIS, YEAR ????

“The city’s farmers have struggled hard to get what remains of the harvest as winter came earlier than expected… food prices are rising in anticipation of shortages… Weather probes still say more snow is coming…”

Diana turned off the radio as she finished writing about her historical finds relating to the Gods of Time and Death. On her desk stood a pile of books detailing the prophecies, human interpretations of actions, and church history of Tenebris. She put down her pencil and yawned. The light outside was fading as the Sol set in the sky, exchanging places with the double moons Fortuna and Mortum, the two of them doomed to have orbits opposite of each other, so one cannot exist with the other. Mortum overtook the night sky at this time of year, symbolizing a disaster yet to come. Everyone thought it was still yet to come, and others didn’t trust the moon cycles.

Diana knew it had already started. She was writing a collection of all the gods had told them about the end of the clock and Annus, God of Time’s fall, and the rise of Unus, God of Death’s reign over all of humanity, where the exchange for technology will give humans death. With all of the sources combined, she could try to publish a warning for the people in the city. They wouldn’t listen, but she didn’t care. She worked hard to be the one unrestrained by others, uncovering all truths. Maybe one day, someone would unearth her writing from the ruins of the city and know that at least one person foresaw something.

A ticking sound on her desk interrupted her thinking. She didn’t have any clocks that made ticking noises. In a spot that was previously empty stood a small pocket watch, ornate in design. It was sitting open, featuring a spiral design on the clock itself. The ticking was spacing out, elongating over the time Diana was observing it. She grabbed it and studied it closer. It must be a sign from them.

She put on a pair of winter boots and headed outside, towards the church. Dodging the various snow piles from unprepared snow plowers, she walked at a brisk pace, reaching the church in a few minutes. Tenebris’s church was an ancient architectural beauty, featuring ornate details and a statue of the God of Time Annus in front of it.

The air was still, the snow picking up. The ticking noise continued, stretching out to one tick per 10 seconds. The effect was dizzying. When she reached the doors, they blew open with a gust of wind. The eyes of the statue glowed a faint white. In years past, the Gods gave visions and gifts to those they deemed worthy. Diana knew that if the Gods were still listening, they would surprise her one day eventually. Fear of the immortal but curiosity towards the revelations of a godly visit built inside her body as she walked inside the church. The main area of worship was a large, multi-story room with a stage, decorated with various symbols and artworks depicting what ancestors past had learned about the world. Anyone visiting would feel the power of all, knowledge and spirit included. At this hour, she was the only occupant.

Diana approached the main stage cautiously, watching for any other signals. The only light was the dimmed glow of the floor lamps, designed for comfort. Overhead lights remained dark. The large doors closed behind her, silencing the wind. A true sense of spiritual connection formed as noises faded to silence, the ticking intensifying.

Then, he materialized in the humanoid form others had described him in. Wavy, dark brown hair touching his neck, with eyes of pure snow. His skin was pale brown, and he was wearing a completely white suit along with a white top hat.

Annus, God of Time, bringer of order in the form of a clock.

White dust surrounded him, emitting a strong glow in the same color. The dust scattered in the air. Diana’s heart was racing, filled with excitement and nervousness for this moment.

“IT WAS INEVITABLE.” He spoke, filling the entire room and her mind. She could respond, but she deemed it impolite to interrupt a god. She nodded her head as a silent gesture to him.

“YOU ARE DETERMINED TO SEEK TRUTH TO ALL ENDS. SO AM I, AND I FOUND THAT THERE WAS A POWER HIGHER THAN MINE. THIS POWER HAS CREATED AN ACT OF THEATER FOR ME TO FULFILL, A STORY I AM TRAGICALLY LINKED TO. THUS BEGAN THE EXISTENCE OF MYSELF, AND MY COUNTERPART.” He stopped to give her time to comprehend the words. After a few moments, he continued:

“THEY SAID, THAT EVEN MYSELF, A GOD OF TIME, HAS A COUNTDOWN TOWARDS THE END. THEN, THEY REVEALED A LANGUAGE WHO CONNECTED OUR NAMES IN A PHRASE:

ONE YEAR.

ELEVEN MONTHS AND TWENTY DAYS AGO, THIS WAS SET IN STONE.

MY END… IS WITHIN 2 WEEKS.”

Diana’s eyes widened. Gods have an end?

“I CAN SEE YOUR FEAR. IT DOES NOT SPELL THE END FOR YOU… BUT FOR MANY AROUND YOU AND POSSIBLY MYSELF. HOWEVER, I AM DETERMINED TO UPTURN MY OWN HIGHER POWERS. YOU HOLD A PART OF MY SOUL IN THE POCKET WATCH. YOU MUST ESCAPE TENEBRIS AND THE GAZE OF THE ONES ABOVE THE GODS, TO PRESERVE ME.”

The pocket watch felt heavier in her hand. She saw the dust surround it, encircling it in light. The ticking had resumed to a normal pace, but inside, a timer appeared:

009:22:10.

009:22:09.

“KEEP THIS SECRET, AND BE A WITNESS TO MY RESISTANCE.”

009:22:06

He exchanged a stare with Diana, then evaporated in a cloud of white dust.

009:22:03.

Tick.

009:22:02.

Tock.

009:22:01.

She ran outside and back to her home, holding the pocket watch tight.

09:15:00.

Chapter 7 - we're out

The next day, Dee woke up feeling completely satisfied. No longer being under control was a relief. Xe got out of bed and tried on the other outfit in the closet. The button up shirt and pants fit the same. Maybe xe were given optimal height and weight for the most average pair of clothes. Xe put the purple cloak back on, then left xeir room.

Diana was in the kitchen, moving with a sense of urgency. She was packing containers into backpacks.

“Are we moving out already?” Dee asked her.

“Not quite yet, but we have to move quickly. I hope you slept well, because there’s a whole lot we still have to do. I’ve been waiting to do this forever. Sorry.”

“Well, what else would I do? Sit here and wait for Mark to find me again? Nah.”

“Exactly. You get me.” She finished packing food and water and set the two backpacks on the couch.

“As soon as you’re ready, we can head out.”

“Uh, where exactly are we going?”

“Oh yeah. So, you know the group of dimensions we are in that I mentioned? There’s a few ‘bridges’ of sort in between. I spent some time exploring for anything suspicious and found a pathway through to another dimension. They have a town there.”

“So it’s both ways?”

“Yeah, but they’re scattered around, so it’s hard to find a direct route somebody took. Imagine searching for a little rift over thousands of square mies.”

“…True. I should probably be asking you why the hell there are rifts everywhere to other dimensions because that makes no sense, but nothing has made sense in this new world.”

“Well, I could ask you how you were made and try to scan you with a machine, but that’s kinda invasive and weird. Some things are best left… unexplained.”

“THAT’S the comparison you make?” Xe laughed, then continued: “Sharing knowledge to cutting me open?”

“It’s just a suggestion!” She snickered back, releasing the tension in her body since this morning. There was still time to have fun, as long as she didn’t stray too far from the impending threat of Mark. All of her life at the base was focused on not being detected. Now that she knew he saw her, it was only a matter of time before he came and detained her. Taking Dee with her was an escape plan that gave her an edge in winning this struggle for power. For now, the plan was working, but this was only the start.

“Dee, make sure you pack some extra clothes too. Not the ones you came with though. And get something to eat.”

Xe looked through the cabinets and fridge for whatever foodstuffs were there, and settled on a bowl of cereal. Xe ate quickly, then went back to xeir room and grabbed what xe wore to bed, along with the rest of the socks and underwear. Xe left the old clothes sitting in a pile in the corner, including xeir identification card and phone. It was time to lead a new life. Xe still had no idea why random clothes and food was here. This place was in the middle of nowhere in, what xe thought, was a winter forest wilderness. Maybe Diana did grocery hauls every once in a while in the dimension with the town, and she also could’ve stocked enough for at least two days for xem. Either that, or this dimension had a random, slightly stocked secret base in it already. Xe buttoned up xeir cloak and put on xeir backpack. Diana did the same, zipping up a winter jacket and pulling the hood up. She had snow boots and a pair of jeans on, with her black hair and reddish-pink highlights put down and swept away from her face. She adjusted a cybernetic monocle on her right eye.

“I don’t think we’ll be back here for a while. I wish I could bring more, but… I think we’ll come back if we succeed.”

“Succeed at… stopping Mark? Like destroying his way of getting here?”

“Yeah… and, whatever else we do. I haven’t explored any dimensional paths past the town I mentioned, so once we leave it behind, we’re in unknown worlds. A little adventure, with a guy trying to chase us down the entire time.”

“Sounds way more fun than sitting in a lab deep underground doing who knows what multiversal crime.” Xe smiled.

“Well, no more time to stall. You sure you don’t need another jacket or something?”

“I’ll be fine. I checked this morning and I think my skin healed itself or something.”

“Hypothermia is no match for you, apparently.”

“I don’t even know if I’m killable, to be honest.”

“Let’s not test that.” Diana opened a fuse box near the entrance and turned off the electricity. She manually opened the door leading to the security chamber. Dee followed her through as she pushed the door to the outdoors open.

The snow had intensified greatly since last night, to almost blizzard-like conditions. Diana pulled a scarf over her nose and mouth, looking through her monocle at some sort of path. She grabbed xeir hand and guided xem slowly through the blowing winds and snow.

After what felt like an hour, a sense of dread built in xeir mind. The sensor. Mark was back on xeir internal radar, distant but close, in the same blizzard. A red blinking light on Diana’s monocle suggested she had a similar device. Their pace increased. The wind was too strong for any communication. However, the signal was weakening, reassuring xem that Mark had no idea where they were. Minutes later, Diana stopped and pulled out another device. After pressing a series of buttons and scanning something, it emitted a beam of light that slowly opened a passageway, a laser etching a circle through reality. She pulled xem through it.

The sound of the blizzard faded into nothingness, as streaks of lights filled xeir vision. A force pulled xem forwards through space at an incredibly fast speed, stretching the form of Diana in front of xem, until they slowed, and everything pushed back together into a new reality. The surrounding landscape faded into existence: Another forest, this time temperate and full of greenery. Rolling hills descended into the distance. A road cut through the forest, with trees trimmed at each side. The wind gently shook the snow off of their bodies, introducing a pleasant, calmer temperature. Birds chirped, flying through the clear blue sky.

“And that’s why they call me Shattered Reality. Are you doing ok?”

The entire experience was different from anything xe had ever experienced. Even as an astrophysicist working in entire unknowns, where reality was already being bent and manipulated, xe had never felt the true forces of physics in such extremes. Light-speed travel was one extreme, but this felt faster than light, and deeper than anything possible. Xe were so deep in thought about the beams of light, the force of moving at a speed so fast it warped xeir surroundings, that xe completely missed what Diana said.

“Deeeee? Did I stun you?” She poked xem, then xe responded:

“Um, yeah. I never got to just… do that before. This is crazy.”

“We look like two idiots standing by the side of the road wanting a ride. Let’s go.”

“True.”

Diana started walking in a direction. Dee followed her as she slowly took off her outer layers and stuffed them into her backpack. Xe didn’t know how to fit a large puffy winter jacket in a backpack, but maybe it was magic. They took a shortcut through the forest, crossing multiple paths, until they arrived at the outskirts of a town.

The sign named the town as Eronos. Rolling hills surrounded it, breaking the town into differently elevated areas. A small downtown area lined with diagonal parking spots and sidewalks curved up and down, surrounded by various businesses and homes. By the time they reached the center of town, it was midday. They stopped at a small park, sitting down on one of the benches. It was a small, beautiful town, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Diana took her monocle off and stuffed it into a side pocket on her backpack.

“So… what do we do now?” Dee asked.

“Honestly, I’m not sure. We could keep looking for portals, or make a new home base… Since everything is safe right now, it’s kinda hard to know.”

“Have you been here before?”

“A few times. It feels… like a home, even though it’s not mine.”

Both of them sat silently, until Dee thought of something else to talk about.

“Where exactly did you come from? Like, other than the base?”

“I… That might take a moment for me to think about. Kinda deep.”

“Yeah, I know. Take your time.”

“Well… I lived in another dimension, like all the ones we’ve seen. We had two gods, that represented Time and Death, and they connected a lot with history and science for being religious figures. I spent a lot of time at the library, absorbing absolutely everything I could about what we knew and what they knew. Then I started making connections, and… Our world kinda ended.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. But really, we’re in the same situation. Both stranded in worlds far from our own…”

“That is true. Hm, we have a lot in common. Thanks, biggest enemy, for giving me a friend.”

“When your enemy messes up, you gain a better advantage than any of your own actions.”

“You’re too smart.” They both laughed, then went silent, as random giggles escaped each of them until it finally subsided.

They instantly connected. Both were misplaced by the universe, longing for the right connection to feel whole again. Both lost everything close to them, and were left wandering at the mercy of fate. Two lost souls in the chaos of the universe, in an unfamiliar town in a completely different dimension and plane of existence of their origins. Dee remembered that xe were somewhat socially awkward in xeir past. As a result, xe never found connections easily, with Mark being the only person xe had sometimes. The rest never felt genuine. Xe didn’t even realize how much he had an impact on xem until xe lost him to another Mark that didn’t care.

Xe had to get Mark back, and this journey may open new passageways to Marks just as caring as xeir own. It wouldn’t be the same, but an individual who truly understood xem could be enough. For now, Diana was a good substitute, however she wouldn’t be temporary. Xe couldn’t replace someone who already connected with xem.

Diana, on the other hand, could never possibly find a connection back home. She knew that most of its existence had been wiped, the bridges severed. Every street, every person, was lost in frozen time, Death rampant among them. It was never their fault in the first place: a pre-determined destiny from a power higher than even two gods doomed them to this end. She even had a theory that the powers of Mark were adjacent or somewhat related to this higher, destructive power, sealing in her lead role in his destruction. He was baiting her with the best person she could find, but he let his guard down, and now the bait is a reward, one kept cautiously under watch. It all reminded her of watching dramatic plays in the theater, pointing out foreshadowings and common tropes of performances. Life here was a stage, with one crazy director controlling it all. She had to pull the curtains down and establish order, but leave room for a second act: one where all can perform.

Science and history are two sides of the same coin. Both can benefit from the other, and both know each other’s secrets. They can only exist with each other. Dependent and connected, a web of everything humanity has been curious about.

As both Dee and Diana were thinking in their small break, a person approached them. Their skin was dark, with pale spots randomly placed over their body, locks of curly hair split black and white and scattered all over. They wore a sweater with black and white designs, black jeans, and a pair of hi-top sneakers. They were a local of the town, as Dee and Diana thought.

“Did you find a friend?”

Diana responded: “Have I been here that much to be noticed?”

They laughed. “Nah. We just happen to be at the same place sometimes, but I never talked to you.”

“Interesting… I guess I never noticed you, then. What’s your name?”

“Mori. I live in town with my mom. Not a lot to do, so I go out and walk around most of the time.”

“I’m Diana, and this is Dee. We’re… exploring? Running from our enemies? I don’t know, but we’re here.”

“Ah. Trouble, then. If you need a secret hideout, I’m sure my mom wouldn’t mind.”

Mori and Diana laughed. “Thank you. I might need that actually, because we’re… visitors from afar, in a sense. I’m broke.”

Mori laughed again. “Oh, don’t worry. You two seem interesting, so I’ll just have to get payment in words.”

“Fair enough. Would your mom mind if we came in all of a sudden?”

“Not really. She wants me to find friends anyway, since I’m almost out of school and I need some way forward. She doesn’t care who I find, as long as they don’t hurt me. Do you wanna meet her?”

“Sure. Is that ok, just a bunch of strangers from afar?”

“Oh, she doesn’t mind. She gets lonely too, so I think she wants me to bring people sometimes. We have an extra bedroom that nobody uses because we don’t have a lot of family or visitors. Like I said, it’s also kinda boring over here, so nobody wants to come anyway.”

“Alright. Dee, let’s move.”

“Yeah, you do all the talking, Diana.”

She laughed, and Dee snickered back. She was a bit embarrassed, having rambled off and forgotten about xem. Xe stood up and grabbed xeir stuff while Diana did the same.

“It’s not too far of a walk,” Mori said. They waited for everyone to get ready to leave, then started to lead the way to their home.

It was indeed not far: only a few blocks down the road in a nearby neighborhood.

“Stay out here for a moment. I wanna make sure.” They went inside for a few minutes, then opened the door again and motioned for them to come inside.

“She’s really happy that I made some friends, and she wants to know everything. I think you owe both of us stories.” As they walked through the door, Mori’s mom stood up and greeted them in the living room. The living room carried the scent of herbs and featured vintage pieces of furniture, collected over a long period of time. Mori’s mom had medium dark skin and long, black hair braided into locks draped across her back. She was middle-aged and had an eye patch on her left eye, with a drawing of a blue eye on a black background. Half of it was covered by hair. Her other eye was a deep amber color. She wore a deep blue hoodie and black sweatpants with blue slippers. She smiled at them.

“Welcome. I have a lot of questions, but I won’t nag ya. I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Thank you. I’m Diana, and this is Dee. We’re… I guess you would say new? Running away from enemies? I don’t know, but we’re here.” Both of them laughed, and Mori’s mom responded,

“Aren’t we all? Well, I’ll make sure you stay safe. Take a seat.” The group moved into the living room. Dee and Diana sat on the old leather couch while Mori took a chair across from it. Mori’s mom sat down in another chair next to them.

“Is it introduction time?” Dee asked.

“Probably,” Diana answered.

“Where else do you start anyway?” Mori added. They chuckled.

“I guess I can start it,” Dee started, then continued after no objections:

“As you know, my name is Dee. I… got caught up in this guy’s weird science experiments, and now I’m like a robot but human. It’s weird, but kinda cool. He wanted me because I was smart or something, and he literally pulled me from another world. When he did the robot thing, another part of it was that I had to slowly remember everything, and I know he took a lot of my memories as well. Right now, he’s searching for me and for Diana. And I believe he has his own world thing that he lives in, and his place is massive. He’s gotta be rich rich. About seven underground floors! It sounds crazy, but it’s real….” Xe continued talking in detail about the various experiences and how xe pieced together the truth. At the end, xeir throat hurt from all the talking.

“Wow. You’ve been busy.” Mori added.

“A little bit.” Xe smiled.

“For me… well, it was also kinda crazy.” Diana went on to explain about everything she told Dee earlier on the bench. Mori and their mom listened, reacting when something insane happened or nodding their heads at details. At one point, Mori’s mom walked away to the nearby kitchen and started making tea. She brought around cups for everyone and sat back down. They talked into the evening, with Mori telling some stories about Eronos. Eventually, it was too late to continue.

“Wow. We really spent like five hours talking.” Mori said, then laughed.

“It’s about dinner time now.” With that comment, Mori’s mom left the living room to prepare, commenting: “ I wasn’t expecting to talk this long. Definitely staying up later tonight.”

“Even later after hearing that story,” Mori added, smiling. As the kitchen was connected to the living room, they could still talk as Mori’s mom prepared a simple dinner from frozen vegetables, cut up and cooked chicken, with rice underneath it and a savory, tangy sauce to cover it all. An easy dinner for a late night, but still a delicacy much needed. When everything was done, after Mori forced themselves into the kitchen to help their mom, they all sat down at a dining table and ate, mostly in silence. After eating, Dee felt bad for using dishes, so xe cleaned xeir own plate and fork and set it out to dry. Mori put the rest of the dishes into the dishwasher. A post-dinner silence settled, but it was suddenly broken by Mori:

“…You know, I have been looking for something to do my whole life. I… Well, I feel like I don’t get anywhere here… and… your cause sounds really cool.”

Their mom had a look of concern on her face, but then settled into a relaxed expression, replying:

“You can do whatever you want, as long as you come back at some point for me.”

“Stop making this easy, Mom.” They laughed nervously. “Really, it’s hard for me to think about just leaving everything, but… I never got to adventure, and I honestly don’t see myself working here or anywhere close. The idea of different worlds and all that… it’s interesting enough that I might join your cause.”

“No wonder Mark got hundreds of people. It’s really easy to convince people that your group is cool.” Dee responded, lighthearted.

“Well, he cheated, as in he just kidnapped them. This is not a kidnapping… Right?” Diana asked.

“Uh, no! Voluntary adventure buddy.” Mori retaliated.

“Good.”

“Wait, does that make me kidnapped, because you showed up in my dreams and guided me to you?” Dee piped up.

“No! You can leave literally anytime you want!”

“And go back to that guy? Nah.”

“So then you’re voluntary too.”

Mori interrupted their bickering: “So, Mom, are you really..?”

“Yeah. I knew one day that you would go out there and live your own life. I can’t stop you from exploring, like how I never stopped myself from doing the same… And I think you would have more fun, rather than doing random schoolwork and stuff and a random job.”

“You’re too easy. Most parents are horrified of their kids leaving and want to be around them all the time.”

“I feel that way, but I won’t let it stop you. After all, I was the one who defied my own parents sneaking out almost every night, and it was more fun than staying home.” She smiled. Mori still had mixed feelings, expressed by the concerned, disoriented look on their face. After a minute, a tear came down their cheek, of bittersweet emotion. They hugged their mom.

“Thank you.”

As Mori left the embrace of their mother, a sudden ping disrupted Dee’s mind. Xe grimaced in pain.

“Ow… A signal hurt? I hate being robotic.”

“A signal?” Diana questioned.

Then, a beeping noise started from Diana’s backpack.

“Oh. We might have to cut thi-”

Before Diana could finish her sentence, she was cut off by a loud crash outside.

smh Mark we were having a moment!!

A shot of adrenaline pierced every nerve in Dee’s system, a reaction from the sensing of Mark only meters away.

“I knew he wasn’t far away. Mori… Just stay safe and follow us only if you want.” Diana said, shaking with fear. Despite the fear, she was calm and collected in her movements, grabbing her monocle and an “emergency weapon” called a cool laser gun.

“We should probably leave.” Dee exclaimed.

Mori’s mom started to leave, saying, “Duh. Don’t waste any time. Good luck. All of that. And I’ll be ok, I promise.” She looked at Mori. “You stay alive, so that you can tell me how you kicked his ass.”

“Deal.” Mori ran off to a side room. A few moments later, they emerged holding a large box labeled “FOR EMERGENCIES.”

“Let’s get the hell out of here.”

The three of them ran out the back door. Immediately, his presence was obvious. A fire blazed a block away from an impact, and when Dee looked up, xe saw another meteor falling.

“Watch the sky!” Xe yelled as it impacted a few hundred meters away from them.

“Damn, he has a meteor button?!” Mori exclaimed in shock. They ran about a block down from Mori’s house, then they stopped. Mori opened the box they brought with them, revealing a pistol, ammunition, a knife, a black jacket, and a belt with a holster.

“Bad ass kit.” Quickly, they slid on the belt and jacket and loaded the gun, then stuffed the extra ammunition in a pocket. A plume of fire erupted in the distance. The sky had a slight red tint to it, despite the sun already setting an hour ago.

Then, Dee asked the important question:

“Where exactly do we go?”

Diana had no answer. Neither did Mori. But something in Dee’s mind told xem to follow a certain direction, as if xe sensed the forces surrounding one of those dimensional gates.

“You know what? Follow me.” Dee led them in that direction.

“We need a car. Shit.” Diana cursed. “How do we outsmart a guy who hijacks dimensions?” Another meteor crashed behind them. Dee’s mind flared with the senses of everything Mark around them, a pursuing force, prey hunted by a predator. He was intimidating them with his powers, soon to show himself or a proxy of himself.

As Dee was thinking this, a blood-boiling scream of hunting pierced the air. Something was pursuing them. Mori held their gun and Diana her blaster. More screams, quieter than the main one, followed the call.

The creatures showed themselves. They were humans in a state of manic pursuit, reflected by their red eyes. Their forms were uncertain, floating in between complete and incomplete shadows. Somehow, he had harnessed spirits themselves to hunt the group down. As soon as they could be seen, shots were fired. Mori jumped at the recoil, then adjusted their holding position. They increased their pace, Dee leading.

Thankfully, bullets and electrical blasts worked on the figures. As they ran through the now chaotic downtown, they sought cover in an alleyway to form a more detailed plan.

“Ok. We REALLY need a car.” Diana said in between catching her breath.

“How the hell do we get a car?” Mori asked.

As if answering their prayer, a car pulled up and stopped. Multiple spirits had clung onto it. The owner abandoned the car and started running, but they were consumed by the void, stabbed multiple times, and left to bleed out, not satisfying the hunt of the spirits. They lay motionless in the road, the car next to them. Diana grimaced.

“Really?”

“Just take it!” Mori exclaimed, then started shooting at the spirits who were now pursuing them down the alley. For an unknown teenager, they had a steady shot and a quick reload hand. Diana, on the other hand, relied on energy bursts that could destroy an entire spirit in one blast. Dee had no idea how it worked, and xe felt powerless, having no weapons. Mori realized that xe were defenseless and handed over their knife. Xe fell back to let the two take on the main battle against about four or five of the hungry spirits. Within a minute or two, all of them were dissipated. Carefully, they advanced back to where the car was.

Sirens blared around them, a combination of ambulances, tornado sirens, and police sirens. Nobody knew what the hell was going on so they just sounded every alarm they had and screamed. The horizon was tinted red, half the town on fire. Diana took the driver’s seat and found the keys in the car. Dee took shotgun and Mori rode in the back. Diana didn’t waste a second once the car was turned on. She turned the gear to drive and accelerated, performing evasive and nauseous maneuvers around the chaotic surroundings. She was either completely insane or a pro driver, or extremely lucky.

“Which way, leader?” She asked. Dee’s senses told xem to continue in this direction.

“Same direction. Go as straight forward as you can.” Xe finally bucked in xeir seat belt as the car bumped up and down, weaving through debris and passing by fires.

After xe responded, something completely unexpected happened. An aura surrounded their car and Diana as she hyper focused on the road. Everything glowed a faint white, and xe felt like xe were floating. When xe focused, xe realized that they were literally floating. Somehow, the car had turned into an airplane, with Diana pushing the accelerator down to the floor. Dee glanced behind xem and saw something even stranger.

Mori’s eyes were completely white and glowing, their hand raised halfway up.

Who the hell was this kid?

The car-plane continued to soar through the sky as meteors threatened to strike them down. Eventually, Eronos faded away, leading to something unknown. Dee slowly fell asleep, drifting with the flow of the dimensional bridge.

Chapter 8 - He is All?

Dee faded into a new consciousness.

He pulls strings unseen. He develops characters in ways unnoticed. He has the ultimate say in fate. He is everything, the coordinator of all, one that none can beat, the true god of creation and control.

You will fall without him. Resisting him is resisting fate and the order of the universe.

Knowing this, dear performer, are you ready to return to my script?

Everything became weightless, until existence itself felt like nothing. There was only one way, one leader.

However, another voice cut through his, an act of resistance.

There is no Director. He is filled with lies, sitting at the mouth of a snake. Behind each of his statements is a trap, his sweet words the lure.

Doubt. Lies. Decievement. Thinking critically. There is no possible way one individual could control fate, as fate is random and irrational. We cannot control the uncontrollable, a known fact in science.

But his control over the dimension is unparalleled.

He is more than human, more than immortal.

More than you.

The details of the stars came into focus. Xe saw the shifting of molecules, the manipulation on the atomic scale, the very fundamentals of space-time shifting. Xe zoomed in and out, observing reactions from the size of molecules to ones spanning multiple galaxies. Large processes unknown to human knowledge unraveled, every way to understand each law of the universe, where these laws applied, the answer to all curiosity.

A wealth of knowledge incomprehensible to the human brain, but consumable by xeir modified state of existence.

Equations solving every problem in the universe flashed on a screen, uploaded directly to xeir mind.

All was solvable, all was able to be broken down, all could be explained.

Nothing became everything.

We could understand it, through xem. A wealth of science, ascending humanity to levels above the universe.

Once you understood everything in the universe, only then could you think above it, transcending the idea of a universe.

Every reaction became visible. Wavelengths, dark matter, anything unknown before, a web of everything and anything. Eyes could see all. Ears could hear all. Every dimension was exposed.

We ascended past sense, to being one with the molecules themselves, an ascension past anything comprehensible.

The one key connecting everything… was him.

Only through him, could humanity break their chains of mortality and start ascending, making achievement after achievement, becoming the rulers of space-time.

We were always destined to fulfill this purpose, as he created this fate for us.

It starts with him, and xem. Xe were the first step in creating something bigger than humanity was, bypassing the tedious process of evolution. If technology could be advanced, humanity could as well.

Infinity found an end with him. We understood the fundamentals of the universe with him.

But his reign will not last long.

His image was consumed by a black hole of his own creation. It unraveled every equation, everything Dee comprehended, sucking it up and locking it behind unseen forces, for there was one mystery left in the universe that none could solve.

He created this black hole, knowing that one day it would defeat him. He designed the universe to favor nobody, to eventually fade into nothingness, making it insignificant to have ever existed. In the end, there was no meaning, and in the end, everything became nothing.

The one pulling the strings is always unaware of the forces secretly controlling their own actions, for there is never truly freedom from control, much as there is never an existence without falsehoods.

The curtain falls, then rises again as the universe is created again, continuing the cycle of entertainment for an unseen crowd. A new Director is selected, the old becoming nothing.

Every occurrence happens on a circle.

Chapter Text

ENDLESS

Dee was shaken awake. As all of xeir senses returned to xeir body and xe readjusted to existing, xe felt a hot, powerful sun beating down on xem. As xe shifted to sit up, xe noticed sand around xem. Xe were in a desert, but surrounded by Diana and Mori sitting next to xem. Both had taken their outer layers off, sweating in the heat. An unfamiliar figure stood with them, a dark-skinned individual with a scarf wrapped around their hair, draping over their neck. They carried various supplies and wore weathered, sun-bleached clothing.

“What even… happened?” Xe asked.

Diana answered xem. “Well, I’m not even sure, but the car started floating? And then we entered one of those dimensional bridges? Honestly, I’m not even sure. We just got here, and this person came up to us and saw you passed out.”

“More like you all came to me,” the person responded.

“Yeah, true, but… y’know. Now that Dee is ok, should we move?”

“Yes. It’s not good to stand out here midday. This area is safe, and I have a little place away from the sun. Let’s go.”

The group stood up and shook sand off of themselves, then followed the mysterious desert person until they revealed a trap door embedded into the ground. They opened it to a small staircase, much like a bunker. As they descended, lights automatically turned on to illuminate the pathway down. After a decent number of stairs, another door appeared, with a passkey. They put the correct code in and opened the door, holding it so that the three of them could pass by.

The room was small but cozy. Handcrafted rugs covered the floor and yellow lamps softly illuminated the area. Old wooden furniture with perfectly worn cushions defined the living room, featuring a small sofa and cushions on the ground.An old small box television and radio sat on a narrow table, both turned off. Tapestries decorated the wall in some places, while others remained barren, showing the gray walls of the bunker. The kitchen was behind it, featuring the essentials: a basic fridge, storage, and an oven. A table and chairs with some clutter on top stood in a corner. On the other side, a desk and bed were stuffed in a corner, along with a door leading to a bathroom. It made no sense to live here, but somehow, this person was living here. The group sat in the living room area.

“The area around this bunker never changes. It’s a safe place in the chaos. And it’s designed to be its own place, as long as I can find water and power.

“I was gonna ask, how do you find anything around here to use all this?” Diana questioned them with curiosity.

“You’ll see, soon enough. Sometimes, I can live for months just existing, others I have to burn through reserves… everything changes here, even the flow of time.”

“Interesting… Oh, also we should actually introduce ourselves. I’m too interested in this place.” She gave a small smile, and the person laughed.

“I don’t get to speak a lot with people. Usually they go off and get lost, and then I never see them again. My name is Leia. I don’t know much about myself, but I know a lot about being here, so if you listen to me, you won’t get lost.”

“Hello, Leia. My name is Diana,” she started, then gestured:“, and these two are Dee and Mori. Do you all want to say anything?”

“Umm…. I’m Dee. Totally not being chased by a weird guy.” Xe laughed, then continued,”But I’m happy to be here, because he might get lost.”

“Exactly!” Leia responded. “You came to the right place to shake off enemies.”

“Good.”

Mori jumped in: “Well, I guess it’s my turn… I’m Mori, and this is technically my first adventure, so I’m a bit lost.”

“Not with me,” Diana answered.

“You all got me into this, so you better get me out of it.” Mori, Dee, and Diana started laughing. After a few moments, they recollected.

“Ok, introductions are over. Now… what do we do next here?” Diana inquired.

“I would rest for a moment. Outside is chaotic.” Leia answered.

“So, why exactly is it so chaotic? It just looks like a desert to me,” Dee perked up.

“It’s… Well, the desert isn’t always like that. It’s hard to explain, but… the land changes. Ruins, an oasis, remains of a dried-up planet, a burnt forest… All of it is a shifting collection of ruin. Some places are livable, but their occupants left long ago, and others are simply unbearable. The only place that stays the same is here, where I live.”

“So that’s why people get lost.”

“Precisely."

In the corner of xeir eye, Dee saw Diana writing in a notebook. Xe turned to her and said:

"What are you doing?"

She responded: "Recording where we visit while we have some downtime. You have to document your findings, not just walk through it all."

Mori butted in: “Are you a librarian? You look like one.”

Diana slightly snickered. “Uh, I like books? Maybe I would’ve been one, but also a writer.”

“I’m glad we’re all friends here already,” Dee said after their exchange.

“We almost got fucking destroyed by some weirdo in the last place, so…”

“Yeah Diana, you’re right. How did we even get here?”

“Probably through one of those portals. But the car started… flying? Maybe I was hallucinating, or we just entered the portal so quickly I didn’t realize…”

“Yeah! And…” Dee hesitated. Xe saw Mori’s eyes glowing, but xe had a growing suspicion that this was a secret power they didn’t want to expose. After all, they had just met, so xe decided to keep it silent unless Mori wanted to say they did something to help them escape.

“…Not much else happened. I mean, something did, but I have no idea what. It was so weird I forgot it.”

Mori chimed in with a simple “Me too,” confirming some of Dee's suspicions.

“Interesting…” Diana responded, staring at Mori. Dee could see the fear on their face, but Diana wasn't suspicious at all to xem, so xe nodded slightly towards them. Mori relaxed after staring back, smiling at her as she smiled back and continued:

“This is exactly the type of adventure I imagined.” She scribbled in her notebook, then closed it and stood up. “Well… Leia, do you have anything to say?”

Leia blushed. “Uh… You all are REALLY interesting.” She smiled.

“I bet you have some stories for us too.”

“Hold on though. I don't even know why that guy hates you. We need to back up a bit…”

“Oh yeah! It's kinda long, but… He's an interesting character…” Diana continued to tell the story of Mark's reality bending fantasies, with Dee barging in to tell xeir own story of being yoinked from another dimension and recruited into his antics. Together, they weaved an explanation and expedition, entertaining with details small and large. There was no way to track time, but Dee knew that they had been talking for ages when they caught up to their present situation.

“Wow. So some mad scientist slash dramatic actor slash egotistical maniac wants to control the universe and decided to start with Dee, and you felt like this was your destiny to stop?” Leia pondered.

“Yup,” Diana answered, “I feel compelled to protect this universe from more chaos, and this guy has been on my radar for quite some time, so… I took action.”

“I commend your efforts. Honestly, I could never do such a thing, but you have been through a lot… The universe must mean a lot to you.”

“It is something worth saving from the manipulative. After all, you and I and all of us live in it.”

“True…”

Rumbling disrupted their conversation. A small earthquake combined with an ominous cracking noise followed, then stopped after a few moments.

Leia then explained, “That means the environment is changing. This place stays, but everything around it just… turns into something else.”

“Does it do that often?” Diana asked.

“Not too often, but enough times that I got used to it.”

“I’m not ready to explore yet, I need to sleep…” Dee muttered.

“Chill, I’m not forcing you all to go out there,” Leia said. “It’s been a long day for me too.” She stood up, stretched, then motioned for everyone else to do the same. As they did, she continued: “I think I have enough places for all of us to rest.” She opened a dresser and produced hand-woven blankets.

“How did you get all of this stuff?” Dee questioned.

“From outside. Some crazy things get left behind, and I’m kinda a hoarder at this point.”

“Oh. Lucky, I suppose.”

“It’s only the remains of mysterious civilizations. I promise I washed them too.” She giggled as she chose spots to drape them over, trying to assemble comfortable sleeping spots from cushions, the couch, and other soft objects.

“Please rest. I think your voyage is just beginning, as I have to deliver you back onto your journey soon enough. Once you all feel rested, we can go over some details then.” She yawned. “I’m getting tired too.” Diana, Dee, and Mori found sleeping spots in the now cozy shelter as Leia dimmed the lights and climbed into her own bed. Exhausted from travel, they drifted away.

Chapter 2

BRIEF BACKSTORY

IAMD Home Base, An unknown time ago

After walking for what felt like ages, she stumbled across a metal door on the side of a mountain. This was what they wanted to guide her to. After the blizzards and freezing of Tenebris, the pocket watch was her only guide. It turned into a compass, pointing in the direction of something. When she looked back at the pocket watch, the display turned into a 4-letter pass code:

1337

She brushed away snow stuck around the door to look for a keypad. Once she found it, she input the code. The door unlocked, and she pulled it open.

As she stepped in, the door slammed shut behind her. The relief from the cold wind and snow constantly brushing against her was immense. A light flickered, then buzzed on, revealing another door in front of her. A two-stage lock for maximum security. She looked at her pocket watch for help. A compartment on the side popped open and dropped a key to the ground. She picked it up and inserted the key into the lock. It fit perfectly, twisting the lock open, unlocking the door. After she opened the second door, the secret base revealed itself. Despite the base being unoccupied for an indefinite amount of time, it was spotless. No spiders could make it past the locks, or none could live in the cold environment outside. She observed her new surroundings as the lights and heating system kicked on. A simple room opened into two hallways, the room itself being an open living room and kitchen combination.

A simple place, just for her? She continued exploring, finding that one hallway held a room with various technologies she did not understand yet. The other had two bedrooms and two bathrooms attached to it. Everything seemed clean, as if prepared for her stay. She inspected the kitchen for food supplies and found a full pantry, fridge, and cooking utensils. The food was fresh, although mainly designed to last a long time: canned vegetables, instant mixes, even frozen meats. The sink ran with water.

At this point, all she could think of was rest. She chose a bedroom, stripped her outer layers, and looked in the closet. Of course, it had clothes for her. This place was chosen by them to keep her safe. She took off the rest of her clothes and changed into something more comfortable, then crashed onto the bed.

The gods provided for her, for a journey she has yet to discover.

Chapter 3

Slowly, the group of adventurers woke up. Despite being underground, the room felt as warm as the sunrise: a slow, natural awakening, one to fuel a day full of action. Leia turned on desk lamps, then proceeded to larger and larger lights until everyone was fully awake.

“It’s go time!!” She shouted, in case someone was still half asleep.

“Damn, that was the best sleep I’ve had in a while,” Dee said, yawning.

“Second that,” Diana added.

“Where’s Mori?” Dee questioned after looking around.

“I think I heard them go outside earlier… Don’t know why, but they’re still close by,” Leia answered.

“They’re a wanderer at heart,” Dee said.

“We all are!” Diana interjected.

“Ok guys, enough. We need to save our energy for the trip. I’ll go grab Mori and be right back.” Leia walked over to the front door. Her footsteps echoed on the metal staircase as the door slammed behind her.

“So… What an interesting group we have here,” Diana continued.

“I’m glad we’re not alone on the whole we-hate-this-guy thing. I would be stuck without you and the others.”

“Well, most people don’t want to universe to erupt in chaos, and after what happened to Mori’s place… I would be just as convinced to go against everything he does.”

“Guys, come look at what spawned outside last night!” Leia yelled from the top of the bunker stairs, muffled from the door.

“Oh damn, is it cool?” Dee responded while walking over. Xe stepped up the stairs to join Mori and Leia outside.

“Oh wow.” A large, deserted cityscape stretched across and beyond the horizon. Crumbling skyscrapers with broken windows. A concrete desert of cracked roads and broken dreams of humanity, begging to be explored by the survivors of whatever happened. There was no vegetation, nor electricity. Dust clouds rolled in, surrounding buildings. Sunlight glinted off the structures.

“Maybe I’ll find more relics here,” Leia said while the others scrambled up to get a view.

“Relics?” Mori questioned.

“Oh yeah. Sometimes I find actual places people lived, and they left behind their furniture or rugs or something else valuable. Once I clean them up, they make good decorations.”

“How do you have electricity and running water?” Dee asked.

“Technology.”

“…That’s all? Like, do you extract moisture from the air? Solar?”

“Yeah, like that.”

“Hm…. Sure, I guess you can have it.”

Diana joined the conversation: “She lives in the middle of a desert apocolapse that shifts appearance and you’re worried about how she gets power and water?”

“I was just curious…” Dee responded.

“So, back on track, are we ready to go?” Leia interjected.

“Yeah. Let’s go get our stuff!”

“Chill, Diana, we JUST ran away from someone trying to kill us,” Dee said.

“Whatever.” Dee, Diana, Mori, and Leia went back downstairs to grab backpacks and supplies. They helped each other load up, double checked important items for camping out, then Leia locked up the bunker, slammed the door, pat it, then said, “I’ll be back, home.”

Leia took the lead and rambled: "Unlike normal navigation, there is no compass or map. Just.. intuition. I feel connected to this land, despite its constant shifting. I tell myself what I am looking for… and it guides me correctly. When I stop for a moment to look around, I am mainly feeling the path out instead of looking around for a path.” The four of them trudged in the sand until they reached the first road. As they walked, dust devils spun up and died down in a rhythmic sequence, sand blowing in their faces from occasional bursts of speedy air. Other than the wind, the air was still, devoid of life once present. Pieces of plastic or metal occasionally whipped through the air, scratching against the road and the remains of concrete walls. Leia sometimes stopped the group to look inside a building, either turning up empty handed or brushing the dust off of an artifact of past life.

“So, have you ever found, like, pieces of technology?” Dee asked.

“Sometimes. But I don’t have much use for them since it’s hard to find intact things,” Leia responded.

“Ah, makes sense.”

“Guys…” Diana interrupted nervously, “Doesn’t that building in front of us look like it’s about to, I dunno, collapse on top of the road we’re about to go on?” In front of them, a building, leaning at a concerning angle towards the street, stood.

“Oh yeah. Not every piece of architecture can withstand time. It’s pretty close, so we shouldn’t go under it.” As she spoke, the building let out its final breaths — a chorus of creaking and breaking — as it, inch by inch, descended. Then, in one final act, the walls splintered and crashed down onto the road in front of them, kicking up dust and other harmful particles in the air. The cloud approached them, consuming all in its path.

“Great,” Mori squeezed in before the dust made it impossible to speak, then subsided, revealing the remains of the dead building.

“I always find it fascinating when I catch a building falling. All this time sat here, and I get to witness one moment in time where the threshold hits,” Leia added, “… Now, let’s continue. Be careful climbing over the sharp edges.” They slowly made their way through the rubble: a broken assortment of concrete, limestone, and whatever other rocks still stood the test of time. The haze from the lingering dust made it hard to see their surroundings.

Finally, they emerged onto non-rubble-filled grounds. At this point, they could see the edge of the city. The area they currently occupied was a densely-packed downtown corridor at some point, once bustling with life: cars, noise, advertisements, businesses lining the streets, a million lives all at once. Today, it sat silent, the dreams of the past buried in its rubble, unfulfilled by most. Entryways sunk into the sands accumulating on top, some corners completely covered by the grains of burial.

“How long has this thing been here for?” Mori asked.

“Based on erosion levels… at least a couple hundred thousand years,” Diana answered.

“But it appeared last night?” Mori followed up.

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t ruins. Speaking of ruins…” She paused for a few moments, then continued: “My town must be one at this point.”

“Isn’t the flow of time different in every dimension?”

“That’s why I think that.”

“Oh. But what if only a few days have passed since… y'know, the stuff?”

“I would rather see skeletons than actual dead bodies of people I know…”

“Damn, I didn’t mean it like that!” Mori yelled, shocked and concerned.

Diana laughed and said, “Yeah, I know, I’m just messing around.”

Talking to pass the time, they continued on, reaching the edges of the city, stopping occasionally for snacks, then they stopped and set up camp in the dunes outside the city. Leia somehow had a propane burner, a pot, and cooking utensils. Her magic was seen as normal at this point as it benefited everyone enough for nobody to care. They set up one large, communal tent, made of thick canvas designed to keep heat and dust out. The sandy ground was covered with rugs, small pillows, and sleeping bags, the middle kept open for the small burner. Leia prepared a filling one-pot dinner to recharge the group as they unpacked inside the tent. As the sun set, the winds picked up outside. At one point, Dee glanced outside. A sandstorm had started, whipping the sides of the tent but never piercing its protection. Xe pulled xeir head back in and brushed the sand particles from xeir face.

“Thank the gods we have this tent, I had no idea how bad it gets at night,” Dee said.

“Yeah, it does that like every night. Sometimes during the day, too, but we were lucky today,” Leia responded.

“No wonder you live in a bunker.” Dee sat down on the plush floor next to Diana and Mori. Leia handed them bowls and spoons.

“I made some creamy soup to keep the heat in a bit longer. The winds will steal it.” She passed the pot around, allowing each person to fill up with however much soup they wanted. Soon, a surprisingly savory taste refreshed the soul and filled the hunger which they had just now noticed. The only sounds were the roaring winds outside and the calm rhythm of breaths. Feeling safe, Dee drifted off to sleep, half collapsing over Diana, who silently allowed it.

Chapter 4

RESURFACED MEMORY

EARTH, October 14th, 2052

College of Astro-Engineering, San Diego, CA

“Man, how the hell do you even do this?” Mark asked after looking at Darc’s “ 2.4: Black Hole Relativity Equations” worksheet. It was two problems long.

“It’s mainly calculus, but then you have to take Calculus of Relativity, then make sure you took the class on Quantum Physics Basics, and Fundamentals of Math for Astrophysics… And learn a whole bunch of equations.”

“This is why I dropped out of college.”

“And you’re going back next spring.”

“Yes, but… Do I have to finish the degree to get the job?”

Xe laughed. “Yes!! Honestly, you’re a good engineer. You just needed a gap to get some shit together.”

“Aw, thanks. I was honestly surprised CAE-SD gave me the option in the first place to do that, especially in my last year of my masters… How did I even get my bachelor’s in Cincy?”

“Because you had me. Well, I was in LA, but you know, I was there.”

“Why did we choose the San Diego branch anyway?”

“Well, let’s see… Phoenix is hot as hell, Dallas IS hell, and Orlando… is Florida. Besides, you wanted to live in California anyway.”

“I suppose that’s true… You do know we’ll have to visit all three other places at some point, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. But it’s for NNASA. Don’t you have better things to do than talk to me, like recording a video?”

"Yeah, of that new horror series, but I’m sick of these ultra realistic new releases because they’re actually scary.”

“Can’t wait to watch you die inside and outside. Go record.”

“Ok, fine. Do your homework.” Mark left Darc’s office, walking over to his own. The two lived together for now in a home mainly funded by Darc’s research internship — a 3 and a half bedroom (the half being an awkward room in between bedroom and closet size), 2 bathroom house, in a Hispanic-dominated neighborhood a few minutes away from the college’s main campus. Both of them met in high school, when Mark unexpectedly moved into Darc’s dead end town on the very outskirts of the St. Louis area temporarily. With xeir help, he graduated high school and received a sizeable scholarship to a college in Cincinnati, his home city, while Darc quickly skedaddled from the Midwest straight into the heart of LA. Then, space travel was revolutionized, and relativity became real instead of theoretical. In xeir sophomore year of college, Darc collaborated on a research project as a learning opportunity in the newly-rising field of astro-engineering: a fusion between astrophysics and aerospace engineering. Being an aerospace engineer major himself, Mark was interested as well, but not to xeir level of brilliance.

The project was given special eyes by New NASA, the organization reformed after the Fall of 2028 in 2032, for its topic — breaking the speed of light. Somehow, Darc did it, despite being the youngest on the team, after pulling multiple all-nighters. However, implementing something to that power took things that did not exist yet. While xe finished xeir bachelors in astrophysics, the industry rapidly expanded and developed, racing towards the promising possibility of easy space travel.

What Darc did not know yet, is that on that same night Mark screamed so many times it made xem laugh, the experiment was near completion. After two hours of work, xe put xeir pencil down and almost instantly received a call from NNASA.

“Yeah? Oh. Uh, I’ll be right there in a moment.”

Xe then called Mark:

“Dude, you gotta come with me for this. It’s the coolest thing I’ll ever achieve in my life.”

“Wait, really, right now?!”

“Yup.”

“Ok fine, I’ll be out with you in a moment.”

Xe hung up, threw a jacket and shoes on, and waited for Mark to get ready. Then, they set off walking at a brisk pace to the main research center on campus, jointly shared by NNASA.

Thirty minutes later, Darc was talking to the lead researchers.

“Yeah, he’s like a family member to me, but most importantly, he likes this stuff too. Is it ok for him to be here?”

“Sure. You’re the one who made this happen, so invite whoever you want.”

“Ok good.” Xe called to Mark, “We’re good.”

“Hell yeah,” Mark responded. They approached the large, complex machine whose blueprints were designed by Darc, but also most importantly, by the engineering expertise of the senior members in the team.

“How expensive was this thing?” Mark asked.

“About $10 billion-” As Darc responded, Mark’s eyes lit up.

“Damn! I knew it was a lot, but 10 billion?!? Where did you get the money?”

“By convincing the government that this falls under a form of defense.”

“Yeah, makes sense,” he responded calmly.

“Anyways, they just finished the final calibrations and did a quick test run up to 3.0 times 10 to the fourth meters per second. It didn’t break, so they think it can hit to the eigth meters per seconds. According to my blueprints and equations, it should go beyond, too.”

“Cool.”

“Maybe I can teach you my own lesson on it once you graduate.”

“Uh, I’m good…”

Xe chuckled. “Yes, I know, you’re not the researcher, you’re the engineer. Alright, let’s not waste any more time. Mark, I need you to follow me for the safety gear as there is a tad bit of radiation. After we’re all geared up, we can turn this thing on max.”

The group left the room to put on radiation-blocking suits, then returned to the console. The suits were an extra precaution in case of a failure, along with the machine itself being in a concrete bunker surrounded by even more concrete, and all personnel a great distance away from the core of the machine. Darc stepped closer to the central console, messed around with some buttons, then a deep whirring stirred from the belly of the metallic cage. Xe watched numbers on the screen climb higher and higher, various graphs spiking and dropping in rhythmic patterns. An assistant stepped up to look, nodding their head and whispering to xem. Mark watched with pure curiosity and nervousness combined as the energy both inside and outside the machine rose.

Minutes passed, then half an hour, but the whirring only increased as a number rose to seemingly infinity — an exponential function to defy and prove nature. Finally, at the forty-three minute mark, Darc and xeir assistant stepped away and motioned for the others to put themselves in the safe positions they outlined earlier. They left the machine behind and consulted a display outside the bounds of the inner concrete walls.

“This is where the risks are only theoretical… and where my hypothesis is proven or not.” Darc put a password into the console and launched the program named “fasterthanlight”, the combined work of many years and individuals all relying on theory, hoping humanity’s assumptions are correct. The numbers ticked closer, now fighting for each digit, as an orchestra of sounds emitted from behind the door. Darc watched, eyes widening, the screen becoming the most important thing in xeir life.

Then, as the counter reached within digits away of 3.0 × 10^8, someone grabbed and pulled xem and Mark towards the exit, closing the outdoor protection door as the world turned white.

Next Chapters coming as soon as I have more time to write them