Gabe came back to Iker's platform for dinner, and he asked the couple if he could stay with them, Lucia, and Joaquim. 3D-printed steaks with cheesy mashed potatoes were on everyone's plates on the dinner table, the only piece of furniture that was not levitating in the house. Iker and Noah had a glass of red wine while everyone else had apple juice. Joaquim stared at his spiral glass that reflected the lights from the earthplexus and the full moon outside.
"What made you change your mind?" Noah asked.
"Uhm, not being ignorant?" Gabe said.
"Good answer," Lucia said, biting on her last piece of steak on the table.
"You can stay," Iker said. "How was training with Maverick?"
"It was alright," Gabe replied.
"How did he get you to reach Anagami form so fast?" Iker asked.
Silence took hold of the new family.
Gabe took a moment to chew on his food. "He asked me not to tell anyone."
He was lying, but Joaquim was not sure if anyone else could tell. However, Joaquim did not know the truth either.
Iker swallowed what was left of his red wine and summoned a hologram that appeared to be the alarm settings for the platform.
"That's smart of him," Iker said with a smile. "If I knew how to get teenagers to reach Anagami form, I would keep it a secret too."
"It seems you are getting ready for bed," Noah said while rubbing Iker's forearm.
"Yea. The test today and that meal..." Iker said.
"Yea, I'm already ready for bed," Joaquim said with a yawn.
"That's a first," Noah said.
"What do you mean?" Joaquim asked.
Iker and Noah glanced at each other.
"Well, I didn't say anything as it's probably a habit you formed from No Man's Land," Iker explained. "But we did notice you went to bed late often, and you would wake up during the night. Knowing what it's like, I wanted to give you time to adjust."
"I appreciate it," Joaquim said.
"Did you guys need anything before we go to bed?" Iker asked. "If not, can you show him where his room is Joaquim?"
The brothers hugged each other after they said good night [https://img.wattpad.com/a11b004a70f587c7bdfa2a60bae9d8e5b606f8ae/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f6b6b33484e36577a514b376d73513d3d2d313337313639393434392e313737396631616663326537363435633831313135383537383931382e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
The brothers hugged each other after they said good night.
Joaquim walked past his brand new virtualtop he was not able to play on yet. It was a large gaming chair with a visor that could send nanowires around the eyes and through the ears and nose. It would then send influx to specific points in the brain to separate the mind and body. The senses of the player would then only operate in the virtual reality selected depending on the game. He tried to play A Big Satan under your Pinky Toe but he came across multiple error messages. He tried other games but the same thing happened. He had to wait for his support ticket to get a response.
Joaquim already tucked himself in as he moaned about not being able to play the game yet.
Joaquim already tucked himself in as he moaned about not being able to play the game yet [https://img.wattpad.com/3b10f5128841668f00c426ff598b21782c2af2b4/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f67625466455f506b4f73384b56413d3d2d313337313639393434392e313737396632613739363432343365373230393435333231363037392e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Joaquim heard sparks at the edge of his bed. He pushed away the blue bed sheets and crawled to the end of the bed, and saw a smoky silhouette of robes and bare feet. He sat up and screamed. Did I fall asleep? Joaquim thought.
The smoke thrusted upwards, changed to flesh, and Ameen stood before him.
"I don't want to talk to you," Joaquim cried. "Let me wake up from this."
Ameen stayed quiet for a moment. "This is not good."
Ameen faced the window. "Your brother should have killed you by now."
"Well he hasn't," Joaquim said while raising a fist. "We are not letting you in this city."
"We'll see about that," Ameen said with a cold smile.
He locked eyes with Joaquim, but Joaquim stared right back.
Joaquim woke up in the exact position he was in the dream. What took place sent a chill throughout his whole body, the terror he felt surfacing on his skin. However, it would not compare to the terror that would come from the bloodlust he could feel from miles and miles away.
Most of the bloodlust Joaquim could sense ever since he tapped into influx was firey and tense, but this was icy.
It felt as if his whole circulatory system was replaced with liquid nitrogen.
The fear that came from whatever was fast approaching him from the other side of the vast gigacity was something the boy never felt before. He was already begging for death instead of feeling this way. This power was beyond death actually, it was able to wipe away existence and even the memories of Joaquim. It could reduce the richness of his DNA code to a 0 or 1. Joaquim or no Joaquim.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Holding on to sanity became harder than bottling his emotions earlier that same day on the Harlynx platform as he could glimpse at the fabric of reality at the tiniest possible level.
Tetrahedrons.
She could grab each tetrahedron that made up his brain and place them from one side of the universe to the other, and keep him alive at the same time just for the fun of it. Joaquim fought with each tetrahedron that made up his will to hold on to his sanity.
Whether she was powerful enough to create such an illusion, or this was Joaquim still trying to comprehend the power behind her bloodlust, Joaquim could not tell.
All of this was taking place without care about time, as she could arrive any moment. The space between the faraway place she was coming from to Joaquim's window... to her... it was a simple hop one could make while skipping rope in recess.
And she did just that as her glistening red heel clacked on the bedroom floor.
Her red dress was made of the finest fabrics Brennisteinn could offer, they resembled flares of red stars hugging her manufactured figure. Her blonde hair flipped with a calculated and elegant neck flick. Her pale skin was a badge to show that she did not even need to work under man-made ozone.
Her admiral eyes resting on Joaquim made him beg for nonexistence this time.
"Why do I have to get my hands dirty for this?" Ember Comsa asked.
She glanced over at the smoke on the ground Joaquim was familiar with. However, Ameen was not creating a flesh-and-bone avatar of himself. Experts have estimated Ameen had thousands of clones of himself performing miracles around the world, but this was not what he was doing. He could also create a holographic avatar of himself with influx, an astral projection, and he was using it for this situation.
As the smoke settled, his astral projection held a red glowing sword upside down. He appeared to be a beheaded mannequin at first, but then a giant glowing version of his head ignited on top of it.
"This thing is supposed to be dead," Ameen said.
That statement inspired anger in Joaquim, and he glared at him.
"Hold on my dear Ameen," Ember said. "This thing doesn't know its place."
Joaquim woke up from the simulation [https://img.wattpad.com/598b865ce2c8093732c23b2f2535bba3cfafde7a/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f735269766f70502d50794d5975413d3d2d313337313639393434392e313737396635643662333338313938363539353530333434383834382e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Joaquim woke up from the simulation.
He splashed against the salty water he was in and was trying to get out of the pod. Wait, all of that was not real? What was his life before the simulation? Wow, he was a cisgender boy this time. It made sense why playing as a woman felt so dysphoric.
He detached all the wires that were plugged into his cybernetic neck and hopped out of the pod. Even though he saw rows and rows of pods that seemed to stretch for eternity all around him housing humans in simulations, he was glad at least that everything he experienced was all over.
He heard a masculine and feminine giggle respectively.
"It thinks it's Neo or something," the female voice whispered.
"I would be glad too if it was all a simulation," Ameen said.
Joaquim turned around to find Ember and Ameen on a bench, the view of the thousands of pods across the horizon shattered to reveal a pitch-black oblivion with blue flames all around them.
The blue flames were torturing beings all around. The eternal fires burned off the skin and hair of all the humans, talking animals, and araks. With their pink and black flesh exposed, Joaquim had to really focus to tell all the species apart. They were almost indistinguishable as they begged for a death that would never come.
"You'll end up here Joaquim if you do not listen to us," Ameen said. "We promise to not let Iker and Gabe land here; they will rest in peace once you take care of them."
The message was clear: Joaquim was an ant to the two gods before him. They could do whatever they wanted with him.
"There is a way to rectify whatever is meddling with our plans," Ember said. She got off the bench and took her time walking on the inky darkness below, putting one heeled foot forward after the other.
With the last clack, she cupped Joaquim's face. He lost all will to resist.
"You must kill Iker first," Ameen said. "His suicidal thoughts have already made it so his influx will no longer protect him if you were to attack him. This was Gabriel's next job after he would have killed you. A butter knife could kill Iker at this point."
Joaquim's heart sank, tears welling in his eyes. He wanted to ask them why they could not do it themselves, but he could barely move.
"And then you'll kill your brother who couldn't do one simple job," Ameen said. "Then who knows, maybe we can consider you a man by then. We will let you off back to No Man's Land to live your life, and you'll keep this all a secret. Or you can cook here. We do not care."
"I'm sorry my dear," Ember said. "Your shitty little life in No Man's Land was all real."
Joaquim woke up from the simulation [https://img.wattpad.com/598b865ce2c8093732c23b2f2535bba3cfafde7a/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f735269766f70502d50794d5975413d3d2d313337313639393434392e313737396635643662333338313938363539353530333434383834382e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Joaquim woke up and got off his bed to find Ember holding a fine rapier by the blade. When he grabbed the handle she vanished.
When he grabbed the handle she vanished [https://img.wattpad.com/c74a7afe4d3ed59906c6e7722e6721e808c2633c/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f674e454f64384a384551505530413d3d2d313337313639393434392e313737396665306432393039313137323132303938323031373935302e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Joaquim entered Iker's bedroom. As Joaquim was already in his much improved Kaya form, he could indeed sense that the passive influx a supersoldier could rely on during sleep was not present on Iker.
Joaquim thought about the performance his teacher put on during the test. The forced happiness.
The first time they met flashed across Joaquim's eyes. He was not sober, was he?
Joaquim checked on Noah and he was turned off [https://img.wattpad.com/749876b599c9955279b0d991a8c4507b0f5df97e/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f30332d6d56667853424a675378413d3d2d313337313639393434392e313737613030303337646136666237623133343737343233393136382e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Joaquim checked on Noah and he was turned off. A cord stretched from his neck to the plug on the wall, receiving power from both the earthplexus and from the electricity the lair underneath was generating.
Joaquim lifted the rapier, hovering it above Iker's heart.
(Starts playing when Joaquim wakes up for the last time in the chapter) [https://img.wattpad.com/04902d2b0a0b5b113036c2a1a294267b9fb525d5/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f654f78317a5233395f70646648513d3d2d313337313639393434392e313737613261393331386465393439623734373432323335343237332e676966?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
[https://img.wattpad.com/e308fe728bfd1ba6cf4ed68c1c5cdacae5835658/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f564a346c4b3370367133443762513d3d2d313337313639393434392e313737613163333535313266613835323239373131333233373430302e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
[https://img.wattpad.com/15ab01772b6387071ededcb1902ea99d544a6bb4/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f6d366454313335376475654231773d3d2d313337313639393434392e313738636562303430343631376632313630383437343438323437352e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]