65 | COLD_A Little God in my Hands (OLD DRAFT)

The labyrinth portion of Labúrinthos was also eternal. It had endless methods to reach the cosmic library, infinite floors, and each floor itself stretched on for eternity. Trying to designate a corner as a boundary was foolish and any arak, talking animal, and human skeleton that laid on the dark rusty floors would agree. If the flesh needed to speak could generate on them for just a moment, they would say that they did designate a corner as a boundary while they were still alive... only to find out that it was a self-soothing lie when they got lost and ended up on the other side of the corner.

Their sanity perished long before their organic and virtual avatars did.

Joaquim was in between the sessions again, but only for a fraction of a second.

He saw an afterimage of his mother Renée when he glanced back, almost tiptoeing to... distant flickering holograms of a cyborg man and a woman with coiled hair in a lab coat.

However, it was no longer visible as more labyrinth walls spawned.

"Joaquim?"

The environment would have been in total darkness if it was not for the jar of fireflies Gabe was holding in between his arms. Horrid moans echoed across the rusty maze as he huddled with his brother in a corner created by a rusty wired fence.

"Did you see that? Where did mom go?"

"What are you talking about?"

Was Joaquim... talking to a different version of Gabe?

They were just with Renée after all.

Or was Gabe playing stupid?

Why would he?

It seemed every time Joaquim came across an answer, five new questions would present itself. Joaquim tried hard to remember what Gabe was wearing back in the desert... but with all the chaos that transpired in the skies, he could not remember at all what clothing Gabe had on. However, in this maze, he was wearing his red biker jacker rather than the Ember Tree uniform.

If only I could remember what he was wearing... that would be a huge hint if it's the same Gabe I was with.

"I asked you a question," Gabe whispered.

"I don't know how to answer."

"I am guessing time or simulation shenanigans?" Gabe asked. "I... I don't remember what happened before I was here."

That was a hint at least.

"I was on a flying cloud with you and mom," Joaquim said.

"Do you remember what I was wearing?"

Joaquim shook his head.

"I know one thing at least from this," Gabe murmured. "When things are... like this... if you catch what I'm saying... it means things are really bugged or corrupted."

"I figured that much."

Gabe chuckled. "That's your way of saying no shit."

Joaquim smiled faintly. "My bad."

Gabe's mood changed suddenly. The warmth from both Gabe's presence and the fireflies that was consoling Joaquim up to this point vanished, and Gabe placed his hands on Joaquim's shoulder to move him closer to a dying light. When he was moved closer to it, it became apparent that it was not the only thing that was humming in the maze. Multiple computers somewhere in the maze were humming along with the florescent lights that were fighting to stay on.

"Did you go through with the doctors? With Alice? Why did you go against our religion?"

Joaquim now knew that this was not the Gabe that came around back in Ember Tree City. His golden gaze went to a dark frown and his hold on his shoulders sank to hollow grasps of a complete stranger.

This was a version of Gabe that was still in denial about accepting him.

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Operator Greendown... what does your left hand and right hand represent to you?

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What strikes fear in me and what strikes joy in me.

...

Viscerally.

The woman in scarlet and velvet reanimated the carcass of Spiderland, both of their bodies growing into the size of a supercluster. However, before she could manifest Spiderland as her mount, she was frozen perfectly still. The only body part she could move were her eyeballs.

Other superclusters and nebulae in the distance, when Ember's eyes focused on them... were not just random cosmic matter. The simulation at this level was sentient too, and the billions of stars resembled a mirror-like mask upon reexamination.

The seams of a tuxedo spawned in the black void underneath his head, the being in the distance could clasp Ember in nirvana form in the palms of his hands. Ember could not move her neck at all, and she would need to do so to comprehend the size of the god analyzing her.

The Book of Apocalypse... it has become so mortal and unimpressive now that I have reached the fifth dimension, Operator Greendown said across the heavens. However, the revelation that the coder somehow knew how a four-dimensional human would move through three-dimensions... at least at a subconscious level... that left me awestruck. I now know what angels truly were.

"What are you talking about?" Ember asked, mumbling through her static lips above a handful of galaxies. "What did you find unimpressive?"

That to all of the men and boys that either contributed or had the verses of the Whore of Babylon resonate with them... Operator Greendown explained.

It was all a melodramatic metaphor for the sins of the mother. Let's close the parentheses on this version of you shall we?

Sins of the mother...

The original Queen of Venice... her name was in the lyrics of a psalm.

The only reason Sincerus gave the GPT model that title.

While the Spider Herald weaved levitating hands made of titanium to contain Dem1urge within the vicinity of the destroyed police station in Fornia...

General Hendrix appeared in the vicinity.

Stay away! The undead centaur is extremely dangeous. Over.

The man, also know as The Beekeeper, influx jumped onto the road past the lawn, the sidewalks crowded with fleeing humans and talking animals from the Spider Herald and Dem1urge fighting on the flying city's horizon. The dark sky resembled a cracked monitor, red pixels sorting themselves into bloody lips.

Whoever said that was using the earthplexus, Iggy thought.

Pager's corpse should be cold by now, and if Ember could still mindlink, she would have done so. Iggy, Fatima, Bastian, Hans, and Rhodes were able to hear the other being on General Hendrix's call.

"I think that was Wexil's voice," Bastian said.

"That's not good," Fatima whispered, keeping her gaze locked on General Hendrix. "That means they know of your insta-kill powers."

"You mean my splat deck?" Iggy asked.

"What are you talking about?" Rhodes asked.

Fatima nodded, proceeding to ignore Rhodes. "That was our only chance if we had to fight him. We don't stand a chance as we are right now... especially if he keeps his distance from you."

"Just use me as deterrence while we flee," Iggy said.

"That was my plan B," Fatima said.

"Nice... you had a contingency plan. You always make me proud," Iggy complimented.

Fatima smiled, and while she kept checking on General Hendrix who was also assessing the situation, it seemed she was also trying to come up with an escape plan.

"I have one more question to ask Fatima..."

"What is it?"

"Did we all die in ever timeline I didn't turn into this?" Iggy asked. "... General Hendrix could kill all of us without breaking a sweat. Especially my fourteen-year-old self."

Fatima avoided eye contact entirely.

"Monica and Iggy? You went back to the 1920s? What the fuck are you on?"

Gabe was already yelling for a while, causing Joaquim's nerves to tense up as he could hear undead moans responding to all the noise his brother was making. If he grabbed Joaquim's shoulders any tighter it would cause pain.

"You're not making any sense," Joaquim yelled back, giving Gabe a gradual push. "We randomly just woke up standing in this place, and what I just said seems impossible to you? What are you on?"

Gabe sighed while still gritting his teeth. He finally let go of Joaquim's shoulders.

"If you still have memories of us going to Ameen's simulation during our sleep..." Joaquim said. "It became obvious you knew about me the whole time. Why did you think Farouq and Camilo asked you to prove yourself when we took the test?"

His brother turned away, clenching his fists.

"I have something to tell you," Gabe said solemnly. "I have been using the whole... keeping secrets thing... as a crutch. Mom told me I should tell you the truth so I can start taking responsibility for the things I have done."

Joaquim spotted a pair of rusty doors to a computer lab while he waited in silence for Gabe.

"A big reason we are in this mess is because of my stubbornness to accept you. Instead of dealing with the guilt... sometimes I just double down."

Flashes of memories from the second session inside No Man's Land mosque returned to Joaquim's mind... the bloodlust Gabe had for the citizens of Ember Tree City was all over his face. The Alkrezians, especially Farouq's bullying, cultivated that side of him.

"So you knew you were wrong, and still decided..."

"To go along with killing you and two platoon," Gabe said. "I am a coward... point-blank. The reason I reacted the way I did when you talked about Monica and Iggy... it became more obvious that I am a piece of shit and I just hate to admit it. I am a big reason this timeline is changing a lot."

As undead torsos with no limbs began to crawl towards them, only their mouths remaining beneath their disemboweled skulls, Joaquim gritted his teeth as he entered kaya form.

"... I hate you," Joaquim scorned. "Whether you remember it or not, you can take your apology and shove it up your ass. I take back everything I ever said about you."

Gabe entered kaya form, however his presence went dead cold.

Colder than the infinite labyrinth itself.

65 | COLD

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