You are lead to an elevator platform. It's much different as an exit than you would have expected. When you think of underground bunker you think of old war bunkers that are sealed off via manhole cover and used only to avoid nuclear fallout. Jesse was right, maybe you did read too much science fiction. He opens up a display when you are all inside the elevator and then you can feel your head begin to pound. You take in a deep breath and repeat “I am okay. I am okay,” to yourself. All at once it feels like everything goes quiet, but then you hear it as a voice drowning out all other sounds around you. It overtakes you and in an instant you're sitting back in the small confined room that you previously saw your younger self in. Something is different, this feels different.

You're looking out at the world from inside. This doesn't feel like the same out of body experience like the other memories, you're in this close and personal. The only other figure in the room is Noah Marshall. He's dressed in a dark pair of clothing, sweatpants and sweatshirt. He's wearing thin glasses on the bridge of his nose, and just past them are the hazel eyes which you've come to be so wary of. He sits at your opposite, the chairs from the last memory are gone, it is only the two of you as you sit cross legged on the floor. Moonlight spills into the room from a tiny window built high into the room, it is the only one in the entire room so it only lets in a little bit of light.

“You have come at the perfect time,” Mr. Marshall says. “I know you have had your hesitations. I had much of the very same before I gathered you all, before this idea even began its life. I also know you're here because you're worried about your friendship...maybe more? I have noticed your attraction.”

You feel yourself nodding.

“I understand your problem. You are worried there will be problems crossing over because of the feelings?”

You nod your head.

He smiles a toothy grin, it makes you, that being the you observing this mess, wretch inside. His eyes seem to glow, “Well, I'll definitely keep that in mind when the full session comes around next. Ah, yes. Since you just turned nineteen it means that you are ready for the next step for our services.”

“Next step?” You ask, barely more than a whisper.

“This is a very personal step, one that we must undergo before we wholly separate our Earthly selves, and it is what separates us from any normies on the outside.”

You nod your head.

“When a student turns nineteen their earthly body is seen as complete as a vehicle to the Next Level. That is the minimum age required to handle the full ascension process, but it isn't the only requirement. Of course, all of what I've told you and shown you up to this has been in part to help you see the beyond, to see what we can become. All of that is useless if your body cannot make the trip.”

You don't like where this is going. Any of it.

“I've shared this information with Dante a few years back since his body was getting old, almost too old for ascension, but he was lucky. He made it in time and now he'll be joining us for our ascension whenever the call is made. Sherry became ready on her nineteenth birthday almost three years ago now, and now it is your turn. I must plant my seed within you, of my body as the chosen progenitor of the Next Level shall all our spirits ascend.”

You begin shouting at yourself now. Doing anything and everything to prevent what is about to happen, but nothing changes what has already happened. You remember it. The elevator comes to a stop, and you brush away a tear that began sliding down your cheek. Thankfully it went unnoticed in the darkness. The doors open and you step out, looking out around you. The sky is a light purplish color. The cold metal stops as it meets the planet where it looks like it's almost tethered together artificially. You take in a deep breath as you take short steps out. Everything's alright. Now isn't the time to deal with these thoughts. You hold your chin up as you stare out at the skeleton trees surrounding you. Their white surface almost drained of any emotion around them. You're almost jealous.

“This is where we part,” Jiarg says, stepping out and stretching out his muscles. “I shall hope to come back to your good fortunes.” He nods before taking off, leaping into the boundless distance.

You begin walking, finding yourself synchronized with Jesse's pace beside you. Cardus and Bartz are at the lead. All at once you find it difficult to breathe. You look to your left and focus on one of the trees that you pass.

“You okay?” Jesse asks.

“Just coming to terms with some rather difficult memories,” You say.

“You're beginning to remember bits about yourself?” Cardus asks.

“What's this about memory?” Bartz asks right after, craning his neck around to look at you.

“It's a long story Bartz, to keep it simple our friend here's an amnesiac,” Jesse says.

“It's weird...though. They come back in flashes and it completely absorbs me into them when I remember things. It feels like I'm traveling back to watch them happen.”

“That is curious,” Cardus says.

“Why do you not just use Rembrall?” Bartz asks.

“Remwhat now? Listen, assume I've not heard of any of your technology, okay? I'm getting a little tired of asking “What's that?” to everything,” you say.

“Rembrall's a drug to help stimulate the mind when it's having difficulty remembering things,” Bartz explains. “I would have thought that you would have brought it up, Jesse.”

You turn to him, “You knew about something that could help with my problem?”

“Rembrall isn't consistent enough to get passed the trial phases, and Bartz you of all people should know that.”

“Listen man, it's not like it hurt any people. There just hasn't been people to test it on, amnesia isn't a thing that comes around every day,” Bartz replies.

“I want to try it,” you say. “If it can help me remember more about myself. Do we have to pick any up from the other bunkers?”

“No, we have a reasonable amount back there. It's just unsafe, especially for someone in your condition,” he says.

“Condition?” Cardus asks.

“Humans are periodically updated to withstand common issues with modern medicine and technology, usually if there are problems they are brought up to speed and made compatible with those specific things. Now, I don't know for certain how far behind you are, Alex, but the fact that you didn't even have our language banks updated tells me that it is quite a ways from being fully updated.”

“So that means he might be more susceptible to issues concerning the Rembrall, I see where you're going with this,” Cardus says.

“That's why I didn't bring it up, we don't have enough information on you to safely test anything on you.”

“But you knew enough to put an electronic chip in my head,” you say, remembering.

“Safety concerns. If you were a crazed lunatic we would need some way to stop you, just as we did with Cross,” Jesse says.

“Now it looks like there needs to be a part two to that plan,” you say.

Jesse takes in a deep breath. “Yes, yes there does. And it needs to come fast, because what he's looking for seems to be the ultimate destruction of all life on Sayar.”

“I want to help. I think there's something about this body that can help stand against him. Maybe it's not all bad I'm so out of date.”

“Maybe, but now we're just grasping at straws, we need a full analysis before we can come up with any concrete solutions.”

“Well, we can do that when we get back, okay?”

“Sure, I think we can get the help of one of the technicians back there to scope you out,” Cardus says.

“Hell, I could probably pop you open right now and take a peek inside,” Bartz says laughing.

“We need to be able to understand what's inside, Bartz, not just open him like a walnut.”

All of this him and he business. You think to correct them several times, it has definitely crossed your mind more than enough times, but at the same time, for all intents and purposes you aren't really a girl anymore. You aren't really Alex Sharpe anymore, all you are is a body of a man with those specific memories. Maybe it'll be easier for anybody else new you meet to just say you're Roland Duschand. At least until you have this whole mess sorted out. You seem to walk for what feels like an eternity. The trees around you all look the same as the ones you saw when you first left the bunker. You're thankful that the others know the way, because you'd get lost here forever if you were alone. Please don't let this be one of those trips that forces me to be alone in the creepy woods.

“I think it'd be good to wait until we get back, yeah,” you say. “How much longer do we have until we're at bunker 31?”

“There's going to be a clearing out past the forest, we should get there within the next half hour or so. We're going to need to be careful there, because we don't have the luxury of cover that we have here with the overgrowth.”

“Do we even know if there are Dromedans on patrol?”

“We don't, but it would be unwise to think that they wouldn't have some form of patrolling units given their plans,” Cardus says. “I'm not seeing any in the distance, so for the time being we're...wait a minute,” he says, outstretching his arm and stopping on a dime. “I take it back. I have eyes on a Mark I unit.”

“What? Where?” You ask.

“About three miles out. Little bit to the east,” Cardus says.

“Cæ have trinocular vision. Those eyes of theirs can see from miles away if they so choose,” Jesse explains.

“Wow, that's incredible.”

“You want to see if you can get the chance to sneak up on it?” Cardus asks Bartz.

“No offense, but you're asking the largest of us to be stealthy?” You ask.

“That's kind of rude to be honest,” Jesse says.

“No, no, it's fine. I love blowing away expectations,” Bartz says. All at once he begins to change color, his fur dimming to a point where you can only make him out if you're looking for his figure. “You hang here, I'll be right back.”

You can slightly see him moving away, but when he gets gar enough he slips out of sight completely.

“Camouflage? How is that even possible?” You ask the others.

“Breeton have specialized cells in their bodies that can change color at will. It's extremely peculiar,” Cardus mentions.

“Do you have eyes on the Dromedan still?” Jesse asks.

“Yes, it's actually looking away from us at the moment, there might be others far passed it.”

“If Bartz attacks that one will he alert the others?” You ask.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“I don't know if they'd be close enough to immediately know if something happens to it. I think he should be good.”

“Well then, it's a shame that you three aren't,” a harsh voice calls out from behind you.

You turn and see Cross standing behind you, he has three sentry units at his side. You focus in on his stitch-like smile as he regards you.

“I wanted to come and say hello. I assumed you would have missed me in our short absence.”

“How did you manage to find us?” Cardus asks.

“I don't think that should be your primary concern right now,” He says, cocking his head. He places his arms behind his back, “I think you should be more worried for-” A scream erupts into the air followed by a gurgling sound, “...that,” he finishes.

You turn around to see both Bartz and the Mark I unit, closer to you than ever now. The Mark I is eerily humanoid in shape except for its arm, which looks more like a lance. You see the that said arm pierced through Bartz's throat, holding him high into the air. It's lifting his weight with no issue at all.

“Bartz!” You call out.

“You are a special sort of human,” Cross says, stepping forward.

“Don't you move another step,” Jesse says, holding out the blaster and pointing it straight at him.

“Cute.” With a twitch of his head Cross's eyes glow a bright red and the blaster shoots out of both Jesse and Cardus' hands and they stick to Cross's torso. You see him grin and the sight of it makes you feel sick. “Now, I wish to speak uninterrupted to Mr. Duschand here,” he says slowly.

“What do you want with me?” You ask.

“I apologize earlier for calling you Mr. Duschand. I realize the error of calling you by a name which isn't your own,” he says.

He knows, somehow. You aren't going to give him the satisfaction. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Well of course you do. You are just afraid to tell me because that's your one resolve, right? You have little other connection to this world other than your morality. You choose to hide it because that's all you've ever known.”

“And how would you know so much about me then?”

“I was shown quite the interesting vision when I woke up. I had been asleep for so long, my entire being burned of betrayal the time I slept, but when I woke it wasn't that feeling at all that kept me company. It was curiosity.”

“What did you see?” Jesse asks, surprising you.

“A human, you. I didn't know why, I had only met Roland Duschand once before so I knew what he looked like, but things came to me in hot flashes. They burnt into my consciousness like a brand. I didn't know what to make of it until I realized I could feel you. Sense where you were at all times.”

“That's how you found us now.”

“I can always rebuild myself, the body that got vaporized in the Capitol is a shell I can rebuild and re-purpose. It was then also I knew you were different than him, than Roland. When you absorbed my bomb like some vacuum. I had to learn more about why I saw you.”

“If you're going to kill me already then just do it. I don't care what you have to say anymore,” you say, the pain in your head grows immensely. You don't want to be here talking to him anymore. All of this talking is hurting more and more.

“I imagined you'd have an attitude,” he grins. “No, I'm not here to kill you, not yet. Your existence gives me questions I cannot live to not know the answer to, so for now you live. These two however have been a pain in my side for longer than I would have liked,” Cross says. He grabs one of the blasters off of himself and begins to squeeze it so hard until it crumples up like a tin can. “And it's a shame you had to bring your toys to only have them broken. If there's one thing positive is they'll be looking much better than you two,” he smirks.

“No.”

He looks up at you, the first time you've seen him visibly confused. It looks satisfying as all hell. You don't know how you know everything is going to be okay, but it reassures you deeply.

“You have no power over me.”

“What gives you the power to say no?” He barks at you.

You feel your hand raise, an unconscious effort that seems to feel natural. At your fingertips you see a small glowing light. All at once you feel the light extend off of your fingers and as they wrap around the headpieces of the three sentry units at Cross's side. The metal burns and showers sparks which causes Cross to raise his arms up in defense as he takes a step back, the other blaster falls to the ground and Jesse wastes no time in snatching it up.

Cardus leaps towards the Dromedan behind you, and you see him carrying the machine up, the first time you see his wings unfold from his back, and he swings him around before letting him go. It smashes against a tree and falls to the ground, motionless.

You're now staring at Cross who seems to look at you with great interest. Jesse's got the blaster pointed at him, a small ding sounds on his end.

“It's coded to your make-up, Cross. One step and you're vaporized.”

He laughs, a mechanical sound that grains against your ears. “If it was that simple you would have shot already, right? Are you expecting me to apologize? To beg for mercy? I don't think so. I'm done here,” he looks to you.

“Interesting how you used the aftermath of my own bomb against me, it seems I'll have to adapt to keep up with you, then. Until next time, then,” he says, stepping forward with a smile on his face. It is reduced to absolutely nothing in less than a second. You feel sick to your stomach, bile rises in your throat and you bend over to heave up whatever is in your stomach, because it sure isn't food.

“You okay?” Jesse asks, walking over and holding out his hand.

“Yeah, I just need to sit down for a moment, that took a lot out of me,” You say.

“Literally,” he says with a grin.

You stare at him, irritated. He returns a look of pseudo-guilt.

“That was truly something, you keep on surprising,” Cardus says, walking over.

You take Jesse's hand and stand back to your feet. “I don't even really know what came over me to be honest. It just felt natural.”

“Well, that surely saved our hides. To think, the bomb that you sucked in could be reused for good,” Jesse says.

“It's a shame we couldn't save Bartz, Jonan is going to be upset with this.”

“Do we have a way to bring his body back?”

“I can bring it back if you two want to continue on. I'd hate to leave him out here,” Cardus says.

“You can carry him?”

“Didn't you see me throw the Dromedan that killed him? You'd be surprised at what the Cæ can carry,” he says.

“Well, I guess so. Okay, the trip back might be as long as it takes for us to get there, so do you want us to just meet back up with you at the bunker?”

“Yeah, I think that will work. Well, you two should get on going. I might go help the folks on the lower level when I get back.”

“That's good, they could definitely use the hand. We'll be back as soon as we grab the shipment.”

Cardus nods and walks over to Bartz's body and grabs him with both of his hands.

“Hey, you two take care now, okay? Don't get yourselves killed,” he says as he slowly lifts into the air.

“You as well,” you call out.

He nods his head as he flies back in the way that you came, slowly making his way higher and higher.

“And then there were two,” Jesse says.

“C'mon, let's keep on walking,” you say, beginning back out.

“So we're not going to completely geek out over the fact that you shot weird lasers from your fingers?” He says, joining you.

“I don't know what made it happen. I don't know if it was fear or courage or will or any of that mumbo jumbo they usually say in the movies.”

“The movies you watch must be rather cliché then,” he jokes.

“I'm trying to be serious here.”

“Sorry. I know this all is still very new to you. If anything at all can help you through it, it's new for me too. I've never met anyone else like you.”

“You must have picked that line out of your totally not cliché movies, then,” You say.

“Got me there,” he says, grinning. “But seriously, I've never met a human with abilities like yours. Only one anywhere near is Andrew.”

“Andrew's like me?”

“Yeah, he kind of has to be something like to do what he did as a part of the council. They don't just pick anyone, ya' know?

“What is it that he can do, really?”

“I don't know what, all records about his past were deleted and he isn't really the most sharing of types. I'm sure Cardus could tell you better than I could.”

Or even Andrew could, you remind yourself to stop by and speak to him when you get back.

“That's odd.”

“He's a big guy on privacy, I guess.”

You slow when you see the treeline clear out to stone. Jesse passes you, “We're almost there, just passed this clearing there's a trail that'll lead us to where we need to go.”

“Isn't it a bad idea to have a trail that leads to a secret bunker? That's just screaming to be found.”

“It's not like there's a sign pointing directly to it, that'd be stupid. It's along the path, you'll understand better when you see it. C'mon, let's keep up the pace,” he says.

“Okay, whatever you say.”

Your whole body embraces the sunlight as you step out from underneath the shade of the trees. A new warmth brightly caresses your skin as you look out around the purple sky.

“So, why is the sky like this? Purple, I mean.”

“Surely you know that at least? I mean that's just common physics.”

“The sky on Earth was blue,” You say.

“It seemed blue because of how light entered your atmosphere, it's the same deal here. Sayar's magnetic pulses drag in light from the Sun that Earth used to orbit around. Since it has to travel further it comes into our atmosphere as a purple shine.”

You nod and think to yourself. It's so strange how one small change as the color of the sky could make such an impact, but you're here living it now. The sky hangs over huge spires of land that rise up and tower over your view. They look so primordial.

A few minutes pass in silence, you've asked all the questions you've felt like asking, and for once you take in what's around you as just what it is. It's almost relaxing. The thought passes slowly as you pick up your pace. You haven't forgotten about all of the people who are depending on you to bring back the medicine stock. You smile as you believe you're doing the right thing, maybe this is your first step at forgiveness for the life that you took, the effort to save more from Cross's destruction.

Cross.

The immediate desire for answers returns again, and you feel unsatisfied. How does he know so much about you? He was supposed to be deactivated, and yet he's up and around and can find you at any time. The way you see it, you can either let this fear eat you alive or try to find a way to work past it. He can rebuild his body if it gets destroyed and can find you whenever he wants. Maybe that's why he attacked the capitol, because you were there?

You still don't know a lot about this world or why you came to it, but you will find out why. No more whining and sitting back as you watch this monster tear apart everything around him. You're taking a stand and going to figure out everything and stop Cross in the process, even if it kills you.

“Hey, stop, we're here,” Jesse says, holding out his arm.

You look around to see everything as the same as before. Extending trail that forks to the left up ahead and up ahead you can see grass extending far out of the earth...er, ground.

“There isn't anything here though,” you say.

“And you said it would be too obvious,” he scoffs, and turns around to look at the ground.

You turn to look with him and see a stone set into the ground, it's carved into an almost perfect sphere. “A rock? Is that the perfect camouflage?” You notice to the right a bit there is another stone just like it. Same with the left.

“We're going to bunker 31, so we just input that into the stones. Go on, why don't you try? Press the third one down there and then the first one on the left.”

You give him a look you're not quite sure you could replicate if you tried, but you walk up to the stones and bend down. It takes some effort to get it to move, you have to press both of your hands down to get it to move. It slides downward and clicks into place. The stone begins to glow with a faint bluish hue as it does, you can feel your eyes open wider, “Woaaaah.”

“Heh, there's the reaction I was waiting for,” Jesse chuckles.

“There's hidden, and then there's cryptic as fuck,” you say.

“Wasn't me who designed it, but it sure as hell works. Even if you took notice of the stones, which you didn't by the way, you wouldn't know which order to do anything with. Even then, you have to know they have to be pressed downward, since it doesn't immediately react to you pushing it,” Jesse says.

“Okay, I take it back then, that's pretty smart,” you say.

“Well thank you,” he says, standing up straight.

“I thought you said that you didn't make it, how can you possibly take credit?”

“Well, I showed it to you, of course! Messians are very proud of knowledge I'll have you know,” he says.

“Or you're talking straight out of your ass,” you say with a grin.

“Well, either way we've little time to be joking about it. Go ahead and press the first one and let's get moving.”

“Sure thing,” you say.

You stand back up and walk over to the first stone. You try to push it down by stepping on it and putting all of your weight on it to avoid the inconvenience of kneeling down again. It takes a moment, but it starts sliding down as you shift the entirety of your weight upon it. The rock glows a similar bluish hue as it clicks into place, and opposite you on the other side of the trail the ground begins to shift apart.

You see a metal staircase leading downward just below the surface of stone and grass. “Well then, let's go, shall we?” Jesse asks.

“Yes, let's.”