7246
DEVON
I wake up in the bedroom inside the bunker. Waking up is hard—my back still kills and I can’t move my fingers—they’re still broken. Gavin stands in front of me wearing clothes I’d expect him to be on summer break on. Of all the things I have floating through my mind that is what is clung on to. “...Andrew’s dead,” I say, not fully understanding the weight of the words...the punch that they pack.
He’s leaned up against the door frame and nods slowly. “Yeah,” he takes a breath, “I know. S’why I came out. I didn’t think that Andy’d be the next to go...it means we have to act.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Do you know why Cross has been killing the council members?”
I’m about to tell him of course I don’t...but something tells me that isn’t wholly true. You’re here, you know, right? ...I see. I turn to Gavin, “He’s going to try to destroy everything. The soul within me...it’s really Jesse...isn’t it?”
“Yes. Moreso a fragment, but a piece nonetheless. If there’s anything about this world that I know is that it has proven to be unpredictable. I can know so much and still be caught off guard. I had assumed that next would have been Khap-Ar if things were left alone—he would have succumbed to his injuries and his soul fragments would have returned to Cross. Being that Andy’s the one who died...Andy’s much older than any of the other leaders. He has a much larger fragment of Jesse’s soul that had laid dormant within him for over seven thousand years. Thus to mean that Cross can accomplish his goals sooner. He needs as much energy as he can get his claws on.”
“Where does that leave us? You said I had to make a choice?”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
He sighs. “I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this.”
“What is it?”
“Follow me.”
He stands up and turns out of the doorway, stepping out into the hallway. I stand to follow as he comes to a stop just outside of the door leading to ICARUS.
“Is this another one of your simulations?” I ask.
He shakes his head, “No, this is the real deal. Inside is the same pod you had woken up from a short time ago.”
“Okay, what are we doing here?”
“You’re going to use ICARUS.”
“Use it...why? For what?”
“You’ll know when you do it. That’s when you’ll make your choice. I say that...but it isn’t just your choice. It’s also the one inside of you, the one who’s been here listening the whole time. You have a choice to make here, also.”
“Will it make things right? This choice, I mean? Can I be proud of it?” I ask.
“That’s entirely up to you, now.”
“Why me? Why can’t you make this choice?”
I see a tear forming in his eyes, “Because I’d make the wrong one.”
For the first time I’m seeing him as something less than a god. I’m seeing someone who had just lost their best friend, and who still has to keep on carrying on the weight of the world on his shoulders. I nod curtly as I step past him and place my hand on the doorknob. “Do I go in and just press a button...or?”
“It’s all up to you once you enter that room,” he holds himself up, looking away. “I want you to know that I’m proud of you, Devon, if that means anything. You’ve come a far way, and that if our fates were decided by me, well, you’d be forgiven.”
I smile for the first time in a long time and turn the handle to the door. Gavin evaporates into the wind as I do, and I step inside to see the hulking ICARUS sitting just as I had left it. I walk around and find a hefty lever sitting on the face of the machine beside a screen with a blank display. I yank it down and the display lights up with five words in bold text. They were a simple question:
LOOK TO THE NEXT PAGE. YOU WILL BE TESTED.