The world will change.

That’s what mortals want to believe; foolish creatures enveloped in the very thought of preposterous acquisition, useless perpetuity. Fate never denies this fact, only embraces it. This is how one inevitably enters fate’s grasp and secures one's life.

A vivid, bright beach stands alone amongst the dry, rocky plains enclosing it. The water sparkles dreamily, mimicking the radiance of a fine sapphire; glistening beautifully, yet seethed in despair. The storm the night before was not nearly as merciful as anyone could’ve hoped. Seagulls soar through the damaged sky, relieved to be free of torment. Shacks quietly lay sprawled on the shore, never to stand again. Yet, despite this, the legged ones continue to walk indefinitely. Unable to fall apart; break down.

A photographer bends down to her left knee, sweat streaming down her neck. Her long, purple white-hinted hair sways, matching the color of her outfit. Her excitement is boundless as she gradually raises her head above the camera in her hands.

“This is great!” She exclaims, her entire body trembling with joy.

She tucks the camera away in a purse strapped around her body, gently placing it amongst her other belongings. She wipes the sweat off her forehead and sighs in relief.

“Thank you for being my subject today,” she says softly, “you’re an excellent model!”

“Thanks,” says Shori, “what’s your name, again?”

“You can call me Otari.”

They’d bid farewell as the sun set, Otari exuberantly dashing off in thought of monetary gain.

“Geez,” says Shori, “she’s an interesting one. I wonder where exactly she’s going?”

She pondered many similar thoughts but didn’t dare say a word as she stood alone on the beach. Exhausted, she headed back towards her apartment complex. After arriving in her room, she lay sprawled out on her bed.

“I need to eat, but grandma’s staying late at the charity home; I’m tired, and to top it all off, the leftovers are gone! What a horrible situation!”

Meanwhile, Riashi lies in bed in his pajamas, contemplating what was said a month ago.

“What’d she mean…?” Riashi thinks to himself, troubled by Dr. Kira’s words.

“We’re synced… we’re her creations… she was looking for us… are we just like The Lost?”

He couldn’t begin to form clear thoughts as a storm of ideas overpowered him, weakening the cells in his brain.

“I guess all we can do is find her. That’s the only way.”

His phone started to buzz, interrupting his complex reflection. Tired but curious, he answered; it was Shori.

“Riashi! Riashi! I’ve got some great news!” Shori exclaims, “I think I have a lead.”

“Would love to hear it,” Riashi responds with a worn-out expression.

“Okay, so I was scrolling through the internet, because of course I’d be, then--”

“Could you get to the point?” Riashi inquires, interrupting Shori’s lengthy speech.

“There’s this area that people have heard a subway at, but never seen a subway at,” Shori says.

“Okay? How’s that helpful?”

“It’s obviously the Infinity Subway! That’s how!” Shori shouts, “I’ll send you the details, you’d better be there.” She hung up.

After their last meeting with Kira, Riashi and Shori suddenly woke up on their beds in the blink of an eye. Later, they bumped into each other at school and exchanged numbers. They couldn’t recall where they were before they woke up on the Infinity Subway.

“Well that was fast,” Riashi says, surprised at how he already received a message from Shori, “midnight at Revera Station.”

He looked up its location as he fell asleep for a quick nap.

“Huh…? Crap!”

Riashi dashes off his bed and out the door, rushing to the station as fast as he can.

“11:59?” Riashi exclaims as he eyes his watch.

He dips under strategically placed signs and runs through alleyway after alleyway, looking for Shori. He thought to himself as he ran, where is the stupid station?

“Over here!” Shori yells from behind a cross-patterned metallic gate.

Riashi pants and grunts as he slowly climbs the fence and falls off the top, head planting into the hard dirt.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

How is dirt hard? He wonders.

“Dang, you’re late!” Shori says, tapping her left foot on the ground.

Countless intersecting tracks surround them with nobody in sight.

“You’re sure this is the right place?” Riashi asks, observing the engulfing nothingness.

“I’m not that dense,” responds Shori, “this is it. It’s quite strange, though, the lack of anything aside from this ground decor.”

They patiently waited about 10 minutes, but no significant clues appeared. They felt like giving up.

“Okay, Riashi, maybe you were right. This is probably the wrong---”

Just as Shori was about to give in, an eerie sound rang in their ears.

“What the…” Riashi whispers, falling to his knees.

Shori kept her ground for a few seconds before joining him in agony.

“Oh my gosh!” Shori yells, “Why is it so freaking loud?”

The ground below them shakes with increasing intensity, breaking into countless cubes and pieces. Rocks enclose them as they float through the air, the same loud ring torturing their ears.

Airborne, Riashi propels himself to one of the large floating rocks and plants himself on top of it. Everything continues to fall and break as Shori tries to get near Riashi. The gusts of wind, however, meddle with this plan, intercepting Shori and flinging her back.

“Shori!” Riashi shouts.

He leaps from floating rock to rock, trying to get near Shori’s presence.

“Fantasy Play,” An imperceptible voice chants.

“Watch out!” Shori says.

Suddenly, from the center of the chaos, a bright sphere appears. It sparks, and energy beams of luminous colors launch in a circular motion. Riashi jumps off the rock and barely dodges a blast to the face as he circles the sphere.

“LOCK ON!” Riashi cries, two glowing dark blue guns appearing in his hands.

He continuously pulls the trigger, shooting the beams and occasionally landing a hit on the sphere. As he did this, it got smaller.

“LOCK ON!” Shori repeats, bombarding the sphere with bullets while dodging the slowly fading beams.

Soon enough, the sphere explodes, engulfing them with a bright light. After it passes, they find themselves on the track-covered ground again, now in their LOCKERS outfits.

“What just happened?” Shori asks, stunned by the just occurring event.

“I don’t know,” Riashi says, “maybe Kira did this.”

“How could we LOCK ON without being in our LOCKERS outfits? Who did that chanting that probably summoned the sphere and beams? What even were the sphere and beams? Why are we in our LOCKERS outfit now?” Shori began to stress herself out as she rattled off questions and got progressively more perplexed.

“Don’t worry about that,” someone says from behind them.

“That voice—” Shori recognized it from the previous evening when she was on the gorgeous beach getting her picture taken.

“Otari!” She remembers.

Shori unnaturally flicks her head backward as Riashi LOCKS ON. Her eyes dilate as she realizes her forehead is at gunpoint.

“Don’t move,” Otari demands, “or you’ll die.”

“Who’s this?” Riashi asks, raising his own two guns at Otari.

What’s going on? Shori thought. She’s never acted like this before!

“No one move,” Otari says sternly, “I’m not afraid to pull the trigger.”

“Riashi, don’t do it!” Shori cries, “There has to be a good reason for this! Otari, please explain why you’re acting this way!”

Riashi’s face tenses as he grinds his teeth, his muscles tightening together.

“It’s simple,” says Otari, “you all work for Kira, correct?”

Shori’s mouth widens as she gasps.

“How do you know that?” Shori asks with a devastated look on her face.

“Isn’t it obvious? We’ve been spying on you. We go by many different names, but I assume you’d understand us by the title of ‘Time Benders,’ correct?”

“You’re a Time Bender…” Riashi says while glaring at her, “Where are the others hiding?”

“Good question. Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer for you right now.”

“Otari…” Shori whispers, tightening her soft eyes into an irritated shape. Riashi doesn’t lower his guns.

Shori lifts a smirk on her face, almost mocking Otari.

“LOCK OFF,” Shori states.

Without any signal, Otari fades away, small blue crystalline shards emerging from her position.

“What…?” Riashi quietly remarks, stepping back.

Shori shifts her focus from the shards to Riashi, a smile still on her face.

“Well, Riashi, that was another of you and Shori’s abilities. As you probably could’ve guessed by the sudden shift in Shori’s personality, I’m Dr. Kira Adaer, speaking through, you know, Shori’s body. Obviously.”

“What’s going on here,” Riashi asks, desperately seeking more information, “and why!?”

‘You see,” Kira begins to say, “you remember how I mentioned you and Shori being my creations? Therefore, I can access the data chips inside of her and overwrite them with certain actions. Those actions include this prerecorded message. As for why I’m doing this, as I said before, that was another one of your abilities, LOCK OFF. You should be thanking me, I just saved you and Shori’s life.”

“What’d you do to that girl?” Riashi questions, still shaken by the events that just took place.

“I simply transported her to another location,” Kira responds, “a location you all will enter very soon…”

“Could you just speak to me face-to-face in your own body,” Riashi groans, “and stop playing this pre-recorded message in hers? I have questions, but I need you to let her go.”

“I thought you’d say that. However, you’re going to need to do someth--”

“NO!” Riashi exclaims with strength, “Just let her go!”

Kira’s smile fades as she steps in front of Riashi, a stern expression forming.

“Riashi, I’ll only tell you this once. If you don’t proceed with this mission you’re soon to be assigned, you’ll never see Shori again. As I said, I have access to her data chips, including the ones that allow her to function. If you properly do what I tell you, I won’t deactivate them.”

Riashi painfully stood before Kira, with no choice but to hear out what she had to say.

“The Matrix. That’s where your next mission will be. Kill the Sovereign.”