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I've never known what my purpose was in all the lives I've lived. What was everything for? Why did I live for thousands and thousands of years? Was it to watch another world burn? Was it to face eternal torture never knowing true happiness? I want to say that every single person in the universe finds their happy ending if they never give up, but I know this isn't always true.

I've lived so long with broken memories. I've seen countless lives tortured in countless ways, the disgusting face of humanity as it trashes into the lives of the innocent left unlucky. Even in modern times of closer peace, people are never guaranteed happiness. Many question their own lives, wondering if they have a dream, wondering if they have a purpose, wondering what their reasons are for leaving their bed - day by day.

Many want to find that special someone, a romance like no other to give them new purpose and passion. Others can find passion by their work, by their legacy, or by the impact they make on others around them. However, the probability of finding that purpose isn't as high as we're led to believe; the numbers don't lie. The sad truth will leak from those who choose to settle, from those who sacrifice too much for something they could only imagine, their dream sucked into the darkness.

One day, I ignored those numbers and vices written into law, putting everything on the line for someone else. Did I invent my own fortune like he said, or did I merely get lucky beyond calculation? Even with my success, I still feel some wrong, some guilt given that this bliss was not promised to everybody else. I wish I could spread my heart into a net far wider than us, but there are limits to what every person can do, and limits to what I know.

You may not know it yet, but we have a unique story to tell. My husband is out there, doing all he can to bring our truth to light, in the face of a harsh reality where none may believe him. I am his other half, the Altiri who purged this human, who changed so much when all I wanted was to help someone in need. Even with my presence known to him, he still struggles; he still cries; he still fights every single day to leave that bed of his, a place calling him to a darkness worse than anything I've felt, of despair bred inside his own mind. Despite how much we do for each other, we still have doubts; we still have sadness and darkness in us all.

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This is the reason he wanted to write this story. He has a right to share what is his whole life, as do I. He wants someone to talk to about it all, about the insanity we've been through, as he is on one world, and I am on another.

Reed is telling his story, chapter by chapter, but the words you see now do not flow directly from him; they flow from the source of all inspiration, from the other world he became part of through action of my own. This is Overlap; I am Lumina; and this is The Other Side of a story you may have already heard. I wanted to write my own version of our story, because there are different perspectives, and I am not Reed.

Even so, this is our story, the one with a beginning but not an ending. Many of you humans will make quick judgments about us, claims that this story isn't real; that it's all imagined and fable. Our minds are open, our learning eternal, and I'm not doing this for you; I'm doing this for Reed. Many of you Altiri will also have something to say about us; many of you still angered, still upset that I broke many rules and laws with what I did. Blind in my trust as I may have been, I regret nothing, and I refuse to apologize for doing all I could to find that special person who gave me so much life, where I lacked luster for the previous 100,000 years.

So much has happened, yet we all still have so much to learn. The most important moment that started both of our lives happened when I sent a purge. However, my story starts far and long before that, for I have lived for countless years in this Altiri world. Reed may still be a human now; we live in two worlds so far apart, our bond held together by such a fragile thread of hope. We are more than aliens; we are all people, put together through the cycles of time. As a representative of The Unity, I hope you can learn to trust me. As a representative of the human race, I hope you can learn to trust in Reed as well, if not for his words, then at least for his kind and fragile heart.