Inside the darkness behind my eyes I felt the familiar prodding of a hand on my mind. It was a gentle tug at my brain that turned me around inside my head until I was facing another one of the orbs of light. I was confused, but instantly felt my heart start to race as I feared another boss was closing in on our location. I just have to experience their memories and then that’ll shut them down before they even have the chance to come near us.

I felt myself falling into the light like the previous times and landed on a soft bed in what looked to be a teenage girl’s bedroom. I immediately had a sickening feeling that I wasn’t supposed to be here, and I recognized that this probably wasn’t an enemy’s memory...but Athena’s. I tried to back out of the memory, but I couldn’t control it. There was no exit. That meant that when this memory was through…

No, I wasn’t going to let that happen again. The other two cases I had to neutralize the enemy because if I didn’t we would die. I have to control myself and not let that happen this time.

Voices faded in and out around me. I couldn’t listen to the collective all at once, but if I strained I could pick out strands from a few of them.

“No, please don’t! Not again!”

“Get over here!”

“I don’t want to!”

“Get over here now! Your mother isn’t going to find out.”

“Mom! Aaron!”

With her scream I pulled back just enough to rip me from the memory back onto the couch. I blinked twice and was breathing heavy. I did it...I actually did it.

But my relief didn’t last long, because upstairs I heard the restrained soft crying from upstairs. I stood up and climbed the stairs, slowly stopping just before the door.

“Hey, Athena, you okay? I...I’m sorry about what just happened. I didn’t mean for it to happen, and if it helps I didn’t see anything...” I waited outside for a moment and clung onto the silence like a bee to a flower.

“Can you just stay out there? Is that asking too much?” She asked.

“I can go back down if you want me to,” I said.

“No, please...” she said through her tears. “I just want to know you’re close.”

“Yeah, I can stay here.” I said. I sat down against the wall and rested my head against the wall.

“You…saw it. I know you did,” she said.

“I only heard fragments,” I answered. “I didn’t want to assume anything.”

“What you assume is what happened. Please don’t hate me,” she said.

“Hate you? How could I hate you?”

“Because I’m a fucking idiot. I can’t make anybody happy and as soon as I meet back up with you I’m the reason that your girlfriend died. And then I’m all over you right after...”

“Hey, hey, you weren’t responsible for that. There’s no way you could have known what would have happened. You were just trying to survive.”

“But everything that’s happened has just been this giant shitstorm and it’s not fair to expect anyone else to carry that weight and you shouldn’t let other people do it but I can’t. I can’t anymore. I’m not strong enough.”

“It’s not that you’re not strong enough,” I countered. “I think if that were the case you would have given up a long time ago, but you’re still here—still fighting. That makes you plenty strong. I just think you haven’t had anyone to rely on. A friend isn’t about giving them your baggage, but having someone to help you carry yours. A friend offers out of kindness. Not out of obligation.”

After a moment of silence I asked her, “Are you okay out there? Is he still a problem?”

“No. After the last time Aaron found out,”

“Your brother, right?”

“I loved him so much, when he found out what had been happening he protected me from our dad.”

“What happened?” I ask.

“He was kicked out, quite literally. They started fighting and I got so scared. It got to the point where Aaron broke me out of my room and we took off.”

“Just the two of you?!”

“Yes, my mom’s a whole other can of worms, so she’s been out of the picture for a long time. After that it was just Aaron and Me.”

“Where did you go?”

“There was this run down apartment complex a town over from where my father lived in Monument. We didn’t want to be too close, but at the same time we couldn’t walk across the entire state, so we walked as far as we could. The place we found was trashed, but it had no landlord. Neither of us had any money so we couldn’t pay rent. I was fine with staying in a place that didn’t need rent. We had to drop out of our schools, high school for me and college for him.”

“Couldn’t risk your dad finding you there, right?”

“Yeah, this was when he got into Elysium. I guess he felt like he-”

“Needed an escape?” I finished.

I took in a deep breath, “I know the feeling.”

“I’m so sorry,” she said.

“Trust me, don’t be. I made a lot of mistakes—a lot of the same ones your brother made. I hope I can make them right with her, but I also want to be right by myself. I want to be her brother, your friend, Me.”

“I want to be your friend, too,” she said. “But there’s a part of me that wants to be more, and that’s the part that I hate.”

“Don’t hate it,” I said. “Just don’t be so quick to call it like it is. You need to heal and only you can mentally sort out those feelings. But I don’t think you can really love someone until you can love yourself. I know because I...I can’t really say I truly loved Aria—at least in the way that was healthy. I didn’t love myself—I loved what she represented. Almost a justification for me inside this game. Maybe in time I could have sorted out those feelings, but it wasn’t right for me to shove them to the side like I did.”

“You really think that’ll make a difference?” She asked.

“Yeah, I do. I have a lot of work on myself that I need to work on. I can

“You really think that you can make a difference?” She asks me.

“I do. And I know that you do too.”

I waited for a response, but none came. I rested my head against the wall and closed my eyes. I almost reached the depths of sleep until I heard the smallest sound.

“Hey Andy? I want you to know…my name. Since I learned yours I think it’s only right. It’s Lindsey. Lindsey Berrant,” she said.

“That’s a nice name,” I said. My eyes fluttered shut and I fell unconscious.

A terrible sound shook me awake. The ground underneath me was shaking violently. I tried to stand to my feet, but found it difficult to keep my balance. “Hey!” I called. “You awake?”

There wasn’t any response at first, but then I heard her shuffling. “Wh—what? What’s happening?”

“I don’t know, I’m going to check outside.”

“Is Jay back?”

“I haven’t heard him.”

“Shit. Here, give me a second I’ll join you.”

“Okay,” I nodded.

True to form, she appeared at the door a moment later and looked at me with her half-awake state. “What the hell is causing that shaking?”

“No clue, come on.” I cocked my head toward the front door.

I opened it up and stepped outside—a wicked wind prowled through the grassy field around us.

“Up there!” Lindsey pointed up at the sky.

I turned around to see what she saw—it was a giant metal boat floating through as if it were treading water. It climbed the sky as a hatch on its underside began to open up. It began to suck everything up around us like a vacuum. I was lifted off my feet and was jerked upside down. I was screaming as I flew upward into the ship. I felt like I was going to be sick.

The hatch closed after it sucked the both of us up. Everything was dark. I could feel that she was nearby, but when I called out for her she didn’t answer. I opened my eyes and everything was shaking again. Not an apocalyptic earth-demise shaking, but a slow, melancholic shake. The ship was tilting left and right mechanically.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Are you okay?” I called out again. I sat up, my back was killing me.

“I’m here,” Athena said. “My body is so sore, though.”

“Same here.” I said. “You okay, overall, though?”

“I think so.”

“Are you okay?” Jay asked from above.

“Jay! You sure picked quite the time to come back!” I said, wandering around.

“Yes, it’s almost like I conjured in this ship for you.” He said.

“This is your doing you crazy old fool?” Athena asked.

“Yes. I found a vulnerability in Jack’s subconscious. We’re running on a very tight time table now—as he’s sure to notice this interference.”

“Where are you taking us?” I asked.

“We’re going to try for as high as we can,” he said. “Something to break the bounds of the game—cause the whole mainframe if you will to crash. I’m going to force everyone out in one fell swoop.”

“That sounds dangerous.”

“It’s only dangerous if he executes the command. Jack has access to the helmets that are on your heads—he can kill you all at once, so we have to be fast—do the job for him so he can’t send the kill code. I’m sure he’ll try to interfere with this ship because he wants to preserve this world at all costs. So he’ll only send the kill code if he has no other choice.”

“What do you want us to do?” I asked.

“Protect the ship,” he said. “I’ve left Jen out of it, I hope you understand. There’s a high chance you may need to face off against Jack himself—you will need to distract him long enough for me to do my work.”

“Got it,” I said, turning to Athena. “You ready?”

“Y-Yeah. I think so.”

“If you two walk straight ahead you should find a staircase up to the ballroom. If you can manage it, I've got some things for you up near the captain’s quarters. I managed to steal some info from Jack’s mind, but I can’t focus on decrypting it right now. You should be able to look through it if you get the opportunity. Obviously don’t prioritize if danger comes.”

“Got it. We can go up and try to make some sense of it,” I said.

“Thank you,” He said.

We walked until we found the staircase that he was talking about.

I saw a faint light in the distance as we climbed up. An orange-red glow was cast over the floor ahead. There were lamps and lights that illuminated the ballroom with a sense of splendor. White adorned tables littered the scene and it looked like it was taken off of the Titanic itself. In the upper corner of the room was an intercom system nestled in. A distorted voice clip played on repeat,“Hello, I assume you’ve had a nice nap. I am your-Hello, I assume you’ve had a nice nap. I am your-Hello…”

“That’s so weird,” I said.

“What could it be?”

“The image of a ship came from Jack’s memory. I had to work with what he had available inside the game. Seems this would have been a location that was previously used inside the game. It didn’t seem to have an alternate source so it’s not used for any of the future floors.”

“Interesting...beta content coming to the rescue,” I said. “Trippy audio clips here, though.”

“Not really my style,” Lindsey said. “Although even if it was it does contrast with the whole medieval theme, right?”

“To be fair, the English bits of Novus Callus weren’t really fitting the theme either,” I said.

“Are you two really debating the merits of this game?” Jay asked.

“Sorry,” I said.

There was a loud crash behind me. I turned around and saw that a towering shadow-like creature loomed over me. It looked like a giant centipede shrouded completely in darkness. I nearly shrieked and fell over. Bugs are not my most favorite of creatures, especially ones that are like, fifteen feet tall. There was no enemy bio that popped up. It wasn’t natural.

“Jack’s found us out,” Jay said. “Not a surprise, although I had hoped it wouldn’t have been so early.”

“We can handle this thing,” I said. “You keep focusing on breaking us out of this mess!”

I took out Flintlocke and Lindsey readied the Lance of Longinus next to me.

“You ready for this?” She asked me.

“Would much rather fight a giant bird or a lion or something, but I’ll manage.”

The beast bared down on all of its legs and on its back, I could see a human figure grafted onto its...whatever passed for its skin. It was a sickly gray that looked like it grappled it like a tumor. The main body screamed a gory scream that blew us both back.

I fired a shot off at the creature, the bullet dug itself into the beast and then it exited out of the other side where it landed buried in the metal of the wall. Where it had hit dissipated like smoke and rejoined with the beast.

“Okay, the body on its back is our focus!” I called out. “Don’t bother attacking the black bits!”

“Kinda hard when the black bits are a majority of its body.”

I worked my way to the side of the beast and finally its back. I turned my head to see the backside of the decrepit body clinging onto the creature. Its face was buried within the shadows. I inch ed little bit closer and the corpse ripped its head out and screamed itself. The skin was rotting and I could see part of the skull was emergent with the rest of the face. One eye socket was completely empty while the other was filled by a bloodshot eye. I saw that there were hints of green in the bloodshot eye. I felt the wind leave my body as the horrid creature lost contact with the beast—the shadows that held it together began to fade for good. It landed on its feet and walked slowly to me. I was paralyzed as it took its time. It raised a hand and pointed a decrepit thumb at me.

“A…And ...Andrew!” It screams out in-between its unintelligible noises. There was a liquid dripping from the creature’s mouth. It was a black ichor that singed the floor when it made contact.

“I’m not afraid of you!” I yelled out, bringing Flintlocke upward, changing it back into a sword. Lindsey ran up to the figure’s side and lunged her lance out, but it jumped past her; letting her slide to the ground alone as it rushed toward me. It grabbed my head with both of its bony hands and forced my head down—forced me to look at its rotting face.

“L-Lindsey! Help!” I try to yell, but it comes out in short bursts.

The creature screamed once more; it’s sound pierced my entire body. I could feel its screams inside of my chest. It nearly snapped my neck pulling my head and I let go. I stared directly into the hollow eye, in it is complete darkness. I shook all over as it brought its head closer until it touched mine. I blacked out.

I was back looking at the bubbles of light. A new one has surfaced along the other three. I walked up toward it and looked inside. Just...what was this going to show now? It didn’t matter. I had to do what I did with Athena’s memory and just force myself out. I had to be out there defending the—

My mind was pulled in by a fist much stronger than my mind. I felt choked as I fell into the light. I sat up and my vision was blurry—my body hurt all over. I sat up and my vision started to clear. I realized I was lying on asphalt—probably could explain the reason by body was so sore. I then realized I was myself. I felt my body all over and...yeah. I had control of my faculties. I tried to focus on going back to the ship, but there wasn’t any use. I was stuck here. Until I did whatever needed to be done, at least. I looked up and saw that I was looking at the exterior of my school. I was...back in Aurora? There was no way that this was the real world—I was still in my own mind. I had to keep that in mind.

I got to my feet and looked around. Everything looked how it was supposed to—the trees were all bare around. I was in normal plainclothes—the shirt and pants I had worn when I entered Elysium. What the hell is going on here? Even for something as chaotic as these memories there was at least some sort of train of logic behind them. This? I didn’t even know.

I heard a loud crack and then a few seconds later a huge bolt of lightning struck the school behind me. I was sent flying off of my feet as the building erupted into an inferno. I had to turn away from the burning building. but when I did I nearly doubled over in pain.

I felt everything, yet I shouldn’t have. This was just a vision…inside a virtual world. I shouldn’t be feeling this pain. It was almost two times removed from reality. I had to limp to get away from the damage. When I brought my head around I noticed I was now standing in front of my house as if it were directly across from the school.

I fell to my knees on my front lawn. A sickness roaring through my body like a cancer. I stood once more and stumbled to the floor as the pain grew in my chest—evolving with each step that I took. I climbed the porch in a hurry and threw open the door.

“Hello? Anyone here?” I called out.

I entered the living room slowly. The television was on, but it is only playing static. Something was terribly wrong here. I limped to the staircase on the backside of the room.

“Mom? Are you here? Jen?” I asked.

I slowly made my way up the stairs. My body felt three times heavier; it was hard enough making it inside the house, but this was almost unbearable. I heard another crack of thunder outside. I didn’t care what it had hit at this point. Nothing else mattered than finding my family.

I continued up the stairs; taking each step one at a time. I saw the door to my room out of the corner of my eye and it was open slightly, unlike the other doors in the hallway. I heard a low groan coming inside, which did nothing to quell the deep feeling inside my gut.

I placed my right hand on the door and slid into the room. There was a body hanging from a noose just above my bed. I looked up to see where the rope was hung from, but the ceiling continued into darkness above—it was a nightmarish sight as the rope—a dull brown—began to glow the crimson color of blood as I stared upon it.

Hanging from the noose was the same naked corpse that clung onto the back of the shadow centipede. Its face twitched slightly and then it looked straight at me with that shit-eating grin it carried outside. I was frozen where I stood.

All of a sudden the horrible creature opened its mouth wide—broken teeth and infected gums and all stared blankly at me. The black blood spilled out of its lips and down the front of its body, slowly coursing toward my feet. I tried to run but my feet were planted on the ground—I couldn’t move them anymore.

“Come on! No! Get away from me!” I yelled, louder and louder as the liquid neared.

It bubbled up as it made contact with my foot. It burned like lava. It didn’t care for my screams.

The body continued spewing out the black ooze as it hung and it continued to crawl up my body. Each second it burns worse as if acid had become sentient and began scouring every inch of you. It worked its way towards my knees and in a matter of seconds it was at my waist. I couldn’t feel anything below my torso, it was one malignant pain I couldn’t get rid of. I saw the body began shaking its body again and a slight glow started to form around its neck where the noose made contact with the skin.

The body slid off as the head separated from the body—both pieces fell to the floor with a thud, but it was only temporary. The body worked its way to its feet; the black blood spouted out of its neck stump at a much faster rate. The head rolled around in circles, spilling its contents onto the floor. The body continued ever so slowly to make its way near me. Every single appendage twitched and spasmed violently.

My body was almost completely covered in the black goo—all the way up to my chest now. I was crying openly and I could not stop it.

The body finally made its way to me and it placed a sickly hand on my cheek. My heart was jumping out of my chest as it placed its other hand on the top of my head. It lowered its neck stump and sprayed me in the face with the blood.

I finally found solace in darkness once the goo covered me completely. I only heard one whisper continuing on and on for what seems like forever.

“They’re all dead. Everyone is dead and you are alone.”

I could scream again. So I did.

So I did.