“I will...never forget the face I once wore”
September 28th - 10:43pm
Allyson returned to her apartment after spending several hours studying for an exam tomorrow morning. She arched her upper back while pushing her hips forward.
“Uuuuurrrraaaaaagggghhhhh!”
To her left, there was a small black metallic stand with 3 support layers. On the top, she took a bottle of magnesium and popped a pill in her mouth. Slowly stepping towards her room, a door opened behind her.
Julia greeted her with a faint smile.
“Hey.”
Allyson, with her eyes half asleep, mustered up the strength to greet her roommate.
“Heeey.”
“Big day tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Just hope nothing happens to any of us.”
“You know…”
Allyson squinted her eyes and tilted her head right. Julia swallowed and balled her fists.
“I’m a little scared.”
“I don't blame you. How come?”
“Uh, erm, scared that I might regret going back there.”
“Told you going back there is dangerous,” Allyson waved her head sideways.
“I know…whew…” Julia took a deep breath before leaning her right shoulder on the door frame. “But I have to do this. If I don’t, then it'll keep eating me alive knowing that I can't go back there and what might've been. I have to find this peace for myself.”
“Not sure what peace you’re trying to find, but I’ll be by your side when you do find it.”
“Thanks, really appreciate that.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“Just one more thing.”
Allyson turned back to face her roommate.
“I want to make up for all that I’ve hurt you since you moved here.”
"It's ok. You don’t have to do it.”
“I’m going to. I just need to stay alive after this.”
“Being dead means you don’t have to pay back your stupid debt.”
“Hahahaha!” The artist showed her teeth and hung her head low for a brief stint. “Good luck explaining that to the police.”
“Nuh uh. My ass ain't gonna say shit if they question me again.”
They both giggled before the blond-haired woman took a step back.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Night.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
September 29th - 3:26pm
Both Allyson and Julia finished their exams. Although they were in different classes, they simultaneously monitored the classroom clocks. They contemplated if they should use all the time they had or finish as soon as possible.
In the end, Julia turned her exam in when she was done. Allyson, on the other hand, nearly took the entire time allotted to complete her class exam. Jansen spent the day at his house preparing to traverse into the Artificial Gallery.
The three rendezvous at the Art-Sociology entrance on the first floor. Julia arrived first before Jansen and Allyson in that order. He carried a backpack with the handle of the baseball bat sticking out.
As soon as they entered, students were spread throughout the entire area.
Allyson puckered her lips before pulling them inward. “Well…fuck.”
Julia turned to her friends while furrowing her eyebrows. “What now?”
Jansen covered his lips with his left fist. “Either wait or try another way to enter into that world.”
“No, we’re finding another way.”
“But where?”
Allyson took two steps forward, squinting her eyes at an empty classroom. “I see a classroom with no lights. Let’s go!”
Following her command, the three students walked to that classroom. Empty. Quickly entering and closing the door, they closed all the window blinds veiling the class in a shroud of darkness. Julia unlocked her phone and elevated her screen brightness.
“So what next?”
She hovered her phone beneath Jansen’s face.
“Last time I remember, Allyson and I connected the app to a TV screen. That’s how we were able to get in.”
Julia then hovered her phone beneath her roommate
“I wonder if we can use that monitor over there.” Allyson pointed her right index finger at the back center of the room where a desktop monitor was powered on.
“Let’s give it a try.”
They walked over to the monitor which displayed a login prompt. Allyson hurriedly pulled her phone out and opened the app.
The color of the sphere continued to glow yellow before it disappeared.
A message began typing on Allyson’s phone: Warning! The Soul is still compromised! The individual’s Soul is no longer safe. Will you access its portal?”
Allyson slightly arched her brows.
“We’re going back to the Artificial Gallery.”
“Accessing the portal to the Artificial Gallery.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Within distance, the gallery was up ahead. The crimson carpet rolled from the entrance all the way to where the three stood. Right on the cusp of their shoes.
“She was waiting for us.” Julia walked several steps on the carpet. Her pupils dilated and began to gravitate forward.
Allyson blocked her roommate’s path with her Jingum. She darted an icy stare.
“You’re not going alone. We stick together. Remember?”
On her left hand, she brandished a hunting knife and extended it in front of the artist.
“Don’t forget this.”
Julia gripped the hilt with her right palm. She gazed at the weapon.
“Thanks. Don’t know what got into me there.”
“Don't worry about it. Let’s go.”
Allyson led the pack up front. Julia scoped the surroundings while holding the hunting knife with both hands. Jansen anchored behind as he firmly held the baseball bat in his right hand while periodically checking their blindside.
When they reached the bottom stairs of the gallery, no enemy was in sight. Not even the other Julia was nearby. With their bodies heating up just a bit, the students took one step per second. Upon arriving at the main entrance, the first floor remained unchanged since their previous encounter.
“Still nothing,” Allyson rapidly directed her pupils in every angle possible. “It doesn’t feel right.”
“It’s really quiet,” Jansen hung the bat on the back of his shoulders. He turned back to investigate the stairs they just walked up. “No enemies behind us.”
“It’s fine,” Julia lowered her knife to her right hip. She then pointed to the stairs on the opposite side. “Let’s keep going up.”
Allyson squinted her eyes by a few centimeters but left her mouth hanging slightly low. Her roommate immediately walked straight to the next staircase. “Jansen, what’s wrong with her?”
“Beats me,” he shrugged his shoulders and pierced his lips.
Artificial Gallery - Floor 2
The same corridor and the same long stand encased by a rectangular glass towered the students. No exits within the perimeter. Julia with the golden dress was nowhere to be seen. They stood directly in front of the glass and observed a wide brown stand. However, there was nothing on top of it.
Julia inspected the stand.
Allyson tilted her head left. “Am I seeing this right? Why’s there nothing being displayed?”
Jansen covered his mouth with his left hand while squinting his eyes. “Hard to say since the glass is protecting it. But what?”
“Jansen, I need the backpack.”
“Uh, sure.” He handed the bag to Julia.
The artist rummaged through different sections of the backpack. She finally unzipped the area with the most space and placed her left hand inside. What she pulled out was a black rectangular tablet with eight buttons on the left side.
Julia stood back up before staring at the stand again. “I think I know what it needs.”
She held the drawing tablet on the opposite sides with both of her hands. Closing her eyes, the artist carefully extended her arms toward the glass. Allyson wanted to reach her hand out but immediately froze in place. She retracted her right hand.
When her hands contacted the glass, nothing happened. The glass began to wave around its structure. Julia continued on until her arms were not bent. She then arched her wrists forward causing the tablet’s surface to be perpendicular to the stand. After softly placing the tablet down, the ground began to vibrate a little.
Allyson held her Jingum in front of her body. “What the hell is happening?!”
“Guys!” Julia shouted to her friends. “Get inside the glass!”
Everyone quickly entered the glass. The vibration ceased. However, the ground surrounding the wide stand began to elevate on its own. All three placed their hands on the edges of the stand as they escalated to the next destination.
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Artificial Gallery - Floor 3
After reaching the next area, before the metallic door opened, there was a voice message.
“Warning. The following area is the remains of the artist’s work. If you wish to proceed, please enter the Archived Hallway. Otherwise, please use the elevator to return to the previous floor.”
“What did that mean?” Allyson raised her left eyebrow.
Julia’s shoulders were hunched up while her elbows pressed against her obliques and arms wrapped around her waist. She silently swallowed. “Pfhoooo… I don’t feel good.”
“You need a break? Need something from the first-aid kit?”
“It’s not that. Something doesn’t feel right with me. Don’t know why.”
“Let’s take it slow and see what lies ahead. Jansen, cover me.”
“Got it.”
Upon opening the doors, the entire walls and ceiling displayed lemon yellow. However, the lighting made it hardly visible except at the center. There were three screens with black lights hanging over them.
The students cautiously walked towards the middle. Each one depicted different portraits.
On the left was the Terrapin mascot stepping on one building with its left leg.
On the right side a football player in their uniform carried the ball and stiff-armed as if it was for a photo shoot.
In the middle was a portrait of a middle-aged woman.
Julia’s pupils were as large as the moon and dropped her knife. Her body stunned from the waves of shocking information.
“Julia, are you ok?!” Allyson grabbed her roommate’s shoulders and rocked back and forth.
“UAHAHAHAHAHA!!”
“What the fuck?”
A snap of the fingers echoed throughout the entire perimeter. Behind the portraits, the woman in the gilded dress stood at the top of a staircase. Her evil smile fired a string of anxiety to Allyson and Jansen. She had her hands on her hips.
“I just knew you were going to come back, but I was not expecting myself to take such steps to make it to this floor.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Why just look at the three drawings in front of you,” the other Julia clapped her hands, changing the hanging lights to a much lighter shade. “Don’t they look familiar?”
“I don’t know what the fuck I’m supposed to see?”
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
Julia took several steps back while her arms violently shaking. “What did you do with my drawings?”
Allyson furrowed her eyebrows and turned to her roommate with widened eyes.
“You made these?”
The golden-dressed Julia chuckled while maintaining her creepy smile.
“Oh, she did make them, but she also abandoned them.”
With the exception of her roommate, she and Jansen faced the drawings with their tilted heads and narrowed eyes.
“Oh, did she not tell you? Oh, ho, ho, ho! This is just perfect!”
The other Julia clapped her hands twice before turning her back from her visitors. “I’ll let them speak for themselves.” Four canvases surrounded and encased her until they dropped to the floor. The other Julia was nowhere to be seen.
“What did she mean by that?” Allyson wondered.
All three drawings soon began to glow dark yellow. To Julia’s left was her roommate who had her right leg forward. She held her right hand up to her lower chest and positioned the Jingum’s blade across her front body. On her right, Jansen gripped the handle with both hands and oriented the weapon in front of him.
The Terrapin inside the drawing began to move its limbs. The woman in the middle of the drawing stood up and walked toward the screen. The football player dropped the football and jumped out of the drawing.
“Holy…shit.”
“Get ready!” Jansen raised his bat to where the handle was parallel to his face.
Allyson curled her left fingers inward, generating pulses of violet bolts. Julia covered the small handle with both hands and pointed the tip at the elderly woman. However, her arms continuously rattled while losing sight of her peripheral vision.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Jansen charged at the running back who was attempting to recover the football. With the bat in his left hand, he pulled it back at a slightly upward angle. Directing the weapon in a concave downward motion, the athlete grabbed the football with both gloves and twirled to the left.
The front tip of the ball was enclosed by the player’s right palm. The bottom tip was locked between the obliques and the inner elbow. Once the elbow closed the gap, the ball was secured. The running back used the free hand to grab Jansen’s face and shoved him back, engendering the man to collide against the yellow concrete ground.
Hopping back on his feet, Jansen chased the athlete who was running along the right side of the wall as if the player was sprinting down the sideline. The gap was far from inching closer. Jansen detected the player rushing toward the corner, so he decided to traverse in a different direction. He took off at a 45-degree angle to shorten the distance between him and his opponent. Once the running back turned left, Jansen was within distance to his opponent. This time, he readied the baseball bat with both hands and turned his body to the left. He then swung in a horizontal motion.
Only for the halfback to halt and scoot backward, just barely scraping off the uniform. He lost balance and fell head-on against the wall, banging his forehead in the process.
“AAAAAAGHHHH!!” Covered the damaged area with his free palm. “Damn it! If only…:”
Meanwhile on the other side of the battlefield.
Allyson dove left again while avoiding the Terrapin’s fireballs. Left knee pressed against the floor, she fired a lightning bolt which then crashed into the incoming projectile. The heavy, charcoal smoke blinded Allyson’s vision ahead of her.
She gripped the handle with both hands and angled the blade tip up. With her narrowed eyes and jutted jaw, Allyson rapidly jolted her head in different directions. However, no clear sighting of the enemy.
“Whew…whew…whew…whew…”
Then out of nowhere, a large swirling shell charged at her.
SMACK!!
Getting flung back over 15 feet, the swordfighter not only landed on her back, the back of her head collided with the ground. Allyson covered the area with her left palm.
“God…ffffffuck!”
The Terrapin stood over her with its right foot raised behind the shell. As the velocity of the claw approached her chest, Allyson immediately tightened her grip on the Jingum. Tucked her elbow close to her side, she flicked the handle upward.
Thud!
The blade’s tip collided against the claw, piercing deep into the foot.
“AAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!”
Her right arm continuously shook while maintaining the foot of the sword’s helm against the ground. Directing her left palm at the Terrapin’s head, she fired a long bolt of lightning.
The Terrapin pulled back its inflicted wound and fell back on its shell. Allyson jumped back on her feet and was right next to the fallen foe. Raising her sword and pointing her blade right above the plastron.
Her opponent began rotating in a rapid circular motion. After charging for a split second, the Terrapin released a huge momentum boost, plowing against Allyson’s legs. She spun sideways and landed on her left arm.
“AGH! You fucking cheater!”
The shell collided against the wall and redirected the direction to the swordfighter.
A quick glance at her sword before darting her eyes at her target. She stood motionless. “Steady…” Within closing distance, Allyson pierced the Jingum’s blade deep into the ground, angling it at 45 degrees. Right after, she sprinted in the other direction.
The Terrapin could not adjust its steer in time. Allyson skidded forward and fired a bolt of lightning at her Jingum. The waves of electricity pulsated through the sword. Every single static energy bounced back and forth at a light speed pace. Once the shell collided with the handle, the metallic blade exploded from the ground. The Terrapin skyrocketed straight up while the Jingum flew toward Allyson.
By some miracle, she raised her right hand and swiftly grabbed the handle without a single flinch detected in her body. She approached the Terrapin whose shell was against the floor. The head and limbs were tucked inside the shell.
Allyson positioned her Jingum horizontally, located the pocket where the head was located, and struck through.
No sounds from the Terrapin. Only its body was stunned by the impact before becoming motionless. The enemy slowly melted, traces of brown, red, and black paint running past the swordfighter.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Mrs. Daniels…”
“Julia Svihia,” the elderly woman spoke in breaks while crossing her arms. “I am hurt to see that you’re pointing that knife at me.”
“It’s not that; it’s just…”
The senior elevated her tone.
“It’s what? Abandoning your passionate work and caring only about the money?”
Her arms continued to rupture with anxiety. “No, no! It wasn’t about the money! I needed it to survive!”
“If it was not about the money, then why did you use that wretched AI art?”
Allyson stood still facing her roommate. Her arched eyebrows pinned at the artist.
Julia then brought the knife down to her right side before dropping the weapon.
“Work was getting stressful and deadlines were crunched up. If I can't meet the deadlines, then my work doesn’t get shown and I don’t get recognition, and I wouldn’t make…”
Mrs. Daniels closed her eyes and lowered her head. Julia hung her jaw open and coldly stared at her palms.
“Did I really…care only about the money?”
The old woman opened her moist eyes.
“You always love drawing so many things. From drawings of your family, the scenery of your backyard, or even your own characters, it was fascinating to see. I remember after you graduated middle school, years after, you came to me with a new art style that you discovered.”
She clapped twice. A holographic image of Julia in high school visiting her middle school teacher was rendered just above the woman.
“Mrs. Daniels!” Julia entered the empty classroom with a yellow folder in hand. “I finally wanted to show you something I’ve been working on for some time.”
It was a painting of Mrs. Daniels dressed as a superhero.
“This is such a beautiful painting, Julia, and not because it’s me in it. Everything about it feels so unique. I haven’t seen this style before but it truly fits you.”
“I just wanted to give this to you as a thank-you gift for guiding me to find this hobby that I really love! I’ll dedicate more work to you in the future. Don’t forget it!”
“After all that, it’s very disappointing to see that you resort to using a website to make art. You continued to do so, even if you did it one time just to get the work done. If that was truly the case, then why did you still go back to the site? Was it ever about the deadlines? Tell me, Julia, what was it about?”
Julia fell to her knees while still gazing at her palms. Clear beads streamed down her face.
“It’s because…I hated the one thing I loved to do becoming a chore.”
Mrs. Daniels widened her eyes a bit and was thrown off by her answer. Allyson hung her head lower.
“I just rather make things simple for myself and not stress too much on projects I just can’t willingly finish.”
Vibration hummed inside her left pocket. She pulled out her phone.
The yellow spherical ember barely glowed. Suddenly, a circular cursor navigated to the screen before, bit by bit, erasing the ember completely.
Once it had vanished, the cursor began to move again.
When will you stop lying to yourself?
"What?"
What is hidden inside that makes you afraid?
"..."
Since that night it was just more than meeting a deadline, more than needing money. What was it really about?
Her face was swollen and masked with a crimson shade. Drops of sorrowful tears broke the barrier from her eyes.
"It's such a stupid reason…and it was pretty much all of it. Everyone… thought my art style was ugly compared to my mutuals."
"Is that the reason?"
"Yeah, it actually is," she never lost contact with the screen. "Maybe using that site to make art to please them would be enough to get recognition. It did for a good while. Until I got busted for it. God, even someone like her knew the bullshit of AI art and I gave in."
Allyson diverted her gaze to the bottom right of her vision. Mrs. Daniels shut her eyes again but pressed her teeth against each other.
Julia suddenly stood up.
"How stupid of me to let that happen. I knew it was wrong but I did it anyway. It fucked me up so much that I lashed out to my friends and family. I can blame whoever but I let my art style die. I don’t know what else to do at this point."
It never died. Emerge its revival and be proud of your own creativity.
“Yeah… I won’t let what others think of my work anymore. I know why I love my style of work. It'll arise from the ashes once more. It's time I embrace it again! No more hiding!”
I must speak and open my heart to the Soul Portal.
The yellow orb returned and its radiance shone brighter than the rays of the morning dawn. Julia's tears vanished. She tightened her handle on the phone and frowned.
"I will… never forget the face that I once wore."
The phone levitated just inches off from her palm. It rotated helically at incredible velocity. During the motion, the phone's height became longer and length shrunk to an inch long. When the rotation ceased, a brush appeared. However, the bristle had a sharp tip. She merely gazed.
Then her lips crawled up.
Gently pressing the brush at the top center of her forehead, Julia traced a semi-circle on her right side. During that time, scarlet drops hung down the right face.
"Soul…"
She finished the other semi-circle shape on her left face. Only this time, cyber yellow blood came out.
"Portal…"
After lining down to her chin, she pushed off the brush from her face.
From the center, red paint flourished from the right and surrounded Julia. Yellow paint emerged from the left and enshrouded the artist's entire temple.
Inks exploded causing every droplet to splatter across the room. Yet no one was inflicted.
A black digital drawing pen intertwined with her right thumb, finger, and middle finger. A belt consisting of numerous pens distributed evenly around her waist. A gray beret sat comfortably on the artist's head. She wore yellow glasses with clear visors. Lastly, a wide screen tablet hovered in front of her.
Julia Svihia was ready to confront her world.