On the vast, deserted land appears a huge red vehicle five-meters tall. It's thick wheels keep rolling and rolling in a gradual pace. The bright sun lays its gaze upon the vehicle making its bright reddish color noticeable even from meters away, if there's anyone noticing that is. The huge drill at the front initially could only intimidate the gazing eyes but now it can actually gives people sleepless night due to an upgrade.
Its inside is a forth-dimensional room so the inside is bigger than estimated to be from the outside. Four beds are neatly organized in the back along with a table and some small chairs serving as a dinning place. The door to the restroom is only three meters away from the aligned beds. In the haft-front are driving seats and a control board featuring a handle for driving. The passengers have occupied all the seats, one doing the driving and the other three are minding their business.
This time Chella lets Gilbert drive because he suggested it, saying he was bored. Chella simply agreed because she wanted to have time for reading comic books. So in the end, it is a win-win. Nova is occupied with playing chest with Digit but it seems like she loses all the rounds so she protests to herself. Evaline is in deep thoughts about her past life with her parents. Even when she's trying to enjoy her new beginning, she cannot stop missing them. Her parents would want her to live her best.
Gilbert focuses on the road as he drives but he doesn't see anything noticeable so far. The underground dwellers like him and his granddaughter don't know much about the surface, only learned it from history so he is unsure how vast the continent they are in. Nova rage quits after loosing to an A.I so many rounds of chest.
"Grandpa! Haven't you seen any town or any sign of life at all."
"Patient. I am old but not senile, I'm sure that all I see is a deserted land."
"It is strange that we have gone so far without seeing anything noticeable. This world can't be empty. There must be something, something at all."
"Yeah, no comic books depicted Earth to be like that. Only on some different planets."
"The outer space? Makes senses."
They keep going on the lone road with everyone minding their own business. Suddenly the Omega-Driller stops on its track and the light inside the room shuts off. It becomes to dark for everyone to see so Nova takes out a flash light. She suggests to check the engine, hence everyone gets out of the vehicle and Nova examines the engine. She sees that it's somehow busted.
This means that they're now stuck in the middle of nowhere. Chella suggests the hoverbike but it's also broken. The group is now stuck in one of the most awkward situation ever known to mankind. Chella suggests to walk because there is no way they can drag the vehicle along, knowing how big and heavy it is.
And thus, the group has to rely on walking after so long. The sunlight makes it even less pleasant. But there are no better options so they have to bear with it for a while. They walk and walk and so on for what feels like hours. Then they all collapse on the ground.
Unexpectedly, Chella notices a lemonade stand in the middle of nowhere. She crawls her way toward it and finds a person wearing a pumpkin mask. He offers four free cups of lemonade because she and her friends are lucky customers. The rest follow Chella and they all drink lemonade together, suddenly their bodies are shrouded in darkness. They try to scream but it's pointless. Yet, the weirdness won't just end there.
Nova wakes up and sees herself inside an abandoned mine. The yoyo she always brings with herself is nowhere to be seen but there's a flashlight at least. She moves forward, deeper and deeper into the mine with no exit.
It is frightening to be stuck somewhere without even seeing a single soul other than you around. The place seems oddly quiet, only Nova's footsteps can be heard. She can see herself almost freaked out. Usually she's enthusiastic and quite a loud mouth sometimes, but not having a single person around to express such traits to makes it unbearably eerie. Nova can only hope to finally see Chella or her grandfather walking around in this dark place.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
Contrary to her hope, the sounds of footsteps that aren't hers does not put her at ease. To her surprise, what emerges from far away are two figures walking like they're trying to drag their bodies along. On top of that, their faces are recognizable to Nova.
"Dad...? Mom...?"
""...""
"Is...that really you two? You're still aliv-"
""GROOOAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!""
"Kyaaaaa!"
She wants to confirm if it's them, but the sudden roaring says no. Every inch of her body is urging to get away from them as far as possible. And so she runs her fastest. A heartwarming reunion is too good to be true in this kind of situation and atmosphere. She eventually finds a broken bridge, it will be hard to jump across but if she doesn't, her fate will be worse.
She inhales and takes all her inner strength and use them on a leap. She isn't too athletic but it is fine, at least she successfully gets away from the mysterious creatures looking like a parents. She lies down and rests while preventing herself from shredding tears. Because that reminds her of something she wished to forget a long time ago.
...
Years ago, Nova was still a little girl. Unlike any other kids, making friends was quite a challenge for her. Because of the ability she manifested at a young age and as a child she was, wouldn't be able to be aware of what she could do.
When she tried making friends, she accidentally put some other kids into a coma. Some ended up unable to feel their limbs. Their parents of course, protested and demanded justice for their children. They wanted her gone or at least expelled from town. Hence, Gilbert left along with her and they both moved to a different town with her ability suppressed thanks to a vaccination he developed.
The worst part about it was that her parents died on the day she manifested her ability. Back then there was an earthquake which caused an underground passage to collapse, her parents hugged her before leaving her to Gilbert's care as they went in and tried to save those left behind. After the rescue they would get out themselves but suddenly they couldn't move an inch of muscle and ended up buried under the rocks. It took a whole day for the miners to dig out their lifeless corpse.
Only in the days after that Nova overheard the truth while Gilbert were discussing with some scientists. Her mind responded with such traumatic truth by subconsciously burying the memories about her ability. Thus she forgot and became unaware of herself having an Apex ability.
...
Nova knew the moment she realized the existence of her power, she would remember it as well. Yet, she doesn't want to end up blaming herself for what had happened. Suddenly she notices a horde of humanoid creatures bearing the faces of her parents crawling on the ceiling. She tries to use her power but can't. Without a choice, she runs again like how she would run from her tragic past.
The creatures are chasing after her restlessly. She wonders as if she still subtly felt guilty for what happened, whether true or false she can't use her power. Running fast as she does, the creatures are still on her tail.
Suddenly she finds herself surrounded in every corner. With nowhere to run, she can only cower as these creatures slowly approached her like carnivores eyeing on their prey. Nova believes this to be the hell made to trap her for eternity. She only utters a few apologies before submitting to her fate.
Yet, a bright light from somewhere doesn't seem to allow such end for her. The hostile creatures are blinded by the light emitting from two figures who look like her parents. They reach out their hands and obliterate the creatures with two huge laser blasts from the palms. Then they descend like angels from the heaven and offer to help her stand up, to which she reaches out her hand after hesitating for a bit.
"A-are you really... dad and mom?"
"We are but at the same time, aren't."
"He meant we were created from your memories."
"My...memories."
"Your friend summoned us and asked our aid in finding you. In fact, she's coming right now."
"Nova, you're safe."
"Chella, you too!"
"But...how? How did you summon my parents?"
"This is actually a dream world, a nightmare to be exact."
"Wait what, all of this isn't real?"
"No, we're trapped inside a dream world. Someone has done this to us."
"Who?"
"I don't know, but let's find a way out."
Chella and Nova look around in the world that seems real but isn't with the protection of two guardians. For now they should look for the other two who might be trapped as well. Still, Nova feels awkward to see the faces of her parents again after years of avoiding talking about them.
Chella finds a rift, just like the one that led her to Nova earlier. They traverse through it despite being wary of the possible risks. Then they find Gilbert wandering in an abandoned hospital. Chella informs Gilbert that this isn't the real world and someone has trapped them in here for who knows long.