The winds blew heavy on Martin Delaine as he walked along across the open desert. Half of a sandstorm formed around him, a white lab coat repurposed as a head covering. The shorter fellow was able to maximize the space however, and the thick white sweater underneath saves his torso. Though, the white quickly faded, the opposite true for his charcoal hair.

He groaned as the winds forced him to his knees. He tried to scream out, but he had been walking for two days straight. With visibility having completely gone, any hope of bearings was lost. Martin accepted his fate, only wishing he could look up and see the stars. The faint dark blue peered through as the sands filled the sky like clouds, before it was all gone. He collapsed on the ground, curling up, waiting to die.

Martin's heavy eye's opened and closed, as his instincts fought his desire to sleep. He finally closed them for a while, it felt so nice. The sands didn't hurt anymore. Yet, a chill started to build. It started in his legs, then shot up to his body. His back began crying out, the lower half of his torso getting colder. He squinted open his eyes, quickly widening them as far as he could. Two masked figures dragged him by his feet, though Martin hadn't the strength the fight back. He attempted to let out a scream, though the desert winds refused to give him a voice. They approached black van, doors at the back already open for him. The Glassmasks threw him in, two seats on the either side, they didn't care what he picked. Though, he lay still on the ground for a moment, his entire body tinted the stark orange, yellow, and white palette of The Aleutian. He closed his eyes yet again.

When he opened again, the rumbling beneath him bounced his head around, forcing Martin to regain his neck strength. He had been placed on one of the seats, the two guards seated on the other side. He peeked up at them, expressionless faces behind a mask. The first seemed to be typing on a large datapad, though Martin was much too dazed to see. The second stared him down, face forward. Had it been a bit lighter, perhaps he might see where his eyes truly were. For all Martin knew, the guard was just asleep. He looked down, a pool of sand had formed on the ground, though mostly relegated to his side of the backseat. To his left, a metal grate, the implied movements on the other side suggested a drivers cockpit. For another time he dozed off.

When he regained conciousness, fully coming to, the light from the tinted windows was dimmed much more. Before he could turn back to the guards fully, they pulled a large silk bag over his head, that hung over his chin. It was only then Martin felt his hands tightly bound. Less of a lock, more as if he physically could not strengthen his arms to move apart. One of the guards banged on the wall behind him, and the driver on the other side yelled an approving codeword. "Foxtrot."

In the blink of an eye, a flashing light shot through the Martin's eyes. Even with the black bag, it was as if a flashbang set off in front of him. The accompanying ringing brought his head to his knees, and all his muscles tightened up.

As quickly as it started, the van seemed to impact the ground and rumble around. After a few seconds of silence, the guards took the bag off Martin's head, and opened the door beside them. The dim window, now turning away, revealing a large room with white and blue lights. Martin blinked his eyes, observing the large desks on the back wall, accompanied by large tanks full of water. The cat walk on the left side of the room appeared to lead to a long corridor, one much more ridden with white light.

He began to shake, the feeling in his arms again. Martin was about to thrash out, when he took another glance around his surroundings. It was familiar, the tanks of water brought back a certain smell.

Before he could finish the thought forming in his mind, a tall figure appears outside the van door. Long, colorful lines flowed down flowing white robes, leading up to a black hooded face, covered in glass similar to the guards. Though, differently, the glass seemed flat on top of his face, not forming in anyway. The glass revealed itself to be a screen, as electronic lights formed itself into a smiling face.

A voice shot out from the bottom of the screen, though the image of the smiling face did not change.

"Martin! It's been so long!" An electric voice akin to autotune mixed over a real voice being spoken behind the mask. His voice was enthusiastic, but his body remained cold. Martin froze up, though he tried to move his legs.

The robed figure reached his arms out behind him. "I brought you home! Aren't you excited?" He took a step towards the van, and reached his other hand in over Martins shoulder. He led Martin out of the truck; Martin could only follow, unable to move on his own. As Martin got on his feet out of the van, the robed figure tightened his grip around the shoulder across his body.

Oh. This isn't good.

"As you can see, it's just the same way you left it!" The figure painted his hands around the area.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Oh. It's Devon.

Martin hadn't been to this bunker in years. The tanks behind the large work table were lit directly by the cyan spotlights, giving the illusion the water was heavily colored. On one wall, a closet locked by an auto-door. On the other side, a large blast door stood out as a new addition to him. It slowly opened up as the van behind them backed out into it.

"Oh!" The masked man, Devon, threw his other hand over Martin, and pulled his face into his flat mask. The smiling face of lights dimmed out, and the shape of a large eye formed on the screen. The electronic half of his voice lowered, though Devon's real voice stayed the same.

"The next time you leave us, it will be to the grave!" He spoke cheerily. He slapped Martin on the back and then walked back to the van backing up. Devon hopped up on the step under the van door, his hand reaching into the window and holding on to the van from inside. He turned around to Martin as the van crossed the doorway, and the large blast door closes. The eye on his facemask still shining out, staring back at Martin.

Martin gulped down his tension, as chills ran down his body. His muscles reawakened, as his legs shook up to support himself. The blast doors closed, and the echo of the impact of the door to the ground echoed across the open space. He turned around, the silence returning.

I'm not leaving here, am I...

>---[:::::]---<

Rhyder stood staring down the empty road. The morning light shooting out, reflecting Nuvyron back to him. He squinted his eyes, standing in the middle of the road, a few minutes out from the junction.

"Hmm..." Rhyder subtly nodded his head. Leon walked up beside him, who had driven in his car up farther. Rhyder had stopped, his Constructor losing power. They had gotten out of the Low Rider, Rhyder not stopping until he found something.

"So?" Leon asked. "Verdict?"

"I can't tell anything." Rhyder sighed. Leon giggled in reply, and Rhyder turned towards her. "What?"

"Glad to here you admit that."

"Alight, alright..." He swatted his hands in front of him, walking back to the Low Rider. Leon shortly followed after giving her own look out into the distance.

Romilly and Aeolus got to their feet and Rhyder and Leon returned. Scotty had crawled into the white truck, sleeping in the back. Rhyder pulled up in the middle of the road. He didn't get out of the truck, but Leon ran over to her buggy. She flipped on her comms systems, and static rang out louder than usual.

"Stars bless me..." Leon grumbled.

Romilly turned over. "Leon..."

Leon didn't turn over, instead slamming her hand against the metal terminal in the passenger seat of her buggy. "Listen! There is nothing!"

Rhyder sighed in his car, then yelled out to the group. "Everything's frying."

Aeolus looked around at the rebels. "So..." He stuttered a moment, looking out past the Low Rider. "We're just not doing anything?"

"We need idea's first, mate." Rhyder grumbled.

Aeolus squinted his eyes, then walked over to the drivers side of the truck. He opened the door and sat in, leaning over the passenger seat. "Let's just go. There's no reason to-"

Rhyder yelled out. "That's not how it works! You're going to-"

Romilly then interjected. "No I'll..." He lifted is hand, turning from Rhyder to Aeolus, then back again. "I'll go with him."

Rhyder rolled his eyes. He paused a moment, before waving his hand out his window. He nodded his head, and Romilly headed for the passenger seat of the truck.

>---[:::::]---<

Aeolus and Romilly drove down the road to Nuvyron, the others staying behind. Aeolus was behind the wheel, Romilly lounging off in the passenger seat. The sun behind them, bouncing off the glass obelisk, they drove a little slower due to the glare.

"I don't understand. I mean, we're here! Let's just..." Aeolus waivered off in his speech, sighing as he returned to silence.

Romilly perked up, though his eyes remained closed next to Aeolus. "Sometimes you can't rush in."

"Then what are we even doing? Come on, I just don't see the point."

"You don't always need to see the point." Romilly sounded more unenthused, though, he was finding it hard to not doze off, as Aeolus' voice blended in with the background in his mind.

"I ne- We need to keep going. That's all I know."

Romilly's eyes cracked open a bit, staring over at Aeolus for a moment. Aeolus glanced over at him, noticing Romilly was properly looking over at him.

Romilly sighed after a moment, closing his eyes again. "Why are you so invested in this? I get if you want to get back at FEA, but maybe you need to slow down. It's been two days. Have you even thought about-" Romilly stopped as Aeolus sighed.

"I don't know..." Aeolus began shaking his head. "I don't know, I just feel like I..." He held his breath, trying to find the words. "Need to get to this place."

Romilly perked up yet again. "What place?"

"The..." Aeolus hadn't even considered that he didn't actually know. None of them know. "You know, the..." Aeolus took a deep breath, though ironically it was as quickly as he could. "I need to keep going, that's all I know."

"Maybe what you need to do is think about why you need to keep going." Romilly reduced to a mutter, as he finally slipped passed the line into unconsciousness, officially dozing off, though Aeolus didn't realize.

"Romilly, I know its been two days. It's like my brain has been telling me that this is OK, this absolute... Chaos. I can't explain it fully, it's like there's something that's been calling me. When we got to Ool, I felt it stronger. Ever since we've been on the road, that call has increased even more. I know what I want." He took another breath, though slower than his last. "I need to figure out what I'm supposed to do. I ne-"

Aeolus' monologue was interrupted by a deafening flash with, ironically, a deafening ring following it. White nothingness filled up Aeolus' eyes, as the truck disappeared from his feeling; It was as if he was now floating. In the single second of transfer, Aeolus closed his eyes shut, though the light seemed to be so blinding that it leaked through his eyelids.

It all ended in black so suddenly.