Chapter 14

“We’re almost to the factory in Orange Grove,” Thomas explained.

The five Armor Wielders and one changeling crept down the tunnel of flesh as Thomas informed Aaron. Robert, a gorilla changeling, stabbed the area they walked in with the suppression spikes. His body wasn’t entirely ape-like save his talon-like claws for hands and feet slightly thinner than a gorilla’s should be.

“My feet are nimble enough to minimize the pressure Seren absorbs,” Robert said. “If trouble comes our way, I’ll jump in and give you guys time to transform.”

Akemi’s right hand was sheathed in a black glove that looked like a squishy internal organ. It pulsed like a heart and the pulsating veins flowed with glowing yellow liquid. She looked down at it every so often and pointed to which tunnel they should take.

From what Akemi explained, the gauntlet imprinted the map directed into one’s mind. There was no interpreting it or even getting it wrong since the directions were downloaded into the user’s consciousness. She had been leading them since she was a technician familiar with Fulir’s technology.

“The map gauntlet has charted every place we’ve traveled through,” Akemi stated. “As long as you’re wearing it, the gauntlet will record the areas you’ve traveled through and convert it into a map. While we only station Remnant Villages in specific areas, we’ve mapped a great portion of Seren’s innards. This way.”

A four way intersection appeared at the end of the tunnel. Akemi pointed to the right as she looked down at the map gauntlet. Everyone stood still as Robert uprooted one of the suppression spikes on the floor before stabbing it beside them. The reddish flesh closed over as soon as Robert took it out.

They’d repeated this process of walking forward only a few feet before Robert unplugged and then replugged the pins into Seren’s flesh. Robert had a bag filled with food and supplies for their trip. They’d had to conserve rations in order to fuel themselves for the long walk. It was mostly fruit that filled Aaron as though he’d eaten a whole meal.

“I hope you know you’re being very selfish to force these people to go with you,” Helena said. “You’re endangering so many lives in doing this.”

Aaron was shutting off her words as best he could. The truth was that he did feel guilty for what he was doing and he knew how selfish this was of him. But the fear of never seeing Elizabeth again overrode his guilt. When Aaron thought of a future without her, it was scarier than death.

In high school I imagined us getting married, having children, coming home to work to kiss each other and make dinner. He thought. To be inseparable. I’d almost dare call it a fairy tale ending. And it was so close. Well…I’ll pry Elizabeth out of Fulir’s hands soon enough.

“Be quiet,” Owen said. “He is on a noble quest, doing what he believes is right. This is the most honorable thing Aaron has done with his life up to this point.”

“You snake…” Helena hissed.

Aaron willed her to keep silent within his Soul Chamber, Helena becoming mute as a result.

“I just wonder what our little Aaron will think of Elizabeth after seeing what Fulir’s done to her,” Gregor laughed. “You can never be sure if she remembers him or not.”

“We’re here,” Akemi said. “The factory is just above this four-way tunnel.”

Aaron felt relieved. After three hours of their travels, the six finally reached Orange Grove. The trek was exhausting since they had little time for rest.

Each dull minute they marched through the dimly lit tunnel. Aaron’s feet still stank like a bathroom stall from Gregory’s attempt to influence him. Even after his feet dried they still wreaked. Just beyond this intersection lay the base of the factory. However, that mattered little to the young man. All that Aaron could think about during their trip was Elizabeth.

As soon as I’m there…He thought. At this place…I’ll make you remember. I’ll undo whatever damage you’ve experienced. You will always be the most important thing to me. Even as kids that was true.

The boring and monotonous travel was finally at the sight of the four-way intersection. However, the six stood still between the two pins in a space of about fifteen feet. They had to be wary of transports entering through the tunnels. Aaron was cramped as Luis pressed against his right side while Kaitlyn did his left. No one made a single sound as they listened for any movement nearing them. Not a minute passed before a whooshing sound filled the interior of the tunnel.

“At the back of the tunnel!” Thomas cried. “Robert, now!”

Robert knew the routine after repeating it so many times. In his transformed state Robert not only had superhuman dexterity and speed but accuracy. He could see better in the dark than any human.

He reached both hands into his bag to produce two suppression spikes. The changeling flung one suppression spike behind them with all his strength before disappearing. A light squishing sound could be heard to signal it penetrated Seren’s flesh.

Robert then flung the second behind them but not directly into the darkness of the tunnel. Rather than landing on the wall furthest to their back, this spike stabbed into the wall on their left side. Another quite squishing sound could be heard once the pin hit its intended target. The small pin could be seen hanging off the left wall in the low light of the tunnel.

Every time they heard a transport coming by, Robert drove the pins to their back every time. With those two pins covering the back and two more along the floor of the tunnel, this area of Seren was completely deadened. The planet-sized organism couldn’t track the pressure of their footsteps.

“Go!” Robert shouted.

All six of them fled to the back of the tunnel. Robert got to the back of the tunnel before the Armor Wielders. Aaron’s heart raced with anxiety before he found the very back of the tunnel, this area darker than the portion up ahead.

Akemi and Luis were already lying against the back of the tunnel before Aaron did the same. Robert stood with his back against the end of the wall before Thomas and Kaitlyn raced behind Aaron. Aaron dived down to lay on his stomach as Thomas and Kaitlyn knelt on the floor beside him.

Aaron looked up to see that the transport zipped ahead of them with a metallic blur. The force of the transport kicked up wind that raced down the tunnel to blow everyone’s hair back. Once the transport sped past them, the Armor Wielders stood up while Robert walked out from behind the wall next to him.

After it disappeared from sight, Robert took the spikes he’d recently thrown from the wall of Seren. The six marched back to the intersection. Robert took the two suppression spikes he’d thrown and put them back in his bag. He walked in front of the Armor Wielders.

“I’m getting pretty sick of this,” Kaitlyn said. “How much time have we lost running from a transport seeing us? We’ve done it a million times already.”

“Well you won’t have to do it any longer,” Akemi said with a groan. “Because we’ve made it.”

“Finally,” Luis said. “We get some vengeance on these Fulir creeps.”

“I thought you didn’t want to come?” Thomas asked.

“I didn’t,” he replied. “Still don’t. But at least I’ll be able to kill a few of them in revenge.”

“I feel the same way,” Robert said. “I was a happy man until they turned me into a monster.”

After all six of them stopped at the intersection, Akemi tapped the gauntlet on her hand repeatedly.

“The factory is directly above us,” she said. “We need to get ready right now.”

“And what does that mean?” Aaron asked.

“It means more than just transforming,” Thomas said. “We have to keep our presence explicitly shielded from Fulir. Robert….”

The gorilla changeling stepped in front of Aaron and the changeling reached into his bag to reveal a ring shaped device. It was purple and about the size of a man’s head. Black buttons surrounded it.

“What is that?” he asked.

“A sensory suppressor rings,” Robert answered. “You wear it and Yeltael cannot gain a visual of you. Not only are you immune to the memory manipulation of it but you’ll be invisible to Fulir. They won’t notice you.”

“Really?” Aaron asked. “Then why doesn’t everyone just wear one?”

“Because we don’t have many of them,” Thomas answered. “Like the suppression pins, the technology like this was stolen from Fulir and adapted by our technicians. We don’t have nearly enough for the entire village, only a little more than a dozen. We only use them in emergencies and we don’t permanently give it to anyone. We give the rings out with the expectation that they will be given back and if not…we’ll take it back by force.”

“We brought seven,” Robert said. “An extra in case it's needed. Everyone…fit these around your wrist and touch them.”

“They look a bit too big for that,” Aaron said.

“Just do it,” Akemi groaned.

Robert handed out the suppressor rings so that they each took one before he was left with one. Aaron held one in his hand before putting his left arm through the wide circular object. As soon as he did, the purple ring shrunk until wrapped around his wrist like a band. He saw that the other five rings did the same to the rest of them.

“Wow,” he said. “I see it retracted.”

“Right,” Akemi said. “The suppressor rings are made to adapt to any size. Now, time to climb out the tunnel. Someone needs to press the ceiling in the middle of the intersection.”

“Wait!” Luis said. “You’re forgetting the Signal Inhibitor.”

“I got it,” Robert said.

From the bag around him, Robert produced a slim metal square with a dozen buttons on it in different colors. It was about two inches thick and a foot wide. It was a sleek gray color that reminded Aaron of silver.

“Almost forgot,” Akemi said. “Hand it here.”

After taking it, Akemi turned it over to look at the plain, featureless backside. She pressed very hard on it with her thumb only for the metal to open in four paper-like creases, like origami. She then took a pen from inside and began poking portions of the inside. Akemi’s prodding of the inside of the machine produced small shards of blue electricity.

“What is she doing?” Aaron asked.

“It’s a Signal Inhibitor,” she explained. “It prevents incoming and outgoing transmissions that Fulir could pick up on with Yeltael or Seren. I’m activating it to form a parameter where all their communication will be blocked for a diameter of one mile.”

“But won’t Fulir find it suspicious that their communications are blocked in one specific area?” Aaron asked.

“That’s the beauty of it,” Akemi replied. “It doesn’t just shut off signals. The Inhibitor sends out false transmissions as well. The signals Yeltael will receive will be similar to the ones it’s been fed for the last few hours. In this way it’s like a suppressor ring, camouflaging us in with the rest of the area.”

“But it has a time limit,” Luis said. “And the wider the area, the shorter that limit. Usually the inhibitor’s signal doesn’t have more than a few hours before it shuts off. And after that it has to regain its charge. How much time for the two hundred feet?”

“Between an hour and a half and two hours,” Akemi said. “About the length of your average movie.”

“Darn it,” Thomas said. “I was hoping for a three hour time limit. Guess we’ll just have to be faster than I thought.”

“But this is alien technology, right?” Aaron asked. “How are you guys able to use machinery built by a civilization way more advanced than human engineering?”

“Because of the former wielders who speak to us,” Akemi said as she prodded the interior of the machine. “Many of them were not only soldiers but Fulir technicians and engineers. As a result, their knowledge is ours. And the wielders living within the Feather Armor happened to be very knowledgeable about this.”

He rushed toward the intersection before stepping in the middle of the four-way tunnel. Robert then jumped with his arm held high and slammed into the ceiling above them. To Aaron’s surprise, the circular piece of ground above them rose up and slid out of their way like an automated door. As soon as light from above entered the tunnel, Aaron could see a row of metal rungs materialize out of thin air in front of them. Robert then gestured to Akemi.

“Ladies first,” he said.

The woman rolled her eyes before placing the Signal Inhibitor on the fleshy floor of Seren.

“We’ll leave it there before coming back,” she said. “Hopefully, with Aaron’s girlfriend.”

“Fiance!” he shouted.

One by one they all climbed out until reaching the surface. Once all six had left the tunnels, Robert lightly kicked the piece of metal so that it slid back into place. Aaron noticed that it had the same nine-sided triangle design as the manhole that he first jumped into.

However, he thought little of it once he looked at the location around him. It was a pretty shoddy part of town. Aaron had been to Orange Grove a few times before in his life but had never seen this side of it.

There were no houses to speak of, only old looking businesses. Tin roofs and old, dilapidated brick buildings surrounded them. Moss covered many of the ones made of stone or red brick but those made of plaster had holes or deep depressions in them. The sidewalks were cracked and the roads full of potholes. He saw no traffic in terms of cars and only two or three pedestrians walking down the streets with dour expressions. A few saw them emerge from the manhole but fled at the sight rather than stopped to ask questions.

The only building that looked even remotely like it had life was the large factory directly in front of them. Across the street was a warehouse that looked to be the biggest building around. It may have been a thousand feet wide across, maybe fifty feet tall.

Despite its size, Aaron doubted it was active. Aaron couldn’t even see light from the windows within it. The factory looked in good condition but wasn’t stellar.

“So is this where they produce changelings?” he asked. “And experiment on abducted humans?”

“Yep,” Robert said. “I-I’ve been here before…”

His talon-like claws curled into fists as a strange expression spread across his face. Aaron couldn’t tell if it was fear, anger or sorrow. It could only be a mixture of them.

“It’s the place where every nightmare I’ve ever had since then takes place,” he said. “It’s where they changed me into a monster.”

“How did you escape?” Aaron asked.

“I was a fluke,” Robert said. “That I was the less than one percent of cases that wasn’t affected by Yeltael’s orders. It doesn’t mean I’m immune…it’s just the brainwashing effects must have been malfunctioning or the orders didn’t get through in time. In a way that’s even scarier.”

“How is it scary?” Aaron asked. “You managed to avoid their grasp, didn’t you?”

“It’s scary that I only did this because of a very improbable set of circumstances,” Robert said. “I just have so little control over my own freedom. And this place…this place reminds me of just that.”

“Most of the changelings who fled into the bowels of Seren come from this place specifically,” Thomas said. “I don’t just think it’s the largest producer of them in this area. It may be on the planet.”

“Bold claim,” Kaitlyn said. “But if it’s true then this should be a rather interesting experience. I wonder what kind of monsters they have stored there.”

“But this place looks so deserted,” Aaron said. “Like it hasn’t had anyone working here for ten years.”

“Aaron,” Thomas said, annoyed. “Do you really think they’d fit their largest changeling conversion operation in the middle of a thriving cosmopolitan area where there are a million people to see?”

“But couldn’t they just manipulate everyone’s memories so they don’t remember it?” Aaron asked.

“Yes,” Akemi answered. “But why erase memories of things they don’t want you to see when they could just have nobody see it?”

“Oh,” he replied. “Makes sense.”

“Now,” Thomas said. “Let’s get this over with. Whoever’s in there has probably noticed their communications with Fulir have stopped. Best take them by surprise while they’re still confused. Transform now!”

Aaron had begun to put his armor on before Thomas even ordered it. The green pinecone protruded from his body before flattening against the surface of his skin. White bark grew over both his hands and feet before his hair darkened to an almost black green and it stiffened into spikes. Finally, the palm leaves sprouted from Aaron’s neck to wrap around his throat and billow like a scarf.

Before running towards the factory he looked back to see the others were midway into their transformation. None of them were any slower than the split second morphing that took place but Aaron was too focused on saving Elizabeth to care. After a quick glance to those behind him, he raced towards the factory before anyone else.

I’m getting you back. Were the only words that filled his mind. I’m getting you back, now.

He punched the doors to the factory open for them to swing wide. He thought they would be bolted closed and Aaron was right. However, when he entered the building, he found a surprise waiting for him.

Kyle Ayers was standing at the opposite end of the warehouse glaring at him. He was in human form with two people at his side. Aaron looked around to find changelings standing along the walkways above them.

“I am glad to see Sir Kyle,” Owen said. “It is good he has arrived to put an end to this chaos.”

“Kyle?” Helena shouted. “What is he doing here?!”

Monsters whose bodies were mixed hodge lodges of different creatures stared down at Aaron with a predatory gaze. Winged lions whose four feet clacked against the metal rails growled in anticipation of a fight. Leathery, thick wings flapped as the grasshopper-like creatures they were equipped to chirped with rhythmic, almost musical.

His sole thought of rescuing Elizabeth was replaced with a sudden, rational fear.

They were waiting for us. Aaron realized. But how? How did they even know?

When Aaron took his eyes off the many changelings, he looked at the actual floor of the warehouse. It was like nothing he’d ever seen. The closest approximation would be out of a nightmare.

Human beings had wires plugged into any part of their body, from their chest and head to their backs. The ends of the wires attached to the victims occasionally zapped with electricity, causing the human to jolt in agony. They were laid on metal tables where they splayed out and strapped down. Most were asleep before a zap from the wire connected to them would cause them to wake up and they would seizure as a result.

But it wasn’t the only set of devices. Large glass spheres twice as tall as a grown man were stationed against the wall with something that vaguely looked like humans inside. However, the kind of organisms within greatly varied with each clear sphere.

Some were people curled into balls and sleeping peacefully. But most that were sleeping had some amount of inhuman features. Spikes on the body, small winglets or blue and red skin. Aaron noticed that as time passed the more inhuman features they grew. Some were more animalistic than human. Other creatures were less human and more masses of screaming flesh.

Their body had been broken down and they existed as a semi-liquid lying as a pool at the bottom of the spheres with a mouth and eyes. These poor souls had their bodies constantly being mashed together by an invisible force and restructured, like clay in the hands of an unseen being. While Aaron why they would need to go through such horrendous pain before he saw with each restructuring effort their body became a little bit more human-shaped with each push of the invisible force. Some even became curled, sleeping humans within their chamber.

There were small, silver tables with glass cylinders atop them. Embryonic, fetuses of creatures floated within, twitching or opening their eyes. Like the creatures in the glass orbs, some of the embryos looked non-human as they had spikes, unnaturally colored skin or claw-like or wing-like appendages. However, Aaron saw that most of this was moved to the side, pressed against the walls. to leave a wide open space. It reassured him that this was all planned out ahead of time.

However, just as Aaron stepped forward to confront Kyle, something caught his eye. It was the only changeling that was moving down from the scaffolding above. She took graceful steps down the stairs as Aaron examined every inch of her.

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“E-E-Elizab-b-beth?” he asked.

Aaron could hear the footsteps of his comrades rushing behind him before he saw them fan out around him. Each one stopped dead in their tracks to look at the dozens of changelings above them. They seemed just as surprised as he was.

“What?!” Akemi asked. “Were they planning this?”

“Kyle!” Thomas hissed. “What are you doing here?!”

“I knew he was a spy!” Luis said. “This boy led us into Fulir’s hands on purpose!”

“And why should that be a bad thing?” Kaitlyn asked, the stream of lava surrounding her melting the floor. “So many opponents to fight. The variety of changelings here…I’ve never seen so many monsters like this before. And with Kyle…this should be interesting. I might even have a warrior’s death.”

But Aaron had no such fear. He was no longer concerned with anything except Elizabeth. As she walked down to stand near Kyle, he keenly observed how she changed.

There was no mistaking it. It was Elizabeth but changed. Monstrous was not the word to describe her but she couldn’t be called human either. She was taller now than before.

Her skin was even paler now and took on a crystalline appearance. It shined with a gem-like glow. Aaron couldn’t help but wonder how her skin looked to be made of clear diamonds but had no chisel marks in them. The surface of her body looked unnaturally smooth, like she’d kept her skin so unblemished it was almost like marble.

Her blond hair was no longer strands of gold but looked more like a living organism. It was thicker and adhered together, almost like a curtain that surrounded her whole head except for her face. Strands of it twitched about like tentacles and hissed before returning to the rest of the appendage.

A purple gem was centered on her forehead on both sides of her hands and the top of her feet. For clothes, she was wrapped in yellow sashes that sprouted from her body and that tightly clung to her. Her blue irises were now slitted like a reptile.

“I see you recognize your former mate,” Kyle said.

“Elizabeth…?” Aaron said.

There was no answer at first, the girl merely smiling smugly. This angered Aaron, panic flowing through him. Helena was about to say something within his Soul Chamber but he muted her before she could. He knew what she was about to say and didn’t want to hear it.

“Elizabeth!” he shouted. “Do-Do you remember me?!”

The girl cackled in reply.

“Of course, Aaron,” she said. “I know you better than my former self did.”

“Wh-What?!” he demanded.

“Aaron,” she said with a vile smirk. “Did you really think we were in love?”

“W-Well-” he said. “Y-Yes! I do! I do believe we’re in love! I’m still in love with you! No matter what you are…no matter how you look or what you transform into…”

His vision became blurry as tears pooled within his eyes.

“I still love you,” Aaron said. “Because you’re Elizabeth! You always have been and you always will be! You’re gentle and sweet and…and wonderful! How could I not?!”

Her expression was filled with a dark mirth that he’d never seen before. Rather than respond, Elizabeth raised her left arm above her head. Aaron noticed that it was pointed at the changelings standing aboard the walkways above them.

Without warning, the violet gems on her left hand glowed vibrantly before a flash of purple light expelled from it. The jet of dark purple light struck an elephant changeling above her. Aaron and his comrades turned to the targeted changeling to see them fall over, their chest pierced by the blast of violet light like they’d been speared through.

“No!” Aaron shouted.

The creature with the legs, gray skin and tusks of an elephant roared in pain and careened over the railway to fall over. With a crash the bipedal monster slammed into the floor of the factory, its mouth ajar and tongue hanging out of its jaws. It bled from the gaping hole in its right chest. The only portion of its body that did not appear elephant-like, its orangutan-like arms covered in orange fur, twitched for a moment before lying still.

“Does a sweet and gentle creature do that?” Elizabeth asked.

“You murdered one of your own comrades?!” Aaron demanded. “What monster does such a thing?! Imagine if it had been one of our friends!”

“We have more of those,” Elizabeth said. “He was more useful as a demonstration than as a soldier. And none of you are my friends.”

“I-I-I cannot believe you…” Aaron said, barely able to speak. “You…you’re…you’re not Elizabeth. She would never kill anything! She would say all creatures deserve the right to live!”

“Of course not,” Elizabeth replied. “These creatures are lower life forms. Changelings and armor wielders alike are meant to serve Fulir and have no purpose other than as slaves. Humans are worthless otherwise.”

“How could you say that!” Aaron shouted.

“But it’s true,” she replied. “Humans’ minds are so easily manipulated by Yeltael that even with them hearing us talking about false memories and degrading them…they don’t even care. Their minds have been warped to merely accept that. But the people of Fulir are higher beings. In the same way dogs and cats served humanity for hunting and getting rid of pests, humans exist for the same reason as the people of Fulir.”

“No…” Aaron said. “You…you’re not the Elizabeth I wanted to marry.”

“Oh,” she said. “You’re right…but I’m just not the Elizabeth you know. In fact…Elizabeth doesn’t exist. Nor has she ever existed.”

“No…” he breathed, his voice shaking too badly to speak.

Aaron’s world was crumbling. There was no other way he could describe it. His legs were shaking so bad he could barely stand up. Aaron was sure that his armor was giving him the physical support needed to maintain balance. If he’d been in human form he’d be on his hands and knees weeping. And this did not go unnoticed by the inhabitants of the Absorption Armor.

“I told you!” Helena shouted. “Over and over and over again to let her go! But you would never do it! Elizabeth is gone!”

“This is the end for us!” Luis shouted. “We were doomed from the start!”

“I thought that this would be for not,” Akemi said. “I went along because I had to but…but this was never going to work out.”

“I agree,” Thomas said. “We will all most likely die here.”

That was what did it. The acknowledgement of someone else that there was no taking his fiance back. Aaron collapsed at her words, landing on his hands and knees and sobbed as loud as possible.

He was slightly grateful that his tears were being absorbed by his armor as they quickly dried up before rolling down his face. It prevented the bit of liquid from trapping in his helmet, drowning him. But besides that, this was the lowest point of his life and Aaron felt no gratitude for anything.

He wished that he was dead right now. Aaron wished that he had never lived. He squeezed his fists hard enough to break iron, a hatred rising from his sorrow. A hatred for himself.

Why didn’t I prevent this? He thought. Why didn’t I keep this from happening?! I had the Absorption Armor before Elizabeth was kidnapped. I should have never let her out of my sight…should have never willingly left with protective services or whatever. I should have grabbed her and taken off with her…but why didn’t I?!

“She has never existed,” Elizabeth said. “At least, never physically. She only existed within our mind.”

Aaron looked back up to see the changeling that used to be his fiance grin grew wider.

“Every human that has lived on this planet,” she said. “Has gone through multiple versions of themselves. Fulir makes us whoever they want us to be. A person can go through three different lifetimes in one day, believing they have three different families that don’t exist before forgetting it all the next. And you were merely forced to love one version of me. And I was only forced to love one version of you. Out of the countless versions of either of us.”

“One…” he gasped. “Version?”

“Nothing was ever real, Aaron,” Elizabeth said. “You, I, nobody. We’ve all lived different lives that were never ours, that never happened, so Fulir could observe our behavior. And I think you knew that but your sentimentality wouldn’t allow you to let go of that. You should have stayed down in the bowels of Seren where you could have been safe instead of trying to rescue me like the precious damsel you see me as.”

“No!” Kyle said. “He shouldn’t have. We need to move on to the next phase of our experiments!”

“Oh, yes,” Elizabeth said.

She then looked around to all the changelings above her.

“Time to go, everybody,” she said. “There are only six of them so the majority of you can leave. Everyone except for Omar and Sarah. You can all get out to perform your non-combative duties.”

And then the march of changelings transformed. Every non-human feature receded back into their bodies before they became completely human. Aaron stood back up, amazed that they had left themselves completely vulnerable. The changelings marched down the scaffolds towards the end of the warehouse before exiting through the back entrance.

Only two changelings did not leave. A dark-skinned man with curly black hair and a blond woman strode down the same stairs that Elizabeth had. They stared down at them with an almost lifeless gaze. Aaron could only guess they were being commanded robotically.

“What-?” Thomas asked. “What is this?”

“Omar?” Akemi asked. “Is that you?”

“You know him?” Thomas asked.

“Yeah!” she said. “He-he was my lover back when…when I lived on the surface of Earth. A foreign exchange student who attended university with me.”

“And that’s Sarah Flowndery,” Luis said. “I met her when I was a kid…but…but that was before I fled into Seren after getting the Suffocation Armor. She…she was my best friend in school. She’s definitely older but…but I’d recognize her face anywhere.”

“I didn’t want to say…” Robert said. “I didn’t…I absolutely didn’t at all…but…”

He lifted his finger and pointed to one of the people beside Kyle. It was a red-haired woman with green eyes in a red sweater. She did not meet Robert’s gaze at all.

“That is my wife,” Robert said. “Jennifer Cusack.”

Tears pooled in his eyes as he clearly tried to hold back a sob.

“I thought it was a trick…” he said. “An illusion…but if all of you are seeing your former loves then…”

He broke out into a yell of sorrow so loud it hurt Aaron’s ears.

“Then it’s no trick!” Robert shouted. “Jennifer…Jennifer I love you! I’ve wanted to say it for so long but I couldn’t! I love you! I love our kids! I loved our life together! It was paradise! Every day was the greatest day I could ask for! And I’d do anything for any of you or our children! I…I can’t stand life without you!”

Thomas roared in anger, his Lion Armor clearly enhancing his angered yell.

“Kyle!” he shouted. “What is this?! This is no coincidence! You brought us here…lured us here for some purpose and made sure to carefully plant our loved ones in this place!”

Kyle remained stoic, his expression as unchanged as stone pelted by rain.

“What did you plan?” Thomas asked.

“An experiment,” Kyle said. “To see if you humans are more than just flesh and bone. To discover if there is something deeper…to discover if there lies in any of you…a soul.”

“Wh-What?” Thomas asked. “What…what are you talking about?”

“I was unaware of the experiment at first,” Thomas said. “But apparently Fulir allowed Aaron Yulier here to get ahold of Absorption Armor. This all began with them letting a human go rogue and take a very powerful weapon from them.”

“R-Really?” Aaron asked.

He slowly stood back up, his feet unsteady as he listened.

“This was all planned?” Helena asked. “But how? And why?”

“It has all culminated in this moment,” Kyle said. “The first step was to allow the Absorption Armor to be stolen by someone immune to Yeltael’s brainwashing effects. His name was Gregory Pines. He could resist the effects so well because his family mattered that much to him.”

“So there are humans who feel no effect from Yeltael?” Robert asked. “It’s not just a malfunction…”

“Correct,” Kyle answered.

Kyle’s heated gaze fell squarely upon Aaron.

“He was the one who got away with the Armor you now wield,” Kyle explained. “And kicked myself day and night that I could not apprehend him before hiding it. However…”

He sighed for a moment, clearly trying to destress.

“Lord Terrak assured me it was only the first stage,” Kyle said. “The second was for Aaron to gain the Access Armor and flee into the underground with it. Apparently, it was a way to get you to find the renegades who also dodged Yeltael’s brainwashing effects. We were able to flush you out with some thorough searching.”

“Why?!” Luis said. “You needed Aaron to help you find us?! Is that it?!”

“Possibly,” Kyle answered. “But the truth is the Remnant Villages pose so little a threat to Fulir we barely take you into consideration. Honestly, your pitiful faction can serve as unique test subjects. We can live without having a few extra Access Armors and changelings.”

“Is that right?” Thomas said. “Then why can’t you just leave us alone?”

“We normally do,” Kyle said. “Honestly, it’s just too much effort to try and find you all with the technology you stole helping hide from Fulir. We have better things to do than trying to find scurrying insects whose location is in flux. We honestly don’t care too much about any of you. In fact…”

He then scanned all six of them.

“We only raided your village so that you would retaliate or try to rescue any loved ones being used as test subjects here in Orange Grove,” Kyle said. “Lord Terrak knew revenge and the attempt to reunite with loved ones would be too great a temptation for you so he prepared this special welcome party for you renegades. Which now enters the third stage of the experiment where you arrive at this changeling factory to fight your former loved ones.”

“How?!” Thomas demanded. “How would anyone know that?! How could anyone predict such things would occur?! There are too many variables to guess correctly!”

Somehow, Kyle’s face became even more grim.

“No,” he said plainly. “There isn’t. In fact, Terrak made it sound like it would be far too easy to guess what you would all do. In human studies of science and sociology it is very easy to predict human behavior. Using computer models and lab rats they study the factors of what mortal creatures do and how they are affected by various stimuli.”

The ghost of a smile appeared on his face, the remnants of suppressed humor appearing in his eyes.

“And that’s what you humans are to Fulir,” Kyle said. “Nothing more than lab rats that are studied to gain information on. And just like rats, you reached the end of the maze thinking it was your own decisions that led you to this moment. When really each and every step you made was either pre-planned or perfectly predicted.”

He shook his head.

“Humans,” he said. “We’re all so weak and small in the grand scheme of things. Up to this point, Lord Terrak was able to predict your pattern of behavior with ninety-eight percent accuracy with only a four percent margin of error.”

“Ninety-eight percent accuracy?” Luis asked.

“We were even able to predict the exact day you would arrive here,” Kyle said. “We figured that Aaron would lead you here out of a sense of desperation to rescue your potential loved ones with some degree of revenge mixed in…or because he would blackmail you by saying he wouldn’t help you grow food unless you joined.”

Aaron felt like he’d been stabbed by Kyle’s words. Hearing him state the exact reason they were here was as surreal as a dream and as horrifying as a nightmare. He could no longer say he was panicked because the amount of fear was beyond that. Aaron felt like a small animal trapped in the tightest cage imaginable. There was no escape.

“Lord Terrak knew that Aaron, Thomas, Robert and Kaitlyn would attack the Orange Grove factory,” Kyle said. “He guessed you would bring your most capable and rational fighters. But as for anyone else…Terrak was not sure who else you might bring. The changelings we had waiting on the sidelines were the former loved ones of all the fighters Terrak guessed you’d bring.”

“I don’t recognize anyone here except you,” Kaitlyn said. “So, you’re that confident that you can beat us without outnumbering us? Pretty bold of you.”

“This experiment is obviously not to figure out who had more combat strength,” Thomas told her. “It’s obviously something more nefarious.”

Kyle nodded.

“Simple, simple fools,” Kyle said. “So unaware of your own lack of agency you don’t even realize your very footsteps have been planned out. What a pity it is that you don’t admit you are all test subjects whether you willingly serve Fulir or not.”

“Then why don’t you tell us what you’re doing here!” Thomas shouted. “What we’re doing here! Why have you brought these former loved ones to fight us?! What’s the point?!”

“I’d think it would be more obvious by now,” Kyle said. “In the same way Gregory Pines’ love for his family completely overrode Yeltael’s effect on him, we want to know if it’s possible for others. We want to know if it’s genetic or…or because of what they call true love.”

“What are you-?” Thomas said.

“There is the concept of the soul,” Kyle said. “The idea of the existence of such has been around forever but no one can prove it. No one has seen or touched a soul. Normally, we could discount such a phenomena as needless superstition but…but there actually has been faint evidence of such.”

“Faint evidence?” Luis asked. “I thought you said no one can prove it?”

“In both Fulir and human science,” Kyle said. “The nature and reality of the soul has incredibly inconclusive data. It’s amazing since the two civilizations’ gap in technology is canyon sized. Due to Fulir’s advanced science, we can know things never even experienced or imagined by human standards. And yet the soul still eludes us…”

He shook his head.

“What a mystery,” he said.

“But souls do exist!” Aaron said. “The Access Armor proves it! If there was no such thing as a soul then there wouldn’t be different people trapped in the armor!”

“That is consciousness,” Kyle said. “The personality and memories that make an individual are stored within the Access Armor. Fulir is able to store a person’s consciousness on technology through manipulation of electricity and gray matter since a person’s brain runs off electrical impulses. There doesn’t need to be a supernatural. And that consciousness made of electricity and brain storage can be manipulated in various ways, like how Yeltael erases and creates memories.”

“In other words,” Aaron said. “You believe human existence can still be entirely explained by the material circumstances surrounding them. And the supernatural idea of a soul is still up for debate.”

“Correct,” Kyle said.

“But what about the Underworld?” Thomas asked. “Doesn’t that prove there’s a soul.”

“We don’t have much data on the Underworld,” Thomas asked. “Fulir rarely ventures into such a chaotic place. But it still doesn’t discount the idea of humans being entirely material creatures. Within the Underworld, a person’s consciousness merely takes on a new physical form. The dead’s consciousness transforms into different creatures than how they were in life.”

“Yes,” Thomas said. “Into monsters. Depending on who that person was in life…that transforms into weird creatures.”

“In that regard, consciousness can be like water,” Kyle said. “Taking on different shapes and phases of matter depending on what stimuli and environment they inhabit. Just the fact that the consciousness enters the Underworld casts doubt on the idea of a soul because it means that the consciousness is always stored somewhere. However…”

He then looked at Robert, the gorilla changeling growling at the gesture.

“The greatest evidence we have for the soul is how some are unaffected by Yeltael’s brainwashing,” Kyle said. “And some are not.”

“What are you talking about?” Luis asked. “Everyone’s affected by Yeltael! Less than one percent of one percent are not!”

“But that is still a percentage,” Kyle said. “No matter how small. And when their memories are unaffected…it’s almost always tied to how closely bonded they were to someone they love.”

He shot a glare at Robert.

“It’s why that ape over there escaped our clutches,” he said. “He loved his wife and kids too much to forget them. Too bad his family didn’t reciprocate.”

Robert’s growl of anger grew louder.

“We don’t know if this is due to a genetic disorder that was overlooked in his conversion into a changeling,” Kyle said. “Or if it was due to his soul being more responsive to Jennifer than another human being. Our researchers and scientists are at crossroads on this very issue, with many Fulirian physicians tearing their hair out over this. Unfortunately, the premise of a soul cannot be studied in a lab and only seems to respond to the notion of love. That’s why we lured you all here.”

“So you want each of us to fight someone from our past?” Thomas asked. “And somehow that’s supposed to prove we have a soul?”

“I’d think you’d get it right now,” Kyle said. “Look at how the ape changeling and the Absorption Wielder reacted to seeing their former loved ones.”

He pointed to Robert before turning his finger to Aaron.

“The first was so attached to his wife he overrode the same brainwashing that makes millions of others forget,” Kyle said. “Without any Access Armor. And the second was so attached to his fiance he risked his safety as well as the entire Remnant Village’s. We’re going to see the reactions you have when forced to kill your loved ones.”

“And what would that accomplish?!” Akemi demanded. “How would it prove we have a soul or not?!”

“Because of all the data we’ve ever collected,” Kyle said. “The existence of an immaterial soul is strongest when love becomes a factor. You will give us valuable information in this regard. However…”

He then turned to Elizabeth.

“These changelings are quite different from normal ones,” he said.

“I can tell,” Thomas said. “The girl looks more human than most.”

“Yes,” Kyle admitted. “But their abilities are far more peculiar. They are psychic changelings.”

“Psychic changelings?!” Helena shouted.

As soon as Kyle said that, the wall of water holding Helena’s face churned violently. Her fear seeped into Aaron to further panic him. Within his Soul Chamber, Helena’s panic was ricocheting throughout the room. The very words carried a harsh aura that made him feel like knives were stabbing his back.

“What are they?” Aaron asked.

“Psychic changelings are abnormal soldiers of Fulir,” Helena explained. “They’re stronger than normal ones in that they have inhuman abilities that rival even Access Armor wielders. They have powers that can only be described as supernatural. Psychic changelings can distort reality itself…”

“You make it sound like you’ve faced them before,” Aaron said. “What were they like?”

“From what I knew, psychic changelings were still in the experimental phase,” Helena said. “Not quite usable for the battlefield but potentially powerful. Apparently, psychic changelings are the result of unlocking supernatural abilities within organic creatures to produce…something quite unnatural. They also have two different forms…a more combat oriented, monstrous form and psychic form that gives them strange abilities.”

“You make it sound like Fulir has actually discovered proof of the supernatural with these changelings,” Aaron said.

“It’s complicated because so much about psychic changelings is unknown,” Helena said. “At least, while I was an Armor wielder. But their very existence created debate in the world of science about the existence of the immaterial element. Debate about whether all of the universe is material or some immaterial existence is real rages through Fulir’s researchers. And now…”

Helena sighed, very obviously afraid for Aaron.

“It seems you’ve been caught in the middle of it,” she said. “As lab rats for that very debate.”

“The psychic changelings will unlock any immaterial portion of the human being,” Kyle said. “They were engineered with strange, recently discovered and poorly understood powers. So…let’s see how far that can go. Attack, all of you!”

Everyone in human form morphed into their changeling appearance. Kyle put on his armor for white, blue tinted reptilian scales to cover his body. An eyeless dragon head grew over both his hands before he charged straight at Thomas. They all transformed in a split second, too fast for any of them to react.

But as they engaged in battle, Aaron could do nothing except stare at Elizabeth. She continued smirking at him, as if aware of a joke he was completely unaware of. The young man could do nothing except look at her with his knees shaking in fear.

“So?” Elizabeth said. “Are you ready to get this experiment started?”