Chapter 20

Aaron barely moved as Elizabeth shot a beam of purple light at him. He was too dazed by her abnormal appearance and sight of her killing someone to do anything. After she fired the laser from her right palm’s gem at him, it struck Aaron square in the chest. Smoke rose from the burned spot on his body as he winced in pain.

“Aaron!” Helena shouted. “Are you alright?!”

He grunted in pain as he looked at his fiance with disgust.

“Why…?” he asked. “Why…Elizabeth…would you kill someone?”

She merely smiled back at him with a wicked grin, as though savoring his displeasure. Her silence followed with that expression turned his insides like seasickness. Aaron couldn’t reconcile the two people she was supposed to be.

On one hand was his charming, beautiful future wife who didn’t like to step on bugs and didn’t enjoy being barefoot because of her tender feet. This one not only killed a changeling without a second thought and laughed about it. Aaron felt weak all over and covered in a strange, heavy pain that racked every nerve in him.

And what’s worse, she had also used the same attack on him as her dead comrade. The idea that Elizabeth would attack him was more frightening than the pain he received. Aaron felt like he couldn’t stand.

“Are…?” he said. “Are you trying to kill me?”

“Oh, Aaron,” Elizabeth said as she held up the purple gem in her right palm at him. “You know as well as I do the Absorption Armor can’t be penetrated by such a weak attack. You can’t die from such weak blasts.”

The violet gem in her right hand glowed again before several more blasts seared him. Probably a dozen new bolts of violet energy struck his body, including his torso, legs and one even hitting his hand. Aaron winced in pain at each of these attacks, the strikes little more than ant stings. Most of the portions hit weren’t even blackened.

However, knowing it was Elizabeth doing this made it truly horrible. Aaron was having a harder time reconciling the two Elizabeths with every hit. Panic gripped him as he began to think this venture had been for nothing.

“No,” Aaron said in between grunts of pain. “No…Elizabeth…you’re not like this. You’re…you’re not this way.”

“Yes she is!” Helena said. “How many times do I have to tell you that she’s no longer the same girl you knew?! She’s not even human anymore!”

Aaron slouched as he struggled to stand up, unable to stop staring at Elizabeth’s face. It was the one reminder he had of her humanity. Everything else from the gems on her body to weird hair was off putting.

Aaron was scared in a way he never had been before. For once in his life, he felt the need to change something in a way he never could. Since being bonded with the Access Armor he’d been able to punch his way through hordes of monsters and other Armor Wielders. Medical training allowed him to deal with wounds a person endured.

But Aaron never needed to change a person’s heart or personality. He had never been concerned with altering another’s nature or emotions. Most everyone in his life had been too accommodating for him to need to change. Aaron’s friends, family and classmates had all been helpful in aiding his education and self-worth.

“I wish I could change her…” Aaron said within his Soul Chamber. “Make her…how she used to be.”

“I know you do!” Helena said. “But you can’t! No one can now!”

“This is where you should kill and indulge your anger,” Gregor said. “Lash out. Hurt her. Hurt her for hurting you. Go on a rampage and destroy everyone who interferes with your sense of purpose and pleasure.”

“Or surrender quietly,” Owen said. “You can’t win if you refuse to fight. Elizabeth is being used for a higher purpose than as a regular human. To serve Fulir is a great honor.”

Within Aaron’s Soul Chamber, he began feeling a weird sensation. It was almost like a mix between Helena’s hopelessness and Gregor’s anger. And yet it was neither at the same time. Aaron couldn’t even say he was really affected by any of the former wielders. No matter how much Gregor’s melodic voice rang or how much Helena’s dark water rippled, their emotions didn’t reach him.

He felt worse at this moment than he did the rest of his life. Aaron had never drowned before but he could imagine the feeling quite well. He was surrounded on all sides by a deafening, invisible pressure that was swallowing him. He felt himself sinking into a lake with chains tied to his ankles. Aaron didn’t even attempt to struggle against his imprisonment as he was so hopeless.

“Aaron…” Helena said as she sensed his despair. “Aaron…I know it looks bad right now but…but you can’t give in yet. I’d honestly rather you listen to Gregor right now than just lie here and take it.”

He gave no response. Even within his Soul Chamber, Aaron felt too defeated to speak up. He merely accepted defeat, his eyes watering as his former fiance walked up to him.

“Had enough I see?” she asked. “I knew you wouldn’t attack me but…to be honest I didn’t think you’d be this much of a wimp.”

“I failed…” Aaron said. “I failed you…Elizabeth. I failed you so badly.”

He shut his eyes, absorbing the moment of his failure.

“You deserve better…” he said. “You do.”

“You should have never come here,” Helena said. “I warned you there was no way you’d rescue Elizabeth. Now you’ve endangered the Remnant Village by taking all their Armor Wielders away.”

“You think I care about them?!” Aaron said. “I don’t care whether they live or die!”

He glared at Elizabeth, a paradoxical mix of anger and pity for her.

“No one matters to me,” he said to the changeling standing in front of him. “Except you.”

A shot of pain jolted through his spine as he shook his head.

“I realized that I only really cared about you throughout my life,” Aaron said. “I’d choose you over anyone, no matter who they are. Even myself. Please…Please…Please…”

His hands began to ache.

“Please…” he said. “Come back to me. And I’ll forget this ever happened.”

This only elicited a laugh from Elizabeth.

“No, Aaron,” she said. “I prefer this state. It is the greatest freedom I have ever possessed.”

“What?” he asked.

“Allow me to show you,” Elizabeth said.

She held out both her hands before violet crystals embedded within them glowed. The scenery around them both changed. The warehouse vanished in a flash of purple light that swallowed them both and totally blinded Aaron for a moment. Once the light disappeared, he found they’d been transported somewhere else entirely.

He found himself in Elizabeth’s living room. He saw her looking slightly younger than being a senior in high school, sitting on the couch with a child in her arms. Her blond hair was cut a little shorter than normal and her face looked haggard. Even though she wasn’t quite an eighteen-year-old, the young woman looked like she’d aged more than a decade in terms of wrinkled skin and dark bags beneath her eyes. She looked pale and thin, almost anorexic.

Aaron looked around to ascertain his surroundings. It was definitely Elizabeth’s house but something was off. Many of the family photos and nature portraits that decorated the walls were gone. The couch and short table were dusty and looked somewhat worn. Items from papers to plastic wrappings littered the table. The carpet looked littered with crumbs and other debris that should have been swept up by as tidy a mother as Elizabeth’s.

Aaron found this odd as her house usually had a very comforting atmosphere and usually well-kept. It often looked like something out of a magazine or HGTV special. While the house wasn’t terrible it didn’t look as meticulously polished as usual.

“What is this?” he asked.

“Another life I lived,” Elizabeth’s voice came.

Aaron didn’t even turn around, knowing the changeling was probably relishing his distress. He merely tightened his hands into fists, angered by her voice. It was hinted with a sour, vile tone that was so similar to his fiance’s but he could tell it wasn't. It was how close it came to sounding like Elizabeth’s voice that disturbed and angered him the most.

“Aaron, be careful how you react,” Helena said. “If she really is a psychic changeling then this is either some illusion world she created or took us back in time to either a place your or her experienced in real life. She probably wants you to get overly emotional and lose control.”

“Correct you are, Helena,” Elizabeth said.

Aaron jumped at the sound and turned to see her wicked grin.

“What?” she asked. “Were the experimental changelings you came across not able to read minds?”

In his Soul Chamber, Aaron could feel Helena’s and his fear mix into one, something the changeling found rather amusing.

“Oh,” Elizabeth said. “They were…just not to this extent.”

“What do you want?” Aaron said. “Bringing us here. This isn’t your life. It can’t be. Nothing looks like how it should. You look almost sick in this place and so does your house. This is nothing like how I remember it.”

“Of course you wouldn’t,” Helena said. “You wouldn’t remember any of this.”

“What?” Aaron asked.

Now the changeling broke out into a loud chuckle.

“That dead wielder is right,” she said. “There’s no way you could remember it. I didn’t even remember it until after my changeling conversion. A psychic changeling can access all their memories from every life they’ve experienced.”

“You mean…?” Aaron said, trying not to cry. “You mean the…the…life you lived…before me?”

“Of course,” Elizabeth said. “To think you’re so self-important you can’t imagine that I would have a life outside of you.”

She shook her head with a slight leer in her eyes.

“We’ve all had false memories planted in us by Fulir that overrode our real memories,” Elizabeth said. “Fake people, fake lives, all of it an illusion. But no matter how many times our memories were buried with false realities, the real things that happened, the real events that transpired…”

Suddenly, Aaron could feel hot anger rising from Elizabeth. It was odd as he could almost feel the rage as strongly as someone within his Soul Chamber. The foreign emotion bleeding into him gave him a slight pain.

“How can I feel Elizabeth’s emotions?” Aaron asked. “It’s…It’s like they're drowning me.”

“A byproduct of trapping you in this weird realm,” Helena said. “To put it roughly, you're in a mix of being inside Elizabeth’s own psyche and in some period of the past.”

Anger surged forth from the changeling.

“They are the scars we can never erase,” she said with her smile disappearing. “And through experiencing the real with the fake side by side, I see who I have truly become. You understand it, don’t you Helena?”

Aaron could feel an odd sort of acknowledgment within his Soul Chamber that emitted from Helena in response to Elizabeth’s inquiry.

“Unlike regular changelings who are still subject to memory manipulation,” Helena said. “Then that means that this batch of changelings haven’t just had a change in what they think their past was…their own personalities were rewritten. Or…Or has it been a truer, more lasting personality to now experience all their lives, real and fake, in one mindset?”

“Sort of,” Elizabeth answered. “But to be honest with you…the power of a psychic changeling feels so freeing.”

She held up her right hand before the gems within it glowed a dark violet. A rapid wind whipped up around the two of them as the fast moving air kicked up her clothes and hair. Aaron’s own green-tinted hair waved wildly in the storm she kicked up.

“This power plus my past cast off my shoulders…” Elizabeth said. “I could have never asked for anything greater. It’s too great. Both the physical and mental limitations of being a human have been thrown away and now I feel complete. Like a bird that has just taken flight.”

“I don’t get this,” Aaron said. “What burden are you talking about?”

She pointed behind Aaron for him to turn around. The Elizabeth on the couch was staring up at the ceiling and panting rather hard, as though trying to catch her breath after a long run. It was easy to see she was in some kind of pain but whether it was emotional or physical, Aaron couldn’t decide.

“Oh,” she said. “Oh if only I had one day to backtrack and relax…if only…only I had a second to sit down and rest...”

Then a baby started crying. The sound alerted both the human Elizabeth as well as Aaron. The young woman on the couch jumped up in surprise before breaking out into a cry. Her sobbing was too much for him and Aaron looked away.

“What the-?” he said.

“No, no, no,” the blond woman said. “I just put her down…”

Tears kept flowing as Elizabeth shook like she was having a seizure.

“How-?” she said. “How could she just be awake?”

“Elizabeth!” a harsh voice came.

The flustered girl jumped in surprise again as another woman entered the living room from the kitchen. She wore an apron and carried a knife with bits of onion stuck to it. She was Elizabeth’s mother, Rachel Miller, looking almost like a clone they were so similar. She even had the same worn, thinning frames of stress and anxiety.

And her mother wasn’t smiling like usual. A permanent scowl was etched into her face that seemed old and stiff enough to be hewn of stone. It was as though the woman had forgotten how to smile for years.

“I thought you put her to bed,” Rachel said.

“I…” Elizabeth said. “I did…but…but I don’t know why she’d wake up again.”

“It’s because she’s an infant,” Rachel said. “They’re always up crying.”

Aaron was shaking his head at this, completely confused.

“Elizabeth…” he said. “I didn’t know you had a sister. Did your mother get pregnant again?”

“No,” the changeling said. “Not her.”

A painful realization struck Aaron. As it did he could feel bitterness emanate from the changeling that filled him. He became horrified at the implication.

“You need to keep that thing under control,” Rachel said. “It’s making a ruckus in this house and I can’t work with it screaming.”

“Mom, I'm too tired to deal with Mary,” Elizabeth said. “Could you rock her to sleep? I need to rest-”

“Don’t talk to me about rest!” Rachel shouted. “You brought that man’s child into my house! I told you to get rid of it and when you said you won’t…”

She heaved a great sigh.

“I told you it’s your burden…” Rachel said. “Not mine.”

“Mom…” she said. “I’ll…I’ll help with dinner…if you would…just put her to sleep I’d-”

Aaron jumped at the sight of the knife flying from Rachel’s hand. Elizabeth jumped in surprise as the knife hit the wall, tip first, before falling to the floor. She was rattled as the knife had punctured the pristine white plaster just two feet to her left. All eyes were on Rachel now as her dour expression became downright murderous.

“Never,” she said. “Ever ask me to take care of that little hellspawn. I told you I wouldn’t! You have asked for too much when you begged to live here with me and brought that filth with you! You ask me to comfort his child again and I swear with all my life I will kill it.”

Elizabeth’s shaking became more violent as her mother turned around and left the living room. The young girl burst out into tears before turning and running upstairs. Aaron ran after her as his first instinct was to comfort the girl.

“Elizabeth!” he shouted. “Elizabeth!”

“No use,” the changeling behind him said. “The scars have already been made.”

The scene around him changed and Aaron found himself standing within Elizabeth’s bedroom. However, it was not how he last saw it. The bedroom was bereft of everything except a sheetless bed with a worn mattress and a crib where an infant screamed from.

The crying girl raced for the baby that was swaddled in pink before grabbing her up. The human Elizabeth desperately tried rocking her back and forth in her arms. The screaming of the child only made the one holding her cry more. Elizabeth was biting her lip, trying not to scream herself.

“Sh-Sh-Sh,” she said. “Don’t-Don’t cry. Everything’s going to be fine. Everything…Everything will be fine…please…please believe it. I have to knowing…knowing what…what happened.”

She then smiled at the baby in her arms, her crying not slowing down.

“My mother may not see it but…” she said. “You…You’re a gift. All…All children are. No…No matter how they came into this world.”

“No matter how they came into this world?” Aaron asked.

He looked at the changeling who stood behind him. Disgust began emanating from the changeling and filled Aaron as well. The anger emitted from her was filling the young man and began to weaken him. He felt as though he was going to vomit as Elizabeth’s revulsion seeped into him. His emotions were definitely becoming one with the changeling’s.

“So…” he said. “Elizabeth…she was…?”

“Yes,” the changeling said. “That girl I used to be was violated.”

“Violated?!” Aaron shouted. “By who?!”

“Didn’t you piece it together yet?” Elizabeth asked. “You didn’t notice the signs?”

Aaron tried to think back to what she meant. The pictures and family portraits bereft of the living room, the messy house, her mother enraged by the slightest provocation. And what she meant by that man…

“No,” he said. “Don’t tell me it was…your…father?”

“Mother tried to erase every trace of him from the household,” Elizabeth answered. “Anything that reminded her of the man that had cheated on her with her own daughter caused her to go into a violent hysteria. After he had been jailed for raping me, my own mother begged me to terminate the resulting pregnancy. But as you can see…”

Aaron shut his eyes, feeling his skin crawl with every word she spoke.

“I could not do that,” Elizabeth said. “Even a child conceived by rape was too precious for my soft and weak heart to abandoned. I couldn’t even put her up for adoption, knowing she’d grow up never knowing her true mother. And with him in jail my mother had to be the sole breadwinner as I was too busy raising my child.”

She began laughing. Aaron felt too weak to continue speaking. The closest thing he could compare this feeling to would be to chainsaws ripping through his insides. The cutting, raw pain in his stomach felt uneasy and messy, not clean or neat but wild and violent. Aaron tried to hold his stomach as he experienced the disgust seeping into him.

“How…?” he said. “How could…he do that? Why?! You’re father-”

“It was Fulir,” Helena said. “They wanted to observe the behavior of humans up close when experiencing such a tragedy. They controlled his actions through Yeltael to witness the interactions that would take place up close and personally.”

“A man betraying his family in one of the worst ways?” Aaron said as he struggled to stand up. “I don’t know how a husband or father could harm his own family any worse. That’s disgusting…beyond words.”

“We are nothing but lab rats,” Elizabeth said. “Human beings are too easily manipulated…too feeble both mentally and physically.”

“But then why would you serve them?!” Aaron demanded. “Why serve those who have done such evil things?”

“Who says I have a choice?” Elizabeth asked nonchalantly. “You know how hard it is, defying those who rule this world. I can either choose to obey those I know who have all the power or openly defy them and be continuously crushed. Which would you prefer?”

Aaron couldn’t say anymore, knowing his words couldn’t reach her.

“To think,” Helena said. “You were that brave and kind to care for a child when she only brought you trouble. I see that would not be an easy choice for anyone, especially a young woman as sheltered as you.”

“I agree,” Elizabeth said.

Wind whipped up around them at a frightening speed, more hatred emanating from the changeling.

“Such things are truly amazing, aren’t they?” she asked. “How could a woman willingly raise the very product and catalyst of her greatest tragedy? Nursing it, keeping it healthy and above all loving it when ridding herself of such a burden would offer me a better life.”

“Exactly,” Helena said. “The path of love and selflessness is the hardest journey a person will take but it is by far the most rewarding.”

Her haughty smile turned into a heated leer at Aaron. Without even speaking, he knew that Helena had hit a nerve with the changeling. More anger seeped into his being as the dark water surrounding Helena’s face began to ripple.

“I know what it is like to take the hard path of altruism,” she said. “I served as a soldier for Mulus, the faction that persecutes Fulir. But once I saw that what I was doing was wrong I left to fight for the innocent, no matter what side they may be on. If I didn’t leave Mulus’s army…the burden of my own sins would have stayed with me forever.”

Elizabeth’s anger increased, a murderous intent apparent as it rose through the atmosphere of the place.

“I dedicated my life to preserving the lives of the weak and helpless,” Helena said. “And I have never regretted it for a single moment because-”

“Shut up!” the changeling roared.

She waved her hand forward and pushed Aaron back. He was slammed into the floor with a grunt of pain. As Aaron attempted to stand back up, he found the human Elizabeth cradling her child paid no attention. It became apparent to him that whether this was really the past or not, the changeling and him didn’t seem to interact with those in this realm.

“What a fool I was,” Elizabeth said. “Taking on the role of a mother to a child who was a curse. My soft heart…it was my greatest weakness. It is why I am glad I was made into a changeling…so that I can be rid of all human emotions. I would do anything for this to have never happened.”

“Then how do you know it did?” Aaron asked.

He stood back up and glared at the changeling, not sure if he considered her Elizabeth anymore.

“How do you know if this was a real memory?” Aaron asked. “How do you know it wasn’t another illusion cast by Yeltael?”

“Because,” Elizabeth said. “The scars of our real lives…”

She shut her eyes as they began to water with tears.

“Even when we forget…” she said. “There is a corner of us that still does. The darkness it leaves within us…the part of us it kills and takes away…it leaves a remnant of pain that is still there, no matter how many lives we’ve lived.”

She shook her head.

“You see, Aaron,” she said. “This life of mine was erased by Yeltael just the same as my life as your fiance was. My mother and I forgot it and my father was returned to me. I don’t know what happened to the baby Mary. It was as though nothing had ever happened. However…”

She shook her head.

“Every time I would try to hug my father…” Elizabeth said. “I felt fear…and I didn’t know why. And sometimes…sometimes my mother would glare at me with murderous hatred. And…And I didn’t know why she would but…but I still felt as though I knew why.”

“What?” Aaron asked. “You mean…? You mean…? There was a part of you that couldn’t forget your real trauma?”

“Yes,” Elizabeth said. “The pain of my rape and subsequent childbirth was etched so deep into me that the clawmarks of that tragedy were carved into my soul. There was nothing Yeltael could do to remove those memories from a neurological standpoint because beneath this…this skin flesh and bone…”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

She shivered.

“Lies something deeper,” she said. “An immaterial soul that cannot forget darkness and pain. It is something I wish to free myself of. So I can no longer experience the sensation of betrayal and tragedy. My new life as an emissary and servant of Fulir gives me that privilege. No longer being human means my soul has hardened into something that no one can pierce.”

“So that’s what she meant by wanting to shed her burdens,” Helena said. “The burden of caring for a rape conceived child took its toll on Elizabeth and now she wants to be in a position where she doesn’t have to care for anyone. She wants to be someone ruthless enough to kill her own comrades and disregard human life. Caring for others brings about pain as you share one another’s burdens. And Elizabeth is convinced that she can no longer handle that pain.”

“The pain of others should not be shouldered by anyone except that individual,” Elizabeth said. “It is each person’s responsibility to shed their own burdens and overcome pain in their own strength. And if they cannot do that then they should wallow in their own darkness–they are NOT to share it with the next person! I realized this after fully remembering taking care of that child. I will never make that mistake again. Burdens too heavy to lift are for the weak and sharing such burdens are for the foolish…neither of which I will be again.”

“But what about the happy memories etched into your soul?” Aaron asked. “Certainly there are memories that you can never truly part with…like the time we spent together.”

She glared at him with a hatred he couldn’t quite understand. Elizabeth raised her right hand into the air before the purple gem within it glowed a dark violet. A flash of light emanated from the crystals on her body.

“Yes,” she said. “The time we spent together is etched into my heart. And it sickens me now that I remember all of it.”

The light blinded Aaron for a moment before he took in his surroundings. He was standing outside a very worn house that was caked in black dirt and moss. The tin roof was scratched up as well. In fact, most of the houses looked worn.

In the yard of the house he found Elizabeth and himself standing together, holding hands. A younger Aaron himself was crying while Elizabeth looked like she was just about to as they stood in front of each other. He was confused by this as he’d never seen this neighborhood before.

“What is this place?” Aaron wondered aloud. “I’ve never seen it.”

“A place you lived in a different life,” the changeling to his right said. “This is the neighborhood you stayed in most of your life before Yeltael erased your memory of it. The wealthy community you remember you’ve only lived half a year in. You had a past self that was a newcomer to this town…but you also had a life where you lived in a rundown neighborhood. In your impoverished life, my former self took pity on you despite the difference in class upbringing. What a soft-hearted fool I was…This…This place is your true home.”

“It is?” Aaron asked. “But-But what are you doing here? You don’t live anywhere near this place?”

“Shut up and listen if you want an answer,” the changeling replied.

He did as she said and turned his attention to their former selves holding each other.

“You have to stop this…” Elizabeth said. “It’s going to get you killed.”

“This is the only way I know of making money,” Aaron said. “A lot of people don’t even need a bunch of stuff. I’m not robbing hospitals of medicine or anything. I’m just getting little trinkets.”

“What did you get today?” Elizabeth asked.

The younger Aaron fished into his pocket and pulled from it a gold locket on a chain.

“What is that?” she asked.

“Authentic gold jewelry,” he said. “I’ve been getting it from a friend’s grandmother. The old lady moved in while dying from an illness rather than going to a nursing home. Turns out she collected a lot of jewelry back in her day and not just cheap stuff…all real. Diamonds, emerald broaches…it was a lucky score and it turns out that they’re not even aware how much it’s worth. Good stuff to pawn off.”

“That is wrong!” Elizabeth said. “You-You can’t keep doing this!”

“What?!” the present Aaron cried. “I was a thief?!”

He turned to the changeling with a glare.

“This has got to be a false memory!” he shouted at her. “I’d never do this! You either must be tricking me or…or confusing reality for one of those false memories.”

The changeling laughed as she shook her head.

“Trust me,” she said. “I know the difference more than you do. Now, keep your eyes on the scene at present.”

Aaron turned back to witness the two past versions of themselves interact.

“It’s just a bunch of worthless junk,” Aaron said. “It’s not like food or clothes! It just makes people look pretty! And it’s not even used for that anymore…just stuffed into some old hag’s jewelry box!”

“Aaron!” Elizabeth said.

“Elizabeth…” Aaron said. “Look around you…this is where I live. This rundown shack of a neighborhood. No one here ever goes to college unless their cousin’s good at not getting caught by cops for all the stuff they stole. Good grades aren’t enough to get a good education…you need money to head to a university and pay for all that stuff.”

“And that’s why I need to pawn all this jewelry off now?!” Elizabeth asked. “For your future?”

“What?!” the present Aaron shouted.

His hands tightened into fists as he could feel his blood boil.

“I’d never ask you–her–anyone to do that for me!” Aaron shouted. “That-That…I’d take a bullet for Elizabeth…! I’d sacrifice anything for her and never put her or you in harm’s way!”

“But you see yourself doing just that,” Elizabeth, the changeling, said. “Don’t you?”

He turned back to glare at her.

“Where is this?!” Aaron asked. “When did this happen?!”

“Like I told you,” Elizabeth said. “This is your old life. Your real life. Not the cushy, silver spoon household you were brought up in with two parents who loved you and could buy you everything. No, this is peasant life. The life Yeltael made you forget.”

Aaron gritted his teeth, turning away from the changeling as he refused to accept this.

“I-I-I-” Aaron said. “I can’t…I can’t imagine…doing this to…to you…Elizabeth.”

“Aaron, I think I’ve caught onto something,” Helena said. “I can sense Elizabeth’s intentions.”

“What?!” Aaron asked within his Soul Chamber. “How?”

“Because I listen,” Helena said. “When you’re not talking in this weird reality you can more easily soak up the intentions of the one who's creating this time travel realm.”

“And what is her intention?” he asked.

“To capture you after subduing you with emotional turmoil rather than combat,” Helena said. “In order to put us in this mental realm they had to get rid of all other thinking beings to better concentrate on one life-form. Once they found a person who they had a connection with, they reached that lifeform with their psychic powers to create this world.”

“Really?” Aaron asked. “Can’t Elizabeth here you think this?”

“I don’t know,” Helena said. “But from what I understand about psychic changelings, given I encountered their experimental forms, reading minds while simultaneously using their other psychic abilities is difficult. With as much as she’s been transferring us from one location to another, she may not be able to focus on my thoughts right now.”

“Any ideas to get us out of here?” Aaron asked.

“I think so,” she answered. “And I think I have a way you can defeat Elizabeth. But it’ll be risky. But for now, just turn your attention back to what she wants you to pay attention to.”

“Okay,” he said.

Aaron turned back to the argument occurring between the younger version of himself and Aaron.

“Please,” he said. “It’ll be suspicious to the pawn dealers if I keep giving them this authentic gold jewelry. I need you to pawn off a few of these.”

“But Aaron…” Elizabeth said, very close to crying. “I don’t…I don’t want to be a thief. Or…Or an accomplice to a thief.”

“But I’m not starving anybody!” Aaron said. “It’s just taking junk that people don’t need and won’t miss! Victimless crime. So please…Elizabeth…come on…I’d do anything for you…would you do anything for me?!”

The young woman looked very close to crying as she took the gold locket into her hands. When she shut her eyes, tears flowed down her face. Elizabeth shook her head in pain.

“I don’t like what you’re doing,” she said. “Aaron…you’re better than this and now…and now this is getting worse after that whole robbery fiasco…”

“I didn’t kill him!” Aaron seethed. “And Billy didn’t want to kill him! Just scare him off a little!”

The present Aaron lurched forward in pain.

“What?!” Aaron shouted. “What-What…when did this happen?!”

“Shut up and you’ll find out,” the changeling behind him said.

He turned back to find his past self looking very flustered.

“We broke in thinking no one would be inside,” Aaron said. “It was dark and when we found them running down the stairs…we…we both got scared and Billy shot to run them off. He didn’t think anyone would be hit. It was a stray bullet. Please…I’m not a murderer.”

“Aaron,” Elizabeth said as tears streamed down her face. “That was an old man you killed…he couldn’t have even hurt you guys.”

“He was going to die soon anyway,” Aaron said.

“Aaron!” Elizabeth said.

She then broke out crying before Aaron took the blond girl into his arms. She resisted at first before giving in and burying her face in his neck. Her tears wetted his shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” Aaron said. “I…I’m a terrible person. I…I accept that.”

“I-I-I-” she said. “I’m a horrible person too. Because…Because I was your getaway driver.”

“Sh,” he said as he patted her. “You didn’t know Billy killed a guy when I called. It…It’s my fault.”

Aaron then pulled away from her to run his fingers down the right side of her face.

“Don’t worry,” Aaron said. “You’re a good person. Once this is all over and I get into a good college–like a really good one–I’ll make enough money to never have to steal anything again. And then…I’ll raise baby Mary…I’ll even treat her like my own daughter.”

“Really?” Elizabeth asked.

“Of course,” he said. “Your kid is my kid. Because…that’s how it is when you’re in love.”

“You know…” Elizabeth said. “A lot of the girls in school think I’m a slut who slept with her dad. I…I get told I’m a whore you committed incest a lot.”

“And if I caught anyone saying that…” Aaron said. “I’d pop them in the mouth. Man or woman.”

The young woman smiled before they kissed. However, the scene changed again. The area around them bled like paint being washed away before it reformed into the gray warehouse again.

And in front of them was Elizabeth being experimented on. She stood up with her knees and wrists bound to the front of a large rectangle of black metal with cufflinks. It was tall enough to come up to a few inches above her head.

Her mouth was agape in a frozen expression of horror. Her eyes were wide and unblinking as hollow transparent wires tipped with silver needles stabbed into random spots on her body. The tube-like wires pumped some translucent liquid into her body.

In this stage, Elizabeth was half-way in between her human and changeling form. Her skin was tinted purple, her hair was meshing together and some type of material akin to clothing grew from her body to cover herself. Small gems could be seen growing from both hands and one of her feet.

As Aaron stared at Elizabeth being experimented on, he saw her memories returning to her. He saw an image of her father pinning her to the floor as he slapped her across the face to keep her quiet. Then there was the image of Elizabeth holding her baby. Then there was the sight of her driving with Aaron in the passenger seat, the young man explaining to her he had just robbed a house. And the pain of these memories of her old life clashing with her new one was too much for her.

“This,” the changeling said. “Is where I ascended.”

He turned to Elizabeth to find her face solemn with a quiet anger.

“Ascended?” Aaron asked.

“You see, Aaron,” she said. “Humans are all bound to things. Usually other people. These connections are what create love and hatred. The line between them is razor thin and volatile. And when I remembered who you were in my old life…who I was…”

The changeling looked mournful.

“I realized that I was making sacrifices that were scarring my soul,” Elizabeth said. “When I put my old, true life next to my fake one I found that I was suffering for the sake of others. I was suffering for my baby out of a sense of affection and suffering for you because I was thoroughly in love.”

“Yes,” Aaron said. “That’s what love does. It causes us to make sacrifices for one another. And the person who is most willing to make a sacrifice is the one who loves the most. You cannot love anyone or anything without it demanding some amount of sacrifice.”

“And that is why I no longer wish to be human,” Elizabeth said.

She looked at her open left palm.

“Aaron,” she said. “When those two lives of mine were simultaneously remembered I froze in panic because I realized…I realized you were not the knight in shining armor I thought you were.”

She shook her head.

“I was making so many sacrifices for you,” Elizabeth said. “And you were making none for me. The closest to any sacrifice you made for me was a promise that once we got married and you found yourself a good job…you would take care of me.”

“But-?!” Aaron shouted. “Do you doubt that?! Do you doubt I would have sacrificed for you?!”

“I’m not saying I doubt that,” she said. “I’m saying it doesn’t matter if you would or not.”

Aaron could feel anger rising within her and absorbed into him, wind whirling around them as a show of force as she glared at him.

“Your soul was not carved with the burdens that only love can leave like I was,” Elizabeth. “Caring for a baby born from rape and helping my lover’s criminal schemes…it not only broke me but tarnished my view of you.”

She then smiled.

“Now,” she said. “I do not have to worry about that. As a changeling I can be free of those bonds that not only chained me but left lasting scars on my soul.”

“I will be willing to leave scars in my soul for you!” Aaron shouted. “I’d be willing to carve them into myself twice as deep as you had for me…!”

“Stupid boy,” Elizabeth said.

She held out her hand as she chuckled with a wicked smile, the violet gem glowing bright.

“How many times do I have to make it clear for you?!” she laughed. “I no longer am in love with you! I am no longer in love with anyone!”

“Then why serve Fulir?!” Aaron shouted. “They were the one who made your dad assault you and gave me an impoverished life! Why serve those who directly hurt you?!”

“Because even with Fulir taken out of the equation,” Elizabeth said. “I will still be bound by love and affection that shattered my wounded heart if I get too close to other people. I choose to cut the ties that bond and serving Fulir will prevent me from growing too close to other people. After all, a monster like me can’t gain friends or lovers.”

A circular object materialized in her hand as it was covered in too much light to make out at first.

“I am free of the bonds that bind humans together and truly be my own person!” Elizabeth shouted. “Bereft of emotions that are just chains to my spirit! I’m sorry you couldn’t do the same, Aaron Yulier!”

“Aaron!” Helena said. “Now! Before it’s too late!”

“What?!” Aaron asked within his Soul Chamber.

“Those are rings used to capture Armor Wielders!” she said. “She must have hidden them with her psychic powers before trying to lure you into a state of vulnerability! Whatever you do, destroy them before they hit you!”

“Is that the advice you were going to give me?” Aaron asked.

“No,” Helena replied. “What I want you to do is to attempt to absorb Elizabeth’s cellular structure into your body! Just like you do with Seren’s flesh!”

“What?!” Aaron asked. “But-But-But I didn’t know I could do that with a sentient organism!”

“Just try it,” Helena said. “I think you have the capability to…but it’s risky. If you do it correctly…you might be able to revert Elizabeth back to human form and possibly reform her memories!”

“Really?!” Aaron asked. “Have you ever done that before?!”

“Um…” she said. “To make a long story short…yes…but with limited success. But with the Absorption Armor growing more powerful with every new host, you might be able to do it better than I ever could. Like you were able to swim through the bowels of Seren by assimilating with the organism on a level I thought wasn’t even possible.”

“Reform Elizabeth from the ground up…” he thought. “Kay.”

He plucked the two fronds growing from his neck before willing them to harden.

“Let’s see how that goes,” Aaron said.

The circular object was sent spiraling toward him after Elizabeth pushed it with a telekinetic force. Aaron did not move at the sight of it nearing him until it was less than three feet away. Once it was within slashing distance, he sliced the device in two with the edge of the leaf sword in his left hand.

“What?!” Elizabeth cried.

“Throw both of them at her,” Helena said. “She’ll be able to deflect one but not the other. Also, rush forward right after doing so. That way she’ll have too many things to counter.”

“I thought you wanted her to live?” Aaron replied.

“You won’t be killing her,” Elizabeth said. “Just wound her enough to stun her.”

He did as he was advised and tossed both sharpened leaves at Elizabeth. The fronds speeded toward the changeling like two parallel spears. After that, Aaron bounded forward with all the force his legs could muster.

The changeling’s hand gems glowed as she waved her left hand forward, sending the frond to her left. However, the right one caught her directly in her right shoulder. The changeling screamed in pain as she crumpled to the ground, red blood flowing from the wound.

Once Elizabeth was overcome with pain, she fell to her knees as the scenery changed once again. The sight of the warehouse faded away, like light losing its vibrancy. It slowly transitioned from the warehouse with Elizabeth being experimented on to the one Aaron and the other Armor Wielders arrived in. He figured that it took some amount of concentration to maintain this world of memory that the changeling lost under so much duress.

“Now what?!” Aaron asked.

“Absorb her flesh the same way you did Seren!” Helena said. “And hurry, before she recovers!”

“Why didn’t you tell me to do that before?!” Aaron shouted. “Could have helped out on the battlefield!”

“You often need too much concentration than what the battlefield offers,” Helena said. “Certainly recreating an organism takes a lot of concentration. And you can’t do this with most Armor Wielders while they’re using their Access Armor.”

Aaron bowed down and grabbed the changeling by her shoulders and allowed the white, sturdy bark covering his hands to become semi-permeable. Aaron hollowed out his arms in preparation for the organic matter his limbs would be soaking up. His palms took on the spongy quality that allowed him to merge with Seren. Once he began absorbing Elizabeth, her body liquefied.

She screamed in surprise as the flesh along her shoulders gained the consistency of syrup before flowing into his hollowed arms. Elizabeth continued to shout in surprise as more than her shoulders disappeared into a thick liquid but so did her arms and torso. Her head was next to turn into jelly before the melting effect Aaron had on her cellular structure continued to work its way down to her legs.

Within a matter of seconds, her entire body had melted into a gelatinous substance that flowed into Aaron’s arms and gathered in his chest. Once Elizabeth’s liquefied body accumulated inside Aaron, it felt like a chaotic river churning within him. It was weakening him with pain. He was about ready to collapse as it felt like waves whipped up by an intense storm were knocking against his insides.

“What-?!” Aaron shouted. “What is this?!”

“It’s Elizabeth’s body still functioning in its gelatinous condition,” Helena said. “Her heart, respiratory system and all other body functions are existing with you. It is difficult for your body to maintain as essentially having two organisms functioning independently inside one host body is extremely difficult. It could kill you due to the immense stress it creates.”

“Neat,” Aaron said as he kept wincing in pain as his legs began to buckle. “Wish you told me that beforehand.”

“This is not easy,” she said. “Absorbing a sentient being is harder than just random bits of flesh like with Seren. You can’t absorb any amount of organic material that is greater in mass than your own body. And it seems you’ve reached your limit.”

“Again,” he said. “Wish you told me this before doing it.”

“Not much time to explain everything,” Helena said. “Now, listen…you need to picture Elizabeth in your mind. Picture her form in your head. Elizabeth’s human form. You’re going to have to quell her body’s bodily functions as you do.”

“Is that all?” Aaron asked.

“No,” Helena said. “You’re also going to have to draw out her memories as you do.”

“Draw out her memories?” Aaron asked.

“Yes,” Helena said. “Sift through them and pick out the ones you do and don’t want.”

“That seems…” Aaron said. “Almost immoral. It’d be almost like Fulir using Yeltael to brainwash people.”

“Look at it as you are trying to return her to normalcy,” Helena said. “You can either take my advice or allow Elizabeth to return to her changeling state.”

“Again,” Aaron said. “Have you ever done this before?”

“A rough equivalent of it,” Helena said. “Again…try it.”

Aaron nodded before closing his eyes and focusing. He tried to ignore the pain within him before picturing Elizabeth. It wasn’t hard as he could never forget her thin frame, golden hair and eternal smile. Everything about her was a ray of sunshine with no end.

As he painted a mental image of the young woman in his mind he could feel something akin to a new life forming within him. The chaotic waves of organic matter knocking around in his chest began to solidify and take shape. If Aaron was completely honest, it was almost the shape of an infant being surrounded by a sphere of protection.

“Am…?” Aaron asked. “Am I giving birth to a new lifeform?”

“Sort of,” Helena said. “But more so you are collecting the organic data of an already conceived one and reworking its data. Keep going, you’re doing great.”

He kept picturing the young woman in his mind until it felt complete. Aaron almost felt like a painter, each attempt at willing Elizabeth’s new birth a stroke on the canvas. It took a while before it felt complete. He couldn’t exactly say why he felt it was complete but Aaron could sense he was at a good stopping point.

“Now for her memories,” Helena said.

Aaron then searched through his own memories in search of Elizabeth’s. To his surprise, he found many foreign memories that belonged to her. Within him he could see Elizabeth’s perspective of being attacked by her father, taking care of her baby, berated by her mother and going to the pawn shop for Aaron.

Granted, he could see the happy memories she had. There were many images of Elizabeth where she was happily playing with Aaron as a child and their other friends. But most of these were fake. Now that he had access to all of Elizabeth’s mind he could tell which of these were illusions created by Yeltael and which were real ones that had been buried by Yeltael.

“Rid yourself of the ones you don’t want her to have,” she said. “You can reforge her into the woman you want.”

“But isn’t that immoral?” Aaron asked. “I’d essentially be brainwashing her.”

“I already told you you don’t have any other options,” Helena said. “This is the way to return Elizabeth to her true self.”

“But what is her true self?” Aaron asked. “The one that I remember? That may not be Elizabeth’s true self. Is the Elizabeth that was grieved by her father, mother and me her true self?”

“I wouldn’t think her tragic life is any different from her normal self,” Helena answered. “It’s just being her sweet, kind self in the face of adversity.”

“But what about the personality she had as a changeling?” Aaron asked. “Could that be her true self? Did Elizabeth secretly hate caring for others all along?”

“That was after being experimented on by Fulir,” Helena said. “They probably warped her in a way that-”

“No,” Aaron said. “The way she described it had nothing to do with Fulir changing her personality. She just said the clash between her two lives, one real and one fake, made her never want to develop bonds with others again. I don’t think it was Fulir directly warping her personality…just Elizabeth deciding who she wanted to become once given all the information about who she once was.”

“That still is a terrible line of thinking,” Helena said. “Changelings often have their personalities deliberately warped through experimentation. It’s more than just memory manipulation.”

“Well…” Aaron said. “I guess I’ll have to search very deep within her mind.”

He shut his eyes as he searched through Elizabeth’s person. Once he did, his Soul Chamber around him vanished before his world shifted. Square screens of alien events floated around him, passing by his side. These were memories flashing through his mind that could never have been mistaken as his own. All were from Elizabeth’s perspective.

There was no way Aaron could describe it. Existing within someone else’s consciousness was even more foreign than being dropped in a country where no one spoke the same language as you. Visually, it was the same as a tunnel of images playing on repeat around you as you walked forward. Between the images was nothing but darkness that occasionally allowed one to experience an emotion associated with the memory nearest to it. Aaron felt like he was stepping into someone’s diary.

“Where am I?” he asked aloud. “I can’t find my way back to my Soul Chamber?”

The square images of foreign memories began to speed up around him as the darkness between them began to be lit up with a flash of white light.

“Where…?” he said. “Where am I going?”

The memories around him bled into the background as if he was traveling in a car at one-hundred miles per hour. The blur of the scenery out of the corner of his eyes caused him to feel dizzy as there was no way to keep track of anything anymore. The speeding light made him feel sick as barrelled towards the source of the light.

“What-?” Aaron said. “What is going on?”

As if on cue to be given an answer, the memories around him vanished entirely as he stood at the source of the great light. It was an orb of white light that levitated above the featureless darkness that was the floor. The brightness of the object in front of Aaron was so bright it was almost blinding.

However, as he looked he found the image of Elizabeth cast in it. On the surface of the sphere of light was the young woman laughing and attempting to embrace him. Her kindness began to fill Aaron, like one of the former wielders within his Soul Chamber. As he looked up at it, he realized where he was.

“This is Elizabeth’s soul,” he said. “The center of her being.”

Aaron walked towards it as he placed his hand against its smooth, warm surface.

“This is who you truly are,” he said. “Beneath all your flesh and even your mind. Your heart.”

Aaron reached deeper into the orb to find his arm was being buried in it up to his shoulder.

“I want you,” he said. “I want…you.”

With his right arm completely submerged within her, Aaron grabbed hold of the center of the light before withdrawing his arm from it. A flash of light swallowed Aaron as he was blinded by its brightness. Once he could see again, he found himself within his Soul Chamber with his arm glowing.

In his open right palm was a ball of white light. It lit the whole room with its brightness. Within it, Aaron could see Elizabeth smiling up at him.

“The center of her being,” Helena said. “You brought out the center of her being. You were able to do more than I thought. If you can, connect it with Elizabeth’s new body.”

Aaron nodded before picturing the mental image he painted of Elizabeth. The image he kept in the front of his mind began emanating the same white light. He felt a sense of completion, like sculpture that was complete.

“Now expel her body,” Helena said.

Aaron then willed the flesh that he had assimilated to expel from his hollowed out arms as he pressed his palms together. The gelatinous liquid collected together before permanently solidifying. Blood veins, bones and skin formed before arms, legs and a face with blond hair did.

Lying on the cold, gray floor of the warehouse was Elizabeth. She was unclothed and shivering like she was cold. Her eyes were closed and she looked very pale. Aaron knelt down beside her as he took his armor off. Once the pinecone scales receded back into his body he softly patted Elizabeth’s face to get her attention.

“Hey,” he said. “Wake up.”

The young woman opened her eyes to look up at Aaron. Her curious, innocent gaze examined him as an animal would a foreign creature. Fear mixed with her wondering expression as she raised her hands to his face.

“You…” she said. “I…I remember you. Your presence…it warms my heart to remember.”

She slowly shook her head.

“But I remember nothing,” Elizabeth said. “I…I don't even know who…who I am.”

Her eyes watered in sorrow.

“Who…?” she asked. “Who am I?”

Aaron embraced the young woman as she continued to look up at him.

“You are Elizabeth Miller,” he said. “The kindest person I’ve ever met. And the most beautiful. Inside and out.”

The young woman smiled before breaking out into a great sob. She buried her face into his shoulder as tears wetted his shoulder. Aaron smiled at the gesture, feeling something had gone wonderfully right.

“You reached into the center of her being and purified her heart,” Helena said. “You rid it of dark memories that plagued her. Because your soul was already connected to Elizabeth’s through your strong bond…you…you’ve done something I thought might be impossible.”

“Thank-you,” Aaron replied.

“Are…?” Elizabeth asked. “Are you going to take me home?”

“Of course,” Aaron said. “Of course I will.”

“And which home would that be?” someone behind him asked.

“Another refugee I suppose,” a deep male voice said. “She can be taken in as well.”

He turned to see Kaitlyn stepping toward him. She was no longer wearing the Volcanic Armor and merely watching them. Her wide smirk felt a bit inappropriate as she watched them. Beside her stood Thomas with Kyle’s corpse slung over his back.

“I see you’ve recovered your lover,” Kaitlyn said. “And in the nude. How scandalous.”

“Stop it,” Thomas said.

“Who are you two?” Elizabeth asked timidly.

“What are you doing?” Aaron asked. “Where are the others?”

“I’ve been waiting back to watch how this would unfold,” Kaitlyn said.

“Once I saw you turning the changeling into jelly I just had to see where this was going. To be honest with you, I’m kind of surprised. I didn’t think you’d do something of this caliber.”

“Yes,” Thomas said. “After I won my battle with Kyle I came in to find you standing in front of Elizabeth. Kaitlyn explained that you were all trapped in some mental realm created by memories.”

Kaitlyn’s expression darkened.

“And as for the others,” Kaitlyn said.

She gestured behind her. Aaron gasped at the sight of Akemi’s pierced corpse as well as the dog changeling lying with a gaping hole in its chest near her. There were two more changeling bodies, each one split apart and their halves partially melted.

“This is all that’s left,” she said.

Elizabeth shouted in disgust and hid her face behind Aaron.

“Did…?” Aaron said. “Did Akemi kill herself?”

“We don’t know,” Thomas said. “It might have been the power of the changeling who attacked her. We’re not sure.”

“But what about Robert and Luis?” Aaron asked. “Where are they?”

“We don’t know,” Kaitlyn replied. “But if I had to guess…they were subdued and captured. But I can’t be sure.”

“We are all that is left,” Thomas said.

Aaron closed his eyes just as tears began to sting them.

“I’m sorry,” Aaron said.

“It cannot be helped,” Thomas said. “Now, grab Akemi’s body and let’s move out.”

“What?” Aaron asked. “Why?”

“She’s the one with the map that brought us here,” Kaitlyn said. “We can’t find her way back without it. Also, with Fulir technology we can extract the Feather Armor from her. It’s difficult but it can be done. Speaking of which…how can we move through Seren without being detected without suppression pins?”

“Leave that to me,” Aaron said. “I’ll partially merge my body with Seren and manipulate its sensory nerves. That way I’ll force it to not receive information about us walking through it.”

“Are you sure you can do that?” Thomas asked. “As we travel through Seren?”

“I just performed a bigger miracle,” Aaron said. “I’m up for the challenge.”

“I hope so,” Thomas said. “Because we have to get back to the Remnant Village before Fulir gets here. The Signal Inhibitor only has so long.”

“Yeah,” Aaron said. “Let’s hurry.”

“Where are we going?” Elizabeth asked.

He ran his hand down the side of her face as she shook in fright.

“Some place safe,” he said.