The idea was simple enough, even if it was a half-assed idea. There were clearly dissenters or enemy spies all over this city, what with that last assassination attempt, so all I had to do was find another terrorist and have them “kidnap” me in a moment of weakness. It wasn’t like I was afraid that they’d be able to actually harm me given my half-Xollon body, and with some slight Noe mind control, I could safely operate for a few days without worry. Once I was free from oversight, I could just change back into my Secondary form and burrow underground to where that strange disturbance was located and go from there. It was a fool-proof plan if I do say so myself, and all I had to do was to find one of those terrorists.

Well, chances are, I wouldn’t need to be the one to find them, especially after that big speech I gave earlier. They’d know where I was, and with a little help from the Absolute Luck skill, I should bump into one of them sooner or later… probably. Okay, maybe the plan wasn’t as amazing as I first thought, but my options were severely limited. It wasn’t like the guards would just allow me to wander around the town aimlessly while I checked out every shady corner or back alley establishment looking for dissenters, and even if I could manipulate the security into allowing me to go, it would raise a lot of questions I couldn’t answer if anyone saw me doing so.

What meant was that I had to rely on the hope that my assassin friends would be competent in their jobs and somehow breach all of the security around here. Of course, I wouldn’t be doing anything in that time either. If my only option was to wait for them to come to me, then the least I could do was to make their jobs a little easier. I went around each corridor and entrance with the excuse of thanking the sentries for keeping me safe, but I was actually making use of the emotional Redux skill to make each guard and soldier lethargic and sleepy. If the spies couldn’t manage to take advantage of such a tasty opportunity then they would have to be the world’s worst terrorists ever.

The best part was that it only took me a little over half an hour to sabotage all of the security details. I took another 15 minutes or so to make some public appearances, stressing the fact that I would be going on another mission in a few hours while subtly hinting that I’d need some time to prepare for the journey in my quarters. All that was left for me to do was wait. Surely that was enough hints for the people out to get me to act, right? I was all but screaming for them to come get me.

And wait I did… the minutes passed excruciatingly slowly, and after a short while, I decided that I couldn’t ‘just do nothing and wait for something to happen. I doubt anyone could bypass my enhanced senses, and with Noe’s Absolute Luck skill constantly on, I was relatively safe from harm. That meant that I should be using these last few hours to do something productive. I debated going around to talk with the priests, just to get an idea of Ashwin as an individual, but quickly decided against that. If I wanted to bait the assassins in, then it would be safer to stay by myself for the time being.

That left me with just one real option to spend my time: scouting out that anomaly that Noe noticed earlier. I wouldn’t enter the spatial distortion, but getting a good idea about it’s general layout and where it was located could be useful for the future when I had to make my way back there. With a goal in mind, and ensuring that I still had the Absolute Luck Skill on, I followed Noe’s directions toward the disturbance.

The area itself, or at least the only entrance to it, was located near what appeared to be the cold storage room by the kitchens. I had to spend a few Luck Charges dissuading the staff from inquiring about my presence here, but aside from that, there was no one to challenge my presence there. I thought for sure that there would be dozens of sentinels or other defensive mechanisms near the one strange area of the castle, but apparently, the Trash Matrix didn’t think it important enough to do so.

I was starting to worry that this might be a trap, but the Trash Matrix hadn’t shown any ability to intervene in the affairs of this world so far, assuming that it could at all in the first place. I stood a few feet away from the wooden door that would lead to the castle’s distorted underground and tried to use my Xollon senses to peek at the other side.

I frowned. I could make out almost nothing on the other side of that door as if the door itself simply led to nothing, there was just a haze of darkness that obscured my vision… no, there was something. If I concentrated hard enough, I could almost make vague shapes of something just off in the distance. I saw shadows and silhouettes of shapes and images that were so oddly familiar to me as if I had seen them before somewhere. No… I definitely recognized some of those shapes, but I couldn’t for the life of me recall what it was.

I frowned at the welling frustration of being so close to knowing something, and curiosity got the better of me. I approached the door, hoping that the act of getting closer to the source of the disturbance would make the images just a bit more clear. Just a tiny bit of clarity would jog my memories. I concentrated harder, using every last bit of my focus to see if I could just unveil the darkness.

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I was practically touching the door itself when something jolted me out of my reverie.

Luck Charges: 905/1577

I briefly noticed my Charges go down as a terrible leg cramp assaulted me, forcing me to stumble awkwardly forward. I felt a stinging sensation on the back of my head, and I knew that Noe had just saved my life once again. Unfortunately, I wish she had chosen a less painful method of doing so as I crashed face-first into the door and tumbled down the flight of stairs.

Noe, couldn’t you have been a bit gentler?

Luck Charges: 890/1557

I braced myself for impact, but not before turning back to see what had caused such a big drop in charges. It appeared that there was a reason why Noe chose such an extreme method to protect me.

Ah… Never mind, Noe. I see that you made the most logical move as always.

It appeared that my attacker, having seen the first strike miss, had decided to leave nothing to chance and had chosen to blow himself up like the first guy tried to do when I first came to the city. I saw the searing flash of light, followed by the shockwave of the detonation ram into my still-tumbling body.

Luck Charges: 878/1557

And miraculously, or more accurately, Luckily, none of the shrapnel and debris managed to hit my tender body, although the force of the impact itself still left a solid chuck out of my HP. The force of the explosion was so strong that it left me stunned for a few moments, and down and down I went, further into the castle’s basement as the walls and ceilings around me collapsed. Small dust particles were starting to irritate my eyes, and I had to close them tight as I braced for the inevitable impact when I reached the bottom of the stairs.

I had not expected the lunatics to go to such extremes just to kill one man, but then again, what was I expecting? I had seen the cultists behave before, and they weren’t exactly the most sane individuals around. Plus, it wasn’t the first time that someone tried to blow themselves up. Damn, I messed up this time… things couldn’t have gotten any worse.

A few moments later, I felt the thud of my back hitting the ground. I tensed, waiting to see if anything else would go wrong, but after hearing nothing but silence and the distinct lack of pain, I tentatively opened my eyes once more. I sighed. Let’s see how badly the explosion damaged the castle, and if I had to somehow dig myself out again.

I was expecting to see a ruined underground dungeon or cavern, but instead, I saw… I blinked a few times, rubbing my eyes to make sure that I wasn’t somehow hallucinating.

“What the fuck…” I muttered.

I was lying on the ground in what appeared to be a modern condominium. Scratch that, it was one of those multimillion-dollar suits that I’d seen on TV back on earth. I got up, pinching myself to make sure that I wasn’t passed out again and that this was just a dream. Nope, this was real…

A huge king-sized bed was right beside me, and from the sprawled-out blankets, it appeared that I had just fallen out of it. To the side were some crumpled-up clothes, a laptop, and some tacky furniture, but what caught my eye was the tall ceiling windows. I walked up to them, disbelief still clouding my features, and stared out into the streets below. I saw the morning sun peek out of the distance, but the Manhatten skyline was unmistakable. That was Central Park right below me, there was no way that I’d mistake that.

Had everything that had happened just been a dream? No, that wasn’t possible… and that was when the next thing hit me. From the smooth surface of the window, I saw my reflection, or rather, the reflection of Ashwin. Well, there was some slight differences, Ashwin’s hairstyle was slightly different, a bit shorter than what I had seen earlier, and he looked to be a tad younger, but it was definitely the same person. So… what the hell does that mean?

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in. Okay, let’s just calm down. There must be a rational explanation for all of this. It’s not the first time something ridiculous happened to me, and it won’t be the last. Let’s just treat it like any other Trial. But first, I needed to make sure that I still had my one companion who had seen me through so much.

“Noe…” I said tentatively, out loud this time, “You still there?”

“Affirmative, my Host.” the same calm voice answered, and I felt a huge wave of relief hit me. I wasn’t alone.

I honestly don’t know what I would have done if Noe wasn’t here with me. I smiled despite my ridiculous situation. “You know what the hell’s going on?”

“I do, my Host,” she answered, “But you might not like the answer. The Origin Matrix has finally shown it’s hand.”

“Of course, it’s the goddamn Trash Matrix.” I sighed. “When has anything I’ve gone through ever been anything but horrible, Noe? Let’s hear it anyway.”