Nia and Lyn approached a lower section of Level 452, which started to have its own distinct design separate from the usual station color. This time, Nia's markings and unusual influence was present; certain incoherent scribbles were riddled across the walls, marked repeatedly naming three different names.
Mother. New World. Ascendant. Mother. New World. Ascendant. Mother. New World. Ascendant.
Not only were there markings on the wall, but there was clear sign of Nia attempting to make the level her home.
She stacked cardboard boxes on the edges of the large corridor, creating makeshift walls to block potential threats or intruders away. She placed several barbed wires plucked from the many prisoner glass cages and placed them as traps on the cold floor; there was at least success shown in the makeshift trap, as the varmints who searched for food were snared and left to die on their jagged edges.
There was somewhat of a door that protected her presumed hideout, which was the amalgamation of rusted metal and glass infused to create a peek-out window to view the opposing threat from the other side. Nia limped forward and moved the door out of the way, beckoning for Lyn to enter with a small friendly gesture.
Inside the barely visible hideout was a ripped up armchair attached to a set of complicated wiring of many colors and connections. Nia brushed past Lyn's shoulder, yanking on a lamp switch to activate more of the lights to reveal the small establishment. The wires attached the the armchair were hooked up to an array and assortment of different sized monitors, no doubt taken from the laboratories of the secret experiments being run in the station. The purpose of the machine didn't make any sense at all to Lyn. It was as if a child was showing their family the greatest invention of all time, only for it to be a disappointment.
"We're here, we're here!" Nia shouted, sliding toward the armchair. She spun it around until it rotated multiple times. She stopped it with her index finger and beckoned Lyn to sit in it with a hand gesture. "Gemma. Please. Sit." She insisted.
Lyn was hesitant. "Tell me what it is." She commanded. She couldn't possibly listen to someone like her, even if they were remotely connected.
She traced her eyes throughout the small hideout, noticing the laid and decomposed corpses of individual Qliphos Station workers sprawled about with their scalps cut open until their hair was nonexistent. This made Lyn clench her fists and aware of a potential threat, threatened by the crazed request.
"Ah, ah… this…" Nia pointed out beside her, the semi-computer and device that the chair was connected to. "This... yes! This should look familiar! Does it not?"
Lyn's eyes widened upon first glance upon the ancient supercomputer; it was reminiscent of where she was first born amidst the meteor crash landing onto the disc that revived her. The blue ancient technology resembled the exact same technology that engineered the pod that housed her. Her head suddenly pulsated in extreme surging pain, causing her to groan and teeter off of her balance.
"Ahh... ahh..." Lyn cried, closing her eyes to stabilize the pain. "What's... happening...? What... is that thing...?"
Nia gasped and rushed forward, patting Lyn on the back while supporting her arm over her back. "Gemma, G-Gemma!" She called, looking at the ancient blue supercomputer. "T-This... is proof that we exist! This is technology of our ancestors that created us! I-I recovered it... and I have been u-using it to find the truth!"
"AHH!" Lyn cried as a sharp pain struck the center of her skull.
Eliminate the Lords of METIS...
Gather it all for me...
No! No!
Astra? What does it mean to be human?
Astra? Why did you create me?
Well, that's a funny question! My response to you is... why not?
Nia set Lyn over on another rusty chair that barely held her weight as Lyn slumped forward with her hands on her face. An influx of unknown and distorted memories swarmed her head, and she nearly believed her head was about to explode. "AHH..." Lyn continued to yell in agony. "What's... what's happening to me?"
"Gemma! G-Gemma! Look at me! Look at me!" Nia called, eyeing her directly up close. "You can see it! You will be able to see more! Y-You... need... to calm... down!" She shouted, shaking Lyn's shoulders violently until the chair rocked back and forth.
After a few seconds passed, the pain began to subside. Lyn's eyes stared directly into Nia's, wetting itself as the slightly glimpse of tears arose from underneath her eyelids. Her vision began to revert back to normal, and she nodded a single time to Nia to ensure she was okay.
"Okay." Lyn's voice trembled.
Nia moved over to the supercomputer, activating it with the press of a button. She began turning multiple dials attached to its front, igniting the wire coupling beside the ripped armchair. Visible static appeared on all of the different monitors, connecting a signal between the ancient technology to a primary power source. As Nia continued to tune the signal, her shivering body and twitchy head began to spiral into a lack of control.
"M-Mother... is w-watching," She said, shaking her head uncontrollably. "We... we don't have t-time. I've been s-searching for the t-truth. For the one she deems w-worthy. The one... who will ascend."
"What are you talking about...?" Lyn asked, still stunned from the previous pain.
Nia shoved herself toward Lyn's face until their foreheads met and connected, coating their foreheads with a mixture of their sweat.
"ASCENSION!" Nia shouted, drawing herself back instantly to crazily apologize for her loud volume. "Yes... ascension, Gemma. Mother is creating a new world where t-those worthy shall ascend. She watches. She judges. She d-decides... who shall be the contender."
"The Rot Mother?" Lyn continued to seek more information. "Are you talking about the Rot Mother?"
"Rot this, Rot that... the subjects of Mother are all unworthy of ascension... gave up their humanity... yes, yes... gave up to become worthy..." Nia muttered to herself, snatching a wrench to twist the loose bolt on a wire coupling. "Deemed unfit, deemed unfit! Must find the truth how to be worthy!"
All of these terms made it impossible to comprehend from Nia's poor language. She almost felt sorry for her. Who knew how long she was stuck down here, suffering amidst the darkness to find this truth of hers? Such a thought made her sympathize with her pain, calming herself at her presence instead of being fearful in the moment.
"Okay, Nia," Lyn began, breathing in. "Tell me the truth. Who is the Mother? What do you mean by 'New World?' What is this ascension?"
Nia chuckled, snatching another rusted metal chair beside her and plopping it in front of Lyn after tossing her wrench toward a wall that had been battered and abused by hand. She sluggishly slumped on the chair in a crooked position, looking up at the ceiling to envision her response.
"Mother destroyed all of humanity..." Nia whispered. "She searches for immortality... to the new world... she may create. Rot... all those who rot... want to ascend... to become one with Mother. Those blessed... are also subjects... deemed worthy for ascension. Gemma. Nia. Erpha."
She used names, including Claire's true name.
"SUBJECTS of ascension, all!" Nia cackled.
"Erpha?" Lyn spoke to interrupt her, completely dumbfounded by her statement. "How do you know her name? Have you been listening to us all this time!?"
"Nia... Nia has been searching for how to be worthy... worthy! I needed to! I needed to l-listen... for we all one," She bolted up at her seat and kicked it away, ignoring how it collided with a set of papers on a nearly broken table. She pointed her finger at the supercomputer and an unusual claw and drill tool attached to the top of it. "Nia will show you. Come, Gemma. Come, sit."
Nia yanked Lyn from her rusted chair and placed her on the ripped armchair. Before Lyn could react any further, Nia slapped on a sturdy used zip tie on both of her arms, preventing her from moving. Such an action made Lyn dangerously anxious; even more after watching Nia interacting with the claw and drill device.
"Nia?" Lyn called, unable to turn her head to face her. "Nia, stop!" She cried.
Nia paid no regard. The supercomputer activated the claw machine; the claw twisted and turned, revealing several intricate and near microscopic devices that reacted to the electricity from the wire coupling. It began to inch its way towards the back of Lyn's scalp, making her conclude that the deceased and decomposed corpses all met the same fate; a torturous death trapped by a crazed fiend.
"NIA!" Lyn shouted at the top of her lungs, using her strength to break free from the zip ties. She turned around and shoved Nia to the ground, pointing her sawblade at her once again. "I'll kill you if you touch me!"
"NO, NO!" Nia begged once more, curling up again as her sweaty and dirty burgundy hair clumped near her eyes and forehead. "I promised, I promised! I would never hurt Gemma! Never!"
"You're lying. You're lying!" Lyn exclaimed.
"No... no," Nia whispered in fear. "Nia... Nia will show you. I... I will show you what happens. I will use... the machine on myself. You can see. You can see, okay?"
Lyn's heart rate raced, along with her breathing pattern. She sheathed her sawblade and stepped back, remaining cautious of her decree. "Fine," She angrily stated. "Show me. You try anything, and you're dead."
"Yes, of course... of course..." Nia repeated, standing up from the floor. She swept her rotting hair away from her forehead and activated the supercomputer once more. The claw machine began to work its way near the ripped armchair, priming itself for usage. Lyn watched as Nia hovered over the armchair, ready to sit and interact with it.
"The machine... will show you. Once it touches my head... you will see a f-flash... on the screen. Touch my h-hand when it d-does, Gemma. And i will s-show you the results of my w-work." Nia informed her of the specific instructions to the process of the machine. "Only... once. Any more... and we may lose our m-minds... like I did."
"Okay." Lyn spoke softly, watching Nia's exact movement to ensure that she wasn't going to lash out or betray her trust.
She witnessed Nia lean backward against the ripped armchair, binding herself with one zip tie on her left wrist to prevent her from moving. She leaned her head back against the claw and drill device, closing her eyes in the process. In the exact same moment, for once, she appeared peaceful and content for the first time. But havoc broke loose when the device attached itself to the back of her scalp. The claw expanded, revealing a system of intricate computerized systems inside Nia's head; bits and bobs, colored chips and whatnot were included.
Suddenly, the flash appeared on the screen, just as Nia predicted. Lyn reached forward, and although hesitant at first, snatched her hand, fully unaware of what was about to happen next.
What happened next was an out of body experience. Lyn's vision immediately blacked out. She was transported into a world of darkness where her feet hovered off of the ground. An amalgamation of unknown voices ran rampant throughout her ears, and a system of cosmic trails rushed beside her ears to nearly induce her in a reckless trance. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head as all sign of life from her body ceased entirely.
Several seconds later, Lyn found herself in the center of a constellation in the stars, where violet-colored galaxies and comets soared past through the heavens. She was stripped of her futuristic armor, although her body features bare no feminine characteristics. Despite this, she paid no heed to it; her floaty, out of body experience was a marvelous reckoning to behold. She felt like she was one with the stars, despite it being an illusion induced by the shared experiences of the brain.
As she soared through the stellar skies, the cosmic dust of the stars tickled her forearms, finding it slightly pleasurable in the rare moment. She propelled herself forward, swimming across the pixels freely. It was a blissful occasion that was only temporary, for after suspending herself in midair long enough, the faded image of Nia appeared in front of her.
This version of Nia was not weakened or shriveled by the age and the side effects of being trapped in the station; she was cleaner, restored, and much more beautiful upon first glance. Lyn soared next to her, inspecting her upon close contact. She was suspended in midair while being expressionless and still. She stared blankly toward the distance with her lifeless eyes.
"Nia," Lyn called. "Nia? Are you okay?"
Lyn extended her hand forward, touching Nia's forearm. In an instant, Lyn's eyes rolled to the back of her head. A blinding flash of light covered her vision; incoherent voices spoke through Lyn's ears until a rushing torrent of zooms passed through, increasing in volume until she reawakened in the midst of a white room.
Her vision, although groggy and blurry, managed to make out some parts of the new setting she was in. It was a white laboratory, very similar to the color in Qliphos, but of a completely different environment. Upon further inspection, it was a white office filled with blurs of white-coated figures speeding urgently left and right, as if they were always late to an important meeting. The moment Lyn's eyes adjusted itself, she saw a man with a light-trimmed goatee approaching her with a clipboard nestled in his hand.
"How goes the section _______?" The man's overly enthusiastic voice seemed berating, almost. Lyn couldn't make out the final word; it was garbled amongst the rest of his speech. "Finished up with your constructs?
"Yeah, I did," A voice rang from Lyn's direction, almost passing through her translucent body. It seemed as if Lyn was speaking, but someone was speaking for her. "How many constructs were there again?"
"Twenty each day," The man stated, scanning his eyes through the clipboard. "After the quota's met, you can start on your own."
"Oh..." The voice embodying Lyn sounded disappointed.
"Is something wrong?" The man's voice sounded concerned. "You know, you can always take a break. I... know what happened to your sister. I'm sorry to hear about it. She was a great person."
"Yeah, she was," The voice stated. "But it's okay. I want to make a construct, in honor of her. That way, if I ever see her again, her memories will live on."
"That sounds like a wonderful idea," The man said, smiling brightly. From behind, more white-coated employees passed him, carrying several cards in their hands that were intelligible. The man scanned the cards as they walked past with his eyes, but drew his vision back to the embodying voice. "So... remind me what your sister's name was? I'll help you out tomorrow!"
"Nia."
What?
The blinding flash of light engulfed Lyn's vision once more, as her travel through the torrent of zooms reversed itself. She reawakened back in the violet skies, with Nia disappearing before her upon return. She couldn't fathom anything she had witnessed in that moment. Was it a memory? Was it a figment of imagination? There was no clear cut sign of any proof of what it was to Lyn.
After turning around, she witnessed Claire standing in the same manner as Nia, cleanly designed without any blemish or mark. She approached her cautiously, with the same expectation as she had once she would touch her forearm.
Once she did, she traveled through the continuum again, engaging in the same blurry scenery; only this time, it differed. After adjusting her eye sight, she stood at an inclined small hill in an autumn forest setting in the twilight. The loud breeze of the wind pushed the dead leaves off of the trees. Garbled voices began playing, until from behind Lyn's perspective, was a black haired young teenager with a bob speaking to directly toward her.
"Do you have dreams, Erpha? What goes on in that little mind of yours?" She asked.
My dream...
"You don't have to tell me now, if it's too much,. Besides, I think we can save it for later. It's going to be night soon. You coming? Or are you going to just stand there?"
I'll say it.
All of a sudden, the woman stopped moving. Her bright smile shriveled down into a haunting and ghastly frown, glaring into Lyn's eyes with the thinnest slits of pupils. Her face began to melt. Parts of her skin from her cheeks began to drop on the ground, revealing her red flesh and bone beneath it. Lyn, haunted by the experience, could not escape nor move to look away.
"you were never meant to exist erpha" She said with a dull, lifeless tone.
"your mother left you"
"your father abandoned you"
"you were a liability"
"who named you ____"
"and when you couldn't get what you wanted"
"when you finally had enough of them"
"you touched them"
A blinding flash of light revisited Lyn once more, sending her back to the violet skies. Once more, she couldn't fathom anything she had witnessed. If it was Claire's memories, it would have been an absolute cruel nightmare that no one should have ever experienced, Lyn thought.
She looked around once more and found no one remaining. She assumed that it would be the end to her journey through the stellar realm, so she remained still, resting atop the serene clouds in her view. Red and violet strings stretched across the skies, resembling tethers that connected behind Lyn's perspective. She slowly turned around and was suddenly shocked to see an exact replica of herself standing in the same way Nia and Claire were.
That's... me...?
Lyn floated to the replica of herself. Without hesitation, she shot her arm toward the replica's forearm, hoping to gaze through the memories of the past; perhaps the dreams, as well as the purpose of everything. A blinding flash repeated again, but the connection was suddenly severed.
In the present, Lyn jolted back against the entrance to Nia's hideout, slamming her head against the edge of the door. Nia regained consciousness, ejecting the claw machine out of her scalp. She leaned forward, as the entire trance-like state made her nauseous and desperate.
Lyn pushed herself off of the machine and tackled Nia's collar, yanking her face toward her. "What are you doing!?" She yelled, eyes beaming with impatience and rage.
"I-I have severed the c-connection," Nia voiced out, looking away from Lyn's thousand-yard stare. "My d-demonstration is o-over-"
Lyn gritted her teeth and forcefully rocked her back and forth. "No, we're not done!" She exclaimed. "Send me back, right now!"
"It's... it's too r-risky. You'll lose yourself-"
"I DON'T CARE!" Lyn screamed. She shoved Nia off of the armchair and plunged herself onto it. She leaned her head back into the claw machine and tried to activate it upon contact, but it failed. She pointed at the device, wanting her to do her bidding with the experimentation. "Please, Nia. Please. Send me back."
Nia, although highly encouraged seeking the truth, was ambivalent when she agreed to the final transfer. She approached the machine from the back and hovered her finger over the activation button of the supercomputer. It flailed from left to right, showcasing her hesitation. Nevertheless, she activated it again and watched as the machine took a hold of Lyn's head. Only this time, the intended usage began to spiral out of control, leading to the wiring couplets to begin sparking up in light flames.
Nia screamed, extinguishing the flames as she watched the machine take full control over Lyn's consciousness. After attempting to deactivate the machine to save her, a forceful ignition blasted her back against the table, stunning her momentarily.
The machine severed Lyn's scalp, inserting a tremendous amount of electricity and power within her system to activate her neurons. Lyn's own voices were heard within her ears as she entered the trance once more.
I am... LYNBG52.
I am... Girl.
I did not care much for her. Her goals, her intentions... But there is something about it that still hurts. It is difficult to explain.
You are my Blade.
A sign of understanding. You watch down and glimpse upon bright significance, guiding, forevermore.
How can I be lost when I have you?
Astra?
Astra...?
"Gemma, are you awake?" A soothing voice of a woman played out in Lyn's envisioning of her presumed memories. She was in the same white-like office as Nia, but she could tell based off the garbled noises and faint glances of the setting that it was a different.
I miss Blade.
Where are you?
Blade... loves me?
"Gemma?" The face of the woman couldn't be made out entirely.
"I am Gemma." Lyn's disembodied voice stated. It sounded just like Lyn herself.
"Oh, good. I thought you were gone for a second. Good to know you're still here." The woman replied, looking down upon a clipboard around her arm.
"I am always here, Astra."
"You're so silly," The woman continued. "How I expected you to become my construct. When the time comes, you know."
"I have no response."
"Of course not. I didn't expect you to say such a thing."
Silence broke out between the two. The image of the woman was beginning to clear up.
"Astra?" The disembodied voice begun in a questioned tone.
"Yeah?"
"Why did you create me?"
"Well, that's a funny question. My response to you is... why... not?"
"I can't feel anything."
"Well, of course not! Not yet, at least! Not until you get back on track!" The woman said, placing her clipboard on the table beside her.
"Track?"
"Remember those words before I go. You must follow. You must listen!"
"I am Astra."
"I hope you listened, you silly oaf. When the time comes, I'll be here... and we'll see each other again. We are the same, after all."
XXxXxxxxxxxjj94099002090920290400401000499929
"And I hope we can live and return to this world..."
MN4994929 ERROR _________________________________________________ ASTRA
"Gemma."
At last, the face of the unknown woman in her visions; the one who frequently transpires and visits her memories finally revealed itself.
It was Lyn. An alternate version of herself, with human skin, human emotions, and human qualities. With a firm and grippingly friendly smile, the woman who looked like Lyn wore a white coat similar to Nia. She had been leaning forward and speaking to the disembodied voice, as if they were the same.
"I have to go now," The woman who appeared identical to Lyn said. "You should get some rest. I'll talk to you... tomorrow, okay? Same time tomorrow?"
Then, she spoke those words.
Ascendant.
"I'll... miss you."
No...
Lyn's disembodied voice began to take over. She tried to speak aloud, but the human replica of her began to stand up and scoot away from her seat; she waved goodbye in Lyn's eyes, cheery-eyed over the simple joys of trust and love, it seemed.
"Wait." The real Lyn called to the woman.
No!
"Come back."
NO!
A sudden force began to drag Lyn's body out of the vision. She desperately with her left hand, reaching for the replica of her, but she shut the main entrance door behind her, vanishing from sight.
NO!!!
"COME BACK!"
The final flash of white light engulfed Lyn. For a split moment, she was rendered unconscious, but she could hear her surroundings. Murmurs and garbled whispers eventually led to full-blown yelling, enunciating her name the more time had passed. Once she regained full consciousness from escaping the machine, she jolted her head up and opened her eyes. Her orchid-sparkled eyes, which resembled the violet stellar skies, twinkled the moment she caught Nia deactivating the supercomputer behind her.
The claw device was still attached to Lyn, however, and she was still bound with zip ties across her wrists. She tried shaking them off to break loose, but was too physically drowned in drunkenness to do so. Instead, she shifted her gaze toward Nia, who was taken aback by the systematic shock she had unveiled after witnessing what Lyn had saw. Her palm covered the center of her chest as tightly as possible, as if she was shot, and her eyes were haunted by a phantom.
"It's... you?" Nia could barely utter those two words out of her vocal cords.
"Wait," Lyn said. "Tell me. Tell me what I just saw!"
Nia shook her head in denial. "You're the ascendant. She... she chose... you?" Her eyebrows curled in absolute disgust.
"I don't know-"
Nia's voice rose in volume and tension. "She chose... YOU?!"
"Nia...?"
A faded image of Nia charged in front of Lyn's garbled vision, choking her as she pressed down upon her neck. The two of them fell off of the armchair until Lyn was pinned at the bottom, with Nia piled directly on top of her to suffocate her to death.
"IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ME!" Nia spat, throttling Lyn's neck as forcefully as she could with the intent to kill. "I was meant to be chosen! NOT YOU! NOT YOU!!!"
Lyn freed her right leg and kicked Nia straight off of her, sending her toward the monitors on the side of the hideout. The collision shattered the glass on them, destroying them and sending them to the ground. Before Lyn could even think about getting up, Nia activated the supercomputer machine to stun Lyn once more in the trance before escaping with a galvanizing scream leading her path.
Gemma.
Gemma.
I am here.
We're the same, you and I.
Lyn!
LYN!
LYN!!!
In reality, an unknown figure freed Lyn with a swift slash to the machine. It was Claire, sliced the wires taking a hold of Lyn's scalp with her folded blade while Ardine kicked it away into the corner, turning it into scrap metal. Lyn, who was fully aware that she could not revisit what she had witnessed, began breaking down disorderly.
"NO!" She shouted, collapsing on the ground while reaching for the remnants of the computer. She then shot her head back toward Ardine and Claire with a disgusted appearance, as if it was their fault for saving her. "WHY!? Why did you do that?!"
"Lyn-" Ardine began, holding his palms forward to calm Lyn down.
"We saved you!" Claire shouted back.
"I... I was..." Lyn closed her eyes as tears streamed down her cheeks. She clutched her chest with both of her hands, realizing the truth of what she had witnessed. The interpretation of it at first did not make sense to her, but she realized what she could remember. "I..." She couldn't speak at all based on what she had saw.
"Lyn...?" Ardine began, approaching her with his hand extended to pick her up. She ignored it. "Are you okay?"
Suddenly, Lyn turned around, realizing the biggest subject in the room was missing. She got up on her knees and searched the area, shaking in the process. "No," She voiced out. "Where's Nia?!"
"Nia?" Ardine asked, scanning the area. "I don't know who that is. There was only us in the room when we came in."
Claire approached Lyn and kneeled down beside her. Yet when attempting to calm her down, Lyn remembered the vision she had in the alternate vision and began to cry for her. "Lyn, we're here. It's okay. It's okay!" She exclaimed.
"No... no..." Lyn repeated, covering her face. "You were there in the forest... talking to a black haired woman..."
"What?" Claire voiced out, losing her breath. "You mean... Szene...?"
Ardine kneeled down beside the two. "Lyn, tell us what's going on. What happened? What was that thing that was on your head?" He asked.
"I... I saw... myself," Lyn repeated, stunned over the revelation. "I spoke to myself... her name was Astra... and I was Gemma, and she said... she said... we were the same."
"Slow down, slow down," Ardine interrupted. "Who told you that you were the same?"
"It was... myself..." Lyn whispered, realizing it didn't make any sense to them. "I... I..." She repeated, clutching her chest in shock.
While the three spoke to each other to try and reconcile the details of the envisioning, Alfaic hid behind the entrance to the hideout, sheltering himself in the darkness. He had been listening to everything she and the others had been saying. He knew that the shocking revelation would reignite itself in the future, once enough time had past.
In the present, he was speechless.
But he couldn't any longer. He dragged himself out of the doorway and looked directly at Lyn, who suddenly returned his gaze.
"Blade...?" Lyn called.
"Lyn?" Alfaic replied. "Are you... okay?"
As Alfaic rushed toward Lyn's aid, Lyn bolted up from the ground and held Alfaic warmly, as one would with a human. She panted nonstop after the exhausting pressures through her brain. Ardine and Claire smiled at each other, witnessing a historical moment where Lyn expressed her relief aloud to an existing ally. It was a truly rare occasion.
"You're here..." Lyn whispered.
"Yeah." Alfaic said.