Episode-33: The Last Moments of Life

Date: November 26, 3008
Time: 12:40
Location: GPS Error

~Felix~

A sharp pang of agony seared through his nerves, creating illusions of stars that swirled above his head. Felix winced in pain as he felt another blow being delivered into his gut. He felt as if his head was on fire, every part of his mind in hell. Fenris’ henchmen were good at what they did.

“Talk damn you!” the man roared into Felix’s ear. Out of the one eye he could see out of, Felix noticed Maldran squirm uncomfortably in his seat, his mouth quivering. The man then grabbed Felix’s face and turned it back to him, “I said TALK!”

“F*** you,” Felix whispered coldly, bracing himself for the next beating. However, the man backed away, as if actually scared by his retort.

“I see,” he muttered to himself. Felix saw the man’s eye dart to Maldran, and then felt his heart sink to a new low.

The man advanced on Maldran and stepped down hard on his thigh. Maldran roared in pain as the man’s boots increased the pressure, “Make your friend talk.”

Maldran eyed Felix pleadingly, but all Felix could do was watch. He was helpless, his own mind still shrieking in pain.

“I will not ask you again,” the man snarled. His eyes narrowed upon Maldran’s shaking face. Tears of fright were rolling down his cheeks, but his lips remained closed.

“Ok I see how it is.” The man snapped his fingers and two more of Fenris’ henchmen came up. Felix saw them grab Maldran’s hand. Then, the lead revealed a black pistol from within his coat. Without warning, he pointed it at Maldran’s pinky and pulled the trigger.

The ring of the gun shot was rivaled only by Maldran’s cry of agony. Felix’s hatred for Fenris spiked exponentially, and he found himself screaming at the top of his lungs as well, “YOU SONS OF B****ES! LET US GO AND FIGHT LIKE REAL MEN, YOU COWARDLY LOWLIFE FA**OT SCUM!”

Another blow to the cheek winded Felix into submission. He spluttered painfully and ejected a stream of blood onto the floor. His hands that were tied behind his back were rubbing so hard against the rope that he felt his skin being torn away, the blood flowing free.

The man gave a cold, sadistic chuckle and retreated out of the room, slamming the metal door behind him. Felix heard muffled voices conversing behind the sheet of steel. Turning his head, he tried to pry the bolted down chair out of the floor, wanting desperately to reach Maldran’s side, to comfort him, to tell him everything would be alright in the end. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that would not be true.

There was a laugh on the other side of the door, and Felix saw the knob turn. The metal door swung open, revealing the lead henchman’s booted foot. He strode into the room, not closing the door. Felix and Maldran both looked up at the same time, their eyes meeting briefly for a tense fraction of a moment. And then, he spotted the hand reach into his cloak. The man whipped out his gun and pointed it at Maldran’s chest. Without a second thought, he pulled the trigger.

The impact of the bullet was so forceful that Maldran’s chair’s bolts ripped straight out of the metal floor, sending Maldran onto his back, a red stain slowly spreading across his shirt.

Felix was screaming, and he was sure everyone else was, but he could not hear anymore. As the man slammed the door shut again, Felix thought his lungs would burst. He rocked back and forth in agony, almost feeling the bullet inside his own chest. And then, he was on the ground, his own chair’s bolts ripped cleanly off of the ground. Felix half crawled to Maldran’s side.

“Oh god no, no, please no!” Felix panted. His sweat and blood dripped down onto Maldran’s shirt.

“Don’t… just get… get her out… don’t ever let… that bast*** get her… don’t let… let…” And with that, Maldran’s chest slowly heaved to a halt. His last breath escaped his lungs and he was silent forever. A pair of dark eyes stared up unseeingly at Felix, dull, cold, and lifeless.

“F***! THOSE F***ERS! THOSE SONS OF B****ES! FRIGGING C***SUCKING FA**OTS!” Felix roared as tears started to rain down from his eyes. He shivered uncontrollably on the floor. The others were screaming, but he could not hear. Felix writhed on the ground, next to Maldran’s body. But he was not there with him anymore. This was real. He was gone.

Date: November 26, 3008
Time: 12:50
Location: In Low Orbit: The Academy

~Nova~

A rush of nausea split my mind in two. Something had happened, a death, someone close, but who? I could only pray it was not a certain someone that had just watched me in my torture session.

Looking down, I saw my wrists being bound with steel shackles. Concentrating all my mind onto the bindings, I lashed out, and felt them split away. Collapsing onto the ground, however, I suddenly became lightheaded, a thousand thoughts swarming in my mind. Whatever Fenris had done to me, it left me weak, feeble, a pathetic excuse of a Shadow.

My breaths were shallow and fast. I could barely see the dark world around me. Though traces of the noxious nerve gas still lingered in the air, I could move again. Slowly, I pushed myself back up onto my feet. The door in front of me revealed two square panes of light that did not seem to penetrate into the blackness of the room. I stumbled forwards, and pushed open the door.

The light was intense, burning into my skull. I tried to shield my eyes from the whiteness with my hands and looked around. The hallway was plain, stretching seemingly infinitely down both ends. My head pounded furiously, and somehow, I was shuffling down the corridor in an unknown direction, led by something I could not quite explain. It hurt so much…

They came from the shadows… Voices reverberated off of the close walls, eerie, ghostly voices.

There was no escape… Deathly whispers.

They are coming… I whipped around, trying to find where they came from.

They are coming… Turning back around, I thought I saw something dart across the white hallway.

Run… I stumbled forwards, trying to get away from the voices, away from the similarities. I had heard these words, these silent phrases before.

Run… now!

And I ran. Speeding down the hallway, I cared not where I ended up, as long as I could escape the memories. The past was excruciating, a thousand knives in my brain. I felt myself being watched, someone up above was stalking me, predicting my every move. It felt like being a rat trapped in a maze from which there is no escape. I hated it.

Suddenly, the white corridors abruptly ended, and I found myself immersed in total darkness. My emerald eyes looked up, and caught the billions of stars above, twinkling with their lustrous blue and red flames. For a moment, I thought I saw something streak across space.

Everything was familiar again, too familiar. I scanned the room at the decrepit obstacle course. Barely a year ago I was on my last run before they shipped me down onto the world. I remember how I had surpassed the other trainees with ease, how jealous they were when our marks were in, how they envied me.

Turning around, however, I also remembered those thoughts that I had strived long and hard to never think of again. The lone door that stuck out above all else, that led to the Resoc tanks. I saw myself scream in pain inside the blue liquid as it sucked away all my memories. I saw myself being twisted into the Nexon Dominion’s ultimate in stealth and assassinations. I saw Satan smiling at me through that door, beckoning me to join him to reign with him in hell.

Shivering, I backed away from it all, retreating towards the other side of the training room. I half wished those Resoc tanks were still operational, so I could erase my memories again, start afresh, anew. It felt as if there was nothing left for me in this world. What was the point of living…

“There is no point, Nova,” A voice behind me stated. Whipping around, I found myself face to face to Fenris, his pointed teeth spread out in a fiendish grin. His black cloak fluttered eerily in a supernatural breeze.

“I guess the nerve gas didn’t quite put you down eh,” Fenris chuckled to himself as if nothing was wrong. I stared into his dark eyes with hatred; neither one of us could live unless the other died.

“What did you do to me,” I stammered angrily, feeling a heat rise in my throat.

“Let’s just say you’ll never get in my way again,” Fenris replied with a wicked smile. He reached into his cloak and pulled out a pistol, a S-2000X Slain for that matter, and I found myself looking directly into its deep dark barrel, a single bullet waiting to blow me away.

“Say goodnight, Nova.” He cocked the hammer back.

“To hell with y…”

The single gunshot was a final exclamation to everything that had led to this point. My life, my thoughts, my memories were all over. It was all over.