Episode-36: Revelations

Date: November 26, 3008
Time: 20:20
Location: An Island somewhere in the Ocean of Ossyria

~Nova~

These images, light and delicate, strident and blinding. The whiteness consumed me, devoured me whole; I could feel my body being incinerated into billions of tiny black granules of ash. The pictures were being ripped right in front of my closed eyes. A veil of white, not black, between my emerald eyes and the world.

But then, everything was gone, and everything came back. The tiny dot of a world in the horizon loomed up and engulfed me. A pair of identical emerald eyes hovered above me. She seemed to be yelling something, but my ears were not working yet. I waited for the sound to rush in, to complete reality.

And then, everything roared to life like the engines of a dropship. The earsplitting noise slammed into my eardrums, then I felt the breeze. It became quiet. Then, the lapping of waves upon the shore, the rustle of palm trees up above. “Are you alright?”

I looked up. Natalie was staring at me with concerned eyes. The others were away, I noticed, leaving Natalie the only one by my deathbed. I should have been dead, but I wasn’t. It was true what they said. Guns don’t kill people.

Suddenly, a pang of agony jolted down from my brain, seemingly frying every part of my body. I saw a glimpse of Maldran’s face, then a blood stained shirt, and he was still, unwavering, eyes staring up unseeingly. I heard Felix’s inhuman scream, saw him struggle with his bounds, toppling over next to his, my fallen comrade. My mind finished the clichéd phrase. People kill people.

“Hello?” Natalie’s voice brought me back to the beach. “Are you ok?”

“Yea,” I grimaced, trying to force the image of Maldran’s cold eyes stare at me accusingly out of my mind. There would be a time and place to grieve for him, but not now. I looked around, “Where are we? How long was I out?” The sun was already setting below the horizon, streaming out the last of its golden red rays across the ocean. There was a line of thunderstorm clouds right above the end of the ocean, but the sky was clear above the island.

Natalie scoffed and looked away down the beach where a black metallic object lied in the shallows of the water, “I was hoping that, since you came from outer space, that you could tell me.” She glanced at her watch, “And as for your unconsciousness, I’d way you were away for about six or seven hours.”

I sighed and looked around. The other survivors were idling around, either watching the sun set or looking up at the dusking sky. I could feel so much wasted hope in their hearts, that they would be saved. I half wished I could tell them no help would come, that they would each die off one by one, but where was the fun in that. It would just bring more pain for me.

Then, an unfamiliar feeling crept into my skull. What if help actually did come, that we would be saved? Something in my mind snapped, and I was suddenly ashamed and angry at myself. I could not, would not let hope come back into my heart. The bullet in my head had banished it forever.

As my eyes came full circle, I noticed she was still staring at me, her eyes tracing the curvature of my face. Natalie’s hands held her own cheeks up; I could tell she was still in awe at our similarities.

“So you are sure you remember nothing?” I asked, trying to keep the silence from reaching the point of awkwardness.

She shook her head glumly, “Nothing.”

I hesitated, then thought to myself. Maybe it would work. Biting my lower lip in hesitation, I leaned forwards and reached my hand out to hers. Her skin was cold as my fingertips reached her arm. Then, I grabbed on, and I was thrown into another world.

“She’s going into arrest, her heart’s too weak to handle it!”

“We’re losing her!”

“Flatlined… Time of death, 1:24 PM. I’m sorry, we did all we could.”

Everything shifted.

“How the hell…”

“Miracle?”

“No, we did it. We perfected it.”

“She’s breathing normally, I can’t believe it.”

“Yep, we’ve done it. Thank the gods no one else had to be sacrificed.”

Blackness overtook.

“I’m sorry, she’s too valuable to us.”

“No, you can’t do this!”

“Ma’am, we’re very sorry, but you don’t understand. Her life can save countless others, millions.”

“She’s mine! She can’t leave me!”

“Ma’am we’ll have security escort you from the building. Do not speak of this ever again to anyone, not even your own family.”

“Who are you to order me around like this? I’m not your slave.”

“No, but if you know what’s good for you, what’s good for your son and daughter, you will never speak of this child with anyone.”

“But…”

“Ma’am if you break this, your life will be in jeopardy.”

“Let… let me hold… her one last… last time…

“Hey, there little one… I’m so sorry this had to happen… You’ll never… never know your brother or sister but… somehow, I hope you remember this… this talk… and please just know that… your mother loves you… your brother and sister love you… your father loves you so much oh honey! Grow up and make me proud my… my daughter. I can only hope you will find… your way… home one day… I love you so much…”

The darkness encompassed me; my hands were cold. I could feel ice forming around my fingertips. I tried to break free of the hold, but couldn’t. A strange sensation was developing among my wrist, spreading to my forearm. Soon, I was numb, completely senseless. The black wind around me forced me back suddenly, and I felt my head hit something soft.

I opened my eyes and saw the world turned ninety degrees. The sand around my left cheek felt cool and soothing; I lied there for a minute, just wishing for peace and serenity again. Just a taste of it.

And then, I remembered. The voices inside of her head were too familiar. I knew who she was now; it was so obvious I could not believe I did not see it before. I always knew there was something missing in my life, something nothing could fill. I remembered the sleepless nights I would spend just lying on my bed in Orbis, staring up at the milky white ceiling, wondering why the hell I could not fall asleep. My heart, though I was happy, knew it was missing something. And now I knew. Natalie knew.

“How is this…” I gasped wildly, sitting back up to face her. Natalie’s emerald eyes were fixated upon me, her mouth agape in shock, “How is this possible? Where did they take you? How did you live out your life? Did you always feel something missing?” My worlds didn’t seem to be coherent as they spewed out of my own mouth.

Natalie seemed to convulse. Her face became unusually pale and she fell forwards into my arms. I could feel her body, frozen and stiff as an icicle, shake badly against mine. We sat there for who knew how long, just sitting there. Drake, Arcturus and Evangeline were with the others, soaking up the last of the sun before it sank below the horizon, unaware of our revelation.

The missing pieces of the puzzle were suddenly found again. I felt a sense of completeness, as if a huge burden had been lifted off of my chest. I knew that even though nothing had changed, that the world was still in chaos, Fenris was still at large, zombies were still rampant, something told me it was all going to be ok. I stroked her soft blonde hair; it had the same texture as mine. Together, we stared out as the sun finally disappeared; the night was coming on fast. Bright, luminescent stars already twinkled happily up above.

“You all better blondie?” Drake’s voice fluttered up towards us. Both Natalie and I whipped our heads around at the same time. He cleared his throat and clarified, “The blondie with the hole in her head.”

Arcturus knelt down beside me and felt my forehead. His hands were uncomfortably warm, and I brushed him away. “I’m fine.”

My mind felt cheated, mad that these people had to come and interrupt. I closed my eyes, trying to preserve this feeling of being found. It was all too perfect to be true. I was afraid that when I opened my eyes to face the world again, none of it would be real. It must be a dream, but I knew it was not.

As my emerald eyes met the night again, a cool breeze ruffled the leaves above. I glanced up and suddenly, something caught my attention. Turning around, I faced into the dense jungle. Expanding my mind out, I searched disbelievingly. It took a while for my mind to realize it, but suddenly it spotted something so real, so irrevocably real that I was sure I was not dreaming at all, that this was all happening.

“I know where we are.”

Four pairs of eyes glued themselves to me. I felt stupid again, foolish that I did not spot it before. Whatever Fenris had done to me, my mind was not functioning at its full capacity. I pushed an uneasy feeling of panic in my stomach down and turned back to face them. “This island, I’ve been here before. I’ll never forget what I did here…” I said to no one in particular.

“So where are we?” Natalie asked quietly. Her eyes looked up to me as we lied there. I tilted my head down to look at her. Two revelations in a day seemed more than enough. I chuckled at the grim irony of it and replied.

“We’re on Navasota Island, little sister.”