SIDE B | CHAPTER 6

May 1st, 2032

I stared up at the exterior of the castle. It stood tall like a monolith among the ants. Everything inside me bade me away from entering, but I looked to see Matt standing beside me, similarly looking up at the beast and I thought of what it must feel like for him to be back here.

"I'm as ready as you say you are. If you want to ditch we can," I said.

"You'd never follow through."

"I know, nice to be given the option though, isn't it? Feels...better about making it our choice."

"Something like that..." his focus wanes only slightly before coming back into himself. "Let's go."

The front gate was open without any sort of door or hatch. It led to a courtyard that was almost too-white to see any detail outside of the shrubbery that lined in rows. Sculptures of various creatures adorned the outside garden. If it were anywhere else I might have marveled closer at the individual pieces, but here I stood with a singular goal.

I walked forward ahead of Matt, who took to walking just slightly behind me. This was how this was going to go. I took a deep breath and took the lead. I could feel his gaze turning back and forth—wary of anything coming from the sides, but that was the thing—it would have been very hard to take us by surprise. It was a very large courtyard that seemed to be entirely devoid of life. We were the only ones crossing the distance and we would have seen anybody coming from a mile away. Still, we stayed our course and traveled with caution.

The other end of the courtyard held a gate that was much the same to the one that initially guarded the castle, except it ended at a wall with a very ornate door carved into the front. I couldn't determine if it was wood or rather ornate stone based on looks alone, so when I reached for the handle on the front, I was surprised to find that the door was remarkably...light. I was able to swing it open with extremely little effort.

"This place is built to be foreign. I wouldn't be surprised if the gravity on the inside were reversed," Matt said.

"I've read enough science fiction to believe that at this point. Do you have a plan if we end up walking on the ceiling?" I asked, turning slightly toward him.

"None whatsoever."

"Nice," I said, swallowing my hesitations and taking a step inside.

Inside I saw that the ceiling rose high up—it looked like it could have been thirty feet high. What kind of giants must roam these halls to necessitate these large of rooms? I almost wished I kept my thoughts quiet.

Immediately to my right I saw what could only be described as a containment tank smashed to pieces. It looked like it was the bottom half of an egg with the glass sprayed all over the floor—the green liquid spilling out onto the red carpet below.

"Did your stomach just turn like mine?" I asked, this time without turning.

"Feeling mighty uncertain about a lot of things. Can we take back our choice?"

"I'm afraid that's not going to be an option."

"Thought you'd say that."

"Got your trigger finger ready on your shield?"

"Doesn't quite work like a gun, but, yes, I'm prepped for an emergency."

"Do you want to go first?"

"Honestly, not really. Scared I'll freeze up and not do it."

"Thanks, really appreciate it."

I sighed and kept moving forward. The hallway extended down to the right and branched off in two. The left looked like it would continue toward the center of the castle—which was where I could only assume the royal chamber was. Plus...I could see that the carpet continuing down the left path had a damp trail leading down the way.

Fucking. Awesome.

I take in an even deeper breath than I thought possible and continue down the path. Around the corner I saw another one of the containment pods—although this one wasn't broken. Inside looked like an embryo. Written on the glass was a single word, "Tigros."

Was...what escaped one of these...whatever they were? Just what was their purpose...and why are they being propped up for decoration in public view? I didn't have a good feeling about any of this.

"Just what is this…?" Matt said, coming up behind me.

"No clue. Hope it means "cute and cuddly rabbit" in English."

"Sounds something like a tiger."

"Don't stomp on my hopes."

"Rather stomp on your hopes than your legs."

We continued forward and came across another containment pod—this one was labeled "Ursos". It was contained and also had a somewhat different looking embryo inside.

"Bear, most likely," Matt explained.

"Tigers, Bears, unknown...oh my."

"Scared we'll find something worse up ahead?"

"Scared we'll find something grown up ahead."

"Unfortunately I think—" a terrifying scream cut me off.

"That came from down there," Matt cocked his head toward the path forward.

I nodded, silently.

Finally when we got to the central throne room I noticed the already-high ceiling opened up to a room almost as large as the courtyard outside. Stacked and lining the walls were containment pods all like the ones in the halls. It looked like there could have been thousands stretched down from top to bottom—there was barely any space in between each of them locked in place. The central rug led to the throne at the very far back of the room. A few facts took center stage as soon as my eyes laid on them.

First, was the beast that looked like a naked armadillo with a back so grotesque it was full of open sores and welts—the green liquid from the tank shone on the exterior in sticky splotches. It had thrown its own head through one of the containment pods in the far back corner of the room. Its head bled a dark purple gush as the liquid spills out over it—closing its wounds and spilling the dead embryo onto the ground as it moved to the next pod to repeat the process.

Second was sitting on the throne was a woman who looked to be in her twenties hunched back—large chunks of flesh removed by gnarly—messy teeth. Blood didn't pool from her body...but instead exposed wires and metal shone through.

"What...the fuck…" I asked, my focus returning back to the creature. It looked three times my size and I could barely begin to comprehend it. The creature's mass looked like it shifted around a mess of bones so it at once looked like an armadillo and another moment like a boar. It looked like it shouldn't exist.

"I...don't know how to feel," Matt said. "I don't know what to think about that thing other than primal fear."

All at once time seemed to resume back as the creature started sniffing the air with an elongated snout. Its head cocked toward us almost immediately and it let loose a sound that sounded like a siren filled with water.

"Matt, got a plan?"

"Not particularly, aside from shield as long as I can."

"Have anything in your pockets that you can use as a distraction?" I asked, patting my own pockets down.

"Not that I…" He stopped short.

I saw that the creature had started to bolt toward us and instinctively I realized this was the moment where I was either going to die or unlock my secret hidden potential and come out on top. As I stood there, frozen in fear I then realized which of the two it was going to be when I felt a hand shove me from behind.

Everything happened so fast.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Matt holding something in one hand and his other held out as his shield erupted from his person. It looked like an extremely dense glass figure expanding from his person into a wall. It grew to separate the room into two halves—one I'd been pushed into and him with the creature. Before I could say anything a deafening explosion filled the other half of the room with dark smoke. Dirt and rubble flew into the air and blood sprayed the walls all around, but thanks to the shield I was kept clean.

I knelt there as the sound started filling back into my ears—I heard liquid draining all around me, and I noticed the shock wave had destroyed a large chunk of the containment pods around me, and all of them on the other side.

The debris started to fade on the other half as the shield vaporized instantly. All the flesh and guts that had sprayed across it fell to the ground with the most disgusting sound I've ever heard. It elicited an immediate and volatile reaction.

I puked.

When I brought my head back up, I knew what had happened. The fact that I had all the time to get myself together means that…

They were both gone. Blown to smithereens. I didn't even know how it happened. Whatever Matt had in his pocket? He was holding something...but that would mean…

Flashes of Dinet scrolled through his mind. Did he plan to use us as a walking bomb for the queen? An assassination attempt and getaway ride in one fell swoop? Surely he would have been let down to know we had no direct ride home considering the state of our ride in...but what if this was Matt's plan all along? What if he brought them and stashed them aboard and one of them accidentally went off en route? What if it wasn't an accident?

Whatever the answer...it didn't really matter. For all intents and purposes...it was over. I sat there, alone in the throne room, the guts of the only person I thought I trusted even somewhat in this land spread throughout the room. And at the far end of the room, dead...was some woman. Was it the queen? Maybe, but the only reason I had to suspect such was her presence on the throne. It was equally likely she was some steward who came to check on the mess and found her demise.

Despondent, I got to my feet and trudged to the back of the room. Nothing but the hollow draining of the containment pods behind me to listen to. The green liquid seemed to grow more viscous as it came into contact with the air, and I could swear I saw the colors start to shift and distort. My breath started to shorten and suddenly my body felt twice as heavy. The trip across the room suddenly felt as arduous as running ten miles.

Finally, I made it to the rear of the room. Nothing but the pure hatred toward this acursed kingdom and its desire to keep me from returning home.

The face on the woman frozen in her last moments revealed everything to me. This was the queen. Her face was calm, even the remnants of a smile remained on her face. There...was something stuck in her hand, and after pulling back I saw it was a sheet of paper.

Dear Matthew,

You have traveled far to reach me here. I assume you are confused at the state in which you find me. I must say you shall not worry about any other creature coming to attack you. The beast that Jacob has sacrificed himself for was your final test…

Before continuing on I stopped and looked up at the queen. "You expected me to die to that beast? What kind of...fucked up plan did you have in store for us...what was even the point…?"

Knowing that nobody would answer my question, I continued reading.

...I must admit, my plans end here, as you can see that my life has ended here. In truth, my life ended long ago. It is easier to say my servitude ends here. Ever since the second World War I was programmed with very specific instructions to lead a very specific life. My creator bestowed upon me knowledge of infinite timelines, of which I leave behind this throne. Its knowledge is useless to me here in my final moments.

For the purposes of the environment you see before you—well, consider these a parting necessity for the future. The world is a very...very homogeneous place as it stands now. These specimen are to become the beginning of a new universe in a future far off from today. You may doubt as much as you please. I cannot argue with you.

And your purpose for coming here—I needed a key to ignite everything to begin the future. You must have noticed the people of this land are different than the people of yours—powers beyond your wildest imagination...except that's not wholly true. You know people with power just like that...and you must know the origin of that power…

When my eyes hit that passage my heart sunk to my stomach. The people of this land...they're...they're all infected with Radical-9. You will be the key to ignite the future. My head spun to the liquid spilling out of all of the containment pods—the rainbow liquid I suddenly flashed with similar recognition and I whipped my head back so fast toward the faintly smiling face of the queen ahead of me.

"You fucking bitch!" I yelled at her, and suddenly a pain pierced my head louder than any I've heard. I then started to hear the queen finishing her letter in my mind and I reached both of my hands up to my head.

"I gladly accept the end of my servitude, just as every living thing must do in order to make way for the origin of the future. If I had any of my old life back, I may have told you to close your eyes as it won't hurt a bit, but I no longer have any of my humanity, so I can do nothing but tell you the truth—it feels every bit as bad as it looks. It's over quick, but it is not painless. The sooner you get over this the faster you'll be able to accept your own death."

I screamed into the void, knowing nothing else would respond to me, and in my knelt posture I saw a void spinning behind the throne. It was concentrated darkness that looked like a tunnel. This must have been what she had written about. Knowing my death was inevitable...I wondered...only slightly what sat at the other edge of oblivion. I pulled myself closer to it and another pang yelled through my mind and it sent me to all fours. I was able to pull my face just over the edge.

My legs grew numb so I had to pull with my elbows digging into the ground. I felt an immense cold overlooking the void and on looking at the sight of two gigantic statues fighting my gaze froze forever.