Chapter 5: Ali

The subspace hummed beneath her feet, the light green veins travelling through the cubic architecture of the subspace. The masked girl put away her bow and went to sit on a more prevalent cube. Her dress pooled around her thighs but she did not pay it any mind. Dust did not exist in the dreamland, her dress would always remain pristine, no matter where she sat. Slowly and delicately, she took off her mask. She untangled the knot that kept it secured and placed it in her lap. Her pink bangs dropped over her blue eyes and she breathed a sigh of disappointment.

Once more Nora got in her way, once more her sister succeeded in protecting this virtual world. This world that was and never will be real. This world the everyone seemed to favour over the real one. This enterprise could not be considered evolution; it was cowardice! They ran away from life's problems, its difficulties. This was not living, this was avoidance in all its splendour. 

Footsteps echoed on the surface, light and calculated like her sister's. 

The girl sighed and spoke, "I am not going to apologise for trying to delete those people. I know I've lied a week ago, but I really am not on board with this project. Seriously Nora, humans should fight to fix the planet they had willingly and consciously destroyed. Creating an alternate world will not save us. And don't give me that noble speech you must have learned by heart by now, I am not buying it. You have created this world as a means of escapism and that is…that is unforgivable!"

The sound of applause was her only reply. She raised her head and blushed, embarrassed. Nora was not next to her, but someone else — a boy about the same age she was.

"Such noble words, such noble principles," The boy applauded her. "Bravo! You'll do just fine."

Ellie took in his image. His skin was a light shade of brown and his hair was thick and black. His nose was aquiline and his cheekbones high. He had thick eyebrows and thick lashes with a pair of lips that were neither too full nor too thin. He was of average height and he sported a playful smile. His outfit was adventurous to say the least. He had a sports' jacket that ran down to his waist only, a halter crop top, white shorts, and what looked to be like transparent, plastic, loose green neon pants. He had big training shoes that ran all the way to his ankles. His hands were covered in white and green gloves that covered only half of his fingers. 

"Who're you?" Ellie summoned her bow, unsettled by his sly smile.

"No need to be so uptight," the boy sighed. He was soft spoken, but that didn't stop him from being confident. "I am Ali, and I need your help."

"Ali? And why would I offer you my help?" Ellie somewhat calmed down. She stood up and placed a hand on her hip. "Intruding on ladies is rude!"

"Well, you and I might be able to help each other," He imitated her gesture. Unlike Ellie, who was wary and uptight, so unlike herself, the stranger was calm and detached. He did not seem like he wanted to harm her but the way he spoke and acted gave him an aura of unpredictability. "You want the Dreamland to end right?"

"And why should I trust you?" Ellie pulled out her bow and charged an arrow. She pointed it at Ali's face. The technicolour pink of the arrow contrasted the sickly green of the subspace and shone some life into Ali's otherwise tired features. "I could delete you right now and no one would ever know."

Ali broke into a laugh, "Yes, you're perfect!"

"I'm not fooling around!" To prove her point, Ellie released the arrow and directed it right next to his foot. Ali flinched away and all traces of a smile were wiped from his face. 

"You have the ability to delete people," Ali raised his hands and took a step back. Though he was trying to seem harmless in order to get his point across, never once did Ellie drop her bow and every movement of his was followed by the point of her arrow. "Which you plan to use to delete everyone from the Dreamland. But you will be caught sooner or later. And consequences must be faced."

"Who says I will? You don't know anything about me."

"I do happen to know quite a few things," Ali tilted his head and smiled. "Because you see, I know you Ellie Neumann and I also know your sister Nora."

"You creep!" And Ellie released her arrow. Pink cut through the air, intended right for Ali's forehead. But before it could hit him, the arrow dissipated into a thousand pixels. Ellie's eyes shot wide and she tried attacking him with one more arrow. Same as last, this arrow met the same fate. "You! How did you do that?"

"You have your own agenda concerning the Dreamland and I have mine," Ali now straightened up, and for the first time he seemed threatening. "Which is why I think it is best for us to help each other, because you see, Ellie: I can help you get rid of the Dreamland. Completely."

Ellie kept quiet, thinking about how he deleted her arrows before they could touch him. In order to do that you had to have a third party lambda working for you, which she happened to have herself. Hence, the next conclusion she arrived at was, "You hacked into the Dreamland."

Ali smiled but did not answer. Instead, he said: "I think it's best we talk. I happen to know a very good place for that actually. Shall we?"

Ellie still kept quiet because as tempting as Ali's offer sounded, she was afraid she might be biting more than she can chew. He was a stranger whit whom she shared the same goal. They could help each other, sure. But she could also be walking into a trap. To be most safe, she rejected his proposal. "If you want to talk, we can talk here."

Uselessly, she charged her bow again. She did not know if it was going to have an effect on Ali but maybe subconsciously it helped her feel safe. The right thing to do was, of course, to run away. But Ali's powers were enticing. And let's not forget, she was looking to destroy the Dreamland as well. 

Ali smiled.