Volume Finale - There Are Always Two Sides (Part 2)

The Eastern Dragon slowly turned his ring around his finger. He absently reflected that it is looser. Maybe this whole thing about the Frozen Flame has taken its toll on him. He barely slept ever since Ora took it away.

He is also feeling the loss of the Claw. The organization is full of upstarts audacious enough to think that his grip is slipping. As a result, they scheme and plot against each other and against him. The ominous presence that was the Claw always kept the more unruly members on tighter leash.

The Dragon ran a tired hand across his face.

The knock interrupted his thoughts. Norak the Dragon's Tail was there.

Finally, news about Ora.

"I will consider it kindness if you don't bring me any bad news."

"Don't worry boss, I'm the best. I wouldn't even have shown my face if I didn't have anything good to say."

"Have a seat, then."

"One of the big gates has been opened."

The Dragon was a bit crestfallen. This was not the news he waited for.

He leaned back and stared at the ceiling.

Norak fell silent for a moment. The boss didn't seem too pleased at the news. Maybe the rumor was true: he is losing his strength.

"You did send me on a two-fold task so let me finish my report, boss. I'm sure you'll find the info worth your while. My mission crossed roads not too long into it. Your daughter went into the gates with the Architect."

The Dragon's eyes got wide.

"See? I told you it is worth your while. I managed to kill two birds, figuratively of course. The Architect did know how to get into the Gates and within those gates are unbelievable amounts of treasure. Now, you want to hear the rest?"

They talked for a while and the Eastern Dragon's passion was ignited once again.

No one noticed that the shadows they cast along the wall had a slightly darker tint to them… and they moved on their own.

The Coder had his back on them and was busy typing on what appeared to be an enormous keyboard. In front of him were screens running mysterious scripts that are connected to everything and everyone within the 'game'.

"Uhm, hi. We came to ask you something…" John haltingly said to the animated figure before them.

"I am busy at the moment," said a familiar voice.

"But you said to Zone that you would receive us."

"I did. However, I am also busy. Would you consent to talk to another me?"

"I don't understand…"

The person (he looks like a person) at the keyboard typed something and another one that looked like him materialized out of thin air.

"Greetings, bearers of the quest marks...or in the old language, The Manlalakbay."

"They have a name for us?" Vince looked at John with undisguised pride and amazement.

The newly created figure remained facing the screens so they couldn't see his face but his voice is also awfully familiar.

"You all have individual names as well as a proper name for your group. You were not randomly picked, you see. There's a very special book that had your names listed long ago."

"Excuse me, but did you make this 'game'?" John butted in.

"No. Somebody else made the game. It was used as a portal as well as a template."

"... But you are making, he is…" John looked helplessly at the other figure typing.

"He is me. I am he. You were saying…?"

"You are coding this world. Did you make this? Whatever this is."

"I am maintaining it. There is a difference. There are other worlds like this and I am merely an instrument. There are still some higher forces at play."

"We came here just wanting to ask how to get home but now, there are thousands of questions that we don't even know we had."

"Home? You can never go home. Not to the world you knew as home. You were never denizens of that world in the first place."

"Are we aliens, then?" Vince and Zone simultaneously asked.

"It depends on who you ask. There was an accident… a long time ago and your original world got caught in the aftermath."

"Wow… this is too much to take, if it's true," said Grace. She looked ashen.

"Our time grows short. Ask the questions you most want to ask because we are nearing the time when my answers will no longer be relevant."

"Okay...Tarayon said THIS is our world. What did he mean?"

"He was mistaken. It was not his fault, though. He spoke in a manner that he thought would best explain the situation to you but his communication tools did not allow for proper context. Technically, your world no longer exists."

"What do you mean? Does that mean my whole family, my friends are all gone?!" Panic gripped Vince. The others shared a similarly troubled look.

"It will take too long to explain. Let me just assure you that all the people you knew or will ever meet are all real. They might be different versions of the person you once knew but they are not another person, just like me and the Coder are not two different entities."

"This is making my head hurt." Vince complained.

"You did ask and I am doing my best to answer you. To give you a simple answer, no, your loved ones are not dead. They are within the Broken World. I can not tell you anymore because there will be an event that could change the meaning of my words even if I told you now. The Tikbalang told me this much but my knowledge will simply be recycled once that event happens."

"What do we do now? Do we even need to go back?" John is tensing his whole body. He is afraid of the answer.

"Going back or not, is not something I can decide for you. As for the need for it, you already know the answer. However, you can no longer use the game portal. It was locked for me. Something is happening at the user end that could threaten the security of this world so I erased the bilinear nature of my code. I have to protect this world."

"So does that mean that there is an entrance but there is no exit?" asked Grace.

"There is an exit but not the same way. Those exits belong to parts I severed from the main code. I had to. In order to protect this world from a reboot, it has to be totally isolated."

"A reboot? What does that mean for us?"

"Do not worry about it. It won't affect you."

"I have listened to your words but none of it made that much sense to me. Can you be clearer?"

"Alright, I have to ask you to open your mind fully because what I am about to tell you won't be fully explained by words alone".

With that, the Coder revealed to the Manlalakbay what they needed to do.

Several hours after meeting with the Coder, they were still in a kind of daze. Their minds are reeling from the implications of what they have learned.

They are now before an enormous gate. It bore the image of the Kampilan.

The Coder told them of the enormous sacrifice ahead of them and asked them if they still wanted to go through it. To John's amazement, no one elected to back out. He felt so proud of them.

The gate is the very symbol of an uncertain future and they are facing it with implacable resolve.

"Ready?" John said to Vince, not unlike how Lam-ang said to him before.

Wordlessly, the teen inserted the Kampilan into the keyhole.

With an audible click, the sword locked into place. Vince turned.

Nothing happened. The sword/key would not turn an inch.

"It seems we are on time," said a voice from behind them.

They all turned to see a small army ready to attack them. On the front is an imposing old man and a woman who was slowly brandishing a scythe.

"Norak!" Ash and Ice hissed.

"Father…" Ora slowly breathed.

"Well, well...the Keeper of the Flame and the Architect, together. Saves us the time to hunt you down separately," said the Eastern Dragon who is now clad in ancient-looking armor. The others in his army are similarly garbed.

"You are mistaken, father. He is not the architect," said Ora. After what she learned from the Coder, she knows more about John.

"I have no time for small talk. Take them. Kill the others," the Eastern Dragon turned to his army.

"Easier said than done, old man," Ash used her shadow step to close the gap between him and the Dragon.

Norak's scythe blocked her strike that would have surely decapitated Ora's adoptive father.

Ora used a similar shadow step to go behind her father.

"Father, order your men to stand down," she said as she set her sword's edge to her father's neck.

The Dragon only smiled calmly and did not move.

Norak swung her scythe at Ash who blocked it but got thrown away by the force of the swing.

Norak laughed smugly.

John got his gun out but before he could have a chance to fire it, a warrior dashed to where he was and kicked him squarely in the chest.

He stumbled back and coughed blood.

"John!" Ora shouted and pushed the blade towards her father's neck.

"Watch the Fang make short work of the Architect," her father said casually.

Vince was desperately trying to take out the sword from the keyhole to no avail. He was looking at John helplessly as the latter was being mauled by the armored warrior.

Zone and Grace were hard-pressed by several men and Ice just collapsed on the ground, crying in desperation.

"We no longer have that option," said a voice from beside him and Vince turned to gaze at the gigantic figure of Lam-ang.

"Help us!" Vince almost cried.

"There is no taking out a key that was set to turn. We have to turn it," the large man said gently.

The spectacle before him was too much to bear. Zone and Grace are already subdued. John was a bloody mess and Ash is being slowly overpowered by Norak. No one bothered to attack Ice. Ora was crying as her face were showing mixed emotions.

Vince looked at his sword stuck at the gate.

He and Lam-ang turned the Kampilan.

[ John is lying on a vast grassland looking at the sky. Clouds are racing across along with the thoughts and images in his head. He no longer feels any pain but he remembers them. Ora, Ice, Ash, Vince, Zone and Grace are no longer with him.

In his mind, he saw them in different places and points in time.

He saw shadowy beings looming behind powerful political figures.

He saw chaos.

He saw fire and smoke.

He saw the decay of human civilization.

He saw hundreds of sunsets and sunrise.

Rain fell on him. The sun's rays blinded him. The grass around him grew to impossible lengths.

He saw bamboos and small shiny creatures coming out from the cracked ones.

He saw powerful beings of myth being bound.

He saw a small hut on top of a rock floating in space.

He remembered some of the words of the Coder.

"...you find the Lost Isles."

He closed his eyes as the last words of the Coder echoed in his mind.

"You ARE the reboot…" ]