After Effect

-Meanwhile on Earth-

--Xian's Perspective--

Four glasses simultaneously dropped to the floor as we all read the message in our left eyes:

[System Alert! The Seal Has Been Broken! The Seventh White Stone Has Corrupted his System!]

With blinding rage, Zeal stormed out of the bar.

"Holy… holy shit… this hasn't ever happened before!" Elo said.

I was surprised by the message myself, Zeal treated it like a taboo, but it just appeared right in front of us… what did this mean for the White Stones? Right after we awakened our strands too.

"Zeal! Where are you going?!" I yelled out of the door.

"You don't understand what Seal that is! That White Stone just made the Isle's floating around Earth go out of commission, it's only a matter of time before things start to get apocalyptic! You guys stay here on Earth, I need to go somewhere." He said, before transporting off completely.

"What the hell man…" Demos muttered.

…

…

…

-Unknown Location - Deep Space-

--Secretary's Perspective--

"Ma'am, you're going to want to see this," I told my Master. The girl gilded in white hair and piercing red eyes looked over at my computer screen.

"Secretary… where is that?" She pointed towards the newly corrupted White Stone.

"That's the Isle… he looks familiar, doesn't he?" I asked Master. I scanned his general picture, and Master dropped her things and peered deeply into the screen.

"Sky?! Secretary, change directions to that Isle immediately! This is the most urgent thing we've ever seen; we need to get there now!" She yelled out.

Almost right after I got the notification, Zeal came through the portal behind Master and me.

"Master. A White Stone Corrupted. How can I stop the apocalypse?!" He yelled out, but I was focused on the screen even more than before. What I could see from his profile was amazing… he has been the first White Stone to corrupt his system and awaken strands all in one fell swoop.

"What about him?" Master asked.

"That Stone! He caused the apocalypse by corrupting his system, how can I stop it? Do I need to kill him? Give me permission to kill him!" He yelled at Master. I could feel the tension in the room increase as I browsed Sky's file.

"I think you should stay the fuck away from Sky." Zeal didn't say a word after that, only gritting his teeth and turning around.

"I'll deal with it my way then." He said, before coming back the way he came.

"Hey Master… this is insane, his body seems ready to produce strands, but he doesn't know how yet, so he can't heal his body." Master sat back in her chair, pushing her hair behind her ears and staring at the big screen, which mimicked the smaller computer screen.

"Let it come naturally, don't force him. What's the projected date of arrival?" I turned the screen to her. "Earth Calendar, sometime mid-February." She nodded.

…

…

…

-Back on the Isle-

--Sky's Perspective--

I woke up with a gasp of air, spitting up more blood inside of my home. I scanned my surroundings, expecting there to be more fighting, but there was nothing. It was quiet, only the sound of crackling fire could be heard. It took me longer than I'd like to admit, but I remembered that I no longer had my left eye.

That excruciating pain was instantly over once I pulled it out, but it was so weird to just see nothing on the left side of my vision. My vision was barely reduced, but it was noticeable that I was missing it. My depth perception was limited. I guess this would be life from now on.

I lifted my head off of Dani's lap and pushed my body up. My knees were weak, but I slowly pushed myself out of the tent and looked at the large bonfire in front of me. Carl was standing beside it, staring into it.

"Hey… you don't have any injuries, do you?" I asked, collapsing to the floor. My stomach was weak and my knees had given out.

"Sky?! What are you doing awake already? Xavier said you'd be out for multiple days, maybe even a week." I shook my head, smiling at the sand.

"I have to protect you guys… I can't be out for that long." I told him. Carl grabbed my arm and put it around his neck, propping me up with his body.

"I was just thinking about the lives I took today… I wonder if they had the same beginning as us. They're people too, weren't they? Maybe, maybe by some obscure direction that their own leader put them in, they were just as innocent as us." He said, staying silent afterward and staring at the fire crackle.

The smoke rose high in the air. I realized the bodies were all gone, which meant he must've burned them all.

"Either way, there's right and there's wrong. They attacked us, I had to eat a raw cat, they weren't nice people." Carl shook his head.

"I think… I think you're thinking about this as a child would. They're complex beings. They have their own feelings, if you told me to attack a base that threatened our safety, I would. I'm just like them." Carl said.

Huh? What the hell was this?

I stared at the fire with him for a long period of time. He was starting to remind me of Domin… "Hey, how many people did we lose in that fight?" I asked him, dreading the answer.

I felt his head shake back and forth, "None, that's what's scary. We slaughtered them."

"They deserve it. They threatened our safety, I didn't do anything wrong and they wanted a fight, so we gave it to them." I told Carl.

Again, Carl shook his head. "You're not understanding this at all. If you think killing is so okay, maybe you're becoming like the people who keep attacking us." He told me.

I paused, putting him in the middle of my vision.

"Betrayal and death are all I know, Carl. Two people I trusted have betrayed me now, and they deserved to die, didn't they?" Carl dropped me on the sand beside him. My knees were weak, but I could still stand.

"I think you need to seriously reconsider how easily you're giving in to the hatred for these people. Lia, Dante, Ellie, and Raven, they're all people with their own lives. Their leader could've given them orders that slowly adjusted them to this kind of life. With the way you're headed, how much longer until we get there, following a leader as violent as you?" I perked my head up.

"Violent?! Lia wanted to burn us alive! Ellie adjusted us all to this life just to kill us slowly with Raven! Raven destroyed everything we built all on the orders of his master, Orion! And you think I'm the violent one?! You're pissing me off. I think you're just ignorant." I told him. The weakness in my knees began to subside.

"I think how passionate you are about killing the people who are lower than you makes you more violent than them. We can't kill our way out of our situation, we need to strike deals and talk, not just fight." I decided to take a deep breath at his response. I could slightly understand where Carl was coming from, but he was still too naïve.