You and I, after all

Ellianor rested on the sofa. While he had a bed, it was not as comfortable as the sofa, as strangely as it sounded.

The light on the ceiling was turned off, it bathed the room in a blue darkness.

It was not total darkness, but it dimmed the room greatly. It felt cozy, cozier than it had any right to be. 'It is better than my room on Earth… whatever version of Earth it was.' 

Knowledge came like a curse and a blessing. Ellianor learned many things that day, but he still had to understand all of that, and fully absorb what had been said to him.

It kept him awake at night.

The nightmares and visions also were a deterrent to his sleep. The burning world, the visions he got when he touched Kissenn and the Eclipse… all of that was too much to sleep off.

'My earth was one amongst many. A template the universe uses, and a set placed by the Stars…' What those stars were, beyond the primal forces of the universe has been left unsaid.

Those Stars have been there since the beginning of the universe. It left much for him to think.

'It means that they found Earth to be a stable loop, a stable template for the start of life.' It was confusing but easy to accept.

Easier than most things. 'There must have been a creator of that system.' A creator… was God real then? Were angels real? It brought many questions to his poor head.

'All systems have loopholes.'

Because they were automatized, that one also must have one.

'The fact that I ended as the Eclipse means that one was already explored.' A Star that never shone above anyone, much less had a Spokesperson.

The Architect, the likely identity of the voice, was the one to stage it.

'One already explored a hole, I wonder if more people want to exploit it…' The want would always be there. Those who had the power and means to exploit it were another question.

'Heresy Wardens…' They keep anomalies inside that space station of theirs. The space station he now slept in. Ellianor and Kissenn were anomalies, in other words, Heresies.

Some of them looked friendly, while others kept their distance, but Ellianor knew there was more to it than he could assume at first. No one is that happy, not that hospitable.

They had their reasons to want them in the crew, and they were all people who fought against Heresies, and anomalies and contained them. 'They are wardens, guards first and foremost.'

If they would be friends or even family, had yet to be seen. 'I feel tired.' His gaze fell on the ground, alongside his arm. Working overtime, and dealing with his aunt and cousin.

Fighting through a base filled with monsters, almost dying twice on a roll, and waking up to discover your whole world was a lie. Earth is not special. There are many instances of it.

Aliens exist, and so do esoteric systems that are attached to your very being and voices talk in your head. 'Primordial systems, space-faring civilizations, primordial corruption. I am so sick of it.'

His left arm hits the ground, and his right rests over Ellianor's face. He was tired of all of that, but tomorrow he would wipe the tiredness off his face, and act as if it was never there.

Ignore all the doubts that filled his heart, and pull through as he always did. As society demanded him to do. It was a drag, but it was the hand he had.

"Hey… are you still awake, Ellianor?" Kissenn called from the lower bed, her red eyes met his eyes. Her red orbs were filled with uncertainty, the energy of a youth who had to find her path in life.

Meanwhile, his gaze was almost empty, tired of everything and everyone. He sighed. "Yes, I am."

Their eyes already met, there was no point in feigning sleep now.

For a moment, her face got mixed with sadness, her lips trembled but stopped quivering quickly. Kissenn licked her lips, her heart racing and unsure what to do. "Do you hate me?"

The question came like a punch to the gut. His eyes widened for a moment, his breath taken away. "No. I don't. What makes you think that?" On his possible hate list, Kissenn was at the bottom.

She was not the perpetrator of his suffering nor the cause of it. The Voice could shoulder all the blame.

"Is that… everything happened because of me… I just… don't know it." Kissenn sighed as she turned on the bed.

She stared at the "ceiling". "I feel connected to you, somehow, and all the blame can be pinned on me. You almost died because of me, because I was weak, and you… we almost died together."

Against the abomination. Both deaths were because of the abomination.

'We only died together that time… but I only remember it once.' When he dragged his body through the food court to reach her.

Maybe he was unaware of a second time when his body was pummeled by the monster. Either way, Ellianor didn't feel it was right to pin the blame on her.

"You are the reason I survived as well, if it was not for you, I would have been smashed to death. You were my reason to live, at the end." The reason why he saw the Eclipse. Why he was its spokesperson.

"I don't hate you, and I don't think I will ever will." She was not a bad person, a bit gluttonous, and hard to understand, but those were flaws that were much easier to overlook than… what it could have been. 

She was nice, and had a good heart, even if she looked apathetic and aloof at times. "I… see. Thank you. Thank you."

She was glad, she was relieved of something. What was that something? Ellianor could decipher it.

"You're welcome." For some reason, his heart felt lighter, and himself a little less tired. 'I guess helping people feels good?'

[YOU COMPLETED THE QUEST, DUMBASS. YOUR REWARD WILL COME SOON, TRY TO NOT DIE NEXT TIME]