Inescapable Fate

Winston and June had finished their breakfast and were now sipping on their cappuccinos.

It was June's first time having one, and he had to admit... It was quite enjoyable.

The microfoam on top was sweet and creamy, while the drink itself was enriched with a perfect blend of flavor.

He had expected it to be bitter but that wasn't the case.

Meanwhile, Jess was slowly nibbling away at one of her cookies, crumbs falling down on the surface of the desk.

He wasn't sure why she was nibbling at it instead of just consuming the entire thing, but he didn't question it. 

Winston hadn't called her out on it either… so June just guessed it was a normal thing.

"… Yes. Jessie and I challenged the second Trial together, in order to grow stronger and serve our world better."

Winston fell back on their previous conversation that they had been talking about over the last few minutes.

June was curious about the Trials after what Jessie hinted at, so he had asked Winston about his own thoughts.

Perhaps it was a sore topic — one that shouldn't have been brought up after Jessie's unmistakable displeasure, but June was too curious.

"Of course, it wasn't just us either. You'd be a fool to challenge the Trials with less than five people. Which was why we had our own group after the first."

Winston's face grew somewhat somber as he took a sip.

"What's the purpose of these Trials anyway?"

June asked. 

He knew why the Awakening Trial was a thing, it was a requirement after all. He didn't know the purpose behind the next Trials to come, though.

Winston cleared his throat before setting down his cup.

"Just theories to be frank. No person actually knows what they symbolize. Some believe them to be places the Entity conjures up in order for us mortals to use as a way to grow stronger. Others believe they are glimpses of places within the Ark that previously existed at one point in time, and the clues to destroy the Ark are within."

That sounded… believable, actually. Well, better than what June could've thought of.

"Anyway, we call them Rifts… they're sort of like Breaches, only vastly different. An incalculable number of them exist within the Ark, with new ones appearing everyday."

Every day seemed insane to think of — and an incalculable number at that. In the vastness of it all, a mere mortal like June would feel diminutive — fearful, even.

June took a sip to quell his lingering unease that had suddenly emerged, before asking:

"What if these Rifts appear here, rather than Breaches..? What then?"

Winston was about to take another sip, but answered before he did so, saying:

"No clue. Just be glad that they haven't."

With that, he took a sip.

'Be glad huh…'

June set his cup down realizing he had finished it, leaning back on the chair.

"Can we please stop with this boring talk? I mean, come on…"

Jessie finally spoke up, letting both of them know she was getting tired of hearing their irksome conversation.

June couldn't help it, though, it was an interesting topic for him. The more he knew about it, the better — the Trials, Breaches, Rifts, all of it. It was something that he was fated to encounter, especially with his binding to the Ark itself.

"Yeah, I sometimes forget you have the attention span of a fish…"

Winston couldn't help but say, calmly taking another sip without batting Jessie an eye.

'Ouch…'

June looked over to Jessie who finally faced WInston, frowning as she said:

"Yeah? Well at least I'm not as emotionally stale as a fish."

Her remark seemed to have gotten to Winston, who flinched for barely a second.

It was the first time he seemed to give a noticeable reaction to one of Jessie's bizarre comments.

Winston placed his cup down on the plate, slowly looking over at Jessie.

Her frown was no longer present; instead, she was grinning as if she had gotten Winston good. Which she indeed had.

"I'm… going to allow that." 

Winston simply said, turning back to June who didn't dare intervening.

"Don't look at me, I'm merely a spectator, not a fool."

June brought both his hands up and shrugged, surrendering.

He wasn't going to go back and forth with Jessie, ever. He had only met her today — however, he was smart enough to realize she wasn't one to be trifled with.

Jessie was one of those rare types of people who just knew how to poke at people.

Winston — someone who seemed unbreakable, had been cracked by her words alone. 

It didn't help that he was close with her either, because that meant she truly knew how to get deep down in his closely kept secrets, using those hidden emotions to get a reaction.

"Ha, that's right Winny! Just because…"

Jessie continued speaking, but her voice seemed to fade under June's sudden state of contemplation. He could hear her voice, but not her words, as if they were now muffled by an ocean of chromatic clouds.

'W-what…'

A second later, he felt something inside him churn. It was a foul feeling, making him disgusted.

Placing his hands on his stomach, June winced.

It was his soul.

Before he could process it, the Entity very eerily whispered through him, saying:

[Your soul is bound to the Ark, yearning for its solace.]

A split-second later, June let out a stifled scream, knocking over the cup in front of him. 

He could hear and see it crashing down and shattering onto the wooden floor. However, everything seemed to grow hazy, as if he was now in an environment that was slowly drowning, placing his vision behind a veil of chromatic blur and his perception of sound masked under a drowned out reverb.

"June?!"

"Kid, what's wrong?"

Jessie and Winston stood up, alarmed by his actions, their voices echoing through June's senses.

He could see Jessie was visibly concerned, while Winston gradually approached him.

[Your soul is bound to the Ark, yearning for its solace.]

Once more, the Entity whispered, this time flashing him with images of some kind. With extreme fear and quivering eyes, June looked at these images.

They were like an overlay that flashed over his current surroundings, displaying an alternate reality of the space he was currently in.

'W-what is happening to me!'

June clutched his head with gritted teeth, staggering back and bumping into the wall behind him.

The cafe was still present… only now it was a crude vision of a nightmare.