Chapter 1: Episode 1: How it All Began

Mass Effect and all its characters belongs to Bioware.

All of OCs belongs to me, if I have that privelege.

Fan ideas of Quarian biology, history, language, traditions included in this Fan-fiction. I got some which belongs to me, but very large part of belongs to Admiral Zaal'Koris, 1054SS325MP, Calinstel and FlyWire. I sincerely thank all of them for all their hard work.

Sincere thanks to Mr. Snacks, espacole and Ghostboy95 for being my betas.

A/N: Oh, SI. Welcome.

You still here? Good. Because... hmph. It starts right now.

My mind and imagination are filled with dozens of explanations of why I ended up here. I don't remember when, or perhaps, how I got here. A Device? A Suicide? An Accident? An Intervention? Something else semi-related?

Well…if I died, how do I still manage to think? I don't think this is possible, to die and keep thinking, and…walking.

Or…maybe it's just a dream? A dream… I don't remember being able think inside my own dream. Usually they're more ripped off from each other and chaotic. But this is more calm and orderly.

The tube. That's where I'm walking right now. It's transparent with solid ground, and outside it there is just floating energy. A lot of it. It has no beginning…and no end. I suppose there could be, I don't know. I guess, I just discovered myself in the middle of it.

And if I say a lot, it is a lot.

Let's start over. My name. My name is Eduard. That is what I could say thousand times by command. I'm walking in this tube, I don't know for how long. I could easily say for one, or perhaps two days, and...I might still be wrong. Since my phone's clock doesn't work at all. I can't remember when, or how, or even why I got here. I just can't. The day before I got here, just wiped out from my memories.

It's quiet here. Too quiet. That flowing energy is cascading by without a sound. I tried to shout, but I didn't hear the echoes of my own voice. Though I do have my headphones, which are still in my ears. In the moment when I was walking, the headphones were still playing music. Well…not exactly music, but an OST. From one game. Called Mass Effect. "The Dream." And of course, my phone was telling me that I have no signal here. It's pretty freaking obvious, isn't it? I don't think that you can find any place like this on Earth, so of course there's no signal.

And so goes the time. Time is not showing at all. The phone is just showing me a bunch of zeroes, instead of the date and the time.

Another thing. Battery in my phone doesn't seem to be running down. It's just kept its 81 percent every time I look at it.

I don't think that this is our world after all. I can't even describe that flowing energy. It's just changing its colors so fast, faster than I manage to blink with my eyes.

I just keep walking. And walking. I didn't feel hunger, or fatigue, or even the need to go to the toilet. I don't know where it leads, but staying and sitting here wasn't my priority, so I kept moving forward.

My gait was confident and calm all this time, until…

- Best Friends...?

- Best Friends...

And right behind my eyes, started to appear…what, memories…? Are they…mine?

- No…! Leave me alone…!

- Is it… is it over…?

- Yes… it is over…

Every time I experience these fragments, they sit down in my head as quickly as they'd appeared, as if they had always been there, always been mine.

I don't…I don't actually understand their meaning…

- I... I can't control it...!

- I'll try my best...

These memories…are my memories! Memories of my life in… No, these are not my memories from my life. They're… oh shit…

- Her chances are… slim. Very… Perhaps no chance at all…

- I'm… I… I'm so sorry… Rina… I should have…

- Seeing you both cry… priceless…!

I was hit by a pulse of realization. That so-called "Rina" and "Gans" are… quarians. Well, their suits are similar to the quarians. Quarians... how could it be possible?

And… these voices… Rina… Gans…. They seem… so familiar… Wait… when did I… get that scar… on my hand…? Ah…! Shit… my head is about to explode…

- Let me go...! Someone...! Help me...! Gans...!

- He is... distracted... I... this is my chance...

I fell down on my knees, holding my head, and they started to glow with…red substance…?

I heard some sounds behind me and looked back. That tube is about to disappear! Slowly but surely it began to dissolve from the beginning, but the end was holding.

I quickly as I could, I got up and started to run, meanwhile trying to shake off that red substance, of which I've been covered since I got up. But the memories were still appearing right next to me, and took root in my mind as I saw them.

The faster I ran, the faster the tube dissolved. Eventually, I just fell from it… screaming and covering in a raw mass of floating energy. Everything just went dark, and as I fall, I could feel the energy flowing around me... until... I just stopped falling.

Ouch.

A/N: This chapter had come through my beta-reader, Mr. Snarks, and I thank him for checking out this chapter.

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