Chapter Nine: New Enigmatic Man

There was darkness. Total darkness. Pitch black darkness. Stephen floated through the darkness without purpose. He wandered through the darkness half consciously. His arms and legs were completely loose. His neck was loose as well. His eyelids were halfway closed. He felt…sleepy. But then he found the light. A small, bright light called out to him. The same deep voice of the unknowns.

"Come forth, Stephen." It called out to him.

Those same words repeated themselves over and over again slowly. Stephen was lost in turmoil, but he slowly floated towards the light. Finally reaching it. When he did, the light disappeared and a long table appeared. Many coated figures began to appear as well. Stephen was so weakened that he couldn't even count how many of them there were. Each of them took a seat on wooden chairs that appeared around the long wooden table as they approached it. Finally, on the opposite end of the table a final chair appeared. And some strange gravitation forced Stephen unto it. Facing the Enigmatic Man at the other end of the table.

"Welcome Stephen." That same man said.

The others said the same. All of the cloaked people began to remove their hoods, revealing their faces. Namine and Axel were among them. The only hooded person to not remove their hood was the one at the opposite end of the table Stephen faced.

"Heh heh, let's see what this guy's reaction is. I bet it's worth gold." Axel made fun of Stephen.

"Of course it is, he's one weird fella. He ignored the you-know-what. This is gonna be very painful for him." Another one of the males continued to tease.

"Axel, Vixen, don't be so hard on him. We were all new once." Namine replied.

"Yeah, but we didn't become N.E.O. in such a weird way he did. Last weird case like this was the chief's. And I bet we all know why…" Vixen remarked.

Stephen was dumbfounded, he couldn't see right, everything was blurry, and he couldn't remember much about himself. He couldn't remember himself as Stephen Carlski, only as Steve. He could differ the voices of Axel, Vixen, and Namine apart, but he couldn't tell which was which.

"Enough, children." The man at the end of the table ordered.

He seemed to be the leader Axel and Vixen were talking about. It was pretty obvious that by having the hood on, the Organization members had the same deep voice, but by removing it, their real voices were revealed. Axel and Vixen stuck their tongues out at Namine who crossed her arms in frustration. The four of them, including the mysterious leader were like a dysfunctional family.

"We are reunited here for a greater cause than arguing. We are here to welcome the newcomer, Stephen Carlski."

"Huh... Me… I am… I am Ste-Stephen…" The semi-hypnotized Stephen mumbled.

"Namine, finish the memory wipe." The leader ordered.

Namine nodded and stood up from her seat. She walked towards Steve and opened her right hand wide and put it on Steve's forehead. With her left hand, she closed her fingers except for her index and middle fingers and put them over her mouth and nose. She closed her eyes and faced the "floor". A small burst of light could be seen emerging from Namine's right hand and the tips of her left index and middle fingers were glowing the same way as well.

"What will be his new name?" She asked, staying in the same position without moving a muscle.

"Dyler." The leader stated.

"Dyler? What kinda cheap name is that boss?" Axel asked right away.

"Quiet, Axel. Before I make you give him his tour." The leader replied.

"You are not Stephen Carlski. You are not Stephen. You are not Carlski. You are not Steve. You are not Steve Carlski. You are not Mr. Carlski." Namine whispered to "Dyler".

"You… are Dyler."

Meanwhile, Nick got back home now that he knew Steve wasn't going to be at his home. He heard the TV on, and walked in to see who was sitting on the sofa changing the channels with the remote. It was none other than Ryker.

"Hey, I heard about your friend Steve. What a shame, I wanted him to join the Seekers." The ex-marine remarked.

He turned off the TV and turned his head to look at Nick.

"He's a student! You were going to recruit a student to join a war and get killed!?"

"Relax, chump. I never did. I was going to though. But that's when Mitos told me he had to get a 'heart transplant' urgently."

"You know Mitos?"

"Yeah. I'm one of those who had to get my future 'crafted' by him. I see you know him as well. Did you have to get your future crafted?"

"No, I met him today when he told me about what he did to Steve."

"Meh, you're one lucky guy I tell ya. You don't know what it's like to have Mitos all over your ass. Anyways, about the…uh, 'job offer' I made you; what do ya say? Feel up to killing some Heartless scum rookie?"

"Do I even have to tell you? It's not like you gave me any choice…"

"Yeah you're right Bolsey. Well, get ready, tomorrow morning you're one of the Seekers boy!"

And with that, Ryker disappeared the same way he had done last time he and Nick met. It was time to join the revolution.