Chapter Eleven
It took longer than I'd admit to figure out why the Travelers were so fixated on my phone.
"How can…"
"Does that mean-"
"Are you…?"
Their words were muttered and muffled together in a cacophony of incomprehensible mumbling. Of the entire group, it was Cherie I could hear the clearest.
"I thought you said that phone was too obscure to name." Her sidelong glance was irritatingly amused; she was enjoying this.
Coughing into a closed fist, I placed the phone face up on the table. The quiet thump was enough to stop the Traveler's questions.
"How to say this… To the questions you have, I'm assuming the answer would be variations of yes and maybe."
Even Perdition was drawn to my words. The anticipation was so thick that I could grab it. Trickster continued from where he left off. "So you're like us?"
I bit the inside of my lip. Lying to them would be easy and would only benefit me—especially when no one (aside from Cauldron) could prove me wrong. But I'd also be lying if I said I didn't want to tell the truth. Or at least, a version of it.
Humming, I tapped the screen to refresh the brightness. "Not exactly." Navigating the apps, I quickly found the calendar. Opening it, I flipped the device around so that everyone could see it.
Chairs squeaked and the table groaned as the weight of six people came upon it. Genesis didn't get any closer, but was the first to comment on what I was showing. "Your calendar's way off?"
That got a chuckle out of me. "Yeah, the calendar's off. And so is the phone. What's the current one—iPhone 4?"
"No, it's the iPhone 3. Pretty sure it came out only a half a year before that." Ballistic's tone nosedived at the unnamed event.
An exasperated sigh left the mirror. "We don't need to stall. He's saying he's from the future. Ten years in the future."
"He could be making all this up. The phone's tinker tech for all we know." Cody gave his two cents on the matter. He had a reasonable point.
Shrugging, I held the device to him. "You can examine it, but just to let you know, I used my power on it."
The Traveler craned his neck back like a cat who smelled citrus. He made the same face too. I pulled it back and gave him space to breathe.
"That's- that's how you found us! You know the future, so you've heard of us, right?" Mars excitedly brought up an excellent observation. "If you're from Aleph, does that mean… do we go home?"
In spite of everything I put the group through, I could see desperation in their eyes.
"Some of you do. And some of you don't." I let out a short exhale. "No, I don't know who does and doesn't. Never found out that particular tidbit."
Of all the Travelers, Noelle seemed the most disheartened by the news. Her shoulders sagged as she tried to muster up the words to keep the conversation moving.
"Although, it's safe to say that such a future is impossible now. Timeline shenanigans and the like." Grasping my phone, I stuck it back in my pocket.
As I was standing up, Noelle found her voice. "Then is there a reason you're helping us? Why go about it like this?"
"Make no mistake, I'm not doing this out of the good of my heart." I couldn't help but smirk when Cherie whispered, "Good of what heart?"
"I'm only helping you because it's the easiest and most beneficial way to go about achieving my goals. But you have a lot to think about, so I'll let you stew a bit longer."
Cherie got up to follow me. Once we were out of the room and alone, she spoke. "I'm… curious. You don't need to tell me you know my past, or anything. I can already guess what your thoughts are already. But, what happens to me? In the future, that is."
"You? It was something like: you joined the Nine; attempted to take over the Nine; then was dropped onto the bottom of the ocean in a container made by Mannequin."
The girl blinked. "Oh."
"Yeah. Anyway," I stepped into the bathroom and knocked on the mirror thrice. The image distorted like that of a circus trick, displaying a silver figure about my height. "I'm going to check on my system. Should be back in a few."
Climbing over the counter, I entered the now formed portal. The world rippled around me until it was impossible to make out any details. The only thing I could truly detail was the Agent of this dimension.
The Agent looked awfully similar to the main antagonist of the second Terminator movie. The liquid metal aspect, specifically.
"Tell me, how many mirrors have we obtained and what are their locations."
Its head rumbled and split open. A gaping maw formed approximately where the mouth should be. But no words really left the Agent. It was far more precise than that.
[DATA]
Information streamed out and made its place in my mind. Numbers, letters, and meaning danced about; they solidified themselves and became ingrained. I shuddered at the sensation.
"That's- huh. Who might this be?" Of the thirteen mirrors (including the ones back at base) that were linked, there was one in a very important city.
My interest peaked. Before now, I never had a real reason to visit the city. Before now, it would've been a waste of time and energy. But I had an excuse, and I would make full use of it.
I nodded to the Agent and it knew what it had to do. The world shifted once more, turning into that of a rather fancy bathroom. Nothing high class, but from the few details I could parse, it was better than any place I'd been to.
It was dark with the only form of light coming from the crack under the door. That small amount of illumination barely allowed me to glimpse the features of a person. This person was likely the individual who opened the link. I wondered who this could possibly be.
A sigh left the individual. "Of course it didn't do anything. What was I thinking?" Combined with the approximate height and vocal pitch, it was safe to assume this was a girl.
When she flicked the light on, she wasn't able to even gasp as I cupped her mouth. Along with paling features, she had fair skin, conventionally attractive looks, and red hair.
"How foolish. You should be more careful of what you wish for." Securing her, I kept her arms pinned to her sides. "So, who are you and what brought this about?"
Side Story: Playground in the Pit
Fire crackled in a small barrel as a lone figure hovered nearby. He was tall—around 6'4"—and had the build of a swimmer. Most of that physique was blanketed by thick coats and tattered rags. His face, shown in the brilliant yet contained light, was scruffy and matted with soot.
The survivor rubbed his fingerless gloved hands together before grabbing a stick that speared through bite sized chunks of meat. The meat had been cooking over the fire for a good fifteen minutes and was ready for consumption. Bringing the food up, his mouth briefly watered as the succulent salted smell reached his nose. Wasting no time, he chomped down and eagerly devoured the meal.
Getting over his hunger, the man turned his attention to his surroundings. To put it simply, the land was incomprehensible. Mountains of dusk and dark stretched over the sky. False stars twinkled mockingly as though freedom were that close. Ravines plunged deep, cracking across the expanse like shattered glass. Walls curved and contorted into each other, moving at a constant, yet slow pace.
And none of that began to touch on the namesake of the Godforsaken place. Separating one side of the level from the other was darkness incarnate. Should one stare into the abyss for too long, then they may be taken and never returned.
But even so, the survivor pushed on. When the Slaughterhouse struck; when what was thought fiction made its place in reality, the man was reforged into something new. And with the change came something just as indescribable. The power to live to see the next night.
It was then that the shadows around the man dulled. The fire's glow was no longer the only source of sight.
Cursing under his breath, the man let go of his unfinished meal and dashed away from the morning. As he did, the firepit dematerialized, along with the stick and meat.
Slipping into a prone position, a cover of gravel landed on top of him. His hands gripped a newly formed rifle. The hunter peaked through the iron sights, but it was mostly for show. With his current equipment, there was no way he could possibly take down the departed stars. Not that he knew what it took to win in the first place.
So all he could do was watch and wait for the light to pass by and search elsewhere. The hunter was confident they were out for him. It was closer to a sixth sense, but he could tell that there were no other people, living or otherwise, on this floor. Although, chances of running into anyone else were very slim. When it came down to it, descending was far easier than climbing back up.
The hunter scoffed. There were far greater rewards for following the intended path, but when the bottom was reached, a fate worse than death awaited the greedy and shortsighted.
Regardless, the acts of the adventurous were of no concern. The traveling lights were increasingly distant and the timeframe for movement would be short.
Shrugging off the tarp, the hunter did away with the act; he replaced the rifle with a compass and telescope. It was impossible for the mundane to find the entrance to the floors, but the explorer was no ordinary man. The only time the pathway to previous floors opened was when its traveling lights were vacant from their usual guard.
Gazing through his spyglass, the explorer easily discovered a path to the gateway. He trekked on, constantly keeping his eyes and ears trained on the surroundings.
It wasn't a glamorous or pleasant way of living, but he'd be damned if he didn't push forward on his own terms. And when he eventually got out, he'd find a way to pay back the one responsible for this whole nightmare.
