Author's Notes:
And here we are, still in the second-strangest place in Iji. The first being Sector Y, of course. Luckily for you guys, though, it will be the second, and last, chapter of this relatively brief story arc…
Disclaimer:
Iji belongs to Daniel Remar and his company, Remar Games. I claim no ownership to it, or any references found within this story.
Iji: Demimortal
Chapter 8: The Null Driver
Iji Soundtrack: 1/2fabrikat
The companions wound up in a surprisingly basic-looking room; just a small ledge down leading to what appeared to be a field of lasers. "I think the solution here is pretty simple…" Raising his hands, a barrier of magic formed above his head, just wide enough to fit the both of them underneath it. "Now, Iji, not a step out of line. One foot at a time…" She shook her head at his rhyme, but did as he asked. Indeed, they went slowly, one step at a time, crossing four of the laser beams, until coming up to a ledge and hoping up it. What was lying there was excessively strange, even compared to what they had come across so far; what appeared to be a gun, it flashed rapidly between black and white in certain sections, as if it were a glitchy tile in an old video game console. Iji walked over, cautiously poking it with one finger, before it exploded into cyan spheres, flying towards her Nanogun. Suddenly, the Nanogun had a message on the top of the barrel;
'You got the Null Driver. WARNING: The wormholes generated by this corrupted prototype weapon are highly unstable. USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.' "That doesn't really explain what it does, but okay. If even the borderline super-human Tasen deem this thing not worthy of use because of it's effects, then you really shouldn't. Hell, it almost even looks the part." Iji nodded in agreement, noticing the teleportation cube at the end of the room. Gesturing Satuxim towards it, the two went on to the final area in Sector Z.
They were now in a pit of the green cubes from the area filled with Drones. Getting out of it, they saw nothing more than an empty space, dotted with green cubes, no true pattern capable of being found between them. They saw an orange platform about a quarter-mile away. Satuxim took the lead again, jumping over to the first one, gesticulating Iji to do the same. Over the course of the next twenty-ish minutes, they leapt from cube to cube, Iji especially being careful not to fall. It took a little while, but they came to be just a couple of more hops away from the platform. However, they quickly took into consideration the path of cubes that lead down. They agreed to go there first, Satuxim and Iji resuming their hopping.
Another ten minutes later, they took note of a large-looking platform. Floating gently down towards it, Satuxim saw a pattern, like with the previous skull. Flying out a few-dozen feet away, he saw what it was supposed to represent. Going back to Iji, he reported, "DCR. That's what this stands for. Maybe someone's initials? A company, or brand name?" They both shrugged. Satuxim held out his hand, telling Iji, take my hand, and I'll fly us back up there. She complied, and Satuxim began flapping his wings, jumping away from the ground. "Hold on tight!" he commanded her, in a rather joking tone.
The two eventually got back up to their previous elevation, and they were now standing on the orange platforms. Satuxim quickly figured something out, before they could progress, though; "Iji, look out into this space. What do you see?" She did as he asked. She let out a mild gasp; besides the previous 'levels' they had been to, she also saw orange cubes, with what appeared to be sprites of a video game inside of them, all if which looked very retro. "… I think we're in a NES, or something along those lines, Iji." She mutually agreed. "Also, I think this is the Orbital Dimension Haven that logbook mentioned." A silent 'yes' left Iji's mouth. She was marveling at the sight of it all.
After a couple more minutes of would-be star-gazing, they continued onwards. The two came to another gray logbook, and, a couple of feet past that, a wall of what appeared to be glittery sparkles. Picking up the logbook, Satuxim told Iji a basic summary of it's contents; "This is going to sound strange, but apparently, in an alternate universe, your adventures in stopping the Tasen were a video game." Iji gaped. "That game was made by a guy named Daniel Remar, and this logbook apparently was put here himself, thanking anybody who came by here, because, in it, you had to find all of the game's secrets to get here. I… actually feel kind of bad for 'cheating', as it were, to get here. Hm." She kept on gaping. "So, evidently, this entire place was made by Remar. Wait… Wouldn't that mean we're now in the dimension of that game?" Satuxim kept on thinking, and after about a minute of this, he simply said, "Ugh. Confusion. Best not to dote on that subject any longer… Iji? Hello?" He waved a hand in her face. She didn't snap out of it. "Sigh. I always have to do this to the protagonist of a story at least once, don't I…?" He retracted his hand, whipped it outwards, and sent it flying towards Iji's face.
The reaction was practically instantaneous; she put her hand to her face, and almost screamed at him, "OW! What the Hell was that for!?" Satuxim held back his laughter (For now…) and said, "Well, you wouldn't snap out of it, no matter what I tried, so I was really left no choice. Though, your reaction to this situation is entirely understandable, as I have stated once already." Iji shook her head, cradling her cheek, and she responded, "You still didn't have to hit me so hard!" She mumbled a quick 'damn it' after that statement. "Now, then, are we done here? The logbook stated that the Orbital Dimension Haven was the end if this little 'trial'. And good riddance, because this place is just too much, even for me." He said, walking towards the glowing field of sparkles at the end of the room. He vanished in a semi-bright flash of light, Iji following after him, also grateful to be done with this place. Though, they both had to admit, they were rather curious as to what would happen if they pulled the trigger in that mysterious weapon…