CHAPTER THIRTY

::Ax::

"Let's do it."

That phrase is a very familiar one. Rachel likes to say it, and following that, Marco will say, "And here we go."

I'm not so sure what he means by that, but I know that Rachel says it like a pre-war ritual. That is not very comforting, by any means.

"No," said Marco, instantly. "This is beyond insane. Cassie, we are not risking two innocent people's lives by framing them as witnesses. And you jolly well know that these two people are the reason why David has made a whole mess out of this reality. And how the hell is payback for Jake's parents, using David's parents any better?"

"I didn't say it was better," said Cassie, coldly. "I just said that it will draw him out."

Loren threw her hands up in frustration. "If you all aren't going to save Tobias, I'm going to!"

"Wait!" Prince Jake called out, and Loren froze. "Please. We promise to save them." His voice was shaking, which is quite unlike Prince Jake. "But we have to take one step at a time. There's still Melissa to handle and..."

Loren looked like she wanted to argue, but Prince Jake's white face must have convinced otherwise. She scowled and turned away.

"Jake, please," said Marco, urgently. "There has to be some other way."

"Oh, and now you're the morally responsible one," muttered Cassie. "How about backing me up the last few times I argued about ethics?"

Marco's eyes flashed.

While the two of them continued the debate, I couldn't help but wonder more about who was the real mastermind behind all this. If it wasn't clear to the others, it was definitely clear to me that while this being was powerful and omniscient in some ways, there was no way he could have done anything to our personalities. No being in this universe could. All the folk tales that my people passed down from generation to generation... the message was subtle, yet clear. The most powerful of them all in the universe could manipulate many, many things. But they could not manipulate what was inside you, and that is the core of your life. The inner self has a sanctity so powerful that it resists all external forces.

So, for all the Ellimists and Crayaks in the universe, what they could only do when they played with the strands of time and space, was to create situations and scenarios and...

I blinked.

...and avatars.

‹Aximili.›

I stopped scraping in the ground with my hoof, embarrassed. I kicked up the dirt nonchalantly, but it was still not very nice to be found drawing figures on the ground instead of practising tailfighting. After virtual training, I usually imagine so much that I find myself too lazy to do any physical activities. Which is of course, quite unbecoming.

‹Yes, my Prince.›

Elfangor galloped over and eyed the clouds of dirt billowing around me.

‹What were you drawing?›

‹Nothing.›

Elfangor twisted his stalk eyes, then laughed quietly. ‹It is you and me, is it not? On the bridge of a ship. Not that I can really make out the setting with your artistic capabilities, but I was talking to Prince Sirrah just now, and he told me what training you were undergoing earlier on.›

‹I want to be just as good as you in the future,› I blurted. ‹I don't want to have to imagine it through game avatars, I want to be on that bridge with you.›

‹And you will be, Aximili. One day.› Elfangor looked straight at me, and I truly believed him.

‹At least, you must be practicing diligently,› he added, as he turned to head back to the academy.

I clenched my fists as I thought harder.

Many warriors of the universe made use of avatars, particularly the Andalites, to simulate possible scenarios. But we were also warned that there might be those powerful enough to create a scenario existing simultaneously with reality, and if the game master did not end it, it could become a parallel universe and create chaos in the time-space dimension.

And this was what it was – a game. An illusory situation.

We were all avatars. Our consciousness had been transplanted into these modified avatars. That didn't exactly explain Prince Jake's loss of memory, but it certainly explained how we could be so different. And it certainly explained why I was known as Phillip in this reality. The boy Phillip didn't exist in the other reality, so he could only be a created persona. Therefore, this was no alternate reality with its own time strand, it was merely a setting that we had been brought into. The others had told me of a very strange situation they were once in, imagining themselves to be playing roles of other personas – I remember Cassie being distraught as she retold her position of being a slave-mistress.

But as I have mentioned earlier, the consequences of this game are deadly. This is no entertainment, but everything about strategy – and power. If somebody could play a game upon David's terms, this was definitely no ordinary deal. The only way that this illusion could be broken – and it had to be, for creating a rupture in the time-space dimension is almost a taboo in the galaxy – would be that if the instigator voluntarily chooses to end the game, and it almost seems impossible for David to back off so easily.

‹Cassie.›

Cassie jerked slightly, surprised by my sudden thoughtspeech.

‹Are you certain that your plan will work? Will David respond appropriately?›

I have grown better at reading human expressions, and I was certain the momentary look on Cassie's face spelt hesitance. But it flitted by, and she nodded imperceptibly. I had to trust her. However ruthless she may be here, she was the one who had accurately predicted David's emotional responses back then.

"I know what's best for the group," said Cassie, assertively, as though she were assuring me as well.

"You're nothing but a fired-up psychomaniac now, Cassie!" Marco hissed. "I mean, listen to yourself!"

Sometimes, human arguments only serve to add a layer of fatigue to my physical and mental states even though I am not a participant. I believe it has something to do with the questionable level of logic and rationality involved.

"How could you – this is just insane," Marco ranted, "and it's too dangerous for Jake. There's no way he's impersonating a Controller when – when he's–"

"I can do it," said Jake, quietly. "I think I've seen enough."

"It's getting way too dark," said Loren, to no one in particular. She had been staring out of the barn into the night sky. Time was strangely lenient to us, I thought to myself. I found myself thinking slightly fondly of Aunt Sal and pancakes, and briefly wondered if she was waiting in the kitchen with a plate of them.

"Melissa should be coming anytime," said Cassie. "We need to move, stat."

"This is bullshit. I mean–"

"Marco, can you please stop babbling about–"

"Babbling? Excuse me, Cassie, can you just hear–"

" –what happened to rational arguments, about looking at the big picture and–"

"–getting carried away by the adrenaline of–"

"–not like Rachel!"

Prince Jake slapped his forehead while Loren's back was still facing us.

Meanwhile, I wonder what is the longest time a human argument has lasted.

A/N: If anybody wonders if this is the same kind of 'illusory situation' that Megamorphs 4 showed, it is quite similar, just that MM4's time strand began by altering one decision made by Jake to change the whole course of time from then on and the characters had no memory of the original reality except for the anomaly that was Cassie. In here, the characters' consciousness was transplanted into pre-moulded avatars in a game setting, a world completely parallel to that of reality. Cassie doesn't remember enough of the 'alternate reality' in MM4 to have sufficiently educated the rest on any concept of this, hence Ax gives a more detailed explanation on what could have happened.

If it is confusing, maybe as you read on, it may become clearer as I let the characters discover more for themselves and find out how to escape this 'game'.