The phones were in their bags. The next mission started today. Every day, it felt like a new life. Within a week, the end of the world became a routine. If he hadn't gone to the show, none of this would have happened. This life looked perfect before he could live it.
But that voice, that kid. Kaelen can't forget it. He snapped his fingers. "What did it feel like when I was inside the void of the embodiment of creation?"
"Honestly... I don't remember it at all. I remember bits of it but we didn't even consider you once. You were gone, gone from our senses." Their car was on the other side of the road. She signalled the cars to stop with her hand, held Kaelen's hand with the other and crossed without a care.
Kaelen stopped in the middle of the road. His thoughts went against his will, itching the top of his head. Nobody remembered me. A man shouted, his voice reached him, but the meaning couldn't. Not because I wasn't there. They couldn't see me. Or none of this is the way I see. He scratched his head. Void, how did I enter someone else's void? No, this, all this is .
He met her gaze, his eyes sharp. "It was something I expected. All us have it." He clenched his teeth and looked around him."No, it.. tsk," he was there, but he couldn't phrase it. It felt too abstract. "What if we all had our own void. And we were never born in this body. Then this world is only our perception of the changes they make. A battleground where they make their soldiers fight. It exists in a higher dimension. Those above us control everything. We don't have a place of our own here. They decided our lives before we were born."
Nevyziel looked around with embarrassment in her eyes. " Can we do this somewhere else?"
Kaelen broke out of it. His neck moved on its own. Cars were honking. People were shouting from both sides of the road.
Kaelen grabbed her hand and ran to the car.
Nevyziel covered her mouth and laughed, slapped Kaelen on the back, and still kept on. "Could you choose literally any place other than a highway?" She still kept giggling to where she had one hand caressing her stomach.
The engine turned on. "And how do you just laugh at something so important?"
"Just don't cry again. I am putting up some music."
Nevyziel turned her tone down and curled her hair with her finger. "Kaelen, do you think I can access my void too?"
"I don't know. I entered mine because I was forced into it. But with training revolving around it, maybe we can. We can achieve the world we want."
She leaned back in her seat, stretching her hands and legs. "Maybe you really are the chosen one, as they say."
"Chosen one?" He chuckled and covered his mouth with his forearm. "As far as I can see. Only eternal pain awaits me. I am one human against the entire system."
"All the potential in the world, and yet you think every mistake is yours. Even if they were, you keep improving. A week ago you were afraid of this system. Now you stand in the middle of it."
He removed his hands from the steering wheel and directed his whole body towards her." And where did this 'big change' bring me?"
"Leave it."
The car turned right, away from the house.
She stopped leaning back. "What are you doing?"
He pressed his hands hard against the steering wheel. "I have to face this."
She shrugged, "Yeah, 'I' not we. Don't drag me into whatever you are going to do."
He took a cruel right turn. The tyres screeched. "You can stay out. I never told you to come with me."
She leaned back and said nothing, her body kept fidgeting and turning.
Kaelen stopped. The left turn in front of him was life changing.
Nevyziel recognized it too.
The police were there, questioning everyone who was present at the party.
Nevyziel peeked outside. "Do you really wanna do this?"
Kaelen got out of the car."I have to. This is more like facing myself for once."
"Wait! I am coming too."
Everyone sat in the lower floor dining room. The police were the first to notice him, "Sir! you are not allowed to come here."
"Sorry, I don't need to convince you anymore."
Kaelen killed them, not with an ability. He didn't need them anymore. He didn't belong in this world even more now. As long as something acknowledged him, he could change it. They didn't die. They ceased to exist. The memories people had with them still existed.
Kaelen closed his eyes as hard as he could and took a deep breath. As he realised the structure was way beyond his understanding. One thing connects to another, even the geographical properties. They can't change. Everything connected to it. The higher the importance something has, the harder it is to change it.
Everyone shook. His own father got down to the ground and crawled away from him. His mother rushed to the washroom to vomit. Others searched for ways to exit.
Kaelen couldn't have cared less at that moment. He felt more disappointed than sad. He was already expecting something like that. Not exactly that something with more intention. But even his instincts worked.
He sat down and picked up a full cup of coffee. "I won't harm anyone of you. I am here to ask a few questions."
Everyone was silent, but that calm silence in the middle of their anger answered it all. "What kind of person was he? Did he keep you happy?"
As everyone daredn't to say anything, Alex confronted him, "He was a great person. Our lives were falling apart when he brought us all together. We could have sacrificed our lives for him. To an outsider like you, we were like a cult. But to us, it was everything."
Alex was the most introverted guy Kaelen had ever known. His intelligence had made him dumber and weird. But his words were everything Kaelen needed. Even the biggest coward would have charged into an army for him.
"You couldn't give us what he did. He was your superior version. You can try, but you will never get that behaviour from us. And yes, I knew, I knew everything from the start. I tried to protect you from it. Yet you fell for it. What is wrong with having fun here? I don't care even if all this is a simulation."
Kaelen froze he mumbled to himself. "He knew?". Even if he wanted, could he not stop him from going to the show?
Nevyziel charged at him. Kaelen blocked her with his hand. "He may have lost me. But i won't lose him."
Kaelen reached out for him. He caught his shoulder. "Come with me."
Kaelen took him to the courtyard and took out chairs for both of them. They sat next to the pool, where Kaelen used to relax alone. He handed out a bottle of wine to him. Alex pushed it, it broke. The glass shattered, exactly like Kaelen's feelings.