“Hey Jean! Hurry up! You’ll be late for school.”
…
“And so...I died. I must have bled out. I don’t recall being finished off by another strike.”
Jean finished explaining every detail of her death.
Allen nodded. He couldn’t help but be impressed by how calmly Jean spoke. The other Voyagers were able to finish giving the information of their death, but it was obvious they weren’t able to go into every single detail like they were talking about breakfast.
“Let me get this straight.” Trinity tapped her temple. She was drilled to death by two construction workers in the hallway with electric drills. Suffice to say she didn't die quietly or peacefully. “We were all killed by different methods that are designed to be as slow and painful as possible. And then, we are revived to go through the process again. What is this Trial Mission trying to improve? Our pain tolerance?”
“I’m sure there are more efficient ways to do that.” Jean commented. A frown was on her face. Any other expression would just be inappropriate.
Another Voyager spoke up.
“I tried to get out of the town, but I was killed by a truck right before leaving the town borders. Whatever presence created this world doesn’t want us to see the rest of it.”
“So are you suggesting we are in some sort of man-made dimension?” Allen asked. “Maybe the rest of the dimension hasn’t been completely constructed yet, but that doesn’t explain how we lost our watches and our powers.”
Jean nodded in agreement. That was odd. Watches were said to be locked on to the souls of the Voyagers. Even if the Voyagers lost the arm, the watches could take the form of something else and stay with the Voyagers. Watches were merely a form of a technology beyond the understanding of anyone seated. How do you remove something like this?
Jean felt like she was missing something important.
“Wait a second…” As she took another glance around the room, Jean realized there was one fewer Voyager than before. “where is Chaos?”
The others looked around as well. They used to be keen individuals, but after being killed two times in a role, they were worn out.
“Search the school!” Allen ordered. This was in the morning. Was Chaos killed already?
The rest of the Voyagers ventured out of the room. Most of the students were in class right now, not that the Voyagers cared about school rules. They moved from room to room before final finding Chaos sitting in one of the classrooms.
He seemed to be...listening to the teacher.
What the hell? They weren’t here to study about calculus or physics! What type of Voyager would waste time being a good student in this situation.
Allen was ready to move in when Jean stopped him.
“Something is wrong. Chaos would never do this with free will.” She said quietly. “He could be under threat or it could be something else. Anyways, we should wait for the passing period. We can’t afford to waste time clashing with the school authority either.”
Allen nodded. The rest of the Voyagers thought Jean might be overcautious, but they complied nonetheless. Finally, as the bell rang and the students started to walk out, the Voyagers intercepted Chaos.
“Chaos, what’s wrong?”
The tall man looked at Allen like he was crazy.
“I’m...I’m sorry...but you might be thinking about someone else...my name is not Chaos…”
“...my name is Jacob.”
“Jacob…that’s not...” Allen’s eyes widened. He glanced at the other Voyagers, who quickly spread out and made sure the conversation taking place here wouldn’t reach the wrong ears. Allen grabbed onto Chaos’s arm. If he was still a Voyager, he would try to resist. Either that, or if he was under threat, he would try to send over a secret message.
Instead, this Jacob just stood there with fear in his eyes.
“What do you want?”
“Hey! What is going on here?” Down the hallway, one of the teachers must have seen Jacob in distress. Allen let go of Jacob.
“Sorry. We’re just talking!” Without an answer from the teacher, Allen and the other Voyagers retreated to the classroom. They didn't have time to waste on dealing with the authority.
As the Voyagers sat down and Allen closed the door, the man finally said something terrifying.
“I don’t know what happened, but Chaos is gone. His consciousness is replaced by a random student named Jacob. Likely, he will not recover after the mission was over.”
The Voyagers exchanged glances. This was serious. Dying was painful, but as long as they could be revived, they could take it. Voyagers that couldn’t endure pain don’t last very long. But being erased and replaced by someone else...that was as good as permanent death.
“How did that happen? We are fine after dying. What was special with Chaos?”
“We’re fine, for now.” Jean said quietly. “Whoever is killing us is trying different methods. First, it killed us quickly. When it didn't work, it tried killing us with more creative ways. For me, it was two muggers. For Trinity, it was a drill in the head.”
“Two drills…” Trinity corrected.
“Point is, it is trying to find the correct method for us. Once that happens, we will become just like Chaos. Lost. Confused. Our true identities will be replaced by that of a puppet. ” Jean frowned. She could take being killed as many times as needed, but she would never tolerate becoming just like Chaos. This was against her objective to seize power.
“We need to break out of here as soon as possible...by any mean necessary.”
---
“Hey Jean! Hurry up! You’ll be late for school.”
…
Jean glanced at the crowd forming around her. She stood still and observed carefully as they casually kicked her to death.
…
“Hey Jean! Hurry up! You’ll be late for school.”
…
Cathy Turner screamed and drove a kitchen knife through Jean’s throat.
Murderous mother, check.
…
“Hey Jean! Hurry up! You’ll be late for school.”
…
“Really? A wraith?” Jean watched as a translucent figure solidified in front of her. The figure used to be a human being, but now, it was a wraith. Jean didn't know what happened to the man before he died, but the man’s skin was ripped off, leaving bright red flesh. The wraith charged at her. There was nothing Jean could do without her powers.
The killing took a full hour.
…
As more and more days passed, less and less Voyagers went to C110 every morning to exchange the information they gathered. Leonard and Philips were the first to go. Hassan was next. Shadowblade was present the previous day. Before long, only three Voyagers were left.
Trinity. Jean. Allen.
“This is not working. We have tried everything.” Allen concluded. “We have even destroyed the school. Nothing worked!”
Two days ago, the remaining Voyagers banded together and destroyed the school. They proceeded to kill everyone they could before being gunned down by the authority. The hope was that if they destroyed the stage, the play would be forced to a stop. Considering they were still here, they were wrong.
Jean could tell Allen was getting extremely aggravated, and rightfully so. Voyagers weren’t afraid of dying, but being picked off one by one like this so slowly was enough to draw fear from the strongest individual. The survivors still saw their former comrades in the hallways, but this was it.
The thought of becoming like a normal student, going to school every day and completely unaware of the reality of the world they reside in, was beyond terrifying.
The three Voyagers left sat there quietly. None of them said anything. All the plans and tactics they could think of have been spoken. They have tried to leave the town at least a dozen times. They have tried to stay alive until the next day more times than they could count. They even tried to commit suicide, but it failed as well.
They were desperate.
Suddenly, Trinity grinned softly.
“It’s ironic, really.”
“What?” Allen wasn’t in the mood, so Jean spoke.
“Us. To the locals, we are gods. We can take away their lives with the snap of a finger. But on a greater scale, we are nothing. Our powers can be stripped away from us without us having the slightest clue.”
Jean nodded slowly.
“No matter how big you are, there will always be a bigger fish.”
“So what’s the point?” Trinity sighed. “We Voyagers sacrifice everything to climb to the top of the pyramid, but in the end, we are still just underlings of the Protectors. Our final goal is to be a minion that does everything the Protector Corps asks us to.”
Jean was silent. She couldn’t understand the point of Trinity’s words. Well, logically she could, but emotionally she couldn’t.
Trinity continued.
“I lived in a decent world. Not that advanced, but decent. Both of my parents are alive. I had a brother too. At least I did until my entire dimension was conscripted into the Voyager Corps. A squad of Protectors descended on our world. I can still remember his words. ‘Congratulations, you have been given the privilege to be a part of the Voyager Corps’. Privilege!”
“These Protectors threw billions of people into different dimensions to die without giving them any preparation and they called it a privilege!”
“My first mission was in an ancient Greek world, well, except all the Greek gods and myths are real. Sirens. Medusa. Zeus. The objective was to help human beings destroy the gods and all the supernatural beings. It took me over twenty years, but in the end, I was successful.”
“But when I returned to the City of the Voyagers, I realized I was one of the few victors. Most of the billions have failed to return. They perished in their missions, alone and afraid. But you know what’s the worst thing?”
“What?”
“The Protectors didn't even make a list of those who died. No. They could do it literally with the snap of a finger and they refused to. To this day I still don’t know how and when my parents and my brother died. Did they suffer? Did they fight? My last picture of them was them being warped away.”
“Within five years, as the last of us die off, no one will remember our dimension existed anymore. Our culture. Our customs. We would be erased from the Infinite Realms.”
“So what’s the point of all this? There’s no point at all!”
Jean didn't show any support or rebuttal. All she could think of was if Adam was here, the two could find some common ground. But trying to appeal to Jean’s sympathy was like beating a dead horse.
Besides Jean, Allen shook his head.
“On the contrary, I do believe there is a point in all this.”
Trinity glared at Allen.
“Without the Protectors, we would be no different from the locals.” Allen gestured at outside the door. It was another passing period, and students were walking in and out of classrooms and across the hallway. “Look at them. Naive. Ignorant. Teachers teach and students learn. They have no idea what is really going on around them. Would you rather be one of them instead?”
“If that means I can stay with my family, then I will gladly give away my powers.”
“You see...here’s the problem.” Allen leaned forward. “Like it or not, we live in a Darwinist world. Survival of the fittest. The entire Infinite Realms is just a jungle where the strong feast on the weak. If we were never conscripted, if we lived our lives in ignorance and nothing at all happened to us, then all is well. But if someone did find our world and decide to take it, then what? If a race of aliens or monsters descend on our world and on everything we care about, then what? Are you still going to complain to them how merciless they are? Do you think they will care about your complaints?”
“The Protectors have their flaws, but their presence gives us an opportunity to truly take our fate into our own hands...to seize power. When we see unjust, when we see things that we don’t agree with, we don’t have to use words to appeal to their morales and hope they listen. We use our blades...to fight. That right, that power...that is worth everything we go through.”
Trinity looked into Allen’s eyes and saw he was dead serious. She bit her lips. She had neither the mood nor the energy for debate. Instead, she walked out of the room, leaving just a comment.
“I hope you can retain that belief the next time you die.”
Thirty minutes later, Trinity was walking down the hallway when she saw a figure in front of her.
White armor.
Half-faced mask.
A Protector.
She has been killed hundreds of times, but the thing she was most afraid of was a Protector.
