PART TWO: GOLGATHA
ALEX
𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚈 𝙼𝙰𝙳𝙴 𝙸𝚃 𝚄𝙿 𝚃𝙾 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙿𝙻𝙰𝚃𝙵𝙾𝚁𝙼 𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷 𝚁𝙴𝙻𝙰𝚃𝙸𝚅𝙴 𝙴𝙰𝚂𝙴, as Mama's Boy predicted they would. He copied Scarlet's power and piggybacked them to the top one at a time, spreading his hands on the ground and unleashing a great deal of force, propelling them upwards. It took but a moment, just a moment.
Alex found it gratifying. Having already experienced a moment of terror, to know that everything went smoothly was a breath of fresh air. She made sure to twist her beanie on tightly; with the escalating storm came a wash of unparalleled rain, a cold that proved duly more severe in this division than in the last, and a bumpy layer of sleet forming thick clumps on either side of the wooden balustrade surrounding the household. A dense underbrush of sumac and juniper rested within them. Water twirled, slithered, waddled restlessly down the stems and blue leaves, streaming off over the bannister into the open field below. They blew fiercely in intervals of five seconds. If the wind were any stronger the plants might have even been whisked away. On the far right was a well-powered lamppost rattling grimly, perhaps holding on with little force. Though, maybe the extra gravity would help secure it that much more. Who knew?
This place . . . It's beautiful. I wish I could garden. Then again, our house doesn't really have any grass to experiment with. Courtesy of living in a metropolis.
Alex was able to discern the cabin up ahead. It was similar to the one in the forest: a stone stairway led up to another platform around which aligned a parapet composed of dark-blue oak. Poking out from the semi-triangular roof was a rectangular chimney, somewhat dilapidated, showcasing dirty cracks and splits. Two large windows stood on both sides. Rain slapped against the pane like marching footsteps. Inside there was nothing but shadow.
"I don't think there's anyone here!" Scarlet shouted, folding her arms and stressfully pressing them into her stomach. "Everything's dark. Still, better safe than sorry!"
Alex let out a childish wail—not of pain but of frustration. "It's freezing!"
"I know!" Scarlet hurried over to the stairway leading up to the double-door.
Mama's Boy tipped forward, almost fell over, then collected himself, following behind. And Alex did the same—follow, that is. She did her best to avoid slipping because when you trip here you feel twice the pain. Twice the pain, remember that, thought Alex. She got lucky passing through the water body and reaching the bottom of the field unscathed. Who knew what would happen if she were to, say, hit her head off a flat surface? Splat? Dead? Probably not, but it would hurt like hell, that was for sure.
She came around the bend of the balustrade at the top and watched Scarlet try to open the door. Twisting the handle, she registered that it was locked, so the woman opted to give it a few shoulders—nope, that wouldn't work either. They could break the glass, but it seemed Mama's Boy thought of a better idea.
He stood forward, said, "Here," and patted Scarlet on the nape. She backed away and Mama's Boy pressed his hand against the door, formed a ball of white light, and—
BOOM!
The door slammed open, almost snapped by the hinges, and hit both sides of the hall. Alex stepped forward and looked inside. The purple light of the Spiral couldn't reach behind the rocky formation to which the platform was attached and filter through the windows, leaving the interior in near-total darkness. She could still make out the outlines of typical furniture such as couches, coffee tables, bookshelves, a large plant stemming from an even larger pot, and in the centre another stairway leading up to the next level. It seemed more like a fancy house than a cabin now, something one might find next to the ocean of a suburban neighbourhood.
They rushed in and Scarlet shut the door behind them. The sound of rain pounding against earth dwindled to a round of applause—and not of a particularly well-numbered crowd, but instead of something you'd find on the low-end of a city where all the talented musicians sang, where they set out their guitar case and watched the cash pile little by little. Alex had seen something like this before, even stopped a few times to listen, though she never paid them a dime. Why? Because she was a broke kid who banked on her parents, and they didn't have the world of money either.
Thinking of this, she looked off to the left and saw the outline of a living room blending with a kitchen. This was roughly the same as her own house back on Earth, which she liked to call the 'living kitchen'. She walked forward and followed Scarlet around a counter, on which had lain a vase of some sort with a flower poking out. There was a dim bluish tint to the darkness that was barely perceivable. What caused this sensation was beyond Alex, but perhaps it had something to do with the sky. That, or maybe her eyes were playing tricks on her. Any option would suffice.
Meanwhile, Mama's Boy stepped over to the staircase. "Anyone hoooooome?!"
Scarlet turned to face him. "I don't think anyone would live in a wreck of a place like this." She walked over to the countertop in the living kitchen and reached up to the cupboards. Popping them open, she pulled out a cup and inspected it in her hand. "Yeah, kiddos, I don't think this place has seen human life for as long as it's existed. Just my opinion, though. Feel free to check out the house."
"Hm," said Mama's Boy, holding on to the stairway bannister, one foot on the first step. "A wise boy always checks out the house before they decide to stay there." He shook his head. "Is there a light-switch in here or somethin'? I can't see nothin'."
Alex threw a glance around the bottom floor, trailing her sight along the walls for any bumps or shapes resembling a switch. There was one, back by the door, though it was hiding behind a large plant. Shivering, she paced towards it, extended her arm through the plant, and—SNAP!—turned the switch on. Nothing. No power in here. But how could that be? The lamppost outside was working just fine. Maybe there was a power box somewhere in the house, perhaps downstairs. She looked back and said, "It doesn't work."
"What doesn't? The light switch?" asked Scarlet sweetly.
"Yeah, there's no power in here."
Scarlet set the cup on the kitchen table. She turned around to the sink and cranked the faucet. Nothing came out. "Yeah," she said, "the water doesn't work either. I'm not sure how it could without a pipe leading up, unless it's . . . underground, going up through the rock."
"Hm." Mama's Boy nodded, averting his gaze to Alex, then to Scarlet on the left side of the bottom floor. He was still standing on the first step of the stairway. "That makes sense. My mama had a box in the basement that controlled most of all that stuff, maybe this place has one."
"Do you know how to use it?" asked Alex. She looked at him with that wide-eyed, childish stare, her two front teeth on display.
"It's just a few switches," answered Scarlet, to which Mama's Boy nodded again. "My parents had the same thing when I was a kid. Well, when I was back home. They'd flip sometimes for basically no reason. And all the power in the house would shut off."
Alex stared at her blankly, not saying a word.
After a moment, Scarlet said, "Hey, listen, is there a stairs that goes down over there—?" But she had already been making her way towards the staircase to see for herself. "No? It's probably outside. That's where mine used to be anyway. Yeah, I know, a pretty bad place to have the entire power supply of your house to be. What can you do?" She chuckled at her own wit and turned back to Alex, who still hadn't moved from the front door. "You okay?"
Alex's eyes twitched. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired."
"At least it's nice and dark here, not like that last place," said Scarlet. "There's probably beds upstairs." Suddenly, she turned back and beckoned for Mama's Boy to head up. They both did, and Alex followed.
On the second floor was a hallway extending from one side to the other. Four mahogany doors were on the same side that the staircase had been, meaning there were at least four bedrooms, all of which constructed the second storey. A hatch on the hallway ceiling gave way to an attic of some sort, with a cord dangling down about a quarter of the way towards the wooden floor. Scarlet snatched a handle to one of the doors and twisted it open. Creaking, it divulged a small enclosed space no bigger than a regular houseroom: one single-person bed, a nighttable on the right, a wardrobe, and a . . . piece of paper?
Scarlet moved in slowly, subconsciously flipping the switch—of course, no light came on. She grabbed the paper and tried reading it in the dark. Shaking her head, she whipped a white aura from the palm of her hand; it was dim, very dim, but enough.
She turned around, at first quiet, then started speaking, eyes askance. "There was someone here before," she said softly, not looking away from the paper. "'Esmond says there's a gateway further up. He used that portal to tell me about it. It's in a cave, but he's too scared to go in there alone. It might lead somewhere, he says. So I'm gonna head out and see what it's all about. P.S. Don't forget to cover the plants with the tarp. Jake'. And it ends there."
"A gateway?" said Mama's Boy. "What's that?"
Scarlet shook her head. "Pfft, beats me. Unless he means an antimatter gateway, which is just a power where people can teleport."
"That sounds unfair as shit," said Mama's Boy.
Scarlet looked up at him with weary eyes. "Not really, they don't bring you that far, as far as I know anyway. If you go right to the end, then yeah, that'd be unfair. Even more unfair than controlling the weather." She looked at Alex with a cheeky grin, then it disappeared in the same amount of time it had arrived. "Anyway, I think this gateway might be worth checking out."
"When, uh, was that signed?" asked Alex timidly. She did that thing with her thumbs, mouth agape.
"Good question." Scarlet inspected the paper closely. After a moment, she said, "Doesn't say."
The silence impressed itself upon them.
"Probably a long time ago, I'd say. This place was obviously meant for others to see and . . . Well, I don't see anyone around." Scarlet trod over to the nighttable and tucked the paper in the drawer.
"Hm. If we head to the gateway in the cave, like he said, then we might disappe—" Mama's Boy began tentatively.
"Which is why we have to be careful in this division," said Scarlet. She turned her attention to Mama's Boy fully. "You crossed the whole forest subdivision, right?"
"Hm." He nodded firmly.
"Did you see a dead snake-looking thing?"
"Oh yeah, I thought it was a dragon. I thought it was sleeping for a second, then I noticed the blood. That's how I knew there were people."
"Yeah, and, whatever, a dragon," said Scarlet softly. "Alex killed that thing, it wasn't asleep. But my point is, creatures exist everywhere we go, sometimes harmless, sometimes downright deadly. For the past division, there's not been much, especially in the glade."
"Hm. So?"
"So that means there's probably something defending this gateway. I don't see why this Esmond person would be so afraid—not for a reason I can think of anyway."
"Should we avoid it then?" asked Alex, clutching each of her own elbows. "The monster?"
Scarlet sighed. "Normally, I would say yes, but in this case, with you finding the godshard, killing that dragon easily—"
"The godshard?" asked Mama's Boy curiously, brow creased. "Someone wanna fill me in?"
"It's, uh," began Scarlet. "Well, it's something, let's just say that. Something that can amplify powers for . . . I'm not sure how long. Time is hard to measure in this world. But I've known people, seen people, who found the same thing. They either go mad—most of the time they go mad—or they become more powerful, gain knowledge that nobody else could know, etcetera."
"Where do we find these godshards?" asked Mama's Boy. "Couldn't we just stock up on them?"
"Didn't you listen, kiddo?" Scarlet laughed. "They can make you go mad, and besides, they're very rare. Extremely rare. Alex found one by chance alone, and that chance is . . . pretty darn low, if you ask me."
Mama's Boy brushed his braided hair to the side until there was a neat parting in the middle. It dried a good bit now. "Hm, I get you, I get you. So it's like a game of chance?"
"I suppose," said Scarlet sweetly.
"Interesting. Well I ain't seen one, but I can tell that extremely powerful people are probably the only ones who can handle it."
"That's a possibility. Or, God could just be unfair. At least ninety per cent of this game is chance, in my opinion."
"Why?" asked Alex sadly, almost frowning.
"Think about it," started Scarlet. "You need a strong power, a good starting point, need to meet the right people, need to stumble upon the right things—in this case, godshards. Well, you don't need them, but they damn well help. And then, you might go mad and not want to win at all. All of this is chance, and I'm sure God designed it that way."
"You really think God did this?" asked Mama's Boy, tone sharp.
Scarlet shrugged, chuckled slightly, and smiled. "I . . ." Her smile vanished. ". . . I don't know. Maybe? Someone created this. Whatever it is, it must have a lot of power, and yeah, it wouldn't be farfetched to say the power is godlike."
"I . . . think God wouldn't do this . . ." said Alex, downcast. Of course, he wouldn't. After a second, she continued. "My friend used to say there's a sixty-seven per cent chance God exists, and if He does, then that means He doesn't know why."
"That's true," said Mama's Boy, nodding again.
Scarlet smiled wanly. "That doesn't mean He doesn't exis—"
"No, nooo, that's not what I'm saying," said Alex. "It just means . . ." Alex thought hard about what she wanted to say. "It just means He's imperfect. He can't know everything. But He knows a lot. And this mimic, this person who claims to be Him—he doesn't know nearly as much, I'm sure of it."
"So what are you saying?" asked Mama's Boy.
"I'm saying this, everything we know here, the Reach Project . . . it's all a simulation. We are trapped in someone's world. I know because all the laws that the real God created are broken." Slowly, Alex looked up, turning first to Scarlet, and then to Mama's Boy.
"Hm," said Mama's Boy.
"I've honestly thought that for a while, too." Scarlet laughed slightly, smiling that wolfish smile once again. "Not just here, but in the real world. Ya know? Anyway, this is all a bit too much to unload at once. I think, after we all rest for a bit, we should head to this gateway. See what it's about."
"Sounds like a plan," said Mama's Boy. "I could rest, not gonna lie. I've been walking for days."
"Yeah," said Scarlet. "We all have . . ."
