Part 1: Disconnected Reality

 

"What is today's day — no. Don't ever say my agony," said Ainari, waning on the massage-seat. On her head, a bowl turbine chanted her hair into spinning shining.

"Starday," I said her agony, was a standard name for the seventh day of week stated on the éclat magazine. On the lustrous opaque exterior cover, tranquillity glows of the turbine's lamp had cooled straight onto that particular spot of Tusela planet, with its glorious name...

Eravix Resort.

It chanced to be covered over the charted next solar system from this and earned a grand reputation. True assertion. Pretty sure they intentionally hived these one-editions on the shelf with an exotic notation of big and bright for their self agenda attention.

This was our undue-situation for the field trip. Eravix Resort was built by Earth on the Tusela planet. Because this uninhabited planet happened to hold abundant mineral resources that Earth lacking.

"Not the truth! Why you mislead me?" The seat shivered promising, caused her voice cracking and fearing. "It's the last day. Last day! Why everything speedy when we in the vacation comedy? Not fair. Even unfair, Siqura. Please counter the clock to the first day with your versed noesis."

"Don't be biased." Like cushion made of slime hands, they rubbed along my back-spine and slipped through most satisfying crackling-bones on my neck due to owning long undesirable desk work. "There is a limit to alxience(Alien Technology) aesthetical."

Both turbines twinned off similarly, the foot-rest ticking down, let our legs on the comfort carpet.

At once her negative impulsive sailed as swift as it rose, bustling about the sole wall in front, swirling her sidearms like a little volcano girl.

My inner instinct darted to where I came from and sneaked critical-clomps out of here before she banished the shackle of her reality.

"Oh, no. Don't run, Siqura," said Ainari, smiling bliss for her new dyed blond hair. It had sprinkled stars in showered pattern and hinted under a regular amount of brightness. Each light level produced several colour quantification of blondness which now, big golden yellow. I favoured when it was same as mine.

I evaded my eyesight from the split fate, shielded my side face from the bait.

"Come here." Ainari skillfully seized my face next to hers and coaxed me the wall of mirror.

I apologized, my hands were inside pocket and stayed in a long white coat. And they wouldn't be exalted if Ainari's appeal forced me to outvote. Well, I figured she wouldn't let me. <Go ahead.>

Pressing on the reflection surface by her own short sorrow, two green boxes waved at us with the addition of freedom to re-size the program window boxes. A countdown started soon after, we became a static still before the picture was taken free. The only different, no free in my long will.

I didn't do any hair <crayoning>, preserved the repetition pattern of pitch-white then black continued alternating from its root. After all, this what I was born with as Manuix people. While we gained oldness, the repetition increased until it blended into greyness.

The tight and deep colour of seven sections was data that my span was raw but I couldn't sit calm since the scale of growth in the Earth happened to be compact. Human lifespan. My age was 9 and the mid-woman was 20. A high rate of death was passed over 30.

I had about 22 years ahead of me to redeem what I lost from the debt. And my resolve to revenge the king remained solid. It might — would — be difficult but not with my special ability. I could beat the royal game.

Kingdom's Betrayer? Very well. I shall show the king how I would betray him and his kingdom for real. And hard. Really set an atomic nuke under his sanctuary throne and watched it bloomed from a safe shelter. At least, I had a brain.

With the sound of the snapshot stirred me up, I reached to the spa's entrance and slashed my hand on the scanner. 70 celux reduced for a business charge of both us. The pale-cold digits on my forearm's skin formed remaining credit, {1.920360a Celux}. After one second, the green fluorescent faded.

<This should be enough.> I didn't need to fetch most of my money in the bank.

"Where are you going?" Ainari vouched as she saw me walking in the opposite course of our next location.

"Buy a present for my mother." I returned the long white sleeve down to cover skin from cold. "We don't have much time hereafter for a BBQ party."

"Present? My sister..." Ainari embraced the same arm of mine into her matured bosom, recollecting something. "She will definitely send me back if I forget to buy her that moonstone."

"Y-Your s-sister? H-Hmm..." I plucked a couple shallow breaths from a hazard-silky impact on my arm before led her awkwardly to the shopping area, regardless of how close she leaning and seducing me. Did she? But the reflection-stars on her hair was still too bright. I had trouble to walk straight.

"Lunar said she wanted to be a librarian on the first day."

"This year?" I retreated my eyes off her into my mind. I remembered having a meeting with one new student, Lunar and had to teach her a rope around organizing serious-series of complicated divisions.

Each data was precious and also the only information we had about the lost age — before the First Alien War. I glad I was born after second. We're still recovering from that period but almost done.

"Then," I said, "we can put your sister's present preeminent considering we're close by."

"Your mother Rizera's present still remote?"

"Don't worry about me. You always spent a long time inside a <Cloth Woman> shop."

"Of course. I'm a lady. And you too are a lady. Buy as many clothes as you can."

"I'm not going to borrow you money anymore."

"Selfish."

I quieted.

"It's not you win a fortune for your theory of Blackhole?"

"I'm not listening. My money is not forever. Stop annoying me or I'm going to leave you alone."

"Yes, my three-wishes-djinni — aaah! I'm sorry! I'm joking! Don't leave me alone or I will be crowded by perverts."

While looking throughout gift shops, we paraded into many vertical and horizontal hallways with white light flashed all around. I continued to walk even Ainari breathing out of sigh.

It wasn't like no neon and hologram advertising popped from the wall every now and then but due to Eravix Resort's goal for giving us the utmost pleasure outing, they limited the tint, hue, or even suggestive images percentage per calculated cuboid. Therefore, it looked much relaxing and comfortable enough to spirit Ainari back. Clean and also not too noisy.

Occasionally, I saw girls on my highschool's uniform running through the floor and gave a greet to us. I wore a long coat on the school's blazer because I had a responsibility as a doctor intern for part of a school rule. With slightly different, I earned certification earlier and only went to school because of Ainari.

Ainari was on the mechanic section, Thlesy on the armoury, and Onyeka on the security. All of them was only in training.

We're all students and we had to do these because adults were too occupied with the rebuilding civilization. All of this was because of the disaster from the Second Alien War that almost obliterated the entire human's existence.

"Can we have another study group?" Skayla said. "I don't want to neglect just because we on the vacation. My genoxience didn't seem good this year. I'm anxious about my later self in the final exam's seat. And how that cheater detector glares with a stun bullet and took a few minutes of restrained answer time."

Genoxience was genome alxience subject. A genome where we install into nanocells to deliver them function.

"Just concentrate on a study to cheat." Not every day I heard Ainari cracking this gag. She gazed remarkably serious and weighty about the solution. Did she believe that act allowed in the exam hall? "Siqura will cram — study with me alone."

"Don't monopoly cram to yourself," Skayla said with rapid blinking. "Your homework had a third party involved. I knew it. But don't trick me into cheat when you always cried over Siqura each time you {intently forget} your home homework."

"Eh..." Ainari glanced over to the ads of a woman with forefinger touched on her lips.

Erzon xen? I felt like I saw this scene. Furthermore, it transpired strong adequately to drain a sweat from my elbow. A water sensation mixed with the cold environment in this Eravix Resort was flowing down into my finger, dropped into the floor, I heard a beam cannon inculcated into the hazy backdrop.

Did this happen before?

Based on alxience, erzon xen was caused by malfunction nanocells or through high emotion to create a memory of something that never happen, happened. This led to a various path such as personality disorder or when the brain had a glance toward the gate of knowledge.

Ainari gripped my arm more immersive than before during the conversation.

"Perfectly agree," Belfosie said, maintain an aura of nobility, "Apologize if you're busy serving for our health diagnosis but I couldn't let my grade judge me forever and humiliate my family's name."

Belfosie was a president of Ainari's fan club that Ainari herself didn't know. Belfosie was also from a noble family who made a lot of artistic buildings that could be found in the Earth. Their family contributed to rebuilding the after-disaster-world.

A fanatic young woman. Once in a while, she manipulated me to deliver a picture of Ainari sleeping or anything strange like making Ainari put the clothes in the box. She provided me with an expensive camera too that not dropped frame after the zoom.

Of course, the vanguard image she had now was nothing more than a tale because of her family nobility. I understood that Ainari used to be a supermodel but why she and member of the club were this overboard?

"I think," I said while recalling my schedule, "it's fine since I don't have any work for a while."

"My math too became terrible after that," Ainari added, "chaos."

"Should we go to waterfall?" said Skayla who also a doctor in training but appeared had no long coat on her.

"Ah. But," I shook my head quickly, "no Dexen."

"What? You still not crossed the first layer? How your level now?"

Ewroz was a chair or device that allowed a person to enter into a virtual world. Real-world was called {surface}. And the first layer was known as Dexen(Dive) Reality. Most businesses, governments, kingdoms, all kind problems were conducted here, since our real-world still rebuilding.

Virtual realities had about four layers — four realities — and as it went down, the internal clock in the brain migrated faster, initiating the diver felt long inside, could span up to one day in real-time equal to one month. If we obliged to eventing a group study session, therefore it made sense to utilise Ewroz so we could study longer with program aid and fun quiz.

Nevertheless, she aspired us to go into the third layer, Gamz(Game) Reality. It wasn't game the only main attraction there — from what I heard — but also a virtual social platform. Thus to make her understand why I couldn't, I mentioned the first layer.

"I tried but...around 200." I lied because this total determined if a person could be hijacked with hacker's nanocells instead. Basically, if someone who could control 300 total polluted his nanocells into my blood, I would be lost my body system with my 200 defence.

But still, it was a stupid lie because the latest Ewroz required 1000 minimum with simplified 1a(axlo = kilo) per zovfe(conscious cycle). For the first layer. And for the lowest possible diving setting such as graphic, weight sound, motion touch, reproduce taste, sensitivity smell, and another sensory which million. A human had more than simply five main senses, unlike old gear.

"You're still not taken a step into it yet?" Belfosie raised her voice as if a question for a loser future.

"We're future generation, Siqura." Skayla patted her nanocell case in her blazer. "Stop waiting, start enduring. Pain now and enjoy later. Is that how it said?"

Although my life wasn't difficult and full of troubles, I had friends here that helped me from time to time.

"Avlzen zov viz cvi," I recited a common line we heard all the time, {Our life is short}.

"Viz nav cvin(Isn't sweet)?" Skayla raised her head.

"Um... erzon(Not quite right)."

Also, helpful teachers that gave hands a lot.

"You're so good in genoxience, how you badly handle a thousand nanocells?"

"Not all genome has a large load." I pointed at the watch-nanocells on my forearm's skin. "By the way, isn't time for the BBQ party? Enosis might be waiting since you're on the grill."

"Nice scheme you strike me with. Surely you have not forgotten another person here on the duty." Belfosie threw a statement-alike inquiry. I heard from my classmates — since I ditched that class — she always had high scores in a cooking assignment. Composing a delicious tongue-taste genome wasn't part of my skill. But we both grasped the art of <not> cooking a virtual food. That imitation wasn't as delicious as a pleasant-tasting bite from a real one.

"I and Ainari need to buy presents for back home. I will help you shortly."

"Great if you do. We would head there now or carioly gone into Halvenzo's redemption."

As they left to the party's location, I caught Ainari busied — captivated by her own hair and skin over 50% reflection shop's window. Undoubtedly she was thrilled with her appearance since it was her unique gene that gave her such a powerful supermodel body.

In fact, she used to be not a supermodel without a superstar too. Not even nanocells could apprehend her organic and fine natural voice. I was lucky to have such a good-hearted friend at a cost of begetting my future boyfriend stolen by her alluring appeal.

"What you looking for?" I had apparently mistaken her behaviour.

She seemed to actually, really and really, pouring glances behind the store. Over her face that could never be separated from a dame mirror.

"Why not buy it?" Turned around, I stood at the door waiting for her. The door slanted and opened in a quick circle upon detection.

"Like right now?" Her body swayed near and far from the sunny entrance, making her stars agitating on her hair. "But..."

I squinted and blinked for the unheralded attack. My eyes had become unstable due not enough rest these days to practice more of this special ability which Evana assign a name, {evoke}, training me to {evoker}. However, we debated still if it was the right name. I disagreed as much as current Ainari's blond hair.

My eyes, they cried irritatingly. <Stop moving!> I grabbed her shoulder and suspended her immediately from indecision misery. Her hair halted from flickering.

"B-But?! W-What if Lunar don't like it? She might tire of sleeping with me. Or worst, having a silent treatment for the rest of my 21 years 9 months 3 week 5 day 2 hours 1..."

"Hah..." I gripped her arm. "We have ten more minutes to spend! Just trust your gut like Thlesy always said. Don't die without prying."

We entered — I dragged her — into the jewellery store for the amulet of a polished moonstone. I let Ainari discussed the price and preference alone with the polite seller.

Someone scanned a blitz beep and threw insane Celux into the store's account. I turned my eyes quickly around with hands shoved deep inside my warm pockets. Distinctly, I spotted a well-groomed figure brought his attention into the locked box. Whispers of unimaginable money digits were lurking behind the counter, one had gained that man's pocket.

I retreated outside when suddenly bounced to someone. I raised my arms immediately and stretched my legs in my personal space. Nothing was broken. Nothing.

"Damn." She — the only Cousin Horoka — was tossing madness to every follower she had around. Though, the ten highschool girls stayed positive and aided her up.

Worst timing ever.

She had been coming to Veizralia for her family business and now was going to return home tomorrow. Grateful. I never liked her to begin with. She always tried to pull mischief ever since we're a child. And still was even for a temporary student.

There was one time when she used nanocells to chop my legs off and laugh at me as I crawled to make my nanocells attached my limbs back. I wasn't as talented as her. My brain hurt so much at that time, even to control one nanocell for a second period.

And as I aged out of the surface with debt, I never had a chance to build immunity for nanocells. My time was so packed with part-times that I had to entirely stop diving into the Ewroz all at once. Some works required me to use nanocells support, so I kind of having a little training there for my brain muscle. But it was hard to catch up how Ewroz demanding more nanocells resource each year passed by. Did it try to conquer the world as I had read from the lost age about self-realized AI fiction?

I did try to dive back into Ewroz, but it was too late. I fainted immediately before even see the loading screen. However, for some reason, that <certain direction> had harnessed this evoker ability where Evana wasn't even able to appreciate 10% of it.

I could never experience Ewroz's virtual realities but on the other side of the complain, I could hijack any nanocell with a breeze. Nanites and nanomachines could be mangled undoubtedly in a couple of seconds nowadays. But for nanocells, it worked only and only if it was the owner's biometric or DNA.

And evoker ability could bypass that perfect impenetrable firewall.

So far, I could control 371 nanocells at the same time with less pain in the brain but still. However, Evana told me, one nanocell was actually enough. By using {Chain Effect} genome created by Gearizen Alternome. Truly splendid.

If I shortened my distance to Horoka which what I did, I could hijack one nanocell in her body and gave the same humiliation that she hit me with. Cut her leg or let her eyeballs out from the face. I gave her my aid to get the right range.

"Take your hand off." She slapped my offer. "Weirdo." Then moved into the store with her fan club followers, browsing some new star diamonds.

I might be staring too hard. This was bad. The {evoking} speed was too slow. I wasted more time.

Sent a mental thought to one my nanocell, it grouped into a team to produce the glowing chain effect under my skin where various information showed. It displayed stopwatch where I used to count the time to control her nanocell. 10 seconds. Which meant, I needed more than that. Darn.

How long would it take before I could kill the king for revenge of my father? Something was missing. But what? What I needed to improve my nanocells independence?

Hm? Magic? Strange. The word came out of nowhere smoothly.

"Siqura."

I reverted my sight to my best friend.

"I got it." Ainari lifted her shopping bag with a huge smile, disturbing anyone with her beauty. All men couldn't let their eyes off once they witnessed a princess-like soul was there.

We decided to withdraw fast into the BBQ party. I had ordered Ewroz and let it sent to spaceship before we regrouped with Thlesy and Onyeka. It wasn't for me.

Everything on the stage now. Four adult teachers were sitting on one table as talking with students about what we had to buy. Benseling and Halvenzo fought in the middle taking of decoration, choosing better leaves to go along with the tree.

Benseling clicked the button there, all leaves transformed into nanocells then yellow, orange, and red. Halvenzo pushed the button and swapped into white, blue, and black. Enosis patched them up by putting all six colours, made the nanocell-tree seemed somewhat exotic.

Some highschool girls already arrived and some cooked next to the automatic-grill. All we had to do was eating. Next to our rent lot, a lot of alien-species did their own BBQ party with their own areas.

We took seats and tapped the table for a drink, holograms images appeared and triangulated into four categories: Humanoid, Shadess, Uawawa, and Machineus.

Humanoid basically an alien with two arms, one head, two legs and well... kenned how to cook because the similarity for a food taste was same safe. All edible although some aliens might have a flavour for unusual insects and such... Their society was much like Earth human. Perhaps, intelligent and some characteristic such as red eyes, yellow hair, bone made of platinum, or long ears and such.

All of these were Solid-type.

Shadess on the other hand was as simple as a smoke kind physical structure. They could shape themselves into anything but it seemed had no strong touch or texture experience. Therefore, to make it easy, they filled into a suit that looked like humanoid. Their foods were mostly smoke. Spicy smoke, cola smoke, ice cream smoke. Though, they ate a solid matter of bone or calcium for some reason.

Gas-type. And nine different colours of smokes flooded the rent lot on the third from here. A glass cage prevented it polluted the Eravix Resort.

Uawawa was commonly known as slime girls but they actually had men, adults, or even elders. Popular idols came from this alien species. The bodies could shift-shaped but had a bit slow speed than Shadess. Their foods consisted of any liquid. And they were great at making them to the point beat humanoid's virtue beer or wine.

Liquid-type. One of them spread into her red and yellow slime girls, jumped and excited about the spa that I and Ainari visited. Their clothes happened to be real branded garments, not part of their bodies. Their ages could be measure by the size of liquids they had in the body's volumes. The oldest one had a size of one store.

Then the last alien species category was the weirdest most for us, Machineus. They were 100% sure a bunch of robots. But their systems were quite jarring and nanocells couldn't really do anything to their metals skin and analytic-eyes that saw aliens as mechanical entities. When born, they had three programs in their processors. Their names, their goals, and maps based on their goals. No report for where they came or remembered how they were born.

Beep beep-type what alxientist bantered about. Some looked like a spaceship, some transformed into a sword, some to jump gates, some whole planets, some shooting-stars, but very rare to get a humanoid shape.

Actually, we had one on the spaceship, acting as my assistant was her existence goal. When she had knocked on my doorstep, I quite surprised she told me my name, my date birth, or anything to proof of her indeed life goal. Machineus would die after around 1000 years because no one knew how to replace or charge their battery system, or when they completed their life goals they ceased automatically regardless of anyone's resistance. Certainly, she would die as soon as I downed and no longer able to become my assistant.

Particles animation of alien broad categories selection dissolved all around the table, it gave a new selection of various planets and their locals.

"Ah. I forget." I raised from the seat, thinking my reminder. "I need to {swim} in. Can you guys order ondendian for me? A plain one."

"So brave," Ainari said in a fishy smirk, "Siqura. Not regretting this? Alright."

"You," Thlesy budged back, "not going to oushi roulette again, do you?"

"That oushi was delicious," Onyeka said as she threw her tongue and pressed extra food button that not for the BBQ party and had its own an additional charge.

"It's not!" Thlesy slanted her orange eyes. "I just remember how my stomach at that time. It's spicy and boiled my blood through my nose. Stop ordering extra. I will not pay!"

"But you're are a leader." Ainari joined Onyeka.

"Why you too?!"

I left the picnic area that capsuled in colony sphere glass. The public station slotted well between the bank and the bookstore inside. Upon entered the public station, I spotted a few people in the public lines. I chose the first available cube and hastily sat on it. In front of me, there was one glossy greeny cable made in slime or elastic texture. There were a few unmoving bubbles inside as they hardened upon the process of manufacturing. At the end of the cable was shaved. No plug or anything to stick on.

I grabbed the end cable and shoved into my side neck. Didn't matter where as long as it contacted into my skin. Then, I controlled 50 nanocells in my blood to flow over that spot and infused out of the skin plant-strings that rooted onto the slime cable. It was also green. After all, nanocells were created through plant biogenetic and then programmed to control with a registered brain.

And then developed a window HUD on my eyes, displayed basic function of various lines such as browsing and searching, chatting and calling, reporting and alerting, even galaxy map and my own personal data access.

I could use my personal portable port but I needed to reach Earth. So...

"Siqura!" My mother's upturned face displayed in the window program in real-time. "How the visiting into the second branch of Eravix Resort?"

"Okay. I guess." <What more should I say?> I had paid to much attention to evoker training. "Wait, Mom. Is that car? Why you're working when we had money?"

Behind my mother, many broken cars, engines, and rusty metals pilled up. All were before the war.

"Ah no. Your mom is just passing through here to purchase today's grocery. It's curry."

"Well, it's fine that way. But we still have nanocells right? I'm pretty sure to leave enough delicious genomes in the refrigerator."

"Nothing beat real food." My mom had a monologue in tears like an actor from a broken stageplay.

"Mom, today is the last day and I already bought you 5 to 9 things but do you want something else particular? Also, I purchased the latest Ewroz. What do you think, Mom? If we tried to get used to nanocell, we might dive sooner than we thought."

"I don't know. After living on the surface, I'm kind to prefer... You can buy for yourself. Your mom's brain is not as strong as before."

Nanocells were high technology at our current time. However, it hugely cost brain's stock beyond capacity like moving many limbs on human modification. Of course, the brain would be fried and dried from those. Enduring training was one way to build brainpower and increase resistance against nanocell.

"Don't let it control you. You control them."

"I know, Mom. Why everyone so poetic quoter today?"

That was why the number of nanocells that the person could control affected certification they earned on the graduation day. This was different before lost age where people pushed information into their small brains and hopefully, they would return something good.

"No," I said. "It's hard for me too. Besides, it's not like it bad to have a real-life instead virtual. But..."

"How Horoka —"

"— who?" It was an instant reply.

"It's your cousin. Are you forget?"

"Hm. I don't know about that devil."

"Do you still fight with her?"

While she harassed me endlessly, apparently, she was clever to domain my mother's heart into that wicked self. Because of the aforementioned, it implied hard for me to reveal the true character of Horoka when behind her back. Especially when she treated a lot during debt such as visiting my mother when was sick, surveying jobs, bestowing gifts... Those nice things had never passed to me except to play {good girl} among others which a double fold returning < favour> to me later.

I didn't certain what she was sketching behind, however, it wasn't enjoyable to associate. I popped my index finger and then combined back with nanocells. Popped then combined, playing for a while, imagining what I wanted to do with her. I used about 5 nanocells to make all my blood retook and reattached nerves and fleshes together. Chain Effect genome was really convenient for someone low nanocell-control level like me. But weak.

"How long before you return here?"

"One week, Mom. This is Tusela star. How many light distance is there?"

"Eh? But then what with um...jump gate is that how you called it?"

"Jump gate is here but not on the Earth yet. No machenius to install it. Plus, our spaceship's hull wouldn't hold long enough even otherwise."

In my mother's generation, not many people had a chance to travel out of the space. She heard the news but not really understood how fundamental different between Earth and space. A lot of consideration and preparation even to fly and land into the moon.

"Are you sure you don't want Ewroz?" My mother asked.

"I told you I bought one already." I sighed since I called her because I wanted to buy for her. But part of my soul knew I wished to enter and see by myself how Gamz Reality resembled like. My last time travelled inside when I barely still thinking about what was right and what was wrong.

"I'm okay as long as I have you."

"Mom. If you're done, I will end now."

"Maybe you should buy —"

"— Mom! I end this line now!"

The screen suddenly disappeared. It wasn't me. I wouldn't do that to her after left home behind for two weeks. Something else...

I turned back, an explosion sounded from somewhere, shutdown all light and gates and shook the whole Eravix Resort, trailing by a tremendous number of screams and shootings.

* * *

A flood of darkness crowed around me. I couldn't feel my toes. Or nose. I couldn't breathe.

[Siqura...]

Whispering pierced my hearing, I heard guns shooting and laser beaming.

[...need...doctor...]

I reopened my sight amidst of plight.

[...we lost her...]

My back juddered back and forward, I ogled around at nothing, immersing what I was doing until now.

[...dammit. She died.]

I visioned a high ceiling with padded metallic mineral. From the look only, it felt trapped. Raining from the smoothed silver wall was occasion electrical sparks at the cable's end lit in blue shock. The piece of keypad board had sprung out from the socket circuit.

Then as my vision cleared, I hawked at a man lying unconscious on the next bed.

Benseling. His eyes closed on, face brightened upon a light from the wall's spark.

And the next one, next, and next...there was a lot of beds here.

I elevated with the weight of my fingers, holding on my upper body barely. One of my legs had earned a thrust by a headless metal arrow. I pulled it out with skipping pain. Slowly, a faint pink blueprint revolted against all colours in the room and infused into the arrow a bullet. <Nanocell bullet...> The colour returned, the pink blueprint disappeared.

Five esegua groaned and laughed massive pain on each of the deep-bleeding beds. Bandage blanketed into their chests and legs, two nurses used tools to shred a metal arrow out of that man's skin by force. Beside the bed, I spotted two metal arrows diving in a hot bath basin.

Out of a sudden, the same pink blueprint pattern crossed around the room including my body, rotating and sorcerising into a new form.

All beds reversed into white capsule pods with dry blue neon spawning little under. Cased through the transparent canopy, all people inside each didn't utter any pain, resting undisturbed with wounded bodies. The bullets in their bodies climbed out by themselves as nanocells repairing and nursing them.

I forget someone.

Bit by bit, my school uniform destroyed by the pink flame, gradually brought an armoured dress along with my despair. Renura lu burned into my eyeballs and the first image came was an alien. Alien world.

I remembered, Ainari. She... She...

The cold air in the pod descended into my skin, shivering my toes. Immediately, the cursed armour generated heat to warm me up. But it was still minus temperature.

I smiled when recalling at one time how I had bought the scary doll for her and she didn't speak to me like a week. Clearly, Thlesy told me Ainari was haunted by the doll all night. A Shudovo spell was placed onto it on the first day, she thought it was cursed instead of showing my magic spell.

And how I had created a cake voiced {don't eat me}. At this point, Evana taught me about evoker and I manipulated Shudovo to be more flexible or talkable. Perhaps one or two lines. Why Onyeka commented about how I continued doing something that I had no idea, I basically wanted to see Ainari face in panic for a little.

That was how a friend looked like. I teased her now than she revenged later, coming back forward until we all became best friends.

It was momentary that never occurred because it was my recent memory. Although multiple memories and an insane number of renura lu, I remained sane. My old memory from the magic world overwhelmed everything.

Even I remembered doing something with her, even I could feel in my bone all experiences and touching moments with her as I was actually doing it — no.

I was that person. Did I just reborn and again in a different world but to repeat the same thing?

Perhaps, that was why video recorder and camera were made. And the magic world didn't have those plentifully and inexpensively.

I hauled my knees on top the throbbing heart as it wished to crawl out and repeat this memory. Every single cell established a revolution to live outside instead of trapped forever in the everlasting future. I kept denying this but why I received — remembered — this lost memory when Ainari had gone from my sight. I missed her.

And it was unfair treatment to experience that bad side of Ainari. I didn't want to remember anymore. It was painful. Because Ainari used to be my friend back then. But because I discarded her the moment my father betrayed the kingdom, since that day our relationship became distance.

Yet I recalled to the alternated timeline and felt as I lived two lives at the same time. Both in my spirit and my soul. I wanted to grasp with my eyes upon the memory if any truth laid inside. If not, it stayed as a dream. And a good memory meant nothing if simply, another renura lu.

I cleared that.

The only memory of the magic world had meaning because it was first. Then what was the point of having these? Where were these renura lu source? For what reason to torturing me? To see me break? Why hard to say this memory was a lie? A mind spell of memory manipulation some sort? Couldn't I push it away like that? Why it felt so real that I identified by heart, everything actually occurred even not in this world?

<Somebody... Explain this to me...> Or I would think I was crazy.

"Siqura!"

Slowly, I startled from the inside pod on a voice that related to Ainari.

"If you, say aloud!" Thlesy in bullet vest on top her student uniform was pointing a rifle at me. A laser blaster.

Not Ainari, it seemed. I returned stare into my toes short after.

Several minutes had passed, I heard another voice that struck me a fun time with Ainari.

"Okay." A casual tone, Benseling.

"But, sir, she was an alien. We see how her body evaporated but one piece of hair. No way nanocells could build a new body with that. She is alien in her skin."

"Alright, Thlesy. That's enough. Let Onyeka handled everything here. We needed to figure out a way the jump gate take the spaceship of before our food, water, and fuel supply exhausted. Move."

Onyeka walked toward me and sat at the nice automatic chair there. "How you feel? Sorry, we couldn't let you out until we're sure if you're human or not."

Not Ainari. I stopped listening.

She went out about something. The only word that brought me back was the name.

I glanced. It wasn't Onyeka. Skayla with a long coat on her student blazer who said that. I shifted my stare to the blood trace on her sleeve.

"But Thlesy might correct about this."

Skayla took out her hand from the pocket. "One senior and two of our mentors had died in the skeleton attack. And the only skilled doctor Enosis had been in a coma state. No one but her could do this. If not, Ainari would die here."

"..." No word produced in my mouth. My tongue was so lazy and couldn't speak right. <Is Ainari still alive?> Skeleton attack? Undead? Did I move into another world?

"You can't do it?"

"I'm not as intelligent as Siqura."

"If we're wrong and she's alien, there is no second chance when we could be anywhere in the space. I heard from the captain we're one trillion years away from the Earth."

"Trillion? I thought we're only at the distance of two solar systems."

"We're not so sure but the fault was the spaceship not built for a jump gate."

An alien world that was good to say as an extinct land. All intimate alxientist who overproduced Alien Technology were famished during the Second Alien War and some killed beneath collapsed constructions or melted in the highly toxic sector. No one wanted to develop or rebuild the civilization, despite having ridiculous and powerful alien technology laying around and readying to be utilised by anyone.

If my experience in the school trip replaced in the alien world then perhaps Ainari could be saved with nanocells... But the wizard killed her on the head too, prevent nanocells able to scavenge her remaining self.

It was still impossible.

However, spaceship? Second Alien War occurred because a race to be the first country to build a spaceship to explore space and made contact with an alien.

That made no sense.

But Skayla had said two solar systems. The spaceship wasn't even able to reach beyond Pluto as it couldn't handle the over-cold.

Could it be nanocells had some different development than Ewroz and military use?

If all my terms were right then perhaps I transported into this alternated alien world to save Ainari. Perhaps the timeline where I was a best friend to Ainari was here in this world. But instead, the timeline was brought to the alien world.

"How about Aono?" Skayla mentioned my partner in the alien world. Like Adono and my staff. "She can proof her genuine."

"She the one who saved cell in Siqura's single hair, hoping we could do something in the future. They had no concept of life and death. We're not a robot."

"And somehow, Siqura's whole body was here. Hm. Why are you wearing that dress? Where is your school uniform?"

I wanted to ask where Ainari but I had stayed in that darkness for a long time until a blueprint scroll entered into my body and grabbed me out there. My voice didn't work as it used to.

"She couldn't say anything?" Onyeka put her ear on the glass.

"Perhaps, she used her nanocells to make this body. I assumed she lost voice box and some organs... Hm? That's it. Let test with nanocells instead."

"Sorry? What if an alien could fake that?"

"What? Like magic? What year you have been living? Nanocell is real. And only the owner could manipulate it." Skayla walked pass me to the wall beside and pressed a few buttons.

Medical nanocells moulded into needle-tentacle at here inside and reached my chest. My cursed armour protected it.

"Don't move, Siqura. We just wanted your DNA."

I offered my exposed skin on my hand. It absorbed about one or two drops of my blood. Through the reflection glass on the pod, I saw my pale face of Manuix. Most of the people in Veizralia colony was Manuix as Inomen in the magic world.

Weird thought. Manuix supposed to be strong in nanocells but I could handle only three with a little strain in my brain. Anything further cooked my brain.

Why strange occurrences had been merging and running around couples of these weeks?

I shoved my hand into the pocket to make sure everything had an explanation. The sandglass was there, five shots of purple and the exterior still had several cracks. I had no idea to replenish it and if it destroyed my time travel door escape would be cut off. It looked too obvious, the glow reduced every jump into the time I seeded toward the history.

Though, this helped to relate some of those disquietude dots. Each memory was corresponding to a distinct account of views. Then, if the pink blueprint scroll had something to do with it, perhaps I could change it at will. I wondered if it required strong brainwave like a blueprint card or I could accomplish in way of magic.

The whole room swayed a couple seconds before lightning jolted a blackout, a red shadow projected toward room and provided nominal visibility. Alarm's activation evoked, the door didn't admit when Onyeka relocated near.

"Oh no." Onyeka spotted something behind, she ran to the pod next to me and sprung down the {eject} button twice. However, all of the covers opened upon failure in the system. She put her ear on the wounded man's nose, then pushed the chest for emergency care.

Skayla paused around for a second then looked at me. "You're not alien, right?" Her body tremored all out upon waiting for the reply.

My pod's cover opened, she stepped back with a contrary opinion than before. We didn't know what alien or what their technologies resembled like. Scare to the unknown was not unusual to be heard.

"I..." Again, it was hard to impel my tongue. "Siqura..." I thrust down my tongue at the last sound part of my name.

She passed to me an injector that I couldn't use. But I had too to make sure she realized it was me. The registered injector morphed into liquid after I pressed the tip into my skin and it detected the right biometric DNA. Anyone else, nothing happened.

The cold liquid soaked into my skin, I blew white snow mist from my mouth and my nose, shaking my neck of the brain freeze. The hibernation nanocells began an initiation to stay alive in my bloodstream and suspended until my control allowed it.

I showed my palm to Skayla and then chopped the forefinger after a long method of putting five nanocells one by one into it. Skayla armed tight into the slowness but gave me a time since I just woke up from the battle.

Once a good amount was there, I told nanocells to cut the nerves and closed so no blood coming out. My forefinger darted out with an amputee skin below. And it shook as if it was combined. But at this moment, any movement I made would be sent to nanocells wireless on the forefinger. Since three nanocells were my limit, it didn't seem that believable than a handmade fishing worm.

"Hm... I guessed you're a real Siqura who publish a document about Blackhole." Skayla ran and hugged me without finished her suspicious-investigation. "Good to have you back."

"Dr Siqura." Onyeka picked medical nanocells and put it into the patient. "Act fast."

The nurses and students who helping the hospital bustled around, doing similar action as Onyeka.

"Ah! Ainari in danger." Skayla rushed to the next room, I trailed behind her fast to hope never the same fate struck Ainari in this world.

In the midpoint of the room inhabited two unique pods with several medical instruments in between. They were ordered so the doctor could access both pods at the same time.

On the right pod was Enosis our primary doctor. Uncertain. Half of the face broke after a fiery explosion, a strumming brain could be spectated out in the open. Her nanocells at the border tried fencing its sapless organ from been damaged longer. They were faintly fast-blinking green dots and moving around a lot.

The other pod shielded out from the safe, a body wounded exactly like in alchemy world. The chest and the head holed with fried flesh. Her nanocells barely sustained her unpicturesque appearance but they didn't hold forever.

"Ainari!" It ripped my heart along my happiness. "She's alive."

"Of course, she did." Skayla went to the pod, "You the one who stupid enough to block the whole beam with your body alone," injected her nanocells into Enosis' blood vessels and continued suspension activity on her body due to broken power supply.

"I did?"

"Did you lose memory? But it's not last forever. I had tried everything to save her but I only a doctor in training."

"But... I..." I faced back to Ainari. "I don't know what to do."

I studied to be a doctor but never had experience actually become one. By contrast, the Siqura in this world appeared to achieve it before graduation. This was bad. The world seemed similar to the alien world but my life that I knew about wasn't.

The young woman beside me unwrapped a sheet into Ainari's chest and head. A scalpel and forceps jumped into my hands, she tossed a mask to cover below my mouth and nose.

"It's up to you now.  No one was skilled than you here. And I didn't sure if Enosis will wake up any soon."

I hanged at the period of involuntariness, the emergency monitor displayed her lifeline dropped 0.18% per second. She had 41% left. It didn't make sense but at least I somewhat empathised if the number became pale.

<But I'm not a doctor. I'm a battlemage.> I had some simple healing spells but not in this kind level that erased this devastation.

Emergency power fiddled lights and the monitors, occasionally, I heard roars and explosions outside of this spaceship's hospital area. Including me, everyone stopped in the track to heed upon of the many dying-screams.

"Damn!" Onyeka voice pitched high at sudden toward the locked-in door. She wanted to out but couldn't.

"What was that?" I said, looking at Skayla.

"Did alien infiltrate onto spaceship?" Skayla muttered before took out strange insects from Enosis' body. "We are a doctor. Focus on saving Ainari for now."

The sandglass had no avail in the current state. And even it could, it had no indication to be able to bring me back to the first day of the school trip. My cursed armour — I already did. Nothing happened. No matter how many times I hit my chest. I didn't yet learn what triggering this dress.

Skayla busied using her nanocells to replace any medical instrument and restore Enosis' skull. I couldn't ask her since she already did. And the young woman here was unwitting as me how to deal with Ainari.

"Siqura?" The young woman said I saw once in the classroom but never asked her name.

<I have to do something.>

Ainari died in alchemy world and then survived here. Then, I might unconsciously move into this world because there was a solution to preserving her. But how?

I couldn't use nanocells. Unimaginable act at my skill limit. Unless... <Unless?>

That was obvious. Why I didn't think earlier? When the sandglass sent me to the past, I received all my memories from five worlds. Then during my fight against the wizard, I obtained two more worlds. Why? Because I wanted to destroy Finela spell. Because I knew those memories in two worlds helped me with it.

What if I could do the same thing? My alternated self in this world was a doctor. She would know what to do.

Without much thought or command, my surrounding warded all colours away. My chin elevated up at a pink scroll suddenly forged out of uneasy air and flew sharp into my chest. The familiar feeling...

<Is the truth behind renura lu?>

I grabbed the handrail at the side of the pod and dropped a little.

"Siqura." The young woman held my arm. "Do you need to rest?"

"Don't worry," I said while looking through my new knowledge.

It didn't finish. I only received a portion of it like a first flash renura lu. Not what I expected. And the feeling of something already happening, in this very room, I was operating Ainari. I had a tough time to separate myself with the alternated Siqura as a different person.

Strange, the emotion I put now into Ainari was nothing like an arch enemy. It liked I was as desperate as that me. Did both of us share the same soul with different memories?

No. I could let this opportunity passed. If this like a first renura lu, then I needed to hurry before it vanished. Perhaps, I could write it down but it was too incredibly unmanageable.

"Loqna," I called the young woman. It had inside the renura lu. "Unfreeze her nanocells."

"Yes." She reached syringe and acquired Ainari's blood out as sweat flowed into her twitching eyes and distracted her. Carefully inspecting the blood condition, she closed the lid. The filled syringe was taken into the other room to nurture Ainari's nanocells inside the egg Cisr.

I picked my nanocells in the cursed dress' pocket and infused into my neck as my left hand scraped all parasite seeds growing around Ainari's wound. They emitted a toxic that slowing nanocell's regeneration genome. These things what made Ainari in danger.

However, as Manuix, our nanocell was always top security. The exact reason why Ainari in this world was still alive.

The freezing nanocells melted, surplus cold blew out from my mouth once more. I controlled two of them to swim up and enchant my iris' lens, zooming into that spot. Found it. I cut the flesh with the scalpel and with forceps I plucked from it a bullet.

A nanocell bullet. Or a living bullet. Or an engineered bullet. It didn't matter which one. Four wooden tendrils at the head tried to root into human flesh and ingest the toxic seeds inside.

"It cultivated." Loqna ran from the room while huffily carried an injector on her one hand.

During the skipping step made by her, unexpectedly, the bullet lobbed a gaseous seed toward Loqna.

Let the scalpel fell into the floor, I seated my hand on my left shoulder and conglomerated 240 nanocells into my palm by overclocked force. It would be late by then, I immediately lashed my watery arm before nanocells completed their main task.

As a result, a bright flow hastily released as if it water-dropped from my wet fingers and splattered straight to the seed shot. The green shines flashed and propagated into the air and reduced to nothing along with the seed.

"Siqura!" Loqna placed the injector on the table and pressed my forehead to test temperature. "You're okay? Thank you for a quick think. H-How your nanocell level?"

"It's legacy." I didn't lie. It was a gift of my evoker ability because for nanocells to enough hit with impact usually required an extra tool. A pistol glove was the simplest version.

"Are you sure, it's fine? To do that whip splash, you must strain a lot of brainpower. After you must use for Ainari."

"Don't worry..." My memory was about to come into the end by starting first with forgetting who the young woman name. I tried but this renura lu business was really painful. I knew it was somewhere but I couldn't seize it out no matter how hard I resisted the urge. Like casting a magic spell but halted when it was about to complete, hang me around there.

The monitor blinked fast as the spaceship or power system attempted to compensate for low tanks and lengthen its supply more of time by giving short blackout. Eventually, when it hit 4% of Ainari's lifeline, the environment dissolved. Darkness sprung from every nook. Any sound tore off except noises of people breathing and musing.

"Where the injector?!" I told harsh, scrimmaging about my next two steps more. <Where? Where?>

"Siqura! Here!" The young woman voiced but I couldn't feel her position in this blindness.

"What the mechanics are doing in the core room?" Onyeka merged with a bottle-shaped torchlight. The luminance was created in nanocells, therefore, it had only green colour. Onyeka twisted the front lens, the light readjusted and filtered into yellowish tone. Not fully white but enough to see the young woman and Ainari.

I picked the injectors and pressed the disengaged-button. A liquid poured onto Ainari's ribcage and drooled on top the stiffing shrieking heart. I placed a couple of threads and my remaining 60 nanocells into her body. Yarned strong tying flashing green like a spider web, I manipulated nanocells to needle the open hole's perimeter and thrust it closed at once.

It happened as I touched my thorn brain. And hot too from broadcasting the signal into the nanocells. My memory vanished while I had to one more a replication task for her open hole in her brain.

I didn't rest to assure my problem. When I forget, I meant anything that came with renura lu. Except for experience. Just like blueprint method work.

<I can do this.>

Skayla finished treating Enosis. Then, stopped when found I hadn't done my responsibility. "Still going, Siqura? We don't have time here. The power is off."

"I know!"

Grab the dangerous bullet and placed in a metal basin with acid inside, I cleaned my utensils from remaining toxic and pulled out the last bullet hiding in her brain. As long as her brain could use nanocell, she would survive.

<Darn, aliens!>

Placed inorganic bone-shell at the cracked skull, then...

"Skayla." I turned back and gave her six threads. These things were fragile. They required nanocells to strengthen it.

"Pale already?" Skayla paced while grabbed the threads.

"Sorry. I used all of my nanocells." I could only use 3 nanocells while the <doctor> Siqura in this world happened to breach more than that. Sigh. What with this conflicting life? My original life was full of miserably.

Skayla energised her nanocells to shut skin with thread visible outside. It would wane over time.

I nodded at the other side student who maintaining medical nanocells to put Ainari in sleep. Everything that needed to be done had clear out of the way. She reversed the effect and switched on Ainari's consciousness.

We all surrounded Ainari and hopefully, her brain was alive and activated nanocells to heal herself. A brain was a complicated organ. In my original alien world, once brain damaged, there was no way to fix that even with a strong nanocell.

On the other case, this world could. With the owner of nanocells that already understood how their brain works. Replacing memory and ability to recall it was one important element of the brain too.

"She's conscious," I said as I fondled her forehead. When someone used nanocells, brain generated heat like a computer processor. And I didn't obtain the warmness. I shook my head toward Skayla.

"Can you hear us?" Skayla said, pointing her small torchlight into Ainari's eyes. "You need to activate the rebooting genome for the brain."

Axio Genome.

It assembled specifically exhausting all nanocells to restructure only one target organ. Doing this was dangerous because it created a weakness in other organs. But the person who designed this genome had a success of saving many near-death people. Naturally, the brain was the most first thing to shoot when someone sought to kill somebody. It was the place where nanocells grasped what to do next. Although, it was impossible to put this genome directly into medical nanocells as this would limit the ability for a free ride.

"Worst," Skayla said waving in front Ainari's eyes which not tracing Skayla's finger. "She might be losing sight too."

Ainari's irises didn't shrink upon the bright light. Her eyelids opened and then reopened. But only that. I was expecting this when the portion of her skull shattered.

However, while Skayla trying to make Ainari sent the signal into the nanocells, I recalled about mana in a split moment.

And that split moment altered the last injector of my nanocells into a mana potion. Like how I transformed my bot into a staff spigen at that ore mine. The potion glass was bigger than my hand so I had to pull it out of my pocket before it broke inside.

I moved closer toward her and spill the potion's content into Ainari's mouth. Mana had natural mental healing but I didn't sure if it worked as powerful as Helaria Tree.

"Siqura..." Ainari mentioned my name as if she just woke up. "Where are we?"

"What the hell... are you done to her?" Skayla stepped back including the rest of them.

I was surprised like them.

Onyeka extracted out a pistol glove with its claw already charged. All nurse and students moved away from me. Their expression quickly shifted from calm into a panic. All people became enemies in my eyes.

It wasn't a fake.

A moment of silence and hesitation from me. Onyeka fired at my cursed dress, my head was flicked and banged against the shelf, documents were knocked out into the air and bottles rolled off toward floor then broke about. A tiny creak from the shot at my dress but not enough to penetrate it.

"You alien!" Skayla said pointing a traditional gun that she snatched from one of the security patients. "Ainari. Are you okay?"

Carefully breath and moving her head, "I'm fine," she said as she raised and glanced at her hands. Then her greenish moon eyes rounded toward me.

What just happened?

The edge of her clothes fell over when she put her long slender legs to the floor, emitting fragments of stars in the disorienting aura. Blazing and glazing behind her back, two butterfly-wings spreading beauty around her head.

She turned into something else. Her real self. A fairy.