Joaquim sat up on his bed in the dead of the night, the furtive knowledge of the abrupt leap of time almost escaping him. The new member of two platoon searched for scrapes on his forearms and ribs and they were indeed still there. However, an overwhelming and monstrous dread that came over him made him ignore the dull aches he had believed were dream artifacts.

  Headlong bloodlust from all the way on the other side of Ember jumpstarted Joaquim's own adrenaline, and his eyes trapped more starlight to wane the darkness. Leaping out of the sheets after the hologram scared him, a blue error screen had been conjured by the virtualtop inside his room, his once inky room now covered in a blue sheen.

  "Gabe? Iker? Lucia?"

  Joaquim's galloping heartbeat might as well have been clocking each mile this being was travelling towards him, his pounding heart leaving no chance to react to her seamless arrival. Nearby the still intact open window that had been sealed shut, a pair of heels clacked against the bedroom floor.

  During the day the Harlynx flying platform was the only one in Ember that was submerged into the clouds. Despite the cloud waves incessantly wafting onto the sidewalks, the camber bridges, and steep bridges connecting hundreds of levels, the brisk crowds and magnetic cars that were always in a rush kept the clouds at bay by the metal shores. If there was a city within a flying city that stayed up longer than York, than this enormous midcloud district was it.

  Within the lowest level connected by steep bridges on the western edge, opposite of the edge facing the Ember Military Base that somehow could still be seen past the thousands of skyrise flying platforms, was the gem of all foodies galaxy-wide, whether they were from the Desolation in Mars or lived near the flux-user prison in Proxima.

  Am I losing my mind? Joaquim thought.

  Before his peripheral vision could even spot the bloodlusted individual that had entered his bedroom, Joaquim found himself sitting with two platoon at Milky Way's best food neighborhood. His vision was still blueish, however the wooden picnic table in front of him and the lush grass under his combat boots came into focus.

  "Why did you stop chewing?" Gabe asked under his breath beside Joaquim.

  Indeed, Joaquim had some chewed poutine sitting in his mouth. He apparently appeared sitting by the picnic table in the middle of chewing Harlynx's famous poutine, which had intricately genetically-modified ghost peppers that somehow circumnavigated the extreme reactions of the ingredient, and it had a cozy yet fiery taste. The contradicting flavor made no sense, but the paradoxical taste existed in Joaquim's mouth as the gravy and cheese further melted on his tongue. Then he swallowed.

  "This tastes amazing," Joaquim answered, uncertain about how he came off.

  Gabe raised an eyebrow at his little brother, turned his gaze back to his tray, and stabbed his own Harlynx Poutine with a wooden fork.

  "So," Gabe continued, Joaquim deducing that two platoon was in the middle of a conversation. After coming to terms with the bizarre leaps of time and space, or perhaps with the leaps into madness, Joaquim scanned the rest of the platoon reposing from what seemed to be the musical chair test itself. When he checked his own arm wounds again, he noticed Corporal Woo also reacting to his peculiar behavior while sitting in between Gabe and a very hungry Private Borrys. He tried to catch Corporal Woo staring at him, but she would quickly turn her attention back to her half-eaten paneer every time. As new fears kept piling up on top of how self-conscious he was, Joaquim realized that the long pause from Gabe was not really a long pause, but rather it was his own arising terror slowing his perception of time.

  "Was this musical chair test supposed to be about how well we follow instructions too?" Gabe asked.

  "Hold on," Iker interrupted. "Hey, Cadet Wami, are you alright?"

  Both officers and sergeants, the four individuals being Iker, Lieutenant Tagore, Sergeant Uzi, and Sergeant Hunter, were sitting on the opposite side of the picnic table, and the direction of Iker's voice made it obvious who he was talking to. Lucia, eating on the table with everyone else, was beside Private Borrys, and she tilted her head towards Joaquim with as much concern as a husky could.

  "Cadet?" Lieutenant Tagore asked.

  "Yes I am fine," Joaquim replied. Even he knew that it was unconvincing.

  "We should talk about the elephant... in the food court?" Iker said while raising a brow.

  "Excuse me?" a talking elephant asked, the elephant standing by an oak tree while sipping on a bucket full of ginger ale. The whole time he sucked ginger ale into his trunk, then drank from it.

  "Not you!" Sergeant Hunter yelled while waving the elephant away, eventually turning back to Joaquim.

  "Why's my brother here?" Joaquim asked. "He accepted Sergeant Uzi real quick."

  Sergeant Uzi levitated higher, ve already finishing vis highly customized burger. "Well, to be fair, I did threaten him to throw him off the mountain. And I did not have to do it myself apparently!"

  "Sergeant!" Lieutenant Tagore chastised.

  "Sergeant Uzi should fix that chair ve threw over the mountain. It's probably smithereens... maybe ve has to print a new one," Lucia said.

  "You gonna pretend you haven't heard worse from other supersoldiers?" Iker asked Lieutenant Tagore with a smirk.

  Lieutenant Tagore scratched her chin, almost rolling her eyes. "... true."

  "I am sorry," Gabe declared after slapping both hands on the picnic table, interrupting the banter altogether. It seemed he only realized how hard he slapped the table after the fact.

  "... for what?" Private Borrys asked with a full mouth.

  "I abandoned my little brother. And I stayed away... because I wasn't accepting of any of this. Araks, Iker, talking animals, and... Joaquim... it's all against my religion," Gabe said. "But I am ok with it now."

  Silence fell upon the picnic table, the soldiers probably processing Gabe contradicting himself.

  "Is he... is he an Alkrezian?" the talking elephant asked. After another long pause and making it apparent that he was eavesdropping, the elephant wrapped his trunk around his bucket handle and began walking away mindfully. His large ears flopped as he took one final fearful glare at Gabe.

  Iker stood up from the table, Sergeant Uzi quickly following suit until he spoke. "Hold on, we're not leaving yet."

  Instead, Iker walked to the side of the table Joaquim was sitting at, and stood right in the center of it. "Well, regardless of your reasons, I'm glad you were respectful of Sergeant Uzi, but I hope you'll extend that to your brother. As for me, I don't give a fuck. Anything you could call me or say to me I already heard before. Nothing offends me. I understand you two go way back than any of us, but I have Cadet Wami's back now that he is one of my soldiers. So if you continue vacillating and shit, or even worse threatening him to change at all, you'll have to go through me."

  "And through me," Lieutenant Tagore added.

  "And through me."

  "Through me too."

  "And through me."

  Private Borrys swallowed his last bite. "And through me."

  "Uhm, me six?"

  "And through me."

  All of two platoon proclaimed their support for Joaquim, and on top of feeling like he was losing his mind, this display of acceptance broke Joaquim's hard exterior. Before anyone could see his facial expression change drastically, he was already sprinting away from the picnic table.

  "Wait!" Gabe yelled from somewhere behind him.

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  "How much do you know?" Ameen asked.

  Instead of whoever arrived with heels, a form of tenebrous smoke and levitating flesh of the apparent messiah stood in Joaquim's blue-sheened bedroom. Whether it was really him, an influx ability, or an earthplexus aberration was unknown. After he asked that question of Joaquim, it was dead silent until Joaquim crashed his back into the wall.

  "Do not be afraid," Ameen mocked with utter disdain. "I would like to know how you are surviving my four-dimensional attack, however I need you to tell me where the existing one is."

  "Who?"

  The edge of the platform was not too far off. Joaquim was thankful for that as he did not want to run too far.

  I was just running from Ameen? What's wrong with me?

  Farouq and Camilo could be anywhere, especially Camilo as he was a shapeshifter.

  Joaquim stopped to observe No Man's Land below, and he could hear his brother passing the dive bar behind him. The tremendous height above the vast vista of No Man's Land did not do much to undo the weltering nature of what looked like a morbid landscape painting past the smog. There were ghost cities, massive yellow swaths that told tales of raided crops, and the same corporate plazas copied and pasted for efficiency even within the dilapidated towns.

  "Hey," Gabe said while panting. "Just let me know if you want me to leave you alone... I just wanna make sure you're okay."

  "You're good," Joaquim murmured. "I just didn't want anyone to see me cry."

  "Okay, I won't look at your face," Gabe said. He plopped down beside him.

  "I'm sorry for... being a bigoted brother. I'm sorry for not calling you for the name you told me to call you by," Gabe sighed.

  "It's okay," Joaquim said. "I knew behind it all you didn't believe it. You just wanted to..."

  "Yea," Gabe said. "Funnily enough, once I stopped obsessing about what would make me a man, a good religious person, or a good brother... I was also able to just figure out what the musical chair game was about. I was able to free my mind in a way. I had to ask Iker if it was just about following instructions... but there's a lot more going with it I think. It's... it's weird. There's a lot more to that test if you think about."

  A gentle breeze brushed Joaquim. "What are you talking about?"

  "Never mind," Gabe said. "Maybe I am just crazy."

  Should I... should I tell him? What if it was just a bad dream?

  "I... I wonder how many followers he would have if everyone could experience this," Joaquim said. He was not talking about the vista, but rather the Harlynx food court itself. While still keeping his face away from Gabe, he turned his whole head to look at the dive bar and the food trucks by it.

  "... he kinda relies on suffering, doesn't he?" Gabe said, still keeping his gaze on No Man's Land.

  The brothers sat comfortably in silence, contemplating what Gabe just said.

  No.

  Something was seriously wrong. Joaquim had to tell his older brother. Who else would believe him?

  "Gab—"

  Sheer cold.

  A freezing temperature unconceivable to Joaquim until his body heat finally kicked in.

  I am... I am underwater?

  After realizing he somehow was able to gasp for air, he grabbed the intricate metal mask strapped to his head. Never had he opened his own eyelids this far back and all he could see was pristine water in every direction. In a panic he threw his limbs in all directions until his fingertips brushed glass somewhere. Noticing the surface he swam towards it, a neon prong that was inside his skull and spine slipping out of the back of his cybernetic neck. What took precedent over that disturbing discovery was Joaquim realizing that his own body felt very different. A euphoric feeling in fact as he glanced between his legs, past the waste expeller that was attached to his latex jumpsuit.

  ... I am cis? No wonder I was dysphoric... in that simulation?

  When he reached the glass surface, Joaquim discovered thousands upon thousands of humans inside their own pods filled with water, their minds in a reality somewhere else. He detached the waste dispeller and pulled up the rest of his latex suit that was unzipped as he saw the hive-like superstructure that housed all the dreaming humans.

  So No Man's Land... Ember... it was all a lie? It wasn't real?

  His own pod must have detected his awakening because the pod's entrance became visible and popped open above Joaquim, the trapped vapor and steam within hissing out. With no hesitation he thrusted his head into the air, and detached his mask to take in the air outside of the pod. The air he sucked in felt even realer than anything at Ember.

  Certainty of this reality went unquestioned until an anomaly was spotted towards the right of Joaquim's peripheral vision. His eyes followed the seeping code that illuminated the darkness, the lack of light caused by the skyward smog and the looming grids of pods obstructing the gunmetal sky.

  "Is that it? The thing?"

  The one asking the question was somewhere in the distortion Joaquim was trying to comprehend. Towards what seemed to be a panel meant to manage the dreaming humans in the pods became cracks into the void. Grid lines and error messages veiled the two entities awaiting Joaquim's wake somewhere inside the broken void, and when another strong breeze brushed past the anomaly, it stopped being a breeze entirely. Now whatever afterimages made the view confusing evaporated into hexadecimal waste, a gravity defying park somehow spawning both in Joaquim's direction and inside the dimensional crack where the voice came from.

  With terror Joaquim marched backwards, but the reality or simulation behind him was fading too. Pods, smog, and sky were appearing and disappearing until Joaquim spotted a spiraling cherry blossom tree, its trunk right above him. While trying to catch his breath he discovered its multidimensional roots and an upside down park bench that would have been a perfect spot to observe the cherry blossom bloom if it was in a more suitable reality.

  Sitting on the glitchy bench was the transformed Prophet Ameen and the fashionista that had a flying city named after her, her name being Ember Comsa. Joaquim recognized the heels that were in his room earlier.

  "I knew you were Babalon this whole time," Prophet Ameen said.

  "Are you Palestine's avatar? Muhammad?" she asked him. Ember Comsa usually wore the finest fabrics from Brennisteinn, the galaxy where araks came from, however the supernatural scarlet dress she wore above Joaquim was unrecognizable. From the deep void behind her the dress's train was endless, from the grid pods that did not spiral into pixels it would seem as if the red dress went on for infinity.

  "So Naomi, what is it going to be?" Prophet Ameen asked. "Most of your memories with that so called family of yours should be no more."

  Joaquim fell on the steel floor below him, the digital tree above loosening its grip on the hundreds of flush petals descending upon him. "You were the one that made me not know what happened during that week?"

  "Perhaps it was him," Ember Comsa teased.

  "Hold on," Prophet Ameen said to her. "Naomi, you must remember what these descendants in the flying cities have done. Do not let your righteous anger escape you. The city is trying to make you complacent with falsehoods."

  After panting for an unknown amount of time, Joaquim peered past the falling petals to meet the gaze of the two gods above him. "Why would... why would Ember help us? She is one of them."

  "Naomi, you have so much to learn. I can help you understand everything, but you have yet to devote yourself to me—"

  "I don't think Allah would turn my own brother against me," Joaquim interrupted. He got Ember Comsa to giggle like she was a child in her old flesh body instead of a more ineffable consciousness. However, Prophet Ameen was not amused.

  "Even with no memories of how you grew closer to Trickster, you continue to defy me?" Prophet Ameen asked.

  "Me being close to Iker or not was not going to change who I am," Joaquim declared. "My name is Joaquim by the way."

  "When this reality shatters, you'll have the choice to take the life of Iker, Lucia, and Gabe, or it will be done against your will," Prophet Ameen threatened. "If we must do it against your will, this is the simulation that awaits you."

  It was reasonable for Joaquim to not notice that the metal floor beneath him had already vanished. Now only darkness remained in every direction; even the artifacts of the cherry blossom tree were gone. Looking up once more, the two gods were gone too. Instead a nascent blue flame spawned, eventually accompanied with more spawning flames as Joaquim went from being freezing cold to being sweat-clad. At first it seemed he was back in his bedroom with the error screen, but the glows of rows of bursting blue flames were incomparable to that sheen from earlier.

  Eternal and infernal flames were now omnipresent, and Joaquim spotted the life forms in the hellish lights being punished in this simulation. With their skin and hair burning away and their scream hitting a high pitch, the burning and naked bodies of the araks, humans, and talking animals were impossible to tell apart. They all appeared to be the same species as their flesh became indistinguishable from kindling embers.

  A void walkway spawned, now Joaquim seeing mostly Ember's blonde hair rather than her red dress that went on forever. Whether it was her presence, her evil admiral eyes, or some kind of unknown power, Joaquim was unable to move. The ear-piercing screams and the ferocious crackles of flames somehow went dead silent, and all could be heard were her heels tapping on the invisible floor below. Upon reaching at a grasp's distance from Joaquim, her jewels, pearls, and the name written on her forehead became visible. Instead of striking him, Ember Comsa simply laid her open palms under his chin.

  "Does this look like a nice place to stay?" Ember Comsa asked rhetorically, her long nails pressing on Joaquim's face. "If you make me do this the hard way, I'll have Iker, Gabe, and Lucia burn here forever too. If you do this yourself, I'll make sure their afterlife does not end up here. So what is it going to be? Are you going to follow the prophet?"

  As Joaquim was unable to move, it became clear he had no power over the two gods that let him witness this blue inferno.

  Joaquim woke up again. Neither Ember Comsa or Prophet Ameen were there, however, it did not take long for Ember Comsa to seamlessly arrive again. She did not stay however; instead she left behind a floating rapier. The blue bedsheets Joaquim pushed out should have hit the floor, but it remained in midair too.

  Without being able to see it with the inky darkness of the night, Joaquim grasped the magical rapier by the hilt.

  Joaquim entered Iker's bedroom. He checked on Noah and he was turned off. A cord stretched from his neck to the plug on the wall, receiving power from both the earthplexus and from the electricity the lair underneath was generating.

  Under the bare amount of starlight that could enter the room, Joaquim lifted the rapier, hovering it above Iker's heart.

  END OF STORY ARC I: THE ALKREZIAN ARC