When the night clouds had dispersed Spiderland recognized Liesar’s starlit silhouette ascending, however the pair of paratroopers were not done with ver yet. The muted, siphoning-like, rumble and the fitful sparks that usually accompanied fluxjumps repeated once more, and an arrangement echoed an earshot away. Upon the unintentional warning Spiderland pulled back vis enlarged helmet made of an elder god’s tooth, barely dodging the punching and helmeted soldier that became a blur that blended with the inky and besieged sky. Vis smoke body followed, mingling with the clouds that remained while the second supersoldier jaunted higher above to catch the attacking soldier.

  Spiderland was now within Liesar’s grasp, however his fleecy hands glowed before reaching further. Due to the backward momentum Spiderland picked up from dodging earlier, it was not possible for ver to veer even though this would not have been the case if Liesar was infinitesimally slower, and he eventually laid his infused hands on the cheek area of Spiderland’s bone helmet.

  The magic from Liesar lit up the sky more than any of the skyward missiles and gunfire, lending the illusion of time slowing down before the space between Liesar’s four-fingered hands and the caught god detonated. So menacing was the delay between the ubiquitous flicker and the thunderous blast, and more bombers and drones got struck in the new momentum Spiderland found verself in. No clouds remained as Spiderland applied oppositional force to not stray too far from the salient township positioned between the thousands of streetlights within the city beyond and the dreadful desert.

  A response from Liesar’s gambit came in the form of a smoke limb Spiderland left behind. There was indeed a delay to the magical smoke coalescing, however the element of surprise was enough for it to turn into a spear of black carbon that pierced the goatman’s shoulder. Spiderland barely missed Liesar’s heart.

  A newfound attack happened right below Spiderland’s vision, and a cranial crack became audible. No pain, but consciousness felt more digital for the briefest of moments. It was the pair of supersoldiers from the unknown nation, and Spiderland caught a glimpse of the aerial jaunter that caught the other soldier that landed the attack.

  “My name is Joaquim.”

  As expected, there was a delay in the young Ameen’s response. Joaquim had a moment to read some of the copious notes written with black marker on the white walls.

  Arak operating system?

  Biological simulation? Do you mean a dream?

  Is the room too small to embody?

  Well, I can embody the other colors.

  The sensation of the cold metal on Joaquim’s back ceased.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “You were more tense saying that name than you were with me poking you with my revolver,” Ameen pointed out. “Do you know who I am?”

  Joaquim had no idea how to answer, and he wondered if he was supposed to fight Ameen. After all, Joaquim did spawn nearby him. Was it a coincidence? Either way, something was stopping Joaquim from doing it.

  “You would have killed me by now,” Ameen added. “You would have only gotten here as a flux user. Not only are you likely bulletproof, but you could have killed me before I noticed anything.”

  Is it true? Prophet Ameen was a flux user all along?

  “We… we believed in you,” Joaquim said. “Or… we will believe in you. How does that work? You told us in the future that you were not a flux user. Would you lie to us eventually?”

  The tension lessened ever so slightly, and Joaquim turned around slowly. At this age Ameen was not as tall as either Gabe or Farouq, and the cargo shorts and gray t-shirt he wore appeared to have been worn for several days. The laptop in his right arm was quite beat up.

  “...you said… believe in me huh,” Ameen mumbled. “So I ended up doing it all over again.”

  Joaquim and Ameen locked eyes for a moment.

  “What?” Joaquim eventually asked.

  “Human beings never cared about the truth,” Ameen explained. “You have to force them to accept it, or else they will parade their own lies as the truth. It seems I have done it twice by inventing a religion. This is strange… when I had… the calling… back when I was a merchant… I felt more individuated from the Godhead. It was only… perhaps through multiple reincarnations, that I realized that Jesus Christ is a fictional character. The more esoteric aspects of his stories only make sense that way. When I was born as Muhammad, I think the person who wrote about me did not understand that. I have become both the character in the Quran, and the human that actually lived as him. Both sets of memories ring true to me.”

  “No, Jesus Christ was a real prophet,” Joaquim retorted.

  Ameen glanced down at white floor filled with footprints with a dim smile. “Well, what I just said is not exactly right. Jesus Christ would have physically existed in certain timelines. He would have been in ancient science fiction stories in others. In the same way people started thinking Olamina was real… or will think she is real because the Parable of the Sower was quite a prophetic science fiction story, human beings have and will do the same thing with Jesus. As you see, if there is a timeline where I had to pretend to not be beholden to the same magic system as the supersoldiers up above, it was because it needed to be done. It was the way it was meant to be.”

  Realities, virtual and non-virtual, were blurring together like a broken error screen to Spiderland. Consciousness was drifting and Liesar had no intention to pass up the opportunity.

  At the same time the levitating goatman was closing the distance, the midair supersoldiers were preparing another attack. In fact, Spiderland caught the jaunter spinning the assailant in midair to give him as much momentum as possible. They resembled a dark spinning top.

  Returning vis attention back to Liesar, it was too late for Spiderland to dodge any of the barraging spheres of light from him that were closing in on ver. Before they made contact, an everlong staff stretched from space, quickly veering in different directions to stop them all, the moving staff leaving a trail of fire and smoke with each block.

  Focus on the two targets behind you.

  The man that spoke from the heavens was standing upside down on the eternal staff, the fresh smoke dwindling away to eventually reveal a white robe. Liesar stopped in midair to stare at the new guest. The guest made sure that his sunglasses were not going to fall into the desert below, and of course he was known for smiling with his teeth.

  “Yo,” Yaw greeted Liesar.