It was only for a moment but there I was back in the cave standing in the dark. I was holding some kind of black rock; it couldn’t have been any bigger then a baseball but it was oddly shaped almost abstract. It looked no different then something you would see walking in the woods or near a riverbed. I was holding it but my eyes were lying to me. It was looking at myself from the Australian’s point of view. Several more visions passed before my eyes. I was onboard the pirate ship I overheard someone call it the Devils Saber. I saw through the captain’s eyes as he fought an English fleet to the death sinking their ship but at the same time costing them their own sails and forcing them to come ashore to this island. It wasn’t the ark that they had stolen from the Templars. It was a crystal ball. These visions were from the past and future. All of it mixed together blending before my eyes. I had become an oracle, a seer. None of my team had visions like I had. None of them were cursed the way I was. They were lucky. The last vision I had before blacking out was the worst…
I stood on a boat holding a cross in my hand. I was mumbling some kind of prayer. It was all too fast to make out. It was too dark to see anything very well but the sun was on the rise. It must have been around 8:15 am in the morning. I was surrounded by several men both army and navy. The sky was clear as if God himself had moved the clouds, birds, and looked away leaving only an empty sky. Everyone was silent. The only thing that could be heard was a small faint whistling sound from a plane only a few miles above our heads. I recognized it. It was a B-29. It was a sound I had become familiar with fighting the war. There were two other bombers flying beside the first.
Not a moment passed before the sky lit up with fire. It must have risen over 40,000 feet. Smoke and fire crept up the side of mountains It looked like a volcano had erupted. What was once a city had now become covered by a bubbling mass of purple-gray smoke with a red core. The city that stood there had melted together. Shadows imprinted buildings and anything man made was turned solid to liquid.
It was in that moment I knew what I saw. I heard stories about the weapons we had been building I had even caught a glimpse of the rockets and projections we had stolen on our earlier missions. This was the end of the war.
After that vision the rock stopped working for me. I wrapped it in the black flag and packed it away placing it inside the backpack that I knew would never leave my side again. Everyone asked what happened to me. I couldn’t explain I had apparently only been out for a few seconds. One of the Brits said it was probably the stale air from the chamber that made me faint or black out. Perhaps mold had made me hallucinate. There was a logical reason behind everything but this rock.. this was magic. This was the darkest kind of magic. If one knows there future they can control it maybe even change it. With this as a weapon we could control the world turn the tide of war and politics in any direction we wanted so long as we could find a way to see the right thing.
Red Queen/King, I served my country proudly. Please tell Anne I am gone that I passed away a war hero. Please bring her a flag and tell her I loved her and I KNOW she will be happy. Reward me with a heart a medal in death and let me run. I know you trust me. I have yet to let you down about anything. I told you we would win and I promise you we will win this war and that my part in it is now over. I delivered the Black Suns into your arms and let them all burn. By the time you get this I will have disappeared. Please don’t consider me a deserter. I am doing this for my country and for the allies as a whole. I have found something not even you can get your hands on. If you chase me I will know. I will stop you. If you hurt my family I will know and I will kill you. All you can do is let me run. Don’t speak a word of this to anybody. I have already discussed this with my team and they all agree this is for the best. You will never hear from me again. Years from now maybe I will no longer need to hide but until I know for certain all I can say is I give you my word everything will be alright.
Burn this letter and let me run.
- The Ghost of Joseph Everett December 2nd 1944
PS. I know who you are. #32
Addict “What the hell happened to you in there?” it was Balkava’s voice. She was screaming at me. I was on the floor in the white room; beside me the visor on the floor was broken, smashed to pieces. I had white spit and blood hanging from my mouth. My throat felt like it was tearing itself apart. I coughed up blood again and for a moment felt my body spasm. I thought I was going to die. The chair I was sitting in hours earlier was bent twisted into an anamorphic shape. It looked like an abstract piece of art. The room that usually had no recognizable smell now reeked of melted wires, metal, and blood. The worst was behind me lying on the floor. Broken into tiny stones there was the nexus. It was broken. What was once our link to the past and future was now nothing more then a heap of small stones… worthless black rocks.
I was interrogated for hours. I didn’t hold anything back. I told Balkava and her team of scientists everything. I told them about Joseph Everett, the Black Suns, the visions inside my vision. That was a first. No one had ever used the nexus while inside the nexus. Perhaps it was too much of a paradox. Whatever it was that shattered the nexus no longer mattered. I didn’t see anything important about our future. We had reached Eden at a terrible cost but our journey was over. We didn’t need the nexus anymore. I heard a few of the guards say that I should be punished but Balkava stood up for me. They let me go when there was nothing more I could give them.
Another user approached me. It was a young woman around the same age as me. She called herself Hera. She had one cybernetic eye. Apparently one time after using the nexus she felt so messed up and withdrawn from the world she took a knife and jabbed it inside her eye socket. Balkava was the one to actually save her and stop her from plunging it even further inside killing herself. She told me that after that they gave her a few weeks off from using. It wasn’t enough. Hera took me back to her quarters and showed me her lower body full of scars and cuts. The only way she could escape the nightmares inflicted on her from the visions and things she saw were through pain. Whatever I did I had saved her from that now. No more nexus meant she no longer felt she had to hurt herself.
Hera wasn’t the only user that came up to me after that. For the first time the users on Erebus were no longer retreating to their quarters for silence and solitude. They were no longer splicing on whatever the medics would let them get their hands on. I can’t imagine what it is that most people saw. I had never had too much trouble differentiating between what was real and what was in there. I thought other users would be just like me but they weren’t. They were all constantly in pain and now they were free. No longer would they live in fear of what the past or future might bring. The only problem was I wasn’t. I wanted more.
After a day of bed rest and a few medical tests I was sent back to First Descent. The Erebus had slowed to a crawl. It would be a week maybe two before we arrived at the orbital the populace dubbed Eden-3. Named after the Garden of Eden the origin of mankind. It was poetic. This planet would be were we started over. It was also ironic that during the dark times when the Erebus, Aelita, and Tritan had first taken to the stars humans quickly grew weary of living in the cold dullness of space. It was only a few years before they tried to settle a colony. Up until that point no one was really adjusted to living in space. A skeleton crew ran the trinity and most humans slept waking up every few years to find nothing had changed. It was on a planet three times the size of Earth. It would have been beautiful. That was where we had one of our first real incursions with the Skrav. Some called it the third invasion while others viewed it as the day we came to our senses and really began to run. The people on the planet were massacred but all three human ships pulled together and defeated the small Skrav fleet and glassed what was left on the planet below. Eden-1 had become uninhabitable.
A few hundred years later humans got involved in a war with another alien race called the Ankari. The Ankari were a bloodthirsty savage race of humanoid creatures twelve feet tall and cover
ed in pink abrasions, Many Ankari grafted various bio-organics and cybernetics too their bones. From birth they severed the part of their brains that felt pain and pleasure. They were a devoted species I have to give them that. Anyone that wasn’t an Ankari was considered a sacrifice to whatever God or Gods they worshipped. It was their reason for taking to the stars. Apparently the Eek or Pok had made first contact with them a long time ago before they became an intergalactic threat. Their kindness made them victims. The Ankari were smart enough to learn to fly their starships and eventually they were smart enough to build their own. When we first encountered them we set up shop on a planet we called Bedlam, a planet we planned to stay at once we won against them. In the end the planet itself was used as a weapon to destroy the Ankari. I’m not sure how they did it I just know that was what our legends say happen. The Ankari were the first alien species the humans ever deliberately wiped out (aside from the creatures we hunted and forced into extinction on Earth). If there are any left no one has seen them since. We learn this so that we may reflect. We are not a superior species or a war driven one. We fight to survive and we always beat the odds. The human race may be a parasite but we are a resilient one that deserves respect.
Scans showed the orbital could support human life. It was massive just as big if not bigger then a planet. We could see it from millions of miles out. Its strange shape made it stand out in the sky. It floated like an abstract work of art.
I was running a drill with First Descent when I had my first blackout. The day before I had woken several times in a cold sweat. I had no idea what was happening at first. It was so sudden. One moment I was running and ducking behind the New Dawn using an air rifle to shoot cans off a ledge and the next I was blinded by a white light then darkness. When the darkness cleared I was on a boat. I recognized it. It was the Devil’s Saber. The same ship Joeseph had been on. I was in the body of a pirate staring out at the open sea. This was different from my past visions. The nexus always felt empty. This felt ethereal. I felt free. I still wasn’t in control of my own body but I felt more like I was alive like I was living in that moment. Less forced. I could smell the ocean even taste the salt on my tongue. As quickly as it came it was over. When I came too only a minute or two had passed. Trevor and Brecca were already running over to my side , in Brecca's hands I could see a medical kit. They were trying to figure out what was wrong with me. I felt faint for a moment, the world was spinning it was like I was on a roller coaster ride or spinning about inside an assault ship. I felt like I was flying. The world melted into place. Everything felt amazing and new. No longer had I felt like a prisoner. My hunger had been fulfilled.
Hayden gave me a full check up. Nothing was wrong with me. For all they knew it was a psychological effect from using the nexus so much and that it was quite possible I may be lossing my mind. Nothing out of the ordinary considering how many have lost their minds before and found they were floating through life like they are somewhere else. I thought about Hera. I wonder how she would live her life now. It almost seemed like they were the lucky ones. If I could feel what I felt and see a beautiful clean Earth 24/7 I would always choose that over this.
The second time I blacked out I was in my own bed. It was late at night. I was in my bunk plugged into wire watching the latest feeds from Hayden and Brecca and archive films found packed away inside the Erebus database. This vision was new. It was far more ancient then the pirate. I was a slave in the middle of a desert. All around me I was surrounded by Egyptian monuments. I was handed a black sword that seemed like it was made of emerald. The sword was a khopesh known as the sword of victory. I couldn’t understand the language but I think I was being granted my freedom. The man that handed me the sword had been a pharaoh. He was covered in jewels and as strange as it was his skull was elongated in the back. Somehow I knew we had just fought some kind of battle together. Then that was it.
I couldn’t sleep that night. I woke puking my guts out across the floor. I ran through the archives trying to learn everything I could about ancient Egypt. Looking through hieroglyphs only one thing became clear. The sun represented inside many of their stories seemed to parallel the black stone that was the nexus. The rays that shined off were visions. Maybe I was reaching but was it possible the nexus could be that old and ancient? Nothing I could open or find gave any kind of origin to the nexus. The only thing I could dig up was a file I couldn’t access. I had to pull some strings. If anyone could get into it without drawing attention to him or herself it would be Hayden. Among his many talents he was a genius when it came to cracking codes and breaking into systems. There was another reason to go to Hayden. If there was anyone on Erebus that I trusted it was my childhood friend.
Hayden took no time coming to my room. He was with Brecca. She didn’t mind he was going out and had told her truth. His friend needed him. She didn’t ask why or say anything about it being so late. On the Erebus time was mostly irrelevant. There were no designated schedules so long as you did your part and pulled your weight. As long as we showed up to our shift on time we were fine no questions asked. I told him about my new visions and watched as he pulled up a holo display. Through web after web of security he moved his fingers like a musician playing an instrument. He was a man of many talents. In a little under three hours he managed to pull the file up. “You know it might have been easier for you to just ask Balkava, you have every right to know what’s in here.” “That would have been too easy. We’re not exactly on the best of terms lately anyway.” He was right though. The information in that file should have been viewable by anyone on this ship especially a user like me. If they were hiding this what else might they be hiding?
The hologram expanded over the entire wall in my room. Light illuminated my bed and guitar making everything glow with a blue hue. Mathematical formulas appeared over and over but nothing seemed to make sense. The only thing that was discernable from the text was two locations, Area 51 and Montauk. I was putting the pieces together in my head. The nexus was ancient far more ancient then any other relic dug up by the human race except for maybe the Lethe ruins. This only raised more questions. I knew at some point so long as my new visions were real and I wasn’t losing my mind that the Egyptians had it. From there it could have been buried in a tomb unearthed probably by grave robbers and sold on the black market -Vikings, Templars, pirates, Black Sun and then into the hands of Joseph Everett. From there it could have fallen into the hands of the military. Area 51. Montauk. Narville. There was still something missing. Where was it from? Maybe the Skrav were the only ones with the answers. They were the only ones that had a weapon able to cut it. “I wonder what happened to the piece from the Tritan? Do you think it shattered and broke or is it still there in the ruins of Errikus?” I was thinking aloud. Hayden didn’t know what to say. He speculated it would probably be buried so deep it would never be discovered. Eventually the continents on Errikus would bury it before anyone was able to rediscover it again. Then the question crossed my mind. If our nexus broke did it have any effect on the one onboard the Aelita? Unfortunately that was a question only Balkava could answer.
Hayden and I continued to speculate theory after theory each more insane then the other. Perhaps the nexus was left over from the creation of the universe; a small fragment of the big bang or a previous big collapse. Throughout history there have been prophets, oracles, seers were they all connected to the nexus somehow. Where they users just like me?
The ethereal high took me again. I was mid sentence with Hayden when I saw the flash of white light. I felt my consciousness withdraw from my body as if I was being swept away by a river. I was Aelia. I recognized the body I was in. It felt so familiar. She was inside her bedroom. Abstract art hung on the walls it was hard to see not just because the room was dim but her vision was fading. It felt as if she was so old now. I could see the wrinkles on her hand. Had she lived the rest of her life full of hate and regret? I wanted to let her know it would all be ok. I wanted to tell her that
everything wasn’t for nothing. Slowly her voice began to speak.
“Bloody sky in the morning. The angels of death depart. Man your battle stations. The end is coming to tear us apart.” She paused. She looked around the room as if someone was there listening to her but there was no one around. “Don’t let them win. I know you can hear me.... Sev.... Run” The vision went black. I wasn’t sure if she had closed her eyes or died. I wasn’t sure what was happening. How did she know I was watching? Did she know I was watching? Was this just some speech she practiced night after night? Did she always just assume someone was watching? She signaled me out. ME. How was this possible? The vision stopped. When I felt my body become my own I let out a scream that echoed throughout the room. My body began to shake and seizure. Hayden did his best to calm me down grabbing a syringe full of God knows what from a med kit. A few minutes passed and my body lay still. Drool dripped from my mouth. I wanted more.
I didn’t say a word. Instead I starred into oblivion. Hayden waved his hand in front of my face but this wasn’t where I wanted to be. I want to believe what happened next was my own will. My life faded white again and I was back in the body of Joseph Everett holding a M16 crouched behind a trench of barbwire.
For some reason I felt as if I knew exactly where I was. It was the Battle of Burma. The year was 1946. World War 2 had officially ended but not everyone was ready to give up the fight. Then I heard him say my name, “Sev.” It was as if he was surprised as if I had startled him somehow. I felt for a moment like he knew me, everything about me like we had become one soul. Not possible. This wasn’t how the nexus worked.
I woke up in the in firmary. A needle stuck in my arm. Hayden said I was out for seven hours and during that time I suffered several seizures. Hera and several others had come to visit me while I was out. There was a small stuffed toy sitting near my bed. Hayden made a remark saying how it looked like someone likes me and then hypothesized that I had “overdosed” and started suffering sever trauma. I had gone into analeptic shock. He pulled up a hologram showing small shards of the nexus had entered my blood stream. This was the cause of my new visions. He worked up a suppressant that would hold back most but not all of them. It would create a protein chain around the microscopic shards so they wouldn’t interact with me. I didn’t want it to stop. I begged. He had already given me the suppressant. I had no choice if he didn’t then I would have kept having vision after vision until I died of starvation or suicide.
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