Beta Earth: Between Worlds 2.0 Edition

by Napier, J. R.

  Vin lies on his back trying to grip the roof of the speeding monorail. Lightning flashes in the clouds above him. “Could he have been like me?” Vin asks himself. The monorail picks up speed and starts to curve through the outskirts of District 11.

  Vin tightens his grip. He tries hard to hold on to the monorail in his weakened state. He definitely had an abnormal mastery of time. And his eyes … they started to— Vin’s thoughts are interrupted as the monorail increases its speed. For a moment he fears he will lose his grip but he manages to recover.

  Vin looks up at the sky as he speeds along. The clouds look thick and menacing. Light rain starts to pelt Vin’s face. Could he be one of the Avatars Abel and Mizrahi talked about? Vin laughs weakly. It would be my luck. Out of all the people. More light rain hits Vin’s face. It’s refreshing but Vin is afraid he may lose his grip on the slippery monorail surface.

  Or maybe luck had nothing to do with it. This … could be the start of something bigger and all the players are entering the fray.

  Vin loses his grip. He slides to the side of the monorail and struggles to pull himself back up. He is dizzy and having a hard time concentrating as he clings to the side of the speeding train. “I can’t hold on—” Vin loses consciousness.

  He slips off the monorail and barrels toward the ground. As he does, his surroundings distort and fluctuate. Vin can no longer feel the outside wind as he opens his eyes slowly. He is in a small shack with one bed a bathroom and a mirror. Vin looks at his hands. Where am I?

  Vin looks around and notices a young boy sleeping in a bed next to him. The boy is tossing and turning as if in the middle of a vivid dream. Just then, another young boy enters the room. The boy walks right past Vin and doesn’t notice him.

  Vin quietly watches as the boy walks over to the bed. “Wake up.” The boy says as he shakes the bed. “We are under attack.” The boy wakes with a yawn. Vin recognizes him right away.“Come on let’s go Abel.” The boy says.

  Abel stretches and looks in Vin’s direction. “Did you hear me?” The boy says with a hint of rising panic in his voice. “Our village is under attack we have to leave.” Abel rushes to gather his pre-packed items and heads over to the shack door.

  “Okay, I’m ready Exari lets go.” Abel says. They exit the shack leaving the door wide open. Vin follows them outside. He looks up to see a large purple sky. Air assault units are flying overhead in formation.

  Vin looks around and notices he is situated in a large valley. People are running around in a panic trying to gather their loved ones, food, and items. Vin spots Abel and Exari and he runs after them. Abel and Exari stop next to a little girl holding a doll.

  Vin catches up to them and listens to their conversation. “Are we are heading for the rift?” The little girl asks. Abel nods in confirmation.

  “It’s time we went home.” The little girl turns to Exari.

  “Are you going with us?” she asks.

  “Yes I am.” Exari replies.

  “The rift will take me to my mom and my soon-to-be born sister… Lana.” A group of adults carrying travel goods walk past them. One of the adults stops and picks up the little girl.

  “Hey!” she screams as she kicks and struggles. Abel runs in front of the adult.

  “Let her go!” he demands. The adult stops and looks at Abel.

  “We have to leave now. You kids stop messing around or you’re gonna die.”

  “She’s not going with you!” Abel shouts.

  “We are going to the rift.” The adult laughs.

  “The rift is a myth boy,” he says as he tries to subdue the struggling girl.

  “There is no rift and there is no Paradise.” Vin walks over to the adult.

  “Put her down,” he says. The adult doesn’t notice him at all. Vin tries to grab the girl but his hands go through her.

  “What is going on?” he says while looking at his hands. Abel suddenly charges the adult and tries to knock him down. The adult kicks Abel and he falls to the ground holding his stomach.

  “What is your problem kid—” Exari slams into the man’s ribs hard. It causes him to fall over and release the little girl in the process. The little girl runs over to Exari.

  “XR!” she yells as she hugs him. Exari holds on to the little girl’s hand and turns to Abel.

  “They are waiting for us Abe, let’s go.” Abel, Exari and the little girl run off in a different direction from the rest of the people. They run up a large slanted bridge that leads to the top of the valley. The rest of the villagers run into a cave that leads underneath the valley. While watching the villagers run into the cave.

  Vin witnesses a large flash that brightens the entire sky coupled with a massive explosion. As Vin’s eyes recover from the flash. He sees the cave collapsing. “Oh no,” he says softly.

  The villagers run around and scream in panic. Vin runs over to the cries for help but before he can reach his destination he is shifted to a different location. Vin is now standing next to a U.F. soldier. After taking a moment to orientate himself he takes a close look at the soldier’s uniform. “This type of uniform was used by the U.F. soldiers during the Beta Earth rebellion.” Vin says.

  Abel and Exari walk up to the soldier. Not far behind, eight children are trailing in. “But this all happened nearly 17 years ago, what’s going on?” Vin says. He takes a good look at the children as they struggle up a fairly steep path towards the soldier. They are dirty, tired, hurt and have the look of desperation on their faces. Vin realizes some time has passed since he last saw them. I must be warping around time.

  Abel approaches the soldier cautiously. “Please, just let us by.” he begs. The U.F. soldier shakes his head no.

  “I cannot let you pass. We have been instructed to take you in.” The little girl steps forward.

  “But the rift is so close!” she says as she points.

  Vin looks in the direction she is pointing. He notices a large and very deep scar in the ground. A strong wind blows by them. The sky above the scar shimmers with the aurora borealis. The chasm light up with electromagnetic activity, making a colorful display.

  “The rift! It’s here!” the little girl shouts. Abel pleads with the soldier.

  “Please, we’ve come so far.”Exari walks towards the soldier. “Stop—” the soldier orders. Exari picks up his pace toward the soldier.

  “We don’t have time for this.” Exari says with a charge. The soldier braces for impact and manages to hold his ground as Exari pushes him.

  “Go now!” Exari shouts. All the children run toward the scar. The soldier subdues Exari and some of the boys running for the scar stop. They turn back to help Exari escape the soldier. This leaves only four children left running for the scar.

  “Stop.” The soldier shouts.

  “You don’t know what you are doing! If you run into that pit you will die!” the soldier screams to the children. A concerned Vin chases after the children as they run towards the edge of the scar. The wind is blowing fierce and the scar itself is now shimmering bright with electromagnetic activity.

  Abel looks to his friends. “Are you ready to do this?” he asks. The children confirm their conviction with a nod. Abel glances back. He can see, the soldier from before running after them. Behind him, a group of soldiers are gaining fast. Vin enters a vigorous sprint in his attempt to reach the children. The children hold hands as they run alongside the scar.

  All of them look down into the deep darkness of the crevice. “Don’t do it!” Vin cries out as he finally reaches the children. They don’t hear his call and leap feet first into the scar while still holding hands. Vin, without giving it a second thought, leaps in after them. As the children fall they are carried by the strong wind and enveloped in the electromagnetic storm.

  Vin reaches out to Abel’s arm. Please let me save them. He thinks as he stretches to reach Abel. Abel looks back and notices something has grabbed him but he doesn’t know what. The colorful electromagnetic storm grows so bright
that Vin can no longer see anything. “Please let me be in time!” Vin says just before his surroundings fade to white.

  Chapter 29

  Survival

  An all-white, familiar place engulfs Vin. “I must be falling … I can feel it. The wind.” Vin rubs his face. “And the weightlessness … which means I’m only halfway between worlds.” Vin hears metallic steps. He looks around, but all he can see is white.

  “Impressive. Usually when one loses consciousness—it doesn’t matter what world they’re in—they remain in that state.” Someone says with a hollow, metallic-sounding voice.

  “Who’s there?” Vin asks.

  “I am known as Kamon.” The voice says. Vin turns in the direction of the voice. Directly behind him is an incomplete image of a robot in the shape of a man. Vin jumps back in surprise. Kamon looks at his robotic hands.

  “Interesting. Even in this realm I appear as this.”

  “What are you?” Vin asks. Kamon continues to examine his hands. He flexes his joints slowly. He moves each finger individually. His synthetic eyes cycle between neon green and neon blue. Kamon eventually returns his attention to Vin. “My story is relative to your situation but too long to condense. I am here to save you. Well … from one fate.”

  “I’m falling.” Vin says.

  “Correct, but the only place I can bring you is not very safe.” Kamon replies. Vin rubs his arms. He’s getting very cold.

  “Why would you help me?”

  “I need you, toooo.” Kamon’s voice distorts and recovers. “Meet with Gaidon one more time.” Vin exhales and can see his breath. “Gaidon … why?” Kamon extends his metallic hand.

  “Because I need to see Gaidon and I cannot contact him as I can with you. I need better proximity. I will send the location. I will be waiting ffforrorrror youuuuuuuuu—” Kamon’s image and the white world around him start to fluctuate. Vertical lines blur into falling motion. Vin slams through a roof and lands in a large, dusty room. He holds his side in pain and curls up in a ball. In the lower level of the building, members of the cult called Final Bloodline hear the ruckus in the upper level.

  “What do you think it was, sister? Sector police?” One of the cult members asks. A hooded female stands up. She is riddled with tattoos and piercings on her face.

  “I didn’t hear a helicopter. Let’s go check it out, brother,” she says as she picks up a large automatic rifle. The rest of the red-and-black-uniformed Final Bloodline members are packing serious weaponry as well. They head up the stairs to check out the ruckus.

  “It could be space debris. We have been getting a lot more of that lately.” One of the members notes.

  “Either way we gotta check it out. Telno is very close to finding our savior and the U.F. will do anything to stop us from finding him.” Another member says. One member, who struggles to lug a big gun up the stairs, blurts out.

  “Telno … to think ... that man didn’t even want to join us and now to have such a position—”

  All the other members stop and look at him as if to say. “Watch it!”In the attic, Vin finally recovers from his pain. As he steadies himself, he hears a few footsteps and pauses. Looking around, he sees an emblem painted everywhere. Written in red paint along the walls are the words:

  Our savior will return soon. The Avatar is nigh. No more Redemption.

  And the biggest one reads:

  Soon will come the White Horse humanities TRYLE.

  “Where the hell am I?” Vin asks.

  Chapter 30

  Investigation

  Location: City District 11—Aton Art Gallery.

  Lana Mizrahi enters the destroyed art gallery. Dead bodies still litter the ground. Sector police have the area blocked off. An investigation unit is currently meticulously documenting the scene.

  One of the sector police officers, Wiggs approaches Lana. “Redemption Riot Control Unit Member Mizrahi?” he says. Lana holds out her identification. “Call me Lana,” she says. Wiggs scans it briefly and nods.

  “Good, we have been waiting for you. Normally this would have been just a matter for the sector police to investigate.” Wiggs pulls out a small display monitor hooked up to a data case. The monitor shows a quad screen on one half and the other half of the screen shows a P.O.V. view of the art gallery.“However, after reviewing this footage. We were told to contact your department.” Wiggs explains.

  Lana watches the recording showing a meeting between the Syndicate and Faux Forsaken members. Wiggs points to the screen. “You are witnessing what we believe to be an alliance meeting between two different gangs.” Lana continues to watch.

  “This hardly seems like something I should be called in for,” she says.

  “Yes. I know, but just bear with me a few more moments.” Wiggs replies.

  Lana continues to watch the meeting and bears witness to Clave’s attack. Her eyes widen at his ability and ruthlessness. The quad screen cuts out and all that is left is the POV. It seems as if the POV camera is being secretly handled by one of the members in the room.

  “Who is that guy?” Lana asks as she points at Clave.

  “We think he is a bounty hunter of some sort. Who possibly goes by the alias of Clave. Other than that we don’t know if he has any affiliation and his face doesn’t match any of our records. This is all the info we managed to get.” Wiggs hits a few buttons on the display screen and it enhances the sound:

  “Wait … noooo … please … we are the inside … please … Clave … i know—” Clave then slashes the member down with his sword.

  Lana touches the screen and pauses the recording. She rewinds it to show Clave’s face. He’s a monster. Lana thinks as she stares at his face.

  “Clave, huh? So … the Syndicate and Faux Forsaken try for an alliance. And someone calls in a hit on all of them.” Lana rewinds the display quickly back to the beginning. She pauses it and scans the image. She has already deduced the situation.

  “It looks like one of the Faux Forsaken members betrayed them and lost his life to the assassin he hired.” Wiggs is impressed with Lana. He smiles as he watches her analyze the footage.

  “You are sharp,” he says.

  “I wouldn’t mind working for someone like you.” Lana brushes over the obvious job scouting remark.

  “Thanks. However, this can’t be all. The General wouldn’t have sent me out unless it was something more important.” Wiggs nods and starts to fast-forward the display. The dead traitor’s P.O.V. camera shows a battle between Clave and Vin.

  “Watch closely.” Wiggs says. Lana stares at the screen in amazement as Vin shifts around the room. She also notes Clave's ability to adapt to Vin's movements. Lana freezes the screen on Vin.

  “Who is he?” Lana says with a shocked expression on her face.

  “We were hoping you could tell us.” Wiggs replies. Lana rewinds the fight and watches it again. Is this what that lady Akari meant? Is this the elite? They are unbelievable! How can people like this actually exist? Wiggs watches Lana as she is locked in intense thought.

  “Are you … okay?” he asks. Lana nods.

  “Yeah … I need to take this to the General.” Wiggs folds up the display. “We were expecting as much,” he says as he hands the display to Lana.

  “This is the only copy, right?” she asks.

  “Yes and we will have all official documents transferred to you guys at Redemption.” Lana turns to exit the room. “Good. Thanks for your help.”

  “Uh, wait.” Wiggs says. Lana stops and turns around. Wiggs reaches in his vest and pulls out some documents.

  “I know this is a bit inappropriate but I was hoping I could join Redemption. I know you don’t know me well enough to recommend me but if you could put me in the pile for review. I’d be grateful.” Lana holds the documents and looks at Wiggs. She lets out a sigh and smiles slightly.

  “I’ll see what I can do. No promises though.” She replies.

  “I understand. Thank you!” Wiggs replies excitedly. La
na turns to leave.

  Chapter 31

  Survival Pt. 2

  A large metal door opens and a female Final Bloodline member enters the attic first. Five other members follow her. All armed with projectile automatic weapons. Vin stays completely still and silent in the middle of the room. The female member walks up to Vin who looks tattered and tired.

  “Well, what do we have here?”

  “A spy?” A member asks. The rest of the cult members surround Vin from the front.

  “He’s injured.” A member remarks. Vin remains quiet as they approach him. The female cult member approaches Vin to get a better look at his face.

  “My, he is a handsome one,” she says. One of the cult members looks at her.

  “Sister!” he exclaims. The female member ignores him and walks closer to Vin.

  “You should tell us who you are … if you value your life.”Vin breathes in slowly.

  “My name is Vin,” he says as he looks around the room.

  “How is it that you people know of the Avatar?” The members are shocked by his reply.

  “A spy! How else could he know?” one of them says. Another cult member points his gun at Vin. The female cult member places her hand on the gun and lowers it.

  “I am Kara Freeland. Sister of Ivan Freeland. Do you know where you are?” Vin shakes his head.

  “No … I just … fell.”

  “Then I must ask you. How do you know of the Avatar?” Kara says. Vin stumbles from his dizziness and sits on the ground to rest. Everyone remains on guard.

  “Well, I visited his world, so to speak. I know there are many candidates and only one will be chosen.” All the Final Bloodline members lower their weapons.

  “He knows and has been to his world?” Kara steps back shaking her head in disbelief.

  “You … Who are you? How do you know so much?” Vin looks at Kara.

  “I am a protector of the sprawls. And a—a man named Mizrahi told me all I know.” Some of the members drop their guns and gaze at Vin in amazement.