A New Divide (Science Fiction) (13 page)

              Helena wrapped her arms around me. The sound was deafening, like the turbine engines of a half-light reactor. I had never been more frightened in my life. What an awful mistake I had made, or at least that's what I thought, until I looked up to the ceiling. That light soothed my soul.

              A bright blue light was emanating from the center of the dome. It was glowing brighter, and brighter, the sound boomed, louder, and louder. Then the dome began to shatter like glass. I covered Helena with my body, as the glass began to fall.

              However, I shouldn't have been afraid.

              This glass-like substance fell upon us, and it felt like soft leaves when they ever so slightly touched our skin. The shimmering crystals fell around us, and we were lifted up very slowly towards the light. Helena grabbed both of my hands; we were holding on for dear life. I saw her say, "Don't let go!" when the light had completely covered the room and the sound had made our world inaudible.

              Then, suddenly, it stopped.
              I opened my eyes and the light and sound quickly faded away. Helena continued to grasp my hands very tightly but she stopped as we stood up. Our jaws dropped to the floor when we saw the world that was before us.
              "It's . . ."
              "A different dimension."
              Helena pressed her hands against her face and almost began to cry. We were completely at the whims of a world whose beauty was almost too much to fathom.
              We stood atop a mountain looking out at a vast world completely filled with abundant life. Kilometers of fields full of vibrant-colored flowers stretched to a golden horizon where three suns rose in the distance. Rivers intervened between the fields as gorgeous creatures galloped across its plains. Then it struck me, like the soft wind brushing against my face. This was Remora.
              "Men have dreamed of this place, and they have caused insurmountable counts of suffering in the attempt to reach it. I think they fail to realize that it is not a world you can find, for it is everywhere. It is a door that one must open." I knew that to be the voice of Cyrus. And just as quickly as we had arrived, we were brought somewhere else.
              We then awoke on the cold marble floor of a kitchen; it all looked so familiar to me. That familiar feeling again, the one where I blacked out on Rayden. That was exactly how I felt, except I was able to stand. I was not in pain either. Neither was Helena, but her focus was attracted to a man sitting across from us, cross-legged in a chair, sipping on a cup of tea.

              "Good day, chaps. Cup of tea for the lady and the gent?"

              "I . . . uh . . . I don't get it. Why are you talking like that?"

              "Yeah, what is that? It sounds atrocious."

              The man laughed and he modified his voice, is was that of Cyrus. It was strange seeing him without his mask, and in the form of a true man.

              "So you are human?"

              "Of course I am, Collin. I was born in Great Britain in the year 2025, and that was our accent, and our mannerisms."

              "Cyrus? Is that you?"

              "Yes, Helena, it is me. I took a form of an inviting, and nonthreatening individual—like I was before I left Mother Earth."

              I couldn't help but shake the feeling that I had been in this place before. So I rudely interrupted the conversation between Helena and the scrawny Cyrus in the chair.

              "Cyrus?"

              "What is it, my brother?"

              "What is this place?"

              "Ha, you tell me you don't recognize your own home?"

              Just then a four-year-old version of myself ran in front of me followed by my father. We were just being ridiculous, having fun as father and son. He snatched me up and fought playfully back. I wanted to say that
they
looked like ghosts, but it was us.

              We were the ghosts, peering into a past memory I had, my earliest memory. A tear rolled down my face. It was so beautiful, and it angered me that Cyrus was showing me this. So I clutched my fist during the conversation where I would learn of my true nature, what my mutation meant.

              "Why have you done this, Cyrus? How are you doing this?"

              "You should be asking what and when."

              "We are looking into the past?"

              "Exactly."

              "I will ask you again, where are we, Cyrus?"

              "Your house, but not really, just a window into it—our memories. We can never see our future if we are blind to our past, we can never forget where we came from. Like that item hanging around your neck. It reminds you of a time that you never wanted to let go of. Maybe that little notion will give you the courage to do what is necessary in the trails that lie ahead."

              "I couldn't agree more," I replied as I clutched my pendant.             

"This place is, well I wouldn't exactly call it a place. I found it when I transcended my human body and entered the digital world. It was like we were just scratching the surface, surfing the web, long ago. Once I transferred my consciousness onto a digital imprint and inserted myself into a different world, all of the questions I sought answers for were found.

              "When I found myself in cyberspace I was able to traverse that
channel
and at the end of it I found a sort of door. It took hundreds of years, but I figured out a way to open it, and this
place
was on the other side. The definition of place is: a particular position or point in space. Whereas here, there is no point, there is no position, there are no limits. This plain of existence exists as a gateway to infinity, everything is accessible. It's the space in between
all
of the spaces. The higher dimension. I call it
the Realm
."

              There was a pause. I think he knew we needed to let that information soak in before we could continue onward with the next question.

              "It's like a wormhole?"

              "Very good, Helena, but like an infinite amount of wormholes, looking through everything that ever has existed, and that exists this day."

              "Bullshit, man, there's no way. This is a trick, no way this is possible. "

              "You want proof?"

              "Yes."

              "Fair enough, Collin. Let me show you."

              Cyrus pressed his hand against my forehead. It wasn't until then that I realized Helena and I were out of our own bodies. Our consciousness had transferred projections of ourselves onto this infinite plain of existence. Cyrus showed me that in less than a second.

              A world, a plain and eternal realm. And when I opened my eyes it was full of light and love. Light was constructed in geometric patterns and they were rotating within themselves. I can't give a physical description to what he showed me, because there is simply no reference that could be made to anything in our relative existence.

              It is such a strange way to describe entering a space and feeling nothing but love. This "place" I entered was impossible to describe with our limited vocabulary. I wasn't even watching this,
I was experiencing it.
It was beyond all comprehension.

              One thing I learned though: the patterns of light and color showed a connection to everything. I could see it all, everything at once—everything happening right now before me; Arcoh's vicious intentions preparing for the next strike, The Raydenites still fighting to put out the flames on Minerva, the current ramblings of the Remoran fleet, and billions of others whose lives were about to be in grave peril.

"Collin? Can you see?"

              "Yes."

              "That is all the proof you need. My people think of me as a god, but they are wrong. We are not gods, Collin, we are evolved. Technology is the light that illuminates our path to evolution. I jumpstarted my evolution long ago; it meant my survival. But you, you were the inevitable collision between technology and human genetics. You were born with this form you hold, you merged with technology at your conception. That is the only reason how you can see, and how you can be here with me, Helena is not with us. You wanted proof? Here it is, my brother."

              My past and present started to make a lot more sense to me at that moment. "How do you know all this?"

              "I see everything."

              "What if the people in Eden knew—what you knew—about me?"

              "Your life would be in great danger. Or I should say, your freedom."

              "I thought you said I was immortal."

              "It is unstable at the moment, but you will learn how to use it. With the discipline of time it shall come to you. So, now that you can see what your friends and enemies are up to, what do you think?"

              Sensory overload, overwhelming amounts of information, and constant emotional triggers. I should have freaked out, I should have wept, I should have felt
something
, but I was not afraid at any point, I was inspired."Yeah, I don't know how to interpret my emotions right now. I have one focus. So what should I do?"

              The entire time I spent in the Realm I couldn't see Cyrus. But I heard his voice, he was all around me. I knew I was out of my body, because I could only see the perpetual light, the encompassing love, and the passage of time. The Triangle concept in which all things apply.

              "Arcoh is going to cause an event that will be forever remembered as one of the darkest chapters in human history. He plans to divide free will from humanity. He has accomplished this in his own nation, and now he will try and spread his influence to all of Eden."

              "Just like Mark, and his great expedition."

              "Now you see how 'right' and 'wrong' are just words. Mark is a good man, with a great heart, and because of this, he will lose to Arcoh. Mark doesn't know it yet, but he has so much more to lose. Arcoh is smarter than our Good Commander, so I will offer you a choice."

              "I want to do whatever I can to save him. And to kill the man who murdered my people."

              "Do not let your hatred dictate who you are, Collin. No matter what you choose, there will be devastating consequences. You will have to make sacrifices you'd never imagine."

              "It's better than living my life half fulfilled, Cyrus."

              "Should you choose to seek this path, I truly believe that you will learn what it will mean to become a man with purpose. Here in the Realm, I can teleport you anywhere in Eden you would like to go, should you choose to live a nice quiet life—though it may not bring you solace—you may end up living a life carried along with nothing but regret. That being said, Helena is to be teleported to the Alexandria, where Mark wants you to meet him, to join him on his great expedition"

              "Why is Mark so interested in me?"

              "Because he believes in you, more than he believes in himself. You were brought here so I could help you understand, so I could show you this place. But what we discussed does not leave here. Now what do you choose?"

              After the purge I want to seek vengeance for my people. I quickly came to that—the idea of facing Arcoh by myself was a death wish. That's what kept me begging for a quiet life away from all of this. I now knew what was to unfold. We were about to witness an unprecedented event that would be felt by the entire human race, and I was given an opportunity to change the fate of that. It was obvious what my decision was.

              "Bring me to Mark."

              "Are you sure?"

              "More than I have ever been in my life."

              Instantly we were back peering through that window of time. I now knew what my mission was: I had to see how this act of retribution would play out. There was no stopping it. Mark's and Arcoh's vehicles of ambition were already too far gone to catch.

              I held Helena's hand and she clutched mine tightly. I felt her stare up at me in my moment of enlightenment. Oh enlightenment, a moment of epiphany where the way you think or perceive any certain aspect of reality is changed forever.

              "Collin. Good luck, my brother."

              "Thank you, Cyrus."

              "Should you ever need a favor in your quest, I shall do all I can to offer assistance. Never forget who you are and what you came from, because that will give you what you need to change the fate of that madman's desire."

             
I felt that whirring in my head
again, but I was not afraid, because I knew where we were going to end up. We were out of the temple and aboard the Alexandria. We were teleported to a stray hallway, and Helena and I collapsed as we tried to catch our breath.