Ego/Appearance

The air began to feel...different. A nagging sensation kept looming around me, even before I got here. I looked around and behind me, but it was nothing. I knew this feeling. I felt like I was being watched.

"Hmm..." Daiya pondered, "Why should we believe you? And are you going to answer her question? These people are acting weird. Why would you come back to Nolan above ground if they're looking for you? They have checkpoints."

"Are you still taking those nasty pills?" Mira asked the three of us.

"No!" Experience III chimed in, "When I left that place, I'm glad I don't have to take them anymore! Nasty!"

"Good," Mira patted him on the head, "They can only track those who carry light. We don't have any-"

"Look, I'm going to be real," Daiya said, "You keep dodging all our questions. You're not making yourself any more trustworthy. If you don't explain yourself, I'm going to assume you are an enemy,"

Mira sighed. "Ok, ok. I understand. I'll show you what I mean,"

Mira stepped back and took a deep breath. They knelt down and placed their hand on the orange surface and closed their eyes. 

"Form: Aesthetic Block," they muttered while keeping their hand attached to the surface.

A rumble began to shake the ground. My feet became unstable as I lost my balance, and my entire body reverberated shockwaves as the orange surface began to rise. A platform emerged underneath all of our feet and lifted us in the air. 

"Wooooah! Haha, this is fun!" Experience III exclaimed.

"Ughhhhh, I hate heights." Daiya grumbled, grabbing her stomach.

We shot higher and higher, past the Eiffel Tower and some of the tallest buildings in Nolan-70 until we perched atop the apex of the city. It was beautiful. The canary atmosphere stretched endlessly above the skyline. All the buildings of Nolan-70 went on indefinitely as Experience III jumped through the air on to the building right next our platform, landing on a green arrow that marked the building's side.

We stood shoulder to shoulder with the highest point in the city.

"You can fly?!?!" Daiya screamed, "Get back here! What are you doing?!?!"

"I never said I couldn't, hehe!" Experience III yelled back. His voice sounded like an echo even in the sky. 

 I turned [light mode] on with my glasses to see the specs that formed beneath us. It was people.

"You don't need those anymore," Mira stated, "Take them off and see,"

I removed my glasses and realized I saw just fine. Nothing was pixelated, or grainy. My vision was clear for the first time in my life. "What's happening?"

Mira looked over the view, "Once we come closer to ourselves, our true selves, we get to see reality. Nolan isn't reality. They simply control it."

I threw my glasses over the platform and watched them fade in the distance. I didn't know life looked this way. So lucid, and transparent. Yet so fake at the same time. The smiles of those people, their interactions. The rust that sat on the edge of the antique tower. 

"Not reality?" I questioned. 

 My body started to heat up and freeze at the same time. Chills waved over my skin to down my spine. That sensation of being watched only began to heighten. 

"I told you; we're connected. An Experience is a lived moment that connects. Nothing in the world is separate. The more you accept who you are, the stronger we grow. Did Dr. Vex tell you anything about Nolan-70?"

Accept who I am? What exactly was that? Who I was. Could you truly accept something you didn't understand? Until the end, he left us in the dark. But I think now, I realize it was a good thing. Maybe I didn't have to know everything to accept it. Maybe he wanted me to find out the truth myself. Go further than he ever did. He never made it past Nolan-70. 

The bright orange platform glistened against the lemon sky as it hinted my reflection. It looked clear. My purple hair, the wrinkled skin I wore, the green eyes that stared too wide. It was there by random; all I had to do was accept it. Was this who I was? Imperfect?

All this time I believed that it was a curse. That I remembered. That I knew what it felt like to be something. An identity. It tied me to this strange world. Knowing I felt something jolted a shock in me, that I could remember. It was a gift.

"That doesn't explain anything," I remarked.

"We share the same vision. We follow the path Dr. Vex laid out. He was the only one who decided to question, he discovered Nolan wanted to create infinite cities with artificial humans!"

"Then why didn't Franz come here himself to tell us that?! I'll never forgive him, and you shouldn't either! After what he did-" Daiya retorted.

"He didn't want to get involved any further-"

"Bullshit!"

"I'm not saying to forgive Franz, I don't either, Daiya, but Dr. Vex is equally responsible. This is something bigger. They won't stop coming after us. Our abilities are a map for their project!  He's not innocent either," 

Mira faced us for the first time with a somber gaze. 

"Dr. Vex meant something to all of us. He was a trailblazer who saw through their surveillance, their image projection, yet tell us no teleportation or image projection! So we don't go beyond. Is Nolan truly endless or is the city is fake? These people are fake! He was killed but..." 

Experience III came jumping back in the footholds of the sky. As I saw him play and dance in the air, the eeriness of her words haunted me. 

 "...it made me realize that some pain is necessary for progress."

I killed someone. Or my body double did. Or was she me? I killed someone for the freedom of those prisoners. Was I wrong even though it felt necessary? Artificial humans...

"What? So, your options are either to become lapdog for Nolan or be a slave, or even worse, not even know you exist! They were slaves!' Daiya exclaimed, "They didn't deserve to be turned into test subjects for rebelling, to work with no end in sight..."

"But if we never suffered, if I never suffered, I wouldn't know who I am-"

"That's the dumbest shit I've ever heard-"

"Mira," I interrupted, "Why now?  Why tell us now?"

"Because..." they paused, "...this isn't humanity. They don't know so, I don't blame them. We can stop them. With our powers, we could find the lost history. We could stop Nolan and find the truth."

"And do what?"

A sharp shiver ran down the smalls of my back. The voice boomed from above as I shuffled around to see where it came from. Pressure in the air crushed me, nearly pinning the three of us to the ground. The side of my face was bound to the sleek orange platform and could only look up through my peripheral of my left eye. It was fear, that was that sensation I felt before!

He wore a brown suit and sported a purple tie with metal along the traces of his ears. I saw him straighten his coat tail down and wipe himself off. 

It was him.

"You truly have grown strong," he hissed, 

He removed his shades and stared at me from above with those violet eyes.

"You truly have."

***