Chapter 9

Jason stood frozen in place; his hands started to shake as his breathing grew rapid. “...Are you serious!?” He grabbed the man’s shoulder. “Do you really have a way back?”

The man smiled, moving his hands from Jason’s collar. “I wouldn't have said it if I didn't, my friend.”

Biji grabbed Jason’s hand, pulling him away and trying to pull him along, speaking with an uncharacteristic venom as she glared at the cloaked man. “Jason, let's go now.” Taken aback, Jason paused for a moment. “What’s wrong, Biji?”

“This guy’s bad news.” She pointed to the insignia on the man's cloak: a fist holding a sword. “He’s a member of Soldier's Hand. They style themselves as a military for the commoners, but all they do is go around and extort them.”

“That’s a bit of an exaggeration, don’t you think?” the man said, removing his hand from Jason’s shoulder, before briefly turning to regard Biji. “Besides, I’ve asked only to speak to your friend here, Raksha, so if you’d please leave us to our chat.”

After silently thinking for a moment, Jason smiled at Biji before pointing up the road. “Head home with Uddi, Biji. I'll only be a minute.”

“You can't actually want to hear him out, do you?” She said, her tone going from fury to almost a warble. “Trust me, I’ll meet back up with you guys in a minute.” Jason laughed in a relaxed tone, waving her off as he then turned to face Nikolai.

The look of worry on her face persisted, but Uddi grabbed her shoulder, softly pulling her away. “See you back at base, friend,” he said, a knowing smile on his face. “We’ll be waiting for you!”

“See you in a bit, Uddi. I'll be right there, promise.”

The two then walked off, Biji continuing to look solemnly over to the two of them for a moment before continuing up the hill.
…

The two young men sat down on a retaining wall on the side of the street. Watching the bustle of the Raksha in Shin-je for a while. For a moment, they simply sat and listened to the bustle of the city and the shops before Nikolai decided to speak up.

"Before finding myself here, I used to work at an ice cream parlor. I'm from a small town in Austria; you've likely never heard of it." he said, chuckling lightly.

Jason casually rested his hands in the snow behind him. “You’re probably right; geography was never my strongest subject.”

Nikolai laughed. “It wasn’t mine either; I left higher education after my first year. Life was good enough with the money I was making from work.” Nikolai smiled to himself as he ran his hand across the stone wall. “Tell me, Jason, what was life like for you back in the real world?”

“Hard.” I was a student on an athletic scholarship; full ride,” he muttered. Nikolai’s tone changed to match the smile on his face. “Well, that sounds lovely! You must be a very talented man in that case.” Jason didn't answer, allowing his thoughts to drift as he watched Raksha walk past them.

"Honestly, I wouldn't call it talent. The only gift I had for basketball was my height, and even then, one or two of my teammates are taller.” He sighed. ‘It might’ve served me better if I stuck with MMA instead. I only chose basketball because I thought it would support me and Yuzo better.’

Coming out of his head, Jason properly shifted his focus to Nikolai. “Anyway, it feels like you’re stalling. How can we get back to earth?” Jason's voice grew irritated. “You’re a blunt man, Jason; I was just attempting to establish rapport.” Nikolai then stood up, flinging himself from the wall and landing on the ground ahead of them.

“Very well then. I am the leader of an organization called the Soldiers' Hand, as you heard. We have made it our business to essentially be a people's military, despite what your friend said, and I’ve tried my best to make sure we help where we can. However, recently we have figured out the secret to the few humans among us returning home.” He smiled, looking up at Jason with the same intensity he had met him with earlier.

“You see, when a being here reincarnates, their soul tears open a path to a new realm. So the idea goes, "If we “ride” their souls through the tears in the realms, we can eventually make it home.”

“... So, we just find people who are about to die? That doesn't seem particularly foolproof.” Jason scoffed. “Not quite. There needs to be a sufficient amount of room for another, non-soul entity to get through, you see.” Nikolai knit his eyebrows. “It would require a few… sacrifices.”

“...How many ‘sacrifices’ are you talking about?” Nikolai’s face twisted, turning away from Jason’s gaze. “... to open a tear strong enough and lasting long enough for us to leave, close to a hundred.”

“A hundred!? You seriously came here to pitch me that and expected me to say yes?” Jason stood, his fists balling up. “You are getting bogged down in logistics, my friend. Do you not want to go home?”

“Not by killing innocent people!” he yelled down to the now sullen man. “Besides, I have a reason I'm here, so I can't just leave.”

Nikolai pinched the bridge of his nose. “Jason, you can't tell me you believe that Raksha are real, living beings, do you?” he said, walking around the wall to meet Jason at eye level.

“Be it a computer, a government initiative, or some collective hallucination. As someone who has been down here for years potentially, these creatures are far from autonomous. They aren't real. In fact, I’d venture to say, this is all one big game!” Nikolai threw his hands out dramatically, looking up at the sky as Jason watched on, unamused.

Ignoring his ramblings, he looked up at Nikolai pointedly.

“Wait, you’ve been here for years? When did you get sucked down here?”

“April of 20XX,” Nikolai said, causing Jason to shoot up.
‘Shit, that means he was brought down here at the same time as me and Yuzo…’ he thought to himself.

“What about the Scorched? Are you going to leave them down here? Apparently they used to be people.” Jason said, wringing his hands.

“Raksha propaganda is simply a product of the game,” he said, his tone staying flippant. “If notable for anything, they might serve as sacrifices to return us home.” He began to pace around Jason. “I’ve even killed a substantial amount of them myself. They offer quite a bit of “EXP,” he chuckled. Jason swiftly grabbed Nikolai’s collar, staring into his dim eyes before shoving him away. "... I'm not interested in your plan. I’m going to find my brother and figure out another way out of here.”

“You’ll understand soon enough, Jason, and when you do, you’ll seek me out. I guarantee it.” Nikolai smirked as he fixed his cloak, throwing his hood over his head before walking away. “Until then, though, I will allow you to enjoy yourself here.”

“A tip: the women here are quite delicious if you find the right ones.”
Jason genuinely couldn't tell if, by his predatory tone, he found them attractive or was eating them. “Farewell for now, Jason! We will meet again.” Nikolai waved goodbye before vanishing into the crowd.

‘What a prick.’ Jason mumbled.

…

As Jason walked back, Nikolai’s words bounced around in his head.

“You can't believe that Raksha are real, can you?” His thoughts drifted towards Biji and Uddi, Panka, and even Loba. ‘If you had asked me before today, I might have said no. But after seeing how they live, the common district, all of it, I can't believe this is all a simulation.’

‘Even if they aren't real, I don't want to believe it.’ He grabbed his head, scratching his scalp and ruffling his hair. ‘What am I talking about?! Of course I want this to be fake! I want to wake up on Yuzo’s floor, or even better, in my own bed, and this whole shitty situation was just a really long, really elaborate dream. It'd explain why I keep blacking out at least!’

He then sighed, putting his hands back in his pockets and fiddling with the broken twine of the string from his hammer. ‘Who am I kidding?’ A smile stretched across Jason’s face. ‘This is the most alive I've felt in years. Even if it was a dream, I want to stay asleep a bit longer. Maybe just long enough to find Yuzo; that’d be a nice dream.’

…

Jason eventually arrived at the home base, with Biji and Loba standing outside.

“Took you long enough to get back, kid! I thought you’d decided to side with those freaks.” Loba patted Jason on the back hard, sending him flying forward. “You jerk, I thought we were cool now. What was that for?!” Jason quickly caught his balance before regaining his composure.

“Anyway, nah. The guy wants to do some seriously messed up stuff; I’m not interested.”

“I told you the guy was a creep, you know. If you’d listened to me, I wouldn't have had to stand out here waiting for you to get back.” Biji said, punching Jason softly in the arm.

“You didn't have to wait for me to begin with, you know, and besides, I got some useful information about the Soldier’s Hand, so I’d call it worth it.” Jason lightly punched Biji back.

The two continued to bicker as they walked inside, being greeted with Panka and Uddi when they arrived.

‘Y’know, this place really isn't all that bad.’