Everybody Dies Twice

A dark green vintage cap lies in the cold wide floor of polished stone, ruined by a few long fractures, chipped like a chainsaw was pushed into it. These marks were not done by a huge and slow machine, but by a precise weapon, wielded by a human.The dusty floor reveals for a moment the shadow of a woman clashing with an scarily tall male figure, dressed in full tactical think armor, that fits perfectly his body. Orange sparks make the shadows disappear for a split second, and the small shock wave is enough for the cap and dust to be sent flying again.The woman, dressed in leather boots and a fashionable "Military Lolita" dress, covered by pieces of plain white plaques in her chest, back and limbs, decides to jump back from that encounter.The protective plaques are full of cracks and even have some components missing.The pale man smiles sadistically.His tactical dark protective suit has interconnected components, much less stylish, yet more functional. Although dusty and marked, it holds no vulnerable openings for the body. The tired woman, of blond long hair, takes a stance and wields the sword up, like a Kendo fighter ready to strike. He approaches slowly.The terrifying sound of laughter while wielding that thick blade put together with screws in an ugly looking "troll's kitchen knife" gets to her. She turns from a focused expression to a deeply worried one."Now is not the time for old techniques"In a change of heart the pretty one points the blade towards the enemy, with her elbows much higher, and legs in a wider stance.She slides a mechanism in the handle of her rather beautiful "katana-like" blade, and the smoke around it shows a sudden drop in temperature. The black armored soldier turns a gear in his belt, andthe abomination he wields appears to be under the same effect.He dashes in, and they fight again.His huge sword manages to build force even after the stillness of a even clash, and pushes her. The girl takes a step for balance, but before she could even react, the thick lump of metal is already back at her, with a raging shout of the man waving it. No style, no beauty, no techniques, no meaning; just pure force.The woman is pushed to the side by the the blade. It catches in her torso and slashes until the friction of the armor slows it down, not enough to protect her, but only to turn the cutting motion into a strong push.

The woman moans from the pain as she falls.The high pitched voice reminds the world of her nature. Her pure beauty and delicacy, but vulnerability in battle.What could possibly ever drive such a beautiful woman into this ugly battle? And the monster steps closer as she craws back in fear, pushing away the ground with her feet like a thousand hands try are trying to grab her. True fear is in that hopeless escape.The girl looks back after hitting her back in the wall, then down in her abdomen. It is possible to see a crest of a flag in her red stained soles.In contrast, his footsteps are nothing but common patterns, from simple mass produced leather boots, painting the floor after her "spilling of the bucket".In deep fear she begins to cry out, in a mix of denial and futile intimidation:"I can't die! I'm an immortal just like you!"The woman screams from the throat, like a raging child."I'll just come back, you'll see! I'll come back stronger than before!"He replies with an amusing tone:"Yes, yes, I already know... No need to shout now. Let me savor this victory."The soldier thrusts the sword into the ground and takes out a collapsible spear out of of his belt. From what looked like a strange shining silver gear, stretches out an oversized needle without its hole. That same sight creates determination within her, and she tries unsheathing her second blade, only to see it is broken in half. The expression is one of surprise and sadness. Her face falls down in agony and raises with tears and anger."I swear it, you and everyone from today will die. I will make sure of that! I'll come back just to haunt you! Do you hear me?! I can't die! No matter what world I wake up to, I'll go hunt you down!"He prepares the spear with both hands, aiming carefully to penetrate her face in a downward angle."For progress." He says with a wide smile.She lets out one last message, accepting the fate confidently, interrupted in her last words by the weapon thrusted into her eye:"I swear it... on every piece of my own soul, I will end all of this. I'll come back and kill you a-"

...


Inside a square container with a spherical glass window is a body of metal shaped like a woman, posed in fetal position, connected by several tubes in her spine, floating with a green viscous liquid and a few small bubbles.There is no flesh to witness, only silver looking metal in every part of it, with black in the gaps between the pieces. That "thing" can't even be called human. Perhaps a robot, an android, or a metallic doll, but no human lives inside that cube. At least not yet.The face holds the very same features of the woman just killed, but clear differences from the new material instead of the flesh seen in the other one. Its parts, separated by gaps, hold perhaps her most defining facial feature now, with lines coming out of her closed eyelids down to her jaw, like tears that can never be wiped. The cheekbones, the size, and nose are all equivalent in here.Small blue lights travel to the doll's spine through white wide but thin cables, as the ones seen in computer motherboards.They are connected by a mechanism of moving pieces that allow that exact purpose.The entire body is separated in pieces that take on the shape of muscles or bones of a common human being, and if inspected closely, small pistons, wheels and tubes of thick wires are between the gaps.

As inhuman as it looks, there is a mind inside of that doll.The flash of a memory, as bright and vivid as what she sees now, crosses her mind. The flicker of a grown woman wearing an beige apron on top of a dark blue dress of short sleeves, holding her small. She has long black straight hair tied low, and her smile emits comfort, like a warm bed or a slow hug.

Suddenly, she moves her head and opens her eyelid, in a desperate motion, like someone who just woke up from a nightmare, revealing black sclerae and shining yellow irises.Her mouth opens, letting out a lot of bubbles before the metal hands cover it up. The anxiety of the drowning sensation fills her mind instantly, leaving with little time to inspect the strange looking body. She begins searching for openings to get out.Pistons within her body tense up and make a gas noise in the same frequency of a beating heart, displaying the growing desperation for air.Staring through the window her hands placed on it, the metallic doll notices other cubes just like hers.She's inside a room of many exact cubes. An entire wall of circular windows reveals only her to be the one moving at all.

Another flicker. A blond short haired girl. A blond short haired girl. She's 11 at best. Wearing a suspender dark red dress on top of a long sleeved white vintage shirt. The little girl is thinking of a move to make on the chess board, then picks up a piece confidently and looks at her with a cunning smile, holding a laugh.

The pulsing sensation from the pistons remind her of the asphyxiation. There is no time to observe. Looking down in the window, she's not too far away from the ground.The plan is made. With the silver hands she begins hitting the glass.The anguish grows with each new hit, exerting more strength, but more damage is done to the very own body than to the window.The hands didn't even look fleshed out, they're rather skinny and bone-like, exposing the nature of a vessel that needs no muscle. Her left one is already done for, with fingers chopped, cracked bones and barely any function left. It's useless. Looking the opposite way, she finds her own feet, of similar characteristics to the creepy new limbs.Turning around, the woman places her back against the alloy and kicks the window with her heels.Her "pulse" quickens to that of a small animal. The kicks that started just shaking the whole structure now leave a few cracks in that tough glass. Her silver looking hair behaves as expected when agitated inside water, and few of her spine cables have already disconnected.The heels fracture and break away pieces, but that does not stop the motion for one bit.

For a fraction of a second, another memory comes. A handsome man of square jaw, full beard and black divided hair picking a tissue from his sleeve. The scene is so fast, she can barely see what he's wearing, but they seem to be sitting at a restaurant sharing dinner.

The sharp edge created by those same splits aid the escape, turning the small crack of the window into a bigger hole, making the liquid spill out substantially.She tries standing inside the cube to get air from the top.The agony makes her close to opening her mouth and breathing in a ton of that damn liquid, so she forces her right hand over it, as a few bubbles come out of it. Her expression doesn't change as much, perhaps curtesy of its new nature. No eyebrow or eyelid movement. It is uncanny to see such an expressionless being moving so anxiously. Wiping out the hair away with what's left of her broken hand, the lady gets close to kissing that prison's ceiling and starts gasping the air. Her lack of expressions juxtaposes the fast moving ribcage, working hard for the first breath of air.

In yet another vision, the same blond girl holds up a bunny plush with button eyes and huge ears. She speaks through it, as if playing with a puppet, but the voice cannot be heard properly. The memory sounds just like under water. The girl then places her head on the side of the toy, and nods with an expression of understanding towards it. The young girl lets out a smile while looking at whoever she's talking to, just the same as the last vision.

She slows down her breath. While having bent knees and in a half standing manner, the water has emptied down to the waist. She's unsure of whether time passed faster than in reality than in her flickering memory or if the water is just going down that fast."What's happening? Where am I?"After passing the level of a small hole inside the walls of alloy, the liquid reflects a strong red light. A small alarm beep sound begins ringing from the inside of the chamber, and the doll rushes to finish the job by taking the same position of when the first breach in the glass was made, ready to kick it again.

From pure white halls of silver, the clacking sound of a single pair of wooden high heels going as fast as it is possible without losing one's balance echoes. A figure mixed with the heels rather than wearing them walks. In a pure white long cloak closed by nature, with holes for the the arms that carry a smooth orange box with numbers and a huge white symbol painted on top. In movement, the cloak shows a feminine figure, but much slimmer and taller than the girl inside that chamber. It has no hair and no face, but a smooth surface on top. Every step is the exact same, like someone trained for ages to do that exact motion. There is no variation of speed, waver, balance or any of any kind. It walks in complete efficiency, no flaws or details.

The window shatters itself in big shards as the sharp heel strikes a few more blows, falling outside of the chamber.The metal lady moves awkwardly, like a newborn in an adult's body. The half broken hand slips, and half her torso is put outside.A crack of the waist gets punctured by a big shard of glass left in the window, awaiting for its creation to leave. Something is definitely breaking inside, and black drops of what could be her new blood fall and glide over the smooth surface of that same broken sphere. She feels pain, and keeps slipping trying to get away from that cut.It leaves the womb. Falling ungraciously, unplugging half of the remaining cables, and breaking the rest. The alarm is still there. The girl takes on the same pose of moments before her death as a being of flesh, but not in fear, only surprise and a bit of hurry towards understanding what she is, where she's at, and how to escape it.There are 3 lines of 7 cubes in 2 opposing walls. All filled with new bodies in different stages of formation. Once could see a structure resembling nervous systems in one, another with the bone like carcass of ribs, spine and skull, and others are more fleshed out, even more complete than she is now.But between the barriers that breed strange bodies into existence, exists a big circular window as well, showing the entire room to be a cube in measures as well. She craws uncomfortably towards it, given the fragmented limbs."I need to get out of here. This must be some kind of prison. That alarm must be calling another guard. If I can hide properly, I may be able to steal his weapon and get back." The thoughts fill her mind with clear resolve and hurry.Once the big panel is reached, the being cannot avoid being in awe, opening the mouth and leaning closer to the glass in surprise of the scenery before her.

"What kind of world am I in?" The shocking view steals her focus. It is a land of green, full of grass and white stone ways for walking. Several buildings of cubic structures in variable sizes are put together forming huge towers. Several silver figures walk on that land, dressed in minimalistic attires, mostly cloaks and capes. Some carry blades, which catches her attention, but they are strange in design and size. Nothing is like she's ever seen before, yet some familiarity remains.Lines of intersection between panels of iron, tubes and cracks make the otherwise plain white stone ways and stairs detailed and varied.In the horizon, she can see giants of weird silhouettes, some of huge torsos or uneven arms. They are perhaps like trolls or titans from fantasy-books, distorted and ugly in nature. Even if no details of the color can be seen, like shadows hidden behind a fog, the small tubes and cables all around them create the clear impression of being made out of pure iron.This cursed land shows no signs of flesh.

The door opens in horizontal manner, by automatic motion, detecting the faceless one outside.It walks at a slower pace towards the window. The liquid on the floor is not enough to undo its balance. Still in awe of her sight, the woman does not notice the walking machine. It kneels and speaks, in the tone of a sweet voice distorted by microphone quality. It is clearly not human."Can you understand me?"She looks back, in shock. A nurse-like android stares at her."Lower soul, can you understand me?"On the edge, the woman pushes it back, making a raging grunt. Before the robot can reposition itself, its head gets cracked open by an orange box, held like a stone in primal and savage manner by the one closest to being human in that room.She gets up and starts limping away from that room.The alarm remains, and the red light is reflected from the pure black smooth face of the droid.

"Think! Think! They must have brought me to their country. And that's just their prison. But everything is so different... this is nothing like my other deaths.No. It has to be!"She ignores completely new world seen outside. A desperate way to cope with the current situation, strongly denying any possibility of the most likely scenario: she has awakened into a completely different world.

A beeping red alarm starts to ring along the white halls. "I need to escape."She keeps walking, in a hurry, leaving the trail of black from the open wound.Several automatic doors are crossed in a rush until she finds the smaller opening for a staircase.

She decides to hide behind a door and opens the orange box. There are long white cables and a small sphere of glass trapped inside a cube of white metal. It's like a miniature of chamber she just broke out of. She smiles."A smaller prison? What do they lock up inside of it? Must be pretty small..."Searching further, she notices a few silver bright cubes. Upon holding it up to inspect, the item starts melting and mixing with her hand. She shakes it away, but it won't come off. It is absorbing her, like an alien, reshaping the hard once broken into a brand new one, more human-like. Marveled by it, she takes another one and applies on her heel, but before the entire process could end, multiple clacking sounds scare her, and she begins going down the stairs faster than ever, and the foot reshapes into a brand new one. In the halls above, three identical robots walk in sync.Two hold together a large structure by its handles, resembling an engine, yet much more modern in its design, having clean tubes and a small screen on the front.One of them walks in the front, holding a smaller box and cables in the same hand, all connected to the larger thing behind.The steps hold a red light warning, buzzing loudly too.They stop. From below, she sees them peeking The robots get down in that circular stairs, always in sync with flawless balance despite the footwear.In contrast, the metal doll holds tightly that box against her chest and sprints. There is flaw, emotion and purpose.She notices another robot coming up. Looking up, the 3 from before have not slowed down at all. She starts hurrying down even faster, and takes up an angry expression.With no hesitation, she jumps down at the sight of the single one, aiming for its head with the box. But the adversary protects itself, putting its hands up. The impact from the fall is enough to make them roll down a couple of stairs, and the robot catches her by the new formed heel as she attempts to escape. "Lower soul, can you understand me?""Let me GO!!!" She tries kicking it like the chamber, but it's not as effective to do so against a moving target. "Do you remember anything?"The robot asks in the same distorted voice, never letting go of her foot.The woman reaches for a cable, close due to the opened box from the failed attack.She reaches closer to the robot with the wire wrapped around both hands, and places it around the robot's neck. "Do you remember anything?"The robot ceases any reaction of animosity.

The woman remembers for a second the same scene of the young blond girl playing with a plushie. Now the voice isn't muffled in water, but it doesn't last long enough to hear anything.

She clenches her metal teeth, and says enraged:"How could I ever forget.""Lower soul mentally ready, memories remain pure. Engaging forcefully."The faceless starts moving fast and ruthlessly, first breaking the wire with a single hand, proving its unnatural strength. "What?"She's taking by surprise with the sudden change of speed and movement.

The 3 from above start rushing the stairs in jumps, now out of sync, with the leader in the front.In a single moment, the sides are turned, and the robot has her by the neck on the floor. Trying to take its hands off is useless. She can't compete in pure strength. By grabbing the robot's box (being held tightly before), she attempts an attack in the head, but the robot blocks it very fast, and takes the opportunity to grab wrist and and pins it down. "Why is she so fast now?"She tries reacting with the other arm by punching, but the smooth black head can easily dodge it, using it once again to hold that same hand. The 3 come in a leap to the sight of a metallic woman who is now facing down, with both arms locked behind her back by a robot sitting on top. They position themselves around and start forcefully opening the parts of her spine, just like it was in the chamber."Energy ready"."Data ready.""Connecting to the lower soul." It plugs the cable through a small hole in her nape. "Get off me!""Finishing procedure manually. Memory blocking beginning in 3...""Memory? No, wait.""2...""I said get off me!""1..."

A flicker memory of the woman with an apron reappears, tucking her to bed."Good night, ALice."She kisses her.

The bright irises stop shining, and body ceases all movement. ALice is asleep.


...