Vol. 4, Chapter 64: Before the Beginning

The summoning of the [World Devourer Woods] nearly killed me. No, perhaps it did. My body, still recovering from mana drain, was forced to summon something that took more mana than I had available at the time. I've used more of my spells than I ought to before the summoning, you see. If the [World Devourer Woods] hadn't intervened upon being summoned, I doubt I would still be here. It was at that moment, the moment when it came into contact with me, I begin to see messages flying across my darkened vision.

"[Error], [Error], [Error], [Error], [Error]," it said.

The H.U.D., the system embedded within me, was trying to break through something. This has happened before, and looking back, those were the times I've came into contact with a Keeper as well. The red texts of [Error]s continue on ceaselessly until it completely filled my dark vision with red. Then, after god knows how long, a speck of green pierced through the red, and as the [Error] messages cleared, only an [Access Granted] remained.

By the time I realized it, I was in a white room, sterile and sealed off from the rest of the world. Nothing alive is allowed in here without authorization, not even the tiniest bacteria, for fear of what was kept within that tiny white world.

"Oh, good to see you again."

Greeting me was a girl, the same girl I see each time I enter that place. She still looked the same as she was the first time I met her, neither thinner nor fatter nor taller. She remained the same as always, with the only indication of time passed within that room being the number of plushies she had piled up throughout who knows how long.

"Would you like to join me for tea? Just pretend, of course, I'm not allowed to have regular food, not that you could drink it if it's real, so it's all the same right, Mr. Phantom."

"Mr. Phantom? You mean me?"

"Who else? You're the only phantom I can see clearly right now."

"Wouldn't you get me confused with some other phantoms then?"

"I usually know the others by name, and you're the only one that can hear me. The others not so much. You're the only one, Mr. Phantom, the only one who will look back into this moment."

"Look back?"

"Yes, and I'm looking forward to it."

The girl winks at me and chuckled mischievously as if she said something funny.

"Oh? You didn't get it? Well, that's a shame. Regardless, would you come and join me, I saved a seat."

The girl was sitting at a pure white tea table, looking somewhat different from what she had previously. This one looked as if it had been carved from wood, yet, just by looking at it, I know it's not wood or any material I can identify. Perhaps I might get a good guess in if I could just touch it, but as a phantom, that's not quite possible.

Around the table are stools matching the table's color, there were five of them, one for the girl, four other for her assortment of plushies. Among the toys, there was one that looked like a lion, one that looked like a snake, one that looked to be a person lacking in any features aside from the one giant eye in its head, and one that was a tree.

"A tree?"

"I made it because they said I couldn't have one, you know, the people in lab coats. They told me that living things become strange when they're near me for too long. I thought a plant would be fine, but they said it's still too dangerous. So I made this instead."

I went closer to take a better look. The plushies' texture gave off the impression of being nice and soft, but I noticed something rather strange.

"It's well made. I can't even see the seams."

"That's because there is none."

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean indeed?"

The girl snapped her fingers and at that moment, the air, no, space itself bent and shifted, and from nothing, nothing at all, a sixth stool appeared before me.

"How did you do that?"

I felt it, instinctively. I could tell that this was different from the magic I've seen in Elgardia. This was something of a completely different nature, something I can't quite put a finger on with the logic I'm accustomed to.

"I just convinced 'them' that there's a chair there."

"Who? The scientists?"

"'Reality', I guess you can say."

I didn't get it, I still don't, but I do believe the gist of it was that this girl can alter reality in some measures. Shocked is not the word I would use here. I was already passed that. After all, strange things have been happening all the time these days. This was just par for the course. I think at some point, I just got tired of being surprised and went, "okay, sure, whatever you say."

"Well, no need to mull over what you don't understand. I don't get it either. I was just telling you what the others told me."

If even she doesn't understand it, then there's no point in digging further. She's the only one I could talk to over there, the only one aware of my existence.

I sit down at the stool, only then realizing that I didn't need one. I was but a phantom, I couldn't touch a thing and nothing could touch me, not even gravity. And so, I merely floated there, hovering above the pure white stool matching the pure white table, enjoying imaginary tea out of a white teacup that I couldn't even lift. Really, why'd they all had to be the same color, if it weren't for the shadows cast, I wouldn't be able to tell if there's anything within the room. Or perhaps that's what the girl was going for, an uncanny room with furniture you can't quite see. It sounded like something she would be into.

"You look bored."

"Well, I can't deny that the tea is kind of bland."

The girl chuckled.

"That's because there is no tea, silly."

"Can't you just make them appear like you did with the stool?"

"You mean tea? I can't, I never had one before so I can't quite get an accurate picture in my head. I do know coffee though, my dad drank them all the time, but I don't understand why he liked it so much. It was bitter..."

The girl wore a bitter smile as she spoke, probably thinking of the family and the life she was taken from.

"Besides, I really shouldn't create anything that's alive or was alive. I told you right, living thing become strange when they're near me. Who knows what would happen if I make them myself."

"That would be terrifying, I suppose, for someone to just create life."

"I know, right."

But, what about the plushies though? Said thought came to my head. They look like they're stuffed with cotton, which came from a plant. Or is she not aware that cotton is a plant and therefore whatever imitation of it she creates might not even be organic in the first place. It could be that when it comes to her creations, whatever she thinks is alive, will be alive and whatever she thinks is not will not be.

Once more, I gaze down at the teacup I couldn't lift. These as well must have been created by the girl. I couldn't tell what they're made of, if they're made of any 'real' material at all. Perhaps because of how sterile the room was, there's not a speck of dust on it. However, there's something about it, a certain sense of wrongness with this object's existence. In my curiosity, I reached out, reflexively trying to touch it, even though I knew I couldn't.

"I didn't know what I expected."

I couldn't touch it after all. I knew that, but I guess I was getting kind of bored.

"Oh, but you really ought to be careful, if you leave your body defenseless like that, someone might try to snatch it from you."

I look back to the girl, just as I can see into her space, she can see into mine, but clearly, she was more aware of my situation that I was hers.

"What do you mean?"

"That body you're using, someone is trying to take it. I can see him, skulking about like a thief waiting for someone to leave the windows open."

"What does this person look like?"

"He looks... I do wonder. What does he look like? I can't quite see him clearly."

Maybe it was just my imagination, but all of a sudden, there was sadness in her eyes. I thought that it couldn't be. I don't think I've done anything to warrant that reaction.

I remained on that stool she created, toying with the teacup with hand, watching my fingers go through it like I'm some sort of ghost.

I'm not really a ghost, am I? I contemplated briefly. Maybe Elgardia is just some kind of strangely elaborate purgatory. It's certainly not impossible, but well, I'd like to think I'm still alive with my very much alive body sitting in front of a monitor back home.

"You look bored."

"I am. I can't even touch anything after all."

"Maybe you should become a poltergeist."

"A poltergeist!?"

"Oh, don't you know. They're ghosts that mess with you by picking up things and tossing them around."

"No, I know what they are, but I'm not even dead. At least, I want to think I'm not dead. I'm not that old yet."

"But here you are, a phantom."

I certainly couldn't argue with that logic, not that there was much logic to begin with. Besides, from her tone, she was definitely teasing me. her words were worth a grain of salt at best.

"Well, since you're going to be stuck here for a while, feel free to enjoy what little I have here. I doubt it'll matter much if you mess with this room a bit."

"If you don't mind."

"I don't."

Like so, I sent the day within that room, occasionally following her as she was called out to her routine experiments. I watched the various kinds of machinery interact with her and listened to the mumbling scientists across the walls, but in the end I couldn't understand all their jargon and no less closer to getting a full picture on the girl's situation. By the end of the day, I began to fade away, a sign of me waking up on this side.

***

When I fell asleep again, predictably, I found myself within that white room once more. This time, however, the girl had a rather restless look about her, something she tried to hide but failed miserably.

"Why so fidgety?"

"Nothing, it's nothing really."

That was the third time I asked her, and again, she gave an unconvincing answer.

I wondered what it was that got her to be in such a mood. If only I could look around, I might be able to guess, but my movement within this space was restricted. I could only go so far away from her, or rather, I could only go as far as her awareness could reach, which meant that at the moment, I was confined to the room and just beyond the walls, which had a room with monitors displaying all sorts of graphs and charts, and hallways that seemed to stretch on endlessly. When I asked her how she was able to know what was beyond the walls, she told me that she just does, in the same way that I could just hear and see she was able to know what was occurring around her in a five meter radius.

Like before, I spent the day within her room. Maybe it's because I was dreaming of this place more often as of recently, but I could feel that my time there was getting longer, and even after night had fallen, I still remain within that white room without signs of fading.

Sometime after nightfall, without any warning, the room became pitch black. The lights had been shut off, and it was not only happening within the room, the hallways and the monitoring room as well. Only the monitors remained turn on, running on back up batteries I reckon. However, even though they're on, their screens were frozen, the graphs, the fluctuating numbers, the recording of the white room from the security cameras, they're all frozen in place. At first, I thought that whatever had caused the blackout may have damaged the sensitive electronics as well, but after taking a look at the one who was supposed to be sitting there, watching over everything within that room, I realized there's more to it. After all, that wasn't normal, not at all. The man, he was drinking you see, drinking what looks to be coffee. However, that man, like the images recorded from the security cameras, was frozen, and with him, the liquid he's consuming. It wasn't as if the liquid had turned into ice, but it was just frozen there, in the middle of flowing into the man's mouth. It was, essentially, as if time itself had been frozen.

I returned to the room, searching through the darkness. I wanted to call out, but then I realized that I do not know the girl's name. I could call her 'Zero', as the researchers have, but somehow it didn't feel appropriate, thinking that she might hate that name.

Then, from the void came light, a light without any source. The light itself was the source, just a floating ball of light in the middle of the room. With the ball of light, the room was lit as if it was daytime, though regardless of day or night, the room has always been lit the same, with the lights turning off only when the girl goes to sleep.

"What's going on in the other room?"

"The other room? I have no idea what you're talking about?"

From her mischievous tone, it wasn't hard to tell that her ignorance was feigned. However, before I got to probe her further, suddenly, another figure appeared in the room, no, not just one, but two.

At first, I thought that they were something created by the girl, but that moment came and went the instant I realized these two were people, children even.

"It's just like you said, Zero, the thunderstorm knocked out the power."

The one speaking was a boy, blonde with deep blue eyes. He wore clothing akin to what patients being kept in a ward would wear and they were white from top to bottom with the words 'P-009' printed on both the front and the back. For a moment, I contemplated what 'P' meant. Was it 'patient', or perhaps 'prisoner'?

"Psion. It's Psion."

The girl said out of nowhere, her eyes turned towards the empty space in which the phantom that was I hovered. It was as if she had read my mind.

"Zero, who are you talking to? It's not Seven is it?"

The blond boy had a look of worry around him from the start and his brows only furrowed further since he arrived at the room.

"Hey Seven, if you're listening, you better not tell on us, you got it!"

Jumping out and pointing into an empty space is a red-headed girl with an attitude, about the same age as the boy, maybe ten or younger. She wore the same clothes as the boy and on hers 'P-006' was printed.

"It's not Seven, it's the friend I've been talking about, Mr. Phantom."

The girl, Zero, assured them with a smile, talking to them as if they were younger siblings.

"Oh cool, is he breaking out with us too?"

"He sure is, isn't that right?"

She looked towards me, asking despite knowing that my presence here revolved entirely around her and that I can only remain within the sphere of her awareness.

"If we do this, you'll never get out again. You know that, right? They'll know your reach has extended beyond this room. They'll put you somewhere else, somewhere more secure."

The blond boy was getting more anxious by the second. You could tell that he didn't like this idea.

"They're never going let me out anyways. I need to get out and it must be today."

Hearing that, the boy took a deep breath and sighed deeply.

"Then let's do while we can, once the backup generators kick in and the security system returns to full functionality, it'll only take so long before they realize we're gone."

"Right, now just give me a minute. I'm just about to leave a decoy."

Upon Zero's words, the air shifted and the space beside her twisted. From that twisted space, 'it' emerged. What was 'it'? I don't know, just looking at it, I had no idea what 'it' was. I know what 'it' was supposed to be: A decoy. 'It' was, as far as I can tell, a perfect copy of Zero. In fact, if I didn't remember their positions, I wouldn't be able to tell which was the real one and which was they decoy. That was how real 'it' looked. However, 'it' wasn't alive, that I was sure. Her eyes were devoid of consciousness, as if 'it' was staring into a dream, if 'it' could even dream. In my curiosity in regards to 'it' I was tempted to stick my face into her body and take a look at the insides, but since she was a perfect copy, it felt inappropriate to do so in front of the person 'it' was based on.

"Oh wow, it looks just like you."

The red-headed girl was apparently quite impressed, her eyes glancing at the copy up and down.

"It... it really does..."

The blond boy agreed, but with less amazement and more abhorrence. If I had to choose who I relate with more, it was definitely with the boy.

"Alright, Six, come here."

My ears perk up upon hearing that, but I quickly realized that she must be referring to the red-headed girl, the one with 'P-006' on her clothes. The red-headed approached Zero as she was told and allowed Zero to place her hands around her head.

"Can you see it? Can you see the path, Six?"

"Y-yeah, I think I can."

"Good."

Zero then nodded to the blond boy who then took the red-headed girl's left hand while Zero took her right. Then, at the same time, the three disappeared. Upon their disappearance, for some unknown reason, I had the strangest sensation. I could feel motion in the monitoring room. Without looking, I somewhat knew that time had been resumed in that room. I was about to check if I was right, but then, my vision faded. Before I knew it, I was staring at the sky, looking up to the strangest moon I've ever seen. Why was it so strange? Well, this moon, it had a ring.

"There was a colony."

"On the moon?"

"Yes, but they blew it up."

"Why?"

"They fought with us, us here on the ground. They wanted to keep what they found up there to themselves apparently and those on the ground weren't having any of it."

"Zero, you're talking to Mr. Phantom again?"

"That's right, it's the first time he's been outside too."

"I don't like this, it's too cold outside."

"Quit whining, Six. You're the one who wanted to see right, what it's like on the outside?"

"Of course I do, I've never been outside before. And why are you sounding all high and mighty for, you wanted to see it too right? That's why you said you want to help Zero get out."

"I just wanted to help Zero out."

"Are you sure? That you aren't curious even a little?"

"I... I mean... Maybe a little..."

"See!"

"Well, you're the one complaining that it's cold!"

"Well, it is!"

"You two, listen..."

Immediately, even though they were in the middle of a heated argument, the two quieted down when Zero spoke.

"I'm sorry to have dragged your two into this, but also, thank you for doing this for me. I'll never forget it."

The two children blushed, turning their heads away.

"It's no big deal, we both wanted to go outside anyways, right Six."

"Y-yeah, that's right. You don't need to thank us."

Where we were appeared to be some kind of power station, however, there's more to it than that. Beneath it, there's a facility, one that housed not only the one known as Patient Zero, but apparently, a number of children they called 'Psions'. I was told of such things as we made our way out of the woods surrounding the station. In the woods, there apparently are several security systems hidden away from sight, however, due to a usually powerful lightning strike, all security systems were down, at least for the moment.

"Zero, quit chatting with Mr. Phantom, we need to keep moving."

"Sorry, I just wanted to fill him in a bit."

The numbered children were running towards the light in the distance, the light coming for a city, bustling even into the night, shining brightly even as the dark clouds of a coming thunderstorm obscured the stars.

***

End of Chapter 64