“So according to the data you’ve collected, your clone should be right...there.” Elias pointed to a location on the map.

“Correct.”

“And you plan on taking her on today?”

“The sooner the better. She may move soon.”

“We are so not ready.”

“What more can we prepare? The one who strikes first wins.”

Elias sighed internally. After three days of scavenging around, the girl had already connected the various dots she’d acquired from buildings and stations, recreating a 3D map of the city with an interesting gadget she’d had on her. It looked like a small disk, but when activated, displayed a hologram of the region it had information on. The girl had marked her clone’s rough location as a small red zone, which was around half the city’s distance away from them.

It had happened too quickly. All he’d done was walk around with her while she connected the various cables to her device, him being on guard for any dangers. A useless gesture in his opinion since she could detect incoming enemies with her ability. The more he spent time with her, the more he realized that she was a weapon created to hunt.

But her demeanor was changing, if only a little.

“You don’t have to come if you’re afraid of dying,” she said, “but I’d appreciate it if you did.”

Why she’d need his help, he didn’t know. All he could do was carry things.

“I’ll help, but there isn’t much I can do,” he said, glancing at his MUP staff. He still had two bullets left. He’d have to change it into a rifle later.

“You will be a witness. If I die and another me comes, I hope you’ll be able to help her out. I can at least distract the clone long enough for you to escape.”

Something about the way she said it so plainly made his heart want to rip. “If you die, I bet the clone will hunt me down. So you better not die,” he told her.

“According to you, she didn’t finish you off when she had the chance. That tells me that she’s keeping you alive for a reason.” She put a hand to her chin. “If you are willing, there is one significant way you can assist me.”

She’d gotten a lot more expressive since he’d first met her—probably by copying him. Some motions felt forced, but she was learning.

“How?”

“If you act as the bait, I’m sure I can send a bullet through the clone’s head without a problem.”

“Bait?”

“You will have to let her see you to grab her attention. Then, when her eyes are on you—”

The girl made a shooting motion with her hand. “I'll take her out.”

“Bad, bad idea,” Elias protested, crossing his arms. “She’ll be able to detect you like you can detect me.”

“Not if I am two kilometers away from her.”

“You mean I’ll go in there alone?”

“If you are willing.”

Elias closed his mouth. He wasn’t ready to sacrifice his life so that a girl he hadn’t known for a week could fulfill her mission. It was reckless, absurd.

“No,” he refused. “Too risky. I don’t know about you, but I want to stay alive.”

“But if we leave her, she’ll cause more damage.”

“She hasn’t moved yet. We can afford to wait a little longer.”

The girl's eyes went downcast, and she reached for her rifle that was leaning on the wall. Grabbing it, she pressed it against her chest like a pillow.

“Whatever you say, I’m going now,” she told him, getting up.

What? Now?

“Now?” he exclaimed, getting up with her. He stared as the girl began donning her belongings on her, ultimately covering her head with the helmet. “You can’t go like this!”

“You forget that I am out of options,” she said as a matter of fact. “Don’t worry. Even if I perish, the next me will do better with my memories.” Walking up to him, she pressed the map disk into his palm. “When she comes, please help her as well.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“I’m sorry. I know how disappointed you are, but this is the reason for my existence. I cannot find meaning in anything else.”

Too sudden. He’d barely gotten any time to learn about her. Elias had attempted to play games with her in hopes that she’d become more human, but the blank-faced girl had been unable to find enjoyment in anything. Her mission was her obsession, and death was her salvation.

She knew that killing the clone was nigh impossible. But without a way to call for support, she’d decided that her death was the fastest way of moving the elimination plan a step forward. He’d tried to convince her out of it, using all the logic he could—and it had led to this.

He followed her weakly as she headed out of the shelter and walked towards the monosphere. Metal and concrete groaned as one side of the station slowly swung open, exposing it to the outside.

“You can’t take that,” Elias said, in hopes that it might deter her. “I won’t be able to go anywhere without the monosphere.”

“Then I will walk,” she told him. “This is where we part. Goodbye, Elias.”

She left, and he watched—unable to do anything.

In the end, he was still as pathetic as ever.

He dragged his feet back into the shelter, feeling like he’d failed at life. All there was left was to return to his dark corner, reading books to ease the guilt and gloom that washed over his thoughts every time he recalled something happy. He wasn’t at fault was he? Like she said, it was her mission, and another one would come.

Elias fell on his bed and buried his face into the pillow.

Even if she dies, another one will come, right?

Abruptly, he turned around and faced the ceiling.

“AHHHH!HH!!!” he screamed, yanking his hair. He hated himself for thinking that. He didn’t want to think anymore. He turned around again and let his body relax on the mattress. The station was losing its musty, cold smell, but he was alone again. Today, he’d sleep here, but tomorrow, he’d return to his old shelter.

Alone. Again.

He closed his eyes.

⤙ ◯ ⤚

“Elias. Elias!”

Elias looked around.

“Elias!”

“Huh?”

In the middle of a crowded street, Crystal waved to him.

“There you are. I was waiting for you.”

Numbly, Elias walked towards her and touched her extended hand.

“Long time no see,” he laughed. “Where have you been? I missed you.”

“Somewhere far away,” she replied, “but I’m here now. Or rather, you’re here.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t you remember? You were stuck in a simulation.”

The air seemed to stop, and sound ceased to exist. The crowd that had surrounded them was missing like it had never existed, and only the two of them stood face to face, looking at each other’s faces. Crystal smiled softly and put her hand on his cheek.

“You did well. Walk with me; there is a lot to talk about.”

Elias nodded like it was the most natural thing in the world. Taking her hand, he proceeded to walk with her down the street.

He couldn’t really see the environment around him since his attention was focused on Crystal. It was strange, and his body didn’t feel solid, but he was there—with her. The time without her seemed nonexistent like she’d always been there with him since the beginning.

“Your trials are over, Elias,” she said. “You’re ready to become an adult.”

“Was that what it was? A trial?”

She nodded. “Shadows don’t exist in real life, silly. You’re out of the simulation now. You’re in the real world.”

“Here?”

He looked around. It was all white, without a ground or sky. He could see his shadow and Crystal’s shadow, but the land he was walking on felt obscure.

Elias nodded. “Yeah, this is the real world.”

He felt at peace; there was nothing else he wanted.

“But you failed.”

He turned to look at her. She wasn’t smiling anymore. Second by second, her face seemed to change. Her eyes drifted further apart, and her nose began to sag; her lips stretched like rubber, becoming a line.

“You can’t even save a girl. You don’t deserve redemption.”

“I did nothing wrong!” Elias shouted, attempting to shake his hand away. But Crystal’s grip refused to loosen, boiling his hand. With a cry, he leapt into the air, only to find gravity nonexistent as he floated helplessly. Nevertheless, he drifted away from Crystal.

Her hand began to eat him.

“You’re not her!” he screamed, cutting his arm off. Desperately, he kicked his arm to propel himself further into the air, increasing his distance from the imposter. If this was real, he wanted to die. He flew further into the great whiteness until his body began to spin frenetically, dizziness overcoming his mind as he felt his existence spin into freefall.

Elias wanted to fly like a bird. He had wings, but one was missing—since he’d lost an arm.

Shrieking, he fell, and fell, and fell, and—

⤙ ◯ ⤚

With a jerk, he opened his eyes.

He looked at his watch. Thirty—no, forty minutes had passed. He let his arm fall back into bed.

A weird dream. Sleeping during the day gave him weird dreams, but only when he slept more than an hour. Had he been that tired? Come to think of it, he had moved around a lot during the past few days with the girl. Maybe the stress of being killed had gotten to him. He hadn’t realized.

“Did I seriously let her go alone?” he said to himself. His head felt incredibly light, even if there was still some airiness to it. Maybe it was better to call it hollow, because it felt like his body was doing the thinking for him, his brain only watching while he pulled on his clothes, reconstructed his MUP, put on his shoes, and grabbed his bag. He was on the monosphere before he knew it with the disk that the girl had given him in his hand.

Along the way, his brain caught up with his actions, and he wondered why he was heading towards his death. He could stop the vehicle now if he wanted to. But he lay on the comfortable cushions, leaning back against the glass as he lazily watched the city move past him.

Most dreams dissolved into the abyss within a minute or two, but the latest one circled through his mind like a broken record. There had been many times when he’d wondered if the world he was in was a fake—an Otherworld. But Crystal had left him, and he’d spent countless hours crying himself to sleep. If this was an Otherworld, and the system was forcing him to live through agony—it didn’t make sense. The system was always for people, not against them.

No; this world was real. Every breath he took, every muscle he moved was evidence of that. Even in Talanim, things hadn’t been this real. He was always in top condition there, while here, his body sagged him down with fatigue and worry. Parts of his body hurt for no reason sometimes, and his eyes drooped even with ten hours of sleep. This was reality.

Elias desperately wanted a visit to the Health Center. They’d cure him of the impurities he’d accumulated within an hour—a relaxing, pleasant massage. But it didn’t exist here. Injuries would be permanent, and his body would erode over time.

So why the heck am I going?

He struggled to find a definite answer. Because he didn’t want the girl to die? He was lonely. Was loneliness worse than death? That couldn’t be. Once they defeated the clone, there wouldn’t be any problems anymore. Maybe the entity that had sent him here would send him back home afterwards.

Did he want to go back home? It was better than he had now. He knew he wanted to see his family and friends again.

Did he have friends? Noza was a friend. Terral—Terral, he’d give a good punch before he felt satisfied. They’d both been immature. He could talk it over with him.

He was an adult now. He’d find himself a house and stay in the Otherworlds all day long. He’d show them his determination by becoming overpowered in the world his friends were in and show them that he was better than all of them—that he was more mature than everyone.

What would he say to Jewel? He’d suffered enough. And her? Even if she apologized, would he be able to love her again?

He hadn’t thought that he would change. But time alone in the dark had caused his eyes to adjust to the uglier side of things. They were probably laughing at him, mocking him for the loser he was.

He’d suffered enough. It wasn’t fair that he was the only one to be stranded.

The monosphere stopped. Elias sat inside the glass dome for a few minutes before mustering the will to go on. The clone would be around a ten-minute walk away now, somewhere inside the buildings in the distance.

When he stepped outside of the station, he slapped his head. What had he been thinking? He couldn’t track the clone without the girl’s abilities. Just waltzing inside without a proper way to locate the clone would be suicide. According to the girl, the clone would have sensed him by now. He’d be lucky if she didn’t blast a projectile through his head within the minute.

Swallowing his spit, Elias darted his eyeballs around without daring to move. How he wished that the girl was next to him. Seconds ticked by.

He observed a window to the right. Then the left. The doors, he watched for movement. A glint, a glimmer—anything.

Nothing came. Nothing reacted. Breathing out, Elias wiped his palms on his jacket and positioned his MUP rifle properly this time. If he saw anything hostile, he’d shoot.

Then again, now was a great time to head back and enjoy the comfort of his bed. He could forget about his problems and run away. Eventually, help would come.

Not again. He hated running away. Looking back, that was what he’d always been doing. Every single time, and it had led him to where he was now.

Gritting his teeth, he took a step forward.

The wind began to blow. The sound of leaves rustled all around him, breaking the silence. He was afraid that the change would affect him, but nothing happened—nothing tried to kill him.

Elias slapped his face twice. He could do this. He would do this.

He leapt forward, switching to a light jog. The body Crystal had built for him was still viable. Watching his surroundings, he approached the red zone until he realized that his line of sight was horrible. The buildings were many, and he was just walking through the streets.

There were three buildings included in the red zone. He took out the disk and examined the map. Would he have to explore all three of them? If the clone was hiding inside of a room, how would he locate her? If anything, she’d detect him first and splatter his brains all over the walls.

“What the HEEEEEEEECK!!!” Elias exclaimed after feeling something on his shoulder, jumping towards the side. His MUP rifle tripped his legs, and he fell on the floor, landing on his arms—all the while trying to move away from the thing that had touched him.

“You’re too loud.”

By now, he’d seen the girl’s face—or rather, her helmet. Slowly, he stood up and rubbed his elbows. The girl wasn’t even looking at him. He felt like an idiot.

“You came, after all,” she said, keeping her gaze towards the buildings. “Do you want to be the bait?”

“Don’t scare me like that,” he complained, letting out a huge breath of relief. “And no, I’m not going to be the bait.”

She cocked her head.

“Aren’t there any other options?” he asked, the strength suddenly leaving him. His legs felt wobbly, but he forced them to stay rigid. “I have two bullets. We can shoot the clone together.”

“I’ve been informed that she can deflect bullets,” the girl said. “Two would attract more attention than one. If she knows we’re here, it’ll be impossible by then.”

“You mean...she doesn’t know right now?”

The girl motioned him to follow her. “I think she may be asleep. Her presence is very weak right now. If we play the cards right, we may be able to complete the mission.”

“Can you feel her?” Elias asked while following her behind a building. She nodded, putting a finger to her lips. He shut up after that.

“I do have another plan,” she whispered, motioning him to sit down next to her. After he did, she reached into a pouch stuck to her arm and pulled out a round item the size of a small egg. “These are explosives. I don’t have enough to blow up the entire building, but enough to set the place around the clone on fire.”

So that’s what those things were. He was glad he hadn’t messed around with them. “So how are you going to set them up?”

“I was thinking of flinging them on her and detonating them right away,” she stated. “It likely won’t finish her off.”

“You know you’d probably die from the explosion too if you did that.”

“I know.”

Elias frowned and rubbed his head. “What about the rifle? Aren’t you going to use the rifle?”

“This?” She unslung the weapon from her back and held it in front of her. “I don’t have vision on her. I’m sure that if I enter a certain radius, she’ll be able to detect me.”

“Why not shoot her right away when you see her?”

“I was thinking of that too.”

“We need a good plan if this is going to work,” he said, leaning his head against the wall. Maybe he was minutes away from death, but he’d given up on thinking for a while now. Besides, how much stronger could the clone be?

“We’re running out of time. She may wake up any moment.”

“Hmm.”

“This is getting nowhere. If you aren’t going to help—”

Sniper rifle in hand, she turned and began to sprint towards the building where the clone was. Elias could only watch while she broke through the glass and disappeared from his sight.

Oh, shit. It was happening. Him coming here had essentially been useless because the stupid assassin girl was so desperate to complete her mission. He knew that there could have been a better way to do it. He just didn’t know what.

It was too late now.

“Stupid, assing idiot!” he cursed, loading his MUP rifle with a bullet. “I came all the way here for her, and she goes to die?! What the heck!”

Too quiet. The air felt too calm. He gulped and waited for destruction to strike.

Seconds passed.

More seconds passed. He thought he saw something move beyond the windows.

Minutes passed.

More minutes passed without anything happening.

Was the clone not there? Or was the girl failing to locate her?

Had she already been killed?

He felt a bead of sweat roll down his back. He wiped the moisture from his forehead and waited.

He swallowed. He wanted to drink some water.

The sight of red behind the glass reached him before the sounds did. With a deafening roar and the shattering of a thousand windows, three floors of construction erupted into fire and smoke, sending a wave of heat over Elias’s face, making him take a step back. It felt hot. He hadn’t known that fire at a distance could be so hot.

Already, grief was filling his chest, and he felt sick. The girl wouldn’t have survived that. She had become barbeque for sure. Even the clone, with all the possible supernatural abilities she had, couldn’t possibly—

He let out a cry of surprise when the building suddenly became sliced in half horizontally right above where the fire was. The whole earth shook as the structure groaned and shrieked from the damage, the top section of the building beginning to slide. Beginning to topple.

It was a very tall building.

He wanted to scream and run away. But he couldn’t peel his eyes off from the unbelievable sight unfolding before him. As the building tumbled to the side, crashing into another skyscraper, perhaps causing a chain of destruction running through the city, a figure shot up from the fire and smoke—no, two figures. He could barely make out the black helmet of the girl. And the other that was carrying her by the leg—

The clone.

She was a Shadow, shrouded in darkness. Had he not known better, he would have assumed that the clone was just another Shadow. But this one could jump tens of meters into the air with double her weight, and apparently, not affected by sunlight.

Ah. Maybe it was easier to give up. He remembered seeing the giant hole in the city’s walls that he’d come through from the outside. The clone had just sliced a skyscraper across. There was no way he could do anything.

The world was still roaring from the destruction happening in it. Grey clouds began to rise in the distance, and Elias covered his nose and mouth as a storm of dust swept through the area. He closed his eyes. He couldn’t even use his rifle in this condition.

The clone and the girl had landed somewhere. It took around three minutes for the dust to settle, during which he squatted down, praying that nothing would fall on him. When he opened his eyes, he was still alive.

He activated the disk and examined the map.

The red zone had become a dot. A slow, walking dot.

It was the girl’s. Since attaching a tracker to the clone had been impossible, he’d forgotten all about it. She’d managed to stick it on her somehow. It blinking meant that it had entered the clone’s bloodstream, meaning it would stay in there for a long time.

Was this what she’d meant by ‘helping out the future her?’ With the information, her backup would be able to drop a bomb or do something similar—if the signal from her death transferred correctly. He gripped his knuckles. If only she had given him her rifle. Then, he could have finished what she—

He blinked. Was he hallucinating? Wiping his eyes, he looked again.

There, at the base of the now-demolished building, was a long, metal item that gleamed under the sun. Coughing, he made his way through the dust and finally reached the weapon.

The sniper rifle had miraculously survived. It looked a little burnt, but the magazine and barrel were intact. Elias carefully held it in his arms.

The gun was cocked, ready to shoot.

“What is this, destiny?” he cackled, examining the map again. The red dot was near. He didn’t have time to waste.

He found it funny that despite everything he’d told the girl not to do, he was doing the same thing—heading towards his death. Perhaps he should have stopped. But the blood was roaring in his ears, and he never felt more alive. He felt like he had a place in the world, and just at that moment, he related to the girl being obsessed over her mission.

Everything was screaming. The ground was groaning from change. Even now, he could feel the small tremors in the distance.

He wouldn’t run away. Just this once, he’d face it head-on.

Four blocks away. That was where the clone and the girl were. He spotted them through the scope of the rifle after he turned a corner and located them through the map.

They were both still, though he found it unsettling that the girl was lying on the ground while the clone stood over her, staring. Wisps of darkness were emanating from the clone’s body. Something like thin tendrils touched the girl’s head, limbs, and body, fluctuating every now and then. Elias instantly realized what it was.

The clone was creating a Shadow through the girl.

“Goodbye,” he breathed. Something felt right. Elias pressed the trigger.

A crack rang through the sky, and Elias thought his eardrums burst. Had the shot landed? The ringing made it hard to concentrate, but he kept his eyes on the scope. His vision was blurred, but it came back within a few seconds.

The clone was no longer standing, but two bodies now lay on the floor. He’d done the unthinkable. Without pausing to take another look, he left the rifle on the ground and began to sprint towards the girl.

Please be alive, please be alive, please be alive—

It was wishful thinking on his part, but she’d survived deep cuts to the neck and extended blood loss. There was hope.

There had to be hope.

Everything was red. So much red. The shot had exploded the clone’s head into mist which had painted the floor behind it in blood. Trying his best to ignore the wet stump on top of the headless corpse, he pushed the body of the clone away and found the girl underneath. After taking off her helmet, he quickly examined her body for injuries.

Her eyes were closed, and she wasn’t moving. He quickly placed a finger on her neck below her suit and felt for a pulse.

There wasn’t any, but it was too early to give up.

“Come on, come on!” he begged, slapping her face. Here and there, her body felt hot. A part of her neck was red and wrinkly, raw from the heat that had burned her.

Fuck. No one had taught him how to do CPR. He had been alone, and he’d never asked Crystal. But he knew what it looked like.

Pressing both hands on the girl’s chest where the heart was, he pressed down, and down, and down again. Swearing, he continued to press and press and press—

Memories with her flashed before his eyes. How miserable this girl’s life had been. Born as a weapon, she didn’t care about her own life. Was she simply a machine? She couldn’t die like this. She didn’t know about the joys of living. About ice cream, about pastries, about cake, about honey, about sweets, about barbeque, about fruits—about friends.

What were friends anyway?

He held back a tear as he continued to press against her chest repeatedly. Was she really going to leave him like this? He didn’t want that. He needed her. He needed someone to talk to.

He’d go insane if he was left alone again. Strange, because just four days ago, he’d been perfectly fine alone. If she was going to leave like this, it would have been better for her to not come at all. He didn’t regret finding her on that fateful day, but he blamed her for being at that spot at that exact time. Had she died then, he wouldn’t have suffered as he was now.

Should he not have killed the clone? If he hadn’t, the chance of another hunter coming would have been guaranteed.

Elias clenched his jaw so tightly that his teeth made cracking noises against each other. He hated thinking like that. But the negative thoughts didn’t stop. The more he worried, the worse it became. Spending so much time alone had ruined him.

He grew tired. His pushes became weaker and slower, coming to a halt after he ran out of energy. There was nothing more he could do now. He fell down on the ground next to her, tears streaming down his face.

“Just come alive. Just don’t die! Please…”

Sobbing, he checked for a pulse again and leaned towards the girl’s nose. There was nothing. He thought her body was cooler now.

He could surely live without her. It was as simple as getting up and walking away.

He felt so tired.

The threat had been dealt with. Was it fine to give up now?

Elias put his head on the ground, lying down next to the girl. Crying had cleared his mind a bit. It felt good, releasing his emotions like this. He’d always been taught to control them, to feel what he wanted to feel, but during his time here, they’d become shackles around his heart. Were his dampeners gone now? He wouldn’t know without Crystal to tell him.

He’d exhausted himself.

The clouds were pretty as they floated across the sky. He couldn’t move his eyes away from them.

What was he doing here anyway? He’d survived so far, but for what reason?

He wanted to be an adult. Adults knew what they wanted to do.

Elias lay there until the tears dried from his face. It was so quiet now, so peaceful. He’d avenged Crystal. He’d saved the city. It had been easy, almost too simple. But he’d done it. His hand hadn’t slipped, and his aim had been true.

Didn’t that make him a hero? If he ever returned to his real home, he expected to receive compensation for his troubles. It made him smile.

Then the happy thoughts passed, and he was left with himself again.

“You’re weird,” the girl told him. He turned his head to look at her.

“Huh?” Elias said dumbly.

“How can your emotions change so often? See, it changed again. Truly weird.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t die easily,” she reminded him, smiling. He hadn’t known that she could smile so genuinely. “Good job on killing the clone.”

“Huh...yeah,” he replied, looking at the clouds again. He didn’t want to think anymore.

The clouds continued to float by.