Tip tap, tipper tap. The sound of wet taps could be heard from the corner side of a room as a pair of eyes watch dead ahead towards the person across them. A heavy sigh releases out from its mouth as it licked its lips.

"Are we just going to sit here and not do anything about this?" A lass in a rotten yet moderately stitched medical outfit sighs out as she points towards a book that she had her hands on for quite some time. "You know what you did was wrong."

"I could explain, Chau. I didn't know they were doing this half -." As Shanina was stuttering in her usual cold and straight words, she knew she was in trouble as she was being overpowered by the number of people who were on Chau-min's side of decisions. "Please, it's my fault I swear."

Grunting, Chau-min stands up as she walks up behind Shanina. As she sighs on her pathetic neck, she shakes her head in embarrassment. Turning to her left, she watched as the New Elders either stayed aloof or minded their own business as they looked around or onto the table-top.

'Tsk, tsk. When all we did was trust you guys as the new line of Elders, and the first big operation you did was to kill an innocent girl to a scientifically dangerous state. How times have changed. Have you forgotten your roots? The contract among the humans and the guardians? Did you learn anything from the training given by my best men?" Chau-min sucks her cheeks in and snickers off a disgusted look as she looks away from them and towards Mary, NZ, Shanina and Doctor Faltina.

"I didn't even expect the person I trusted for so long to fall so easily into a recognisable trap. Shanina, you got to be kidding me. The only reason why I and the late General Ferdunov gave you the role as the new General was because of the harsh and strictness of your old training days and to give you a break from the tiring job of watching people, but instead you, ugh-, I don't know anymore." Chau-min sighs again before walking towards Mary and kneeling towards her.

"My apologies on my behalf as the founder of Continuum-Now. If this wasn't found out, disaster would have happened without even us knowing. Miss Mary, have you and Will made your decision on your alternate choice of approach? I am sure your Guardian and his also made a good and better idea than the other one." Speaking to Mary in a very subtle and friendly way, Chau-min smiles a little as she gestures her pointing finger towards NZ and her.

Mary nods before gripping her hands tightly as she stood still, a little shy due to the amount of eyes filling up this rather small room. "Yeah, I made my decision."

"I suppose that will do girl." Inhaling slowly as she rose herself back up, Chau-min then exhales as she sits beside Shanina and reaches her hand as she started patting her back. "Shanina, it is ok. I am sorry you had to go through all of this, but, sometimes, you just have to let it go."

Crying softly with her hands covering her face, the General in a pathetic state was crying herself off in shame as she counts back her horrific choices she made. "I know, but.... I was so selfish. I was like in a trance. I didn't know what I was doing."

Clearing his throat, NZ then takes a glance at the mute Sherrinford as she smiles back at him as he then walks to the front of the table. "If you are surely knowing what you are saying, then you should stop crying this instant. We don't have all the time to the world, but if you are damn sure you are sorry, you know what you should do as the leader, the alpha of the pack. Instead of submitting and crying yourself down, just admit your mistake and your final decision. We are losing life's here, precious life and it's not only us humans who are suffering from it."

Shanina then sniffles her nose as she rubs it with her spare hand. Coughing and slowly raising her head up, she then nods slowly as she watches around the people. "You are right. It's no use mopping about like a pathetic fool. We should just finish it, this end from our happy beginning. Set it back to square one and, and continue it."

"If you put it that way." Another voice across her replied as she looks at Shanina. "Considering you are the youngest leader we ever seen, it makes sense there are bound to be mistakes here and there. Put it this way, General."

As the lass replies and crosses her arms, she looks at the New Elders as they were sitting quiet and half-hearting the conversation. "So, what are we suppose to do with them? After their lies they spouted out about fake hope and selfish acts. Deceptive, ain't it. Like a fox."

Shimaya raising her eyebrow, she held on her free hand floating balls of fox-fire as it enchanted shackles onto the New Elders. "Right." She sarcastically answered back. "Just like a fox."

Pitch looking at her daughter who was curiously watching her back on her decision, she then taps Shimaya's shoulder for a share of her pair of ears. Whispering into Shimaya, she smiles as she then nods towards the human leaders who were sitting idly as they waited fir the Guardian's reply.

'Well, it's rather simple to be honest. We shall strip these five off their ranks and perhaps maybe even toss them to our special forest. I think a few people might have remembered how it was to experience that forest, as it wasn't naturally friendly." Shimaya whimsically answers in a rather melodic tone as she looks towards her other partners. "Fair?"

Jarngreipr, staying silent watches them as she gives her agreement through a firm hand gesture of wave as Pitch and the other two leaders agreed through words.

"Well, Miss Walter, Miss Shanina...Miss, sorry I may have forgotten your name and Doctor Faltina. You know what we shall do now." Shanina replies as she tugs onto her fiery balls of flames as she smiles playfully.

"Yeah, we are doing this. Once and for all, Mary. Do your best." Miss Walter spoke as rose from her sit before walking towards her daughter and giving her a sudden yet warm and loving hug. "I love you, I don't want to ever lose you. Even after what you and William did for our clan."

"Mother, don't worry about me, this will only be a short one. I love you too." As she relaxes herself in her mother's embrace. She then lets go before stepping out of the hug. "Everyone, I am going now. To solve our problems." She shouts as she heads towards the exit of this small meeting room.

"I don't know how long I will be temporarily gone, but if everything goes well, you know what I did was the right decision. Seeyah!" Waving goodbye to everyone in the room, she greets her siblings and the other residents of the bunker as she slowly walks through a flight of stairs, causing her to disappear from the place.

Looking at his palms, NZ sighs as he felt a lingering miasma enter his ear. "Don't worry, it will be fine." An echo sounds into his ear as he closes his eyes. Feeling the warmth of the feminine bodies sitting about, the slow beating of their heart and the aura emitted from everyone, like electric pulses, he sees a produced light shining dimly from the ceiling of the room, the light-bulb.

Feeling a rub on his back, he opens his eyes only to see his loving partner, making sure he was okay by watching him closely. Rubbing her cheeks with his right hand, he then excuses himself from the room before walking through the crowd of people.

(Was this my reason to survive all this time?) He asks himself as he walked up the flight of stairs with a little struggle due to his old age. "Damn, I don't remember struggling walking up a few annoying stairs."

Pushing himself further as he held the assisting handrail, he walks up the stairs as he spoke to himself in his mind and his voices in his head, his guardians to answer him back. (Why me? I question myself every single day. Why not someone else why not a better person. Why me?)

As he felt the warm sandy dunes of cement and debris and sun-rays stinging his eyes and cheeks, he cuffs his eyes with his hands as he looks around above the entrance of the bunker. Empty, deserted, just how it was suppose to be.

With a guilty smile, he notices Mary was not in sight. She probably went somewhere a little better to proceed with her work or she was already in an alternate dimension to prepare her unnatural powers.

Looking left and right, he then sighs it off before wandering off. Pushing aside an already opened metal gate, he waltzes through before ending up in the empty desert of orange, white and pale yellow scattered all over the melting heat of the sun.

Assisted with his trusty scarf given as a gift from his childhood friend, he remembers his past through flashbacks of smiles, laughs and happiness as he wanders into the unknown. In a random direction, he walked straight through an oasis as he watched the sun descending from its daily life of setting, heating and sleeping.

"My family, passed off one by one. Starting from my father through the The Happening. The my mother, through old age, then my sister, through sacrifice. They did all this, leaving me behind a piece of their memories of them and their belongings which gave really helpful use out of it. " He mutters as he walked and walked. Ignoring anything that may unknowingly pass by him or scatter away.

"My friends, either surviving with a bad case of mental dysfunctions and a yearn for an end or already did themselves their true potential before dissapearing. My personal maid, my childhood friend, my chauffeur. If only I could remember their names, it has been too many years."

"The other faces in Continuum and the other Guardians I have seen put their lives on the line for civilians that may have already perished alongside the victims of Axis and the tyranny of the Bio-Mother's Parasites."

"The civilians themselves who may have lost their jobs, their family, their partners and probable love ones, their boyfriends, their husbands, their girlfriends even. Whatever it may be, I have seen them all gone one by one. As much as we struggled to shrug off a day, the next is hell grasping , reaching for us with its bare hands ready to steal its next fill."

As he continued wandering, he didn't realize that the environment behind him was slowly reverting to natural grass, flora and fauna. Animals with their beloved partners frolicking about with the sudden existence of sustenance and also flutters of wings of birds and insects as they fought each other for food. It was pretty daring and fun to see but wasn't noticed through the eyes of anyone.

"Hey." A voice called out to William through his left ears wanting his attention. NZ, no more, as he released himself from his shell of his past. He turned left and right through the desert as he saw nothing, not even with the wind. Somehow not noticing the nature behind him in their lovely regrowth, he shakes his head as he continued thinking. "William, listen to me." It called out to him as he turned left and right once more, a little annoyed by its odd appearance of voices.

"Who is it?" He asks with a mutter as he stood still and smelt the air. A little dry yet , a little cold too. As the sun slowly descended to dark and the moon rising, the heat was dispensing off to the dark as the chilly breeze of night arrived.

"It is I, The Voice." It replied to him as relaxed himself in the current weather. Closing his eyes and listening closely to the disturbance.

"The Voice? What is this, a TV show?" He sarcastically asked as he snickers. "Are you a guardian of some sort?"

"Maybe...." It replied back as whispered on his right ear instead, making him shiver a little. "I am what you call better than a Guardian to be honest."

"Well, better than Stage four." It laughed off.

Scratching his head, William sighs out as he felt cold pats and wipes on his body all over as if something or someone was teasing him.

"Are you god?" He asks in a rather confused way.

"I mean considering a human's intellect of calling anything more powerful than the universe, god and then worshiping it for blessings and other things, yes. I am the so called god, you guessed." It replies back as it giggles between a masculine and feminine tone, rather gender-less and quite difficult to understand.

"What do you want? Take my life?" He asks as he hugs himself to keep his warmth. "I am shivering here and need to get somewhere warmer."

"Oh, silly man. You could have just asked." The voice replied as balls of fire suddenly appeared around him, circling about as he felt a sudden spike of warmness. "There, does that solve your problem?"

"What the- Alright, you are no joke. " William replies as he continues his wandering in the dark. "So seriously, why me? If you could answer that."

"Why you? You mean why YOU were pick for this whole happening?" The voice replied. "To be honest, the answer is right there."

"What do you mean, you speak less of poems and more of gibberish." He answers back. "Is this a modern update in your growth?"

"Haha...maybe..." The Voice replied as it turned masculine then back to feminine. "Or perhaps, I was more advanced than everyone before you guys even found out what was technology."

"Smart, smart. I guess its like one of those ant farms in a kid's room situation theories." William replies as he laughs. "SO yeah, answer?"

"Oh yes, that. Well, I guess I randomly picked you from my list of potential good people." The Voice replied and laughs it off. "Didn't expect it to get THAT smoothly however."

"You ought to be joking...I just wanted to be alone for awhile but I suppose I could interact with you."

"It's obviously a joke. I chose you because you fit the terms of this timeline's problem. I mean think about it. You managed to help Continuum, your country, then your people and your future. Now, the girl that has been chosen to replace me." The voice replied before tapping the back of WIlliam's neck, which caused him to shrivel up.

"Stop that." He replied as he regains his composure. Rubbing his nape, he then continues his questioning. "Replace? So you are saying, there is a higher stage in Guardianship?"

"Ding ding ding, right on the money!' The voice replies. "Indeed! After Stage Four and Five, which was for The One, there is a Stage Six. And it is called, THE VOICE!"

"Definitely not a television show for singing, yes?" He questions in a sarcastic notion as he then gave up and took a seat on the mounds of sand that made a small cliff. Surrounded by darkness and only the only light emitting from the flames, he rests himself on the sand as he watches the moonlighted sky. "So what? Stage Six is when a human and a guardian managed to synchronize together in a wavelength and manage to become The One, together?"

"Yes. But I am the only Stage Five. No one managed to surpass me all this eons and finally, someone did and broke the Guardian level barrier." The Voice replied happily as a masculine laugh could be heard as it then starts coughing and then turning back to female.

"What's up with your voice, it keeps changing..." William asks as he counts the number of stars that is starting to pop out.

"You could say that time had changed me so much that I have become something that even I cannot recognize." It replied. "Say, want some snacks or drinks? Its on me."

"Sure then, I suppose. Been a while since I ate those things, when factories existed." He replies as he made his decision on his order. "Hmm, perhaps just a bottle of beer and a packet of potato chips."

"A simple man's delight. Sure!" The voice replied before summoning him what he ordered made by an unknown company. "Made by yours truly! Tastes better than honey and milk!"

"Right..." He answers before popping the cap and taking a sip. "What the fuck!?" He shouts as he swallows the liquid. "It tastes, like perfect. Like absolutely perfect. Like everything in one bottle but somehow it just works. Humanly impossible."

"Exactly, hence why its made by yours truly. Tell me what did you taste?" The Voice replied gleefully in a maidenly way before switching back to masculine. "Hmm, hmm?!"

"The first taste was honey, then milk for some reason, then it tasted like wine, then beer, then water then somehow switches to coffee but cold." He answers as his brain couldn't figure out what was happening.

"Sounds splendid, now man, taste the food instead." The Voice replies as the packet of potato chips opens by itself and floats towards William.

Reaching his hand in, he pulls out a few chips before crunching onto one. "Oh my god. Why?" He answers in a rather confused way as he enjoyed his fill of his stomach with just one small nibble. "Now I am not hungry anymore." He places back the others into the bag.

"Cool, right? Now you believe me?" The Voice asked.

"Yes, now. Can I know what is happening? Before everything changes." He asks in a serious tone as he stares at his hands again. "This is for Mary and the others."

"Sure sure. Let me just let you enter my dimension then. Something that your body cannot handle. So you might as well lend me your soul for it." The Voice replied.

"I might be sounding crazy, but you basically meant you want me to pass away?" He asks as he looks at his wrinkled skin that was on the other side of his palms.

"Yes." The Voice replied. "Be with me, and you can see all. Hear all. Do all."

"Fine." He replies back. "Considering my age and my urge to release myself from this old rotting body, I suppose I can accept death one time."

"As if the other thousands, no millions of times occurred throughout time?"

"Indeed." William replies with his last breath as he slowly closed his eyes, feeling lighter for a second and then floating in the air as if a feather guided by the wind. A bright light shone as two voices questioned him through his ears.

A male and a female voice, one questioned him "Who is your god?" and the other "Who are you?".

With a slow opening of his mouth, a sudden switch was flipped and the lightness hits him hard onto the ground, as if he fell from a high spot.