The eternal dark gives way to a blinding white, the brightness burning our eyes. My eyes force themselves shut as I continue my plummet, my descent only rising in speed, refusing to plateau. The lack of oxygen causes my veins to bulge, feeling as though they could tear through my skin at any moment. My body collides with the ground, my eyelids divorcing from each other as soon as my brain registers the sudden change. There is no pain, no blood, no broken bones, only my panic and confusion.

“Well, we’ve arrived,” Amani announces. I lay still for a moment, examining the ground, or lack thereof. My body rests on white, the material below me identical to what I just fell through.

“Hey man, are you all good?” Aku asks, shaking me.

“What are we on right now,” I whisper, too scared to move.

“This is the ground, Mofu. It’s not going to give out any time soon so you’re safe to get up,” Ame says. I slowly push myself upright, trying my best to come to my senses. The white has no scent, no texture, no sound, nothing. Just white spanning into the distance.

“Disorienting, right?” Amani asks, smirking at my reaction. “Let's get going, the longer we stay here, the crazier you guys will get.”

“Excuse me?” Ame asks while Sye helps me to my feet.

“The Beyond is, simply put, a giant sensory deprivation tank. There is no sound, no smells, nothing to determine where you are. Since you all are only half of yourselves, you can’t see the exit, which means without me you’d most likely be stuck in here for eternity, so we need to get to the exit before the insanity begins to set in,” Amani explains before swiftly walking away, leaving no time for rebuttal. We all run to catch up, the thought of being trapped in here alone overpowering any suspicion of Amani.

“Soooo, you used to be close with Mikey, right?” Aku asks, trying to make conversation.

“Sadly, yes. He was one of my closest friends,” Amani responds.

“Why is that a bad thing?” Aku asks.

“Have you met him?” Amani says.

“You got a point,” Ame adds.

“Well, what was he like back then?” Aku questions.

“Why does it interest you,” Amani rebuts.

“Well, nobody ever really told me about their pasts or things like that, so I’ve always been curious,” Aku says.

“Mikey was an annoying fairy who had an insatiable hunger for combat,” Amani summarizes.

“Sounds familiar,” Ame jokes, pushing Aku.

“That's it?” Aku asks, disappointment lining his voice.

“He had this huge crush on Olympia. Like a HUGE crush. Him and Bruno were constantly together because of it, both refusing to let the other win. Other than that, he was your typical muscle head. Reliable if you need some man power or a laugh, but not much else,” Amani details.

“Bruno Mikey and Olympia had a love triangle?!” Ame shouts.

“Oh yeah, and it was a bad one. There was no entertainment in it, just the cringey parts. Not only that, but it lasted for eight damn months. It got to a point where I avoided them until it was over because it was that bad,” Amani laughs.

“God, just the thought of it disgusts me,” Ame says, shaking her head.

“Hey Amani, did you see when Mikey was shattering?” I ask.

“Yes, I’ve seen everything,” Amani responds.

“Well, when he was going off on Bruno, what was he talking about? I was scared to ask anyone from The Mesa because it seemed really serious, but since we’re no longer welcome, I really want to know,” I ask.

“Which do you want to hear about first, Operation Cyber or the power plant incident?” Amani asks.

“The power plant incident, it sounds less damning,” Aku says.

“Every leader The Mesa has ever had built a secret team to carry out orders, like a special ops. All of the current heads of the sectors, along with myself, were in the previous leaders team. She sent us to the U.S, or No Man’s Land as you all know it, to investigate a nuclear power plant that was creating an entrance to The Mesa. Our orders were to find and sabotage whatever was causing the rift to be formed, which is what we did. The mission was easy, but Mikey got captured by the guards protecting the plant when we were leaving, which made Rafael infuriated. He rushed back in as soon as he noticed, and shot everybody he saw. He left faceless corpses, multiple clips being drained into whoever he laid his eyes on. It was clear he was beginning to shatter. When we finally caught up to him, he was in a shootout with eight guards. The idiot shot blindly, and broke the control rods near the core. The safety systems were already down because we sabotaged their power lines to disable their generators, but the plant was still running. Bruno knocked him out as Petra got Mikey, and we left as fast as possible. The power plant had a meltdown, and left North America uninhabitable for any living thing until 6000. Almost every person living on the continent died of radiation poisoning, and none of the sector heads can leave The Mesa due to the amount of radiation they were exposed to,” Amani explains.

“What causes a Reflector to shatter?” I ask.

“The mind isn’t built to be active for centuries, or millennia. It’s like a computer, and computers have limited storage as well as battery life. When a Reflector shatters, it’s essentially like when a computer’s storage gets full, or when its battery gives out completely. Your brain either completely gives out, sending you into a coma, or begins to try to make room for new information, getting rid of the old,” Amani explains.

“Basically, imagine one day you wake up and can’t remember core things that happened in your life, the things that make you, you. That would drive anyone insane, if you can’t even trust your brain, can you really trust anyone or anything else?” Ame adds.

“So how do you avoid it?” I ask.

“There is no avoiding it, you just have to work through it. It only really happens once in a Reflectors’ life though, we usually don’t live long enough to relapse,” Amani says.

“So why take Rafael on the mission if he was about to shatter?” I ask.

“You don’t know someone is shattering until they’re too far into it. It’s unpredictable, and there is no way to make it easier for the person going through it. In The Mesa, you just have to wait for them to come back to their senses,” Amani informs.

“So, the radiation is why No Man’s Land is so harsh?” Aku asks.

“Precisely. The species that originate from there are more alien than the actual extraterrestrials,” Amani claims.

“I remember hearing about that,” Sye jumps in. “The Queen was absolutely livid.”

“You served under Queen Matifa?” Amani asks.

“I was her very best. You probably heard about me under the pseudonym Jane Doe. If I’m not mistaken, you were the one to best me,” Sye claims.

“You were the greatest opponent I’ve ever had,” Amani compliments.

“It is truly a small world,” Ame comments.

“Sye, you’re not mad at Amani for, you know, killing you?” Aku asks.

“There was always talk about Amani being able to beat me, as she was extremely active in the real world. Dying a warrior’s death to the only thing comparable to me was a dream come true,” Sye gushes.

“Let’s rest here for now, and we’ll exit in the morning,” Amani announces.

“There’s a day cycle here?!” Ame and I ask in unison.

“No, but I’m tired from all the walking, my feet hurt, and I’m thirsty, so morning is when we’re all refreshed,” Amani says. We all plop onto the ground, Amani pulling a small bowl from her robe. “Aku, if you would be so kind.” He sets the inside aflame before Amani sets it in the middle of all of us, beginning to cook.

“You just carry shit in your robe, Amani?” Aku asks, laughing.

“This robe is a magical artifact I obtained, I can grab whatever I want from this robe,” Amani explains.

“If you can do that, why did you need us to free you?” Aku asks.

“How would that help her get into The Mesa you dumbass?” Ame asks.

“I don’t know, it was kind of a dumb question,” Aku relents.

“It’s all good, man. We don’t really expect intelligent comments from you,” I console, patting Aku’s shoulder. He shrugs me off and moves over to Sye, irritated with Ame and I.

“Aku, I have a present for you,” Amani says.

“What is it, a pillow?” Aku asks, excitedly.

“No, it’s the medicine you need to survive outside The Mesa,” Amani informs, pulling a syringe out of her robe.

“It won’t do me much, it’s not done,” Aku says, taking the syringe.

“No, this one is. I added some ingredients so you won’t have to take another dose ever,” Amani informs

“Huh, really?!” Aku asks excitedly, hugging Amani tightly.

“Of course, I can’t have my nephew dying because of a stupid disease, can I?” Amani says, a smile replacing her stoic expression.

“What do you mean nephew?” Ame asks.

“Amani is Olympia’s older sister, can’t you tell?” I say.

“Fuck no I can’t tell, that’s why I asked idiot,” Ame claps back.

“Damn, I was just giving you the information you asked for, no need to be hostile,” I exclaim.

“I’m tired, sweaty, and hungry, don’t take it personal,” Ame says.

“Then let's eat,” Amani says, taking the food off of the fire. We all fill our stomachs and rest, fully preparing for the outside world.