UNTITLED: Book One

DAY 138

I am a drop in the ocean

So I am the ocean

Because my ripple is infinite

“It’s your *cough* curse now… Aiye.” The Warden says with a weak laugh, while coughing up blood, to Aiye who is standing over him silently. “But… beware…of her… she is death… and life. For us all.”

Aiye spits on The Warden’s dead body after he breathes his last breath. The man who killed his entire family. The audacity of him to give last words when he robbed his Mother of the same. You killed my entire family, and even tried to kill me and Sol. You actually think I wanna hear your last fucking words you piece of shit!

Aiye then pockets his Mother’s power core and looks at the blades in his hands before tossing them at The Warden’s body and walking away towards Solara and Thema.

Surprisingly, Thema excitedly takes turns lifting both of them up while cheering and laughing. She even manages to get a quick laugh out of Solara who is protecting her fucked up arm. Thema then roars in Aiye’s face, pumped up by his display of power, maybe glad to have someone join the super weapon team. Matching her energy, he makes the stink face, grinning while he bangs his chest three times. Then they all jump each other with a hug. Immediately though, they back off with an awkwardness. Unsure if they’re enemies, or something else?

We for sure ain’t friends, a dirty Solara thinks to herself while patting off Thema’s blood that rubbed on her when she got lifted. This time though, it’s more for show and not with the same disdain she used to have. Thema rolls her eyes with a smirk-scoff

Aiye clears his throat, “So the city is definitely still falling. Yes there’s that. But I think it’s falling faster now? The grav lifts are probably completely fucked. This place is gonna go from being a falling feather to falling rock, real soon. Thema, we need you to get us all outta here. You got enough juice left?”

“Not at all. I’m tapped out.” Thema shrugs, “But why don’t YOU get us out of here??”

Annoyed, he points to her sword, “Because you’re the one with the-”

Thema interrupts him with pointing of her own, behind him. Solara then grabs and turns his head towards what Thema is pointing to, the blades. They’re floating behind him, following him around the same way Thema’s sword follows her.

“Fuck that. I don’t want these.”

“Well tough shit. We need ‘em, and you got ‘em, so welcome to the club. No point in complaining now. Now get us the hell out of here, NOW, please, thank you!”

“How though!?”

“Just imagine it! That’s literally it. These things basically do whatever you can imagine! You just gotta be strong enough to withstand the demand. So goooo. Hurry! I refuse to die here with the two of you. Screw that.”

“Okay, lemme concentrate.” Aiye replies, trying to focus on the island, Isi-Iyi. But Solara interrupts him with a hand on his shoulder.

“Wait. If you’re gonna imagine anywhere, then imagine The Eye.” She says to both their surprise.

“Why?” Thema and Aiye ask in unison.

“I don’t get why we would even go there? There’s nothing for us there, not anymore Sol. Just relax and lemme figure out how these things work so that I can get us out of here, then we can-”

“-Trust me. The Eye,” she says while staring into his eyes with a smile and a nod.

Thema scrunches her eyebrows at this, suspicious of whatever Solara is trying to do, but she decides to remain silent because she just wants to get out of here at this point. Maybe she can use The Eye to find Tozi and Junaid. Plus, she and Solara might be somewhat cool for now, but she still hasn’t healed, so if she were to get into it with Solara right now…well. So it’s not really the time to be fighting. I’ll honestly take anywhere as long as it’s not here, for now.

Aiye hesitates for a moment before nodding and focusing again. For a while nothing happens and Solara and Thema start exchanging nervous looks, but after some time a silent black flash sends them to The Eye… right in front of The Broker who is holding that bag of four keys—including his homemade one—that they never used.

He’s standing there on the small, black-sand island in the middle of the room. Of course he’s still around, and of course he lied about those keys’ full purpose, Aiye thinks to himself, completely over all these people now. These titled persons. Parasites.

“Hello again, young ones. It seems like we had the same idea. Am I right… Solara?”

Thema grips the sword ready to go, a bluff, but still better than nothing. She truly is tapped out, but she’s assuming she doesn’t need any of the sword’s powers to beat this guy, and one good strong swing might make Solara think twice if she decides to pull something. Doesn’t matter if she ends up in a coma if it means stopping a Solara with a crazy bad plan. The point is, this little moment is giving her bad vibes, like some shit is about to pop off. Like they just stumbled across their real, final enemy. And she’s ready for it, regardless of the outcome.

“Sol, what’s he on about?” Aiye turns towards Solara.

“I don’t know… I’m not sure what HE’S talking about? As if he’d come with us. The fucking audacity. He should’ve died with The Warden. They belong together since they started this shit together.” She glares at The Broker.

“Come with us, where?” Thema asks bluntly. “And hold on, what do you mean started this together? I thought you all were just mad he was a baby snatcher?”

Solara looks her up and down, back to her condescending, asshole self again, Thema notes.

“I guess you could come with us.” Solara simply replies.

Thema sighs, “Thanks, asshole. But that’s not what I even asked you. What did this old man do? Tozi and Junaid were also like reallyyy angry—hateful towards him. And honestly, now that I’m thinking about, I don’t think they care enough about you Aiye to be that mad… no offense.”

Aiye just shrugs it off, also curious what Thema is talking about.

Solara stares at The Broker a little longer, who remains suspiciously silent. Then she looks at Aiye and Thema, “He’s the one who took all of you from your birth parents. He gave you all to Solaris to be turned into New Wave. Everyone but me I guess.”

“How many…” Thema blurts out, her mood stoic.

“Like millions apparently.” Solara simply replies.

“But…there’s only a few hundred of us…” Thema stumbles back, dropping her sword. It floats back up once it hits the ground, floating upright behind her—following her.

“That’s what the pilot girl said too,” Solara delivers plainly, yet again. She follows up, “And probably a lot less now after this war.”

Thema’s head bows as she grabs her chest, over her heart, as this realization cuts deep.

“And here I was, mad that you took me from my family. Tsk… Shame.” Aiye says to The Broker with a look of disappointment, before flicking his wrist at him and sending a blade to go through him.

But with cat-like reflexes, Solara catches it and redirects it in one motion. She does this fast enough to make the burning rejection of the weapon feel like just a sting. Aiye doesn’t bring it back around for another attack because Solara’s interference stuns him for a moment.

“What are you doing…??”

“I feel like we’re going to need him where for a bit longer, to get to where we’re going. Then, when we get there you can do whatever you want honestly. I just feel like he know more about this than he’s letting on, that’s all.”

“Knows about, what!? And where you talking about!?” Aiye asks annoyed now.

“Out there.”

“WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEA—??”

Solara cuts him off by pointing to the darkness of the ceiling as it turns into a map of stars, “Far, far away from here. From that shit show outside.”

They all look up at the map. It looks like a map of not just their galaxy, but multiple galaxies. Not only that, a dozen or so planets are emphasized in the imagery. As if they’ve been recognized for something, Thema steps closer.

Solara swipes her hand across the sharp edge of one of Aiye’s new blades, cutting herself. She then walks out into the luminescent dark waters and proceeds to clench her fist over it, squeezing drops of blood into the shallow waters. Afterwards, she hurries back towards the island, where Broker still silently stands with his unreadable expression. Thema and Aiye instinctively follow her to the black sand island with the same urgency as her.

All of the water illuminates this time instead of just the spots where someone is standing or moving through. At first it starts out dimly but it gradually gets brighter until everyone but Thema—with her sunglasses still on—has to squint and shield their eyes.

It all forms into a bright, whirlpool that speeds around the island. It only lasts for a moment before the waters calm and the light dims again, just enough for them to be able see again—still bright enough to shine some light around the room.

“…Aurora Gatewa-” Aiye starts.

“-The Aurora. Fucking. Gateway… YESSS.” Solara excitedly chimes in.

“Woah… What exactly is this?” Thema asks.

Solara looks at her with a mixed look of offended shock and anger, “THE AURORA. FUCKING. GATEWAY, THEMA. Were you not listening to anything I literally just said!?” She throws her hands up.

Thema exhausted from the war, takes a deep breath and rolls her eyes as she lifts her head up towards the ceiling to gather any amount of calm that she possibly can.

“*sigh*. Okay, I admit I could’ve worded it better. Solara, what is the Aurora fucking Gateway? Gateway… to what?”

“To the universe.” The Broker chimes in. All three of them snap to attention when the remember that he was still here He continues, “The Warden teleported his entire Old Guard army to attack Earth, that day Aiye was abducted.”

Aiye’s anger flares, and although he tries to hide it, the blades react and reveal his true feelings by powering up. He still has not grabbed them—refusing to claim them, but they remain floating behind him nonetheless. They catch fire, a black fire.

Broker holds up his hand towards Aiye, “I know you want me dead and I know it’s tough to hear, but you must hear me out first, then decide what to do. Please.”

Aiye is still angry until Solara places a hand on his shoulder for him to calm down. Except, it’s not Solara, it’s actually Thema. In fact, he realizes Solara isn’t even paying attention to all of this. She’s crouched down over the glowing water, staring into it as if she’s hypnotized. She’s completely uninterested in anything happening that’s not this gateway.

Aiye’s disappointment is really what brings him back down, but he gives a quick nod to Thema in acknowledgement. Then he looks back at the Broker, waiting for him to continue his little story.

On cue, The Broker continues, “He teleported the entire army there, and back, in a single day. He was in a coma for months after. But with this, he could have performed that same feat without such an aggressive rebound.”

Broker starts to talk more animation as he gets excited, “And he had it the entire time! At least I believe so. You see, the challenge- the challenge? It only activates with both weapons. Meaning he needed Sollar. By then their relationship was already in shambles.”

“Which is why he needed the sword.” Aiye concludes. “He could’ve left him to die to the sword. Get eaten by it or whatever, but he had a plan for this gateway…”

“Exactly! And-!” The Broker starts before being cut off.

“-Why we were we created…” Thema offers, already having come to the conclusion, but wanting Broker to say it out loud. Holding on to any slight hope, that she wasn’t made just for…

“War.” Solara answers, her tone dark. “War, and conquering.” She cocks her head towards Aiye and Thema with a devious grin, finally taking her eyes off the water—the gateway, “…And I say we fulfill our purpose.”

“I knew you were just like him!” Thema hisses as she immediately enters battle stance after grabbing the sword. Solara, still grinning, does the same.

Thema unintentionally activates her sword and it taxes her body for it. She coughs up a bit of blood and drops her sword, falling to her knees as she struggles momentarily. Defenseless.

Solara doesn’t miss a beat. She lunges in for the attack, grabbing Thema by the throat with her one good arm. She kicks the sword away, but just enough to keep it on the island and not fall into the water.

“Sol! CHILL. Chill, we don’t need this.” Aiye says grabbing Solara’s arm with a bit more force than he expected.

Solara notices and looks down at his hand, then into his eyes with the What the fuck look written all over her face. She then looks at a struggling Thema, then back to Aiye, then repeats this a few more times as she puts together pieces that don’t go together. Aiye sees what’s going through her mind and speaks up.

“Huh- what?? What the fuc- Stop that!? The fuck…?” Aiye calms himself and then exhales before he gently caresses Solara’s arm until she drops Thema.

Is she like this because or the fight? He wonders to himself ablut her recent increase in possessiveness over him. Or because we’re closer to the goal—mm, her goal… Has she always been this way?

Thema falls to the floor coughing and catching her breath. “*sigh* Sol, we three just fought a war together. All of us. A war. That is STILL going on, mind you. At least, I’m pretty sure?? So what, now we’re gonna fight each other!?” He shoots an angry look at Thema, which Solara notices and calms down, satisfied. Aiye continues, “Fighting! Again! And again and again and again! For the thousandth time. Forever! Even after all we just went through!?”

While Aiye is talking, The Broker shuffles over to the edge of the small, black sand island. Aiye watches him out the corner of his eye, then points to him.

“ALSO. Why the fuck are YOU even here?? And HOW the fuck are you here? Don’t tell me those keys can teleport!”

“They cannot… At least not really. The invincible Narra tree sent me here. It turns out that there is more to it than its beauty and durability. I was not able to board the last transport with Tozi and Junaid-”

“-Did they make it out!?” Thema blurts out, rushing over into the face The Broker, her eyes a bit frantic as she’s hit with the reminder that they also needed to escape.

“I am pretty sure they did, but I cannot tell you with absolute certainty, nor what happened after that because I had to leave before they engaged their jump drive.”

“The jump drive??” Thema, Aiye, and Solara all ask the same question, at the same time, with varying levels of interest.

“The enemy ships essentially parked themselves right outside of the hangar, destroying anyone trying to escape the falling city. To be honest, the war is not going in our favor right now. The food on that we have left behind on Isi-Iyi may be the least of my people’s concer at this point. ” The Broker replies gloomily.

“Then why are you here and not there?” Aiye asks bluntly.

“The hangar was falling apart, the transport was too heavy, and one of us had to disembark so I needed to escape the hangar before they activated the jump drive. The jump drive, which likely is what sealed this city’s fate when it was engaged indoors like that. Anyways, while I was running through the ruined city, I hoped that the keys had a two-way effect and could somehow get me back to Isi-Iyi. I just could not figure out how, until I turned the corner in a hallway and saw the trunk of the Narra piercing down through the ceiling. Besides being just a last desperate attempt to avoid being crushed to death, I came to the conclusion that the Narra was the odd component in all of this. Always there, directly under The Eye. No discernible purpose. Invincible-”

“Indestructible, you mean.” Solara corrects, already back to staring into the water.

“Mm. Maybe…” The Broker ponders for a moment.

Thema scrunches her eyebrows at this, confused at what they’re going on about, and straight-up frustrated with how casual they're all talking about losing a war on their home planet. And also, she has no clue if Tozi and Junaid are okay, and they’re the only thing keeping her sane right now. Especially with all this… power, she glances at the sword.

“I think I might actually feel you on this one… I actually used the tree to beat Electrum. Before that, I was just dodging everything, waiting for the opportunity to sacrifice a limb—or something—to hopefully use that sacrifice to land a fatal, or critical hit. I mean, I was nowhere near strong enough to match her powers. I knew that, but the same way I knew that, was the same way I felt the call to use the tree. Like, I passed by it and suddenly felt it in my bones, in my skin, my head. If that makes sense… Maybe it was just battle instinct and I’m putting shit together that doesn’t go together. I don't know.”

Just then, The Broker removes what seems to be a small, crystal-like battery from one of the keys. It’s like an all-glass vial, glowing a faint violet color.

He opens it, “This here is a trace of the energy from the twin blades, combined with a sliver of energy from the sword. This combined energy signature is weak, Very weak. So much so, that I do not know how many times these keys could actually be used without being recharged. In all truth, their intended use might have initially been meant for emergencies, but they contain the captured energy nonetheless.”

“OKAY, but is this even the time for that!? Have all of you forgotten that there’s A WAR going on outside?? One that we’re apparently losing right now?” Thema erupts. “We need to go back there, NOW!”

“And do what?” Solara challenges in a blunt, condescending tone. “What exactly are you about to do out there anyways…Tay? Look at you. Didn’t you say you were ‘tapped out’?”

Thema looks at her in disbelief, even though she should expect this from Solara, the fact that they all just fought so hard made her think for a moment things might’ve changed, even if just a little. Her eyes then dart between The Broker and Aiye, expecting them to say something, but they remain silent and don’t return eye contact. This turns her frantic confusion into an angry desperation.

“What the-. I can’t even believe-…” she turns towards The Broker, “You, would leave your people? To die? I find that hard to believe. What are you even after at this point??”

“The same thing I have always been after, survival. For myself, and for my people. And you are correct, I would not leave them to die. In case I were to die, or not be available, over the years, several competent leaders have been fed data on everything my group does, and my plans. Any one of them can takeover the plan at any given moment. These days, they are more capable than I anyways. Younger, faster, stronger, healthier—smarter even. They are my best kept secret, the leaders of our revolution. Well, were. The secret is out now.”

“Well good for you! *coughing* Fuck! We still have people that need zor hlep rot naoww.” Thema starts to slowly slump over.

Aiye catches her by her arm before she falls face first into the water. While holding her arm, he exchanges confused looks with Solara.

“Did she just have a stroke or something? What was that?” Aiye asks no one in particular while he lays Thema’s body on the sand.

“The gateway uses the power of the sword and the blades.” Broker explains. “It is draining her slowly, she might actually die at this rate.a decision must be made.”

No wonder he wasn’t worried about her, Aiye shoots him a look before looking back at Thema.

Right then, Thema starts to convulse, kicking up sand into the water, but it doesn’t splash. It’s like it just disappears once it hits, Aiye notes.

Thema’s convulsions aren’t violent, yet, but she’s seizing up nonetheless. The Broker is now taken aback and Aiye starts to panic. Even Solara experiences a moment of pause, watching Thema shake uncontrollably on the ground. But that doesn’t last long as she realizes if Thema dies right now, so does her dream.

She kicks into action, hurrying over to Aiye crouched over Thema, she pulls his arm towards the water, “We gotta jump now! If she dies first, the gate will close.”

She turns towards the water and yanks with her good arm, but she meets resistance. Aiye remains crouched in his spot, refusing to budge. He’s just staring up at her in disbelief.

Solara still trying to walk towards the water, yanks again. Nothing. Then she turns around confused, “Aiye! Come on! What are you doing?? We. Gotta. Go. Now! We’re gonna miss it!”

“…You’re gonna miss it…” he mumbles in return, barely audible.

The Broker, standing on the side of him now, hears nothing. It looks as though Aiye’s lips are just moving. Solara hears it clearly.

“Huh? Wha- What’s that supposed to mean…?” She asks, dropping his hand with hesitation.

“Sol. There’s a war-"

“-I know! We-!”

Aiye holds up his hand to stop her, then continues, “There’s a war going on! Thema’s right! This, all this?? It’ll still be here after! …All I’m sayin is let’s go finish this fight, and then I guess we can go wherever the fuck you want. Simple. Everybody wins.”

Just then, Thema stops convulsing and her body goes limp. She’s barely breathing, but it’s noticeably weak now. She’ll die soon if they keep this portal open for much longer.

“Aiye, we’re wasting time! They can fight this war themselves! Let’s. Gooo.” Solara tries again to yank on Aiye’s arm to pull him toward the water—the gateway.

Aiye angrily pulls his arm away, “Yo what is wrong with you!?” He asks, shouting and looking at her in angry disbelief. “Thema! Is dying! RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!”

“I DON’T CARE!” Solara roars back, catching Aiye off guard and even causing Broker to raise a brow in surprise. “…I DO NOT care. I don’t! I’m sorry, but I just. Don’t. Fucking care. I am TIRED of fighting for them! I am TIRED of this planet! I am TIRED of New Wave and Old Guard and Solaris! All of it! I AM TIRED! So, right now if you ask me to choose between her and this, then it’s this all day. All else goes right out the window. It’s a simple sacrifice.”

“All, huh? What if this was me?”

“That’s stupid!” Solara’s eyes close while her arms shake in her frustration, from her elbow up to her shoulder, basically vibrating. “It’s a stuuupid question! It wouldn’t ever be you! You’re stronger than she is!”

“No, what it is, is a simple question. It should be an easy question…Would you leave me to die too, Solara?” Aiye asks, meaning every offense taken by calling her by her full name.

“…Fuck you…” Solara takes a step back, hurt written all over her face. “I would never leave you. What am I supposed to do without you? I do a lot of crazy shit, I know. I can be an asshole, I know. But that’s why you’re here right? You’ve got me, always, remember?”

That’s why I’m here, Aiye mocks himself. He looks away from her.

Solara starts to get desperate. It begins to show on her face, and it could be heard in her voice, “Think of it this way, the sooner we go, the sooner the gateway closes and then it’ll stop draining her. And then, she’ll heallll. She’ll use the weapon. And she’ll stop the war. Boom, just like that. Let’s go now please?”

“I’m not going.”

“Aiye!” Solara drops to a crouch in front of him and an unconscious Thema, then combs her good hand through her scalp, slightly tugging on the hairs as her eyes roll back into their sockets.

The Broker steps behind Solara, standing at the edge of the black sand island, readying himself to follow them out of The Eye and back to the battlefield. He can always find his way back here. Even if the Narra is somewhere at the bottom of the ocean, he laments.

Solara gathers herself, “Aiye *exhale*…Fuck… Okay, fine. You win. We finish this war first. Shouldn’t take that long anyways. I doubt Earth people are that strong… No offense. Then afterwards we can take time for all of us to heal or whatever. AND THEN, we get the fuck outta here,” she says while pointing to her damaged arm.

“Not one second longer,” Aiye replies back smiling, happy to see her coming around. “And offense taken. Too soon dumbass.”

“Alllll rightttt. Calm downnnn.” Solara sarcastically responds, grunting as she stands back up. She offers her hand to help him get up.

Aiye laughs and grabs onto it. Solara grips tightly… Very tightly.

“I do love you Aiye. You’ll thank me, and forgive me for this someday…”

I do love you Aiye, are the words that replayed in his head when she grabbed him and tried to yank him into the water with her as she jumped backwards towards it.

I love you, is what played in his head when muscle memory took over and he instinctively countered, pushing her into The Broker and sending them both off to whatever unknown planet this was set to.

I love you, when his shock and horror took over. When he sobbed over what just happened, teleporting Thema’s body down to Isi-Iyi, thus closing the gateway.

I love you, when The Eye began to open up to the to the war raging in their world below, his world.

I love you as he claimed the blades, calling them into his hands. Then wiping his eyes before dropping down below to do what must be done. Trailed only by his tears and the silence that follows after great loss.

The thunderous drum strikes once…