“Well, there’s not where you come from, but there’s a lot of companies with Aduna’s name on them here.” Gabriel looked at me as if I was supposed to know what the fuck was going on. Alejandro, reading us like a book, continued. “You see, my friends, although you’re talking to me, I’m not the same Alejandro you know. I’m, in fact, one of many Alejandros that exist in the universe: a dimensional counterpart.” Bruno and Gabriel shared a laugh before showering Alejandro with stares of disbelief. He, however, proceeded. “I know it is hard to understand, but you’re in a different dimension, and in a different time. This place runs 20 years ahead of yours and has been through a different history in that time.” He paused for a second, looking straight into my eyes. “If my information is correct, you have spent the last five years of your life caring for your grandfather, correct? He also passed away recently, no?” I nodded, trying to guess where he was going with this, to no avail. “Your grandfather was an addict to lottery tickets, yet he never once won, if I understand correctly. He had no money towards the end of his life, and was sustained by your family until his last days.” He was absolutely correct. I still didn’t know what his point was, but he was still correct. “Well, in this dimension, your grandfather won the lottery with his last ticket. He sadly passed away in an accident, and you cashed the prize.”
Bruno and Gabriel were amazed at listening to this, I was just very confused. I still hadn’t fully digested the idea that I was in a different dimension; they seemed perfectly fine with it, though. They had always been more open minded than me.
“Nice! So Aduna got rich! I’m guessing we partied hard!” Bruno got enthusiastic suddenly, like I was also rich. In his heart, the hardship from a week in custody vanished that instant. He had always been the kind to quickly forget when people did him wrong, a trait not shared with his Prime counterpart, but, again, I’m rushing ahead.
“In a way, you did” Alejandro continued. “Our Aduna had always been a frail one. The love of his life, Jessica, took her own life after being raped and impregnated; some of his friends also lost their lives after getting involved with a Mexican cartel.” I sighed at the memory of those things happening to me. They had indeed made me frail. I felt my heart shrink as I recalled their last moments; my eyes became teary. Alejandro noticed this, but kept going anyway. “When he was faced with enough money to live a comfortable life, he instead decided to invest it in both economic and political power: at his lowest, a man named Rahk approached him. Rahk was a man of great power already, head of a cult that had grown unequaled roots in our world. Aduna allowed Rahk to use his money in return for a stable future. Little by little, Aduna found himself wrapped by Rahk’s ideals. With the support of many others, Rahk had assessed a monopoly over every service in the world, and had made Aduna obscenely rich by the age of 24.” I remember thinking I was an amazing guy for having achieved that in this world. Oh, how wrong I was. Bruno and Gabriel were both jittery with excitement from hearing this, but Alejandro ignored the group’s optimism. “10 years ago, Aduna held control of most US and China based companies. He used his influence to tamper with elections all around the world, effectively allowing Rahk to control a great number of countries who depended on his products to survive. Aduna instigated rebellions around the world, taking down long standing governments who refused to allow Rahk control. In a way, by the time he was 32, he had made Rahk the most powerful man in the world.” Alejandro, who had kept a calm, soothing expression throughout the tale, frowned and tightened his expression. He turned to see Bruno and Gabriel. “Aduna’s influence was so big, he was able to place both of you in positions of overwhelming power: Bruno became president of the United States against the will of the people, and Gabriel came to rule over a now completely unified Europe, both of you serving as the hands of Rahk’s first in command. A military campaign soon followed. Aduna pushed for a worldwide empire that was controlled from the shadows by Rahk seven years ago. Whatever country refused to obey was left without any of the resources Aduna’s companies controlled, some of which included water and electricity, and was then invaded by a brutal army that didn’t care about innocents. More often than not, the resisting armies were left with no survivors.”
Gabriel and Bruno turned to face me. I remember being horrified at the actions I had apparently instigated. They seemed somewhat flabbergasted at the idea that I would be capable of such things. Hell, I didn’t even know how I could create an economical empire; I could barely keep track of how much money I had in my wallet. Alejandro sighed and finished his tale, letting go of an air that felt like a mixture of both sadness, and desperation.
“The war ended 2 years ago. It came to show capitalism might not have been the greatest idea in the world. You three became untouchable as you controlled everything…and Rahk controlled you. Those of us who were your friends before your surge to power left; we were disgusted by what you’d become. Some of our family members fought against your attempt to rule all, but they were all slaughtered without any mercy, sometimes in our presence. You thought this world owed you something, and so you took everything from it. This connection of underground caves is the only thing that is left outside of your rule: we are the Resistance. A very small faction that fights your oppressive rule. We might be small, totaling no more than 120 soldiers, but we are strong. We managed to steal a very crude dimensional transportation device with which we do what little justice we can.”
“Killing other Adunas” Gabriel quietly said.
“Our leaders, the two robed figures you saw atop you that day, believe that although the fight for our world should take priority, we can still save others from suffering the same fate. We kidnap versions of you who will lead the world towards a similar fate and kill them before they can do such things. This additionally seems to anger our dictators for some reason.” Bruno fearfully backed away from the three of us. He looked at me horrified and more so at Alejandro.
“Send us back! We are not like that! We want to go home!” Bruno began screaming at Alejandro, who very calmly asked him to sit down.
“I am sorry, but our device is not designed to return anything. It only takes from a pre-built-in time and place.” Gabriel stood up and slammed his hand against the table again, this time angry. He quickly pulled the makeshift bow with an arrow out of his backpack and pointed it at Alejandro.
“You are not slaughtering us like animals! Send us back now!” Alejandro widened his eyes as he saw an altered Gabriel pointing straight to his chest. I can’t recall what I felt like at the moment. Sadness, fear, disgust at myself. I treasured life, as I had seen many lose it in a blink; believing I had been the cause of millions dead made me sick in the stomach. I stood up, then slowly placed myself between Alejandro and the arrow. Gabriel looked at me with anger, as if I were to blame.
“Gabriel, calm down. Draw back your bow.” Gabriel hesitated, but kept his aim steady.
“They want us dead! They will kill us if we stay here!” Bruno nodded in agreement and stood beside Gabriel.
“They’ve a good reason for that.” I said with a tired breath. “But if they were truly looking to kill us, we wouldn’t have had a conversation explaining the world.” Gabriel, still hesitant walked towards me, aim still sharp.
“So we’re supposed to trust them?” I felt Alejandro trembling behind me as Gabriel searched for his face.
“For now, yes. If not them, trust me.” I put my hand on a now very close arrow that had one of my car keys for a tip, then lowered it. I gave both an accomplice look, telling them to play along. Bruno looked down while Gabriel stared straight into me. Bruno knew both me and Gabriel had an unyielding sense of justice. He knew what was next.
“Let’s face it, Alejandro, you know too much about me to have just taken us by mistake. If you were aware that we were not evil, why bring us here?” Gabriel opened his eyes in amazement. I could tell the idea that our kidnapping had been no mistake had not crossed his head until now, but it made sense to him. Alejandro smiled, as if he expected me to ask that question.
“Perceptive as always. Although I do wish it hadn’t been a mistake. We have a plan that can work given the circumstances.” The three of us looked at Alejandro with surprise while he spoke a sentence that both confused, and scared us. “We want you to take your counterpart’s place, and bring order back to us”. Horrified, yet surprised, I opened the bottle given to me by Alejandro and swallowed a pill of Salvatin. Our new lives were about to begin.
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