One two three, humanity stuck again as they had slain the ‘great’ Gov. Cybris. However, we all know that this is only the beginning of war and it is too early to be counting victories because the real threats are still yet to make their mark on the battlefield and one of them is still sleeping in his laboratory. Although that didn’t stop the Rebels from enjoying the moment as they were happy to hear the news from Tenzin that Cybris was officially vanquished out of existence. Lounging on the couches in the decorative lounge of Laboratoria, the focus was on Kunoichi, Ninja, and Tenzin. “I honestly don’t know how you guys do that parkour stuff, the way you defy gravity so effortlessly and survived all that commotion is truly amazing.”
“Gee thanks, Colonel. We try not to really think about it, just do what is natural for our bodies to survive the situation,” Kunoichi answered.
“It’s good to see that you can trust your bodies in such situations, I know I can’t trust myself like that; I’d probably tremble under those buildings knowing that I am going to be crushed by them,” Chemic said.
“Yeah same, I don’t know if our plasma guns would’ve been able to save us from that one. But how did you two think to come into the lab, this lab could’ve been crushed under all that wreckage?” Flash asked.
“I don’t know, I was too focused on trying to find a way out but there wasn’t; then next thing I knew, I found myself in the lab.”
Kunoichi nodded, “Yeah I also didn’t find an escape route so in my last moments I thought of- … the black box and put my trust in Ethan’s engineering. Luckily it turned out as I’d hoped.”
“Well good thinking Chi, because we would’ve been human pancakes if it weren’t for your fast thinking. Although, I am curious as to how Tenzin managed to get to the box in time?”
Tenzin was sitting on the couch with his arms folded and eyes closed when he heard his name. “Wha? You wish to know how I managed to reach the box before getting crushed. It wasn’t easy, but I managed to do so by using my speed to my advantage; at the speed of lightning, I threw my battle axe at the ground, it dragged me along with it since I was still clutching it when I threw it. When the battle axe hit the ground, it destroyed the polarity effect in my circumference allowing me to move with ease when I landed and dashed toward the box. My speed was reduced by the polarity effect outside the circumference so I had to jump at the box to make it in time.”
“Nice, I thought you were a goner but it’s cool to see that you didn’t give in and survived with us.”
“I think we can all agree that it’s a good thing we didn’t bring the crusaders with us on this mission,” the Colonel said.
Heads nodded in agreement, “Yeah true, if we brought them with, half the force would’ve been killed in the first sector then the rest would’ve been crushed in this sector,” Bradley replied.
“We would’ve died as well in this sector if we didn’t have Cyber’s inventions. It goes to show that we as humanity would’ve been at the mercy of AI if Cyber had not arrived when he did.”
“Yeah, we’re totally out of our league here,” Ninja said.
“We already knew this but here we are, on an ongoing suicide mission and Cyber is still sleeping; we could’ve died out there and he wouldn’t have known,” Bradley said.
“We made the decision to let him sleep as long as possible, so he’s not at fault here. Although now, we can’t afford to go through another sector without him so we must wake him up.”
“I think we should all rest for now, Colonel. It’s almost night time and I doubt Cyber would approve us going into the next sector at night,” Kunoichi suggested.
The Colonel nodded, “I agree, after that last sector, I think we should all rest and wait til morning to strike. At least by then, Cyber should be fully rested and ready for action.”
TING
Everyone shifted their attention to the elevator door as it opened. “Ah Tony, you finally dug us out the wreckage outside.”
Tony was busy patting off the dust on his clothes as he left the elevator, “Yeah, my bad, I got ambushed by that governor in the virtual cyber realm but Tenzin took care of him.”
Tenzin nodded at him, “By the way, where’s Ethan?” Tony asked.
“What do you mean? He’s sleeping on the couch in the lab,” Kunoichi said.
Tony shook his head, “He’s not, I checked and he was nowhere in the lab.”
Silence lingered in the room for a moment before Kunoichi rushed to the elevator and ascended to the lab. Leaving the elevator, she checked the couch but found no one there. Searching the whole lab, she rushed back to the elevator as the Colonel and Ninja arrived in it. “Is he not here?”
“No Colonel, he is not,” Kunoichi answered as she pressed the 3rd floor button. “Hopefully, he is on the training floor.” Ninja noticed Kunoichi couldn’t stand still as she paced left & right on the spot, he put his hand on her shoulder, “Calm down Chi, I’m sure Cyber is fine, he probably woke up and went somewhere like the training room, so don’t stress yourself out.”
She kept pacing on the spot as if she ignored his words then the elevator door opened, she rushed out and searched the training room. Finding no one in the training room, Kunoichi radioed in, “Tony, do you know where Ethan is?”
Tony was lazed on the couch in the lounge, “No, I do not.”
“Why don’t you sound concerned, Ethan is missing and no one knows where he is?”
“In my experience, worrying about Ethan is a waste of time; knowing him, he is just fine.”
“But wouldn’t he tell us if he went somewhere, what if the enemy found this place without us noticing and took Ethan while he was asleep?”
“That would be impossible because while I was digging for the black box through the wreckage, I saw no other pathways leading to the box so no one could’ve come in and taken him.”
“Then where could he be?”
Tony laid there and looked at the ceiling, “I don’t know, the weird thing is that I can’t even locate him with my tracker or connect to his lenses; it’s as if he vanished from reality completely.”
“How is that even possible?” Kunoichi said as she bit her thumb.
“The more important question is what do we do from here?” the Colonel asked.
Tony kept looking at the ceiling as he tried to contemplate, If Ethan is really gone then I must do whatever I can to complete this mission for his sake and the rebels. But I don’t believe he’s just gone, I just don’t… “Colonel, let us wait until morning for Ethan to return, if he doesn’t then we’ll just have to continue the mission without him.”
“But can we complete this mission without him?”
“Who knows, we’ll have to see; hopefully, we don't reach that bridge.”
While the rebels were worrying about Ethan and planning their next action without him; somewhere far away but close at the same time in a different realm, there existed Ethan, still sleeping and not knowing that he was in a different environment.
“Hey, wake up.”
Ethan remained asleep but started feeling queasy, “Hey Ethan, wake up!” Irritated by the voice, he woke up groggily. Damnit Quinn, just let me sleep. He finally realized that he wasn’t on the couch anymore, “What the, am I still dreaming?”
He heard a chuckle in the background as he floated about in a spectrum of colours that radiated luminous shades of green. Looking around, Ethan saw a somewhat familiar entity. “It’s you… you’re the green star I saw when I first entered the quantum realm.”
“Oh, so you remember me, even after that brief first encounter. Interesting, it’s funny though you think I’m a star.”
“Then what are you?”
“I am he that dwells in the quantum realm as its lord, the spirit of defence.”
Ethan marveled, so he is the lord of the quantum realm, this is his domain. I wonder why he is called the spirit of defence though instead of the quantum realm… Wait, if he is the lord of the quantum realm, then he must know what caused the teleportation phenomenon. “Oh Great Spirit of defence, are you the one who caused the teleportation phenomenon throughout the worlds and dimensions?”
“The teleportation phenomenon? Oh you mean the anomaly in the quantum?”
“Uhh yeah let’s call it that.”
“No, I did not cause that. We spirits are not allowed to cause chaos among mortals, we’re only allowed to assist them; so me causing this anomaly would cause trouble for me which is why I didn’t cause it.”
“If that’s the case then what else could’ve caused it?”
“That is unknown to me. Although I will say that the anomaly did not occur by itself, this was a mortal-made anomaly as the anomaly caused a disruption in the quantum leading to random rifts forming almost everywhere in the quantum.”
“So it was a man-made anomaly then… Thank you Great Spirit, that helps a lot. However, how did it just teleport people randomly to other worlds when I needed a device to access the quantum realm?”
“When the anomaly occurred and the rifts formed, a surplus of quantum energy had burst from the rifts; anyone or anything close to the rifts and had made contact with the quantum energy was teleported randomly to wherever the quantum dropped them off.”
“I see… is there anything you can do to reverse the phenomenon, Great Spirit?”
“No, unfortunately, I cannot reverse such a massive-scale phenomenon.”
Dang it, of course, it wouldn’t be that easy… “Indeed, that is unfortunate. Even so, I am honoured that you have summoned me here, Great Spirit; this is a great opportunity for me to learn more about the quantum realm.”
“I’m glad you feel honoured mortal, but I didn’t summon you here.”
“Huh? What do you mean, how else would I have gotten here then?”
“By your own power.”
In hearing that, Ethan realized that his body was channeling energy. This must be quantum energy, but where did my body get quantum energy? He looked at his hand in revelation, the quantum glove! Since the glove stores energy, it must’ve had leftover quantum energy stored up then my body must’ve instinctively channeled it from the glove. Which is probably how I ended up here.
“You are the first human who has been able to access the quantum realm like this, usually mortals come and go instantly in here, but you are able to stay here and have a whole conversation with me, it’s remarkable. But this is a realm no mortal should spend a lot of time in, nor is quantum energy something a mortal should use regularly.”
“Why do you say that, does it also have side effects?”
Correct, it seems you know a thing or two about energy, how every type of energy has its ramifications on mortals.”
“Yes, I’d say I’m well versed in the matter due to experiences.”
“Then you must’ve felt the ramifications of quantum energy?”
“So far, I’ve only felt vertigo as a side effect, to the point I feel motion sickness.”
“Those are minor ramifications, I suggest you keep your usage of quantum energy to a minimum; if you persist in using quantum energy firsthand then you will experience worse ramifications such as random vivid visions of another life, extreme vertigo, and consciousness fragmentation; none of which are pleasant.”
Those all sound interesting, except for the vertigo… he said firsthand which gives me a theory… “You said firsthand, so me channeling the quantum energy comes with ramifications, but if I used a device such as my quantum gloves then I will be exempted from the ramifications, right?”
“Basically yes, that’s a good way to bypass the ramifications, but even if you use your quantum gloves, your body is still exposed to quantum energy which will still cause you to experience the ramifications.”
“I see… then a special suit should be able to prevent the ramifications… How big is the quantum realm?”
“The best answer to that is to just say that it’s infinite; the quantum realm scales across realities, realms, worlds, universes, and dimensions leaving its grand scale at infinite.”
“Infinite? Then that means one can go anywhere in existence within the quantum realm.”
“Yes, but mortal, there are dimensions and domains that you are forbidden to enter, so do not assume you can go anywhere as you please. If you wish to go between places then so be it, but do not use the quantum realm to explore places that should not be explored.”
“Understood, I should be mindful of where I roam.”
“Precisely, now as much as I would love to continue our conversation, it is best that you go back to your world, you’ve been here long enough and any longer will cause the ramifications to take effect if they haven't already.”
“Thank you for your concern, Great Spirit. I will take my leave now, but I will come back soon to learn more about this place.”
“I look forward to it.”
Ethan channeled more quantum energy as he focused it into his hands and tore a rift into reality. “I’ll be seeing you, Great Spirit.” Ethan waved as he disappeared into the rift.
An interesting mortal, few have accessed this realm freely but none have stayed and held a conversation with me. Some were sensitive to the energy that they almost instantly felt the ramifications leading them to leave this place while others have seen me but ignored me for some reason, I assume it’s fear or lack of curiosity. Holding a conversation with me is not the most impressive part about this or that he seemed unaffected by the quantum, it’s the fact that he remained unfazed by the knowledge of me being the lord of this realm. Either he didn’t fathom who I was or he didn’t really care… he doesn’t seem stupid in the slightest, so he must be fearless… it's too early to say, but he is interesting, I think I will keep an eye on that one, he may become a powerful ally one day.
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