EVERGREEN RESIDENCE A

VIRTUM, GRATA - 12:24 AM

Zack continues to browse Memoria, choosing the date of November 30, 1995.

22 YEARS AGO

ETERNAL TOWER - 38TH FLOOR

EVERNIGHT, NAZENDEL - 7:08 PM

Chained to four poles on each limb in a padded room, Zack stands over a pool of sweat and blood as Trent watches from afar.

“Sometimes I wish I could set you free momentarily… Just so you could tell your whore to stop pestering us,” Trent says, antagonizing Zack.

“She’s a real piece of work. An everlasting thorn in our side...” he continues, approaching Zack.

“...But it’s alright. I enjoy her torment; how little by little… she loses hope,” Trent says as Zack begins to speak.

“Do whatever you want with me… but please… leave her alone…” Zack softly says, his voice weak and tired from the experimentation as Trent laughs at his plea.

“You humor me, Evergreen. I’m honored that you would think so highly of me,” Trent replies sarcastically.

“Oh, that reminds me! I’ve done some research on your past and I’m proud to announce that we’ve been working on a very special project. Would you like to meet him?” asks Trent, getting Zack’s attention.

“No… You wouldn’t…” mutters Zack as Trent presses his lapel mic.

“Bring out Project Diaz to Cell 16,” Trent commands, his voice echoing throughout the hall speakers. Zack’s heart sinks at the mention of the name Diaz, even more so when two soldiers bring in a heavily injured blonde man who stares in disbelief at Zack’s condition.

“Jason…” Zack whispers under his breath as Trent signals the two soldiers to return Jason to his cell.

“Why… Why are you doing this…?” asks Zack as Trent grabs him by the jaw.

“You go against Eternal Drive, you suffer the consequences. That’s been the law even before we were born, and that’ll be the law when we’re long gone and forgotten,” Trent explains, his grip on Zack’s jaw clenching even tighter.

“So… Is that it…? To uphold the law…?”

“At least that’s Damon’s reason. I just enjoy seeing people suffer.”

“You’re a… goddamn psychopath…” Zack says, insulting the mad scientist.

“Oh, Zack… Tell me something I don’t know.”

22 YEARS LATER - PRESENT DAY

EVERGREEN RESIDENCE A

VIRTUM, GRATA - 12:31 AM

Zack scrolls once more, this time stopping at January 5, 1997.

20 YEARS AGO

ETERNAL TOWER - 38TH FLOOR

EVERNIGHT, NAZENDEL - 10:44 PM

Sirens blare in the facility as an unchained Zack stands off against Trent, who holds Lily hostage with a gun to her head.

“Let her go!” commands Zack, his fingers pointed towards Trent.

“Try me, Evergreen! Let’s put your abilities to the test, why don’t we? What’s faster, your lasers or this bullet?” asks Trent, sticking the gun against the side of Lily’s face.

“I’m warning you, Omega! You kill her… I’ll destroy everything in this lab!” says Zack, his fingers beginning to emit energy.

“Go ahead! You think this is all I have?” replies Trent as Zack contemplates, unsure if the former is bluffing.

“Please… He doesn’t mean it…” Lily says, trying to save Zack.

“SHUT UP! God, why couldn’t you have just listened? You could have stayed my plaything; none of this needed to happen, but NO! You had the brilliant idea of running off and trying to escape!” yells a livid Trent as Lily starts tearing up.

“It’s no fun anymore when you completely break a person…” Trent continues disappointedly as Damon’s voice speaks through his lapel mic.

“Trent, do it.”

Zack’s initial serum provided him the abilities to shoot lasers from his hands. A powerful offensive ability, indeed, but not quite ideal for the situation. Zack’s lasers were unfortunately, not as fast as light, nor did they have the power to melt creatures instantaneously.

Zack’s second serum allowed him to generate glass. A seemingly useless ability at first, though disproven through later tests. Through glass, Zack’s lasers had been greatly enhanced, almost as if they were going through a prism. The bright red color had diverged into a rainbow hue, the quickness almost reaching lightspeed and the heat strong enough to melt steel.

His purpose as a living weapon was growing exponentially day by day. But at this very moment, there was nothing Zack had wished more than to trade his destructive abilities for time control. If he had the ability to freeze time, perhaps he could have saved his lover. Perhaps Trent Omega would lie six feet underground. Perhaps he could have broken Jason out.

*BANG*

Zack screams and shoots several lasers at Trent which are intercepted by a purple barrier. Lily falls to the ground, lifeless as a man with ringed tattoos on his arms hurls several purple orbs towards Zack, knocking him back.

20 YEARS LATER - PRESENT DAY

EVERGREEN RESIDENCE A

VIRTUM, GRATA - 12:46 AM

Zack’s body jerks upwards as he hurriedly yanks the Memoria device off his head. He breathes heavily before calming down, remembering Lily’s face. In a few days Damon Estreval will be addressing the nation with a live audience in Evernight where Rage plans to carry out an assassination using Zack’s custom sniper. There was no more room for backing out, justice needs to be served to those Eternal Drive scum.

Fearing that he was growing soft as a result of raising Nick, Celeste and Luke, Zack needed to reignite the fire inside his heart once more by reliving his past. After unlinking from Memoria to prevent Eternal Drive from further accessing his memories, he destroys the device by crushing it, hoping to never use it again. Zack gets out of bed, refusing to sleep and heads to his basement where he continues to work on his firearms.

FAYE SQUARE

AURUS, PRECIDIA - 10:09 AM

Seated underneath a tree are Nick Altair and Elena Lune, drinking coffee together just outside a shop. The cold wind howls, blowing several leaves off a tree with one leaf falling on Nick’s cup, drenching itself in coffee. Nick removes the wet leaf, looking at it disgustedly before throwing it aside.

“I thought you liked the all-natural aspect of Aurus,” Elena jokes as Nick contemplates on finishing his soiled drink.

“It has its downsides,” replies Nick, drinking it anyways. He remembered consuming far more disgusting things, especially Luke’s cooking.

“Oh, come on. It’s just a leaf,” Elena remarks.

“And how many times has it rained here? Who knows what kinda unholy mixtures that leaf absorbed,” Nick retorts as Elena chuckles.

“Please, the only unholy mixture here is that jacket with those pants,” replies Elena, insulting Nick’s attire which he bought from a nearby thrift shop.

“Can you blame me? I didn’t come here expecting to stay for a week,” Nick replies, defending himself.

“Did you have to be so cheap though? You look like one of those virtual swingers in Doslight…” says Elena as Nick raises his eyebrow.

“...How do you know that?” Nick asks, curious at Elena’s apparent perversion.

“I see their ads all the time whenever I pirate webnovels,” Elena explains as Nick sighs.

“Well, I hope nobody gets the wrong idea,” Nick replies as several strangers pass by, side-eyeing him and murmuring as they leave. One stranger carrying several flyers walks up to Nick, handing him one before moving along. Nick and Elena observe the flyer, an advertisement for the 72nd Aurus Festival.

“Have you ever been to one?” Elena asks as she takes a sip.

“When I was super young. I don’t even remember much of it; it was really my sister and dad that got to enjoy. Only reason I was there was ‘cause there was no one to look after me back in Roscher,” Nick answers.

“Roscher? I thought you were from Nexos?”

“I used to live in Roscher. After the accident that took my family’s lives, my dad’s coworker took me in and had me live in Nexos,” replies Nick as Elena sets the flyer down.

“Well, stick around for a bit and I might show you just how much better it is here in Aurus,” jokes Elena, inviting Nick to the festival.

“I already know how much better it is from the lack of E-Drive tech.”

“Don’t get too attached. One day this place’ll turn out like Doslight, too.”

LUNE RESIDENCE

AURUS, PRECIDIA - 3:43 PM

Back at Elena’s home, screaming and insults can be heard coming from Zico’s room. Inside are Nick and Zico himself, battling each other in a fighting game on a retro console. Elena stays in her own room, reading a book titled “The Angel Of South Lavia”, a publication documenting the tales of the former Aurus mayor who helped several communities in the midst of despair.

Elena’s phone suddenly vibrates due to a text from Tina Ross.

Rendezvous at my shop tomorrow. 11 PM Sharp

Elena reacts with a sticker before heading inside Zico’s room to inform Nick.

“Stop using grabs! It’s unfair!” screams Zico, fighting desperately in a match-point round.

“Devs put ‘em in for a reason. Hate the game, not the player,” Nick arrogantly replies as he performs another grab, netting him a victory of 3-1 before Elena calls his name out.

“Nick. Can we talk?” Elena asks as Nick stands up and starts to walk towards her.

“Sure. ‘Bout what?” Nick questions as Elena signals him to come outside.

LUNE RESIDENCE

AURUS, PRECIDIA - 3:47 PM

“Tina wants to meet us later at 11,” Elena tells Nick, who takes a seat on the stairs on her porch.

“Meeting? Why not just text?”

“She’s very paranoid about texting. She thinks that E-Drive has control over our messages,” Elena answers before sitting beside Nick.

“I mean, they do have access to it, but what’s some underpaid operator gonna do about it? I bet you 90% of the time they’re just dozing off in their offices all day,” Nick replies as Elena returns a soft smile.

“Speaking of all day, we’ve got the whole day to ourselves since our meeting at Tina’s still at 11.”

“What’re you thinking?” asks Nick, curiosity and excitement beginning to fill his brain.

“The Aurus Festival lasts for five days. Guess which day it is now?” Elena enthusiastically asks.

“I dunno, the first?” Nick replies sarcastically as Elena pouts, unamused.

“The fifth,” Nick states in a more serious manner as Elena’s eyes light up once more.

“Exactly! The last day’s always the most special one. So what do you say? Wanna go?”

“Why not? Are we bringing Zico along, too?” Nick replies instantaneously. Indeed, there was some truth to Zack and Luke’s words. Nick did desire an escape from the merciless nature of Lavia. Even though he had involved himself in a terrorist attack, Nick speculated that perhaps he could find temporary bliss in participating at the Aurus Festival.

“Of course we are. Though, as you’ve experienced first-hand, he tends to run off and do his own thing,” Elena says, walking inside to get dressed and inform Zico.

LUNE RESIDENCE

AURUS, PRECIDIA - 4:16 PM

Still outside Elena’s house, Nick awaits the two while browsing his phone. He scrolls past several posts but briefly dwells on one that catches his eye:

DAMON ESTREVAL ADDRESSES THE NATION - 25 : 44 : 38

In a day from now the future of South Lavia is set to change drastically when Damon Estreval inevitably declares martial law for complete control. Unbeknownst to Nick, however, the Gruff brothers along with Zack Evergreen plan to put a halt to the announcement by assassinating Damon in the midst of his speech.

Thankfully Nick has no need to worry about the address, as a hyper Zico bolts out the door, running into the streets excitedly. Nick attempts to call out Zico but is distracted when the door opens once more. Elena emerges gracefully, adorned in an elegant white dress with the flats to match. She begins approaching Nick, who is captivated while feeling inadequate as he looks down at his own attire.

“How do I look?” Elena asks the starstruck Nick.

“Better than me, that’s for sure,” Nick replies as Elena giggles.

“I’m sure there’s some lonely people in Doslight who wouldn't mind,” Elena jokes as Nick shakes his head. The two make their way to the plaza, where even more decorations have been set. Live bands take turns on a stage in the center of the plaza playing music, with the occasional rock band drowning out the chatter of the people. Nick and Elena come across several booths, trying different foods and playing different games. One particular booth demanded three rounds of archery using a rubber arrow to which Nick hit the bullseye thrice, nobbing himself the grand prize of a stuffed toy of choice. Per Elena’s request, Nick chooses a cute, pink spider which he holds on to as they continue enjoying the festivities.