I_L: Chapter 9

 

She felt a passage through time, walking by all the walls of all these rooms, each one becoming increasingly familiar to her as she neared the top. It was like she was walking through a maze, or a book she'd read a long time ago. The place she'd find the key to all of this would be the same as the place where she'd started, no matter how many doors or years had passed. After arriving at the top of the stairs, the hall seemed to continue forever, all caught in a reflection of glass along the walls. A sense of loneliness and a feeling of being completely solitary washed over her as she walked, all the way through until she stepped to the end, a weird door with colorful stickers over a tacky decorated pink-frame greeting her.

She twisted the knob.

 

The door opened, revealing a traditional 50's living room and kitchen. The type she'd seen in the Martian mine, not identical but similar enough that she recognized the style, with all its shiny silverwear and knickknacks. She wandered over, inspecting the table and the rest of the room. There was an old TV in the corner, the set of tubes and the screen long broken with a set of antennas. The kitchen was a mess, with more old plates and cups than she had ever seen. She was now in the middle of an old style dining table, covered with mismatched fine-china and a set containing a silver teacup and crystal ball. She could hear something. Noelle was about to reach out to touch the crystal ball when a voice sounded ahead.

⍟

"Ah! You made it."

 

Noelle was surprised to hear their voice. She turned, seeing the old man standing behind her. His robes, the robes of an Elder Dragon were hung on a wall with venetian-print wallpaper. He wore a sweater vest and slacks with comfortable shoes. The old man looked tired, but healthy for his age.

His hair was gray, slightly wispy but not completely dead, though it was the same lightened color as the rose-colored robes along the bangs. He appeared to be a man of about 80 years of age. He leaned on a walking stick, but stood up straighter as he walked over to the table.

"Welcome, I'm-" the old man was looking at Noelle who launched into her own rant. "How do you know who I am? I don't know you, I don't know anything about you. How the hell would you know who I am?"

He smiled. It was the sort of smile she couldn't forget, "You're a very interesting girl, you know that?" he was looking at her now with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Why are you doing this? Do you think I'm going to believe anything you say?" Noelle stopped pacing about and stood still, shaking her head. She was losing her cool.

The Elder Dragon seemed amused, as he stepped forward and started to walk around the table. "Of course I'm not trying to sell you anything false, Noelle. And of course I know who you are. How much do you think you could have changed in the past three years?"

Noelle was shocked. "I didn't change at all, I'm the same person I always was."

 

"I think you should sit down, Noelle." he said gently, gesturing towards the chair at the table. She sat down and tried to look him in the eyes. "Listen, I don't want to waste time with

pointless small talk, because I know you won't believe me if I do, but I will try. I will tell you who I am and why I'm here, and if you still think I'm crazy, we can part ways right now." The old man smiled and sat across from her. " Reluctantly, Noelle pulled up the chair and sat down.

"And now, let's start at the beginning. You want to know who you are?" Noelle nodded, not trusting any word coming out of his mouth.

He smiled. "So I have a story for you."

 

 

 

 

He nodded towards the old TV in the corner. "Have you ever seen that show? 'NeoMyths and Legends'?"

Noelle nodded and the old man continued.

 

"Well, it's about a girl, Noelle, and she was a lot like you. Only she was different. She was a very lonely girl, and one day she found an old book at a flea market and saw something interesting in it, and decided to give it a try. It was about the legends of the great dragons, dragons, Noelle, that lived before all the others. This lonely girl in the storybook, she was raised by dragons, but too young to understand yet that she was not a dragon. She couldn't understand their roars were or what noble values they taught, even if they left a mark in her heart. And so they dropped her off back in the kingdom they found her in- but of course, she wasn't the same as when they found her. She was strong, stronger than anyone else and had a dragon's courage. The girl reading this storybook started to piece things together, and wondered if she too, was once taken up by Dragons. She was fascinated, and I believe you are too, Noelle. You're a lot

like her, that's why you're so confused right now. You're confused because you're not like anyone else."

"So what you're saying is that I'm a dragon?"

 

"In a sense of the word, sorta. You make kingdoms quake. You rise them, you burn them on a whim. You take the innocent maidens when you choose and you fight the valiant knights sent your way."

Noelle started to rub at her arms abit. "I'm not buying it."

 

"Yes, I suppose not. I've watched you grow up, I know what you do, I've seen you change. "

The Elder Dragon held out his hand for Noelle to shake. She did.

 

"I'll show you, Noelle, if you'll help me refresh abit. I can help you take back what's yours. Let you burn down the kingdom or build your own. I'm tired and I'm going to need to rest for a bit, so if you will follow me, I'll show you where I'm staying. I can trust you, Noelle. We both know you wouldn't go wandering off to a land of fantasy, and you can't hurt me because you need to know who you are."

"Oh.. okay?" She looked at him uneasy. He offered his hand and got up, having to stretch his aged joints abit. "That closet door. Let's walk through it." He said.

Noelle was unsure of all of this but, he seemingly had something to demonstrate. They started to walk. When Noelle finally put her hand on the knob and saw cyan light pouring through the cracks, she looked at the old man, and then at the door again, sliding it open slowly. The two walked forward, and were met with a grass knoll. She gasped at the freshness of the air,

the light so bright that Noelle's eyes took a moment to adjust. Noelle could see a far off castle and moat, a magnificent garden around said moat and a tall tower in the center, catapults at the top.

"What is this?! Some type of hologram or virtual channel?"

 

"It's nothing like that." The old man insisted. "You built this. All of this, created it when you were only a child."

Noelle stood still, she looked at the castle again.. "I was building this?" She said, "When I was a kid? H-how?"

The old man smiled and looked at her. "You did once. You just did. It was just this small kingdom, a few miles wide. But one day, you'll learn to build larger castles, and you'll bring dragons to life, the dragons you've been searching for. And then you'll realize, you are a Dragon Noelle."

He sat down by a tree, sitting in the shade. "I'm sure you have a million questions. But let me rest for a while and I'll explain what you need to know. "

While the Elder Dragon rested on the ground, Noelle kneeled on the grass, and looked ahead into the vast expanse. Green fields that shone like emeralds, sunny skies and cool shade. The Castle was filled with flags, each in stripes of cobalt, red, yellow and white. It seemed so bright and peaceful. She was beginning to feel like it was hers, and her heart swelled in her chest at that notion. Could she really believe this man’s statements, that she built any of this? Her eyes glanced to the front, where a small line of children was still trying to get to the Castle with a nun. They had taken such care with them, holding hands and guiding them over the bridge moat, and

then into the inner walls. Where did those people come from? Did she make them too? The Castle looked peaceful and filled with happiness. Perhaps she would be happy here.

⍟

 

 

 

 

"Noelle?" said the voice again, as if someone was calling her from far away. She looked up to see a strange knight coming towards her, its helmet shaped like a bird. He removed his helmet when he saw her she was frightened. His hands were clasped over his chestplate and he walked as if in a trance. His white hair seemed to flow around him like a halo. His face was gentle, and his eyes were filled with worry. She didn't recognize him, but he felt a vaguely familiarity. The type you get in childhood in-between sticky fingers dripped in paint and naptime, but cannot quite pin down.

"Who are you?" she said, turning around.

 

"Are you okay, Noelle? Are you alright?" said the man, as he reached out his armored hand. She took it and allowed him to pull her up from the ground. He looked like he was trying to pull her into him, and then he seemed to relax, and her hand became stiff in his. He turned and held her face in both of his hands. It was then that she realized that his hand becoming less solid the more she held it. When she pushed forward to embrace him, he turned translucent and disappeared. She looked down, seeing she was in a strange outfit, wearing a jumpsuit split in reds and blues, like some kind of rubbery jester. Finally her head filled with thoughts, and she realized that she was in fact a different person. This person was happy and carefree, and she was filled with warmth and joy. A part of her wanted to embrace it. Noelle clutched her head, this

was all a little too much for her. She looked up and saw a Cowl on her head, pulling at it until it squeaked off her. With a grip of the tight, yet thick paunchy fabric, the jumpsuit dissolved.

She was back in her old jacket and leather jeans. She was herself.. atleast she thought? "What is happening to me?!" she yelled.

"Love of reality much?" The Elder Dragon said, having woken up from his nap. "Obscene fantasies and memories here drift in and out of existence like passing clouds. It'd do much benefit to have a solid foundation for that imagination of yours, don't you think?"

Noelle hissed, wiping some golden lipstick from her mouth. "Enough stalling! Tell me what you know, or this was all a pointless waste."

"Yes yes, of course. Let's see.." He chapped his lips abit, and looked up at the sky, the shade of the clouds passing and floating gently.

"You are a bit older now. It took me a while, but I managed to trace your life. When you were born, you were one of two. Maybe more actually, but I only know of the two. You were adopted by a man called the RavenMaster, an armored protector who was entrusted with protecting you. The other woman, I suppose we could call her your adoptive mother. She wasn't much of a mother tho, but she was some kind of Fae. The Ravenmaster would ride with her often. They were followed by twelve disciples, known as the Elken Brood."

"W-what? That's, absurd." Noelle

 

"What we do know is she and the Ravenmaster, a man who raised you, though not for

very long, received you from a higher dimensional power." "What do you mean not for very long?"

He coughed a few times. "You were still a child. They traveled with you for a few hundred years, but you were very slow to grow. And they had a very difficult task assigned to them. A task from the higher dimensional power, the entity I mentioned."

"Who?"

 

He gave pause. "Novus." and had to catch his breath with a deep sigh.

 

"We have no way of knowing what your parents name were, or what happened to your adoptive family. It was so long ago, I've stopped caring. But the one who gave life to you, was Novus. Novus was a godlike entity who oversaw the creation of worlds. Your universe. In order to bring life to these worlds, the Elken brood performed a traditional hymn. They were demi-god spirits with a special power, utilizing their antlers to flow forth streaks of reality."

"Streaks of reality? What does that even mean?"

 

He waved his hand, showing a sparkling illusion of the dreary hooded Elken holding hands, pure blue light and water branching out of their antlers until they streaked far across the edges of the sky. "

"It means they could nurture life. The elements of lifebringing.. water, air, warmth, they would generate like rivers onto all things. And for a while, they helped oversee your parents protection of you."

He paused. "Why? Hm..” The answer seemed just on the tip of his fragile memory. “From what I understand, she refused him at first. Novus offered the Ravenmaster paradise, a world to rule of his own. But he turned her down. The Fae was herself destined for punishment. She'd done a great many crimes and fate would have her resigned in chains of the abyss for her sins.. But she rejected fate." Noelle gave him a look of confusion, as much as he was enjoying himself, seeming to have fun, both were somewhat strung along with the absurdity of it all. "She chose not to face punishment in her current incarnation, and escaped with the Ravenmaster instead. Novus was impressed with both the Ravenmaster and Fae's plight, they said she created you out of the colorful fruit of her garden, and gave you to them to take care of"

"I came from.. fruit? What?" He nodded.

"In most myths its clay or dirt.. Much sweeter no?" Noelle swallowed, her face turning blue. "Oh.. o-oh."

"A child. What a wonderful little melon." He sighed deeply, and chuckled. "I was so very glad. Novus gave a wonderful gift. You were such a wonderful little child, they said." His laughter seemed to take her bluish tint and paint it even further into embarrassment.

"Is this some kind of joke? You're not going to tell me that Novus is my mother? And that I was made from... fruit?!"

"Hush. I'm sure you were an adorable fruit. Way too saccharine for your own good." He howled and laughed for abit, making sure to enjoy the moment.

"It's all metaphorical anyway. Maybe? I know Novus creating you isn't tho."

 

Noelle gasped in fright, and fell over onto the ground. She covered her head with her arm. "Why would she make me from fruit?"

"Well, I'm sure she had a perfectly valid reason. It's not really my place to question it. I'm just a story teller." He shrugged his shoulder. "Yes, she made you, but it's hard to say for sure if she did it for any real reason. I think she's the type that is just interested in creating things, as the divine often do. Anyway, there was one problem.. despite her power and works, Novus had many enemies. In the spiral cosmology of which you were born and raised atop her palace, she said it was still too early for you. The Palace was too cold, and your voice was too loud. In order to protect you, Ravenmaster, Fae and the Elken would need to take you on a journey on the lower rungs of the Tower."

"The tower? What Tower?" Noelle eyed him suspiciously.

 

"It’s a metaphor. The Raven described it to me as the top of the celestial palace where you were born. You can think of reality like a cylinder, with worlds as droplets of rain swirling around it from the top rushing to the bottom.. you were raised at the top, until Novus decided the heavens were too high for you, and you needed to grow somewhere quieter. That's your origin, Noelle."

She cried, and started to sob. Noelle would never accept this nonsense, to her last dying breath.

"Alright. If you want to skip right to the end. It'll make it easier." He cleared his throat. "The Ravenmaster and the Fae defeated Novus's great divider, her enemy. However in order to

do this and keep traveling somewhere that you could rest properly, in what Novus called the Golden Cradle, they had to hand you off to the Elken Brood. One by one, passing along as they descended deeper into the abyss, the 12 carried you far down the tower. But there was one problem.. Your sister."

"My parents must have moved on then." she said. "Where is she?"

 

"Later. It's not like it would bring me back any of the years you've passed with her, but maybe if it brought you back to the days of youth, it'd be a consolation. I had to go through quite a few hoops to discover her. Truthfully, I don't know your sister's story that well. It was a long time ago for the both of you. But they told me.. Your sister grew contemptuous of Novus. When the last Elken, said to be the youngest, was set to deliver you to the cradle on a bottom world, your sister tricked them and, well she took you. Kidnapped you really and ran away."

"Ran away where?"

 

The Elder Dragon looked around. "..Here. This universe you see before you. Where there was no signal or trace of where you could be found."

Noelle folded her face into her hands, taking this all in. "How long have I been here?

 

We're talking how long?"

 

"Six Hundred years. You've been here for six hundred years. As for the years in between, well you've been dreaming. Many lives, many bodies, bodies that I had made for you."

He looked up at the sky. "You know where we first met? I have memories of you being a baby, as a toddler, a young girl, and all the places you've been. You never aged, you grew, but your sister, she never changed either. Nasty."

Noelle folded her arms, she hated asking singular questions like this, as if trying to tack her involvement on. But he was the one helping her recall slowly.

"One day you and your sister just, showed up in a pod. It was shaped like a circus ball, you had a lot of rubber toys and a pink teaset inside."

He shrugged, and gave a sad look. "This is where I have to confess my involvement.. My granddad would be ashamed. I did everything she told me, everything your sister thought would shield you from who she told me were 'evil invaders and a vengeful goddess.' It was all to hide you. She asked me to do it! Me? To look out for you." The old man laughed, considerably tickled by this part.

"What did you do?" Noelle felt as if a part of her wanted to try to scream, the man before her looking like all skin and bones.

"The X.I.M.A.S. project.. an AI invasion to remake humanity, so the history books said. She helped me acquire all the resources I needed, but in reality that was just a false flag. Smoke and mirrors. The violent insurrection of machines was a means to a higher end, to hide you.

Because mankind was so preoccupied with fighting for their survival, they didn't notice the machine your sister had me and her build, the Embryo Trigger. It messes with the quantum fabric of space-time. It would not only obscure your location in the universe, but would erase the memories of any, let’s say 'Divinity' or forces coming inside and render them ineffectual."

"That didn't work out so well.."

Noelle was visibly annoyed by this piece of information, but there was nothing she could do. She'd just have to accept it, and carry on. She wasn't about to waste her time wondering. "Why not?"

"Because you were.. far more advanced than she understood. Way too precocious. Too powerful and at times even wise. Even though you were always learning more about humanity, you were in harm's way on a daily basis and everyone that came across you couldn't keep up..." He sighed.

He looked at the castle amused.

 

"The day you first showed me this castle you built, inside this small closet, larger inside than out I was amazed. How could you have done this? That's when I realized how silly it was for your sister to even think you needed protection, I knew what your sister was doing was wrong. I'm sure Novus knew as such aswell. You helped me grow in so many ways, and believe it or not, I wanted to help you too. I wanted to free you. I'm afraid I didn't understand the consequences of my actions until it was too late. I'm not the best choice for guiding people, that's all."

Noelle scratched her head. "I.. helped others? That's strange." She slipped off her jacket and laid back.

"Even as a Security Chief, I never really felt like I made a real difference. It doesn't really sound like me"

He shook his head. "No.. not exactly. You didn't really intend to help anyone. In fact I think you were quite selfish at times, sometimes maliciously. But like gravity, you moved things.

Everything revolved around you and you moved others’ lives, everything you always did flew over people's heads but somehow, helped them with moving on."

"Huh.." She kicked her boots off.

 

The Elder Dragon looked at the sky and smiled. This smile of satisfaction he'd be feeling as he stood there, watching her, was a rare look for him.

"So what ended up happening is.. I betrayed your sister and under my planning, you left the planet. I sent you off to find the race that nannied you for abit.."

"The cosmic Jesters?"

 

"Yes, them. I don't really know what happened with that, you never spoke much about it. It wasn't a big deal. Your next trip however was, oh the drama."

"Your sister went to look for you.. she got into trouble herself in the process." "Hmm?" She turned her head.

"Right, you went back to the stars to find her. Your sister was.. a lot younger when she was taken away. She'd been abducted. She'd been taken by some strange cult that worshiped a strange being called Flora. They worshipped her, an ancient and very powerful, entity. Your Ravenmaster was there, he'd somehow gotten involved. The cult had her, had done a ritual or something on her to bind her to them and they were just about to do something horrific. You didn't want them to. So you rescued her."

"I thought you said that the device you built obscured me or stopped gods?"

He scratched his cheek. "Ravenmaster was no god.. more like a devil. He looked kind of scary, like an overlord to me.. Again, he was the one Novus sent him to guard you."

There were fuzzy patches in her head starting to fill in, the foggy depths and squishy mysteries feeling less foreign, and more familiar with her. Broad strokes, but she felt what he was saying was true.

"Yes. After wiping out her cult on that planet for what they did to her as only still a child, you became this legend. The girl who rescued another girl, the one who'd defeated and saved the entire race, that made you more powerful and more sought after, more notorious, you were even more sought after than she was. Ravenmaster told me.. he told me he couldn't even keep up with you. Not anymore. He backed away.. but your sister on the other hand, clung too tight. Maybe Flora and her cult had done something to her, or she'd always been unstable? But she grew attached to you, far too attached. She wasn't whimsical or with your, occasional sage qualities.

She was-"

 

"Violent." Noelle interrupted.

 

"I was going to say volatile." He looked saddened.

 

"And your sister wanted to be near you, always. She wanted to be.. part of you. It was.. so unhealthy, in hindsight, how she related to you. I had to banish her."

"Banish her?"

 

"More like, fight a rather unpleasant series of battles that put me, my friends, everyone at risk, for the sake of keeping you and the earth safe. She forced me to fight, she tried to rouse up

this world's countrymen into an apocalypse. And she relished every minute of it, treating it all like a game. The battlefield for her was just a playground."

She looked at her hands, squeezing them into fists. "The.. cult.. they could've broken my sister, used her, but instead they knew leaving her as she naturally is, would be more destructive than if they'd brainwashed her fully. That must've been why her rescue was so easy.." the flashbacks were rushing in now, as sure as warm blood of savage worshippers between her fingertips. "Me and her, I remember, after you and this world banished her, she came to me to complain. To resolve. But I couldn't save her or change what she'd become.. I had to go to the farthest edges of the universe."

"Yes, you left. I remember. To go find and help your sister, you took off and left the solar system. That's when X.I.M.A.S. reappeared and did this massive invasion to take over, which was quite successful, until Ravenmaster and I intervened. You weren't there for that though. The human race was at the mercy of machines for a while, and I was busy playing the role of hero.

Tachyon activity started around the same time, and I knew you were involved somehow. It took me a long time to realize just how exactly."

"Hmm?" She squinted as he pointed up.

 

"The Elken Brood. You remember how I told you from their antlers flowed cosmic rivers of life? That's it."

"That's... it?"

 

"Yes. The Tachyon Cascade.. it was their rivers of the Elken Brood trying to seep through this universe, trying to find and retrieve you. Trying to give you a pathway back home.

The Embryo Trigger made it we could suppress it, but not completely, as you've seen." He whistled. "The Lavalites at some point tapped into this field and started to nest within it. I guess you don't pave rivers without getting a few scorpions trying to cross..................................... "

Noelle huddled by her knees. "So what happened after I left, and these, deer-god rivers started appearing everywhere?"

"That's when Ravenmaster wanted to find you again and, well he made a horrible mess of things honestly. This is the part where I have to explain the world as it is today. We, failed to keep this world safe."

"Wait.. you failed??" She asked.

 

The Elder Dragon shook, a low trembling in his voice.

 

"He gave a series of alien entities the power to do anything, and tasked them with finding you, I am quite sure he thought could've been make this world safer, but he never thought they were just looking to refuel, to find directions in our dainty little galaxy. The technology him and, some of the other of Novus's chess pieces, we'll say, enabled these aliens- the Xi, to acquire unlimited technological power. The even kept the project hidden from me. They stopped on Earth and contacted the most populated nation they could find as representative, called the 'People's Republic' and in exchange for the barest of resources, they made that nation rulers of man. And they too were rulers of this nation. After the machines were already on the run,

X.I.M.A.S. was wiped out by V.I.V.E, developed by this new nation. The gifts Ravenmaster had given to this alien race to find you, were now in the hands of that dictatorial state, and ruled by the Xi. Within a century, they'd assimilated that country, every country, and the entire world was under the rule of a few rulers.."

He almost choked up for a moment, the look of sadness giving the impression it was tearing him to continue speaking.

"6. Six aliens." The old man's veiny arms were placed out, as if giving sacrifice.

 

"The Xi were only 6 individuals of their race. Not gods, not despots. But the Ravenmaster gave these 6 with the ability to rule over our entire world. Only they had no interest in doing so for long however, this being a pit stop, but they made some changes yes. They alone evolved humanity to the point where we could colonize the stars, where a single government could rule. And after studying the Tachyon Cascade.. making it where corporations could zip their products, staff and customers between planets in the blink of an eye. And then.."

Noelle looked at him. "And then..?" "They left. I became more.." "More?" She asked.

"More involved. An Elder Dragon." He raised one finger. "The Elder Dragons were chosen as the replacement for the original entities, the Xi. They no longer have contact with humanity. But their title, their tyranny, that horrible scar over us remains. That's how the Xi Federation came to be. It formed, virtually in your absence Noelle. While you were searching the stars for your sibling, the peaceful world you knew became a vast land of merchants, corporations and decrepit, despotic rulers."

Her eyes grew wide, and she seemed completely speechless, and while it wasn't a shock, it was a lot to process at the moment.

"Why? If they're so bad why would you want to help them?"

 

"For you." He said. "You were gone. I knew you'd come back someday, and needed to prepare. Taking the position I did allowed me make specific changes for your benefit and do that." He coughed a few times, repositioning his back so he could breathe better.

As she took this all in, the pattern deeply unsettled her. Her sister creating some crazed machine to hide her.

The Ravenmaster arming these aliens. The Elken and their cascades.

Why did she have to be the center of this, responsible for all this nonsense?

 

"So what happened to your sister? You're all vague about it. Did she ever get healthy again?"

The smile dropped from her face, a look of fear in her eyes.

 

"I'm remembering bits and pieces now.. I did find her.. For a while... everything was

 

okay."

 

"And? What went wrong?" He grew curious. "Sounds like that piece of the story is missing from my vantage."

"..... "

 

She went silent.

"How did we meet up again?" Noelle evaded the previous question and jumped ahead.

 

The room was filled with a golden light. She could see fireworks shooting from the castle, some kind of celebration.

The sky changed from a light blue to a sparkling purple sky. Noelle closed her eyes, and was at home in the castle. It was so similar to how she'd imagined it, down to the detail of each room. She could feel a strong sense of familiarity in it. It was very quaint.

"We found you, a little later." The Elder Dragon went on. "Unconscious. Injured and beaten in an escape pod by Pluto. You were taken in by the Order of Eden, the org I formed to specifically preserve Earth's old culture, and we had you healed. But we couldn't make you.... Wake. Not for awhile anyway."

"Why not?" Noelle asked.

 

"You never woke. You were.. you just.. never awoke again. I.. I had dreams you would, but you never woke up."

"I don't understand. Why?"

 

"You were dying, Noelle. Some of the researchers thought it was because of the Embryo Trigger me and your sibling built. It wasn't just able to suppress the Cascade, it suppressed your growth and power too, and to such an extent that you couldn't wake up or stay conscious anymore. Even after I had it destroyed." The Elder Dragon's eyes were soft and sad, but the words he spoke weren't kind. "I needed you to live, to survive. I did what I had to do." Noelle grit her teeth abit and turned to him. "What?!"

"I had you cloned." He finished.

Noelle didn't want to believe the old man. No way. "You must be lying." She whispered. "You must be." "I'm not. It was selfish of me."

"What? To clone me? Why?"

 

"Because I loved you, Noelle.." He looked at her, his voice deep and full of emotion. "With every clone, we hoped to harvest more data and study the results in plans to revive you and wake you up. Every clone lived a separate life.. a trader, a farmer, an assassin for Xi.

Sometimes we altered your appearance. We took care of them and assigned them any work they wanted to do. Very often you were trained in law enforcement. From what we observed, some of these clones started to remember memories from other universes, connecting to some infatuation. We couldn't explain it. And then as time went on, the Llavalites and Tectonids came out of the blue attacking cities and colonies. The Tachyon Cascade got worse, I knew they were desperate to find you out there."

The Elder Dragon went silent for awhile, and then continued. "Every time we woke a new copy of you, you didn't remember anything, and it was very frustrating to us. I knew at the time we were creating.. your mind.. your memories, you were dying again and again. That was why I needed you to live. Without you, what would be the point of my existence?" He looked up at Noelle. "And then.. I got a call from the Society of the Mind and Order of Eden. Activity.

They said you were starting to wake up again. The real you, the original you that stands before us now. But they weren't sure if you were ready yet. We'd given enough time for this experiment and, I did something radical. The other Noelles, always blindly followed someone. But we needed ways to complete you faster so, we took the stored, analyzed and compiled memories of

your clones. For the past few hundred years, we had lifetimes worth harvested. And so we downloaded them into your head and used them to reconstruct your neural network.. creating you as you are now."

"You injected me with, other mes, without my permission? To revive me?"

 

The Elder Dragon's eyes glazed over "It was wrong of me, Noelle. I was selfish, I hurt

 

you.."

 

Noelle nodded. "Maybe.. certainly seems like a villain's mad experiment. But.. it worked didn't it?" She looked at her hands, gripping them. "I'm alive. Whatever you had to do, got me up and going again. Does the rest matter?"

"And you're awake and healthy, yes, but your sisters not. She's a bit deranged. She's just.. a broken person."

"Where.. is she?"

The fireworks turned bright purple, matching the brilliant sky and taking them both back. "Let's go back." He stood up, and offered his hand. Reluctantly, Noelle took it. She saw,

 

he was no longer a sickly man, but an old friend.

 

⍟

 

 

 

 

They started to walk back from whence they came. Soon they were back in the dining room, closing the door to the grassy kingdom quietly.

The sound of earthquakes could be heard nearby. "What, was that?" She asked.

 

"They're here.. the Xi Highfleet. I should've mentioned it but, I wasn't the only one with secrets or aggressive agendas. 2 of the other Elder Dragons were planning a coup of their own anyway, they rejected my invitation to join. With the PFU allied with the Hivesman and my divisions, Xi will be split into a 3-way war soon. Civil War will be upon us." She helped him sit down, and he seemed so frail that he might crumble right in front her.

"What will you do now?" He asked. "I'm going back to her." She replied.

"Of course." The sound of PFU soldiers and Llavalites were rushing out to the entrance as their base was bombarded. He checked his Compt. "The other Elders got to Hubblood. Not a great turn of luck."

"That doesn't matter! None of this matters! Where is she?"

 

The 6th Elderdragon, taking in his lifespan and everything that this woman had given him, he placed one hand gently on her hands, clasping as if praying. "I am, and in this world's system, I have no power. No influence, in fact none at all, other than what a few scattered people choose to believe in. It's the truth, I'm just not the main hero of this story." The rocking and explosions of the base could briefly be heard, going between earthshaking and peaceful from moment to moment in the background. This time when he spoke his words were more direct. "You have grown much more than what even Ravenmaster expected of you. And now, I see you've become much wiser than him, as well. I see you've learned the truth of things. Novus knew you'd be everything she'd hoped too someday. I see it in your face, and in your heart. You

have to live your own life, and do what is right. Nothing anyone can, and nothing will change that.. That's what I will let you leave here today to teach you, at least. What you need now is to become a dragon and live life to the fullest."

Noelle, seeing the sincerity in his eyes for the first time, took his hands in her own. She looked up, as the walls started to crack and the hallways set aflame. The building was collapsing.

"It's the end.." She uttered.

 

"It is." He muttered, "But like I said, you aren't the one that can fix this. It's not your responsibility. It's time, you should go. I've done my role. It's been a long time and this life is starting to bother you. Go and live a new one. Become a dragon."

The 'Dragon' nodded. Not an Elder, just a dragon. She saw him slump in his chair, waiting for the end to come. "Goodbye.. Kinnie. You were a good boy."

He began to cry in laughter, actual tears slipping down his old face.

 

"You haven't called me that in six centuries.." She grabbed a towel, placed it over his backside and her last act was to pour him a cup of tea. "Goodbye, Inspector." She'd held him tightly in an embrace, and let his tiny fingers trace the length of her shoulders.

Swallowing her feelings, she started to slowly make her way down the foyer, even as the bombardment continued. By the time she made it close to the entrance, the ceiling was largely gone, replaced with fumes and fire. Xi High Fleet ships were firing on one another uptop, the disturbingly grim scene feeling not unlike the fireworks in the fake castle she'd seen.

The ground was shaking so much she had to hold onto a large piece of debris. She was breathing in the smoke and ashes of this lost war.

What Noelle saw in sky of the Xi High Fleet had become the standard of that world, and on every other world in that moment.

Her path was blocked as all but one ship seemed to be having one final battle before they all exploded. She glanced up, at the large explosion, and began to make her way down, only to be stopped by the same one ship, the lone survivor. It wasn't an Xi High Fleet ship, nor did she recognize it among the PFU. The cockpit opened up and a hand lowered towards her, offering a ride.

She gasped, "Baron..?"

 

The smile that followed the question was the only thing to cheer her. "Welcome to hell." He said.