Jilly and I took the elevator back down to the bottom level of the ship, and I held her hand the entire way down. I was feeling a bit strange, but it was hard to just get used to having a straight head.
“Are you okay, Zack?” Jilly asked me. “You seem like something is bothering you.”
“I wouldn’t call it bothering me. It is just nice to have all my thoughts free, and now I am trying to figure out where we should go first. We don’t have to go anywhere first, so I am just trying to figure that out,” I said, but the truth was I didn’t have a clue where I was going.
“Don’t worry. Mex will be the one piloting us. Do you remember who he is?” Jilly asked, but I shook my head.
“Not anyone that we knew. There aren’t going to be many people that we know. I think you will all be close to me because I was close to you girls in the development teams for the game. I am going to have to talk to everyone because many of them will be just getting some of their memories back,” I said, and Jilly leaned into me, resting her head on my shoulder.
“You have more than enough time to take care of things now. Mex said it would take a couple of days to reach the first island. You can go around and visit with everyone and relax. You have earned it,” Jilly said, squeezing the hand she was holding and my upper arm.
The elevator stopped, and we got out and headed to the front dome of the ship. Lidy was in the kitchen, and I waved to her, getting a smile back as she prepped food.
It was weird to come to the bottom of the ship down a long elevator but end up in the front top half of the submarine.
I knew this was all because it was a broken version of Helsin’s game. It was easier to make some kind of sense of the oddities and impossibilities now, but it still was weird.
“So, that was anticlimactic, but that is what we like! How are you feeling now? Brain all in working order?” Mex asked, standing in a pirates costume, or maybe they were his everyday clothing; it was hard to tell.
“I feel good, just not really sure where we are headed from here,” I said as Jilly and I walked into the big open room.
Mex was the only person in the room, which surprised me. I had thought that some of the girls would be down here, but only my multi-jointed friend was waiting for me.
“I am going to see the girls. Take some time to yourself, but then go see how everyone is doing,” Jilly said and then gave me a kiss before leaving me alone in the room with Mex.
“So, picture this,” Mex said when the door closed. “I am getting flown up to Sunshine in the Rockies up near Banff to get dropped on the top of some mountain. I paid for this trip, but I had come alone after getting ditched by my friends. Anyways, I was about to drop out of the side of my helicopter, and BAM! I was getting ripped apart, and then I was stuck in blackness, but there were thousands of others! Then I was ripped out of the blackness as ink that my mother pissed out!”
“Is this your origin story? How did it feel to be pissed out? I have never been curious to know how that would feel, but since you have some experience. Not like I could ask the women this, but you must know, right?” I asked with a grin.
“Ha, ha, jackass. Speaking of women, you should watch out for Machariel. She hates men, but she has had some rather bad experiences. I suggest that you deal with her, or she will sour the fruit if you know what I mean,” Mex said, and I nodded.
“I will see what I can do. More importantly, right now, where are we headed. I know that I should be relaxing about that, but this is bugging me. I will feel better when I know the direction we are going to go,” I said, and Mex nodded with a smile.
“Sure, let's head down to the lower level. We just have to head out the front door, which is connected to the control room and Kieta’s shop. There are other things down there, but you can check them out for yourself in your spare time,” Mex explained, and I nodded.
“Sure, I will meet you down there, but I want to stop and talk to Lidy for a bit,” I said, and Mex nodded.
“Take your time. There is no rush now that we are off the island. I will be waiting down there with Keita and the others,” Mex said and left the room.
I turned back to the glass dome and walked over to put my hand on the glass, looking out at the endless blue.
[We finally made it, and now you have the direction that you need to travel in. I was able to transfer all the elements into Libra’s ring, but you still have full access to them. I will need you and Mex to link at some point. After that, we can take Marley and Blaza out of him and transfer them to you.]
‘There are a ton of things that we have to do, but I will get on that as soon as possible. Are you able to enter Libra’s World?’ I asked.
[Yes, I have been there a couple times already. Time moves slower there, so I have made a couple trips to get a place set up. Been a long time since I had to walk anywhere!]
‘I will get Mex to link with me after I am done talking with Lidy, and then you can take some time off to spend with Marley. I think that I should be able to manage for a couple days without you,’ I laughed.
[Thank you.]
[Chapters are slowing down right now to get ready to drop 20 on Aug 1st 2022!]
The source of this c𝓸ntent is fr𝒆e(w)𝒆bnovel