Chapter 79: 77. Second Prelude – Epilogue 3 of 3

Some time in the not too distant future...

In a realm that doesn't exist in time nor space...

A version of Alex appears, though not the one we know...

This version, though was still merged with the Shard, was never turned into a Hybrid, this one was still a full Dragon, and, was still a guy.

This Alex was from a different reality, though similarities were still in place. He had been through hell and back, same as our Alex... Kidnapped in the car crash, was indoctrinated, saved by Sarah still, though being male now and after finding out that Kayley had accepted his loss, fell in love with each other and not with Wrex like our lady Alex. The events in Iceland still occurred, Alex for all intensive purposes died and was merged with the Shard, but was never transformed into Hybrid, despite Reikon still attempting to possess him. The Icelandic base was still raided, the converted freed, and in the years to follow, Sky High Technologies and any splinter groups were completely wiped out.

Though this Alex kept having visions, dreams, just like our Alex... Visions and dreams that didn't belong to him either of events that didn't happen, past or future, or he managed to change the outcome of. But one vision he did have in common with our Alex... They all lead here...

The Jump exit opened and Alex was flung out, 10 foot up in the air, and came crashing down into the dusty stone floor below.

Alex: "Arrghh... Why was there no whisper??" He asked himself as he rolled onto all fours before standing up fully, wiping down his black and red armour before taking in the scene around him.

He had landed on some rocky desert plateau, everything looked kind of dull, no real colour to anything. The dusty sand looked pale grey, the rocks almost black, this was due in part to the sky. Light rained down, but it was like a sick sun, rays of deep yellow light swept the surface of the planet he was stood on, beaming between gaps in the clouds. Yet it was black sky, not a night sky, just black, there were no stars to be seen and there was no sun, the rays of light were randomly projected down from unknown sources and from no fixed point in the sky. Other than the clouds, the only other thing to decorate the sky was the odd rod of lightning, travelling horizontal rather than downward, like watching a Japanese bullet train speeding off into the distance, the snapping crackle echoed around Alex as it disappeared over the horizon.

Alex stepped up the rough natural path between some rocks to the top of a nearby ridge, to gain a better vantage point. He scanned the horizon, HUD zooming in once he found something of interest.

Alex: "This... This is Axis Mundis?? This is Draconia?!" He asked looking around once more after pulling his sight away from the familiar city and the royal palace at it's center, 8 clicks away. The usually active city looked very lifeless and dull, with colour tones matching Alex's surroundings. He huffed in slight confusion, coming to the conclusion that this was some parallel Draconia and not his second home world that he had largely grown fond of. 

Though he had sort of seen this version before, the previously mentioned visions and dreams... Something was calling him here and although he didn't know what, he knew he had to investigate, it's taken too much effort to get this far. So not knowing who or what was here he decided it would be best not to blast in, plasma jets roaring, but to silently glide in. He spread his armoured wings and with one powerful beat of them, he took off, quickly cloaking as he did. Stealth was the best option for his approach.

...

A short while later he dropped onto one of the Palace's high walls, darting into a watch tower he had landed next to. He dropped his cloak and waited here until his power levels recharged - he had increased the endurance of many abilities that the Shard granted him, but invisibility was still one of the weak ones. One thing was bothering him though, his whole flight over the city, he had seen no-one. No civilians, no Vanguard... Even these watch towers always had Honour Guards on watch and others patroling up and down the walls. But no-one shared this covered stone hexagonal space, surrounded by large unglazed windows, nor did anyone patrol the wall through either door in either direction.

"Hello there." The greeting startled him, spinning on the spot to target who had spoken to him, but it turned out it was another version of himself. Though Alex relaxed slightly, he still kept gauntlet trained on his duplicate for the moment.

Alex: "Oh... It's you..." Coming to the conclusion that he was yet another future version of himself, as he looked identical, almost. Wearing a matching, though very dirty and scuffed black and red armour, only missing his helmet and neck pieces, "...Is this the future that you're from then?"

Duplicate: "What? Ohh..." He smiled and shook his head slightly, "...I'm not 'him', never was, never will be. I said the same as you to another version of myself when I got here too."

Alex: "Eh? What do you mean?"

Duplicate: "You've seen the visions, yes? You must have done otherwise you wouldn't be here. I'm not allowed to tell you anything." Something didn't seem right with this duplicate, he seemed, jittery, suspicious, distracted.

Alex: "Why not?"

Duplicate: "He's watching. He's always watching, and listening. Everyone and everything, ever."

Alex: "What? Who is?" Alex still hadn't completely lowered his arm, something was really bothering him, this duplicate of himself was acting a little... odd.

Duplicate: "I can't say, BUT he'll want to meet you!, yeah! He'll be so happy to see you! Come on, I can take you to him!" He said as he started hopping away excitedly down one of the walk ways. Alex's arm dropped, but he remained wary and cautiously followed his eccentric duplicate.

Alex quietly followed him for a short while, watching the duplicate walking with a weird overly excited bounce in his step. It was like watching and listening to a child as he started jabbering away to himself incoherently. Something was wrong with this planet, so if this copy of himself was going to take him to someone that might know the answers of what's happening here and the threat of why he might live forever, and how to overcome it, it might be worth complying and follow, even if Alex was best to remain on his guard. 

Alex: "You said, that you said the same thing to another version of yourself when you got here. What do you mean?, was there a future version of yourself here?" I questioned as we started making our way into the gloomy palace. Alex could only think of one way to explain it - Dead - this whole planet looked dead. Everything had lost it's colour to some extent, even the marble and sandy stone walls of the palace looked almost as though it was being watched as old black and white movie.

Duplicate: "No. She was kind to me, told me she had been stuck here a long time. Took me to see him as well."

Alex: " 'She'? You said it was another version of yourself?"

Duplicate: "That is true, she is another version."

Alex: "But, how can it be a 'she'?"

Duplicate: "There are many, many versions of us, we're all the same, but we're all a little different. I- *Gasp*" he froze on the spot, looking fearful back at me.

Alex: "What is it?" I asked, looking around the halls for what he might have seen.

Duplicate: "I've said too much, he's unhappy."

Alex: "Who is?"

Duplicate: "Our God! Can't you feel him?! His stare scrutinises us!" He screeched in hushed tones, sounding panicked, looking all around and above him. Again Alex looked around to ascertain his statement - to which he couldn't see or feel anything...

Alex: "Aarrree you okaaay?..." He hesitantly inquired. The duplicate looked down to his feet, clenched his hands into fists and screwed his face up slightly before snapping his attention back to Alex.

Duplicate: "I must take you to him, now, he is displeased." He grabbed the armour on Alex's right arm and tried to drag him onward but Alex wasn't going to be hauled in by anyone. He flipped the hold the duplicate, stepped back and raised his gauntlet at the duplicate again.

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Alex: "Hey! Easy... I'm keen to meet your lord and master, but I'm not about to be dragged in like some stray puppy you found outside on the street, ok?" He clearly thought this through for a couple of seconds before frantically nodding.

Duplicate: "Yes, seems... Logical. Please, it's just up here?" He gestured to Alex up the hall.

Alex remembered this part of the Palace from Reikon's memories, the closest room to here that the duplicate was gesturing to would be the council chambers.

Alex: "Yes, but, slowly, calmly, alright?"

Duplicate: "Yes, yess, that would be best, yes. Come, this way." He beckoned once more, though more calmly this time. Alex was starting to wonder what had happened to this other version of himself, he seemed deranged, disturbed even. Alex had seen so many maddening scenarios in his years since becoming a Dragon and being merged with his Shard, that it was greatly worrying him as to what worse could have driven him, or rather, another version of himself, this insane.

Duplicate: "Here, in here." He knocked hard on the large double doors three times that Alex knew led into the council chambers, then opened them and gestured him through as the duplicate held one of the doors open wide for him. Alex stepped in past him and although he was all smiles still as he stood aside for Alex, he hastily stepped out and closed the doors behind him.

Alex: "Hey!" He shouted slightly worried and the duplicate's hasty retreat and stepped towards the doors.

"You all panic, each and everyone of you that arrives here. No matter what I say, no matter what I do to try and put each of you at ease, no matter how calm the 'Mighty Alex' appears to be, deep down, I know they're petrified." A man's eerily calm and compelling voice announced and echoed from off in the distance down the far end of the camber. The dull 'dead' grey tones theme continued on into here, making the far end darker than it should be. Alex's eyes and the vision on his suit attempted to adjust in to pierce the darkness. He stepped cautiously more into the center of the room, roughly where the podium should have been, but it wasn't.

In fact, the more Alex's eyes adjusted, the more he could see how the council chambers had been adjusted. The grandstands at either side of the chamber were no longer there, roughly removed, leaving jagged cut marble edges. The 'V' shaped table down the far end of the room that the councillors once sat at was also removed, leaving the only thing remaining in the room from before was the throne. A figure was sat upon it, but Alex's eyes were still adjusting, trying to make it out, whoever it was was wearing a white armour, they had wings and a tail, but the shape didn't look right to be a Dragon.

Alex: "Who are you?" He yelled, his voice echoed up the the vast chamber in return.

"What does it matter?" The voice replied sounding very disinterested.

Alex: "You brought me here, the signs, the visions, why? To help? What happened to this Draconia?"

The figure stood from the throne,

" *Sigh* I drip fed you those visions as a backup plan because my agent failed to bring my property here. You think you were summoned here to help?..." the familiar sound of faceplates slapped shut and blue eyes sensors started glowing, the only source of light emanating from that far end of the chamber, looking straight down at Alex. "...this planet is my realm, forgotten and lost from reality, a safe haven for me and my plans. You were brought here for one purpose - to serve. But first, I need something that you possess that belongs to me." He finished as he stepped down from the throne. Quickly, his whole figure started glowing in a red and purple Aura and Alex's sixth sense told him to prepare for a hard fight.

__________*_Our Alex_*__________

I gasped as I snapped awake. Wrex peered over from the co-pilot seat of our ship.

Wrex: "Bad dream/vision thing again?" I groaned as I sat up straighter and stretched slightly.

Me: "Yeah... Slightly different again."

Wrex: "How so?"

Me: "I was a guy version of myself again. Basically the same thing, barren looking Draconia, this one flew straight to the palace so I only met one other version of myself this time though. But I did see a little bit more this time. Someone sat on the throne in the council chambers. Someone wearing white armour, looked and sounded like Jarvie Tech armour I think, blue eyes on the helmet."

Wrex: "Was it you?"

Me: "No, it was a guy, Draconian maybe, but I don't know, didn't look right still."

Wrex: "Hmm... What's Sora said about these visions?"

Me: "Not had a chance to ask her yet."

Wrex: "Don't give me that, you've had plenty of opportunities. I know you don't really need to sleep much, but when was the last time you slept more than an hour?"

Me: "Hmm... I don't know. I guess, maybe 2 or 3 weeks ago?"

Wrex: "Huh! Try 5 or 6 months! Don't think I don't notice. Promise me you'll talk to her after this mission."

Alex: "If we survive."

Wrex: "Please, you could handle this single handed..." He side glanced at me, "...not that I'd let you, of course."

I huffed in amusement as a response.

Me: "Alright, once we're done. We're about 10 minutes from the end of the Jump, better brief the team properly."

The End...

...For now?...

(-Marty O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori and Paul Lipson)

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