Chapter 140: The Tomb of Forbidden Futures
Chapter 140: The Tomb of Forbidden Futures
There was no wind here.
Only stillness.
Whether conscious or not you can tell that this atmosphere is focused on listening.
As she walked forward Natasha heard her boots breaking ceramic pieces on the ground which released dim light below each step. Every fiber of her being detected an energy field that matched the wrongness she perceived throughout this area. She blinked twice yet nothing in her sight stabilized. The world shifted with every heartbeat until it turned into a dream where madness and memories depicted the surrounding scene through the brush of soaked thought.
The tall trees resembled hand like structures as their leaves competed between fading dimensions throughout their undulating forms. The space between above was filled with dancing glyphs which emitted weak blood-red lights. The tomb wasn't a place.
It was a verdict.
"The Tomb of Forbidden Futures," Natasha whispered, her voice hoarse from fear or awe, she couldn't tell.
A warning? A punishment?
She didn't know.
The air pressure increased as she proceeded forward and memories pressed down on her body with chain-like force. Alison's laugh. Elijah's eyes. The jungle at sunrise. Her mind remained burned by the interface malfunction and backup warning.
"Merge Protocol Failed. Unauthorized Choice Detected." "Backlash Sequence: Initiated."
A choice. Her choice.
To try and save them both.
To want too much.
Shadows amidst the tomb moved like vibrant smoke while she stood there. When she touched the wall stone it shivered in response displaying to her a distorting reflection of herself. Suddenly during that instant she envisioned herself directing a revolution as she watched the scene unfold before her. A forgotten dungeon trap penetrated her body after she made her selection. The second version presented itself as a stately figure wearing silver with midnight colors yet displayed spooky dead eyes which haunted the observer.
The walls weren't walls.
They were mirrors.
Your aim was to alter the destined path of life while attempting control of future events? How quaint."
The voice was smooth. Mocking. Ancient. The voice moved among the darkness of the tomb to strike directly against her heart.
"Who are you?" she asked, fists clenched.
A crashing noise emerged from the tomb similar to the sound of its mirth.
"I am the answer your heart fears."
The floor under her shifted then collapsed into small pieces as if exposed to too many facts. Natasha dropped through the shining light as she fell into a corridor made up of broken pieces of time. She crashed to the surface with bent knees while her palms suffered from scrapes.
And before her stood herself.
No, not herself.
A version of herself.
The girl kept eyes full of wildness along with bloody hands. She chose to wear bone armor together with a frightening expression.
Through her panting breath Natasha managed to say "You would become the person I am when I value power above the well-being of others."
The duplicate before her simply smiled with a tilted face. "You think I chose? The world made me this way. You think mercy is strength? You're wrong. Mercy gets you killed."
They didn't fight.
Not with fists.
They clashed with truths.
The spoken words emerged like blades of venom and pain.
Flashes of memory showed her acting indifferently harsh at various occasions before she could have responded more bitterly. During such occasions she refrained from devastating others so other people received harm instead.
The doorway revealed that Natasha carried her heart outside as raw flesh. But she hadn't lost herself. Not yet.
Through each room she faced alternate possible futures of her existence:
The woman who stayed alive after everything became a woman who no longer had Alison by her side. Her sad weeping never seemed to end and her tone became incomprehensible.
She acted as a sovereign master of the entire system. Cold. Detached. Powerful but alone.
There was also a replica of her who did not join the game during any phase of its evolution. A woman without extraordinary experiences spent her days oblivious to the strong qualities which dwelled within her.
The multiple versions of herself each removed a piece and introduced a new element thus showing her true nature.
Her pain was real.
So was her love.
So was her choice.
She encountered the toughest version of him at the end.
The hardest one.
A girl shows through weariness in her gaze and nervous twitching of her hands. She had saved everyone. Elijah. Alison. The rest of the team. Her own self had suffered permanent damage. Every bit of inner light had disappeared from her being.
"You wanted to be the hero," the broken Natasha whispered. "But no one asked you to be. You devoted all of yourself but you failed to save your own identity.
Tears welled in Natasha's eyes.
She noticed every step she made to save them while she sacrificed her rest and energy through endless nights. This version achieved what she was after. She gave much more risk than anyone realized during her journey to become the hero.
She needed to change her path because what she saw made her unwilling to accept it.
The walls around her trembled. Electricity started to radiate from the ground surfaces. Then a silver mist formed into the Faceless Guardian a vast yet empty figure of mist that didn't resemble any face.
According to the figure, you need to determine your future direction. "Now you must decide."
Before it reset the system continued operating briefly:
Out of these paths one choice will keep the video game functional and safeguard your spirit. One will restore your soul. One will end it all."
Natasha's chest ached.
Sacrifice a version of herself? To balance the other parts you need to rid yourself of a part of your own self.
"Why me?" she asked. "Why make me choose?"
The Guardian paused.
The program selects you because you refused to stay apart from someone you truly loved. The software cannot protect what memory shields permanently from the mind.
She closed her eyes.
The voice of her friend Alison returned to her with her enjoyable giggles and unwavering loyalty.
Her love for Elijah showed her that another chance at happiness exists.
Natasha took a breath. Then another.
And she chose.
The outcome of her choice remains unwritten at present.
All around her the tomb shattered into brilliant pieces of debris. Before vanishing the Guardian stretched toward her to convey his final message.
"Every choice you make here brings you one step closer to the final trial. But know this once you have seen the true nature of your heart, you can never go back."
Light. Darkness. And then falling.