Chapter 1 : Amnesiac anomaly

Xena woke up after dealing with the anomalies that invaded her mind " Another night another day " Xena left her bedroom and looked at the glasses of rooms containing anomalies .

Each anomaly can cause chaos in society , Xena contains them making sure they can't leave her containment facilities . There have been many cases of supernatural events in the world so some organizations popped out to deal with the events while being funded by governments and millionaires .

But rather than supernatural , these anomalies are outside natural as they have unnatural origins that just appeared out of nowhere and already had the abilities from the very beginning , or manifest the ability with unexplainable origins .

" Anything unnatural yet ? " Xena opened the web and located as many anomalies to find and looked at the site of one town " Hmm Old and a backward town filled with anomalous events . " Xena remembered that she had a bus ride to the same town ' I need to bring ensure I can contain them so I gotta have money or maybe influence . '

Xena took her suitcases and walked to the bus stop to take the ride at midnight . The bus dropped everyone as the driver stares at Xena annoyed " I'll pay the bus trip twice the amount . " she boarded the bus and made notes looking around to feel any anomalies lurking outside the city .

She sees gloomy woods and saw a sign "you are entering Old Foras town" she took an old map from the bus and looked around and rented a shack deep in the woods . She set up all her luggage and walked down the basements " I can contain the anomalies here while the anomalies at my base are fine as long as the organizations don't find it . "

Xena went to the museum that had the history of the town where she learned legends of supernatural events and encounters " Hmm what's this ? " Xena saw a seemingly childish attempt in drawing an eye with an attempt to smear it off with a single stroke of an eraser " Kid

She walked through the hallways and found more similar "drawings" on the walls and furniture . Thinking it was something else she followed the symbols and reached a painting that had a lady with her eyes covered " These drawings are too closely similar there must be a hidden organization in here . "

Xena walked inside and changed her eyes to make everything look transparent to her while some lines drew the structures of the furniture . She looks around for hidden passages leading to these hidden organizations as there are bound to be hidden organizations .

' Found it ' Xena walked through the walls like a ghost and spotted some figures wearing robes . Fortunately she was like a ghost so they couldn't see her ' Where are they taking that elder lady to ? ' Xena followed them to a podium where the seats are filled with people wearing robes .

" Lady what strange things did you see ? " the lady was a bit nervous but answered " I saw a painting come to life and a cake that looks real but is made of worms . " the figure took a helmet and placed it on her head " From now on you will forget about it like it was a nightmare . "

A flash of light blinded everyone and the elder lady passed out as people carried her out of the museum " Next " Xena looked at the contraption in the shape of a helmet and a keyboard attached to it ' So an anomaly is growing by eating the stored memories and acted as a mechanism of the machine . ' Xena knocked out a woman and took her robe as a disguise .

" Bring in the next one " Xena escorted another lady to the chair and when the helmet was placed and used she takes it off and extracts the anomaly " A traitor get her " the members attacked her with chairs as those were the only weapons .

But Xena had the anomaly and ran from the crowd to learn its ability as she throws the anomaly in her pocket " She is running to the exit to get her . " Xena stopped and turned to raise her hand " Forget everything and act like normal citizens . " Xena brainwashed the organization making them take their robes down and leave in different ways avoiding suspicion .

Xena went to the chair and picked up the helmet as she removes the data storage and inserts it into her phone letting the anomaly go inside her phone . She took some files behind the chair as she leaves .

" What does this organization do ? " Xena checks the files after closing every path to the hideout " Another !? " she hears some enchanting music and covered her ears ' Great an anomaly that can enchant people's minds ' she ran to the source to find herself outside the hideout beside a piano and other musical instruments .

The piano was playing and musical notes were flying to the air from it " Something like fear inducement ? " Xena took a violin and played it as strings with music notes came out of the violin attacking the enemy's notes .

A night guard saw Xena play the violin and ran to her location . Xena felt the gaze of the guard and played the violin even quicker ' I need to hurry or the guard might kick me out and get involved . '

The notes pushed the end of the strings further as the note's distance was shortened every second as she played faster . The notes reached the piano expelling the anomaly as the strings wrapped it down and sealed it . Xena took her phone out which was recording the whole play " Now to play it at the loop . "

The anomalous power was used as strings of music attached themselves to the strings used to stop the anomaly " I got you now " Xena observed the ability of the anomaly as it struggled to get out of the strings which were supported by musical notes . She hears footsteps and pretends to listen to the music she recorded from the anomaly . Normal people couldn't see the music strings and notes tying the anomaly so the guard only saw her as a normal person who sneaked in .

" Sorry I just saw some old violin and played it is it for sale ? " " Um I am not the manager ... I'm just a guard . " the guard looked at the instruments that were simply gathering dust " Okay I'll come back during opening hours " Xena leaves plugging her earphones into her phone as the anomaly enters her mind through music and was suppressed by the music .

' Just entered this place and I already caught two anomalies . ' she went to the shack and took the anomaly and plugged a USB into a speaker and let it play at a very low volume leaving the museum .

Xena took the memory-eating anomaly and shut it inside a computer ' If it eats memories then I can probably use it as a trash bin for data I don't want to keep . ' she opens her recycling bin to see that some files are being eaten by it . She drops herself to a chair " Problem solved " with nothing else to do she uses an anomaly and a bed appears as she fell on it sleeping .

She looks around as her eyes open " Great another anomaly what is this anyway ? " she looked at the foggy area . Anomalies are very different just because one can see doesn't mean they will sustain that same ability when encountering a different one that needs a different kind of perspective .

Luckily , Xena is highly perceptive and manages to catch a glimpse of the area and saw a TV ' Even better , the anomaly is based on my head ' she grumbles and confirms this fact by changing her views or mood and seeing a movie projector ' Well this is better now ' she watches the scenes to see strange things happening around the town .

' Hmm I did see some people reporting about this but the news was ignored very quickly is it an anomalous trait of the town to look normal but unnatural ? ' soon the fog cleared up as she delved deeper into the memories . She found a connection between all of them ' They all belong to the mastermind behind all the chaos . '

She breaks free of the dream by sending a signal to her physical body which was to cause a loud noise inside the dream waking her up " gasp I need to find that anomaly . " she traces the presence after memorizing it like a dog with its nose . She followed down the basement to see a vault " Well a vault is useless but this ain't a regular one . "

She touches the vault and went through it which led her to a dusty room with a statue well hidden by moss dripped from water that leaked from the vault ' The enchantment becomes useless when there is a little opening . ' she cleans up the statue to reveal a star .

But the star was made with a tricky structure with five strokes and if you faced one of its faces then you can see that each stroke was behind or in front of an intersecting stroke . One would get lost as they try to trace it but since the star was 3 dimensional you can sort this as five sticks stacked correctly or organized neatly and the ends were connected well .

" What are you exactly ? " Xena remembers seeing the owner of the memories in different forms and this star was just one of them ' I still didn't see how you died . So I'll prepare for the worse . ' Xena strengthens the enchantment and closed the last opening .

' This anomaly is going to wake up and if it does I'll decide whether it lives or die . ' Xena conjures two daggers and each had the same modifications with circles that represent the keys of a piano . She watches the star bend as the triangles that make the star move around pass through each other .

The triangles kept overlapping each other as they made a circle as the triangles returned to their positions and the circle and the star glowed ' Here it comes ' light , darkness , water , void and everything inside the vault was attracted except the vault itself and Xena ' It's observing the essence of the surroundings ' she felt that the enchantment was slowly breaking so she enchanted the hollowed space again .

She felt some pull from her mind as she pulls herself away " Oh no you don't whatever you trying to do your not getting it . " Xena held her daggers tightly to make sure they don't get absorbed into the orb in the middle of the star .

Xena restored the enchantment constantly watching an orb form and open revealing an eye ' Right now it is weakened due to the essence it could absorb as long as I keep enchanting the space I can finish it . ' Xena played some notes on the handle and threw it as the keys played respectively on the circles engraved at the blade " Woah !!! " the dagger froze in the air as an echoing voice came from the eye .

" That was dangerous " " Tsk , what an annoyance " Xena did the same to the dagger and played a musical note conjuring another to assist her " Nice music you got there " " You like music then enjoy this " she conjured a violin and used the powers of the piano to form the eye's fear as she played more and made it very quick as she felt her power activating " Hey too loud what are you doing this isn't music but a failure . "

Xena felt something wrong as the fear never appeared ' It used to be afraid but now it's like a baby who doesn't even now fear . ' she stops playing and looked at the eye " Who are you ? " " Hmm who am I you say well ... wait who am I ? " there was a lot of truth in its words and Xena could feel some effects similar to the anomaly she had caught before .

" You really don't remember ? " the eye shook as if it had a human head " Not at all , what is even my name ? " Xena put away her weapons and stood straight without any fighting stance " Well you were called the bringer of weird things here . " the eye started to reform its form which was the star " Wait I did ? Why ? " Xena sighs and opens disintegrated the enchantment and opened the vault by removing weight .

" Not this again " Xena felt like a headache was gonna hit her as anomalies can cause chaos if they want to but that is if they want to . Some anomalies don't have such desire so Xena makes sure they don't go crazy or lose control " How did you even get unsealed in the first place ? " the eye followed her as she frees open a bunch of anomalies in one of her suitcases .

" How should I know I can only remember was , when I opened my eye ... " Xena sighs thinking about the memories and facepalm " Oh of course it had to be because some mind that has adapted to anomalies approached you and that clumsy opening at the vault . " the unsealing of this god was because of her but mostly because of the opening " ah wait I remember a few things like the number of stars in the universe . "

" That's not remembering that is knowing , remembering is to have memories of your life not what you know about the world . " she looked in the eye . Xena recalls memories as the god .

" Okay so let's start with your history " she decides to give its memories back on her way " You were just something that appeared as a zero-dimensional being you were nothing " the eye looked at her in confusion " What I don't get it I am something that appeared from the zero dimension and I was nothing " " Hard to say in words but the zero dimension lacks dimensions . "

" So what is it like to have lower than that ? " " I only have your memories for some reason . And you didn't explore lower than zero and not much could imagine what is lower than a void that lacks dimensions . " " Hah that means you human brains are too dumb ! " Xena felt done with the eye " Your memories don't have any experience of you thinking about what was lower than the zero dimension or going to a lower dimension than zero . "

The eye sulk and thinks about the two dialogues Xena said " Wait you have my memories ? " " It got here because the you that remembers wanted a body to possess but I broke out of their hold and took your memories by accident . Heck , I don't even know you in the first place I only came to this shack because it was in the woods "

" So you got it by accident ? " " Yes and back to give it back , you become more like a god as you obtain length , width , depth and possibly the temporal dimension which is the everlasting movement of time . "

" Hey , if you have my memories how can I be sure you didn't take it on purpose " " Here it goes not like I can do anything about suspicion everyone can be like that if not why would you not suspect that " Xena gets up her chair and drops herself on the bed changing into her pajamas ignoring the star with an eye " Fine if you don't help me I'll ask others instead . "

Xena knows it wouldn't be able to leave because she enchanted the house when she came here " What is this thing why can't I leave ? " it flies back to Xena and makes a physical confrontation by poking her lightly " What ? " " Let me leave " " No , any anomaly can cause chaos no matter whether it was intended or not especially when even they cannot control their abilities . " Xena strengthens the enchantment knowing that this anomaly might try to leave the house .

" Ugh , I can control my powers not like I need someone who is not something I can expect since she can use powers similar to mine without having the actual power . " Xena smirks " At least I can use anomalous abilities just by having experience . " she moved her hands creating more like some religious statue with plenty of hands .

" What ? " she brings her hand together again " Also you only retain a 3-dimensional form in the house once you leave this place you become flat but since this is a 3D world you will not be able to interact too much other than as an image . " she tosses a pillow to it and it hits it " Also you can be a wall but you can't bend . " Xena look at the memories and asked .

" So do you want to learn about your past ? I got them in my head but I don't think it's optional for you to get it yourself . " the eye groans and shouts " Why can't I have my memories back ? " " Well first is I don't know how to give it and because you would revert to your old self and destroy the 3rd dimension . "

The eye stayed still with surprise " Why did I do that ? " Xena sighed " If you want it I'll give it to you when I can " Xena opened a book " This is a logbook that records all the anomalies I encountered I have only found one that eats memory I think that was used to fight you in the first place . "

The star grew stick arms and looked at itself " I ... did that ? " it looked terrified at itself and then turned to a mirror " Ahhh " Xena goes to it and comforts it " Hey calm down " " Stay away " a force pushed Xena away landing her on her bed " Oh man it had to be zero weight " it saw what it did and turned back " No please I don't want to hurt you "

It panicked and Xena got up getting her weight back " Stop it that person is not you , you just was that person and that person is who knows where . " Xena threw a pillow at the eye " So can you please calm down nothing is gonna come out of losing control . " it sucked its tears back ( literally ) " Okay so can you continue telling me ? " she sighed and looked at the time " Maybe morning don't go out , by the way . "

She dropped to bed leaving the eye looking at the logbook " Well she never said a peek would hurt . " the eye turned the pages and reads it " Hmm wow this is amazing " the eye kept reading and looked at a page . It acts in a human manner holding its imaginary chin and narrowing its eye " first encounter piano at the Old Foras museum uses a music to induce fear . " it turns the page to see an empty page " Oh so this is my spot . "

It thinks for a while looking at the page and its hands " Should I write something too ... Let's start with the first encounter . " the eye tries to make it dramatic by making a bright light that flashed . Luckily the shadow hit Xena instead of the light " She is a heavy sleeper ... Anyways , first encounter the shack in the woods . "

...

Xena wakes up to hear a tapping " What is that noise " she sees the eye tapping the pencil to a sheet of paper on the table with an open logbook " What are you doing ? " Xena looks at the eye .

" I don't know so much about myself " she didn't care and took a packet and brewed coffee using it " Couldn't care much I'll place all my stuff down " the eye looks at her luggage and thinks " Wait that will take a while but I can help you so you tell me about me as a favor . "

The luggage floated and a piece of paper was seen which was what Xena used to layout her arrangements " Okay first I told you your origin and being a dimensional god you can do a lot of things and just the telekinesis is just one of the many abilities . " it thinks with a hand on the imaginary chin looking up the window " Then what can I do ? "

Xena took a sit and took the logbook " Okay so first you can change your size but only within this house . If you leave you will lose one dimension turning you flat . I would say that learning the first two dimensions allowed you to have a two-dimensional body but your old self got impatient and took the chance to learn things like the mind and soul . "

Xena opened the book and starts writing " I'll write that down . So when you did that you came to possess the body of a living being by letting them open their mind for you so you can understand the depth dimension which would take a while . But during that time that person took residence in your mind and found your plans ... fast forward a little you lose as he closed his mind trapping you in and this anomaly separated your memories . "

" At one point your body was sealed in a vault then you freed yourself and then I broke free then you forgot your memories again . "

The star took notes on its mind and tried to bring out its powers " That's not gonna work you can do things because you experienced it but that experience was lost together with your memories , knowledge is still there so why not use that ? " it narrows its eye thinking of the knowledge it still has and uses them to try to bring out its innate powers .

" Have fun by the way " Xena closes the book looking at it ' I really am curious what the origins of these anomalies are ... First few ones would be lower or higher dimensions ' " Also if you want to leave be sure to ask " the eye was too concentrated theorizing what method it should use to bring out its powers .

" A note should be good " Xena left a piece of paper by the door and taped it on the door . She opened the door to see children in front of the house just some distance away from the front porch " Good morning ? " " A witch !!! " the children ran away as Xena stood there and looked at the house ' Must be some kids who think this is a haunted house '

Looking at the front lot deserted the kids were still easy to spot as they ran back to the town " Should I add something on this lot ? " Xena went inside to look for something to throw into the empty ground outside but she only bought clothes , money and the anomalies " What am I going to put in the front yard ? "

She walked around the house assuming its history as one close to anomalies and had been part of a major something " Is there anything I can move out ... though the owners probably took out as much furniture as he can " Xena slid her fingers to have no dust at all " That basement must have been very well hidden "

There wasn't much furniture but the house was free of termites or any insects ' At least they prevented insects from freeing the anomaly ' she looked at the note by the door and nodded "I'll buy some furniture to move in" leaving the house with anomalies she went down to the town .

In the morning the town was bustling as restaurants opened breakfast hours . She went inside and ate breakfast " Mom it's the witch " she turned to see children pointing at her while holding their mother " Sorry for my son's behavior " " It's okay I did rent that shack in the woods "

" Oh , you moved in what brings you to this town ? " " Nothing much just running away " " From your suitors ? " " Haha no " ' I came here to find anomalies and these places just so happen to have a big history of them ... good thing that the organization erased some of their memories to keep things normal here '

Xena nearly coughed out her milk thinking about the organization ' Oh darn will that mean I have to be responsible then ? ... maybe I can create an enchantment to make them dream of their encounter then they'll forget about it just like normal dreams '

She looked around to see if there are any anomalies but after scoping the whole town the anomalies were either underground or hidden inside sealed boxes ' I'll take care of them later ' she leaves gives the waiter some cash " Tip is change "

...

Meanwhile, some family saw the cracks on their family frame of an heirloom of a star " Uhm why did that break ? " the teenagers tried to see anything wrong and heard their gramps " Oh little kids there is nothing for you to worry about that it's just really old and all "

' If according to gramps the eye couldn't leave because of the enchantment that surrounded the safe ... I can keep the kids safe as long as I find the materials and keep enchanting that safe I should be able to keep the eye from leaving and starting its invasion '

Their gramps left and the girl who was updating her blog realized something " Uhm guys isn't this the thing that our great-great-grandpa got as you know " " What ? " he looked at the star that had a crack " Don't worry about it kids its a prank that I made " the younger cousin looked at his old man and whispered to his older brother .

" I think he's out of his mind forgetting how movie editing works " Devin nods and their cousin posted on her blog about the mysterious crack that happened and got a reply " Wow instant reply and ... no likes or dislikes ? " Marie read the letter and gasped .

" Woah guys look at this message " she showed them a private message of an unknown guy who sent her a picture " That's great-great-grandpa ... And who is that ? " " Well this message says that the man in the other photo is his great-great-grandpa "

" Did you check his bio and email ? " " What are you gonna find about him just like you would do every time some stranger took interest in you ? " " Yes and it is because of curiosity this time " Karl looked at Devin " This time ? " " Okay I learned to hack when I found out that the teacher was using an internet website to write answer keys and I didn't want to learn "

He whispered to his cousin and brother " Okay hurry up there might be something grandpa is hiding from us " Karl was very curious being the youngest and adventurous of the group .

...

" Finished the dream eater " Xena looked at the device she had made and the eye was admiring her work " Nicely done this kind of gizmo is gonna surround the whole town and make them forget about strange events " " Yeah thanks for the highly specific explanation " Xena pushed the energy bars in and started the machine as it sucks the memories of anomalous encounters .

" So you got your powers back ? " " Yes but keep the memories I don't like the idea of destroying things ... Is there anything you can tell me like do I have a family ? " " Unfortunately I hardly get to that part yet " the eye narrowed suspiciously looking at Xena " How do I know you are not lying ? "

" Well telling a lie is very annoying to clean up and can lead to pain even though the truth could be painful but I don't have to care since it's the truth " " You know you speak the most inspirational words " " No I spoke my thoughts just like everything else "

" Yeah , but how will this work though , like those it applies to you ? " " It won't as long as the person is used to anomalies they can never lose the memory and it doesn't target me since I know how it works " " Oh " Xena smiles and nudges the eye's lines.

" Someone gonna miss having another person giving them their memories " " Woah no keep them I don't want to risk destroying anything " the eye pushed Xena away using some arms that came out of a child's drawing .

" That's reassuring " Xena laughed whilst the machine was working and was sucking up some new memories " Well this town those have a lot of anomalies so I would expect at least some encounters every day until I take them away "

" What do you do to the anomalies anyways ? " " I contain the ones who will want to cause problems , the ones that won't do it I let them run free as long as they don't cause a problem "

" Interesting good moral compass , So what do you view as an anomaly then ? " " Anything that suddenly popped out of nowhere " " So you don't call that magic book an anomaly ? " " Okay maybe everything is an anomaly but the ones that are real anomalies are those who's limits haven't been found or just look weird . "

" So like that thing that keeps coming back to life no matter what ? " " Yep the rest are just anomalies in this world because they are unnatural in that world " " Well you got a lot of those anomalies I mean an infinite staircase must be a good exercise tool "

" Yeah yeah , that's just one of the 'em it manifested the ability so I had to extract it from the location and left it inside a room " " Wow so is there anything you do ? " " I collect them contain them and make sure they survive "

" Haven't you seen an anomaly god ? " the eye blinked trying to hint at Xena " Yeah ... no you are an anomaly that doesn't even know how to use its full potential you cannot just assume the position of an anomaly god . "

" Fine , So what do you eat ? " " Just because I have some anomalous familiarity and can do a lot of weird and unnatural things it doesn't mean I eat wood , rocks or cannibalize "

" Can I try ? " " Let me guess you can now use some means to store things and you are going to pretend that you are eating so you can go out ? " the eye dropped its entire figure " Yes that was the plan . "

" Have fun doing that then "