Chapter 21 : Lincoln (Present)

"Every living being, from plants to animals all have life energy. Without it, the creature is as good as dead. This man's life energy is being consumed by his charge, and in time it'll all be consumed. Once that happens, he will die." Aytrex clarified.

A voice in the back of Lincoln's head urged him to look at his skeletal system too. Overcome by fear, Lincoln did just that. He closed his eyes and the third person view of his skeletal system came to view. He could see the four energy signatures flowing through different parts of his body. He focused on the green, the nature energy that came right from the core of his body, his heart. His view zoomed into a group of green energy particles.

Lincoln gasped and fell backwards.

Aytrex's instincts dodged Lincoln's fall, and his back hit against the wall. "What is it?" Aytrex asked, now in a loud voice. "What's all that commotion?!" Edgar asked in a sleepy voice.

The prisoner turned to Lincoln and groaned. "Why are you here? And who's that pumpkinhead next to you?" Edgar asked as his head processed everything. "Pumpkinhead?" Aytrex asked when Lincoln didn't answer. "Yes, I'm talking about you," Edgar replied, laughing at his own joke. Aytrex ignored him and turned his attention back to Lincoln, "What's wrong?" He asked again and Lincoln shook his head.

"I understand," Aytrex said and teleported them away from the prison.

They reappeared on a roof of a building and Lincoln took a seat on the concrete, setting his sword aside as he did so. "So, it's happened for you too?" Aytrex asked. "Yes. But..." Lincoln tried to say. "But...?" Aytrex urged. "It's much, much worse for me..." Lincoln continued. "What's that supposed to mean?" Aytrex asked, urging that he clarify. Anxiety made the alvan lose his patience, Lincoln could even sense the worry in his voice. He sighed, "Most of my energy particles are almost halfway taken over, and there are some which are already completely blue but slowly fading away..." Lincoln finally explained.

"That means..." Aytrex tried to say, but couldn't finish. "That I'm dying, I don't know how long I have but..." Lincoln gave up on talking about it.

The sun began to set on the horizon as things started to get darker. He could hear cars getting out to the skystreets that were starting to light up as it got darker. Aytrex took a seat and sighed deeply, "Mission 786, Setting of ModCytron is a failure." He said in a low voice. Lincoln could sense how frustrated and disappointed the alvan was, and while Lincoln didn't understand what he meant, he understood why Aytrex felt like this.

Billions of years the Guardians have been waiting for this moment, and to think it hadn't worked out the way they wanted it to. "Specimen Crimson was the last and most important piece of the meteor we sent to Earth. This meteor's name was ModCytron." Aytrex explained.

"ModCytron is another life form, which alvans call a Moderator. These beings can grant abilities to other life forms through genetic transfusion, but not all of these moderators are willing to do so. ModCytron was the last moderator in alvan, as all the others have been destroyed by the Guardian's sworn enemies, the Tyrants. As a last resort, we sent the last moderator to the solar system, and whatever planet that had life in it would be able to attract ModCytron towards it." Aytrex continued.

"Upon collision, the moderator was divided into many pieces and it scattered all over the planet. And so, we waited and waited for a new life form to finally find all pieces and help us finally eradicate the Tyrants once and for all. But the time it took must have weakened the moderator, either that or it was never willing to grant human's power. And now because of our mistakes, human wielders will suffer, I'm not sure how many humans have already been granted powers, but once they mate and produce offspring, even they will suffer the same. It's like a disease, a plague..." Aytrex said, burying his face in his arms.

"A cyber plague," Lincoln spoke slowly.

And then there was silence, for what felt like hours Aytrex and Lincoln just sat there. They said nothing and just listened to the sounds of the city. Lincoln looked up at the sky, as questions flooded his mind. How important was the stone he carried? He hadn't even thought of its importance until a day ago. It was strange how Lincoln had never tried to get rid of it, it was just a stone after all. He's never forgotten to take it with him, and even if he feels he did forget, he'd always have it with him, in his pocket, resting there.

It was all so strange...

"All moderators have the main piece, and that's the brain behind everything. In this case, the main piece is Specimen Crimson." Aytrex explained and Lincoln listened quietly, not knowing what to say. "It's the effect. All moderators give side effects to the being they grant power to and depending on their attitude the side effects could be bad or very bad. Specimen Crimson's was the loss of life and memory of the being when the ability is being used." Aytrex concluded. "The memory? I thought that was just the price of genetic transfusion. The procedure wasn't perfect and so our neurons will be killed as our ability is used." Lincoln said quickly.

"No, that was just a misunderstanding they got with a failed subject, which I will explain another day. Your neurons are just fine, it's the side effect of your ability that locks them up. What your experiencing is Specimen Crimson's effect." Aytrex explained. "I see. So, the more I use my power the more I put my memories and life on the line." Lincoln said and looked up at the sky.

"We need to find all the human wielders, and keep them contained so they do not mate," Aytrex said. "No. We'll be ruining their lives." Lincoln said and shook his head. "We have no other choice; we'll be ruining more lives if we don't restrain them," Aytrex argued. "No, we can't," Lincoln replied. "Do you have a better idea?" Aytrex snapped.

To the alvan's surprise, Lincoln nodded. "It's better if we somehow nullify their power, and keep them within our surveillance, but give them enough freedom to live the way they want, we can prevent them from using their powers and let them have a long enough life. This also buys us time to find some sort of cure for them and me." Lincoln explained.

Aytrex nodded approvingly. "Yes, that may work. But first, we'll have to find and destroy the organization creating these abilities and get the remaining pieces of ModCytron to our care. We will then have to find the wielders and a place for them to be where they can't mate or use their powers." He spoke. "Alright," Lincoln said with finality.

"Now I would be needing the gemstone," Aytrex said. "Why?" Lincoln asked. "You wanted a cure; this is the only way we can have a lead on it. I'll take it to Alvanian and have our leaders take a look at it." Aytrex explained. "That makes sense," Lincoln replied and reached for his pocket. "You have it with you? Why?" Aytrex asked. "I'm not sure, I just have it with me all the time," Lincoln replied. "Strange." The alvan commented.

He took it out and handed it to Aytrex.

However, as soon as Aytrex took it, Lincoln felt dizzy and fell forward. This time the alvan caught him, "You, okay?" He asked. Lincoln nodded and got up. "Good. And your stone, it's gone." Aytrex said, his voice tinged with confusion. "What do you mean?" Lincoln asked. "Specimen Crimson, when you gave it to me, it shone bright and then disappeared from my hand," Aytrex said. "When?" Lincoln asked.

"When?" Aytrex repeated. "I still haven't given you the stone," Lincoln replied. "But you did, just now." Aytrex said and looked at him confused. Lincoln returned the look. "But I don't remember giving it to you..." Lincoln said and reached for his pocket, glad the stone was still there. "It's still in my pocket." He added.

"That's strange," Aytrex said. "Can I have it now then?" Lincoln nodded, took it out of his pocket and handed it to the alvan. Lincoln felt dizzy and fell forward again, only to be caught by Aytrex. "Just as I thought. You don't remember giving me the stone, do you?" He asked. "I was just about to," Lincoln said, confused once again. "It's playing with your memories and isn't letting you get rid of it," Aytrex said quickly.

That's when everything started to add up.

It was no wonder Lincoln never got rid of it because even when he tried, it came back to him and erased his memory of ever getting rid of it. It was no wonder he never forgot to bring it, it was because it came to him anyway. This angered Lincoln, he didn't like his memory being played with. He had already forgotten so many important things.

"What's going on?" Lincoln asked. "Whatever it is, Specimen Crimson doesn't want you getting rid of it. It's rare when a moderator is attached to a being, but whatever the reason is, I must find out, even without the stone." Aytrex said quickly. "Yeah." Lincoln agreed. "I must go to Alvanian now, there's so much I have to report." The alvan announced. Lincoln nodded, "Take care."

"You too. Bye for now." Aytrex said and teleported away in a flash.

Lincoln closed his eyes and looked at the time, 7 pm. He picked up his sword, sighed and recapped everything he went through today. "If only I knew what the hell was going on." He mumbled and warped away, leaving energy traces behind.