After descending through the back-up elevator to Level 512, the journey to Qliphos Station was drawing near. Ardine found himself outside in direct sunlight, muddled by the reddish-hazed clouds blotting the skies with its Rot-infested influence. He found himself in the midst of Qliphos's manufacturing facilities, which lined up a series of carefully constructed and rusty painted machines that hoisted numerous supplies for the city.
It was the Logistics Sector. The machines worked tirelessly and endlessly, lifting and packaging materials for military purposes despite the deaths of their entire disestablished creators. There was no purpose in doing so, but their programming indicated that they could not rest.
All of the cranes and pulleys were automated. The painted machines, which were labeled "QLIPHOS" following their model numbers, blocked a numerous amount of space along the pathway to the station. They moved in a robotic fashion, piling crates upon crates for a non-existent war.
While the machines were endlessly set on the path of everlasting labor, it was not impossible for them to subsequently malfunction from time to time. In front of Ardine was an entire stacked deck of carriers topped on one another, creating a wall that seemed impossible to pass. Many of them were still activated, but short-circuited beyond repair. Therefore, a single speck of dust that landed on them would incinerate it in an instant.
Ardine, whose searched for another way through, eventually gave up after the impending surroundings seemed impossible to pass for his unfit stature. He snatched the rifle around his back holster and slid it on his lap, sitting down to rest upon witnessing the stress of his situation.
Just as he was about to polish his rifle from all of the abundance of muck and filth from his previous battles, Claire approached his peripheral view, looking down upon him with eyes of uncertainty. The two locked eyes for a split second before Ardine focused on cleaning his weapon. But he couldn't help himself over what really mattered in the moment.
"It was not my intention to scare her off like that," Ardine said. "I know she's struggling. But each decision that she picked was the wrong choice to follow."
"I'm no different, you know," Claire said. Her voice was rather comfortable, as if she had experienced something that changed her. "I would have done the same."
"Would you, now?"
"Yes, I would," Claire repeated. "The truth is, I know Lyn is scared for the right reason. She's been given an identity similar to mine, and we have no idea what it even means for us. In our conversation together, she kept mentioning her name being Gemma, Gemma, Gemma. So naturally, I knew that she was suffering on the inside, because my true name is similar."
"True name?" Ardine asked, turning his torso to face Claire's uncertain gaze. He seemed to be invested in her response, having heard of it for the very first time. "And you waited until now to tell me this?"
"People don't go around saying things like this, or are you that dense, old man?" Claire replied. "They call me Erpha. And bestowed in my left hand is that same power you saw; the power to destroy everything I touch. And in some way, shape or form, I must be related to Lyn. We haven't been able to understand anything in our past. Where we come from, who we really are... could you imagine all that happening to yourself?"
"No..." Ardine said, looking down upon his lap. That single word carried the burden of regret. "I suppose... you're right."
Claire referenced their previous argument. "Would you have done the same if it was me?" She asked.
"I wouldn't have."
"Then why do the same for her?"
Ardine shut his eyes tightly and exhaled a deep breath. "I don't know, okay?" He admitted. "In that moment, I was scared too. Having learned everything about this... Rot Mother, and Alfaic being related to Krin... even learning some random shit about the past on how all of these creatures were created... it's just too much, you know? Somehow I feel like I'm stuck between learning more and being ignorant, and I don't have a choice in what to take in."
"But we have to know," Claire continued. "That's why we came here in the first place. We have to be there for each other. That's what all my friends taught me. To shelter the lost ones. I mean, isn't that what you did for me?"
Ardine scoffed, standing up and holstering his rifle on his back. "Yeah, I guess so," He said, looking back at the elevator where he came. "I'd better apologize to her before it's too late."
"We won't have to go far," Claire stated. "She's looking for Alfaic."
"Well, guess we better look for him with her-"
Before Ardine could finish his sentence, a blaring siren sounded the establishment, followed by an automated voice of a female speaking through an old intercom system. "WARNING: SYSTEM FAILURE. CARRIAGE WEIGHT HAS EXCEEDED PREDETERMINED LIMITATION. QLIPHOS R9, OFFLINE. ALL SYSTEMS, REBOOT."
Both Ardine and Claire were alerted upon the voice's statement with how unknown their fates would be in a matter of seconds. But as soon as they witnessed the eternal machines halting all at once together, they knew there was something deeply wrong with their presence. Before they knew it, a lifted mechanism carrying an entire shipment crate hovered above the entrance from outside the elevator toward them. It was being supported by a weak system of pulleys that were about to snap.
And it was exactly that.
"Get down!" Ardine shouted, pulling Claire toward him. The two fell on top of each other as the large shipment crate collapsed on the road, generating enough force to shake the foundation of the area. With the loosened shipment crates now wobbling from the rusted pulleys, the initial collapse triggered a domino effect of other crates now raining from the sky, unknown to the two of them which would fall first.
"Quickly, this way!" Ardine said, shoving Claire toward the blocked passage. Another shipment crate snapped off, setting an entire chain of wires flogging toward several unmanaged crates. Claire and Ardine jumped together once more to avoid another falling crate, missed by almost a single meter in their way.
Claire rushed toward the blocked pathway and held out her left hand. She touched the closest machine, reducing it to ash immediately and creating a short pathway for them to crawl out of harm's way.
"Come on!" Ardine called, gesturing for Claire to squeeze in between.
Without having a carefully constructed plan to guide them, Ardine shoved Claire through the small opening to save her from imminent destruction. Right after he had done so, another crate plopped directly in front of Ardine, trapping him and preventing him from entering the same space Claire entered.
After a few seconds of brief solace passed, Claire pressed her ear against the blockaded opening. "Hey!" She shouted; though it felt as if she were talking to a brick wall. "Hey, old man!? Are you okay?"
"Your friend will be fine," An abrupt voice startled Claire, coming directly from behind her. After she spun around to meet the voice head on, she was taken aback by the presence of Aldion in the center of the road to Qliphos Station. He stood firmly in the center of a square clearing, with several inactive machines and equipment crates blockading any possible exit. "And so will you, if you come with me." He said, extending his hand out.
"You..." Claire shoved herself off of the wall and took large stomps toward him with her folded blade extended. She imbued it with her left hand's golden might and held it firmly by her side. "You motherfucker. I'll fucking kill you for what you did to me and my FAMILY!"
"No," Aldion denied, placing his hand down below his side. "I saved them from you."
"Saved them?!" Claire raged. "You didn't leave a single person alive that night. Don't give me that bullshit!"
"You don't understand, Erpha," Aldion continued. "The massacre that night was not my responsibility. Nay, it was the responsibility of the creators of this derelict city. The seven who call themselves the heart of the universe... believed they could control the children of man with their trinkets of war."
Claire swallowed a deep breath inside her, standing firmly with her weapon at any moment ready to charge. It was time for vengeance to return to her, and she was waiting for it, just like an old friend's reunion.
Aldion lifted his right hand in the air, ascending it slowly as he looked up at the hazy orange clouds of Rot. "Man believed they were ready for evolution, yet man failed to recognize that they were not governed by free will. So they stepped out of line and used God's subjects, empowering their tools of destruction to serve them. But God struck them down, and the price to pay is their lives. Such a poetic way to succumb to the inevitable, don't you think, Erpha?"
"Stop calling me ERPHA!" Claire hissed.
"But you are Erpha," Aldion continued. "A byproduct of the lord's design. You are proof of her existence, as she watches down upon us and waits for the inevitable change of this pitiful planet. The only one fit for such a world... is me."
"It could have been your son too, but you abandoned him," Claire ignited a spark of discussion with Alfaic's name. "How exactly do you feel about that?"
"The world has no need for such trivialities," Aldion stated. "Those who house feelings of regrets cannot evolve beyond man's design. He was a lingering piece of my will that required severance. And you as well, Erpha. I tried to sever your will that night, but you remain here, still standing firmly in front of me. How is it that your will continues to endure throughout all this?"
"Because it's not so easily broken!" Claire retorted. "You only think you can get what you want because you worship this stupid Rot... Mother... God, or something. But in reality, you could have saved yourself, beyond all this!"
"But I am saving myself," Aldion confirmed, extending his hand until it pointed directly at . "That is why I require you, Erpha. Our beautiful Mother has blessed you with the power of destruction in your hand. And you shall use it to show me the way."
"FUCK YOU!" Claire shouted, charging at him with her blade extended. She carelessly almost lost her footing with anger clawing at her mind. She waltzed forward with a piercing stab, but nothing could have prepared her for what came next. Although Aldion was completely unarmed, Claire struck an invisible blade summoned by his side, parrying her strike without any effort. She slipped forward until she overestimated her own speed, plummeting to the ground with her blade sliding across several meters away from her.
"Don't be a fool, Erpha," Aldion said, effortlessly flicking his invisible blade away. "You hold the key to her domain. If you toss away your life, all for vengeance, perhaps you could be useful at least this one last time?"
Claire gritted her teeth, crawling forward at lightning speed to snag her blade with her left hand. After imbuing her golden aether into it, she jumped and spiraled herself to swung horizontally toward his head. Yet another flick of his finger created the same invisible and transparent blade, blocking it without even moving a single muscle or exerting any stamina. Her pupils transformed into slits of bitter angst as she flipped out of Aldion's defense. She rushed in and attempted to cleverly swing past his torso to slice through, but she once again struck the invisible blade and lost her footing. Aldion swiped his finger upward, sending her folded blade even further into the sky until it landed several feet away and out of sight.
As Claire remained distracted from the loss of her weapon, Aldion seized control of her neck and pinned her accurately with a firm grip. He held her up with his right hand and extended her left hand outward with his own, preventing her from touching him. Claire spat in defiance as she tried to wriggle out of his grip, but her petite stature made it impossible to escape.
"Do not deny your fate, Erpha," Aldion continued, grinning at her as he lifted her even higher. "You will open the path-"
A shocking zoom sounded the alarm for Aldion's temporary distraction; a bullet soared toward his back, but it was blocked by an impenetrable golden barrier. Aldion turned his head toward the direction of it, noticing Ardine nestled on top of multiple shipment crates with his rifle aimed at him.
Ardine moved the scope of his rifle away and glared at Aldion with malicious intent. He then rolled forward towards a device nestled in the corner of the shipment crates, revealing a lever-type device with multiple buttons. "Yeah," He whispered to himself with his teeth gritted. "I'm right here, fucking homewrecker."
After slamming his fist against one of the buttons, a shipment crate hoisted in midair off the edge of the blockaded arena forcefully swung itself with enough propelled speed to strike both Aldion and Claire. However, Aldion released Claire as the shipment crate slipped between them, separating them.
Claire rushed to grab her folded blade, holding it and pointing it toward the shipment crate. Her right hand began to twitch uncontrollably in fear, unable to anticipate Aldion's next blow.
The shipment crate sliced directly in half and split apart in opposite directions, revealing Aldion directly in the center. As he approached Claire without so much as a single scratch on his body, he rose his right hand and summoned a type of unusual lightning aura, surging through his fingertips.
Ardine continued to fire directly at him, but all of his bullets deflected off of his invisible barrier. He tossed the rifle behind him and leaned as forward as he could so that Claire could hear him. "Claire, get the hell out of there!" He shouted.
Yet it was too late. Aldion blasted the lightning strike toward Claire, with her rooted directly in her fear. She closed her eyes to accept her fate, yet another flash of movement stopped the blast from striking her directly. The lightning strike blasted an unknown figure, sending dust, debris, and ash across the entire arena.
When the dust settled, Claire witnessed Alfaic, in Krin's body, standing in front of her with his hand extended to block the blow for her. He stood firmly in front to shield Claire from everything harmful. She was astonished to see him in front of her, brightly smiling at his arrival.
"You will not harm them!" Alfaic roared.
Aldion ceased his movement and stood straight, eyeing his son with upright mortification. "So, you finally show your face," He said. "Such a shame. Your feelings toward your so-called friends have grown you soft. You stand beneath them among the other vermin that is unfit for this planet. I grow tired of your pestilence, Alfaic."
"And I grow tired of you," Alfaic retorted. "Now, leave us, or be prepared to suffer."
"Suffer?" Aldion chuckled. "What could you possibly do?"
Alfaic stepped back and snagged Claire by the neck. He unexpectedly wrapped his muscular arm around her neck while pivoting his palm against the side of her cheek. Ardine, upon seeing the dramatic move unfold, snagged his rifle and aimed it directly at Alfaic, second guessing himself if it was truly him, or Krin's deception. Claire clenched her teeth and closed her eyes, almost suffocating from the seizure of her neck.
"I'll kill her," Alfaic commanded. "Which means you won't get a chance to see your precious Mother."
Aldion remained silent, incandescent as a result of his son's hasty and impulsive actions. Her looked down upon his feet briefly before closing his eyes in wonder. He then opened them with a bitter straight gaze upon Alfaic, intending to find a method to stop him. But in the moment, he was defeated, and he surrendered himself to the cause.
"Why...?" He uttered. "Why defy your fate? Mother will save us all, and you fail to recognize that, my son. Is the will to live... truly that powerful?"
And without another word, Aldion faded into nothingness, vanishing from sight as a strong breeze brushed through his bodily structure.
Alfaic released Claire, leaving her to gasp for air as she tried to collect herself. Ardine kept his rifle by his side and sped down the shipment crates to reunite with them. He kept his suspicious guard up, pointing the rifle directly at Alfaic with his eyebrows curled against him.
"Don't you move," Ardine commanded. "Now... tell us. Are you Alfaic, or are you Krin?"
Claire coughed and collected herself. "Stop," She ordered. "He saved my life."
"Answer the question!" Ardine shouted.
Alfaic, who chuckled at the mere sight of the firearm pointed directly at his head, relaxed his tense shoulders after reuniting with his father. He looked directly into Ardine's soul, lifting his spirits with a carefree smile that reigned supreme among all other perspectives. His warm-lifting spirit charmed the both of them, indicating that he was indeed, the truth and beyond.
"Now I can try that stew of yours, Claire." He jested, approaching her with his hand extended to lift her up from her weakened position.
"You fucking asshole," Ardine retorted, placing the rifle away behind his back holster. He leaned forward and greeted Alfaic with a slap of their palms, unable to even believe his existence in the slightest for a moment. "I was about to pull that damn trigger. I really was."
"Well, aren't you glad you didn't?" Alfaic said, pulling up Claire beside him. He eyed her with mournful eyes. "Sorry about that, Claire. I had to put on a show for my father."
"It's okay," Claire said, regaining her breath to function normally. "I'm glad you're here with us." She cheerfully said.
"Me too." Alfaic replied.
"Why did you do that to her?" Ardine asked. "Why does your father want Claire so badly?"
"Hmm," Alfaic begun, placing his index finger and thumb upon his finger to pose himself lost in thought. "I never knew too deeply about it, but it must have to do with the Rot Mother's location. My father always believed in a legend about her true location, housed in a specific impenetrable barrier that can't be accessed by any normal human. If I didn't know any better... I'd say he wants Claire because of that special power she wields."
"He wants me... to destroy that barrier...?" Claire asked, holding her left hand closely.
"It's only a legend." Alfaic clarified.
"A legend your old man clearly believes in," Ardine intervened. "So all of that destruction and chaos in that village you spoke of... was all for that?"
Claire wanted to reject all of it. If everything had been true, then Aldion was correct. "No," She begun. "This all had to do with the Seventh Council. They wanted to rule the world with the droids. But they're dead now, because of their own weapons."
"Damn," Ardine said, crossing his arms. "Play shitty games, win shitty prizes. I guess they're to blame, then."
Alfaic pressed against Claire's shoulder, ensuring faith inside her spirit remain resolute. "You gave into your vengeance again," He stated. "You can't let that happen to you. Vengeance controls you, and my father clearly knows that. He will exploit every last drop of it down to your bones if you give him the chance. You can't let him do that. Do you understand?"
"Y-Yeah," Claire hesitated for a moment, but nodded in return. "I'm sorry. I just... can't stop thinking about the past and everyone who tried to save me..."
"It's okay to think about it," Alfaic said, leaning his head down toward his feet to remember his own past. "We just can't let it control us, that's all."
Claire's eyes widened as she exploded in a burst of heartfelt emotion. "Wait, Lyn!" She called out, remembering the arduous task of tracking Alfaic down to make amends. "Lyn was back up there, looking for you!"
"Yeah," Ardine chimed in. "Did you see her?"
"I didn't," Alfaic said, turning away and heading for the only exit toward Qliphos Station. The others remained silent, looking at his abrupt and regretful movement spine up his boisterous body. "I... don't know if she would ever want to see me again. I only saved you because you're my friends. We can't cross paths ever again."
"The hell are you talking about?" Ardine called. "We both want the same thing, don't we?"
"I talked to Lyn earlier," Claire said with eyes of hope glistening in the light. She cupped her hands together, hoping faith would bring them together once more. "She regrets everything she said to you, and she really feels bad for all of it. She cried... and wanted to see you again."
Alfaic turned around, mouth agape in shock. "She... cried?" He asked.
Claire nodded, eyes trailing away toward the ground.
"She misses you, man," Ardine stated, looking at himself from an outward perspective. "And... I owe her an apology too. I blew up on her, not realizing how scared she was after learning all of that information. Called her selfish and pathetic... without even realizing how much pain she was in," He kept himself quiet for a few seconds and laughed briefly at himself. "Man, I'm such a dick."
"Oh, we know." Claire jested.
Alfaic returned to the duo, with eyes that lustered despite the downfall of their previous endeavors. After hearing the news of Lyn's disappearance in wanting to locate him once more, his true body felt invigorated, knowing that their bond wasn't sundered by his true form. He clenched his right fist, pretending to hold the bond together and the will to enact upon it. "We... we have to find her." Alfaic said, voice trembling in regret. "But... where is she?"
"I don't know," Ardine said. "Knowing her, she wouldn't be wise enough to leave a clue behind."
"Do you think she went ahead?" Claire asked.
"We'll have to bet our chips on that," Ardine replied. "There's no way we can go back up there, the path is sealed off. We just have to keep moving and hope for the best," He approached Alfaic from behind and slapped the back of his broad shoulders. "Think you can deal with that for now?"
"I suppose so..." Alfaic said. After a shift in the dimensions around him, he reverted back into his sword form, surprising the two around him in astonishment. "Guess I'll be safer like this, for now. Wouldn't want to attract anyone around, for the worst."
"I got you," Claire said, holding Alfaic's weighty handle. At first, she almost teetered on the brink of tripping from his weight, but her body quickly adjusted to his design swiftly. "Always wanted a cool looking super blade like you in my hands."
"Definitely also need to catch up with you," Ardine said, making note of his human transformation. "Hope you're ready to tell us everything."
After accepting Claire's compliment and Ardine's request, the three of them continued to journey through the Logistics Section of Qliphos Station. They tried to avoid the barricaded shipment crates and the numerous amount of machines still working endlessly in their way. They hoped that they would eventually reunite with the missing piece to close their intertwining fates together, praying in the dark with all the faith that they had left.