The Dreamcatcher Project
Essay Three
Genesis


<sub>Escape is vital for survival. You do it all the time.

Yes, you do. You don’t always know that you do. Cause your brain takes care of it for you.

When you don’t like something, you try to get away. If you feel hurt, your brain pushes it away. When something chases you…

…you run.

Run fast, because if you don’t, you get hit. Things that get hit shatter into a billion fragments. Or break in half. When your mind and heart and soul get hit, they crack, too. And cracks get bigger. And bigger and bigger until they become a chasm. Then you break. When that happens, you aren’t a person anymore. You are many people. In one body.

There’s some psychology for you to chew on.</sub>

---



January 1, 2401
5:02 AM

Room 714.

Not exactly the largest room in the Eris towers, but it was comfortable enough. A single, dim, yellow lamp cast a soft warm glow on the desk. The rest of the room was dark. Cold, frigid, silent. The harsh winter outside had forced its way within; the heating unit for the floor had broke.

Seated at the desk was a dark, thin figure, rested in a rigid posture, no movement at all. The light softly illuminated the figure’s face …or at least what wasn’t covered by hair or scarf. The visible eye was closed lightly, and crisply accented by the ebony rim of the eyeglasses.

I chose you for this one.
There are others, too.
They will do other things first.

The figure opened his eyes, and that was it. Nothing else about his face changed. His iris shone blue, but the cloudy, milky scars had already started to claim the once-luminous eye.

But everyone must make sacrifices.

The statue had done something to him. Her voice still echoed in his mind, long after it was over. The statue had a presence. A ghost… and it did something to him. Something neither good or bad. In fact, she claimed that everyone would be affected in time. But it had been seven months before he noticed anything. It started little by little.

In time, you will learn to live without your sight, Arcal.

With a sudden movement of grace and rage, Ortalli A’ Arcal tore off his eyeglasses and threw them on the desk. He had no use for them anymore.

He stood up slowly and wrapped his scarf around him tighter. Warmth wasn’t an issue… he loved the cold. The scarf was only for comfort.

Grief and rage, I understand. But your task remains the same.

Arcal overturned his chair as he stood up. His mind screamed with blind hate. But his face remained as smooth as untouched snow. His lips twisted for words he could not find.

No need for speech. Just make sure you’re both out before dawn breaks, or life will be harder than it needs to be.

Both?

Arcal started gathering his equipment. He picked up his two Retaliator pistols, dull grey weapons each with a deadly energy blade that can be activated for close combat. He secured them to his side, and tied his sash. As he slipped on his gloves, he looked behind him, at the eyeglasses still sitting on the desk.

He sighed, and reached for them. He still wasn’t going anywhere without them.

---



5:02 AM

Time went slack. A blur of fists. A sidestep. Something cracked. Twice.

Delicious screams of agony. If only there was food. Something warm, maybe a nice soup. A good bowl of noodle soup would be nice. But, unfortunately, staying alive was more important right now.

As Tsuki’s senses recalibrated, time ran at normal pace again. It wasn’t something she could comprehend, it just happened. Maybe her reflexes had started to improve…

…or the creepy statue decided to throw switches and smash buttons in her brain.

Among the unconscious bodies of Eris Guild members stood a frail girl clothed in a dark sweater and a long, trailing skirt. Her knuckles were white from gripping the cold, heavy, bloody crowbar.

Yuko Rei’ Tsuki quickly stuffed the crowbar into her bookbag and pushed her long, dark hair out of her eyes. The third floor of the parking building was mostly empty, and already she heard approaching footsteps. She quickly stripped a nearby thug of his handgun and ammo, and climbed down the stairs.

The icy breeze bit her cheeks.

The footsteps grew louder.

Time grows short. If you wish to get through this with ease, keep faith in me.

The sudden rush of blood to her head brought her down to her knees. That creepy statue didn’t know what personal space meant, apparently. Footsteps were coming down the stairs. More thugs were on their way.

Why didn’t she just leave well enough alone? Of course, she’d wanted to make them pay. Especially after she found out how they did it. It was horrible.

She could have been in bed. Dreaming that she was enjoying a nice, warm bowl of noodle soup. Instead, she whipped out the handgun and twisted around.

Not a thug. Strange.

It was another freelancer. An assassin, she could tell from the intricate blue markings on his black robes. But what she really recognized was the eyes. They were glassy, half-blind, and crisply accented by the ebony rim of his eyeglasses. She recognized the messy, unkempt hair and the same lost, detached expression he often wore. And the blazing rage clouded by his eyes, not to mention the Retaliator pistol pointed at her head.

Tsuki recognized him. His name was Arcal, or something like that. The kid who worked the Saturday shift at her favorite noodle place…

His lips formed silent words.

“Get down.”

Time went slack.

…and you shall be crowned with the name of the Adjutant Omniscience.

Tsuki threw herself down. It took hours for her to touch the ground. Soft flashes of sapphire stung her peripheral vision, heat of the projectiles danced on her back.

Three soft thwacks filled the deafening silence. The stench of burned flesh smothered the air. Tsuki rolled on her back and caught sight of the three Eris Guild members who were behind her. For what seemed like hours, they each stared and the glowing, smoking hole in their torso. Then, one by one, they collapsed.

With a rush, time leapt back to speed.

Tsuki pulled herself up and dusted herself. Then she turned to face the noodle soup boy. They stared eye to eye, neither making a movement for a while.

Tsuki then gave a curt nod.

“I suppose you are hunting me down as well?”

---



Arcal was at a loss for words. This was not who he had expected the Adjutant Omniscience to be.

Granted, she was very pretty indeed, her bright violet eyes seemed to drill through his own dull eyes and read his very thoughts, and her dark, wavy hair seemed to play tricks with his eyes. But she was the last person Arcal would have guessed to be the…

“I suppose you are hunting me down as well?”

The question caught him by surprise. To his credit, Arcal didn’t miss a beat.

“Yeah. Well, not exactly…”
“So who are you supposed to be, then?”

He fumbled for words. In the end, he gave up and shrugged. So much for first impressions.

---



All she got was a shrug. Tsuki’s curiosity got the better of her. She kept staring into his eyes… so delicate, glassy… somewhat beautiful in a way. She tried to taste his emotions and got only a muddled heap of chaos.

“You …work over at the--”
“…Yes.”

Tsuki couldn’t help but smile. A challenge. Something new. She usually could read everyone like a book, but he was something new.

Time does not wait.

Tsuki flinched, and instantly scowled at herself. Now she’d look all jumpy and timid in front of him. But Arcal didn’t seem to have noticed. His face was suddenly cast in a shadow…

He could hear the statue’s voice as well.

“You heard that!”
“…”

Tsuki felt awkward. That was obvious.

“Adjutant Omniscience… that’s who you are… or will be…”
“Wait. You are one of the others?”
“Ya…”
“Do you have a title, too?”

He gave a nod.

Then he lifted his Retaliator pistol and shot a creep behind her.

“Something about an Eternal Seeker. Or Keeper. We need to move now... the Eris Guild already has reinforcements, and if we want to get out before dawn, we’re going to have to fight hard.”

The mobster gasped in agony as plasma ate through his chest.

The distant sound of a chopper was now audible, along with the roars of the famous Typhoon recon-assault bikes.

They come in numbers, my children.

Tsuki did not say anything else. But she knew. The blue eyes… rapidly deteriorating eyesight, chaotic mentality, all as the creepy statue had said. It wasn’t Eternal Seeker or Keeper or anything like that. It was Aeon Reclaimer.

The full fury of the blizzard will show its face.

---



5:47 AM

As the clattered down the stairway, Arcal couldn’t help but feel that they were already too late.

He threw open the heavy doors of the stairwell and stepped outside. The snow was thick, soft, crunched slightly under his shoes. Snowflakes danced a feverish image in the dark air, the glaring, yellow limelight cast by old streetlights. He looked behind him. Tsuki pulled out a black scarf from her bookbag.

The roar of Typhoon bikes grew in volume as the mob turned the corner.

“What are you doing? Get in the shadows!”

Arcal’s left eye twitched slightly, and he slipped back under the wing of darkness. A careless mistake. He was distracted, and wasn’t paying attention.

“I do not think you are invincible yet… nor am I. All they have to do is make sure the blade touches your skin, and the next thing… the last thing you will see are your own insides.”

Arcal said nothing. He eyed the Typhoon bikes speeding down the street adjacent to the mall entrance. All of them were colored a subtle grey, emblazoned with the recognizable emblem of the Eris Guild, a shattered sword wrapped in fire. Each bike seated two people; one pilot, one holding an automatic rifle.

The bike itself was the real danger. The reconnaissance and light-assault vehicle had been developed by the Insurrection’s Gynotawi Armories to be a fearsome, versatile, and powerful weapon against the invading iGun ground forces.

It was a huge success. The bike itself had only one large wheel, balanced by a system of advanced thrusters, gifting it with great maneuverability; two stabilizers in the rear, two powerful nacelles in the front. The nose of the bike sported twin auto-cannons capable of mowing down offending infantry. But the deadliest were the two metal “tusks”, blades that reached forward, the deathly-sharp edges facing out and the slender, pointed tip facing forward. The blades were sharp enough that it sliced effortlessly through almost any kind of armor, and during the short skirmish of Kedisman, the Insurrection utilized the blade to lay waste to the iGun foot-soldiers.

It was bloody carnage.

“Now what?”
“…now we improvise.”

Arcal grabbed his Retaliator, leapt out into the open and continued running towards the closest Typhoon, which had conveniently turned towards him. The pilot was bent on skewering him.

Time went slack.

Two shots were fired. One from the Retaliator, and one from the Typhoon’s passenger. There was a familiar thwack as something hit home. Dark blood spilled from the helmet of the passenger as his body flung into the air, propelled by the force of the Retaliator’s projectile. Arcal didn’t even have to dodge the incoming bullet; the mobman’s shot went wild.

As the Typhoon quickly ate the distance between them, Arcal stared straight into the deranged eyes of the pilot. He pulled his scarf tighter.

“Happy new year.”

---



“What are you doing? You are going to…”

Tsuki watched as Arcal’s hands blurred, bringing the pistol up to bear and squeezing off a shot. The passenger of the lead Typhoon bike raised his rifle, and then his head exploded. He managed to get one round out… into the air.

All this happened in about two seconds.

The next five were all a chaotic blur. Ortalli A’ Arcal leaped into the air at an angle to his right, just as the bike roared into where he had been standing only a moment before. There was a flip, a twist, and the sound of his boots connecting with the pilot’s face. The bike’s thrusters blazed orange as it made a sharp twist, and the pilot went tumbling into the snow.

Now Arcal was at the helm.

He brought the Typhoon bike around and faced the three other bikes. All of them stared, dumbfounded, trying to make sense of what happened. Arcal didn’t give them too much time to think. Methodically, one by one, he blasted them with the auto-cannons.

Tsuki swung behind the wreckage of a destroyed bike and jumped on, behind Arcal.

Already, the sky changes. Light is coming.

“There’s more on the way...”
“I know. Just get us out of here.”

The bike’s thrusters roared furiously as they took off down the streets and towards the city limits. Towards the border. Towards the desert.

Towards escape.

---



6:17 AM

An open expanse… no borders. Nothing to hinder them. The sky was rapidly filling itself with the clean blue of the early dawn. But they were not alone.

Arcal grimly noted the situation. They were out of the city; that was good. But their troubles were far from over. Behind them, three groups, four Typhoons each, pursued them. In the air, they faced the pressure of two attack helicopters. Old aviation technology, but still dangerous.

He was curious as to how the Eris Guild got their hands on such equipment. But then again, the Eris Guild was the head metropolis gang. They ruled the streets. They were the city. No wonder there, as to why the entire metropolis area was officially named the Eris Metropolis.

Cold winds blasted his face. It refreshed him. Kept his mind sharp.

“I’m going to turn!”

He had to shout over the howling air. The bike was already pushed to give as much as it could, and the “overheat” warning had already flashed several times. Abruptly, Arcal pulled the handle and twisted the bike to face the pursuers.

Tsuki’s fingers dug deeper into his shoulders Arcal restrained his shudder. It wasn’t the cold; he had a strong aversion to touch.

“Strafe left!”

Her voice was almost lost in the winds.

The bike tilted, slid sideways, and the roar of a missile left their ears ringing as it streaked past them. The helicopters were done playing spectator.

Arcal let loose the auto-cannons, and managed to transform one Typhoon into a brilliant fireball. The wreckage was enough to trip two other bikes, sending their occupants hurtling into the ground at speeds impossible to survive.

Suddenly, he felt his Retaliator pistol being pulled out of its hold. He gave a glance behind him.

“Let me borrow this for a moment.”

---



6:35 AM

There was one more. One more bike in from that group. Tsuki took aim. The enemy Typhoon’s thrusters flared as it moved into a quick formation with another group. They joined together and formed a wall, auto-cannons blazing. Arcal responded by pulling their bike steeply to the right, and Tsuki lost her aim. White-hot shells sliced the air only inches away from her face.

As Arcal pulled the bike back into a reasonable position, Tsuki seized the time. The Retaliator spat three rounds. Two bikes went down instantly.

Tsuki thought Arcal shouted something in congratulations. Either that or he was yelling at her to watch their six.

She let go of his shoulder and lifted her legs, spinning around on her hands. The long skirt rippled in the wind, blending in with the shadows of the rising sun. She twisted herself so that she now faced the back, and landed hard on the seat, temporarily losing her balance for a frightening second when the bike bounced.

“…don’t EVER do that again…”

She understood him clearly that time.

---



Winter storms are merciless. The icy fury is unmatched.

The sky was brighter now. The sun was already creeping to the horizon. Arcal felt his blood chill, and his vision darken. He had a hard time focusing. So far, Tsuki had managed to shoot down all the Typhoon bikes save three. But the helicopters were something else.

The right nacelle of the hijacked Typhoon was spewing out oily smoke; it had taken a direct shot from one of the helicopter’s machine gun. And it wasn’t the only one that had taken a hit. Arcal vaguely remembered something burning smashing into his leg. There was no time for pain to register, nor did he ever pay too much attention to it. But the next he looked at his wound, he was stunned to find that his flesh had slowly knitted themselves back together in an aura of azure sparks.

Apparently, the encounter with the statue made him superhuman, now.

His thoughts were interrupted by the hissing roar of more missiles.

“Spin the bike!”
“What?”
“Spin it! Now!”

Arcal pulled the crippled Typhoon into a sickening twist.

Time went slack.

Arcal looked behind him, and his mind vaguely registered all that happened in that instant. Tsuki pushed herself up, and shot his Retaliator two times. One missile detonated. The second one exploded a little later, but much closer. As the shockwave from the second missile smothered them both, Tsuki reached out with her hand and mind to the third missile rushing in. Time crawled to a near-stop. The sleek weapon seemed to hesitated, wavering and tilting randomly. Then it touched her fingers, and vanished…

…reappearing in the group of the last three enemy Typhoons, smashing into the lead bike.

The brilliant, crimson fireball flash-vaporized the first bike, and the shockwave shattered the second bike, reducing its occupants to nothing more than a cloud. The third bike was thrown into the air, spinning rapidly, and miraculously drilled itself into one of the attack helicopters.

Arcal slammed on the brakes. Time carried on. Tsuki carried her momentum with her, slamming into Arcal, and both of them crashed onto the hard, cold desert soil.

The result was spectacular. The brilliant explosion consumed the helicopter and lit up the desert field as if it were day. Arcal shielded his eyes. The second attack chopper had stopped where it was. With the light, Arcal could faintly make out the open mouths of the similarly stunned pilots.

The sun’s first rays spilled over the horizon.

---



Dirt and tangled hair obstructed her vision. She picked herself up, muttering an apology. Her head was spinning, and silver flashes of light danced in her vision.

“…you okay?”
“I am fine. And you?”
“For now… we’re not done yet, I’m afraid.”
“I… I dropped your gun somewhere…”

Arcal’s looked at her and gave a slight smile. It was a weary, understanding, and altogether unexpected. His smile was comparable to the sight of a lone rose in a field of weeds and thorns; a rare, unexpected, pleasant surprise.

“Don’t worry about it.”

The attack helicopter was still there, the broken sword emblem visible by the light of the sun’s first rays. It descended, and opened its doors. Several men, all heavily armed and armored, jumped out and opened fire instantly. Tsuki blinked in surprise. Arcal twisted and crumpled to the floor in a heap.

Tsuki knelt down slowly, the sharp reports of gunfire dulled to heavy thumping.

Don’t let go… don’t let go… You have brought yourself so far…

The sun was now fully above the horizon.

Snow glistened in patches all over the desert field. Tsuki’s eyes started to loose focus. The edges of her vision crept in slowly.

The perfect, blue dawn exploded in a sudden fireball of chaos and thunder.

The sky had been ripped open; torn in half by a monolith careening through the air. It was alien, twisted, dark metal glowing with mysterious green lights from within. Shaped vaguely like a starship of some sort. The structure was larger than any ship in the Insurrection or iGun fleet, however. It was completely alien.

The alien structure continued screaming across the sky, shaking the earth as it tore through the sound barrier. It then disappeared into the city’s skyline, and silence filled the air.

Then earth itself shook and groaned as the alien monolith buried itself deep into the surface, the rumbles and roars of the crash echoing throughout the city and the desert.

Tsuki managed to pull herself up one last time. Arcal’s eyes were already glazed, glassy blue and unfocused. A stream of dark, thick blood flowing from his nose was a striking contrast to his soft, pale skin. Tsuki noted the pool of dark lifeblood she herself lay in. Her own deathbed. She gave one last glance towards the attack helicopter. The men still had their weapons trained on her, scared of what she might do if they turned their backs to her. The alien spaceship could wait.

“…you… are…”

Her voice was lost. She closed her weary eyes. Whatever it was, whatever new threat had just arrived, she would not be there to stop it. Neither would the Aeon Reclaimer. So much for the Adjutant Omniscience.

Before she let go, she made sure she still held on tightly.

She felt him return the squeeze.

Then everything was no more.