Infinity in the Void – Freedom in the Abyss

A world worse than Hell itself, with mountains upon mountains of corpses, the rivers flowing with blood so thick it's black, everywhere... there is death.

!!

I... I can smell the stench of rotting corpses. Pungent, nauseating... it's beyond strong, I'm getting dizzy...

I let go of the lance, dropping it on the ground... taking a few steps back, I retreated back into the alley...

And I vomited...

This isn't good... Sinclair... that bitch...

"Are you alright, Charlotte?", Sinclair leaned beside me, tilting her head... her red eyes teasing me... I don't like them at all.

But this is fun.

I can feel my heart beating...

She look at my vomit, "Welp, if you weren't hungry before you definitely are, now."

Heh... dammit.

"Where do you suggest eating? You will pay, right?", I smile deviously.

To respond, she laughed, "Hahaha! Sorry, but you won't be able to dry me up~ I'm already broke! All I have is a hundred dollars to my name!"

I clicked my tongue, "Tsk, so where do you suggest going?"

Sinclair just dances around, knocking on the wall with her fingers... she plays the piano?

"Well, we are going to a homeless shelter and take free food there.", she suggested something outrageous.

Taking food from the homeless?

Seeing an opening, she smiled slyly, "Aww~ is the Silver Princess developing a conscience?"

"I'm not.", I denied it. I don't care for others, just that the food there wouldn't be good. Yeah... that's my excuse.

"Okay~ whatever keeps you comfy at night.", she kept on teasing me, tapping the wall in a melody, "Well, I'll take you to have your breakfast with just a hundred dollars. I'll still go to take food from the homeless."

"You are evil."

"Haha! I know~ being evil enhances your cool factor by a lot~", she now crosses her arms, smiles and point her chin at me. With those menacing red eyes, I must admit she's cool.

Sinclair is fun, I hate her.

"Now, let us embark on a culinary adventure!", she went off first.

...Is... this how everybody feels when they are with me? I am such a horrible person.

With a sigh, I put the lance... Quirinus... back into its case, following Sinclair to who knows where.

 

=0=0=

 

"Yup, exactly a hundred dollars gone down the drain~", Sinclair laughed, watching my meal lay before me.

I began eating... she shut up and let me eat in peace. Hmm, at least she bought me an A4 Wagyu steak.

Fun fact, Wagyu beef in Mu is a lot cheaper than the Japanese one. I think there was an international court case about it, Japan suing Mu for not respecting tradition and using GMOs. Japan is all about keeping the tradition alive, Mu is the polar opposite, since their culture got practically burned away by Seria, they focused on progressing technology and science.

I personally don't care, to hell with tradition, they are just chains binding one to their own culture.

Oh, and I got spider milk. Yay~

A glass of spider milk cost thirty dollars, and the A4 Wagyu cost fifty dollars. Cheer for science.

The A4 Wagyu was good, with just enough seasoning to not lose the natural flavor of the meat. It just melts in my mouth, though not as good as Drake meat... wonder if I can still butcher that Drake in the arena?

Finishing my meal with a glass of spider milk, I am ready to talk.

I stare back directly at her, "I know you are me from the future. What do you want?"

"Ah~ so perceptive.", Sinclair giggles, licking her lips like I am a tasty meal, "But you are wrong, Charlotte~ my name is Sinclair, not Charlotte Silvi. For all you know, I could be the next owner of the Akashic Records."

We got our own booth, I specifically requested it so she cannot run... I see how gentle she is with every object, she does not share my enjoyment of property damage. She could be the next owner, but there is a key problem with that. She knows me too well, much more than myself even.

There is one way to test if she's me or not.

"If you are my successor, then I will ask you a question, Akasha.", I called her by the name I hate.

And her eyes twitched a bit. There it is, my proof that she is me. We hate being called other names, that is just in our nature. But this also proved that her name is Sinclair. Maybe...

"Wait a bit before you finish your thoughts!", she stopped my trail, making me focus on her... Euphoria's power.

"I know you almost came to the conclusion, but let's stop speculating about my identity, okay? Time police will come after me.", she was not concerned at all.

Wait...

"There are time police?"

Sinclair just shrugs, "The Hounds of Tindalos, I don't have trouble taking them down but fights usually come with massive damage to the surrounding. It's a hassle to try to fight them cleanly."

I have a feeling it's more due to her than the police...

Something never changes, huh. I get into trouble with the Darkovah police, and Tindalos with her...

She is me.

"Anyway, I think you should murder Romulus the next time he comes for you, it will make your life easier. Stab him good in the heart—", she went silent for a moment, "The Hounds of Tindalos are getting closer, I can only spend time here for a few more hours."

She stood up from her seat, giving me a wink, "Well, I'll go raid a homeless shelter for some food~ farewell, Charlotte Silvi~"

She walked out of the booth, waving goodbye...

Sinclair was... strange to say the least. Well, she is me after all. She knows me more than I know myself.

But she is fun, she gave me an experience I never had before. Though what happened in the future? Why was she surrounded by corpses? And why does she want to kill Romulus that badly? I mean, I do too but he's a minor annoyance at best...

Well~ he does hold the last fragment for the Akashic Records~! Only by ripping it out of his. Cold. Dead. Body. Can you retrieve it.

Are you enabling me to kill someone, Reverie?

To be fair, you did kill all those scientists a few months ago due to someone enabling you.

And?

You are a hypocrite, you know that?

I know.

That is just how I am, no mask, no care about others. The only opinion I take seriously is of myself.

Hold on...

But Sinclair is me...

I... okay... should I be listening to her? She is my future self, a more mature version of me... I will be going against my words if I don't listen to her.

But then again, I am a hypocrite...

"Hah... am I always this complicated?", I feel frustrated, not knowing what to do. Why am I so worked up over what she said in the first place?!

And that future... a world of corpses... I don't like that at all. Urgh! I can still smell the putrid air of that place!!

I hate it...

My eyes stare at the case... what Sinclair left behind. Quirinus... her sense of humor is crude but funny at the same time, to me at least.

Irony is also my sense of humor. Like how I dominated and manipulated Hoa, even though she was a domineering cult leader. Or how I defeated Mitsuki the first time through psychological warfare, the one thing she should be the best at in her line of work.

Heha~

I open the case, taking out the silver lance. The tendrils of the lance's body extended out, coiling around my hand... stopping at my forearm.

This thing is cool... 

Originally, this was Rhongomyniad, the Lance of Destiny. A weapon once used by Prince Arthur Pendragon, and it's ability is...

Conjuring up storms.

Storm, in myth, Romulus was taken by a mysterious storm that swept him away. No, in my version of the story, he just went away and became a shut-in, making Artificial Gods for World Domination. Though he did get out of his cave one time, calling himself Quirinus for some reason.

It was like... his edgy phase? Then it would be a humiliation to be killed by something reminding him of his edgy era.

Damn, Sinclair is brutal.

Oh? What is this?

I found a letter under the pads of the case, written in red ink. She's very consistent with her color scheme, isn't she?

 

[Dear Charlotte Silvi,

Hello and Goodbye, Guardian of Humanity. Though that is the title given by Theia, you don't need to take on that responsibility.

Your life is yours to live, nobody places expectations on you and nobody should. It is the nature of humanity to break free of their chains after all.

This weapon we give you is something required to break free of our one and only weakness. You will need it more than you think. And it took a lot of effort to get it out of the Earth's Core, so spam it.

You don't need to know who I am, but I am certain you have already found out. Let's just keep that to yourself, okay? Your greatest trait is your perception, so don't let it ruin your fun, okay?

Be careful around the Principal. Killing him is easy, but he has a lot of protection, like wearing four condoms at the same time. And don't worry about the content of this letter being leaked, only you can hold this (spoiler: it overdoses people and kills them)

I don't know if this was the point Issac said this to you, but just in case, I'll say it for you.

"Fight for all that's beautiful in the world."

Even if you only see yourself as beautiful, you should fight anyway because it's all the things around you make you beautiful.

We may see each other again, Charlotte. So let's look forward to that day.

That's all I have to say.

Sincerely,

Sinclair.]

So I have two targets... Romulus and John Titor. And that message, "Fight for all that's beautiful in the world"... I don't know what to make of it.

Like what the letter said, I only see myself as "beautiful" in this world... but others make me beautiful...?

...I can't really deny that logic.

But... who is Theia? Reverie?

Have you ever heard of the two Earths theory? The current Earth is made of two planets, the bigger one called Earth and the smaller one called Theia. Theia smashed into Earth in both of their infancy~ creating the current Earth! The remnants of Theia became the moon~

Or~ the Titaness of Vision, Theia, who by all accounts~ is still alive somewhere~! Though she went by a different name, Euryphaessa, after the whole Titanomachy thing!

"So who do you guys think Sinclair is referring to?"

Planet

Planet

Planet

Planet

"I think so too."

Why would the Titaness call me the Guardian of Humanity? When I eventually get to Greece... I will personally find and ask her just for the sake of confirmation. But the planet huh...

"How can I meet face to face with the planet itself?", I can't just stare at the ground and something will pop out.

 

=0=0=

 

Sinclair stares at the ground while eating soup, with dead bodies of the homeless and volunteered helpers around her.

Though she was not in Mu, but India instead.

"This soup is quite good considering it's free.", she commented while biting on a carrot chunk, "You can come right about now, Kalpas."

The creature made of earth and gem reveals itself, standing over ten meters tall on all four. A lumbering giant was not too different from the Behemoth told in Biblical tales. Its amber flames for eyes stare down at Sinclair as she just smiles.

"No, I don't want to meet a Puppet.", she shook her head, "I want the real Kalpas."

With a snap of her finger, the giant went up in golden flame. Sinclair kept on eating her meal while watching the giant crumble.

"It took a lot of time for me to make that.", a gruff voice came from behind her.

"Sorry~", Sinclair chuckled, "Hello, Kalpas."

She turned around to look at the humanoid made of earth and gem, dawning a coat of pure fire. And wearing a mask with the symbol of a wheel with eight spokes, the Wheel of Samsara. They were Kalpas, the Records of Nature.

Sinclair squinted, "Can you turn the brightness down a bit? It's too bright for me."

"Why should I do that?", they questioned, not moving at all.

"Because I have something to offer to you. I assure you, you will like it~", she gave the Records of Nature a wink, "So just turn down the brightness to that of, like, a small fire?"

Kalpas did not reply, but they did turn down the brightness.

"Thanks.", Sinclair smiled, "Well, I have something that can help you fight against the biggest obsticale~"

A golden fire burns in her hand, and a map forms as the flame dies down.

"This is the location of the corpse of a previous Shar... Enkidu, The Shackles of Divinity.", she threw the map over to Kalpas, who took it and burned the location into their mind.

"What will you get out of this?", they questioned again, and with no emotion.

"I just don't want Chaos to win. If it means sabotaging everyone else for its defeat, then it is all worth it. Though..."

A wicked smile appear on her face, shuddering even the Records of Nature.

"I want to fuck over this game as much as I want to.", she then stares up to the sky, "You hear me, Ego of Earth?"