[i]“…Would he happen to be from your planet?”[/i]

There wasn’t a look of surprise written on Elysia’s face as she looked at the man. The amusement she carried or even anger wasn’t even present. There was nothing but a blank expression on her face. Her teachers from years past would have been proud of her at that moment who spent countless amount of time trying to reign in her emotions to an acceptable range to be able to graduate training. The expressionless void she wore now on her face would have surprised any wish or goals they had for her. 
However it wasn’t the self-control she held that allowed her to be the way she currently was, she didn’t have that much self-control even if every ounce of it was squeezed out of her from her whole adult life. She had no idea what she was supposed to do. Something was seriously wrong. A prank would never go this far and if something was malfunctioning, they would have done a release to take her out of the program.

There was no way for this simulation to be salvaged. If those observing her simulation won’t release her, she had no choice but to do it for herself. There was no way the man knew who she was much less the government. Elysia wasn’t sure how things slipped up and went this far to cause this problem but just the same way she came here, she would leave too. 

There wasn’t a physical means to leave the simulation. They did so in the past which allowed far too many people to leave too early too quickly instead of letting them fulfil what they were required to do. There were only three ways for her to leave. The first one, which from what she has seen so far wasn’t an option for her, was to accomplish the mission that was set out for her. Failure, either by death or a simulation gone so horribly wrong that it couldn’t be salvaged was the second. The later one was faulty for some reason unknown to her while the first one was never a choice she would take purposely unless for a heroic reason. She was too prideful to end the simulation by ending her life, even during one of the tests during her first week of training to become a warrior when the students were forced to go through the simulation for seven hours while facing their worst fears for what felt like a week inside the simulation which overtime was easily dubbed as ‘death week’ since so many students decided to take the easy route out of the simulation only to later learn that they would be sent back in and would have to start the seven hours again. Elysia might be overly rash and hot-tempered but she wasn’t a coward and was the first person done with the simulation, not having to repeat the process.

No, she wouldn’t soil her reputation in the simulation by taking that route but that left her with one more option. Meditation or sleep. Sleep of course was out of the question but mediation might work. Although emotions were expressed in a similar way as those on Earth, it wasn’t a fluid change between emotions seen in most humans. Instead, if not under control it would be a force that could quickly switch from pure euphoria to extreme rage in a moment. Knowing that the unpredictable sudden changes in emotions could be problematic in a society aiming for perfection, meditation was an important, if not a mandatory part of each Ryton’s life to keep peace in the community. Luckily just as how chaotically quick emotions can be altered, turning off such emotions was something that was just a quick flip of a switch away for Elysia. Granted, keeping herself in check was a completely different story.

Taking a deep breath in, Elysia closed her eyes and as her mind emptied with the same void that was written on her face she breathed out. 

Nothing was happening.

Taking another breath in and out. Elysia kept her mind steady on her breathing. By now there should have been a slight hum of the simulation machine reassuring her that she was freed from the false reality but yet again there was nothing besides the man’s voice droning on. She could feel herself edge away from her calmness as the voice continued, bit by bit chipping away her focus. She wanted to scream at him to shut up. She was tired of that man and his alien theories. She needed to find out what was happening and why she was here in the first place. 

[i]“I need to know how the hell you got here and why you’re here in the first place…”[/i]

Her eyes shot open as looked at the man, the same steady gaze written on her face. She knew how she got here, that is at least she thought she knew. However the more she thought about it, the more she knew she couldn’t remember the face of who was running the program much less anything else that happened to her prior to that point. Was she even in the simulation?

[i]Come on Elysia, think. What is the last thing you can remember prior to this point? 
Let’s see I met Gilgamesh, check.
There was the children, check. 
Walking down the street in the city, check.
But what happened before that?[/i]

“The fall.” Elysia whispered as she remembered the sound of glass shattering seconds after Skylar started to recite poetry the last time she saw her. She couldn’t remember falling out of the building but that had to be what happened as she remembered seeing the ground outside quickly approaching her before being swallowed up. What exactly she was swallowed up by, she couldn’t remember. Was it the ground? Herself losing consciousness? Maybe it was even Skylar’s doing before she reached impact. 

Whatever happened, she knew she had no idea what exactly happened after seeing the ground approaching. Was she dead? Maybe she was in a comma? Could Skylar induce a comma and control the visions she saw inside? That seemed impossible but she learned that ruling out the impossible wasn’t always the wisest when dealing with poets. What if the man was true and she was at Earth. Was Skylar strong enough to banish her to another world? It would explain why she wasn’t able to reach the database with her enhancement. As thoughts, questions and possible theories swarmed her mind there was one concrete thought that she knew had to be true. 

“Skylar.” Elysia said with venom in her voice as she slammed her balled hand down onto the armrest which followed by a thud. Using her true hand, she was able to feel a slight throb come from her hand once it made contact with the hard plastic. Death, Comma or Skylar’s doing, she knew she had no choice but to go along with the man unless she wanted to act alone.

“It has to be him, there is no other way I can think about how I got here. I cannot answer how I got here since for some reason I too don’t know that answer but if we can find Skylar, I know that he will know and I will make sure to get it out of him this time. Believe me or not but that is the truth.”