TokyoPewPew
DWGJay
Infinite Cosmos
HylianRose
Mole
Tlazolteotl
Stryder BC
MaeB
Bork
Neziul
Despite being the person to initiate the discussion of “what happened”, Kimberly did not speak for a majority of said discussion. He did, at one point, attempt to comfort Olivia with a friendly gesture of placing his hand on her shoulder ---letting the warmth of the healing plants sink in, although they still could not heal things that were not physical, he hoped their warmth provided some solace---, but that was the extent of his activeness. He should have stayed focused on the conversation at hand, but in the corner of his eye, Kimberly could see that his roommate was doing something. A quick glimpse informed the giant that Ghost was staring intently into a familiar looking retro television.
What are you doing?
“Catching up on what I missed out on.”
You’re looking into my memory.
“Yep.”
What do you think?
“Well, I think many things. For example, man, everyone has a fantastic ass. Lena looks gorgeous. I hope there’s civilization near by, because I don’t think we want to sleepover out here tonight.”
You know what I mean.
Kimberly watched an old TV gracefully slide its way into his visual field and stop at a 60-degree angle from where the giant was facing. Ghost followed the TV and sat on top of it, facing Kimberly, while Kimberly himself continued to face straight ahead. “If this is Samil. This cannot be him alone in that body.”
Spirits?
“Whatever that is capable of changing him into this.” Ghost pointed at the TV’s monitor between his legs, which projected the creature Samuel transformed into. “If it was spirits, then Samil is one strong Aggressor. That or those are some really powerful spirits, but I thought I felt something… I don’t know… something more concentrated in power. Not just a bunch of spirits… but… something.”
”Something” is kind of a broad term, don’t you think?
“Well if I knew what it was, I’d say it. Either way Samil gained a lot of power while he was not-actually-dead.”
The TV below Ghost started to play out the entire reunion with Samuel from the start.
“You hear how he talks?”
Again, you’ll have to be more specific.
“How he says certain things. Like right here.”
“I’m not who you remember me to be, Andy. One day, you will recognize me for who I really am, just as you will all our friends over there, but that is not today.” Samuel on the TV said. The “film” fast-forwarded. “I realize that you can’t remember who you are, who I am, and that I can’t force you to — it saddens me — but if you or any of your beloved friends here stand between me and our freedom, I can’t help or prevent the fate that you have chosen before you.” Then again. “This is not the end, my dear.” Then once more. “You think you know so much, my dear Olivia, yet you know nothing.”
Sam… first says “our friends” then suddenly changes it to “your beloved friends”.
“At first we know it was Samil, or someone posing as Samil, the possibilities are limitless, but let's just say it's Samil for now. So unless he never considered any of you his friends this whole time, my guess is that at some point during the conversation, this… other… thing took over.”
Sounds… oddly familiar.
“Not to mention how he referred to Vi as ‘my dear’.”
What’s wrong with that?
“Since when did he ever call Vi ‘my dear’? Wasn’t it Vi who had the crush on Samil? They never went out, right?”
It might just be the equivalent of Maw-maw calling a random child on the street “sweetie”: it could mean nothing.
“Or it might mean more than you think. I mean, come on! If anything, that’s all this man’s been harping about!”
Okay, seriously? What are you talking about?
“Reincarnation!”
As if to back up Ghost’s wild theory, the TV rewound the film and began playing the scene again. “All of what you see here is just a repetition, a replica of what has happened before. There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of copies of you and me, all of us, that vanish whenever he wishes it.” The film skipped ahead. “We are all slaves to a faulty ruler. Whenever anyone or anything attempts to topple him, the universe and all realities therein reset and begin anew. It’s an endless repetition and many have to suffer for it, including you and me, even if you’re not aware of it.”
“Unless Daemon is talking about alternate dimensions or parallel worlds, I think he’s talking about reincarnation. ‘My dear’, might not be what Samil called Vi in this life, but maybe it’s what he called her in another!”
That’s… kind of a big leap.
“Maybe, but you can’t deny that Samil thinks that the reincarnation thing is true. Even if it sounds crazy, he believes it. And it’s what’s compelling him to do… whatever it is he is doing now… to stop the endless cycle. To defeat this ‘ruler’; the ‘father’.”
And who’s that supposed to be?
“Someone or something that Daemon believes is the all mighty last boss.” Ghost paused in thought, “although… That’s kind of weird too. Daemon said that the kamis went extinct. So unless he doesn’t know what the word extinct means… why would he need… an artifact that allows kamis to hurt other kamis? There’s no kami left in the world to hurt.”
Maybe this “father” is not a kami, but someone that possess the same amount of power as one?
“Possibly.”
And, actually… back up a second. Let’s just say that your reincarnation theory is actually right. Why is there this… dissociative identity disorder happening? If Sam was a reincarnation of someone and that… someone is in Sam, making him say “my dear” to Olive and calling us “your friends”… then why do they have two different identities? I’m not sure if you can call that reincarnation.
Ghost shrugged, “I dunno.”
You’re terrible at this.
“Hey. You asked what I thought and I gave you my theory.” Ghost sighed for a moment, “if I were to guess, I bet whatever it is… if there is another thing inside of Samil… it might be the reason why he is doing all of this.”
Kimberly mentally sighed as well. In the end, it’s all speculation. We don’t have enough information on… on anything, really. We… we know nothing.
The two said nothing for a while, before Ghost spoke again, sticking three fingers up, “we---… you guys have basically three choices. One. Go search for the missing guys and decide on this matter then. Two. You head back to Oakridge or Norton City. From there, you can decide whether or not to talk to your superiors about this and maybe something will happen. But I personally think they’ll just think you’re all crazy and send you off to your next assignment. So you better be careful who you talk to. Three. Don’t do any of the first two and just focus on tracking down Samil. In which case, you better find someone or someplace that has extensive knowledge on the shenanigans that Daemon was ranting about before you try to search for him.”
I… we can’t just leave the others! What if they need our help?
“I’ll have to vote against that. They could have been teleported, literally, anywhere in the world. What makes you think a group of people can find them on their own? If I were you, I’d inform an organization or group with international connections to keep an eye out for them. If they’re alive and well, I’m sure they’ll pop up somewhere. With WARG missing, I’m pretty sure Oakridge will send out a search party regardless. You are their tools of mass destruction. They’d hate to misplace you guys.”
But what if they aren’t well? They might need our help.
“Again, there’s not much you can do. By the time you miraculously find them, they’d probably be dead and not well at all.”
Kimberly bit on his bottom lip.
“Just… talk with the group and decide what to do next. It’s not like I got a say in this anyways.”
It was difficult to say whether the group made a decision concerning Samuel, but it was agreed upon that they needed to move out of the ruins. Sometime later, it became painfully obvious that they were somewhere deep in Anatolia. The cold made some of the animals spirits request that Kimberly hibernate until spring came. As much as he wanted to agree, it was already June. If there was going to be a blizzard in June, then spring was not going to make this place any warmer.
Kimberly shivered, wishing that the Caudata hadn’t destroyed his armor. The only thing that was protecting him from the cold was his uniform and his beard. He desperately wanted some warmth.
“Remember that suggestion you made to Vi some time ago? You know, about carrying her? Why don’t you just have everyone hang on you to make a crude… human coat. It’ll totally be fashion forward. Or even better, hug Lena. Maybe her dragon touch can keep us warm.... or possibly burn you into a crisp, but at least you won't freeze to death.”
Aaron’s fire might work just as well. Kimberly quickly regretted mentioning Aaron.
It took a moment for Ghost to respond, as Kimberly expected, but when he did finally speak, his voice still kept the playful tone. “But that’s not half as hot as Lena.” Ghost grinned, “haha! See what I did there?”
Please stop talking.
Meeting Elizabeth was one of, if not THE one good thing that happened to them during their journey through the Anatolian wilderness. It would have been too good to be true if they managed to reach civilization without the xenomorphs attacking them on the way.
“You think you can fight without your armor?”
Kimberly silently surveyed the area. There were too many Blobs to simply ignore. I doubt I have much of a choice. The giant was prepared to fight bare fist, when the spirits inside him stopped him. Confused by the interruption, he halted. What’s wrong? He listened to them and became even more confused. I can do what now? Kimberly and Ghost exchanged looks.
Ghost shrugged, “I guess it’s something new you can do now thanks to that tree. They seem pretty confident about. Why not try it out?”
Hesitantly, Kimberly agreed.
When the excruciating pain came next, he suddenly regretted his decision.
