I once again re-considered my life choices, you know, just picking a fight with a group of strangers wasn't really a.., you know GOOD life choice, but I guess you live with the decisions you make

  I casually dodged another lunge and leapt back, sadly these guys had extremely perceptive senses “tsk, this isn't going well” I thought, deflecting another strike as I dropped down to the floor, avoiding a shrapnel coming directly for My face

  My assailant, seeing my proximity tried to create distance between us but a quick sweep from my leg disrupted his balance, knocking him onto the floor

  Sadly, by doing this,my cover was down, my position was directly revealed and my cover I the form of my opponent was down, I dashed away from the spot, barely dodging a hail of bullets pelleting the area I was at

  I dashed across the clearing, trying to keep my footsteps as silent as possible, a futile effort as gunfire followed my every movement

  ”who even uses bullets these days?” I thought as I leapt behind a pillar “fuck it's already been a minute” I had tried my best to move the battle away from her body, so it was preserved……….mostly

  “I could run away,but retrieving her while also escaping was another matter entirely, those god-damned bastards are like dogs!” Taking a few deep breaths,I peeked out of my hiding place

  They had already somehow started advancing towards my location “ hmm how can I get these people out of my hair, lure them?..no that won't work hmmmmm maybe I could trap them?”

  “Uh link, can you scan this area and retrieve any information about this kind of layout?” It was quite obvious that this place was once a city, if I was correct then..

  “Based on mapping clues, it has been determined that this is an early civilization ruin dating back to ancient Rome, no other results have been found, :connect to the network to receive more accurate results”

  “Looks like history came in clutch, boys and girls! Remember to go to school, who knows it night help when you're stuck in some random ruin

  “Why do they teach about Rome in school? I don't know, I personally believe it's propaganda to keep up stupid but, oh well” I said as I made my way through the ruins, the white robes, hot on my heels

  “Central area…fountain..baths? Which one was it again” I whispered as the air whizzed pass me

  Suddenly a clearing snuck into my vision, pillars were arranged in a circle, holding something that wasn't there anymore Central areas

  A light bulb lot in my head and I subtly changed my direction to head to the clearing, after a few seconds, I burst into the clearing” eight pillars….. little bit sunken hmm that'll do” I said, panting a little

  But that was going to be all the rest I was going get for a while

  Under the effect of a certain premonition I skillfully moved away from where I was a moment ago, only to see a literal cannon ball lance through were I was, impacting the closest pillar, leaving deep cracks in its surface

  “They have cannons now?” I exclaimed, looking towards their direction, their de-facto leader, the man with stripes had his hand pointed towards my former direction, but instead of a hand, there was just a smoking barrel

  The white robes, seemingly motivated by some unseen force, split up, trying to directly surround me

  “How do they know where I am, sound?” I thought staying as silly as I possibly could, it seemed to fool them for a while, until the leader eyes met mine, causing all the robed ones to turn towards my direction

  “A local link?” I thought as I dashed out of my position, multiple thoughts spinning through my head

  “This just got a lot easier, I only need to bury that guy!” I thought immediately turning my attention towards him, I dashed towards him quickly,the others seemingly understanding my intentions immediately dashed towards their superior, but I was already at his front, preparing a punch to his face, on thing I definitely didn't foresee was a cannon arm swinging with them intent to bash my skull

  I hastily dodged the swing, but in the process losing my balance a mistake which my opponent punished with a kick to my knee, completely destabilizing me,but before I fell, my hands grabbed at his collar pulling him to the ground with me, at this point the others has already gotten close

  “Good good” I whispered, the leaders eyes widened upon hearing my words, sending a message through whatever communication channel they had, I was already to late though

  I raised my leg, stomping on ground right beside the leaders head- a weak point

  Cracks slowly spread from that point, with all the defects made overtime in the structure,the whole thing came crashing down

  I dragged myself out of the rubble and flopped onto the floor “ haaa how long left?”i asked my link “1:11” it answered curtly

  “ Well no rest for the wicked” I said getting up and sprinting towards the direction I came from, not long after, I reached the first clearing and trudged towards the girls body

  “Link?”

  “Biomass not available for reconstruction, preserve functions?, time until complete death 0:33”

  “Yeah do that” I said while placing my hand on her cold face “ bot transferring in progress”

  I felt a slow pulling motion from the tip of my hand into the body “ transfer complete, preservation in progress……..complete, time until complete death 15:36:23”

  I lay back onto the ground, exhaustion crashing onto me like a tidal wave, “ fuck I'm never doing that again” I whispered to myself

  ______________

  I was floating in a white void, everything was floating, it was almost like I was I was weightless “ wait you're just repeating yourself” I thought, my conscious thoughts echoing in this empty space, I reluctantly got up, surveying my surroundings “huh” i said staring blankly into space , “this feels like a nightmare” I said while flipping back down, too lazy to get up

  I stared up?, down?, sideways? It didn't really matter in the end everything was the same “hmm it's not that bad” I said “it's kind peaceful” a little humm escaped my lips ahhhhhhh everything was nice

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  Until one little point started glowing a little too brightly, I tossed and turned, trying to escape it, but it seemed to follow me no matter where I went

  In a fit of rage I leapt at it “ fuck off!” I shouted

  But the dream melted away like butter, sliding off my awareness, I sat straight on the couch on my living room,my hand stretched out posing as if to grab something, a familiar figure was point a flash into my eyes “ get that shit away from me” I said instinctively, before reality caught up to me, memories of the desperate escape and my eventual death flashed through my head

  Bile rose up in my throat,my chest(which had been previously blown up, might I add) constricted and I started hyper ventilating, after a few seconds of holding it in, it because too much for me to hold in as I bent down and let all the contents of my stomach, empty themselves, well except from the stomach itself, although it felt like that would follow anytime soon

  I weakly lay down back onto the couch, at this point my eyes had adjusted to the lighting conditions and I was able to clearly see the figure, “of course it was him” I said bitterly in my head, it was that annoying upper dweller “what….the fuck….do you…want” I asked with great difficulty, “ actually I just wanna ask some questions, but hey rest you're probably gonna need it” he said as my weary eyes closed to dream once again

  _______________

  My heartbeat thrummed in my ears, out of righteous anger or Andrea I knew not which one, but what I knew was that we had been outdone “he has outsmarted us” my voice reverberated under the rubble

  The darkness and the weight of the rubble created a suffocating presence slowly draining the the pristine air out of my lungs and filling it with the stale air of this place

  But if that deceiver thought this would take me to the warm embrace of he who created us all, he was mighty underestimating my piety, a warm feeling spread along the veins of my body, as the blessings of God grafted unto my mortal coil awoke within me, the darkness fled as all obstructions became clear in my sight

  With this power in me, I hefted the rubble off my body creating a cloud of dust that would have confused a normal mortal, but I was not like them, I was blessed by God

  I sent a sweeping glance around myself, the obstruction of the walls immediately undone, showing my disciples trapped within the rubble but largely unharmed

  Slowly but surely I removed each of my disciples from the rubble

  After a quick roll call, confirming the survival of everyone,I nodded to one of my students he nodded back, dragging a cylindrical metal object out of the rubble,not a single scratch from it “not even the machinations of a deceiver can harm a treasure from God, nay no weapon fashioned against believers shall prosper” I sneered as I placed my palm on the smooth surface of the cylinder, as soon as I did so I felt the trickle of another mind reaching into mine

  “Alexander why have you contacted me” the voice of the priestess whispered into my mind, toying with it with ease, although she was one of the youngest priestesses to ascend, she was the closest to God yet

  “My lady, I and my team have managed to track down and eliminate the anomaly, but we were ambushed by someone-” soon enough I had fully described all the details of what had transpired to her, after a long period of silence she asked “how did he look again?”

  “ I……I can't remember” for some reason his features kept slipping from my mind as I tried again and again to remember it “return to base” she said suddenly “yes milady” I answered solemnly, the gentle touch of the priestess slowly receded from my head

  The deceiver had tainted me

  _______________

  I once again stared at the tablet in my hands, swiping on it absentmindedly, after a few moments of precious silence, I turned my gaze towards the female lying on the nearby couch “ I haven't even asked her for her name” I said in a low murmur “ from her point of view I might as well be bad luck incarnate” I said chuckling a little bit “ild make sure to apologize later” I whispered once again

  “Fine fine fine i'll do it!” I shouted to no one in particular

  I grudgingly unlocked the tablet, the familiar wallpaper, glaring at me like an addict would a pack of cigarettes

  The layout of the apps and add-ons for my link were there,just as I had remembered,a sinking feeling travelled through my guts at the familiarity of it all, i was no stranger occurrences whereby I had taken a few actions I wasn't aware of "almost like dream walking, but then thousand times worse" I said chuckling, this time was different, this time almost everything was the same the only differences were the videos and the notes taken

  I barely had any videos and notes on this tablet as my link had more than enough storage to store them “ here goes nothing!” I said with a little bit of trepidation as I tapped on a video Icon

  As the video opened in the view port, I tried concentrating on the video but every time I looked at it, I only saw darkness even that darkness felt like it was…rejecting me?

  As I tried harder and harder to somehow pierce the darkness, my head began to ring, nausea hit me like a truck, sending me down on my knees

  My stomach cramped for whatever reason, I lay there on the floor for what felt like hours until the aches finally subsided, haggard and beaten, I rested my back on the wall, my thoughts swirling but not able to stick at any given point

  “Ahhh fuck what did you get yourself into you crazy bastard” I whispered into the air, I stayed like that for a while, the only sounds were the rising and falling of the females chest and my heavy breaths

  After a few good moments, the tempo of her breath changed, becoming more active in a sense, and soon enough her eye lashes fluttered open, first there was confusion in her eyes, then realization, then acceptance

  “What's your name” I suddenly asked her

  After a moment pause she answered “Lisa” indignantly

  “Hmm good” I droned back,before raising the tablet in my hands “where did you-no how did you find this?” I asked her again

  This time she furrowed her eyes, asking me “why should I answer you?” I sighed leaning on the wall once again “ I saved your life you know?” i said genuinely tired, the whole absurdity of situation crashing unto me “ dying and coming back really messes with your hormones and cognitive functions but come on, I warned you of your pursuers and even after you literally died I helped fight your pursuers and bring you back to life, come onnn” I said to her, a little bit miffled at her behavior

  She stared at me for a good few seconds before sighing and saying to me “ thank you for what you have done for me, but you cannot expect me to trust you all of a sudden, from my point of view, it appears to mess though you appeared and fucked up my life”

  I sighed once again and said to her “fine” silence filling the room once again “I found it at the edge zone of section A” She suddenly said

  “which floor is that from?” I asked her “secon- wait so you really aren't from around here are you?” she asked

  “ Do I look like I'm from around here?” I asked her sarcasm dripping in my voice “and thank you for the information” I added

  She frowned at my first remark and then asked “ you're heading for the second floor?” I stared at her for a few seconds before throwing a question back at her “ where does it look like I'm going to?”

  “You're going to need a pass to head over to each consecutive floor” she added, once again ignoring my remark “don't worry about that I'll deal with it- also” I said fumbling with my tablet,”can you see this?” I asked while pointing the tablet towards her the video playin on it“ yeah that's just jkegkkuuskdurrurlrurkeoehee” immediately she said it, an intense migraine hit me once again “it's alright you can stop now” I said groaning in pain, she seemed a little bit confused but agreed nonetheless

  I slowly forced my limbs of the ground, shaking the nausea out of my head……. hopefully and headed towards the door, the tablet clutched in my hands “oh yeah” I said pausing near the door frame “during the whole……treatment stuffs, I decided to fix? Most of what was wrong in your body..soo yayyyy!?, also used most of your biomass” I said as I walked out of the door,the lat part obviously spoken under my breath, she raised her eyebrows in surprise probably not understanding the gravity of what I had done

  “the entrances into higher floors are at the pillars” she said, walking into the room, I nodded at her general direction, thanking her for the advise and set off

  “ughhhh this whole shyte is annoying, I wanna to go home!!” I grumbled muttering little curses is a made my way out of the ruins, wondering all the way, why an ancient civilization ruin was in a structure such as this

  _________________

  I stared at the retreating figure for a while, before turning away and heading into my basement, the screens and the systems seemed to be the same as I left, I sat on my chair with a a groan, reaching into my food stash

  Only to find it empty, a surge of indignant anger rose up within me and was immediately squashed by my bone deep weariness

  “ Uhh life really doesn't care about you does it?” I whispered as I once again prepared to scavange once again “who knows I might even meet that guy” I said as I walked right out of the door

  But instead of my usual scenery there was a long road that stretched into the horizon instead, I turned my back, hoping to meet my house there like normal, but the only thing that greeted me was a road

  The annoyance and anger bottled up within me broke like a dam as a screamed at the top of my lungs “FUUUUUUUCCCCCCCKKKKKKKK!”