The voice of a stranger snapped me back to reality from a trip to the stars in the night sky. I jumped behind the lone tree, hiding away from the sight of my potential intruder.
"Who are you?" The voice boomed again, its source unknown—but seemingly felt like it was within me.
I shut my mouth taut, not wanting to reveal my place. Who is this? How did he follow me? I thought to myself.
"Okay then, you're returning the question to me." The stranger said. "I'm Qirk. Qirk Orian."
Qirk? His name sounded weird, and definitely did not ring a bell. Is this a friend of Levy?
"What do you mean by weird?" He said, voice raising. "This is a perfectly normal name here in Reves!"
How did he know about my comment? My eyes widened in fear and confusion as I slowly backed away from the tree to try to jump on this mind-reader, and completely shutting my thoughts off.
"Okay, it may have seemed like I can talk to you, telepathically," Qirk said. "And I somehow can see what you are seeing. You are hiding behind a tree here on the top of the mountain."
"Who are you?" I screamed at the void, my voice echoing in the night breeze, prompting the birds from the trees below to squawk and fly away. "How are you doing this?"
Qirk let out a tired sigh. "I already told you, I'm Qirk," he said. "And I'm as clueless as you. All I know is that there is something tugging me to reach the Ranges."
The tugging feeling. The same one I felt that prompted me to climb the mountains. "I felt that too. That's why I'm here in the mountain," I managed to reply, slowly setting myself in a sitting position, my back laid to the upright tree.
"Huh," Qirk said. "Hey, where are you at? The place you at is very strange."
The question caught me off-guard. "Why do you want to know? Are you working for the Institute?" I tried to scream at the top of my head to reply.
"Wha—what?" Qirk replied, seemingly confused. "What institute?"
"Don't play dumb on me, Executioner!" I replied, fuming with anger. "I know you're tracking me. How long have you been in my head?"
"Hold on," Qirk replied, trying to calm me. "I am not what you are implying me to be. And I am not tracking you, nor do I have plans to. The first vision I had was you staring at the forest and those blown-up infrastructures. Plus, I don't even know who you are.
"Prove me you are not what part of the Institution," I managed to say, shivering from the cold as my bare skin was only protected by the thin fabric of the worn military fatigues.
"How can I do that?"
"Let me do the talking."
"Okay then."
I searched through my mind as it tried to conjure up questions. There were tons of things I could ask him, but where would I start? "Uhm," I tried to speak but my voice failing me. "Where are you right now? What are your affiliations? Whe—"
"Woah there," he cut in. "One at a time please. I'm the Ranges, on the outskirts of the Reves, beyond the Fence. I am affiliated with the Revenants."
"Are you joking?" I replied. "What are those made-up words?"
"What?" He replied, voice annoyed. "You don't know anything I told you?"
How could I believe this person if he can't even give me a correct answer? I sighed at the thought. I might just sleep but how could I? He's literally in my head. He's just gonna keep on bugging me.
"None."
Then, the world grew silent—only broken by the faint whoosh of the cold night's kiss and the rustling of the lone tree. Sleep slowly crept towards me as peace was here.
"How about this," he managed to reply after a few seconds of silence, slapping me awake. "You look up."
Sleepiness was still present, and I'm too tired to argue, and so, I complied. My head slowly tilted upwards, my gaze falling to the dark sky, dotted by the stars and the crescent moon.
"Where is the other one?" Qirk replied.
"Where is what?" I replied.
"The other moon."
"What do you mean?" I managed to say, sleepiness fading away as his answer shook me awake. "We only had one."
"That can't be," he said in shock. "There are two. Phobos and Deimos. I can literally see two of them up here."
"You're delusional. There is only one moon: Luna."
"Luna?"
He then said "oh my gosh" frequent of times that I lost count. I don't even know what he is making a fuss about. I pity this delusional man.
"You're in Earth?" He managed to say after finding the words to his ideas forming.
"Uhmm, yes?" I said. "Aren't you too?"
"No!" He said. "I'm in Mars. I'm a Mad Mad. The Mad Men of Mars."
Mars? The Mad Man? The very same thing Levy said before our episode of laughter that rendered the Executioners to find us. "Do you know Levy?"
"Levy? You mean Leviathan, right?"
"Yes!" I exclaimed, as I remembered his pendant with the word Leviathan etched on it.
"Yeah I know him."
"You do?"
"Yeah, he was exiled from Mars after discovering that an alien was living inside him."
"What do you mean by alien?" I stood up as the new information about Levy had shocked me.
"Yeah, there was an alien inside him that they cannot take out. I'm not quite sure of the details because it was just briefly discussed to us last year in History Class."
This time, I was the one who kept on saying "oh my gosh". Levy was really from Mars, and he brought an alien to Earth.
The dark sky was immediately painted with a a hellish hue of red as a large explosion thudded on the far side—prompting the formation of a huge mushroom cloud. My ear rang a bit—similar to losing the connection when using a telephone.
"Qirk?"
No reply.
"QIRK!"
Still no reply.
I got on to my feet as the strong gust of wind after the impact is on its way to the mountains. The surrounding forest had its leaves singed, and some completely burned.
I ran on long strides as I neared to the other end of the mountain, but I was too late. The strong, hot wind caught me and I was pushed down the cliff.
My body froze as I continued to free fall from the top of the mountain. But there was no fear. No pain. It was just peace—just like when I jumped through the window in the Institute. I felt free again, like the birds in the forest that continued to tweet their little song.
I don't know if I'll survive this fall because this time, there was no Levy, and no power to rely on. I'm all alone.
I lived alone, and I will die alone.