Long ago, in the past..
"Our beloved home and country, Riverton, was built right off the coast of the US after ANZEN was founded by its CEO: Callum Riverton, with the intention of securing the American people's total and complete safety and security. For years at a time, the Governments of the world had been studying this island's odd activity, sending ships and ships after it, however, none of them came back. That was when Mr. Riverton himself had come before Congress and the Supreme Court to suggest a collective expedition on his own, to uncover the secrets of what would later be known as Riverton! The rest is history! Riverton City has become the first hybrid island ever known to man, inhabiting a desert, a forest, while also having dependable electricity to power our city. We owe it all- to Callum Riverton!" Recording the legacy of Riverton's past, the female's hologram faded to pieces of blue, the projection she displayed returning the same way.
As the crowd of children turned away to look for more artifacts on their home's creation, they were led by a random woman. Likely their liaison for the time being, the teachers and parents followed suit tending to their children whilst feeding into the discussion at hand. Yet, there remained one left, staring at the screen right before it faded away, a bit of gruff painting over his chin; he rubbed at the fuzz… the look in his eyes, it lit a spark that which was known to those before in the World he was from: as Dark Determination.
Alexander Amara, under whatever circumstances possible, for the sake of his fallen friends lost in the seas of dead time, would uncover the truth!
In the present, below the False Aquarium where the water beneath was but a scrap of the endless sea, a fragment of liquid like a needle lost in a haystack, those feeble sticks traveled to the depths together- forever flailing their feet behind them, Alex led his pupils in the charge. June with her hand on her brother's shoulder as she swam below, Kima in front of Katie and Katie behind her, all four of them were true successors to their parents' legacies; just form the looks over their faces, that glare in the center of the quartet's collective eyesight… Alex could tell- this mission would come into fruition.
The deeper they swam the further they delved between the crack between the parallel worlds slid into the splice in space and time. The pressure sinking into their bones, they felt their insides side around in their innards, it was an odd experience, not a painful one by any means, though odd, somewhat disturbing, considering that they could hear their insides sloshing around. Covering her mouth about to puke from the recognition she established with her organs, Ace held his sister closer, covering her ears while swimming downward,
~Old man, how long til we get to where we're goin' already?~ Questioned the Ginger curiously of their collective instructor, Katie looked worriedly above her as the siblings held onto one another in worry…
~You needn't worry… for we're already here~ Alex's revelation was accompanied by a singular THOOM discharging from an invisible consciousness affecting the teenagers altogether.
Holding their heads, closing their eyes, Alex's eyelids slid right over his whitened pupils covering the brightened shade of his orbs of sight. A barrier between two worlds is usually just that, invisible and unseen, unable to be crossed into, however… there was something about a specific presence. Near the front, the source had bounced off that psychic connection to every single one of his pupils, leading them, too, to be connected to this new world they had now entered. At the moment right now as they were guided below and the fog of the water cleared, their destination was revealed, all widening their eyes in shock… there it was.
Beyond the human limits of the physical world, diving deeper into the astral barriers to create an entrance for those spirits lingering below the depths of the infinite ocean's abyss. Statues of ancient gods planted into the ground protecting the entrance, holding spears in their right hands, the tips of the lances radiating a bluish-green.
Designed like an Ancient Greek temple planted onto a mountain, circular pillars to the right and left near the sculptures. Slanted triangular-similar rooftop with the center pointed toward the ocean's very own ceiling, the Agents of ANZEN couldn't help but gaze at the scenery before them all in awe, Alex smiling, in mere seconds- their feet touched against the stairs leading to the Temple's entrance. The water drenching their clothes threw out to droplets, splashing others in their faces, a bubble of air had abruptly been formed over their bodies,
"Bleh, fucking hate going underwater," Ace confessed, sliding his hand through his drenched fluffy hair, ruffling it around, the other three shrieked and covered their eyes.
Amara flicked his wrist behind his head, a simple turning of his fingers- all the water that had seeped into the fabric of their clothing had abruptly levitated off.
June yawning with her arms stretched to the air, Kima cracked her neck, Ace taking off his sunglasses to wipe them clean with his shirt, Katie squeezed the remaining wetness out her hair encircling it as she tightened it between her fingers, and finally, Alex took out the tie keeping up his locks in a manbun.
As it all fell over the sides of his face, he slicked it all back letting it hover out from the crown of his skull… peering through the individual strands, his white eyes illuminated the way to the path ahead: to the truth before them.
The larger doors of the Sunken Civilization spread agape to reveal the interiors, patterns over walls rotten by moss telling the stories of ancient warriors from a time long past. Scorned by an invisible war from the past, Ace walked with his hands in his pockets, right near the back of the crowd. Casually strutting without a care in the world, eyes behind the pitched shades darting from side to side… contrast the constantly-moving disarray storm of chaos that was his younger sister. Darting while she walked from side to side, popping up her head, darting it to the right then ducking as her knees bent to allow her crouching, Katie walked beside Kima, the latter of which having her arms crossed over her bust,
"Do you know what this place is?" The curious shorter Katie asked of her superior comrade, leading Kima to turn her head, she let her tongue linger with a casual, "Uhm…" as she wondered,
"I remember when we went on that school trip, I think before you came: in the museum, it was assumed that Riverton Island had been developing a sort of supernatural shield around it after suddenly appearing off the coast of Texas, or just the US in general. I'm assuming at the moment… that this might be the source of that supernatural phenomenon," Kima retorted to her younger teammate with a theory of her own, watching as she hung her head again, Myers thought deeper… parting her lips,
"What are 'school trips' like?" Kate curiously questioned,
"Hmm… Well, they're not always fun, I guess. You have to take notes, answer questions, the only fun time you get when you go on some field trips is the bus ride to and from. It really depends where you're going, honestly, I'm one to dislike educational places-" Admitted Kima to her new partner, letting her hands rest by her sides now, even motioning with her fingers to indicate as she spoke,
"That's rather odd, someone like you, I guess I'd expect that… well, you'd like it," Katie added nervously with a shiver in her voice,
"Yeah- I get that a lot," Myers answered, and as she moved on ahead, Moon stopped in her tracks, watching as the purple-eyed girl continued following their instructor, Ace stopped beside her,
"Somethin' wrong..?" Asked the Ginger curiously.
However, what was said was not of words, she didn't need to part her lips, all it took was just a look, a look no one saw. Kima tightened the grip she had over her arms, Kate now walking with Ace and June, the tie strained between the new friendship, cracks of truth faded in to reveal who she really was beneath the shell,
"Here it is," Alex introduced a new sight before them all, the trio of Ace, Katie and Kima stopping altogether with shock over their faces in different ways, June went about her warping ways.
Side to side, up and down, then BUMP as the back of her head connected with her big brother's back, she dramatically groaned- turning around,
"The hell'd you stop for..?" 'Painfully' inquired June of her brother and friends, but as she turned her head, her neck turning upright, the spatial cleave in space reflected into her emerald orbs to reflect such an otherworldly scenery…
"Holy fucking shit,"
What laid before them was a cleave in the dimensional existence of their mortal plane of existence, a glowing distortion that warped the light that shined down onto it from the sun above, that being a gateway to another world: where the creatures of the night are free to roam the physical world, breaking off their spiritual chains of the astral plane,
"This is the Gateway, the truth of Riverton originates from this dimensional tear, an aftermath of the projection of a trillion souls into a singular planetoid… but as you know, the population now is around something around 8 billion, so those lost souls needed to have a home. Unfortunately, they can't live in the physical world where humans reside, so there was another world created to inhabit them," Alexander explained to his children with his hands shoved into the pockets, smile over his lips, it never really lost its fantastical glow,
"But… that doesn't explain why the ships the government sent to the island kept disappearing, or why when Callum came over, he didn't. What's the real truth here?" Kima interrogated of their teacher with a suspicious look on her face especially visible in the center of her purple eyes,
"That's a mystery, even I, an incarnated spirit from the Old World, don't know every single thing from the fantasy elements. I can only agree with you, I believe this place is the key to whatever ANZEN and Callum Riverton is planning. What it is, I have no idea, but this place… is a definite reminder of the Sunken City of R'lyeh," Alex responded to his oldest, Myers grit her teeth together while Ace rubbed at his chin,
"Whatever truths are behind this phenomena are hidden from our eyes, the curtain withholding our vision. At the moment, we're completely blind and unable to peer through that little crack in the blinds," Alex added, he thought back to this place, a stinging feeling in the rear of his mind, the tips of his nails scratched at his nape… Kima couldn't help but notice and quirk a brow.
An interdimensional cleave in space fissuring out the souls, loosely leaking into another world inhabited by them, they search for revenge after being taken from their home in the form of nightmarish monsters, bloodlusting beasts and spatial celestials that which would give any human who gazed upon them terrors from the night. Celestial beings, the things they'd been fighting all this time, were those remnants from the Old World, lost souls unable to pass on… yet what was the meaning of this?
The rest of her teammates went on, their mumbles indicating to search for more and maybe find a place to stay for a while, after all, they did bring food. How could they eat so leisurely while she laid back, pondering about the universe she was apart of, truly, it was so much larger than the world she thought to inhabit,
"You gonna eat that?" June questioned pointing to the sandwich in her lap still in the wrapper yet to be unraveled,
"What's wrong, Kay?" Al inquired worriedly of his new student, Katie once looking at June curiously, now her eyes darting to Alex… all of them sitting on a bench behind some cracked glass preventing the water from flowing in.
His arms resting over his knees, he smiled at her, he turned his head, Kima having a tray over her lap as she rolled some papers. Opening her mouth, a fry was popped between her lips, Ace resting on her shoulder, quite literally, they were casually eating lunch underwater in an abandoned city reminiscent of Atlantis. If this were another story, it would seem completely out of the ordinary, something out of a pipe dream. Nevertheless, they all moved on like normal, June and Katie sharing a sandwich, Ace eating chicken tenders and fries he'd bought from the store sharing Kima while she rolled a blunt, and Alex just loitering around ensuring they all ate safely,
"The Old World, the Artifacts, the Remnant World… what is all of it? I keep hearing about these, how you say you're an incarnated spirit from this 'Old World' yet I have no idea what you mean when you say this," Katie's ask was that of pure curiosity, Alex took to the stage easily to explain this, raising his finger so the tip could point to the air,
"The Old World is the one before this one, some thousand or so years ago, when the Old World was at the peak of eventual ruin, the Lord and Savior, known as Almighty; chose a successor to bring about the True Happiness of the Multiverse. A genocide level extinction event across the infinite timeline of alternate worlds, however, the New Allfather rebelled. He used the power with his brother and sister to remake a new world free of dominion where humans choose their own paths. So, he killed himself with no possible heir to succeed him, meanwhile, the Artifacts are unintentional ruins that fell into the Remnant World as an aftermath of Neon Genesis Event.
The remnant world is just a basic spin off dimension where all impossibilities lie, such as the Artifacts of the Old World and unborn souls with the memories of their former lives reincarnated into vengeful Celestials in the Remnant World. My mentor's eyes, my brother-in-law's sword, and my best friend's coin are some examples of the Artifacts," Swiflty explaining the origins of everything quickly to the newbie so she could attain the information easily without a convoluted exposition dump, Katie was left with a head-scratching thought, just rearing its ugly head out from the back of her mind,
"B-but.. if that's true and unborn souls who remember their past lives are Celestial beings in the Remnant Word, then why are you here? Shouldn't you technically be a spirit and not a… reincarnated human?" Curiously inquired Moon of her superior, leading June to turn her head, whilst Ace and Kima awkwardly looked to one another, Alex happily answered with a humored chuckle accompanying the beginning,
"Ahah! Well, that's something none of you have asked me yet- you've got a good eye, there, Kay. The truth is, just like how I don't know the purpose of ANZEN creating an entire civilization over R'lyeh, I also don't know why I'm still alive. The thing I like to think is maybe believing Be- I mean, the New Allfather wanted me to live because I was young at the time it happened, but there's no way to confirm that. If anything at all, I should be in the Remnant World, an artifact should exist to remind the world of my presence, but… I have a direct intervention into the history of this world, like you four. I just hope that this is my final fate, I can't take anymore of these journeys any longer," Even Alex himself couldn't know the truth about his sudden appearance in this New World; it was odd, for some reason, he could remember everything from his time before in a past life but the reason for his resurgence is the thing that's blurry?
Usually, it'd be the opposite, remembering the present and forgetting the past, yet for him… was it truly a coincidence, or was it just a plan by someone above invisible to their mortal eyes?
In the surface world of Riverton Island, a certain apartment building near the broken-down abandoned district, there sat a white-haired man. The shine from the computer illuminating his torn skin, he cracked at his fingers one by one, stretching out his limbs below his torso and on the sides of his chest, he felt all this bones satisfyingly unleash that same audio collectively. Moaning in relief at the pleasure he formerly went through, he rested his chin against the top of his fingers interlocking, smacking his lips,
"Subjects in place, sir, on your command,"
Beep!
"Thank you… proceed as usual," Transmitted the white-haired man, then leaning back in his chair, he turned his head. Sunlight from the world outside leaking in through his blinders to shine over his fragile skin, his indifferent face held no sense of anticipation or excitement… as he declared to himself and only himself,
"They'll never know what hit 'em."
This is a story of acceptance.
To Be Continued.