I woke up to rays of sunlight brimming through my window blinds, piercing my eyes with morning brightness. As I sat up, I realized I had a heavy migraine.
An awakened Fractless like you is the perfect counter to someone with an HP Fractal.
Ian's words continued to echo in my mind, but this time it was a new set of them from last night's conversation.
What did he mean by 'awakened Fractless'?
I looked at the time. It was already 2:00 PM. I had slept-in too much.
"Fuck." I put my shirt on and went to grab food from the cafeteria. As I ate, I thought about how much grayer the world had become ever since the most recent expedition. Even things didn't feel this hopeless after my falter in the Invidan War. Something about my encounter with Heathen, and witness of Kyra's death, did something to me.
"No…" I grabbed my head. The headache was piercing my skull. I realized I was wrong. It was neither of those things that made me feel so lifeless these days.
It was what came after that affected me the most.
The lack of concern from the General. The lack of attention from Overseer Azrael and his task force. The lack of recognition from A.X.A. as a whole for the sacrifices made the day we embarked into that building.
I felt empty, and that was because nothing was being done to fulfill what I sought.
This place fucking sucks.
I'd suddenly lost my appetite. The food I ate was as bland as the passion here at A.X.A. None of the higher-ups cared about a single thing other than themselves. Suddenly, I wasn't guilty for my visit to Ian the night before anymore. All I was doing was seeking-out my best interests. I realized it didn't lie at either place though. Not A.X.A. nor Heathen. One was corrupt, while the other was completely out of my moral zone.
But where would I rather be?
That question was difficult for me to answer. The hardest fact to swallow was the idea that I could only choose between the two. I felt like my options in life were narrow since I was a Fractless.
I had to choose among the cards I'd been dealt.
To give some food for the thought, I decided to take a walk to the usual café I got drinks at. The walk there, this time, was much lonelier. I was lacking the accompaniment of the people I usually went with.
Garren, Cynthia, Kyra.
One was still bed-ridden in a coma, the other underwent a traumatically psychological episode, and the last one was dead. I realized it right there and then.
I'm alone now.
When I entered the café, I felt an unusual breeze of cool air as opposed to the usual warmth the shop omitted. I decided I'd settle on a hot drink like a coffee for today.
"A medium triple-triple coffee please," I said to the barista.
His eyes brightened. "You like it sweet, huh?"
"Yeah," I smiled.
"Was Kyra that sweet?"
"Yeah, I like—"
My mouth suddenly froze. My eyes widened as I slowly registered what the barista had just said.
"E-Excuse me?" I wanted him to repeat himself. The café by now had weirdly gone silent.
"Was Kyra that sweet?" He asked again.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Suddenly, all the chairs in the café screeched as every person there stood up from their tables to look at me.
Everyone in the café was looking at me.
"What's going on…?"
"You think I'd just let you run off that easily?" The barista said in a condescending tone.
I understood what was happening.
"Ian…?" I felt my heart grow with fear.
Everyone in the café nodded their heads in unison.
This place is rigged too!?
My eyes darted around. I noticed that the shop's two cameras were facing my way. My palms were sweaty wet with nervousness. I'd found myself in a cornered position, just like with the tenants back at the apartment.
Heathen had come right back around to greet me again.
"Don't think about destroying the cameras like you did back at the apartment. The moment you start trying anything suspicious, you'll be putting all the lives in this shop at risk."
I turned back to face the barista, horrified that he was under Ian's control. "Have you always had this place set-up…?"
The barista shook his head. "Only since last night, after you disrespectfully cut our conversation short."
"But why…?"
"Klyson, did you really think I'd let you walk away with valuable information about Heathen without returning the favor somehow?"
I shook my head. I didn't know what to think. I should have expected this.
"The moment you made the decision to come find me last night was the moment you'd permanently associated yourself with Heathen," the barista said.
"What do you want?!" I was subconsciously shivering. The implication that Ian's Fractal and the influence of Heathen stretched even into areas where I'd previously found comfort, such as this café, horrified me. It made me think about just how many more places Ian could have possibly rigged with his Fractal, and how at this stage, I essentially had no escape.
"I want you to seek out my request. Not even to join Heathen, but to work for Heathen."
"And if I don't?"
"You don't get to choose." The barista scoffed. "I may have been giving you a choice a week ago, but at this stage you don't have a say anymore."
I looked around, taking note that I was being watched from all angles. The cameras, plus the dozens of pairs of eyes glaring at me from multiple directions, ensured I would not do anything to get me out of this situation.
"The thing is, Klyson, you have the potential to get yourself out of a scenario like this, but can't because you don't understand your own capabilities. I'd already told you this before, Heathen can help you realize your true awakened power."
That word again, 'awakened.'
"What do you mean awakened? What did you mean when you told me an 'awakened Fractless can counter HP Fractals' last night?"
"It means that a Fractless like you is able to keep up with someone like me."
"But how?"
The barista smiled. "Sit down first, Klyson. Triple-triple you said, right?"
Everyone in the cafe suddenly sat back down in their seats and continued talking as if nothing happened. I realized that reality had resumed its flow and Ian had let go of his control of everyone. Understanding I had no choice but to comply, I went and sat at an empty table. After some time, the barista came and gave me my drink. But rather than sitting with me and continue communicating with me, he turned around and returned to his station.
Ian?
Suddenly, a girl sat across me at my table. I was confused as I didn't know who she was.
"Hi…?"
She smiled in a familiar way. "So you're wondering how a Fractless like you could possibly keep-up with someone who has an HP Fractal?"
From the way she spoke, I realized it was Ian again, but controlling another person instead of the barista this time.
"I've explained to you already the works of awakening a Fractal Activation. But that doesn't apply to you, since you are Fractless." She took a sip of her drink, indulging in its creaminess before continuing. "The Fractless have a Fractal Activation of their own, minus the Fractal part of course."
"Stop messing with me."
"You awakened it without even realizing, Klyson."
I thought back on all my previous moments, but all I could remember were my falters.
When could I have possibly had an 'awakening' of any sort?
The girl continued. "Just like Fractal Activations, Fractless can only achieve their awakenings in a fight-or-flight mental state through a one-in-one billion chance. Based on a fair combination of my research and assumptions, the Fractless mind seems to compensate for the lack of the Fractal gene. In the case that a Fractal Activation should occur, but the Fractal gene isn't present as-is in a Fractless, the brain has suddenly created extra space for capable use that should have been for the Fractal Activation. But since it cannot occur due to the lack of the Fractal gene, that extra mind-space is now free-to-use accordingly for the Fractless."
"What can a Fractless do with that extra 'mind-space'?" I asked.
"I assume there are a variety of capabilities, but from what I've witnessed myself, the most common use for that extra mind-space is for information-processing."
"Information processing? Like, thinking?"
"Exactly. Think of the brain like a computer. When a Fractless achieves this awakening, the computer is suddenly updated with more storage, and faster processing. With that extra given mind-space, the brain can suddenly intake tenfolds more of information all at once, and process all of it in a shorter span than usual. Your brain, the computer, develops an instantaneous input-to-output path." The girl suddenly paused, displaying to me an act as if throwing something towards my face. "Do you remember when you could have possibly achieved this?"
I understood what she was motioning. It was a reference to what I'd done to Darius—throwing the knife at his face. I recalled the moment, realizing I didn't remember much from it other than how calm I had become, and how slowly the world moved for me.
Is that why everything seemed to move so slow?
In the quick moments leading up to my kill on Darius, all my actions had been executed before I could even process that they occurred. But as they occurred, I realized that they aligned with what I planned to do. They were just happening before I could even think of doing them. My body was moving quicker than I could understand, as if my muscles were being instructed from a part of me I didn't realize existed.
The extra mind-space.
"When I created all of those scenarios to awaken Fractal Activations for your comrades, the last thing I expected to witness was an awakening from the only Fractless in the group, you." The girl giggled. "You know, I never batted an eye at you until the moment you'd killed Darius. Up until that point, you were just a pawn in my attempt to give Kyra a Fractal Activation. If you so happened to survive out of luck in the end, I would have turned you into one of my proxies, just like the mindless tenants. But instead, you defied all odds and surpassed my expectations. Who would have guessed that the useless Fractless, Klyson, would have somehow achieved an awakening out of pure spite? Not me! But you turned out to become exactly what I'd been looking for—a counter to the HP Fractals we specifically hunt."
I still didn't understand this so-called 'potential' Ian boasted so loudly about. "But even with an awakened state, how could a Fractless possibly counter someone with an HP Fractal…?"
"Every awakened Fractless has a head-start, no matter what Fractal they face. In the biology of Fractals, there is a certain interval of time in which the Fractal itself can act upon using. There is time that it takes for the brain's instruction to reach the Fractal gene, and time for the gene to express the Fractal and have the body implement it into reality. Compared to the time it takes for an awakened Fractless to process and execute the information they retain in their extra mind-space, the interval is equivalent to about one tenth of the Fractal user's time. You can take action at a rate ten times faster than someone with an HP Fractal."
"There's no way…"
"I have seen it with my own eyes, Klyson. Why do you think I know so much about this even if I'm not Fractless myself?"
I furrowed my eyebrows. "You experimented with a Fractless, didn't you? Created scenarios for them just as you did for Kyra and Cynthia."
She nodded. "But only after his awakening. I never even knew Fractless individuals could have an awakening in the first place. It wasn't until he had one that I began my research."
"Who's he?"
"You must know him, considering that you are from A.X.A." She smiled at me. "That 'First' of yours, Enzo Cartier."
"Enzo—!?"
I couldn't believe what I was hearing.