We're all in this virtual space together.
Megrez

You refrain from looking at the swordswoman and the man with theshield, lest they judge you poorly. You walk down the newly opened pathway,convincing yourself yet again that the only way is forward, and deciding youwant to be free from the oppressive atmosphere of the room with the red, angrycoding.

The next space is a narrow hallway, and the coding seems to begetting fainter and fainter as you walk on. The shieldsman walks close tobeside you, while the swordswoman walks behind, as if she is guarding yourflank from sneak attacks. You wish you could thank the two of them, but you areafraid it would sound hollow in light of recent circumstances. Suddenly youreach a dead end and gulp audibly. Since the somber twin left your party you haven’tfelt any closer to remembering. You want to ask the others, but are unsure ofwhat their reaction would be and think better not to test the situation.

You look at your other two companions and see the swordswoman stepforward, weapon raised in a threatening stance while slowly nodding her head.You are afraid she is going to disappear like the others. You are afraid theyare all going to disappear.

The swordswoman makes a swift slash through the thick wall ofcoding at the end of the tunnel and it breaks apart like splintering wood. Theswordswoman gives you a soft smile, as she too fades away like you feared. Hersword clatters to the ground and you lunge to grab it, but it is too late andit is gone as well.

The man with the shield looks away from the opening uncomfortably,his emotions becoming more and more readable on his face. It is down to the twoof you and you aren’t sure if you can rightfully ask this man to continue onwith you. However, he gestures forward, as though the thought is not even inhis mind that he may be reduced to only a flicker. The decision is heavy inyour mind.

What do you do?

The rooms in front ofthem seemed to get incrementally darker shades of grey, casting a somewhatdismal atmosphere on the group. Myos would describe it to getting closer to thefinal boss, but that would lead his imagination to get the better of him again,and the flame-haired boy didn’t need to run into any more tables in front ofhis team.

Their even footsteps andquiet breathing was the only thing that resounded in the small space. Thiswasn’t a long straight hallway like the other area, this placed curvedslightly, giving the group the impression like they were walking in a graduallyincreasing spiral. Even though the surroundings were calm, all of them weretensed and ready for anything, save Razzy who gave off a calming detachmentthat grounded them from overwhelming paranoia. The revolutionary group with thecelestial symbol had fallen in a sort of single file order now that the windingpath had started to grow narrower and narrower - Myos took his position as heroand leader up front, Zeke right behind him, Amaya whom never ceased givingsupport in the middle, Razzy after her, and Achernar bringing up the rear andguarding them as they went so nothing snuck up on them.

After the curve gotgradually sharper so that they couldn’t even see around the next curve, Myostook a blind step that led them into a wide open space that was as empty as thefirst room they entered.

“Not fucking this again,”Achernar growled, causing the room to transform in a chain reaction.

The white walls aroundthem began to break down square by square, instantly replacing themselves witha walled in chrome cage. After the area had finished evolving, Achernar grinnedto herself and everyone else stepped out of her way. “Leave this to me.”

Before the tall woman laida closed in fighting arena, much like the one her bar housed. She steppedinside and activated her armor, the feeling of cool steel flowing around herbody and encasing it in a hard shell. Her armor was sleek yet powerful, youcould feel the tension coiled tightly in the machine’s circuits like that ofthe muscles of a tiger - beautiful but deadly. Achernar’s armor was smootherthan Myos’s, with less overlapping pieces and more the appearance of a stillsurface of water. A long, thin bit of coding ribboned out from the girl’shelmet like that of her prized ponytail, and though she didn’t fight with them,her armor’s fists were equipped with deadly looking brass knuckles.

Unleashing her custommade weapon, she held it in front of her like a master swordsman, “Alright comeat me, little fuckers,” Achernar laughed.

As soon as she saidthis, several robotic bodies sparking with flashes of metal appeared before her.Lunging with all her might, she cleanly tore through them and the buzzing ofthe chain left parts clattering to the ground around her. However, as soon asthose few were gone, several more came to take its place. Achernar twirled thekatana around her in a flurry of silver and red, moving with grace. Sheexpertly dispatched every enemy that came at her, leaving them all crumbled todust and disused scrap heaps all around her. Barely breaking a sweat, shecleaved through what seemed like hundreds of enemies, the cheers of Amaya andMyos behind her to egg her on - even Zeke throwing in an exclamation or twowhen she pulled off a particularly impressive maneuver.

What seemed like secondsor minutes to the fired up and focused Achernar was actually an hour or so ofexpertly maiming the technological enemies, and before she wanted her personalfun to be over, the bell of congratulations rang out signaling they had deemedthemselves worthy of passing to the next chamber.

Achernar, now back inthe flesh, grinned widely. “Told ya I could handle it.”

“Great job,” Myosreplied, eyes becoming reminiscent of green fire once again as they continuedever onward and closer to their final goal.