Chapter 5

The van was coming to a stop at an abandoned gas station. All but one of the pumps were destroyed. The building was a shell with nothing inside.

The woman opened up the glove compartment while Ashley was curled up asleep. Inside the compartment was two hand guns, a few extra magazines, and multiple rolls of cash. She pulled one of the rolls out and stepped out, walking to the pump. Wildstar went to the back doors and opened them, walking around to be closer to her.

They stood in silence after the woman put money inside the pump and forced the nozzle into the tank.

“Where are you from? Really?” The woman asked, looking at Wildstar with an annoyed look.

“It’s hard to explain.” Wildstar replied.

“Try me.” She responded with her arms crossed.

“Well…I come from The Library. It sits in the center of the Multiverse, recording any and…” Wildstar stopped as they remembered something they had been told.

“Recording what?” She asked, snapping Wildstar back to their senses.

“Um…where records of all history are kept.” Wildstar finished.

The woman nodded and smirked.

“Honestly? Not as outrageous as you might think it is.” She said as the pump was done, a loud click cutting through the air.

“Well…may I ask…what’s happened here?” Wildstar asked nervously.

The woman softly chuckled as she pulled the gas pump out, and laid it nicely on the ground.

“A whole lot of lies and violence. A very evil man took control of the US Government. Right now, he’s trying to commit genocide.” She said as she went to the driver’s door.

Wildstar climbed into the back once again, but stopped before shutting the doors.

They stared out.

The world seemed so cold and empty. This was the first building in hundreds of miles. Everything was gone. There was nothing left. Only a few survivors, at least in this part of the world.

“You feeling alright?” The woman asked.

Wildstar turned and smiled.

“Yeah…I’m fine.”

They shut the door and the van slowly drove off.

“I know we haven’t formally introduced ourselves. My name is Metelia.” She said as she looked in the rear view mirror.

“My name…is Wildstar.” They replied with a smile.

Metelia softly chuckled.

“Two people with weird names. I love it.” She said while laughing.

“Your name isn’t a normal one?” Wildstar asked as they moved to sit on the floor of the van, sitting in between the two seats in the front. Ashley was passed out asleep, so they didn’t have to worry too much about waking her.

“Not even close. My parents were super big fans of a band called Metallica. They really badly wanted to name me that, but other family members convinced them to change it at least a little bit.” Metelia said.

“Fascinating. Do you happen to have any music by this Metallica band?” Wildstar asked.

Metelia took one hand off of the steering wheel to reach between the two seats. She searched blindly for a bit before pulling out a small leather case.

“There’s all sorts of CDs in there. Go ahead and pick one you like. There’s all of Metallica, but other stuff if you find something that catches your eyes.” Metelia held it back while keeping her eyes on the road. Wildstar took the case and opened it to see all sorts of CDs sitting inside. They flipped through the entire thing to get a barrage of colors and logos.

“So many choices. How will I know which one to choose?” Wildstar asked.

“Just go with what you think looks the best.” Metelia said as she focused entirely on driving.

Wildstar continued to look through every single CD. Despite reading all of the books in The Library, there was nothing familiar about any of the artists or the music. It filled them with confusion and deep thought, making them lose themselves as they just held the case, staring blankly at the CDs. They finally grabbed a random one and pulled it out, holding it towards Metelia.

“This one. Now how do we listen to it?” Wildstar asked.

“Seriously? No other Universes have CDs? Wild.” Metelia joked and took it. She pressed a button on the radio as another CD slowly slid out of a small slit. She collected it and slid in the new one, handing the old one to Wildstar.

“Just go ahead and put it in the spot you just took it from. I have to reorganize the whole thing later anyways.” She said.

Wildstar took the CD and carefully slid it back inside.

Metelia pressed a button on the radio, then turned the volume knob up just a bit.

“I shuffled it so it won’t be in direct order. I don’t think you’ll really care though.” Metelia said as the music began to grow audible.

The Day That Never Comes by Metallica began to play as Wildstar sat and listened, as if concentrating on and studying the music. It was so different to anything they had heard before. They could feel their body wanting to move along to it. They lifted their head up to see Metelia moving her mouth to the song, repeating the words without actually speaking them. Her hands were softly hitting the wheel in unison with the drums in the song. Her body was rocking and jolting to the rhythm and tempo. Wildstar began to copy her, tapping their legs as best as they could without knowing the rhythm.

“What do you think?” Metelia asked.

Wildstar didn’t respond at first. They continued to focus on the music.

“What is a phrase that you would use to describe it?” Wildstar asked.

Metelia laughed and thought for a few seconds.

“I mean…headbanging is a good one. It goes hard. There’s a few. Some are stupid phrases that just shouldn’t have existed, but those are two that I use.” Metelia said.

Wildstar sat and softly smiled as they continued to listen.

“It is quite a hard song.” Wildstar said.

Metelia laughed and kept driving.

“It sure is.” Metelia replied while still laughing.

After hours of driving and bonding, Ashley woke up just as the van pulled into a nearly empty motel.

“How long was I asleep?” Ashley asked as she rubbed her eyes.

“A couple of hours. You looked so pretty and peaceful.” Metelia replied.

“Aww, thank you.” Ashley softly laughed as she opened the passenger side door.

The three collected whatever they needed. Metelia grabbed both of the handguns and all of the money from the glove compartment. Ashley opened up the center console, which held even more money as well as a lot of high calorie food.

“I’ll go see what rooms are available.” Metelia said as they headed inside. Ashley and Wildstar waited outside as Ashley still looked tired.

“How did you sleep?” Wildstar asked.

“I slept fine. Pretty sore and hungry, but that’s what happens.” Ashley said as she looked over at Wildstar. They both gave soft smiles and continued to stand outside of the cold and barren motel.

“May I ask…where are you from?” Ashley asked.

Wildstar turned and looked at her.

“I’m from the center of The Multiverse. A place called The Library.” Wildstar replied.

“The Multiverse? So there’s different versions of me?” Ashley asked excitedly.

“I haven’t been to all of them. There’s an infinite amount, most of which are dead and barren. This Universe though…”

Wildstar trailed off and stared out into the empty expanse of fields that surrounded them.

“What about this Universe?” Ashley asked.

“This one is…different.” Wildstar said.

“Different? How so?” Ashley asked.

“My creator…well I guess the creator of everything…”

Wildstar stopped as they tried their best to remember, but it came in quick and short bursts of memories.

“There’s a glitch in this Universe. There is something here that isn’t supposed to exist. I just…can’t remember what it is.” Wildstar said.

Ashley looked sad as she continued to hold the food in her arms.

“Well I hope the thing you have to destroy saves this world. There is so much just…insanity going on here.” Ashley said.

“How so?” Wildstar asked.

Before Ashley could respond, Metelia emerged from the building holding a single key.

“The smartest idea is for all of us to stay close and in one room. Let’s find it before somebody sees us.” She said.

“What about the security cameras?” Ashley asked.

“Disabled.” Metelia responded.

Ashley nodded and began to follow Metelia from door to door, trying to find the right number.

Wildstar waited by the car before they began to follow a few steps behind.

They finally found the right room. The key slid in and unlocked the door before Metelia opened it quickly. They all quickly made their way inside, Ashley going to the windows to quickly shut the blinds. The door shut and locked with three different locks before turning on the light. The room was quite large with two beds seperated by a very thin walkway. Wildstar slowly made their way past the beds to see a bathroom counter with two sinks, then turned to the left to see the bathroom with a toilet and large bathtub.

“I say we eat the food we have so we have the strength in case…well, something happens. Then we take turns on who sleeps.” Metelia said as the worked together with Ashley to separate the food into three piles on one of the beds. Ashley climbed up and sat with crossed legs as she grabbed the pile closest to her.

“May I ask…what are those foods for?” Wildstar asked.

Ashley looked at her confused while Metelia was still looking down.

“With our abilities, we have to consume a lot of calories. Whenever we use them, it sucks away whatever we’ve eaten. That’s why Ashley went as skinny as she did, and why my muscles are smaller than they were. If you burn through all of the calories you’ve consumed, then it begins to consume whatever it can find. I knew somebody who wouldn’t stop using their abilities, and their internal organs were all consumed and left them as an empty husk.” Metelia said, looking up at Wildstar.

Wildstar swallowed quite hard as they slowly made their way over to the bed, sitting softly before taking a wrapped bar, which wasn’t labeled with anything.

“We make the food ourselves. We were farmers before…” Ashleys started, but then stopped as a tear began to slowly move down her cheek.

“We were farmers who practically engineered extremely high calorie food. We would sell it to Havens for our people. That way if anything happened they wouldn’t have to worry about running out of energy.” Metelia finished for her as Ashley rubbed her eyes.

“Well…in that case, you can have my food.” Wildstar pushed their pile closer to the other two, leaving behind a single unlabeled bar.

“No, you need your strength too.” Metelia said, pushing the pile back.

“I am from outside this Universe. I don’t need food to survive.” Wildstar replied as they pushed the pile again.

The three all looked at each other in a tense staredown. Metelia finally shrugged and split the pile between herself and Ashley.

“Alright.” Metelia said and opened up a bar that looked to be granola, but packed with so much nutrients and calories. As she ate, her muscles were subtly beginning to grow back all over her body.

Wildstar moved to sit on the other bed, watching the two girls eat. Wildstar continued to sit alone and silent as they watched.

The four golden rings suddenly appeared on their own, flashing as they moved their arm around.

“What does that mean?” Ashley asked as she bit into a bar.

“I’ll be right back.”

Wildstar got up and headed into the bathroom, shutting the door and looking at themselves in the mirror. They were still wearing their tattered clothing, but they remembered that it was their advanced body armor.

Wildstar shook their head side to side quickly before sliding their other hand along the rings. They moved around before one of them moved to the palm of their hand. They flipped it so their palm was pointing upwards as the ring continued to spin, a holographic display popping up that quickly morphed into The Librarian.

“Librarian? Is there an issue?” Wildstar asked.

“Universes Seven-Three-Five and One-Four-Four are currently experiencing unification. All Soldiers are being called back to deal with it.” The Librarian said.

Wildstar swallowed hard and lifted their head to look in the mirror, the torn and tattered clothing very quickly changing and morphing into their battle armor. The helmet and mask was beginning to slide up over their head, but suddenly Wildstar felt their eyes uncontrollably roll back into their head.

Their eyes almost instantly came back to normal, but they were now standing in the clear room at the center of the Multiverse. The External was standing a few inches from one of the invisible walls. As Wildstar turned to look, they were both able to see the two Universes merging. The large bubbles were moving closer and closer together. The massive glowing space had grown larger and larger, a black star rapidly spinning with violently bright blue and white light constantly exploding out in every direction.

“It truly is something to behold.” The External said as they stared at the two Universes becoming one.

“What will happen once they unify?” Wildstar asked as they quickly made their way over to stand next to The External.

“The two Universes will be destroyed. So much energy and power that just…disappears.” The External said, still watching on.

“But…so many lives. Can’t you do anything to stop it?” Wildstar asked.

The External continued to stare forward.

“We don’t interfere.” His response was dry and cold.

“Yet you are talking to me and sent me on a mission.” Wildstar quickly replied.

“We do not interfere with the Multiverse going through its natural events. But if there is a glitch that should not exist, well then that’s a problem.” The External replied.

Wildstar went to speak again, but the entire Library as well as the invisible room began to shake, making them lose their balance while the External continued to stand unaffected.

Wildstar turned as the two Universes were being pulled violently into each other. At the center of each were massive black holes, and as they drew closer and closer to each other, the Universes were being ripped apart and shredded into microscopic fragments.

The massive black star and the two black holes were all being forcefully brought closer and closer together. The gravity was beginning to pull at all three celestial bodies, ripping them apart before they were all brought into the center of the triangle, aggressively and violently forming a fourth body that began to burn hotter than anything in the Multiverse. A dangerous star burning brighter than anything. As soon as the three other bodies were consumed, the two universes were violently forced towards the star, making it grow larger and larger at an alarming rate, the single star growing to the size of a Universe before it suddenly exploded into a violent supernova. The immeasurable amount of energy flew out in every direction, the rays smashing against the bubbles of the other Universes, which rippled and shifted but never broke. The energy smashed against the wall of the invisible room and against The Library, causing them all to shake and rumble violently. Wildstar continued to be thrown around the invisible room while The External stood, the blinding light brightly illuminating their front while their back was silhouetted into something darker than shadow.

The star was still exploding out with a massive burst that seemed to be never ending.

In a single millisecond, the burst of light and energy was gone.

Everything was back to silence.

The Multiverse was sitting as it always did.

The Universes continued to float as if nothing had happened.

The External finally turned to look at Wildstar, who was laying on the invisible floor.

“How is your mission coming along?” The External asked.

“It hasn’t even been a day. Not much can be accomplished in that amount of time.” Wildstar quickly said.

The External made their way over to Wildstar and held their hand out. Wildstar looked up before taking it and being pulled to their feet.

“This is a very time sensitive matter. You must accomplish your mission without delay.” The External said, their hand moving towards Wildstar’s head again.

“Yet you haven’t even told me what…”

Wildstar was cut off as The External’s finger touched between their eyes.

Wildstar felt their eyes roll back before they suddenly shot up laying in the bed, their golden rings spinning rapidly around their arm before an energy blast fired and blasted a hole in the wall of their room. The room next to theirs was empty, only the beds sitting and covered in rubble.

“Well, they’re awake now.” Ashley said.

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