THE MOMENT
"Nax?" Alis asked the question as she sat in the comfortable, red leather seat. It was her first time meeting the teenage boy and she guessed there was more to his name as soon as he introduced himself. He was pale with short, dirty-blonde hair. It was the first time in several weeks that she'd seen anyone else that wasn't a Sharp Development employee. She was escorted to the white room to meet someone; but, they weren't allowed to touch. A glass wall separated the white room into two halves with a red seat on each side.
"It's short for Fornax," he grinned.
"Ah," Alis nodded. "I'm Alis, it's short for Borealis," she said. "I'm a ninja, what class are you?" She asked. She wasn't given a lot of information about why she was meeting him. But she was told to learn about each other.
"Thief," he said. "You're an Estrella?" he asked. His eyes glowed with golden stars and Alis nodded as her eyes did the same. "Were you born Unique, or were you an NPC first?" he asked.
"Yeah," Alis nodded again. The stars faded from her eyes. "I met a friend that told me I was already Awakened somehow," she shrugged. "I don't know when it happened, maybe when I was born, I was raised by NPCs though."
"I was too," he said. "I was on a medieval Earth and I felt like there had to be more out there. I wished on a star to see more and ended up Traversing. I knew right away something was different. There was magitek and fae around. I bolted from the city," he chuckled. "Luckily, I met a friend pretty quickly too," he said. "Ms. Sharp actually invited her too; her name's Outbreak. She's here somewhere, meeting someone I think."
"Huh," Alis knew that coincidences didn't happen when Sharp Development was involved. She had a friend there meeting someone too. "Ask her if she met someone named Surge," she said. "He's a Calavera."
"Oh, wow," Nax said. "Outbreak is a Calavera too." He realized the same thing she did; it wasn't a coincidence. He studied her for a moment, then tilted his head as he noticed a detail for the first time. He stood up and walked to the glass wall between them and placed his hand on it.
"We're not even in the same universe...," he said. Half a dozen black portals opened up to saucer-size then closed behind him, one after the other. "I can't make a portal to there." Alis stood and met him at the wall. Now, she could see what he was talking about. The glass wall seemed to have three layers that she could see. A clear portal was sandwiched between the two walls completely cutting them off from each other. She tried a couple of portals, but they only opened on her side.
"Ms. Sharp wanted us to meet; but, she really didn't want us touching...," Nax mused aloud as he processed the information. "That's kind of weird."
"Not if we're from different multiverses....," Alis said. She'd been held comfortably against her will for some time. She was technically a prisoner. Though, she and Surge were shown things and given information that the general public did not know for their cooperation. They even got to have a visitor, even if they couldn't communicate with anyone. Now that she knew she and Nax were being kept apart, she had an idea why. She'd seen a similar setup when touring Sharp Development.
"Different... multiverses?" Nax asked. He was capable of hopping between universes at a whim. When he wished for a better life, he thought he'd already gotten it. But, it seemed there was even more beyond everything he'd already learned so far. "Is that a thing?" he asked.
"I've seen...," Alis nodded as she answered; but, she paused for a moment to consider her next word. "...proof," she said.
"What?" Nax chuckled. "That doesn't tell me anything. What kind of proof?" Alis looked around the white room; she expected someone to rush in through the door any moment to stop her. The sensitive topic was already on the table; but, no one came. No one sent her a Whisper to tell her not to say anything. In fact, the one direction she was given was 'talk to each other'. She leaned closer to the glass wall.
"An alien...," she said.
"No you didn't," Nax shook his head and grinned; but, she held her serious expression and nodded gently. "Everyone knows that aliens don't exist...," he said.
"According to whom?" Alis asked.
"Sharp Develop...," he began his answer; but realized what he was saying. "ohh,' he said. "So... aliens exist?" he asked.
"Other multiverses exist...," Alis answered. She knocked on the glass. "I think we're in two of them right now. Ms. Sharp said that it would be bad if the alien touched a Unique Soul. She said it would open up our entire multiverse to their entire multiverse; including any and all aliens they've met."
"That's very true," a new voice surprised both of them. A pale, teenage girl with long white hair entered Alis' side of the room. "Although, Ms. Sharp was hoping you two would end up talking about something else," she said.
"Who are you?" Nax asked. He knew he hadn't met every Sharp employee; but, he'd met most of the prominent ones. He'd never seen her before.
"This is Rhapsody," Alis introduced her before she could introduce herself. "Ms. Sharp's daughter."
"Dara has a sister?" he asked. "Since when?"
"Oh, that's not important right now," Rhapsody shook her head. "Ms. Sharp would really like you two to go down a different path of conversation if you please."
"Should I not have mentioned the alien...?" Alis asked.
"It doesn't matter," Rhapsody replied. "But, the real, important thing you both should be discussing is... which version of you...," Rhapsody gestured at both of them. "..is the real you?"