The Fates' Betrayal

A Fiery Challenge

“Hey, Jack?”

“Mmm?”

“Why is the guard afraid of you?” Aisa asked, struggling to keep up with the guard’s brisk pace.

The question tickled Jack’s curiosity, although an undercurrent of anxiety brewed within him as they were nearing the exit. “Why do you think he’s afraid of me?” he asked.

“Well, isn’t he?” Aisa persisted. “The things he said before breaking the chain. I mean... the way he said it, like he was afraid you would do something terrible to him. And also, maybe, because you were in solitary confinement, all the way down ...there.” Aisa gestured discreetly towards the door behind them. “I mean, it seems quite a long journey to walk here, one that no one’s willing to take. Like it’s for someone who’s forgotten and left to ro... sleep”, she said, carefully selecting her words so that Jack wouldn’t get offended.

Jack chuckled, hearing Aisa correcting herself.

“Yeah, you can say it - rot. It’s not offensive if it’s the truth.”

Aisa shook her head disdainfully.

“So?” she pressed on. “Why is he afraid of you? And why is he always calling you ... aa ...” Aisa raked her brain for the word the guard was always saying, “Moeity? What does it mean? Doesn’t he know your name? Because you seem to know each other.” she continued her assault of questions.

Jack kept quiet.

He tried to blank out his mind so Aisa wouldn’t be able to peek at all the memories rushing to get back to the surface. He didn’t want her to snoop through his collection of memories. Deep within the recesses of his mind, he harboured an unsettling secret, tucked away in a remote corner amongst his other memories, hoping it would be lost amidst the multitude of haunting images that had shaped his identity. This particular secret was one that few could understand or accept without harsh judgment. He had to learn that the hard way. But he capitulated against his insecurities by taking down his barricades and finally submitted to his unique ipseity.

Jack knew that no amount of justification could change the others’ perception, although he had fought against it.

“Jack?” Aisa called him. “Why are you so sad? We’re finally getting out. We should think of a way to escape.”

The sound of her voice jolted Jack back to the present, compelling him to shove all his treacherous thoughts back into their hiding place, leaving no trace for Aisa to glimpse at.

She could only feel his anguish. That was something Jack couldn’t hide, no matter how much he tried. Their feelings were shared between them - one’s pain was the other’s suffering. But his memories, he had learned how to cloak them into something else, so Aisa would only see what he wanted her to see. He was good at that. Trickery might as well have been his middle name. It felt as if being deceitful was a fundamental aspect of his personality. A trait passed down from his parents, a hereditary birthmark ingrained in his very being.

“I’m fine,” he uttered, a falsehood he no longer bothered to cloak.

Jack felt drained; although he had been woken up from a perpetual sleep, his awakening in these surroundings exhausted him.

“I’m still a prisoner, aren’t I? A prisoner in my own body, and you’re the new warden.” Jack blurted out, his frustration breaking through. “And we’re not getting out.”

“What?”

Aisa’s shocked voice irked him. They were just about to pass through the other door, and Jack could feel Aisa’s heart leap with excitement as she noticed the glimmer of sunlight filtering through the cracks and illuminating the dimly lit corridor. Her hopes had gotten up, realising the door opened to the outside world.

“There’s no way out of here. Not unless they personally escort you to the exit. And they’ll never do that for me.” Jack sneered, bitterness tainting his voice.

“But I - I thought ... I mean ...we - we’re heading outside of the building. So then, where is he taking us?”

Jack was seized by a sudden, intense urge to give himself a brisk slap across the face. It was as though he needed a physical jolt to snap out of the disbelief and shock he felt towards Aisa’s obliviousness. Despite his initial hopes that she was simply naive, her complete lack of awareness and understanding left him feeling dumbfounded and frustrated. He tried his best to advocate for her, but it seemed as though every aspect of this world was entirely foreign to her. The question lingered in his mind: was Aisa truly new to this world?

“Here!” Jack replied as the guard came to a halt in front of a weathered, crumbling brick wall.

Aisa, too, came to a stop, her expression a mix of bewilderment as she gazed at the desolate world surrounding her. She felt a profound sense of emptiness as her eyes landed on the barren, arid ground, showing no signs of life or growth.

The wall before her stood as the sole visible structure, crumbling and decaying with the passage of time. Everywhere she looked, it seemed as though the world had been stripped of all its beauty, left to wither away into nothingness. The absence of lush green grass and any other signs of life only deepened the prevailing sense of bleakness and despair that hung heavy in the air. It served as a haunting reminder of what had once been and what would never be again.

“Here?! What do we do here? How on earth do we even... get ... through?” she began to say, only to be quickly silenced by the guard’s next moves.

She stood there, with eyes wide open, mesmerised by the unexpected transformation of the once mundane wall, feeling a sudden jolt of nervousness running through her body. The guard’s touch and hushed whisper had set off a chain reaction, causing the once-still surface to tremble and shake beneath her gaze. Drawn in by curiosity, she leaned in closer, but could not make out the mysterious incantation being whispered under his breath. The air was thick with an aura of secrecy, adding to the already palpable tension of the scene.

Her heart sank as she beheld the horrifying sight of a blazing gate looming before them. Its fiery bars, seemingly impenetrable, radiated an intense heat that appeared to emanate from within as if the barrier itself was alive, intent on reducing anyone who dared approach it to mere ashes. Despite Aisa’s growing nerves, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe at the power and danger that stood in her path.

“We’re going t-th-through there?” Aisa asked Jack, the fear for her life palpable in her shaking voice.

Jack didn’t say anything, though he sensed her fear reverberating through him, as her mind raced with terrifying possibilities.

“How?” Aisa continued. “How are we supposed to ... I mean, won’t it toast and roast whoever touches it?” her voice was barely above a whisper.

There was only silence stretched between them.

“Jack!” Aisa called out mentally, searching for the comfort of his presence but finding only an unsettling void. “What’s happening? Where are you?”

For the first time since they’d clashed together, Aisa couldn’t feel nor hear Jack. It was as if he had vanished, leaving her alone in his shell to pass through the gates of Hell and deal with the aftermath. But she couldn’t afford to dwell on his sudden disappearance or beckon him back from whatever depth of his mind he had faded away, not when the guard’s words sliced through the tension, addressing Jack by his peculiar moniker.

“Moiety!” The single word snapped Aisa back to the urgent reality before her.

"Moiety“, she mused, momentarily lost in the peculiarity of the word. “- such a strange word”. Before she could fully grasp its meaning, a force nudged her from behind. Startled, she turned to find another guard, materialising as if out of thin air, standing uncomfortably close.

“Move,” he ordered in a grave tone that made the hairs on the arms rise.

“Is he here to prevent Jack from running away?” Aisa mulled over the sudden appearance of the new guard as she cautiously advanced, with unsteady movements, attempting to maintain her balance. Her focus was entirely fixed on the blazing gate towering before her, its fiery barrier unyielding, obstructing her path.

She stole a quick glance at the guard stationed beside the gate, catching him staring at her with a smug expression etched over his striking features. A memory of Jack’s earlier comment about the guard’s eyes flickered in her mind, igniting a sudden desire to meet his gaze. Yet, as she drew closer to the gate, the fiery glow of it petrified her, compelling Aisa to refocus on the challenge of getting through. Her steps had slowed down, and had it not been for the guard nudging her from behind, she would have bolted without a second thought. But he pushed her forward again, motioning for Aisa to keep moving.

In that harrowing moment, her entire life seemed to flash before her, convinced that she was about to meet a fiery demise, and despite the gripping fear and uncertainty, all Aisa could think about were the countless questions she still needed to ask Jack.

“Just walk straight through.” She heard a faint whisper.

“Jack?” Aisa asked. She could barely hear him, yet she knew that voice better than she knew her own.

“Walk straight through. Don’t hesitate.” Jack encouraged in a weak voice. “If you don’t let fear take hold, it will open. This gate is meant to frighten, but it won’t harm you if you show no fear.”

Aisa continued to advance, inching closer to the intimidating gate, her mind a swirling mix of worry and confusion.

“How do you know this? What if I can’t show no fear? Terror and fright are emanating from this body’s pores.”

“Trust me. It won’t do anything. Just walk through. Push the gate open and walk.” Jack’s voice was merely a murmur, a trace of a whisper fading away into the abyss of his mind.

Aisa nodded, steeling herself forward. She inhaled deeply, feeling the warmth of her breath mingling with the oppressive heat surrounding her.

“Where have you disappeared to, Jack? And how do you know this?” She invaded him with questions, hoping to keep her mind distracted and occupied from the danger that lay ahead. With her last step, she found herself standing face-to-face with the imposing structure. She could feel the heat radiating from it in scorching waves, causing sweat to bead on her forehead and sizzling noises to fill her ears. Aisa’s heart raced as she stared intently at the gate.

“If all this is designed just to give people a scare, well, it’s working wonderfully.” Her mind swirled with doubt, but she summoned every ounce of courage and reached for the gate, her fingers trembling slightly as she made contact with the fiery metal.

“Here goes nothing... or here comes my death.′ she quipped sarcastically before pushing the gate. There was a resistance at first before it creaked open with a metallic groan, and an intense heat slapped her face, causing her to wince, but she pushed through, refusing to yield to either fear or the fiery barrier.

Stepping through the threshold, a searing sensation enveloped her as if testing her resolve, yet Aisa gritted her teeth and persisted, forcing herself to move forward. And as she emerged unscathed on the other side, she exhaled in a wave of relief.

Only the other side was not what she had expected. Amid the turmoil caused by the flaming gate, she hadn’t considered what lay beyond, but as her gaze swept over the landscape, her relief quickly turned to despair. Before her stood yet another desolate wasteland, a world teetering on the precipice of collapse. Aisa couldn’t shake the growing disappointment and hopelessness as she surveyed the barren terrain.

She felt like a stranger in a strange land.

“I see you still haven’t lost your touch, even after all this time,” The guard mocked Jack as he stepped through the gate and stopped behind Aisa. “Now move. I trust you still remember where we’re headed”, he said, giving Jack a not-so-gentle nudge to start walking.

Aisa cautiously placed one foot in front of the other, her eyes scouring the desolate expanse in a quest to spot any familiar landmarks. Despite her earnest efforts, nothing seemed to trigger her memory. The world around her showed no signs of life or hope for the future. The harsh winds whipped around her, carrying with them the acrid scent of decay and destruction.

“Jack, I have a couple of questions for you. Actually, I have a lot. So many, in fact, that I’m not sure where to begin.” Aisa said, pausing briefly to gauge Jack’s response. “Jack? Are you still with me?”

“I am,” Jack whispered, struggling to break through all of Aisa’s tormenting questions.

“What’s happening to you? I can feel you fading away ... Is it because of me? Am I taking over your mind completely? No, no...that - that can’t be right. My mind should not be capable of overpowering yours. I mean, you have all the memories and knowledge; your mind is full. It should be the other way around, really”. Aisa mused, her stream of consciousness interrupted by Jack’s faint voice.

“It’s because of Lex!”

“Lex?” Aisa’s brow furrowed.

“The guard. His name is Lex. The magic he used to make the gate appear has affected me. You’re not taking over.” he snorted, unable to ignore the irony of the situation. “Although you have already claimed my body, I am still here. I just ... you need to move away from the gate.

It’s affecting me.”