Sentinel Mei was hurting. Her body had ceased to be completely human decades ago but the parts of it that still remained so, felt pain so strong that it had lost its meaning. Her mind however was still lucid and able to fully infer that the end was near and her body, human parts and otherwise, would cease to function in a matter of seconds at most, perhaps enough time so that the impact would not be the one to get her, much less the hordes of monsters that used to be human beings.
She trained her gaze on the shuttle that kept climbing into space while her body fell, the ship was headed first to the Celestes base in the Moon and perhaps later to the advanced posts in Mars. Her mission had been to retrieve a group of people of about 200 that had been left behind and managed to make it for weeks after the outbreak and despite the terrible odds.
Their desperate calls for help were heard and the officials in the Celestes base decided they had to be brought in for a plethora of reasons. The main one being the limited gene pool the emergency had left humankind with. The Outbreak had made humankind an endangered species as less than 10 thousand people remained in total throughout the Moon and Mars. The group was also made up of many scientists and army personnel with their families, people with skills and knowledge that were crucial for the long term survival of humans. She had taken command of it as a senior official and with only 3 other sentinels had managed to take them to safety. The problem had been that during take off their shuttle had been completely surrounded by monsters and with her enhaced capabilities she had been the only one able to go out and disengage the 5 monsters that clung to the ship. The group and the sentinels had gotten away safely and despite everything, she gave her life for it gladly.
Her vision dimmed but the image of the shuttle and the sky with the moon and the stars so near remained burned in her memory. The roaring sound of the air as her body fell also became silence and her eyelids droped. She breathed her last about 5 seconds before her corpse touched the unforgiving ground.
-I am so sorry you had to go through all that but it was the only way-
-Many thanks to our benefactors-
-Many many thanks..
Mei heard those many voices and suddenly, her vision and sense of self returned. She was standing in what seemed to be a garden built in the middle of a colossal hall which was lined with mirrors that became blurry in the distance.
-Both of you, please do not try to see into the mirrors. Human minds are very fragile so keep your focus on us-
Mei directed her eyes to the owner of the voice. It seemed to be a being made of lightning barely contained in clothes of a dark material her mind tried to grasp but was unable to. Hell, it was so dark it made vantablack look shinny in comparison. What her mind did grasp was a mask made to look as the face of an old and charming lady smiling. Behind that being stood many other beings of lesser stature but clad the same way.
-Where am I? Where is this place?- Another voice was heard, this time it was that of herself as a young woman of perhaps 19 years by Mei´s estimate. She was slender and beautiful and given the situation, she spoke calmly and slowly. When both of them saw each other, the shock was not about the place both were at but to see that they resembled each other so much as to be a copy of each other. While Mei kept her grayish platinum hair cut short, this other Mei she was looking at sported a cascade of locks that reached all the way to her hips. The other difference were the clothes. Younger Mei was clad on a beautiful violet dress of gauzy material and while her jewelry was simple, she was decked with a full set of earrings, necklace and a bracelet. Compared to that beautiful maiden, Older Mei was clad on a really cool navy blue coat that went to her knees, tight pants and boots. It was certainly the type of clothes she would wear on a casual day out of base that were still comfortable and exuded a badass but elegant air.
-Lady Mei, please meet Sentinel Mei- motioned the being- This is the Garden of the Crossings and I excuse myself as I cannot tell you my name or show you my real face since both of you are not destined to remain in this place for now. The nearest explanation for this place and us meeting here I can give you is this- The being looked at Lady Mei- I am the one in charge of erasing memories of people who go on into a next life- and then it fixed its sight on Sentinel Mei- This is where universes and realities are nearer from each other and my job and that of my team is to be in charge of overseeing that each reality stays as it should.
Sentinel Mei gulped. Even for her mind trained in science and technology, it was quite the concept to try and grasp. But reeling about such musings was not the main topic.
-Why are we here now?-
-I remember I died.
The beings assented and moved to a clearing in the garden where a colossal loom was sitting and from which many threads sprouted and left towards the directions where the mirrors were. Both women followed as well while trying to remain attentive so as not to miss anything said or done.
-This loom is a representation of space, time and reality made on an image that your minds can comprehend-the being explained- and the flow of threads that made up some worlds was tampered with a long time ago. As it is our job, we have to fix the issue and sometimes that has included touching life itself as is the case with you both.
Lady Mei tried to look calm but a shiver went through her and she opened her eyes huge at that. Sentinel Mei felt as if a low current was going through her body and was about to freak out when she realized both of them were having the same reaction to some kind of change.
-A soul restriction was put into you and it has been removed as of now because your power did not belong in the universes you used to live at. You will go into another life and world and live a beautiful life if such is your choice where you shall have all that you lacked in your old life.
In Sentinel´s Mei left hand, a golden simple ring with a red stone formed and from that ring, the wisp of a red thread flowed all the way to a certain bigger thread in the loom. On Lady Mei´s neck, an exquisite golden chain and a red pendant also formed and a thread was also flowing out of it.
-These are the real links that connect you with your soul mates. Both of you belong now to the worlds you will now live in.
-Wait, what..
-I dont understand-
-We know you have many questions but time is of essence my dears-said the being-We have kept you here long enough and you have to go back or your souls may not make the change undamaged. Live long and happily, love dearly and true and when all is said and done, we will see each other again.
Just as both women were about to freak out for real, they felt their awareness being sucked into the new objects they had been given. Everything felt too soon, too fast and the information, too little...