The basement of Xan's Arcade was not what Aaron was expecting. He was expecting a dark and dingy room with damp concrete walls and leaky pipes. Instead, he was greeted with white panelled walls and bright industrial grade lights with weapon racks and armoured crates that were meticulously placed throughout. Old vintage gun posters and schematics were plastered on the walls alongside framed antiques, treasured items from the past.

"Quite the armory you got down here. What's an arcade owner doing with all this?" Aaron said.

Xan laughed. "You think I'd be able to earn a living running just an arcade?" He punched the code into a console next to the security door. "You here to buy?"

"No, I'm not buying," Aaron replied.

Xan stopped and turned around. "Look, if you're here just for a gander then you can get lost."

"I'm here for information. I need an appraisal." Aaron said.

"I don't buy directly from sellers that's how you end up killed or worse, arrested and in the dungeons of the abyss," Xan said.

Aaron pulled out the GateKeepers pistol, the light bouncing off the seamless curves. Xan's eyes lit up like a kid in a sweet shop. "We both know that you'll make an exception don't we?" Aaron confidently said.

Xan started twitching like a drug addict looking for a fix, itching to get his hands on the weapon. He wanted it, needed it and Aaron knew it. "Put it on the table in the middle, over there." Xan adjusted the mechanical arm that arched over the center of the table. Fixing a magnifying lens and a light attachment to it.

Aaron placed the gun down "I got it from a GateKeeper. I need you to tell me about it." Aaron said as Xan studied the weapon.

"A what?"

"A GateKeeper."

"Never heard of..." Xan shook his head. "A what?"

*What the hell was that about?* Aaron thought but pressed on, ignoring it for now.

"It doesn't matter. Tell me about the weapon." Aaron said.

"Well. I don't know. It's similar to a rail gun but at the same time nothing like it. I simply don't know. How do you even fire it?" Xan asked, aiming down the sights.

"Don't ask," Aaron replied letting out a puff of air as he thought back to the standoff he had with Eric.

"It's funny, I did an upgrade on two weapons for a woman about eight years ago. Great customer she was. Hers was just like yours, same material and craftsmanship the lot." Xan said, flicking between different lenses.

"What was her name?" Aaron asked.

"Can't remember. Began with an L I think, not sure."

"Well, what did she look like? Does she still come here?" Aaron said, searching for any information he could.

"No she only came a few times and that was it. I do remember that she had a tattoo on her wrist though. What was it?... A fork, no, a trident. Yes, that was it. Wrapped in roses or thorns." Xan said while he stared down the barrel with a small thin torch.

"What else?" Aaron said.

"That's it I'm afraid, sorry. I'm gutted as well, I wanted to buy them beauties the minute I laid eyes on them. They would have been perfect for my collection." Xan said looking over to the wall which had a line of some of the most exotic weaponry Aaron had ever seen, carefully encased with nameplates on each. "How much do you want for yours?" Xan asked.

"This isn't for sale," Aaron said picking up the pistol. "We're done here." Aaron turned to leave.

"10,000 Credits," Xan called after him.

"Nope." Aaron emerged from the basement and back into the arcade. No closer to finding out any of the answers to the multitude of questions he had. He began wondering if what had happened really did actually happen after all, or if it was some dream, something that he had conjured up in his mind as a means of giving some meaning and adventure to his boring mundane life.

Amongst the jumble of noises, something caught his attention. "Join Captain Tristan and his crew on the SS Columbus, the last of the Pathfinders and the only hope for humanity. Your mission, to establish a new space frontier. Battle your way to victory or face annihilation." An announcement for a retro arcade game next to Aaron said in a game show like voice.

That's when it hit him. *Where were the wreckages?* He thought.

"Now I see. what was forgotten must be remembered." Aaron muttered as he thought back to his conversation with Jennifer in the so-called Void. "That's what she said...Now. I. see." Aaron darted out of the arcade and into the shadowy side street beyond. He looked up at all of the stations and giant deep-space ships above, glowing and alive, a hidden world. "Offworld." He whispered, "They weren't there before, how can I see them?"

Aaron turned to two edgy looking teens hanging outside the arcade smoking Ice and trading cards. "Hey." He said. They jumped, quickly hiding their hands behind their back and batting away the mist. Eyes like rabbits in headlights. "Look up to the sky, tell me what you see," Aaron said to the pair.

"Err what?... Are you police or something? We weren't doin nuffin you know." One of them, who was wearing a black bomber jacket and orange bobble hat, said.

"It's an awareness test, he's tryin to trick us so he can nick us for drugs. Don't say anything." The other who looked equally flamboyant, wearing a red waistcoat that looked like a life jacket, added. "Bugger off will ya."

"Do I look like a cop? Just tell me what you see." Aaron said. He pointed skywards.

The one with the red waistcoat rolled his eyes and glanced up. "Wha...What is that? Oh, my..." He said clutching his friend and shaking him. "Hold me I can't bear to look." Aaron almost fell for it until they started bursting out with laughter.

"He's no cop, he's probably higher than we are." Orange hat said as more laughter erupted.

Aaron grabbed the nearer of the two, who happened to be Orange hat, by the scruff of his collar taking the smoking Ice shard from his hand that was behind his back. "Get out of here, go on." Chucking it on the floor he stood on it to stub it out.

"What do you think ya doin? Loser." Orange hat protested in disgust, fixing his jacket and straightening it.

"Yeah, thanks for ruining our fun. What are you even doing here? Ain't you a little too old for arcades?" Red waistcoat added.

They went back inside the arcade, no doubt muttering all sorts of colorful language under their breath. Aaron knew what it was like to be young and rebellious and by the cities standards, they were relative saints.

He came back out onto Victory Square, agitated and annoyed that tonight had been such a waste of time. He was getting nowhere, not that he even knew where he was meant to be going anyway or what he was actually looking for. For all he knew, the NLP could be looking for him, after all, he did kill someone.

Aaron aimlessly walked along. Rainwater kicked up, splashing at the backs of his trousers from all of the puddles and overflowed storm drains that filled the pavements and roads. Hands in his pockets, head down. Too busy looking at the floor, he almost missed it.

He stopped in front of the newsstand. Droplets of water ran down his face as he stood, blinking as if his eyes deceived him. The headline on the e-paper read

"The most feared GateKeeper Victon the Voidwalker, slain by unknown hero."

Aarons' heart sank. He didn't know what else to do but stare at the headline scrolled across the page, the like and comment counter underneath ticking up each second. *People know?* He thought to himself. With a little shake of the head, he snapped out of it and immediately shoved his hands into his pockets rummaging for any loose credits he had and tossing it onto the counter of the small cluttered kiosk.

The overweight vendor housed within lazily reached over and collected the change. So engrossed in watching the WraithLand playoffs stream on his HoloVision that he didn't even avert his gaze from the screen. Instead, he just grunted to acknowledge the transaction.

"Do they know who done it? Who brought down the GateKeeper?" Aaron asked as he held up the e-paper.

The vendor shifted on his creaky wooden stall and turned his rather large head to face Aaron, clearly annoyed about being interrupted. "Hugh?" He grumbled. "What do you want?" He said in a thick accent.

"This e-paper, I've never seen it before. How do they know about this?" Aaron said, jabbing a finger at the headline.

"What are you talking about? That's picture of crash." He replied.

"What crash? No, I'm talking about this. Victon the Voidwalker. Here." Aaron said moving it closer to the vendor.

"No. It's AzCorp crash, are you blind? Go away stop bothering me." The vendor barked back.

Aaron ran to the cover of a slightly lower walkway nearby. He shook off the e-paper and swiped onto the article. Curtains of rain cascading down either side of the overpass and closing him in as he read.

"Victon the Voidwalker, leader of a legion of GateKeepers, the most feared and infamous hunter of the Fallen was slain by an unknown hero yesterday night.

The anonymous warrior who is yet to be identified was said to have used Reobscura to defeat the GateKeeper and infiltrate the Void.

If reports are to be believed, it would mean that he or she is the only living human currently known to have walked the Void and survived in more than 400 years.

Although many have broken free from A.C.R.E, there are some that exist who can control the Reobscura within the Engrams but it remains extremely rare and almost unheard of, making this revelation all the more significant.

Efforts are being made to track down the person responsible for the gallant act, it being the first time someone has managed to defeat a GateKeeper and lived.

There's no doubt that it has garnered a lot of attention within our community with whispers and rumors beginning to circulate. Many believing it could be the fabled Last Descendant of Pious Payne, here to rekindle the rebellion.

From us here at the BriarPost, stay safe, stay hidden and remember.

-Mementos Semper"

Aaron lowered the e-paper and took a deep breath. "Unknown hero? What the hell does all of this mean?" He asked himself. None of it made sense and what made it worse was that it just added more questions onto the already mountainous pile that had yet to be answered. "They can't mean me. Who even are they anyway?"

He folded up the e-paper, putting it in the inside pocket of his jacket. Aaron stood before the wall of rain and looked through, out to the city beyond. He could feel the pistol that was tucked into the waistband of his jeans as his cold wet clothes clung to his body, compressing it against him. A brief but strong feeling of power glossed over him as he thought over the words of the article. A slight shiver followed by goosebumps.

His mind told him not to believe it, that he was nothing, that he wasn't capable of what they claimed. That it didn't happen, no, couldn't have happened, not to him anyway. However, his heart said otherwise. It wanted to embrace it, it wanted to stoke the embers of power and strength that he felt deep within. The boy inside of him, who always dreamt of adventures, who always dreamed of being someone and who imagined someday he would escape, begged for it to be real.

Aaron held out a hand, waving it through the urban waterfall, feeling the droplets bounce off, feeling their ice cold touch. For the first time in his life, he didn't know who he was. It was like the whole world was in on it, as though it was one big joke that it had failed to let him in on.

"You can read it?" A soft voice from behind said, piercing the silence.

Aaron looked around to see a poor, young woman. Hunched over and in ragged clothes. She averted her gaze as soon as Aaron turned, looking to the floor immediately, realizing that she had spoken.

Aaron pointed to the pocket that the e-paper was in and tapped it, his face asking the question his words couldn't. The woman timidly looked up and quickly nodded.

"What does it mean?" Aaron softly said.

The woman went to speak but stopped herself, only daring to look at Aaron's shoes and nothing else, almost as if she thought herself to lowly to speak to people.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Aaron said, putting his arms by his side and holding his hands outwards.

"It...It means...That you're like me...That...That you can see and have broken free." She timidly spoke whilst still looking down.

"Free from what?" Aaron asked.

"ACRE, from their control." She sounded upset and there was a sadness to her voice that Aaron hadn't heard in anyone before.

Aaron gestured towards the sky. "Up there? Offworld, you can see that?"

She nodded.

"How come others can't?" Aaron asked.

"They hide it...They hide their power...and...and use it to..." She began to weep.

"Too what...? What's wrong?" Aaron drew closer, not really knowing how to console her or ease her hurt.

"I didn't...I didn't want to..." More tears rolled down her cheek. "It wasn't my fault, I didn't want this." She fell to her knees and sobbed uncontrollably. "They took her from me...my girl...They took her. All to draw me out. They hunt us because we can see their corruption, their sins."

Aaron didn't know what to say. He knelt in front of her and placed a reassuring hand on her arm.

"They faded her memories until...until she didn't even know who I was." She let out. The words breaking free from her as though the pain of holding them in had become too much to bear.

"Who...Who did this?" Aaron said. He couldn't help but feel anger at this poor woman's suffering.

"AzCorp...The ones who made ACRE, they control it." She said between her fits. "They turned her against me. I...I was forced to run, to hide and watch as she..." She let out a loud cry, the mere thought like a twisting dagger in her heart. "...was taken...They took her from me."

Aaron cradled her head. The muscles in his jaw clenched at the anger of the injustice. "Tell me how I can help. What is your name?" He knew it was pathetic but it was all he could think of.

She composed herself, wiping away her tears, swallowing her sorrow. "I've been alone for so long. I know there are others but...I...I don't want to live like this, not without her. They say we can see but see what? Pain? Suffering?" Aaron helped her stand. "It's done now and they got what they wanted."

"What's done?" Aaron asked.

"When I first saw you, I thought you were one of them. That was until I saw the same confused look in your eyes as I had in mine. For a split second, I didn't feel alone...I didn't feel...lost. " She smiled a smile filled with despair. "Lola...My name is Lola." She grabbed both of Aaron's arms. "Go. Quick, you need to leave before they get here." Her grip tightened as she looked around frantically.

"What? Before who gets here?" Aaron asked, suddenly aware again of the pistol he had tucked away.

She wiped one last tear from her cheek. "AzCorp. I told them that I would be here tonight, that this is where they would find me. It will be over soon. I'll get to see her again and we'll be together."

"You want them to kill you? Why, what good will it do?" Aaron looked at her in disbelief. "Come with me. This isn't the way."

"Take this. I know it sounds stupid, but I feel like I was meant to meet you today." Lola handed him a coin. "Now, please. Go."

Aaron went to speak but was interrupted by a bright spotlight that flooded through the wall of rain. The ground rumbled, followed by a tornado like roar from the engines of a hover-ship, as it made a rapid descent just beyond. Doors opened to the sound of compressed air. Thuds and splashes. Footsteps. The clicking and clacking of mechanical parts as unseen aggressors made ready their position. A deafening silence ensued. Nobody moved.

Out of nowhere, bright red laser beams penetrated the watery veil, searching for their target. Aaron looked at Lola, her calm exterior of acceptance trying to mask the fear and desperation behind her eyes. There wasn't time for indecisiveness, he had to do something and do it fast.

A small metallic smoking ball rolled through, bouncing and scuttling over the concrete. It stopped in front of Aaron. At that moment he made his decision. He wouldn't run. A blind instinct kicked in instead as he kicked the grenade away with a heavy still toe capped boot, turning in one swift fluid motion he reached his hand behind to grasp the handle of the pistol.

"Nooo!" Lola screamed, realizing what Aaron was doing.

Aaron turned towards the direction of the threat. Out of nowhere a heavily clad figure in a full black armored suit, burst through the wall of rain. The butt of his rifle meeting the temple of Aarons' head as he steamrolled him over. Aaron spun violently and fell face first onto the cold hard ground. "Sorry buddy, you'll have to find someone else to rob." The attacker said as he stepped over him.

Blood began to pool in Aaron's mouth, the corners of his vision blurring, darkness creeping towards the center. Aaron managed to turn his head. He could see the cybernetically enhanced soldier, part of an AzCorp rapid reaction force, standing in front of Lola. The attacker shouldered his rifle, aiming it straight at her. Aaron tried with all his might to move, but his muscles refused to obey. He felt slow and sluggish, pathetic and weak. His pistol had been knocked from his hand during his fall so all he could do was watch, helplessly.

"Strike team leader, this is Dremond, target located. Over." The soldier radioed in.

"Copy that. Proceed with termination. Over." Was the reply.

"Roger that."

Lola looked at Aaron as a stranger would, crying out for help to anyone that would listen. Regret and fear filled her eyes as she was confronted with her impending doom. Aaron suddenly had a flashback of his mother, the same look in her eyes, the same fear. For a split second, he didn't see a poor young woman he had never met before standing there, he saw his mother.

At that moment, Aaron found his strength. Rage filled him, a blinding rage, the same rage he felt when he had slain Victon. But this time it wasn't just an empty emotion, there was a power behind it, fuelling it and guiding it.

Aaron yelled, clenching his fists, he slammed the floor. A thunderous blast rang out as he rolled over onto one knee and scooped up the pistol from the ground. The strike team beyond opened fire, startled by what they saw. Muffled thuds as bullets bounced off of the wall of rain which had completely stopped, the droplets hung in the air frozen in time, creating an impregnable barrier.

The so-called Dremond span around, ready to shoot, he aimed in the direction of Aaron. Aaron flinched, not having enough time to raise his own weapon, he ducked to his left thinking he would surely be shot. However, Dremond didn't fire, the rifle of his barrel glossed past him, he found no target and continued his search.

Aaron didn't have enough time to think about it. He gathered himself and sprinted towards Lola, almost tackling her as he picked her up and hurtled outside the opposite way. Breaking out back into the rain he ran past the newsstand and down the nearest alleyway he could find, stopping in the shelter of a nearby doorway. He rested Lola down, hoping, for now, they were