Chapter Text
"Like a lie, if all this is just a dream..
It's just sweet dream, it's today..
Wait for me, I'll go see you soon.
Lord, please when the song is over,
Save me please."
What do you do when all you have ever known is a broken world?
Some cut themselves on the pieces, eventually fading and conforming to the jagged edges.
Some desperately fight to escape it, getting shredded as they fight through shards of broken glass.
Some gently tiptoe over it, their feet scarring and callusing until they no longer feel the pain.
But what about the ones who were born from those shards? The ones who have known nothing but that pain?
What life for them is there in a shattered and ruined world?
It's the only life they've known, a life they could be saved from if they knew the alternative.
But to know an alternative, first they would have to hear of it. And how can they hear when they have not been told? And who can tell them if no one goes?
The human rebellion was such a group.
And I was one of the few to be sent ahead.
This world is ruined, but the small pocket of hope was the place I called home.
Raised among humans desperately fighting against a universe pitted against them.
My father was a kind man, gentle in a way that was ill suited to such a world.
And so he raised me with kindness too.
My first memory was still clear to me even after all these years.
My dad led me to the roof of the derelict building the rebellion was stationed at the time. When I asked him where we were going, he simply smiled and said that it would be a surprise.
So he sat down on the roof, pulled me into his lap, and told me stories of the stars.
He told me that once upon a time, in a world very far from here and very ancient now, we humans had names for the stars.
He said that, given the position of this planet, that the stars wouldn't look the same as they did in those days.
But he told me we could name them ourselves, if we wanted to.
And so that night we spent on the roof, naming stars and "constellations".
My father told me that once upon a time, humanity relied on the stars for many things. For navigating enormous bodies of water called "seas" that I couldn't even imagine. Apparently, some humans even relied on the stars as if they were gods, using them to tell the future..
My father smiled when I asked if it really worked.
"It worked for them, at that time. When they had faith in something outside of themselves the world was a slightly better place, I think."
"Better than this place?" I remember asking this question.
My father shook his head. "As long as there are two parties to argue, the human race will never be perfect. But, when we looked outside of ourselves, it was better." I followed his gaze over the desert plain peppered with craters from a recent storm.
I remember feeling his hand on my head as he ruffled my hair.
"Jayu, always remember to take care of yourself, but don't become so self centered you miss the suffering of others."
It was a heavy weight to put on the shoulders of a seven year old, now that I think about it.
But those words shaped me.
When my father led me back to the headquarters of the rebellion, I signed up for training.
I was told our history as humans, of the end of a world, of centuries of slavery to the Segyein, of the way humans are treated under their hands.
It was a life I couldn't imagine, a life that many were experiencing in a far off place..
The data we had at the time was small, records mostly coming from men inside the so-called "Alien Stage", the major form of entertainment for the Segyein run by Anakt Garden.
Records of experimentation and breeding of the humans captured there.
Countless records of disposal of the remains of those experiments.
Again, it was a life I couldn't imagine. A pain I couldn't fathom. It seemed so far off, as if it was happening off in some far corner of the universe. But no, this was here, nearby.
If I had been less fortunate, I would have suffered a similar fate, I know that.
I had to keep telling myself that.
So I continued my training.
I transferred from base to base and continued to learn and to be taught.
The day I completed my first disguise, I was allowed to go into a Segyein settlement.
It went seamlessly, even though I was still only a teenager. The aliens towered over me, a single other member at my side.
And I was able to watch.
Aliens and their families, aliens and their "pets," aliens and their entertainment..
It was all on display.
And for the first time, I started to see exactly how we were treated.
It wasn't all the way, I wouldn't understand the depth of that sorrow for a long time.
But on that day, everything I had learned started to be realized.
But even now, as I stand before the doors of that Alien Stage, I still can't fully understand it.
Three years ago, this moment had been planned.
I would be going on ahead of the main rescue, feeding back information that the rest couldn't because of their positions. Preparing things the others couldn't and going places the others were blocked from.
Because I wasn't going as a human.
I memorized the languages of the aliens.
I perfected every disguise and had several back ups.
I was going in alone.
To rescue people I didn't know yet, but would have to get close to soon.
Yes, this is it.
The day the shattered pieces come together.
Just a little closer.
I placed my hand to the receiver in my ear and spoke into the microphone.
"Guwon reporting from the front gate. This is it."
[Good luck, Jayu.]
Everything was thrown away for this mission.
I altered my height, my figure, my voice, all to fit in.
It was the perfect disguise. I know because I had practiced this for a decade now.
My entire life has led to this moment.
So I pulled my disguise further over my head, lowered my voice, and practiced quietly.
If I mess up even a little, there are no redos.
I needed to reach that stage, needed to see the ones who would die on it without my help.
The ones that might die anyway.
It was my idea to come early, to preserve the lives of those gracing the stage before the final rescue after the final stage..
Even now I didn't know why they picked that time, why they chose to put it off that long.
But if I can save someone through this, it'll be worth it.
Right?
There is one week before the Alien Stage.