Tales from a Parallel Universe: Part IV (Lexx Fan Fiction)

Lilly's ocean blue eyes blink a few times bloodshot and on the verge of tears as she struggles to remain calm and lucid in a bright white room in an unknown location. Lilly looks clearly distraught as if something horrifying and traumatizing had just happened to her. The looping sound of a cold humming noise of an unknown source peacefully echos next to a guttural but soothing female voice asking Lilly questions.

"Who are you, where are you from? Tell me your story" The matronly sounding voice speaks with an accent as Lilly sighs and pauses for a moment. "Okay, where do I begin? I have lived countless lives, almost too many to count." 

"Well where did it all start? Where were you born if you were born at all?" This familiar but unknown voice spoke again. Lilly took a deep breath, inhaling for a few seconds and then exhaling before calmly stating "My name is Lilly Starstrider, I come from the world of B6F. You probably know it as a member of the League of 20,000 planets." Lilly goes on to narrate her upbringing all the way to her death on the Cluster all the way up to her last life on Fire and Water as we jump to twenty years back in time.

20 YEARS AGO, EARTH 1999, NEW YEARS DAY, 1:02 AM

I woke up completely covered in sand in a vast desert, taking in a deep breath and exhaling followed by a few more as if I had just finished drowning and suffocating. At first I mistook this place for Fire, but it was way too cold to be Fire, there was even plants and  some vegetation around me which just didn't exist on Fire. The last thing I could remember was plummeting to my death in a burning gondola with an arrow wound in my leg. Like all of the other times I "woke up" on Water after dying the wound was gone like it never happened. I was still wearing the Musictown clothes I was wearing when I died but they were tattered and bloodstained while my body was pristine, almost like I had a hot shower before I had somehow woke up here. As I stood up brushing off the sand I stared into the sky and recognized the same star formations that I would observe frequently back on Water. Many nights I gazed upon these stars, the last time I did this it was with December. Oh December, that traitor.... I don't know what hurt worse, feeling my spine snapping in half as my heart literally stopped beating when I was killed in the impact or crushing weight of his betrayal, both of which felt like they took place only moments ago.

I had no idea how much time had passed since my "death." When it happened it was instantaneous and a split second later I just woke up here in the desert, wherever this place is. This process happened for all of my  other lives on Water, I lived so many I can't even count them. All of them were pretty much unremarkable up until their end. I never died of natural causes either, hell nobody there ever did. Fire would attack us with their balloons, sometimes I was able to put up a fight, but ultimately I was killed every time and would just wake up with everyone else an instant later with no memory never knowing any better. Everyone had amnesia and everything would just go back to the status quo. And of course there was my original life which I told you about already, yeah that was the last time I ever saw my brother alive. I never ran into him on Water either. You know, in every life I have lived from B6F to now, I never reach thirty. But then again I never look older than twenty one and yet I feel like I'm thousands of years old. It depends on how you count the years. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, this is also the first time I could actually remember all of my previous lives. It was too much to take in at the time.

So back to the freezing cold desert. I quickly deducted this place couldn't have been Fire. Even at night time Fire was an oven, here my hands and any exposed part of my body was slowly turning red. As I told you I grew up on a pretty warm planet so my only experience with anything cold was the whole fiasco I went through on the Cluster, this felt a bit like the Prisoner transport ride minus being strapped to a slab. I began walking, arms crossed and shivering towards what appeared to be red and white lights moving in a straight line on the horizon. It could have been a mirage but it was just too damn frigid for one of those to even exist. I began walking towards it. While walking through this miserably freezing desert I continued to contemplate as a million different thoughts ran through my head. Why this time was different, how come I remember it all now? What happened to Rand, the man who sacrificed his beliefs and presumably his own life to save me? And then there was December, as I said earlier, I was still hurt as it felt like it was only less than thirty minutes ago when I was standing on that platform on Hogtown with him, Rand, April, December, and Prince. I was so heartbroken that it carried over into my next life it looked like. Speaking of which, what happened to April? Now that I remember it, I used to know her from long before, in fact way before, all the way back to her love slave transformation on the Cluster. 

Before I could think any further I reached the source of the lights, a long stretch of what appeared to be a concrete road with machines on wheels zipping by on it. Their bright lights lit up a green sign which was written in some alien language which I could not understand at the time. 

"Los Angeles 215 miles" 

One of the machines made an ear piercing blaring sound as I attempted to cross the road as it whizzed by me almost killing me (again!) The machines varied in shapes and sizes, the largest ones were long and literally shook the road as they sped by. I began walking on the side of this road towards wherever these machines were going, on the other side of the road they were going in the opposite direction but it wasn't like I had that much of a choice. Eventually one of the machines slowed to a crawl and began stalking me with its headlights until it came to a complete stop right next to me. A glass window rolled down revealing a handsome man with a blonde cut asking me if I needed a ride. Sure! I responded, anything to get out of this freezing cold! A metal door popped open inviting me in. As I entered my eardrums were assaulted by weird music. Not just my ears but my sense of smell also, lets just say, the cramped and cluttered interior of this vehicle had a quite a scent to it. 

The source of the smell came apparent as I sat next a young girl with long braided brunette hair inhaling from a large blue transparent pipe and exhaling smoke from her mouth. "Do you want a hit of this, man?" She asked as she collapsed back into her seat in a trance while passing me the pipe. I reluctantly accepted the pipe and inhaled. As I exhaled I began coughing as I immediately felt a buzz. Almost like a dragon's fire in my throat as I coughed uncontrollably. Everyone in the vehicle laughed at me as if it was some practical joke, but soon after I felt mellow and calm. I passed the pipe back to the girl and she introduced herself as Aurora. Soon after one of the men passed around a bottle of water, Aurora took a sip then me, I was especially eager as this was the first thing I've had to drink since, well waking up... However in less than two minutes after consuming the liquid, I felt drowsy, very drowsy and I don't remember anything beyond drinking the water. 

I woke up universe knows how many hours later thanks to Aurora shaking me awake. I never remember falling asleep, I am actually having a difficult time remembering the last thirty minutes after getting into the car, but someway, some how, one of the men spiked the water and I woke up in a dark room with Aurora and other girls who presumably just went through similar. Aurora was just as clueless as I was, I tried to calm her down as she was in a panic for obvious reasons. The room was large and seemingly endless, cold concrete floor, and moldy. Not to mention rancid smelling as one of the girls threw up thanks to whatever drug they gave us. I immediately had flashbacks of the Cluster, this was similar but this time not as terrifying, well at least not to me anyway. I wasn't bound or tied up to a slab, aside from some drowsiness, I wasn't starved or famished still fresh into a new body. This room lacked the stench of death and severed flesh that was pretty much the Cluster. I quickly deducted whomever abducted us had zero interest in killing us. I tried to tell Aurora that to calm her down but it was useless. 

A loud creeking noise drew everyone's attention to a blinding bright light as a door opened and three shadowy figures emerged. One of them grabbed Aurora by the hair right in front of me and proceeded to drag her towards the hallway outside of the door, One of men grabbed me by the arm while pointing what I assumed to be this planet's version of a projectile weapon at me to goad me into following. Another woman was grabbed and the three of us were brought by force through a dank hallway and eventually out onto some theater stage, We were forced to go on our knees as they threatened to "shoot us." Now Aurora and this other woman were completely mortified, almost paralyzed with fear, me however, well you already know..... This wasn't my first time in an intense situation. I did my usual routine, My eyes scanned the room, I counted how many of the men had actual weapons, the people sitting in the audience were unarmed old men, A lot like the ones who ruled Hogtown. Yep, I knew exactly what this was now. It was a love slave auction! 

Presiding over us was a man in a purple top hat and a fancy purple suit addressing small group of wrinkly old flesh bags in front of us. He tried to sound funny on that microphone but he really wasn't. The three jackasses pointing the weapons at our heads had an air of confidence to them, like they couldn't be touched. The one standing guard over me was carelessly holding his weapon, I could have easily have snatched it then and there but I didn't want to risk getting shot by the other two so I waited. I began to "act" afraid and compliant as I watched Aurora and the other woman get sold and dragged off by the other two men. I could have acted here and now but I was unsure if there were other armed men in the room, the rest of the theater was dark and it was hard to see with the spotlight trained on me as the old men began their bids and the "charismatic" auctioneer began describing my features like some pervert. "Yeah, buddy, I am going to kill you too" I thought as I continued my crocodile tears act.

I tuned out the auctioneer and the screams as Aurora and the other girl were taken away. I more or less flash backed to the countless times I had to defend Musictown from heavily armed and trained men from Fire. Sometimes I was killed right then and there, sometimes I was captured and then later killed, but each time I was able to put up a hell of a fight. And luckily for me the idiot pointing the weapon at me was nowhere near as intimidating as Prince or Duke's boys. Hell, he wasn't even holding his weapon right, he had a very light grip on it. So I kept up the act, and before you know it was my turn to be dragged backstage. All I needed to do was get this guy alone and the opportunity presented itself as he dragged me into an even dirtier bathroom alone. He began to unbuckle his pants with one hand while pointing his weapon with the other. Yeah, I knew where this was going, It was great for me, It was not about to be so great for this cocky bastard though. I kept up the submissive and scared act as he approached, I felt like a cat getting ready to pounce on its prey. And sure enough his grip on his weapon was still light as I slid to the side, grabbing his rifle and jamming the butt of the gun into his face using his own strength and momentum to my advantage. As he presided holding his bloody nose with the weapon in my hand, I turned it towards him and something I did not expect happened. 

As I proceeded to pull the trigger, the weapon recoiled making a very loud noise and his head just burst open in one of the most disgusting ways I have ever seen. These "guns" as they called them were very similar looking to the crossbows the people of Fire used. I assumed they also fired arrows which would be you know, silent and stealthy. But no, this thing was so loud my ears were ringing, I actually momentarily lost my hearing as the sound echoed through out the bathroom and presumably the whole building. Oh yeah, unlike the arrows of Fire and the black packs on the Cluster, these things made quite a mess. That was one of the few times I have ever seen another human beings brain matter just scattered all over the floor in crimson. I should be shocked describing this, but after first death and seeing the endless cruelty that took place on Fire and even unfortunately experiencing some of it myself. I'm sorry to say but I'm pretty desensitized.

Lilly's tone turned from being prideful to somber and regretful almost in an instant as she began to break down in tears crying. Lilly felt guilty about the person she had become. Her lifetimes of battles had forged her into a weapon. Lilly although she didn't want to admit it, actually enjoyed killing when it was justified. She felt remorse for the soul destroying act but had a hard time hiding the sense of accomplishment she got from taking the lives of her attackers. Her voice grew deeper as she proceeded to have a mental breakdown. Lilly broke down crying with her head almost buried into her lap in front of this still yet unknown woman. 

The woman's hair was so long it was almost down to her belly button and it was as white as snow. Her sympathetic hazel colored eyes addressed Lilly. This woman said nothing but looked at Lilly as if she could somehow relate. This mother like figure seemed more like a pacifist rather than a pure blooded fighter like Lilly, but tough as nails when she needed to be. "Take you're time love" She spoke as Lilly took a moment to breath in this woman's presence. Lilly took about thirty minutes before resuming her story.

We go back to the bathroom where Lilly is awkwardly holding the assault rifle standing over gruesome corpse of her captor who had just had his head literally split open in four different directions much like a banana peel as the result of a single hollow point round. Blood was all over her and the once white walls of the bathroom. Lilly knew the whole compound had been alerted by the resounding noise of the gunshot, she was going to have to fight her way out of this as stealth was no longer an option. In the hallway a curious goon opens the bathroom door only to be immediately shot in the chest twice. Lilly emerged from the door over his body and proceeded to move on. Lilly was quite impressed with this weapon, cumbersome and primitive but unlike the crossbow she could fire more than one shot in a short rate. Lilly employed her usual tactic of searching the man for anything useful where she only managed to find a switchblade knife.

Lilly managed to coincidentally wander into the room where Aurora was being held. Her guard, and her buyer were just standing there only to be suddenly gunned down the moment they noticed Lilly. Aurora looked at Lilly with confusion and a slight tinge of fear. "What did you just do?" She asked as Lilly helped offered her hand to help her out of the corner she was cowering in. "Know the way out of here?"  asked Lilly as Aurora took her hand but admitted that she just as clueless as Lilly was. The two proceeded through the compound until finding an exit to the exterior encountering nobody along the way, not even the two men that had abducted them. Upon exiting they noticed the old men and a few of the goons fleeing in their cars out of fear. They did not know whether the police or a rival gang had just hit them from the sounds of the gunshots but they did not want to find out. They did however find the auctioneer attempting to flee in the same Volkswagen van that was used to kidnap Aurora and Lilly. He turned and looked towards Lilly with an anxious smile. That smile turned quickly into a frown as Lilly pulled the trigger.

The gun clicked, nothing came out, Lilly pulled the trigger again, empty. The pimp like auctioneer let out a sigh relief as Lilly tossed the gun to the ground in a frustrated manner. As he turned towards the car door the switch blade Lilly had looted earlier sailed into the side of his head. He slowly turned to face Lilly again, this time with the knife sticking out of the side of his head. Lilly breathed deeply and had her arm in a lowered position as if she had just thrown the knife. He let out a short "ugh" as he collapsed onto his knees and then to the ground dead. Both of Aurora's hands were covering her mouth in disbelief in a whirlwind of emotions. 

"You didn't have to kill him!" Aurora snapped, "But he...." Lilly struggled to get her words out before pausing to think, she said no more. "Lets just get out of here...." Aurora calmly stated with a tinge of disappointment in her voice. Aurora proceeded to hot wire the Volkswagen while Lilly collapsed in the passengers seat in the process of coming down from her adrenaline rush. "Something I learned from my ex back in Detroit, a few more wires here and there and boom!" Aurora shouted as the engine fired up. She looked at Lilly who was still silent and seemed to be deep in thought. The tires screeched as Aurora proceeded to pull out onto the road and speed away from compound. "How are you so calm now? Judging by the looks on your face earlier you have never seen someone die before, why the sudden change?" Lilly finally spoke in a melancholy manner over the sound of the humming engine as Aurora's eyes were dead set on the road in front of her. 

"Let's talk about you, why did you do that? He was defenseless and clearly running scared, he wasn't going to hurt you." Aurora asked. "I might as well have some fun before they ship us off to the protein bank for failing to become love slaves..." Lilly responded like she was drunk. Aurora's eyes shot open and her jaw dropped. Who the hell was this weirdo and what was she talking about? "WHAT!?? AND WHAT!!???" Aurora screamed as she slammed on the breaks of the van bringing it to a screeching halt. Aurora breathed heavily into the steering wheel for a few seconds and turned to look at Lilly who was pretty much sinking into the seat with sadness. "A what bank? Love slaves? Who the hell are you? Why are you dressed like that? And why were you wandering in middle the desert?"

"This planet is not a member of the League of 20,000?" Lilly asked with a look of relief on her face. Aurora almost speechless responded "What the hell are you talking about?" Lilly let out a long drawn breath "phew." Both girls sat in the car for a few minutes of complete silence not saying a word to each other. Lilly sat deep in thought, never really having a chance to contemplate her thoughts after a fight or flight reaction until now. Aurora herself had a story which she was debating whether or not to disclose to this "strange alien person who was probably on some hardcore drugs" Aurora thought. 

"It doesn't matter now anyway, I'm toast either way" Aurora broke the silence with a chuckle. Lilly looked at her noticing the spark in Aurora's eyes. Lilly now understood the sudden change that had occurred in her back there. It was the same spark that had transformed Lilly from a terrified little girl from B6F into a cold and ruthless killer. That very survival instinct that kicked in after the heretics had rescued her from her subsequent execution. While Lilly was mostly motivated by vengeance after witnessing her brother's murder this was not the same but none the less very similar. At this point Lilly respected Aurora seeing a piece of herself in her, who she used to be and perhaps what she had lost. 

The lights came on startling Lilly as Aurora opened the car door and rushed out. Lilly opened her side and walked around the van to find Aurora throwing up on the side of the road. Lilly looked at Aurora with concern. "I hope shes not afraid of me" Lilly thought. Aurora looked up at Lilly panting and short on breath from just emptying the contents of her stomach. She uttered "I don't know who you are and or what you're on, but what you did back there was amazing, you saved my life." Lilly acknowledged her with a smile but had no idea what to say in return Aurora wiped off the left over vomit off of her lips with her arm. More silence passed as Lilly helped Aurora up onto her feet, both girls looked up to gaze at the stars which shimmered above the desert.

After a few more moments, both ladies were back in the vehicle. Aurora shifted the car back into gear and began driving the van towards the mountain in range in the distance. "I'm not really from this world if that makes any sense to you" Lilly spoke in a serious tone and continued. "I really have no idea of where I am or where here is for that matter. All I know is the same stars are visible from the last planet I was on." Aurora took another deep breath. This girl did just after all just single handedly take out a whole ring of sex traffickers with military like precision, she either had to be an escaped government experiment from Area 51 or an actual space alien, or maybe both? "So let's just say for a minute that I believe that you're from another planet? How did you get here?" calmly asked Aurora.

"I woke up in the desert after my last death. I....." 

Aurora interrupted "You're last death? Stop right there, what do you mean?"

"I died on another planet and just woke up moments later in this desert." Lilly attempted to simplify it to Aurora. Even to Lilly who came from a hyper technologically advanced civilization the concept of reincarnation, especially just 'waking up as an adult in a fresh body' was ridiculous to her. For Aurora it was the opposite. 

"So you reincarnated and you can actually remember your previous life? Okay I can buy that, it would explain those weird blue clothes you have on."

"Past lives......" Lilly corrected her.

"How many? This is too much... If you're not making this up." Aurora still skeptical.

"Way too many.... Maybe hundreds.. Look, This is the first time I can actually remember any of them, this is as new and weird to me as it is you, I'm overwhelmed right now, can we please just talk about this later?" Lilly explained before continuing. "Where are we going by the way not that I would know?"

"Were going to California, Hollywood to be specific. Listen if you're running from something or someone, you're not alone. My mother is a controlling and manipulative bitch and my Dad is an abusive drunk, my boyfriends were never that great either, so I stole my Dad's car and I just ran. I have no plan whatsoever, I figured I would go out west and see the Pacific, you know, just like in the movies. I ended up totaling the car, don't ask and wound up in Vegas where I was picked up by the two 'humanitarians' who kidnapped us. They seem good at first, the one was even cute, but getting back on point, my Dad most likely reported the car stolen and there is probably a warrant out for my arrest back in Michigan." 

Lilly sat silent and just listened as Aurora continued on. "I have no idea what is going to happen next and I'm not going to lie, I'm scared, It's not like I'm staying with anyone or know anyone who lives in California, It's just going to be whatever happens next." At that point Lilly gently grabbed Aurora's hand and held it while remaining silent. Their fingers locked as Aurora accepted Lilly's gesture. After a few moments Lilly spoke. "Whatever happens, I'll protect you." There was a slight pause for a moment."I believe it" Aurora chuckled while trying desperately to hold back her tears. "Let's brighten the mood up a bit, shall we?" Aurora spoke as she turned the dial on the radio where a relaxing rock song came on. Lilly dozed off to this beat as she rested her head against the car's window.

Back to the bright room in the present, Lilly and this still unknown woman carry on their conversation. "So what happened next? After you escaped with Aurora?" asked the woman with her large plump lips. Lilly continued to narrate. 

Well, shortly after we escaped, I somehow drifted off in the car as we drove through the desert. I woke up to yet another relaxing song as we were passing through the end of some sort of mountain range. I saw silhouettes of large mountains anyhow alongside the lights of passing cars and trucks. It was very peaceful and relaxing actually. Being a passenger in a "car" that is, going for a night drive to the unknown. I never had any moment like this on B6F, or Fire and Water. Earth was a different place but we will get to that part soon enough. At first I mistook this planet for being a member of the Divine Order, especially as we began to drive through Los Angeles which resided at the end of the road that lead through the mountain range. 

We slowly transitioned from mother nature into a vast endless city. I was blown away, the last time I saw lights like this was on the Cluster, It reminded me alot of the Cluster actually. The smoggy, hazy night sky. The yellow lights of the streets and the office buildings that loomed above us as we drove on a freeway which was sunken into the ground. It was pretty impressive going through all of the tunnels and the under the overpasses surrounded by all of this Infrastructure. Aurora had assured me earlier that this place wasn't a member of the League of 20,000 earlier so I was pretty relieved, although on first glance at L.A as they called it. I would have assumed so. We passed by a series of monoliths that made up L.A's downtown. Aurora was amazed at these skyscrapers. The tallest of them was geometric in shape and round and its top was lit up like a crown which in turn illuminated the clouds above it. Impressive but I have seen much bigger in my lifetimes I thought as the lights and small high rises whizzed passed me. 

The sky outside my window began to slowly turn into a dark blueish color as this world's sun was beginning to rise. Aurora had finally reached her destination. We stopped in some giant concrete field which appeared to be deserted. Aurora let out a deep breath next to me as she rested her head on the steering wheel. "You ready?" she asked, I nodded. She opened the car door where the first thing I heard was the sound of the ocean waves crashing in the distance. I immediately opened my door as this sound was so familiar to me. It was still dark blue outside, It was cloudy, my eyes were being assaulted by the bright white fluorescent like lights which were illuminating this lot. A breeze hit me as me and Aurora walked to the end of what felt like a small concrete desert. Aurora's majestic brunette hair blew in waves as we walked over a sand dune revealing a massive beach and ocean before us. Aurora turned and smiled at me before running towards the shore. I chased after her. "Wait up!" 

Aurora lifted her long bohemian skirt as her feet kissed the water. She spun towards me like she was dancing. Aurora dropped her skirt while throwing her arms up in the air and collapsing onto her knees just as a wave hit her. "It's beautiful!" she yelled followed by a loud "WOOO!!!!!!" In all of my lifetimes I was always surrounded by water, I grew up and lived on tropical B6F which was a vacation world for clerics, and for thousands of years and many lives, I lived on Water. No land or beaches there but similar feel. This place did not feel new to me at all although it was relaxing even on a sub conscience level. Aurora however looked like she was in heaven, like she had never seen something like this before. "I didn't ever expect to make it here!" Aurora happily proclaimed extending her hand inviting me to wade in the shallow shore with her. I indulged her although I was off in my own little world. Why did it feel like I was just on a beach only a short time ago? Although the last thing I remember was dying on Water before waking up in the desert.

Aurora was in ecstasy, while me, I was having an existential crisis still, even more so on this beach. The sun was rising turning the dark blue into an endless grey, It was cloudy and silent, well other than the wind, the ocean, and Aurora's cheers. I sat in the sand and watched Aurora as she collapsed onto her back lying in the ocean. "I'm fine!" she yelled while just relaxing as she floated there. I got up and proceeded to wash my face with the ocean's salt water as I saw a grey shimmer of my reflection. What have I become I asked myself. "Whats wrong?" Aurora gleefully yelled as if I was pooping on her parade. I told her the last time I remember being on a beach like this, I was home.... with my brother. I experienced a rush of emotions like right now as I tell you this story.

The Grey sky above the beach faded into the bright white of wherever this place is. Lilly broke down into tears again. This story was hard for her to tell. It was true, the last time she remembered being on a beach was when she was indeed on B6F living happily with her brother Dylan as she had no memories of the two visits to the metaphysical beach. Lilly's soul still longed to know what happened to Dylan. The therapist like mystery woman proceeded to take Lilly's hand to comfort her, very similar to how Lilly soothed Aurora earlier. Lilly took a few moments, she was incredibly overwhelmed between the past and present.

"Do you want to rest right now and we can come back to this later?" asked the woman. "No." responded Lilly "This is the first time I have gotten any of this out to anyone other than Aurora. You're the first to hear my entire story from beginning to now" She continued. 

"Okay, so what happened after you got to Los Angeles, where did you two sleep?" The unknown woman asked. "At first we slept on the beach, well tried anyhow, it started to rain a little bit." We go back to that grey dreary day to see it was in fact pouring rain. The winds gusted wildly as Lilly and Aurora were attempting to climb up a flight of steps on the side of the palisades. They had just finished crossing an elevated pedestrian bridge over a wide coastal highway. A massive lightning bolt stuck the Ferris Wheel on the Santa Monica Pier letting out a thunderous roar. As the rain drenched them soaking them harder than the ocean ever could, Aurora led Lilly by the hand to a blue medium sized, two story, old Victorian house with a giant 'FORECLOSED No Trespassing' sign on it. Lilly still could not read so she had no idea what this meant, Aurora however did. 

"Do you know the people who live here?" yelled Lilly as the loud rain flowed down her face like a river around a rock. Aurora with her hair soggy and flat shouted sarcastically "Yeah, they're really nice people" while attempting to pick the lock to the backdoor. It took a few tries as it was hard to pick a lock with everything wet and slippery but Aurora eventually got lucky as one of the tumblers clicked. The door opened almost pulling Aurora in thanks to the pressure she was putting on it. The two found themselves in a house that had been abandoned for quite awhile. Flashes of lightning briefly lit the dark rooms. Aurora flipped the light switch, no power just as expected. Lilly's survival instincts immediately kicked in and she began searching for supplies. She searched the kitchen drawers in front of her while looking out a window being endlessly splashed by rain. Lilly found a dull cooking knife and began sharpening it using a brick right on the spot.

"I hope you're not planning on murdering me with that...." Aurora commented while fishing for a flashlight out of her backpack. Lilly remained silent as she acknowledged her with just her eyes. "On your planet, I think I will need it." Lilly remarked as Aurora tapped on her flashlight finally getting it to turn on. The two continued to move through the house eventually reaching the upstairs bedrooms. The roof was obviously leaking as raindrops trickled in. At least they were warm and dry they thought as they did find a left over bed, surprisingly still in decent condition. The two dried off with moldy left over towels Aurora handed Lilly a fresh black t shirt from her bag and smiled. "It's a better alternative to that." Aurora's eyes rolled in regards to Lilly's tattered Musictown outfit. Lilly unfolded the shirt and examined it, it was written in a text she could not read. For some reason she could read on Fire and Water due to the magical nature of those two planets, Earth however was a different story. Lilly asked Aurora to translate it. "Are you serious, you can throw knives but you can't read?" 

"I'm from another planet, remember?" Lilly remarked almost jokingly but actually serious. "Oh yeah that's right.... I completely forgot!" Aurora retorted in all of her sarcastic glory. "It says Nirvana and they're one of my favorite bands." Aurora answered and continued. "Are you actually serious? You don't know how to read?" Lilly nodded in response. Aurora was dumbfounded by the 'space cadet' standing in front of her trying figure out how to put on the t shirt as Lilly attempted to wear it over her soaked Musictown corset. "No.... stop right there, stop! let me help you..." Aurora intervened. 

Later that afternoon, sometime in the late evening Aurora awoke to golden sun rays coming through the window illuminating the left over raindrops like thousands of crystals. The sound of a stray, skinny black cat rummaging through her bag caught her attention. "Shew...." Aurora whispered trying not to wake Lilly who was next to her still snoring away. Lilly not only snored but tossed and turned violently. Aurora thought it was amazing that she managed to sleep through the 'WWF match' that must have been taking place on the bed all day. Aurora got out of bed and made another attempt to stave the cat off. The cat made a loud hiss which startling Aurora which in turn woke up Lilly. The kitchen knife from earlier went flying towards the poor cat missing it only by a hair and impaling the hardwood floor below. 

"JESUS H. CHRIST! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!???" Aurora screamed in disbelief. Lilly realized that there was no danger and took a deep breath. "It was just a kitty Lilly!" yelled Aurora before inhaling and exhaling slowly. Aurora placed both of her palms together upwards to pray and looked up. "Please God, help me...." Aurora softly spoke as she rolled her eyes. 'Unbelievable.'

The room was now lit in a bright gold hue, the birds in the overgrowth outside the house sung peacefully. The leaves dripped creating a feeling of serenity as the storm had passed. There was a calm as the backdoor opened and Aurora and Lilly stepped out of the house. Lilly now wearing Aurora's Nirvana t shirt and one of her Burning Man style hippie skirts. Both girls were enthralled by the beauty before them. The clouds majestically roared above them lit up in gold, orange, and red as the sun was beginning to set on the street. The California palm trees silhouetted perfectly against this radiant sky like a post card. Both girls stood on the middle of this quite suburban street and looked at one another. "Welcome to paradise" Aurora cheerfully spoke. Lilly remained silent still taking in this brand new world which was understandably overwhelming to her. The sunset and this moment however represented a shimmer of hope to her. Maybe this time, things will be different. 

The next day, Aurora took Lilly to the Los Angeles public library. "What are we doing here?" asked Lilly. Aurora explained that they were here to help Lilly with her illiteracy problem and Aurora wanted to learn more about her new city by using one of the library computers. "There is this new thing called the Internet, I'm going to use it to figure out how were going to survive here, you look around and see if anything interests you." Aurora stated as she sat in front of a white boxy computer monitor with a Windows 95 logo flickering on its screen. Lilly proceeded to look around, this place reminded her alot of Hogtown with the books and communications devices everywhere, just more alive and not as hostile as there was other people just sitting around reading. 

Lilly explored until she stumbled upon a room where a teacher and a group of teenagers were watching a VHS tapes documenting the events of World War II on bulky television sets. This drew Lilly's attention as she recognized some of these images from none other than her Hogtown experience in her last life, namely the Nuremberg trials and the atomic bomb dropping on Hiroshima, the last thing her Rand, and April saw before the device kicked the bucket on them. Lilly rudely interrupted the female teacher asking when this took place and for the present date. The old teacher looked at her like she was a complete idiot but she reluctantly answered 1946, and 1999. "Thank you" Lilly bluntly responded as she proceeded to do the math in her head. 

"My last life was almost 50 years ago I concluded... At that moment I knew how long ago it was until I plunged to my death on Water and then woke up in the desert. It felt like a split second, as if no time had passed at all, but it amazed me to learn that almost fifty whole years had passed between lives, the Revelation was amazing!" said Lilly to the unknown woman back in the white room. "I also knew, I was now standing on the planet those images had come from, I didn't know which to find more intriguing, We had be near or in the same star system as Fire and Water I thought. Same constellations in the night sky, the radio signals, this planet and Fire and Water had to be connected some how." 

"You're correct, smart girl." The unknown woman confirmed. 

Back in the past in the library. Lilly's fascination with Earth just exploded but one problem remained, she still did not know how to read. Lilly went up to a cute boy who was on a ladder stocking the shelves with more books. "Excuse me, where do I go to learn how to read?" she pleasantly asked. The boy had a confused look on his face. "Were you born yesterday?" he rudely asked. "Two days ago actually." Lilly responded as he pointed to the children's section with a look of disbelief on his face. 

About an hour later Aurora and Lilly dropped half a dozen children's reading books in front of the same guy who was now working at the register. He presented a disgusted facial expression as he looked up at both girls. "She's a reincarnated space alien from the planet B6-something" Aurora remarked as she shrugged her shoulders. "Fire and Wa.... Actually." Lilly stuttered as Aurora dragged her by the arm towards the door with the books with the boy awkwardly staring at them both. 

Days went by and Lilly and Aurora had successfully colonized the abandoned house and made it their own. Still no running water or electricity, but Lilly having been involuntarily been on Fire more than once knew a few survival skills for obtaining Water. Aurora helped her learn how to read the English language through the children's books they got previously at the library. Aurora came home one night to find Lilly sharpening at least a series of twenty knives and sewing together a harness to conceal her knives under her skirt. The knives varied in style and purpose. "Where did you get all of these?" asked Aurora with a raised eyebrow. "Mostly around the house." Lilly lifted a military grade dagger and presented it to Aurora "I got this one yesterday from a guy who came up to me and asked for my money, he said something along the lines of 'I will cut you bitch.' Anyway, I never saw a guy run so fast since the Cluster when I disarmed him." Lilly proceeded to move onto another knife and lifted it up. "And this one, I got it from some guy who was selling some powdery stuff on the side of the stee...." Aurora Interrupted her. "Okay! I really don't want to know anymore! forget that I asked" Lilly smiled finding Aurora's reaction amusing while looking down to find the same black cat from earlier eating an opened can of tuna on the floor. "At least I made a new friend." Lilly said to Aurora, the cat looked up at Lilly and hissed. "Maybe not..." Lilly retracted her statement, Aurora smirked. 

Aurora looked over the magazines and books Lilly had accumulated in her attempt to learn how to read. Some of the books included. Gun Enthusiast, The Second Amendment and You, and The Prince by Machiavelli. "Okay, seriously Lilly?" Aurora proclaimed as she held up 'The Second Amendment and You' which cover featured a picture of a cowboy on a horse holding up a machine gun up against an American flag. 

"She tried really hard to make me fit in" Lilly continued to narrate to the unknown woman. 

What's wrong? I responded as Aurora looked at me I was a total weirdo.... again. "Are you plotting to overthrow the United States government? Seriously?" Aurora asked me in a irritated tone. "Is that the same as the Divine Order? If so then yes." I responded. She then began to lecture me that not 'everyone' is out to kill me and I should follow her as she wanted to show me something. I reached for my knife bandoleer only for her to yell to me to "leave it here!"

Aurora took me to this place called a skate park. It was on the beach and had these really hot guys on things called Skateboards, which were pretty much smaller versions of surf boards that had wheels on them. I will admit, Earth had a very vibrant culture, from the cute skater boys, to the many types of music, and English wasn't the only language I was teaching myself, most of Los Angeles spoke another language called Spanish. Needless to say I had a great time socializing at the skate park, Didn't meet anyone I clicked with romantically nor did I want to after my most recent heartbreak with December, It may have been one life ago but I still felt it. But it was really nice chilling with friendly people my age under the palm trees with the sun setting over the Pacific. After that night, Aurora opened me up to Earth's many wonders and helped me focus less on the grotesqueness taking place in the world around me. We didn't have television at our abandoned house, but I would watch the news all of the time at the Library where I frequented for books and despite what Aurora told me, I liked to be prepared, It's almost as if she forgot that we were kidnapped by men who wanted to turn us into black market Love Slaves. 

None the less Earth was an amazing place, I even learned that Earth's wonders went beyond the city of Los Angeles, even this "United States" as there were many other countries and nations on this planet, each with their own cultures and languages. I had never seen or heard of so much diversity on one planet alone. Also the amount of freedom that existed here. There were no books or shopping malls in the Divine Order, no rock music, no MTV, no ice cream either. I loved it here despite its flaws, as months went by Earth became more of a vacation paradise to me more than Water ever was. 

"MTV? What's that?" The unknown woman asked, she then went onto continue. "I also visited Earth once, I tried to make the most of it, but I never visited this California place..." 

"Oh MTV, It was one of many channels on the television. Music Television for short, music videos which they really didn't play much of surprisingly and oh yeah mostly reality TV which reminds me, guess who I saw gracing the screen one day many months later?" 

Lilly responded as we cut to see her and Aurora both eating Pizza in a deli together watching a television which sat above them. Lilly spotted none other than her old friend, Stelios, later April, then May and now hilariously enough, June. This latest incarnation of April was now a reality TV star. "She was just as 'lobotomized' and vapid personality wise on television as she was in pretty much all of her lives." Lilly continued. "When I spotted her I should have been in disbelief, but hey, I was reincarnated over a thousand times over and remember her from numerous lives. It was just surprising seeing her here, on this world out of all places." 

June gave a public service announcement while doing an interview with a talk show host. "And don't forget to vote next week!" June giddly yelled eager to get off the stage. The TV host grabbed her arm as she tried to exit the stage. "And who are you voting for this election cycle?" June paused for a minute. "I don't know, probably Reggie." 

The unknown woman seemed un-phased by this revelation as Lilly continued. "But seeing April or June as she now called herself displaying her breasts on television was the least of my worries, this is about where things on Earth began going 'downhill; so to speak."

We see a news commentator with slightly graying hair slicked back from his large widow's peak speaking in handsome but almost monotone sounding voice. "According to a recent census report, the world's population has apparently 'tripled' overnight from six billion to almost twenty billion in the past year... Well that can't be right!" The news anchor turned his head over to his colleague who was off screen with a look of cynicism on his face. The anchorman sighed out loud making no effort to hide his utter disgust. He continued with a concerned look on his face "Well that 'might' explain why the crime rate has soared to over 500%"

"And that it did...." Lilly interjected as we cut to Lilly's red nail polished fingers placing a cassette tape into her walkman. As she slipped on her clunky headphones. 'Been Caught Stealing' By Janes Addiction blasted at max volume as she walked out the door of her house on a sunny blue day. She walked past her neighbor, an elderly 82 year old man trying to fend off the black cat with a broom only for the cat to pounce on his leg attacking him. Lilly didn't notice this as her eyes were distracted by the helicopters buzzing the skies above her. The choppers were flying towards the many pillars smoke billowing from the random fires and explosions taking place through out the city. Police and emergency first responder sirens wailed as the smoke rose above the palm trees and the hazy Los Angeles skyline in the distance. 

Two cars fiercely whizzed by Lilly both engaging in a shootout with one another as the song on her Walkman continued to play. This was now a daily thing on Earth. "It was like the world had just turned upside down overnight." Lilly narrated as she reached her destination which was a grocery store a few blocks away. Security were randomly wrestling a man to the ground as Lilly walked in. "I remember the week this all started, guns literally flew off the shelves, so glad I stocked up before hand... suck it Aurora!" Lilly spoke again. Lilly picked up her usual food, payed the clerk who was the same exact guy from the library who now had an even bigger frown on his face. Lilly observed two police officers chasing down an old man who was streaking naked down the street. "What the hell has gotten into people the past few days?" Lilly uttered under her tongue. 

The music faded as we jump forward to later that night back at the abandoned house Lilly and Aurora laid awake together. It was pretty hard to sleep as car alarms were blaring outside as someone had just recently fired a rocket at one of their neighbor's houses. The cat actually was managing to get some shut eye at the foot of the bed unsurprisingly. "You know, all of this started with you..." Aurora stated. "What do you mean?" Lilly asked almost taking offense to this. "No, calm down, I'm not saying this is your fault! What I am saying is, where did all of these people came from?" This hit Lilly like a ton of bricks, Aurora was onto something as she continued. "These people are like how I found you, completely clueless, worst yet, some are actually trying to hide it, but its obvious!" Lilly looked back at Aurora while placing her hand on hers. "You actually believe me? I never thought you did and just accepted it as it is and moved on."

"I had my skepticism sure, but after awhile, it made sense." Lilly smiled as Aurora went on but Lilly drowned out her sentimental monologue deep in thought. "If April (Stelios) and everyone else from Fire and Water is here, then that must mean..... Oh no! Then that must mean 'he' is here too." Lilly uttered out loud much to Aurora's confusion. "He?" Aurora asked, "Fire and Water?"

"Prince......" Lilly softly spoke in a serious tone with a hint of fear. "Well, I'm here for you if you need me." Aurora clenched Lilly's hand sensing her terror almost as if all of the warmth had just been sucked out of the room at that moment. Lilly hugged Aurora. "Whatever happens, I will protect you." Lilly promised. "No, I'll protect you." Aurora smiled and chuckled but in a serious tone as a single tear dropped from her left eye. Aurora didn't fully comprehend what was going on, but judging by the sound of gunfire going off in the distance outside, she knew something foul was brewing.

The next week Lilly was lounging at the public library while listening to the news on the television in the background. "Tragedy has struck as the SETI Institute, the organization that searches for extra terrestrial life was struck by a suicide bomber today leaving all 52 employees dead in a statement released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation." The news anchor reported with a look of disappointment on his face. "What is this world coming too?" an old lady scoffed at the television and then towards Lilly. "Don't look at me!" Lilly exclaimed. Lilly soon exited the Library as Aurora pulled up in a red convertible which she had just recently hot wired in another county away. "Hop in Dork, were going to the beach" shouted Aurora. Lilly smirked and the two drove off. 

Lilly relaxed on the beach enjoying a vibrant sunset next to her boombox radio which was softly playing Len's Steal my Sunshine. Lilly was distracted briefly by the sound of police sirens as two cars whizzed by on the cliffs above her. The song ended with breaking news that Independent candidate Reginald J Priest had won the presidential election in a landslide. Two political pundits began to furiously argue over the radio resulting in a disgusting look on Lilly's face not being one to enjoy her music being interrupted. "AMERICA IS GOING DOWN THE TOILET!......" Could be last heard as Lilly turned her dial to find another station for music. As Lilly scrambled to find another channel her survival reflexes kicked in out of nowhere as she caught a weird mechanical carrot which seemed to soar through the air. She managed to break it in half with her hand. She gazed at it for a moment. "Hmmmm" she thought, she turned back to her radio and found a station playing music and continued to relax. As she laid back she noticed the song on the radio had a familiar ring to it. 

Lilly sat up. "I know this song.... I heard it before, but not on this planet...." Then the realization finally hit her. "No..... I played this, back on Music Town, in every life there...." Lilly heard a scream in the distance. She ran off to discover that Aurora had found a bloody, mutilated body laying in the sand. Two more of those carrot things from earlier whizzed through the air making a screeching noise. Lilly grabbed Aurora to duck narrowly avoiding one of these chirping menaces. The mechanical carrots then seemingly vanished. Lilly and Aurora then looked up to notice heavily armed men in tactical gear pointing assault rifles in their faces. Both girls were pushed face first into the sand and handcuffed by ATF agents. 

"And that is where everything on Earth really, really began to suck...." Lilly said to the unknown woman back in the bright white room as return to the present day. However something clicked with Lilly. "Wait, I have seen you before, you mentioned you had been to Earth before. I think I know where I saw you, I saw you on television didn't I? I forgot you're name."

The unknown late middle aged woman smiled and responded with a chuckle "It's Xev." And yes, I was, a very long time ago...." We pan back out of this room to see shiny hallways gleaming like crystals. It is revealed that the peaceful humming from earlier was the result of a giant heart like organ pulsing in what appeared to be a giant reactor core area, More organic silicone like corridors flyby as we finally exit this structure, a massive bio-mechanical dragonfly like starship with solar panel like wings extending from its body as it sits gracefully in a low orbit close to the surface of a sun almost being grazed by a solar flare. 

To Be Continued.