1 Aksel I: Enjoy the Play

Aksel stared at the reflection of him through the mirror. His weak body relied on both of his hands, which rested on the sink. He looked messy as he had just awoken; however, the 17-year-old boy looked devastated for no reason.

His eyes seemed to be tired, despite him just waking up from a nine-month hibernation. His facial expression expressed nothing but exhaustion.

Knock. Knock.

"Aksel, are you all fine there, man?" Curtis, who waited for Aksel outside the narrow toilet, asked the boy and broke the silence.

"Uh, yeah. I just… had a little headache, but I'm fine now," said Aksel while turning his head to the right. For the first time in five minutes, he turned his eyes off the mirror. The object he looked at was the floor now; nevertheless, the boy could still see himself in the mirror through the corner of his left eye.

"Okay. Just tell me if you need help or anything. I'll always be here," Curtis told Aksel.

"Got it," Aksel gave a short final response.

The tan-skinned boy then turned his head to the sink again. He turned the tap on and started to wash his face using only his right hand. His left hand stayed on the sink to support his body.

While washing his face, Aksel occasionally looked in the mirror. He washed his mouth, too, and still looked in the mirror twice while doing so. It was all normal at first, until he saw something other than himself reflected in the object before him.

For the first nanoseconds, his mind didn't process it. He proceeded to take more water before finally realizing that he just saw something behind him from the mirror. The boy was shocked. He stopped; he was frozen in place.

While the tap was still on, Aksel slowly raised his head. He also put back his right hand on the sink. He wasn't brave enough to immediately turn his eyes to the mirror again. Those light-brown eyes would continuously be fixed on the tap. However, once his head stood upright, Aksel dared himself to stare at the mirror.

The 'thing' was still present there; the boy knew this, too. He had known it since before his head even totally stood. It was a blurry, strange dark creature for him before he turned his eyes back to the mirror; but he saw more than that just a moment later.

That moment he finally stared at the mirror, Aksel saw a tall, all-dark, almost human-like creature standing behind him. The creature was so tall that it actually didn't fit the toilet. Half of its torso was on the ceiling of the toilet due to its height. The creature was also very thin.

It seemed like a shadow at first glance, but afterward, it was all clear that the creature was physically real and wasn't a mere shadow. It also had hair, which covered almost its entire face except for the lips.

In addition, the creature's entire body looked like it was melting. Aksel could hear every single drop of liquid that fell from its 'melting' body to the floor. The liquid was thick, almost like blood.

The creature didn't move at first. All Aksel saw initially was the creature and how the dark liquid kept falling from its body, even from its head. However, after he spent a while looking at the creature through the mirror, Aksel started to notice that the creature's head was moving. This caused Aksel's eyes to follow the movement of its head, despite the fear he felt.

Aligning with the boy's now heavier breath, the creature slowly looked in the mirror. Aksel's heart was beating faster and faster. For a moment, the boy was frozen in this position. He was fixed to the creature.

Aksel then took a deep breath.

He let his breath out the moment he turned around; just in time before the creature could finish its movement and look in the mirror completely. Aksel found nothing, nevertheless, after dodging the possible eye contact with the creature.

There was nothing behind him after he turned around. There was only the door, and he was stunned for a couple of seconds.

For his eyes wandered left and right, he found nothing in the narrow toilet. Despite that, Aksel was relieved; though, he seemed to be confused and scared still. The boy sighed a relief moments later, further declaring his relief.

He realized, not long after, that the tap was still on. The water was still flowing. His hands were also still on the sink as his body was yet to be strong enough to support his own weight.

It was during this moment that Aksel intended to turn off the tap and stand facing the mirror once again, just before something strange happened and prevented him from doing so.

The tap was turned off on its own, suddenly.

Aksel was certainly surprised when he stopped hearing the sound of the water flowing and at the same time, hearing the sound of the tap being turned off. He knew what could possibly be the reason for that to happen, without even having to turn around and confirm it for himself.

The boy later felt some kind of breeze blow behind him. By this point, he could already confirm it for himself. He knew it. The creature was there next to the mirror, and its head was right behind his left ear.

"Welcome. You have exchanged life with hell," the creature whispered to Aksel's ear in such an eerie voice.

Aksel let go of the sink afterward as he tried to open the door; nevertheless, one second later he was petrified because the creature held his right hand in the air.

"Now, enjoy the play," the creature continued.

"Curt! I need help!" The shout Aksel just let out was heard by both Curtis and Rosemarie in the hibernation room.

They were chatting next to Aksel's hibernation capsule. The shout prompted Curt to quickly run over to the toilet, which was on the right side at the end of the room. Rosemarie, who had just come to the room to deliver Aksel's glasses, put the glasses immediately on the capsule's bed. The girl followed Curt right after.

Curt then opened the door to the toilet; however, he found only Aksel, kneeling on the floor.

"What happened?!" The dark-skinned young man helped his best friend's step-brother to get up.

"I… slipped and fell. I-I'm so sorry that I bother you-"

"A-are you hurt?" Rosemarie asked the boy in such worry.

Aksel seemed to be a little distracted by her presence there, "No…" he stated as he was getting up with Curt's help. Both Curt and Rosemarie then helped Aksel to walk. They took him out of the toilet.

The door to the hibernation room was wide open; from there, Liz was seen entering the room. Liz had just returned with her medical trolley full of equipment. She entered the room pushing the trolley and asked, "What happened?"

"Oh, Liz, glad you're back. Aksel fell in the toilet," Curt replied to Liz.

"Fell? Curtis, you had one job," said Liz. She stopped once she reached Aksel's capsule.

"I know... please, for now, promise me not to tell Jordan-" Curt was stunned and couldn't finish his words as he saw the figure of Jordan next to the hibernation room door.

"Not to tell me what?" Jordan asked Curt two seconds after the 19-year-old went silent. The woman had just also entered the room; she was only a couple of seconds later than Liz. She looked confused, but curious at the same time.

"N-nothing," Curt tried to hide the truth from that woman he had a crush on.

Jordan then looked at Liz, who, by the way, had turned to her the moment she heard her asking Curt.

"Aksel fell in the toilet," Liz told Jordan. She knew the look was Jordan's way of asking her what happened.

"What?!" Jordan's curious facial expression changed to a concerned one in less than two seconds. The woman quickly approached Aksel, Curt, and Rosemarie, who were about to reach the capsule anyway.

Curt, on the other hand, gave Liz a death stare; but it didn't last long as he tried to act nice in front of Jordan.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? How did that happen?" Jordan gave Aksel three questions at once. She was still carrying the boy's clothes; she left the room earlier to get them.

"Jordan, I'm fine," stated Aksel as he sat on his capsule's bed. Rosemarie made sure the boy didn't sit on the glasses.

"How come you are fine? You've just awoken from your hibernation and we haven't even checked on your condition, yet you fell and are probably injured-"

"I slipped a little and am not injured. You have nothing to worry about," Aksel held his stepmother's hand and spoke gently to her with direct eye contact.

They were both quiet for a moment while looking at each other still.

"Okay," Liz broke the silence.

"Let's take a look at your condition, then," the 26-year-old woman added as she prepared her equipment.

Jordan's eyes became teary afterward, "Okay," she said to her stepson with a smile. The woman would later put Aksel's clothes on the bed and started to help Liz.

Aksel seemed to be confused upon looking at Jordan's sudden change. He looked at Curt after that, but Curt didn't say anything or hint at him in return.

"How do you feel, Aksel?" Liz asked Aksel a moment later. She began the medical check-up.

"I… feel weak. It's like I'm helpless," Aksel responded to her almost immediately.

"All right. That is the major side effect we've talked about before hibernation. Do you remember it?"

"Yeah."

"Anything else?"

Aksel was quiet for a while after that one question.

"I had dreams. I had millions of them while I was hibernating," he said with eyes fixed on the floor.

"Mostly were nightmares. I can picture tons of them in my mind still…" Aksel continued.

"And I think I've mixed those nightmares with reality. It kind of bothers me," he concluded as he looked at Liz, who was still monitoring his body.

"Can you give one example of that?" Jordan asked with a frown.

Aksel turned to his step-mother for a moment before he looked at the floor again.

"When I looked in the mirror earlier, I saw something. Something from one of those nightmares," he revealed, raising his head to look at Jordan once again.

The woman was there; however, something uninvited was also there.

Aksel saw a woman-like creature, hanging upside down on the ceiling like a house gecko.

From its appearance, this creature looked so much more like a human compared to the previous one. It looked like a ghost at the first glance. Only it didn't have human hands and legs; but four gecko legs instead.

"What was that?" Jordan was curious about the thing that Aksel saw in the mirror; nevertheless, Aksel's eyes were fixed on the ceiling behind her.

The boy was shocked upon looking at the creature for the first time. He didn't have much reaction, however, as he was petrified and frozen in place.

"Aksel?" Jordan called the boy and started to notice that there was something strange about him. The woman then turned to the direction Aksel was looking at, which was the ceiling.

The same thing was also done by Curt and Rosemarie almost at the same time. None of them found anything there.

"Aksel, are you all right?" Jordan called the boy again afterward. She also tapped his shoulder gently this time.

"Uh? Yeah," Aksel gave a response eventually and turned his eyes off the ceiling.

"Did you see something?"

"Bradley. It was Bradley in the mirror," said Aksel, changing the topic back to the mirror.

His attempt to change the topic made Jordan and Liz look at each other.

"Who's Bradley?" Curt was confused.

"A boy in school… he was a bully," answered Rosemarie while looking down. The short, soft-voiced girl seemed to hold back a trauma in her facial expression.

"So, you dreamed of unpleasant experiences you had in your life?" Liz asked Aksel as she got up. She had just finished the check-up.

Aksel didn't answer it instantly. He was quiet for a moment with an empty look at the door to the toilet, "Mostly," he replied to Liz's question moments later.

"I still see them now that I'm awake," the boy added as he turned to Liz. It was at this moment that he also tried to sneak at the ceiling through the tip of his eye. Nevertheless, the creature had gone.

"Do you think this has something to do with his condition or health?" Jordan asked Liz, prompting the woman to turn to her.

"I don't think so. He is in a perfectly good condition. Everything is normal; he just lost his motoric ability temporarily. But that is the side effect of the hibernation; we all know that. Each of the Saviors experienced it also," said Liz.

"And I don't think it would make sense to link his health to this… phenomenon," she added as she looked back at Aksel.

They all fell into silence after that.

"Hmm. This might have something to do with how long he slept," Curtis broke the silence a moment later.

"What do you mean?" Jordan asked, sounding like she was interrogating him.

"I don't know about the others, but I had dreams, too," he said.

"At first, they felt like part of reality. It was probably because I lived in those dreams for quite some time," the young man added.

"Wait, what? So, you experienced this thing, too?" Liz frowned.

"Well, no. But I think I would have experienced it, too, if I slept for nine months like he did," Curtis' answer pushed Liz to roll her eyes.

"Nine months?" Meanwhile, Aksel was shocked to find out how long he hibernated. The boy turned to his stepmother afterward.

Jordan took a deep breath, then exhaled, "You're two months late to wake," she told him.

"W-what? What happened?" Aksel looked lost. He was shocked most of all.

"I'm sorry, Aksel. I can't really explain it either. Your attachment progress stuck at sixty-six point six percent for weeks. I tried to find out why, but I couldn't find the answer."

"But, why? You're the Engineer."

"She is the Engineer and she spent days and nights trying to solve it, but there is no answer. Nothing went wrong with your attachment; it just mysteriously stopped at that number for almost two months," Liz explained further.

After hearing that, Aksel and Jordan looked at each other for a while. The boy showed fear and worry through his eyes, and Jordan understood what it meant.

"He won't know. We sent a message back to Arcadia two months ago, saying that the Mission had started. Don't worry. It's none of your fault, too," Jordan assured her stepson.

"But, Jordan, it's too risky. If he finds out we're all lying, everything will be messed up," said Aksel.

Jordan later stepped forward and knelt to equate her height to his. The woman then held the palm of his left hand with both of her hands, "He'll find nothing, sweetheart; believe me. Even if he does, it won't be 'we're all lying'; it'll only be me lying."

Liz provided a supporting statement, "And it most likely won't even happen, now that you've awoken."

Aksel briefly turned to the woman.

"The message will reach Arcadia in seven days. By the time he reads it, the Mission has actually started. It won't affect much, but there won't be any differences either, especially with the Mission going on," Jordan tried to assure Aksel one more time.

However, Jordan's words prompted Curt to question, "Wait, what? We're going to start it immediately after he wakes up? Seven days won't be enough for him to adapt."

"We still need to discuss it with Jake, but I'm afraid that's what the situation forces us to do now," Jordan gave a calmer response.

"What situation?" asked Aksel, frowning. The boy looked at his stepmother and Curt alternately.

"There was an explosion around thirty minutes before you woke up. It destroyed units six and seven completely and damaged units four and five quite severely. Right now, Captain Jake and the rest of us are still handling the situation outside, but Jordan is probably right; this has left us very few options to do if none at all," Liz revealed the condition of the space station.