24 Nightmare and Dream

It was a possibility, one so unlikely they did not consider it, or maybe they were just too panicked to remember the fact.

Minutes of heart-dropping silence and gasps of terror had passed, Calyx gripping a spear in his hand, unsure if he was ready to make what could easily be the hardest decision of his life.

Haze sat there, with each passing second coming to terms with what he now understood was inevitable demise. However, just minutes after, which felt like forever, it never came.

It was like a band-aid; the faster it was ripped off, the quicker the pain was over. Haze had hoped for a quick rip-off, yet, this was slow and very much painful. His acceptance as time went on turned to cold realization that he would never see his mother or Hal or Calyx ever again, that his life ends here, and he could do nothing about it.

"Why is it taking so long? Why did this have to happen?" Haze exclaimed, his fear and frustration mixing into rage.

"Why the hell do I have to die here?! I want to live, Calyx!" Haze's voice pierced through the empty station, while Calyx stared at him, saying nothing. He had nothing to say.

Yet his mind raced with thoughts.

"Was he not exposed to Quasarite? No, he was. The infected was right beside him," Calyx pondered.

He tried to remember if it took this long for the people in his hometown to transform, but he had not known when they were exposed, so he couldn't be sure. If the transformation was close to immediate and Haze was still yet to transform, that could only mean one thing...

"You're a Quasar," Calyx blurted out, his eyes staring blankly at him as he measured the possibilities.

"What?" Haze mumbled.

"If you were exposed to Quasarite, and you don't get infected by the Chaos taint after so long, you must be a Quasar," Calyx said, a burst of joy and relief bubbling inside him, only suppressed by the fact that if the transformation was not near immediate, like he is assuming, Haze will still turn.

"Are you saying... But... I felt my body transforming, I thought I was turning into a monster," Haze stuttered in confusion.

"Or you were just turning into a Quasar; that was your full awakening," Calyx theorized.

"Now that you said that, I can hear it," Haze said, turning to the right of the tracks.

"The train approaching a couple of miles out, the footsteps of the monsters outside this station, the suppressed breaths of a person hiding in a nearby building, I can hear it, sense it all," Haze said.

Calyx fell backward, laying on the floor as he looked to the roof of the station, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Haha, we really are dumb, aren't we? Your terrifying senses never were normal, now that I think about it?" Calyx said.

"So you are saying that my senses and the absurd amplification right now are because I'm a Quasar?" Haze asked.

"Yes, it seems like mental resonance, so you aren't just a Quasar; you might be one with double resonance," Calyx informed.

"Haha...hahahah," Haze began laughing hysterically, and soon enough, Calyx followed suit, their laughter echoing through the entire station.

"I'm not dying; I'm a Quasar," Haze said, as if trying to get himself to believe it was really happening.

"Yes," Calyx replied as he began to hear the sound of the train Haze had talked about moments ago.

"Quick, let's cross the tracks to the other side!" Calyx told Haze, standing up as they both moved swiftly, quicker than Haze could normally move.

"My body feels lighter," Haze noticed, as he had glided effortlessly across the train tracks, while Calyx walked over to the fallen Infected.

"Oh yeah? Wait till they put you in the Quasarite chamber," Calyx said, grunting as he flipped the monster over before grabbing his sword and pulling it out of the monster's chest.

"Well, it's blown up now, though," Calyx remembered as he sheathed his sword. The train then came to a stop in front of them as the doors slid open.

"Let's go, we've wasted enough time," Calyx said to Haze, handing him the spear he took earlier as he walked into the train, looking left and right for any signs of humans or infected.

Haze followed behind him, his face still one of disbelief. He had gone from being almost certain he would die to a lifelong dream of his coming true. However, he had no time to bask in happiness; he was in the middle of what felt like an apocalypse, and his mother was still out there somewhere.

"Now I can protect her, now I won't hold you back. We can fight side by side like the old days, huh?" Haze let out.

"Look at this kid; you are still far from being on my level," Calyx joked as the train door began to slide shut.

"Oh, fuck off," Haze replied as Calyx chuckled.

"Please take a seat and strap on your seat belts; we will begin moving soon," the train's system announced through the speakers.

"Well, let's go get Aunt," Calyx announced with determination.

"Yeah," Haze said with newfound confidence.