Handshake

The Interjection

Rain's POV

To be clear, I will be addressing you, the reader, during this chapter. How do I know you are reading? A little birdie told me. Of course, I am restricted from knowing the future of this story. I'll be just as surprised as you'll be.

I am Rain, otherwise known as Emily. My job is simple. Keep watch over the newcomers. Those are the ones who "woke up" from their Full Dive. I was in that position once, switching roles with Alkaline. As you saw in my past, I was abducted by an unknown alien vessel, along with Alkaline. We were deposited in the Master World, and we watched as Earth was destroyed in an exceptionally powerful solar flare. Eventually, the Master World drifted back towards Earth. At that point, we decided to stop moping and tried to get back to work in restoring our old world.

I may speak as if I did not care about the predicament I was in, but I'll tell you that I lost all my emotion already. The Graduates, which was our name for the aliens who abducted us few hundred humans, had deprived us of emotion. Soon, I believe that Alkaline will succumb to this fate.

I simply state fact now. I believe you, the reader, are from what we know as the Precession Era. You may know it as 2XXX, C.E. , or 12XXX, H.E.. It was your kind that caused the downfall of Earth, but not through your own fault. The Graduates were waiting for Homo sapiens to become advanced enough that they would enslave you. Of course, we were selected off of intellectual merit as the second class. We are currently an independent species, genetically engineered to be both mentally and physically superior to humans. Homo oraculum, we are called. Not all of us have powers, however. Organic genetics isn't perfect.

Of course, we kept on researching and experimenting, holding onto hope that we would solve this mystery. And we all convinced ourselves that the Graduates are not watching.

As this mysterious entity told me, the description you read was a complete fabrication. The story is not what you think it is at all.

I simply warn you, this world is unpredictable. This story will not be for the faint of heart. Only entropy can tell our fate.

I am now to conclude this aside, and I shall do so by telling you that I must attend to my newcomer. Alkaline still has yet to become fully aware. Then, we shall test him. He may be an exception. The apparition that we call the Handshake gave us yet another cryptic prophecy.

"It is such, I shall reveal,
Your patience is a gamble.
The Exception may be concealed,
But do not scramble.

It may not appear. It may be an enigma.
The four clues will be delegated.
One of intellectual aptitude.
Two of human intent.
Three of enlightenment.
Four of divergence.
They have the chance to combine. Only the Conformist may cause the reaction.
Have it happen, and all but one shall be restored to those at selection.
Unity, will not prevail.
Only Entropy, will tell."