Raine VS The End of the World (65 page)

I’d like to thank Rachel Manija Brown, whose spirit moved me even after a single meeting. Her memoir “All The Fishes Come Home To Roost” is in turns funny, sad, insightful, heartwarming, and overall just a great read. I wish her all the best.

Also, writing wouldn’t have been in my cards had it not been for the feedback I received from my educators at CalArts (Profs. Astra, Buchanan, Horne, Klahr, Mairs, Sherman, and Tanaka), the support of my many English teachers throughout the years (Ms. Joji, Ms. Glo, Señora Correa, Prof. Daniel Cano, and many others – you know who you are!), and my readers on fanfiction.net.

Some of the music I listened to while writing: Rush, Yes, Utada Hikaru, School Food Punishment, Daft Punk’s “Tron Legacy OST”, “Alive” concert and “Random Access Memories”, Gorillaz’ “Plastic Beach” and “The Fall", Iron Maiden, Mozart, The Gathering, Beethoven, LiSA, Ayumi Hamasaki, BoA, Pink Floyd, the Metal Gear Rising OST, Child of Eden OST, Nobuo Uematsu’s compositions for the Final Fantasy series, Xion, Linkin Park, Vangelis’ “Blade Runner” OST, and Eric Serra’s OST for “The Big Blue”.

HariHariSonic, moderator of the awesome
Act Select Sonic the Hedgehog fansite
, very kindly allowed me to use his NiseUFOCatcher font for the book cover. Thanks, man! (A disclaimer regarding the book cover and promo art: it’s not artistically or geographically consistent with the
Metaverse
, in part due to stylistic concerns, but mostly because I can’t really draw.)

I’ve been told that gamers are allergic to fiction and that this story is too elaborate and demanding to be contained in one volume, but hopefully Raine, Lily, and Gerrit will find friends to join in their quests.

So here’s to saving the best for last. Most of all, I would like to thank you, the reader, for taking a chance and embarking on this special journey with me.

I welcome all questions, comments, and hecklings at
[email protected]
. Whether you enjoyed the story or not, I’m extremely grateful for any Amazon reviews. I’m hoping that the experience of sharing the things dearest to my imagination with the world, and engaging in a dialogue with a global audience about how we can collaborate with our loved ones to face our most uncertain future will help me grow not just as a writer and storyteller, but also as a human being.

Joseph Victor Choi

July 20, 2013 – April 7, 2014

August 12, 2080 AD:

Lillian Hermes is born to Carl and Elizabeth Hermes on the space station
Belladonna 5000.

April 13, 2087 AD:

The
Belladonna
is attacked by the UAA; Carl and Elizabeth Hermes are killed. To protect her and the
Belladonna
, Lillian is sent to the far past.

225,000,000 BC:

Seven-year-old Captain Lily arrives in the Triassic period and begins her parents’ assigned training to assume control of the
Belladonna.

225,000,002 BC:

At the age of nine, Lily completes intermediate training; she begins to receive messages from her future self regarding failed attempts to evacuate humanity from planet Earth before the solar flare wipes them out.

225,000,003 BC:

Having received over a dozen messages from failed future attempts, nine -year-old Lily travels to the future to begin the latest iteration of her mission (although for this instance of Lily, it is the first attempt, as will be reflected furthermore).

1980 AD:

After five failed solo attempts wherein Lily begins in the far future and moves gradually to the past, she modifies the
Belladonna’s
Remediator and initiates the year-long process of creating three clones to assist her.

August 12, 1981 AD:

Lorelei, Lucille, and Laramie are synthesized and achieve consciousness. Laramie changes her name to Lacie, because it “sounds cooler”.

1982 AD:

The clones complete their education and recite the
Time Keepers’ Oath.
Lily takes them on their first three attempts at the mission, undocumented in this file.

July 5, 1099 AD (Attempt #4)

The Jerusalem Un-Incident. Having been unsuccessful in their previous attempt, Lily and her clones fail to come to a consensus regarding whether they should take action and declare themselves as Goddesses at the time of the First Crusade, effectively pre-empting centuries of warfare. They decide to wait overnight to make a decision. The next morning, a future envelope informs them that this attempt will end in civil war between the sisters.

October 9, 1873 AD (Attempt #7)

Disguised as powerful noblewomen, the sisters visit Queen Victoria and discuss gathering her Generals to bear witness to the Time Keepers’ display of military might, in order to persuade the crown towards withdrawing from its many territories and working with the Time Keepers to foster an age of peaceful technological advancement.

Shortly after the successful demonstration, Lorelei receives her vision. Lily and Lorelei have a terrible argument regarding the nature of any conceivable damage their tampering with time has had on the universe. The discussion ends inconclusively, leaving Lorelei bitter and upset.

Though the next phase of Lillian’s plan would take the team seven years into the future, Lorelei refuses to participate, and instead attempts to bolster her Italian factories. She is practically yanked onto the
Belladonna.

November 5, 1880 AD (Attempt #7)

Upon arriving in the future, the Time Keepers discover that Lorelei’s droids mistakenly attacked a foreign convoy, inadvertently spurring on a series of battles that would become the first
Forgotten War
.

Livid, Lillian wants to travel back to the past, but Lorelei, after being reprimanded, pleads for them to find a present solution. The Time Keepers come up with a plan to salvage the attempt.

Unhappy at the possible repercussions of her Split-Universe theory being ignored, Lorelei recruits Lacie and forces Lucille into participating in mutiny. This sets the stage for
The Spacetime War.

Lorelei and Lacie steal twenty-two of the
Belladonna’s
fuel cells, and its power converter. Lucy attempts to aid Lily in subduing the other clones and preventing them from sending Lily two hundred years into the future without adequate resources, but is brutally murdered in the process. Lily is sent to the year 2180 at the age of 13.

Lorelei and Lacie hijack the
Raven
and land on Earth with a plethora of fuel cells.

November 1880 – February 2180 AD

Betraying the trust of the Royal Family, Lorelei and Lacie foster World War I into a global bloodbath, indirectly sealing the fate of billions of potential lives by focusing exclusively on machine growth, preventing growth of the global population past 1.5 billion.

Lorelei co-opts the dominant global powers by violently seizing control of the banks and working behind the scenes to assume command of every nation’s interests.

Over the next two centuries, Lorelei and Lacie build the massive fortress city-state of
Neo Eden,
and the mind-controlling
Endless Metaverse
, their tool to shepherd 90% of the human race into a fantasy world so as to give them solace even unto the ending of the world.

January 5-31, 2180 AD

Thirteen year-old Lily arrives in the
Belladonna,
understandably shocked at the world that Lacie and Lorelei have created. For a week she observes Lorelei’s progress. With Lucy’s fuel cells providing limited reserves, she discreetly manages a few trips to the recent past and back to the present in order to establish additional communes on Earth and annex factories, as well as strengthen the EDC freedom fighters.

February 14, 2180 AD

Having prepared her game plan, Lily sets out to meet Lorelei, descending to Earth. She approaches the Queen in the
Spire
asking for the return of the power converter and fuel cells. When Lorelei refuses, Lily challenges her to war, giving her and Lacie six years to change their minds.

March 2181 AD

Lillian gives a demonstration of her technology to the council of EDC Elders via hologram. They are impressed by her work. She is given a special position in the Research and Development Cabinet.

June 2181 AD

Lillian begins to use
Eden
factories in Busan, Jakarta, and Beijing to build up the EDC’s Carriers and android divisions. She sets up her own mines in Mongolia, and eventually, Alaska.

Realizing that she will need additional help, Lily prepares to synthesize Carl II and Elizabeth II.

January 2182 AD

Following her sweeping success in defending New Zealand, Lily is appointed Commodore of the EDC
Nomad Fleet
.

March 2182 AD

Carl II and Elizabeth II are born in the bodies of 11-year-olds and choose the names “Raine” and “Gerrit”. They begin their rigid education program.

Raine and Gerrit are put to the test by going through a simulated gauntlet to recapture Manila in the name of the EDC. Their plan proves successful, and together with Lily, they go on to accomplish the feat for real.

Impressed by Lillian’s progress, the EDC agrees to lend their full strength to Lily, Raine, and Gerrit’s in-progress
Operation End Verse
, which will spell the end of
Neo Eden
and
Endless Metaverse.

June 2183 AD

Raine, Gerrit, and Lily visit Earth for the first time, eating dinner on a deserted island. It is a powerful memory that never leaves Raine’s mind.

Lillian’s R & D division perfects the EDC’s cloaking system, based off theoretical blueprints by her ancestor Timothy Hermes.

September 2184 AD

As the vision for
Operation End Verse
grows more complete, it becomes clear that the only way to take down the
Metaverse
is from the inside. Gerrit and Raine work on crafting the new identities they will need to assume.

The trio visits the island one more time to prepare for the final confrontation.
Gerrit heads into the
Metaverse
ahead of Raine in order to learn it inside out.

April 7, 2187 AD

Raine is prepped to enter
Endless Metaverse
; she immerses herself in a digital simulation for a week as Raine Townsend. During this simulated but very real time, she meets the time traveler and learns of a possible chance for her to earn a world record title.

Chapter One begins here (Raine’s POV):

Day 1 (April 14, 2187 AD):

In her digital simulation, Raine beats Super BlastBoy three times in a row. Guided by Lily on the surface, she enters the
Metaverse
, meets Chance and Gerrit, and stays the night at an inn along the old road.

Lily and the EDC are holed up in Siberia; she declares they must leave for
Neo Eden
in the morning.

Queen Lorelei investigates Raine, discovers that she has false memories, and reasons that she must be one of Lily’s agents.

Jon Wrathman tells Henry Holdfast that the position of Junior Net Manager is his to lose. General Lacie insists on the news that the EDC Armada is contained in the East.

Day 2 (April 15):

Gerrit visits Yossa and is sent to monitor Raine.

Raine meets Jack, Tuft, Stephen, and Lily. She falls into the pit with Gerrit and stays the night in Mistral, near the Forbidden Tower.

Bidding Claire goodbye, Lacie leaves to study the events of the future; she returns from a serious aerial battle with severe injuries and news for the Queen.

Lily returns to the Belladonna for the red envelope and studies her nagging dream.

Holdfast is promoted to
Avidya
Junior Net Manager.

Day 3 (April 16):

Holdfast takes charge of management of the Forbidden Tower.

Raine and Peter enter the Forbidden Tower with Ricard’s team, meet Thaddius, defeat the Necromancer, and are hunted down.

The Queen addresses the Seven Lords and commands that their
Metaverse
assets assist in a ground war over
Neo Eden.

Gerrit is taken out of the
Metaverse
; Gen. Lacie tracks his signal.

After splitting with Linus, Raine hides alone in Pagoda.

Lily returns from the
Belladonna
and prepares her counter-attack on Gen. Lacie.

Day 4 (April 17):

Lily confronts Lacie and regretfully kills her, having acquired information about the HDP backup.

Raine beats the Champion; Lily is ecstatic.

After being abducted by the
Nebula
, Raine talks to Jon, and refuses an offer to join the Developers. She is placed in the Coliseum, to be indoctrinated.

Yossa breaks through the Coliseum and saves Raine. He fights the temptation to use her as a figurehead for the rebellion and sends her on her way to find SBB.

Ayumi halts Claire’s suicide attempt; she spends the night with Holdfast.

Lacie’s body is returned to
Neo Eden
; Lorelei weeps. Upon returning to the
Spire,
she addresses Gerrit; the nobles party all night.

Commodore Leandra approaches the Adriatic at midnight. Her cloaked scouts jam the
Eden
blockade’s detectors.

Day 5 (April 18):

Raine awakens to SBB and Lily arguing over the plan. Raine and Lily depart on a trip to shut down the
Metaverse’s
mainframe core. On their way out, Lorelei attempts to ambush them, and is caught in a trap by the Colossi, who hold her off to buy Lily some time. The EDC Armada approaches
Neo Eden.
Leandra’s
Freyja
crosses the Apennine Mountains.

Yossa and the freedom fighters break out of the backup servers and find themselves under attack in
Neo Eden.

The Battle of
Neo Eden:
Lorelei’s HDP forces and androids do horrific battle against the EDC rebellion; the rebels are joined shortly by the EDC armada.

With the help of Super BlastBoy, Raine and Lily shut down
Endless Metaverse
and log out to the
Valkyrie
just in time for the final battle.

Henry and Jon liberate Gerrit from Lorelei’s Sisyphus Program. The trio breaks through the
Spire
to shut down the Overseer and stop the troops’ advance. The Queen has them executed, but a stray bullet shatters her coolant system, and the chamber floods with water, short-circuiting the entire civilian armed forces.

Claire attempts to kill Queen Lorelei, who dodges her bullets and appoints her Princess Regent over the Earth. Raine and Lily lead the front lines in the liberation of the city. Upon reaching the
Spire,
Raine is killed defending Lily.

Lily swears revenge. Lily fights and defeats Lorelei. Lorelei asks to be sent to the future.