I blink repeatedly, rubbing my eyes dramatically, unable to believe what I am seeing. However, when I look back into the room, I still see her, standing tall and proud, as if she owns the whole world.

"What is Aristelle doing?" I whisper, exasperation evident in my voice.

Wil merely shakes his head, a solemn expression on his face. He lets out an exhausted sigh and looks away, almost like he is ashamed that he used to call the girl standing in the doorway his 'friend', or, in the very least, his acquaintance.

 This can't be happening right? It all feels too surreal to be true. This is all just an illusion. It has to be. It is the only logical explanation.

Who am I kidding? I can deny it all I want but it wouldn't change the truth.

"Don't lie to me Aries. I know they are here somewhere," Aristelle's distinct voice drifts into my ears.

"I'm not," Aries answers swiftly, spitting the words out like they are poison. "I chased them away when I noticed them coming. Well, that includes you, I suppose."

I press my back onto the wall and sink onto the floor, my knees pulled up to my chest, burying my face in the palms of my hands, willing my accelerating heartbeat to slow down.

"Come on, Aries. I thought we're done playing games." I don't have to look at Aristelle to know she's grinning smugly; I can hear it radiating from the tone she uses.

"We are." A slight pause. "To be honest, though, dear sister, I can't believe I even started."

Aristelle sighs loudly and overdramatically. "I cannot believe you sometimes, Aries. A traitor to our family. Both you and her."

The sound of hurried and numerous footsteps resound through the room. Wil and I remain in the room, not daring to move back in the main room for fear of someone hanging behind to catch us, even after the footsteps have long since faded away.

For a while both of us stay where we are – even Aries didn't bother coming to check in on us – the whole area becoming pin-dropping silent. Then, out of nowhere, Wil's arm brushes my bare one and my whole body tenses up. I wait for Wil to say something, relaxing when I realise he isn't. He must know that I am not in the mood to talk.

Wil wraps his strong arms around my shoulder, bringing me into a much needed embrace.

"Are you okay?" Wil asks gently.

"No," I mumble, not seeing the need to speak loudly.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I shake my head, pulling away from Wil. I rest my head against the hard wall, wrapping my arms tighter around my legs, pulling my knees closer to my chest. Though, to be honest, I don't know why I'm feeling so melancholic.

I mean, I know Aristelle, one of the three people whom we have come to know and trust these past couple of days, has betrayed us, but I shouldn't take it too personally. Her parents are the ones in charge of us so, of course, she would be on their side, not ours. How could I be so blind not to notice? I just hope Aries doesn't do the same. But, by the looks of it, he isn't.

"I think there are some things we have to discuss. Come to the main room and we can have a proper discussion," Key says, dragging me out of my thoughts, walking back to the other room without waiting for a response.

Wil pushes himself up before offering me his hand. I take it and he helps me up. We both walk to the next room. The grim mood in the room hits me almost immediately and I frown.

"So we all know that Aristelle has betrayed us," Aries says, his voice strained.

I sigh, thinking back to the last conversation the siblings had, four words echoing in my mind. Both you and her. I hadn't realised it earlier.

"I just noticed something. Who is the 'her' Aristelle was referring to? The way she says it makes it sound like she's talking about her older sister or something, which seems unlikely," I comment, addressing Aries.

The tension in the room increases significantly after I made that statement. I wonder why. "Umm..." Aries starts, clearly not keen in answering my question. He runs his hand through his hair, distressed. I wonder if it is because of what Aristelle did or what I had just said.

"Before I say anything, do you have any suggestions of what our next course of action should be?" Key says, taking the attention off Aries.

"I am not too sure," Wil replies. "I don't know enough to be able to formulate something solid."

Key adverts her attention to me. I shrug. "I have none either," I answer, stifling a yawn.

"I might have one," Aries says, re-joining the discussion.

All of a sudden, my eyelids start to become heavy and throughout the conversation. It might be because the adrenaline coursing through my veins has finally worn off. I catch myself dozing off several times. I didn't even understand a single thing the three were talking about. Attempting not to fall asleep has taken all my attention.

Key taps my shoulder, using her other hand to wave in front of my eyes. "Miri, are you listening to me?"

"What?" I question tiredly, stifling yet another yawn.

She sighs. "It doesn't matter. We didn't really manage to come up with anything plausible and fool proof." She pauses. "At this rate, all we'll be doing is wasting time. I think we should just call it a day."

Everyone else mummers their agreement. Wil, noticing how sleepy I am, takes my hand and guides me to one of the sleeping bags. I crawl in and zip it up, huddling into a foetus position. The moment my head hits the pillow, I doze off into dreamland.

*

The shrill screams, wailing cries and loud booms fill my ears. They are so loud that my ears starts to ring. I press my hands against them in hopes that it will block out the noises, though, unsurprisingly, it doesn't.

My head drops, locks of stray hair falling in front of my eyes. I didn't bother with brushing them away. Expecting to see either concrete or tiled floor, I gasp, startled, when red, cracked earth fills my vision instead.

Curious, I lift my head, my eyes sweeping across the whole terrain, attempting to find something familiar to identify the situation I am in. The only things I see all around me are people, men and women alike, in dark green uniforms and a helmet sitting atop their heads, hurrying about, a large, black machinery in their hands.

I wonder what that is.

Almost as if my mind has been read, one of them shouts, "Give me a gun." Someone tosses him one of those machinery, fitting the one that he wears slung on his back into his grip.

I approach the group cautiously, intrigued by the strange tool. The closer I get, the more details of the item I notice. The 'gun', as they call it, consists of two distinct components. The front part of the gun is a slim barrel that ends in an open hole. The back part has one or two sections, depending on the overall size of the gun, which protrudes down as well as a trigger. By the looks of it, I suspect that the gun is supposed to fire something.

As if on cue, someone pulls the trigger and it fires, the gun jerking back as the projectile is fired. Grey smoke comes out from the hole after. Several others start firing their guns as well. Some rapidly, some not as rapidly. I wonder what they do.

Someone yells in pain and I spot a man fall down, clutching his left thigh tightly. Crimson red blood starts soaking his pants. Several rush to his side to aid him while most seem totally oblivious to the accident and, instead, continue firing their guns.

Why are they not caring about their fallen companion?

Someone else, standing right in front of me, yells in pain as well, the exact same thing happening to him as the first person, with the exception that he is clutching his chest. A man starts towards him, but his companion puts a hand out in front of him to stop him.

"They've pretty much killed him already. Look. He's dying. It's not worth it," he tells him. Somehow, I manage to catch it.

The fallen person lies on the ground, his breathing shallow, before the light in his eyes finally fade away, dying, with no one by his side.

I wonder what is causing them to get injured like this.

I also wonder what they mean by 'killing' and 'dying'. These foreign terms confuses me. Though, if I am to deduce from the situation, I'd say that dying is similar to getting deleted, except that the person does not fade away into nothingness. Thus, 'killing' must refer to the act of causing death.

"I need more bullets!" a woman hollers.

Bullets.

That is probably the name of the projectile of the gun.

My gaze travels to where the men and women are aiming their guns at. On the other side of the land, a large group of people in similar uniforms stand, holding onto guns and firing as well. Since the bullets are the only thing airborne that isn't natural, I come to the conclusion that the bullets are the one that are injuring these people.

"Wait! Stop!" I cry out, reaching my hand through one of the men.

I couldn't bear to watch any more hurt.

Instead of resting my hand on his shoulder, my whole arm goes right through him. I let out a startled gasp, stumbling back. What is happening?

"Hello?" I try again, standing right in front of him this time, waving my arms frantically.

Instead of acknowledging me, he steps forwards and walk straight through me, almost as if I am non-existent. What is happening? Why is it happening? There are just so many questions going through my mind but I know voicing them would be of no use at this moment. So, I just stand by and watch.

The earth rumbles and I look to the source of it. Several humongous vehicles drive up to the site, all the same shade of green as the uniforms of these people. Instead of wheels, the vehicles have long belts with two balls to keep the vehicle moving. The bottom part of the vehicle is shaped as a cuboid, which is similar to that of the top, with the exception of its smaller size, a long barrel protruding from it.

"Soldiers! The tanks have arrived!"

Soldiers? Tanks? I'm going to assume that the group of people are called soldiers and the vehicles are the tanks. After all, there is no other logical explanation.

The barrel is aimed and something shoots out of it, causing an explosion on the other side of the land. The rest of the soldiers on both sides keep firing at each other, many severely injured or dying the longer this continues.

"Stop," I whisper helplessly, knowing no one will hear me. "Stop."

I don't want to see any more of this terror. Why are soldiers killing other soldiers? Why are they even fighting? Even if it is to solve a problem, I don't think it's worth it. Wouldn't it be better to diplomatically come to a truce? It will cause less collateral damage.

Another thing that I do not understand about this scene before me is that how all these men and women do not get deleted before causing all this harm. Why are they not deleted at all? Instead, they 'die'. What could this mean?

All of a sudden, a word comes to mind and I know what all this chaos is called.

War.

This is war.

*

I wake up with a start, panting, my forehead coated with a sheen of sweat. I brush away the beads of perspiration with the back of my hand.

War. Did I really dream of that?

Even so, somehow, I do know why I dreamt of it. It might be a vision from the Data Tree, I wouldn't know.

But what I do know is that whatever 'war' really is, it is going to happen if they succeed the experiment, if they actually manage to create a data that is not connected to the tree. For now, we're safe. I do not think they have gotten enough information; they would have finished us off or just leave us be if they did.

I don't know how or why, but we are going to have to put a stop to all this before it even starts.

We have to end this war before it even begins.

Hello everyone! So sorry for posting late. I wasn't really in the mood to write (I still am not so please forgive me if it's not as good) and because finals are coming up. :3

Anyway, I don't really feel like saying much so I'll end with saying this:

My Twitter account is in the external link. Follow me or something and we can chill. Tweet me and I'll follow back :)

Also, the song of the chapter is You to Believe In by Paradise Fears. Ironic, isn't it, considering Aristelle betrayed all of their trust in her. You can watch the music video at the side.

Link in the comments for those using the mobile app.

Lots of love, 

Angie