When she wakes, it is 09:57. She scrambles out of the bed, frantically pulling on a fresh pair of clothes. Jīvitaya races down the hallway, jerking to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, Looking down at her tablet, she pulls up a security camera field. It projects itself in front of her and to each side so she can look at all the cameras at once.

She looks at every camera, checking to make sure that no one was there. After confirming that there was no living thing in the house with the exception of herself and the rabbits that were currently racing around in their network of play tunnels, Jīvitaya presses the button on the key to raise the cardboard castle. She rushes up the stairs and presses the second button, correctly anticipating the rabbits that are barreling towards her. She sits down on the floor, letting them jump on and lick her until they are satisfied. When they are done, she gets up to prepare their food. After she places the food bowls down, she steps over to a screen built into the wall and states her password. A map of the house pops up on the screen. She taps on the room and the screen changes to show the controls for that room. She taps on the floor of the map and programs the garden to rotate up.

A panel of the floor sinks and slides under the one next to it to reveal a small piece of garden. Once the rabbits have finished eating the greens in the garden, another garden piece would replace it and allow the plants to regrow. Then Jīvitaya sets up the food to automatically refill. She turns off the wall screen and walks out of the room after giving each rabbit a banana slice and a baby carrot. After stepping out of the house, she checks the time on her tablet. She decides there is enough time to walk, so she goes past the hovercar and down the road towards the city. Halfway to her destination, she hears footsteps behind her. She glances back, but no one is there. She turns to face forward again and the footsteps resume. She taps on her tablet and a tiny camera slithers over her shoulder. She waits a moment to make sure they are still behind her before activating the camera.

A video feed pops up on the tablet to view what the camera is seeing. It is the male that was watching her at her house, but there was someone, or something else with him. She turns around again, but this time they don't disappear, instead they pick up speed. So Jīvitaya dismisses the camera and starts running while she slides the tablet into her pocket. They speed up as well, but she can hear the man's companion struggling as it tries to sling whatever it is carrying over its shoulder. She runs faster, trying to get to her destination as quickly as possible, and hopefully losing her pursuers in the process as well. Sadly, when she is a block away from her destination, they are still right behind her. She runs even faster, yanking open the door and slamming it shut behind her once she reaches the building. A brown-haired man stares at her, pale blue eyes wide with shock.

Trying to catch her breath, she gasps, "Are you Aro Daniels?" He nods shakily. "Then seal that blasted door before those things get in!"

He stands there gaping at her for a moment before jumping into action. He pulls out his own tablet and taps away on it for a moment. With a hiss, the door handle melts into the door and a clear panel snaps down between them and the door. It is about a foot thick. Aro Daniels leans toward her and provides a few words of encouragement.

"Nothing can get through that, it's too thick." As if it was cued, there is a slam on the door, causing it to quiver and rattle. He places a gentle hand on Jīvitaya's arm. "They can't get in here. So don't worry. Come, sit down." She nods and moves over to the couch beside the stairs, out of view of the door. Aro sits down at the other end of the couch, facing her. "Who was chasing you, young one? Why did you contact me last night? At least, I'm assuming that was you."

Jīvitaya responds shakily. "I think they're the aliens. Whenever I try to look at them and they notice, they disappear. But you heard them at the door, you know they're real!"

"But why are they after you?"

"The only reason I can think of is that I am one of the few people who saw them enter our planet's atmosphere." His face pales in shock as he stares at her. "Mr. Aro? What is wrong?"

"How long ago do you remember this happening?"

"About eight years ago, why?"

"How old were you then and how old are you now?"

"I was eight then, and now I'm sixteen. That is pretty obvious, so why are you asking me all of this?!"

He places a comforting hand on her arm.
"The invasion happened one hundred and three years ago."

Jīvitaya's face pales drastically. "That isn't possible! I would have known!"

"How much can you remember of the past though?"

Before she can respond, the panel blocking the door shatters. Jīvitaya glances at Aro, panic and fear clearly portrayed by her face. He silently ushers her towards the stairs, trying to get her to move quickly. She darts up the stairs, but before she reaches the halfway mark, something wraps around her ankle and tugs. Jīvitaya's foot slides out from under her and she falls. She tries to push herself up again, but she is pulled backwards, down the stairs. Jīvitaya cranes her head to look behind her. Her eyes widen even more when she sees who it is behind her. It is the male with the white hair, the one who was outside her house.

He pulls on the shimmering rope-like thing in his hands and she is dragged back with it. She frantically tries to get up the stairs, but the thing cuts into her ankle and she shrieks in agony. He drags her down the stairs and into the room before finally peeling the thing off her ankle, leaving an angry red wound encircling her foot. She tries to escape again but her foot collapses when she puts weight on it and she crumples to the ground. The other alien, the companion, comes closer. She can now see what it is carrying. It looks like a large, white, furry blanket, but it is clearly alive. Jīvitaya crawls backward as fast as she can, but she isn't fast enough. The blanket creature drops onto her and seals its edges shut around her struggling body, leaving her with no way to escape.

She struggles for a moment, but her body forcefully relaxes and her eyes drift closed. A flash pulses out from behind her eyelids and she is pulled back into her memories as it fades. There are three of them that stand out, even to her trapped mind. The first memory is a fleeting one, just an egg, royal blue and shimmering. The egg glows faintly, entrancing her, even in a memory. A pale female hand rests on it, gently stroking the surface. Another memory melts into the eye of Jīvitaya's mind, dismissing the first one to the recesses of her mind, although it still glimmers faintly, as if to say 'I'm here, you'll be able to find me again.' This new memory is from the perspective of herself, unlike the first one.

She is seeing large ships enter Earth's atmosphere from space. Her eight-year-old self is staring at the sky in wonder and awe before plopping down onto the ground and starting to color on a piece of paper. She finally puts her crayons down and holds up the paper to the sky. It is a perfect image of the scene before her, albeit in colorful crayon. The teacher comes out to check on the children and shrieks when she sees the sky and the ships flooding into it as the seconds tick by. She grabs as many of the children as she can and herds them inside. Then she comes back out for the rest. She is about to close the doors when she sees little Jīvitaya still sitting on the concrete and staring at the sky. She rushes back out and drags Jīvitaya inside. The memory melts back into the darkness and another rises from the blur of memories flooding through her mind's eye.

This time Jīvitaya is standing in the basement of a house, tears running down her face and reaching towards the person in front of her. They force little Jīvitaya to back up and they step into the light illuminating the space little Jīvitaya had just vacated. Even stuck in her mind, the present Jīvitaya flinches in shock and surprise at the person revealed by the light. The person pushing little Jīvitaya backward was her mother, tears coursing down her face. Little Jīvitaya starts sobbing even harder than she was before. She looks behind herself and wails in fear at the sight of the small chamber directly behind her. It was essentially a box, a couple feet taller than her and slightly less than two people wide. She looks back at her mother, her voice warbling in panic.

"I don't want to go in there!" Her mother stops trying to move her towards the box for a moment. She crouches down and looks little Jīvitaya in the eye.

"Shhh, it's okay little one, alright?" Little Jīvitaya nods. "We're playing a game with Daddy and some friends."

Jīvitaya's tears stop in her distraction at the idea of playing a game with her parents. "What's the game, Mommy?"

"Daddy and I have to hide a treasure as best as we can. Our friends have to find that treasure."

"What is that treasure, Mommy?"

"It's your pendant, sweetheart."

"You mean the one from my birth parents?"

Her mother chuckles a bit. "Yes, that one. So I need you to be as quiet as possible, okay? I need you to protect the treasure and keep it from being found."

Jīvitaya nods. "Okay, Mommy. Do I have to go in there now?"

"Yes, sweetheart." Little Jīvitaya steps into the chamber and the door closes with a hiss. The chamber sinks into the floor and the last thing Jīvitaya hears is her mother say, "This will only open when it is safe. I love you, little one." There is one final hiss before the air freezes around her as the cryostasis chamber activates. The memory melts away into the dark and the rest are just blurs of the past three years of her life.

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Hello again! Do you have any questions for me about Jīvitaya Rai Naji? What do you think that first memory is? Why doesn't she remember being put in cryo? What do you think is going to happen when she wakes up? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~Goddess Of Fate, signing out.