She could not form a single word to say to the two men in front of her. She wanted to tell them that they were crazy and needed to see a doctor but deep down she knew what they were saying was the truth. She could feel it.

Seeing her confusion, Jude gave her an understanding smile.

"It's a lot to digest. You can take a moment to let it all sink in." He said to her.

"So ... Was any of it real? My life? My family?" She asked Michael, ignoring his brother's comforting words.

"Do you want me to be honest?" Michael asked back.

"Does it matter what I want?"

"No, I suppose it does not." He said with a sigh. "While it's possible that your parents were actual human beings who were also trapped in the simulation with you, they weren't really your parents. All of it was lie.

A perfectly written script and you were all characters acting out those scripts."

Feeling her knees grow weak, she allowed herself to fall to the ground. She was too stunned to say anything.

The irony of it was that the more she thought about it, the more she could see the flaws in the simulation. Her life had glitched after all. That should have been her first sign.

Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she lift her hand to find Jude looking down at her with a worried expression.

"You said that I was in danger. Why? If I was trapped in a simulation, what happened? What changed?" She asked.

"You could see outside the simulation." Michael replied. " The place you and Jude met was a sandbox inside the virtual plane, where the system' s core exists, a place that is completely inaccessible to everyone unless you know how to get there or unless you have someone guiding you. Yet you were able to go there all on your own and on multiple occasions. Albeit you did it subconsciously and were not even aware of your own ability.

The system must have figured it out and as long as you know where to find its single vulnerable point it will always view you as a threat.

You were allocated to the Alpha Zone, right? The first from your zone to ever go there despite you being taught that the system was fair and had your best interests at heart. Well, contrary to what you were taught the other two well off zones do not exist.

Sure, you would be taken there but it would have been your own personal maximum security prison. A virtual plane that the system could use to monitor you twenty four seven. That is the truth of the world you knew.

Perhaps that is why my brother acted rashly. If they had gotten you to the Alpha Zone we would not have been able to get you out without putting ourselves all at maximum risk "

"So what happens now?" Ava asked, finally accepting her reality.

She knew that she could not live in denial for the rest of her life. Granted it would take a while to finally be able to accept this new reality but she was determined to choose the direction in which her life would be headed from now on.

No longer would she allow herself to live the life that was planned and mapped out for her. She would choose her own path and forge her own destiny.

"That's entirely up to you." Michael replied. "There are many things you can do here in the base. Many occupations you can choose from based on your skill set. I wish I could tell you that you could just live here for free but resources are quite scarce and we have to all pitch in to make ends meet. Of course that does not mean you have to do some dangerous work like the scoutings and excavations. You can leave those to the trained fighters we have."

"I'd like to join them. Your fighters." Ava cut in with a determined look on her face.

"Ava, you really don't have to." Jude said but she stopped him.

"I know but it's what I want. I don't want to be helpless and rely on you to save me. I want to learn to fight for myself.

Besides, you said that I can find the core all on my own without any help. I'm guessing if you want to take down the system then that's the perfect place to strike and you need me if you are to have a real shot at accomplishing your goal." She continued.

"That's a pretty bold statement, Ava, but fighting an advanced AI system is not the same as fighting a human being. Plus it's not like Unity will leave it's core defenseless. You got lucky a couple times because it did not know what you could do. Now that it has figured you out it will kill you if you so much as come anywhere near its core.

By choosing to fight, you choose to put your life on the line everytime." Michael explained.

"At least I get to make the choice." Ava said. "If I heard correctly up until now I've never really had a choice or a say about my life."

"I see. Then I guess you had better get some rest for today, training usually starts very early." Michael said with a smile. In his eyes he held a certain degree of respect for her. Even though everything she had known was falling apart all around her, she was still determined to keep going. She was keeping it together.

"Hold on, you're not actually going to let her join the military force, are you?" Jude asked his brother in disbelief.

"Why wouldn't I let her join? It is what she wants." Michael simply said with a shrug as he turned and walked away.

"But ... Ava, listen, I understand how angry this all makes you but you can't just choose to put yourself in danger." He said, turning to her.

"It's okay, Jude. I understand you're worried but I don't think I'll ever be okay with myself if I don't choose to fight. Besides, I'm not doing this for selfish reasons. As much as this whole thing angers me, I am really doing this because I want to help countless other people that are being held hostage without them even knowing it. Just like how you freed me. The only way I can truly repay you is if I help others." She told him.

With a yawn she finally stood up from the ground.

"This whole day has been exhausting. Could you please show me to where I'll be sleeping." She said, giving him a reassuring smile that he didn't return.

She could tell that he wanted to say a lot more but out of respect he kept quiet.

~ ✨Words 1 151✨ ~