Eyes of the Oracle (part seven)

(no...this is not yet the finale)

Ike drove the car with the shades up all the way. Somehow, he could see what was going on outside and had no trouble navigating the streets. As he drove, he told Lisa about what had happened.

"After I left you in that cave, I first went to your house to leave the number then to confront Kin. I got your address through some file searching by the way. Kin had already brought the boy to the lab in the sealed dimension. Yes, I didn't stay to destroy the lab back then because if Kin came back, it would jeopardize the safety of my men. The objective was to save you, and only to save you. That's why I left the machine and all completely intact."

"Anyway, when Kin saw me, he trapped the boy in a sealed temporal dimension, in other words, trapped him in time. Ok fine, you would see the boy could no longer move. Then, we started fighting. I must remind you that we fight by manipulating true reality, so you could expect some flying fireballs now and then. Well, the fight was very spectacular, I was actually enjoying it at first. Then, there was a lull, and I saw Kin doing some kind of pose. I was amused, so I didn't bother doing anything about it, big mistake. I had no idea that Kin had already mastered the legendary Silos Max."

"What's Silos Max?" Lisa asked.

"That's the name we agreed on. Back when we were still kids and still on relatively good terms with each other, we saw that it was possible to squeeze all ten dimensions together into a singularity. This singularity is so unstable, it will practically let out a huge burst of quantum energy. If you've read any books on quantum physics at all, you may have heard of FTL communication. You entangle two quantum particles, send one to the other side of the universe and keep one with you. You then do something with the particle that you have and instantly, i mean instantly, the other particle will feel something and change as well. The signal is sent Faster-Than-Light. This theory has been proven by the EPR paradox but I don't know the details, I only bother about what I can see. Anyway, my point is that Silos Max works on this kind of interaction. Whenever you interact with anyone in society, you are essentially 'entangling' yourself with them, like two quantum particles. This process actually occurs via the unity chakra. You heard of chakras? In yoga, exercises often focus on the energy of the 7 chakras located at various points along your spine. Anyway, the unity chakra is located on the crown of your head, the place where I touched just now. It links your energy with the divine and everyone in the world. Yes, everyone in the world, that's why it is possible to become friends with everyone in the world. When entangling occurs, the connection between you and that person is strengthened."

"When you are caught within the field of Silos Max, your unity chakra would be the first to be affected. The quantum energy rides on your strong connections and sends this destructive signal to all your friend's, family's, colleagues' unity chakra. They unity chakra then sends the signal to the other 6 chakras located along your spine. It is a complicated process, but basically, the end result is total nullification, you would cease to exist. Nothing, not even your soul, would survive. It is the most devastating and vicious move anyone could possibly master. Why Kin chose to master it I do not know, but it shows he is beyond redemption. From what we understand, there actually is a good way to harness the energy of Silos Max too, but he chose to do it the bad way..."

There was a long pause.

"That's why I had to sever all your connections, so if you're hit by Silos Max, the only person who would die is you. I cannot be killed by it, only maimed. Why i can't be killed can't be explained in words, I guess you'll just have to accept this fact. Whatever the case, now that there are two of us, Kin would be left wide open once he does it. During that time, you must shoot him, he won't have time to deflect the bullet."

The rest of the drive continued in silence. Eventually, Ike stopped the car.

"We're here," he told Lisa. "On the left, there is a large cupboard. Hide behind there and I will block it with a fake dimension so Kin can't see through it. Also, take this."

He handed her a pistol.

"I'm sorry I can't give you a sniper rifle. The killing intent for that rifle is too large, it is easily detectable by Kin. I hope your aim is good. I only put in two bullets, so, good luck."

Lisa was flustered.

"Wait! I've never fired a gun before!"

"Trust me, it's easy, click the safety switch over here and pull the trigger."

"But I can't aim!"

Ike pondered over that for a while.

"Trust your instincts, I'm sorry I've no time to train you."

He then created a small illusionary window on the dashboard. There was Kin, walking into the lab.

"He's coming! Quick!"

Lisa decided to ask Ike one last question before she got out.

"If your remote viewing is so great, why didn't you use it to see what Kin was doing way earlier? You could have stopped him from killing so many."

"Whenever I used it on him, Kin would know. I only used it after I saved you because he already knew my true intention, that I was not happily meditating in the sealed dimension. Using it earlier would just make him suspicious and give me unnecessary trouble. Ok, go! He doesn't know about you yet."

Lisa hastily got out of the car and hid behind the cupboard. Indeed they were back in Kin's lair, Ike was an amazing driver.

"Ike!" It was Kin's voice. "You created a clone of yourself, built an army all without my knowing. You think that's very hot?"

"Nope, stopping you would be very hot!" Ike said cooly.

Lisa held the pistol in her hand, trembling with fear. She could barely see what was happening, but it seemed the two had already engaged each other in battle. She peeked slowly from behind the cupboard, true, Kin showed no sign of realising she was there. They were both concentrating really hard on the battle. It was more spectacular than Ike had described. Not only were there fireballs, but energy balls of all sorts of exotic shapes. There was teleportation now and then, but all the action remained within the lab itself. Lisa then realised that Ike was trying to settle it all in the lab, so she could actually shoot Kin without too much of a hassle, but Ike never realised how messy things could get.

True enough, an accidental fireball hit the cupboard, making it explode and sending her flying across the room, the fake dimension couldn't stop anything. Her shriek was more than enough to alert Kin. Both fighters paused, then Ike tried to strike while Kin was distracted. But his attack was blocked by Kin's great reflexes.

"You moron! Don't think I don't know what you're trying to do. You bloody scum! Trying all ways and means to stop me! Do you not love this world at all?!"

"More than you do!" Ike yelled back.

There was a gunshot.

Lisa had thought Kin was distracted enough, so she tried to shoot him. Kin was distracted enough alright, but Lisa's aim wasn't that fantastic. She had shot Ike instead.

"No!" she cried.

Kin was furious. He slammed Ike to the ground with as much force as a meteorite hitting Earth. Then he went over to Lisa. Lisa desperately fired the second shot, however, Kin managed to deflect it with telekinesis.

"You're just in time. It turns out the boy's brain was damaged in the last battle with Ike, I still need yours."

Kin's voice was not the kindly voice Lisa had remembered from the first encounter. This time, it was a voice of anger and frustration.

"Ike!" she screamed,but Ike lay motionless on the floor. Kin grabbed her and dragged her away, while she kicked and struggled.

"So Ike severed your connections," said Kin. "Good, so when you die, no one will mourn for you. You can go in peace.

Kin dragged her into another area in the lab. In it was a control panel lined up in front of a strong glass window. Behind the window was an even larger area, a very techy sort of area, with metallic walls filled with circuits and switches. Kin threw her into a chair, which instantly sprouted hand locks and leg locks, thereby imprisoning her on it. He then went over to the control and pushed a few buttons. Almost instantly, a large hissing sound was heard, and in the larger area behind the window, a strange geometrical structure was being formed from several pieces appearing on different sides of the area. Lisa saw to her horror that in the junctions of that structure, there were human brains, frozen and looking very fresh. She nearly threw up.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Kin said. "The structure is simply made out of ordinary iron rods, arranged to form the geometrical structure within E8 which represents the site of disasters and despair. I enhanced the energy of this structure by implanting human brains with neurons and patterns displaying the structure. No moving parts, no fancy electronics or what not. I don't even know why everyone decided to call it a machine. All I need now, is your brain, to fill in the last missing junction, then using my psychic energy, I'll transmit this energy to the world. Then, the new age would begin, and I would rebuild this world into a better one. No more would people see pain and suffering, everyone would be living happily ever after."

"They'll all be dead!" Lisa retorted, after noticing the empty junction Kin was talking about.

Kin laughed.

"Only the evil and the wicked will die. Those who are true at heart and can learn the right things from disasters will survive. I will be there to guide them."

"You are not God!"

Kin walked up to her, carriying a thin knife.

"I am God's messenger, I can act in his stead."

With that, he raised the knife to her forehead. Lisa screamed as she felt the blade penetrate her skin.

BOOM! A loud explosion shook the room. Kin was startled and dropped the knife. There was a very bloody looking Ike, with blood oozing from his hands and feet. It was the original Ike! The one Kin had crucified!

"You! How did you escape?! You were supposed to be dead!" Kin was enraged.

"I had help," said Ike. To everyone's surprise, Ike's clone walked in.

"Have you forgotten, Kin?" said Ike's clone. "My matrix is complete while yours isn't. Once I removed the nails from my original body, I can heal telekinetically! Same goes for the bullet."

Kin let out a terrible cry. He had clearly not taken this into account.

"Don't think you are the perfect one, Ike! I'm the one who can do Silos Max!"

The original Ike had already healed.

"Enough talking clone, let's get him!"

Lisa noticed something wasn't right about Kin. His eyes had turned from transparent to dark and ominous. As the two Ikes rushed towards him, he raised his arm in the air.

"SILOS MAX!!!!!"

Lisa was shocked, as well as the other two Ikes. There was absolutely no charging time at all. Lisa felt massive amounts of pain rush into her head as a white light filled the room. She screamed, was she going to die?

Lisa regained consciousness and found herself in a completely white room. There was no furniture in the room, just white. After standing up, she found that she too, was wearing a white shirt and white trousers. Was she dead and in heaven? No, Silos Max was supposed to have destroyed her soul as well. Something else happened instead, but what?

There was a knock on the door, what more surprises could be in store for her this time?

To be continued...

Eyes of the Oracle (part six)

The underwater bunker was simply beautiful. It seemed like the ideal place to work. All sorts of exotic fishes were swimming over the glass ceiling while people rushed around, looking busy amongst the respectable machines. As a matter of fact, the rush of activity was greater than an average workday. Something was going on.

Lo got out the car and slammed the door, without even waiting for Lisa. She hastily got out herself and ran after him. 'How rude!' she thought. The large group of people noticed them and immediately stopped what they were doing. A grand salute was made.

"At ease!" commanded Lo. "Report!"

A thin, frail-looking man with thick spectacles and unkempt hair ran over from the crowd towards them.

"Sir, Ike isn't dead, at least not yet. He is still emitting his energy every 30 minutes, the last signal was 2 minutes ago."

Lo nodded.

"Lisa, this is Wong, our chief scientist and head of research here. He is in charge of monitoring Ike's psychic balance and also, the other guy..."

"Other guy?" Lisa asked.

The crowd of people stopped running around all of a sudden and congregated in the centre of the room. There was a large buzzing sound, then flashing lights. All of a sudden, a large metallic cylinder rose up from the ground, in a column of smoke. Silence was maintained among the group, only the whirring noises continued.

"What's going on?" Lisa asked.

The two people beside her pretended not to hear her. She had been offended quite a bit that day already.

The cylinder's sliding door soon opened, and yet more typical sci-fi scenes occured. Dry ice fizzed out of the compartment, revealing a naked male body. On closer examination, Lisa was shocked to see that it was an exact replica of Ike! The fact that it was naked didn't seem to matter, it was the first time she had seen a clone!

"Yes, it's a clone," said Wong, once again another case of pseudo mind-reading. "Play the song please."

A rather smooth and deep sounding song soon filled the bunker. There was a hint of grandeur in it as well. Lisa had not remembered hearing the song anywhere before, but it didn't seem like a pop song anyway.

"This song is called Eternal Bond," said Lo. "Ike is actually the name of a character from the Nintendo game series called Fire Emblem. This is the theme song of that character. Damien Lee had actually chosen his name based on that, why? No one knows. But when Ike collaborated with Mindef, he proposed the creation of a clone, which has a copy of all his memories up to the point of activation. That's why as Wong said, he has been sending psychic energy to us every 30 minutes, it is for us to implant into the clone. So at any time, the clone can be activated and act in his stead. This is basically to prepare for a situation in which he is killed by Kin. If psychic energy isn't sent every 30 minutes, the clone would automatically activate. The other way to activate him would be to play this song, because it is 'his' theme song. Anyway, here he comes."

A small cluster from the group moved closer towards the clone, towel and hot water bottle on standby. After the song played for a minute or so, the clone stumbled out of the compartment and nearly fell on his face. The cluster immediately wrapped the towel around him and gave him the hot water bottle. Lisa, Wong and Lo also rushed over to the clone's side.

"Give me clothes!" demanded the clone. "We haven't a moment to lose. Kin has already imprisoned the schoolboy and is getting ready to kill him. My original body might already be dead. The idiot crucified me! He wants me to atone for my sins so I can return to heaven, he's crazier than ever!"

Lisa was disgusted. At what she wasn't sure, the fact that Ike had been crucified by a madman with the mindset of a terrorist, or the fact that Ike could create copies of himself and is practically immortal.

"Calm down, Sir," said Lo. Wong had just returned with some clothes. "This place isn't findable by Kin, and it would be quite a while before he takes out all the brains and thaw them for use."

Ike was hastily slipping into his clothes as he talked.

"No, I know how Kin is going to do it," he said. "Believe me, there's no thawing involved. He can practically activate the machine at deep freeze. And, it's essential he activates it at deep freeze in fact, that way, the neural connectors would still be fixed at the point which indicates suicide. He's going to kill the boy,then take his brain and activate the machine any time now!"

"But Sir! Your body hasn't even been checked for defects! And didn't Kin already trash you? You can't just run in there again and expect to win."

"I'll go prepared this time. Kin has mastered Silos Max, a devastating move, but it takes quite a while to charge up, you can all go whack him then."

Lo and Wong looked at each other, then both shook their heads.

"You briefed us on this before, Sir," said Lo. "Silos Max is the ultimate move and only those with the eyes of the oracle can do it. It warps all ten dimensions together and creates a disturbance so great that virtually all existance within its zone is nullified. If anything goes wrong, you'll be sending everyone of us to our deaths! This is not some RPG you know, and you barely even survived it."

Lisa was completely left out of the discussion, Silos Max? Machine? What machine is Kin using? And what kind of super kung fu move is Silos Max? It was pretty clear no one was going to explain it to her, all she could do was watch the argument unfold.

"You can't be so selfish! We're talking about the deaths of billions of people! Once Kin activates that machine, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and whatever disaster you can think of will occur all at once! We can say goodbye to small countries like Singapore, as a matter of fact all island nations and low-lying grounds."

"But if one of us is hit by Silos Max, not only would we die, everyone that knows us or is related to us somehow will also die. You know how many people that is? And the zone of Silos Max isn't exactly small. You send all the men of SOC inside and everyone in Singapore will die."

"I know that! I can SEE what will happen remember? But what about the rest of the world?"

"You're willing to sacrifice Singapore to save the world? I'm sorry, but this does not sound like the compassionate Ike I know. You're behaving just like Kin!"

Silence ensued after that. Lisa finally understood. Basically, the bad guy knew a very devastating move and the good guy needed help to counter that move. However, the good guy's allies are afraid of that move and are thus unwilling to help him. Now Ike was in a fix, what Lo and Wong said were true. He then began to suggest a very radical suggestion.

"There's a way..." said Ike. "All of us are connected to each other in one way or another. Silos Max works on the connections which have been etched into our minds to a significant extent. The limit would be acquaintances or maybe even distant unknown relatives. If one of you is willing to sacrifice yourself, I can cut off the connections on your Unity Chakra, such that you would remember no one that you once knew, and none of them would remember you exist. That way, even if you're hit by Silos Max, only you would die. If you survive, however, you'll be only connected to me and the divine via the chakra, you must start building your relationships all over again."

Silence was the king once again. Naturally, this wasn't a very happy choice either. No one volunteered.

"I'll do it..." said Lisa, as bravely as she could. Everyone turned to look at her in shock.

"But...you'll forget all your friends...your family..." stammered Lo.

"My family left me, my friends don't care for me, why do you think I wanted to kill myself in the first place? My life has already ended before Kin came to find me, I don't mind putting myself at risk if it is meant to save the world."

Ike walked up to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"You're a brave woman, Lisa," he said. "I'm sorry I called you a failed Christian. Rest assured, even when the whole world has forgotten you, God will never abandon you."

The rest of the people in the bunker were still in stunned silence. Lisa wasn't sure whether they were admiring her bravery or just shocked at the sudden turn of events. Ike turned to Lo and gave him some orders.

"If neither of us returns within the hour, send the evacuation order and have all Singaporeans move to underground shelters ASAP. Likewise, send the signal around the world and see what the countries can do about it."

He then turned to Lisa.

"This time, I cannot fail. I am counting on you Lisa. When you see Kin doing something like striking a pose, shoot him. He would not be able to do anything about it when he is charging up Silos Max. I will brief you more on the details later, after I have performed your severance."

Ike once again took Lisa by the arm and dragged her towards the car which Lo had driven in.

"Sir!" Lo's voice sounded from behind them. The two turned around to see the whole group of people in the bunker giving them a salute.

"Save the world, sir!" they all chimed at once.

Ike returned the salute, but otherwise hurried on into the car, dragging Lisa along.

"Raise shades!" he commanded once the two of them have settled down.

"Ok Lisa," he said. "I'm going to perform the severance now. Are you ready?"

Lisa nodded.

"Ok, close your eyes and imagine the colour purple."

Lisa did that, and she felt Ike place his hand on the crown of her head. Immediately, the purple colour in her mind shook and shattered violently. She heard unholy sounds, screams and wails, then she saw melancholic colours appear. There was a sharp pain in her head, and she let out a cry.

"Ok," said Ike. "Open your eyes now. Can you remember your family and friends? Or anyone you knew, other than me?"

Lisa tried to remember, and realised she couldn't! All her memories of relationships have been erased. All she could remember was her job, her home, and the encounter with Ike and Kin. She couldn't even remember who were the people she met just now.

"I...I don't remember!" a strong feeling of loneliness suddenly crept inside her.

Ike nodded, but didn't make any further comment.

"I blocked your view so you can't see anyone in the outside world. It is essential that you don't see anyone, for there is a risk that they may know you and may reconnect their unity chakra with yours. I'll be driving this car with the shades up, don't worry, I can do it. We'll head directly to Kin's lair."

With a vroom and a whoosh, Ike stepped hard on the accelerator and drove off, towards the final battle.

To be continued...

Eyes of the Oracle (part five)

Lisa's worst fear had come true. It had been one hour, and there was no sign of Ike. She waited for another 5 minutes, then realised she was only putting herself in more danger. If Kin had forced her location out of Ike, he could be arriving in the cave at any minute.

She decided to do as she was told, stepping into the mystical circle Ike had drawn for her, and sure enough, she was back in her house! There was no time to lose, she heard banging at her front door. The loan sharks were already coming after her! They were quick indeed. Going to her desk, she saw a hastily scribbled note. There was a very long number on it, clearly not a local number. She picked up the phone and dialled.

87036561093247...

When the ringing stop, there was no reply. Nevertheless, she said 'Hira221'.

The silence continued for a little longer, then a gruff voice replied.

"I'll be at your location shortly, stay calm and do not leave your house."

Then the phone went dead. That was less than assuring. The loan sharks were still outside, cursing and swearing and making threats. She wondered how the person was going to enter with all the loan sharks waiting to bite. She didn't need to worry too much about that, for within minutes, gunshots were heard, as well as the screaming of the loan sharks, then silence.

Lisa was paralyzed in fear, and the ringing of the doorbell made her jump. Could it be her saviour? She had no gun and couldn't protect herself, the best she could do was bring the kitchen knife she had prepared for the loan sharks.

She cautiously opened the door, and there stood a middle-aged man, gun raised. Lisa too raised her knife, though her hand was shaking.

"You're Lisa Tan right?" asked the man.

"Y...Yes..." replied Lisa in a trembling voice.

"I am Lo, right hand man of Ike,I have come to help you."

"Then, could you please lower the gun..."

Lo lowered the gun and extended his hand.

"Come with me, I'll bring you to a safe location."

Lisa realised she had no choice but to trust him, so she put her knife down and followed. He walked really fast, rushing past corridors as if afraid of the ghosts that haunt it.

"We're not taking the lift," he told her. "Small enclosed areas resonate our energy, and makes it easier for Kin to detect us."

'Wow...more scientific shit...' If Lisa had known this day would come, she would have majored in physics.

The pair rushed down the stairs, Lisa trying very hard not to trip and fall. At the bottom, a lone volvo was waiting for them.

"Get in," said Lo.

Lisa obeyed without question. Lo then got in the driver's seat and drove off.

The drive was silent for a while, then Lisa couldn't help but ask.

"Won't the car resonate our energy as well?"

"It is different from the lift. In the car, we can still see the outside world, so our energy is spread out over our field of vision."

'ok...' there wasn't much she could take in.

"I'm sure you're interested to know more about the Oracle project? And more about Ike and Kin?"

Lisa wanted to disagree. Yes, she was curious, but she had a feeling there was no way she was going to understand it. Nevertheless, Lo continued as if she didn't have a choice but listen.

"Sometime in the 19th century, a mathematician named Sophus Lie proposed the existance of Lie groups. They are basically sets of symmetries in mathematics, a hypothetical theory but with useful applications. The simplest Lie group would be that comprising of the symmetries of a sphere. Rotate a sphere and flip it inside out, it'll still look the same. E8 was predicted in 1887 to be the most complex of the Lie groups, comprising the symmetries of a 57 dimension object. E8 itself is 248-dimensional. In 2007, it was finally completely mapped out. With 200 billion entires, the paper which it was written on could cover all of Manhattan, no need to mention Singapore. It is like a map of possibilities, something like the periodic table for chemistry. Superstring theorists have already used it for potential theories of everything, and one can find this model in many aspects of nature, solar system, electron positions, even traffic on the roads."

Lisa was already lost.

"In 2008, Damien Lee realised the potential of E8, and had an evil hunch. 'What if our brains were really an incomplete portion of E8? If I created a human whose brain works with a complete E8 pattern, what could that human do?' Needless to say, the conclusion that he came to was that such a person could see true reality. How could such a person contribute? His answer? The person could be the most powerful oracle ever known, if such a person worked for Singapore, she could attain economic, social, psychological, civil and millitary superiority. Yes, I'm talking about total defence. He brought this proposal up to DSO, and was rejected. The reason? DSO thought he was a raving madman, and in a sense they were right. But, Damien Lee didn't give up. He collaborated with a stem cell researcher and mathematician, both a little crazy themselves, and together, they managed to create the prototype embryo. To their further delight, the embryo turned out to be twins! Yes, Ike is the same age as Kin, both 17 this year. After 9 months, the babies were born, but Lee had done the heaviest sin on Earth."

"Lee did not understand true reality, being a mad scientist, he believed true reality to be one of simply extra-dimensions, hidden energies and maybe some extra particles. However, Ike and Kin could literary see true reality. They saw not just what Lee believed they could see, but much much more. They saw pain, suffering, hardship and all the other vices released from pandora's box. Even in happiness, they saw an element of suffering. True reality was not pleasant at all. If you ask them, they may even tell you that they see ghosts and demons, but they could be joking. However, Ike and Kin were different. Kin hated it a lot, and he wanted to do something about it. Ike turned to God, became a Christian, and found peace with himself. Contrary to what Ike believes, the missing integer in Kin's brain configuration did not result in his destructive behaviour, it only resulted in Ike having the ability of remote viewing and Kin did not. That's what the chief scientist's always trying to tell him, but Ike wouldn't listen. Chief scientist knows the maths, at least that's what I always tell him, but you know what kind of ego he has. It's possible there're other abilities as well, but Ike always kept that a secret."

"But both had similarities, other than being able to see true reality. They were compassionate people at heart, but Kin believes that the best compassion for the world would be to destroy it, and well, Ike thinks he's nuts. Both were home schooled, because everyone was afraid of their eyes, and qualified as university graduates by age 9, since they could know everything that was needed to know. The difference in attitude is really just a difference in attitude. You see, there's a difference between seeing reality and knowing reality. Ike doesn't know the reason for Kin's behaviour, he only sees what he thinks is the reason, the missing integer. And they were young, less than matured. They didn't grow up as normal children, and as such, well, missed out on a lot. As a matter of fact, we're lucky Ike turned out to be ok. If both thought like Kin, our world would have been long gone. And so, after years of tension, they fell out after an ice cream fight at age 10. What really happened no one knew. But Ike ran away, and began living in the sealed dimension."

"Well, Damine Lee was furious! He wanted to use both children for the defence of Singapore, and now they fell out. Actually, he wanted to become famous. Kin saw what Lee was really thinking, and realised the amount of sin he had accumulated. Then, deciding to act as God, he killed him in compassion. When Ike heard of this, he knew the danger involved. He quickly contacted Mindef and told them the danger Kin could bring. Mindef knew about the Oracle project so they were quick to help. He received aids from the special forces, thereby building his own army to counter Kin. I heard he also received full exemption from NS. So that was that, Kin went around collecting the brains of people with suicidal tendencies and Ike trained his army to fight Kin."

It was finally over, Lisa breathed a huge sigh of relief. She had only taken in the gist of it all. Two people, with extraordinary powers. One wanted to destroy the world and one wanted to protect it from him. As simple as that. It was pretty clear which side she was going to choose.

After rushing through the highway for at least 20 minutes, the car turned into the bridge leading to Sentosa. Where was the sealed dimension this time? Under the merlion?

"The thing about the two of them," continued Lo, "is that they're not exactly all that powerful."

Lisa let out a silent groan, so he hadn't finished!

"None of them could read minds! Fortunately for us too. No one knows why they couldn't read minds, neither do they. One idea was that E8 wasn't complete,or that no matter how mighty maths become, it can never fully describe reality. Whatever the case, that is indeed a true mystery."

Lisa waited. Lo didn't say anything more. Was it safe to relax a little?

It didn't seem like Lo would say anything else, for they were clearly reaching their destination. It was weird too, for Lo was driving the car directly across the beach and towards the sea.

"I'm going to block the windows for a while."

With that said, black shades suddenly blocked up the windows and prevented them from seeing the outside world. Lisa was shocked. They were heading into the water and he decided not to see?!

"I'm resonating our psychic energy, it's only for a short while, not enough for Kin to get a confirmed signal. We need this to enter the sealed dimension."

'SPLASH!' The car had entered the water. There were bubbling sounds on the outside for a while, then silence. The shades wound down, and Lisa was amazed to find herself in a gigantic underwater bunker, deep down below the surface of the sea.

To be continued...