THE MOMENT
Eva simmered quietly to herself as she wandered downtown. It was a bright, cool, weekend and patrons shuffled between shops around her. She felt like she had billions of years of anger built up and didn't know how to deal with it. She knew it wasn't a great situation to be in and preferred to travel alone to avoid taking her anger out on someone she cared about. Even now, on a beautiful morning, she was ready to explode on anyone that looked at her the wrong way. She paused in front of an electronics store to consider her options.
Eva couldn't go home yet; but, she didn't want to be out on the street either. She was considering looking for a park when a loud commercial attracted her attention.
"Are you angry all the time?" a pale man in a red suit and gold tie asked from seven different TVs. He held up a small white pill bottle with a red scissor logo on the front. "Thanks to Sharp development, emotional stability now comes in a pill form!"
Despite the constant bubbling of anger below her surface, Eva couldn't help but chuckle at the ridiculous ad. And the timing made it seem like the universe had a sense of humor. Eva wiggled her fingers at the air and opened a black portal to somewhere else.
She exited the portal to an abandoned shopping mall. All the lights were on and Eva could still hear Muzak playing. It was exactly where she wanted to be: in public with no one else around. She chose a direction and began walking.
All shops appeared to be open, but there wasn't another soul in sight. Eva covered most of the mall and she was walking through a department store when an ad caught her attention.
"Feeling lonely, princess?" a pale man in a red suit and gold tie asked. This time, he asked from only one TV. Eva tilted her head as she recognized the actor from a different Earth. And, it was curious if he actually called her a princess. He held up a transparent node and smiled at the camera. "You can make plenty of new friends in the AlterNet, created by Sharp Development."
"Created...by...SHARP DEVELOPMENT!!!??" Eva snapped at the suggestion that someone other than Oren created the AlterNet. She knew the truth and that was enough of a spark to ignite her anger. Her palms blazed with brilliant white light. She aimed her hands at the TV and fired the hottest plasma beams she could manage.
Eva had been idly curious about where everyone on Earth was. But, her anger overwrote that curiosity. It didn't matter where everyone else was; she planned to take out the Earth she was on while she was at it. But, the TV swallowed her plasma. The man in red glared at her.
"Everyone's a critic...," he sighed.
"What?" Eva asked aloud. She tilted her head at the TV and the man mirrored her gesture. Except when he tilted his head, his face changed. His nose shrunk and his eyes bulged forward until he had a smooth, featureless, golden head.
"I get the feeling the AlterNet's a sensitive subject," he chuckled and pulled out the white bottle of pills. "Mood stabilizer?" he asked.
"Are.. are you talking to me?" Eva asked. The faceless man looked to his left and to his right, then back at Eva.
"You are the only one here," he said. "My name's Helios. Unique Soul #46, el Sol," he said. "What's yours, Eva?" he asked. He immediately slapped his palm against his head with a metallic clank. "I mean, you look like an Eva...," he said.
"You called me 'princess' earlier. Why?" Eva asked. He obviously knew a lot about her, but she was curious how much.
"...You're beautiful like a princess?" Helios tried the answer, but Eva subtly shook her head.
"I'm an A.I. connected to the AlterNet," Helios shrugged. "I can see your stats and more. I know your entire, boring, royal history, princess," he stressed the word. Eva narrowed her eyes at him.
"So, why're you following me around?" Eva asked. "What do you want?"
"I find you curious," Helios said. "I've met NPCs that awaken as Unique Souls. But, you were Unique first and NPC second. I want to learn about that. What happened?" Helios asked. Eva's expression clouded and she blinked away a stray tear.
"Love happened...,"