“Children! With me!” Henry’s angry English voice broke me out of my thoughts. He was walking towards me and Louisa, his short and stocky build intimidating me, even if I knew he wasn’t going to hurt us.

“Where are we going?” asked Louisa, not moving to follow the man as he passed us.

“Why, you-” Henry began speaking, but stopped himself. After taking a few deep breaths, he started once more, “This is where our base of operations is going to be. The other one is Mark Nine’s cage. I apologise for yelling at you. I’m currently doing a lot of…unpleasant work.”

“Where are we going?” I asked Henry as we moved back to the square that I should not try to pronounce.

“Konzerthaus.” he said, pointing to the middle of the three main buildings in the square. “You probably don’t know this Jacob, but this is a concert hall. One of the many areas the Union’s military branch has authorization to use for ‘low-risk tests’.”

“So we don’t have anything to worry about?” I asked, feeling hopeful for the first time.

Perhaps this wasn’t going to be as bad as I thought. Going through the training as it was meant to be, normally, would be good for me. And Louisa too of course. I just felt off after our first battle. Would this fix it all, or was I just a naive twelve year old hoping daddy would help me? Maybe Louisa was right after all.

“Don’t let up Jacob.” said Henry. “This is war. You can never be too careful.”

War? I’d never thought about it before, but he wasn’t wrong. It was a fact that near our borders with the Eastern Alliance, there were semi constant battles happening, and if the things he’d been taught, or learned because of others, about the world’s climate were true, then this was a war.

As we passed the too-fancy entrance area, we made it to the Great Hall. And its interior seemed to be too majestic for what was in it.

It was a large, open space, with more than a dozen chandeliers lighting it, and an organ at its back wall.

On top of the stage was my father, sitting on his wheelchair with a tan woman I didn’t know standing at his side. She was wearing a completely black suit, and she was looking down at us.

And, of course, the head of the monster was there as well, on the hall’s right side, the doors on its side open for us to enter.

“No one else is here?” asked Henry in English, his voice echoing in the large area.

“It was my decision.” said the woman, looking at Henry. “Marks Ten to Fifteen are being completed and their pilots trained as we speak. They will form a squad with Mark Nine. But all of that is moot unless we can control Mark Nine. I figured we didn’t need an audience for this.”

“Due to the nature of the Progression Series, we must constantly take precaution.” said my father, looking at the machine. “It’s alright if you falter, or fall. That’s why we are here. To make sure you get back up.”

“But total failure will not be tolerated.” he added, looking at me.

“Failure?” I asked, looking up at him. “Is that what you think of me, father?”

“It doesn’t matter Pilot Lekkas. What matters is the results.”

“Enough, both of you!” said the woman, glaring at my father. “Professor, I think your point is clear enough.”

“Who are you?” asked Louisa, sounding weary of the woman.

“You can call me Rosita. Colonel Rosita. The less douchey of your commanders.” smirked the woman, jumping down from the stage, and nearing me.

“H-Hello, ma’am?” I said to her as she took Louisa’s bag from my hand and searched through its contents. “Um, that’s not-”

“I’d advise you to get in the robot now, so we can all go home a little earlier.” she pointed to said robot. Or rather the robotic head. “And call me Rosita, or Colonel if it’s easier for you.”

I tensed at the reminder of the cruel machine’s existence, but soon steeled myself. This was it. The moment it all began, really began, and I couldn’t mess it up. But something felt off. Even more so than usual.

“Louisa?” I turned around, looking at her. God she looked absolutely horrified. “Louisa?” I tried again, shaking her a bit.

“Nein. Nein. Ich werde nicht zurückgehen!” she said in German. It took a while for me to register the words she said. I won’t go back.

“Please. Louisa. I’m scared too, but-” I struggled with my words. Dammit. All I wanted to do was follow my dream. Piloting the Progression Series. Proving my dad wrong. And maybe making my mother, as well as everyone back home, proud.

“I can not do this without you.” I told her in German. “I know you don’t like me much, but this-this is my dream and-” Damnt the German language, I could barely speak. “Through it, I am sure you will be led to your dream as well.”

An image of the few sunny days I have lived through came to mind. If nothing else, I believed my dad when he said this was all part of a great purpose. A world where Louisa would be able to draw. Where even I found something I enjoyed. I was young after all. Only twelve years old. Maybe, just maybe, I could see them along the way. Summer. Spring. Autumn. Even the good winter my dad mentioned.

I saw Louisa smile and for a moment I did as well. Until she started laughing.

“You really can’t speak my language.” she said in English. “But fine. We’ll do this. For our dreams.”

Nodding at each other we removed our jackets and gloves, and made our way towards the sides of the grey head. Sitting at the seat once more I felt oddly comfortable. Like I was meant to be here. But it was also very unnerving, very odd, but it didn’t matter. This was it. No backing out now.

And the whole world went dark.

I had to close my eyes as soon as I opened them. Since when was the sun so bright?

“Jacob.” I heard Louisa’s voice.

Opening my eyes once more, I saw her dressed in a black t-shirt with gray shorts, standing barefoot in shallow water, her brown hair pulled in a ponytail. Looking down at myself I was dressed exactly the same. Everything also looked very, well, drawn. Black outlines our edges, we both looked like we were made by an artist.

“Jacob.” said Louisa once again, more forcefully. It was then that I noticed she wasn’t looking at me, rather she was looking behind me.

Turning around I understood why. A pitch black frame, trapped by chains that seem to go on forever, was staring at us through three red glowing lines on its face.

Mark Nine. Pilots. Dad. This must have been the test.

“You do not have strong tethers, Jacob. I noticed that even back in Heraklion.” said the form of Mark Nine. It didn’t sound broken oddly enough. It was weird, like two voices in one, but it sounded calm.

“You were the one in my nightmares?” I asked the creature.

“It wasn’t in anyone’s control. Both of you have seen me, in different forms. I am the beginning and I am the end. The third mind in this team. It was Foretold, and so it shall happen.”

“Can we get out of this?” asked Louisa. “I didn’t ask to be here. I want to-”

“No. Events Foretold cannot be altered. If they could, I wouldn't be bound by two vemrin like you.”

Foretold? My father knew about it. Back at the hospital. What did that mean? What was going on here? And why did this thing think itself so much better than us

“You have many questions. And I do not have answers. All I know is what must be done.”

“And what about us?” I said. “Why can’t we know anything?”

Mark Nine didn’t answer.

“Help me dammit!” I tried to think more, to say more, but I couldn’t.

I-I couldn’t.

“This is the unity of your minds, children. Your thoughts matter not. Due to your continued contact you have built a wall, limiting me. Still, it is currently weak. Normally, I’d break it down and tear this world apart. But I do not possess a body so it would be pointless.”

“You know that we have no idea what’s happening here, don’t you?” snarked Louisa, looking at the creature without much fear.

I couldn’t fault her. We were in a world that wasn’t actually real and it was chained up. So why did I feel like something was off about this?

Before I could say anything to Mark Nine, I felt the world around me shift and suddenly I was looking at the concert hall. My father, the Colonel and Henry all were in front of me, looking at me.

And they were both shorter than me, which was far from normal. They were about the same height which, while not impressive, was still more than my small form. But now I was slightly taller. And I couldn’t feel anything other than my head.

Wait. Was I-

“Are we piloting it?” I said, struggling to keep my voice even.

“Yeah, you dummy.” I heard Louisa’s voice. Well, heard was a strong word. I felt her talk. This was the coolest thing ever. I was actually in the giant robot.

Did that mean that everything in the vision was meaningless? Just a way for my mind-our minds-to comprehend this whole thing?

“I, um, I saw something in there. A pitch black version of this talking about weird things.” I said, hoping they’d give me actual answers.

“Me too.” said Louisa. “Something about this whole thing being foretold, and three minds.”

“Not to worry.” said my father in English. “The Progression Series is connected to an artificial intelligence network that’s responsible for connecting your movements with the robot. What you saw was a loading screen of sorts, while the robot was activating itself.”

That-that sounded fake. Like a bunch of mumbo jumbo they told us to keep us quiet. Or maybe I was biased against my father. At this point I didn’t really care. I was actually doing it. I was piloting Mark Nine. And my cheeks hurt from my smiling about it.

So what if something was wrong? At that point in time, all I could care about was the fact that I was there. I was really going to become the pilot of the Progression Series: Mark Nine.

I looked at my father. Let’s see what you have to say now old man.