Location: The Desert
-OMNISCIENCE-
The roving clouds obscure the moonlight as the wind dances beneath a lifeless sky. The endless field of golden grains moves following its direction. Yet unmoved from all of this is a huge stone pillar sitting alone in the middle of the vast terrain.
A boy is seated on top of the rock; his body is covered in thin, torn clothing, through which the chilly wind could easily pass. Under the breath of the sky, unrest, his body is as it kept on squirming just to find a spot against the rough edges of the massive stone where his back could rest..
Yet the relentless cold winds prevented him from falling deep into sleep, he groaned in pain and lightly rubbed his forehead with his thumb. As the vivid memories suddenly surfaced once again.
The man murmured, "That dream again."
His pitch-black hair and eyes matched the night sky, dark and cloudy. His pale skin is hidden by his torn clothes like the moon barely shining through the dense cluster of ashy clouds. The tin cans around his waist, the thin layer of clothes both rustled as he stood up and turned to face the endless stretch of sand. There his face quickly hardened and his thoughts slumped even more than it was now.
Through his eyes only the deteriorating remnants of crumbling buildings and the desert are the only visible thing he can see. No sign of life, not even any form of water has this boy seen since he opened his eyes.
"Two thousand one hundred ninety hours, fourty-three minutes and fifty-one seconds" he said dejectedly and continued "Where even am I? Is this really how my days are gonna be? Can't even remember who I am or how I ended up in this place."
The boy let out a deep breath before calming his nerves against the cold.
"I would have have gone crazy if weren't for this thing"
He then waved his hand across the air and shouted a name.
"SAI, show me my coordinates." he commanded, as if it was not second nature to him, as his voice didn't waver the moment he called it out.
Immediately a holographic board with numerous graphs and analytic data materialized in front of him. His eyes fell when a familiar message quickly popped up.
[Unable to access global network, E#?%& RR**#$OR, unable to generate geographical data base]
[It is advice to link manually through a local data hub for momentary encoding of #$^%*]
[The only available coordinates are the twelve million five hundred eighty-five thousand, seven hundred thirty-four point six square meter of actively traversed land]
A map formed within the holographic data generated through seismic analysis, the boy looked at it as he recalled his time roaming aimlessly hoping to find something aside from himself.
He then sat down curling his knees hugging it warmly and continued saying, "What about life signatures."
[Scanning available geographical data for life signatures]
The boy then thought of the countless times he had mentioned that and always with a familiar reply, he lifted his head and mouthed the exact words SAI would flash in front of him.
"Error, unable to detect any signs of life within the signal interruption had accrued." His voice weakly mimicked SAI.
[ER&##%@ROR, unable to detect any signs of life within the signal interruption had accrued.]
He then stared blankly for a moment to the floating screen in front of him, hopelessness draining him of any signs 'what ifs' he was about to waved it away and continue his day wandering his time in this endless sea of sand when something caught his eyes within the confines of the map.
"SAI what is that?!" pointing towards a seismic reading captured that seems to be breaching the current parameters of the map and clearly originating from an unexplored location
[Answer, section RZ-31.10 detected indirect tremors of seismic reading originated from approximately two thousand and two kilometers north-west of section RZ-31.10]
"What are the chances of it to be some kind of life form" raising his voice with glee, he asked.
[seventy-five percent]
He immediately stood up, and began dusting himself of any sand on his body.
"Well then I better get going, SAI lead the way"
[Providing approximated calculation]
"How long do you think it will take to reach that?" he excitedly said to SAI and without missing a beat, replied to him.
[Estimated time of arrival thirty-three minutes and thirty-six seconds]
His legs began to feel relentless, and he felt the rising blood flow from his heart. "At last!! I might be able to meet someone," he gritted his teeth out of excitement and without leaving a moment to spare, he said "also cut down your estimate time"
[Requesting for suggestions.]
"To ten, Ten minutes"
And without waiting for any second longer, a loud thunderous sound suddenly echoed through the endless stretch of sand and the massive rock he was one before, the very stone he was sitting on, exploded.
Using it as a stepping stool he propelled himself up into the direction of those detected tremors and only leaving nothing but tiny shards of stone scattered sharply behind him. A trace, a mark to be left behind.
He leaped across the sky, seemingly unconcerned with the forces acting against his body. Then, in just a few seconds, with all his might he let out a massive laugh as he saw himself cutting the distance in half with a single leap.
But not long after, the sun also began its day's work and through his eye the boy caught a glimpse of the show that was waiting for him at the far end of the horizon.
"Amazing!" He said and continued, "Never knew the sun could get this warm, I could even feel my heart racing from just thinking that I might end these boring days."
The boy relished the sun as if it was his first time bathing under its rays. But it would only last for a moment before his body slammed right into the ground after losing speed white airborne. Even though the ground made a mess of him when he landed, just his already tattered 'wrappings' got even more tattered, his joyful grin was impossible to hide.
Around him the sound of his feet slamming the ground echoed along with his laughter as he continued forwards.
"Just what did SAI's sensor pick up? But I couldn't care less, it's already enough that I thought this might be the escape I was looking for, an escape from my monotonous days" he pondered with a grin.
Though he did think of three possibilities, where: one there is really someone a person causing the vibrations: two it's just a massive building that finally fell apart: and three something might have caused it but it didn't matter to him, he finds comfort in the knowledge that, something or someone is out there.
The seemingly endless stretch of desert ended in an instant as he reached a land of dried soil and building ruins. He reached the destination and slowed his pace as he saw crumbling buildings and enormous stone cliffs.
"Wow! I never really thought of going near this place before, I only watched it from two thousand and three hundred thirty-one kilometers." He said with pure amazement is regret, where regret stems from the thought that he might have ended his lonely days much earlier if he just explored the area before.
He then continued "SAI can you analyze my location and provide me a rough area to search of, since i know you'll be unable to accurately tell me anything because of your 'connect to global network' reasonings"
[Sensing sarcasm, understanding mockery that stems from 'isolation']
[Generating in response, approximately sixteen thousand one hundred and eighteen point four square meter of area marked]
"Wha-! Seriously a death nu-"
[Follow the mark t#%&^$@ detecting data interference]
The boy was dumbfounded by what just happened but decided it's not worth his trouble and let go of that moment and continued his way into the ruins before him as he entered the area, it no doubt greeted him the least he expected, it was silent and off.
He stopped for a moment and swung the hologram away from him while standing atop a crumbling monolith. It displayed a clear view of the area. He observes in silence, keeping his eyes fixed on this historic city.
The crumbling structures, each of which still has a distinct color, stand tall in his eyes. The sun shines directly on the palette, which is fading but still vibrant. Some of the colors even reflect the sun's light, making for a stunning and eye-catching scene.
Despite the breathtaking view, there was a light but persistent smell of rust lingering in the air as the warm breeze began to dance around the boy. And the boy's instincts tell him to be ready. He inhaled deeply before setting off to explore the ancient city.
After some time spent exploring the silence was still deafening and the boy, despite SAI's analytic abilities somehow he wasn't able to ask for an accurate seismic analysis to gouge the source.
[Error, data interference unable to provide the location]
The boy continued regardless of what's happening to SAI.
"It's fine I could just take my time in this place, if only there's nothing blocking my view this would have been much better" The boy murmured to himself.
He began his journey inside, and after some time spent looking around, he eventually arrived in the center of the city. Soon after, he kept carefully inspecting every building he came across as he walked around the area hoping to find anything. And every time he went to different buildings, nothing was there, leaving him disappointed.
But then a strange static suddenly surges in him quickly attracting his attention towards one of the ruined buildings, in a small road along the way where the sun sets the boy noticed something particular deep inside the structure.
[Detecting, a surge of strong radiofrequency is detected within the parameter.]
SAI mentioned which sparked interest for the boy in which he immediately went inside, but there wasn't much to see; it appeared as if it had been thoroughly looted in the past. However in one of the rooms he saw something particular.
A crudely designed electronic machine that seems to be giving off a pulsating feeling from within, wires attached to several antennas that hang by the window and a small signal disc covered in dust that seems to have not been used for a very long time. But at the same time some traces of a human were left there.
The boy slowly looked around the room and noticed a bulletin board with interlocking strings on it along with pins anchoring it on the board and traces of something that screams something was pinned there a long time ago where majority of it are nowhere to be seen and traces of torn articles and photos are on the ground unreadable.
However there's a piece of research article heading left behind, the boy looked at it carefully.
He tried to read the only thing left on that faded piece of paper, "Res. by Yg and Dasil?" the words were faded and could only read their names as that, but he continued. "Huh? This must be the topic, cerebrum stone? Ah the other parts are unreadable."
For a moment he paused what he was doing when he felt a slight tremor around him, looking around and followed where it was coming from, just then the machine in the middle of the room suddenly released strong pulsating waves that immediately caused the boy to fall on his knees and squirm in pain.
"Ah!" He grabbed his head through his hair, wrapped his hand around it and tried to pull his hair out to release the pressure squeezing his brain.
"IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS!" he continued to scream as the feeling of his head being squeezed by the sudden surge of pressure continued to pin his head to the ground.
A message suddenly popped.
[Dete$#^& Source 0F the In%#&@Ter&#Ferance req&@^uesting for Immediate action]
[Requesting, destroy, when ^#&@ relieved *#FR(#^ CEBRINIUM IN&#%@]
At that moment despite the interference caused by the machine, SAI's message is clear to the boy, without hesitation and despite the intense pain he is feeling, he stood up his body shaking, eyes unfocused, and along with the crushing feeling he is experiencing inside his head, he looked straight at the location of the machine and where SAI somehow showed the exact spot he needed to hit in order to stop the machine.
Following SAI's mark which is aimed at the machine's core, the boy focused his eyes on it and immediately rushed towards it.
His hand then clawed its way inside and pierced the machine exactly where SAI was pointing through the holographic screen. Feeling his way inside the machine and through his fingers, the boy then grabbed at what seems to be a cylindrical flask core inside the machine where the pressure was originating from.
Quickly he ripped it off and slammed it to the ground where it burst and a bright light suddenly engulfed the whole room in an instant, leaving him with a loud ringing in his head, eyes adjusting from light blindness and seems to be the fragments of the flask all around the ground.
The boy then stumbled on his back as he puffed his chest.
When everything seems to have settled the boy looked around and noticed his surroundings in chaos, the floor is wrecked, and the traces of what's left of the machine. Just then the boy felt a surge of multiple emotions for the first time.
From hysteria, anger, confusion, and one other which caused him to suddenly burst into laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Wh-at hap-pened? Th-at was the fi-rst time I encountered so-mething like th-at" he leaned on his back against a shelf as he tried to catch his breath for the first time.
He coughed for a bit after inhaling the disturbed dust around him, but he continued. "That was amazing, for the first time my body, I felt my body alive, breathing blood surging uncontrollably and the pain, it made me feel how it is to be alive."
"HAHAHA! THAT WAS AMAZING I SAY" the said. "Ah– I can't stop smiling, that's the best feeling ever, it was ecstatic and nerve clenching."
With all the giggling he did something fell right besides him as if pre ordained.
The boy looked at it and wondered "Huh?! This must be what they say, for the plot"
The boy raised the object in front of him which was something straight out of a cyber punk setting. The mask was in full metal but somehow ergonomically adjustable to fit the wearer's face. Strangely enough something about the mask felt familiar as if it or he, both drawn to each other and the feeling he felt was that of a long forgotten past.
Looking at the item he pondered "Hmm… why did I say that? And who are they?"
That's when suddenly SAI interrupted his moment.
[Notice, the host, code name Zero-Two zero three one, analytic data is detecting active electronic devices possessing compressed and unstable energy fluctuations nearby.]
That's when out of nowhere, a loud explosion was heard from afar. A massive building fell to the ground and disappeared from the boy's sight.
•••••••••