In the busy streets of Tokyo, where the shops and markets were open and everyone was shopping to their hearts content. From clothes, foods, technology, games and more, all your necessities and needs were found nearby. Sora arrived at the peak hours where the crowd was packed, and all you could see were a sea of heads and shoulders. Taking out a list from his pocket, he began shopping for each item on the list in order. On this list was every daily necessity he would need for several months worth use.
When Sora returned home he made the decision to go where the ball wanted to go. It almost sounded happier as well when Sora told it that he was willing to go where the ball planned. A slight change in tone, or perhaps it was just Soras imagination.
So Sora changed out of his work clothes to a more casual t-shirt and shorts, started going around his place and wrote down anything he used and needed daily. Ranging from important necessities to any recreational items that he would miss. From what he could tell, it was most likely a place he would be staying for a while. After listing everything he needed, emptied out every hidden money stash he had and left.
From water, food, basic medicine and supplies, and anything he could think off on top of the list. Better to be over prepared than under. Maybe it was whatever painful thing the ball did the Sora, or maybe this was what he wanted inside after all. But Sora was more energetic, and felt more happy than usual. Almost like he was excited for this journey, like a child getting ready for a field trip. It took him about 3 hours to gather all the things he needed, double and triple checking if there was anything he missed.
The amount of items he had was so much he had to invest in a wagon. Well. He, gave a kid who was wheeling his friends money for the wagon, who were glad to accept the cash. Of course he gave them plenty to have fun with. Wasn't like he was gonna need it.
After getting he need, he headed straight home. Where the ball was waiting for his arrival.
"Welcome Back. Have you acquired all necessities for the journey?" It asked as it floated toward Sora and followed him as he moves throughout the apartment.
"Yup, got all I need, but it's going to be a pain to carry all this to the mountains." The amount of stuff he bought was more than he could carry inside a traveling backpack.
"Once we begin our journey, you will be able to return to this place to obtain these items again. So I strongly recommend having everything now." The ball said as it started scanning each item he was planning on taking.
"Hey you… that doesn't sound right. What do I call you?" Sora asked while organizing his things. He realized the ball never actually introduced itself, so he had no idea how to address the ball. Well. The circumstances then didn't really allow a moment for introduction. Especially when it was mainly one sided.
"User may address this one as anything they wish." It responded.
"Okay then. What exactly are you then? So I have something to work with here."
"I am a Artificial Intelligence, created by the civilization, tasked with finding the gene to revive their culture. My form is a highly advance combination of both psionic technology and scientific technology." The ball gave a short explanation on its origin. Apparently due to the fact that Sora was still unaware about many things, explaining would be more efficient once they have reach the destination that the ball wanted to go to.
"Well. That doesn't help much. Guess we'll just take a shot at a few. You kinda remind me of the h*ros from a show I used to watch. But you're voice kinda sounds like more mature and lady like, kinda like a maiden." Sora started talking to himself as he started thing of a name.
"Meh, lets just keep it simple. How about Maro? Maiden and h*ro combined." He asked the ball for a reaction or a response of approval.
"That is an exquisite name, User." Maro responded. Sounding soft all of a sudden
"Good. But now you gotta change how you call me. I'm Amanogawa Sora. Thats the name I gave myself anyway. You can just call me Sora." He responded.
"Yes, Sora-sama."
"You don't need the sama."
"According to your cultures rules, calling you such is necessary, as from here on out, you are the one and only owner of me. My master so to speak. It is also within my programming to treat you with this level of respect and authority." Maro responded.
Maro was rather insistent on calling Sora that way, so he just let the matter go. Now that both had properly introduced themselves. The two were able to talk to each other easier. They started to organize all his things, using luggage bags and putting them on the wagon for easier transportation. In total he packed a total of 1 full backpack with 3 luggages worth of supplies.
Sora was now fully ready to go on this journey with Maro. At least he hopes. Sora was still nervous but also anxious, like a child before a field trip. He even felt like just going now. But if he did it would be too dark to travel. So he could only stay behind being antsy. It was only around 5 pm, too early to go to sleep.
Since it'll be a while for him to come back here, if he ever does, he might as well eat all the food he had. The food would go bad otherwise from him being gone, so might as well enjoy it all before it does.
A grand "feast" was laid before him as he place it all on the table. Cracking open a beer, he downed the first can in a single breath.
"Pwah! I'm gonna miss getting drunk, so might as well go all today, Cheers Maro!" Sora raised his second can to Maro who was simply watching him indulge himself. Maro then moved close to the food he laid out, which ranged from hamburger steaks, fried fish, stir fry of whatever vegetables left, a pot of miso soup, and a variety of side dishes. While it wasn't a high class restaurant meal, it was certainly appetizing for the eyes. Maro started to float over each dish, as if taking a close look at each.
'Guess it has been a while since it's seen food. Must be strange, or maybe it likes it? Can it even eat?' Sora thought to himself while eating.
"What wonderful skill. It seems you are quite artistic and skillful at handling food. Do the others of your people have such capabilities?" Maro suddenly asked.
"What? Cooking? I mean, some do and some don't. It's not really required for us in this day and age."
"I see. The people on this world are quite skillful artisans. I have accessed this planets network systems and learning more about your kind to better understand you and provide more adequate support. It is quite interesting." Maro said. And continued to speak.
"So far I have gone over all of your planets available history, technological advancement, and even the status of social issues. But what is most surprising is the variety of culture. You people not only have a variety of artisans goods that could be deemed luxurious, it also has a large variety of cultures with many ideals and beliefs that differ from one another. Quite uncommon among most civilizations." Maro's last couple of sentences caught Sora's attention. From its words, it was basically saying it was uncommon for so many different people in the world. Guess people back then used to be more like minded than now.
Sora didn't think about it too long thought, he focused on devouring his food and indulging in the last day with alcohol. Maro simply float on the side after looking at all the food and was just watching Sora finish up.
With a stomach full of food, and his body tipsy from drinking, he felt much more relaxed. The evening sky now turned dark, sitting and enjoying the last can of beer he had. Tomorrow was going to be something he had no idea what going to happen, how the day will end. For him, that didn't scare him. It actually made him happy, because he was feeling something he hadn't felt in a long time. The curiosity of what tomorrow will bring.
—————————————————————————
Waking up at 8 am, Sora got ready and put on traveling clothes and gear. He would need to take a bus part way and head the rest up the mountain by foot. Which would be about an 8 hour hike. Everything packed and ready, Sora and Maro head out on their quest!
But not really. Sora expected some peril or trouble and difficulty, but the entire trip was smooth sailing. He promptly arrived at the stop where Maro guided him on time. It was so smooth that he couldn't help but feel disappointed.
'What was the point of getting all worked up' he thought to himself as he stared at the now darkening sky, sighing. Maybe it was because he was already feeling down, but the spot where they arrived was also disappointing to him as well. It was a clearing about 100 meters wide. Almost like something or someone cleared it out on purpose. Just an empty patch of weeds and grass with the wind blowing slightly. He was half expecting ruins or at least deep vegetation covered entrance. But it was just an empty field, not exactly the discovery or mysterious journey he was hoping for.
"So, what now Maro? Do we dig?" He asked Maro who was just floating, who was quiet for most of the trip. Apart from the occasional question about the plants along the way.
"Dig? There is no need to dig. Is there a reason you wish to dig?" Maro asked.
"Eh? I thought it was buried or something, because there's nothing here. If we're not digging, then how do we get to this sanctum you mentioned before?" Sora asked.
"Our ship will be arriving shortly to take us. It will only take a moment." Maro responded.
"Ship?" Just as he said that, the wind suddenly picked up, blowing a bit of dust and leaves around. And then the ground shook slightly. For some reason, Sora felt like something large was now in front of him, but there was nothing visibly there. It was then that a small dot suddenly appeared in the middle of the space in front of him, slowly expanding. The dot became larger and larger, first seeing metal, then seeing panels and plating. A rocket-like thruster soon appeared like part of an aircraft. Sora had seen plenty of films and shows, so what he saw in front of him was something he only imagined to be true in the far future, and in fantasy.
This was because what appeared before him was clearly a spaceship. It was using some sort of invisibility, cloaking tech. Suddenly coming in out of nowhere and appearing out of thin air. The ship was shaped similar to an arrow head with the side lengthened a bit. Windows were on an elevated part in the center, looking similar to a cockpit. But the main thing was the size. It was larger than an average commercial plane! The fact that it was able to land in front of him with only a slight gust of wind and so quietly was even more surprising.
"Um, Maro? Can you explain please? Where exactly are we going?" The confused and slightly flabbergasted Sora asked Maro who floated toward the side of the ship that had a door size hatch.
"As I said before, we will begin our journey to the Sanctum in order for you to activate and inherit everything within, reviving the lost civilization. The civilization of the Athalri." Maro started explaining.
"This ship is the final accomplishment of the Athalri, who were once the supreme rulers of their galaxy. Due to circumstances, they were driven to extinction. The last surviving remnant of their people was the lead scientist at the time. But he was sick with a slow progressing illness. With the last of his resources and time he had left before he died, he would pour all his effort into creating the Sanctum. A place where the entirety of the Athalri civilization was kept safe until one day someone with their gene would open. And bring back a culture once lost."
"Thats… a lot. Hold on, gimme for a second." Sora had no idea how to feel about the sudden heavy burden that he didn't know he had taken. He had assumed it was just an expedition like finding the lost city of Atlantis. Not going into space and bringing back an alien civilization. But before he could even sort out his thoughts and think about the situation, the hatch by Maro suddenly opened and slid to the side, and a ladder extended downward. Maro then floated into the hatch and waited for Sora, almost beckoning him to enter. Sora was hesitant at first, but he was already here, he burned the bridges with his job and emptied out his accounts. Turning back now was redundant.
He took one good look at the size of the ship. The thrusters and engines were to his right with the nose of the ship to the left. Upwards was the top of the ship, where you could slightly see the windows. It was at least 30 meters high. From his perspective the size of the ship was pretty intimidating.
With a hesitant first step, he made his way to ship and up the ladder. When he got in, he entered an empty large room that looked similar to an aircraft's cargo hold. It was pretty spacious, with the ceiling being over 15 meters high. But it was entirely empty. There were devices and machines slotted in the wall, some of them looked similar to robots or some type of droid folded in their slots. Of course there were things within the walls but what they really were or did he couldn't tell. One of those droids was small and round like a can, with one side having a black glass eye. It suddenly started making sounds and floated out of its slot, which had other droids stacked. The eye part flashed with green and a light glew, looking like its eye. It flew outside, grabbed the rest of the things he brought up with him and placed them in a corner. Then floated back in its slot.
On the right was a large bay door, it was as wide as the room and slightly shorter than the ceiling. The left had a doorway to the rest of the ship and next to it was a stairway to the loft of the area.
Once Sora had fully stepped inside, the hatch behind him pulled up the ladder automatically and slid shut. A sound of depressurization could be heard from it. Maro then went ahead of Sora, guiding him to the rest of the ship. The corridors were decently spacious, enough for a large group to walk side by side. There were lights above and on the sides so it was illuminated well. It was actually nicer than what he thought a normal spaceship would look like, at least compared to every film and sci-fi fantasy franchise.
There were a couple of rooms that had different doors than the others which caught his interest. He kinda wanted to explore the ship a bit more. After all this is a real spaceship, something that only people could imagine existing.
Eventually the reached a room that was pretty much the bridge. There was a single seat in the center of the room that had control sticks on both armrest, with 5 other seats with consoles and screens around the single seat. The front end of the room was the window that curved to one end of the room to the other. The dusk sky from this view was actually quite pretty.
As Sora was distracted by the views and his curiosity of the ship. Maro approached the console that was in front of the single seat, which was most likely the pilots seat. There was a slot that was similar size to Maro, who inserted itself into it. A moment later the ship started to make sounds, as if other parts of the ship were turning on. This made Sora turn his attention to Maro and the pilot seat.
"Please have a seat Sora-sama." Maro said.
Sitting down, Sora felt a slight tingle pulse through his body. He felt it the moment he sat down, a sensation like a body part waking up from being numb. Followed by a feeling of comfort.
"Maro, please warn me if there's going to be pain. At least let me be prepared." Sora said, slightly traumatized by the events from the night before.
"There is not pain with this procedure. We are merely syncing your mind with the ship's Psionic Neural Link."
"The what now?" Sora asked, confused.
"This ship is capable of connecting with you psychically, allowing your mind and the ship to be more in sync. Similar to you gaining a body part, it allows for quicker commands, bypassing the need of moving first after thinking. Essentially, the ship will do as you think when piloting." Maro explained. In short it allowed him to move the ship by thinking rather than having to physically pilot.
"With that in mind, you now have full command of this vessel. Shall we begin our journey?" Maro asked.
"…" Sora crossed his arm and leaned back in his seat. He didn't know what to think. At first he thought this was some ancient civilization expedition, something on earth that could change his life or maybe life in general. Now its a journey to space, heading who knows where. It makes sense now that Maro told him to pack plenty of essentials. Is he ever going to come back? Space was more unknown than anything on earth. It was a vast void filled with cosmic mysteries and logic that go beyond anything that happens down here.
Most importantly, did he really want to leave Earth forever? Leave Japan? The culture, the food, the entertainment, and despite him being a loner mainly, there were still some he recalled now, who gave him pretty good memories. Sora, was starting to get cold feet.
Just then a sound rang in from this pocket. His phone was going off with sounds of text and notifications of voicemails. Before there was no signal so he didn't use it at all during the last few hours. But there must be a signal from where he is. Maybe it was the ship, or maybe the height let him get a signal. When he saw the notification, it was a bunch of text from work, mainly his coworkers who relied on him to get things done. Then he saw a message from his boss. Curious what he had to say he listened to the voicemail.
"Hey Sora… come on, don't be so hard headed. If you can't handle criticism in this work you're not gonna go far. Come back and finish the project, I'll forget the whole thing and such. And I'll even throw in a bonus. A free small coffee from our local shop! So come on back and…" Sora hanged up and turned to Maro.
"Lets go. Fly. Go!" He said with a slight anger in his tone.
"Very well." The ship began to blend in with its surroundings, turning invisible like before. As it did it rose up and flew toward the sky. Disappearing into the sky.