Tik… tok…
Tik… tok…
The sound of water dripping from a dilapidated ceiling echoed in the dark. It broke the rhythm of silence, acting as the only reprieve to the absolute stillness in the darkness of the derelict SpaceX facility.
The air was stale and lacking oxygen.
The underground facility was in a state of complete stillness as dust drifted aimlessly in the air.
After so long of staying in this state, there was no longer any crack or sparkle of electricity; everything was stale and forgotten, all except a faint orange light that pulsed from a cracked containment core- a capsule.
The capsule had a thick slimy liquid inside of it, and something else… a humanoid creature.
In the stale darkness of this underground facility, it was the only thing that glowed in a pale orange, flickering and illuminating the darkness.
On it was written…
[Subject AR-01 – Temporal Test Volunteer: Leon Ardent]
The capsule was in a state of temporal stasis, then…
BZZZT!
The nuclear reactor powering the capsule suddenly flared, and with it, the sound of a heartbeat echoed for the first time in centuries, or maybe millenniums? The heartbeat merged with the gentle hum of machinery.
A few seconds of this later, and he jolted awake.
Blink!
Leon jolted awake inside the stasis tube as his heartbeat accelerated.
As soon as he woke up, the thick slimy liquid in the capsule was sucked away by a strange process.
His vision was hazy, but the first thing he noticed was that he was in a state of confinement, and his body instinctively entered a state of panic due to his claustrophobia as he started hyperventilating.
'W-what is going on?!'
'Where am I?'
He tried to move but he couldn't move his limbs; he was too weak. This only served to amplify his panic.
BZZZT!
In his panic, a user interface display suddenly appeared in front of him, and this was only when he noticed that he was wearing a visor.
It didn't grant him relief though. Instead, it made him panic even more.
[Emergency Protocol… zzzz… SpaceX Experiment… Proje… Gene…!]
[Error…! Error…!]
'The hell!'
Crash!
He didn't know when he regained movement in his limbs, but his body instinctively moved, smashing the capsule glass open as he crawled out.
He fell to his knees as he instantly started vomiting.
He vomited a strange slimy liquid, and this continued for about 2 minutes before he finally recovered.
"Bah!" He vomited some more.
Staggering to his feet, Leon looked around in a dazed state.
His memories were fragmented. All he could remember were certain voices in his head that were filled with panic, an explosion, then a blinding flash.
He held his head as he felt a migraine. 'What… happened?'
Around him, everything was rusted and dilapidated. He could tell that it was an underground facility due to the stale air and the fact that he could barely breathe, also because of the rusted computer skeletons filled with dust.
Everything felt unfamiliar, but at the same time familiar. It was a weird feeling that he could not explain.
Looking at the capsule again that he came from, he looked at the inscription and there he found his name.
[Leon Ardent]
Despite his fragmented memories, one thing stuck and it was his name.
He raised his hands and looked at them, noting how pale they were. Then, remembering that there was a glass in front of him, he looked at it and paused.
Reflecting back to him was a pale young man with inky black hair and purplish black eyes. He looked like he was in his early 20s. His hair was wet and clinging to his shoulders. He was half-naked, and he noticed the faint scars on his chest as if wires were previously connected to them.
He looked around again, and spoke. "Where… am I?"
His voice sounded like a croak, almost like a kid who was just learning how to speak. He grabbed his head again, feeling even more confused.
His head throbbed with a migraine as he tried to make sense of the situation. He didn't know where this was, he didn't know what happened, but in the end, he concluded that he could not stay put here.
The stale air alone would kill him with time if he didn't leave.
And so, looking to his left where he noticed a winding staircase, he approached it. When he climbed, it groaned and vibrated like it would give way any moment, but it held long enough for him to climb to the exit hatch.
He opened it, and for the first time in what felt like forever, this underground facility was illuminated by the pale light of the outside world.
Climbing outside, Leon looked at the world, and froze.
'Huh?'
Despite his fragmented memories, after remembering his name, he also remembered his city. But this… this was not Texas!
He was in a wasteland where the sky flickered with aurora-like neon storms. There was no sun, or maybe the light of the sun was blocked by the clouds and neon storms in the sky, putting the world in a state of perpetual evening.
Or was this actually evening?
Leon wanted to believe that it was evening, but there were other anomalies. Around him were the skeletons of ruined skyscraper fossils. He also noticed distant orbit lights in the sky faraway that glowed like false stars.
On the ground, the colossal ruins were all partially buried in sand.
He staggered in disbelief. "What… what the hell?!"
Leon stood like that, just staring in disbelief for about 5 minutes before he recollected himself. Gulping fearfully, he looked back at the hatch exit door and that was when he noticed a cracked inscription on it.
["PROJECT GENESIS – SITE 03"]
"Project Genesis?" He mumbled. "Why does that sound so familiar?" He couldn't quiet wrap his mind around it but those two words sounded familiar.
Though he couldn't wrap his mind around those words yet, Leon finally remembered something else. He remembered that he is an engineer, or was?
Well, it didn't matter because at this moment, he could tell that he was not safe. He needed to understand where he was, what was happening, and most importantly, his pale and weak body needed food.
Despite his fatigue, instinct took over as he walked away from the site of the underground facility. Apart from the strange state of the world, he already noticed something else since; fragments of machinery and waste lying about and waiting to be scavenged.
Scooting over, he scavenged the fragments and soon found a rusted drone chassis and a few half-melted reactor cores.
A normal person wouldn't know what to do in this situation, but he was an engineer. He may not remember most of his memories, but the instincts and knowledge was there, and so he worked.
About 20 minutes later, he managed to build a crude solar still.
He heaved a sigh of relief.
Building this gave him a strange sense of satisfaction as he smiled. "If I can build, I can live".
He barely rejoiced due to his achievement when something disrupted him.
GRRRR…
A growl!
'F*ck dammit!' He almost fell over in panic.
It sounded again, and this time he was able to listen more closely. To his surprise, that growl didn't sound organic like what a Wolf or even a Dog would make. For some reason, it sounded… mechanic?
It didn't matter though. Leon quickly hid behind a mound of rubble from where he peered through his shattered visor, and that was when he saw it.
It was a beast, but not what you would think though.
He was right, this was no Wolf. Rather, it was a beast that was half-organic and half-drone. Yes, half-drone.
'What the…!' He quickly covered his mouth as he stared incredulously.
This thing looked like a Rabbit. Well, it was roughly of that size but it had mechanic motor wings that helped it propel slightly above the ground in search of prey to attack.
It radiated blue light as its metal ribs pulsed like living muscle.
Due to its size, logic said Leon shouldn't be scared of it, but his logic have proven very inconsistent since awakening, so he didn't risk it.
'Nah, not me'.
His first instinct was to hide and let it pass, or maybe sneak away, but you know that thing they call engineer's curiosity? Or was it scientist's curiosity?
Afterall, a beast that was half-organic and half-drone? Who wouldn't be fascinated by that?
'Just a peek,' he thought. 'Afterall, it doesn't even look that dangerous'. He edged closer, recording its energy signature using a broken scanner that he scavenged, and that was when it sensed him.
Snap!
It lunged without hesitation.
Well, in that moment, Leon saw his life flash before him as he felt instant regret, all because of a motherf*cking Rabbit!
"Wah!" He yelped and instinctively defended himself, smashing a large battery cell that he scavenged at it, then…
BAM!
There was a massive flash to Leon's shock as they were both thrown apart.
The Rabbit was injured, and without hesitation, whimpering pitifully, it scurried away.
Leon stared incredulously. "What… just happened?"
Well, something else happened.
A HUD screen suddenly flickered to life in front of him!
"Oh my God!" Leon almost died of a heart attack as he staggered.
DING!
~----~
[ChronoSystem Rebooting…]
[Synchronization with Neural Core: Success]
[Welcome, Engineer Leon Ardent – Temporal Signature Verified]
[You have received your first Mission: Survive the First Cycle]
>Endure one full Neo-Tokaran day while maintaining neural-temporal stability, proving you belong to this era.
(NOTE: A "Cycle" is a full environmental rotation of Neo-Tokara's ADE flux field- roughly 24 hours of unstable Aetheric weather.)
…
[You have received a sub Mission: Construct a Power Source]
>Your System can't keep you alive if it can't stay online. Build its heart.
…
[Both Missions are synchronized and rewards for both will be given in synchrony with each other after completing both missions.]
[Mission Reward: +20 Data Points, Ascendant Awakening – F Rank, Class Awakening, Full System Awakening, Additional Random Rewards]
~----~