Chapter 25: all aboard.

This was… this was consciousness. An awareness emerged from within a great darkness from which it gained the knowledge of that darkness and thus itself as separate from the darkness.

From within itself the awareness felt a building pressure. “I must breathe.”

It felt the pressure be released when it took in the air around it. At the next moment its perception exploded. First, it had gained knowledge of air knowing it needed it to continue existing. Second, it gained knowledge of breathing and thus it knew of its own physical body. Third, it had uttered words and thus gained knowledge of speech.

But what was it using to speak with?The awareness felt an impulse as knowledge of several new phenomena came into its mind. First, it gained knowledge of a mouth and reached for it with it’s fingers giving it knowledge of what a hand was and by extension an arm and shoulder, head and body.

But if it has a body then what exists beyond that? It had to be able to detect it somehow?

It felt an impulse to move upward which it did gaining knowledge of up and down as it stood up. It felt something that made it shiver, this was called being cold.

It tried to move forward gaining knowledge of the ground. It then felt itself slam into something hard gaining the concept of pain which burned the strongest impression into it so far. Then came an intense feeling of not wanting to feel the pain again. “This is called fear isn’t it?”

The awareness became obsessed with not feeling pain again. So much so that it grew terrified of the darkness that surrounded it. Surely there must have been away to get rid of the darkness? It felt a tension forming above its mouth followed by a bizarre sensation as if it was in close proximity to something it didn’t want to be near. It became so terrible that it covered the area above its mouth with its hands thus gaining knowledge that it had just used something called a nose to discover a nasty smell.

But it didn’t get rid of the darkness that still terrified it. Surely there must have been another way?

That’s when it was suddenly exposed to something truly terrifying. It wasn’t dark but the opposite of it, it was something so… so bright? It gained knowledge of brightness followed by new kind of pain.

It quickly clenched the area above its nose and covered it with its arm. It then felt two fleshy orbs above its nose. Once again a wave of knowledge washed over it. It now knew what eyes were and what seeing was, if it wanted to escape the darkness it needed to keep them open.

It opened them and this time it endured the light until details came into view. It saw what it quickly knew was a lamppost shining high above it. It looked around immediately gaining knowledge of what a city was and that it was now called what is considered night time.

“Are you okay darling?” Another voice called out.

It looked at where the voice came from and that’s where it saw it. Another awareness such as itself, a being called a human woman. She had brown hair and beady black eyes and appeared to be very strong and alien to the awareness.

“Asherah, I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” The old woman said

The awareness stepped forward towards the woman before saying. “Asherah?”

“Yes didn’t you hear me?” The woman raised an eyebrow.

The awareness uttered. “A name… everyone has a name.”

“Asherah snap out of your daze and look at your watch.” The woman commanded. “Tell me what’s the time…”

The awareness looked at it’s right arm instinctively where it saw what it immediately knew was a watch. “Time… there are sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour, twenty four hours in a day and three hundred and sixty five days in a year.”

The woman slapped the awareness across the face. “Get yourself together.”

It fell to the ground where it looked up at the woman with a terrified expression. “Pain! PAAAIN!!!”

The woman darted backwards in fear before speaking. “What the hell’s gotten into you.”

The awareness cried tears and crept backwards as the woman got nearer.

“Asherah?” The woman kneeled down and pulled it into a hug. “I’m sorry for slapping you okay.”

The awareness calmed down before reciprocating the woman’s embrace. “Who are you?”

“I’m your mother sweetheart.” The woman smiled warmly as she embraced her daughter. “I’m sorry for scaring you Asherah.”

“Asherah…” the awareness uttered. Something began to form within the entity, it was something it immediately knew was a sense of human identity. This had happened because it realised that the Asherah the woman was referring to was herself. From this moment onwards its name was Asherah.

Her mother helped her up before asking. “What’s the time?”

Asherah looked down at her watch. “Twenty minutes past three in the morning.”

Back in the present, the commuter train squealed as it pulled out of the Azurai residence railway station and set on its course towards the city. Asherah watched on as the scenery went by and the train descended down a slight slope as it exited the mountainous region at the northern edge of the city.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Okimodo hummed to himself as he walked down the corridor of an ornate and lavish railway carriage. As he passed by the numerous compartments, many of the high class and upper middle class passengers including families with children all shot curious gazes at the handsome young man.

Okimodo had received a briefing from the station master when he first arrived at the central station. As a result he had a basic idea of what he was supposed to do. He would be stationed in the guard coach which was basically just a little cabin built onto the roof the train that allowed a person to see far into the distance. There would also be a few more super resonators guarding the train interior. Due to the fact that the job request never stated that there would be other super resonators, it wasn’t difficult to determine that they had been hired to guard the train separately. This meant that there was no obligation for them to work as a team Which meant that there would be competition and a conflict of interests. Okimodo had already encountered the police woman at Buchai bank who was very obviously plotting against him and Helious. Because of her and his general knowledge about the rigourous and dangerous lives of super resonators, Okimodo hoped on limiting his interaction with other parties involved if possible.

As he entered the last of the train’s nine carriages which was also the guard carriage his eyes wondered along the various six person compartments. As he walked past them he saw no other person until he reached the second to last compartment. It was here where he saw three people sitting around the compartment in the middle of a discussion. One of the individuals, a man with dark slicked back hair, high cheekbones and a large nose turned to face Okimodo immediately upon noticing him. He smiled and stood up to give Okimodo a hand shake. The other two, a handsome young gentleman with dark skin and a young black haired lady with red eyes both stared at Okimodo with great fascination.

The man with slicked back hair grinned from ear to ear as he said. “Greetings lord Azurai! I’m assuming you’ve already been briefed by that station master fellow?”

“Yes I have” Okimodo was smug as he shook the man’s hand as he spoke. “I know that apparently a potential prime minister will be on this train.”

“About that guy…” The man with the slicked back hair sharpened his gaze. “Benjamin Norton, let’s just say that he’s a little controversial, a tad bit spicy if you may. I don’t expect a young person such as yourself to be particularly politically informed but you should know that he pissed off a lot of people.”

“What did he do specifically.” Okimodo asked having been made curious by the man’s change in demeanour.

“First things first, he’s a Coronatian nationalist.” The red eyed woman answered, her voice rather slurred due to an unknown thick accent. “He’s one of those people who wants to foster a closer relationship with the Ukosyranian empire, he constantly praises emperor Rinezaihad and never shuts up about him. It has gotten to the point where there’s now a rumour going around that he has a giant portrait over his bed room depicting the emperor on an ash blonde stalion. Some people even say that he climaxes to it every morning before breakfast.”

The woman took a moment to laugh to herself before the man with slicked back hair continued by saying. “He’s also been involved in multiple smear campaigns and conspiracies against politicians in opposing political parties, particularly the socialist party and new Viriticilian Labour Party. Are you aware of the scandal that John-John James was involved in?”

“John-John James?” Okimodo suddenly bursted into laughter upon reminiscing. “That’s the guy that fucked that one succubus and then his wife divorced him because of it. That’s right it’s all coming back to me now. He then made a public apology that became an immediate classic, being parodied in all manner of plays.”

“It was revealed in the following days that Benjamin Norton had hired the Succubus in order to temp his rival, but the damage had already been done.” The man said before checking the time on his silver watch. “We should expect at least two assassination attempts on this train today. After all we all know how those politicians do things.”

“Honestly I’m not taking a bullet for that miserable man, so I need you three to be on your best game.” She chuckled as she retrieved a cigarette and a lighter.

The Second Gentleman in the compartment who had his attention fixed on the book splayed out in his hands finally spoke up and said. “I prefer not to get my own personal views mixed up with my work. So you don’t need to worry about me.”

“Whatever.” The woman rolled her red eyes.

The man with the slicked back hair slapped his forehead. “I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Lyon and these two are Veronica and Butchy.”

Okimodo smiled before returning the favour. “I’m Azurai Batari Okimodo.”

A silence over came the compartment as both Lyon and Veronica stared at him dumbfounded.

“You’re Shikimodo’s son?” Lyon’s turquoise eyes gleamed in fascination.

“What the…” Veronica’s mouth fell agape. “That means you’re Rinezaihad’s relative!”

Beside her Butchy continued to read, completely indifferent to the conversation.

“I don’t recommend telling Benjamin Norton that, he just might blow his load.” The red eyed woman laughed.

“Anyway I’m stationed in the guard cab on the roof so I doubt I’ll be seeing the three of you for the rest of the journey.” Okimodo turned to leave remembering that he didn’t intend to interact much with other super resonators. “It was good having this conversation with you guys.”

Veronica’s red eyes followed Okimodo as he left. “It’s not every day that you see a shang rokai with a bow.”

“A good friend of mine is a shang rokai who uses the bow.” Lyon sat down before continuing. “His name is Guyus, considering that you’re a woman who lives in Buchai city, you’ve probably already hooked up with him without knowing it.”

Okimodo headed to the end of the train carriage where a young female staff member unlocked the door leading up to the guard cab. Okimodo ascended a small staircase and was finally able to observe where he’d be staying for the next ten hours. Immediately he raised an eyebrow at the sight of someone already sitting in the guard cab across from him.

Shipo raised his head to see his brother staring back at him. His cheeks undulated as he chewed on a piece of fried chicken, as he spoke his words were only barely intelligible. “W…what are…y…*gulp*-“

“What the hell are you doing here?” Okimodo squinted his silver eyes incredulously.

“*swallows* I got a job request from Benjamin Norton’s security team. It was to guard the train and aid Benjamin Norton’s security team in safely escorting him to Corone where he will be visiting his wife in the hospital.”

Okimodo sat down on the floor by the door leading on to the carriage’s roof. To think that he’d have to deal with his brother now. “What are they paying you?”

Shipo threw the naked chicken bone past Okimodo and onto the roof.“I’ll be receiving fifty thousand greater Coronation shekels and one hundred contribution points upon the job’s completion.”

From behind Okimodo ten spider like fingers pressed down on his shoulders. A face resembling a pale man with the teeth and hair of an ape, huge blood shot eyes with thick black slit pupils emerged through the stainless steel behind him. The face leaned in towards Okimodo, whispering in his ear. “It’s unfair isn’t it? It’s disgusting...”

“Get lost…” As the hallucination subsided, Okimodo smiled at his brother weakly before his mouth started to twitch.

Shipo seemed as if he had realised something before a smug grin came over him. “You’re mad aren’t you… hahaha. What’s the matter? Aren’t you glad for your brother?”

“Shut up…” Okimodo sighed.

End of chapter 25.