Drip drip.

The blazing sun hadn't dried his hair yet. His golden locks hadn't always reflected the light like this. When had they so drastically changed their shade, he didn't even remember. His clear eyes unflinchingly gazed at the burning sun that was showing no mercy whatsoever. Even the clear sky paled in comparison to his clear green eyes. They shown like emeralds in clear water. Yet, his doll face carried no expression or feeling. Even the scorching heat didn't burn his skin, nor did his sweaty head bother him.

He stretched out his arm towards the sun. His pencil thin fingers shadowed his eyes but utterly failed to prevent the heat. He was sitting out in the open after all. And this was no weather to even poke your head out of the window. He gazed at his pale hand absentmindedly, turning it around to see his palm too. Then his gaze shifted a little lower towards his arms. The incision was still clear as day, all the more so because of the tremendous amount of blood trickling down to smear his thin white shirt red.

If this incision had been the only one in place, perhaps he'd have made some effort to seal it and prevent his blood from leaving what remained of his body. But just such openings were all over his body. A clean cut going all the way around his neck, legs, stomach, back, chest, everywhere indeed, and they were all losing blood. Streams of red found their way down his body when he finally decided to stand up and escape the sun.

But just as he was looking at his hand, pokerfaced and lost in thought, he could hear voices in his head.

"That's my arm! Give it back! It's mine! Where are you taking it?!", those words were a few he could make out among the heart rending screams that accompanied them.

"Father! My legs! They are mine! Stop it! Stop!!! Don't take them away!!!"

He was vaguely even able to remember the smell of that dark room, and the sound of silver equipment clanking as the overhead light blinded him. But it was far too distant, more so than a memory. So he wasn't even sure whose words they were.

"We'll give you better ones. Don't worry, son. This is for our sake! For Agartha."

Those were someone else's words. Perhaps that ''father's''. It hardly mattered anymore.

"It hurts."

He muttered without knowing what it meant. Then decided it was about time to move off that street.

His steps weren't as sturdy yet and he could hear the gears grinding in his body at times. Perhaps they were finding room in there just as he was making room out here. The empty streets of Agartha were the result of just such a quest. But it wasn't complete yet. He walked on as men and women lay foaming from their mouths in their houses. The only thing that rung in their ears was a laughter, similar to the one he had interminably been hearing since the incisions were first made. Whose was that laughter? Why had that man been laughing with such despicable joy? There had to be someone that could answer those questions. So he made sure every soul in Agartha heard that laughter, until he'd found the very man himself.

Stolen story; please report.

His hopes would prove to be futile.

***************

Lubbock and I returned to town as if nothing had happened at all. I was beginning to understand things now and the fact that he'd murdered Miss Traveler escaped my mind for a while. I even forgot to ask the reason why he'd done it. But by the time we got back her body was gone.

We hadn't intended to come right back. But we were ambushed by an angry mob right as we entered the village. The whole village was going against us and as I didn't have any intention of fighting civilians, I told Lubbock we needed to make our way home. It seemed as though people had gone completely mindless. They were like a bunch of zombies, with a singular goal of hunting us down. Lubbock scoffed at them and seemed to have a grasp on the situation.

"Don't let this get to your head, we might as well kill them, you know", he proposed.

I may have agreed in the heat of the moment, if I hadn't seen Neil among the crowd. In fact, he was one of the rowdiest ones. He egged on Mills too but Mills, being a scaredy-cat, scurried away all teary-eyed.

"You coward, do you want to die? This is for our sake! For Shamballa!", Neil called after him.

The two were finally beginning to fit their picture. It seemed right, strangely, for Neil to be taking the lead even if it was against us. I remembered when he'd said he'd be on my side regardless of what happened. As long as Mills was okay, he'd assured me, he would support us in every way possible. I wondered if Neil still remembered that promise.

When things got too tense, Lubbock decided to do something about it. Out of nowhere, I saw an arm flying in the crowd, but no notice was taken about it. The arm glitched and disappeared. A new one took it's place just as easily and no one even blinked twice at it.

"Impressive. She must be desperate. She's given them free access to their backup data. But the more you set them free, the more chances of corruption. If something like that happens, she'll have to go back and rewrite things from scratch, that is, if she can even detect a corruption in such a large system. That means only one thing, she's taking this risk because she's trying to put an end to everything. No matter, it's a piece of cake for me", Lubbock went on with his rumbling, with a scornful look in his eyes.

"What are you blabbering about, Lubbock?!"

As the mob closed in on us, cornering us from all sides, leaving no room for escape, suddenly a strange wave struck them. They all froze for a while before a man grabbed his head and began screaming.

"Laughing! It's...laughing! That symbol! It's that one...it's the same one!"

I don't know what they were all seeing or hearing but soon enough, they were banging their heads on the ground. As the hysteria spread in the mob, we were free to walk unseen.

"Who the hell did that?"

"Who do you think? There's only one culprit in this town. And we're going to see her."

"Who are you talking about?!"

"Who else? That quack Ema, of course!"