Surrounding the sprawling metal streets of Vol was a large golden wall, leading to an enclosed area. This outer city area wrapped around the perimeter, stretching out 50 feet from the inner city. It was a giant artificial garden, an oxygen farm of sorts, tied right into the city's ventilation. The tree's were half mechanical, spread across a meadow whose dirt only dug down a few feet. Metal tubes shot out from the ground, attached to rocks, large plants, and small stairway bulkheads scattered around for easy access to the underground machinery.

The dividing wall, though gold, was not as grand as it sounds. The claustrophobic corridors of the inner city, with only reflections of sunlight bouncing across thousands of sky tunnels and metal walls, phased out the closer you got to the outer city. In the garden, there was no need for a roof. Vol itself already generated a massive area of artificial atmosphere, and what oxygen wasn't funneled into the ventilation was freely released into the habitable zone. It seemed peaceful, though its purpose wasn't to be that. For the opening in the walls was nothing more than some shapely holes, giant circles with no aesthetic purpose.

Aeolus stood at one of these openings, leading to the scarcely flowered meadow. He couldn't be bothered to focus on the cold metal backdrop of the Vol's outer wall. His eyes widened, caught between darting his eyes around, and simply staring into the scene. He took his steps in only one every passing moment. Rhyder sat on a chopped log lying next to one of the stairwells. Though metal, these trees could still be harvested for timber, just not as much. Varying sizes of autonomous drones wandered the garden, some tiny ones ripping off the bark from trees, exposing the true metal bones. Others were larger, cutting up the dying trees entirely, marking them to be replaced. Rhyder laughed as he stared at Aeolus, who was barely moving at this point. He ripped a small metal ball bearing off of the log, and threw it at Aeolus.

"Ow!" Aeolus winced back, his mind snapping back from his trance.

Rhyder chuckled to himself a bit, scanning the scenery. "Guess they stopped letting people this far, eh?"

Aeolus followed Rhyder's eyes. He notices several small harvesting drones as they ripped apart a tree, then all fell into an exposed opening in the ground. He turned his head wide each way again. "I don't know, but I've never seen anything like this." Aeolus spoke in a trance. He turned back to Rhyder ''Who is 'they'?"

"Fea."

Aeolus' eyes narrowed. "I..." His hands came up to his head. "I feel like I should..." Aeolus stopped to swallow a thought, which made his brain fuzzy. He shook it out of his head, absorbing the atmosphere again. "What is all this for?"

"Plant farms? They give us oxygen, some give out food too." Rhyder looks around him, perhaps searching for these food giving plants.

Aeolus took a deep breath in, the air swirling around in his brain. The air of the mines and the tight housing districts was rotten, full of the smell of sweat and dirt. "How did they get here?" He asked.

"Well, these ones here..." Rhyder got up and walked up to Aeolus. He stood beside him, pointing him to one of the stripped trees. "These were made, some were put here from elsewhere. But real, homegrown ones?" He looked up to the sky, Aeolus' eyes soon following.

"How can these be in the sky?" Aeolus turned to ask. Rhyder still with his eyes on the open blue sky.

"No, no! There's ah..." He flung his hand upwards for a moment, before slipping his hands in his jacket pocket. "Trust me, there's places up there where the air is even better." He began walking forward towards the Outer Wall. "Can't stand around all day, mate! Someone's bound to come back eventually!" Aeolus looked at him confused again. The same battle between fears fought inside him again as he walked through the meadow. Metal bits and bark littered the floor, though this was no problem from a machine to navigate, it seemed a tripping hazard for Aeolus.

Rhyder and Aeolus finally reached the last auto-door out of the city. The outer wall was 10 feet thick, but very much shorter than the inner. The city itself rose up so high, only after nearly the end could it be fully appreciated. Rhyder and Aeolus reached a brown auto-door, which supposedly was to slide open when they approached. But the door stood clenched.

"Oh, right." Rhyder sighed to himself. He took out the same tablet from his back, and began swiping and tapping on the screen. Aeolus peeked over, unable to see the screen fully with the glare. Rhyder stopped, turning his head towards Aeolus. He pointed down to the screen. "A Programmer. Links to my doohickey here." Rhyder raised his left hand, showing the back of his wrist. It was a small, red strip of metal, like a mechanical card stuck to his forearm. He swiped one last time before the strip on his wrist formed around his arm, shaping into something like an exo-suit. He charged the metal hand into the door, wedging it between the two. He slipped his other hand in, and pushed the two sides open.

"How does..." Aeolus muttered out, before Rhyder interrupted.

"Constructor. It does, um..." He grabbed the left side of the auto-door and slammed the rest of it in, fully opening the frame. "Constructing." He closed his fist, and the metal-framed arm folded back into the Constructor's base form. Rhyder continued down the dark hallway through the new doorway. Just a few feet after, was another door, though it was already propped open.

A laughable juxtaposition hit Aeolus hard; The welcoming greens and reds were forgotten in a sea of yellow-stained white. The cracked ground gives the surface of the earth an unstable feeling. There were no plants in sight, not even dead ones. Any sign of life and activity was replaced by swirling sands and rolling dusts. The piercing blue horizon went on forever, only a hint of more towering sandstone hiding out of sight. Aeolus stood inside the tunnel as Rhyder walked out. Aeolus stared around at the emptiness, forgetting about the last scene seen. He didn't even turn around to take it one last time, before the dust flew into the dark corridor. Rhyder walked outside a few steps, taking a deep breath in, then coughing out as he wiped sand from his face. The moment lasted a bit too long. For the first time today, Aeolus' thoughts returned to the silence he was familiar with.

"I'm..." Aeolus whispers. Rhyder turned his head around, and Aeolus' breathing seemed to become labored. "I'm not supposed to be here." He spoke out louder.

Rhyder turned around fully. "Yeah? Really?

"Who are you? Where's the guards?"

Rhyder smacked his lips. "Honestly man, I'm feeling too good to pretend I'm one of them."

Aeolus exhaled, his body shaken. "I..." He started to back up. "I think I should go."

"Aeolus." Rhyder demanded. "Hey, it's ok."

"No, I..." He turned back into the corridor, the door wedged open and had already closed again. "I can't leave."

"Aeolus..." Rhyder spoke more softly, taking a few steps. "It's ok, they're gone."

"Why!? Why are they..." Aeolus almost yelled out, but stopped his strides back. It was like a mind flew right through his brain.

"I don't think you want to go back, mate." Rhyder slowly reached out his hand. "You got to come with me." As Aeolus battled in his mind, the small rumblings of an engine echoed in the distance, creeping closer towards them. Both men quieted down, Rhyder eyes rolling back, sticking his hand up to his shoulder. Rhyder drew a smirk, then spun around on one of his feet, throwing up sand around him. Aeolus was still frozen, though no one left to bounce his panic off of.

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A moving cloud of dust danced on the horizon, bigger and bigger, the wind in symphony with the growl of a large engine. Fishtailing through the dust, a dark red car drifted towards the city, bouncing up and down despite the flat terrain. A female voice screamed out, as the engine sputtered in and out, and Rhyder scratched the back of his head. Aeolus was still frozen and confused.

The car arrived just spinning around 180 degrees. Shooting a blast of dust into the tunnel. Aeolus shot to hand up to cover his eyes, coughing proactively. As the dust settled, a small child climbed out of the window and onto the roof. She stood up and began shouting, pumping her fists in the sky. "Your savior has arrived!" She yelled, eyes up to the sky.

"Scotty!" Rhyder yelled, walking towards the car.

"What? Romilly said I could pick you up." She giggled.

"Yeah, well Romilly isn't in charge." Rhyder swatted at the roof of the car, but Scotty just laughed, jumping off the other end and climbing into the back seat. Rhyder leaned on the driver's side, then turned to Aeolus. Scotty peaked out the back window.

"Aeolus!" He turned, lifting his arms up through the window. "You still coming?"

Aeolus forced down the fear down, coughing out the rest of the dust still in his lungs. His breathing dried what little water was left in his eyes, as he slowly took a few steps out. The dust and sand around him began to lift up with the wind, the city behind him disappearing into the rising coverage. Rhyder directed his hand to the passenger side seat, and Aeolus climbed in, despite having some trouble opening the door at first. Rhyder clutched the vehicle, and the gust of sand spun around the open windows. Aeolus closed his eyes, the feeling of eyes from all directions.

As they rode off south of the city, the flat desert began populating with small strange-shaped mountains, and the occasional mesa. In the distance, several dips in the land created the illusion of hills and valleys, though the ground only descended. The cracked ground turned more covered in sand, and the cloud behind them grew in size. The lack of windows turned the trip into an sensory blast, the engine even more talkative on the inside.

Rhyder flew his hand back, tapping the back of his seat. Scotty looked up at him, the dug her hands under the seat. She came back up with a white bottle, then held it out to Rhyder. Rhyder bumped Aeolus on the chest, starling Aeolus as he was in trance. Rhyder reached over and grabbed the bottle in Scotty's hand, then tosses it into Aeolus' lap. He gave Aeolus a quick nod before he put both hands back on the wheel, straightening out after a sudden drift.

Aeolus peeked out the window at the sun reflecting across the white sands. The way it shone made it harder to tell from inside the vehicle where exactly the sun was, but the sky was still a sharp blue when spotted through the clouds of dust shooting back from the car. He took a sip from the water bottle, though it emptied quickly, and he handed it back to Rhyder. Scotty took it back during the conflict, trying to empty the droplets of water left into her mouth. Aeolus let out a long sigh, squinting his eyes as dust threatened to flood the front seats.

After twenty or so minutes, they pulled up to the edge of one of the smaller mesas. Up a small hill of sand, Rhyder eased them into a large cave opening in the side of the mountain. Aeolus peeked out as they entered, metal bits sticking out of wall at various spots. The largest at the end of the cave, which a stand housing a console. The screen lit up as Rhyder tapped on the breaks, and the engine automatically died down.

"Ok then." Rhyder exhaled, slapping the wheel. He turned to Aeolus, who's gaze was stuck forward, though he was occasionally glancing to either side. He stood straight, not fully leaning back on the car seat. Scotty crawled out of the back window, running out of the cave and around the Mesa. As Aeolus was about to open his door, Rhyder reactively reached out his hand over him. He sat back straight up, and and glanced over at Rhyder. He retracted his hand, resting his hand on the dashboard.

Rhyder took a deep breath, grinding his teeth, releasing the tension and he let it out. "Alright, here's the deal. I don't know if I can trust you yet." He turned his head towards Aeolus, who was thinking the same thing. Rhyder gave a half-assed smile, before sighing. "It's no offense to you, though." He sat back in his seat, facing out the windshield.

"What do you mean?" Aeolus asked, looking over at him.

"It's what's in your head." Rhyder slight nodded his own, tapping his finger to his temple. He turned to Aeolus, gauging his reaction.

"My..." Aeolus slowly raised his had, pointing to his temple. "Head?"

Rhyder ended the tension, shifting around and grabbing his Programmer from his back jacket pocket. He leaned over with the tablet in hand, resting it on the dashboard, holding it to balance. The screen showed a blue figure, mainly the outline of bones and nerves. "You see up here?" He pointed to head of the figure on the screen. "That's my brain, yeah?" He ran his finger down the body on the figure. "It's makes all of this work."

Aeolus had a bit of a chuckle to himself, staring at the mass inside the outline of the head. Another made up word for him to ponder. Rhyder slipped off the Constructor from his hand, and offered it to Aeolus. After looking Rhyder up and down, Aeolus grabbed it, placing it on the back of his wrist. The metal seemed to suction-lock onto the skin, and Aeolus felt something like a vacuum pulling at his wrist for a few seconds. The tablet beeped a few times, before the image of figure changed in some placed. Mainly, there was a flashing blue area where the head was. Rhyder tapped the image, and a box with strange symbols popped up.

"Yep, predictable." He leaned back, putting the tablet back behind him.

Aeolus' eyes darted around the cabin. "W-what was that?"

Rhyder leaned in and grabbed the Constructor, pressing in two buttons on the side. A similar vacuum feeling ran up Aeolus' arm, as Rhyder took back the strip, placing it back on his left hand. "You asking for my opinion?" Rhyder chuckled. Aeolus nodded his head. "Something in there, controlling the thing that controls you."

"I..." Aeolus swallowed. "I thought I controlled me."

Rhyder stopped, turning to him. "We all think that, don't we?" He laughed a bit, before getting out of the car. He slowly walked to the back side, kicking up the sand in the cave. Aeolus sat in the passenger seat, thinking on those words. He slowly grabbed the door handle, but hesitated stepping out. He tightened his jaw, before shoot up onto the cave ground. "Come on." Rhyder beckoned, slapping the flat trunk of the car. Aeolus walked over, hopping up onto the trunk. Rhyder remained standing, his shoulders leaning back. He chuckled again, scratching his beard.

"Who do you think you worked for?" He paused a moment, then turned to Aeolus. "You spent your whole life there, yeah?"

Aeolus eyes were locked outside the cave. Without the trouble of wind, and being slightly elevated, the blue sky was much easier to observe. The glare of the sun hardly bounced as aggressively than when they left Vol. The faded white sands around them contrasted the harsh maroon's and orange's of the Mesa's. "Isn't that just life? You do your work."

Rhyder curled his lip in, turning his head back to cave entrance. "So what do you think this is all for then, huh?" He nodded his head out towards the desert.

"I..." Aeolus chuckled, fueled more by the fact he couldn't remember if he had ever laughed. "I don't know." His face quickly went flat again. "The work when it's done?"

Rhyder nodded his head in amusement. "Well, I wouldn't say the work is done just yet."

"Am I dead?"

"No, but you may as well have been. Fea ran you like a corpse. You were the mines, right?"

"They fed me. Gave me a place to sleep." He struggled to get that last part out, thinking back to the cold hard floor of his shotty housing."

"Did you have freedom?" Rhyder turned his head towards Aeolus.

"What's that?"

"Could you decide what you did?" Rhyder widened his eyes, and Aeolus turned towards him. Aeolus scratched his head, squinting his eyes and wandering into his mind

"I think I did. I took the long way home. I liked being by myself."

Rhyder laughed and leaned in, a smile on his face. "And was that allowed?"

Aeolus face scrunched up, slowly looking back outside. "N-no, not exactly."

Rhyder grunted to himself, the smile still painted on his face "Right then. Listen, I like you. I want you to be a part of this whole thing I'm running here." He paused, rummaging his tongue across his teeth, letting out his breath. "But first, we're going to have to look inside that head of yours, yeah?"

"Isn't that what you..." Aeolus turned to Rhyder, tapping his own head again. "What you just did?"

"No, we got to open up, make sure I'm actually dealing with-"

"Open up... Oh no , I don't-" Aeolus started to stutter and slid off the trunk, facing Rhyder. Rhyder interrupted, leaning forward and putting his hands on Aeolus' shoulders.

"Aeolus, you're going to be fine. Just breathe, mate." Rhyder and Aeolus both began breathing. "Scotty is gonna help with that..."

"What?"

A large metal pipe collided with the back of Aeolus' head, the loud clunk against his bones bounced around his fading vision, as he fell to the ground unconscious.