<4%>
The next time he opened his eye, it was greeted by an unfamiliar ceiling. His mind needs a moment to sink in, meanwhile, the background slowly takes shape as the sound of the air decompression could be heard echoing inside the small room. The pale blue light gently beat fill the surrounding with just enough light to see around and not bother the still sleepy eyes, with the intensity increase and degrees the same tempo as the breath of someone in deep sleep.
Was but a few seconds and when he saw the tight space he was in everything clicked together. In the holographic screens spread around the machine that showed a variety of data was instantly overridden by a warning on his condition, the heartbeat skyrocketed as the calm blue changed to a yellow hue still the intensity didn’t increase by much and the long pulse.
Mordread was trembling, looking around in panic he could see the white padding with black lines over it radiating from under him. His eyes moved erratically with little focus as he suddenly looked at his hands in front of him, was a perfect pair of uninjured hands. He slowly touched with cation the palm of his right hand only to feel the gentle pressure. But like had received a jolt of lightning he rebounding his hand far apart from each other.
He looks again at the ceiling, the lamp of the center of the room was slight to the side, staring while squinting his eyes he with determination, crumpling all his face in the process like something hard to recall. In the moment his vision cleared he could easily see the edgy and detail of the featureless ceiling, his face showed surprise.
After long irregular sigh, he closed his eyes and tried to take a breath slowly possible but wasn’t much better than his rapid breathing, but after a few tries the warning signal was gone as the reading on his condition come back to acceptable levels, first the yellow light turned back to the calm blue then the report of his condition no more filled the whole screen and was demoting back to where it was before, back to normal condition.
Opening his eye he was much calmer but still his face still bitter, he shacked his head a little and then come to look at his feet he hesitated a little, sneered to his own action and when he finally saw their state. The Loud noise of a train passing close by filled the silent room.
He flinched and almost jumped out of the machine, cursing nine different gods while he confirmed the safety of his fingers, making him release air that he didn’t know he was holding. The black casket started to slowly lift him to a upstand position, the blue light from before started to fade; the small screens projected streamed their last set of data, before starting to fade back to the spotless sleek black coffin hull and normal see through cover.
He took the few seconds that took to experiment moving his fingers and toes and after a momentary awkwardness everything went fine, but his face wasn’t much better, as he walked out of the Deep Dive Station, he looked back watching slowly assembling his part back to look just like a normal sleek black coffin, but with a 01 drawn in white over it.
Noth's hand was typing fast on the desk on his side, but he just released a tired sigh while he glanced red clock beside machine:
< 5:11 >
His eyes were drawn to the blurred window, he could see the small line of light of the train merging with the small colorful outline of New Iridium city, while all around only the dark of the night, his cracked phone looked as dead as always but the small shack and started, confirming the time and loading that
He took a cold shower and moved through the almost empty and dusty main room and once again find himself waiting for the freezer to fail to connect. After he was granted access, there was only condiments but no food, making him palm his forehead lightly as he closed the door and waved his hand over a black line on the wall that he was close by.
A simple and rough image of a light switch showed up, but even before finished loading the image he waved his hand and the image changed, as five smaller switches appear side by side, and once again Noth waved his hand. Big red numbers that showed just like the one in his room.
<5:50>
He looks to nothing in particular while counting something on his fingers, until he stopped midway and release some small click with his tongue, before moving on to the door. In order to start to put the protective cloth around his cheap suit, he stopped for a moment looking at him partially covered suit by the black and white jacket and sneered with a quick burst of air, that turned into a small laugh. His hand moved to take out the tie but he stopped mid-action and finished preparing himself and put the gas mask.
As he closed the door he took something from his pocket, where the rectangular black mirror luckily this time opened a little faster than before as the bold words:
< Welcome back Noth >
The very first thing was a list of a variety of people still gray with 10 or more years without connecting, under it. After confirming he moved around the tabs and chat windows that still had some scattered people talking and entered on specific place
< Personal Workshop >
There he could see a list divided into four category
< Private > < Collab > < Guild’s > < Public >
After a quick browsing on earlier projects, on the Private tag, he found what he was looking for. There was a couple of mundane named objects, but the one he was looking for was one was only a few works without a number beside.
<...>
< Prototype_Lock>
<...>
<...>
<...>
< Prototype_Seat_13 >
<...>
But before he clicked, a word on the bottom of the screen stole his gaze, with many with a small variation of the same name around it was much heavier than the one beside him. after gazing for a couple of seconds his finger moved down and clicked on it. Prompting a message on the screen
After he clicked No another pop-up appeared.
< Private > < Collab > < Guild’s >
Now he clicking on Private, after a couple of seconds the last window showed:
Noth waited for some for about a second, but he wasn’t looking at his phone anymore but the black door of his apartment. When the door of his house merged with a new forming figure, the simple door changed for a metallic luster monoliths, white a white symbol a little over his head.
The hologram was failed when touched the edge of the door and knob, creating small occasional glitch all around the hologram and the metal luster gave a fake digital feeling from it even without the glitches, however Noth wasn’t interested in any of this he just stared with a small smile creeping on his face as his eyes looked beyond the simple white symbol over it.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Ending with his raising his hand to reach the heart of the symbol, but a sudden glitch took it away, making his release a long sigh as the screen of his phone a red window showed:
Clicking, No, again he quickly moved to the previous Prototype_Lock object and without even waiting for the hologram finished loading he moved away. With the corner of his eye, it was easy to see the door fusing with the wall surrounding and only another section of the bright orange wall was there.
When he walked outside was pitch black, if not for the night sky still visible. But all around him, the one thing he could see was a blurred diffused light that didn’t illuminate anything. The lack of public illumination means that today he would need a lantern to walk and not just use the reflected light from the lively part of the city.
Moving his hand over the hood and touching a small black sensor the lantern build on the shoulder was turned on, revealing the true nature of this darkness, a dense gray fog from the clouds that lowered too much in the night. The timer left of the battery showed in the corner of the visor, a little less than 24 hours, another click and a dim soft blue light started to radiate from his cloth, the visor changed from the 24 to a week on the time left, but it wasn’t that what he was looking, but the small blue lines on his sleeve that created this fluorescent light. His hand trembled a little, soon after he left the house using the lantern.
He walked a few meters before he stopped and took a deep breath. In the corner of the mask said was humid, but he could only trust the mask as the air he is breathing was controlled to never feel neither smell or humidity. The only thing he could feel was the cold air entering his system proving that indeed was below 16 cº. He looked up at the shadow of the building to the east.
“Is hot today…”
As the contemplation ended his feet moved toward Iridium North Station.
“ Maybe too hot - after a moment of silence he completed before he scoffed lightly - and yet…”
His feet was fast and the music louder than usual, but when the first sun rays broke through the clouds over the city a light green light started to reflect on the very tip of the building, slowly descending, like watching the world on fast forward.
The green light directed right over where he was, but in automatic response, he turns off the lantern, his step or his sight never changed, just the visor readjusted a little the light.
However, while the green was turning blue and the first sparks popped here and there and the yellow canisters around the street started to slowly rise from the ground he stopped dead in his track. His vision suddenly got dark, the gas mask visor quick corrected and he looked up and saw, there the black crack midst of the mirror dark blue obelisk, with a yellow hue from under it.
Around he could still see the big and small damage, on a clear path, the cracked wall in a basketball format; the bent poles due to support a weight that they weren't designed to do; the deep indentation like a stake just hit it; the twisted metal and plastic of the previous row of windows frames; and the gigantic graffiti covering the front face of the skyscraper.
Noth frowned, In fact, what he saw was the last vestige of the graffiti as red dot worked fast in cleaning it like it never existed in the first place with a quick cone of light. The building has a close to the center there was an eye, a deep ice blue eye, staring right at him and Noth calm look was changed to a look to match the piercing eyes of the graffiti.
When the robot cleaned the eye, Noth scoffed lightly and keep moving, he shacked his head as he started to hear the noise of fans. But unknown to him, while he indeed took out the murderous gaze he had before, was exchanged to a constant crumpled face, almost twitching to show his teeth.
The rise of the yellow canister on the pathway marked the harbinger of the flying machines, as the rotating light gave a yellow glow to the surroundings like if the buildings and skyscraper are pillars over a glowing pool or river. By the time the sparks are common like fireflies on grass, the Transporter with the massive size and loud high-speed motors blew air to help keep in place with some visible difficulty in maintaining its stability start to harvest the canisters.
Noth looked to it and then to the hole in the building, but after a few seconds, the only thing that changed is that red got lighter but don’t disappear like last time, now the black building make the perfect surrounding to give the burning feeling all around.
The visor showed that the temperature had fallen to 11cº, Noth glanced at it, and put the volume even louder than before, his breathing got a little faster and his face was now terrible, anger and displeasure is the only thing it is conveying while he had to walk another hour until the North Station.
“Too hot indeed…”
On the busy corner inside of the station Noth rested his head on his hand, while seated on the counter of the restaurant Raising Dragon, a gray boot with other 5 people working in a small space, serving a variety of food, from soups to full set meals, as the strong smell of spice filled the air. When the familiar voice echoed.
“Costumer, what you want?”
“oh Sir Yang, sorry, I was daydreaming, you know how it is.”
“Yes, yes, time very short, life very busy, so what will be? You look like someone that would like to try our new D-Lounges, best you will find in all Station. Great View, spacious and even Augmented Reality for when the food arrived.”
“You know that I can’t… wait, Augmented Reality, you are still using this?”
“Ohh dear customer, don’t be silly, how you think I keep this majestic palace inside the station? you don’t think this spiral is real right?”
“Oh, well… Haven’t they prohibited from you using the spiral 2 years ago?”
“What? No, no, what happened was that we are focused on this new lounge technology so we couldn’t keep the AR on.”
“Sure, that is what happens, I will just take the same as always, special number 4.”
“Yes, but you know that if you take the special number 4 you have an 8% off of our Special Augmented Table? no, I can make 9% for you. I can even get a special sake for just half of the price.”
“The one that came with the special number 4 order?”
“ohoho, sorry costumer someone is calling me, I need to leave. Enjoy your stay.”
As Mr. Yang showed speed unlikely for someone with more than 50 and mixed in seconds with the other's employee and customers. Noth looked around and just see the same small gray booth on the white slat of the station, it was almost full, but there weren't that many food booths left on the station, to begin with. Putting again the mask there was nothing different, he looked at the small AR letters written in a corner almost invisible gray, after some touching around, the color was lit and the AR shinned green.
Was when the world has seen to glitch in and out for a moment, black and white static spot here and there. Until everything go back to normal, like hexagonal tiles turning, the gray food stall was taken by a bright red. First the stool table, that his arm was resting, the dull metal become a one-piece carved wood with snake-like Loong dragon at the corners. Then it hit the tableware from the others, customers, food that is seated at his side, they changed from the hard plastic to a luxurious looking gold and white jade. By this time everything changed, the inside of the stall where the food was hidden by a panel of the water tank with colorful fishes swimming around. Looking up it could see the cloud pierce redwood spiral, with the words Raising Dragon in golden marking the place.
Still looking at the detail that his food arrived, he looked back, who was in front of him was an elegant old man, with a long white beard and bearing that screamed martial artist, but when he opened his mouth:
“Here, costumer, enjoy your food”
"Was the voice of the Mr. Yang. Took the mask to eat, the illusion is broken and he is back to the same small busy food stall, but he wasn't surprised, even with everything with a new look, the cold feeling of the metal or the sound of the kitchen work never changed."
"Hey, Mr. Yang, you see to have something good here. You never thought to expand to the Dive?"
"How could I? dear customer, The Raising Dragon is a memory passed from generations is my family."
"Really so is so hard to go to the virtual world?"
"No, is not hard to go to the virtual world, is hard to leave, you see in the virtual world there is no hunger so how can I sell such ancestral taste?"
"Really, I always thought that what happened in there don't matter. You could always come back here."
"haha, you are funny guy costumer, You know that when you enter the dive world you don't leave without betting everything."
"What a bold word, is that also from your ancestral past."
"No, is from a fortune cookie. But who say isn't full of ancient knowledge. Hun, they are calling me already, will be 100 funny guys."
Is good to see you again Mr. Yang.
"You too Funny guy. Hun? 80? "
"Are you charging for the free sake again?"
"No, no, is just the mind, you know how it is right."
"Yhee... too busy, too tired."
As Noth turned the AR mode off again he commented to himself, ready to eat.
“Well, this explains why he didn’t recognize me.”