Chapter 1 : mēden

Its blinking... 

How long has it been blinking ?

Its a straight white line, fading and coming to existence every 1-2 seconds.

Standing in a void of darkness

Like a beating heart or a ticking clock

Tick....tock....tick....tock.

Is it indicating something? Who knows.

How long have i been here looking at this? How long have you been here? Must be weird, I've met you mere seconds ago and im barging you with all these questions, But... i can't help it, your the first one besides me here. 

Not that i know where here actually IS mind you.

Looking around its as if the darkness has shrouded the entire world, The only light is this white line. 

I've thought of interacting with it but i guess I've been too scared to do so,  there's something attractive about it. It's drawing me close to itself, can you feel it too? 

Tick...tock...tick...tock...tick...tock

'Hello'

It changed! the lines beget more lines and formed a word.

'Are you [][][][]?'

What?

'[][][][]'

I can't understand

...

Hello?

...

Hey what did you mean? 

...

Its back... the blinking line again. Did you see that? 

Who are you? 

What are you ?

[][][][][][][]-

*

"Ah what the hell ? Is she dead?"

Inside a dark alleyway two police officers were checking inside of a trashcan, their expression one of shock and one of lust.

"Look at that body, damn. since she's dead no ones gonna mind if i take a run at her ey?

Upon hearing this the shocked policeman looked at his colleague with disgust. Even though he knew this old partner of his was an avid user of dirty jokes it was still annoying to deal with it over and over.

In an attempt to ignore his comment the man walked towards the corpse inside the trashcan.

At first glance she was a fair and frail young lady in her Twenties with rose-like red hair, But upon closer inspection there existed numerous amount of small to big scars on her hands and neck. 

She was outfitted in a dark and tattered hoodie which contrasted with her physical characteristic. 

The sensible policeman warily looked at his surroundings. He slowly reached his hand and grabbed the girl's arm to check her pulse.

The body was cold to the touch and she didn't have a pulse either. It wasn't the first time he had seen this kind of scene, In his line of work death was a normal thing, still it wasn't something he would enjoy seeing. 

"body's cold, probably been dead for a few hours..."

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The expression of the lustful officer didn't change however his body language showed a hint of professionalism as if to say he had come across these sorts of things far more than the rookie next to him.

"cause of death? Any sign of outside forced injuries ?" He took a step closer to his colleague to observe the body closely supposedly giving up his laid back attitude.

"Hmmm not really, old scars aside it doesn't seem like she died of any external injuries..." The sensible officers examined the body, opening her closed eyelids, a set of crimson like pupils came into view.

"Red eyes, red hair and a fair body...hmm she'd sell for quite the high price." A small scowl appeared on the second officers face of the younger man. 

"Wait... you don't mean-"

"Yes, this might be related to the black market vigilante serial murder case..."

"But this doesn't match the killers M.O right? Look no chopped off limbs. All her fingers are intact."

Without responding. The first officer reached out and checked the girls pockets for any sign of identification.

Inside he found a silver ring with a rather odd engraving and a few broken down piece of what used to be some sort of tech device.

"With this type of loot she probably belonged to one of the central homeless camps"

"Couldn't she have already been ransacked before our arrival?" Asked the younger officers with a hint of naivety.

"Nope, doubt they'd leave the body or the ring if they did. It might not seem expensive but that ring is definitely worth something. Besides look at her clothing not something you see a upstanding citizen wearing."

"They usually carry these type of stuff and use it to trade for their necessities." He raised one of the pieces and analysed it.

"Probably belongs to a k6 street-board, these hoverboard can hover up to 6ft and last around 8 hours"

The sensible officer looked at his partner with an astonished expression. 

"Why do you know so much about hoverboards ?"

"I had to buy one for my son on his birthday..." he grumbled under his breath but it was almost inaudible. Next he analysed the ring.

"This ones probably a personal item...a family heirloom maybe...or a stolen jewellery"

"So who is she? Can ya confirm my hunches?" The laid back officer regained his old demeanor and slowly backed away from the corpse allowing his younger colleague to get some work done.

After having a look of confusion for about 3 seconds the other officer which had a more upright mannerism face palmed, it was as if he had realised his mistake.

Slowly the other officers nonchalant expression widened into a grin at his patterns mishap.

"You really gotta get used to this new tech and I'm supposed to be the oldy here... checking the PAS of the deceased shows us their status "

"Right! Its just so weird that we have the clearance to check these nowadays. With everyone going about their privacy being in danger and what not."

"People want to be protected, doesn't mean they necessarily need to know how."

The inexperienced officer reached and grabbed a PAS scanner and brought it near the corpses neck. After a few seconds the devices started beeping and blinking in a red color. 

"Another unmarked. The war ended 45 years ago how have they not marked everyone yet ?" 

He said with a rather frustrated tone.

"Welp all we can do is report it in. Let the Detectives take on the case.

"Here tape up the crime scene, I'll contact the-"

Before even finishing his sentence the old officer quickly reached out for his gun and aimed it at the trash can.

Wondering what his partner was doing the young one followed the barrel to see an unprecedented scene.

It was as if she raised from the dead

Without a second of hesitation the younger cop also raised his weapon, aiming at the lady atop the garbage.

Blinking her eyes out of confusion, the girl tilted her head wondering who these people were and what they were on about.

"An infection case in the city?"

The older man said, his expression hinting of how unsettled he was.

"What?! If that's the case then doesn't this mean a declaration of war?!"

Before this back and forth conversation could go any further. A gasping sound was heard from the direction of the girl, it was as if she had just remembered something.

Without an ounce of hesitation, she took a dive into the pile of trash in the trashcan.

This move dumbfounded the cops who were already in a tense situation. 

After a few minutes of scrounging the girl surfaced back up with another silvery object.

The cops who regained their once dropped guard. Aimed with a ferocity.

"Hands above your head!" The more experienced officer shouted in hopes of being able to communicate with the girl, whatever she was. "Don't make any sudden moves!" The younger one shouted to follow up

The girls confusion grew evermore. 

"Um... should i raise my hand or is that an sudden move?"

She talked!, realising that the girl could be communicated with a bit of their tension evaporated.

The cops aimed their gun in a way to tell her to do the first action.

After rising her hand, the silver object within shone in the night.

"what is that object in your hand ?..." The cop asked with confusion not less than the girl herself. 

She looked at it, the thing she was frantically looking for as if instinctively  was a silver coin, or at least it looked like one. 

"I don't know..."

"you were wildly searching for it and you don't know? actually forget that" the cop gave up trying to make sense of the situation.

The girl's confusion however, grew even more, why did she do what she did. She had no idea.

"Who are you, where are you from" since they had already checked her pocket, subduing her and checking again didn't seem fruitful. So they asked her outright.

"Who am i?...my name is..." the more she thought the more nothing came to mind. However from that nothing something was remembered. 'Nothing... nothing? wait NOTHING! '

"Right! My name is mēden"