Chapter 3: Voices in my head

When Akira came to he was back in his apartment, he was inclined to believe the whole thing was a dream but his body ached, he hazily makes his way to the kitchen to fix himself something to eat. He wasn’t sure what happened, Lan had his gun aimed at him, a mysterious lady spoke to him, and then he blacked out. He plops down on the stool and munches down on his cereal, he was deep in thought about how he was gonna get back at CaLl3n for poorly informing him about this “simple” mission, his eyes wander around as he thinks. Then he saw it. A small human-like thing standing on his counter, it flickered like a hologram but he didn’t own anything that could do that. It was dressed in baggy pants, a crop top and a patterned bolero jacket. It stares back at him through its small round black shades.

“ Morning,” it finally speaks, Akira immediately recognized the voice. It was the same one from back then, just before he blacked out. This holo lady was the cause for his blackout, maybe he wasn’t sure yet. It took him a couple of seconds to realize what was happening. Akira stumbles out of the chair, keeping the holo lady back by pointing his spoon at her, “ Who are you!? Were you the one who caused me to black out?” He asked, keeping a distance just in case. She seemed amused, she was smirking at him, “ I did, I prefer to have my vessel in one piece and not riddled with holes, y’know. The names Cleo,” Cleo says bowing politely. “ I'm an A.I from the golden age, my memories a little foggy from waking up after a few hundred years and jumping hosts so I’ll need some time piecing together the proper way to the Heart of god,” Cleo explains. Akira understood well what she was going on about, he managed to get his hands on a really old, and potentially powerful A.I that could…. Take him to the heart of god… “ YOU KNOW WHERE THE HEART OF GOD IS??” Akira suddenly yells startling Cleo, she shoots him a look of annoyance, “ I said I USED to remember where it was, I’m sure it’ll come back to me soon,” she says walking around the counter. The heart of god was a source of power that could power the entire world forever, it was created back in the golden age by scientist Suzuki. Nobody knows what happened to it since it disappeared along with Suzuki, but the Union has been looking for it since. Not like we need it.

“ Surely you remember something about its whereabouts,” Akira asks, taking a seat. “ The Desert,” is all she says, the desert sat north of New Frandhenven but it was considered impossible to traverse due to the heavy geomagnetic storm that surrounded it, normally something like that would only affect tech but this had an effect on the human body, anyone who tried going through would fall unconscious and wake up a few feet away from the barrier. Nobody has been able to bypass it for years so everyone just kinda gave up on it. “ With me, you should be unaffected by the storm surrounding the Desert,” Cleo says, “ And considering how the entire city is running on fumes now we need to find the heart as soon as possible, or the entire world would get pushed back a couple thousand years,” she says casually, Akira took some time to process, “ I'm sorry what?” was the city running low on power? Was that even possible?? Cleo knew he wasn’t convinced so with a wave of her hand a screen shimmers into existence, on it shows the total power of New Frandhenven. Everything powered within the city, all the lights and electricity, shown in the form of a battery which sat at…10%...next to it had a calculation regarding how much longer it would last, and according to it we have a half year. With that quick briefing Akira would head back into his room and rummage through his drawer, pulling out money from his emergency savings so that he can pay rent just in case he doesn’t make it back in time, he’d rather not lose his home trying to find some relic of legend to save the entire city. 

Akira packed his bag before heading out, he should be able to reach the barrier by nightfall. Vendren was the city at the edge of New Fradhenven, beyond it was empty land, where the wild animals and other things lived. The Union doesn’t care if you go out there, it would cost them a lot just to keep people from doing so, which is why they don’t bother. The sun was dipping over the horizon, painting the city in its light, Akira stare out the window as the city moved by, he took the train to Vendren, from there he would walk the rest of the way. The train would eventually reach its final stop, where Akira would get off. The barren land was visible from within the city, the boundary between the city and land was almost nonexistent, making it hard to tell when Vendren ended and where the empty land began. A cold wind swept through the area as Akira finally lay eyes on the storm, it went on for miles. The moon was in quarter rotation tonight, it cast its light across the entire desert, all that walking finally paid off. He stood in front of the swirling sand wall, lightning crackled from within.

“ All you have to do is walk through, you should be fine,” Cleo reassures him. He takes in a deep breath and exhales, he's hesitant. What if it doesn’t work? What if it zaps him unconscious and some giant land monster eats him? No point worrying now, Akira took one step forward into the storm and to his surprise, it doesn’t touch him. It kinda bent around his leg, trying its best to avoid him, so he puts his entire body into it. The storm surrounded him, but not touching, as if he had an invisible barrier keeping it from getting near. The storm wasn’t that deep, he crossed over to the other side immediately, in doing so a pulse blasted throughout the entire storm wall, hopefully that wasn’t something bad. Akira turns his attention to what's in front of him, and he stare in awe. 

The Desert was described to be a vast place of mystery, and it was right. Laid out in front of him was the Desert, sitting off in the distance was a large golden age structure, and off in the distance was what seemed to be a town, Akira however would black out for the second time in two days.