Shangri-La

One: Shangri-La

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The sound of soft pattering and smell of petrichor greeted Dawn as the research centre’s doors materialised open. She simply smiled at the welcome droplets as she strolled out from under the building’s overhang. It was Tuesday today, and rainfall had always been scheduled for Tuesdays. As she tapped her watch, a glistening parasol emerged above her head. The barrier glittered as sunlight crept through the clouds and beamed down on the sprinkle of water, refracting a collection of rainbow colours on each droplet’s edge.

She would resume work on her project later, but for now, she had set out to enjoy her lunch.

The street Dawn sauntered along twinkled in the limited sunlight, each building like a colourful bulb on a string of christmas lights. The exteriors protruded out in various figures, some imitating the fabric of a curtain, others spheroidal and iridescent like giant bubbles. It was as if each building in Nexus was competing to catch a passerby’s eye, pleading to be chosen from the ensemble of establishments enveloping the path.

Above her, the muted whir of cars and aerocycles whipped up a little breeze as their engines propelled them forwards, leaving strands of her red hair and the white edges of her dress elevated in the wind.

Dawn rejected each colourful display, before finally turning towards an azure diner, and as expected, the door materialised open before her. As she ventured inside, once again she was hit with the scent of sweet fresh dough and vanilla essence.

She paused at the entrance, waiting for the soft buzz of the scanner to relent.

“Back so soon?” A questioning voice chirped, and Dawn glanced over to see the familiar server, Adva, sanitising a nearby table.

A warm smile blossomed upon her face as she spotted Adva. The woman’s torso rotated around, as her wheels propelled her across the marble floors of the diner. If one weren’t to look down, or gaze too closely at the woman’s mechanical eyes, the droid would not be distinguishable from humans themselves.

“Hey, you say it like I live here!” The younger girl protested, continuing to insist on her innocence, “I usually just limit myself to once a week, this is just a cheat day…” Dawn’s voice trailed off, as she also became less convinced of her own words. She allowed Adva to guide her into a pod, where she sat upon the plush, cushioned seat.

She had been coming to this diner for several years now; although the food would never disappoint, it was more so the atmosphere and Adva’s presence that she kept coming back for. When Maia, Dawn’s younger sister, had abruptly left 3 years ago, Adva had been a refreshing constant in a time of such uncertainty - always waiting with open ears and a smile.

The droid reached out to softly twirl a loose strand of Dawn’s raspberry red hair, tucking it softly behind her ear.

“Alright alright, I’ll believe you. What can I get for you today?” Amused, Adva swiped her hand as a blue hologram manifested beside them. Almost instantaneously, Dawn’s name and table number appeared upon it, in blocky white text.

The pair spoke back and forth for a little while, beyond just placing an order, beyond a server and customer. The woman would ask Dawn about her life, and she would oblige, telling her about the beautiful research centre and the project she was working on. Dawn would ask Adva too, about life, that is - but the droid would always manage to spin the conversation around. She often wondered what it would be like if Adva could have a life outside of this building and this job.

Maia had been foolish once and asked her, but Adva promptly reminded her that this was her purpose, and she did not possess desires and dreams like humans did. Neither brought up the topic again.

“Hey, bot! What’s with the hold up? We want dessert!” A male voice hissed as he interrupted their conversation, with more muted voices joining in to the dissenting.

As she poked out her head from her pod, she caught a glimpse of the group.

Made up of three men, she had seen them in other restaurants and spaces - often impatient and hostile towards the droid workers. From the lack of reaction from Adva, she could tell that this wasn’t her first encounter with this group, or others of this sort.

“You shouldn’t let them back here,” Dawn frowned, “They can’t just be allowed to treat you that way and get away with it.”

The droid looked emptily at Dawn, her revolving eyes clouded and difficult to read, and she half expected her to tell her off for saying such a thing - before she caught herself and repainted her expression.

“Pay them no mind, you know it cannot bother me. I’ve sent off your order now, stay safe, Dawn,” She smiled simply and promptly closed her order tab, before her wheels carried her away towards the direction of the voices.

Dawn frowned at her absence. From across the diner, she could hear their persisting complaints, mentally cursing at the group and their indecent words.

Interrupting her agitation, the white table in front of her vibrated softly, before a gap opened up and her food and its sweet aroma was lifted through it.

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After saying her thanks and goodbyes to Adva, Dawn reached to her watch planning to reactivate her umbrella - before she spotted the same group of men loitering a few metres from the entrance.

At the sight of them she paused, she tried to push down the sharp, stabbing anger that threatened to tear its way out of her. Her eyes locked onto the back of the muscular man’s torso, remembering the way he had mocked Adva, and another wave of intrusive hostility probed at her instincts.

Wrapping her heart away in cloth, she chose to withhold her malice - although she definitely thought they deserved it, her escalation would be insignificant. Besides, there was nothing to gain from challenging somebody twice her side.

However, as if she were nothing more than a puppet on a divine being’s string, she lunged forward with conviction, and throttled her fist hard against the man’s jaw.

The man stumbled back, dazed. The two men beside him jumped to cushion his fall, slowly raising him back to his feet.

A sneer grew on his face as he felt the wounded area with the back of his knuckle, staring down at her with a look that could only be described as surprised amusement. His jaw hung a little slack, seeming a little disfigured.

Dawn’s heart was in the floor, horrified as she locked eyes with the beast towering over her. Her body had betrayed her, and she was at a loss for what that meant. She drowned in her mixed emotions and disoriented thoughts, ultimately left frozen in the man’s path.

“You got a death wish or something, Kid?” He practically snarled at her, whilst his friends snickered behind him. He rubbed his fist against his palm, slow and drawn out, as he stalked his way towards her.

Realising the extent of her situation, she stumbled back, a pathetic attempt at retreating. But the man only continued to close in on his prey, awaiting her anxious answer.

Dawn’s cyan eyes darted around in distress, begging to any merciful higher power to show her an escape route, a way out of this abrupt nightmare. If she reached for her watch, he was sure to get to her first. Screaming would also amount to nothing - those flying above her would be none the wiser to her cries, drowned out by the bustle and buzz of the air traffic.

More than anything, she wished for the compulsion that had forced her into this position to return and empower her once again.

“Nothing to say?” He jeered, drowning in his own ego, “Guess you’re just asking for it then.”

This time, Dawn managed to glare back at him, a fresh pang of anger flourishing as her fear began to ebb away.

“You’re closer to them than you think, the droids,” She asserted, her defiant eyes staring into his own. It had taken a lot out of her to muster up the courage to speak up against him.

The man laughed in disbelief, exchanging incredulous looks with the two other men who had hung back from the confrontation. His finger traced tauntingly across his knuckles.

“Yeah? You wanna know something, Kid?” He leaned in, amusement written in bold across his face.

“I’ve torn one of them apart before. Ripped off its metal arms and pulled out its wire heart. They scream, did you know that? I mean, they actually made them capable of that.” He snickered at her in torment, before clicking his tongue and reinstating his serious expression.

“But you wanna know why we’re not close at all, not even a little bit? They don’t bleed like we do. If they all broke today, you could replace the lot of them by tomorrow! It’s just an algorithm with an ugly face, they don’t feel ‘nothing.” The man spat, as if the droids truly disgusted him.

Dawn hadn’t known she was capable of disdain like this. Each word that spewed from his filthy mouth chilled her to the bone. So little grace, he couldn’t have anymore than an empty black hole for a heart. A person like this was less human than scrap metal and charred wire.

Even if she weren’t human, Adva and her had a real connection - Dawn insisted upon it. She wasn’t just some cloneable machine.

“You think you’re so like them, do you? Then, if you’re so confident, let’s see if you can be put back together again later too.” With a sly and confident grin, the man lunged forward.

Freeing his fist from the constraints of his palm, he hurtled it straight towards her.

There was nothing she could do. Dawn braced herself for the blow to strike her face, squeezing her eyes firmly shut. The wind caressed her cheek, a soft and comforting kiss in the face of fear, but the impact never came.

As she peeled her eyes back open, rather than returning to the man’s prison, she was stunned to be met with a young man posed before her, his hand clasping tightly on the burly man’s fist in action.

With her vacant mind, long overloaded with conflicted emotions and confusion, she shifted her focus, breathlessly observing the new man as his face tilted into her view.

Inky strands of black hair framed his face, with a single crimson streak sticking out from the rest. Matching scarlet eyes were curtained by focused, furrowed eyebrows; Dawn noticed a rosy tint to his features, likely from the exertion. His gaze glistened down at her for a second, before he spun around to face the man.

“That’s not nice,” The boy smiled, shoving the man’s fist away antagonistically.

The force of the push sent the man plummeting backwards as his friends rushed to stifle his fall for the second time. Gasps and hoots followed from the duo, their shocked and panicked voices pattering amongst themselves at the threat of the mysterious newcomer.

The new stranger reached behind him, his hand enclosing upon Dawn’s wrist as he whispered hushed words of guidance.

“Quick, now’s your chance. Take a left and get to the main street while you can.”

Her eyes lingered on the heroic stranger that had come to her aid for a moment, before she swiftly nodded.

It felt wrong to part and abandon her saviour like this, but Dawn understood that her attempt at help would likely only hinder and harm his front. Where had he even come from? His presence had gone entirely undetected by all parties until he had sprung to her defence, and the power of his strike against the man was undisputable. It was for the best that she seldom got involved in matters like these.

She took off in the rain, the soles of her shoes splashing crystalline-like droplets into the air in her wake. Darting around the corner to the back of the diner, she intended to do as she was told, but as she continued towards the main street she had walked upon just hours prior, an invisible string latched around her and tugged her backwards.

Before she could stop herself, Dawn found that she had crept back around the diner, poking her head out from the corner of the building that obscured her.

The scene unfolding before her shining eyes shocked her, or more so the lack thereof. The space that was chaotic and escalating in danger just a few minutes ago was now barren and quiet. The three brutes were gone without a trace, and only the cryptic stranger remained.

A serious look was painted on his face this time as he stood almost solemnly in the rain, identifiable by the red lock of hair now much flatter in its dampened state.

A slender hand slipped into the pocket of his glossy cargo trousers, returning from the pouch with a glistening object. A halo of prussian blue hues illuminated from his closed palm, as the boy drew it closer to his chest, kneeling one leg upon the soaked ground as his eyes fluttered shut.

From where she was crouched, the boy looked almost ethereal - an otherworldly existence returning to his alien world, an android in its finest form.

The soft glow enhanced in strength into a bright and radiant gleam, and she found herself shielding her eyes from her watching place before it dimmed again.

In its place, a galaxy-like circle twinkled and shimmered as it surrounded the boy. Struck by its serene beauty, its peculiar je ne sais quoi and elusive aura, Dawn felt herself entranced. Drawn to the nebulous ring, she padded closer to the epicentre.

With the closer proximity, she noticed how he had begun to sink into the floor itself, slowly fading into the cosmic scene below him.

It was nothing like she had seen before! It was as if she had stumbled onto a completely new planet, a supernatural miracle on Earth. And as he was completely swallowed up by the circle, Dawn couldn’t help herself from rushing over to the marvellous site, reaching her hands into the remnants and basking in its beauty.

A soothing sensation slowly crept over her, and Dawn felt each limb and each muscle and each nerve within them succumb to the relaxing lull. An overwhelming sense of comfort and safety ate away at her apprehension, and she could feel her body floating as if it were resting on a tranquil pool shaded by a grand willow tree.

As she gently opened her eyes, she was met with the realisation that she was no longer outside Adva’s beloved diner - rather, she was no longer in Nexus at all.