Chapter 1:

Elevator Music Pt. 1

Firestarter


I remember seeing my ancestors dance in the distance. All I could make out in the night were their silhouettes highlighted by the ember. Truthfully, I couldn't tell if they were dancing or writhing in pain. I felt tears escaping my eyes and did my best to hold them in. Even though I was on the surface, I still felt I had to abide by Milona's rule. Soon, my tears turned into sobs and I felt my knees grow weak. I wanted to know so desperately whether they were dancing or crying. You're all so far away from me and I don't want you to leave me behind again, please! I want to see the world you see. I'll bear your joy and pain as my own, just don't leave me alone. Their dances soon became actions of mockery. It felt like they could hear every last one of my pleads and chose to forsake my existence anyway.

My entire life has been one I hated and they knew I wanted to be in their presence. None of them have ever had any respect for me. If it were for their world, they would cast me aside and choose to indulge it. I want to indulge in the world too. But I'm not crass. I know the world is hollow without the hearts of others. I've always understood that so why don't they? They dance or cry together but I know either way their joy is their own, their pain is their own, none of it is abetted by each other and they question it. I know they must wonder why their joy feels artificial, why their pain refuses to be soothed. They will say they're the victims of their own story and never realize they are the villains.

A fire engulfed my heart. I remember the last thing I whispered, before waking up.

"I pray the flame swallows you whole."

A raspy voice woke me up, "hey, idiot, don't make do the hard part on my own!"

I felt my eyes grainy as Rocco poked me for the second time. Honestly, a part of me felt annoyed more than anything. Did it really take this long to make a trip to the surface? I got so caught up in these thoughts, Rocco poked me again. "I'm being serious, if you make me put on this suit on my own, I'm as good as dead!"

"You look like you're about to keel over any second now if you ask me..." I barely managed to utter still half-asleep.

"What was that?!" Rocco snapped. I relented acting a fool like this. Making quippy remarks when I don't have to. Rocco was one of the better Scavenger Lords after all. I've only met three in my lifetime, excluding my father and the rest seemed to suffer from eccentric personalities, all in their own unique, yet similarly grating ways. In that sense, Rocco was a breath of fresh air.

Albeit old, Rocco was a generally kind man who almost reminded me of my mother. Before we even stepped foot onto the elevator, he helped me put on my suit. I insisted that we wait until we were on the elevator per protocol but he didn't want to take any risks with a newbie like me. I doubt any other Scavenger Lords would be as considerate.

I began to help Rocco put on his suit but instead of admiring the 'beautiful, cutting-edge technology' that were the surface-resistant uniforms, I couldn't help but remember what Damian told me about these elevators. Apparently, in the old world, elevators used to be quite compact in most cases. Their functionality would often be limited to traversing heights in buildings and more often than not, you couldn't fit more than twenty people in them.

These elevators seem like they could carry at least two hundred. Damian also tried convincing me that elevators were built in square shapes instead of circles and sometimes they would even play music. The music of this elevator is an intrusive humming that can only become white noise when you learn to tune out sounds louder than a jackhammer. Elevators also used to be much slower. I guess that makes sense if they were only traveling in buildings. Elevators here are used for hours on end and on the walls are lines of bunk beds all around. The floor is diamond-grated steel. There was nothing lavish about any of this. So much of the old world seems to be rooted in luxury, so perhaps I'm just envious. Damian told me that our elevators travel at similar speeds to how planes did back in the old world. Planes...huh? Yeah, there's no way those were real.

"Jesus Christ, stop daydreaming kid. You've said like two things since we got on the elevator. Management's report said you were nothing but words during training. Where's that energy now?" Rocco asked sharply. He was stern but I could tell he just wanted to make conversation.

"Sorry, I just... I don't know what to say."

Rocco paused and took a deep breath. "Look kid, I know this whole thing can seem overwhelming. It's been yours and every other kid's dream to do this but now you're wondering if you made a mistake. Thinking 'am I not cut out for this after all?' Everyone starts like that. What we do is a scary thing. If you ask me, this elevator is a hazing ritual for newbies. Giving you four hours to do nothing but think about your life choices. It's why most of us end up bringing cards, board games, food, or books to read. It's a lot easier to get lost in pleasure than it is to understand yourself... But right now, if you don't stop mucking about and forget to put the heat converter into my suit, I'm going to make sure my ghost haunts you for the rest of your life!"

I sighed and grabbed the heat conversion tube stemming from the suit's right knee, plugged it into the oblique, and did the same for the other side as well.

"Sir, with all due respect, if we have another hour left on this elevator, I think sleeping until the last ten minutes would be the wise thing for me to do. Making sure I'm as energized as could be should prove valuable to our expedition," I said stoically. I didn't even believe half of the things I just said but God, I would like to sleep right now. I feel myself getting a little sick of this elevator.

"No can do, bucko," Rocco laughed as if I made the funniest joke in the world. "I feel for ya kid but when we arrive on the surface, the first matter of business is rendezvousing with Ylvona's crew one mile north. I need you firing on all cylinders. I can't take the chance of anything bad happening to you..... Do you know how embarrassing that'd be?! I'd have to go up to those ocean elitists and tell them the good-for-nothing cave dwellers have messed up yet again! It's like you want us to reinforce the stereotype..."

Shit, well, that couldn't have gone any worse. Rocco's face turned into a scowl after bringing up Ylvona. He looked as if I forced him to bring them up. I don't have a particular interest in the ocean like a lot of people back home do, but living in Ylvona for a day always did sound kind of exciting. Although, even as a full-time scavenger for years on end, the money required makes it seem like a pipedream.

I looked up at the giant monitor in front of the even bigger elevator doors. The doors seemed as tall as those giant fighting robots I would see on cassette tapes every now and then as a kid. Apparently, monitors used to be paired with these things called personal computers or PC for short. A PC was a computer that an everyday person owned and could do just about anything. These days, computers are only ever used for work since obtaining the necessary resources for them isn't exactly as easy as it used to be. A lot of recreational technology from the old world still exists now but the way we use it seems almost inferior to how they did. That's all I can think about when looking at that giant monitor. How primitive we sound to our ancestors despite being ahead of them. It pisses me off.

Thinking this hard hurts sometimes. I'll take my mind off it.

I took a breath knowing that I was either about to make the worst decision in my short-lived scavenging career or a decent one given my current boredom. "Captain, how's everything back home? Do you have a wife and kids or..." I stopped myself from finishing and almost visibly cringed at my lack of socialization skills.

"Haha, what the hell do you think this is? 'Ai ai, captain!' Hahahahah! This isn't a freaking pirate ship, boy. Bane, you can just call me sir."

In all fairness, I don't even know what a pirate is... And what a roundabout way of dodging my question.

Maybe something more generic is his speed. "Well, okay then sir, what about the old world, can you tell me what it's like?"

Rocco crossed his arms and his expression became the most serious I've ever seen. "If you want to know about me so badly, let's survive this expedition first..." 

R4
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