Special Chapter - A Rainy Day

In this underground city, there’s no rain.

Rain is not even necessary here as all our crops are artificially and meticulously grown in greenhouses, and the regulation of the general temperature is made by the dome itself.

Unlike the surface, people here in this underground city do not need nature’s boons and are not at mercy of its blights however this fact may be true, but it doesn’t mean the people from here have no interest in the surface, quite the contrary.

My parents were one of those people who were very curious about the surface. They always told me stories about it, even if they themselves had never seen it. They told me about the sun, the sky and the stars, as well as the plants, flowers and wild animals, and of course, the rain. Every single one of those things fascinated me and I wanted to see them by myself.

As they did never go to the surface, they always bought drives and disks of the old world. Relics that courageous adventurers risked their lives to get. So of course, even the cheapest ones were quite expensive for them.

They both worked very hard, I could tell it even from a very little age, but no matter how hard they worked themselves, things didn’t change at all. We all still lived in a very small place with only 2 rooms. One of them only had space for one bed, and a cabinet, the other was the bathroom, even after years and years of hard work, our situation would not improve.

Every day was exactly like the other before. I’d wake up and go to school, just to get home and see my tired parents already sleeping. The only exception to that was when they brought content to the surface. Video, photos, and even audio recordings tell about a rare type of bird with its singing on it. That was our only entertainment and the only thing that made them smile.

One specific day, when I was 12, this all changed. When I got home after a regular day at school, my parents were very wake-up and weren’t with relics either. They were wearing combat suits and had weapons with them. They talked to me and explained they were going to explore the surface.

I was shocked, after all, I never expected something like that from them, I didn’t want to be away from them, as I obviously would not accompany them, however, seeing my parents' smiles and shine in their eyes, I could not give them any reaction other than approval.

The plan was simple: They would go to the surface and come back in a week, with at least one relic in their hands. With luck, just one relic could make them more money them a whole year of salary, of course, there was always the chance to just catch an almost worthless relic (like the ones we’d already had), but that was a real chance to change our lives.

They left me the very next morning, we made sure to not go over with a sentimental send-off, as they would be back in just a week, or two if things got bad. We had an emergency reserve that I was going to use if they took too much time to get back. The emergency funds were enough to last for two months with me alone.

So I waited…

In the blink of an eye, time passed and that one week went by.

I was not too worried, as they promised me they’d get back. That was just how life was supposed to be. That week was just an anomaly. Soon enough they would be back, and this time with a brand new relic they catch with their own hands.

Another week went by. As we do not have any way to contact the surface I began to get nervous… but they were going to get back, right? Right…?

When the first month passed I didn’t know what to do. I stopped going to school and began to search for my parents. I had no lead to then other than the labyrinth, but to adventure myself in that place, would mean certain death for someone like me.

After the third month, it became clear that they would never come back. I had no more money to keep up with the rent of my place, so I had no other choice but to try my luck on the streets. The first day I had to do that and face the world alone for real, it was the day it rained.

No, the rain that poured down on me was not a real one. It was an artificial rain, done every once in a while by the people who administrate the dome, with the approval of the majority of the population, they would activate the sprinklers attached to the dome to make it rain.

It had no purpose other than novelty, but standing alone in that rain made it easier to flush away my tears...