Dawn

“Wow, so you're able push away the clouds because of Dream huh?” Lewis says.

Sitting behind Jonathan on his motorcycle, they quickly make progress down the Easterndam road now that the Dream was no longer obstructing their view but rather lighting the path ahead.

“Basically. It appeared to me in my dreams as Kono Takamura on the day that it was released to the public market. Strange right?”

“Sure is, but I guess you can’t be too picky with how it shows itself. Speaking of which, I wonder how it does it?”

“Who would ever know. Communicating via sleep, if we could figure that out things would be a lot more different in the world to say the least.”

As they made their way farther down the road, the Dream began to slowly let loose, as it became much clearer to see through the storm.

“We’re almost there now. I can’t wait to finally close my eyes and rest for a night.” Lewis says, yawning.

“Me too.”

As the volume of Dream decreased, the road’s conditions began to improve to the point where Jonathan didn’t have to dodge a hole every couple of minutes. Once the Dream had begun to clear into a gentler fall like snow rather than a blizzard, the road surface changed.

“Is that a waterfall I hear?” Jonathan asks,

“Should be, we’re directly over the dam.”

Lewis points to the side of the road.

“Pull over there so we can look.”

Slowing down the motorcycle, they stop by the side of the road next to a small paved deck surrounded by guard rails. Getting closer to the sound of water, Lewis and Jonathan stand next to the guardrail to see a moderately sized waterfall flowing directly below them.

“Wow, a feat of modern engineering,” Jonathan says as he watches the water flow with white foam.

“You know without this dam, the lower parts of the city would probably have been submerged.”

“At least there’s something that Mira could do right for people. But if you really want to see a feat of modern engineering, look over there.”

Turning his gaze upwards, Jonathan could make out some yellow and white dots of light sprinkled through the veil of the Dream cloud.

“What is it?”

“The city. It shouldn’t be that much farther up ahead.”

Turning to Lewis, Jonathan felt a smile form on his face. It was a weary smile that faded away as slowly as it came across him.

“Let’s end this then.”

Taking their leave from the observatory ledge of the dam, they return back to the motorcycle with renewed determination. Jonathan, approaching the motorcycle, realized just how decrepit it looked with the black paint and the sheen that he had applied was now buffed and chipped from the Dream; all its lights, completely shot. For a moment he was torn from his sadness, years of effort and maintenance since childhood was now erased in a matter of days. Noticing Jonathan’s downcast, Lewis pats him on the back.

“Well, it's seen better days, but knowing you are fixing this up will be a piece of cake.” Lewis says.

“I guess so.” Jonathan says, giving a smile.

Continuing onward down the Easterndam road, they make their way past the flowing waterfall and begin to descend towards the coast. With improving conditions of both the road as well as the Dream clouds beginning to disperse, everything looked more doable despite their lack of sleep. Following along a mountainside road, Jonathan decided to pick up more speed as the sun’s rays were now shining through the clouds. As the level of the area decreased from a three towards more of a one, Lewis was able to catch glimpses of the ocean far below with its craggy rocks jutting out from the water.

“How are we looking on gas?” Lewis asks.

“Enough to get us into the city and some.”

“Good. You know, I just realized. It’s been years since I’ve last been to Myrtle’s Coast. Aside from the riots and pylons I’ve been hearing about, things should be the same I hope.”

“Things shouldn’t be too different, I only recently moved out of the city about three years ago and things didn’t seem to change much while I was there.”

Trailing down the mountainside, the road flattened out. As the amount of Dream in the air decreased, the surrounding glow also lessened until it completely dissipated as they reached a tunnel through the last piece of mountainside between them and Myrtle's Coast. Nearing the tunnel they were greeted with a grandiose sign overhead.

Welcome to Myrtle’s Coast

At least the sign should have read that, written boldly over with red spray paint, the words Myrtle's Coast was instead replaced with Mira’s Coast.

“Surely the city is the same as ever… right?” Lewis asks, but Jonathan had no words to respond with as they entered the tunnel.

As they entered the tunnel, the first thing that Jonathan realized was that there were lights.

“We’re definitely out of the level three zone now for sure.” Jonathan thought.

As their eyes adjust to the dim fluorescent lights lining in parallel the edges of the tunnel, they are greeted by a jumble of fabrics and scrap sheets of metal. Cramming the passageway were innumerable people residing within tents made from whatever scrap their constructors were able to acquire. Seeking respite from the outdoors, the residents of the tunnels give passing glances to Jonathan and Lewis as they wind their way through the structures impeding their route.

“Wow.” was all Jonathan managed to say.

“We should’ve expected something like this. Too many lost everything too fast.” Lewis says as he looks at the intricate graffiti lining the tunnel.

“At the very least they should be safe from the clouds here.” Jonathan says as he continues forwards.

“How did they get through the storm…” Jonathan overhears a young lady muttering.

As Jonathan avoids crashing into one of the tents he manages to spot the muttering woman who was speaking to a sitting man. Getting closer Jonathan finds that the man was paying no attention to the woman as he focused solely on fixing some sort of electronic device on his lap. Before he passed the man, Jonathan noticed in the corner of his eye a glimmer, a purple glimmer. Feeling a strange chill down his spine, Jonathan stops and turns to the man in curiosity.

“Wait, why are we–” Lewis says before Jonathan stops him.

“Hey, what are you working on over there?” Jonathan asks.

Unphased, the man continues working as the lady looks at Jonathan with suspicion.

“Are you working with Dream?”

“What if I am.” The man says without pause in his work, a trickle of Dream entering the exposed parts of the contraption.

“I work with it as well, I thought I wouldn’t find another person still using it. And my name is Jonathan by the way.”

Giving a glance to Jonathan the man returns back to his work and adjusts a part slightly, finding his work satisfactory and decides to power the machine on his lap. A weak static sound is produced.

“I’m Dan. Didn’t think there was anyone else still interested in using Dream these days.” Dan says as he turns some knobs on the front of the machines.

“That’s exactly why I find it amazing you’re working with it. Especially here where people’s lives have been turned upside down because of it.”

Rotating the knob as it notches into place, a muffled voice can be made out from the noise.

“Is that a receiver?”

“Yep.”

Though it was difficult to make out the words, upon listening closer Jonathan realizes that they are speaking another language. He looks at Dan with widened eyes.

“I only use it because there’s some things that can’t be accomplished without it. Can’t chalk up everything as bad you know? With it I modified this radio to work past the storm.” Dan says before he gives a starstruck Jonathan the receiver.

Wordlessly, Jonathan takes the receiver and inspects it. For the most part, the electronics were either stock or pieces that could have been easily improvised on with common parts from other electronics. If someone else would have examined it, they would have concluded that there wasn’t much to this receiver that would have caused it to penetrate the Dream cloud’s signal jumbling, but to Jonathan he could tell with the etches of shining purple in the circuit board that this bore marks alluding to Dream’s influence.

“This is amazing accuracy with the Dream you have here. What did you do to make this work?” Jonathan asks as he looks back to Dan, recognizing that there is a real lack of a workspace to manipulate the Dream.

“And how did you manage to do this in the first place? I don’t see anything here that would let you interact with it.”

“I just use my glasses, it was a modification I made while I was still working for Mira that let me use voice commands and see an interface. It's handy.” Dan says, pointing to his eyewear.

“I should have guessed you worked for Mira, it was almost a company policy to have some type of Dream interface on you at all times. I have something similar with my watch.”

“Wow, who would’ve known I’d see a fellow ex-Mira engineer.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but we need to get going on to the city. We need a place to rest and recover.” Lewis says.

“Sorry, you’re right Lewis, we should get going.” Jonathan says.

“Wait, you said that you’re on your way to the city? Good luck.” Dan says.

“Why? What do you mean?” Lewis says.

“With all us transients, entrance to the city has become… selective. They have select requirements for new entrants.”

“How selective are we talking about?” Lewis asks.

“At this point, even with my pedigree as a past Mira engineer, they still have yet to let me and my sister get in.”

“That's awful. But wait, that means we’re also not going to be allowed into the city at this rate.” Jonathan says.

“Can’t blame them, overpopulation and lack of resources is really having its toll on the people. But who knows, it doesn’t hurt to try.” Dan says.

“Well we better try, right Jonathan?”

“Yeah.”

Walking away from Dan, Lewis and Jonathan begin returning to the motorcycle as Dan suddenly calls for them.

“Wait up!” Dan shouts out.

Confused, they return back to Dan, whose sister is whispering in his ear, as they near she quietly leaves, frowning.

“I don’t know if I should be saying this, but if things don’t work out and you’re desperate, there’s a guy by the coast who might be able to get you across into the city.” Dan whispers to them.

“Thanks Dan, we appreciate any help we could get for this journey. Is there any way we can find him?” Jonathan says.

“His name is Ter, he’s an old friend that spends most of his time fishing. If anything, tell him that Dan needs a favor. As for finding him, he runs a shop with a dock onto the shore. It's not much but I get the feeling you would know where to look.”

“What gives you that impression?” Lewis asks.

“I don’t know, you two look like you’re on a mission for something. I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

“I hope we do.” Lewis says, grinning at Jonathan.

Returning to the motorcycle, they say their goodbyes to Dan and continue down the shelter tunnel. Without any major concerns, they managed to reach the opposite end and make their way outside, towards the edge of Myrtle’s Coast.

“He wasn’t kidding about overpopulation.”

Towering in the clear horizon is the city’s skyline towering proudly over the purple clouds surrounding everything like the eye of a hurricane. Despite being in the middle of the Dream cloud, the distant air around them and the city was completely devoid of any particles. Because of this pristine clarity, the mess of ramshackled homes and made-due shelters that consisted the edge of Myrtle's Coast appeared especially destitute. By now, Jonathan and Lewis were used to the current state of things because of the Dream so they continued along through the shattered communities. All hope was not lost at the very least as the roads leading to Myrtle's Coast were bustling full of temporary residents trying to continue on with their lives. Passing by, they witness officers distributing boxes of rations to lines of people eagerly waiting for their turn as they bleed onto the road. Managing to get some space to ride past the lines, Jonathan and Lewis reach an opening on the road where they ride past buildings displaying a live broadcast of advertisements of a park.

“The city’s biggest park.” Jonathan says as he slows to look at the large screens along with the small crowd gathered around.

“Out of anything why this?” Lewis asks.

“It's the mark of the city’s turn towards a new future with better technology, I remember when Mira raised enough funds to construct it.”

Changing from the park, the displays turned towards what seemed to be the results of a lottery.

“Congratulations to 504, 729, 182, 290…” The reporter announced.

As the numbers continued on and the program ended, murmurs and groans could be heard from the dispersing crowd. Deciding they’ve had enough, Jonathan and Lewis move on.