Prologue

Twenty-Four Days Left To Live

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Sometimes, life is a nuisance. People lose the will to live. They stop functioning, and their bodies shut down completely, rendering them unresponsive and immobile. This is probably the deadliest thing that could happen to someone. No one can reverse the effects, unless the afflicted person themselves break their state by themselves. There-fore, this so-called illness has struck fear into the hearts of many. But upon reaching a warrior called Fen's ears, he found this to be glorious news. What a simple way to crush those who defied him! He then told the scientists working under him to research for a way to forcefully inflict the illness on a human. After years of waiting, they finally found it.

 

By using a substance called ''Ferite'', the scientists took painful memories and placed them into a file called ''Alive but Dead'' on the computer, then used the substance to obtain the corporal existence of the memories. They trapped them inside the Ferite, then placed it in a syringe. The theory was; Once a human being was injected with the substance, they would be forced to feel painful and sad emotions, thus torturing them and shattering their will.

 

Fen used this destructive power to almost completely wipe out the very existence of humans. The few who survived devised a plan. Human brains would be placed into androids to help survival. In the end, the world was restored, but humans could no longer feel. They had become robots. They had no heart. They could not cry. They could not feel pain. They had no memories, only data.

 

Civilization continued normally, but no one aged.

 

Fen vanished shortly after, along with his team of scientists and followers, satisfied with what he had done.

 

Little did he know, there were still people who did not yet die, nor become androids...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

300 Years Later

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 1

That Student In Greenwood High

 

''Xion! Wait up!'' A black haired girl looked behind her to see a tall brunette student running full speed at her. ''Oh, what's up, Terrace?'' She said casually as the other girl stopped in front of her, bent double to catch her breath. After she had recovered, the girl straightened and flashed a gleaming smile. ''I was wondering if you would like to go clothes shopping with me and Fiona. There's a new store open in the mall!'' She said excitedly. Xion sighed, looking up at the sky and adjusting her messenger bag slightly. ''Not this time. If I went shopping with you two, you'll drag me into every clothing store and make me wear ridiculous dresses.'' She replied. Terrace frowned. ''But you always say no! Xion, can't you try to be more like a girl? You'll never get a boyfriend like that! Military jacket, combat boots, dog tags... And you even carry around a pocket knife!'' She pouted. Xion shook her head. How many times has she had this conversation with her already? ''Listen, I'm an ex-veteran. It's only natural that I dress like this.''

''Then what about the pocket knife?''

''It's a bowie knife.''

''Whatever! Why do you carry that around?''

Xion was getting a bit annoyed now. ''It's a matter of self defence!'' She snapped. Terrace stepped back a bit. A few seconds passed between the two, with no one saying anything. Finally, Xion took a deep breath. ''Sorry.'' She muttered. Terrace held up her hand. ''No, it's okay.'' She said, forcing a smile. ''Well, if you don't want to come, then see ya later!'' And with that, she walked away briskly, brown curls bouncing. Xion turned around, and began heading towards the direction of the city library. Damn my temper. She thought as she walked, the wind playing in her messy hair. The weather was fairly nice today, and a nice breeze blew through Blue Pine City. The sky was perfectly blue with few clouds, and the sun shone like a beacon. A good day to have a picnic on a grassy field, Xion mused. Not that there's any grass left. She added bitterly. Civilization had become fairly advanced, and the world looked like one of those crazy cities you might find in a Science Fiction book. Even humans have become machines. Everything had changed when the Apocalypse nearly happened. But that's in the past now. She thought. What intrigued her though, was that she didn't wake up in a laboratory like the others. In fact, she woke up in the middle of apparently nowhere. All she remembered was that she was an underage veteran recruited because of her skills. Her dog tags and bowie knife served as a reminder of those days. Not noticing, Xion realized she had already arrived at the library. She paused for a moment to contemplate whether to go in or not. Finally, she shrugged and went in.

The library was, in short, what you'd expect from a normal library. Countless books crammed into shelves, huge stacks on the floor and so on, so forth. The only thing setting it apart from normal was the huge fountain in the middle and bright, floating stones . Water poured out of an abstract structure, cascading down into the large square pool below. Around the structure, small blocks shining turquoise light floated. The stones were called 'Glowstones', an alternative for light bulbs. Not only were they near the fountain, but they were scattered all over the building as well.

Xion surveyed her surroundings, and her gaze landed on a pile of books in the corner. A mop of unruly blonde hair could be seen at the top of the stack. She sighed and walked over. ''I knew you'd be here.'' Startled, the blonde yelped and knocked over his pile of books onto the floor. ''X-Xion! You scared me!'' The boy stammered, pushing his large round glasses further up his nose. ''Well, pay more attention next time, Nicholas.'' Xion said, scowling. ''Check your surroundings more often.'' Nicholas shook his head. ''You know I can't do that! Besides, what if someone steals my books?'' He said. Xion sighed. ''Nobody's going to steal your books. They're boring. The least you could do is stop being a worrywart.'' She responded as evenly as possible whilst turning to examine some books on the nearest shelf. Truth to be told, Nicholas was the only person she tried to control her temper for. He was her only real friend. He was really shy and quiet, and buried himself in books everyday. But despite his personality, Nicholas was the one who introduced himself to her. Yeah, he was a quivering mess at the time, but can you blame him? She had a knife!

''Say, Xion?'' His voice snapped her out of her thoughts. ''Did anything happen today?''

''What do mean? You were at school!''

''Yeah but... I mean, did anything out of the ordinary happen today?''

Xion was confused. ''What?'' She asked again. Nicholas looked away. ''Never mind...'' Xion looked at him skeptically. He wasn't usually like this. ''Is something bothering you?'' He turned back around quite suddenly. ''Uh, no! Nothing at all! I'm fine!'' He said quickly, grinning and waving his arms around. This resulted in a few other books falling down, one of them hitting him on the head. ''Ow!'' Xion shook her head and bent down to pick them up. ''Your fault.'' she said, grateful for her hair covering her face and her slightly amused smile. Nicholas rubbed the back of his neck, wincing. ''How was I supposed to know that was going to happen?'' He complained. Xion didn't say anything. The minutes ticked by as neither student spoke, Nicholas calmly reading his book and Xion browsing the bookshelves. After a while, she was getting tired and decided to go home. ''Hey, Nick? I'm going home, 'kay?'' She said, straightening from her crouched position. Nicholas merely grunted. So absorbed in his books... She thought, smiling inwardly to herself, and began to walk out.

~*~♦~*~

Her combat boots made nearly no sound on the hard pavement, leaving the night as silent as ever. The sun had already set, and the moon shone full and somber. Usually, it was very bright in the city with it's tall buildings and structures. Ironically, Xion lived in the outskirts an hour away from the city, making getting to school a right pain in the butt. And it was in a forest, something you don't see often in the world nowadays. Technology was not as advanced here, and life was more lowly and tedious. Still, she liked it more than the central city. It was too busy there, you couldn't even walk three meters without nearly getting trampled. On contrary, the people living in the outskirts had a more peaceful life, doing daily things you would expect normal people to do. People that were actually humans.

Xion paused, looking up at the sky full of stars. You wouldn't be able to see them in central. A wind swept by, rustling the bushes and trees around her. Perhaps it was just her imagination, but she thought she had seen movement among them. Her hand dropped instinctively to her waist, where her concealed bowie knife was hidden on her belt. Turning slowly as to not alert anything that might be in the trees, she waited. The seconds ticked by, painfully slow. Finally, Xion released her vice grip on the hilt of her knife, passing off the motion as a trick of the shadows. Mentally scolding herself for getting so agitated at such a trivial thing, she continued on her way.

 

Too bad she didn't notice the dark figure tailing her.

Impressum

Texte: Epictomboy101
Bildmaterialien: Tumbler
Lektorat: Epictomboy101
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 12.05.2013

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