Ashes to Ashes

 Prologue

“Legends of the creation of Adomonie state that centuries ago, it was merely  the hopeful dream of a youth who desperately wished to escape the harsh realities of the ‘Real World’. Historians and scholars around Adomonie have disproved it, however. Adomonie was really born from the tears of the Goddess, our Mother Hestia, after the death of her newborn. Once formed, Azael, our Father God, molded the living creatures from a mixture of the air, earth, water and fire…”

            Eldwyn read the passage over and over again, occasionally reading part of it under hear breath. She sighed, setting the book down, and rubbed her eyes.

            “Mm…I hate it when the teachies give gargantuan assignments over break,” she moaned, “totally bites royally.” The papers in front of her, one titled “A History of Adomonie” and the other telling her what was required for the assignment, glared back at her.

            ‘Evil papers. They can just die and go to the Netherworld,’ she thought. Slowly and with much complaining, she turned back to her essay, writing on the paper;

“…and the scholars of old, upon hearing more and more supporters

for the idea that Adomonie is a fake world have dispelled them

as much as possible, claiming that these theories are the mumblings

of drunken old crones…”

Part 1

            Adomonie is a mixture of beautiful nature and cold, unfeeling steel. Natural parks, forests, lakes, and wild animals are frequent visitors to the cities. Large steel buildings, comprised of gears and powered by steam (as is everything else) make up the other part of this wondrous world. Most of the forces (police, medical, firefighting, etc.) are composed of humans, but also artificial beings that clinked and whirred as they patrolled.

            Children and hopefuls dreamed of a career as a mechanic, in any way, shape, or form. The schools unfortunately are, by law, forbidden to teach the students such matters, claiming that to be a great mechanic, one must train themselves and develop a ‘style of their own’, as they call it.

            “ ‘Style of our own’ my left-“ Eldwyn began to grumble, but was swatted on the arm by her mom.

            “Language young lady,” she scolded. Eldwyn rubbed her arm and pouted.

            “I was only going to say ‘foot’ yeesh,” she said, “Anyways, c’mon mom. You know it’s wrong! They need more mechanics, more help up there and yet they don’t even bother to teach us the basics. No wonder there’s rebellion and crap…”

            Her mom let out a deep sigh and put a hand on Eldwyn’s shoulder, rubbing it in a comforting way.

            “I know sweetie, but if they taught the subject, the rebellions may get worse so for now, deal with it,” she explained, “Okay, off to school with you. I don’t want to have to call you in late again and don’t get in trouble either. Your father may be chief of staff up at the Big Leagues, but he does have his limits.”

            “I know mom and I promise.”

            Eldwyn gathered her things and left the house. Today was one of the rare and exotic ‘no-cloud-in-the-sky’ days that made one want to drop everything. Eldwyn stretched her arms up as high as they could go, close her eyes, and lifted her face up to greet the suns’ warm rays, not bothering to stop walking.

            “Ooo…this sun feels FAB-U-LOUS. Maybe I should skip today, part time possibly or-“ she was cut off when she slammed into another person, who managed to ground themselves in time, and leaving her to topple backwards onto the pavement.

            “Ouch…oh, I am so sorry about that!” she apologized, “I wasn’t looking where I was going, totally my oopsie.” The stranger offered a hand, which she took, and pulled her up. Her helper, a man, looked bored and a little miffed at being ran into. He also looked quite disheveled, parts of his clothes patched up by hand from the looks of it and dark brown hair shooting out everywhere.

            “Hmph, and who said it wasn’t? Now, if you don’t mind, I am rather in a hurry and you’re in the way, doofus,” he growled.

            Lost in her own thoughts, then pulled suddenly back, she tensed up at the rude response from the man she bumped into and scowled.

            “Excuse you mister! At least I apologized and FYI; there’s enough pavement for the both of us, so go around if you’re in such a rush!” she yelled. The man stared down at her, not replying to her complaining, then stepped around her and stalked off. Eldwyn turned and looked in disbelief at him, mouth open slightly. Finally, she scoffed, turned back around, and went back on her journey.

            ‘The nerve…’

            “Eldwyn, hold up!” someone called from behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see a young girl, about 6 or 7, sprinting over to her. Eldwyn paused to let the girl catch up, who crouched over to catch her breath.

            “Soledad, what did your mother tell you about chasing after me – alone?” she asked the child. Soledad waved a dismissive hand, stood up, and they began to walk again.

            “She does tell me, over and over and over again to just let my dad take me or wait for the carpool, but I like walking with you instead. The conversations are more stimulating and not always about how gorgeous mom looks in a towel,” she explained quite calmly. Silence befell them for several minutes as Eldwyn desperately fished around her head for a reasonable, appropriate response, but was having difficulty processing what was said.

            “Oh um well, eh-hem,” she coughed, “At least your dad’s around and amusing. Though I am thankful that my dad doesn’t babble about that sort of intimate detail.”

            Their conversations for the rest of the walk ranged from the intellectual to the downright silly. They parted ways once they reached the school, Adomonie School of the Elite. It was a combination of elementary and high school where you were either smart enough to get in, had connections, or lucky. Children of high ranking officials were the first in line, then came the brains, rich, and finally those chosen from a lottery that was held annually. Eldwyn was one of the lucky lottery winners and managed to show enough competence in her subjects to secure her spot.

            “Okay, today is…Thursday, which means I’ve got-“ she began to ponder before trailing off in disappointment, “History first. Great, and I’m barely halfway through with my essay. Mr. Haji is going to have my hide for not having it.” She made sure to walk as slow as feasible, without angering other students, in hopes that she wouldn’t make to class in time, but was dejected to find that it didn’t go as planned. Grudgingly, she pushed the classroom door open and shuffled to her desk, unceremoniously throwing her things on the floor, sat down, and slammed her head onto the desk.

            “Not finish your essay, eh?” her desk mate asked, sounding bored. Eldwyn gave a gesture that said, ‘Bingo, you win’, but kept her head on the desk. Her desk mate snickered and patted her on the back.

            “S’okay, lazy bones. If you got here earlier, like you usually do, you would’ve heard Haji’s announcement about not collecting them.” Eldwyn’s head shot up and she looked over at her desk mate, visibly peeved.

            “What? Seiya, tell me please that you’re kidding. I spent my entire break – well most of it – in the freakin’ library in attempt to get the dang thing done!”

            “Sadly hon, I’m not. He looked quite, what’s a good word to describe it…twitchy, I believe is to be accurate enough.”

            Eldwyn opened her mouth to reply, but the entry of said twitchy teacher kept her quiet as everyone took their respective seats. Mr. Haji was a middle aged man with graying hair. He kept his face cleanly shave, facial hair being traded in for deep set wrinkles. His dull yellow eyes were sunken down into his skull and portrayed a tortured man. After setting his brief case and coat on his desk, he stumbled to the front and placed a shaky hand over his mouth and the other on his hip.

            “Students, you all know that it is my duty, as your history teacher, to teach you the history of Adomonie. I regret to inform you that – you must forget what I’ve taught you these past weeks and that we need to restart,” he said.

            Instantly, the class was in an uproar, shouting about how unfair he was being and a few death threats slipped out of the back of the room. Mr. Haji held a hand up that gradually silenced the class and continued on with his announcement.

            “I know that you all hate me, but trust me – it’s for your own good. What I’m about to tell you…could get me killed, so bear with me and remember what I say.

            Now, Adomonie as you’ve been taught was formed by Hestia and Azael. That is all a bunch of lies designed to keep you from getting curious. The ‘Real World’ is what its name suggests – the real world. The world you’re in is a fake, a scandal to-“

            The class room door burst open and a crew of men, dressed from head to toe in black, stormed into the room. Two of them grabbed Mr. Haji and began to drag him out of the room, handcuffing him as they went. The others herded the students up and followed the first two out into the hallway. They were led outside of the school building where they were greeted by the rest of the student body and a stoic hawk-eyed woman, who appeared to be the higher up.

            “What’s going on?” a boy asked his friend from Haji’s class. He only shrugged and mouthed, ‘I don’t know, dude’. The courtyard was buzzing with curious questions, though Eldwyn’s class was curious as to the fate of their teacher. The woman clapped her hands loudly to garner the attention of the school, silencing it effectively.

            “Excuse me everyone, I am Official Atzu and I have an important announcement. A scant few minutes ago, one of your teachers tried to teach a forbidden topic. We must take the proper measures to make sure that it never happens again,” she boomed. The students watched hopelessly as the men doused the outside perimeter with kerosene and set the building ablaze. Cries of protest and shock erupted, only to have the men take flamethrowers and light them above everyone’s heads. There was nothing they could do but watch. The building blazed hot from the flames that were swallowing it. The students, ranging from 4 years to 18 years, stared in awe and fear.

            “You’re all to return to home until further notice and remember that Hestia is our mother and creator. The world was born from her tears,” Official Atzu sneered, her fierce glance scanning the crowd, “What your ‘teacher’ was trying to teach his class was lies and filth.” She then turned to the other officials, nodding at them, and they then stalked off to their scooters and left. The students stood in front of the half demolished building, then slowly, in small groups, left the area. Older kids accompanied the young ones who were oblivious to what was really going on. Eldwyn was the last one to leave, her legs not listening to her brains commands. A large, calloused hand engulfed her small one and began to lead her away. Thankful for the ‘help’, but also curious as to who it was, she looked up and saw that it was the man from earlier.

            “You’re the jerk from earlier!” she gasped, “What are you doing here? Where are you taking me? More importantly, who are you!?”

            “I can’t answer the first one, not in detail any further than I’m going to finish what Haji started, two, you’ll see, and three, Roark,” the man replied quickly, his pace speeding up. Eldwyn struggled to keep up with him.

            “Ah, well I’m Eldwyn, nice to meet-“

            “We better start running. They’re getting closer,” Roark cut her off. They broke into full run and kept running for miles.

Part 2

            “The legends you’ve been taught your ‘life’ are true. This world is fake and the government, police force, every higher up here are the scientists in the Real World,” Roark explained.

            “That’s…how far Ha…Haji got…” Eldwyn huffed. They ran for what felt like hours, apparently losing whoever Roark thought was chasing them, and found a secluded area to rest in. She was still shaken from seeing the school burned to the ground, her teacher in it, and now with the so called truth being presented to her only made her want to crawl under a rock and forget everything.

            “But, my question is…how’s that possible? How can this world be fake!? I can feel the breeze, the grass, a hug, my clothes and yet you say it’s not real?” she choked out, skeptical of the information, “I find your ‘truth’ hard to believe.”

            “That’s what I said when someone told me the same thing. I had a complete break down and refused to believe until I had proof.”

            Eldwyn studied Roark through her tears, curious now. She wiped them away, stood and looked him in the eyes.

            “Then show me. Show me what proof you have.”

            Roark broke away from her gaze, staring sadly at the ground. He took a step away from her and waved his arms in a defeated manner.

            “The only way to do that is to wake up.”

            “Huh? I am awake and-“ Roark held a hand up to silence her.

            “Not like that. Wake up in the Real World, but the only way to do that is that someone in the Real World must wake you,” he said grimly, “So for now, you just have to trust me.”

            Eldwyn dropped her eyes to the ground, fighting the idea of whether to believe him, a stranger she met not even a day ago, or what she’s been taught since birth. She brought her eyes back up, more confident than before and said, “Alright, I’ll trust you for now, but not completely. I’ll be on my toes for anything suspicious or if you exhibit any creepo activity, got that?”

            Roark nodded, a small smile on his face that quickly fell into a look of confusion and he frowned.

            “Wait, what? Do I really look like a creeper to you?” he asked incredulously. Eldwyn shrugged.

            “Well, you do look like a hobo and besides, how old are you?”

            “I’m 19.”

            “Really? Oh, well then…I’m still not going to trust you fully, so deal with it.”

            Roark threw his arms up in the air in defeat, shaking his head. He turned to scan the surrounding area, sighing deeply at not finding whatever he was looking for.

            “What’s wrong?” Eldwyn asked.

            “Nothing really. Just trying to get in contact with – wait, yes!” Roark shouted excitedly, “Eldwyn, you want your proof?” She nodded. “Well brace yourself for the Real World. I’ll wake you up after I do, okay?” Again, she nodded, now scared to leave the familiarity of Adomonie. Roark closed his eyes, concentrating hard it looked and in an instant, was gone. Eldwyn squeaked, shocked at what happened and moved to where Roark was just standing.

            “How, it’s not possible!” she cried. Suddenly, she felt a foreign tingling sensation over coming her, soon replaced by a nauseous and woozy feeling. Then, nothing.

Part 3

            The first thing Eldwyn registered as she was waking up was that she felt like a semi slammed her into a tank. She struggled to open her eyes only to shut them to keep the stinging bright lights out. All around her she could hear the hisses of what might’ve been a machine that aided in breathing, the soft whirs of the electronics, and the click of the stasis pod she was in opening. It felt like a millennia as she struggled to raise her arm up and weakly grab the side of the pod and heave herself onto the side of the pod. She paused to catch her breath that came out ragged and deep, sweat dripping down her forehead. Then she shifter her legs to help push her up, but ended up sending her over the edge and onto the hard floor.

            “Ah, ow…” she cried loudly. She tried to lift herself up but fell back over.

            ‘Great, I wake up and ‘try’ to escape yet I’m probably going to die here like a turtle on its’ back would. Fan-flipping-tastic.’ Eldwyn thought bitterly. A shadow then fell over her causing her heart to race.

            ‘A guard? Oh crudola I’m doomed!’

            Whoever it was knelt down beside her and put a hand in front of her, a small white pill in his/her hand. The person put it up to her lips, forcing it in, and told her in a deep scratchy voice, “Quick, swallow it. Your body isn’t used to moving around and this’ll give you enough energy to move around. You’ll still feel weak, however.”

            Eldwyn complied, swallowing it with slight struggle and felt its effects instantaneously. Slowly she picked herself off the ground, the stranger helping her up. She turned to thank him, but was stopped.

            “No time for anything, we have to go. Now,” he whispered harshly. He grabbed her hand and they ran through the room, dodging other pods to the exit. Eldwyn looked up at the boy who was pulling her along and studied him. Much like Roark, his hair and appearance was disheveled. His hair was much longer, however, tied up into a messy high ponytail.

            “Um, excuse me sir…who are you?” she asked weakly. The boy turned to her, a haughty look on his face, smirking as though a joke had been told.

            “You serious? And I thought you were smart, but I guess not.”

            Eldwyn tensed up and was about to yell a few choice obscenities when it dawned on her who the boy was.

            “Roark? Whoa, you look different, well, for the most part,” she said. His eyebrow went up questioningly, still smirking.

            “Oh? In what way?”

            “Hmm, for starters…wait, I thought we didn’t ‘have time for anything’!”

            “True, true, now lets move. The scientist probably caught on already and any second the-“ A loud, squealing noise burst to fill the building. “Alarm goes off. Crap, let’s go!”

            They went full blast down the hall, their hands over their ears and trying to find a safe (and quiet) room to hide in.

            “Ai-yah, why do these alarms have to be so loud!?” Eldwyn shouted, barely hearing her own voice.

            “Well to make sure that everyone in the compound can hear us?” Roark replied giving her a look of ‘Are you really that stupid?’ She glared back at him and pouted.

            “Hmph. The alarms don’t have to be this loud,” she complained, “I mean, give an announcement or something. Makes more sense to me.”

            “Woman, focus first off,” he mocked, “second, that’s why you make the ‘oopsies’ you do. We need to find – there! In here.” Roark slammed into a door marked ‘Men’s Lavatory’, holding the door open for Eldwyn to pass through, but she stood in place shaking her head.

            “Nuh-uh, no way am I going in there!” Roark’s mouth fell open and he stared dumbfounded at her.

            “Wha…why not!?” he yelled, scanning both ends of the hallway, “this could be the safest place to hide right now idget!”

            “First, don’t call me that and second; FOR-BIDD-EN TERR-I-TORY.”

            “We’re running for our lives here and you hold onto that… ‘ideal’!? You are an idiot!” Eldwyn glared at him, not moving an inch.

            “It may be idiotic, but at least I-“ she was cut off by a voice far down the hall yelling, “They might be down this way, we haven’t checked down here yet!”

            “Ideal dropped! Move it, big foot!” she screeched, running into the bathroom and shoving Roark in. The door slammed, the room pitch black except for small quarter sized holes of light coming down. They kept silent as they heard the thumping of several feet passing by. One pair stopped in front of the door and started pushing it open. Roark grabbed Eldwyn and brought her over to a stall, shoved her in, going in after her, and shut the door.

            “Excuse you!” she whispered angrily. Roark covered her mouth, motioning for her to keep quiet.

            “Quick, climb on my back and I’ll crouch down on the toilet, okay?” he whispered. Eldwyn nodded and did so, Roark climbing on top of the toilet and crouched down. The door creaked open and the scientist stepped inside, shutting the door behind him.

            “Roark, coast clear in this area, so come on out,” the intruder whispered hoarsely.

            “Jazz you- mm, I hate you man!” Roark replied, hopping off the toilet and walking out of the stall, Eldwyn still on his back, “You scared us bad.” Jazz covered his mouth and hid a laugh behind a cough.

            “Oh, what have you got yourself into by dragging someone else with you?” he asked. Roark looked over his shoulder, coming face to face with Eldwyn, then dropped her on the ground.

            “Ai-chee…meanie face,” she whined, rubbing her back, then turned to Jazz, “Okay dude, explanation on what’s going on.”

            “To make long story short, the scientists centuries ago acted on the wish of a depressed young woman who funded the project of a creation of the world you know as Adomonie. They, however, twisted it into some sick experiment, kept the woman in the world forever, and what you see here is centuries of hard work. Adomonie is a fantasy world, a place where scientists can perform experiments without opposition,” he explained.

            “Experiments? How?”

            “They wake someone up and perform horrid procedures on them. They don’t care how old the person is or what gender or race, everyone is just a meat puppet to them.”

            “And you were chosen to be next, so be a good girl and do as you were created to do,” an older scientist said. They all jumped, Jazz and Roark turning around, both silently cursing under their breath. The scientist walked slowly into the bathroom, over to Eldwyn, and bent down to get a close look at her. He grabbed her chin, twisting her head in every possible direction before coming to his conclusion.

            “On second thought, not right for this experiment. However, you’ve been told things that those not chosen to learn should know. You’ll be put to death in that precious world of yours,” he declared, “And the both of you will join her.”

            More scientists filed into the room, grabbing the three of them, and pulling them back to the stasis pod room, forcing them into their respective pods and sending them back to Adomonie.

            ‘No, I don’t want to die…this is just a dream, only a dream,’ she thought. Last thing she knew was darkness.

                      ———————————————————————-

            The screen read ‘GAME OVER’ and went back to the title screen. Molly threw the controller down, took off the virtual reality head set and fell back on her bed.

            “Man and I thought I could escape that time…oh well, I’ll try again.” She put the head set back on, picked the controller back up and hit ‘Load Game’.

“Legends of the creation of Adomonie…”

 

AN: Oh boy was this a DOOZY to type up x_x 14 pages total! Hope you guys all like it =)