Chapter forty six: The Capsules
1228 Words
Silver Cassano composed himself. He placed the dead body of his fake sister at one side.
Blood was coating his face, but seemed to forget about it, for he was still filled with the last face of Mary that he saw after he killed her.
He got an ordinary coat from his inventory, and covered Mary with it. Inside was the body and her severed head.
It was hard for him.
It seemed that he was running out of tears to cry out, for he has been crying for awhile.
The last teardrops that was beside the corner of his eyes has already dried.
For one final look and one final sigh for Mary, he said, “let's just meet in dreamland, Mary. I'll be waiting for you there.”
It was painful for him to turn his back. As much as he want, he would pay tribute to Mary and mourn over her repeated death. Even though he knew he was fake, still, the fact that he was recognized as the Big Brother, a man whom she dears the most, it was more than enough for him to give love and respect to that child. Even if she was just a mere program, even though she was just a copycat, still, Silver wanted to give tribute to her.
But time is running out.
He made a deep inhale, and started to move.
He looked above, at the ceiling of the white room. Still, the three floating rooms above was covered in shadows and darkness.
He thought of possible ways on how he could get through that floating rooms.
But he jumped in surprise, when one part of the room suddenly opened, and made a doorway through which Silver can go into. Perhaps to the next level of this so-called ‘Artemis’ Dungeon’.
He then peered over the doorway, to check what was the place outside of this four-cornered white room.
He saw nothing special, but a place that was blurry and filled with swirls of smoke. Yet, he knew that it was not just an ordinary smoke. It was heavily moving, and he can feel the cold temperature that it was giving.
He decided to take a step, to move outside of the room.
Soon as he did, the whole place changed.
His lungs then cramped. Pain surged through his body as his lung restrict itself to breath. As if he was drowning.
Then he gasped. His eyes opened. Continued inhales and exhales is what he had done as soon as his lungs allowed him to breath.
He felt the waving water just at the level of his neck.
Mysteriously, he was now inside a peculiar, enclosed capsule.
His body was lying on the capsule as it was placed in a slanted position. A glass of gray color was at his front, and different-colored pile of wires was attached through his body.
‘What is happening?’ he asked himself.
He immediately detached the wires that was injected in his body, and pushed the glass door of the capsule.
At first, it was hardly locked. But with time to time pushing he had done, he managed to break the door.
The water gushed out of the capsule.
Abundant amount of air welcomed his body.
The first thing that crossed in his mind, is that maybe he was just inside the capsule for the whole time, and was just being tested by a group of scientist for that kind of peculiar game.
But soon as he stepped out, he was wearing the same vest that he had looted from the nighthounds, and equipped for himself. The chip-like screen were still buried on his wrist. The vine whip was still at his hand.
Those details simply means he was still trapped in the island, together with this game. That what he was using as he tried to survive was not an avatar, but his real, vulnerable body.
‘Now what was this capsules for?’
As soon as he stepped out of the capsule, he saw the moon.
The literal moon.
He felt terrified as he saw that what he was stepping at, was actually the real surface of the moon. Or at least, the moon's representation by this game.
There were a lot of huge crater formed at the ground as he feel that the surface was made of rough marble, ready to be skimmed and polished.
He saw three more capsule that was identical of the capsule where he had came out from.
Above him, is an arc of letters painted in glows of white. Written in it, is the words: Moonville laboratory.
‘A laboratory at the surface of the moon?’ he wanted to laugh at the thought.
Besides, there were nothing in the surrounding, but of the weird marble-like floor of the moon, and the four identical capsules which one of it is where he came from.
He then decided to observe the capsule. He took a look at it beside where his own capsule can be found.
“s**t!”
Panic started to creep at him as soon as he saw that there was another person inside of it.
It was Alina.
She was unconscious. Her body was floating with the green frothing water filled all over the capsule.
And Silver knew, she had to be saved.
“Alina!” he knocked at the glass door. “Alina!”
He then looked at the next capsule to confirm his suspicion.
And he was right.
The capsules is where Alina, Yohanna, and Jiero can be found.
“I have to save them,” he said.
But how? Do he have to open the capsule and drag his comrades out of it?
He tried pulling the door of the capsule where Alina can be found. But to no avail, it was locked. By just his strength, he wouldn't be able to open the capsule.
‘What about breaking the glass?’ he thought.
He decided to follow his own suggestion, and summoned a hammer out of his inventory. He cannot remember where the hammer came from. Perhaps, at the three headed giant snake that he had met the first time he set foot for the level two stage of this game.
Then, as he was about to hit the door by the use of that weapon, an ear shattering shrill suddenly boomed at the whole place.
From his left, a creature of wings dove towards him, grabbed him with its sharp claws, soared above the dark sky, then loosen the grip to him, making him fall downwards.
Funny, for the moon in this game has a pulling gravity. There should be no gravity in this place—a defect that this game had.
He then summoned his vine whip, and used it to prevent his body from crashing with the ground.
He slashed the ground, causing the force of falling to be channeled at his whip, and made him jolt back in the sky.
He used that jolting as an opportunity to gather motions and adjustments, then land safely at the moon's surface.
As he looked at the creature, he saw a giant bird. An eagle. A creature of white glowing feather, a graceful wings, and a blood-red moon crescent at its forehead.
And it was about to attack him once again.
- Writer
