Free Thinkers Society

Chapter Two

     Akinari sought to break free from his current life, he longed for nature, and a seclusion from his current society. He realized that what he longed for was not unreachable, he did not have to live under his parents’ rule any further. He thought to himself that he could escape from all those things he dislikes and live a new life someplace else. Akinari got up, looked out the window and gazed into the distant forest. He thought of how wonderful it could be in the forest. No responsibilities, no people, no society. This is exactly what Akinari longed for, a secluded space where he wouldn’t have to worry about normal life and the problems that come with it. 

     Akinari put on winter clothing, a thick jacket, pants, gloves, a wool hat, and boots. He struggled to put on his pants and his jacket due again to the pain from the injuries his father left him. He readied up a small backpack with essentials like a flashlight, some canned food, and some extra clothing. Akinari was decided to leave to the forest and leave his parents, his old life, and all his responsibilities behind. 

     It was 2 in the morning, Akinari went down the stairs while trying not to make the wood creak. He went down slowly and managed to get to the door without waking up his parents. He quietly opened the door and went out, it was snowing outside. He walked towards the forest, on his way he started to doubt himself, he wondered if leaving his life behind is really what he wanted to do. After some contemplating he decided there was no going back at this point, he had decided to change his circumstances by himself and was convicted to go through with it. 

     Akinari continued his walk to the forest. He got closer to the forest and the unending darkness intimidated him. It was extremely cold and the forest was very snowy. There were no street lights or anything else that could hint at nearby civilization. He got out the flashlight from his backpack and made his way into the forest. He held the flashlight with great fear, he walked through the forest, turning constantly and looking everywhere out of paranoia. He heard the sound of owls and crickets, which unnerved him even more. He heard some branches that fell behind him and he started running. He felt exceedingly slow thanks to the thick snow, his boots felt heavy and every step was a great effort. The snow that fell on him  made all of his clothes humid. With incredible cold and without an actual plan, Akinari continued to run on further into the forest. 

     In the distance he saw a large shadow, a rectangle-like figure in the middle of the trees. “Maybe I could take shelter there”, thought Akinari. He continued towards the shadow. While nearing it he heard increased noise behind him, he heard leaves move, branches break, and the wind blow. He hurried even more to try to reach the shadow faster, as he got even closer he could make out what it was, it was an old log cabin, with a particularly large amount of snow resting on top of it. Akinari finally reached the cabin and he tried to get inside through the front door. He used all his strength and the door would not even budge. He tried picking the lock but he was still unable to. He went around the cabin and found a window, he tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge either. Akinari used his flashlight to break the window and he finally climbed on into the cabin. 

     When he got inside he immediately noticed how warm the cabin was. It was unaffected by the outside climate, as though it were a different place entirely, with no relation to the outside world. He immediately felt great peace and calm as he entered the cabin. Akinari started to look around the cabin and he noticed two paintings on the wall. He stared at them for a while and he was hit with a sudden realization: the paintings were the same paintings he had seen in his house, the building with the hole behind it with an eye, and the lady with drab clothing and the eccentric man. These paintings in the cabin looked way more professional and were of much higher quality than the ones at home. Akinari wondered about the correlation of the paintings in the cabin and the ones in his house. 

     He continued exploring the cabin and he reached a large metal desk with scuff marks on the floor beside it. He noticed the scuff marks and realized the desk had been moved multiple times. He pushed the desk onto the side and found a trapdoor lying beneath it. The trapdoor was unlocked, so Akinari opened the trapdoor and discovered a huge staircase leading downwards. At the beginning, the staircase was surrounded by wooden walls, as it went down the walls turned into stone, later into metal, and finally the walls were made of a beautiful marble. 

     At the bottom of the staircase he found a large room, which was mostly empty, except for a large metal device at the end. The room was long and outlined mostly with fine marble all throughout, with some white columns along the middle. Akinari went to the end of the room, to where the large metal device was. It had a sort of control panel and a large metal sphere behind it, held in the air by metal bracers. In the control panel, there was one button that stuck out the most to Akinari. He dusted off the control panel and his curiosity got the best of him, Akinari decided to push the button.

      After some brief silence, the control panel started to vibrate, the metal sphere started to rotate and so did the metal bracers. A cloud of dust rose to the air from the devices’ sudden movement. After the dust had settled, Akinari saw that the metal sphere was open, and inside he saw a small, long, and intricate looking apparatus. It looked dangerous but Akinari could not contain himself. He reached out for the apparatus, the second he made contact with it, Akinari froze, and after a brief moment, collapsed to the ground.