2.2|Marchwood

 

2.2|Marchwood

 

Urban legends begin with the crawl of a page, solemnly following the procession of a crawl. Through crumbling ruins, in the cold and hurt of dark solitude. The woman, in the throes of despair could hardly put her head together. Slamming into a planet at lightspeed didn't seem to shock nearly as much as the existential dilemma of awakening conjoined in the midst of your nadir. Protas.. Raelyn.. she clutched her head, stuck in perpetual stalemate. A pendulum of memories, a duality of identity. The girl felt like a psychic chimera, groping forward only to step on the tail of her cerebellum with every thought. She crawled forward, ignoring her injuries into the cave ahead, the only shelter she could find.

A search for answers was required. A journey into that darkness of self is where myths begin. A search for knowledge. A quest for truth. A journey into the depths of the octane oblivion, but at a time and place in which no one can speak of.

The story began, long ago when the sun was born, the skies were black. The ground was desolate, barren, and silent, but for the whisperings of a girl in a place that no one else could ever reach. Form overwhelms content. Hearing these whispers, a tumbling, shaggy behemoth picked her up with large talons and allowed her to waltz to shelter.

"W-who are you.." She asked.

"The terrestrial tedium of the talons... repetition with a difference, without

sight or clarity.."

The girl looked up, seeing the large owl with scarred eyes and albino fur.

"And whom does your heart claim? From which title do you prefer?"

She stuttered. "P-pro... Rae.." Clutching her head, purely a sea of voices trying

to coalesce as one.

"..I don't know."

"Come. Let us forage." The owl picked her up by its wings and flew out the cave. The owl flew off with her in the twilight, she flew over hills, through forests, and across water. They flew across lands, the barren and desolate fields with only crystalline stalks growing the silk of larva across their branches.

"This realm is my world. It is my domain. It is my playground." The sightless owl flew off of a cliff into the ground. They descended below, only the sound of the owl's footsteps and wind. Tracks were laid out with moving carts. "My people built these to feed. The great cities of a world called me home. My world changed, and I never returned."

The woman took in the vast rails and looked ahead- a massive dome with metallic spires out the top, a city that shone with the gleam of light. The tracks were made of silicate, they twisted and turned in endless loops, a labyrinthine labyrinth of detours along detours.

"And do you have any name?"

"I am called the sightless. I was born sightless, but see with soundwaves. This world is my home. These are my people." The girl sat back down in the tracks, trying to focus. "What of you?" The Sightless asked.

She took a long pause, observing other owls circling the top of the dome.

"Prot..lyn." She rubbed her shoulders. "I'm Protlyn." It didn't feel great to say it. The girl took a moment to catch her breath. She stepped closer to wall made of gravel, and touched it with her fingers, tracing it where it met the desolate soil.

"May I.. see your home?" Protlyn asked.

The owl nodded in understanding and flew ahead, leading her to the outskirts of the city. They went around a great archway, and entered into a great courtyard. It was a place of peace, with many trees and grass. There were also many domes with windows and doors. They walked up a staircase and entered through a window.

"I must record your voice in order to properly register you into our citizenry. The city’s name is Marchwood. It will be a place of learning and discovery for you. As the time passes, your voice will evolve into a great memory. This is your life now. You may stay here, where we may learn to live together, and grow together, and together, discover and construct."

Protlyn looked out the window, the spires of black and gold met the sky. It was

peaceful in the courtyard. "I will." She said, sitting down.

"As you wish. I will record your voice."

 

 

Glaring out her goggles, Amity paced back and forth on the iron bridge. The excesses of magma poured out vents into geothermal transponders, carrying electricity from the immense heat and pressure throughout the society of the Oohts. She leaned over with a sad look, all the experimental technology in the world couldn't prepare her for seeing a flock of birds drag her companion into a lab. An admin came in. "There has been a complaint about the lab's sanitation levels, would you be able to see to this please?"

"Yeah sure.."

They began walking. "Another visitor arrived here shortly ago. Perhaps you

know them."

Amity Byte paused. "Show me."

Laying in lily white bedsheets shone upon by a mosaic of colored glass, Protlyn turned back and forth, the miasma of misery holding her in its grip. "You have a visitor." An Ooht said. She got up and saw Amity arrive in her stay.

Amity stopped cold, seeing the woman's face. Her features, her hair and body, she was a perfect blend of both Protas and Raelyn, an amalgamation that would surely bring them both into a permanent congealment.

The girl stood, confused and fearful. "W-who is she?"

"She has a name, though I don't know it." The owl said, walking away. Amity

walked to the woman and stood beside her bed.

"Is this where you've been?" She asked.

"Aye. What is your...name?" Amity asked.

"Protlyn." She replied. "I'm Protlyn Amity. It’s.. me."

"No, that cannot be right." The cyberhacker went to her bed nervously,

touching her to feel that she was real.

"How?" She asked.

They talked. Protlyn explained about Raelyn, and how she was brought here to be a hybrid of Protas and Raelyn. How she was revived from Grahim and Intellica. By Novus. Tricked into sharing bodies in exchange for this revival. And then.... they came together when they woke up.

"Amity... I.. am no one." She said, feeling like an abomination. She looked

down and then up at him. "Am I real?" She whispered.

"You are real. You are, two people! Twice as real!"

Protas lay, the room swarmed with dreams, memories of memories of memories. Everything was like a film reel of memories, of lives. She remembered killing that dog. She remembered being teleported back and forth, flickering out of space and back. She could recall proposing and being proposed to, caring for.. herself? And being loved in turn.

She stood up and walked into the mirror. She looked at herself, the reflection of her, looking back. "Am I two people..?" She took in a long breath and exhaled, staring into the reflection.

"I'm one person!" She said, the echo of her words playing back in time and in

the room. "I'm one person! And only one!"

The young hacker wandered around, trying to figure out her new dilemma. he

sat down on the bed and began to think.

That's when the owl swooped in, giving her some pills

"You will feel many things. This will help with your pain. Please try to rest."

She started to feel tired. Amity rushed over.

"I have something to give you.." She handed Protlyn as disc.

"What is this disc?" Protlyn asked, feeling strange and laying back.

"Baron's Memory modules.. I cannot let that one slip!! Please give them to

him if he ever asks or wants them back."

The young hacker looked out of the window and the city was bathed in the

 glow of the sun.

"I'll walk on the outskirts. See you soon, Protlyn, or whoever you are now." Protlyn picked up a pillow, shoved it over her face and curled below the  sheets.