Golden Dawn

|Chapter 3 ~ The Search For A Disk|

The clouds were an ominous dark colour when I exited the corridor that led to Albert's facility. The sky was packed with them, their colour a poisonous green hue that I immediately recognized.

Acid rain. I thought grimly.

For years I managed to protect myself from it thanks to the shelter provided by houses and old broken down buildings, but today I actually needed to find something. A specific magnetic disk that for Albert that he desperately needed in order to finish a very important project of his.

I sighed in frustration as the deserted wasteland stretched out like a great desert before me. Albert mentioned the electronic part was located somewhere on the outskirts of town, but never actually managed to get there thanks to his lack of stamina and old age. Thus, the reason to assign me the task of retrieving it was precisely because  of my flexible age.

I groaned in frustration and stepped over a puddle of oil that reflected the blackened sky. Whatever I decide to do, I had to do it quickly in order to evade the acid rain's fatal injuries. The chemical droplets could cause much harm to a human's skin. The only good thing about the entire situation was that I already knew the area pretty well since I had lived here my entire life. The outskirts of town was unfortunately however, new to me. I never dared to venture outside the safety of it since Deathtreaders could be around every corner for all I knew. It was a risk I could never afford to take.

Until now, that was.

The sudden feeling of something soft against my leg made me scream in surprise. I looked down and was relieved to see only Hermes hugging my leg, its tiny ears raised for any alarming movements. I took a deep breath to calm my racing heart and shook my head at the little creature. "You sure scared the crap out of me Hermes." I mumbled irritatedly and continued my journey. 

All around us ancient debris and rubble littered the streets and the remains of tall buildings towered over us, blocking out the now juniper green sky. It was very quiet, the only sound - the slight swaying of broken advertisement boards. Unease filled my veins when my eyes found the beacon that indicated the border to where I would usually explore. A building that was surprisingly half intact and painted in a faded reddish colour that immediately stood out amongst the other ordinary ones. I felt my arms immediately tense when we walked past the house and took a step unto total new territory.

Hermes suddenly acted very strange and made a slight yapping noise like I expected an excited dog would make. It raced past me and into the new landscape with incredibly speed.

"Wait! No Hermes come back, it's not safe here!" I yelled, forgetting that anyone in our radius most definitely heard me and sped after the brown creature. My breath came out in exhausted pants as I followed Hermes through the maze of metal and rubbish. The air stunk of acid and bit at my skin resulting in uncomfortable tingling sensations across my face. The air was certainly  far from remotely clean and made me so out of breath, I almost fainted when Hermes finally decided to stop. I bent over my aching knees and breathed heavily - grateful for the air I managed to pull into my lungs. When I finally felt like I wouldn't collapse right there, I manage to take in our surroundings.

We stood in front of a modern rectangular building that was in an unusually good condition. The structure consisted of total unfamiliar white metal and glass windows lined the sides of the building, making it able for me to see right into its neat foyer. I narrowed my eyes and spotted a long table with computers and other vague instruments piled on top of it behind the clear glass. I was amazed at how much the building contrasted to the others around it and looked down at Hermes.

"Wow... you may just have found something truly interesting." I exclaimed in wonder and made my way towards the building, very wary of my surroundings. It took me a while to finally reach the entry, since the doors were also made of glass. My hands trembled slightly as it closed around the cold metal handle attached to the door. It opened without a sound and revealed a dark room with very white walls and the table I saw earlier, situated in the centre of the open space. I walked closer in order to inspect it and noticed how loud my footsteps echoed across the beautifully polished marble floor. Hermes padded next to me and jumped unto the table in one swift movement. It sniffed the expensive instruments. I too, noticed how technologically advanced the hardware was. It was astonishing how different the computers were from anything I'd ever seen.