~ ? – ? A.D. ~
Malik, Leonardo and Altair were basically thrown out of the portal, crashing into whatever awaited them.
"Ouf-"
"Argh... Damn, what is this?"
"...There's no way the Chancellour could reach us here. Unless he also has a Gate Key which is highly unlikely.", Altair muttered and got up.
"But where are we...?", Malik looked around.
This was nothing like either of them had seen before. The area was covered in metallic plates of all shapes and sizes. Some were rustic, others glimmed. And the lights came only faintly through slits or lamps near the bottom. The room had no windows.
"The civilisation here seems so... advanced.", Leonardo stated. He should be happy about this fact for the was a scientist with all heart. But he was not. This area seemed to be in bad shape.
It was then that the impression sank in that there was no actual human sound. Nothing at all. The place really was dead.
Carefully, the three walked outside.
Instead of villages or cities there were simply 'Domes'. Everything was under a half-orb of glass and in the fashion of steel and other pristine materials. But worn down over time. And not only time, something must have happened here. Something terrible.
The earth seemed to be in a nuclear winter.
The sun didn't really come through and there was a constant wind with which came dust and trash.
There was not even a single speck of green, no plant outside.
The first other Dome they entered was just as empty, save for a few skeletons. The second Dome was no better, but it had an interesting hatch leading downwards. There was a console with a big screen.
Leonardo tapped a few buttons and tried around.
"Hm... Do you smell that too? Something reeks. This must be the food. It has been rotting away not too long ago. The refrigeration must have failed. And then the people here have all died slowly and quite painfully so."
Malik and Altair looked all but happy. What if they were stuck here as well, slowly starving away?
Altair walked around. There was a corpse lying quite near to the console. He then looked closer.
"Oh look... This one is holding something.", he nonchalantly crouched before the corpse and pried open the hands. "...a seed? Leonardo, do you supposed it could grow in a place like this?"
"I don't know. It would have to be planted in a secure place.", Leonardo frowned and looked at the seed. "I think the man had tried to eat the last seeds in vain. Poor man."
Then there was also a note written on soiled paper. 'The rat is more than just a statue! It knows the secret of this dome. Catch it!'
"What do you mean 'catch it'?", Malik didn't like the idea. "It is a statue, right? It would not move."
They had seen the 'statue' previously upon going deeper into the dome, but neither had paid much attention to it since everything here seemed absurd.
"I suggest there is only one way to find out.", Altair said and went quickly out. They were running out of time. Every minute without food was a bad minute. Because there was also no end in sight. And you could die without food for sure.
Altair went to where the statue of the rat had been. And the statue was gone. Instead the silly rat dashed around the metallic room. As it turned out, the rat was a small robot.
Catching it however was no problem for Altair as he was quick on his feet.
"Squeak! I give up. I'll tell you everything, squeak.", the rat must have been something like a toy robot. The rat told Altair how to access the secret passage.
The friends were able to dig a little deeper into the mysteries of this time.
"So, this is the information center. Good, the computer's still operational. If we run a search on time warps, we might find the next Gate through which we can hopefully escape this awful era."
Leonardo tapped away on the control buttons. It was a bit uncanny that a man from 1000 A.D. knew perfectly well what to do here. But Leo was really a genius!
"Aha! Got it. East of Arris Dome. Arris Dome is where we are now. And the parameters tell me that we need to go here and here... and end up at Firenze Dome over here.", Leonardo pointed at the large screen.
"You are so amazing, you begin to scare me, Leo.", Altair whispered. Then his eyes fell onto... the big red button! And he was unable to resist the urge to just press it! "What does this button do?"
"Altair!"
But instead of an actual explosion, there was a video on the screen. And it showed something awful. There was the date 2012 A.D. and a small team of technicians before the same consoles, just minding their job.
And then everything changed when the earth cracked open and something like a large glowing orb moved out of the earth, turning it into chaos and the wasteland that it was by now. Then the video faded...
The three men were silent for quite some time. Leonardo was the first to find his voice again.
"...This was the visual record of the Day of Eden.", he said matter of factly.
"Eden?"
"I thought this was... something mythical from the Bible or something."
"Well, there is apparently more to it."
"2012...? We must truly be in the future. 1012 years behind our time.", Leonardo frowned.
"Leonardo. Malik... we ... we can't leave it at that! We gotta do something!", Altair suddenly said.
"Say what?", Malik looked angry.
"What do you mean, Altair?", Leonardo made big eyes.
"I say, that we got to do something and stop Eden from happening. We can't just go on and pretend like nothing happened. Well... it did not happen in our time, but what if it did? Is it just our problem because we are involved? We need to do at least /something/!", Altair looked very determined.
"And what do you expect us to do?", Malik glared at Altair.
"We could find out... if there is a background. Where does this Eden come from?", Altair looked back at the screen as if the video was still on. "And what is it really?"
And maybe if they could... they could destroy it. Prevent it from happening.
"Malik, you also saved me by just doing the right thing! I know we can do this. We put our forces together!"
"Yes, I think we should investigate more about it.", Leonardo said and grinned.
"L-Leonardo?", Malik felt betrayed.
"Thank you!", Altair cheered.
"Ugh... I know you two just do whatever you want. And I also know you won't be able to do this without me. Count me in.", Malik finally growled.
"Fantastic!", Altair was really happy and hugged both. "And now next stop: Fire-Ants Dome!"
"Actually 'Firenze' Dome.", Leonardo corrected.
"Okay!", Altair laughed.
On the way to Firenze Dome, the three friends reached a dead end. There was simply too much trash and debris lying around.
"What now? Can't we climb over it?", Altair asked and looked at the scrap materials.
"Not likely. Neither can we crawl under it."
"Hey! I found a hatch. Looks like a way down.", Malik said and tugged at the lid of the hatch. It opened to a Sewer system. "Not sure where it will take us. Might be the only way."
And since they were unable to cross the road with the scrap they decidedly took the route one level down. Unfortunately they were not alone.
A small Gargoyle with one eye cried out "Bandits! Must report to Sir Screekit!", and fluttered away.
Not taking much of that, the Trio went further into the Sewers that obviously were inhabited by Mystics. Or at least descendants of Mystics. They were able to use Magic too, sending shockwaves through our friends' spines or splash them with water.
After a while, they walked through the Sewers with much uneasyness.
"I hate it. I'm all soaked and I hate water.", Altair lamented.
"Really? Do you never wash yourself?", Malik asked.
"I ... I do. But I never liked it alot."
"You're just like a cat.", Malik chuckled. "But I do hope that our dear /Princess/ does wash more often or else she reeks."
"You whot, mate?", Altair blushed and looked furiously at Malik. "I'm /not/. a fucking Princess."
"Prove me otherwise.", a smug grin decorated Maliks face.
"Could the two of you be a little more subtle? This thing is littered with monsters and I don't fancy getting roasted again.", Leonardo urged.
The following part was extremely hard. There had been a note on soiled paper, almost gone. But what they could decipher was something like that the Monsters down here acted upon sound. If there was something louder, they'd go for it.
"Awww look, a kitty~", Altair purred. There was indeed a kitty.
"Will you be quie- ?", but it was too late.
There was another round of battle.
"Awww man. There's food...", Altair drooled and looked at the boxes that emitted a really good smell. Roasted BBQ!
"No, Altair, we will-", again, the monsters attacked!
"Not even Cheese?", there really was lying around a slice of cheese. A good one at that.
"Don't pick up food from the flo-", damnit, monsters again!
For the rest of the walk – until it was safe again – Malik was dragging Altair along after Leonardo had shoved something into Altairs mouth, making sure that he was not going to say anything anymore.
"You guys are so mean~", Altair complained.
"And you got us nearly killed! Fuck this, Altair!", Malik glared at Altair. "Have your parents never kicked any sense into you?"
"...No. Never.", Altair looked sad.
"Now pull yourself together. No adventures like this anymore, okay?"
"Okay."
"The three of them are almost here.", the 'Cyclops' reported to a large beast that looked like a slimy worm with fins.
"Coming through the sewer like they own it... If they came looking for death they have found it! I'll show them who's Boss!"
"Let's show 'em.", the Cyclops chimed in.
"I'll chop them up! Hahaha!"
Together they laughed for quite a while... until the Cyclops eyed the approaching Trio and flew into safety.
The Three drew their weapons and attacked the creature from all sides. Sir Screekit was quite an opponent, but still they made short work of him.
Once Screekit was gone, the way for Firenze Dome was open. The Sewer had led the right way all along.
"I'm so glad, you have no idea.", Leonardo relaxed upon them entering the Dome. Here, it looked at bit different than the other areas, but still nothing dangerous. The Mystics had remained in the Sewers.
"Oh, I can feel the glad as well."
"I think we should rest before continuing.", Malik proposed. "I know that we don't have food here or anything and are right before the exit... but who knows where this will lead us, hm? What if we go to a place worse?"
"A place worse? This here is post-apocalypse with no food. What could there be worse?", Altair frowned.
"I don't want to know...yet."
"Malik's right. We need to brace ourselves against whatever comes next. Could be anything really."
"Okay. But let's go further into this Dome, okay? I don't really fancy being near the door while not knowing what lurks inside."
And what lurked inside was nothing short of amazing. The Dome was divided into several wings, each wing being a shaft leading deeper, making the insides of the Dome shaped a bit like a star. Most of the shafts were intersected with chambers housing something that resembled coffins. But technical coffins at that. Each coffin was linked to an apparatur with many wires and tubes. And at the end of each line of 'coffins' was a console to compute them. In many of those coffins were also actual skeletons or halfway rotten corpses, so the title 'coffin' did it well justice. They must have been initially for something like a 'cryo' slumber in which people froze themselves up to awake in a different time, maybe a better time.
However, one of the many coffins was still active. And the person inside bare of any effect of rotten.
"Is he alive?", Altair made big eyes. So did Malik. It was nothing that they ever seen or dreamt of. And the sign of small hope made it oh so pretty.
"Well... I can't say for sure.", Leonardo was just as mesmerized. He was also interested much into the technology standing for this miracle. "We should wake him up. Let me see if I can do something."
Leonardo first walked around the apparatures, checking here and there, reading and then he decided to get to work. He tried pressing various buttons like he had with the consoles and that was already it... almost.
"Uh, oh. Something is not quite right.", Leonardo said and furrowed his brows. "The door should open now."
"Maybe it is rusty from lying around for so long?", Altair proposed.
"Impossible. This is a technology too good for it. Also, the metal should not have bended due to temperature. The designers of this technology would have thought of that."
The person inside the 'coffin' stirred and moaned lowly. He seemed to be in pain as the ice dripped. But the ice was not the problem. The door was really stuck.
"Welp, possible or not possible, Leo. We should pry it open. I doubt you would refreeze him later.", Malik said and drew his sword.
"What are you up to?", Leonardo didn't like what he saw, but made way for Malik who shoved the tip of his sword between the door frame.
"I see!", Altair said. Malik tried to use the sword as a prybar. Altair immediately jumped to Maliks side and helped him the best he could.
Finally, the door swung open!
The person inside coughed and held onto the sides, but soon recovered. "Wh...who are you?"
Malik and Leonardo looked at the man mesmerised.
He had long brown hair in a ponytail and golden eyes much like Altairs. And the very same scar splitting his lip.
"This is Malik.", Altair introduced. "I am Altair and Leonardo here woke you up from your slumber. How do you feel?"
"I guess you are not much of a morning person. Neither am I. No problem.", Altair chuckled, slightly embarrassed.
"What time is it? What... year?"
"2300 A.D. For how long have you been frozen?", Leonardo asked curiously. "And what is your name?"
"Mh... I have been frozen in the year 2212. When the food became sparce... ... I... I am Ezio.", he rubbed his head, still not being fully 'functional'.
"I think we should give him some time.", Altair said. "Leonardo, you said you could locate the next gate here... can you make out where it is /in here/?"
"A closer search? Hm..."
"There has been a door nearby which would not budge.", Malik said. "But I figured we would rest a bit further until our next step."
Leonardo nodded. Altair looked curiously at Ezio, wondering what it might be to be frozen for such a long time.
Altair crouched down next to Ezio who was sitting in front of the container he had been in. He reached out to touch Ezios skin. It was indeed a bit cold. "You know... when I was getting too cold in the winter, my nurse said that when I rub my hands together it would help."
Ezio looked at Altair as if he was nuts.
But he obliged nevertheless, rubbing his hands together.
After a while everyone helped to get Ezio warmed up.
"Okay.", Ezio smiled, feeling much better now after an hour of warming up. "Thank you so much everyone. Now there is a way out. And the door you found can possibly be opened with a key. The key is somewhere hidden in the nearby Factory. I can show you the way."
