Chapter 2 - Arrival

The first thing I realized as the blinding light started to vanish was how quiet it was. As I slowly regained my vision, I saw that we were finally out of the cottage we woke up in, but now we were inside another building that was full of what seemed to be broken computer terminals. If the terminals weren't here, it honestly would've looked like we went from one abandoned cottage to another.

I started to stand up before I realized the other thing: Niko was still wrapped in my arms and was staring at me with a wide-eyed look.

"Uh…!" I instantly withdrew my arms away from her and quickly took a step back. "Sorry! I wasn't sure what was gonna happen and I just acted on instinct so...I, uh...I didn't mean to-"

I stopped when I heard Niko starting to giggle. I was still embarrassed about the whole ordeal and it wasn't helping that my cheeks felt like they were on fire. I scratched the back of my head as Niko finally got her giggling under control.

"It's ok! It just surprised me. That's all." She turned to look at our surroundings. "Where...are we?"

I shrugged as I composed myself while we both looked around the room before my eyes landed on a nearby door. I made my way towards it, hoping that it wasn't locked. I gave the door a push, feeling it give a little bit, but not opening up fully. It was stuck, but not locked.

My eyes went wide as I motioned for Niko to stand back as I readied myself to ram the door. I breathed out and counted down in my head before launching my shoulder into the door. I heard a bit of wood cracking as I got back into a position to ram it again. Once again, I counted down before launching myself at the door. The door looked close to falling apart so I figured one last shoulder charge would finish it. With a yell, I launched myself into the door one last time and felt the door collapse as I broke through and promptly face-planted into the ground outside.

I heard Niko gasp and run up to me. "Are you ok, Mr. Alan?"

"Ow…" I muttered back in reply. I slowly pushed myself up with the arm that I didn't use to charge the door and turned over so that I was laying on my back. I groaned, "I really hope that door was the only thing I broke…"

I gingerly rubbed my arm as I slowly got up from the ground and tried to get my bearings. The whole place around us looked like a desert, with what looked like dark blue sand stretching as far as I could see. It was dark too, with blue light coming off a bunch of glowing pools and from an ocean next to us. I looked over at Niko, who seemed to be transfixed by something behind me. I turned to see what she was looking at before freezing. Off in the distance was a humongous tower, going so high into the sky that I couldn't even see the top.

"Wow…" I heard Niko whisper next to me.

I was torn between a mix of shock, panic, and awe. I was hoping that leaving the cottage would simply send me and Niko back to our homes, but seeing that tower in the distance hit home the reality of the situation. I hastily pinched myself again to double-check that I wasn't dreaming. I felt a sting from the pinch but I didn't seem to wake up, which did little to make me calm.

Breathe, Alan...don't start panicking just yet. Maybe you're just a heavy sleeper..., I thought to myself. I shut my eyes and held my breath since I knew that you could still breathe in a dream, even if you held your breath. After a minute, I had to gasp out for air.

My sharp gasp seemed to break Niko out of her reverie as I saw her flinch and snap her head towards me. I quickly shook my head and held my hand up towards her before she could say anything to let her know I was fine. Don't panic. Niko's not panicking, so let's try and just...follow her example, I guess.

I carefully took a deep breath before I opened my eyes towards Niko. "We should probably start moving. We're not going to get anywhere just standing around."

She nodded before looking off at something behind me. "There's another building down that way. Maybe we should look there first."

I turned to where she was looking and spotted a building close by. It was similar to the one we had exited, so I figured there wouldn't be anything of use in there but it was better than just standing around doing nothing.

I nodded, "It's a start." I looked beyond Niko and thought I could spot a large factory off in the distance. I squinted my eyes to try and see through the dark. It looked to be much bigger than the other two buildings near us, which was promising. "After we check out this first building, let's head towards that factory off in the distance," I said as I pointed towards it for Niko.

She looked off where I pointed before looking back at me and nodding as she started to head off towards the smaller building behind me.

It didn't take us long to reach the building. We passed by pools of the glowing blue liquid and broken train tracks that littered the ground, but I wanted to stay focused and find some answers as soon as possible so I did my best to pay no attention to them. Niko, however, was enamored with everything. If she wasn't holding onto that lightbulb, I'm almost certain she would be running around touching everything she could. I didn't blame her. She was a kid, after all. Fortunately, she seemed to understand how important it was for us to look for anything that might give us a clue as to where we were and why.

Inside the building, I was surprised to find a bed sitting in the corner as if it had been placed there with no reason. I raised an eyebrow at Niko who looked equally as confused. The only other thing of note was a metal bar that was laying on the ground next to the door. I picked it up and quickly examined it before putting it in my backpack. I figured that if any more doors needed to be broken down, I'd take a metal bar over almost breaking my shoulder any day.

I scanned the room one last time. "Doesn't look like there's anything else we can use here." I cast one last glance at the bed. "I still don't know why there's a bed in here, but I guess it can't be helped."

Niko grunted in acknowledgment before making her way back outside.

As we walked back to where we came from to head towards the factory I saw, I quickly glanced down at Niko, who was walking next to me. It occurred to me that, aside from talking about where we were and pointing out things, we haven't had an actual normal conversation. I frowned. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try and break the ice with Niko. If we were stuck in this place together, it'd probably be better to be comfortable being around each other instead of everything being an awkward silence between us, but...where was I even supposed to start though? I'll admit, I'm not the greatest at introducing myself to people I don't know, let alone kids, but given the circumstances, plus the fact that she looked to be from a completely different world than mine, I figured it was better than just walking in silence. At that moment, a question popped into my head and I figured it was better than anything else I could think up.

I glanced down at Niko again. "So…"

She perked up and looked up at me. "What is it?"

I scratched the back of my neck before continuing, "Uh, so I know we barely know each other and this probably isn't the greatest question to start with, but...uh...why is it that you look like a cat?"

She blinked away her surprise. "Huh? I'm not a cat."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, your hat kind of looks like you have cat ears and your...uh...glowing eyes? They look like a cat's."

"Cats walk on four legs though!"

I sweatdropped as I felt a smirk crawl onto my face. "Well, most people that I know don't usually have glowing yellow eyes."

Her eyes widened, "Really? Most people in my village have eyes like mine! Maybe you just haven't met them yet where you're from." She tilted her head, "Where...are you from? You don't seem to be anyone I know from my village."

I hesitated, "Well, I-"

"[Ah!]"

Niko and I both flinched as we were blindsided by a...talking robot. I kept my gaze trained on the robot that had appeared out of nowhere. An...actual talking robot? I quickly looked around to see that we had already made it to the factory. I didn't even realize we had walked that quickly. We didn't even get a chance to talk properly. I sighed and fixed my gaze back onto the robot. The clothes it was wearing reminded me of what pastors would wear at a church during a sermon, which only served to make my confusion even worse. It even carried a staff in one of its hands. I sweatdropped. Last I checked, I didn't see any churches around here.

The robot moved closer to Niko. "[That Lightbulb…! You are here!]"

Niko was taken aback, "M-me?"

The robot nodded its head. "[Yes! Welcome to our World, Friend!]" It threw its arms out as it said that. "[I am most humbled by your presence. Yes!]"

"Uh...thanks?" Niko looked at me with a very confused look on her face. I was just as confused so all I could do was shrug.

"[Ah, right! Allow me to explain some things.]"

Both of us perked up at that. Finally! Some answers! I thought to myself. Niko looked equally as attentive as me.

"[May I first ask how you arrived here?]"

Niko furrowed her brow. "Um, I'm...not sure. I woke up in this weird house and...it was really dark! There was also-"

"[Oh!]" the robot exclaimed, interrupting Niko. "[So you woke up in an unfamiliar, dark location?]"

"Mhm..."

"[Just as my prophecy foretold. Yes! You are the savior we have been waiting for! You will be the one to save our world from eternal darkness.]"

The robot spun in a circle rather excitedly. Niko looked even more confused.

I shook my head and scoffed, "Not only is that cliché, but that's also an awful lot of pressure to put on a child when neither of us even know what's going on nor how we got here…"

The robot stopped spinning and seemed to finally acknowledge my presence. I'm not an expert at reading robot facial expressions, especially when all I have to go on is one giant eyeball and the fact that I've never even interacted with a talking robot in my life, but as the robotic priest tilted its head as it stared at me, I started to feel uncomfortable under its gaze.

"...um," Niko said, causing the robot to revert its attention to her, saving me from that very uncomfortable situation.

"[Ah, yes! I will now provide you with vital information!]" The robot seemed to sparkle as its eye looked like it grew with excitement. "[Please ask me anything!]"

As Niko began asking questions about this world and the lightbulb, I stayed close and tried my best to make sense of what the robo-priest was saying. From what it explained, this world used to have a sun before it just...vanished. From then on, the world has seemingly started to deteriorate. The only light that remained was from an element they had called Phosphor which had stored light from the previous sun, but it wouldn't last. What Niko carried now was this world's new sun and that her mission was to bring it to the top of the giant tower that we saw off in the distance to restore light to the world. We would need to traverse through three regions, with the one we were in now aptly named The Barrens, before we could reach the Tower. The robo-priest warned us that the sun we held was fragile and that, were it to break, the world would end instantly. I shivered when it said that. I definitely didn't want to be stuck here if that happened so I made a mental note to myself to keep the lightbulb safe while Niko continued asking questions and explaining how she arrived.

"In the house where I woke up, I found this...computer next to my bed. It kept saying stuff like..." she furrowed her brow as she remembered what was on the computer, "'Your actions here will affect Niko.'" She frowned and shook her head as she continued, "But...I'M Niko! Were those messages meant for someone else?"

That snapped me out of my thoughts and garnered my full attention. Something talked to Niko but it wasn't meant for her? That was...odd, to say the least. But if not for her, then who?

Just then, I felt my headache start to come back. It was dull at first, but it felt like it was quickly getting worse.

The robo-priest seemed to think for a second. "[Hmm...If I had to guess…]" he started as my headache continued to worsen. "[They might be trying to pass the message to Alan.]"

I froze. My headache continued to pound, but I was too confused by what I'd just heard to register the pain. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Niko glance over at me, a mix of concern and surprise on her face, "...Alan?"

"[Ah, that would be our God! If you are here, that means Alan is here also.]"

I looked up at the robo-priest as I struggled to process his words. I could feel the blood draining from my face and a pit growing inside my chest.

"Well...uh...that just so happens to be MY name, but I'm really hoping you mean a different Alan because there is NO way that I'm-" I started to say before a huge stab of pain erupted from my headache.

"Guh…!" I cried out as I fell onto my knees, hopelessly grabbing at my head, hoping the pain would stop. I could faintly hear Niko calling my name, but her cries were drowned out by the pulsing of my unbearable headache. I was scared of blacking out, trying my best to stay conscious. I could feel Niko next to me, grabbing onto me and trying to do whatever she could to help. Just then, a piercing light seemed to burst out in front of me and cover me in light as I began to hear faint voices around me.

"Your mission is simple…"

"Your actions here will affect Niko..."

"You only have one shot, Alan…"

The voices continued to repeat and grow in intensity as an image started to form in front of me. As the headache grew worse and the voices became louder, I slowly saw what was in front of me.

A laptop…? But...why? I don't remember ever owning a laptop…Not one that had a...black clover as its logo...

...Oh.

...Oh my god.

It was all I could think before I was plunged into darkness.