A Fantastic Journey Ch. 1

AN: So I've become really hooked on Tower of Fantasy in the last few days. So much so that I've decided to write a fanfiction about it. While I'm not sponsored, it's a much more fun co-op experience than Genshin Impact, and its Gacha mechanic doesn't feel anywhere near as predatory, IMHO. If you do want to play with me, You can add me on the New Era server in North America: KibaElunal. We even have our own crew called The Waifu Forge. Hope you all enjoy.

I still struggle to remember details about my original mission. Whatever Hykros knows, they're not keen to share either. The first thing I recall is waking up in the Astra Shelter, a throbbing feeling in my head.

I had no memories, no knowledge of who I was or how I came to be there. As my eyes opened to the light for what I recall to be the first time, I was met by two sets of golden red orbs watching down on me.

"Zeke, he's awake!" One of the sets announced.

As my vision came more into focus, they found a pair of people, too similar to not be siblings. The younger one who had spoken was a girl about my age, probably only just turned 20. Her brother, Zeke, as she'd called him, was probably in his 30's by comparison.

As her long blonde pigtails swayed behind her, she beamed down on me. "Thank goodness you're okay," she said. "We found you collapsed behind the shelter."

Zeke continued for her. "Your suppressor was damaged. We managed to repair it, and thankfully, our scans show no signs of Abberation. You're lucky. I'm Zeke, this is Shirli, my sister. What's your name? What were you doing out in the machine graveyard?"

As I struggled to find responses to his questions, my head began to throb. My vision doubled for a moment before I shook the sensations away. "I don't remember," I said honestly. "My head is throbbing. I don't know the answer to either of your questions." Despite what should have been a stressful situation, I oddly felt at ease. Maybe it was the drugs they'd given me to patch me up.

Shirli considered it for a moment before reaching forward to my chest. Snagging a dogtag from around my neck, she examined it and read aloud, "Blue Eyed Fox." She handed me back the tag with a grin. "That's a funny name. Guess we'll just call you Fox for now."

"Fox it is," I surrendered. There weren't exactly many other choices I had, and I did have to be called something.

The silver-haired older brother scratched his chin in thought. "Well, it'd be cruel of us to dump you out before you even get back your memories. That being said, you look like crap. Maybe you should freshen up a bit before we ask you more questions." Turning to his sister, he continued, "Show him to Celine. I already let her know you two are on the way, so don't–"

"Yeah, yeah. I won't wander off," Shirli grumbled, before brightening once again when she looked at me. "C'mon, newbie. I'll show you the way. Follow me." With a wave of her hand, she headed out of the medical bay, her long blonde pigtails trailing behind her.

I swung my legs from the medical table, landing on my feet with a tired grunt. I couldn't see how I appeared without a mirror, but if I looked as bad as I felt, Zeke was right.

As I stepped outside, Shirli gestured to a crate. "By the way, you had a sword with you when we found you. You can pick it up there if you like."

Approaching it, I lifted it gingerly. Why on earth would I need a sword? However, as I felt its weight in my fingers, I couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity. It was like meeting a long lost friend. I gave it a few light swings, its electrified blade crackling in the air. Definitely familiar.

My eyes gazed out over the shelter as I resheathed my weapon. It was a hell of a view. Most of the shelter was in the bowels of a massive warship labeled as Freedom HT501. Not that I had any idea what that meant.

Beneath its nose there was a metal bridge that spanned across a sapphire river, flowing out into a beautiful mesa landscape, dotted with trees. "Where am I?" I asked. It was tough to conceal the slight awe in my voice.

Shirli giggled beside me, leaning against the railing of the deck. "You're in Astra Shelter, area code HT501. As you can see, it's quite the place, isn't it?"

"Have you lived here all your life?"

She sighed softly. "Well, Zeke and I have been here since we were very little."

It wasn't difficult to hear her dodge my question, but I was willing to let it go. "It is very lovely," I told her. "Thank you again for saving me."

"It's really not a problem," she promised. "It's the least we could do. Besides, if we hadn't you'd have become an Abberant and that would have been even more trouble for us than patching you up."

If there was any offense meant by her comment, I couldn't find it. Still, I doubted that would have been her intention anyway. Before I could continue onward, a small orb floated towards us. A digital eye focused in on me, examining me up and down before a materializer began to assemble something.

It looked almost like a small woman, almost child-like. No taller than three feet. Through its orangish hair, a pair of mechanical, rabbit-like ears poked out from her head. "H-hello," she greeted through her robotic voicebox. "C-C-Celine is waiting *brzt* for you, now. It's best not to *brzt* keep her w-waiting."

"Thank you Mi-a." Shirli responded before smiling at me. "This is Mi-a. She's my personal assistant. Zeke found her in one of the ruins and brought her back here. Unfortunately, her voice module is damaged and I haven't been able to repair it."

"S-s*brzt* Sorry. I'm t-trying."

"It's okay, Mi-a," Shirli assured her. "Come on, Fox. I'll take you to Celine."

Reaching down, I pat Mi-a on the head, unsure how else to interact with the small creature. Her scarlet eyes stared back up at me, shining with curiosity. Too bad I wasn't able to sate it. I was rather curious myself.

Following Shirli, I was brought before a woman with short silver hair, probably around the same age as Zeke. "So you're the one they rescued from outside," the woman noted with a smile.

"Hello, I'm…" I began, but she cut me off.

"You're pretty young. Not much older than Shirli. I guess the outside world has been cruel to you."

I wasn't sure how to respond to that. Instead, I just ignored it and tried again. "I'm Fox," I told her. "I was told you could help me get freshened up."

A smug grin crossed her face as she nodded, gesturing me over to a small platform. As I stepped onto it, a digital curtain rose around me, revealing my reflection for what may as well have been my first time seeing myself.

I had auburn hair, shaggy and in my eyes. As I turned my head, almost in disbelief that this could actually be me, I saw that it was much longer than I'd originally guessed, being tied up into a small ponytail in the back. In the mirror, sure enough, I saw my eyes were indeed blue, my nose speckled with brown freckles. Perhaps my appearance was the reason for my code name.

As I shrugged off the torn garments I'd been found in, I attempted to hang them over the curtain, only for them to phase through, followed by a yelp from Shirli. "Ah, sorry! You can't hang them on the wall. I can hold on to them for you if you like."

"Sorry," I called back. "Just changing into something more comfortable."

Celine's voice joined in. "I've probably got a few things that will fit you. Just input your size into the panel, and I'm sure you'll find something better suited to you."

Finding what she was talking about, I realized that I didn't exactly remember my measurements. Looking down at my self, my mind made dozens of quick calculations. I must have been about 6'2" tall. My body was lithe and muscled, but not buff either.

I attempted to put in my best estimates and sure enough the machine whirred to life. Pieces of polycarbonate metal began to form around me, making sure to stay snug, but not tight. As the armor began to interlock, I was surprised to find it was temperature controlled as well. As the mechanisms continued to sync up to my body, I examined myself further.

My torso was horribly scarred. Celine was right in that the world must have not been kind in my past. Once the armor was properly placed, I shrugged on a stylish blue jacket and strapped it down snugly. Lastly, my black boots snapped into place, with armored guards emerging just over my shins. The lights that dotted my armor glowed a dim pink and as I stepped from the changing pad, I felt good as new.

Shirli and Celine stared at me in awe. "Wow," Shirli murmured. "You umm…clean up nice."

"Agreed," Celine said.

"Thanks." I wasn't sure what else to say, so I just stood there awkwardly, waiting for someone else to speak. "For the compliment and for the help."

Celine smirked and shook her finger. "It isn't free," she explained. "You're going to have to put in some work for the Shelter to pay it off."

"Okay," I agreed.

"Really?" Shirli asked. "Just like that?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "It's not as if you haven't been more than fair. It's only reasonable that I do what I can until I get my memories back. I don't exactly have anywhere else to go."

"Well said," agreed Celine. "Shirli, show him around. I'm sure we can find some work to do."

Shirli grabbed my hand in hers, pulling me down a few flights of stairs before nearly running us into a large man. He was enormous, buff as could be, and worse, he reeked of booze. Despite his size, he smiled at us both. "Good morning, Shirli."

"Hi, Uncle Palu. Just who we were looking for. This is Fox. We're looking for…" She trailed off as she sniffed the air before frowning. "Uncle Palu, have you been drinking again? You reek!"

He gave a slight laugh. "I may have tossed back a few last night."

Not likely. This dude smelled like a damned still. Shirli changed the subject. "As I was saying, Fox needs some work. Anything we can do?"

"Well, I was going to get the local environment data that needs collection, but to be honest, I'm still a little hung over. One of you can pilot the drone and the other can collect the data for me."

"Well, Fox. Are you up for it?" Shirli asked, the cheerfulness never leaving her voice.

"For piloting the drone?" I asked.

She laughed. "No silly. I'll be piloting it. You'll just be riding in it until you collect the area data. Plus, you'll be able to see the entire shelter that way without getting lost."

I wasn't sure how I felt putting my life in Shirli's hands, but I sighed, and nodded in surrender. "Very well. Don't get me killed now, okay?"

"I'll do my best," she giggled.

As I strapped myself in, I felt the drone start to lift off with me. It was a bit sudden, causing my stomach to lurch as I gripped the handles tightly. "Are you sure about this?" I asked again.

www

"Of course, I'm sure," Shirli said through the radio. "Trust me, I'm an expert."

"Accessing data…" Mi-a chimed in. "In her most recent flight, Shirl crashed into the r-river."

"That was an accident!" Shirli scoffed.

Once I'd stopped just above the river, I began to collect the samples from the water. Most of the work was pretty easy, but that didn't mean I'd release my death grip on the machine's handles. Soon, I'd collected samples of the plants, rocks, and geology around us as well.

As I slowly floated through the air, I once again took in the beautiful scenery of Astra. It was hard to believe that this land was so lush and vibrant after what had happened during the Cataclysm. My eyes went to the distant structure that seemed to reach towards the heavens. And at the top of the Tower of Fantasy, sat Hykros HQ.

The world's technology was greatly advanced after the discovery of the mysterious element known as Omnium, a strange gaseous substance that when tweaked could do miraculous things. Its very essence could distort space-time, or so the eggheads would say. The Tower of Fantasy was created to capture a meteor known as Mara, which was a rich source of Omnium, almost limitless in its abundance.

However, something went wrong. Despite that everyone was told it was safe, something happened to cause a massive Omnium leak from the Tower. As the radiation spread across the planet, people began to change. They would twist and conform becoming what is now known as the Aberrants.

Fifty years later, and here we were. A rather abysmal state of the world, where buildings are cobbled together with whatever scrap metal is on hand, and the only thing between us and a terrible fate are these suppressors that Hykros handed out. Hykros says they're trying to help fix the world, to make it better for all of us. But I've got a policy against trusting suits.

I was jerked from my thoughts by a sudden lurch in the drone. My stomach jumped into my throat as it dove quickly towards the shelter only for it to come to a slow stop in front of Shirli and Palu.

"Excellent work," Palu greeted as I returned, taking the data from my shaky outstretched hand. "I'll go through this immediately. By the way, the space rift is on the fritz again. Would you two let Zeke know? We definitely need it looked at or we won't be able to get any more supplies for the shelter."

From one task immediately to another. Most likely so the old bastard could nurse his hangover with more booze. Still, I couldn't exactly complain after they'd saved my life. "Leave it to us," Shirli bragged with a grin.

Never again would I get on one of those stupid drones if Shirli was the pilot. As I followed her, she seemed to be in much higher spirits than I was. "So what is this Space Rift?" I asked, trying to get my mind off my near death experience.

"It's a transport device," she stated plainly. "Essentially, it uses Omnium to tear matter apart, then put it back together again somewhere else." Seeing my shocked expression, she tilted her head. "What? What's wrong?"

"Are you sure you're qualified to fix this thing?" I asked, my mind still on my near death experience at her hand.

Shirli puffed her cheeks out in irritation. "Of course, I am! Uncle Palu taught me everything I need to know about it." She circled the machine, humming to herself in thought, making a true show of it. It did little to instill confidence. "Aha! I'm pretty sure it's just the filter that's out. Not a problem, you go grab one from inside the storage place and we'll swap it out, quick as can be."

"That's it? Couldn't Palu have done that if that was the only problem."

Again Shirli became annoyed. "You smelled him! He's probably still drunk. Just trust me, would you? Go get the filter, and we'll hurry it along."

I nodded in surrender. Not much point in causing a fuss. As I went into the storage shed, I could feel both Shirli and Mi-a's eyes on me. Why were they staring so hard? Pushing it out of my mind, I grabbed the filter and strode over to the newly opened hatch.

Shirli seemed impressed by my ability to hold it in one hand while using the other to take out the old one. It was a little heavy, but it wasn't as if she were offering to help. "There," I said. "Filter's in."

"Great. I'll just close the hatch and…" Shirl paused as she tried to push on the door, only for it to remain completely still. Grunting she threw her shoulder against it, but to no avail.

"Seriously?" I teased.

"Shut up. It's stuck!" She dug her heels into the ground, trying her best, before sighing in surrender. "Do you mind?"

Without a word, I walked beside her and bracing my shoulder against the metal plate, and it slowly sank back into the machine. Once it did, there was a whir of electronics as a blue light began to circle around the small platform. Well, I'll be damned. Maybe she did know what she was talking about.

Shirli smirked, walking up beside me and hugging my arm tightly. "There you go! See, I told you I knew what I was doing."

Mi-a chimed in, "In the last month, there have been 7 accidents involving the Space Rift that were caused by Shirli."

"Shush!" Shirli snapped before giving me an innocent grin. "Anyway, now that it's up and running, we need it to test it."

"On?"

"Us, of course."

I quickly detangled my arm from her and stepped away from the death machine. "Absolutely not," I argued. "I'm not being ripped apart by some crazy machine, only to be reassembled elsewhere. With my luck and your experience, I'll wake up missing some vital organs."

Shirli shook her head. "No, it's perfectly safe! I promise!" She considered it for a moment before seeming to remember something. "But if you're going to be such a baby, then you can stay behind."

"I'm not being a baby," I argued. "I just don't want to die."

"Well, you can't really use it anyway. You aren't in the system yet. So I guess you dodged a bullet. I'll take it to Banges, and you can stay here to confirm via radio that I made it."

Before I could tell her that this was a really foolish idea, she ran into the light and disappeared in a blink, her body trailing away into bright blue powder. Fear gripped my chest. Oh God, she was dead. She just jumped into it. How the hell am I going to explain this to Zeke?!

"Come in, Fox! Over." Shirli's voice crackled through a nearby radio. "I'm on Banges beach, over."

Sighing in relief, I picked up the receiver. "You know you're only supposed to use 'over' when you're done talking. Not between every sentence. Over."

There was a moment of silence. Had I upset her? "There are monsters here!" she cried out. "I'm too far from Banges Dock. I have to…*brzt* Oh no, they're on me! Help!"

Before I could even react, the machine flared to life again. Shirli came rushing out, chased by crazy machines unlike any I'd ever seen. They were bug-like in the way they crawled along the ground, with large bulbous heads and wide nozzle-like mouths that spewed remnants of various chemicals.

Shirli's eyes were in tears as she ran past me for cover, and with little choice, I drew my blade and began my fight. I hacked and slashed, dashing this way and that as they began to use their sharp legs to try to pierce into my flesh.

I had to move quickly. Three against one wasn't a fair fight, I knew, but I couldn't just let them run rampant in the shelter. One raised up on its back legs to attempt to stab me, but I slid beneath it, running the electrical edge of my sword against its underbelly.

Despite that it should have been a fatal blow, it barely even scratched it. Their plating was tough! Using my new position I lashed at it over and over again. Despite that I was leaving nasty dents in its armor, it still managed to turn and face me. The red lights on its head began to glow and I could see a flame igniting some swirling substance in its hose.

Just as the large torrent of fire came jetting out of its mouth, I dashed to the side. Then, something strange happened. A purple light blasted outward from me into a large bubble, engulfing me, the creatures, and Mi-a.

Then, they just…stopped. The fire was still coming out, but it was moving so slowly. I watched it uncurl in its strange twisting intricacies, as I easily stepped to the side of the machine. What was going on?

Shaking the curiosity from my head, I decided to act on this divine intervention. My blade found a place between the armor, and with it still, I was able to jab it deep, severing its internal wiring easily.

The light slowly faded from its gaze before in a quick blur of movement, it suddenly collapsed. Time had sped up again, and the purple sphere was nowhere to be seen. Not realizing my newly found position, I turned at the last second to see another creature bearing down on me.

With a flick of its sharp leg, it cast my blade aside, leaving me unarmed as it pounced on me, pinning me down. Its gaze looked on me as acid began to dribble out from its pipe. I didn't have anything to defend myself! This was the end.

Even though I knew it wouldn't do much, I held my arms protectively in front of my face, only to hear Mi-a's voice behind me. "Downloading and projecting weapon data. Good luck." The same sort of blue powder that Shirli had turned into when she entered the Space Rift began to coalesce around my hands.

As it ran through my fingers, it began to take shape, before two razor sharp daggers appeared in my palms. Now rearmed, I stabbed upward with both of them, puncturing its armor and kicking it off of me as it began to tremble and spark.

Smoke began to pour from it, and I realized an imminent detonation when I saw one. Dashing to the third creature, I swept its legs from under it with my blades, before drop-kicking it hard enough to send it tumbling into its brother.

With a loud BOOM that rocked the ground beneath us, the two were completely demolished, leaving me in an even more exhausted state than I had been. Mi-a rushed to my side, helping me to stand up from the dirt with some effort.

"Thanks, Mi-a," I told her, giving her another pat on the head. Looking around to make sure no one else was hurt, I could hear sniffling coming from inside of the storage. I ran in, fearing the worst, only to find Shirli, unharmed, with her knees up to her chest and her face buried in them. "Hey, you okay?"

Shirli looked up at me, tears in her eyes as she shook her head. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "It's all my fault."

"Updating Log: *Brzt* There have been ei-eight incidents caused by Shirli, involving the Space Rift," Mi-a chirped behind me.

I waved off the personal assistant before sitting beside Shirli. "I'm sorry I couldn't help," she whispered. "I'm just so scared. I'm useless."

"Don't be ridiculous. It's normal to be scared of things like that. That's not like a bug or a snake. That's a killing machine."

"You weren't scared," she pointed out. "You didn't even think about it. You just pulled out your sword and fought them. You're brave…and I'm not."

I frowned. "Of course I was scared," I corrected. "Just because I fought them, doesn't mean that I wasn't scared. There's a fine line between being brave and being stupid. Being brave doesn't mean you don't get scared. It means that, even if you are scared, you do what you have to do to protect the people around you. You were unarmed, Shirli. What you did, running and hiding, that's the smart thing to do."

Without a word, Shirli wrapped her arms around me and buried her face in my neck. I could feel her tears on my neck as she just held on to me like that for some time. I gently rubbed her back to comfort her.

When she finally managed to compose herself, she pulled away. "Thank you," she whispered. "But, we need to get back to work."

"You sure?"

She nodded. "The navigational data is messed up for the Space Rift, which means people will be teleported right back to where those monsters were."

"So how do we fix it?"

She shook her head. "I don't know how. It's too complex for me. It's probably even too technical for Uncle Palu. Luckily, I think I know someone who can help."

"Who?"

"His name is Franz. I'm pretty sure he's just outside of the Shelter. He's from Hykros, so if anyone knows, it'd be him."

The moment the word Hykros left her lips, I shuddered. My eyes glazed over as a throbbing sensation in my head threatened to bring me to my knees. I could see a vision of something. I was exploring in a junkyard when my suppressor began to tell me the battery was running low.

As I tried to remember more, all I could see was a tall woman with a bright pink greatsword and a blue coat. Her radio buzzed. "I see him, sir. What are your orders?" I couldn't hear what came next, but my vision began to blur as she loomed over me. My body gasped for air as I fell to my knees, her shadow cast over me ominously.

Then, just as quickly, I was back with Shirli, staring into her concerned face. "Did you remember something?" she asked.

After another moment to catch my breath, I shook my head. "No. At least, nothing important, anyway."

Shirli frowned but gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "It'll come back. I promise. And if not…well, then you and I will just have to make all new memories, I guess."

Maybe that wouldn't be so bad, I thought.

To be continued…