IRIA: Silent Sonata
An "IRIA: Zeiram the Animation" Fan Fiction
Based on the story and characters of Tetsurō Amino and Keita Amemiya
— Overture —
This was no place to carry out a contract.
The night stretched over a barren land, the sky shrouded in a dense, turbulent mass of gray clouds. The heavy sheet of vapor churned and groaned under the assault of violent winds that raged between sky and earth. These relentless gusts tore at the topsoil, scattering it across the planet's desolate surface in jagged waves of dust and debris. Scattered patches of musty fog clung desperately to shallow mud pools, only to be devoured by the gale moments later. Sickly, skeletal trees rose sporadically from the cracked terrain, their twisted forms long since rotted into grotesque figures. They swayed erratically, ominous sentinels on a dark and lifeless horizon. The air hung heavy with the musk of decay, the landscape caught in an eerie juxtaposition—chaotic and violent, yet dead and unmoving, as though frozen in its own ruin.
Through the murk and turmoil, a faint light emerged. At first, it was a pinprick on the vast, unbroken darkness, but it quickly grew into a steady glow, then a searing blaze. The source split into two beams of light, cutting through the swirling fog and illuminating the jagged silhouettes of claw-like trees. The beams moved in tandem, accompanied by the rhythmic crunch of footsteps over brittle twigs and moss that clung stubbornly to the lifeless ground. Each step was marked by the soft clink of metal and the whisper of fabric whipping furiously in the gale.
One light was slightly ahead, its beam swaying methodically as it swept the landscape. It bobbed gently with every step, searching. The second light followed, steadier and focused on the path ahead rather than the surroundings. As the lead slowed, the second beam mimicked its hesitation. Both lights came to a halt, their soft hums swallowed by the howling wind. The second beam rose from the ground, angling upward to meet the first. Its glare illuminated a stocky figure cloaked in a long coat that flailed violently against the tempest.
"Well, anything...?" The voice, raspy but upbeat, cut through the cacophony. It belonged to a middle-aged man whose beam swept toward the source of the other light as he spoke. For a fleeting moment, the light revealed a second figure. Leaner and clad in armor, his frame braced against the wind as his thick, unruly hair danced in the storm.
With a soft clicking noise muffled by the loud cries of the wind, a small, green circular object suddenly glowed to life near the top of the second figure. With a soft mechanical hum, the luminous gadget slowly shifted downward a few centimeters and came to rest over the man's eye as if it were a lens. The eye hidden underneath the orbicular basked in the faint veridian glow; young, dark and somewhat cold as it peered through the lens. Small and minute digital readings reflected off the lens' surface as the eye slowly turned to scan the barren landscape the two inhabited.
With a brushed click, barely audible over the wailing wind, a small green orb on the second figure's head flickered to life. With a soft mechanical hum, the luminous gadget slowly shifted downward a few centimeters and came to rest over the man's eye as if it were a lens. The hidden eye behind the glowing green apparatus was youthful and dark, its cold gaze reflected in the soft verdant glow. Digital readouts flickered across the surface of the lens as the younger man methodically scanned the desolate landscape.
With a soft click, barely audible over the wailing wind, a small green orb on the second figure's head flickered to life. The device emitted a faint mechanical hum as it slid downward a few centimeters, positioning itself over the man's eye like a high-tech lens. The hidden eye behind the glowing green apparatus was youthful and dark, its cold gaze reflected in the soft verdant glow. Digital readouts flickered across the surface of the lens as the younger man methodically scanned the desolate landscape.
"There are no readings," he said, his voice as glacial as his expression, carrying effortlessly through the howling gale. "There's nothing here…" he added, quieter but no less devoid of emotion. Another click signaled the lens retracting back to its original position, fading into the night.
The older man sighed heavily. His flashlight swept over the gnarled, lifeless trees before drooping downward, casting a beam of light into the dusty soil at his feet.
"Well, that figures," he muttered, his voice rising above the storm with disappointment. "Let's set up camp around here," he shouted to the younger figure, raising his light again to assess their bleak surroundings. "This storm can't keep up like this forever!"
"We should go back to the Kreper," the younger man countered, his tone tinged with sternness and a faint trace of defiance as he raised his voice against the wind.
"Nah, you know better than that, kid," the older man scoffed, turning his broad silhouette to face the younger figure. Wrestling against the wind, he tugged at his sleeve before a sudden crimson glow erupted from a panel on his forearm, lighting up the weathered plating of his armor.
"We stick to the contract," he declared, his voice firm and carrying the weight of experience. "That's what we do." He shut off the glowing panel with a flick, letting his arm drop back to his side. Turning toward his companion, he added in a matter-of-fact tone, "Besides, we're already 10 klicks from the Kreper. If you're keen to hike back through that shit-hole, be my guest. Me? I'm bedding down and scouting in the morning."
The older man absently scratched his head with the edge of his flashlight, the beam swinging erratically in the storm's chaos. "Damn Tedan Tippedai," he grumbled, "always sticking us with the worst Transit schedules."
"You expected anything else?" The younger man's voice was icy and deliberate, offering no reassurance.
The older man chuckled nervously, turning back toward his companion with a shrug. "Yeah, well…" He shifted the beam of his flashlight toward a spot a short distance away, illuminating two grotesque, tree-like shapes. "Set up over there by those—" He hesitated, searching for the right word before settling with a shrug, "…things? There's gotta be something dry enough to start a fire."
Without a word, the younger figure swung his light toward the indicated spot and began trudging against the roaring winds, forging a path through the chaos.