"You should probably lay on the bed."
After comfortably resting on the bed, Eighty handed him the VR headset.
"You know how to wear one of these, right?
Without saying a word, Kariuki took the headset from her and fixed it on his head.
"Brace yourself." Was the last thing he heard before being engulfed in a torrent of pain. Feeling like his brains were getting pierced by a thousand tiny needles and mushed before being regerated over and over again.
Being a Reaper and adding the fact that he was a soldier in his past life helped him hold it together, if only a little.
The pain increased as time went on, which felt like an enternity of torture.
...
"How do you feel?"
Taking the headset off, Eighty stood directly above him, her face washing with concern.
With his vision clearing, he gasped a lungful_ his head still experiencing lingering pain, he glanced at Eighty.
"I'm fine, what about the memories? I don't think I got any."
Seeing him act fine, Eighty lingered for a moment not saying a word before a smile initially curved up on her face.
Seconds passed, Dre utterly confused by her ridiculous smile. But then, all of a sudden, after a minute of the awkward silence, floods of memories started surfacing.
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3427
A frail looking young man, with messy black hair and tattered clothes, levitated across a busy street.
A small blue box tightly wrapped around his hand, he sped past the streets filled with neon lights and futuristic teck.
Clamped together, the buildings that were mostly made of glass, towered over a kilometre high.
The street had no cars, which seemed a bit odd, but looking at how congested it were, it was understandable.
Almost everyone levitated across it and those who didn't were either busy hawking or using some kind of skateboards to cut through the busy road.
About half a kilometre above, was a glass tube that extended across every part of the street.
Frying faster and faster, he approached what looked to have been an abandoned building. Unlike most of the buildings on this street, this one wasn't that tall, having only two storeys made of metal, pure metal that appeared to have corroded.
"I finally have it." He whispered, landing a little further from the building.
Crenching the box tighter, he walked towards the building, pushing open the iron door that screeched due to rust, he stepped in.
"Mom, I finally have it, he said this one was really gonna make you feel better."
Walking past the old and out of fashion set of sofas, he shouted with a genuine smile as he speed towards one of the room opposite a staircase.
The room was pretty much empty, with only an old bed placed on one of the corners. On the bed laid a woman who looked no older than forty, but that couldn't have been said about her condition.
Her dark face was filled with yellow patches that had green pus seeping out of them and her hair or what was left of it had an unusual red colour at it's tip.
~Cough, Cough~
Hearing that the young man, who couldn't bear to see his mother suffer more than she already had, ambled faster.
Beside the bed, the young man opened the box and took out a pill the size of a grape that glowed blue, then raised his mother's palm and handed it to her.
"Here, take this."
"Why are you not in school? Do I have to call your father again?" Without opening her eyes, she asked her voice low and breathy.
The young man face darkened soon as he heard the mention of his father, who you could say was partially the cause of everything that was happening and was gonna happen to them.
****
Since he could remember, he and his family had lived a descent enough life. You could even go on to say that they were a first class family_according to the human standards that was. His father owned one of the biggest extraction company on earth meaning he always had a high income.
This enabled Cade to attended the best private school on earth where only a few families could afford and had all the luxuries and everything he could ever ask for.
But his father, even with the wealth he had built up from scratch, would occasionally say some things that were almost taboo to even think of.
Talking about the Vexes and how they invaded earth and crippled humanity, giving us technology that only caused us more deaths and suffering and inturn taking everything precious from us, making us prisoners in our own land. He went on to talk about how they were cows in a ranch owned by the Vexes.
Cade didn't care much about what his father thought, he couldn't see what he meant. He wasn't born during that period and he generally didn't feel like an animal in a farm, so he would just listen to him go on about it for hours before getting tired.
Starting a revolution though, was something he never thought his father would do, with him having the knowledge of how strong and technologically advanced the Vexes were.
...
On one fateful morning when Cade was lazing around playing games alone at home, he had a knock.
Opening the door, he was greeted by two G7.
"This is no longer your property, vacate the premises, effective immediately."
Being thrown out into the streets, he loitered around the premises waiting for one of his parents to return.
His father was meant to come home that night, but never did, his mother having gone on a three day vacation was yet to return.
Sleeping on stalls, in the cold silence of the night, he couldn't wait for one of them to come back.
The two days went by and with them his mother was finally back. Hugging him for almost five minutes after they meet, she didn't say a word about the situation and held his hand, walking away from the apartment they once called home.
Cade tried asking questions, but never got any answer.
Loitering for hours they finally came across this abandoned building. She provided for him for a month. Never really answering any of his questions. Cade couldn't tell why his mother never talked about it or asked anyone for help, but he figured she had to have a reason.
One morning, on one of his usual patrols on the streets, he happen to catch a wind of the daily news. It's main topic was about a man who'd tried to raise a resistance and cause destruction to the peaceful system but was initially caught and delt with.
Running like a mad man with tears blurring his vision, Cade arrived at their new home, intending to ask his mother all the questions he had repressed, despite that, what he found there was no longer his mother but a shadow.
Not being able to hold his tears, he had supposedly cried for a whole day.
After everything that had transpired, he knew that sulking wasn't gonna provide so he tried asking for help from the people who knew his family once, but all of them couldn't even allow him to step in their home premises.
He tried looking for a job, but for a kid his age, it was nearly impossible.
Maybe it was by the grace of the gods that he meet an old man who would occasionally need help in his store, he couldn't afford to pay him much but it was better than starving.
This helped him manage to put food on the table for both him and his mom, but due to how costly a descent daily meal was, it never was balanced, which inturn made his mother with her weak immune system sick_ well at least that's what he believed.
******
"I just came home from school and we got to make sweets, so I hid one for you." His heart sank as those words left his lips. But it couldn't overshadow the joy he had, having saved up for almost a year to buy this medicine which his mother was about to take.
"That's good, our boy is growing up well." Her voice still breathy, she commented.
"Yeah."
She raised her hand which shaked like a twig and threw the medicine in her mouth.
When Cade saw this his mouth curled up onto a smile.
"Mmm, sweet."
"I know right?"
Forcing her bloodshot eyes open, she turned her head and looked at her son, a genuine smile adorning her face.
"I'm happy to know that you can take care of yourself" her voice filled love.
"Yup I even have a job." He smiled even brighter, now that his mother looked to have been getting better, but that smile abruptly turned to sorrow.
"Good."
With that his mother closed her eyes, which he could somehow tell she wasn't gonna open ever again.
"Why....why me?"
His screams echoed in the empty room as tears fell on his mother's face.
....
Sitting at the left corner of the room, his eyes red from all the crying, his hand held some kind of a silver badge he would occasionally toss up.
On the badge was a six headed dragon.
This was a gift his father had gifted him a long time ago and had made him promise never to lose it, to which he had designed as a chain.
On the back of the badge was an address, which he'd never tried checking out, but now with nothing else to loose, he weighed it's pros and cons.
Standing up he walked towards his mother's body.
"Goodbye. Look after me." He touched her forehead then his, before walking out of the room.
Deciding to check out the address.
It's not like he wouldn't have wanted to bury his mother, but in the current era, dying was more expensive than living. Every plot of land was already owned and the one that was designated for burying people was still required for the family to pay a fee which he didn't have.
Walking out of the house he tightly shut the door bowed down one last time before levitating and frying towards the address on the badge.
******
"Shit, not now."
Cade shouted as he plummeted to the ground hitting the concrete floor.
Not flying that high in the first place, he didn't injure himself, but now he had to walk.
The x-42 was some kind of drug that one was injected with, allowing them to float, combining that with g-4 shoes which had a mechanism that allowed one to propel themselves forward like flying.
But now the dose he had received was exhausted and with no money for another one, he was forced to walk the rest of the way.
On the ground, a rotting stech hit him, it seemed to have been more concentrated the lower you went.
Not minding it though, he stood up took the badge that had fallen beside him, and began walking.
The congestion from the crowds looked to have been more than usual but then again the month was almost ending and anyone who owned practically anything had to pay for an OC [ownership certificate].
Pushing himself through them, he tried walking faster even jogging so that night wouldn't fall before he got their.
Street 11B44.Gate E
He could now see it in a distance, it was a big area sorrounded by an electric dome, the gate that stood almost six meters high, was red in colour but in its middle was a detailed picture of a six headed dragon, the same as the one on Cade's badge, painted in black. On both sides of the gate were guards that wore silver uniforms that sticked to them like a second skins, showcasing their masculine build.