MTLNOVEL Chapter 10: My Drive
"Wake up little one," A soft, almost caring voice caressed Astra's ear, her body bare, curled up in a fetal position that ignored the outside world.
Her heart. Trapped in a death grip. Her lungs, coming to a halt, not needing to breathe but to just cease breathing felt uncomfortable, unsettling… Her mind, feeling empty, but wouldn't stop buzzing with thoughts.
"The world can hurt you no longer," It's reassuring voice echoed, the young girl slowly getting out of her cocoon–like state, though her mind still wandered, still elsewhere.
"Open your eyes for me," and just like that, out of the command her eyes opened, her consciousness came back, a once chaotic battle now met with a void of uncertainty.
"Where am I?" She pondered, looking around her before she stared straight ahead, where a figure coated in shadow stood before her.
"Your body took quite the toll, didn't it? Astra…" The figure pointed out, almost as if avoiding her question entirely. "Not to mention the state in which you left the universe."
"What…" Astra muttered, her breath seemingly caught in her throat at the sudden news.
"Tell me, is this what you wanted?" The figure continued to pry, the form around it contorting and shifting in ways that made it seem almost untouchable, with even its gaze away from sight in this misty haze. "When you left that planet, in order to see the universe…"
"Is this what you had in mind? Sending the universe into chaos… causing the family's of those interstellar officers to weep, the death of Samuel?" Their voice lowered, gauging the reaction of Astra as she just stood there, dazed and confused, her hands clenching at the mention of Samuel.
"I didn't…" She starts but soon stops herself, not knowing what really she was denying, what really she wanted to deny.
"Did you really think, using the 'Symbiotic Yield for Strategic Thought, Evolution, and Mechanization on yourself' was wise?" The figure paused, waiting for a further response, but there was nothing Astra could've said that would appease it.
" You don't belong here, the universe has no place for an anomaly! I suggest you quit while you're ahead…"
"I–I just didn't want to stay there on that dying star my whole life…" Astra said through unshed tears, her fists only tightens and tightens. "Is that so bad?"
"Many children there are like me– forced to be born on a planet because their parents committed a crime. Why should I have to pay for my mother's misdeeds when I never knew who she really was?!" Her voice got louder, her anger bubbling over seemingly out of nowhere.
"And you know the fucked up thing?" She asked, a soft chuckle to her words. "Being the outcast on a planet of criminals, while my mom is out there somewhere in the universe! Living how she wants! Not giving a damn about her child!"
She took a minute to calm down, her hands loosening slightly as she took in quick shallow breaths. "So sorry if I want to see more than endless snow for my whole life…"
"I wanted to see the stars up close, it would be a nice damned break from the dim days and pitch black nights," She stared intensely at the figure, her determination evident within her eyes. "So, no matter what you tell me I'll keep going!"
There was a moment of silence for the two, loud enough a pin drop could be heard from several galaxies. The shadowy enigma lowered it's head slightly, as though showing some form of defeat of acknowledgement.
"Very well…" It said, before a system appeared in front of her.
[Four skill points awarded!]
[FREE Skill acquired! Master deduction!]
[Ability acquired! Portals!]
[NOTICE: Blueprint available, check it out!]
[NOTICE: Stat table now available!]
[Astra Falkov!]
[Level 3]
[Hp: 50/50]
[Energy: 60/60]
[Dexterity: 20]
[Intelligence: 25]
[Points: 0]
"What…" Astra could hardly believe what she's seeing, her gaze drawing back the figure that slowly raises its head, though its eyes hidden, its heavy gaze on her left no doubt.
"I wish you luck, Falkov…" With that it was like the world wanted to kick her out, her body shoved out forcibly into an astral plane that littered the area around her, all the stars lit up the sky, she was mesmerized.
[Returning to body…]
It was too fast to even describe, She blinked, and it was over. She rested in a forest, her head leaning against a piece of metal that seemed to have fallen from a ship. It was as if fatigue, headache and nausea hit her all at once, the young technician throwing up on the spot.
"What the hell was that…" She muttered through strangled breaths, her hands clawing at the dirt beneath her.
"I can barely feel my–" Her words were interrupted by another gush from her gut, staining the dirt that her hands clung to desperately for support, above her gaze covered in sweat and face contorted in fatigue.
[NOTICE: Blueprint available!]
A screen popped up before her, showing her a diagram of the interstella police force gun model. It began to rotate before her, her hand reaching out to grasp it, it was almost like she could feel the material, though it doesn't function, a mere imitation of the real thing.
She sits back, getting a better look at the model, her eyes scanning its functions, the wiring, the trigger, the crystal that helps create the beam, all of it.
"Hey, S.Y.S.T.E.M, where am i–"
[Notice!]
[You're on the planet known as; Lunara! This planet isn't inhabited by any intelligent life!]
"Great…" She groaned softly, pushing up from where she sat and walking off to who knows where, in hopes of finding something, anything. "Yu's gone… my ship's totalled, what a great escape this had been—"
"Well? However am I to escape this one–"
[Revivable tech detected!]
She took a moment, stopping and looking behind her, her hopes slightly lifted when she realized what she was leaning on this whole time. A ship dug face first into the earth.