TEMNEM (Part 7) – I Dreamed of Leaving Hell
-Story in installments-
Chapter 1
My name is Mbar, and something deeply fucked up is happening.
I’m sitting at the kitchen table, gripping a container of water with both hands. A tremor of anxiety rattles my shoulders. A sickening knot forms in my gut as chills crawl up my spine, pooling in my lower back. The dam holding back the onslaught of thoughts in my head finally bursts, unleashing a torrential flood.
I shouldn’t be here, in the kitchen of my own home. It was all clawing its way back to me. Temnem, Yllamona, writing on scraps of paper just to cling to my goddamn memory. Digging through records and ancient texts in the library. The three doors: Was, Is, and To Be. The Reset, and the Anomaly that had to be neutralized.
I couldn’t find my leafon anywhere. Every ticking second spent in this place felt like a fatal error. I have to get to Temnem. I fumbled underneath the desk in my room, hunting for the button to trigger a page to my leafon. A violent vibration erupted in my pants pocket. Seriously, I’d searched every square inch of the house, and it never crossed my mind to check my own damn pockets. The screen flashed: only two hours left until the setting of the Blazing Sphere. I had to reach Temnem within that window. Arriving during the Reset would be a fucking death wish.
I bolted out of the house, leaving everything behind. I wouldn’t need any of it anyway. The call to the transit agency was stuck on hold. A detached female voice droned on, stating they were currently verifying available vehicles.
“What is your destination?” – the voice inquired.
“Temnem. Please, I need to get there immediately.” – I commanded, my voice cutting hard.
“Just a moment. Unfortunately, we have no autonomous vehicles available at this time. Only off-road, manual transport.” – the cold, indifferent voice of the operator ignited a spike of fury and hopeless panic inside me.
“How the hell is that possible? What, did everyone suddenly decide to fly across the enclaves at the exact same time?”
“No, that’s not it. We’ve logged ninety-nine ride requests for that exact location. All within the last thirty minutes.”
I slammed the call end button, dropped to my knees, and hurled the phone into the overgrown grass by the pavement. That was it. Ninety-nine Virteleonians who woke up today asking themselves the exact same question – Why the fuck am I not there?
I have no choice but to wait until morning. Since sleeping through this was completely out of the question, I decided to scour the news archives to see what the hell had been happening over the last few days.
A distant galaxy discovered following the thinning of cosmic dust.
Scientists pioneer new methods of deep-space travel. A breakthrough may be imminent, rendering spacecraft fast enough to make wormhole travel obsolete.
The text dragged on for five agonizing pages explaining the whole process, but I didn’t give a shit. I needed a lead on Temnem. Anything. The search function spat back absolutely nothing. Zero results. I dialed the timeframe back to the last month. Nothing. A year – nothing. I scanned every piece of news since the dawn of the database. Fucking nothing.
Strange. Deeply, profoundly strange.
Chapter 2
I took the off-road transport. Not because it was cheaper, and damn sure not because I wasn’t in a hurry. Quite simply, I hadn’t found a single shred of news about Temnem. I was burning to see if a manual driver could tell me something. I couldn’t think of a Virteleonian more qualified to break down what was happening than a driver who had traversed every single enclave.
The trek to Temnem would drag on for roughly seven hours. I’d hit the perimeter a few hours before The Reset, Until then, I was going to bleed him for every scrap of information he had.
The driver was a middle-aged Virteleonian, unusually short for a hauler. His silver hair gave off an aura of raw experience and grit. Sweat poured down his crudely washed face. I felt a pang of guilt for dragging him out at the crack of dawn, but I had no damn choice. I had badgered the transit agency so relentlessly that they must have yanked this man out of bed before his shift even started. I could completely understand his initial hostility.
After exchanging hollow pleasantries and mapping out the destination, I didn’t waste a single second.
“I spent the entire night hunting for any news on Temnem. Found absolutely nothing. Can you tell me what the hell is going on out there? Why is there a total blackout?” – my own voice sounded like a distant echo, detached from my body, drifting somewhere out in the void.
“First things first, kid, drop the formalities with me. As for Temnem – what kind of a question is that? It’s common knowledge that any information leaking past the walls of that enclave is strictly forbidden. It’s always been that way. My theory? They’re running some dark experiments in there. Frankly, I was about to ask you why the hell you want to go to that exact place. Don’t tell me it’s because of that offer you get when you hit 31 Virteleon cycle?”
Shit, this was bad. He caught me completely off guard. I couldn’t tell him a damn thing about that.
“I was just wondering why everyone suddenly got the urge to head out there. I called the transport agency to check on a work-related matter and found out there’s a massive surge in requests.” – I lied smoothly, without breaking stride.
“That’s the truth. I heard all the autonomous drones in the sector are completely booked out. The guys in flight control must have had a living hell of a day yesterday. First, a massive swarm of drones launches from here toward all the surrounding enclaves. Then, they all pivot and swarm together right toward Temnem. It’s a miracle there wasn’t a mid-air collision with that kind of chaotic traffic in the skies.” – the old man’s gravelly voice rasped through the cabin.
We killed the remaining time swapping mindless small talk about family, work, and plans for the upcoming Day of Saba’s Light.
It wasn’t until we hauled up to the destination that I realized I hadn’t even asked the driver his name.
“Oh, the name’s Suedomsa. You’re Mbar, right?” – the old man let out a dry, rattling laugh.
How the fuck did he know? Did they actually have a complete database on every single client? I didn’t want to fracture my focus now that I had arrived, wasting precious time on useless questions when I needed every second to keep my wits about me.
“Yeah, I’m Mbar. Good to meet you. I’d tell you to wait for me, but who knows how long I’ll be stuck inside.”
“Don’t sweat it. I’m not heading back right away anyway. Maybe one of those bastards from yesterday will decide to take a manual rig back.” – he said, waving me off with a sharp nod and a knowing wink.
I stood a mere five meters away from the monolithic steel gate, fully bracing for a welcoming committee like the last time. There wasn’t a soul. A boy and a girl were a short distance away, mindlessly skipping stones.
I had no intention of bothering them to ask how to breach Temnem. You didn’t fuck with the enclave doors. Only the guards – who were always stationed at the gates – had that authority.
Screw it. I wasn’t going to stand around waiting for someone to finally have mercy and return to their post.
Feeling like a total criminal, insane enough to actually want to crawl back into this place, I marched up to the gate with heavy steps, slammed my right palm against the latch, and shoved the massive door forward with everything I had.
-End of Part 7-