{"sf1_id":910621,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Victernus - Chapter 16","author":"Baumarius","words":2557,"posted_at":"2015-09-14T18:39:00.000Z","tags":["Cybernetics","Science","Transformation","War","Werewolf","Wolf","anxiety","anxiety attack","apocalypse","corruption","dystopia","implants","mind","tf","uploading"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/910621-victernus-chapter-16","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/910621","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=910621\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"            Namara trod on the sidewalk of the\nstreet to the left, opposite from Athius. The dark, sterile metal felt cold\nunder his paws. Because he couldn't feel any wind, his tail felt very out of\nplace - even though he was moving. In order to keep his balance, he clenched his\nremaining hand and dug lightly into his skin with a claw, focusing on the pain.\nThe awkward feeling did not go away, but it lessened just enough so that he wouldn't\ntrip over himself.\nThe street was mostly closed off to the outside,\nexcept for a couple sections where the bland grey buildings didn't quite meet\nand he could see out into the cavern. There was usually a railing there, as the\ncity was raised several feet off of the ground. Any children who went near it\nwould probably have fallen to their deaths without it.\nA few feet in from the edge, lines of flying lights\nrested above both sides of the road and followed it wherever it went. He\npondered about how they could float there without a power source or any sort of\nvisible propulsion. Perhaps they were holographic projections or they were held\nup by some sort of magnet. However, because Namara could not see any projectors\nand he felt no resistance with his implants, he abandoned the theories.\n            The road seemed to curve around the\ncenter of the city and meet back with the other one on the opposite end. Other\nstreets branched off to the side, but he ignored them. He had one goal in mind,\nand he either had to search some sort of database or talk to the leader to find\nit. He was somewhat afraid of what he would find, and the thoughts that accompanied\nthis were weighing down on him. The idea that his friends may have died long\nbefore, unwelcome to the new world, was looming behind him like a monstrous\nphantom.\n            In relative silence, Namara\ncontinued to think about his situation. He still hadn't encountered anyone, so\nit made sense that they either had some sort of curfew or they knew he was\ncoming. Hoping that the former was true, he refrained from knocking on any\ndoors or calling the townspeople out. Although Athius had told him that the\npeople were receptive to new science, he still felt like he might be treated like\nan animal.\n            When he reached the part where the\nroads joined into one, the road continued forward and led to a great palace.\nLit up by the same floating lights, a bridge constructed purely of gold marked\nthe way in. The entrance to the building was announced by an enormous wooden\nvaulted door, and arches of a similar shape covered the path to it. The walls\nof the main building were made of white marble, and the spires on both sides\nwere capped with rubies. Annoyance filled Namara when he witnessed its twisted beauty.\nOnce again, it seemed to him as if the people were being led by some kind of\ndictator or a class of elites.\n            He was ready to step forward and\nfind out what was there for him, but a sound echoed from somewhere behind him.\nBecause of the lack of wind, he could not determine exactly what. Not wanting a\nconfrontation, he kept himself from making any sudden movements. He called out,\n\"Are you a friend, or are you here to cause trouble?\"\n            A deep, ghost-like voice entered his\nmind. Follow us.\n            In the street, he saw a shadow on\nthe ground that moved back towards one of the houses that he had passed. He\ntried to ascertain if he was being watched before following the shadow across.\nWhen it reached the house, it slipped through the door as if there was nothing\nthere.\n            Namara stepped past the two-foot grassy\nyard in front of the house and then knocked on the door. There came no response\nfor several minutes, but when he knocked again, a woman's voice came through.\nShe asked, \"Who's there? You know you aren't supposed to be out right now!\"\n            He crossed his arms and tested,\n\"Namara. A sort of shadow thing told me to come here...\"\n            She gasped and then opened the door,\nlooking up at him. \"Namara?!\" she whispered.\n            His eyes widened as he returned\nquietly, \"Mahalia? What are you doing here? You're... still young.\"\n            Mahalia seemed a bit surprised - not\nonly because her friend was standing before her, but because he was wearing\nimplants. She responded, \"I've been waiting... What happened to you?\"\n            Namara resumed his normal speaking\nvoice and said, \"Oh, I got into a bit of an accident... It's kind of blurry now,\nbut some people helped me get back on my feet.\"\n            Mahalia acknowledged this and then\nshushed him gently. She took his arm and pulled him inside before shutting the\ndoor. \"You need to stay quiet; you're out past the curfew.\"\n            He nodded and then glanced around\nthe empty grey living room. It connected to their dining room and kitchen,\nwhich only had counters, a refrigerator, and a stove. He tilted his head, \"So,\nwhere is everything? And where are the others?\"\n            She paused and then pointed to the\ncenter of the living room, \"Stand there. We need to make sure that you really\nare Namara first.\"\n            Namara stepped into the middle of\nthe room and then spoke humbly, \"Whatever you need, I guess.\"\n            Mahalia whispered something into the\ncollar on her black jacket and then Namara felt a tingling sensation traveling\ndown his back. He shivered as the fur around his spine stood on end.  When the feeling reached his toes, his eyes\nwere opened. A scanning device stood around him, connected to several computers\nthat had many wires. Theo was sitting down before one of them, wearing his old\nblack jacket. Even though it had been a long time, there were still no signs of\naging in his face or his hair.\n            Namara rested his hands against the\nmachine around him and then asked, \"Is everyone here?\"\n            Mahalia sighed, \"Kyon is sleeping,\nas usual. He's been very depressed lately. We've all been through it. Josh...\"\n            He watched her, anticipating, and\nthen asked, \"What?\" Because she seemed to drift off, he looked back at Theo.\n            Theo fumbled with his hands and\nreflected, \"Just before things started to collapse in the old world, Dr. Lynn\nmanaged to become president. Don't ask me how he did it, but he did. He\nincreased the searches for us in an attempt to find you - he wanted your\nresearch pretty badly. They nearly got us a couple times, and at one point, Josh just gave up. He wouldn't leave, and he wouldn't let us take him. We had\nto leave him there. A few days later, he was executed on national TV. His face\nwas beaten up... It looked like he was already dead inside. And then Lynn said\nthat what they showed there was all your philosophy could give humanity.\"\n            Namara avoided making eye contact\nwith them as he felt both grief and anger building up within him. He growled\nand asked, \"Lynn knew about it?\"\n            He nodded and continued, \"Yes... When\nyou were in stasis, I ran some scans on you for the week that we could stay\nthere. It took me several years to decode the information I had found, but we\nwere able to make sense of some of it. I published some of it anonymously at\nfirst, but people seemed to like it. I named you as the creator and said that\nyou were going to return soon to show them all of it. Lynn did not hesitate to\nban even speaking of it.\"\n            \"But I never came...\"\n            Mahalia sat down on a black wooden chair\noutside of the scanning device and encouraged them, \"Not then, but now. And now\nis the best time. The collapse was coming whether people held your philosophy\nor not. Now that there's so few people left, we can show them much more easily and\nfinally break the hold that's on them.\"\n            Namara stepped out of the scanner and\npaced around the tile flooring in the kitchen. He pondered their story for a\nfew moments and then rested his hands on a counter, facing away from them. His\ntail drooped as he heaved a great sigh. \"Did I do this?\"\n            Mahalia's voice sounded from the\nliving room, \"What do you mean?\"\n            He closed his eyes when one of his\nears twitched. He continued, \"What if when this is over, it's not what we had\nhoped for? Will Chomp... or anyone else... have died for nothing? Would you hold me\nto that?\"\n            He heard her sigh behind him,\n\"Namara...\"\n            The sound in the room disappeared as\nthey were all lost for words. An uncertain fear settled within Namara, tugging\nat something in the back of his mind. It had always been there, but he had\nalways managed to stop it from manifesting. Now that it presented itself, he\nfelt like he might have made a mistake. Its crushing power was finally unleashed.\n            Theo broke the silence, \"Well, if we\nall stop now, he will have died for\nnothing. We all made sacrifices - and not because we were being led blindly by\nyou, but because we made an effort to be your friends. Besides... what I found\nfrom my scans on you was actually pretty interesting.\"\n            Namara turned to him and then leaned\non the edge of the counter. He questioned curiously, \"What exactly did you\nfind? I can barely begin to describe the Koanthanatus...\"\n            When Namara's gaze fell to the\nfloor, Theo responded, \"It's quite simple actually.\" He left his station and\nthen stood by his friend, looking at the floor as well. \"And from what we saw,\nit's something that a lot of people want.\"\n            Namara stared at Theo and mumbled,\n\"Go on.\"\n            He continued, trying not to get\nmesmerized by Namara's bright blue eyes, \"Think of it as beginning with a state\nof being where you can let anything roll off your back. Where you can forgive a\nperson instantly but still maintain a boundary between yourself and them so\nthat they can't trample all over you. If you get used to it, you'll practically\nradiate happiness! Of course, not all the time - life still has its ups and\ndowns... But you can live so much more freely. It is both a human concept, and\nnot...\"\n            Namara clutched the edge of the\ncounter and tightened his grip. His muscles hardened and his body grew rigid.\nThe air in his lungs thinned. Tension rose up his chest, approaching his neck.\nStaring down the floor again, his voice shook, \"Yes. I s...see it now... How can it\nbe that simple?\"\n            Theo shrugged, \"I'm not sure... Are\nyou okay?\"\n            He struggled further and shook as Theo's\nwords shot the choking feeling up his neck, \"All this t...time... I j...just w...wanted...\"\nHe gulped down some air, \"...wanted someone to... t...t...\" His body weakened and fell\nslowly, and when he reached the floor, he hyperventilated sporadically. He put\nhis prosthesis up against his chest and tried to calm himself, but to no avail.\n            He blinked. Mahalia was crouched\ndown beside him. Her voice barely registered, \"Hey, what's this about? You'll\nbe okay.\"\n            He shook and curled up into a ball\non the cold floor beneath him. The notion that what he was looking for was so\nclose to him, and yet nobody would stop to offer it to him, was overwhelming.\nTears streamed out of his eyes, staining the light fur on his face a darker\ncolor. When he felt Mahalia's hand on his shoulder, he mustered, \"I just wanted\na friend... Someone to really love me and not go away...\"\n             Mahalia hugged his shaking frame and reassured\nhim, \"I love you, Namara. I'll always be here for you. You don't need to\nworry.\"\n            Namara trembled and asked, \"Can\nanybody promise that?\"\n            She reassured him softly, \"Sure they\ncan.\"\n            When he thought about it further, his\nfear transformed into anger. He growled and tried to stop his shaking, pushing\nhimself slowly off the floor with his hands. \"So many 'friends' have promised\nthis to me... and even before you put me into stasis, they were all gone.\"\n            Mahalia sighed and sat against the\nrefrigerator, \"They weren't close to you, Namara. We are, and we can't really\ngo anywhere else anyway.\"\n            Namara grabbed the top edge of the stove\nand pulled himself up. He spoke quietly, wiping his face dry with his hand, \"How\ncan you still be attached to me, after all this time? I lose any sort of\nconnection towards people within days... For you, it has been many years.\"\n            She disagreed, \"We took turns going\ninto stasis, and sometimes had a computer running the whole thing. It really\nhasn't been that long - only a few years. There wasn't much else to do anyway\nthough, with how the world just decided to crash...\"\n            He watched her reflectively, \"Oh...\"\n            Mahalia stood up and held his hand\nand his prosthesis intimately, \"We're here because we didn't want to abandon\nyou, Namara. And now, you can find what you are looking for.\"\n            A smile spread across his muzzle\nslowly. He bent his knees and his back to get on her level before pulling her\ninto a hug. With his free hand, he rubbed the back of her shoulder softly. \"I\nwill. I know how to now.\" A few seconds after he felt Mahalia's arms around\nhim, he pulled away and asked, \"What are your\nplans now?\"\n            She smiled, \"We were planning to\nleave this place once you came back. Theo said that he's been working on\nsomething, though I'm not sure what it is yet...\" She glanced off to the side in\nthought, \"I should probably ask him about that.\"\n            Namara looked to where Theo had been\nstanding, but he wasn't there or in the living room. He furled his brow in\nconfusion, \"Where did he go? I didn't see him leave...\"\n            Mahalia covered, \"I told him to\nleave after you started to... you know. I guess you were really out of it.\"\n            He nodded softly, \"I see.\"\n            She took a more prominent stance and\nasked him, \"Now, do you still want to tell people about that thing, or...?\"\n            Namara took a long sigh before\nreciprocating, \"I have to. I'm sure you know already, but something seems very off\nwith this place. I also met someone on the way here who seemed to be\ninterested. I can't just let him go that easily.\"\n            She agreed, \"I understand. Why don't\nyou get some rest? It's getting late, and we have a lot to talk about in the\nmorning.\"\n            He rested his hand on his forehead, \"Yeah,\nI guess you're right. Would you show me where I can sleep?\"\n            Mahalia took his hand when he rested\nit and then smiled, \"Sure... come on.\"","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/900428-victernus-chapter-15.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/911031-victernus-chapter-17.json"}