Uplifted Scenery

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="Prologue 6 - Elevated"=
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==Scene 3: Uplifted Scenery==
“There isn’t even a floor display screen on the elevator… Or a button panel. There is only a screen displaying a random number… I don’t think that resembles the floor we are on. It is basically a plain room that goes up. Enigma, how would we know when we are there?” Asked Allen as the elevator went upwards speedily, “It is so fast that I almost lost a sense of weight.”
“Sorry… I forgot to tell you guys it could take a long time to reach the top if we do not do it fast enough. You see, there is a speed meter on that side next to the door and a button to manage the speed. Well unfortunately even with the current speed, it will take about 20 minutes. If we do the speed of a normal elevator, it will take hours.” Said Enigma while trying to remove some of the stains from her clothes.
“I feel like I am having a heart attack right now. I need the elevator to slow down. I do not want to die here.” Said Eden as he released the shopping cart. The cart crashed into one of the walls violently and stopped moving eventually. “Enigma, please slow down the elevator, I feel really sick…” Said, Eden. “Eden! What the hell?” Allen shouted as Eden vomited a large puddle on the elevator. “Oh wow…” Enigma is clearly disgusted, “At least the shopping cart is free of his vomit.”
It was not long before Eden leaned on the wall, panting as if he had been smothered. The air remained silent as the filthy smell of rotten almond water. “If my calculation is correct, we would be there in 3 minutes. Get Eden some almond water after we’re out. It could help.” By the time Eden was about to pass out, the elevator stopped. 
“Re… Remind me to not… be in a… elevator… forever…” Eden could not catch up to his own breath. “Well, you need to get used to that, there will be plenty of those around here, and they are useful too.” Teased Enigma, while Allen was giggling behind her. “Give him some almond water and he will recover in a matter of minutes.” “Here.” Eden forced a full can of almond water down his throat and lay down on the ground, which is covered by deep blue carpets.
“So you mentioned that there was a dog-like creature in the warehouse? Those were called ‘hounds’, they are not that dangerous but really aggressive, just stare them down with your determined eyes,” Enigma let out a grin, “And also this place is completely devoid of monsters. We could walk around freely as we wanted. By the way, there are some almond water dispensers around and you could easily obtain water in plastic bottles too. For now, maybe we should empty the water bottles and fill them up with almond water for later use. Almond water is important here, so get as much as you can.”
“I don’t think we should separate though. We can easily lose each other if we do that. We should just stick together,” Enigma added. The brothers subconsciously check their almond water supply. Only 10 cans left, which is definitely not enough. “Oh, and one of the best things about the almond water here is that they look and taste like sugared coffee. I personally love the flavor of it.”
“Let us go forward and see if we could find any of those dispensers by luck.” Allen grabbed onto the handle of the shopping cart, and then proceeded into the depths of the location. The structure looked similar to an office, except it was all empty. The rooms are divided by concrete walls padded with wallpaper and cotton, forming a sound insulation barrier. The ceilings are in varying styles, either solid concrete ones that are painted white, or fake ones which hide wires above them. The whole place is brightly illuminated and fully decorated like a formal workplace.
“Wait… The lantern is out. Do you see? The candle is not burning anymore.” Said Eden as he stared at it. “I guess the high-speed elevator extinguished it. Let’s just throw it away.” Answered Allen, “Enigma, could you get some flashlights if you found any?” “Of course! Also, there may be some supplies inside the working desks, other than those, documents that are nonsense could also be found, just ignore those. Maybe you could find some common office apparatuses like staplers, notepads, and pens, along with electronics like printers and computers. You could check those out as well. You could even have access to the Internet on the computers.”
“Woah! Nice!” Said Allen, the game addict as he speedily walked in front of one. “Wow. No way! I can play games here. It says my account does not exist though. "Allen, it is not the best time to play now…” “Shut up, nerd. Wait, there is a laptop connected to a charger there! Perfect! Let me take that.” “Well, there would not be any outlets for you to charge, but we could use that for communication…” Said Enigma, who clearly was amused by the comic brothers.
“Good idea… Also, could we grab a few more for those so that we have one each? I would like some privacy.” “Well if we get to find more, then sure. I guess if we managed to meet others on other levels, we could trade those for other supplies too.” Said Enigma. Allen placed the computer right on top of the box of almond water carefully as if it is his most treasured item, and the three proceed on traveling. After walking through a few rooms, a clear and large floor-to-ceiling window replacing a whole wall can be seen. “Wait… I can see clouds and it is raining outside.” Said Eden, “This is beautiful, I almost wanted to write a poem about it.”
“Good idea. Also, could we grab a few more for those so that we have one each? I would like some privacy.” “Well if we get to find more, then sure. I guess if we managed to meet others on other levels, we could trade those for other supplies too.” Said Enigma. Allen placed the computer right on top of the box of almond water carefully as if it is his most treasured item, and the three proceed on traveling. After walking through a few rooms, a clear and large floor-to-ceiling window replacing a whole wall can be seen. “Wait… I can see clouds and it is raining outside.” Said Eden, “This is beautiful, I almost wanted to write a poem about it.”
The heavy rain droplets splashed onto the window, creating soft crashing sounds. The looming sun was buried by the clouds, and rainbows were dancing in the sunshine. The clear blue sky could be seen faintly behind the storm clouds. “This is beautiful!” The stunning view of the sky kept everyone silent for a long moment until a deafening sound broke the mold.
“Ahhh!” Screamed Allen who was not ready for this. “I expected thunder to occur as the shape of the clouds told me that.” “I’m having a heart attack, stop showing off your dorky knowledge.” “Well. Beautiful moments do not last long, don’t they? Let’s just get going.” Said Enigma, who shook her head unpleasantly as Allen ruined the mood. 
“What were we doing? Ah, yes. Finding those almond water coffee machines.” Stated Allen as he was embarrassed and wanted to change the topic. “I think I saw one over there.” Replied Eden as he pointed in that direction. Allen quickly pushed the shopping carts in the direction without further ado while the other two followed. “Ah ha! Here it is. Give me some water bottles. These should be more than enough. Let’s fill them up.”
After around 10 minutes of dispensing, the machine finally ran out of every drop of liquid it used to contain. “What do we do?” “We jump out of the window!” Said Enigma without hesitation. “Wait… What? Can you repeat? I think I misheard something.” Said Eden, a little bit freaked out by what he was hearing. “We jump out of the window.” Said Enigma sternly, this time, loud and clear. “Quick question. How do we not spill the almond water bottles when we fall into the seemingly infinite abyss?” Allen cut in with a puzzled face. “Well, just let me grab the trolley. When we fall, hold my hand, I know a special technique to keep our balance. Just do not move.” 
“Allen, help me break the window over there. Just throw something hard onto it.” “Like this randomly placed steel frustum on the ground?” “Yes.” “Alright, back down, and here comes nothing!” Cried Allen as he lifted the frustum above his shoulders. “3! 2! 1! Argh!” With the last shout, the frustum launched into the air. “Bam!” The crash was so loud that it echoed across the room for a few times. “There are a lot of cracks on the glass already! Do it again!” Said Eden that was excited for no reason. “My arms, I think I dislocated them. It’s so painful. Let me drink some almond water before doing that again.” “Sure.” After gulping down half a bottle of coffee-flavored almond water, Allen lay on the ground. “I’m tired. I think I need some sleep.” “Well, I guess we could rest for a while, no need to rush.” Said Enigma, “ I suppose the carpets over there could act as good pillows if you roll them up properly, and you can cover yourself up too.”
“Good night, or whatever time it is. I am sleeping.” Said Allen softly while Eden settled beside him, “You too.” “I will be waiting for you guys. I’m not sleepy.” Said the girl, but the boys were sleeping so soundly that they could not answer. Enigma sat still at one of the desks, killing time by browsing the Internet. It had been a few more hours before Enigma suddenly came up with an idea. She quickly searched the area and finally found what she wanted——Some plastic mats and some tape. “This could work,” she murmured to herself as she tape the mats onto the cart and cover it fully so no gap is found.
A long time passed until another loud sound woke everyone almost instantly. “AH! Ow. I am still not used to that…” Complained Allen, who had his energy fully restored after the sleep. “I was having a dream of us going back to the Frontrooms, but the storm ruined it. I guess it was reminding us to get going.” “Enigma! Why are you sleeping on the desk?” “Yawn… Wait… What time is it? Oh, wait, never mind. I remember. Let’s go… Ouch, my neck hurts, must be due to my sleeping position. Get me some almond water, and I will be good to go.” “Here.” Said Enigma. Eden quickly handed a bottle of almond water to her. While Eden was looking after Enigma, Allen made another attempt of smashing the window, and this time, it was a success. “Well done!” Shouted Enigma happily from the distance. “Now we could set off to the next place. Eden and Allen, I want you to stand parallelly. Yes, just like that. Eden, grip my body and make sure you can hold onto me tightly while we are falling into the abyss. Tie yourself to this rope I found on one of the shelves. It can save you in an emergency.” Commanded Enigma as the three made final touches on their travel to the void outside the window. 
“Alright. Here we go!” Shouted Enigma, “Count to 3… 3!” The girl jumped off the window, pulling the two boys behind her. “Wait I thought you’re supposed to count-” Too late, the boys were pulled into the void along with the girl. “HOW LONG ARE WE STAYING LIKE THIS?” Shouted Allen. “I CAN’T HEAR YOU! THE WIND IS TOO LOUD!” replied Enigma. “I SAID, HOW LONG ARE WE STAYING LIKE THIS?” “PROBABLY A FEW HOURS! I MEAN, IF WE ARE LUCKY ENOUGH!” “ARE YOU KIDDING ME!” Shouted Allen in response. Well, Eden, he had passed out already.
It did not take long before Allen finally got used to the feeling of falling, and he decided to just close his eyes and feel the wind whizzing by while raindrops fell onto them. “DRINK SOME ALMOND WATER! IT WILL MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER!” Shouted Enigma from below as she handed over a bottle of almond water. Since Eden was in the way, it was a difficult task for Allen, but he managed to grab it after a few tries. “Ha!” cried Eden for his victorious grab. For the rest of the journey, the three waited for their destination in boredom, until darkness finally enclosed everything else—— even the stormy skies.
Click here for the next chapter.
Category:Antagonverse Canon
Category:Tales