Incessant

III • THE GUARDIAN

Confusion

Curiosity

Terror

These three words were in the mind of Aamil as he nervously answered the phone.

"Hello.... Who.. is this?" Aamil asked as he began to walk against the grey, carpeted old floor which felt soft & cool to a chair that just happened to be nearby. The voice on the phone became static as Aamil sat in the old creaking chair against the white, divined bricked wall.

"Sawyer Hartley here. Kid, I've heard you're after the truth. I'd love to promise you'll get it, but current circumstances make that goal tricky. Setting that aside, I think it's time the little one properly introduces herself," Sawyer mentioned as the furry creature approached Aamil.

Aamil looked at her and kneeled down to shake her furry hand. She smelled calm as if strawberries had gotten mushed against the claws of a machine ready to be made into juice. She simply greeted herself & softly whispered, "My name's... Chara, nice to meet you." Aamil got up from his knees, walked near a rusty, old desk chair and returned to talk on the phone as the room filled with an unnerving environment.

Sawyer continued talking, "In order to find that goal of yours, you'll need to get well acquainted with Chara and find the mysterious center of knowledge within the Inside. There, you'll find a book which should contain a way to unlock your inner self & a way out, that is.. if you want to." "If I wanted to?" Aamil thought as he questioned why Brad would ask something like that. He didn't want to, he needed to, he had to, he had the will to do so.

Sawyer showed Aamil a map of the current area trailing a pathway from where he was currently situated at a device that Chara had in her backpack. Looking at the map and the trail, Aamil was puzzled & thought, "Wasn't there any another way?"

Sawyer spoke again as if he had heard Aamil's thoughts, "This is one way. But in order to get to the main center, you'll need to go through an area that even The Panel doesn't know about. You'll face beings there that have somehow found their way into the Inside from an unknown destination. Some of them will be insane, some will be suffering from whatever disease they might have, some might be sane enough to be cured and then there are those who might even seem to be an enemy but are actually friendly. Then there are those we don't have too much research on too."

Sawyer took a sip of water and continued speaking.

"Look kid, I think I'll leave you to figure out the last ones on your own, so I hope you'll be able find more about them in the center. I am sending you an application on the device that updates as you find more creatures, unknown objects you may find along the way, the audio logs as I previously mentioned, and other items that will be helpful throughout your journey. I'll stay in touch to see if there are any areas that are in the way and see if I can do anything from here. Alright, good day or was it good night... anyway good luck!"

Hartley ended the call as Aamil put the phone in his pocket. Aamil decided to keep the phone with him. There was no telling when Sawyer would call again, but yet again, he might need some help again with Brad.

Aamil then looked around to see if he could use anything before searching for the center of the Inside. The room he was in was a rectangular, white long room with beds that looked like they were there for prisoners at concentration camps. For a while, Aamil thought this was moving so fast for him, all this time he was just a worker for the Panel, and the next a furry humanoid shows up with a letter in his locker saying that he's the chosen one needing to prevail a lost legacy behind the Inside. To top it all off, a mysterious man named, "Brad" tells him he has all the tech Aamil needs to get to another goal. It almost sounded like he was in a video game, almost. After shifting his thoughts to his current goal, Chara pointed to the direction of his next path. Chara showed him the next door while transforming into a ball of light, making across the beds that resided in this room.