Chapter 1 : "steaming engine"
How does it feel to hide away your problems and blame it on me? you say you protected others but did you? because maybe it is you who is the problem. Rotting from inside, spreading the sickness to others. You provide energy to others, but you still don't know, you are a steaming engine.
It's 1818, I was 14. My grandfather would always tell me this story when I was a baby and I still remember it. I was raised in Steamboat Venice, born July 14th, 1804. The town wasn't modern at all, well, it was scrappy modern. Like the city was a rusted metal plate floating on water. The world around us felt like it didn't change, the sun was shining at the same time as the moon. The story he told me goes like this: back in the 1700s, a massive flood swept the town of Steamboat, earthquakes hit like never before, the ground below Steamboat ripped open, and an evil sickness rose. The people believed He punished us, The Vital, the all knowing "god" and creator of the universe. The people of Steamboat resolved the crisis by building altars around town to keep him at bay, but he didn't realize what the residents were doing behind his back. One night, they all moved the altars around the town's border, when The Vital woke up, he couldn't escape. They trapped The Vital in Steamboat, he wouldn't dare to touch his own altar so he couldn't escape, because it's all his power, he feeds on the blessings people make while praying to him. One day The Vital came down from the eternal realm, the sky split open and a sea of beings came down with him, the souls of those he trapped, "the lost ones" if you're fancy. The Vital was indescribable, he was beautiful yet horrifying, the most common form that people saw before going insane was him having uncountable heads and hands merging with each other, his eyes following you no matter where you were, he was everything and nothing at the same time. His look was fierce, and almost evil. When people drew him, they were always different. He couldn't be created or destroyed, so no one could draw him or redraw him. Anyways he told one thing to the citizens, his voice booming across the world like a command, he told them not to rebuild the destroyed houses, it's a warning for the future. So the residents resolved this problem by merging the new building with the old destroyed ones. So that's why the town was so high and wide, he was mad that mere mortals had outsmarted him, an "all knowing god", and he will forever have a grudge with humanity, that's why every night we have to light candles to make the altars stronger, keeping him stuck in Steamboat forever, harming only us and not the world. Everyday I always question if there was a "The Vital". He never came down ever since, so how do I know if he is real or not? Every shrine, every destroyed building, every crack in the ground was a reminder of him. The story was passed down from generations to generations, so how would I know what's false or true? I ask my dearest friend I've known my whole life, Purity. He was sweet, energetic and always glows when I see him. We question life with each other, it's how we bond. He had the whitest hair the world had ever seen, he was pure. Unlike me, I was "gloomy, but in a good way" he described me once. I had dark brown hair and looked tired everyday. I had a scar on my cheek from the blood sacrifice with the altar at home, I was forced into this stupid religion. I guess that is why my mother named me Advisory, like I was a warning to the world, if I were dangerous.... like I was The Vital.
"If we die, I feel like nothing will happen, people say that The Vital will throw us to the pit if we don't please him, but what's the worst that could happen to us in the pit? eternal darkness sounds.. somewhat peaceful" Purity says while fiddling with his fingers. We lay on my couch together, the room was dimly lit, and only the altar of The Vital glowed with yellowish light. Every house needs to have one, his altar has to have at least 3 dozen candles with the symbol of "The Unprayer". The logo of him, the people who went insane when looking at his true form drew it. It was a nuclear logo but two of the 4 blackened sides were white. The top and bottom had a tip and it was sharp and had a Victorian feel. The two blackened sides were meant to represent the emptiness of our souls while the white parts are meant to be the hope to reach enlightenment and go to the eternal realm and live with peace. I say back to Purity "What is nothing? because nothing is something". We both shrugged in unison. This was a normal day, questioning the things of the unknown but who are we to judge. On the way back home from selling goods at the market with our father, we walked by a newly built building, we both didn't know what the building was for, we saw the logo of the building, it was like "The Unprayer" but less, how do I explain this.. less religious? I saw the name of the building, "The Cross House Corporation". It was big with a dome shape, like a rotten glasshouse. The smell of burning smoke filled the streets after it was built, it ruined the taste of the fruit I was selling. My water from the tap has gotten more browner each day. We read the newspaper together. The writer said that nuclear tensions across the world were rising after Aussia accidentally sent a missile near the Reunion States sea. residents of Steamboat theorized that we were going to war, and that newly built dome-shaped building was making nuclear weapons. All that I know is that when the war happens, I want to be next to Purity, holding his hand tightly, but I have to ask... does he like me back
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project.human
Actionin a world of despair, there lived two boys, separated by the government, He has lost himself. The boy was turned into a weapon, and the other became the antidote and only hope but got drifted into a cult. just one question: Can we be together?
