Arcaworld: Secrets Of Onyx

"Blueprints"

"Onyx?! How can you be Onyx?" I ask in shock. The boy stands there, lost in thought.

"Hmmm, I just am...I can't remember who named me... but that's who I am" he tells us.

Onyx disappears in a flash. We look around to see where he has gone. He appears behind us, staring out at the clouds of black smoke rising from the once-lively, human-filled town. He emotionlessly opens his mouth, methodically, like a robot. "I saw who did this."

"Who?" Aessa steps forward. Her eyes are full of resolve, the remnants of dry tears stain her face. "Please, we need to know who did this." She pleads.

I stay back listening to the conversation. Aeleos can only clench his fists, restlessly awaiting Onyx's answer.

"Well, all I saw...was a man reading a book. He was talking to an Old Man. Loads of men with weapons of some kind... then they started shooting at everyone. The boy with the gas mask breathed out smoke, mercilessly choking out the town's people. They dragged the Old Man towards a vehicle with rotating blades and flew away," the boy explains, clearly in awe of seeing a helicopter for the first time.

Aessa smiles. It brought her some relief at the information. It means Takoda is still alive. Aeleos lets go of his tight grip, briskly turning around.

"That's good news," Aessa says with a smile. The boy grins in rejoice. He is probably happy for being of some use to us.

"Do you know where they were headed?" Aeleos asks.

The boy ponders, thinking about it. "Ummm... Oh, I know one of the men with guns mentioned some place called Steamstead."

I freeze as I hear the name of my town is mentioned.

"Where is this Steamstead?" Aeleos demands.

I step forward and say, "It's my home."

They both look at me. "Well, you know the way then?" Aeleos says stepping forward towards me. I nod.

The kid then taps his head, as if he remembers something.

"I know you." My guard goes up to make sure he doesn't try that trick from before. "Weren't you those guys inside from a year ago?" he says.

"What do you mean a year ago? Inside what?" I ask him.

"It's been a whole year but you guys haven't changed," he comments. We all look at each other in surprise. We were in that lab for a whole year. What kind of experiments could they have done to us?

"First of all, tell us your name your real name, kid." I interrogate 'Onyx.'

"Ummm...My real name is Onyx," he repeats.

"You can't be. Onyx is a giant... war machine. You're just a boy," I say. The boy looks puzzled, scratching the back of his head.

"I'm Onyx," he simply says as if he is convincing himself as well as us and that he doesn't want to talk about it anymore. "You know what. For a treat and because I kind of feel sorry for you...I'm going to transport you to Steamstead," he tells us changing the topic completely.