(Prelude) O.R.K Disaster

"No, no....not like this...not like this" *muffled cries*

"The originite reactor wasn't supposed to do that."

"What now?! How do we go back?!"

"I...I don't know....I don't know."

The room was in chaos. Hysteria and sadness plagued the room.

"Hey Floxxit, what should we do now?"

Floxxit, the chief engineer of the team, looked at the young and confused assistant. With the expression on his face, the assistant knew. He backed off with a solemn look on his face and left the room.

Never had he experienced this before, never had he been trained in his years of his career. Everything he knew was from a manual or from experience. For this, this was a first. But to be first for this, you weren't the winner. You were the loser. At least if you were second, there would be a guideline of how to not be hit as hard as the first.

"One of the most dedicated projects in Terra. One of the most well-funded, most worshipped creations. The Originite Reactor Kore (ORK) was established in Ursus to help the people and to provide you all by keeping things running. That was our goal." The speech, played to their ears through the radio with slight static, was by the speech of the leader of the project, lozh

"What a fucking leader," he thought, "Leading something he could not do. Dummy lozh."

From the start, he knew the plan failed. Floxxit couldn't believe they cut corners for a project that cost lives. But to whom could he complain to? Rhodes Island would think he's a psycho. Calling the L.G.D to arrest him? But would they have arrest them? Floxxit thought for a bit before he sat back down, doubting whether he should have. He had the opportunity to join Rhodes Island but refused because the ORK project was hiring at the time and he was more interested in it. Unlike the orignium reactors that are used to power up the mobile city, ORK's concept was to be much more powerful than that. It could generate power indefinitely to sustain 4 mobile cities for the same amount of orignium, making full use of it. Floxxit was fascinated by the idea and joined the project. Before he joined, he had gone to R.I to see what his other choice would look like. It was nice hub but doing paperwork and fight didn't interest him. Had he joined R.I, he wouldn't be in the same situation.

Floxxit sank back into his chair. Never had he experienced this before, and whenever was he trained to handle this in his decades of his career. He then looks around in the concrete bunker. Everyone was in a daze, some were on the floor either crying or in shock, some were still smacking away at the buttons, hoping it would do something. But he knew it meant nothing.

"However, as all of you have seen, the plan didn't work. As the scientists were doing tests, checking to see whether it worked, a few things malfunctioned. And thus, the situation has escalated into a blast. We may not be able to reassess the situation and we may not know the damages caused by the extent of the blast. But rest assured, the blast is not a major issue. It is yet early to pass final judgment on the causes of the accident. All aspects of the problem - design, projecting, operation and technical -are under the close scrutiny of the Government commission. But I can tell you all this. Be rest assured, that the blast is only caused by some gas canisters exploding. You can continue on with your daily lives. The blast may be scary, but it will be back to normal soon."

Floxxit reacted with a mix of disgust, sadness and anger. "Bullshit," he sputtered out. But no one around him noticed he said it or the radio. Both the scientists and engineers in the room were caught up in their own commotion. His words drowned by their sadness and confusion of their own. As the speech went on, the lies that spitted out of his leader's mouth felt like it bled his ears. He wanted to shut his mouth, but all he could do is only listen.

He turns around to see the soldiers stationed in the room with them, still maintaining their positions. Standing upright with their assertive and correct posture, unfazed by the blast that previously shook the concrete room. They were gripping their swords as if they are ready for war. Some looked a bit shaken up and the rest had a frightened look on their faces. The engineers and scientists were scared because of what they have done, the soldiers were scared because of the explosion. For them, they think it's bad because of the explosion that shook the room. They've been trained to think it's bad. They don't understand the scientists' and engineers' concerns. If they could understand what happened and their concerns, they would have probably been like them.

He looked onto the screen. "EVACUATE THE CITY. REACTOR CORE MALFUNCTION". Words bolded in red, filling the screen. Blinking in and out of existence. It felt like it was stabbing him, chiseling into him, reminding him of the severity of the situation he's in.

He looked below the screen. He could see the engineers who were on the control panel were pressing buttons. Opening up manuals and pressing the buttons according to the instruction in case of the meltdown of the orignite core. "Push and prod they may, but their actions only push buttons whilst the chaos going outside remains the same," he thought, "They think that they're doing something, but their illusion breaks like glass when truth hits them."

Suddenly, his assistant came barging through the room. Along with him was the leading chief inspector, Vakon. With the top of the voice, he shouted, "Everyone, listen up!" Everyone stood still and immediately looked at Vakon. "I know that there has been an explosion. But please do not worry, I'm sure that was just a gas canisters explosion. There is no way that the reactor core exploded. It's just an error." Everyone seemingly calmed down, some doubted him but it lowered the hysteria in the room. Floxxit, however, didn't believe him. He wanted to call his bluff, but he didn't have the courage to do it.

Vakon then discrectly signaled him to come over to him. Floxxit immediately rushed to him. He did not want to talk to him. Hearing lozh through the radio already made his ears numb. But he could not walk away from him.

"I WANT to know how the fuck was there an explosion!"

"I was following your instructions, sir."

"Well YOU following the instructions clearly didn't work! The damage has already been done. Go out and inspect the damage!"

"But I will be exposed to the originium in the air"

"Don't be ridiculous. How can an ORK reactor explode and burst from all the way down and through the roof? It would have to lift up the few million kilograms of control rods on it. I'm sure it's just an explosion from a gas leak or whatever."

"But the screen sai-"

"It's probably just an error."

"But si-"

"GO LOOK AT IT. This is your fault for not following the procedures properly. Fuck it, you know what."

Vakon shouted for a guard and a scientist. As Floxxit stood, he thought to himself, "Неча на зеркало пенять, коль рожа крива." That was what his mum used to say. "His mummy should have told him that." Not long after, he saw a guard and a scientist jogging to Vakon. Floxxit recognised the scientist. It was his friend, Nadeyat-Sya.

Floxxit watched as the guard and Nadeyat walked up to Vakon. They nodded and accepted what he muttered. He knew that Vakon was telling them to do their job, else he would have a sword in him and his friend. But Floxxit didn't need the guard, he would have gone up himself regardless. In Ursus, you either were good at your job and be awarded medals or be replaced with someone better. And to be good, you follow orders blindly. Even if you don't mind being fired, you will be dragged off into the mines, along with your family if you had any. For that, Floxxit hated it. He went against orders from lozh and his superiors like Vakon at first. His efforts to point out the mistakes, however, were drowned out by the yes men he was working with and the higher-ups would snicker and threatened him and his family to be sent to the originium mines. Eventually, he too, began agreeing with them. After all, everyone listen to lozh and had to accept it.

After a while of stern talking from Vakon, the guard looked at Floxxit and Nadeyat and asked them to follow him. Floxxit agreed unwillingly. He had to look at the reactor, to assess the damage and to see what could have been prevented. But as they were about to leave, Floxxit stopped him to ask him if he could make one call. The guard sighed, told him to make it quick. Floxxit quickly picked up the phone and dialed in the phone

"Hello, who is this?"

"Honey, it's me. Floxxit."

"Oh honey, is everything alright? I heard about the gas explosion."

Floxxit hunched over the telephone. He couldn't bear to leave his family. But he had no choice. Wiping off the tears from his face, he continued.

"I'm not coming back. Just tell the kids that I love them."

"Why? What happened?!"

"It's not just an explosion, Masha. Leave Ursus, bring Sem'ya and Veselyy with you. It's not safe. I love you."

"Wa-"

Floxxit slammed the phone onto the desk and nodded to the guard. He looked at the phone, her voice still echoing in his head. It would be the last time he would hear her. He turned to look at Nadeyat who was looking at him with a look of sadness. He may not have a family but he knows Floxxit's pain. They then walked to the staircase doorway, with the guard behind Nadeyat and Floxxit, like a wall pushing him to go. They brushed past their colleagues, still in hysteria.

Before they went up the staircase, Nadeyat stopped them to put on the hazmat suit. "For protection against the originite that may be outside. Just in case."

After a while of buckling up, they rushed up to the roof of the building. The staircase to the roof surprisingly wasn't too heavily damaged, only minor cracks. He wondered why the blast didn't take him and the room with it. "Maybe it was really just a gas explosion", He thought. After all, the blast was only a few rooms beside them. As they went up to the roof, Nadeyat said

"You know, maybe the blast isn't that bad. The screen may just be off and just a false reading. Surely if it had been a reactor blast, maybe it would have taken us.""

"Maybe. You think the suit would protect though?"

"Hopefully. If there were any major damages to originium pipes, at least we got some protection from our cool suits."

"Heh, hopefully."

"Don't worry, you'll get to go back home with your family."

"And get back home to an angry and pissed off wife? That would be nice."

*chuckles* "At least you'd be alive and well, don't think to much of it."

After a few flights of stairs, Floxxit reached the roof. He pushed open the door. The door swung open before it fell apart. Nadetsya chuckled. He rolled his eyes and walked forward. He stepped onto the roof and looked to his left. His heart jumped. What would have been a bright day on the roof has been overshadowed by the billowing thick clouds of black, dense smoke into the air with seemingly no end. Even though it has been a few hours since the reactor explosion, the smoke was still dense, as if the smoke was fresh. Carefully, he and Nadeyat went to the edge of the roof and looked down. As he did, he braced himself for what he was about to see. However, the smoke may have scared him a little, but what they don't know is that it would cost him their life to see it. The guard, now positioned at the side of the staircase door, was unaware of the severity of the situation. The smoke spewing from the bottom. The abhor flames still rage on. The originite reactor . However, what makes it different is the yellowish orange glow. Like glitter within the smoke. Floxxit's heart sank. "It couldn't be it.... right?"

He then turned to his right, he could see his hometown a few kilometers from where he stood. He could see the town where he lived. The people were going about with their daily lives. The children playing around. It was as if everything was back to normal. Unaware of the threat that loomed behind him. He wondered whether his wife had heeded his warning.

Nadeyat stood beside him and looked down. In his slight voice, he remarked, "That is a pretty hell of an explosion."

"Yeah. It is."

Floxxit then looked at Nadeyat's face. But something caught his attention. Floxxit thought it was the smoke on his visor. He used his rubber arm and tried to rub it off. But it still looked the same. He kept rubbing and rubbing, but nothing changed. Slowly, solemn tears welled deep inside him and coursed down his cheeks. Nadeya looked at him confused, and asked, "The hell are you crying for?". Floxxit just stood there, looking at him with sadness and despair. It was only then Nadeyat understood. From Nadeyat's perspective, Floxxit's face had blackened as well. He looked back at the smoke. He knew the same thing was happening to him. Floxxit turned around to the guard, his face was slightly less blacker than his friend. He was oblivious to the fact that his days were numbered, not understanding that he was already good as dead.

Nadeyat and Floxxit watched the smoke rise. They both knew they were going to die. After a few seconds of watching rising smoke, Nadeyat slowly turned to the guard,. His face now a mix of red and black. He said "You know...." He stopped. His voice sounded deadpan. Nadetsya stood still for a moment, his eyes then slowly focus into the air. It was like he was looking at something but Floxxit could not see it. Nadetya then looked back at the guard and continued, "We are all painfully dead, might I trouble you for your weapon?" Floxxit was taken aback, it was unlike his extremely motivational tone he would have. The guard became slightly scared. He shouted that he had to write a report on the damage, else he would drag them back in with force . Nadeyat, still looking at him, stood there for a moment. He was pitying the guard, knowing that his remaining hours will be painful and excruciating if he were to write that report.

Nadeyat then turned to Floxxit, who was still crying. He gave him a pat on the shoulder and whispered, "The moment we opened the door to the roof, we were already a dead-man walking. For we are forever damned by our leaders and superiors." With that, Nadeyat turned around and leaped off the roof. Floxxit immediately froze up. A chill ran down his spine. His best friend who always had lifted his mood up and the one that brought him through the tough times he had had taken his life. He could only watch as his best friend plunged into the smoke, his body disappearing into the smoky abyss. He looked back at the guard who was in shock by his friend's action.

He looked back at the smoke, and began to think whether he should jump. He knew that he was as good as dead. He could go back and write the report or he could save himself from torment that might follow it. If he continued on, he would still die but more painfully and slowly. It was only his will that was stopping him from making the easier choice. He slowly moved closer and closer to the edge, with every step making him more committed to what he was about to do. As he did, he was recalling his past memories. His innocent childhood, where he met his friends and played with them. He then thought of the first time he met his wife. When he first met his child. He was cherishing the fun memories he had. Those were the days where he lived in bliss. He was reliving them in his head. He wanted to hug his wife before he go, but he could only now pray that she'll be alright. Bit by bit, he was about to take the same fate as his friend.

As he was about to take the leap, Floxxit was yanked and thrusted backwards. He fell hard on the floor. A blinding light hit him before knocking him out.

He then opened his eyes, and instead of seeing the smoke or the sky, it was the ceiling. He thought he hand been dragged back in. But the texture of the ceiling weren't like anywhere else in the body. He immediately jolted up, suddenly greeted with an agonizing and intense pain around his body. He collapsed back onto the floor, wires on his arms snapped. He almost cried as the pain was bursting and throbbing throughout his body. With the very restricted movement he had, he slowly looked around the room. He realised he was in an isolation room. Bit by bit, he turned around and saw a thick and huge glass behind. He could see people watching him behind the glass wall. They were surprised by his sudden awakening, they then immediately rushed somewhere, urgently calling for something. But he could not hear them, he could only hear his heart pounding. However, their coats looked familiar to him. He then realised he was in Rhodes Island.

Floxxit tried to stand up, but his legs could not move. He then looked at his body to see what was happening. The moment he laid eyes upon his own body, his eyes welled up. His body was covered in black crystals, his clothes were ripped apart or merged into the crystals. He was an Infected. A tear left his eye. But like his body, the tear was also black. Soon, more tears follow. Floxxit now regretted, wishing he had jumped when he could, cursing at the guard for 'saving' him. As he closed his eyes, he could hear the door opening and footsteps rushing towards him. He wanted to tell them to end his life, but he didn't have the energy to do so. And so, he laid in his own puddle of black tears. He felt someone lift him up onto a stretcher. Metal pins piercing his arms to an IV drip. But the feelings were masked by the pain that still persists and the black shards in his body. But Floxxit knew their efforts to keep him alive would be in vain, to continue his suffering.

He closed his eyes and prayed that he'll his life will end soon.