New Surroundings
Woken by the cool crackling of flames, Nova was startled awake sprawled among the wreckage of the time machine. For a brief moment a dazed expression crossed his face as his mind caught up on his recent memories, followed by what could only be described as utter despair in seeing the collapse of your life's work.
Developing a time machine was most certainly not an easy task and had stolen all of his time from shortly after his interest was piqued. Long hours solitary working on his prized creation deprived him of his most fundamental relationships, yet the product of that sacrifice had just become debris.
However, decades of work had steeled his mind and strengthened his resolve.
"Fight on. Build back better than ever." He muttered to himself, regaining confidence.
The sky above was a tranquil blue sparsely littered with light clouds, the sun peeking down between them - witness to the dystopian nightmare of dilapidated buildings below. Around him the remains of skyscrapers lay never to touch the sky again, depressed by the passing of time and invaded by foreign flora.
Mother nature was making an attempt to reclaim the wasteland humanity produced, yet the mystery truly plaguing his mind was far more concerning-
Where was he- how far must he have travelled with the malfunction that society could vanish and be consumed by plant-life-
What happened to humanity?
In this moment Nova realised his latest goal: discover what happened to humanity, and prevent their demise.
- but that would have to wait, assessing the damage to his time machine and establishing a foothold for his development in this new environment were far more important.
"Well, time waits for nobody." Encouraging himself forward, he made an attempt to get off the ground. Unsuccessful, - but an attempt nonetheless - his limbs found that plan rather contentious, sending waves of dull aching pain throughout his body.
Despite the pain, after a brief respite he made another attempt to crawl off the ground, successfully stumbling to his feet. Oddly enough, after being caught up in space-time chaos he was still in nearly pristine condition, bar a few minor scrapes from the ground.
Making a few small steps forward, the delicate crunch of dry grass was loud as thunder in the otherwise silent environment, marking Nova's first steps into the unknown, his first steps into reclaiming this picturesque yet apocalyptic landscape.
Antithesis to the serenity of the wilderness around, a slight ringing sound cut through the air from the distance, with a rhythm, a ringtone maybe?
Interest piqued, Nova started forward slowly, still cautious of the unknown environment, and let out an inquiring shout.
"Hello?"
"Anyone there?"
Only silence greeted him.
"Hello?"
The ringing sound arose again, slightly louder this time inspiring a sense of urgency, as if responding to his calls.
"Anyone?"
The deafening silence his only answer, he reluctantly stepped forward approaching a small collapsed building holding resemblance to a grocer.
Stepping through the broken frame of a door, his eyes scanned the monotonous rows of bare shelves and collapsed ceiling before turning to a desk in the corner laden with a telephone. Broken glass cracked underfoot as he moved toward the simple desk.
Startling him, the telephone rang again, the source of the now-familiar sound sat vibrating on the desk, raising an eerie sense of confusion. He had not spotted any other people or signs of life around him- where could this be from?
Not wanting to miss the call, he rushed over to the desk and picked up the phone, placing it to his ear.
With the ceasing of the ringing and left in silence, he waited for a sound from the phone.
…
Nothing? Disappointed, he spoke into the receiver.
"Hello is anyone ther-"
Cutting him off, a robotic voice arose.
[AUTOMATED SYSTEM MESSAGE - YEAR 2196]
[SOCIETY HAS FALLEN]
[DO NOT REPEAT OUR MISTAKES]
…