Tomb of the Blind Beholder

Earth, Exact date: Unknown, The Year 2032.

Somewhere in an unknown graveyard, heartbreaking sobs poured into the starless night. A boy who was no older than 12 years old was pouring out his heart in front of two headstones while clutching a bronze necklace tightly to his chest, as if it was a priceless treasure.

"Mom hic… Dad, why did you sniff… leave me hic… alone?" sobbing. Young Ryan soon drifted into a dreamless sleep, exhausted from his emotional display. After all, he had been at it for a whole day.

A few metres behind him, there stood a man leaning his back against the bark of a tree with his arms crossed over his chest.

The man in his mid-forties carefully watched and witnessed his outburst, with an emotionless face. As soon as Ryan drifted to sleep, he walked up to him and carried him to the Grave Keeper's residence near the Graveyard.

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Ryan woke up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, when scenes from yesterday entered his head.

Yesterday was his father's birthday. 

Ryan, along with his mother and father, was returning after spending the night at the movie theater. 

It was pretty late into the night, so it wasn't weird for their car to be alone on the road.

"—!"

Suddenly, a bright, almost blinding light encompassed the whole car, which seemed to be coming from a truck's headlight. 

The light was so sharp that his eyes stung from the luminance of it.

Before he could react or inform his parents, time seemed to have stopped as the entire scene turned different shades of grey.

Soon, a bright golden ball of light appeared in front of him and enveloped him. When it disappeared…

He had passed out.

After the incident, Ryan remembered waking up on a white bed with green curtains around him, indicating that he was in a hospital room. There were some bandages wrapped around his left shoulder, indicating some minor injury.

He also remembered there was a man in a black suit, who asked him for his address, his name, and his age. Afterward, the man explained that Ryan was the only survivor in the accident and his parents had died.

The man told him that even the doctors were surprised that he survived with such minimal scratches barely qualifying for injuries. But Ryan… he couldn't hear anything. The only thing that his young, small self was able to process was that he must live without his parents. 

As soon as he realized that cold and bitter truth, the tears never seemed to stop after hearing that.

The man patiently waited for the kid to calm down, before saying, "You should say goodbye to your parents with a smile. So that your parents won't worry about you." Ryan remembered nodding, thinking that it was the least he could do.

When the man had seen the kid's resolve not to cry, he smiled, trying to comfort him. He patted Ryan's head and Ryan followed him to the graveyard, where he spent the whole day saying goodbye with tears in his eyes that seemed unending — eventually crying himself to sleep.

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As the memories flooded his mind, Ryan panicked and hurriedly checked the necklace in his pocket, clutching it tightly. The tears of the past threatened to spill once more from his eyes. 

When the phantom pain he needed to remember was no longer there, he took a deep breath. He quickly controlled himself, reminding himself that what happened was in the past.

He had already said his goodbyes.

—Click

Right then, the man who watched over the graveyard entered the room.

In a gruff voice he said, "This ain't your home, boy. Go back to your place, the man in the black suit said he'd be waiting for you there at 4 pm. I've booked you a taxi. Be ready in fifteen minutes."

The man walked out without waiting for a response, leaving Ryan amidst the sounds of chirping birds. Ryan hesitated for a moment before standing up and making his way out of the small building. 

There the gruff man sat on the porch and paid him no mind as he made his way to the gate and got into the waiting taxi. 

All the way along, neither the driver spoke, nor Ryan. The taxi ride was filled with silence, it was surprisingly soothing as it helped the young boy get a grip on his unstable heart.

In what felt like an hour, the taxi reached its destination. Ryan paused after leaving the taxi. He urged his legs to walk towards the house of his late parents. Resolved to say yet another goodbye, as he had to leave the house of his parents — his home.

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16th of October, the Year 2040

I am Ryan Wilson. I work as a programmer, and I am currently a part of project called "ENAMAL". Short for Eco-friendly Nanotech Artificially-intelligent Multipurpose Arms Limited.

Today is the day when they will distribute the first 80 finished prototypes by lottery.

I hope I can be chosen as one of them. These were the things I was thinking of while getting ready for the product presentation. 

Since hundreds of experts contributed to the project, but only 80 prototypes were created, the company decided to distribute them through a lucky draw.

Obviously, 20 of them were already decided by the priority system.

Soon, I got ready and wore formal clothes, and sat alone at the dining table to eat breakfast. The clock ticked away with the sound of cutlery being the only thing heard.

After having breakfast in silence, I approached a part of the lobby where a photo frame hung on the wall, portraying the scene of a happy couple smiling towards the camera.

"Good morning, Mom, Dad. I'll be leaving for work now, have a good day in heaven." I muttered in a low voice as a nostalgic smile hung on my face.

I locked my apartment door and went on my way to the company building. Even the train reminded me of my parents today.

Mom. Dad. Look how happy your son is and how he always wakes up early for work. Even though many years have passed, the trauma of losing my parents caused me to be wary of accepting others. 

I feared that I might lose them, and feel the pain of loss all over again. If given the choice to feel that pain over again… No, thank you. Just the thought made me shake my head.

My parents had no siblings, and both of my grandparents, maternal and paternal, had already left the world, making me an orphan. Luckily, they had enough money in their bank account to last me until school finished.

Thus, I studied as if my life depended on it. All of my grief and fear of being alone fueled my desire to study. My new-found hobby gave me the ability to go to a good college that led me to be hired by one of the most prestigious Bio-Nano Technology companies out there.

Reaching my destination, I got off the train and took a taxi for the rest of the way to my company.

—Schee!

From the window, I saw a car speed overtaking a nearby van. Seeing that, a frown subconsciously appeared on my face which I soon shook away.

By this evening, GHOST will also be completed, Then I can get some well-earned rest. The taxi reached the building and I disembarked. A notification rang in my head…

[$3.10 Deducted as taxi fare.]

I smiled at the advancements of society. It was my company that produced the brain chips gradually planted into people over the years. This achievement always seemed to impress me.

"Good morning, Mr. Wilson" One of the employees greeted me.

"Good morning." I said with a half-hearted smile and quickly left the scene.

By the time I reached the meeting hall, everyone had arrived. I took the seat with my name-tag and waited for the boring presentation to start. The only thing keeping me awake was the announcement of the 80 limited ENAMALs' lottery winners.

I was excited to see if I would be chosen. At 10 o'clock, the project head stood up and announced, "First of all, I would like to congratulate everyone for…"

In short, ENAMAL was a sort of public arm that would help people be safe during mishaps, as it could be used as a light gauntlet, which was inspired by an old movie trilogy 'Ion Man'.

Features included a pistol, which would be given to only those who have the license, and a super-high-tech wrist-top, which would be ENAMAL's dormant form.

It was supposed to be a miniature laptop screen that covered half of your forearm. The dormant form allowed it to switch to the other two forms quickly.

ENAMAL was supposed to be a milestone in the bio-nano-tech industry. It directly interacts with your brain through your nano-chip and operates according to your thoughts.

An hour went by as I waited for the last draw. The project head smiled before saying, "…and the last lucky draw is Ryan Wilson! That concludes the lucky draw and please remember to sign for your consent for the implantation of ENAMAL…"

I didn't even hear the last part, nor did I care.

I was grinning ear to ear. I was finally getting an ENAMAL! 

It even ran off solar power. I couldn't think of a better device on the market than ENAMEL.

I always dreamed of shooting out plasma bullets as a young boy.

Breaking out of my reverie, I stood up and gave my thanks to all the co-workers, shook hands with the project head and made my way out.

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"Was he always so cheerful?" The Project head asked a fellow employee.

"I don't think so, sir. On the project, all the time he was glued to the computer screen, I've hardly seen him socializing." The employee replied.

The project head nodded half-heartedly and let go of the matter.