The Strange Box

Liora's words, once capable of igniting a fire of defiance within him, now fell on the barren ground of his broken spirit. Atrixus no longer mustered the will to respond. His silence depicted the depth of his despair.

The thought of ending it all, of stepping off the precipice of his misery into the oblivion below, had whispered in the darkest corners of his mind. Yet, the visage of his mother, her smile, a beacon in the tumult of his life, stayed his hand. He could not leave her, not when she was all he had left.

The cruel hand of fate twisted the knife further when he arrived from school on that day to meet his mother passed out in the slums.

His mother's illness, a constant shadow they had danced around, suddenly worsened. She slipped into a coma, her frail body a stark contrast to the vibrant spirit it housed.

Rushing her to the hospital, Atrixus felt the ground shift beneath him. The doctors managed to stabilize her, a flicker of hope in the relentless dark. But that hope was quickly extinguished when they presented him with the cost of her treatment—a sum so vast it might as well have been a universe away.

Desperation drove Atrixus to take on multiple jobs, juggling his final year of studies with the relentless grind of manual labor. His nights were no longer for rest but for the pursuit of enough currency to afford the low-grade meds that offered his mother a lifeline.

Each day bled into the next, marked by the monotony of exhaustion and the sharp pang of hunger, both of which he ignored in favor of the singular goal that consumed him. The weight of his reality, of a future once filled with promise now crumbled to dust, bore down on him with relentless pressure.

In the solitude of the hospital room, lit only by the soft glow of life-support machines, Atrixus allowed himself a moment of vulnerability. "Mom, I'm so sorry," he whispered, his voice breaking in the silence.

"I promised that I would one day give you a better life, but you're suffering the opposite."

The guilt was a constant companion, gnawing at the edges of his resolve. The image of his mother, once vibrant and full of life, now confined to a bed, her breaths shallow and labored, was a vision that haunted his every moment.

Yet, it was in this crucible of despair that Atrixus found a resolve he thought had been extinguished. The love for his mother, the only family he had left, ignited a spark within him, a determination to fight against the tide that sought to pull him under.

"I won't give up," he vowed, the words a silent pledge that filled the space between them.

"I'll find a way, Mom. I'll find a way to save you."

The days continued to pass, a relentless march that offered no reprieve. Atrixus' world had narrowed to the cycle of work, school, and the hospital each day.

And though the voices of ridicule and mockery still reached his ears, they no longer held the power they once did. Atrixus Timothy, once on the brink of succumbing to the darkness, had found a purpose strong enough to anchor him to the light.

Amid the clutter and dim light of his small home, Atrixus Timothy moved with a sense of urgency that had become all too familiar.

Each belonging he turned over in his hands was weighed not for its sentimental value but for the potential it held to add to the meager funds he had scraped together for his mother's treatment. He was looking for anything that could be sold in the market.

It was during one such frenzied search that his fingers brushed against a palm-sized box, its surface smooth and oddly cool to the touch.

Curiosity momentarily overtook desperation.

The inscription on the box read, 'Do not open until your 17th birthday.' Below it, in handwriting that tugged at Atrixus' heart with a pang of recognition, was his father's name.

A wave of emotions crashed over him—confusion, longing, and an intense yearning to reconnect with the man who had vanished into the mists of Shunri Paradise. The face of his father flashed in his mind.

The realization that his mother must have held onto this box all those years, hoping for the right moment to give it to him, only deepened the mystery.

His seventeenth birthday was just a few days away, but the urgency of their situation left no room for patience or adherence to his father's wishes.

With trembling hands, Atrixus attempted to pry the box open, but it resisted his efforts as if sealed by an invisible force. No matter how he twisted, turned, or pleaded with it, the box remained stubbornly closed.

Frustration mounting, Atrixus finally surrendered, slipping the box into his pocket. Perhaps, he thought, it might fetch a small price at the market. Every penny mattered at that moment.

As he wrestled with his decision, the silence of the slum was pierced by the sound of a voice emanating from loudspeakers mounted on a slow-moving convoy. Curiosity, mingled with a spark of hope, drew Atrixus from the confines of his home, joining the gathering crowd of slum dwellers.

An unknown man, flanked by an entourage that seemed out of place against the backdrop of dilapidated buildings, stood atop a makeshift platform. His voice, confident and persuasive, promised a sum of 12,000 runis for a job that sounded both simple and perilous—a retrieval mission into a part of Shunri Paradise.

"For those brave enough to venture beyond the known, riches await," the man proclaimed, his gaze sweeping over the faces of those gathered.

"We need able-bodied individuals to recover items of great value. This is your chance to earn money that could change your life."

The promise of good pay, enough to buy more meds and stave off hunger for weeks, ignited a fire in Atrixus' chest. Despite the risks, the opportunity was too great to pass up. He, along with many others, stepped forward, drawn by the lure of easy money and the desperation that plagued their daily existence.

As Atrixus signed up, a flicker of doubt crossed his mind.

"Who are you, and why offer this job to us?" he asked, his voice steady despite the turmoil within.

The man bore a mysterious smile, his eyes holding secrets untold.

"Let's just say, I believe in giving opportunities to those overlooked by society. As for who I am, that's not important. What matters is the mission ahead."

Atrixus pondered the man's words, sensing that there was more beneath the surface. But the pressing need for money overshadowed his reservations. He thought of his mother, lying in a hospital bed, and his resolve hardened. It was a chance he had to take.

That night, as Atrixus lay in the darkness of his room, the events of the day replayed in his mind. The mysterious box, now a constant weight in his pocket, seemed to pulse with an energy of its own.

A monologue took shape in his thoughts, a conversation with the father he had lost.

"Did you know, Dad? Did you know what would become of us? You left me this box? What is in it? A gift, a curse? Whatever, it won't matter anymore when I sell it."

- Four Days Later -

Atrixus Timothy steadily made his way through the bustling streets of Paricus City with a heavy backpack strapped atop his shoulders.

Above him, the large screens that dotted the cityscape came to life, showcasing Kim David, a renowned System Bearer who seemed to be in his thirties, standing boldly before an access point to Shunri Paradise. His voice, brimming with excitement and purpose, resonated through the air, speaking of unexplored territories and the noble quest of the System Bearers.

"Our scientists claim that only about 1% of Shunri Paradise has been explored so far," David proclaimed, his smile unwavering.

"It falls to us, the System Bearers, to venture into the unknown for the betterment of mankind."

Around Atrixus, the city's inhabitants moved with the rhythm of their daily lives, some pausing to watch the broadcast, others merely glancing before continuing on their way.

Atrixus, however, felt a dissonance stirring within him. The words that once would have sparked dreams of adventure and valor now seemed distant, almost foreign, as he trudged towards the slums that had become his permanent world.

The day marked his seventeenth birthday, a milestone that arrived not with celebration, but with a heavy heart. It was also the day he would be embarking on the mission into Shunri Paradise, a decision born of desperation rather than desire.

The irony of the situation wasn't lost on him; on a day that should have signified his transition into adulthood, he found himself stepping into the unknown, chasing after the very dreams that had been denied to him.

The slums greeted him with their familiar chaos and decay, a stark contrast to the polished facades of the city center. There, amidst the narrow alleys and makeshift homes, a sense of anticipation hung in the air.

Other residents, like him, had gathered, their faces a mix of hope and apprehension as they awaited the trucks that would transport them to the access site.

Atrixus walked into his rat hole of a home and gathered necessary items into a bag.

His gaze fell upon the small box his father had left behind, its presence a constant reminder of the questions that remained unanswered.

With a moment's hesitation, he opened his bag and placed the box inside, a decision that felt like tethering himself to the past as he stepped into the future.