“So that’s your story eh?” Lysha said as she tossed the heart shaped locket back. “That’s it” AJ sighed, opening the locket. The red blip, which has been a part of his life for years, kept blinking on the mini radar inside the locket. “So this is your only hope to recover your memories”, the big man next to him said. “Yup. The only lead I got”. After losing his memories AJ had only the locket to his name. ‘AJ’, the two letters engraved on the back of the locket became his new name. He has committed the rest of his life in trying to recover his lost memories and this is the closest he has ever been.
The train was now passing through an open field after a few hours through the jungle. The moonlight was flooding through the window and lit the interiors of the train. It glinted off Lysha’s hazel eyes and blond hair. AJ couldn’t help but stare at her. He was surprised that it took him this long to notice how beautiful she was. “Mask up”, the big man said. Everyone took out a gas mask and wore it as the train approached ‘Zone 15’, one of the many remnants of the Great War. Zone 15 would have been a beautiful city back in the golden days. But it is nothing but a toxic wasteland now, even after 500 years of the Great War.
Humanity used to fight each other since time immemorial. The early wars were fought for religion, money, against slavery and tyranny. But the great war was fought over control of water, which by then was the most valuable resource. As the greater nations fought, the smaller ones suffered with many being annihilated completely. The surviving smaller nations swore allegiance to one of the greater nations to ensure their survival. They forcefully supplied people to the armies of the greater nations in exchange for protection, leading to internal rebellion. Chaos ensued everywhere on planet earth. It was a war with no victors. The greater nations wiped each other off and took billions of lives with them. There were no more national boundaries as the system fell. The old saying that humanity’s extinction will be due to a nuclear holocaust came true. The remaining humans survived in certain places where destruction was merciful. Soon, groups were formed. These groups then became tribes, tribes became colonies, colonies became factions and factions became nations. The new nations which were capable of ushering in a new age, however did not last long. Even though much of humanity died in the great war, greed and envy survived. The new nations eventually broke down and the fighting continued. Such was the case of Escor, a small nation which was presently ruled by two opposing factions - The Brotherhood and The High League. Peace was rather new to Escor as the factions swore armistice and split Escor into two. The goods train, in which AJ was travelling, was going from the High league half to the brotherhood half and was a part of the treaty. The treaty, however, was precarious.
AJ was looking out of the window, enjoying the valley basked in the moonlight. He opened the locket. The blip was now within the 50 KM radius. “Soon”, he thought. As he was contemplating the night, a certain kind of feeling swept over him. Was it happiness? Or was it peace? His mind, which only knew suffering, could not tell. Whatever it was, it felt good. However, this moment of ecstasy was short-lived as he was startled by a loud bang. Before he could process further, the train was hit by what seemed to be a fireball. AJ blacked out.
“Hey AJ wakeup. Wakeup”.
AJ partly opened his eyes. “What? What happened?” he asked Lysha, who was trying to help him to his feet. “It's the Coalition,we got to move fast” she replied. The Coalition was an internal group which was formed in the Brotherhood after the armistice. The Coalition strongly opposed the treaty and wanted total domination of Escor. The train was a complete wreck. AJ and Lysha slowly sneaked past the soldiers of the coalition who arrived to examine the wreckage. They dragged a few people from under the wreck. One of them was the big man. “You know what you just did?” the big man was screaming using the last bit of his energy. “Do you want war again?”. “My friend, peace is for the weak” a coalition soldier said as he took the gas mask off the big man. He dropped dead, breathing in the toxic fumes which were ever-present in Zone 15.
“There's nothing we can do AJ”, Lysha said to AJ who was frozen by shock. They rushed to the ruins of Zone 15 to hide. Zone 15 looked like an old ghost town. The ruins of ancient buildings scattered throughout the landscape were one of the last memories of a bygone era. They went inside one of the buildings for cover. AJ opened his locket. The blip was closer than ever. “The High League won't let this go unanswered. The treaty, it's done for.” Lysha said. AJ remembered Lysha telling him that she was a soldier for the High League.
“Are you gonna go back to fight?” AJ asked her.
“I’ve fought enough battles for a lifetime. I know a village a few kilometers off here. Till the situation calms down I suggest we lay low there” she replied. AJ nodded.
After taking a quick nap, they started hiking towards the village. AJ glanced at the locket. They were heading towards the blip. After walking for a good three hours, they arrived at the village. It was a small farming village which isolated itself from all politics. Even though it was in the Brotherhood region, Lysha had good connections with the villagers from her old soldier days. The kind villagers gave them food and shelter. Lysha did not want AJ to continue his search for a while. She was sure of the war resuming after what the Coalition had done. But AJ was quite adamant in continuing his search. After a while of persuasion, AJ agreed to halt his search. But, regardless of their agreement, he very well knew what he had to do. By midnight, Lysha was sound asleep. AJ got up from his bed and checked on her. She was quite peaceful. May she have this peace forever, he thought. He had earlier spotted a few hover-bikes in the village.He took one of them and set his path towards the blip. The blip was now within 20 KM. Since the place was pretty much an open field, he could follow the blip easily.
AJ stopped the bike before a board which said “Zone 18”. After thinking for a while, he abandoned the bike to proceed on foot. Zone 18 was yet another wasteland. It used to be a town before the Great War. Something about it felt eerily familiar to him. He felt strangely nostalgic. It was as if he had been here before. AJ was hypnotised by the ruins of the town. He started seeing hallucinations. Or was it old memories? Memories which were deeply buried within himself? He did not need the blip anymore as he somehow knew where he had to go. However, it was not long before he encountered trouble again. A Coalition patrol spotted him. They rushed towards him, guns akimbo. AJ couldn't care less. It took them pointing their guns at him to snap him back to his senses. AJ clutched his locket. He was so close to finding out about himself. But maybe it was not meant to be. He closed his eyes, ready for his demise. He was expecting the sound of their laser guns firing at him, but what he heard was the sound of lightning. He opened his eyes to see the patrol lying dead before him. He looked back.
It was Lysha, armed with a peculiar staff that fires electric bolts. “What the hell were you thinking?” she screamed at him. He had never been so happy to be screamed at before. But there was no time, he had to move. They started walking again. The more of the town he saw, the more episodes he remembered. He saw a vague memory of his father handing him a heart shaped locket. “I’ll be back soon” his father said as he handed it to him as a child.
“Alexander Jennings” he murmured.
“Who’s that?” Lysha asked.
“My grandfather. This was his locket which he gave me before going to fight in the Great War. I modified it to carry this key”
“The Great War? But…..But how? And what key?”
He did not know. AJ stopped before a ruined mansion. His heart was throbbing. His eyes were filled with tears as he remembered his family. For a moment the ruins around him vanished, he saw a town filled with people. He saw his wife and kids in front of the mansion waiting for him. His mother and uncles were waving at him. His cousins called for him with bottles of beer in their hands.
“AJ? Are you alright” Lysha snapped him back to reality. “My name is Peter Jennings,” he said. Lysha was too confused to even nod. She followed him silently as he entered his ruined home. They climbed down the stairs into the basement. The blip was now blinking rapidly. Lysha cleared the dust from the floor to reveal a round hatch. AJ brought the locket down to the hatch. It made a beep sound and the hatch slid open. There was a flight of stairs before them going further underground. After climbing down the stairs, they were in a huge underground room. The room suddenly lit up and they found themselves standing in a laboratory with some 500 year old technology. AJ’s memories were coming back so quickly that it gave him a headache.
He saw memories of him as a scientist during the time of the Great War. His team was in charge of creating a cryosleep device designed to hibernate human beings to be resuscitated automatically after a set time period. But before it could be completed, his team members succumbed to the perils of war. He decided to test his luck by using the prototype for his family before the impending catastrophe. They stocked the lab with food pellets which were designed to last forever and sealed themselves. Unfortunately, luck was not with him. The cryosleep pods failed for everyone except him within two days of launch. However, for him it was only a partial failure. His body was asleep but his mind was awake. He could see everything that was going on around him. He saw his toddler dying immediately due to the failure of his device. He saw his mother succumb to a painful death. He saw his wife and kids get older and dying. For 500 years he was alone and awake. After the machine resuscitated him, AJ lost the will to live. He was traumatised beyond recovery. He was mentally insane and unstable. He just wanted to forget everything that happened. And that was exactly what he did.
AJ did not lose his memory, he willingly erased them. And now it came all back to him.
AJ collapsed onto the floor. He felt the familiar feelings of insanity and trauma. As Lysha held him, he could only think of one thing “What have I done?”.