Chapter 1: foreign thoughts.

Adam was 9 years old when his father disappeared.

Before that, he had a good life, had every thing he needed, and his father spent good time with him, training him. 

His father always told him that he is going to be the most powerful human in the universe, Adam used to dream of that when he hugs his bed at night, his whole body aching from the long hard day of running, fighting, and solving what he called puzzles.

Growing up, He always saw pictures of a woman with his father hanged on the walls of every room in the apartment, and in some of these pictures the woman was holding a baby in her hand, his father told him that she is his mother, but he never told him where she is, and why she isn't with them, and Adam never asked, he never knew her and had no connections with her, even though he sometimes wondered about it when he gets too exhausted from all the training.

For as long as he could remember, his father would disappear for one or two days every weak, and the house butler would take care of him during that time. Keet was a very nice old man with a white long hair and a white well-groomed beard, he always had that extra clean black suit on, no matter how much food spilled on it, no matter how much times Adam threw water balloons on him, and no matter the failed cooking recipes that always ends in disasters, Keet’s black suit was always clean and smelling nice, as was the entire apartment.

The periods his father would disappear for kept getting longer and longer, until one day it was two months since the last time Adam saw his father, and Keet appeared in front of him out of nowhere as his usual. "Adam! I need you to never tell any one about me, no matter what happens. and know that I'll always be looking after you." and then he disappeared as if nothing had happened.

A few minutes later, Adam heard the door alarming him that there was visitors, he thought it was his only friend Mela, because no one else ever visited him, he thought it was weird for her to come on her own as she was always too clumsy and weak to go anywhere unaccompanied, he would usually be the one going to her and eating breakfast with her and her mother, and sometimes he would bring her with him to play.

Unfortunately it wasn't Mela visiting him that day.

... 

Deep in a forest, in the darkness of the night, a kid wearing tattered clothes, was running through the dark tree trunks, and the overhanging limbs appearing in his path in the last second before hitting his head, his whole body was aching, filled with scratches and bruises, his bare bloody feet couldn't take any more steps. 

He was panting in exhaustion, too tired to keep going, he looked around him trying not to lose the directions, his eyes slightly adjusting to the darkness, the shadows of the branches dancing on the ground like the march of a demonic army, the patchy sky occasionally glancing at him through the rustling leaves.

He barely could see a few meters far, the silence enhancing every sound of fluttering wings, crackling twigs, the buzzing and chirping of the insects.

He noticed a light coming from the direction he was running in, it wasn’t a flashlight like the ones chasing him. it looked warmer, he was afraid of the dark but he feared getting caught more. He decided to seek that light in the hope of it being a chance to escape both.

After hesitantly walking towards it for a while, he hid behind a tree peeking at it. he spotted the light source, it was a small crystal-like thing.

He gathered what little courage he had and walked slowly towards it. it was a spherical transparent black rock shining with a dim yellow light in its middle, it was too dim to notice if not for the lack of a brighter light source. The rock was the size of a ping pong ball, with a smooth glossy surface, he felt its weight was too much for it’s size, the light it was emitting turned off the moment he picked it up.

He was disappointed to see it turn off and leave him in the dark again, after his eyes adjusted to its light, he felt this darkness was even scarier then before.

A moment had passed, then He heard a loud painful whistle in his ears for a moment and then…

[Connection established.

Identifying host…

Unable to identify…]

“What is this!” Adam panicked “What is happening?!” he felt pain in his head and a voice coming from all directions at the same time.

[analyzing host…

Insufficient energy…

Energy source is missing…]

“who are you?” he screamed “Where are you?!” he turned around searching for the source of that voice in fear, as the small rock rested in the palm of his hand.

[Insufficient data…

Storage capacity too low…

Attempting storage update…

Insufficient energy…]

Adam ran again to escape this voice, not recognizing directions any more, he tried to throw away the small rock for it was heavy, but it was glued to his hand. he couldn’t even open his hand or move the fingers touching it away.

[attempting energy recharge…

Incompatible recharging method…

Finding a compatible method…

Failed!

Finding energy source…

Insufficient data! Testing required.]

Adam kept screaming and running when the voice in his head didn’t seem to go away. He couldn’t even see the figures of the trees any more, he was running in total darkness, his eyes didn’t adjust to the darkness again.

He was terrified, he cried and screamed. his vision was even blocked by the tears, he stumbled on tree roots and fell on the ground face first.

[host is losing consciousness…

Hibernation activated…]

The small rock in Adam’s hand glowed with the dim yellow light one more time, as it started melting into his hand.

An hour later, a few flashlights approached the unconscious Adam on the ground, worried voices were getting louder.

“I found him! I found Adam, he’s here! come fast.” Spoke A tall, overweight, fair skinned man with thick eyebrows and a large nose, round chin and puffy cheeks. He has a large wart on his neck with a brittle voice, his breathing was loud and he was panting hard. he looked like someone who never practiced any thing in his life other than eating. his expression didn’t match the worry in his voice until others came to him.

…

The next day in the early morning, Adam opened his eyes while no one was awake, he felt distressed when he found himself back in the same room. With many small double beds stacked close to each other, the only light source was a window two meters high off the ground, it was obviously meant to be dark at night. the ceiling had a few areas with missing paint and others where part of it in the middle of falling, making it look like an odd map, and two rows of double bed along the sides of the room. Beneath the window was makeshift bathroom emitting unpleasant odors.

Adam’s bed was the nearest to that bathroom in the right bed row of the room. As he opened his eyes, He smelled the usual stench of the badly ventilated room.

He missed waking up at home, on his warm bed, where he would start watching TV for a while, and then go play with the neighbor’s daughter. Mela was his only friend, She was always sick, and more than not, she was unable to go outside, but she was nice. And her mother would make him breakfast and take care of him.