Void. Crimson sky. Scorched earth covered in cracks. A flash of light appeared out of nowhere. The Wanderer had arrived in a new world. As the young man's body fell to the ground, the light vanished.
Jonathan Brooks breathed deeply. His suit had shielded him from the Fracture's impact, but the side effects were undeniable. Disorientation. The barren lands of this new world blurred before his eyes. Dehydration. Not as expected. Thirst gripped him, and each breath felt hollow, as if the air couldn't reach his lungs. John reached out, as though someone might help him.
And in an instant, a woman appeared before him, about thirty-five years old. She emerged from the void, just like the Wanderer. Her long, fair hair flowed down to her chest, and a white dress clung to her body. The fabric seemed so thin, yet resilient. She walked barefoot across the scorched land, approaching the young man lying on the ground.
"Thank you, child," she said, leaning over John and offering him a bowl of water.
The Wanderer pressed his lips to the bowl, drinking the crystal-clear water greedily, as if he had never drunk before, as if water had just touched his lips for the first time.
"Don't fear, child," the woman touched his forehead, "there's as much water in this bowl as you need."
She was right. John drank so much, yet the water didn't disappear.
"You have freed me," the woman said, her voice filled with maternal care. This voice filled the void of the new world. "Thanks to you, I will bring life back to this world."
"Thank you," John, his thirst quenched, set the bowl on the ground and stood up, but the woman was gone. She had disappeared as if she had never existed. Only the bowl remained on the ground, now empty.
He looked around. The crimson sky reminded him of the Third District. What had happened to this world? Though he had braced himself for a dead world, curiosity still overtook him. He was alone in this emptiness. John looked down at his forearm. The Network was stable. The Implant, Pulsar, suit, and Translocation Apparatus in Primordial Space worked as one system. A message blinked before him: "Trajectory calculation. Charging." His Apparatus had started calculating this world's position in Primordial Space and searching for a path to the next. However, how long it would take to accumulate energy was still unknown.
The Wanderer activated his spatial diagnostics systems. In the distance, an energy source appeared, picked up by his Network. John headed toward it. The Wanderer's journey had begun.
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