Chapter 0: The Path to a New Life
Prologue
Falling, falling, falling. Into the empty abyss of fear, pain, and sorrow. Was it fear or sadness that he was experiencing? It was a usual feeling of melancholy and resentful thought for Dante Musoka. He wonders why he chose to plummet into nothingness. He didn't seem to care much, considering all he went through; this was just another day in a preverbal metaphor of hell.
Both Dante and his older brother gained access to two beta prototypes to a subconscious virtual Tokyo in a Science Fiction Cyberpunk RPG, but almost being lobotomized by a glitch denying users to exit the virtual world and eventually finding a way out with stolen government information on the "New World Order". Both him and his brother were nearly murdered by elusive government agents to keep the truth of the real "New World Order" to be released to the public that somehow was hidden in between reality and virtual reality to unconsciously control the populace through the virtual subconscious.
Musoka himself was almost completely rebuilt with bionics, visual and mental enhancements. He was smuggled out of his own country to escape the shadowy hand of the Illuminati, to different scenarios and missions across various dimensions. Nothing prepared him for his final confrontation that led to his closest allies turning on him and tried to kill him all at once, but they were killed in the entire base being destroyed by a super bomb. What saved his life was the infamous Elevator Ritual that sent him to a parallel world and into an inverted portal. He doubt that his brother survived by doing the same ritual since he watched his only brother gunned down by his former friends.
His entire vision went to white, waking up. He was lying face up at a run-down bathroom ceiling. He sat himself up to rub the outsides of his eyes with the palms of his metal hands. He goes to push himself to his feet when his left hand hits a black briefcase lying right next to him. He turns his head to examine it with his robotic eyes, the lens flickering as he tries to scan the contents inside. Sadly it doesn't work as the magnetic force of the inverted portal in the parallel world damaged most of his augments and may take a long time for his "Green Nanotechnology" embedded in his artificial heart muscles to send special elections to repair the broken hardware. He then just opens the briefcase to see a note and a black trench coat that looks very similar to a fellow augmented mercenary that he used to know who wore it to cover up his augments as well. When he removed the coat from the case, he then sees a Zenith 10mm Handgun hiding behind the coat. A spare clip was placed beside it. Upon further inspection, he saw that there are already modifications to the gun and its clips. A laser sight is already attached to the under-barrel. What sat beside it was a folded piece of paper.
He stood up, throwing the coat on and stuffing the note in his inner right coat pocket while picking up the pistol. He held it up into the dim light to check if the gun is loaded. He pulls the slide halfway back and sees the round already in the chamber and lets go of the slide, clicking back into place. He stuffs the loaded gun in the holster attached on the inside of his coat.
The material of the clip has an elliptical hole in the center so he could see the round capacity; 12 bullets. He stuffs the clip into an empty pocket.
He turned around and moved to a dirty sink, looking into the dirty mirror and rubbing away the dust sitting on the reflective glass, showing his pale white face and facial hair of the same color around his chin. All he looked at was his matching scars on the insides of his cheeks, remembering his first fight with an augmented mercenary that resulted in the way he is.
His augmented HUD glasses are permanently attached to his temples. They extended the glasses to show red shaded transparent fiberglass optics. He stood still for a few seconds, then proceeded to walk out of the entrance. At least it was early morning, but he couldn't really tell since everything is covered in fog. It wasn't too dense; 20, maybe 30 feet in diameter that wasn't covered in fog. A parking lot. It too was abandoned with cracked worn asphalt having nothing but chunks looking like gravel with weeds growing out of the cracks. He leans on a nearby bent guardrail and looks out into the fog, taking it all in around him. He curiously pulled out the note and unfolded it. 'This writing is familiar' he thought and proceeded to read it.
"Dear Dante, if you are reading this, then the stories were true about the elevators; that pathway in the Silent Forrest Trail leads to a portal to a second chance in life. That very portal will send you to a place filled with love, happiness, and friendship. You might be wondering how did I know of that 'Special World'? Yes, I did keep secrets that you didn't know about. I may have given you a false sense of trust by being frank on you about almost all of the details, and not the whole truth and for that, I'm sorry. You will eventually know how this note got here in the first place and why I know many things that not even our former allies knew about.
I see that world, Equis and all who live there. Every time I see that world, I see you without augments and your scars. A dark future is in store for you and I am unable to help you. Trust your augments and for once, think before acting. After all, Equis is 99% crime free. Stay in a nearby town called Ponyville. I'll find you and all of your questions will eventually be answered. The 3 year fight is over now, and it’s time to start over. Equestia is the perfect place for you. Don’t worry about me; I made it out alive, although it didn’t look like it. Stay strong as always.
Your big brother: Vergil Musoka."
The note filled him with a combination of confusion, sadness, and anger. Why did Vergil never tell him about this world and angry at himself for not being able to save him, not to mention being confused out of his gourd of how Vergil even thought of how a backup plan was even conceived. He sighed and folded the paper back into its original form, stuffing it back into his pocket. Could Vergil really be alive? Only one way to find out.
He turned around, looking at the dirt trail, he walks to it. 5 minutes passed of him just running on the path and an entrance to a graveyard opened up right beside the trail. He walked into the decrepit gravesite, looking at all of the names of the deceased. One tombstone caught his eye; it said Musoka. His mother: Kimi Musoka. He kneeled down and rested his hand on her name, tears streaming down his face. He heard footsteps in the distance and saw a middle aged man kneeling down at a grave next to him. He's a much older man wearing a black suit with a red tie and his right arm, a cyber arm prosthesis; the same kind of robotics that Dante is fitted with except the old man's is a crimson red color.
"Came to mourn too?" He asked Dante. The old man's voice is deep and gravelly, sounding like he was in the service for decades. He turned to the senior and lied softly, "Yeah; just visiting my mom."
"I know how it feels to lose a mother at a young age."
"She died when I was just a year old. My brother who is 9 years older than me used to tell me a lot about her. Shortly after I was born, she was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. I was lucky enough not to have it. I never knew my dad; he disappeared shortly before I was born."
"Life is full of surprises. Anything goes and you sure as hell don't know when the ones most special to you die. It's hard to accept, but that's life. We all know we are going to die, we just don't know when. I guess you could say I had a similar experience with my family."
Dante stood up and the old man instantly recognized the glasses. "You're an aug as well." he said. "More like a cyborg." Dante corrected him, annoyingly.
"Be careful in this forest" the old man warned him "I've been hearing strange noises coming from the base of the mountain."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Dante stood up and started walking to the gate and back onto the trail. It twisted and turned for a few minutes until he got to the base of the mountain and the trail just on a straightaway. A leafy tunnel with light pouring through the leaves and the thickness of the fog in front of him made it impossible to judge the length. The further he walked through the tunnel, the more he felt a warm sensation throughout his body. This was the first time he actually felt safe and secure. 3 years of constant fear of being murdered by a corporation that is almost everywhere can do that do a person. The light in front of him got brighter and the sensation felt warmer. All he could see was a bright light. Was it Heaven? Was it the way back to his world? No…the feeling was much more positive as the light consumes him. His new life has just begun.
