The Synapse, 1025 A.D.
He awoke in a cold metal chair. He noticed that his blonde hair covered his left eye as he looked around the room. Everything from the floor to the ceiling was white. He looked down and noticed that the chair was floating in place. A square shaped hole appeared in the ceiling, and a man covered in geometric tattoos came down from the hole on a floating platform. The platform stopped once it reached the ground and the hole in the ceiling closed.
"Hello, Thomas," The man said to him.
Thomas coughed, he could hardly speak.
"Where am I?" Thomas asked faintly.
"You are in The Synapse, Thomas. Do you not remember the events of the last few weeks?"
Thomas thought for a minute. The last thing he could remember was leaving for the assassination of the prince.
"No," Thomas coughed again, "What happened? Where are Mac and Harrison?"
"They've been taken care of; Never mind them." The man replied. "We're here to look at you."
"Sorry to tell ya, buddy, but I'm not a very interesting guy."
"You may or may not be, but I'd at least like to take a look at your memories."
Thomas went into a coughing fit.
"I'd argue with you, but there's not exactly too much that I can say,"
"That's quite all right, Thomas. Do you mind fastening that to your head?" The man said, pointing at the floating white helmet above Thomas' head.
"Whatever you say, El Jefe." Thomas mocked the man.
He grabbed the floating helmet and placed it securely on his head. He looked around for a second, confused as to what was supposed to happen next, and then fell limp, yet he could still hear. A screen came down from the ceiling and halted in front of the man. Miscellaneous memories that belonged to Thomas flashed on the screen. The man said something in a foreign language, and the screen began to show memories of only Thomas's brothers and sisters. The man said something else in the language and the flashing memories came to a halt.
"Play," The man said.
A video from Thomas' perspective was shown on the screen. A younger version of he, Mac, Harrison, and his two sisters Kendra, and Olivia were running up a hill. At the top of the hill was a large cherry blossom tree. The branches spread over the entire hill, providing shade for the five siblings.
"Come on, Olivia!" Mac yelled.
"Hurry up!" Thomas also yelled.
Harrison was the first to reach the top of the hill, yelling "I win!" as he did. He then plopped down at the trunk of the tree and closed his eyes to take a nap. Thomas reached the top next, followed by Mac and Olivia. Kendra was the last to reach the top, panting softly as she walked. Being the youngest of the five, she wasn't as used to running up the hill. Thomas sat down next to Harrison and the trunk of the tree, and Kendra did as well. Mac and Olivia both raced each other to see who could reach the top of the tree faster.
Soon after Mac had reached the midpoint of the tree, the loud sound of propellers blasted through the valley. The back window of the house opened abruptly and their mother jumped through it and ran towards the hill.
"What's wrong, Mom?" Olivia asked, jumping from the tree.
"We need to go. Now!" Their mother responded.
Seventeen large airships became visible from the other side of the mountain. The strength of the propellers spinning around and around created a sort of wind tunnel in the valley. Leaves and various pieces of junk became airborne and flew about the valley. The airship in the front appeared to be the largest of them all, with what looked like a throne near the beam of the ship.
"Wilhelm and Lilith Grimm!" A deep voice boomed from a speaker on the ship.
Lilith grabbed young Kendra and started to run.
"Quickly children! Follow me!" she yelled.
Their father emerged from the back door of the house with a large mechanical gun. He fired several shots at the ships before the voice spoke again.
"Bring to me your oldest child!"
Lilith looked back at the children behind her in tears.
"Children, please!" She begged, still running as she did.
Harrison and Thomas took off running in the other direction.
"You were informed of recruitment many months ago, Wilhelm. Bring me the child!" The voice boomed once more.
Wilhelm began to run towards the hill. Mac and Olivia looked to each other. They were both the oldest, as they were twins. Mac feared for his life, nearly everyone he knew who had been drafted had died horribly. He looked at the ship, then back at his sister who too was frozen in place. In a quick motion, he kicked her in the shins, then ran off after his brothers. Several soldiers dropped from the ships, detained Olivia, then carried her back up to the ships. Mac looked back, only to see his sister screaming and flailing her arms in distress. He shed a tear, but continued after his brothers.
Wilhelm and Lilith broke down crying, the worst thing that could have happened to them had happened. Mac eventually caught up to his brothers, and they continued off.
"What happened to Olivia?" Thomas and Harrison asked.
"I betrayed her," Mac said. "Never in my life will I ever forgive myself for what I have done."
The trio continued running on disturbed, never to return the valley again.
