MEMMORIA | ONC 2020

004: The Emperor

In the middle of Gairu, it was surrounded by pink gardens and water. The palace.

Kōtei no kyūden.

The Emperor Palace.

They had left Aris by Shin's door. It was better to walk inside the city as the streets were really tight and crowded. Agatha respired a scent similar to cinnamon, and that brought her back memories of her childhood when her mom would make delicious sweet rice and milk with cinnamon. Days that would never be back. Days when she really had a family and her mind wouldn't wander around politics or environmental issues that were killing her world. Days where she was just a girl who dreamed of driving a spaceship to another galaxy...

She followed Pippo across a crowd of sellers and dealers, all of them offering the best service that existed, many wearing their colourful traditional yukata, even though many didn't have Asiatic features. The people in Gairu seemed very devoted to the ancient wonderful culture of the old Japan, and that made them so cheerful and full of colours in deep contrast to the greyish mood above.

As they mingled among the crowd, everyone stopped to stare at the "Wolf". No one said a word, they just only stared at them like watching a supernatural being with wings and all, silencing their conversations like they had lost their voice.

"Why are they staring at you?" The girl enquired.

"They're staring at us. Is because we're strangers here. They don't like strangers."

Agatha didn't say more as it seemed an uncomfortable topic for Pippo, but she didn't believe a word he said. She knew obviously Pippo was more than someone who left and came back one happy day. For what she knew, no one ever left Gairu, as they didn't have an identity on the surface and they were hunted by the red police. However, Pippo managed to escape many years ago. But how?

"When we get inside, don't say a word unless he addresses to you. Also, don't look too deep into his eyes."

"Why?", she asked, but no answer came.

They walked across the garden of tall trees with Sakura flowers. Their pink leaves were waving at a wind that was non-existent.

"They are all holograms."

"There are only a few trees underneath, but not enough for his taste. "

So there were trees but they were camouflaged under holograms, just to simulate there were a forest and some wind. What a weird thing, Agatha thought. Whoever made that must've felt homesick for the old Planet Earth. Although she understood, somehow, that feeling. Being locked in an underground cage missing the air and the sun shouldn't be more different than living in her apartment up there in the surface, breathing fake perfumes and staring at artificial landscapes.

The palace was at the top of a green mountain behind the trees, and the girl wondered if that was just another illusion. But as they approach the hill, passing through a bright orange Tori arch, she could feel they left behind the world she knew. A wave of energy hit her face, even ruffled her hair, as they crossed the arch.

"Was that a portal?" She asked, but Pippo was focusing on other things and not in her, he was completely absent, even though his body was guiding Agatha through the woods that now seemed thicker.

The beginning of a stairwell appeared at the feet of the hill. Agatha walked towards the rock wall in front of her and touched it with delicacy. It wasn't a hologram. She looked up to contemplate the imposing and monumental hill, only to realise her friend was already climbing the long way up.

"Stay close to me Agatha, this place isn't what it seems."

She followed Pippo through the stairs, every time more confused about his words. After a while, they reached the top. Another garden greeted them, this one didn't have that many trees, but a wide lake with a small red wooden bridge adorning it, transmitting a wave of peace Agatha didn't know existed.