(COMPLETE)
In a dystopian China blighted by climate change, a troubled genius sets out to save mankind and redeem his family's honor, but not if his enemies have anything to do with it...
By 2048 climate change is deadly and threatens the existe...
As the clansman led us closer, one thing I couldn't ignore was my growing fear.
Mikey and Sarah's, too.
I was sure I could feel theirs and that they could feel mine.
Reason being, the abode wasn't just old and disheveled. It was, haunting. As though something was watching us from the shadows it created. Worse still, the onset of nightfall didn't make things any more comforting.
Nevertheless, I'd maintained all game-faces as best I could.
I'd patted Mikey's shoulder with conviction.
Took a tighter grip of Sarah's hand.
And puffed my chest as we entered the threshold.
"There's, nothing here," Mikey then said, having spun on the spot and observed our surroundings.
"What's going on," Sarah added, looking me square in the face. "I thought that, this is where O-Kenai, lived...?"
I turned my stare onto the burly clansman, but spoke to my team, sharing what I now considered to be the likelihood. "Guys, she's smart. Too smart to ever reveal the actual location of her real lair. This is a, halfway house. Somewhere secluded where O-Kenai can conduct, 'business'."
"Very good," the clansman said sarcastically. "You are the intelligent one, after all." He also acknowledged me with a nod, then reached for the sliding partition in front of us. Once he'd pulled away the rice-papered wood lattice, all three of us witnessed a thing of scenic beauty - literally - a cold heaven on Earth. To get a better view, we stepped out onto a quilted blanket of the whitest snow which compacted underfoot as all our weights shifted. On either side of the frozen garden there were snow-dusted shrubberies. More notably, straight ahead of us a twisted Sakura tree of magnificent girth stood in the middle of it. It was clearly as ancient as the dwelling; free of settled snow; and still strangely in bloom...
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I was sure that this eternal tree was the constant source of O-Kenai's notorious cherry blossom petals, and despite their menace, they were mesmerizing. Naturally, I'd gazed up at loose ones floating on the ice-cold air, until my eyes focused in on the constellations behind. Awestruck by the clear night, I squeezed Sarah's hand and reveled. "The star-speckled sky of the Milky Way...There's nothing more hypnotic..."
"...Oh yes there is," a maniacal voice cooed. "'Me'."
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