5 days later
His eyes fluttered open, taking a few seconds to adjust. He was in an unfamiliar room, The ceiling above seemed to be made out of reinforced steel. For a moment he didn't move, then instinct kicked in - his arms jerked, but stopped with a sharp clank.
Chains.
He turned his head, wincing as pain spiked at the bottom of his skull. His wrists were bound to the bed frame with thick iron shackles, heavy and cold against his bruised skin.
The room had a little light and from his deductions it was designed to keep powerful beings inside. Now the question remained why was he in chains, locked up in a heavily reinforced room? But luckily for him he was not left to wonder for long because the heavyh metal door opened with a clank.
Two sets of footsteps approached him, yet he could only manage to make out who they belonged to once the people got closer to him.
It was his Ryan and Anita, his parents. They stood on the right side of his bed, upon closer inspection his parents appeared drained and worn, like they had not slept in days.
"You finally woke up, how are you feeling my son?"
His father asked trying his hardest to form a smile, yet his eyes gave away the pain he was desperately trying to hide.
"I feel like shit, whats going on?"
He asked raising his hand to show them the chains, his mother began sobbing.
"What do you recall?"
His father asked with tears streaking down his face, he stared at them in confusion trying to recall something-anything.
"I don't know, my mind is a little foggy. It feels like I have just woken up from a harrowing nightmare, I think Kyle was-"
The moment he said Kyle's name, it was as if he had opened a torrent of memories. Everything that happened on the day of the inauguration assaulted him all at once, and tears began falling down his eyes.
The last thing he remembered was The being ascending into the heavens, that was where his memories stopped.
"It was real?"
A question he knew the answer to, but why was he in chains? Why was he locked up? His mind was reviewing everything that went down with incredible speed. He ignored the pain at the bottom of his skull, he needed answers as to why was he being treated like a threat.
And soon everything fell into place, The being had descended and it began addressing him in front of everyone. Every single person at the ceremony except for those who lost consciousness saw and heard what the being said, it had implicated him.
"I see."
His words came as a whisper but both his parents heard him, his mother took a seat on the bed.
"We know you had no part in this, but to those people it does not seem that way. They want to question you, about your connection to that thing that descended in our garden."
His mother spoke while caressing his hand, despite his mother's words he knew they too had their doubts. No one would believe him, yet he did not care.
He had lost his little brother, he needed time to mourn him.
" It's okay, no one would believe me anyways. Let them hang me."
He had died when his little brother died, but why did he die? And although he tried to make sense of The beings's words, it had spoken about an awakening and conditions.
Awaken what? And the it hit him, the slightly mechanical, yet soft as breath voice he heard. Was that what he was supposed to awaken? Yet that thing was not like a system, from a small age he had been taught how the system interacts and how it looks like through visual presentations from experts.
And what he experienced felt - he shuddered remembering the sensations he felt.
"We will get you out of here, I promise."
His father gently took his mother's hand and led her out of the room. Again he was left alone staring at the steel ceiling.
"I should have died instead, why leave me alive?"
He whispered to no one in particular.
...
Inside a control chamber, not too far away from where he was kept.
A semicircular table faced a wide array of monitors. Each screen showed different rooms and the prisoners inside. But at the moment they were focused on a huge monitor, that displayed Neil chained to his bed.
""I should have died instead, why leave me alive?"
Every single person in the room heard these words, every single one of the people here had been at the ceremony 5 days ago. At the moment no one spoke, they all stared at the monitor waiting for a slip up. A change in character, anything they could use against him.
The door to the control room opened, revealing Ryan and Anita. They came in eyes glued to the monitor, their expressions had not changed from when they were with him.
"This is a waste of time, you heard the man. Hang him."
Amelia Braxmont a beautiful bald woman in a red two piece suit, with big brown eyes and a scar on her up lip spoke.
"I second that."
Livia Ravenbourne, the same woman that had tested Kyle back at the ceremony was in agreement with her.
"I believe we should interrogate him first before disposal."
Percival Grynovia, a young man about the same age as Neil gave his opinion. The rest of the people in the room did not say a word, Neil's father clasped his hands and everyone turned to him.
"Any of that won't be necessary, my son is leaving that cage with me. Is there anyone who dares to oppose?"
Ryan's words were like an absolute declaration, the control room was silent. Every single person inside was powerful enough to overthrow nations but Ryan was amongst the top, although he was treated poorly by the other worldly being.
Very few in this room could stand against him.
"Calm your ire old fried, and listen to what I have to say."
A skinny old man in with a head full of gray hair and sunken eyes spoke slowly, he was one of the few people who could face the Ryan in battle, Marcus Thal.
"Speak."
Ryan answered, Marcus turned to the monitor watching Neil who was currently hysterically laughing.
"That thing will surely come back, and I believe it wanted something from your son. If we try to put the boy down it might descend again and this time it might not show us mercy, so I suggest we release the boy but under strict surveillance."
His words made a lot of sense, everyone remembered The being's words. It did say it was going to return, it was only a matter of when?
"That makes sense, after all let's not forget our oldest enemy is also lurking. The high ranking conspirers must already know of that, we can't risk having a double assault."
Anita spoke in agreement with Marcus, but the question on everybody's mind was what use was a man without a system to them?
"And do not forget, something happened to the boy that day. We should monitor him to learn what is it and whether it will be useful for us in the war against the Conspiracy, I will house him in my country he will be under my surveillance and protection."
Marcus spoke again, Ryan did not seem pleased by Marcus's decision yet it was reasonable and if need be Marcus would be able to put Neil down without hesitation.
" fine. "
Ryan answered, no one in the room spoke otherwise.
" Then I will be taking the boy and heading back." Marcus stood up with a cane in hand and left the control room.
A few moments later everyone watched him enter Neil's room from the monitor.
"You are coming with me."
Marcus spoke entering the room, he went on to shatter the chains Neil was confined in with his bare hand one by one.
Neil slowly got up from the bed, and stepped on the concrete floor with his bare feet. He regarded Marcus for a while and then he nodded in acknowledgement,
"let's go."
Ryan watched the interaction with a complicated gaze, his firstborn was a prisoner, his last born was dead. He picked up the duties he handed over to his youngest son, it seems like fate did not want him to rest yet.
Anita took his hand and held it firmly, she stared at the monitor with silent tears streaking down her beautiful yet aged face.
Another person looked at the monitor intensely, although on the surface her emotions were well hidden. Her eyes were on Neil the whole time, they still had an unfinished conversation.
"Well since that is sorted, I will take my leave. Let us meet again at the summit."
Percival Grynovia stood up and left the room, one by one they all followed until the control room was empty.
In a certain monitor a man, stared directly at the camera with a smile. And then the monitor showing his room lost signal.