Memories of the Past

[DAY 75]

Before Neo left to test his new weapon on the group of 5,000 survivors, he issued some orders to his Legates.

As Neo not only plans to attack the group of 5,000 Survivors at the gymnasium, but he also plans to search further in the area for other groups to add to the Legion and the Myriad.

In the meantime, the Myriad will focus on the production of ammunition and weapons, as well as some armor. They should use whatever materials are available to them.

Furthermore, Neo gave them a deadline of up to 2 weeks for the army to be mostly equipped.

In addition, the Cohorts should create an internal encrypted communication system so that they can communicate with each other on a permanent basis.

During the time, all of his Legionnaires are to receive permanent training, and Neo ordered the former soldiers among his Soulless, which includes the former Captain, to train the Centurion in some tactics, formations, and strategies.

On the other hand, Neo ordered his Prefect Aaron to increase the defences of Abeus and help with the production of weapons and armor. Additionally, Neo gave the task of training the requested Elite Cohort towards Aaron and some Legates too.

The Elite Cohort is expected to be only 1,000 strong and will consist entirely of ex-soldiers who are now Soulless of the Myriad.

Meanwhile, Neo ordered Emily to add information about the production and procedure of ammunition, weapons, armor and some more things to her database, who knows if this knowledge will be useful for Neo, one day.

Despite having his ever-growing army at his side, Neo decided to scour the countryside alone.

On the one hand, Neo makes this little excursion to take in the surrounding countryside and get an idea of ​​the surroundings outside of Abeus, but on the other hand, Neo also wants to assess his own abilities in combat.

So he will move out alone, with a small group of Soulless not too far away standing by ready to step in when the danger and risk become too great too face alone.

Furthermore, Neo is permanently connected to his Soulless, no matter the distance, so it's not difficult for Neo to call for backup if something does happen.

...

Neo leaved Abeus in the shadows of the night, but before going to the gymnasium and experimenting with his weapon, he decided to make his way to his old family home, which he wanted to do since a long time.

Neo flew a while in the direction of his old house, and when he saw his a giant house from above in the air, the feeling of nostalgia grew stronger in him.

He landed in front of the house which was lightly damaged and had a few bullet holes here and there.

But Neo didn't really see the house in front of him. Instead he saw the house when his father was still alive a long time before the apocalypse.

The house was a giant house seperaed in three building complexes and had a small garden on the back of it.

The first complexe was a garage in which Neo in particular had his small own laboratory in which he experimented and made discoveries in his childhood days.

Neo couldn't help but think about the time he attempted his first experiment.

He has studied some genetically modified plants from his father for their effectiveness in surviving in different soils.

He grew the plants on normal soil, stone, concrete, some ores, water and also volcanic ash and some other elements.

He then gave them some fertilizer and daily sun and some water per cycle.

After some time Neo got his results on which soil the plants grow and on which they doesnt. Which amount of water is enough and how many sun they need. Afterwards he tried to genetically optimize the next generation of plants with the help of his father.

He wanted to make the plant be able to grow on any soil with low amount of water and sun.

After a few failed attempts and further optimizations, the two developed a plant that could grow on any soil that exist on earth with much lesser amounts of water and sun.

It was at these times that Neo first discovered his interest in understanding life on the smallest level and also for him to adjust it to his liking.

Plants that can give food no matter where you grow them. Eliminating diseases that are in the gene pool and giving birth to healthy descendants, Neo's childhood was strongly influenced by such and some other ideas.

Together with his father behind him who helped him with problems that arose in his research and always had a solution or advice for him. Because of his success and interest as a child, his ambitions also grew as he grew up

Additionally, Neo was sure then and now that his father was one of the most intelligent scientist who could have improved this planet if not the galaxy, if he hadn't been killed.

Neo has often tried to determine what his father might have been working on.

What was so important that he doesn't even talked about it with him?

And what is so important, that it ended in his death?

...

The second complex, which is now half destroyed, was where Neo remembered his mother the most.

Although Neo didn't spend much time with her, he still remembers finding her there on numerous occasions

She was often alone and painted a lot there.

She had an eye for aesthetics and especially loved to paint different terrains and especially exotic distant planets and environments.

Neo particularly remembers a picture his mother showed to him once.

It was a picture of an alien race of animals very similar to giraffes that once existed here on Earth.

Neo's mother told him a lot about this planet, especially since that was also the planet where she was born and where Neo's father and she met.

The two are not originally from Earth, but from this planet, Neo doesn't know why they came to Earth then, but he knows that there was probably a quarrel between his mother and her rich family on the planet.

Anyway, Neo has been thinking about his mother a lot more since she died, so he decided to take a closer look at the pictures in her old gallery.

The pictures were all covered in dust and dirt, but he could still see them and looked more closely at each picture that was still there.

Neo still feels guilty for her death and the slaughter and torturing of John has only faded the pain a little.

Neo knows that if he doesn't kill Androld, his guilt won't go away. At the same time, Neo is also aware that achiving his revenge will only clean up part of his pain.

The rest, when he thinks of her face, her torment and the suffering she had to go through, will accompany him to the end of his life.

...

After reveling in memories for some time, Neo decided to take a closer look at the third and last building complex. His father's laboratory.

Neo's father could only afford the entire giant building in Abeus, because he was one of the most important physicists that the Earth had ever had.

He has set up many theories about the speed of light and has thereby refuted and confirmed some centuries-old theories.

He has been the driving force behind creating new and more powerful plasma weapons, which were later even bought by some mega corporations.

The successes and technologies that his father helped to develop are simply immense.

Neo thought to himself as he walked and explored the old laboratory, which by now had dust everywhere.

Neo felt a consuming Void inside himself as he looked at this old and partially destroyed laboratory.

Various documents were lying all over the floor, liquids were spilled here and there and he could see destroyed vials and machines everywhere.

A group of people must have been here and have looted anything valuable they could find here when the apocalypse happened.

Neo looked at the destroyed lab coldly and decided to leave after some time.

But just as he turned around, Neo noticed something strange in his father's old office.

Behind one of the destroyed pictures made by his mother hanging on the wall inside the office Neo saw a safe that he had never noticed there before.

Interested, Neo walked into the office and picked up the ruined picture of a gorilla-like creature from the wall.

Then Neo took a closer look on what was behind the picture, which was a small number pad and a small screen.

Neo didn't know the code but decided to go through the birthdays of him and his mother, which his father usually used as passwords.

Then, at his mother's birthday, it made a noise and a small door suddenly appeared, more precisely it made itself visible and opened.

"A genius scientist who sets his passwords based on his family's birthdays Hahahah... That's so typical you" Neo laughed as he took a closer look inside the safe.

There Neo found a slightly burned note and some other documents which were all burned beyond readability.

Neo found it difficult to read the note at first, but with a little time he was able to recognize the first few sentences.

"Experiment: Alpha 24; Day: 61; Location: Moon Institute 7 (Physics Department); Time: 1024; Protocol 214: The tests with the volunteers are running perfectly, the first change to the **** should happen in ** days , the ****** **** ***** ***** should be reached afterwards ********* ***** **** soul **** * **** **** ***** makes the changes that were expected, but the ****** are still problematic and..." was written.

Neo couldn't make out some parts of the sentences and everything after that was completely burned, but one thing Neo could read very clearly, the part where the Soul was the mentioned.

"Father would never falsify a protocol of an experiment or create it for fun. The fact that he mentions Souls can't be on accident. Did the secret research my father conducted had anything to do with souls? How can my father know of souls? Did he find a way to analyze and manipulate them?..." Such and many other questions shot through Neo's mind and he became more and more excited and expectant when he thought about the possibilities of such research.

"Father, I knew you were a genius, but that you could scientifically fathom something as abstract as the Soul... just amazing." said Neo with an amazed and proud expression.

'I still lack so many compared to him, but I will not give up father, I will honor and surpass you one day. Just wait and see!' Neo thought determinedly as he thought of his father's wide smile, causing his mood to grow cold again after thinking of his death.

...

Afterwards Neo searched all the buildings for similar hiding places, but found none in the end.

Neo ended up standing in front of the old family house from which he has the fondest memories he has ever experienced and then pressed a detonator in his hand.

"BOOOOOOOOM!"

Did it and explosives that Neo had placed there beforehand blew up and set the house and yard on fire.

Neo then watched the house burn in fire until everything was reduced to the smallest ashes.

It was only as the fire got smaller and smaller that Neo decided to turn around and forever bury those memories of his past within himself.

...

"Oh my, I'm hungry now! It's good that I've almost reached my meal." Neo said as he spotted his target in the distance. A large barricaded gymnasium.