Chapter 2
Ben was seated in front of the tea shop which is located at the walk-in of their neighborhood. It was a vintage tea shop that has existed for ages, Ben was staring at the folded map in his hand, and no matter how many times he thinks about it he cannot understand where such place is located in the world, this was not just some regular map and Ben knows that, it was literally the map his father spent all his life collecting and putting together.
"Hey" A random guy from nowhere sat beside Ben and greeted him, Ben took a quick glance at him and hummed in reply, as he went back to staring at the map,
"Where do you get that from?" The strange guy suddenly asked Ben and that alerted Ben's attention, without saying a word Ben put the folded map in his school bag and dropped some coins on the table, he stood up and left the tea shop.
Ben is not a social type of person, his words are either few or he's not saying anything, he's 28 years old and his favorite color is black.
After Ben left the tea shop he went straight to the train station and as the next train stopped, Ben got in and there weren't a lot of people in the train, which was perfect for someone like him who's allergic to crowds and too much noise. Right now since Ben is confused and doesn't even know where to start he decided to visit his father's distant friend who lived in Neo Avalon the bustling and gleaming megacity.
Ben disconnected his earphones from his ear as the driver announced that they had gotten to the last bus stop. He came down from the train and since his father's friend owned a popular bar in the city, locating him wasn't a big deal for Ben.
Ben waited for more than 30 minutes before he finally met with Dawn,
"Uncle" Ben stood up and greeted him respectfully, the old man who has aged so much could barely recognize Ben, he kept on staring at him trying to recall who he is,
"I'm Ben Avareo, son of Leo Avareo"
"You're Ben?" The man asked with happiness radiating all over his face, and Ben calmly nodded, the man suddenly pulled closer, engulfing Ben in a warm hug,
"You looked so much like my old friend Leo, how much I've missed my friend" The old man said happily but a glimpse of sadness radiated his face as he said the last part,
"Come here"
He took Ben into his inner office,
"Do you have anything to ask me, is that why you came?"
"Hmm" Ben nodded as he suddenly brought out the map and place it in front of the old man,
The old man sighed and looked at Ben
"When I heard years ago that you went to the Academy to study about the system, I didn't stop you because I know how hard surviving in the academy was and I obviously thought a 13 years old boy will give up easily but I never expected you would stay to the end now I know you're truly Leo's son"
"Uncle, do you know anything about this map? you're my father's best friend you must know a lot about him"
"Trust me dear, this is not the type of life you want to live, forget about this things and live peacefully"
"But I can't, uncle. I need to know what happened to my father. How is he connected to the system? Did he get lost, died? Or disappeared I need answers"
"What if I tell you that your father do not want you to walk in this path, he probably want you to choose a different path for your life"
"I can't, I already invested so much, it's too late to turn back"
The old man stared at Ben who's almost as stubborn as his father and he knows convincing Ben was going to be impossible, he sighed and took a deep breath, staring into Ben's eyes he asked
"What do you want to know about the map?"
"Everything"