Naamala’s eyes drifted towards the speaker’s face absorbing the image of a wide smile, wrinkles etched all around the lips. The chin was plastered with a stubbly growth, ungroomed and neglected. The face, tinted purple, carried wide, curious eyes, directed at Naamala, the wrinkles even more prevalent around the eyes and the forehead, accentuated by grey hair sprouting only on the sides of his head. Naamala pondered deeply: Who is he? He is old… 70? or 80 years old?
He spoke again: “I did not want to startle you. How are you feeling?”
Naamala furrowed her brows before answering: “I am fine… Who are you?”
“Oh, straight-forward, I like it!” The man laughed. “I am Favian and this is-“
“I am Bhalt.” A second voice emerged.
It wasn’t until that moment that Naamala took in her surroundings, realizing that she was situated in a small dimly lit space with benches lined on two sides in opposition, facing each other and a metal door positioned to the side. She found herself laying on one of the benches alone while the bench on the opposite side contained two men, clothed in tight vibrant red overalls. Glancing down at herself, she realized she was clothed in the same overalls.
The second man, Bhalt, had a grim expression. Naamala noticed the smoothness of his purple skin which was tainted by a big scar on the left side of his face. The scar traced a jagged path from just beneath his left eye, snaking its way way towards the left side of his mouth and lips with a subtle arc. Despite the stark presence of his scar, Bhalt retained his youthful vigor hinting that he had to be around her age. 17? Maybe 18? Naamala wondered.
After multiple seconds of silence passed Favian cleared his throat: “And you are?”
“Oh, I am Naamala.” She answered.
“Well, nice to meet you Naamala”, said Favian, while Bhalt remained silent, staring at her.
“Where are we?”
On the edge of her vision, she could see Bhalt rolling his eyes in annoyance. Favian, in contrast, responded with a warm expression on his face: “A train. We are inside a train.”
“And where are we heading?”
“As you can probably tell by all three of us being Shaits and wearing this uniform, Lua.”
“When do we get there? How long have I been asleep?”
“Probably in an hour or two. There should be a few more stations we need to get through first. You got put into this cell 6 stations ago, only one station before Bhalt joined us.”
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“If we are still so far away then why are you guys just sitting here! We need to get out of here!”
That’s when Bhalt jumped into the conversation. With an annoyed expression on his face, looking down on Naamala he asked: “Can you destroy metal with pure force?”
Naamala, only being able to return a blank stare, swallowed in a dry throat. Her eyes drooped and her mouth turned into a thrown. She shook her head.
“That’s what I thought. I don’t know about you, but I can’t use my powers! They must have done something to me! I must have been injected with something.”
“You can’t use your powers?”
“No, otherwise I would already be out of here. They knew about my powers and must have suppressed them somehow!”
A quiet quick-witted comment from Favian: “No wonder, by how much you talk about them.”
As a reaction Bhalt gave Favian an annoyed look: “So funny”, but Favian kept on giggling.
“So, what are your powers then?”
“My po-“, just when Bhalt was about to tell Naamala, Favian interrupted him.
“Psssht”, Favian pressed his index finger onto his lips and forced Bhalt silent.
Confusion written across Naamala’s face: “What is-“, but before she had the chance to finish her question Favian silenced her as well. “Psst!” with his index finger still in front of his lips, Favian directed a furious glare towards Naamala who shot a questioning glare towards Bhalt. Bhalt however was just nodding with a poised look in his eyes, reflecting a sense of readiness and composure.
Favian’s demeanor had transformed, the once happy old man started exuding an air of grumpiness and anger. A concentrated look on his face, he shifted his head from left to right, as though trying to hear something, anything. Naamala, however, could not detect any sounds. Pure silence. The situation and its silence grew more intense, only a faint hissing of wind crept in from beyond the room.
Naamala focused her senses. What was it? Is he hearing something? Gradually, Naamala detected the emergence of a faint murmuring emanating from outside their confines. Bhalt’s expression changed, telling Naamala that he also had noticed the murmur. Yet, Favian appeared indifferent of the murmur that just emerged, as if he was always concentrating on something completely different.
As the train began decelerating, Naamala heard Favian’s voice again:
Presently, Bhalt nodded towards Favian’s question, as though this was an ordinary everyday situation. What is happening? While Naamala was forming her mind the train finally ground to a complete halt. With that an eerie stillness arose. Silence. Bhalt and Favian silently but swiftly sprang into action, their movements poised and deliberate. Suddenly, a deafening explosion shattered the silence and rang in Naamala’s ears, reverberating through the entire space. Then, two more blasts followed and with them panic and shouting emerged from all around. Bhalt and Favian used the panic outside their confines to rush towards Naamala’s bench, scrambling onto it and pressing themselves against the wall, averting their eyes and shielding their heads from the direction they had occupied mere moments before. Naamala mirrored their actions, confused and struggling to comprehend the reason behind it.
She responded in her own mind