Chapter 8
Let me out !
Instruction center
The students had been waiting for a long time now. All the other queues were cleared out except theirs. It was almost 6pm. They were all chattering, wondering what was taking so long. A red-haired girl finally came out from the examination room. Her eyes were unfocused. There was something disturbing about her movements. As if she was intoxicated. Her back suddenly straightened. The girl stared intensely at the building. Someone, among the students, recognized her.
“What are you doing big head ? You’re lost or something ?”
The red-haired girl looked back at the student. She walked slowly towards them. Her gait was faltering, like a toddler. This sight made the student laugh.
“You’ve forgotten how to walk ? Call daddy for that, he might help you… oh… oh wait… Your dad doesn’t like you!” and they laughed even harder. The student next to them decided to interfere.
“Come on, leave her alone. Can’t you see that she isn’t feeling good ?”
“It’s just a joke. Gosh chill ! And it’s not like I’m wrong, no one in her family likes her anyway !” replied the student offended. The student turned his head, “What do you want ?” they asked the red-haired girl who was standing now in front of them.
But she wouldn’t answer. This started a staring contest between the student and the girl. After a minute, the examiner got out of the room. His movements were erratic, his eyes unfocused, his veins were black. The student who tried to appease the situation earlier approached the examiner. He murmured.
“Are you okay ?”
Without notice, the examiner jumped at the student and started to strangle him. At the same time, the red-haired girl grabbed the head of the aggressive student. The remaining students got scared. Some tried to stop the examiner while others were looking at what was happening, in disbelief. The examiner eventually let go of the now dead student to attack the others. Some students, afraid for their lives, threw water and fire balls at the examiner. And yet the examiner was still able to move. The aggressive student who was now acting exactly like the examiner was stopping those who wanted to run away. Soon the calm came back inside the Instruction center. After thirty minutes, the students, the examiner and the red-haired girl were seen leaving the building. Then, the explosion.
Military center
People were rushing out to the front desk.
“What was this detonation ?”
In all this confusion, a well-known voice was calling for calm and order.
“Record- Instruction center under attack - carbon dioxide level dangerously rising- no intrusion detected- warning to all inhabitants : stay away from the fire, the local authorities have been called, I repeat, stay away from the fire.”
The director of the military center shouted out for attention.
“Why is no one working here ? Where are the patrollers ? What are they doing ?”
“They’ve been notified of what happened, they’re currently going towards the Instruction center to investigate it.”
“Have the outside patrollers reported any incidents ?”
“No sir, everything is good on their end.”
“Tell them to keep their positions, it could be a terrorist attack.”
“Yes sir.”
“You” said the director pointing at a secretary “contact the decision center, communicate with them what we know about this.”
“Yes sir.”
“Good, everyone back to work now !”
Decision center
The administrators were all glued at the window. Nothing much could be seen from there. The Instruction center was on fire, the plaza was covered in smoke, a few people were running away while patrollers were going towards the explosion site. The administrators were more alarmed after Archive’s warning.
“Record- Instruction center under attack - carbon dioxide level dangerously rising- no intrusion detected- warning to all inhabitants : stay away from the fire, the local authorities have been called, I repeat, stay away from the fire.”
A manager rushed down from the stairs.
“Is everyone okay ? What happened ?”
“I don’t know," answered one of the administrators, “We simply heard the explosion, we can’t see anything from here.”
“Fuck, this is insane. Has anyone from the Instruction center called ?”
They shook their heads. The manager didn’t seem to know what to do. Luckily, the president contacted all the employees of the Decision center.
“Hello. The Instruction center is as of right now, ablaze. Yellen is considered under attack. We don’t know anything about the assailant. I’m demanding everyone to stay calm and go back to their work. A lockdown is instituted until we know any better. The social wing will take all the calls from the citizens. Make sure they stay away from the fire. The climate wing will work with the Research center to reduce the carbon dioxide level. The legal wing will stop all of their current activities and contact the military center. The other wings will dispatch all of their staff to help the social, climate and legal wings. I understand that you’re all scared. That is why I am begging you to please help us overcome this crisis. Thank you.”
The administrators immediately went back to work. They were quickly flooded with messages from the citizens, which were all redirected towards the social wing. The legal wing was having a hard time filtering the calls but was able to establish contact with the Military center.
“What are they saying ?” asked the president of Yellen’s Decision center.
“Patrollers are on site right now. It is hard to distinguish much because of the smoke. So far there’s been no casualties. They detected no life form inside the building, unfortunately, that information cannot be confirmed as the captors could be wrong considering the fire.”
“I understand. What about the plaza ?”
“Archive has communicated the presence of approximately twenty people, mostly students who were there to take their aptitude tests, and an examiner. According to Archive, the students are injured and deeply traumatized. The Research center sent a medic already.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Do we have a video of what happened ?” inquired the president.
“Yes, give me a second.”
A hologram appeared and played a video of what happened at the Instruction an hour before the explosion.
“Record- system malfunctioning.- connectors reports - difference between reality and what the subject is seeing - new program detected - virus- subject movements unpredictable - subject more violent - communication cut between Archive and the subject consciousness - Warning- impossibility of fighting the virus - New program deemed safe - Recommendation - staying away from the subjects - do not engage-”
The president was in deep thoughts.
“Call the research center and ask them about the message we just received from Archive. And ask someone to call the Military center. We are under a terrorist attack. The targets are the students on the plaza. We must capture and imprison them.”
“But sir” replied the secretary, “is it wise to go against Archive’s recommendation ?”
“We don’t have much choice, hiding won’t do us any good. We have to take the risk. Tell the research center to prepare a team, I want them to monitor the soon-to-be prisoners.”
“You’ve just received a message from the Pillin colony. They’re inquiring about the situation.”
The president had to assess the situation. Yellen is the colony governing all. Each colony possesses some freedom but in the end, Yellen leads the way. They cannot afford to show the slightest weakness. Especially when the isolationnism movement was gaining strength, and all the colonies were fighting for their independence.
“What a headache.” muttered the president.
“Should I send them that ?” asked the secretary, partly serious.
This made the president laugh.
The plaza
Chaos was arising. The patrollers were fighting the students as best as they could, but their attacks weren’t doing anything. Fire and water lasso weren’t immobilizing them, no matter how many times they were cut by water swords or shot by fire guns, they would still rise and fight. There had been no precedent for this type of battle. The patrollers, who were still neophytes and inexperienced, were losing ground. The whole scene was broadcasted on holograms. The Military center had no idea what they were dealing with, the Research center was fascinated by this new type of magic, and the Decision center was waiting for their president to have a miraculous idea to save them all. It was clear that they had no choice but to capture and stop the girl. A group of soldiers led by the Hero named Lo appeared. They weren’t afraid and smoothly turned the situation upside down. They successfully immobilized the clearly possessed students. In no time, the young red-haired girl was surrounded. It didn’t seem to bother her though. She had this confident look on her face that destabilized the soldiers. Lo approached her.
“It’s over ! Surrender yourself.”
The girl smiled so much that it was warping her face. Her giggle was distorted.
“You can’t stop me.” she said with a voice that came from another world.
Lo blinked. It was enough for the girl to get close to him. She grabbed his throat and lifted him up. A soldier ran towards her in the intent to stop her. The soldier blinked, and found themself on the ground, unconscious. The others wouldn’t move, fearing for their captain’s life. They were all waiting for her moment of weakness. The girl finally let go of Lo. The Hero’s back bent in half and unbent in an instant. He looked at his soldier for a few seconds before jumping at them.
Decision center
Upon seeing this terrific view, it became clear the girl couldn’t be captured. This ordeal was putting the president in a difficult position. It had to be contained for the truth to be sealed. A message from the Research center appeared with information so confidential that even the secretary couldn’t read it. The president sighed.
“Tell them they can do it.”
“Do what sir ?”
The president ignored his question.
“Tell the Military center to capture and imprison the heroes Syenah and Benhart. Have them questioned about their involvement in this terrorist attack. It is obvious that they used their daughter to spread their vicious terrorist propaganda and turn our own students against us. They even corrupted Lo and his team.”
The secretary was confused. It didn’t look like the students and soldiers were acting according to their own free will, but rather more like they were forced to. The president stood up.
“Archive, this is a command from the president of the Decision center of Yellen, forbid the access from the videos of the Instruction center, the Plaza, the Military center, the Research center and the Decision center of today. It is now confidential and only me and the person I authorized can have access to it. Do you confirm ?”
“Command confirm - access to the video of the 32nd Iuni, 15th month, year 151 of the Decision center restricted - access to the video of the 32nd Iuni, 15th month, year 151 of the Military center restricted - access to the video of the 32nd Iuni, 15th month, year 151 of the Research center restricted - access to the video of the 32nd Iuni, 15th month, year 151 of the Instruction center restricted - access to the video of the 32nd Iuni, 15th month, year 151 of the plaza restricted”
Military center
They entered the interrogation room.
“Sit please” said the direction with a sign of his hand.
Syenah was looking intensively at him, piercing his eyes with her fierce look. She sat down in front of him and was the one who broke the silence.
“I understand, given the circumstances why some would suspect me, but let’s be honest, wouldn’t I be more useful on the battlefield than in this tiny room answering probably dumb questions ?”
“You’re accused of treason, Syenah. Those allegations cannot be taken lightly.”
“Who would accuse me of that ?”
“The state. Your own daughter is leading a terrorist attack against the city.”
“This is ridiculous. Who would believe that ? Do you ? Do you actually believe that ?”
“It doesn’t matter what I believe, Syenah. I know you, you’re an ambitious woman who would do anything for power. And I know how you raised your daughter, she is basically an empty puppet who is ready to please you for a bit of recognition.”
“So what, I planned a coup d’etat now ? You know me better than that. I wouldn’t use a bunch of dumb students for that. Use a bit of force against them and they will falter.”
“And yet we’re the ones losing.”
Syenah didn’t know what to say. Her first thought was to just kill her daughter. But she quickly realized the gravity of her situation. Her own daughter was a terrorist. Both her parents were Heroes, and detained precious information that could cause the destruction of Yellen. They’ve already lost the trust of their team and superior. She had to really think about what to say in order to save her status. That was the only issue that mattered. But her daughter being a terrorist ? Convincing her comrades of committing treason and going against society? That didn’t sound like Yeetlhy at all. She made sure that the child would be nothing more than just a doll. The director looked somewhere else, then stood up.
“I have to go. This situation is getting out of hand. Stay here and take some time to reflect on your actions. We will come back to deal with you and your husband once we’ve stopped your daughter.”
They left the room and locked the door. Something was off. Yes the situation wasn’t in her favor, but accusing her entire family of treason when she worked so hard to obtain the status of Hero. It was obvious, they wanted to hide something and put the blame on her.
“Like I’m gonna let you ruin my life.” she thought.
Syenah looked at the door, she could easily open something like that, she just needed to override it. Took her a few minutes to unlock the door and run outside. Benhart was standing in front of the main hall, assessing the situation. She passed by him without giving in much thought. She had to feel the air.
The Instruction center was completely destroyed. The Decision center was burning down. Corpses were covering the plaza. And the possessed were aimlessly wandering around. In the middle of that chaos stood Yeetlhy. She didn’t look like the scared little girl that she raised. There was something divine about her. She was standing among them, and yet her look and aura was surpassing them. This sight was hurting Syenah’s pride.
“How dare she act so high and mighty when she is nothing but an eyesore…” She grinds her teeth.
Yeetlhy didn’t give the hero a single glimpse and walked towards the Research center. Syenah was even more angered by this. The Heroe didn’t hesitate to attack her. Benhart walked out to stop her.
“Don’t get too close to her.” He yelled.
But Syenah wouldn’t listen. Her ego was her fatal flaw. She pulled out her two swords and aimed for her daughter’s head. Syenah was fast, but Yeetlhy was faster. The girl crouched, put one hand on the ground and spinned her leg to give it more strength before kicking her mother’s left leg. Syenah lost balance but compensated by using her water sword. She jumped above her daughter to get back on her two feet. She flipped her water sword, turned around and tried to cut Yeetlhy in half with her fire sword. Then again, Yeetlhy was faster, she avoided it and used that opportunity to grab her mother’s hands. A water dagger appeared from the back of Syenah’s feet and she raised it toward the girl’s throat. It was a sharp and precise blow. The hero was sure of her success. But she couldn’t attain her target. Something was stopping her. When she looked at her child’s face, she saw a distorted smile that gave her shivers. Her leg started to tremble before breaking into pieces. The pain was unbearable. Syenah couldn’t control her screams. Her whole body started breaking. Her bones would shatter into parts and go back together again and again. Yeetlhy eventually let go. Benhart was looking at the whole fight with terror in his eyes. He saw his wife getting back on her feet and knew that it was over. He pulled out his gun and ran towards Yeetlhy. He wanted to die as a hero.