chapter 9
Yeetlhy didn’t feel like she was part of this world anymore. She could only watch from afar, her few attempts to get back control of her body meaningless. Why were they all trying to kill her ? Why wasn’t anyone out there ready to save her ? She was hurt on so many levels. The moment her body grabbed her mother, she could feel all the hatred Syenah had for her. What did the poor teenager do to deserve this harsh treatment ? Yeetlhy was spiraling between confusion, chaos and despair. She screamed and cried, begging to get her body back. Anger took over and she started throwing punches at the windows. Each punch felt like a knife was stabbing her heart. She was feeling the fear and sorrow of all these people she was connected to. The girl soon calmed down.
What was happening to her ? Why her ? How was she able to see so many different views at the same time ? It felt like she had eyes everywhere… eyes ? What if she does have eyes everywhere ? She could feel the pain of those people and hear their thoughts, and also see what they see. She got closer to the windows, trying to find clues, little details that would help her comprehend her situation. Yeetlhy soon noticed that when her body grabbed someone, a window would appear. Is this what happened to her ? Has someone grabbed her and pushed her consciousness out of her body ? The girl always felt like someone somewhere was watching her. She could feel eyes staring deep into her heart, waiting for a moment of weakness. She always attributed that feeling to her parents' abusive behavior, but what if she was wrong ? What if someone was actually watching her ? But why and how ? There is no kind of magic in this world that could control someone’s mind, or so she thought. And if that was true, how to stop them ? Yeetlhy was stuck in some kind of mind space, unable to do anything, while the others out there were trying to kill her and were failing at that.
“It’s not me !” she screamed at the windows “Please save me, please !”, while looking at the soldiers' desperate attempt to execute her.
“Why ? Why me ? I’m no one ! I don’t have any powers, any friends, any family. I’m just a stupid clueless girl hated by everyone ! What do you want ? What do you want from me ?!” Asked the young girl knowing that no one would answer her.
Yeetlhy was partially looking at the windows, her mind was wandering, dozing off. Her eyes set on a view of the inside of the Decision center. The fire was almost extinguished. The whole building was now in ruins. But it isn’t what attracted her. There was something special. As she focused, a flood of information came to her. She knew the name, age, address, the job, and details of the person whose window belonged to. The flow of information naturally came to her. Yeetlhy tried the same on other windows and the same phenomenon happened. This rekindled the flame of hope in her heart. The girl lost focus again when she stumbled upon her mother’s and father’s windows. That is when she realized that her parents were dead, that all of this was really happening. It was probably a dumb thought, to realize only now that it wasn’t all a dream. Her hand reached the window, and like drawn to it, she crossed the window and fell.
After a few minutes, Yeetlhy finally landed on the ground. The room was completely different from the window space. She could see the surrounding area, a desert, completely surrounding her. The fog prevented her from seeing the sky. She walked around a bit before hearing voices. Once Yeetlhy arrived at the source of the voices, the room changed. The ground moved, and the fog made way for the sky.
Yeetlhy was now in the middle of a destroyed house. She could hear explosions and people screaming far away. She looked more in the room and saw a small group of people in the corner. They were taking care of a pregnant woman. Yeetlhy never saw clothes like that before. But she recognized the person who was about to give birth. It was her mother. And she recognized the place as she studied it so much in history class and during her personal time. It was the mountain of Milesra. Meaning that the group of people around her were rebels. Soldiers would never wear those kinds of uniforms. They were all around Syenah. Helping her the best they could. Yeetlhy finally heard it. The screams of a baby. She became the witness of her own birth.
“Get rid of that thing.” Yelled Syenah while pointing her sword at the rebels.
The group was taken aback. The person holding the baby strengthened her grip.
“We can’t leave the baby with her !” said one of the rebels.
“How do you want us to survive in the wild with a baby ? Should we invite the soldiers to play Mommy&Daddy with us ?”
The group remained silent for a bit. Syenah silently took her sword and changed it into a gun. She then infused her magic forming a water arrow. She aimed at the baby but lost consciousness almost immediately. The arrow disappeared.
“We have to take her. We can’t let this baby with a person like that. It’s like killing her ourselves.”
“It’s not our responsibility. Can you say with confidence right now that this baby will survive without endangering our lives ? If not, then leave the baby here.”
The group heard soldiers coming their way. They put down the baby near Syenah and ran away. Soldiers invaded the room and carried the hero and her baby back to their camp.
The room changed back to the desert. Yeetlhy was confused.
“What was that ?” she thought, “was it a hallucination or was it really a memory ?”
The room changed again.
“For the record, I’m Limo. I work for the research center. More exactly in the cristal department. The heroes Syenah and Behnart requested an appointment. I usually don’t accept any appointments, but an exception was made. Now how can I help you ?” said a middle-aged bald man.
“You might want to turn that record off.” said Syenah.
“That is not how it works, and you know that. Archive records everything whether you like it or not.” replied Limo.
“Indeed,” replied Benhart, “but we thought you might want to keep this conversation private.”
The bald man in a white blouse looked at them suspiciously.
“Fine, Archive, I command you, as the head director of the cristal department, to deny access to this record to those who have an accreditation lower than mine. Confirm command.”
“Record - Command confirmed - Those with a status lower than HEAD DIRECTOR OF THE CRISTAL DEPARTMENT will be denied the access to this record.” answered Archive.
“Good. Now, what can I do for you ?” Asked Limo.
“Due to our status, we have a lot of privileges, which also comes with a lot of responsibilities, of course.” replied Benhart, smiling, “And as you’re aware, my position in the Military center allows me access to pretty much every area, including daily responsibilities like simple police work.”
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Limo was listening to this long monologue, waiting for the Hero to drop the ball.
“I keep a close eye on what is going on inside this colony. And I couldn’t help but notice that every year, on the aptitude test, one or two students disappear.”
The bald man flinched but quickly regained his composure.
“Well that is terrible, is there anything I can do to help ?”
“Yes, there is. From what I’ve seen, every file concerning those cases disappears as soon as they are created. And I’ve noticed that you and your team also disappear for a few days when it happens. Which makes me think that first, you have something to do with those disappearances.”
“That is outrageous,” interrupted Limo, “you’re accusing me of something this serious on circumstantial grounds.”
“And second, your work is clearly an unofficial but very approved secret project.”
Limo went silent.
“It’s not a threat.” proclaimed Syenah.
“That’s right,” added Benhart, “if this was approved by the government, we don’t have any reason to attack you. You have nothing to fear from us. We are here to strike a deal with you.”
“What deal ?”
“We don’t know what you’re doing with those children, and we don’t care. But during this year’s aptitude test, we want you to pick our daughter as one of your lab experiments, I think.” answered Syenah with a calm that gave Limo shivers.
“If I may ask, why do you want to get rid of her ? She is your child.”
“She is nothing but a nuisance.” coldly responded Syenah, “A stupid girl who doesn’t know her place. A failure to my bloodline.”
“She was a mistake.” proclaimed Benhart with a much calmer tone and face, “She wasn’t wanted, but once Syenah got pregnant, we couldn’t really go backwards. We tried to raise her, but she causes trouble everywhere she goes. She doesn’t have any magic in her. I’m sure she will be more useful to you than to our society.”
“No magic, huh…” whispered Limo, a smirk on his face. “Deal. I will do it. Remember to keep this a secret.”
Benhart and Syenah both nodded their heads as a sign of approval. Limo escorted the heroes outside. The room changed again.
Yeetlhy had a hard time breathing. She couldn’t accept what she saw.
“I need to leave. Let me out. LET ME OUT.”
Yeetlhy screamed more and more. Until she was too tired to stand. She closed her eyes and let her mind go blank. When she opened her eyes. She was back in the window space. She stared at the windows for a while. The young girl couldn’t stop thinking about what she just learned.
“They kidnapped children during the aptitude test. And no one questioned it. The decision center even approved it. They knew about it and decided to sell me to them. Why ? Was I that bad of a daughter ? What did I do so wrong ? Why me ? Mom, please. No… Why…What were they going to do to me ?”
The young girl sat there in disbelief. Deep down she always knew that her parents never loved her, but not to the extent of ending her life. What would her parents have done with her if Limo hadn’t taken the deal ? Then it clicked. Limo, he was the one. He did something to her. The Head director of the cristal department was the one controlling her body. She was sure of it. Yeetlhy looked at a window. This one belonged to the president of the decision center. He knew about everything. Archive always reports everything to the president and obeys each and every of his commands. He approved of Limo’s wrongdoing. She dived in.
After the fall was over. Yeetlhy heard voices that felt familiar. It became clearer once the room changed. She was now inside what seems to be Limo’s office. The President of the Decision center was there too. It was unusual for him to go out of the Decision Center since there’s an entire wing that deals with reports from the different centers of Yellen. The young girl already had a bad feeling about Limo. Now the whole meeting that she was witnessing felt even more suspicious. She already knew that the Decision center was involved in Limo’s work. And she had a hunch that soon, she will learn how deep they’re implicated in.
“Sir.”
“Limo ! I’m glad that you agreed to meet me. We have a lot to talk about you and me.”
“It’s always an honor to welcome the President of the Decision center. This is actually not the first time that a President of the Decision Center requested a meeting with me. I think the first encounter I had with your predecessors goes back to 25 years ago.”
“27 years ago to be accurate. This is actually the main order of this meeting. From what I know, you were at that time in charge of a special project for our society.”
Limo was distraught.
“Yes Sir, that is true.” he said with a trembling voice.
“I also know that the reason you met my predecessor 27 years ago was to shut down this project.”
“That is also correct.”
The president sat on Limo’s desk, nodding and lost in thoughts. The head director was troubled by the president’s strange behavior.
“I’m gonna tell you a little story, Limo. When I was a child, I dreamed of big things. I thought I would conquer the outside world, rule it and bring peace on Aglion. I dreamed of united colonies following a single lead. And I thought I would be the one leading them. But I grew up among people who didn’t believe in me. They would tell me that I didn’t fit in this society. That I didn’t have the capabilities to guide Yellen into a brighter future. As I grew up, I met people who I deeply respected, ordering me around. They said they were helping me. They said they would find my place in this society. One day, I decided to go against them. I would be the one choosing my path. Not others. Through a lot of sweat and hard work, I raised my status and value. And now look at me. I am the President of the Decision Center of Yellen. The highest status someone can have after god.”
The president paused his monologue and looked at Limo in the eyes.
“Do you know why I’m telling you this Limo ?”
“No sir” responded Limo, feverish.
“Because those people may have been wrong about my value, but they had much more knowledge about me than I had about myself. They knew exactly what to do, when to do it and why. I want to be that kind of person. I want to give the opportunity to people like me to be that kind of person.”
“I understand sir. But how am I of use here ?”
“It’s quite simple actually. I want the restoration of the dark flame project. And I want you to lead it. We will reinstated the facilities as well as the procedures. The goal will be the same. Except this time you will have to learn from your mistakes.”
“But Sir, this project has been shut down for a reason. If we’ve met with another rebellion like last time, we might not be able to hide it from the population.”
“Then you just need to do better than last time. Pick better scientists. Create better procedures. Make better tests. The Decision center will help you with whatever you need. This project was created for a reason. It was closed for a reason. Now we have reasons to open it again.”
“But Sir, if we…”
Limo stopped talking. His eyes went blank.
“That’s why I hate it when people don’t do as they’re told. I wouldn’t have to use such manipulation if they knew their places. Don’t worry Limo, everything will go as planned. Just accept my offer.”
When Limo regained consciousness, the President had already left. He didn't know how the meeting ended. The only thing Limo was convinced of is that the dark flame project was now reinstated and that he somehow agreed with it. He got up.
“I have to go to work now.”
Yeetlhy didn’t wait for the room to change and immediately went back to the window space. She had now the certainty that the President wasn’t normal. They have the power to manipulate people. The President was the one manipulating her. They must definitely be involved in the chaos that was happening outside right now. But this scenario confused Yeetlhy even more. Why would a person who already has control over everything try to destroy it all ? Maybe the president wasn’t the only person like that. If this was the case, it probably meant that a lot of those persons with special abilities were living incognito. She suddenly felt her body rushing towards the research center. But the feeling was overpowering her. It wasn’t just her body. All the possessed people were running in the direction of the research center. An image was stuck in her mind. One of a cristal.