A weed, lost and led astray, growing in a wrong path; the dandelion, or what Hans Christian Andersen once called, “The Devil’s Milk Pail”. There the tale revealed us that God sees everything as equal and lovely in his eyes similar to how the Countess appreciated the beauty of the apple branch as well as the yellow dandelions swinging back and forth in between the grasslands. The dandelion, by just a gust of wind would fly straight to it, would be left with nothing 一 or be trampled and stomped on by people because it’s just a ‘weed’, a wild grown flower from the unknown.

Keisha, too, was a wild flower that once was kissed by the sunbeams and brought to life. Not chosen nor existential to everyone’s eyes, she was indeed considered as the devil’s milk pail. Those who would acknowledge themselves as the delicate apple branch planted in a rich soil placed in a porcelain vase inside a mansion looked down on her for being someone not special enough. And this same wild flower grew into as beautiful as the diamond lily, becoming a threat in the eyes of everyone.

Inside the void, she once again blossomed; this time, her aura was far different from her true personality. Looking like a newborn curse glowing in purple, in her purest form, her heartbeat began to create a sound. The void soon shone a little of its light, showing her body surrounded by still waters and in every beat would provide light. Her closed eyes slowly opened as soon as the eleventh beat woke her subconsciousness. Her irises glowed in scarlet, blood dripping from her tear ducts as she began to sink in the now stormy sea. She did not struggle but instead let herself be brought to where the waves want her to go.

A faint voice hollered from the distant waters, her vision was too blurry for her to see who that person was. Or maybe the fact that she’s blinded by how the people, who were now corpses to her, had treated her. Her eyes now looked as if they were gouged out that she completely lost her sight. Her numbness started to reside in her body and her ears bled until her senses would become blank.

“Keisha!”, the voice who constantly called her, struggling from the gigantic waves, reached his hand towards her direction.

She did not respond, her eyelids decided to close as a sign of surrender; thus, letting things be. Then the seas, in a faster pace, began to lose its light and colour 一 leaving a void and the sinking woman continuously down to nowhere. Her aura fainted until a single light was seen no more.

The voice was not heard anymore. In reality, she woke up again in her hospital bed where she was chained. Her bleeding eyes she had in the void were still observed in reality, a purple aura symbolizing the curse dwelling inside her genes lit up and caught everyone’s attention. Zhackary, who was sitting right next to her, fell from his chair out of his surprise. As he gazed up, he saw Keisha effortlessly broke the chains that her own brother set up for her. The ground shook, her presence created disturbance all over the NJG’s territory, more like an earthquake in magnitude five.

She was staying afloat in her white dress on the cottony soft sheets below her. Her crimson eyes turned to Ruby’s direction who was now dazed as she witnessed the one who adopted her back a week before. Abruptly, she hovered towards the young one then her sharp nails scarred Ruby’s forehead until it bled. Suddenly, the time stopped.

Keisha regained Ruby’s memory from last night’s scenario where she was beaten almost to death. There she viewed the people involved in the unsolved case, as well as the man with a scar and his other features for a clue. The clock ticked again and a message was sent through Zhackary’s S-chip; Keisha was the sender. She shared the memory she acquired through Ruby’s memory core to help him with determining the people involved.

Not a little while, she went back to her bed fast asleep as if nothing had happened. Every single one of them was filled with confusion and fear, especially Ruby whose forehead was dripping blood.

“Why did she hurt you just like that?”, Jaden questioned the bewildered young lady, frozen still sitting on a monoblock and staring at Keisha’s closed eyes. He noticed it quickly and ran to her and snapped right in front of her. “Hey, Ruby!”

“Nini’s drowning… Nini’s drowning”, Ruby said repeatedly as her eyes teared up in sadness but were still wide open without blinks.

“What do you mean? What did she do?” Jaden now shook her that it alarmed Shino to stop him. In his eyes were mere desperation whereas he had no idea of the phenomenon that his sister created just now.

“Hey bud, give her time to regain her senses”, Shino reminded him and he was effectively calmed down. They both sighed as they waited for the answers.

“Nini is drowning… T-there is a void. A very dark one where no one can see a single light”, she paused for a while and let her tears burst from her eyes.

Everyone was focused on what Ruby wanted to imply. Different expressions were seen: one filled with confusion, one with astonishment, one with fear, one with remorse, and one with disbelief. The room was quiet and it was only Ruby’s voice hiding the loud silence.

“Her eyes were bleeding and they looked like they’re gouged out. But… she’s not struggling. She’s just letting herself sink. What does that mean?” she continued.

“She-”, Zhackary began muttering his words in his mouth. Noticeably, he held his head in pain after the supernatural event that each of them witnessed. His eyes were filled with sadness too.

“She did something to you too?” Jaden asked, desperate for answers, tried to take note of all the unexplainable events he’d spectate.

“Sh-she sent me a vivid memory where she was beaten. It was the same as what Ruby saw that night. I saw everything. I saw Regan… Phillip… Albie… and a lot more of them I could recognize”, Zhackary responded but was in disbelief because they were well aware that Seditio Syndrome itself couldn’t do anything like this.

“How about the man that we suspect? He might be the one leaking information to the enemy faction”, Jeffery theorized, trying to connect the dots with the information they acquired.

“I’m afraid I could only view what Ruby saw that time. But at least we have our clues. We’re near to closing the case”, he answered, regaining his composure from a bottled water to replenish his used up energy.

*Meanwhile in Utopia*

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS EARTHQUAKE?!”, Iyaz exclaimed on the top of his lungs after failing to save his expensive Italian wine that collided with the hardwood floor of his room. Even his goblet that he just purchased a day before was left to pieces because of the sudden shaking of the ground.

Some of their infrastructures were damaged although it was only a moderate magnitude. After all, their facilities may look astonishing on the outside, they lack strong foundation inside. Unlike Ciphers’, their tents may appear cheap but they were sturdy enough to provide shelter.

*Back in Cipher’s emergency ward*

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“I haven’t seen anything like this before. I am not certain that this was Seditio’s doing at all. I might need to do research on this phenomenon myself”, Rhianna told her company although she’s not as enthusiastic as before out of the fear that her underclassman, Jaden, would say something about her. The fear that she felt rose deep inside her and her past kept on knocking at the doors of her thoughts that were meant to be forgotten.

Nonetheless, Jaden spoke up, ringing her senses and sent the chill down to her spine, “I think the twins and I need to join in. I’d suggest kuya Shino to tag in as well. It will be a burden to your work if you do that alone.”

She was left unable to speak, letting them take her silence as her confirmation to the request that Jaden proposed. The others nodded to agree with his overture as they were also desperate to find a solution to Keisha's mysterious being.

“I might have to allow you to make that decision. Is that okay to you Rhianna? You shouldn’t shoulder everything to yourself, you know”, Zhackary suggested, patting her shoulder after he noticed her growing anxiety seen in her eyes. He already knew if she’s in her season wherein her traumatic past comes back, after all, they’re close friends.

Rhianna just responded with a weak smile to confirm that she agreed with Jaden. Zhackary was well-aware how she craved for space and time alone. And so he whispered in her ear, “You can leave the rest to us for now. You should take a rest. I’ve called Nix already to meet with you later.”

Chalantly, she waved goodbye to everyone then silently walked out of the room. The others did not ask about her to give respect, thus, they continued on talking in lieu of Keisha's condition.

“Is Nini going to be okay? She’s still not waking up after that weird thing happened”, Ruby asked, still staring over Keisha’s unconscious self.

“She’ll definitely wake up after an hour. The Propofol dose we’ve injected her won’t last that long”, Jaden assured, certain enough to erase Ruby’s worries towards Keisha’s outrage.

“Hey Ruby”, Zhackary called on her, pointing at her forehead. She quickly turned to him and touched her forehead with dried out blood from the scar that Keisha created a moment ago. “We should treat that now. Does it hurt?”

She responded with sureness in her tone, “Not at all. Does it look bad?”

Zhackary smiled at her and shook his head ‘no’.

----------------------------------------

*omeox lwvzr jqvlg u*

A little dandelion about seven years old was sitting on the far side of the classroom, away from her classmates. All unwanted and pushed away, she thought to herself, “No one would want a crybaby like me. Even my teachers despise me.”

She began questioning all the things she’d done although she couldn’t see anything wrong. Or maybe she’s just blinded by only the beautiful things that’s why she couldn’t see the truth in her reflection. Her curiosity started to break the boundaries of the reality of life from her delusions. Her innocence was once in oblivion, now the void pulled it to show her how cruel the world was.

“I don’t understand. They were only making fun of my height. What’s wrong with that?”

The void answered her back, revealing the answer to her first question, “fpktp zkhuh cdjca gjmtb dnfwc yznpr kaouq lcfbz shuye bvuzg srbzt drmhy w”. Not a little while, it warped to a new time space.

The same innocent in her eighth grade was being stormed by her classmates for a group project. For once, she felt accepted by everyone since she’s not being treated invisible anymore. Her name was repeatedly called back and forth by them. She was happy to the extent that she felt as if she’s an important person now. Her name became well-known on their campus; indeed a dream come true.

She began to get a lot of praises from their teachers and the students around her. The admiration, the love that she thought she deserved now rained down on her.

“Isn’t this great? Finally, they recognize me and I think they like me. They see me as a good person. I can now forget those bad things that people said to me before. I can now breathe.”

And for the second time, the void filled the atmosphere with full pity and melancholy, its voice did not sound as optimistic as her, “kfsds jegoe kgxtr npszk ivjwj kmwfz pujgp crdfd wqrvp wtdzq fdstq xyyur jnkui jrgjg drawt mitaa wwxfd roipc rkfdy qarie hysyj rlmfa qivfr cnysk opdcr uickb lvkeq ufqah pvumr tunfm g”

The void traveled through time two years after. The dandelion found another flower with a good personality. She thought to herself that it would be nice to experience love for once in a while. That same blissful year was the time when she first encountered a kiss. It was an embarrassing moment for the two of them but their hearts rejoiced and were racing.

And at the same time she felt guilty for keeping their relationship a secret out of the fright that her family would disown her for not abiding by the rules given to her. She ignored that fear and let herself enjoy that temporary moment given to her life.

“I bet we’d be together for a long time. He’s a nice guy after all. And the fact that both my parents would understand that I need a bit of love in my life. It wouldn’t do anything bad, would it?”

The void now took form to be the voice in her head to warn her about the possible outcome of her actions. Its voice became as doleful as ever.

“lftnr ghkiv lgdfc actrp gpdre nyaqd aqtno mlpfb ngdqf ebtfg jargx udjfv zbpdo agepk kqrjf sjwgi ykzov pxnrz bneag qffst mbmnd eejlh kssmk weytd daozr xwhag ijfmd sokaa ymqrm wcetu ifysq uzxrd ozzma quhoc dfspf vg”

Then the next year came and her moving up ceremony happened to be one of the worst events in the history of her life. She anticipated that she’d be called on stage to claim her reward for being passionate enough on her works. She did everything she could to be on top.

She fell downwards until her name was completely erased, until she was forgotten. Everyone kept and observed distance towards her as if there’s a barrier keeping her from getting to them. Faint laughters got louder and louder down to the point that they would be deafening. The other flowers plucked off of her petals one by one in a fast pace until she’s almost left with no more. She shut her doors in her little dollhouse to protect herself from being continuously trampled.

Her feathery and fragile petals were almost gone, stems were wobbly and her leaves were suffering in drought. She thought to herself that she’d survive if she’d stay in that house where no one could trample on her. Her eyes now had salty tears coming out from them. She’s now filled with confusion and disappointment towards herself.

“They took advantage of me. I was so nice to them that I helped them in every way. But why am I experiencing this shit? Why me? Why are they there right on the top and I’m here being stepped on? Am I a bad person?”

The void now entrapped her house in vines to keep her safe from the harsh reality. Deep in its core was full of guilt out of the fact that it was the reason that she stepped out of the doors of her safezone. The vines pulled the house down to the abyss where no one could see nor hear her. It’ll be the only way for her to recover and regain her petals back again.

It spoke to her, hoping that she’d hear its plea, “navdg wlmur fploj xtdzw soqxb rgobd xnetq qyvgt alshn tvtde lcrvm mbycv kbjmc jgwpm dxkac qzmby wknjc uwdmb qiecd enuvu zmrll nfjlr vntpi gnysg dfuny xgqtz vqgcr pxecl rqouf kjjsx bxwzm ccxoc oewco yudww xtbqt izofo gzaso qwwqi kdhkg tfmpm xzwdl pevkh moaqb drood lhcwt wxigj clgcc xpnkf kmfcf jsxfk jnnor kpjpm vuezq syvzq qwwfl chdsp mwwzv sxofr edd”

“What are you saying? Why can’t you say anything that is not stupid?” She snapped angrily back at the void.

And the void answered again, “ktitq ciswf clh”.

Its response to her question sounded as pointless as ever. So, she furiously cut the vines surrounding her home then swam back up in the harsh reality. The dandelion told herself that it may have been just fate that brought her to experience that. To add, she always kept in her mind that everyone could suffer for one time and that she wasn’t an exception.

For the final time, the last of her petals were plucked out from her until there’s no more to pluck anymore. She was hated once again for her appearance, all unrecovered and washed up. Subsequently, she then realized that she committed mistakes. And for those tiny mistakes she’d done was a massive trample mobbed directly on her. Then again, she ran back to her safezone, yet this time she’s in a hopeless state.

She got mad towards the void who was giving her the warning all this time. Suffered in damnation, she cursed at it as if it was the cause of her problems.

The void finally took the form of a human at its purest to confront the dying dandelion, it pointed directly at her heart then pierced it until she would feel pain.

“every incho fyour actio nswil lsure lyhav eeach ofthe ircon seque ncesr efrai nfrom cover ingyo urear sandl isten tothe voice whowi shest oguid eyou.”