Yes, This Is How The World Works
Lýmoca's Eusat State. A few tens of minutes from the border with the nation state, Preut. A few hours after Preut's 3 military camps notified their civilians of the congregation points. In a safe house, large and lavish.
“Yes, sir. Miss Vice president is coming here now. She will arrive in about 5 hours due to some matters,” a woman spoke to Luis Heartez, the man who had become Lýmoca's first second-term president. The president was a young man not even in his 40s, but he had already been a sight to behold in the world, breaking Lýmoca's renown policy in those first 3 years of his first term. Nevertheless, he once again convinced the people he was their natural leader, one way or another.
Light brown skin and serious, sharp, gray-black eyes, 1.91 meters tall, and short, flat black hair. He was a young man still in the beginning of his prime. Besides being handsome, he had a smile that only grew more dashing with each passing year.
“Is that so? I’m glad. Thanks, Rena. Leave me with my daughter, please.” The president said. The woman nodded and took her black leather case away with her. Luis breathed in, feeling troubled, before looking at the tall white doors with floral patterns of similar colors all over.
Closing his eyes, he seemed to remember the past, way before becoming Lýmoca’s president, where he lived a leisure life with his wife and daughter, gone down the gutter and momentarily pushed away. Taking this position has been life-changing multiple times for him. He couldn’t imagine what it was like for his daughter, who now can’t even step out of safe buildings without a security team.
After another light breath went into his lungs, he opened the doors and carefully went inside, slowly closing the doors behind him.
“Oh my, did you see that?” A young woman, working as secretary of one of the president’s employees, who followed him here, spoke to another secretary. Another young woman nodded and covered her mouth before whispering, “He still treats his daughter well. Hm, at least he can still show care for someone. With the way his first term went… Tsk. I couldn’t really say he would dare to remain here.”
“Mhm~, it requires balls.” Yet another secretary spoke, followed by the first. “Well, I’m sure he has some after all his lonely time. Don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen or heard anything about him being with another woman, or man, for that matter.”
“Oi, do you think he and his da-” The second secretary to speak smiled and even snorted to herself before speaking, but the third secretary stopped her with a whispered bark. “Don’t be stupid! Keep saying those things, and we might have to meet a new coworker soon.”
“Tsk,” the second secretary exclaimed but said nothing afterwards. One of them sighed a little, “Many things have gone and could still go wrong, or badly done, but here’s one thing they don’t seem to fail at. Their spying tech is really good, huh?”
The young woman who spoke just now was stared at before the other secretaries took small steps away from her, making the former feel a little apprehensive.
… In the room, Luis Heartez was just a father sitting in front of his daughter, who looked barely something like him.
Now almost a young woman, 17 years old, and growing ever more beautiful, the president’s daughter sat on the other side of the white, exotic, lavish table with countless gaps in its design. Her appearance came mostly from her mother, which the heartbroken father could only marvel and reminisce about as his little baby continued growing into a clever mini version of his deceased wife.
She had creamy white golden skin, beautiful golden, blonde long hair, like a cascade down her hips. She was shorter than her father, and it didn’t seem like she’d grow much taller than that. Profound black eyes that showed more of her character, something that reminded her father of his younger days with her mother.
“How is my little baby doing?” Luis asked her, holding her right hand atop the table with care. The lass looked at him with upturned eyes and a slightly lowered head, but she didn’t move her hand away. They were larger than hers and warmer, making her feel safe.
She had a few bruises on that hand, which he caressed with the softness of his palm, but her other hand, which was worse, and even with dried blood, was hidden in her clothes beneath the table. Luis looked at it fleetingly before his daughter finally spoke.
“I am fine, father. I just reacted too slowly. It doesn’t matter.”
“Then, why did you go there?” Her father gently asked, slightly letting go of her hand to reveal her bruised knuckles and half of her fingers. It trembled, exposed before his sharp eyes.
“I… I just wanted to be like you and mom. It is my aspiration to not just be your daughter, can I not have ambition?” The daughter asked, putting up a slight front towards her father. He simply smiled though, and looked at her with an affectionate glance, he couldn’t do anything else.
“Going to the school march was a bit not what interests me, but I had to go there and see, feel, and experience just what you and mother did. I liked it, until the brawl with other classes started.” She kept her head low after speaking, feeling embarrassed, or perhaps feeling she disappointed her father.
“But was it what you wanted?”
“…” His soft words came to her ears like the soundless whistles of wind caressing her temples, gentle and caring. Her eyes shuddered a little as she looked up at him and saw his ravishing face. Feeling a tiny bit of pride in her heart, she sniffled her little nostrils and said, “No, it wasn’t.”
“There, there…” Luis caressed the back of her hand, letting her feel comforted, even if just a little. Seeing her expression soothing, albeit embarrassed still, he took a soundless, large breath into his lungs through his nostrils before using his fatherly voice.
“What is that? Is my ambitious daughter, who kicks me out of the house every day the country isn’t doing well, feeling girly and all ‘daddy is my hero’ now?” Smiling, he saw his daughter’s cheeks blush. He grinned even harder and let go of her hand. He placed his hands to the sides before him, on the table, and tapped them as he continued.
“Your mother was very enthusiastic to make a point. Even if it was just a letter, just a screaming word from the back, or merely her hand signs or infuriated face, she’d work to achieve it. How do you think she got us three into this hassle?”
The daughter smiled a little, feeling sheepish at hearing more of her mother like this.
“I’m the president because she had such a strong presence whenever she put herself to the task. It’s only her weak body that slowly made her soar higher than us, and sooner.” Luis dropped a few tears from his eyes, not even bothering to hide it. “But it is because of your mother and I that you could be born, Esme.”
Esme looked at her father with upturned eyes, but this time with her head held high, as he stood beside her. With his left hand on her right shoulder, her lips twitched, seemingly in pain, as he continued.
“If, em… if… If you want to make your road ahead, and don’t want anyone’s hands having anything to do with it, then start by following what you desire. The heart and the mind are different… err… err, things. But they work bilaterally. Both won’t be complete without the other, you’ll learn that very fast, soon.”
“Mm? Soon?” Esme asked, a little perplexed. Luis smiled, looked down, and took a small notebook with thin pages, barely a finger thick, from his suit. “I want my daughter’s help again. She was so good last time that I need her again. Besides, who, besides Lesly, can help me so much wherever I am?”
“What about Roam?” Esme asked, but she still took the notebook with an elegant smoothness. Luis looked at her and said, teasing her, “Don’t tell me you want to give this task to Roam? If you don’t want it-”
“I’ll get right away with it.” Esme said, headstrong. She cut her father off and gave the notebook a little ogle. She hid her eyes’ excitement and trembling well, already used to it. But then, she looked at her father’s face, seemingly noticing something. She asked in a low volume, “Wait… What does this mean?”
“It means your father wants your help. But you still need time and experience. With it, you might even surpass your aunty, or even the vice president. Heh. Don’t you want to make us proud?” Luis responded at once, just waiting for her to ask this. But his smile was silly, albeit charming.
“Then, what do you want for me in the future?” Esme asked. Her eyes glowed and shook a little, feeling immeasurably contented. Luis smirked with mirth, “I want to see my daughter, of course. But I also am going to see her married and beloved.”
Esme’s face blushed with every passing nanosecond. Her face turned so red it could replicate the sun in a small model project about nature. She clenched her fist like a little girl and said in the cutest voice she’s had since being a little kid, melting her father’s weak heart. “So you accept my terms?”
“Sigh, yes. Go ahead and choose your future. What would I be doing, limiting my child’s life? Tsk, you better not choose anyone from that school, alright?” Luis said, with his hands in his pockets, coming in and out to express his attitude. Meanwhile, Esme stood up.
“Okay,” she cutely said before hugging him behind his armpits. Her beautiful, small forehead against her father’s chest, she then said while looking up at him. “Pa, can we go to the big ass living room and watch the match there? Those were you and mom’s favorites, right? It’s been a while since I watched some fut with you. Do you wanna?”
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“Of course… Wow, I almost forgot how many ‘different’ words you used back then. Sigh, so many clips of my beautiful gem acting like a ruffian…” Luis said, remembering something, and making his daughter’s face red and ashamed straight away. He even added, “Eh? How did you know that? You know, that team has always been your mother’s favorite because they’re ‘half’ as headstrong as she was, or so she said. But my team knows how to play better, and have fun! Aren’t they better?”
“Mhm, whatever you say, emperor…” Esme rolled her eyes, remembering his words of not allowing her to choose anyone from the school despite saying he wouldn’t limit her. It annoyed her a little, but she understood… She understood she’ll only understand when she grows up herself.
“Oi~!” Luis noticed this, of course. He became playful and hurt at the same time, but all was well. However, while he became more calm now, after things happened, and his daughter was no longer marching with her school to demand Lýmoca to rescue Preut and their trapped civilians. He still wouldn’t go back on forming his brand-new security body to protect his precious daughter. No matter what, he’d do anything to protect her. Even if it meant a chaotic Lýmoca.
“Dad, do you resent me?” - “I would never.” - “Hehe…” - “Hah! You laughed like a little girl!” - “Grrr…”
***
Preut. In one of Prequa’s congregating points. At an avenue that could be considered a center between the southern, northern rich residential districts and the worker district northeast from them.
It would soon be night, but even then, tens of thousands of people kept walking here, while more than 100,000 were already present. One of them was Phesx Caolia, who walked forward with his family, remaining behind them. They were still in the ‘outskirts’.
While his family moved forth without thinking, and as rapidly as possible, pulling each other to not lag behind, not doing so with Phesx Caolia, he felt his head becoming ever more clearer. Ever since arriving nearby, he wouldn’t stop feeling uncomfortable.
Looking around, it was easy to see metallic railings, 6 meters tall, with dangerous countermeasures to deter anyone from climbing them, forming an area. Some of them were even so thick that it made Phesx Caolia believe just grazing one’s hand on them would leave it showing bones everywhere and hanging flesh, like scrapped cheese.
Step, step, step- step step…
The notion wasn’t only his, as others also didn’t feel comfortable here, especially since everyone was being told to enter ‘the perimeter’. Everyone walking here could see a larger area, in a square shape, surrounding about 100,000 people who had arrived beforehand, but only half of it had been filled.
Phesx Caolia frowned as he continued walking, hearing his steps, his family’s, and the people around him who kept stubbornly moving forward but had no idea of what was up ahead. However, the hope in their eyes, and their leisure, demonstrated they didn’t feel endangered.
Phesx Caolia couldn’t tell if that was good or…
“S- should we go back to the house? I don’t feel safe here!” Phesx Caolia suddenly said, pulling on Jord’s arm, easily stopping everyone else from moving forward. They each slightly lifted one of their feet by inertia before looking back. They thought some random kid was shouting to their parents, but it was Phesx Caolia instead.
“What? No!” Rubena Caolia sobered up the fastest. She flung her hand to pull Cansa, who was the closes to her, harshly towards her. “We are already here! We just go in now and get to Lýmoca. Don’t worry! This is going to help us. Now, waste no more time and let’s go!”
“…” Phesx Caolia’s eyes narrowed. Now, even if this place was heaven’s paradise forming in the world, he wouldn’t enter it.
He remained behind and simply watched as they continued ahead. With his arms resting at his sides, he saw his mother look back fleetingly a few times, finding him just as he was, but continued. Afterwards, with Phesx Caolia crossing his arms and waiting, she no longer looked back and continued moving forth, rushing into the perimeter.
Phesx Caolia felt the eyes of a few ‘guards’ around here. He was pretty easy to notice after his family separated from him. Feeling their stares, he slowly turned around, lowering his head, and relaxing his arms.
‘I… need to get out of here!’ Phesx Caolia thought before slowly stepping in the opposite direction as almost everyone else. His legs moved a little faster after a few seconds, and a few more later, he was jogging away from the perimeter and gained a few looks from others.
‘!’ Phesx Caolia’s body numbed, and he felt his scalp tingling when he saw the ‘guards’ around move and hush to each other while staring and pointing at him. His eyes trembled. With no further hesitation, he began running away. Now, it didn’t matter if this was a misunderstanding, he didn’t like being seen and ‘plotted’ against like this… or in any way.
About 2 dozen guards around the crowd and Phesx Caolia, moved and tried entering the crowd, but they had it rough and only ended up complicating things. The people immediately got nervous and stopped, stopping others in a chain reaction and causing newfound terror to spread among those little spots amidst the thick current of mostly curly haired heads moving forth.
“Le- let me pass!” - “Huh? What are you doing? Did I do something wrong?” - “…No!” - “Then why am I being stopped? Hey!” - “What’s going on? Can we just continue, please?” - “Calm down, calm down!” - “Don’t stop moving! The perimeter will be filled before we can enter it. Come on!” - “Wait, no! Calm down, I said- calm down!”
Like this, many of those guards were stopped, unable to deal with the sudden situation, and needing back up from a higher-up. However, some others just ignored the people and moved into the crowd. Phesx Caolia’s mind rumbled with their moving trajectory as if he knew where they were going to… It was the path he wanted to use to flee!
‘Am I wrong? Fucking fucks.’ Phesx Caolia doubted himself for a moment before hurrying on his way outside this place. He began pushing people backwards with his shoulders, which were like spearheads amidst a packed battlefield, bashing some people away, even the bulky.
He wasn’t fast, but he was able to snake away and deter his body from heavy collisions. Even though he hit some kids younger than him, he didn’t stop, only careful to not step on someone.
He knew he was causing a commotion, but the more he continued, the more he felt his scalp feeling more at ease, and his brain like an impossible itch was slowly scratched to satisfaction.
When he was just a few minutes away from the ‘exit’ which was slowly enlarged with the newly coming ‘refugees’; Phesx Caolia faced a few guards who couldn’t arrive before him in time and extended their hands, trying to grab him.
Seeing their behavior, Phesx Caolia felt he accomplished something. ‘Going so far just for me? This went out of proportion… I can now have more chances to get out of this trap!’
Phesx Caolia doubted himself no more as he went down the ground, feeling his heart palpitate at the possible death he was calling upon himself, and started moving like a lizard to the direction he remembered. He couldn’t see the path from there, but with his mind working its magic, always letting him know his ‘instincts’ were the ones he could only follow, he crawled forth.
Helplessly, Phesx Caolia grabbed onto some ankles, and even hands from people who tripped. Fortunately, people were still somewhat calm and weren’t desperate. Thus, they helped those people up, even those who didn’t know each other. The hurricane also went away. There was nothing to sow seeds of panic into the people’s hearts besides the incoming civil war.
Phesx Caolia crawled, out of the guards’ sight, who could only look around without any idea where that boy went, and reached his desired outcome. Phesx Caolia himself couldn’t believe it when he saw the gaps of the field east of the southern rich residential districts, a little burn from the previous battle, through the gaps of several legs and shoes.
Phesx Caolia was glad, but his face was impassive. He gently grabbed some ankles and pushed them apart. A young man with a hat and shorts felt his hairy shins grabbed and spread. He instinctively followed the motion as he was barely entering the crowd of people moving into the perimeter, as some guards inform the newcomers.
Finding an easy way through, Phesx Caolia virtually shot past the young man’s legs and rolled once before sliding down a brief slide. His shirt was lifted from the back, so he got dirt on his skin, but he ignored it and dexterously stood up before jogging away. He didn’t look back before remembering his situation and started running away.
The guards, not informed yet, looked at the strange kid who fell off and ran away. They were going to help him, when he jogged on the opposite direction. And when they wanted to shout at him, he began running, baffling them.
A minute later, they received a communication from a thin, radio-like device from their left chest pocket, making them look in the direction the kid had left, helpless and knowing a punishment would soon follow their soon-to-get-worst night.
On the other hand, the orange-haired young man whose legs were used by Phesx Caolia to impulse himself out of the crowd noticed the guards’ actions and felt weird. He looked around, searching, before walking in a certain direction. He talked to a uniformed person before he helped the young man move somewhere else.
While Phesx Caolia had long run away from the sight of the tail of the crowd of tens of thousands of people reunited in an avenue, a sight to shock anyone, the congregation point started getting hefty.
“… What’s going on here? Why can’t we leave?!” A white middle-aged man, stout and friendly-looking, yelled at a guard stopping them just as he led his family to turn around. He had seen too many people act and move like helpless animals in a forest fire.
“Don’t raise your voice, sir. Go back to the perimeter! You’ve already come all the way here, don’t waste other people’s time!” The ‘guard’ shouted back, keeping a straight back. Another person walking by looked at the middle-aged man and said, trying to help and feeling the guard was correct. “He’s right. Nobody wants to miss this opportunity. Your family is with you, so you should be more careful, sir.”
“Bullshit! I’m alone, but I was still retained here! Now what’s happening, huh?!” A young man, looking strong and very bothered, came run-walking here with forceful strides. When others looked at this development, something clicked in their heads.
“Oh no!” - “Mom?” - “Come, we need to get away, fast…” - “Hey, hey, hey! Stop touching me! Why are you grabbing me? Let go, cabrones!” - “Everyone, keep calm! There’s nothing to worry! We’ll put this young man to the side so he won’t cause tro-” - “Then why did you tell me and my friends from school to stay? Isn’t it because we’re young and strong? Fuck you! Fuck off!!”
‘Agh, damn. This is happening…’ The guard who stopped the middle-aged man looked troubled as he saw a group of 20-year-olds come to their little spot.
The moment these people said those words, more and more young people, some who were detained at the side, and others who were close to the former, realized and joined hands. They exclaimed, questioned, and demanded. Things were getting out of control.
It was even more obvious when it began spreading everywhere else, and not just around that guard.
“…” Suddenly, the guard pressed on the earring device on his left ear. Silence ensued, something was brewing. The guard took heavy breaths, and after taking his backpack off, he took a weapon out and whispered. “Please forgive me, heavens… I’m sorry.”
… …Bang, bang… bang, bang, bang… Bang bang bang bang bang…
“AAAAAAAHHHH!!” - “RUUUN!” - “No! Take them down, they’re less than us!” - “Oh m- my, heaven, is that a tank? Preut doesn’t even… W- wh- why?” - “!!!”
“Follow the line! Get into the perimeter! Anyone attacking the guards or trying to trick and use others’ lives will be dealt with immediately” - “Get going!!” - “Don’t stop! Move, move, and move!!”
Bang, bang… boom! Bang bang bang bang- boom, boom…!
…