Aurora treaded into the eventide city, left alone and without anyone's guidance in case the crime fortes hugely increased the dangers.
She wasn't pleased, not even a little. For everything that transpired, she couldn't distinguish or deny the "truth" that everything happened to be was her to criticize.
Because of the late hours in the city, she was folding her arms while advancing through the desolated streets, empty-handed of protection.
"You're not the one to blame, Kate. We "knew" about the consequences," Aurora's wheezy voice and indignant temperament felt disturbed, "Yeah right... You wouldn't come to this "virtual world" if it weren't for me, and now all I have done is wound everyone in some way. I should've just stayed at home and suffered. So much from staying out of their way."
She seized inside her pocket, collected the stimulant's flask, and lifted it in front of her view, shaking it to see the liquid on the inside jiggle.
"I couldn't tell if this "stimulant" or "cure" works correctly. There's not a chance a "brutalist" would give the cure with so little to no effort..." She examined the flask for a while longer, contemplating its rareness, "Maybe I should throw it away. It's probably another toxin to kill — not to be blamed for someone's death."
She exhaled and afterward heeded strange sounds around the block nearby. Not wanting to leave it out of the question — for a piece of possible information — she snuck toward the housing's wall and pressed her weight against its wall.
Two men interacted and communicated in a dingy street as if they didn't want to be seen by unwanted street rats; people. "Erembour, those pesky pirates are roaming around the city like a bunch of bulls, rummaging through our crap. If we don't kill them soon... they might determine about the false stimulant in your possession. Don't you want to bane that blonde-haired brat? If they catch you and figure out who holds the bacteria in their body, our plan may not work."
The man advised Erembour about the emanation, but it seemed like Erembour feared not and stuck composed like a dove, "Don't be distraught, Candel." He slightly peeked from the corner of his eyes behind the edge where Aurora hid, but she pulled back her head, covering her mouth and nose, hoping she wouldn't get spotted.
Erembour returned his glare to his ally and retained his stare on him for a little longer, "Those "children" don't realize or know how to leave this virtual world. And even if they *do* survive and discover who holds that bacteria — in some way or another — they'll have to accost me. From there, I'll take care of everything. What I have in stock for them is far-fetched from their success. Their approximate success is 33%, 27% if we successfully eliminate our primary target. Trust me and carry on the orders I have given you."
The man understood the orders but remained concerned, "What about Torrente? She's on the lookout for you, Erembour, sir. Those children may not be critically perilous, but she's a "fitting" threat. She already disposed of numerous of our squads, including the one on the duty today, under the orders of Payne."
Erembour beamed with disapproval, knowing they had a disadvantage, "Have you forgotten, Candel? *I* am the "monarch" of this world. Everything happening inside this world is led and controlled by me. I may not be able to exit the virtuality myself, but I have the potential, talent to kill any heart with a single button press. My consciousness, my substantial body is all I require. Of course, I can't kill them directly, but I can "create" incidents and assailants and make *them* do the slaughtering for me. I can do the same to you if you wish."
Candel raised his arms beside him, being elusive and longing to survive and stay out of Erembour's way, "No, no, it's fine. I understand the power you possess. I was merely counting down the possible hazard. I'll do as you wish, my sir." Candel stepped backward, dissolving into pitch-black bits, leaving Erembour behind.
Shaken up and stressed, Aurora's eyes flittered in shuddersome manners. She had cold feet, thinking horridly about the fearless foe and his rotten charisma. "Erembour's the game master. I need to warn others about him," She whispered and gradually readied to leave, but all of a sudden, as if the moment delayed around her, a dark figure formed and digitalized itself behind her.
Arms suddenly moved around her to enclose her from behind. She couldn't scream for their hands were covering her mouth. Her eyes indicated her trepidation, and the man then said, "You've heard too much, Katherine Mitchell. Come... come with me to my "utopia," haha..." She screamed in fright due to her repulsed feelings and traumatized state, but to further silence her, a knife pierced her in the back, causing the blade to lance out of her chest.
Her eyes lost their pupils, turning fish dead, and without another word, the two vanished; only the red remained that slithered into a puddle of blood.
-
Chiaki held her forehead, waking up from what felt like an eternal hibernation. To wake up, she shook her head and peered in front, finding herself inside a quirky bedroom. "Where am I? There's nobody here." She examined her body for any wounds or scratches, but there were none.
Out of a sudden, the door in front of her opened, and a man entered the same room, holding a tray of food. "Good morning, sleepy head. You finally earned your consciousness back, huh?" He placed the tray on the end table and sat on the chair in front of the perplexed Chiaki.
"You're an outsider, aren't you? If you're able to speak, perhaps you can tell me your name." Chiaki urged herself to gain some courage but spoke in a soft-spoken tone, "I- Um... Chiaki." The frontman chuckled and grabbed a unique thermometer. It looked futuristic, "Please, open your mouth."
Chiaki hesitated, looking at the thermometer in befuddlement, "Don't be afraid. I only want to analyze your body and certify you don't have a virus." Chiaki opened her mouth, "Put your tongue out." She did and then felt the thermometer's tip slip under her tongue.
She felt uneasy and awkward in the sticky situation. Her nasal voice rang through the room because of the thermometer stuck below her tongue, "Who are you?" The man proceeded with the analysis, intensifying his eyes on her condition, "I'm Heiran, a doctor." He pulled the thermometer out from her mouth and put it inside the laptop's hole, using it to interpret it inside the hard drive.
It recorded and stored Chiaki's body analysis.
On the screen, she showed a digitalized picture of her own body. It astonished her to see that it had her exact measurements of her entire body.
"If you're awestruck and wondering what the "downloading" is about, it delivers me with data about your body's resilience. And it appears you're transparent of any bacteria. Good."
Chiaki and Heiran exchanged glances, and her eyes blinked a few times. "You mean... You're able to decipher if someone's body is infected?"
Chiaki was startled and engulfed in an eerie silence as she looked at the doctor in front of her.
Has she uncovered the solution? Who is the ideal person to educate them in diagnosing the infected person?
To be continued...