In a certain underground facility below the city of Alyona, a large crowd had gathered with their attention all directed at the same place. The one responsible for the commotion, as well as the chaos that would soon commence, stood on a level elevated above the other's. Her voice echoed through the lair's chambers, with a commanding tone that instilled a sense of pride and inspired its recipients. Unlike the majority of the crowd who wore hooded robes, her face had been completely exposed for any to see. Yet something else besides her exposed face made her stand out. Perhaps it was her subtle mannerisms, her commanding yet gentle tone, her light golden hair, or her inexplicable charisma— all of which communicated a royal-like presence.
"To you all— tonight is but the beginning. What occurs now will not officially be what contributed to the revolution. However it is a necessary step regardless— this is a prelude to the revolution. The base upon which the steps to New Eudocia will be built."
Upon the end of her speech, roaring from the crowd commenced. The sound from the cheering had been loud enough that the buildings right above shook ever so slightly. Although the commotion underground would go unnoticed, the resulting mayhem would not.
—
—
When Lisa Maurer left the office, she sighed. Nothing special had happened that day, but perhaps that was the reason. Her unchanging, mundane life that consisted of waking up, going to work, getting yelled at, and coming home was something that she had gotten too used to. Unlike her sister who had served in the War, Lisa's life had remained practically unchanged during and after the War. Her job demanded nothing particularly more or less from her during it, and the few friends she had were from the same workplace. Although her sister was a soldier, she had barely maintained contact with her after leaving home, and the same applied to her parents.
The same routine every day– every week– every year– her sigh was a result of her mundane lifestyle. A frustration with the nonexistent change. But ultimately, her mood was temporary. Although she was far from happy with her life, she wasn't particularly upset with it, either. Her job paid well enough. She had enough time off. Her relationships were enjoyable enough. She rested enough. She was happy enough. It was a life good enough to not warrant a pursuit of change. Her upsetness would pass, and although it would return countless times, it would also pass the same countless times, and she would live the same life until she died.
Such would have been the case, were there no external influence. On the same night of the underground commotion, Lisa had been out drinking a little longer than usual. Walking back home, the streets were practically empty. Each step she took echoed through the dim streets. They were the only sounds that Lisa could hear, until they weren't.
Although quiet, Lisa could hear footsteps behind her. Slowly, the volume rose and got closer and closer to her, enough for Lisa to turn around. But before she could–
As Lisa woke up, it took her a moment before she could register the pain as she felt the stone flooring touching her cheek. She could feel her entire body aching, but in particular she could feel excessive pain on the back of her head. When she reached her hand out to it, she could feel an unfamiliar bruise. She questioned where it came from, but the memory of the approaching footsteps was already beginning to leave her. Focusing to try and remember as much as possible of what had happened prior to now, she successfully retrieves some vague memories, a feat impossible were she to have drank more. Lisa remembered the pocket knife she had kept in her purse for protection, and lamented how useless it was.
Shortly after, she attempted to stand up from her stone bed. Although she was successful, it seemed as though the impact of her head trauma was far more than she imagined. Her mind felt cloggy and clouded, and it was difficult to focus. Struggling to keep herself straight, she looked around her surroundings. She was still at the same location where she had been before passing out—no, before she was attacked. However, her attacker was nowhere to be found. Lisa had no indicator of how much time had passed. The color of the sky was pitch black, the exact same as it had been before. The only thing it told her was that the entire night did not pass, but whether it had been five minutes or five hours, she had no way to know. Although Lisa was aware that she had been attacked, she felt no emotion close to anger. Besides being a very passive person, she was far more concerned with why it had happened, and felt only confusion. Was it just an indiscriminate attack?
"Miss, are you alright?"
From the distance, Lisa heard a voice more masculine than feminine. It hadn't been particularly deep–in fact it was quite high pitched–but it hardly sounded like it would belong to a female. When she looked in the direction of the voice, she could see a young male, looking to be in his early twenties, approaching her. Unlike the typical gazes from most men in her life, the man's showed all but simple concern. In fact, he looked a little grossed out, presumably from her dirty clothes and face that had grazed the messy stone floor. He most likely mistook her for an irresponsible drunk that had passed out on the floor which, although was partially true, Lisa denied in her mind.
As the man got closer, Lisa grabbed onto him, trying to pull herself together and focus. Although she intended on explaining what had happened to her to the man and deny what preconceptions he may have had of her being an idiotic drunk, all she could muster was a 'sorry' and 'thank you.'
Yet despite her apparent lack of strength, upon getting closer to the man, a certain desire within her began to manifest. It was an impossible desire that could not have possibly come from Lisa. After all, she had only just met the man. After all, he had only tried to help her. After all, he had only shown her kindness. After all, she hadn't been in a particularly foul mood that day, let alone that moment.
After all, she was not a murderer.
Nevertheless, the inconceivable yearning within her only grew as seconds passed. She stared at the man, and her craving only surged. She wanted it. She needed it.
Lisa pulled her pocket knife out of her purse and stabbed the man. Although she fumbled as the man abruptly let go of her upon seeing her weapon in confusion, the fierceness of Lisa's aggression overwhelmed any of his meager attempts to stop or escape her. At first it was around the middle of the man's chest, right where his heart was located. Then it was below, where his stomach was. Then it was a little to the left, then a little to the right again. The location was arbitrary, without much or perhaps any thought whatsoever from Lisa's part. All that had been in her mind and instinct was to extinguish the human life in front of her. She stabbed him again, again, and again. She stabbed him over and over as his screams turned to silence, and the only apparent sound was the knife that entered and left his torso countless times. She stabbed him over and over and over and
When Lisa came to be, her mind was clear as day. Any form of exhaustion that had clouded her mind was gone as if she had been fine the entire time. Yet before she realized, she was in front of a dead man.
—
—
"Jeez, how many times do you want me to tell you? I'm fine, Caspar." Yuika smiles and tries to reassure me again, though a tinge of annoyance begins to show in her responses.
"...sorry."
"In the first place, it's something to celebrate! I got you serious enough that you got carried away like that, right? That's pretty good progress if you ask me."
"I… guess so."
"Anyway, it's getting pretty late. You wanna go to sleep?"
"A little later. I think the caffeine from earlier is still lingering."
"Hm… okay," Yuika looks unsatisfied, but she gives up. As I turn around to leave the bedroom, she calls me again. "When you come back here to sleep, you don't need to worry about waking me up, okay? Just come in normally."
"Yeah, sure. Though… I was thinking that I'd sleep on the couch today."
"Really?…" She sighs. "Fine, if that'll make you feel better about it." She offers a smile before I leave and close the door behind me.
Okay… I need to think. Although I decided to organize my thoughts, there was only one in my mind: What the fuck is going on?
Although I had thought over and over about what had happened with Florence a few days ago, I realized that I hadn't actually thought about how it had happened. But with the incident with Yuika just now—
Both times I blanked out and when I came to, I'd suddenly done something without realizing. But… is that even possible? To kill— or at least almost kill someone, without even thinking? I try to think of whatever could possibly cause this, but to no avail. It makes it look like I'm some kind of repressed serial killer who's finally giving into his urges or something. It would be a lie to say that I had been completely miserable during the War, but the act of killing people wasn't something that I enjoyed whatsoever.
I continue to mull over what the hell was happening to me, but ultimately I can't think of anything. It's not as though I can just go to a doctor. No, in the first place I can't tell anyone about this at all, doubly so now that Yuika's here. But what do I…
My train of thought is interrupted by a loud ringing of the doorbell. As I stand up from my chair to head towards the front door, the bedroom door suddenly bursts open and Yuika runs out of it.
"I'll get it!"
"Huh? No, I can—"
"It's probably my stuff! It's mine so I should be the one to get it." Yuika heads towards the door, insisting I stay, guessing that the boxes she had sent here to move in had come. "Wow, I can't believe it came so quickly!"
I look to the wall clock to see the time. It's pretty late, do they really do deliveries at this time of night? It's even stranger considering the amount of boxes that Yuika probably had to be delivered here. My suspicions are confirmed shortly after hearing Yuika's quiet voice from the distance, presumably talking to the person outside. When Yuika comes back to the door, she looks slightly disappointed.
"I'm guessing it wasn't your stuff?"
"Yeah. It's for you, actually."
"A delivery for me?"
"No, no, just someone looking for you."
"Who?"
"Uh, I'm not sure, some young-looking guy. He says he's looking for one of your subordinates?" Yuika walks back towards her bedroom as she continues speaking in a disinterested tone. "He said his name is Gray."