<Ⅻ>
" Caesar ! ! ! !"
Castiel's voice boomed out of the speaker with Caesar gripped tightly with whitened knuckles.
" Caesar !! It's Coming !!"
" I know !"
Caesar Skyman shouted back, pulling out the gears that had been stored close at hand in situations like this, a case he opened to reveal half a helmet, resembling more to a crown with wires protruding out of the circular sides.
" Caesar—!!!"
Old Castiel hollered, but the young scientist's thoughts were focused on the creation before him.
He had never faced this amount of darkness coming toward his facility before.
And the more he saw of the darkness closing in on all sides, a word flashed across his mind…
…. Infra-Sound...
It is time.
It shall be done!
The notes in his old notes, the simple words that stood out to him like an amazing grace, like a mantra of power, an answer to the equations of doom.
The protocol that had been in his head for years since he established this facility, the process he reviewed every night before he dove to slumber, each step he would reenact in the back of his head any time his mind was at ease.
He knew each step to fend off the Scourge like the back of his hand.
Now just reviewing it again, steadily, step by step.
The answer to deflect the pending destruction is carved deep into his nerves and muscle responses.
He just has to do it.
Switching on the dials, turning on the engines, activating the crown within the case before him. With a hand outstretched, he remembered the other power that he had excavated and upgraded from his past, that too could repel said entity of demise—Sora.
Answering his call, the Self-operating gauntlet armor flew up from the basement and attached to his hands firmly, humming and glowing with immense power and Light.
Caesar is ready.
With Infra-Sound… And Sora… This…this Swarm of Nano Scourge can be—
—annihilated!
He had to do it now…Not now than never—
" CAESAR—!!!!!!"
…
...…
" YURI ! ! ! !
COME BACK HERE THIS INSTANCE ! ! ! !"
Stunned by the sharp scalding cry, the children turned their heads, to see miss Claudia Celeste stomping her way toward them and the fence, shrieking angrily at the top of her lungs as she marched forward at full speed.
" How many times have I told you,
Never! Never! Never !!!
Get out of the fence ! ! ! !"
The wind grew stronger,
And their shadows began to fade.
girls began to weep, begging Yuri to turn back.
But Yuri, instead of heading back per the furious teacher's say, stepped forward towards the coming storm of black ash.
" YURI !!!!!"
Claudia Shouted again, as loud as ever, hurting her throat but still, she must. The children huddled all behind her now, seeking refuge and comfort which Claudia too now desperately needs.
" But… There's someone Out There, Sensei!!" Was all Yuri said, as she edged forth, into the storm,
Not turning back.
…
...…
Placing the crown of wires and electrical vines atop his head, one had he held up a button to release the defense mechanism he had invented and prepared for this moment, and the other, his armored hand, palm facing down placing atop the receiving end of the defense mechanism, the Infra-sound projector, that was seated on top of the school belfry, attached through the wires that were attached to his head and now his humming armored hand of luminance.
The clock on the edifice of the building opened, to reveal a proliferating dome facing outward, towards the Nano Scourge that drifts menacingly nearer the facility grounds.
Caesar took a deep breath.
His fingers upon the last switch.
It is time.
But before his fingers pressured down, a loud ear-piercing boom roared out of his coat pocket, and ruthlessly bombarded his eardrums, halting his actions as Caesar heard the gruff voice shout.
" CAESAR, STOOOOOP!!!!!!"
Gasping in horror did Caesar Skyman utterly realize that among all the technical steps that he had prepared and done right,
He missed the most pivotal step among them all.
" CAESAR!! THE CHILDREN!!!!!!" Old Castiel's voice wouldn't stop.
" WARN THE CHILDREN!!!! WARN THE CHILDREN FIRST!!! WITH THE BELLS!!!!!"
It was all in his notes.
Infrasound, as potent as it is to repel the demonic swarm of Nano Scourge,
It too, is as harmful to humans if without barrier protection.
In a fit of rage and spur to exterminate the enemy, Caesar had nearly forgotten what his cause was.
To protect the children!
" Thank you, Cas!"
Caesar bade with utmost gratitude before quickly pressing a button on the side of his speakers.
The bells, on top of the school belfry,
started to chime.
Coming from behind the large old clock, as it echoed and hummed in deep choir,
Yuri stopped in her tracks and looked back up.
The children also, all looked up, their gazes wide and clear, not of fear, not of trepidation.
But of memory, of what they have learned, and trained for, of the most important lesson that was passed down to them years back when they first came to this school.
Claudia looked around, noticing the change in the children's morale, sturdier than before in but seconds time.
" The bells…. "
The children whispered to one another.
" The bells, it's time!"
The children nodded to each other firmly, their riveted gazes all upon Yuri now.
" YURI!!!"
The children called out to her, who now faced them all, looking back at the children that awaited her call. For the start of the game—the Protocol.
Yuri took a deep breath.
" EVERYONE ! ! !
TIME TO PLAY———————— ! !
HIDE AND SEEK ————— ! ! ! ! !"
" YEEEEEEEESSS———!!!!"
Quickly the children scattered in all directions, vanishing behind objects, walls, playgrounds, and tunnels all, any kind of construct that could conceal them they snug in at remarkable speed.
Claudia was amazed, having heard of Caesar's protocol many times but seeing it reenacting before her eyes for the first time. The children's well-organized, quick precision to action in this routine, astonished the young astrologer much as she turned to check on Yuri———
Who was gone.
Hide and seek.
That was when Claudia remembered, she too have to find a place to hide.
" Pss, miss Celeste~~"
Claudia spun around but saw no one.
" …Over here~~~"
The voice came from the thick cement tubes longitudinally lay at the playing ground which the children used as secret bases and resting places to chat during recess. Claudia hurriedly peered into one of the cement tubes and saw Neliya alongside other girls huddled within.
" Miss Celeste! You must hide too! Principal Caesar said everyone including the teachers must play Hide and Seek when the bells start chiming."
Neliya explained quickly.
Without second thought of dirtying her skirt and velvet purple coat, Claudia squatted in and crawled into the tube with the children inside.
" Why do we have to play this game though?"
The girls huddled in the tunnel asked each other curiously.
" Is it really just to hide away from the monster in the sky?"
" It's to protect you,"
Claudia answered gently, her expression dark yet hidden within the shadows of the cement construct.
" From what we do, to the dangers outside."
…
...…..
Castiel checked the school parameter with his binoculars from his cabin window.
No children in sight.
Castiel waited for some seconds more until he replied to his speakers.
" All clear."
" All clear."
Caesar Skyman repeated and activated it all, pressing his hand down as the armored palm began to emit light into the wires up to the machinery.
Out of the opened school clock, the wave generator started its work.
The swarm of Nano Scourge crashed in above the school, its dark tentacles dancing about in an epileptic-like frenzy, nearing the machinery perched on top of the school edifice that uttered a low moan before it silenced abruptly.
All turned silent.
The bells above the generator shivered, but without sound.
The whole school shook ever so slightly as if the world was blurred.
Everything vibrated, on and on,
and on and on,
And on and on and on....
Like an old documentary movie deprived of sound, old Castiel watched from his cabin window as the gigantic smog of pitch-black ash slowly fumbled the moment the shockwaves and blue beaming Light hit its formless husk, dispersing it like the wind across the sands, blowing the black Nano particles away, scattering each spec off their bonds, its whole black mass vibrating with the invisible force as the tentacles stiffened to a seizure before shattering under the wind, vanishing slowly to the night.
Evaporating the Scourge off the face of the earth,
Temporarily.
The lights on the fence lit up minutes later, signifying the coming of the night and the subsiding of the emergency. Caesar Skyman's voice could be heard around the facility, echoing aloud.
" Fellow Teachers, students, the Scourge is over. For safety measures, please stay where you are for at least five more minutes. Roll call will commence in ten minutes at the school grounds, I repeat..."
Slumping back to his seat, Caesar Skyman sighed in relief, yanking the wired crown-shaped device of his messy hair before he massaged the temple of his head, to soothe the pain throbbing from inside his brain.
The humming still in his head.
And also, the news of the happenings over at Solar Industries…
The sky cleared, and the Stars started to shine.
The air was pristine once again as if the land was revived from its moribund fate for a short moment.
Five minutes precisely after, Claudia crawled out from the cement tube and came to the center of the school clearing.
" Alright, Everyone," Claudia called out to the children emerging out of their hideouts, circling his sight to make sure all of them were present.
" Roll Call !!——— Lucky !!"
" Here!"
" Neo!"
" Here!"
" Rio!"
" Heyoh!"
" Feira! Finnir!"
" Here!"
" Here…"
" Neliya!"
" He...Here…!"
" Kai !"
" Here."
" Vernui!"
" ...Here!"
…
…
...…
...…..
Then the last came was called.
" ——— Yuri——— !"
No response.
" ——— Yuri——— !"
" Yuriー?" The children called also, their voices echoing across the school grounds, in search, in longing.
" Yuriー!"
" Yuri〜!"
" Yuri—"
" Yuri—?!"
" Yuri-! Where are you?!"
" Yuri—?"
" YURI! ! ! !"
" HE———RE———!!!!!!!"
From the dust, the fog, and debris, a small hand waved, her silhouette under the lamp lights slowly cleared.
Claudia stared, tears around the edge of her eyes, as the dust slowly cleared.
There, by Yuri's side, Claudia could clearly see someone else, coming towards them.
The children too were shocked and astonished in silence.
Yuri beamed to all at the other side of the fence, her one hand pulling the figure behind her who shivered, hiding behind Yuri's back.
" It's okay, come on,"
Yuri whispered gently to the one behind her.
" They are nice. Come, say hello to everyone!"
" Yuri..!"
Claudia asked, opening the gates, her voice stern but shaking, afraid of who or what it might be that was behind Yuri.
" Who is behind you…?"
The figure behind Yuri gave a jolt and hid deeper behind, shivering and too afraid to face their wide curious daunting eyes. Firmly, holding the shivering child's hand in hers, gripping it tightly as she lead the one forward to all the curious souls, Yuri smiled back at her classmates and teacher, and answered, loud and clear.
" —————Her name is Lima! Everyone!"
Her Name Is Lima.
Walked out slowly, her twin light violet ponytails swinging freely with the night breeze, her golden pupils dazzling uncertainty, darting left to right under the lamp lights; Her hand held tightly to Yuri's, though shaking, but the grip firm.
Those beautiful Golden eyes, looking back at the crowd innocently, teary, her lips twitching but chose to remain silent. Finally, resorting to looking down at the sand, the new girl was too shy to look back up again.
Claudia sighed in relief, seeing it was a human child, and smiled, approaching slowly to the frightened child's presence.
" .... Lima."
Claudia called out in her tender compassionate cadence.
Lima looked up at her blankly, not knowing what to say, how to respond.
Knowing what miss Celeste had in mind, Yuri quickly whispered to the dumbfounded girl's ear.
" Lima, when the teacher calls your name, you must reply loudly 'Here!'. Like we all did, remember?"
Realizing at once, yet hesitant, looking back at them all standing under the light, their kind compassionate expressions meant one thing to her.
She is safe now.
Taking one trembling deep breath, the new child answered, timidly, as loud as she could with her shaky voice.
One sound, to remind her that she still exists.
She is.
" H...H...He...HE...——HERE! ! !"
And the children awed, cheering and clapping as Yuri hugged her from behind, welcoming her to the large family with warm embraces.
" Nice to meet you, Lima."
Claudia led the two children back from the other side as the whole pack looked at Lima up and down curiously, asking tons of questions that the overwhelmed newcomer could but nod and whisper in short terse words.
" Oh my! What is that?!"
Asked Lucky, pointing at something sparkling near Lima's chest, to which Lima sprang back asudden, terrified, hugging the sparkling ornament close to her, shielding it from the startled children.
" It's…it's beautiful…" Lucky commented, not expecting such a big reaction from the golden-eyed girl, as everyone else.
" Sorry…if we scared you." the children apologized sincerely, backing a few steps away to give Lima space.
" Alright, children, it's time to rest." Claudia announced to all as she led the silent children, hand in hand, Yuri holding Lima's, as they headed back to the school building, the run-down slanting establishment. Across the exterior were but shattered windows none intact; crooked wooden planks nailed upon the floors of the corridors to seal only half of the jarring holes; lights that flicker without stable electricity.
Yet still, the children here seemed to have smiles of joy always on their faces.
The glitter of hope radiating out of their eyes.
To which Lima slowly understood.
They meant no harm. They were the same, they were like her.
Small, young, scared, curious,
longing.
" Wa…Wait!"
Claudia and the school of children stopped and turned around in surprise.
Never would they expect this timid new child to have such a bright powerful voice.
" I…I am Lima…! I come from Solar…Industries! But it is…I ran away, and came here…and found you....Wha, what I meant to say is—
—Thank you, for Having Me…everyone…!!"
So low a bow from the lost child that has finally found a new home to stay, around warming hearts and kind souls that welcomed her to their warm embrace.
The children's cordiality,
and their bright hopeful spirits,
like Stars in Lima's eyes.
…
...…
Not long after dinner, Claudia sought out Caesar who was silently brooding in the corner of his lab, sitting before his messy operating desk instead of his office across the corridor.
" Caesar…"
Through the young man's grave ashen expression, Claudia knew that he had known of the truth.
Solar Industries has fallen.
The last pillar supporting the revival of humanity and civilization, has crumbled. Networks have stopped working, and resources, likely all been demolished.
The age of man, nearing its end.
" …Does Castiel know?" Claudia asked, having heard of the old janitor speaking proudly of his daughter's exploits in the industry.
" …He is listening to the mail." Caesar replied shortly, unable to elaborate anymore.
Till then did Claudia realize the muffled sounds from within his office, behind the shut wooden doors, were the sobbing of the old man.
Silence, enveloped the lab like the air turned solid.
" That child…"
Caesar Skyman spoke in a weak sigh, frowning at the utensils scattered upon his desk with his elbow leaning down, pressing the temple of his head with his fingers still to ease the humming pain.
" Is she… contaminated…?"
" No," Claudia replied, her voice clear, sounding with inner strength.
" She is physically stable, gravely traumatized. But…Caesar, there is something, something that needs to be done that Solar Industries has fallen..."
" What are you talking about…?!" Caesar immediately knew what Claudia was trying to say, but his fears rejected the thought.
" …We have to get That Project back on track." Claudia exclaimed, adamantly.
Caesar was at a loss.
" No…" Caesar turned away from his rotating seat, his voice shaking.
" There is no more project—"
But with her hands she swung him back to face her aggressively, towering her shadow upon his darkened countenance.
" You know pretty well that project is still there, Caesar." Claudia leaned forward, both hands pressed onto the sitting young inventor's wrists.
" It's why I am here in the first place. Solar Industries have been collaborating with you because of that one reason, sending me here to make sure this place is secured, and She is safe. They let Her stay here because they trusted you in case this day would come, Caesar, and I trust you too! You built an armor that could withstand the Nano corruption! You have the knowledge and the power to do it, to protect everyone, and restore Humanity!!"
" I can't! I tried, Claudia! And that Project has failed! Millions of times!" Caesar volleyed back aloud, denying Claudia's claim.
" Failing doesn't mean it is time to give up." Claudia pressed on, with all her effort to persuade him.
" You are an inventor, certainly you understand failure is never a thing to halt progression.
I know you have been doing your best to protect Her, starting this whole school, trying to crack the code…continuing Your Mentor's Legacy…Here, Right, Here! We are the only ones that could finish it now!"
But Caesar Skyman shook his head dismally.
" Claudia, I've tried. I really have. I may be able to build this suit of Light, but…My Mentor's secrets…They are beyond me! They are beyond even her own daughter! I just can't…I used everything I could get but I—"
" Not yet."
Leaning down, their faces an inch apart, staring deeply into each other's souls, reflecting their ideals through the spark of their pupils.
" You haven't used everything…Yet. Solar Industries have been looking into the documents, blueprints, everything She has left behind as well. And I am going to get them for you— the Things you need, are in Solar Industries."
" Wha—" Before Caesar could react, Claudia had let go, heading out of the lab.
Caesar raced after her down the corridors as fast as his fumbling legs could take him, grabbing her by the hand to stop her midway.
" Claudia, I can't let you go back!!"
" I have to. I know where the Equations and blueprints are stored."
" Then tell me, and I'll get it!"
" Caesar, let go—"
" Stop, both of you."
The two young scientists halted mid-stance as the burly figure of the old janitor stood steps away from them, out of the office foyer and in the middle of the corridor, looking at them both with red swollen eyes.
" Claudia, you should stay." Old Castiel spoke at length.
" Caesar, we are setting off before dawn. Get your things ready, and bring your metal arm with you."
Turning away after giving the orders like a Captain, the old janitor, once general of the air force turned away to pack his things for the mission.
The young couple stared at the old captain's leave, speechless.
…
.....
Saturday / less cloudy, half sky
We waited for the sun to rise.
Where the skies were still dark over the industry.
We were lucky.
We always were.
Reminding us of the luck we have cost,
And how less remained.
Solar Industries was our last hope to build a new home,
Outside our atmosphere.
They had numerous headquarters all over the globe,
None of them remained.
The truck came to a halt, before the shattered gates that swung along the wind.
Sound itself, died.
" Go on, Cas." Caesar whispered, holding the detectors high. To his surprise, the signals were weak, contradicting the dark cloud lurking above. Are those just residues? Has the main Scourge left?
Better safe than sorry, Caesar thought, putting on the SORA gauntlet upon his right arm along with the anti-Nano gears all over himself, clad in robust armor fused with all kinds of creations from other universes, like a hybrid of all the machinery that has ever existed and clambered together to form this one hulking suit.
They drove down what should have been a wide clan boulevard, now but cracks of cement spread across powdered sand. The foundations and outlooks of what should have been a glorious citadel of bleeding edge technology, now but empty long husks of walls and leftover scaffolding like skeletons of a dead giant.
" Caesar, look!"
Castiel's uttered whisper pulled Caesar's gaze back from the hollow obelisks to the wrecked low-tiered buildings near the barged entrance.
Following the old man's fingers, Caesar saw through the shattered window panes of the pale tainted apartments within were wide empty classrooms filled with tumbled desks and shattered seats. The broken blackboards hanging on one side of the wall gave it away.
They had a school too, in Solar Industry Headquarters.
It should not have come as a surprise to where the new child came from yesterday, but something else bothered him more.
Where are the children?
Where is everyone?
Where is the Nano enemy?!
As his mind convoluted among the mysteries of the fall of the company, His body swung forward with a jolt by the halting of the truck that abruptly skidded to a sudden break.
" Cas?!" Caesar spun around to check if the old janitor had got a stroke, and it sure looked like the old man had one, stuttering with his mouth ajar, eyes wide with his pupils constricting, pointing with a shaking finger at the horrifying scene before his eyes.
Raising his armored hand to repel the Entity, Caesar glanced at the front of the truck to see nothing. No enemy, no dark tentacles. Nothing.
Just the dust and sand cloaking the floors of the establishment, lumps of dirt or rocks situated across here and there. Wait…Caesar Skyman leaned forward for a better look. What seemed like bulges and small mounds of sand, all having shapes of similar form, one that sent chills up the young scientist's spine.
Caesar's mouth dropped low, uttering a toneless gasp.
Men,
Women,
Children,
The faces pale, innocent, pure, and peaceful
No wounds, no pain.
No hope.
Feeling his stomach churning, flipping inside out inside of him, Caesar quickly blocked his mouth and turned away from the scene.
Old Castiel just stared, mortified by the truth.
" …The Nano Scourge didn't take them…" the old man stuttered, tears rolling down his cheeks.
" Their own weapons…Their defenses…Infra-sound…Took them…Oh Lord…"
groaning into silent sobs, Caesar let the old man have his moment of silence, fighting back the surge back down his throat.
Infrasound, or some may refer to as low-status sound, are sound waves of frequencies lower than 20 Hz, sounds that cannot be heard, but felt. Signs of nausea and nerve reactions have been documented early before its development, and it was only when researchers discover their affinity to vibrate at similar frequencies as the Nano Midst, shattering the swarm of the ultimate enemy did they start to produce and weaponize these infrasonic waves, only to realize too late that these same sound waves, also shatter the organs of living beings, of Humans.
A double-edged sword, Caesar remembers his mentor reminding him of the uses of the weapon, one that should not be used wantonly.
But there is not much option against this formless, invasive, devastating enemy, is there? Unless...Caesar looked down at his armored hand, the blue glow beaming into his eyes.
If there is time he could advance this armor, duplicate this tech, this Light, in time…!
Looking back up after the shutting of the truck doors, Caesar watched as the old janitor went forth, to one of the motionless bodies, caressing the hair of the child, closing her lifeless gaze.
" We have to bury them."
Old Castiel spoke, straining his anger and sorrow.
" To rest their souls…"
Caesar silently agreed, stepping out of the truck before covering his head under the round heavy loaded helmet, and marched forward in his chunky engined suit into the dilapidated headquarters.
Checking the map of the facility on the neon screen projected upon his murky visor, Caesar recalled the first time he had set foot on this establishment at its prime. He remembered his mentor introducing him to all the benign scientists here that are giants in their respective fields, professors, and pioneers that sought to bring Earth back to its glory with the cutting-edge technologies that still remained at their disposal.
Now but dirt and rubble.
Down the dark corridors, bodies lay scattered across, piling among one another in heaps of motionless carcasses. Caesar wished he had company, aching to ask if Castiel could join him on his trails, but fearing the scene and the fact that his daughter lies among them might break the old man, Caesar dragged onward, focusing his gaze upwards at the path before him, his heavy steps quickening but unable to accelerate due to the crushing weight of all his defensive gears upon him. If there is a way to decrease the mass of the armor…
Making sure that the detectors caught no sign of Nano infiltration, Caesar yanked the metal doors open, revealing a pitch-black room stacked with metal shelves lined up row after row to no end.
It should be here, in this data storage…Caesar mused as he quickly moved forth in soft steps, aiming his feet to not step on the bodies lying across the dark floor, ultimately leading his foot to accidentally kick the side of the shelves, the clanking of metal echoing across the room.
Gosh darn it, Caesar cursed, pointing the Sora armored palm left to right hastily, fearing the Enemy would assault out of the shadows while he wasn't looking.
The blue glow only made the horrible truth more evident to his already dreaded senses.
Surrounding him across the floor, were countless human forms, mangled in their final pose of struggle.
His blood turning cold, Caesar pondered if he should just run for it, crash through all the obstacles, get the data and rush back out.
Not a great plan, Caesar stopped himself, deducting his loud incursions might summon the Nano smog somehow and he would never be able to outrun anything in this suit of armor.
Sliding steps ahead with his side edging forward, the young scientist managed to squeeze his way through, to the depth of the data storage engine situated at the far back the size of five bookshelves lined up end to end leaned across the wall. One prominent screen squared the middle, like the rest of the buttons and electronics alongside it, all dark without a power supply.
Claudia had expected the storage device to be either pulverized or deprived of power sources and suggested he prepare his own devices there to retrieve the data, luckily, the system controls were intact, and batteries Caesar had in the form of his designed arm. Attaching additional wires from the armored hand to the computer storage, Caesar activated the glow upon his armored palm and immediately, the storaging device flickered and the buttons dazzled with life. Well, that worked, Caesar thought, as he started to replicate all the data, all of his past Mentor's works stored within the device through the wires back Sora.
But only when he believed his mission was about to succeed, a faint whimper did his ears locate right next to his presence.
Heart sinking, dread like knots strangling his insides,
Caesar felt time stop all around him, save for the sobbing of children coming from the left side of the pitch-black room.
" …He…Hello?" Caesar awkwardly, terrified by the situation he is now in.
It's a person, a child!
A living child! Sobbing for attention, begging for help—
—wait.
Putting his fears aside, Caesar sensed how surreal the circumstances were before him. Is it…a trap…?! Pieces of evidence of the Nano Scourge exhibiting human behavior have long been proven and he himself is a staunch believer of the Nano Enemy being more than just a lifeless threat, but evolving to sentience.
Can it be…a scheme to lure him to his demise..?!
Raising his sensors in the direction of the sobs, Caesar activated a scanning search.
Results returned immediately, into computerized sentences popping out of his visor screen.
[Heartbeat Detected]
…The child is alive???
Having his fears get the best of him yet again, Caesar quickly prolonged his wires to set foot towards the left side to save this poor child who might be at the verge of death stranded in this hellish darkness waiting for help.
" Hello!!! Can you hear me!!" Caesar shouted frantically, stomping forth to the left side of the narrow storage room, flashing the lights above his helmet around the wall.
There, two bodies were, two young girls, closely interlocked in a tight embrace, one kneeling idly with her back facing Caesar, and the other, squirming, trembling, curled within her sister's arms.
The sobbing, grew louder the nearer Caesar was.
" It's…it's alright…! I'll get you out of here…!" Caesar breathed, panting just by rushing to the side under the weight of his handcrafted armor. With his left free arm, Caesar gently pulled the deceased sister away, yet her stiff arms clinged relentlessly.
" Rest…my child…" Caesar begged, sweat sliding into the edge of his eyes, forcing the tears out easier than before.
" You are free…rest now…"
The sister let go.
And Caesar quickly reached out his hand, to the huddled trembling child shrieking in terror the moment Caesar pulled her sister away.
That was when Caesar saw,
the younger sister, thin and emaciated, cringing within her sister's embrace in the dark,
Was missing a hand.
Her right arm, ending at a ripped orifice, dripping viscous liquid, tackier and darker than crimson blood Caesar thought he knew well about.
And he was sure, under the lights shafted down atop his helm,
The child's blood was pure Black.
Stepping one step back, Caesar panicked, for something else popped up of his visor screen that halted his every move.
[Nano Residue Detected]
Shit. Caesar quickly pulled up the armored gauntlet to defend himself, only to realize he had attached all the wires to the data storage device to the wall, unable to defend himself.
" ...stop..."
Among the sobs, Caesar could finally make out that one word from the child, and another.
" …Don't...take...my sister...away from...me....!"
The hand,
The dark hand,
desperately, grasping.
Lo, dark liquid tentacles burst out from the orifice where the younger sister's missing arm should have been, snaking out all at once, coiling everything in its wake, her sister, the shelves, Caesar, and all.
Capturing everything within Dark matter.
At the end of his struggles, Caesar saw nothing but darkness, his failures flashing before him, none as jarring as the current one which he forgot that Nano Entities have been reported to adhere into sentient hosts, snatching their will to serve their bidding. The child was alive, but polluted, corrupted.
But even so…Caesar pushed the tentacles off his right arm, the hand on which Sora shielded, letting all the darkness swallow him instead.
Somehow…the data, the Secrets, the blueprints of the future, his Mentor's hopes and dreams—they must live on!!!!
Before he was about to eject the wired hand gear off himself, his body felt a new vibrating sensation, an upcoming surge of stinging force that ensued quickly into loud buzzing howls, waves so strong that seemed to become visible in the dark shattering the ebony tentacles whole as the corrupted child screamed within the tormenting infrasound bursts.
Caesar felt the tightening grabs loosen as the Darkness crawled up to the ceiling like a spider provoked, skittering away to the shadows only to be addressed by another stream of shock waves spuing out of the metallic hose of an Infrasound wave gun loaded onto Old Castiel's back, earmuffs over his ears.
" BE GONE WITH THEE!!!!" Castiel shouted with tantamount wrath, spurring all the humming and buzzing across the storage room, blowing everything aside, rocking the compartment tremendously, ushering the metal shelves and the fallen bodies to the side with such force at the same time.
" Caesar, Go!!" Castiel shouted, pinning the squirming corrupted child and its Nano smog onto the wall with the nonstop thundering waves.
" I can't!!!!" Caesar shouted back, relieved that his helmet shielded his ears from the detrimental wave attacks.
78%, just a few minutes left of transmission.
" I need more time!!"
With the earmuffs and his declining hearing, Castiel didn't hear the young man's shouts.
" TIME!!!!!!" Caesar shouted again at the top of his lungs, pointing at the back of his left wrist, motioning a gesture of a watch to indicate the need for more time.
" Huh?!?! Caesar Are you deaf?!?! I told you to RUN!!!!!" Castiel growled one more time before the whole Solar Industry Headquarters shuddered with a violent jolt, knocking both Caesar and Castiel to the ground.
The wave stream teetered and pointed away from the Dark Entities as the tentacles shot out from all sides at the next instance, like a million hands pulling the whole wide establishment down into the abyss.
Caesar felt the ground sinking and the ceiling caving in.
84%. Faster, Caesar prayed, turning on his left arm wave shield to repel the grasping darkness to little effect.
Old Castiel, with his courage and affability of a military general he had never discarded from his soul, roared triumphantly as he restanced his poise and shot out overpowering waves at all the Nano tentacles bursting out at him. Yet his wave shotgun, pointing one direction at a time, was soon overwhelmed by the swarming tentacles all-out attack, dragging Castiel into the deep.
" Cas!!!!" Caesar screamed, reaching out his left hand as soon as possible, only to see the old man vanish into the dark.
And soon he will too.
92%.
No more time. NO MORE TIME—————————
With one tenacious cry, Caesar pulled the wires off the Sora gauntlet, activating it fully to its grand extent, lighting the room, lighting the whole compound in a ball of blue light. The world hummed alongside his glowing armored hand.
Darkness screeched and cowed, dancing furiously about, piercing forth only to vanish the nearer they reach Caesar's illuminating presence.
" Be gone…" Caesar hissed furiously, filled with anger and hatred towards all the massacre and torment the Nano midst has inflicted upon humanity.
" Be Gone…BE GONE, ALL OF YOU!!!!!!!!"
With a tremendous smash onto the ground, sending shockwave after shockwave of blue rings of sheer Light slicing through the thrashing tentacles, the grasping hands, the vengeful entities, eliminating all of Dark in that one fell bloom of nothing but
Light.
When Caesar came to once again, all he felt were the searing hot steam enveloping all over him within his yet humming armor that was hardly intact, about to crumble to pieces if he made the slightest of movement. Yanking off his helmet, letting the lights of the orange-red setting sunbeam in through the shattered walls to his eyes, as the dark silhouette of the old janitor stood, battle-ravaged before him, facing the side, looking down at the smoking black pulverized storage device across the wall.
The rest of his Mentor's secrets, no more.
" …Did you get it?" Castiel asked after a long silence.
92%.
" …Yeah…" Caesar sighed, leaning back to the remaining wall of the blown-up room.
" It's stored in Sora's USB hardware…"
The two men, resting their senses, speechless for long.
" …Ready to go?"
" …sure…" Caesar grabbed hold of the old janitor's arm, climbing back up to his feet when he saw a faint glow through the edge of his eye.
Stopping his steps inadvertently, with his eyes staring at the weak luminesce before his eyes, bending down to the floor to have a closer look.
" ....Cas…?!"
The old man turned around.
" Need some help here…"
There, within the first child, the older of the sisters entwined in heartwrenching embrace,
was a slight yet steadying glow,
beating accordingly, to her weak heartbeat.
…
...
" Beer?"
Caesar looked up as he closed the iron doors to the warehouse, where his real lab situated underneath.
In the old man's hand, were two cans of iced beer of an ancient brand. Those were the dwindling last cans stored in their flimsy fridge, saved for ceremonious events, times of celebration. Though the moment may not be one to call for a drink, Caesar agreed to the offer, craving to have a short escape from all that had happened, and will happen later on.
" Sure."
Caesar Skyman never liked any kind of booze, but right now, letting in the bitter stuffy foam and cold sparkling liquid drain down his throat, sure did help relieve him from all stress and trauma.
The stars, twinkling in thousands, alongside the stardusts and galaxies, among the milky ways and universes, lighting a path ahead that was too obscure to read, and could just be admired.
" Tell me, Caesar."
The old janitor asked after downing half his beer and burped.
" Will we win ?"
Caesar looked at the old man, wondering if it was a drunk question or a sensible argument.
" Win or lose… we still need to survive."
Caesar replied, stirring his eyes onto the thousand stars.
" Well said…well said…"
Old Castiel mumbled dreamily, while Caesar thought of a way to comfort his old friend from the grief of the passing of his daughter. But before the young man could come up with words of comfort, the old man began with things like—
" Caesar, you see… the universe, turning to its own rules——
—Logos. With the Logos, the Grand Order of all things, The universe will still be moving, even after we were all gone. Time will still go on, when there is nothing left to grow…Is there time then?
Even after our lifetime,
And the children's lifetime,
After…all existence...when all is meant to be, to abide by the greater Power…is there, supposed to be something to struggle for…?"
Castiel gazed at young Caesar seriously in the eyes, the old man's stare watery.
" What defines existence? How do we define survival, Caesar? Is there.... a way to Surpass Life, and Death. To be Beyond?"
" Cas, you're…"
" No. Think about it, Caesar." the old man denied his drunken state quickly with more words of esoteric meaning.
" Somewhere out there, there is a form of life existing in a way unlike ours, through another way of Being. A different… Life, the question is… how does it exist?"
Caesar could not follow, but the old man continued.
" It doesn't live. Because to them, 'Living' is not the only way to 'Survive'.
Somewhere, out in the vast universe, a world in another dimension with life, but unlike our 'Living form', it's... Somewhat... To Exist without the concept of life, but still a way to Be...
..... How, Caesar... How…? How can I Live…when my existence, my purpose in Life…is no more…Caesar…?"
Forcing his tears back, Caesar cleared his throat to sound natural to answer his friend's questions.
" To remember….Cas." Caesar managed to reply.
" To remember, always put them close in our hearts…so that through us, They, All of them, existed. It is only through us that they can exist beyond living and forever be…It is through memory…Memory…Cas. Memory."
Existing, and surpassing life and death,
is to be remembered, by those you dear.
With that in mind, Caesar helped carry the old drunk crying janitor back to his cabin and watched him douse into snoring slumber. Caesar too, in his swirling thoughts and drunken stupor, dragged his own body atop those wobbly legs up to his lab, to continue his unfinished works.
He came across a dim light at the end of the corridor where the children's bedrooms were, with the sounds of a minor commotion echoing down the hallway to his already buzzing ears. following the sounds, Caesar finally made out what the commotion was. It was the girl, the newcomer, the one survivor called Lima, crying sadly among the gathered children, all trying their best to soothe her desperation.
Must have been she remembered, Caesar made a peak inside as he wondered.
Memories of the lost…to remember the sorrows and the trauma. It is not all blessings. But also…a Curse.
There Caesar saw Claudia there surrounded by the children, as she hugged Lima close, caressing those light purple long hair as she sat in the middle of the room, trembling candlelights waving their shadows upon the classroom walls, shining the glows in their eyes.
Caesar stood back, focusing on Claudia's gentle gaze, though uneasiness of the future did the candlelights reflect, there also was courage, and determination to live on and protect, to be a beacon that the children could look upon with hope.
Yet, from what he had encountered earlier that day, Caesar didn't find it hard to imagine that this young girl, this sole survivor, must have faced tremendous terror gravely more than she could ever process, of her school destroyed, classmates perishing before her eyes… things that would traumatize any person if they were faced the same. No matter what Claudia whispered, how many caresses she gives, the girl remained sobbing desperately, tears like streams flowing uncontrollably, wetting her pajamas.
Nothing could possibly erase those wounded memories. Nothing could, not even time. Caesar thought before his ears were met, with the voices, melodious humming that instantly halted the girl's sobs,
And soothed the throbbing within his buzzing head, erasing the constant noises and clearing it all with but simple
Song.
" Close your eyes —————
Don't you cry —————
Let the Sorrow within you subside——
Don't despair ————
Have no fear ————————
Give the weight to me when you hear———
—This Lullaby ———"
Without himself knowing, Caesar found himself legs bent to a kneel, on his knees outside the classroom, tears nonstop as his heart in echo to Claudia and the children's singing chorus, to comfort the crying child, and rest his trepidations and fears of tomorrow.
Hand in hand, together circling among the dim lights of candles, the children followed Claudia's song, singing together, in healing, in comfort.
In reconciliation, in forgiveness towards oneself.
" Close your eyes——
Don't you cry——
Let the Darkness within you feel Light—
Don't despair——
Have no fear——
You'll find comfort in me ——
—with this Lullaby————
———This Lullaby——
" ——— Close your eyes———"
Footsteps.
Went further away from the classroom, walking down into the dark,
Wait,
one child sitting nearby the wall thought.
Walking past her friends, new and old,
Passing by the teacher and out of the classroom secretly,
out of the candle lights' reach,
Only to follow the footsteps.
Down the corridors, stairs,
across the yard,
Where the rock was.
But the rock was moved to a side,
A doorway with a flight of stairs leading down,
down to the abyss,
where Light seemed to glow beneath.
" Hello ?"
The child called, nearing the depth,
nearing the light, until she saw them.
Swimming, floating, grasping, whispering,
Glowing, in answer.
There,
Headmaster Skyman stood before a million screens,
of floating grasping Light,
of a world full of flying ships with cannons,
of Armored Beings, shining like Stars,
and Blueprints, many many Blueprints over the screens on the wall,
All of one place, The Place,
The Land of Light,
The Herunis Carna———
" No...Yuri, what are you doing here ?!
You are not supposed to be here !! Yuri !!"
Light, swimming in wide jars,
Grasping the glass walls with its floating tentacles,
Alongside naked dead children behind the glass vaults.
" Yuri....!!"
" I…I am sorry...!!"
Yuri stepped back terrified by what she saw, of the flying ships, cannons, armored beings, blueprints, The place—
And Light moved back with her, gathering to her,
looming all around her.
She could hear the voices in the Light,
The voices of those soft, swimming Light behind glass
Calling to her—
" YURI ————"
Closer, and closer.
Swimming towards her.
" YURI ———! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !"
...
....
........
Yuri thought it was her alarm clock ringing, reminding her of the morning training that she usually was late to.
…Must wake up.... Or Commander Firren will.....
…Wait...
Yuri looked closely at her surroundings.
This wasn't her room.
Looking sideways, Yuri blinked hard, looking at the bed she now lay, one that was of the softest beds she had ever slept upon among all her memories, her remaining memories.
Turning to the window larger than the one in her room among the Betelgeuse ship, now situated next to her, Yuri expect to see the dry lands or abandoned hollow buildings scattered across the rocky desert,
Yet her eyes beheld shimmering silver skylines of sharp piercing towers, jets, droids, and sky pods dashing through the air amongst the dazzling horizons of endless obelisks and monuments.
A City sitting among the clouds.
Underneath, streets lined with golden tiles extended and winding to no end; bridges reaching afar held up by steel strings leading to all sides, all coming from one particular mountain, the gathering of protruding turrets supporting the one main edifice touching the heavens in the middle.
And all over the city, on the streets, in the air, everywhere,
were Starbreakers, of all shapes and sizes, of all kinds of peculiar armor and many colors,
residing in this grand Utopia of
Light.
A world beyond her imaginations, always only spoken and mentioned by Firren and Reina as the Capital, now, before her own eyes.
The Citadel of StarBreakers,
The Capital of The skies,
Sky World.
Yuri stirred up, leaning close to the window to feast all the glory and triumph of the Magnanimous Powerful Capital of Light into her eyes, only to be stopped by a sudden stinging pain upon her arm.
" Ouch…!"
That was when Yuri saw a thin tube patched upon bandages hung in front of her eyes, where they were attached into her veins a moment ago, now accidentally ripped off and a dew of light blood popped out of her skin slowly and flew to the wall straight in front of her bed.
Yuri blinked, hard, surprised by how the drop of Light blood defied the natural rules of All-things-fall-down rule according to Grandpapa Bradson's teachings and flew straight forward instead. As she wondered, More drops of light blood started dripping out of the minuscule wound dot, into a thin streak of light blood that went on flying straight to the other end of the room, dirtying the pallid wall on the opposite side.
And the tubes too, that were once hanging down close to her face, now started to dangle upwards, pointing forward as the drops of Light-blood went.
What is happening?? Yuri looked around, startled by her surroundings, and decided to jump off of the bed, when her body, her waist, and ankles, were pulled back onto the bed in a sitting pose. Yuri threw the quilt off, which also glided onto the wall before her, to reveal to her utter shock, her waist and legs, cuffed to the bed by restraining devices wrought of Starbreaker steel!
And shocking her most, were the towers and turrets all over the city outside her window,
All started to tilt to a side.
Sky world is teetering, colliding, collapsing—
— No.
Yuri quickly adjusted her spacial cognition and came to a confounded realization.
It was her bed, the place she was in, the whole room she was trapped within onto the bed, that was tilting.
Adding more travesty to the confusing circumstances, the alarms, ringing madly, all started to cry out in monotonous haste, stating—
" ATTENTION! !"
" ATTENTION, STARBREAKERS! !"
" SKYWORLD IS UNDER ATTACK ! ! !"
" REPEAT, ALL STARBREAKERS, SKYWORLD IS UNDER ATTACK ! !
TO COMBAT POSITION IMMEDIATELY ———! ! ! ! !"
Mustering all her strength to her body, Yuri pulled, heaved, and yanked as her world slanted nearly upside down.
Her muscles tensing, Yuri made one last effort to escape which she suddenly could not.
Her powers, her senses, her consciousness, all negated and failing,
before that one piercing pain erupting all of a sudden, deep down inside of her.
Her world flipped, upside down.
[....To be continued]