[ο βασιλιάς μου]
[My King]
Elijah's eyes suddenly opened. He was immediately awakened from sleep.
[The Queens are reaping. It's time for you to receive the harvest.]
[Meet the Queens and accept their offerings.]
"What the hell?" groaned Elijah as he stood up and sat on the edge of the bed.
Isaac came out of the bathroom, looking half asleep. Isaac looked at Elijah coldly.
"Are you going to the bathroom?" Isaac asked hoarsely.
"I woke up from my sleep."
Isaac raised an eyebrow, then lay back down on the bed. He slept sideways, back to Elijah. A long sigh escaped Elijah's lips, then he got up and pulled back the window curtains slightly. It was still dark outside when Elijah looked out, glancing at the clock on the wall; it was half past four in the morning.
"Can't wait for the test tomorrow morning?" Isaac said.
Elijah gave him a quick look. "I have a bad feeling."
"Are you the one who wants to run away this time?" Isaac turned his body. "Everything's going to be fine, idiot. We're at the Army and Deformity headquarters. What do you have to worry about?"
"You don't understand."
"Of course I can't read your mind," Isaac replied lightly. "Go to sleep."
"Those Queens, they came here to harvest."
Isaac sighed softly, then sat up. "Harvest? Like they do on a farm, is that what you mean? What are they harvesting?"
Elijah shook his head. "I'm not sure."
"Are you really awake?"
"I'm very much awake, Isaac."
From outside came the footsteps of people running quickly, and soon the alarm sounded loudly. The door opened and a deformed face appeared. It's Trevor.
"You need to come with us," Trevor said.
Elijah and Isaac looked at each other.
Trevor continued, "There's a big raid east of Tacoma, they need help."
"We're not Deformity yet," Isaac said.
Someone appeared behind Trevor, Phebe carrying an all-black outfit. The girl came in and threw the clothes on Elijah's bed.
"Hurry, we don't have time," Phebe said.
Isaac showed the bracelet in his hand. "This is the bracelet of the Academy, I can't attack the enemy to the fullest."
"Trevor will take you to change the bracelet," Phebe replied. Then she motioned to Elijah. "Meet me at the front gate in three minutes, Elijah."
Elijah and Isaac nodded, and Trevor and Phebe left quickly. The two young men quickly changed clothes. Isaac looked at Elijah's appearance, then snorted softly, trying to hold back a laugh.
"Look bad?" asked Elijah.
"No, but I'm cooler than you."
"Fine," Elijah nodded resignedly.
The two of them left the barracks and separated when they reached the gate of the Deformity Barracks. Isaac immediately left with Trevor while Elijah approached Phebe. Phebe hurriedly ran with Isaac out of the barracks area where several jeeps were waiting. Inside the vehicles were the other Deformities, ready to leave for east Tacoma.
"How many ants are there?" asked Phebe.
"I don't know, but the team there says there are other creatures. Not the Eight Legs," replied one of the Deformities.
Elijah and Phebe looked at each other. Phebe's face grew pale, she was very sure that the aliens in question were the Queens. The car hurried to the helipad.
In less than five minutes, the Deformity troops had run into the heli. Elijah looked back, waiting for Isaac's arrival, but his friend's figure had not yet appeared. Phebe tapped Elijah on the shoulder and nodded. The two of them ran into the helicopter with eight other deformities.
Then the helicopter began to rise and take off.
"Why did Deformity let me join the battle?" asked Elijah.
"You're new, like me." Phebe snorted quietly. "They'd rather risk inexperienced troops."
"None of them have any experience," one of the deformed ones scolded. The man grinned. "We may have outgrown our training and sit bored in front of the Orb. But fighting aliens? Everyone's a rookie."
"Yes, and the deformities should come forth. Why not put the old guys in the front?" The Deformity sitting in the right corner of Elijah's row commented.
All the Deformities in the helicopter laughed except Elijah. He didn't understand what they were saying. Some kind of joke, some kind of satire.
During the ride to Tacoma, Elijah finally understood what was happening. It turned out that the Deformity remained under the control of the Army and its rulers. People are still afraid of mutants, so the younger generation with powers are regulated as much as possible to keep them from 'rebelling'.
But the deformities can't do anything about it. They just follow orders and rules. Even in the back, they were fed up with the system.
Elijah started to draw a line in the sand, which is why the rebels appeared. They just want the existence of mutants to be able to blend in with normal people. After all, the younger generation is the successor to normal humans. If there is no successor, then human life on Earth will come to an end.
However, if people do not realize that the differences should not be allowed to grow... then humanity will destroy itself.
"Elijah? Are you okay?"
Phebe broke Elijah's reverie, and the young man only nodded weakly. "I'm fine."
"Is this your first mission?" the figure to Elijah's right asked. He held out a hand, and Elijah quickly took it. "I'm Drew," he introduced himself.
"He wiped out a swarm of ants at Auburn Stadium," Phebe said, looking at Elijah with a proud look. "And he saved me."
Drew looked fascinated after shaking Elijah's hand. "Are you serious? That's amazing! Are you from the Academy? Or Deformity?"
"Academy in Fall City," Elijah replied.
"Then where's your deformity bracelet?" Drew looked at Elijah in surprise.
Before Elijah could answer, another Deformity appeared. "Fall City? I heard there were no survivors at the Academy, not even in that city. The orb there was destroyed by the Deformity team, but no one survived."
The others immediately looked at Elijah in astonishment.
"I—"
Elijah's voice was cut off by an explosion that hit the rear propeller of the helicopter. Everyone immediately swerved and fell. The helicopter pilot tried to control the helicopter as it began to spin uncontrollably.
Two Deformities immediately focused their minds and the chopper began a steady descent to the ground. As the Deformities rushed down, there was a loud noise around them.
"Damn, ants," Elijah hissed.