Wires. Wires everywhere.
My head felt heavy, like hundreds of thoughts weighed it down. I looked around and realized my consciousness was back in my body. I was in the hive mind control room, which meant my consciousness must have been forcibly brought back by General Michael.
"The battle is finished, everyone!" I heard him say aloud outside our rooms. I slowly removed the helmet from my head and made my way to the door. My legs wobbled as I walked, so I grabbed a railing along the walls of the room to support myself, but my hand nearly slipped. I hadn't noticed that I'd showered in my own sweat.
"Welcome back," I was greeted face to face by General Michael who stood outside my door. He looked to his left, and following his gaze, I watched as Eighth and Seventh came out of their rooms. They too looked exhausted. I continued to watch, waiting to see the others exit their rooms, but the doors remained shut. General Michael gathered the three of us together.
"I must be honest, you three brought it very close in that battle."
"Y-Yes sir…" The others replied. My mouth felt glued shut by the guilt of my absence near the end of the fight. He made discreet emphasis of this. "Eighth, Seventh, you two were the boulders of the battle. Even with your limited capabilities, you defended the border four separate times, Seventh. And you, Eighth, have sublime scouting potential. Our wall would have cracked from the first tank shot had you failed to notice it. And determining the position of the tank near the end would have been a crucial discovery had the plan for it been executed properly." General Michael looked at me. I could see the disappointment in his eyes.
"What happened at the end there, Fifth?"
My mouth finally unlapsed. "I-I don't know sir… Everything had been going well until the unexpected happened. After that, I just shut down…"
"The unexpected…?"
I recalled the moment I'd sent a single Angel to scout the premise. He looked over the hill, and numerous Invidians plus a whole tank barrel had already been looking his way.
"I was already compromised even before I could attack. The Invidians seemed to know that I was already there, somehow…"
"They must have seen you ahead of time. Did you not conceal your Angels well enough when flanking along the sidelines?"
"I most certainly did. I made sure to even have Eighth's Angels act as a distraction in the center field to take focus off the sidelines. I took every precaution necessary."
"Then tell me why the Invidians already knew you were there when you got there? How is that possible?!"
"I-I don't know, sir!" My heart beat shot up. I could hear the General breathing heavily through his nose, as if trying to contain his anger.
"It doesn't matter anymore at this point. The borders are untouched, and you three are the last ones standing. Congratulations."
We were all taken aback for a moment. "Last ones standing?" Eighth asked.
The General sighed. "Yes. Only you three survived this war."
I looked back at the hall of control rooms. Sixth, Ninth, and Tenth's doors remained unopened.
"Are they still connected to their hive minds?" I asked him.
General Michael took on a face of grief before replying. "Sixth and Ninth are dead."
"What?!?" We were all shocked to the core. "Dead? How?!"
The General began to explain. "When Ninth's entire infantry was blown to bits in the first wave by the suicide bombers, his mind became overloaded. He had quite literally witnessed and experienced death through 100 different perspectives. He died of cardiac arrest."
Seventh covered her mouth in shock. "Leaders can die while taking control of the hive mind…?"
"What happened to Sixth?" I asked, remembering that the other half of his infantry had gone still after the second bombing in the second wave.
"Sixth's Fractal of excitement-to-energy conversion was more than just a Fractal. It was a condition. When his excitement increased, so too did any other emotion arising alongside it in the moment. We speculate that in the moment his Angels were unexpectedly bombed during the second wave, he experienced a plethora of instantaneous fear in addition to his excitement. It was too much for him to handle in the moment, quite literally frying his brain in the process."
"Oh my god…"
"That's brutal…"
"And what about Tenth?" I recalled that his infantry had gone docile too just like Sixth's. "He didn't die too, did he?" I really hoped not. Hearing about Sixth and Ninth's unexpected passings was already too much to bear. But I, and both Eighth and Ninth, knew we couldn't unleash our feelings in front of the General.
He paused for a moment. There was a hint of disgust on his face. "He ran."
"Ran?"
"He disconnected from the hive mind and ran away. Left everything behind: you guys, his Angels, his belongings in his dorm, the military. He left the building and never turned back."
I couldn't believe it. When we needed numbers in Angels the most, Tenth not only left us, but he turned his back on us. But none of it—Sixth's death, and Tenth's abandonment—explained why their entire infantries had stood still for the rest of the battle. It were as if without the presence of Sixth and Tenth's consciousness, the Angels themselves had lost all consciousness.
"Why did Sixth and Tenth's Angels go docile after their incidents, General? It didn't make sense that they would stand there and do nothing while the rest of us fended for ourselves."
Seventh joined in on my confusion. "Yeah, it was odd. You'd think they would join the rest of our infantries and communicate among them to understand our plans, even if we couldn't directly communicate to them."
The General spoke up. "Think back on your simulations. Have any of you ever ran training for your Angels on what to do when you aren't in command?"
We all thought about it, and realized it'd never even crossed our minds.
"The Angels didn't grow up like the rest of you. They are Fractless that have volunteered to serve as soldiers under a collective mind, such as you three. They have always been taught to only obey the orders of what is told. If they aren't told, then they do not perform. If there is no say, then there is no do. Not only have they learned this since the beginning of their trainings, but it is simply in their nature to withhold any actions of sort unless told to do something."
For once, I noticed something absurd come out of the General's mouth. It was an odd yet peculiar explanation. It made my perspective on Angels even more narrow than before. I was reminded that they were Fractless, just like me. But the difference between their life as a Fractless versus mine was too wide a margin.
"The Angels are really willing to go that far?" Eighth thought of himself in the scenario, and realized he wouldn't have the mental capacity to do so. "Interesting, but amazing."
General Michael brushed it off. "Do not compare yourselves to them. Those of you who are in the Tenfold are in the Tenfold for a reason. You are gifted, whether that means having a Fractal—" He looked at me, "—or not."
"But what becomes of the Tenfold now?" Seventh asked. It reminded me why we'd even fought in the war. We weren't only fighting to defend Melysia, we were fighting to keep our place in the Tenfold.
"There were originally two expected scenarios to come out of the conclusion to the war." The General began to list. "In case one, you six defended with ease and proved to the Overseers you were worth keeping around, then the Tenfold would remain as-is. In case number two, you six failed to defend Melysia and the lower six of the Tenfold would be disbanded, leaving only the upper four of the Tenfold remaining. But with the outcome of the war as of now, it's hard to place you in either of these cases. For one, you all did successfully manage to defend Melysia, but at what cost? Only half of you remained once the battle ceased. And did you three really manage to win with ease?"
Ease. That word alone couldn't be any further from what I'd felt approaching the conclusion to our war.
General Michael crossed his arms. "I'd say you three were very lucky with how things ended the way they did."
It was weird. All of us, including the General, were very aware of what happened at the end of the battle, yet no one had even directly mentioned it once. But there was one thing I'm sure all of us could agree on, even if we didn't wish to admit it.
We should have lost that battle.
We technically had already lost the battle, but once the mysterious person appeared with their overpowered Fractal, it were as if a rewind button had been pressed. Except when replaying from the start, we weren't the ones in control anymore. That one, mysterious person dressed in black, was in control instead.
"In my opinion, and the other Overseers' included, we do not believe that your efforts in the battle were futile. But, we collectively do not believe it was enough either. And as much potential as all of you combined have, we don't believe it is worth risking putting you three through something like that again."
"Ah…" The air in the room became very condensed. I could tell the three of us were all ashamed of our nearly failed attempt in defending Melysia.
"The Tenfold was called the Tenfold for a reason. But now it only consists of seven. We at A.X.A. see seven as the unluckiest number of them all. There have been countless horrendous events of the past involving the number seven, so with that as inspiration, and with the results of the war in mind, we've chosen to remove you three from the Tenfold."
My heart was struck with hurt. But I knew there was nothing I could do to defend myself or the others. We'd all tried our best, but our efforts weren't enough. We even needed to be saved in the end.
"Again," General Michael continued. "You three are very, very lucky with how things turned out. Especially you, Klyson."
"Me…? Why me specifically, sir?"
The General leaned-in closer only for me to hear. "First took interest in you."
I was shocked. First, the highest in-command of the Tenfold (hence the name "First"), took interest in a lower six commander like me? And why only me? The General could see the confusion on my face, but took no initiative to answer to it. He leaned back and continued discussing what would become of us three now being disbanded from the Tenfold, or what was now newly called the Upper Four.
"You three are still valuable to the military. Especially now, that you all have battlefield experience. Even though you are no longer commanders in charge of an infantry, your capabilities as people can still be used in other forms of missions. For now, I will be putting you three on standby until further notice. When the time comes that I present either of you with a task or a mission, you will call to it. Don't worry though, as I will choose you according to your potential for the task based on your abilities. But sometimes I may choose something out of the comfort zone, so expect the unexpected."
"Sir, yes sir!" We all said together. General Michael nodded in approval and began making his exit. Then, we were left to rest for the remainder of the day. Even though I was starving, I went straight to my dorm. I noticed that both Eighth and Seventh did the same. They must have been as exhausted as I was. It was a day that was hard for all of us to accept. We witnessed hundreds of deaths, including two of our own comrades. And through all of that sacrifice, I couldn't even accept the victory we had at our hands. It didn't feel like we won, and I especially don't feel like I earned it. Someone else, that mysterious figure, finished up the war for us. But even before we were saved, I couldn't do anything to help Eighth and Ninth in their last stand moments.
I'm Fractless. I was useless.
What more could I provide as a Fractless person if even my ideas didn't work?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
I'd waited two years for the opportunity to prove myself as a commander, and when I finally gained the chance, I blew it.
I had nothing to prove.
A certain memory then echoed into my head in that moment: "First took interest in you," the General had told me.
Why would the number one commander of the Upper Four take interest in me? I'm Fractless, so there's nothing special about me. And I froze up during the war, I looked horrible compared to Eighth and Ninth. Why would he take interest in me over the other two…?
It didn't click in my head.
With the day nearly finished, I was still unsettled and unsatisfied with the outcome of everything. If there was at least one thing I could resolve with my thoughts, it had to be the confusion over First's fascination with a nobody like me. So with nothing left to lose, I got out of bed and requested to be transported to the building the Upper Four were established in, so I could see to this interest myself.