The day had approached that all of us in the ninth division would begin working together to proceed with Operation Zenith. We had returned to the A.X.A. Testing Facility to properly meet Garren, but we waited outside the building according to my wish. I didn't feel comfortable setting foot inside after what I'd witnessed the other day.
The front door to the building then opened, and Garren walked out wearing the same jumpsuit he'd worn the day before. It nearly covered his whole body but his head, stretching up to his jaw like a turtle neck, but even wrapping around his hands completely excluding his fingers. Over the jumpsuit, he wore a white windbreaker, similar in design to that of an Angel's.
"Hey," he waved to us awkwardly. He scratched his scruffy hair. "I'm Garren. I've been told that I'll start working with you guys on Operation Zenith today."
"Hey Garren!" Kyra responded with immediate energy. "Nice to finally meet you."
He was quiet in reply. "Nice to meet you too, Second."
"Just call me Kyra while we're working together!"
Garren nodded. "Did any of the Overseers tell you about my Fractal?"
I recalled the bloodshed. "Yes. We actually saw your test from yesterday. Those nails seem really sharp."
"They are. They're really sharp. Too sharp." Garren looked down at his hands, observing his fingers. "In all honesty, it's a Fractal I wish I didn't have…"
"Why is that?"
Garren pulled down the jumpsuit sleeve that wrapped around his neck, revealing the skin underneath.
"Oh my…"
His neck was scarred with wet blistering wounds that looked to be serrated by something sharp.
"I have eczema," he said. "A skin condition that makes my skin dry and flare-up with itchiness. Sometimes the itch becomes excruciating, and eventually I give into scratching. With nails like these, scratching is really harmful to my body."
Garren suddenly twitched while saying this, and he immediately let go of his jumpsuit, which tightened back around his neck. "It's why I wear this clothing that wraps around the majority of my body. Its made up of a type of fabric that Overseer Uriel designed, which can't be scratched through even by my nails."
I began to understand why he acted the way he did after his testing in Chamber X the other day. I remember seeing Garren begin scratching at his suit near the end.
"Is your whole body affected by eczema?" I asked.
Garren nodded. "My neck, my chest, my back, my arms, my hands, my thighs, my calves, and my feet. All of it itches all the time. It feels like a constant burning sensation waiting to be eased by the scratching of my nails, but when I do scratch at it and ease the itch, it leaves behind gruesome open wounds that sometimes even bleed. These wounds sting even more than the itch itself. It's a horrible repetitive cycle of torture."
I looked at him with pity. "I'm so sorry you have to face that daily…"
"It's okay," Garren shook his head. "I'm used to it by now. I've learned to control the urge to itch most of the time. But I do want to warn you guys that my flare-ups get really severe out of nowhere sometimes. Sometimes I lose control and can't hold back the itch."
"Is there anything we can do to help you when that happens?" Kyra asked.
"Stay away." Garren grounded his words. "Stay as far away as possible from me. You wouldn't be safe around me when I've lost control to a severe flare-up to itch. Sometimes, when it gets really bad, I begin to scratch at everything."
"There's nothing Overseer Uriel has provided you to ease the itch without scratching? Like a medication or something?" I asked.
"No, no. He said that it's so genetically rooted in my DNA that some mere steroids won't hold it back for more than a few seconds. I'm stuck with this condition. So please, please, get away from me if you ever notice me lose control and begin itching crazily. I wouldn't want to accidentally hurt you guys."
We all nodded, understanding the gravity of his burden. Garren noticed he'd brought down the mood. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be so dark at first impression."
"No, it's okay! You told us something really important and we appreciate it," Kyra reassured him. "As the ninth division, as a team, we'll work through it together. So don't worry."
"Thank you so much…" He said.
With introductions out of the way, and with a general understanding of one another's capabilities and how each of us could contribute to the team, we began our journey into Operation Zentih.
"First things first, our one and only clue: Heathen." Kyra pulled out a notebook she'd written in the night before. "The origin of this name dates back to the Filtering."
"It was apparently a location, right?" Cynthia said.
"Yes. According to my sources, Heathen was a secret location only shared among specific individuals during the Filtering."
"Seems like it was an exclusive place for a certain faction, maybe?" I said.
"That's what I was thinking."
During the Filtering, without any laws set-in-place and with everyone left to fend for themselves, factions were set-up to increase the chances of survivability. These were either small or large groups of people in alliance with one another. Nonetheless, being a part of a faction was more secure than existing alone during the Filtering.
"Considering that Heathen was only known by few, I assume it must have been a special place. Maybe even secret." Kyra flipped through more of her pages. "There are three documented cases of the name 'Heathen' ever being mentioned. One was in a book, another was in an online video, and the third was a quote in an article. The third division had already tracked down the author of the book and interrogated them. Apparently they used the name 'Heathen' as an expression that they'd heard of from somewhere, but the individual apparently couldn't remember from where. It didn't help that it was a senior with deteriorating memory. That person is still under investigation. The seventh division tried to track down the user who uploaded the online video, but up until now, their whereabouts are unknown. They seem to have gone missing."
"And the third?" I asked.
"No division has had any progress on the individual from the article quote yet. We can start from there and see where it takes us."
"Was the quoter referred-to by their name in the article?" Garren asked.
"No. They were simply referred-to as a 'man from the street'."
"Then we should probably locate the author of the article first…?"
Kyra nodded at the suggestion. "Good idea. Then maybe we can determine if they'd caught the quoter's name by any chance."
"Even a physical description of the quoter would be helpful," Cynthia said.
All of our ideas were compiling together in one direction: to find the author of the article, to determine from them any details concerning the quoter who mentioned 'Heathen,' and to find the quoter themselves and ask about Heathen.
"Let's get going then. We finally have a starting point."