Thunder. The rain was falling hard on the city of Visthansia. Aelor was all alone in the second

circle, in front of the Police Academy. The street was flooding and she could feel eyes watching her from the nearby houses. What was she even doing outside on a night like this?

The rain was falling so hard she couldn't see clearly in front of her. The Police Academy doors

were closed, she could feel the vision of the statues outside the academy stabbing her because of her failure to pass the final test. She had nowhere to go now. All she had to do was defeat a Memory Aes but she couldn't even do that.

The only way she could survive now was by implanting a SEC in her body, the security microchip the government of Visthansia used to "achieve Utopia" as they claimed. There were two different kinds.

SEC1 didn't let you physically harm anyone. The moment you had the thought of hurting someone it paralyzed you in place. SEC2 called the police the moment intense fear was felt.

As a police student she thought these chips were the savior of the city. Crime wasn't high in

Visthansia anyway and the only people to cause trouble were the two enemy factions of the Purists and the Anarchists. Both hated the SEC and claimed it was the government's plan to make everyone a zombie under their will.

Most people in Visthansia didn't mind the SEC, which was not compulsory and you got a

Universal Basic Income for having a SEC on or double the money for both, and agreed with the

government. They thoroughly believed that human instinct couldn't be tamed and as such, different measures has to be taken.

Thunder again. This time there was also hissing though. Aelor was lost in her thoughts when she felt something moving in the woods near the first circle of the city. Someone was in danger. Even as a failed police student she knew she could still help with 4 years of training on her back.

She started running towards the woods. She was coming close when she saw an ethereal aura

coming out of them. She stopped in shock. It was the Memory Aes she hadn't defeated. It was here, looking for her, to take revenge on her attacker.

She felt scared and excited at the same time. On one hand she knew she had been defeated by it last time they met. On the other hand, now that she looked closer, the creature seemed injured.

Perhaps it was not coming for her. Perhaps it was just trying to hide from the other Aes populating Aezla. People said Aes were the souls of humans who had passed and wanted more from the world.

There were different kinds, some liked people, others hated them. All of them were fighting with one another though, in case they met on the fields of Aezla. This one was afraid though, it was near its death and Aelor knew that now. She decided to kill it. she knew it wouldn't harm her but it was the only way she had a chance at becoming a police officer. She also could skip the SEC if she liked, not that she minded it very much. She started running towards it.

The Aes didn't move at all, like it didn't hear her. She had come so close now she started

screaming. And she froze. The voice wouldn't come out of her lungs. She stopped in shock again. What was going on? Did the Innocence Aes steal her voice again?

Children in the city of Visthansia couldn't speak until they had reached the age of 15. It was like

a curse on the city by the Innocence Aes as people called it. Noone had ever seen it, but they said it lived on Mt. Aezla in the center of the island of Aezla. People would say stories about how they could hear children's voice's if they dared to climb.

Only the most brave of people went there. The center of the island was home to some of the

most powerful Aes known to man. The appearance of the Eternity Aes recently didn't help matters either.

Some form of Aes that sucked people on top of Mt. Aezla if they strayed from the road or any

civilised structure, only to never be seen again. People thought these victims were becoming new Aeses or just going to some other time in the past or future according to their beliefs and desires.

The creature moved. Aelor was still frozen, like paralyzed. The Aes attacked. Aelor wanted to

scream so much now but still couldn't manage it. Her eyes were wide open and she knew she was dead.

Thunder. Aelor woke up sweating. Why was she so stressed about the test? She was the best

fighter in the Academy. Everyone respected her. The rain was still real. She needed to gather herself and go to bed again but she knew this was impossible now.

She looked at the time. 03:59 am. What she could do now was head to the training center and

work on her sword skills for an hour before the graduates of the school headed out for Trithor forest.

Some of them could potentially die and they knew that. Still, the will to make Visthansia a better place didn't let them rest until the test was over.