"Anna, what are you doing here?" The boy, with an innocent look, stood up from his chair. "Everyone is looking for you. What have you done?" He sat back down, pushing his soup plate aside.
"Listen, Andro, I need your help." The girl rushed to the boy's table, where there were a dozen radios.
"Take me to the towers, and then I'll do anything you want!" She grabbed his hand.
"Where? To the towers? Do you want us to be judged and then executed?" Andro raised an eyebrow.
"No, I want..." She was interrupted.
"Anna, this is getting too much. I understand you're arguing with your old man, but you're crossing the line."
"What boundaries are you talking about? This is more like a prison where no matter where you step, there's a wall that says 'you can't'!" Anna pushed her chest forward.
"Okay," he shook his head and closed his eyes, "Don't mess with my head! I'll tell the others where you are right away!" He reached for the receiver.
"Wait!" Anna intercepted his hand.
"Calm down, you're crossing a line!"
"Come on, Andro, understand me, if not today, I'll never get there again!"
"What are you talking about?"
"That old bastard wants to kick me out of here..." The girl's expression turned sorrowful.
"Ah, now it all falls into place," the boy started reaching for the receiver more forcefully, and the girl held onto his hand tighter.
"I'll give myself to you, just take me there!" The boy's eyes wavered, and he stopped.
"Are you kidding?"
"When have I ever deceived you?"
"I recall words: 'No sex until marriage,' wasn't it you who said that?" He smiled.
"Whether it was me or not, that's not important. I need to go to the towers, and for that..." She swallowed and nodded. "I'm ready for anything!" The smile on the young man's face grew larger on its own.
"Great!" He jumped up.
"No! The towers first!" The boy's eyes scanned her body and then darted to the floor, then to the radio station.
"Don't treat me like an idiot!" He reached back for the receiver.
"If you do it now, I'll accuse you of rape!" Andro's hand stopped.
"What?"
"In the towers, I know their layout like the back of my hand! And I won't care where we do it, on the steel or anywhere else!" His eyes wandered over her chest after Anna's words.
"Okay, I agree..."
"Great!" She hugged him.
He sighed and closed his eyes.
Where she was now was a checkpoint before entering the quarry. There weren't many people here because there were so many entrances. That's why there were numerous tents along the perimeter, including the one where Anna and Andro were.
"I can't just leave, especially when the other guys will come back soon..."
"Not come back!"
"What do you mean?" The boy moved away from the girl.
"They went to look for me. I clearly heard their conversation."
"Heard the conversation? Were you hiding from them?"
"No, it doesn't matter. We need to run right now!" She pulled the boy.
But as soon as they took a step toward the exit, three men entered the tent, their eyes immediately fixed on the young couple.
"Andro, what's this about? Baron has been clear - catch Anna!"
"Guys, it's as if you don't know about the family feud. They had another fight, and she came to me." He demonstratively took her hand.
"Sorry, but this time Baron is furious. I even got scolded myself, so let's hand her over and get back to work as usual?"
"Ah, Kant, you're thinking logically, but unfortunately, now I'm pursuing great goals that you guys will approve of," he continued smiling.
"Ah, Andro..." One of them pulled out a gun. "This time, it's not a family scolding. Baron has ordered everyone to catch her. Do you know where we were for ten minutes?"
Andro reached for his revolver, and the other two also drew their weapons. His gaze quickly scanned the guys and returned to Anna. He shook his head, actively making a decision within her.
"Okay..."
"What?!"
"I'm sorry, Anna, but this is going too far," he turned to her so his face wasn't visible to the others and winked.
"How could you? That's disgusting!" She played along with the boy.
"Kant, let's take her away," Andro took a few steps toward the others.
"I never doubted you, mate!"
"But you should have!" A sharp blow to the jaw caused the biggest of the trio, Kant, to fall. The second received a blow to his torso, and the third was hit in the groin. Andro struck each of them a couple more times before stopping.
"Let's go, Anna?" His hands and legs were covered in blood drops, not too many, but the sight shocked the girl.
"Let's..." Andro smiled as the girl touched his hand.
But a sudden explosion overturned everything. It was a shockwave that swept everything around them. Unlike Andro, who fell on his friends, Anna fell onto the cold floor. She looked around and saw something strange—a crystal that seemed to come to life. A huge, human-sized, blue silhouette emerged from it, the man with his face hidden under the hood of his cloak stared intently at the group of young people. Blinking a few times, this man, whose face was concealed, began to speak:
"As the Supreme Enturion, with incredible pain, I declare—we have fallen!" Just as abruptly as he appeared, the man vanished. But in Anna's consciousness, he remained right there.
"This surge of Eden powered the crystal on my hand."
Unlike the others, Anna didn't feel the full force of the explosion, but the Eden affected the people poorly, frightening them all. They lay there, trembling, immobilized.
"Andro, get up, the ancestors are talking to me! They can tell us more than I, you, or millions before us know!" She began to help Andro rise, and although slow and difficult, he managed to stand.
"Ha-ha-ha!" His eyes seemed like they would pop out of their sockets, as he looked at his friends and then turned with excitement to Anna.
"Let's go!" Andro smiled, but his eyes continued to watch the girl.
**
Arlok was swiftly approaching the towers, a strange feeling haunting him. He repeatedly stopped, striking with his sword, cutting trees and air.
"Is this paranoia? I feel someone's presence, but I don't see anyone," his red, calm eyes scanned everything once more.
"There has never been anything like this following you. I suppose our enemy is tracking us—shifting?"
The grassy clearing where Arlok stood seemed lifelessly quiet and calm, but his eyes were still trying to find something. Abruptly, he closed his eyes, his breathing becoming even calmer and deeper. He tried to take the longest inhale possible, followed by an equally slow exhale.
At that moment, when his eyes widened, everything around him started to levitate. He looked around, and suddenly, everything within a radius of 10 meters around him floated—among the vegetation, he saw beetles and various insect-like creatures of peculiar forms.
"So, that's where this feeling comes from. These creatures are dead, yet they're moving..." When his fingers spread apart, the insects tore apart into pieces, little fragments of their flesh.
"They, too, change like that flesh..." Carnage made a sweeping motion, and all the "living" life forms disappeared.
"Something infected the planet," Aria concluded.
"Yes, and that something shouldn't coexist alongside humans."
Aria found it hard to comprehend Arlok's statements; they were quick and sharp. But like all people, he felt a strange danger from these "entities," as if saying, either they'll kill us or we'll kill them.
"We need to address this as quickly as possible. Prepare a report for the Council."
"It will be done!"
He took a step forward with his right foot to lift off again, but instead of the sky, he found himself in a black space—a "black endless ocean" visible thanks to the dull white glow of Carnage's body.