Episode 2
Enear Flos
Enear's father used to lock him in the basement when he was five years old.
"Don't worry. I'll come back with delicious food," his father always told him, and will be gone for three days, bringing only a piece of bread, a bottle of water, and an apology,
"Life's too hard. Learn to deal with it."
A cold apology.
But it's okay. He wasn't alone, though. He has his mother to feed him stories and trivia and show him the beauty of the world outside before. No wonder his father gets confused about how he could remain smiling after being locked underground, starving.
"If you just know, I always wished your mother was alive. But that would mean you'll never be born, because that will just happen if we never met," the old man told him while they were sitting on the floor patting young Enear's head, as he enjoyed eating the bread like a child biting a sweet cookie. "I'm grateful your mother left a valuable piece of her."
"Mama told me her dreams and showed me the world before. Flowers. Beautiful," young Enear replied casually, simultaneously talking, biting, and chewing the bread, "She wants to receive roses from you and sing her Bahay Kubo, even in her grave."
With the dust of bread on his cheeks, he looked above his father's frightening eyes; flashes from the past came right before his eyes. The greatest despair. "What is a grave, Papa?"
"E-Enear. Y-You can see your mother's soul? Y-You can talk to her?"
Young Enear's brows furrowed. "I can't see her. But she taught me a lot of things."
His father gripped his shoulders, twisting his body to level their faces. The bread fell from Enear's hand.
"Tell me how!"
"Through her books."
A five-year-old boy who could read books without anyone teaching him. His father never saw the risk of locking his son in the underground library. A mistake. A big mistake. The biggest mistake was when he burned down the underground and exposed Enear in the real world, where there were no rainbows, butterflies, and flowers, but only blades and blood.
~
A stylus pen flew over Enear's sleeping head on the table. He opened his eyes slowly, pulled out his arms from the desk, and returned to his senses. He found himself inside the dark classroom where the huge screen board in front of the class was the only light.
He just walked last night to save his 200 pesos salary. No wonder he arrived home at two o'clock. Then he needed to wake up at five to prepare for a long walk again. He wished he had insomnia so he wouldn't sleep in school.
"Enear! Where are we in our discussion now?" asked his teacher in a strict tone.
Enear looked at the screen board and saw those annoying faces inspired by the giant statues. How unfortunate that this was the first thing he would see as he woke up.
"The inventions they built to save the world, such as the Air Filter Machine, Hydraulic Engine or Water-Based Engine, Food Printing Machine, and Cerenovaxia," he answered casually.
Everyone already knows that, but it was repeatedly taught in school yearly to plant their fame in their minds. Famewhores.
"We're just about to discuss that now, but you were right anyway. Now sit down." The teacher gave back his attention to all. "Year 2050 is when World War Three started. It was also called the Nuclear War.
"The three scientists we called the Messiahs were the ones who saved humanity by predicting our needs after the war and made inventions.
"The Air Filter Machine absorbs carbon dioxide, dissecting the compound elements and giving off the oxygen. It is the same as when it absorbs water as it separates hydrogen from oxygen just like the hydraulic engine used in cars without giving off air pollution.
"Long ago, air pollution was the number one problem that no one could ever solve until the messiahs came."
Everyone clapped their hands except for Enear, of course.
"But the most miraculous thing they made is the Cell Regeneration Vaccine or the Cerenovaxia. This protected us from Nuclear Radiation, GreenHouse Effect, and Acid Rain. Their names must be praised!"
All students clapped their hands more with smiles of excitement and gratitude.
"Thanks to the messiahs!
"We owe the messiahs our life!"
"Without them, mankind would have collapsed! They are true saviors!"
The screenboard has shut down and followed by the white lights surfacing around the white room. The celebration has come to an end.
"By the way, how's your project drone?"
"Sir, can we please have an extension?"
"Nope. Pass it on Monday. I've said it just as our class started. How dare you all slack off?"
All the smiles dropped down as they sighed an "Aww."
"Also, this is your career guide test. We'll be having career counseling next week and I'll mostly rely on what you'll answer here, so please take it seriously, okay? Goodbye."
"Goodbye Sir."
Jonathan again came to his front. What does he want now?
"Hey," he said in a deep voice, trying to frighten him. "Don't forget our drone. This will be your last chance. I won't ask you to buy bread this time so you can buy materials and focus. Understand, farmer boy?"
~
"Enear, guess what I have today?"
"What?"
The clouds were still thick above the rooftop, the favorite spot of the two teenagers. The warm wind blew the yellow fibers of Dycron's hair as he looked at the surroundings before nearing his rosy lips in Enear's ear.
"Don't tell anybody–I went to an online black market. I caught a big-time client! I could finally pay some of my debts!" He whispered, doing his best to keep it as low as possible.
He then drew a pair of metallic boots from his bag and rushed to wear them.
"I can jump on this building without dying! Are you ready to witness the power of science, Enear?"
Enear wasn't sure of what this boy was planning. There were waves of students below coming out of the building. Dycron might cause panic in them, or he could hit someone on the ground. But before he could think of a conclusion, Dycron already jumped from the building with a yahoo voice echoing in the air.
Enear, with his hands on his pocket, sauntered to the edge to peek his green eyes from the 4th-floor rooftop to Dycron on the ground. Just as he thought, students circled Dycron, shocked at what he had done. But the blonde lad was just staring at him with eyes bursting with excitement, waving hands while jumping and shouting his feelings.
"Enear! My invention worked! You should try these shock absorber boots too!"
But the guards and a teacher came to Dycron to drag him to the office.
"Teacher! You should try my invention, too!"
"Shut up! I almost had a heart attack because of you!"
"But this is fun, I swear! Don't waste the privilege of trying this! From the soon-to-be greatest electrical scientist in this world…"
"Naive," Enear whispered as his eyes followed Dycron convincing the teacher and guards to jump in the building. "An idiot."
Suddenly, his watch vibrated, revealing a name on the screen and a green phone icon. As he touched the icon, a voice echoed from his earphone.
"Enear, pick up the package I ordered now. Test it for your mission tonight."
"Affirmative."
~
Behind the clouds, the moon watched Enear pushing his limbs to the limits to catch up with the man in a black jacket, doing parkour on top of buildings. He had no scout today to deliver his rifle sniper, so he needed to use the old method of chasing a rat to its death, like a grim reaper who uses a knife and bullets.
Until, the man stopped to shoot a grappling hook to the building next to him and swung his body onto the floor. After he dropped himself, his relieved eyes checked back to Enear. But his reaction turned into sorrow when he saw the young assassin falling down in the air, silhouettes blocking the moonlight as Enear jumped from the top of buildings without hesitation. He landed his boots perfectly and swirled his knife through his fingers to reset a good grip.
"W-What kind of monster you–"
The man was about to aim a gun at a young assassin when its metal boot smashed his wrist, pinning him on the floor. He groaned in pain while letting his gun pick up by the murderer's hand with no choice. Before he knew it, he heard a click of metal and felt a cold tip touching his forehead.
He felt a shiver through his spine, and a young, beautiful girl in an emerald dress lit by the sunshine suddenly flashed in his mind, making his tears fall on his cheeks. A resemblance to his dark skin tone, teal eyes, and long, curly dark hair inherited from his wife.
"Please! I have a daughter! We never did anything wrong! We just wanted a peaceful life!"
Enear stared at him with his green, emotionless eyes. "Peaceful life. There's no such thing in this world," he said in a monotonous voice with a clue of despair, "But a peaceful rest, I can give it to you and your daughter."
"No! Please don't involve my daughter! She's just a kid!" The man screamed.
"We're not supposed to until you mention her."
The man's eyes widened, and he lost his gaze on the wind. "I-I'm sorry, Ella. It's all my fault."
Enear was about to pull the trigger when he felt a fume of heat. It wasn't late when he jumped away, and the man burst himself on a wide fire. An unpredictable extreme production of body heat, a defective. This was the reason they needed to clean them all without letting them make a scene on a normal day and create panic in society, and harm other people around.
This is the end of his mission. All he needed now was to click his earphones to report.
"Subject executed."
"How's the boots?"
"Effective from a ten-floor building but was broken after, so I ended up with my bare feet."
"How inconvenient. I'll find some with good quality next time."
"Yes, Father."
A silence came after his words until his father finally answered.
"I told you not to call me Father inside the mission."
The call ended.
Enear wore out the boots from his feet, shot it with a gun a few times until it broke out, and threw it together with the burning man. He walked with his bare feet until he got home.
Quintessence Nightmare | mvcabusas