She smiled half-heartedly and replied to Andrew "I know you will steal his archetype when you get a hold of him. You are the one who is breaking the rule of the 10 high."
Andrew said in a slightly intimidating tone added onto the distorted voice coming from his helmet's stereo, it made him sound like Darth Vadaer from the Galactic War movie, a true villainous voice.
"I am a kind person, so I will let you and him go today but remember that you can't escape from the eyes of Yallareon nor the 10 high."
Stella replied, "Keep your kindness, I know why you don't want to hurt me because the 10 high still needs me."
In a split second, she then continued sprinting as she dragged me, surprisedly the security guards did stop pursuing us. I still have many questions to ask her but for now, it was best to escape where do I escape to?
My education, life, and dreams are all in this sector 2. Now are you telling me to abandon all of it because of this bad luck accident that happened relentlessly to me?
As we were racing against the wind, the end of the passage became visible revealing a spacy hall, then we arrived at the docking bay's wildly open entrance as many crew were still being evacuated, and then I found many scattered vehicles and hoverbikes. Maybe one of them was her vehicle, it seems like she might not drive Zvesda 3 today.
At that moment I asked her "Are you in the organization the same as those guys who blew the bus?"
Her expression switched to surprise after she heard my question, but since I already knew the answer just by hearing her conversation with that Andrew guy. I just wanted to know if she would tell me the truth or not.
She replied, "Don't get the wrong idea, they are from another organization, we are just working together."
I asked "Working for what?"
As she was running in the front and I chased after her, she slightly turned to look at me briefly before turning to face the path ahead and said in a stern voice "To prepare for an apocalypse far worse than the great global disaster that happened 70 years ago."
I still didn't know what she meant but I got an idea that she didn't join the same mission as them to do bad things.
Due to curiosity I also asked "What about your grandma? Does she know that you work for some shady organization?"
When we were running, I couldn't help but asked her these question even I knew this moment wasn't the right moment to question anything.
"Of, course. She doesn't know since it is a top secret but now it doesn't matter. She isn't even my biological grandmother to begin with." She casually replied to me.
I wonder how long has she been hiding this from me.
"Why you didn't tell me earlier?" I asked in a fairly disappointed tone.
Stella kept her head down and didn't answer anything, just how much more does she hide from me?
Something inside me felt cold, these past few days I experienced many things that clouded my mind. And now to figure out that my childhood friend also works for an organization that is involved around the future apocalypse, just what the fuck is going on?
At this moment I realized, perhaps the divine judgement and fourth dimension as well as cosmic entity really exist as well since this wasn't far fetch from what was happening right now.
Without even my awareness, I chased after her until we arrived at one of the hover-bike. It didn't look like the usual bike that Stella would drive, however, my legs suddenly halted.
"Tell me all the truth, why is this happening?" I asked with a serious tone.
"Just get on the bike, you don't need to know anything for now." She responded as she hopped onto the bike.
I subconsciously yelled at her "No, I deserve to know. If you don't tell me then let's cut ties with our friendship." I continued as I intuitively knew the answer "You are prepare for the divine judgement right?"
In that instance, I could see her expression change from a calm and serious to a shocking one. She paused for a moment, then she fixed her sad eyes on me.
"I am sorry, but I can't tell you anything right now or the future outcome will be different from what I see." Stella said and looked down to avoid my gaze.
She seems genuine.
At this moment, I knew I was being too persistent and let my emotions take over me. But I didn't want to live in a lie anymore, I wanted to know the truth. Suddenly, a group of around 10 masked men dressed in black robes equipped with a traditional weapon such as swords, bows, and axes appeared from the entrance to the docking bay and began to slaughter everyone in sight who didn't manage to escape on time, the scream of horror filled the area.
Hundreds of people were still trying to find their way out, but some of them chose to fight against these creepy angelic masked men and met a tragic end. Not only did these masked men hold mastery over their weapons, but they also had an ability that boosted their agility and strength even without activating their bio-data chip.
Something glowing in blue was being sucked out of their victim's body, their body aging at an incredible rate as if their life force was being drained. What is this ridiculous sight?
At that moment, I caught a sight of a red hair man in tank top leading a group of security guards and engineers charging against these masked men with their laser guns, it was illegal for a civilian to carry such a weapon but in this moment it didn't matter to me as they were fighting for their life. Chakrii, the red hair man, killed two of them in just a few seconds despite they tried to block a few laser bullets from him but still failed, then he turned to me shouted "Hey, blondie! Don't just stand around and escape with Stella!"
I was about to rushed back at him but Stella warned "He makes his choice, don't let his sacrifice be in vain. He is trying to buy us time."
I gritted my teeth in frustration, realizing once again that I was hopeless in this situation and cursed "Fuck."
Two of them were heading this way, Stella shouted at me to get on the hover-bike. Since my survival instinct kicked in, I had no choice but to do as she said. After I climbed onto the bike, she immediately ignited it and flew through the open space leading to outside. When I briefly turned to look back I saw multiple arrows had pierced through the hair man, whose name was Chakrii. His lifeless body lied upon a pool of his blood.
I clenched my fist in anger and silently prayed for his soul to rest in peace.
When I turned to look beyond Stella's shoulders, a horrific sight unfolded before me. Smoke billowed from multiple buildings engulfed in flames, with explosions triggering a chain reaction across the city. Numerous buses and even the train below were engulfed in flames, adding to the chaos.
"This is....." I had no words to describe even what I saw.
The holographic sky also turned completely blank like the sky was covered with a giant blanket, and immediately the city that once reflected the artificial sunlight now engulfed in darkness, in that moment, the source of light was from the surrounding neon light of the skyscrapers.
"It has begun, the harvesting season.... damn that elite bastard from high society and the 10 high council! they no longer care about humanity." Stella said in a frustrated tone.
It seems like the 10 high council was involved in this.
"So now where is the safe place?" I asked.
She said in a slightly trembling tone "There is no safe place, now everyone must survive on their own. Tellus has become a lawless planet, but you might have a higher chance of survival if you stick with Geralt until you awaken your power."
"What about you?" I asked.
"I am going to join the Blue Rose resistance." She replied.
"The resistance...." I murmured.
Suddenly, the entire building of Skyport behind us exploded bright and crumbled like a block stacked on each other being demolished, I looked back with half-opened eyes as the explosion was too bright.
Just how many people died in there? It was true I used to long for a change but this wasn't what I wanted.
For some reason, I felt calm and also grief, a mixture of feelings that I never experienced before. It feels like all of this happening like a dream, in a blink of an eye everything changed.
At the same time, I wanted to be mad at Stella, but I knew she must have her reason as well.
While we were traveling against the wind, drifting through the sky. Suddenly an idea popped up, I took a deep breath to clear my head to be sure if this was really what I wanted.
"Can I also join the resistance?" I said with a serious voice.
She briefly turned to look at my serious face, but to my surprise, her response was "Right now you can't, it is not something a normal human can combat."
From far away, I could see the skyscraper where my school is located and we were getting closer.
"Why I can't join?" I asked.
Stella said with an annoyance tone "You love to ask many questions." She took a deep breath and continued "I will tell you the truth, you are still attached to your EGO, you have a conflicted ego, to survive yet to also help other in expense of your own life. You can't battle EGO with EGO."
It felts like she was talking straight into my soul, her words made me realized something about myself that I knew but I couldn't put it into words.
-I didn't have any ego, I had always been a rule-abiding citizen and followed the society system without a bad record. What is my EGO? I had none.-
This thought immediately popped up in my mind, but for some reason, I felt like I couldn't say these words to Stella.
Stella raised her voice, this time it was soothing "Trust the process, you will overcome everything. When that time happens, I will return to you."
"What about the money I invest in cryptocurrency and the stock market?" I asked with a fearful voice.
Stella replied "The economy no longer works, but if you stay with Setsuna, Shan, and Geralt. Nothing will ever win against you until you find your true strength, remember that."
Suddenly, I remembered a text I read about the divine judgment mentioned the 144000 prophets that could see into the future. Not to mention, even that Andrew gut mentioned about narrative energy that I once heard of this term before from the Orc demon lord.
"Are you one of the prophets?" I asked.
I could sense an uneasy presence from her, even though I sat behind her back.
She responded "It is classified information, if you know who I am right now. Nothing will change, that is all you need to know."
Her response didn't make me feel at ease at all, the world was heading toward something much worse than the Global disaster. If this was true, then how could I survive such a disaster in the future?
We finally arrived at the outdoor docking bay in front of my school, I was glad my school wasn't under attack. Even on the surface, I could see hundreds of police battling against many tanks and hundreds of masked men equipped with laser guns and various weapons. Not just in this one area, but in many areas as well.
As the hoverbike landed on one platform of the docking bay, I was hesitant to leave. My hands and legs were trembling, and all the vision I had fighting against the Orc demon lord regressed into my mind.
However, a part of me got excited as if I had already known the answer. As if someone already told me that I would survive and the reward was waiting for me to claim it, as if I could solve all the problems in this world.
I felt guilty for feeling this way, then another part of me also screamed that Stella was trying to abandon me to survive on her own but she helped me came this far, of course I knew it was just an irrational thought.
Then I pulled myself to ask her one last question "Will I meet you again?"
Stella responded with a somewhat sad smile, "That... I do not know, but you have the power to manifest whatever you want, even to meet me again."
It was the same old cliché of being able to do and manifest whatever I wanted, but I understood that she was simply trying to encourage me. I knew I had to believe in her words as if they were true.
And did she mean that there was a chance we wouldn't meet again? Suddenly, a loud explosion jolted me back to reality, leaving no time for emotions or further questions. I needed to focus on survival as I witnessed several cruisers, each almost a hundred units long, hovered in the sky and approaching, casting their giant shadows over the surface.
Nonetheless, I took a deep breath and swiftly dismounted the hoverbike. As she glanced back at me with a final somber look, her hoverbike lifted into the air. She tightly closed her eyes, as if grappling with a conflicted decision, before soaring off into the sky. Uncertain of her destination, I could only hope she would survive until our paths crossed again. If this route was my sole chance at survival, then I had to put my trust in her.