Mortality

Chapter 4: Devil's Advocate

As feeling returns to his body, his senses follow. There is the chilling sound of a rushing waterfall and flowing river. The sun has just begun rising and casts an orange glow over the sky, but a layer of shadow surrounds him instead of the light.

Cree slowly brings himself to open his eyes and peer through the soft darkness to see three figures standing over him. He stirs to stand up, but a piercing pain in his shoulder and stomach cause him to collapse back to the stone floor.

He stares up at the people and studies them. One of them is a pale man with blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a grey jacket and a dark blue t-shirt with black jeans and tennis shoes.

Another is a woman with dark skin, short neon pink hair, and brown eyes. She's wearing a hot pink bomber jacket and a ripped black tank top with torn black skinny jeans and spiked platform boots.

Then the third is another woman with pale skin, long silver hair, and her left eye is brown while her right eye is steel blue. She is wearing storm grey jean overalls with one shoulder strap hanging loose. Beneath it is a black sports bra and she has many tattoos decorating her ribs and arms and she has brown leather combat boots.

They all stand over him with curious eyes and smiles. Cree forces himself to at the very least sit up instead of being flat on the floor. He notices that laid out beneath him is a layer of old blankets with darkened bloodstains. He then feels the tight wrapping around his shoulder and stomach.

He glares up at them. "...Who are you?" he asks, his voice cracked and empty. His heart feels heavy and full of grief and longing.

The woman with the silver hair steps forward and stands firm. "AL-1426. My name is Alexas Lear," she says.

The blonde man nods. "YT-4457. York Tarver."

The pink-haired woman crosses her arms and smirks. "Catia Duval. CD-6797." She looks back at Alexas, who is watching Cree closely.

His eyes dart between each of their faces and he fails to find anything to say with all his thoughts clouded by memories of what happened.

Alexas kneels in front of him. "We found you injured in the forest outside of Mortal, so we brought you back here to recover. You would have bled out in no time on your own," she explains.

Cree looks around to see where he is. He's in a crumbled building with the front half completely withered. From here, he can see the building is rested against a wall of a lively ravine which is when he realizes he recognizes this place.

"...You brought me to the ruins of Idyll?" he questions. York nods.

"Yes. We liberated this place over a year ago, and since then it has served as our base of operations. Unity has deemed this place as desolate, but we have made ourselves a home here," he says.

Cree keeps anxiously glancing at each of them. "...Wait... You're the rebel SRL group that destroyed this place?"

Catia scoffs. "We're more than 'rebels'. We are acting in honor of Mortality. You and Mayor Wright freed us from our slavery many years ago, and now we are taking that drive to show Unity that we are free. That the SRL are not their machines," she states.

Cree slowly looks down as his eyes begin to blur. "...John..." he breathes out weakly and closes his eyes, taking a deep breath. He will never be able to unsee that night. The fear and desperation made the pain of his own wounds feel like nothing in comparison. He can't forget what that woman did, and he will make sure that she doesn't either. She will face retribution for taking what little family he had left.

Alexas reaches forward and pats his metal shoulder. "We will be sure that Unity pays for what they did to Mortal. If they want to silence Mortality by burning down homes and killing those who want to help others, then we will be sure they hear us loud and clear." She smiles and glances back at the other two.