Numbered

Chapter 14: Oedipus Sondez

Oedipus was the second person to fall asleep (after Leanne of course). For the past couple of nights he'd been having visions instead of dreams.

The first one was of Jay and it was the future. Oedipus could tell it was the future because Jay was a fully grown adult (at least 25 and he was missing a hand. This concerned Oedipus seeing as he wanted to prevent his friend from having to loose a hand but due to his appearance he didn't know exactly when Jay would loose it so he didn't know how to prevent it.

Oedipus decided he wouldn't inform Jay on the fact until he could safely tell when exactly it was to occur.

The next vision he got was of a kid, probably only 15 years old. He had red clothes on signalling his status as a 4, azure eyes, wavy blonde hair and yellow freckles. He was pushing too far on his limits Oedipus could tell but it was obvious that the 4 was desperate and in a bad situation.

What exactly that situation was the vision didn't show but what it did show after becoming clear again was the same 4, who was now an adult sustained permanent burn injuries that snaked their way up both of his arms up until his elbow.

Oedipus was concerned with the rather gruesome visions. What did they mean exactly? Would something happen in the near future? It also didn't help the fact that with his waking moments there seemed to be a growing tension in the air of the country that was bound to snap sooner rather than later.

At least there wasn't any deaths in his visions. At least, there weren't any until tonight's vision.

It had started off with the two previously mentioned visions but soon another vision emerged.

This one took place in the past Oedipus could tell that much (how exactly he could tell he couldn't put an answer into words but the closest thing that he could was that it was a vision sense that worked half of the time and conveniently managed to work in this particular vision). He seemed to be in the body of the person this time instead of simply watching on the sidelines. These visions always left Oedipus with a weird out of body while high experience.

These visions were always a trip to deal with. This time Oedipus was in the body of a Selodine. He could tell due to the fact that even though things were extremely blurry he could still make out the tattoo of a lilac on his— the Selodine's left hand.

Another weird thing about the vision is that Oedipus somehow felt connected to the Selodine though he couldn't place where exactly from.

He felt this constricting feeling in his chest which was weird because despite being in water (wait they were in water? How did this happen) he was a 2 so he really shouldn't have a problem with water (well at least now Oedipus knew the Ranking of the mysterious Selodine) in fact he should be able to use the air in the water to breathe just fine... it wasn't the water that was making it hard to breathe.

Just then he ('The Selodine' Oedipus had to remind himself) spotted what seemed to be a red cloud floating in the water. He was able to trace the redness back to his neck and the memories hit him like a truck ('The Selodine' Oedipus had to remind himself yet again so he wouldn't forget who he was).

An intense feeling of betrayal and shock flooded over the Selodine and, in extension, Oedipus and Oedipus felt like the breath was knocked out of him. It was blood. And it came from a fatally deep wound on his neck. —————— did this. How could ——. The sound fuzzed out leaving Oedipus wondering who was the culprit.

The Selodine's vision started to get blurry, a telltale sign he was going to die and he panicked. 'what about my wife and sons? The Rebellion? It's going to fall apart without me.' Then, in a sudden moment of clarity both Oedipus and the Selodine saw a bright light and Oedipus felt the Selodine gasp.

There stood a figure of a teenage boy and a woman. "Mom? ——————?" The Selodine asked. The Selodine's mother (there was something off about her though Oedipus couldn't place where) opened her mouth before saying "It's time."

The Selodine seemed to calm down and accept his fate as he let his eyes close with a smile for the very last time.

Oedipus was startled awake by the sound of arguing. He immediately got up only to see the others already up. He let his eyes wander so that he could not only assess the situation, but also so he could check and see if anyone was missing/hurt.

The thing he noticed that was there was an intruder. A girl who could only be a year younger than Jay. She had her hands up in a jesture of surrender. "Okay, okay, calm down. I think there's been a mistake." She said.

Emel apparently didn't want to hear any of it. "Why are you here? What are your motives?" He practically growled.

She pointed down at her shirt and Oedipus noticed the pink. So she was a 6. "Obviously you can guess why, as for my motives, I just wanted a place to rest without being caught. Similar to you guys I'm guessing."

Emel still wasn't having it for he pushed the knife closer (not enough to cut but enough to show he wasn't one to play the game of fuck around and find out with) before saying "So? That means nothing. How can we be sure you're not an Artetoid."

From the way Jay and Ruby gasped at the term Oedipus could only guess it was super offensive. Which made it even more impressive when the girl didn't even flinch at the accusation.

" So you're also a 6 then. I guess I don't have any solid ways to prove this to you other than my word." She said calmly.

Emel sighed in frustration and annoyance before he signalled Oedipus to follow him into the other room. Right before he shut the door behind them Emel narrowed his eyes at the others before saying "Watch her. If she even breathes slightly wrong then..." he didn't have to finish the sentence for all 4 teenagers to understand what he meant.

Oedipus watched as Emel shut the door behind him and quirked an eyebrow in a silent ask. Oedipus sighed. He knew this was one of the times where he'd have to step up. It was just how they'd talked about back in the forest.

Oedipus ran his fingers through his hair before responding. "I—I don't know Emel. Maybe we let her stay with us for a couple of weeks and then, if she's gained enough trust by then and she wants to, she could stay permanently."

"And if she turns out to be an Artetoid???" Came the skeptical ask from Emel. Damn him. He understood that this was a test of his capabilities but damnit if it wasn't a difficult decision.

"I don't know what that is." He stated.

"To put it simply, a traitor." Emel said briskly.

"I—I wouldn't know what to do then." He said honestly running his hands down his face.

"I'll tell you exactly what you'll do. She'll be your responsibility and therefore yours to deal with." He said adding emphasis on the last part.

Oedipus knew exactly what that meant and he shuddered with dread. He really didn't like the thought of having to kill someone but he supposed that if it ever came to that and she truly was an Artetoid like Emel said than he would have no other choice.

He groaned before letting his hands fall down. "Okay." He said.

Emel said nothing, just opened up the door and followed Oedipus back out in the room before saying to the crowd of teenagers who hadn't moved since they left the room, "We've made our decision."

1359 words.