Naihabi Ridge

Chapter Twelve - Divergence

Avi

The world returned to me in a final jolt of pain and I gasped awake, still under the constricting restraints, then all that remained in me were the severe aches from my futile escape efforts and the frigid hotness that still lingered as an echo in my bones.
    
The darkness had reclaimed the small room—considering I was still in the same place—and there was the piercing silence from before, only it was slightly different. I couldn't explain it more than it just was.

My right arm—the place they had injected me with the orange liquid—ached along with my eyes more than anything else, and I wished I had stayed unconscious, but my body obviously had other plans. I groaned to myself, and I heard a shuffle somewhere nearby. I was so sick of surprises, I just as well might have invited the danger, but a soft light eased into the room instead, and a woman's silhouette lurked behind it. I squinted as the figure came closer, then I nearly gasped as my eyes painfully adjusted enough to recognize the striking woman in front of me.
    
"Master Romia!" I rasped, sending a wave of pain down my throat. I swallowed it and managed to collect my surroundings again.
    
Master Romia's jet black hair was tied at the nape of her neck neatly and she was wearing all black, including a mask and gloves, but she was still herself, and I would recognize her anywhere by her deep brown eyes that were constantly glaring at me. I smiled at her, but it faded as I saw how she stared.
    
"What... What did they do to you?" She asked slowly, inching forward with a hesitant foot.
    
I wanted to lift my head and greet her properly, but the straps were tight as ever and I didn't dare upset them again, so I tried to stay perfectly still as I spoke.
    
"I, uh... I don't really know."
    
She nodded, but her eyes were still swirling with caution and disbelief. She snuck next to the bed and bent down, her arms working around something, then the belts loosened and fell to the floor. I enjoyed taking in a full breath—though it hurt—and letting it out with a sigh. I tried sitting up, but didn't get very far before everything exploded in pain and I collapsed down on the bed again. Master Romia examined the room warily, and then turned to me with an unidentifiable look.
    
"Have you seen yourself?" She asked, then it dawned on me that I must have looked like a mangled mole rat, and I shook my head. She dug in the satchel she had at her waist until she found a handheld mirror, then she handed it to me. It was lined with silver and seemed fancy, so I handled it with care, but I came dangerously close to dropping it when I saw myself. I didn't recognize the person reflected in the glass.
    
I looked at Master Romia with raised eyebrows. "This thing is broken."
    
I was quite confident that it was, because I had chestnut hair and baby blue eyes and the person in that mirror did not. He had my face, but I knew it wasn't me as I stared into the glass at the white-haired, weary teenager in the mirror, and I looked into his eyes—a luminescent, unnatural orange. They were almost glowing. Where had I seen that orange before?
    
It didn't matter, since it wasn't me. I handed the mirror back to Master Romia, who cleared her throat as she took it. She then put it back into her satchel and unlatched a knife from her thigh. She moved up to me, knife in hand, and got right up in my face. Now disturbed, I had even less chance of being able to stress my muscles enough to move off the bed, then Master Romia took the knife, brought it up to my face, and took hold of a lock of my hair. I felt the tug, then she put something in my hand and moved away. I opened my hand and saw a few strands of hair—the ones she must have cut off.
    
They were silvery white, the same color as the boy in the mirror.
    
I looked up at Master Romia as she sheathed the knife and came up next to the bed. "Do you think you can move?'
    
I frowned. If I was speaking honestly, no, but I hadn't been completely honest since the attack on Mithle. But could I really stress my muscles so much as to leave this place? It might not have been physically possible.
    
"I could revive you for a half of a bell."
    
My eyes widened and I searched around the room frantically, but no one else was there. Master Romia looked at me confusedly. Did she not hear that silvery voice?

"You're the only one who can hear me." The voice said, "I am the being residing in your soul, Sohh'aviami Kithrappoha, and the current cause of your weakness, but I can revive you for half of a bell if you wish to leave this place."

I couldn't... ever hope of pronouncing that name. Master Romia kept looking at me and I paused as I heard a shuffling noise. She didn't look like she heard it, so I asked her and as soon as she shook her head, she froze.

"Wait... I hear it..." Her face went grim and she asked again, more urgently, "Can you move?"
    
"I can help you..."
    
"Yes, I think I can manage."
    
As I spoke, a rush of rejuvenating energy flowed through me and I stood without an ache in my body. It felt nice to move, and I nodded to Master Romia, who returned it and shot toward the door with frightening speed and stealth.
    
I followed easily as we exited the half-lit room and turned right down a much brighter hallway. We were going really fast considering I hadn't been able to move only seconds before, but Master Romia was putting considerable effort into slowing herself to match my speed.
    
We raced down the hallway, then made several turns down different hallways until I felt the chilly air start to warm. With relief seizing my thoughts, I jetted forward, but slammed into the back of Master Romia as she skidded to a stop. I stumbled back several feet, then looked to see two bulky collectors blocking the doorway.
    
They saw us and one immediately brung out a radio-type device while the other brought out a long metal barrel. I stared at it for a second before realizing it was a weapon.
    
I jumped back, Master Romia landing silently next to me. I heard, faintly, the collector as he spoke quietly into the device, and mere seconds later, a bright red light shone through the half-darkness, and a loud siren blared through the otherwise silent hallways.
    
My back touched Master Romia's as she handed me a blade behind her back and took out her own, then we leaped away from each other and took up battle stances. The collector with the metal barrel laughed as if our efforts were futile—which was entirely possible—and pointed the barrel at my chest.
    
Suddenly, I was struck with the undeniable feeling of danger in the pit of my stomach and dread clouded my senses. My breath quickened and I stared into the pit of the barrel, into its darkness.

"Dodge, you idiot, that's a gun!" Master Romia knocked me to the ground just as a loud bang echoed off the walls.
    
My eyes could barely keep up with her as she whirred past me and straight into the collector, lodging her elbow into his stomach. He stumbled backward, but she was already on top of him, tackling him to the ground.
    
The collector with the small device pocketed it and ran to join the brawl, but I gained my senses soon enough to spring forward and intercept him. He didn't waste any time attempting to land a punch, and I grabbed his outstretched arm and twisted it backward until I heard a crack. The collector yelped and fell to the ground, and I ducked down, hit the nerve on his neck—rendering him unconscious—and turned to help Master Romia, but I stopped as I heard heavy footsteps echoing from down the hallway.
    
The alarm still blared, I realized, and I shot Master Romia an urgent look as the collector under her fell limp. She returned it and motioned to the exit door, mere lengths away. We rammed it and it came down much easier than I thought. I looked past the fallen wood and my eyes widened.

A single, empty room laid beyond. Four white walls and no escape. I spun around to face the collectors as they turned the corner to face us. There must have been twenty of them at least, all armed with the same metal weapon as the last.
    
They spotted us instantly, and they looked fierce as one of them brought up their gun, followed by the rest, but they all stopped as a taller, more regal man split through the middle of the group and said in a calm and demanding voice, "There is no need for such vulgar actions, commander. It simply hasn't been activated yet."

The whole group lowered their weapons and snapped to attention, which meant that man was probably of a higher status than them. I grimaced. What had he meant by 'it hasn't been activated'?

The man strode forward with his hands folded behind his back. He had a firm black mustache below his long nose and sharp jawline with a full head of slick black hair, also cut quite firmly. He wore a blue uniform that I recognized vaguely as military attire. He had two golden stars on each of his shoulders and a golden chain that hung from the furthest star on his right shoulder down to his front pocket, nicely complimenting the set of golden buttons that closed the royal blue jacket. His blue pants were tucked into black combat boots that clunked as he came forward until he was a single length away from me.
    
I stared up into his icy blue eyes, but his weren't focused on me—or rather, he was examining me as one would examine meat at the butchers or coins in a trade. Was I so lowly to him?

He came closer and reached out with bony fingers, then took hold of a lock of my hair—now silvery white—and stroked it with his thumb.
    
"Hm," he pursed his lips as he dropped my hair and looked at my eyes, lifting my chin with his hand and arching an eyebrow, "this color isn't even comparable to any of the other results. It's... extraordinary."

Though he was only inches away, I didn't move to attack him. He was demeaning and infuriating, but my instincts told me that the twenty-or-so collectors behind him wouldn't take to it kindly, so my only option was to watch as he stepped back and cocked his head to the side.
    
"Well, we can't have it escaping, can we?" A smile crept upon his lips. "The very first successful experiment, yes. Now, I believe you were Number 072, weren't you?"
    
He spoke down to me like an animal and I grimaced, doing my best to resist snarling.
    
"Well, 072, now you are Number 01, the first soldier in the army of the new world." He spun on his heel to face the group behind him. "Secure them, but don't injure Number 01." I saw the back of his twisted smile as he began walking away. "Its service to us has only just begun."

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Ello, I'm here with the image link:
https://orig00.deviantart.net/44d0/f/2007/044/d/2/dark_hallway_by_ruscfox.jpg