Ark Protocol

"Anna, what's that?" He pointed at the figure of a man in a robe hovering in the air.

"If I knew, I wouldn't be standing here like this!" She stood close to him.

But abruptly, the girl rushed toward the robed man; she had seen him before. She didn't recall what she said because he spoke in another, ancient language, but she distinctly remembered he appeared in that tent at the moment when everyone was overturned due to some strange explosion.

"That's our ancestor, Andro!" She tried to find a small notebook in a small backpack on her back beneath her coat.

"Is he dangerous?"

"How can he be dangerous? He's the one who birthed our civilization!"

"Where's this confidence coming from? Are you just starting to ramble?"

"Ramble? Who's talking? You only came with me for my body, nothing more! So, you must consider yourself an animal? Yes, that seems fitting!" She turned to the guy, but he continued to spin, trying to see and understand if someone was truly watching him beyond the golden gates on the wall.

"For my body? I just wanted to protect you. I've been here the whole time and haven't crossed any lines like an animal. I've been spinning around you to protect you, and you think I'm an animal? Anna, how can you say such things to me?" He turned and took a step toward the girl.

"Is it my fault? You're just like my grandfather, unwilling to let me have a say? You didn't even want to recognize me, but at the same time, you always showed your desire to take me!"

"Did that ever bother you?" He gestured, surprised.

"Yes!" the girl screamed.

"Then why were you silent? Your fear of speaking turned into blaming everyone but yourself?"

"What could you possibly understand? Know!" the girl screamed.

"Plenty! I'm human; I can listen and understand your feelings, so just tell me!" He took hold of her shoulders.

"Like others, you'll just run away! You'll get what you want and run, just like Karl did, leaving me alone!"

"I won't run away; I'll be with you! I'll protect you, just open up to me!" He tightly hugged the girl.

"Thank you, thank you..." She hugged him in return.

Three sharp shots. The guy's body staggered; his eyes wandered as he took steps back. His eyes saw his own gun in Anna's hands.

"You're an animal, Andro. I can see your desire even now; you would've just raped me!" She aimed at him.

"What are you talking about, you fool?! I just wanted to be with you, nothing more! If I wanted that, you would've long ceased to be a virgin!" He touched his wound on his abdomen. His fingers were stained with black blood.

"Damn! What an idiot I am!" Tears started running down his cheeks. "To love you, such a bitch!" His body was increasingly failing him. "I hope you die, bitch! Let that creature behind you kill you in the most agonizing way! You don't deserve happiness!" A shot.

"Just like you..." One bullet, and the guy fell dead. An echo of the gunshot lingered in the place for a while.

The girl looked at the guy's abdomen.

"Even though you said one thing, your body desired something entirely different..." She lowered the gun; her hands were trembling.

She turned to the robed man forming, suddenly seized by a shudder. There, beyond the open gates, was an immense amount of Eden that the girl could barely sense.

"Speak, ancestor, I will convey your will, just faster!" She heard how everything on the other side of the open gates was crumbling.

She fell to her knees, thinking that such a divine being would only speak to a person after they bowed.

"Please, I beg you!" A pool of blood abruptly reached her fingers.

"Andro, you were a bastard; I won't even think about you!" She bit her lip, looking at the pool of blood.

"You jerk, nothing more, you're hindering me even after your death!" She grabbed the gun and aimed it at the corpse.

"Even back then, at Kant's party, you harassed me!" - a shot.

"You always looked at me with passion in your gray eyes!" - a shot.

"You constantly pursued me!" - a shot.

The magazine was emptied. The girl took heavy breaths, long and profound.

"Anna?" She remembered how they lay in the clearing.

"Yes?" The girl replied at that time.

"Let's get married in a year?" She recalled words from five years ago.

"Sure!" The girl replied.

"Why did I remember that? To remind myself that you lied even then?"

The guy's face, his lips drooped, devoid of any hint of a smile. Tears streamed from his eyes even as the bullet pierced his skull.

She fell onto his chest; the gun dropped to his feet.

"Forgive me, Andro! Forgive this fool! I lost control," tears began rolling down her cheeks.

"I, as the Supreme Enturion, with incredible pain, declare - we have fallen! Our struggle has ended in defeat!" The girl immediately turned to the man as she heard his words.

To her great surprise, he spoke in a language familiar to her this time, not like the Alleanian before.

"We waited until the last arrival of the strongest from Frontira, but from the very beginning, it was a mistake to let them go there, especially the strongest among us, the human - Arlok Carnage, there! I hand over the reins of power to him, and I command everyone else to execute the Ark Protocol!" - he spoke hurriedly, much faster than at the beginning, the girl barely managed to write down everything he said, as well as the strange symbols that flew around the Supreme Enturion.

"We erroneously guessed that opening the Frontier was a wise decision. Three locks will serve as a reminder to everyone that what was sealed with the strongest must not return, even when we fall. Our ancestors must know - three locks, the brightest stars in space, were 'dismantled,' and keys were created. With their help, you must seal the Frontier. But if he returns - I command you to execute the Ark Protocol at any cost!" A shot, and the hologram fell.

"Someone killed him?" She stood up in surprise, rushed to Andro, and began searching for new ammunition to reload the gun.

"Dangerous, dangerous!" Her hands were covered in blood, but her eyes remained unwavering as she quickly and carefully searched for a magazine with new rounds.

"You idiot, where did you hide them?!" She frantically searched the body.

Beside the corpse of the Supreme Enturion, two legs appeared. The recording device couldn't capture the person's full length, but when he squatted down, Anna saw a strange symbol on the mask - the note "B."

The person wore a mask, a long coat, and a hat, holding a gun in their hands.

"Nevertheless, the 'scription' was truthful - the Council has fallen!" The man stood, his face obscured again. "But something troubles me, Lu..." The hologram vanished when the azure lake touched a drop of blood.

All symbols and inscriptions began glowing red, and a man passed through the gates. Sweat trickled down his forehead, but his appearance instilled fear in Anna. Those crimson eyes stared at her, seemingly unaware of what was happening. Moments ago, he was speaking in the midst of that island with a strange girl, and now he stood again at the gate's entrance.