Escape
Somewhere in the Control room of Arc Inferna, a man was seated in front of multiple screens, each with a different thing displayed. There are about a hundred different screens. A woman was seated at the back of the room, she was wearing a military uniform with a sword strapped to her hip and a barret on her head.
The man in front of the multiple screens had his attention on a particular screen to his left, it had been flashing something in red over and over again.
"Commander Thena, I think we have something," he said, turning around to look at the woman at the back of the room.
She sighed and paused for a while before adjusting the barret on her head.
She was a tall woman in her thirties, and her physique was very muscular, indicating her toughness while still retaining her feminine appearance. On her uniform, three silver stars hung on her shoulders, indicating her rank as a silver-grade commander.
"Put it on the big screen." She said, walking forward in a strut that was calm and well-calibrated.
The Large Screen on the side of the room lit up and a graph was displayed, indicating an energy level that had risen above a red line on the graph.
"What am I looking at?" the woman demanded.
The man near the smaller bunch of screens continued to type away as he responded.
"It is an energy surge, an anomaly beyond the lower set limit. It could be some sort of explosion, it disappeared instantly, but the amount of energy emitted was enough to cause a meltdown."
"Stop playing around and show me exactly where it occurred," Thena ordered.
The man quickly typed on a tablet. The graph on the screen was slowly replaced by a map, it kept zooming and zooming, until it stopped on a location, highlighting the area in red colour and placing a pin on the building where the energy surge was detected a few minutes ago.
"That is weird." She said.
"What do you mean by weird?" the man asked but understood immediately when he raised his head from the tablet he was working on and looked at the large projection screen.
"The Abandoned Quadrant, that's unbelievable," the man lamented.
"Get me the street and house number right now." She demanded.
As soon as the street address of the location was shown on the screen, she turned and walked out of the room.
Outside, twenty-five military officers with single silver stars were arranged in a formation.
"We are heading to quadrant 76, man the transporter and gear up. There could potentially be relic smugglers active in the area."
The officers shouted, "Yes Captain!" In a chorus and immediately ran down the long set of stairs of the monitoring and control unit building towards the transporter, a long, bus-like vehicle that has two large rocket propulsion engines on each side, and a set of four landing legs that it stands on.
Inside, as the one-star silver-ranked soldiers put on their armor and loaded their weapons, one of them asked.
"Quadrant 76, is that not the abandoned quadrant?"
As soon as Thena walked into the transporter, with a silent heave, emitting almost no noise, the large engines flared deep blue flames and lifted into the air, tilting slightly as it set course for the abandoned quadrant.
Back in the quadrant, inside the chamber, Adam stood in amazement at the immediate effects that the primordial beast system had bestowed him.
His posture is usually crooked from many years of always facing downwards to avoid eye contact.
The injuries which Bryan and his lackeys had inflicted on him were completely healed, he felt dexterous and agile, nimble on his feet.
A translucent window appeared, it had tabs like a computer screen, the first tab being profile information.
As Adam thought about opening it, a separate window suddenly appeared by the side with the title Host profile.
Name: Adam Reed.
Race: Human.
Level: level 1.
Beast energy: 10.
Stat points: 10.
Genetic Purity Classification: Outcast class.
Purification level: 5 percent. "when purification level reaches 100 percent, the host will evolve into an Ascendant class human.
Class: locked. Reach level 25 to unlock a class.
When Adam realized his genetic classification could be changed, he was elated. This meant that he could finally escape his fate as an outcast.
Before he could check any more details on the system window, the system voice spoke to him in his head.
Danger!
Danger!
Danger!
Arc Guards are on patrol heading to this location. Escape out of the abandoned quadrant to avoid getting arrested.
It finally dawned on Adam.
It was illegal to venture into the abandoned quadrant. The Arc guards have banned entry into the quadrant because of an outbreak that happened twenty years ago, two years before Adam and his sister Eve were born.
Although many students venture into the zone despite the ban, it was common knowledge that if an Arc patrol guard catches you there, you could face serious repercussions from enforcers.
He looked towards the pedestal where the tablet was earlier before he touched it, but it was nowhere to be found, it had completely vanished.
Adam knew that there was only one thing left to do, run!
Adam's heart beat faster as the system's warning echoed in his mind. The danger was real. He couldn't afford to be caught, not after what he'd discovered, and certainly not before he could fully understand the power of the Primordial Beast System.
With newfound agility, he bolted down the dimly lit corridor, his footsteps echoing off the rusted walls of the abandoned quadrant. His body moved with an ease he had never experienced before, each stride longer, each breath deeper.
He glanced over his shoulder, already hearing the faint hum of engines. The Arc Guards were closing in.
Adam has been exploring the abandoned quadrant since he was twelve, he had no friends in school, another effect of being an outcast. He spent most of his time exploring the quadrant, endlessly satisfying his curiosity.
He knows the quadrant map off the top of his head. He spent many years venturing into the restricted area to avoid Bryan and other bullies who targeted him simply because he was an outcast-class human. The escape route he had in mind was complex, a tangled maze of forgotten paths and collapsed corridors.
With a sudden turn, he veered left into a cramped passage barely wide enough for his frame.
He blended into the shadows. His mind raced, calculating every turn, every step. He needed to reach a populated sector, somewhere the guards wouldn't be able to distinguish him from the normal people going about their business.
The sound of boots on metal grew louder. A flash of light swept through the corridor behind him as a search drone hovered past, its mechanical eye scanning the area. Arc guards dropped from the transporter at different locations spread across the quadrant.
Adam pressed himself against the wall, holding his breath to avoid detection by the drone. Even the slightest movement could be detected.
The drone paused, its lens flickering as if sensing something, then it moved on.
Adam exhaled softly and continued, his pace quick but silent. The route led him through a decrepit storage facility filled with broken machinery and crates covered in thick layers of dust. He could hear the guards' voices now, barking orders.
"Secure the perimeter! Search everywhere!" one shouted.
"Check the storage area!" a female voice commanded through a speaker.
Adam crouched behind a stack of crates, his mind racing. He couldn't outrun them forever, not with their advanced tracking equipment. He needed a distraction.
His eyes scanned the room, landing on a rusted control panel.
With a soft glow from his eyes, unknown to Adam, the system activated the computer.
The control panel lit up, sparks flying as a nearby power cell came on. Within seconds, a small explosion erupted, shaking the facility. Smoke and fire engulfed one side of the room, and alarms blared throughout the quadrant.
"Intruder spotted!" a guard yelled, his voice cutting through the chaos.
Adam seized the moment, slipping through a side door while the guards were distracted by the fire. He sprinted down another corridor, his legs carrying him faster than he thought possible.
But the guards were relentless trained soldiers. The sound of their heavy boots and the whir of drones drew closer. Adam's escape route was nearing its end, a dead end loomed ahead.
"No!" he muttered, panic rising. He realized that he had made a wrong turn, but it wasn't all bad.
He noticed a ventilation shaft just above him.
With a leap that defied logic, Adam grabbed the edge of the shaft and pulled himself up. His slightly enhanced strength made the manoeuvre effortless. Crawling through the narrow duct, he moved as quickly as he could, the metal creaking under his weight.
The sounds of pursuit grew fainter, but Adam knew he wasn't safe yet.
As he navigated the twisting ventilation system, his lack of stamina started to catch up with him, his body started to feel heavier and his legs and arms were already tingling from fatigue.
"Not now," Adam hissed. He couldn't stop, not when getting captured meant imprisonment, or worse.
Finally, the duct led to an open area overlooking a maintenance bay. He peered through, ensuring the coast was clear, then dropped down. The bay was quiet, filled with old tools and scraps of metal.
He spotted a service tunnel that led toward the populated sectors of Arc Inferna. Relief flooded him. If he could reach the crowd, he might blend in and lose his pursuers.
But as he took his first step toward the tunnel, a figure emerged from the shadows, a soldier in silver armor holding a plasma rifle aimed directly at Adam.
"Don't move," the soldier ordered, his voice cold and mechanical through his helmet.
Adam froze, his mind racing. He was unarmed, outmatched. The soldier stepped closer, his finger hovering over the trigger. "Surrender now, and you might live smuggler." He barked at Adam.
For the first time in Adam's life, his instincts took over. Within a second, he had pulled a piece of handkerchief from his pocket and tied it around his nose, covering the lower parts of his face to hide his identity. It would be game over for him if he his identity was exposed.
Instantaneously, he dove to the side just as the rifle fired, a bolt of plasma scorching the floor where he had stood.
Without thinking too much, Adam grabbed a metal rod from a nearby workbench and swung it at the soldier.
The rod connected with the soldier's helmet, staggering him. Adam didn't stop. He jabbed the rod into the soldier's midsection. Although blocked by the armor he was wearing, the blunt force was enough to make him drop the rifle and fall to his knee.
Adam picked up the plasma rifle, its weight unfamiliar but manageable. Turning, he sprinted into the service tunnel, his heart beating fast and adrenaline flooding his system.
Behind him, the soldier groaned, reaching for his communicator.
"Commander Thena, the target is armed and heading for Sector 9." The soldier shouted.
The tunnel seemed endless, its walls vibrating with the hum of the arc's engines. Adam's mind raced with possibilities. He couldn't rely on luck alone.
The tunnel ended at a maintenance hatch. Adam forced it open, emerging into a bustling market square filled with merchants and civilians.
He dropped the plasma gun and removed his face covering, slipping through the crowd and blending in.
Above, search drones zipped through the air, their scanners sweeping the area. Adam kept his head low, weaving through the crowd toward the residential sector.
He had to be home before the night curfew went into effect.