ACT 1.1: The White Room

After Hana and Genesis ate their lunches. They picked out a child roaming in the corner of their eyes.

The child was roaming suspiciously to the baby and the child was so scared Hana and Genesis still clad in training armor walked over, steel clunking and clattering against the floor.

Once the child saw the approach of Genesis and Hana he froze quite literally chattering his teeth at the sight of them. Genesis didn't understand why the child was scared of them he understood that they were in metal gear but he didn't think they looked that menacing.

The child frozen in fear trying to mutter words, but all that came out of his mouth was a jumble of noise. Hana was the first one to talk to the scared child.

"Hey, why aren't you eating? Lunch isn't done yet."

The child stumbled upon his words before saying.

"I-uh I already finished my food and I'm not even that hungry."

Hana then responded saying.

"Why are you so scared. Don't worry the other men won't hurt you. Right Genesis?"

Taken aback by the sudden question Genesis stuttered before saying.

"Yea, Hana is right we'll protect you from the other team and no one will get hurt."

The child then gave them a rushed nod before responding.

"Yes I won't be afraid any more the bad men won't hurt me."

Genesis and Hana looked at each other before walking off to eat their meals, armor still cluttering. When Genesis and Hana took their eyes off the child the ran towards the baby cradling it and attempted to run away by the time Genesis and Hana knew what was happening it was almost to late.

"Owwww!"

The child grunted as he was suddenly knocked to his feet dropping the baby into Hana's arms. A spear was thrown at the child as there was a spear right next to the child's body. A monotone voice rung out.

"I guess the cube head keeps to it's words."

Genesis saw the person who threw the spear at the child it was a commander a rank right above an average citizen and and a rank right below a knight. The man looked to be in his early 30's he had musty blonde hair with grey stormy eyes, he was clad in armor like Genesis, Hana, Lautaro, Jae and Noel were but instead of a sword like Genesis chose he was with a spear and his name is Allus.

Genesis yelled at the man.

"Hey! If throw a spear at children we aren't any better than the people on the other side, we started a democracy for a reason you can't just make decisions like that without reasoning. We could have caught the child."

The man bit back calmly saying.

"If if you turned around fast enough both of you would not be able to catch the child with that clunky armor you have on, plus the cube head said that this is the world of evolution not morals."

Genesis argued angrily.

"So if these weapons were lethal would you still throw the spear at the child!?"

Before the man could respond Jae interrupted.

"Hey! Break it of we are a team and a democratic hierarchy we can solve problems in better ways than arguing."

Genesis retorted by saying.

"So how do we solve the problem of him throwing a spear at a child!"

Jae responded.

"Even though what he did was morally questionable he still saved us from losing the flag and Allus is right this is the life of evolution not morals."

Genesis sulked and quietly said.

"It's a baby not a flag."

After the little argument Hana brought the child over to the king.

"What do we do with him."

Hana questioned.

"We vote on what we should do together."

Jae responded.

Together everyone on the blue team gathered like a swarm. They started voting and the king gave them options and they would raise their hands and keep their eyes closed. When the voting was over it was stated that the child would be captured and used a hostage.

"So are we going to kill them?"

Genesis quietly asked Jae.

"No we just keep them at bay so we have time to learn tactics to work together."

"It's messed up. What we're doing It's not right."

Genesis said before Jae could leave. Jae turned around and said.

"Genesis you have to understand we are trapped, we have to do anything to survive."

Genesis screamed angrily.

"Just because we are trapped doesn't mean we have to be reset back to animalistic ways!"

Jae was solemn and then muttered.

"Genesis, you may not know this but in South Korea at the ages of 18 to 20 we are required to be in the military. At first I was excited to serve my country, until I was faced with an ultimatum. There was a child soldier aiming a gun at my comrade, he was going to shoot, the child he was bred and trained for war. So I just prayed silently that the child would put down the gun, I was right behind him, put he didn't put it down. My comrade looked me in eyes, the child turned around, but it was too late for him my hand was on the trigger and I pulled even though every thought in my mind said I shouldn't but I did. I cried every night I slept while I was still there. After that I stayed in the military for 8 more years I was supposed to come back home until this all happened. Genesis you can see that I try, I really do but now I never hesitate because it will bring suffering to the person and me."

Genesis was stunned by Jae's story, he assumed Jae went to war with his army attire and all those muscles where else would he have gone. He imagined Jae's legendary stories of victory but he never imagined a story like this. Genesis just looked as Jae went silently to the child and put him on the highest bed on their side. Tied up in fabric and gagged with more fabric, the child started to cry.

Genesis saw the other child saddened by the loss of a child, people even cried. Genesis was stunned he thought the other team were a bunch of monsters that only care about themselves, but they are people just like Genesis and everyone else on the blue team. In battle they looked treacherous and fearful but they were just people like him maybe the malice was doing something to their minds in battle but after all they are all equal.

He was saddened that he didn't see them as people but instead selfish battle hungry monsters, but he had no time to think as by now he felt it the thing he's felt various times before, the thing that turns them into selfish battle hungry monsters, The Miasma of Malice.

They approach pipe in hand and and armour on self. The clunked and clattered making various metal noises on the ground, the blue team got ready for battle. Genesis looked behind once more he saw the baby silently sleeping on the ground in a pile of clothes.

Genesis was still confused on why the other team used pipes, even though the pipes could kill the swords could deal immense amounts of pain and pain is all you need to subdue, unless they wanted to kill.

'Huh I guess they want to kill, maybe they can't help can't handle the malice as well as we can.'

Genesis thought those words and got ready for war with sword in hand. Genesis had once heard in a memory forgotten in the shores that the sword was the best weapon to start with, although he wasn't sure the person who said that was right, the woman had white hair which meant she was old, but he still believed her for some reason.

The other team rushed through the wide room. They slamed theirs pipes against their armor while running sort of like a battle cry. The blue team prepared for battle until the other team stopped right at the border and spoke.

"Give us back the child and we will leave."

Most of them spoke in unison.

The king of the blue team walked up silently and commanded.

"We give you back the child and you leave us alone for 1 month."

"15 days."

A person who was in the middle said.

"25 days."

The king said mildly irritated that they refused his first offer.

"Deal."

A man with a high voice said behind another woman.

The king and the man with the childish voice shook hands and walked away from the border as it was 5:00pm.

Genesis was happy as it was once again time to enjoy a delicious and delightful meal. He was also joyous that they would get time to gather themselves together and free the child.

***

Once Genesis finished his scrumptious meal, he was elected to be the one to free the child by the king himself. He walked over a mountain of stacked beds and untied the child hands and removed the gag from the child.

Genesis held the child hands as he led him towards the other side of the room. He watched as the child was hugged by people he had grown to know.

The White Room was a place where they were, for Genesis knew, stuck they were stuck here with no guarantee a getting out, but maybe it also brought people together as he turned around to see his king, queen and fellow knights and he smiled, crazy how a war room would have someone filled with joy and peace but it did.

Genesis walked back from the border of the white room to a speech from the king. The speech was something about how over the course of these 25 days they would condition their bodies for battle and eventually war.

'War, such a fascinating concept. Even though there are times for it, it seemed so sick how a person could do that to another person. Now I know that there are sacrifices in survival and morals.'

After the speech Genesis knew there was work to be done first the king, queen, knights, and commanders went into battle training which was overlooked by the king himself. There was 20 of them in total with 10 people wielding swords, 5 wielding spears, 4 wielding bows and 1 person wielding an axe and there was no wielding a shield.

The citizens were sent to move around the beds in a manner of a castle first they made a base of beds for the archers then they maneuvered the beds around to make a gate there were 3 shooting platforms for the archers. There was an east tower and a west tower, the remaining platform was the gate itself since it was so wide the entire contraption could contain up to 500 hundred people.

They also made a stack of beds surrounding the baby in a matter of time.

'I guess 5,000 people is a lot.'

Genesis quietly pondered.

They also made strategies of grounded battle, the first line was to be spearmen with shields they could attack from range and defend if the enemies got closer. The axemen also wielded shields, since the axes the white room were not as big as the ones Genesis saw on the television. They were supposed to be the 2nd line but they were really the half line of 1 and 2. The point of them was to deal damage to unsuspecting enemies and if the enemies broke past the spearman, they would run back to the to swordsman to help, they also shielded the swordsman from arrow attacks if the enemies used bows.

The final line was were the swordsmen and women, they were the last line between the enemies and the baby. They wielded the swords with two hands for more power, better grip and to when in need the sudden ability to change direction, two hands were also very useful for parrying.

The way the blue team organized their base was guaranteed for their succes the base was about 500 meters from the border and the whole room was about 5 kilometres. The sides were piled to the lights with beds and having their eyes adjust to the sudden semi darkness was a process.

Genesis thought they were set for victory because it seemed like the other team was lying or they forgot the rules because if they didn't have the baby or the flag in 9 more days they would lose and not a single more drop of blood would have to be shed.