ACT II Chapter : Rebirth

ACT II

Chapter 1 : Rebirth

Moon, white hair, rebirth, moon, white hair, rebirth, moon, white hair, rebirth, moon, white hair, rebirth, moon, white hair, rebirth, moon, white hair, rebirth, moon, white hai...

REBIRTH

A gentle breeze carried a floral scent through the windows. The room enlighted by the warm rays of sunshine, revealing the dust particles, slowly flowing. The calm sounds of waves could be heard in the distance, the water coming and going. Artur slowly opened his eyes, hearing the sounds of giggles and play, coming from outside the room. He took some time, breathing in the floral perfume, enjoying the softness of the bed sheets he was laying on. The ceiling above was made of grey planks of wood, he didn't recognise this ceiling. After a moment, he lifted his head, looking at the room around him: it was a bedroom. The whole room was made of wooden planks. Multiple shelves supported some wooden, carved animal figurines. A desk full of science papers was next to a window, covered by a thin curtain. On the floor, there was a large carpet with the representation of the moon sewn on it. "My bedroom?" he thought, confused. This place was unfamiliar to him, but he didn't feel any anxiety or stress. On the contrary, he felt relief, like he arrived from a long hard trip.

While Artur was dazed, looking around his room, discovering every small piece of furniture around, he heard a voice call out to him. It was a voice he knew but he couldn't make out who it was exactly. Giving out a small grunt, he sat on the bed, retreaving the sensation of his legs. When he stood up, he heard the voice again, telling him to hurry and join her. Confused on what to do, he decide to follow the voice without a second thought. But when he passed by the window, he saw a calm shore, the sea reaching out into a neverending landscape. Far in the distance, Artur could notice the moon, still visible even in the daylight. He felt hypnotised by it for a moment, but the voice called out to him once more and Artur decided to join it.

Gently, Artur opened the wooden door, entering into a well furnished living room. Multiple paintings were hanging on the walls, some, were detailed paintings of the sea, some, were cute children drawings, representing a family of stickmens. He looked around in awe, not even noticing the woman entering the room with a basket full of shining fruits. After finally looking her way, his jaw dropped, his mind froze from the shock of seeing her. The woman put the basket on the table in the middle of the living room, wiping the drops of sweat from her face with her arm. She had a soft, radiating face, showing a cheerful and genuine smile to Artur. The breeze passing by made her long shirt and skirt flow slowly, making her movements all that more graceful. No words were able to come of Artur's mouth, no matter how hard he tried, he wasn't able to accept that it was her. After a moment, the only word he was able to pronounce was her name:

- "Stell?" he asked with hesitation, taking a step forward, trying to convince himself that she was really in front of him.

- "Who else could it be silly? Of course it's me!", she said cheerfully. "I've been calling for you forever. Were you sleeping late again?" she asked with a concerned tone, putting a hand on her hip, tilting her head.

- "But... how? I thought you were...", he wasn't able to finish his sentence, still confused about the situation.

- "Come on! Help me sort these fruits I just picked up." she hurried him, stopping Artur to sink in his thoughts.

Artur hesitated a little, but when he saw the reassuring look of Stell, he felt his confusion fade away, like a dark cloud leaving to let the bright sunshine in its place. The now reassured man didn't take long to join Stell, helping her sorting out the different fresh fruits. All of them seemed familiar but he simply couldn't put his finger on the name of these colorful fruits. Following this task, another came, and Artur simply followed Stell's demands, helping her in every way he could. Her presence and aura was calm, reassuring and Artur knew that he could trust her. To him, every one of her movement seemed coordinated, planned, like a slow and graceful dance, and he simply couldn't take her eyes of her. When together they walked out outside, Artur felt the fresh wave of sea scent, feeling his lungs. He also heard once more in the distance, the sound laughter and rushing. When he looked in the direction of the sound, he quickly saw two girls, running his way, a joyful grin on their faces. Both girls hurried to give Artur and Stell a big hug, not carring about the basket that she was carrying:

- "Sunny... Luna... You're safe... I'm so glad..." Artur could barely contain his emotions, feeling like a huge fear was lifted from him.

- "Safe? We were only playing by the waves, we were careful, don't worry!" said Sunny, wishing to reassure Artur, whose face was getting redder with the emotion.

- "You went to bed late again, didn't you? You know you shouldn't go to sleep late, it's bad for you" said Luna, moralizing Artur, but still keeping a genuine smile. It seemed like she was used to warn Artur about his negligence, giving the idea to Artur that he was here for a long time, living with Stell and the two sisters.

Artur spent a while with this family, helping them, playing, enjoying the paradise-like weather in this beach. He lost the track of time after some point, he was sitting by Stell enjoying the sunset, feeling the warm sand by his feet. The sound of calm waves was soon accompanied by the gentle voice of Stell, she seemed happy to Artur, almost as much as he was, enjoying the freedom of his home:

- "This place, our home, it's really all that we could have dreamed of isn't it?" Stell looked at Artur and gave him a sincere smile, "I'm glad you are here with us, I wish it could be like this forever..." she followed, her smile saddening. Artur looked at her with concern:

- "What do you mean? I am here, with you, I'm not going anywhere" he said, certain.

- "I'm sorry Artur, but you can't, you need to wake up", Stell stood, her face serious and saddened with the announcement of this reality. Artur stood up as well, confused, unsure of what question to ask next. Suddenly, he heard a familiar sound behind him, the one of flammes. When he quickly turned around, expecting the large house he slept in, he instead saw a large tree, it's roots spreading through the beach, completely envelopped in flammes. The flammes continued to spread everywhere at an uncontrollable speed, covering the beach, the waves and the whole horizon. This vision of horror made Artur pant in panic, flashes of memory reminding him of the refuge, the fire, the hunter, the blood, Stell... When he turned to face Stell once more, she wasn't there, tears started to form in Artur's eyes. His heart rate accelerated, the pulses of his heart shaking the whole world around him. Chaos reigned everywhere as he was calling out, screaming out to Stell, to Luna, to Sunny, but nobody came. As the fire was getting closer to Artur, he could only hear the faint voice of Stell getting louder and louder, reapeating the same order: "Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP...". Artur covered his eyes in fear, trying to ignore to chaos around him with all his might. But when he opened his eyes again, he saw a horrifying face of Stell, bleeding, burned, facing him closely. He froze, too afraid to make any move. Artur felt the burning sensation of hands grabbing his, pulling them away from his eyes, letting him see clearly the morbid face of Stell, a tears flowed on Artur's cheek. The chaos suddenly stopping, the flammes dissapearing, leaving only the face in the dark as it spoke: "Wake up".

Letting a loud scream, Artur opened his eyes, squirming in panick. Feeling like his heart would burst through his chest, he gripped his hand on it, trying to control his loud breath. His thoughts were uncontrollable once more, Artur was feeling a great distress and fear, but after a moment, he was able to control his breathing, slowing down his heart rate slowly but surely. After his heart calmed down, he gently put two of his fingers close to his eye, feeling a wet tear droplet flowing from it. He also sensed that his eye was twitching, one of the symptoms of a strong stress and anxiety. Soon, enough he was able to calm his stress to be able to look at his surroundings. He was a dark room, the walls were greyish and uniform, leaving no source of light penetrate the place. A single face of the room contained a large window, almost large enough to cover the whole wall, made with dark tinted glass, working as a mirror, not letting the person inside to see through. Artur looked up, a small dim light was giving Artur the possibility the differentiate the walls and the floor. Below him, Artur was sitting on a hospital looking bed, in a bad condition, the whole structure looking like an operating table, some dark red stains could be noticed on the sheets, worrying Artur. He was wearing some dark patient clothing, consisting of a large black shirt and dark trousers, both containing a white number on them : "139". This room seemed like a prison cell to him, Artur had no idea where he was, nor how he got here. The last thing Artur could remember was him falling... Suddenly he pulled the pants on his legs, looking at his leg: "My wounds... they're gone..?" he said to himself, confused. He checked everywhere on his body, but no scar or wound was apparent, every injury that he received dissapeared, more than that...: "I... jumped off... I was supposed to die... How did I survive that?". Artur was confused, his memory still fuzzy, only remebering flashes of his pursuit.

While he was still sitting on the hospital bed, trying to remeber piece by piece the events before him losing conscience, a voice came out from the window. Artur suddenly got up on his feet, in a guarding position, startled by the voice. It seemed that the voice was the one of a woman, slightly muffled, almost as if a filter was placed on the voice, coming of hidden speakers in the window. The voice was strict and authoritary, showing its dominance over Artur:

- "Anomaly number 139, you have been apprehended in the 3rd level of the circle in the ruins of area "Pravdansk". You are currently in the "control" faculty of SARCO. Being confirmed as an anomaly, trial will be unnecessary, you are from now on, property of SARCO". The woman's voice was cold and unfazed, declaring the removal of Artur's freedom. Artur froze, multiple crucial information was thrown at him without any warning, but one in particular hit him like a powerful shock the face.

- "I'm... an... anomaly...?", Artur tried to process the revelation that was given to him, his legs giving out, forcing him to hold himself onto the hospital bed. Suddenly, he remembered the moment, where his emotions culminated, when he felt an undiscribable strength, entering him, the blue flammes surrounding his body. "I'm just like them..." he said to himself, not beleiving his words.

- "An anomaly that ventured in the undercity should have been executed on the spot, but you knowing that you are a special case, we have a proposition that could delay your execution" continued the voice, keeping the same cold, almost machine like tone. Artur, who was still dazed from the reveal, woke up from his thoughts, realising who he was hearing:

- "You... YOU MONSTERS!... You are the ones who killed Stell!" Artur stood up, approaching the window, feeling a wave of anger taking over his body. "YOU BASTARDS! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!" he screamed, hitting the window with all his strength, ignoring the pain in his hand. The window seemed to be bullet-resistant and didn't budge at Artur's strike.

- "An aggressive behavior will only worsen your case, it is advised that you think about our proposition if you want to stay alive" said the female voice, with a hint of irritation in her tone. "You should make your choice quickly, the opportunity for anomalies to become weapons is a privilege for your situation" the voice continued, proggressevly losing it's patience. Artur only lost his cool even more, knowing that the people who killed the person who took care of him wanted now to use him made his rage grow even more. Artur's breathing started to get funny, he barely contained the emotions he had within him:

- "First you destroy their home, you kill Stell and then you ask me to serve you? You want me to become your weapon? To spread your violence even more?" He tried to keep his tone calm, but as soon as he started talking, his emotions took over him. "You said I'm an "anomaly" and you expect me to kill the ones that are like me?!" Artur was looking straight at the window, still holding his fist to it, knowing that the person who was talking to him was on the other side.

- "We do what is necessary to ensure the safety of humanity. Anomalies are a threat to all humans, that is why we must capture them and eliminate them" the voice was cold but more determined as it explained it's goal. "Our methods are necessary for the security of the circle and the world as we know it". it said without a sign of hesitation. Artur was confused, he already saw anomalies, he knew that Sunny and Luna could never become a threat to anyone, especially to humanity. He refused to believe what the voice said. But as the idea was planted like a seed in his mind, he started to doubt. He only had so little of information about the anomalies and now knowing that he is one himself, the situation confused him only more. He couldn't imagine the anomalies being a threat, Artur knows that Stell was saved by an anomaly and was protected and taken care of like she was part of their family. The mother, Nebulia, even did as much as sacrifice herself to save her daughters and Stell. Still, Artur has felt the strength that an anomaly can possess and how it potentially can become a threat if used as a weapon. He needed to get more information, to learn about the nature of anomalies, to learn the truth. Artur choose his next question carefully:

- "You said that anomalies are a threat. Why do you want to use me, an anomaly as a weapon?" he asked, slowly recovering his composure.

- "Weapon anomalies are a source of intel, as well as a powerful weapon. An anomaly's power can be efficiently countered by another one of it's kind. We use a danger to kill another danger." explained the voice. Artur could notice that it was giving as little information as possible, trying to leave the anomaly in the blue. "Your time is limited anomaly, make your choice now: Do you want to live and help humanity, or do you want to die?". The tone of the voice was cold, the sudden intimidation sent a shiver on Artur's spine.

Artur instinctively wished to refuse, his hate agaisnt SARCO only grew more as he witnessed their cruelty. He wished that justice would be brought for the ones that suffered because of their violence, but in this moment, he was powerless. If he really is an anomaly, he would need to understand the power that he holds, and for that, he would need to summon it again. Artur knew that this organisation is scared of the likes of him, if he mastered the power that was within him, he would be able to bring justice for the anomalies and stop all this sensless cruelty. As the memory of the promise that he made floods back to him, as the faces of Luna, Sunny and Stell flash back to him, he understood that he still had tasks to accomplish before he could pass. He needed to find them and give them the peace and freedom they deserved, he needed to become stronger to protect them from harm and bring justice for this world. For that, he needed to live and fight.

Artur dropped his fist from the window and lifted his eyes straight at the person on the other side, full of resolve. His hesitation left his body, as he decided the path that he will now follow. He knew that the path ahead was temerous one, but if it meant accomplishing his goal, he will not hesitate. "I will find a way, the ones who hurt you will pay. Your sisters, I will find them and bring them their freedom. That is the promise I made":

- "I've made my decision. I accept"

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The following in chapter 2 : Strength