I am the one who will 'Remain'

Chapter 10

On the way to the office, the lady kept stealing glances at them, with an admiring gaze, as if she were next to a celebrity.

Ark and Melody were nonchalant about the office lady.

When they reached the principal's office, the lady knocked on the door, and then they heard an ethereal voice saying:

"Come in."

The office lady opened the door and let them go inside.

"Hello, we are the Ember brothers. Ark and Melody."

When they entered, they saw a large room with shelves full of books along the sides of the room. In the middle was a glass table with couches on both sides, and two armchairs at both ends of the table. At the far end of the room was a large mahogany desk with a woman sitting behind it. However, it wasn't certain whether she was truly there or not, because the light was passing through her body, much like the ghosts in old Earth stories.

Her body appeared for a moment, then disappeared, then reappeared.

She had completely white hair, white eyebrows, and skin as white as snow. She wore a simple, completely white summer dress, with something like a summer jacket draped over her shoulders, also white. Only her eyes were entirely black, darker than the abyss itself. If someone with weak will were to stare into those eyes, they would see their worst nightmares come alive.

She looked at them, noticing their calm aura. She was also surprised by how nonchalant they were about her presence. Normally, anyone else would be too scared to look her in the eyes or would stutter in an attempt to impress her.

"Hello, please take a seat. I'll be with you in a moment."

They both sat down next to each other on the couch at the glass table and waited.

"Melody, I'm interested in the metal pyramid. Make sure we have access inside as soon as possible."

"Okay, no problem, but I can't connect to the internet from this office. It's like we're in another dimension—everything is disconnected from us."

"Then it seems we have to upgrade your quantum computers if you can't even connect outside of this weak ass barrier."

Melody looked at the principal, who was still focused on the papers in front of her, writing something.

"Big brother, please don't talk so loudly. What if you anger her and she won't let us attend the University anymore?"

"Then we'll go with plan B."

"We have a plan B?"

He looked at her and, with the most neutral face, said:

"Of course. Plan B is… killing everyone."

Melody stared at him, a look of disbelief on her face. Are you insane? Why would you say something like that in front of her?

Then, Melody glanced back at the principal, and saw her looking at them with a really scary smile on her face. The principal got up and walked toward them.

"Sorry for keeping you for so long. My name is Niobe Megara. I heard you have an introduction letter. May I please see it?"

Melody first looked at Ark with a look that said, If something bad happens now, it's your fault. Then, she looked at Niobe and handed her the letter.

"Thank you."

Niobe took the letter and began reading it, but shortly after, she looked up at them and smiled. She looked back at the letter, then back at them. After she finished reading, she put the letter back on the table, but she couldn't stop smiling, and happiness was evident on her face.

When Melody saw that, she let out a relieved sigh. Now she knew everything was going to be okay.

Niobe looked at them with a gentle and happy expression and asked:

"How is she? Where is she? Can I meet her?"

Melody thought, I did think that would help us, but I didn't expect such a big reaction. I need to find out why that is.

She looked at Ark, but he appeared to be uninterested.

"First, I need to ask: why do you look so happy after reading our letter? And second, can we attend this University?"

"Of course you can attend. It would be my honor to have you two."

"And I was so happy because I am the first to hear about the greatest hero of all time, the one who saved us. Without her, we wouldn't be here today."

Melody just looked at her, confusion written across her face.

"What do you mean?"

Niobe looked back at Melody, equally confused.

"Wait, you don't know what your master did, who she is to us, the ones who lived through that hell—hell from the beginning, after the dark matter explosion?"

Ark looked at Melody, and his expression said, What did you do?

Melody looked at him, unsure of how to respond.

"Can you please tell us?"

Niobe looked at them with confusion but then realized, Yeah, that is her style—not caring about fame or recognition or anything like that. I should have known. She didn´t tell them anything about her past.

"I'll tell you. Your master, Computer the Destroyer, that's what we called her. I don't know if that was her real name, but every time she appeared, she'd say, 'Computer is here to play, bitches.'"

"So we called her Computer the Destroyer because every time she appeared, she'd destroy everything on the battlefield."

"She gave us hope in those dark times, when we were struggling to understand our powers and fighting beasts to survive another day. She appeared with her weapons, robots, and roots, giving us strength and a chance to secure this city. The city is called 'City of Hope' because of her. She gave us hope to keep fighting and not give up. And because she killed so many beasts from this area where the city is now, it was easier for us to build here, so we decided to build the city here, in her name."

"She saved not just the city many times, but she saved me personally, from a beast. The beast was about to bite half of my body, but then your master showed up, and with her weapons, obliterated the beast in seconds. Then she came to me, gave me her hand, and said, 'Get up, and keep on fighting.' Since then, I've always wanted to repay her, but she always just disappeared after the fights."

"We even have a statue of her in front of the east entrance. And now that I think about it, you really look like her. You just look calmer; you don't have that crazy look in your eyes, like your master had."

"Anyway, I don't know if you've seen the statue, but you should really go take a look at the east entrance. We have an entrance for each cardinal direction, and the sides of the pyramid face these entrances."

"And like I said, it would be my honor to have you, her daughter, at our University."