I really couldn't believe that she would go through all of this trouble to find a ladder, we didn't even own a ladder ourselves so either she stole one or got it from her house, all because she wanted to talk to me.

Yet, I didn't want to talk to her for obvious reasons. I immediately slammed the window shut and headed back to bed. However, Veronica was persistent and banged on the window begging to be let in. I would've kept ignoring her but she was banging on the window so hard I was afraid of her shattering it. I sighed and got back up to the window. I opened the window and yelled,

"Shut the hell up! Why would I let you in after everything you've done to us huh!? Also, what in the world are you doing here?"

"I'm here because I have valuable information about a topic you're searching for!" She exclaimed.

"What topic!? Oh god, I knew it! You are a stalker aren't you?" As I said this, she held out a piece of paper towards the window. I stared at the face of the window and at the front of the page in bold letters stated,

"The Mystery of the Forgotten Souls."

"What's this?" I asked her, she looked at me earnestly and stated,

"It's what you've been looking for."

"I haven't been looking for anything! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to lock the window." I stated, proceeding to lock the window right on her face.

"Wait! Please, let's talk!" She exclaimed from the window. Which sounded like a muffle rather than anything else since she was behind a window.

"No, now can you leave me alone!? I can't even call the police without them being corrupted by your family so just go." I stated, lying down on my bed.

Between the window and my bed was just an open gap where my table would've been. If it wasn't for Coal a couple of nights ago breaking his old table because he was raging at his game—which we only had one game because of the Redwoods seizing most of the other one—Veronica could see me clearly and continued to bang on the window.

"I see you in there!" I heard her muffled voice. I was getting annoyed considering my family was probably hearing those bangs. I sighed and got up from my bed, walked over to the window, unlocked it, and opened it again.

"Veronica I'm about to beat you up. What do you want!? This piece of paper doesn't give me any answers!" I stated.

"Just trust me and—" I laughed at her face.

"AHAHAHA! Trust you!? After everything you've done to anyone you've ever interacted with? HA! No, I'm okay."

"Can you please just listen to me? I know what you've been researching and I want to help!"

"I, again, have no idea what you're talking about. And no reason to even talk to you. I just might close the window again."

"No don't! It's cold outside and I don't want to keep banging on your window. Just let me in!" She shouted.

"No."

"Please?"

"Nope."

"Pretty please? I have some info about that factory that'll be worth your time!"

"Nah I'm good." She grunted and picked up a rock from her pocket.

"I'll smash your window if you don't let me in."

"I'll call the police on yo—" I realized what I had said previously and stopped myself.

"Doesn't my family control the police here?" She asked me mockingly. I rubbed my eyes and groaned.

"Fine! Get in, just be quiet and quick." I stated, getting out of the way so she could enter through the window sill. She was wearing...

What the hell was she wearing!? It looked like pajamas except it was more like something a farmer would wear.

"Don't mind what I'm wearing. I had to go to an event today and I didn't have time to change."

"Those look like pajamas rather than something you go with an event to." I pointed out.

"Wha—these clothes have been passed down from generation to generation!"

"The generations of farmers? Yeah sure." I said, sitting down on my bed and looking at the piece of paper she had given me. There was nothing else other than those words on it.

"Ugh! You're so annoying don't you know that?" She asked me.

"I know you are but what am I?" I mockingly replied.

"Hmph." She sighed and rubbed her face in stress. I saw how she didn't have any makeup on. This was the first time I didn't see her have any makeup on which I found oddly calming.

"Look, I heard about what you were doing through a reliable source about your research on the factory down at Colganla and I wanted to help."

"Why and most importantly, who told you I was doing my research?"

"Oh, I just heard it from Bobby."

"Bobby?"

"The technician here in this town. He monitors every home phone and their search history and trust me, you haven't seen what he's seen." She said, staring straight forward.

"So I'm guessing the way you 'found' my research was by this Bobby guy going through my search history? Crap. I should've known better, I would've gone in incognito mode."

"You know that doesn't help you at all. We can just get data from the app and upload it on a different file in which we can see your search history. Incognito mode might sound nice and secure but it isn't the most secure way to keep your search history secret."

"Why are we talking about this?" I asked her.

"I don't know you started it first. I was just giving you some valuable information about search histories."

"Thanks, Veronica but seriously no thanks. I sort of wanted to talk about what you've found out about my research and why you even want to help me in the first place. If you want to give me something to talk about, I'd highly recommend you switch to that topic before I throw you out of the house myself." She looked nervous and opened her mouth in a long yawn.

YAWWWN!

"My fault, I wanted to help you because I... feel bad. I know what I've done in the past and even up until this point makes it so that I sound so unbelievable and manipulative. But I was honest with what I said on the first day, I want to change for the better. Ever since I found out about you trying to find out about some factory with spirits I wanted to make amends with you. So I prepared this whole presentation, just because I wanted to."

"Whole presentation? This is just a piece of paper." I stated.

"Turn the paper over sleepy head." She said while yawning again. I was confused and turned the paper over. It was a blank sheet. I showed it to her perplexed and she took the paper and put it on the floor. She stomped on the paper resulting in a holographic slide show being shown right in front of me.

"Woah. Cool magic trick." I stated.

"That's it? That's all the reaction I get for that? You know I spent a full hour preparing this."

"One, I didn't ask you to do this. You were the one who got my search history and did your research without me even knowing. You were the one that came to my front door. You were the one that banged on my window and threatened to smash it in with a rock. And two, I still don't trust you. Even though you're going to share this slide show, I don't see why this is supposed to 'amend' with me. But I'm so tired I might as well let you show me." I stated with a yawn to demonstrate how tired I was from the hectic day I had. Hell, I almost forgot about what I did in that basement, but Veronica didn't need to know that.

"That's okay. This is like an apology gift to you and your friends. I'm sorry for what I've done and I want to change. If you don't forgive me I won't force you to. That's just fine with me." She said, swiping at the holographic screen which showed a slide of the deserted area.

"This is a map of where the factory is approximately located. Based on what I saw from your research you were mostly right about it being at the Isle of Colganla but there's one other thing about its location." She said, swiping again on the holographic screen.

"You see the place where the factory was used to be an industrialized area. Meaning there's a lot of chemicals and due to the heat at the Isle, you'll experience high amounts of fatigue."

"So I should sleep right now so I can wake up tomorrow so I can feel refreshed for whatever Colganla has in store for me, thanks for telling me this." I said, my eyes starting to droop downwards and my eyelids closing on their own. Veronica patted me on the head lightly to pay attention.

"Ah, my bad," I stated.

"While it is true that the fatigue near the factory might cause you or some of your friends to fall asleep. You really shouldn't. That desert has been swarming with scorpions and other dangerous animals since,and I'm not supposed to say this but I don't think you'll do anything with this info. When animals that are captured have been fully experimented with the Redwoods in the past, they are released at the Isle of Colganla because they do not have any need for them anymore. Though I don't know why they decided to release them there of all places." I could think of one reason. To protect that damn factory from intruders.

"Anyway though. To even get to Colganla, which you almost figured out apart from one big detail which I'll explain soon, you first have to go to Wymani Street toward a pond."

"Mhm, I know that." I groaned, trying to stay awake.

"Then you'll have to travel through the forest of Colganla which is basically like the opposite of the desert as you typed in your own words through your search history."

"Mhm."

"But! There's one thing you missed out. And that's in the forest itself, it isn't that different than the desert. It's swarming with creatures that neither the Redwoods nor anyone else puts there with dangerous rivers that could sweep you away and lead to whole waterfalls if you aren't careful. Plus birds with red eyes, but they're far away from where you're supposed to go." I nodded weakly. I was so tired.

"After you go through the forest which I can't help you with since my family's stalking my every move ever since... that incident. You'll go through the forest and into the desert where you'll have to go northeast to find the factory and from there, that's where the legend lives." She swiped her slide show to the last slide.

"The slide I'm about to show you contains the supposed story of the lost souls. Then I'll explain what powers the spirits supposedly have. This slide contains some sensitive topics. Are you ready?"

"I've read and seen worse things. I'm ready." I said, standing up tall and paying attention to the slide show. She sighed and showed a short video of the tale of the lost souls. The narrator, a woman, started to speak in a low and painful voice.

"A long time ago, in a land which the Redwoods had taken back from the Coalition, ten children lived happily together in the small town of Redding. With only a population of one thousand, they lived happily together. Until tragedy suddenly struck."

The video showed a spy recording the children researching a specific type of building, a storage facility, and getting excited over it.

"This is a propagandist film made by the Redwoods themselves when they... well. I'll just let the video explain it." The video abruptly cut to a news report. The man in the video seemed to be a news reporter. He stated the following,

"Hello! I am here from WUID and as of right now, the ceremony is about to begin!"

Trumpets blared as an individual clad in diamonds and other jewels was walking down the stairs from a palace where a throne stood beside him. Crowds cheered on for the person as he sat down and looked toward the crowd. He gave a speech,

"Fellow citizens. Thank you ever so much for the highest attendance for my crowning!" The crowd cheered as loudly as they could.

"However! There is one thing left to do, one thing that the citizens are dreaming of! One thing that shall happen under my rule!" The crowd went silent with anticipation as he screamed at the top of his lungs,

"TO KILL THE COLORS!" The crowd burst into cheers and tears as the news reporter himself even celebrated. I looked at the screen, baffled as the screen went black. The narrator spoke again.

"Our great Emperor had declared war on the oblivious children who had found the essence of the only thing ruling over him. Because of this, they must be destroyed. A week later, his promises were fulfilled." It cut back to another news report with a different news reporter this time, a woman. She was watching in horror while speaking in an entirely different language. From what I could tell from how fast she spoke, it might've been Italian.

"Si è diffusa la voce sui bambini che vengono portati a palazzo! Presto saranno giustiziati! Oh la tragedia!"

"What did she say?" I asked Veronica. Her eyes were filled with water though and she couldn't speak. All she did was point at the screen as I saw why she was tearing up.

The children we had seen previously, researching and learning about that building and probably going into that facility, were now beaten, bruised, and cut. They entered the palace with pitiful faces. One of them, a girl who looked oddly like Angel, stated in a language I couldn't understand,

"USŁYSZ MNIE! ZAPŁACISZ ZA TO!"

She was pushed into the building as a crowd outside of the palace booed at them and threw tomatoes at one of the boys being placed into the palace in handcuffs. This one specific boy was the person who researched the building in the first place.

The camera cut off and cut on as they showed the children all lined up with blindfolds on them. About eight of them cried in fear. One of them looked down. The other was yelling something but the audio was cut for them, while the same Italian news reporter said in a dreadful voice,

"Questo è il loro ultimo respiro. I colori non-ci saranno più. Gli spietati hanno vinto."

The cameras shut off as the firing squad shot their guns at them. Bodies were heard falling. The camera cut back to the narrator, she paced around a dark room and looked directly at the camera.

"This is what happens when someone tries to rebel against the Redwoods. Against us. Even if we may be ruthless, we are ruthless with a cause. For the people, of the government, by all safety. Goodnight." The video ended then and there while Veronica wiped her tears away.

"I've never agreed on taking children's lives. But, that's what people believe! Mainly because of my family's troubles. I know my younger sister holds my ideas as hers too, but she plays it off as something of a joke. But that's false, she knows as well as I do that this, this was monstrous." She stated, ending the slide show as it zoomed back into the crumbled piece of paper.

"A-And supposedly. Those kids.." I shivered from a cold wind breezing at the back of my neck. Veronica nodded and said,

"Yes. Those kids are supposedly the spirits that are within that factory. Which is a blessing and a curse. Those kids deserved better." She pulled out a cube from her pocket and put it on the wall. Creating another holographic screen which was much larger showing only one slide. It showed the spirits' names and all of their powers showcased on the wall.

"Whoa," I said in a dead voice. I was still trying to understand why those kids even got killed in the first place.

"Here's the main reason why the Redwoods even thought that they were a threat in the first place. Even though they made them a threat." She pointed towards the first power, labeled 'Black'.

"This is the spirit of Black. Back in the day when that man, who's the current Emperor of the Redwood Federation, was declared Emperor in the first place. He had been in charge of taking out the Colors. A supposed group of highly powerful and intelligent rebels who possessed god-like powers. Of course, though, the Emperor wanted to find the source of their powers so he targeted their leader. A boy named Black first. All they wanted to do was just live freely in the Redwood Federation with their newfound powers. They didn't even want to rebel against the Redwoods at all, or so they say. But it didn't matter. The Emperor had thought the source of the rebels' ideas of rebelling came from Black. Obviously that wasn't true." She paced around the room some more before switching over to the wall where the holographic screen lay.

"Of course, if there was only one true thing it was that Black had unspeakable amounts of power. He could push, pull, levitate, and slam people body's at will, crushing them until they died. He could kill people with his long, sharp, and blood-stained sword as well as release a powerful gas that puts people to sleep. Or so the people that attacked him say."

"What else?" I asked her.

"As far as I could remember he could release a sort of tentacular monster that came from a void. It could take on a whole tank and crush it under its weight. He could also use something called a 'Blaster'. But I didn't have the time to research that."

"Alright, what about the other ones?" I asked her.

"Hm, I'm glad you asked. The second one was called 'White' and remember the girl that was yelling in Polish in that video?" She asked me.

"The news reporter?"

"No, the other girl."

"Ohh her. That was, whatever Polish is?" I asked her.

"I mean sure it's an antique dialect, but yeah. Her powers consisted of flaring beams of light as well as a special ability that controlled the minds and souls of a person, making her like a puppeteer in some way. She also was able to heal people incredibly well."

"Interesting.. and that one?" I asked her, pointing to the powers labeled under 'Green'.

"Green was a secretive one. Heck, when the Redwoods captured all of them, Green was the last one that was taken almost four whole months after the rest were. He was so evasive that an urban legend stated how he was able to avoid squadron after squadron for weeks on end. In the end, though, he was captured after three armies swarmed a cave he was taking refuge in." She stated. I stared at the screen and felt horrible, for all of them.

"His powers mainly consisted of being hidden like invisibility and has two double swords he used to slice things like fruit, vegetables, people, grass—"

"Wait, wait woah. You said people!?"

"Yeah. He had to defend himself somehow, didn't he? He also had a special ability, though, through the article I read, I couldn't find out what it was. The article got corrupted from the bottom and I didn't bother to go any further. I might've gotten a virus." She stated, moving on to the fourth color.

"This was Brown. She was likely the second-to-most fearless leader right next to Black. Her powers mainly consisted of plant-like material. For example raising and lowering the plants' roots, vines, and spine. She also used carnivorous plants as wild beasts she was able to control while also hiding by using a type of plant camouflage she could use within her skin. She also did something with potions but I don't remember exactly what she did with them, didn't have time to put it on the screen anyway." She stated. I nodded and pointed toward the one labeled 'Orange'.

"Oh yeah! This was the most exciting one apart from the Blue one. Orange's powers consisted of a magical shield and sword that defended off against whole armies and mercenaries! Hell, there was also a legend about him that stated he was the first to attack the Redwood's governmental facilities which caused a massive fire at a key ammunition plant. He also injured a sister of the Redwoods! He was legendary. Sadly, he died at such a short age." She moved on to another one which was labeled 'Yellow'.

"This color used her powers illogically but her strengths somehow still, controlled themselves per se? Her capabilities consisted of mainly light and brightness as she used them to blind the Redwoods as well as launch yellow beams at people, burning them to a crisp. She was also responsible for 'Light Warriors'. They were basically like minions that lived for a short time but dealt tremendous damage to Redwood armies left, right, and center." She stated.

"That's pretty cool," I stated.

"Isn't it?! And this one over here is 'Purple'. His powers comprised of shapeshifting abilities but he also had a cool side power. It was called 'Runner' and even though it sounded like he had super speed, he didn't. He was able to read minds! But I don't know if that trait belonged to him, or if it was by chance." She stated.

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"Because supposedly, the last thing he said before he got hit with a bullet to the heart was 'I don't deserve to hear your thoughts.' He also was extremely introverted, even after getting his powers. I mean if I had mind-reading powers, I would use it on anyone!"

"Fair, strange how he didn't want to use it fully." I stated in perplexity.

"Oh! Who's that one?" I asked her, pointing to the one next to Purple.

"That's Cyan. She had an ice bow and arrows that would pierce through the heaviest of armor like slicing a paper in half with scissors! She could also turn her bow into a spear and could shoot a trio of arrows at once at the Redwoods. I think there was a story of her using different types of arrows on her enemies but I'm not sure if that's exactly reliable."

"Hm alright. And that one?" I asked her, pointing to the one next to 'Green'.

"That's Lime. She was the sister of the boy who was Green and she could control animals. She used a special type of staff to control these creatures and even beasts too! She could use them as she wanted and even fought against the Emperor with just her animals when she was captured."

"Woah.. that's pretty nice. Well, not about her getting captured, but you know what I mean. What about the last one?" I asked her, pointing to 'Blue'.

"This one is definitely in my top three of my favorite powers. He was able to control objects with his mind. He could levitate, smash, crash, and destroy objects around him with ease! He could also make things... crack." She said.

"Crack?"

"Yup, like when you crack an eggshell or a walnut. He did that except with a whole ass building." She stated, I smiled in bewilderment as I stared at the supposed "Colors". I felt especially drawn to Black yet I didn't know whether or not it was because I liked his powers the most or if it was because of a different reason.

"And these spirits are living in the factory? Why did they put them there?" I asked her.

"If I had to guess, it was because they wanted to disrespect them even after death. After the Emperor executed them he put them in the only place that wasn't a grave and represented something they wanted to oppress. A factory with poor working conditions." She stated

"Hey, why is that one blank?" I asked her, she looked towards me and looked closely at the blank color.

"Oh, that's supposed to be the other Colors."

"There were other Colors?!" I tried to contain my excitement.

"Yeah, I wasn't able to get enough information about them. However, I was able to get information about two of them!" She stated.

Just then though, we heard a door creak from outside of my closed doo.

I panicked, stuffed Veronica into the closet, and hurled the cube in there too before I pretended to drink water. My mom came in, looking like Medusa with her crazy hair, and looked directly at me.