11 : For the Record

Part I : Arrived for reason

The pressure in the air intensed as the cloud Wall of the cursed belt closed. A feeling struck William's mind and his body was pulled inside the foggy environment. It was a jolt which separated his hands from his mother's and he was sucked in the denseness of the clouds. Coming back to his senses, inhaling and exhaling breathlessly while his body was down on his knees, William found himself in the foggy woods.

The fear hormone accelerated and the lungs choked, inhaling the air while his hands touched his chest.

"Seems your body, in its current state, can't keep up with the change in the air toxicity after all." The voice came from the back.

Warm, soft hands touched William's neck and William had a strange feeling as if his energy was being channelled away from his body toward the hands. Soon, a dark grey piece of fabric emerged from the thin air over his shoulders and spread wide. Many strips of fabric emerged in the same way and soon, he realised, they wrapped around his body like some sort of grey suit.

"Calm your life force," the same voice said, which William would recognise as Mary's. "No toxicity existing in this world with its current concentration right now can kill you."

William's body was totally enclosed in the grey-white cloth-except his face, his silver-white hair and his palms-as the fabric spread all over his skin like a suit. A suit, he noticed, very identical to the clothing he earlier saw on other people who were standing near the wall to walk toward the other side, back then when he arrived at the border of the belt with Maya. Except, this suit additionally had the same coloured cape flowing on his back.

Lastly, one of the many emerged cloth strips extended ahead, the cloth covered his nose and mouth like a face mask and the choking stopped. William was still on his knees while a figure in the same type of clothing, her hair tied in a twisted chignon bun, Mary, stood close to him, looking at him and the area around them.

"How do you feel now?" Mary asked.

"Like I was just resuscitated back from the doors of death," William replied. "You said, the toxicity and the change in air pressure won't affect at all in my and your case!"

"The theory did work for me, I'm surprised what happened in your case."

"I would have almost died just now," He said in a strict and bit louder voice. "You said, I'd be fine with the changes after we crossed the wall."

"My existence, as of now, originates from the flow of energies inside you," Mary said. "My strength, density of energy flow and life force is lower if not very equal to that of yours and yet I'm standing in front of you without a mask. You can't stand in this air 'cause you're not pushing yourself hard enough. Now cut it off!" She had a strict tone too.

William froze in his place, trying to say nothing further and his eyes glanced into Mary's, who calmly stood a step away from him. She too was dressed in the same kind of grey-white suit, which she had manifested out of molecules using the energy flow.

"Pardon me," William said, looking down with shame. "It's my fault. I . . . I should have not shouted at you. Just like Maya always says . . . I'm not strong enough."

"Cut that out. We need to keep moving, can't rest in one place."

"Huh? Why so?"

"These suits, just manifested on our earlier clothes, are not real made-of-fabric suits," Mary explained. "Nobody can just manifest elements like cloth out of thin air, you know. These suits are the manifestation of wraparound energies around our bodies. Your energies. That's precisely why you can breathe even though there's no oxygen source on the suit and this place too, clearly, doesn't have enough oxygen.

"Until your strength lasts, these suits lasts." She continued. "And considering your unstable life force, I doubt it would be long before these wraparounds disintegrate."

"But where do we go?"

"Where that strange man asked us to," Mary replied. "Follow me, I still trust my senses."

Mary turned toward the other side and walked ahead and William, with no other questions asked, followed her behind. Frequently, while walking behind his mother, William could, for the first time, feel the constantly unstable life force and flow of energies inside him. This was also a sign that something was definitely wrong with his body. His body was never so weak before, as it had become in the last few days.

"Mar-Mother, you sure know where we are heading, right?"

William asked while following Mary's fast feet to which she nodded at him and continued moving ahead. While they moved deeper into the belt area, the fog still remained but the density of fog decreased and there was more visibility.

"Stay alert, William," Mary warned. "Do not let your guards down. This is a more intense and toxic atmosphere. The animals here are not the same as the ones in Lydia. They mutate, to adapt to this environment. Just like that ice panther you encountered in that small town."

"You were unconscious in the form of a faint spark, right?" William said. "How do you remember what happened to me in days before you were manifested again?"

"It was not just the faint spark of my consciousness inside you," Mary replied, explaining to him. "In Zora, when the higher being possessed me and you managed to enter the conscious and brake my chains in that conscious domain, my energies were weak to the point where I would have not survived for longer. That time, Rita had managed to seal me, my consciousness, inside you, making you a sort of temporary vessel. I still have some faint memories of the incidents that happened to you before you and Maya managed to manifest my physical form back."

William nodded and kept following her.

Walking some distance ahead, politely following his mother like a good child, William noticed an elevated structure some distance ahead, a structure rising from the mainland, "Is that a cliff? I can climb and check the area around."

Mary didn't respond.

They walked ahead and the fog around them decreased. The massive elevated structure, which William assumed as the cliff, showed signs of metal on its surface. The massive elevated structure was plated with metal and glass and had sharp edges. The body of the structure was built of metal, which showed some signs of rust, making it clear that this thing had existed here for a long time.

"A machine?" William said in shock. "This massive? What does this even do?"

Mary hesitated a bit and pretended to not notice the whole massive mechanical creation of science and walked forward like she didn't see it.

The creation was irregularly shaped, resembling the shape of the head of the ancient arrowheads, the creation of metal and glass. A massive structure, diagonally half buried in the lands, standing in an elevated position like a tall cliff. As if it crash-landed.

"Do you know what this is?" William asked.

"Oh-um," Mary startled and hesitated a bit. "How could I know what that is? Looks like some travelling machine."

"And, how can you be sure about it?" William asked. "Were there those big roads for this thing to even use for travelling?"

"There are pieces of glass in the upper chamber of the machine. Those may be windows, for people who control it, to see ahead. And this machine didn't have wheels, the machine flew in the air, not run on the ground."

"And how did it fly?"

"Managing the use of energy flow, one can lift itself in the air and technically even be able to fly for some time. I'm sure you know that. Well, the same phenomenon, just doing it on a massive scale to lift this machine in the air." She paused again. "I mean . . . not that I know much about it. I don't know what this machine is. That was just an assumption. And we should probably move now."

William was quiet, but he noticed a sort of hesitation in Mary's behaviour. A feeling of being worried, cautious or embarrassed, or trying to hide something. But he refused to point out his mother's mistake, if only she was hiding something, and moved ahead from the machine site.

Their feet travelled through the woods for hours and the thin layer of fog in the air accompanied them throughout the way. Not that it was of any concern. Mary, according to William, had no problem in navigating the way through it, as if she was familiar with the way already and all William had to do was follow her.

While walking on the path, at a moment, Mary stopped with a jolt when a familiar feeling struck her mind. She could feel and constantly locate the presence of a life force in the area, a kind-of familiar life force Mary was searching for all this time.

"You can remove the mask on your face, William," She said. "We've reached the place."

William gave a questioning look and looked around the area. Following her orders, his hands went toward his face mask and gently pulled the wrapped cloth down.

He could breathe.

In the area, William was able to breathe normally. The air density and the toxicity no more choked his lungs or made him suffocate. His lungs inhaled a deep breath and he was feeling better again.

"Where are we?"

"Come with me," Mary replied.

They both, William and Mary, after walking a few more steps, walked out of the woods to notice a dry patch of land. There were no big trees, and only the tiny grass existed. In the middle of the patch of land, there was a house, a decently big house of cement and bamboo.

It was a two-story house, constructed with an old design, with an angular roof, traditional walls and a few shrubs near the walls. William noticed, in the lobby, at the entrance of the house, there was a man, dressed in a differently designed yukata and haori over it, standing with a telephone in his hand.

The man, too, noticed the two people in pseudo-fabric suits, standing at the border of the patch, his property. His hand lowered, keeping the receiver of the telephone back on the dialer unit.

They have arrived after all. The man thought, looking at them. Sometimes, I wonder how are you always right, Steve.

The man kept looking at William and Mary and so did they both.

Part II : For the Record

Steve Tradis stood on the circular, prehistoric script-carved, metallic platform. The sun had just shown its face, announcing the beginning of the new day. A small machine on the border of the platform pointed toward Steve, a tiny, faint beam of blue light emerged from the base, scanning his body all around and once the identity was confirmed, the gates of the royal house were opened.

The metal rods, just like Eva's mechanics, tilted a bit and the massive doors were separated from each other revealing the inside of the royal house. On the other side of the gates, stood a muscular person- bald, vertical old face, short trimmed beard. The king had sent a special person, the army chief who also happened to be the personal friend of the old king, to escort the Eva director from the gates.

"It's my pleasure, Rukhban," Steve bowed, "that you personally took efforts to escort me to the royal lord, the Duke."

The army chief, Rukhban, nodded. "The pleasure is mine too, sir. If you don't mind, follow me."

Steve nodded back. Rukhban turned around and moved ahead and Steve followed him. One of the three sections of the inner gates was opened and they both entered the main vicinity of the royal house. Steve glanced toward the balcony above, just like he did every time he visited the place, noticing the royal lord. Their eyes met and unspoken words were exchanged with their eyes.

Following Rukhban for some time, Steve noticed the change in route from the usual one. This route was . . . more deserted and lonely than the other one.

"Rukhban," Steve asked out of curiosity. "Just curious, but this is not our usual way of visiting? Is there anything you might want to let me know?"

Rukhban didn't look back but chuckled a bit. "There sure is, sir. On our usual way, we always come across many heads of noble families." He explained. "In the incident near the now forbidden area, a noble, who worked under the royal roof, was killed and you still chose to protect 'George Watson. That is quite a famous name among nobles nowadays.

"The Duke sure knows who was responsible for the incident and accepted to forgive him, but these nobles won't. Not yet, at least."

"Do you think I might not be able to face the nobles?" Steve smiled.

Rukhban laughed, simultaneously trying to press it inside. "You sure know how to calm the tense environment, don't you?" He said. "For a person like you, Lydia should be considered lucky to have you by our side. Nation's whole army wouldn't last against you, otherwise."

"There's a price to pay, for the strength you possess. With great strength and responsibility, there comes great consequences. I hope you still remember what I had to do with him."

Rukhban paused for a while and sighed. "Even if I wanted to, I can't possibly forget that day."

"I'm afraid if we're not prepared, we might have to face those days again."

Rukhban's eyes widened as he heard the words coming from Steve. Steve continued, "I'm sure I mentioned, sometimes I witness visions due to the chaos distortions. . . I saw one last night, and trust me that was not pleasant."

Rukhban paused for a while. "And how do you know if whatever you see is a Vision or just some other dream or nightmare?"

"Well, there's a fine line between dreams and vision. That's the main thing about Visions," Steve said. "The visions . . . I can feel them when I witness them. It's honestly hard to explain in words, especially when you don't have any physical proof, but my instincts never failed me in the past. That's why I asked for an immediate visit with the young Duke."

~~

The door knocked thrice in a particular pattern and was immediately opened from the inside. The royal lord, the Duke, himself stood on the other side of the door, inside his private discussion room.

"An unexpected visit, I see," The Duke said. "Pleasure to meet you again, Steve."

"Indeed, the pleasure is mine too," Steve replied. "After what happened some days ago, I'm pleased to see you in an optimistic mood."

"I do, but I'm not getting the same response from your side. You did have that smiling face but I can sense your energy flow, anything but normal."

"I need to talk to you about some things," Steve replied. "I need to catch you up with . . . Whatever is going on."

A serious expression made its way onto Duke's face. He looked around and with just one glance, the servants in the room made their way out of the area. Duke's eyes also glanced toward Rukhban, exchanging the unspoken words. Rukhban nodded and was about to walk out before Steve said :

"It's fine if Rukhban stays. He, just like us, was part of all this and witnessed all the things you and I did." He paused, glancing at the glass jar on the table beside him. "And he can also be the live witness to the conversation."

"Live witness? Conversation?" The Duke said. "Is something wrong?"

"As I said earlier, I need to let you know some things and catch you up with whatever this is we are witnessing and we might need to face."

The Duke nodded and Rukhban stayed in his place, standing like a strong stone with pride, some distance behind the Duke. Rukhban, as Steve once mentioned, was one of the fearless warriors he witnessed during the hard times. Never did he use or manipulate the energies with techniques or used the Eva-designed weapons. He was raw, and brutal when needed. A nightmare to those who opposed him and a loyal person to the laws and the Duke.

"Would you want to record this . . . conversation of ours?"

"That would be better," Steve said. "Whatever is coming in the coming days, we don't know which side it will go. If things went in the wrong way, we can still manage to preserve the information and pass it to the next . . . Civilization."

There were many confused expressions on the Duke's face. Steve's words felt like puzzles and the Duke had no answers. He just nodded and Rukhban walked inside one of the adjacent chambers. He soon came back with a small machine, a recording tape machine, and turned the key.

Steve started, "Name . . ."

"Steve Tradis, the seventh Director of the silent undercover organisation Eva, aged around 31, I'm assuming." The Duke interrupted. "Everything is already known, Steve. Let's skip the formalities and get to the point."

Steve nodded.

"For the record, I should start from the beginning," he said. "Around five hundred years ago, researchers believe this world went through a massive change. A change our human mind could not understand even if we tried to. The first people of this civilization, those years ago, named it 'the first great impact'. Not much is known about the incident except, the calamity spread all over the surface like a withering wave and it brought a massive change in the nature of the world we see today. It is also believed that this was also the reason for natural energy activation and many people today, possess and are able to manipulate these energies.

"Then, around two hundred years ago, there was spreading news of people witnessing some supernatural unknown entities. The entities with greater strength than any human," he continued. " In years following this news, some people came together and helped the humans from these unknown beings. But, they were not enough, so they had to form an organisation that anyone who wishes to help can be part of. This was the origin of Eva."

"You asked for an immediate meeting to tell the origin story of Eva?" The Duke gave a curious, questioning look. "We already know that. The old duke was the one who legally accepted Eva and managed to hide the real meaning of Eva after all."

"I wasn't completed yet." Steve calmly said and the Duke sat quietly.

"Later, the people recognised these entities as devils, some people still do," He said. "A body noticeably bigger than the average human body, their natural white skin colour, strength beyond humans and remarkably good energy manipulation skills. Some people would have mistaken these beings for gods if the beings weren't offensive.

"Many more incidents were recorded where some of them included the naturally mutated wild beasts and some included these other beings." Steve extended his hands ahead toward the glass of water on the table and drank a portion of water. Continued again :

"Eva, for many years, stood against these entities and protected the entire nation from them. Calling these beings devils and demons. Some even considered them as curses and evil spirits, misunderstanding their advanced alchemy as magic and sorcery. Some still think the same."

"What are you trying to say, Steve?" The Duke asked.

"After the arrival of the so-called ranks in the capital for the first time, and that bloody war we had witnessed," He said. "I had many . . . non-official people working undercover, investigating, trying to know the truth about these beings. And after some trusted sources and my own research. I can say, with no doubt that, these beings are not Devils, nor are they evil."

Duke hastily stood up from his place. "You mean, the beings who attacked the people of this nation, who tried to invade the city of Amber and the whole nation are not evil."

"I don't mean that in the literal sense," Steve said. "In reality, most of the snakes are harmless reptiles, until you trouble them. We, or should I say, most humans cut down trees, and jungles and build their houses, or build fences for their personal use. Is this not humans invading and damaging the world of animals? Humans, does not include me, hunt and brutally kill animals just to have them for their meal. Those animals have the right to live, but did humans ever care about it?"

The duke tried not to look into Steve's eyes and questioned, "How does this have to do with the situations with these unknown entities?"

"If we consider, in a way, are we not equal to these devils. Are we not the devils to this nature and also those helpless animals who can't even protect themselves or fight back from getting hunted down." Steve said, looking into Duke's eyes. "Just like that, there's a possibility, these entities, which people recognize as devils, are the same as humans. They are bigger and much stronger in strength and fearing them, I would not deny the possibility that humans attacked them, considering them dangerous. And those entities had to fight back, for themselves. They might not be the evils, they're just like us."

"I'm sure you're on to something and you know what point it is." The duke said. "But the way you are trying to connect this, there still remain some strong unexplained questions."

"You will understand in the coming time," Steve said, "For now, just listen to it and let this also be recorded. Just for the record."

The duke nodded and rested back calmly.

"We were seeing this in the wrong way the whole time. These beings are not devils, they are more connected to the 'first great impact'. They are connected to the calamity of Genesis, as scholars called it." Steve said. "Their existence too was mentioned after the calamity of 500 years ago. I know these connections are vague, but my instincts and the visions I sometimes witness are never off the point. We might be looking at this whole situation and these entities in the wrong way."

Listening to Steve's statement, and vaguely understanding the point Steve was trying to convey, the Duke went quiet, resting his back on the cushion of the soft couch he was sitting on and his mind was lost in the thoughts.

"Previously, my father, the old duke, once mentioned, these entities attempted to seek help from the humans, but legend said it was due to their greed." The Duke said. "It also said they faced betrayal from the old duke. But, that story mentioned it was their fault and the war was declared from the devils-those entities' side."

"We can't predict what really might have happened," Steve said. "But if they tried to live along with us, and were betrayed. Then the attempt of invasion those years ago has a reason."

Rukhban didn't interfere or dared to speak in between, throughout the entire conversation. Many more things were discussed between the Director and the Duke, about the ranks and DeSadians, about the previous invasion attempt, the calamity of Genesis all those years ago and the whole connection to all these loose threads.

Finally, the duke stood up from his place, breaking his comfy position and walked toward the large balcony at the right of the room.

He stood there, looking outside at the city of Amber, feeling the flow of air against the cloth of the shirt on his arms. He looked back.

"You urgently asked for this discussion meeting this morning," He said. "And out of nowhere, these talks about the ranks and those strong, advanced, unknown entities. Tell me that this thought just crossed your mind and this was just a coincidence."

Steve shook his head. "I'm afraid it might not be."

"What do you mean," The Duke asked. "What is it then? Do you think they plan to reach out to us again? To negotiate or something?"

"This time they won't try to negotiate. I'm afraid it's more than that," Steve said. "They do not belong to this world, but they wish to make this their home, for their people to live freely again. Due to the calamity of the so-called Genesis those 500 years ago, potentially, they had to come here or many of them somehow were brought here, into this world or reality. They stayed hidden from the world before finally choosing to interact with the beings of this world.

"In return, all they had to face was betrayal from our previous generation. Those entities now believe that they and humans would not co-exist. Now, they want to create this world, their home, for their people. They wish to terreform this world, this entire planet."

"And what happens to us, the humans?" The duke asked.

Steve had a dense, serious tone, "Same thing which happened to the forests and animals when humans converted those areas into their lands."

"Even if these points have logical connections," Duke asked. "How can you say this thing is actually happening?"

Steve stood up and walked toward the window, looked out, toward the capital town, standing some distance away from the duke whose sight followed Steve when he stood up and moved closer.

"You see," Steve said. "I once mentioned how I sometimes witness visions. And I can clearly tell when it's a dream and when it's a Vision."

"Yes, I do remember."

"That's the thing. Last night, I witnessed a cryptic, eerie Vision. And trust me, it was not a pleasant one." Steve's eyes looked at the Duke. "I'm afraid there's a war coming. Coming like a storm, earlier than we could expect.

"I won't ask for even a single person from the nation's army," Steve said. "They won't be able to stand against the ranks anyways. My people at Eva shall face this. But they alone won't stand. It's time we bring back what was sealed off in the underground chambers many years ago. The ships, the machines . . . and ready the Armada."

"If you really think the war is arriving," the Duke said. "We-"

"We also need to contact the royal house of Thena." Steve hastily said, interrupting the Duke.

"I'm sure you know, after what happened in the Himi mountains," the Duke said, looking down. "The old queen ravaging the mountains in the search of blue herb. When she realised her mistake. The throne was passed to the young lady and the Lady of Thena sealed off her entire nation."

"Having machines like trains, and flying ships," Steve said. "Thena is the most advanced nation among the five. And the closest one too. We need someone on the rear end."

"Lady of Thena won't listen."

"We all know your relation with Thena's royal lady. Talk to her. This war is not just related to Lydia. Ask her to join us in protecting their own nation. . . Ask her to ready the machines."

The duke had a shocked expression but he soon managed to calm himself. "And how devastating, you think, this war could be?" He asked.

"Depends on how my people at Eva handle it," Steve said. "But this war, I hope, won't be the reason to worry. If by any chance they managed to turn the tables and begin the Genesis. The Uni-mind and the 'third son' won't stop. And, that's something to really worry about."

The third-son. The duke recalled.

"And for the sake of this world and the people, we can't let the Genesis, the path to terraforming, begin," Steve said. "Ready the machines, my Duke. There's a war coming."

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