UNTITLED: Book One

DAY 133.834

I’m not sure what I’m doing

I’m not sure where I’m going

I just know that I’m ready

“You need to go and get Solara, now. I will stay here and summon everyone. My people may be gone… but the people of this city, and all others, are not. I will find many to fight this cause. Surely.”

That was what The Broker told Aiye before they went their separate ways. Until then, Aiye had yet to see Broker so animated in the way he expressed himself. He was pacing, waving his arms around, barely able to contain himself like an excited child. For war? Or, was it for the chance at this freedom that everyone keeps talking about?

He doesn’t think too much into that because sitting alone in this remotely-driven transport, he’s terrified. Not for his life, but the world of responsibility he’s only beginning to realize that he’s stepped in. It was easy when he and Solara only cared for themselves. They were strong, and felt invincible. But now… Now, he’s not so sure what to feel. An actual war where he’s not just a soldier following rules. He’s actually planning and deciding others’ fates.

After their journeys with the Broker: the warehouse, collecting the keys, and seeing the slaughter at the mountain—the helplessness of the people. All of that made him feel something inside, but what drove that feeling home was that for the first time in his life, he encountered a power he felt helpless against too. So all the bottled-up feelings he’s had since he was young, they all have started to slowly seep out since discovering Solara ran away.

Nearing destination.

The transport computer announces. He has nothing with him but the fresh battle skin he’s wearing and a pulse staff they managed to retrieve. Broker tried to give him bombs, but Aiye insisted that it was both redundant—with a pulse staff—and too much to carry for the speed he’s planning on moving at. That is, IF he can even land.

Now he has to enter the codes and hope for the best. The best being that they use drones to shoot him down—giving him a chance to hijack one and use that to return to the city. The worst—they just shoot him out of the air here and now.

But neither of those seem to be the case because the computer announces:

Landing permissions granted.

Shit. A trap might be worse than getting shot out of the air. At least it’s done and over with. But a trap is work. Then torture. Then maybe death after torture, but most likely captivity and more torture. Ugh.

Since access was granted, shields automatically start going down around the transport. He can’t see where he’s headed now. They had disabled the view screen because it works both ways. So if you can see them, they can see you—The Broker had explained. He regrets it now as he feels the transport land. Not knowing what awaits him.

Then, the door opens. Standing there, on the top of the city, is Solara and Thema side-by-side. Solara’s hands are nonchalantly in her pockets and Thema stands in a power pose, hands behind her back and her sword—floating?—next to her. He also can’t help but notice that Thema is wearing very similar sunglasses as The Warden. At night. Asshole, he thinks to himself before scanning everything else.

Behind them is an entire army of Old Guard and New Wave together, spanning all the way across the lawn and to the Narra tree under The Eye.

Aiye is confused. But he stands on the transport’s ramp for a moment, taking it all in. Looking at them all standing there and waiting for him under the night sky.

He rolls his eyes and strides down the ramp. He tosses the pulse staff at another New Wave for them to catch, and walks right up to Solara and Thema.

“SO, what’s with all this? You turn on us, or something?” He says to Solara.

“The fuck? Aiye—ugh! Just shut up,” She says, taken aback and annoyed. “Stupid ass question.” She continues to mumble under her breath.

Okay. So it’s definitely Sol. That’s good to know. And she’s mad at him for some reason?

“Why are you mad at me!? I was just asking!”

“Because it’s dumb! And why’d it take you so long to even get here!?” Solara throws her hands in the air, exasperated.

“I didn’t think it was that dumb, but whateverrrr.” He sarcastically gestures at this. Then he adds, “And my bad, Broker and I were plotting and shit. Specifically, how to save YOU.”

“Save me from WHAT Aiye?? What the fuck do I need saving from??

Aiye just rolls his eyes and waves her off. It’s definitely her.

Thema continues to stare at them both with a sinister smirk across her face. Aiye looks at her and speaks.

“And what do YOU want? You look like you got something to say, now that you got that weapon! What’s this all about?”

She chuckles and sarcastically gestures, “Just giving Solara what she’s always wanted.” Then she turns her head towards the army and then back at Aiye, “We were just waiting for you… To witness. As it’s always been.”

“Alllll rightttt…? Over here sounding like a villain from all those surface books we read. But, fine. When does… *gestures* all this, start?”

“Well, you’re here now, so right now.”

Aiye immediately gets in attack stance, but Thema just laughs.

“I’m kidding, we’ll head to Isi-Iyi first. THEN, it can start. But ya’ll go ahead of me. I’ll meet you there in a bit. Warm up… or whatever.”

Thema turns and walks away as many transports begin arriving to take them, and the entire army away.

Aiye looks at Solara, “So Thema is like a whole-supervillain out of the books now, huh?”

Solara shrugs, genuinely unbothered. “You’ve said that already and I still don’t know what you’re talking about. And what does it matter what she is, or has? Won’t stop what’s coming to her.”

“You really think you can beat her? Now?”

“All day.”

“Okay, let me rephrase that. Do you really think you can beat that sword?”

Solara, less casually, responds, “Let’s fuck around and find out.” Then she walks towards the transports.

—

Thema walks through the halls of the city. The lights reflecting off her opaque glasses. Her hands behind her back while she walks with her creepily jovial smile.

Everyone she passes seems to step out of her way or just outright avoid her. The last two people to touch her sword, be it accident or on purpose, got hurt bad. One of them, an older Old Guard who recognized it, but couldn’t quite remember, was now in the infirmary—half insane. The other, a regular employee of Solaris, accidentally brushed passed it in while in a rush. They’re dust. And everyone saw it happen because that was in the cafeteria during general lunch hour.

So now they avoid her, but Thema who was once extremely self-conscious about being alone, no longer cared. Not many things bothered her lately. Not because of the new power she’s gained. Not because the sword is in her mind. But because she’s already shot past her threshold of ‘fucks given’. And beyond that threshold, she found clarity and purpose. Maybe even conviction.

She turns the corner into one of the recovery centers. Where healing patients go after they’re no longer at risk of dying. There, she sees No.3 and No.4 chatting with one another happily. That is, until they see her coming. Then they shoot up, upright, at attention.

“Guys, we don’t need all that anymore. Never again. Come on now.”

They ease up. But then the sword moves from behind Thema to her side, and No.3 widen like they’ll pop out of their sockets. No.4 gently caresses her, trying to calm her.

“Thema,” he says. “Why did you bring that? You know what it does to her.”

“I- I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.” She snaps back to her senses and waves her arm toward the door. It zooms out of the room.

“Uhm. Sorry No.3. I really am. It won’t happen again.”

“It’s okay… Are you okay?” No.3 asks.

“Yeah! Never better haha!” She does a quick awkward dance for them, hoping to make them laugh, and lighten the mood. Ever since they’ve returned, things have been extremely awkward between them. They were much closer to No.2 and No.5. Now with them gone, Thema doubts she can replace the hole their absence has left.

“You don’t seem fine. Perhaps you shouldn’t do this?” No.4 suggests.

“I’m fine hahaha. Relaaaaaxx.”

“No, you’re not.” No.4 reaches for her arm, but Thema jolts away from it.

“I’m fine!” She gathers herself for a moment. Brushing her hands through her hair. “I- I just came to check up on the two of you. I’M fine. I’m good. But, things are about to get a little messy. You already know the plan…”

They nod.

“So I just wanted to make sure y’all are good to go. That’s all. You don’t have to worry about me.”

Thema’s hand repeatedly opens and closes at her side. An awkward silence between them. So Thema tries to fill it.

“But thank you, No.4. Both of you. Thank you, for everything.”

No.3 touches Thema’s arm now and speaks assertively, yet gentle, “Thema. YOU, ARE NOT fine. It’s clear as day. NONE of us are. You have that monster’s sword. And now you’re wearing sunglasses just like…just like The- The Warden… You are not okay. And that’s okay. You have something you need to do in order TO BE okay, and we understand this. We support you. We will stick to the plan. We’ve got you, now and forever.”

No.4 puts his hand on Thema’s back with a smile. “Now and forever, Thema.”

Hearing their words and them use her real name make her feel less cold. Tears stream from her eyes, out from under her sunglasses. “Thank you. Thank you so much.” She says beneath a quiet sob—like a whimper—as she wipes her eyes. Her other hand still opening and closing at her side.

Thema gently wipes her face, trying not to scratch it with her stone-black, then straightens up. “I guess it’s go time?”

She hugs them both then turns to walk away. She needed that.

“Atzi-Tozi (aht-see toh-see). But, family calls me Tozi (toh-see).” No.3 says with a smile.

“Tozi,” Thema repeats with a smile of her own.

“Junaid (joo-nayd). Just Junaid.” No.4 shrugs. “Guess the little science people never believed would live long enough. That I could grow to become a ranked one like the two of you.”

“Junaid,” Thema repeats with a proud smile and a nod. “Guess you showed them, huh?”

No.4 nods back with a smile of his own. They all close in to embrace one more time. Not healed yet, but more of a promise to each other to do it together.

“And now…” Thema turns to walk again, “Now it’s fucking go time.”

—

Aiye and Solara stand in the clearing of Isi-Iyi, waiting with the rest of the army now. Although they are greatly outnumbered and outgunned, no one dares to attack them—out of respect. Respect for Thema’s orders, respect for the fight, and respect for the fact that many assume that these two would take at least take a hundred of them down before falling. No one wants to be a part of that hundred. Not with a war looming over their heads. Especially the New Wave, most of them assume they will have to fight the Old Guard soon in Thema’s coup. So, they all stand patiently waiting, except for Aiye.

“You think she’s even coming? Like, is this some technique to get us off our game or something? Prepare traps in the city and shit. No! She’s gonna attack the surface!” Aiye suggests impatiently.

“She’s coming.” Solara responds, then she sniffs the air. “Matter of fact, I think she’s here.”

Aiye sniffs the air too. He notices for the first time that the air has gotten heavier and smells like electricity and fire. His vision is even distorted, or so he thought until he realizes that the distortion is actually just in the area he was looking towards.

Suddenly, a strange dark purple lightning strikes down in the center of the island. The force pushes a few people back, but nobody falls. They’re all just startled. Except for Solara. She’s now got her own suspicious smirk stretching across her face.

Solara walks towards Thema who, for a brief moment, looks a little sick after that showy entrance. While Thema gathers herself, Solara taunts.

“Quite the entrance. I might need to get me one of those at this rate. Maybe yours.”

She playfully reaches for the grip of the blade and an annoyed Thema pulls it back while she pulls herself together. She got a little too excited after talking to Tozi and Junaid, already doing too much.

“You?” Thema replies, still trying to regain her overall balance. “Ms. Weapons Are For Weaklings.”

“Well…” Solara makes a show of looking Thema up and down. “Still waiting to be proven wrong.”

Thema scoffs. Solara walks up even closer to her:

{

“To fight with a sword that allows you to do damn-near anything you set your mind to, only after you give it your heart…and your mind too. Maybe with that type of power you’ll be a challenge, for real….”

}

Solara gets up in her personal space now, sniffing her and looking her sizing her up before she continues, “It’s something I’m willing to put my mind to. Hm, but don’t you think you’ve given it too much, too fast? You don’t look okay, Thema. I don’t think you’ve healed from that stunt you pulled at the mountains, huh?”

“Spare me your fake concern and useless taunts. Worry about your damn self, Solara! It’s what your good at.”

“Jealous much? Aiye, why is she always jealous of us!?” Solara turns around to shout, rhetorically, towards Aiye who just shrugs. He doesn’t want to be a part of their constant fighting. Especially knowing that The Broker will be coming soon with an entire army.

“Jealo—what?? Is that what you think!? WOW. That I’m JEALOUS of you two! No, I HATE you two. You both pretend to be like us, but you’re monsters. YOU HURT ME!… you hurt me…worse than The Warden ever could. And the worst part is, you weren’t forced to. It was a choice. You don’t care about anyone other than yourself Solara. I bet deep down Aiye knows it too. I bet he doesn’t trust you as much as he thinks he does because he knows that when he stops being able to keep up, you’ll leave him too.”

This strikes a nerve in Solara who is no longer smiling. Aiye ignores Thema’s rant except to make a mental note of the fact that Thema just called the man she follows and looks up to the most, Warden. The name he hates most. A name of disrespect. Wait, is something else going on here?

“That’s enough tough talk Tay… let’s get started. EVERYONE, BACK THE FUCK UP, NOWW!” Solara’s voice booms across the entire island.

Everyone immediately backs up to the edges of the island. Aiye backs up quite a bit too, but not as far as the rest.

Thema and Solara stare at each other for a moment. Fighting first in their minds. Playing out each other’s first moves.

From Aiye’s line of sight, he can see them both staring each other down, with the city behind them, floating high above the ocean. It would be beautiful if it weren’t so—

Aiye’s eyes widen as he watches a barrage large blasts rain down from out of the atmosphere and onto the city.

The flames from the attacks engulf the shields of the city. The attacks have no effect against the shields but they continue to rain down regardless.

DAMMNNN, Broker! You’re really letting them have it!? Aiye smirks to himself, amused, but also surprised at the ferocity of the attack. He knew the man was angry, but he’s really letting ‘em have it. The perfect distraction, I guess. Right on time too. He looks at Thema and Solara who’ve both turned towards the city. Thema in shock and Solara confused and seemingly entertained.

Then someone from the crowd shouts, “WE’RE UNDER ATTACK!”

Thema turns and shouts out orders to return to the transports docked along the edges of the island. But soon, they all realize they weren’t just talking about the city. Someone points directly above the island as an attack rains down on them too.

Ah. Fuuuck you Broker. It wasn’t in the plan for them to be on this island, but he knows The Broker has his location since he’s still wearing the transmitter that he was given. It dawns on Aiye that the plan was to likely kill two birds with one stone when The Broker recognized he had this golden opportunity. A man who never misses an opportunity. You really hate us all that much… huh. Guess I should’ve seen that one coming. Aiye think to himself annoyed, just as the rain of fire engulfs them and the entire island. But like the city, it has no effect because it has a shield of its own. This time from Thema.

Thema raises the sword above her head to protect everyone by erecting a shield. It’s three times the size of the city so that it can spread around the entire island. The shrieking noise that they heard from the sword, back at the mountain, can be heard faintly, gradually growing louder. Thema looks exhausted and sickly now. It doesn’t seem like she’ll be able to withstand this barrage much longer.

Aiye gets Solara’s attention and gestures towards the ocean, suggesting they get ready to jump in. Solara stares a little longer at Thema, fists clenched, before she nods to Aiye in agreement. It seems they’re not the only ones with that idea.

Many of the Old Guard and New Wave stand at the edges of the island, just behind Thema’s shield. They’re ready, waiting to jump the moment it goes down. It would be the best idea of they want to save themselves, but also if they want to save Thema at this point too.

Just then, as suddenly as it began, the rain of fire ceases on both the island and the city. Down comes multiple battleships from out of orbit. All of them about half the size of the city in the sky. Followed by carrier-class ships, that are about the same size of the city in the sky.

The carriers hover high above the island. They’re getting ready to launch container drop-pods that carry entire squadrons. They are meant to be shot down, like their rain of fire, but for the purpose of deploying troops.

The container pods light up the night sky as the fall onto the city, exploding on impact. Some fall into the ocean and resurface after a while—immune to drowning, apparently. Then, more ships descend out of orbit, and container pods start raining down on the island.

Flares go up and that’s when Aiye confirms it. He sees just out of orbit, a flagship the size of a hundred cities in the sky. Oh, shit, Aiye curses to himself as he prepares for the fight of his life. Shit shit shit shit shit! This isn’t The Broker!

They’ve learned many times, in many many ways, about this enemy. This enemy, being the sole reason why the Old Guard and New Wave were created. This enemy, that they and all the colonies hated. This enemy, The Dark State.

The thunderous drum strikes once…