Chapter 5: Chapter 1 : The Radiant City (3/3)

 

 

 

“Eh… are you serious?”

Holding my groceries close to my chest, I backed up slightly. She was getting too close for comfort, and… my anxiety was kicking in pretty bad right now.

“Who are you?”

She stomped on the floor causing me to straighten my back.

“I gave you an order!”

“Eh… My name is Feodora Cicer, and I’m currently in-between jobs.”

"You are a creature of the night. One who is in love with the darkness. Your body resonates with the dark spectrum, does it not?"

She approached closer causing me to back up again.

“Eh, yeah… Listen, if this is about that barklight, she started it.”

“My name is Jade Opal, a knight from the Radiant Kingdom, and I’m taking you in for questioning.”

“You look nothing like a knight… not in that getup.”

I remarked, looking at her… clothing choice.

"Do you dare question my authority based on what I'm wearing?

“Ah… yeah, that’s just what I’m doing.”

She looked pissed off, and that caused my shoulders to drop. Everything in me was telling me to make a break for it. But I’ve heard the stories of the Radiants from tales spun over time with Maxwell. They are dangerous. Their command is deemed as law so if I disobey, it would be a pain to deal with.

“Listen… Ah, Jade, I just came to town to buy some stuff. Can I like, stop by later and make a statement or something?”

Her eyes lowered as she put her free hand on her blade.

“I asked nicely the first time… Now I want to cut you down and drag you in.”

She approached as I put my hand on my katana, ready for another fight. Suddenly, the world was shaken as a bright light lit up the sky. An explosion in the distance caused my body to shake as I fell to the ground. I sat right on my groceries, crushing the

remaining tomatoes. 

“The hell?”

The beauty named Jade scorned as she looked into the distance. Fire erupted from a distance away. My arm was grabbed, a bright light formed in my wrist. A holy spectrum tightened around both my wrist, binding me to them.

“Stay where you are, I’ll be back to deal with you later. And if you dare try to leave, I will kill you.”

“Eh?! Hey! Get these off me!”

I cried, but it was useless; she raced off into the distance, towards the explosion. Crowds of people rushed away from the scene. I took to my feet and attempted to break her spectrum.

“Tsk... this isn’t weak. She must be strong in holy to put something like this on me.”

I turned towards the gates and attempted to run away, but my body was pulled by the light on my wrist. I crashed to the ground.

“Are you kidding me?”

I tried again and again, but the result was the same. I even attempted to shadow walk outside the gates, but the spectrum would pull me out from the shadows and slam me back into town. There was no doubt about it…

“I’m stuck here until she gets rid of this spectrum on me. She’s the only one that can get these off me, isn’t she?”

Annoyed, I took to my feet. I closed my eyes and focused on the holy bindings on my wrist. What I saw was a link of chains. As I followed it, I noticed that the chain followed where Jade ran off to.

"Maybe..."

I stepped forwards and before I knew it, I was following the link. It seemed that I was only bound if I attempted to pull on the chains.

"So, I'm bound to her, and if I try to pull away... I get punished."

I understood the problem. So, I took a deep breath and concluded what I had to do.

“Alright.”

I raced off towards the chains. It allowed me to follow where she was going and gave me a clear insight into where she went.

As I traveled towards the blast, the wooden stores were lit on fire and the fires became greater over time. People were evacuated, making it all the harder to get through. Bodies pushed upon me as I made my way through the crowd. With my arms tightly together, this was harder than it should have been.

“Everyone, make your way to the west gates, keep it orderly, people!”

From the distance, a dark blue-haired woman with a blue dress and bright eyes was directing the evacuating people. In her hair was a blue flower that mirrored her hair. She caught my eyes with me as I was making my way in the opposite direction of everyone else. But she didn't say anything, she just gave me a creepy smirk and continued directing

the fleeing town members.

When I finally made it through the rush, buildings were on fire as knights were clearing out the area. There were users of the water spectrum, trying to extinguish the flames.

“Where is she?”

The chains came to a stop and below me was built up slack from the binds. I looked around, trying my best to find that strange beauty when a slightly higher-pitched voice melted into my ear from behind.

“And who might you be?”

I turned around, only to be drowned in the bright blue eyes of that woman from before. She looked about my age, in her 20s, as she searched me up and down.

“Oh, you have handcuffs on?”

 

 

She concluded as she yanked them, pulling me closer to her.

“What are you doing here? Why do you have these on?”

She was aggressive, and it caused me to lunge back.

“Ah, a Knight by the name of Jade Opal put them on me. I couldn’t take them off…so I came looking for her.”

Manically, she laughed. Suddenly, a mist formed around her hand, and a large gun appeared. It seemed she was a water spectrum user. She waved the weapon near my face.

“Oh, are you a suspect?”

She pushed me to the ground and pointed her gun in my face. I wasn't sure what was happening as I mindlessly watched her play with it like a toy. The gun's large black barrel aimed at my forehead.

“As you can see, everyone is busy with this mess right now. That gives me time to have fun…”

She turned to the side and kicked a wooden crate that was left during the chaos. The wood scattered across the street.

“Calm down already!”

She yelled at seemingly no one. Clearly, this girl was off her rocker. She walked about the fire zone as she giggled to herself.

“First question, what’s your name, redhead?”

Before I could open my mouth, she shot off her gun. A bright ray hit the ground near me causing water to splash up. It was sharp, like the edge of a knife as the water cut the side of my cheek.

“You’re insane!”

I bit on my teeth.

“No, I’m efficient. Now give me your name!”

She put the gun to my head and pushed it into my forehead.

“Tsk… Feodora Cicer.”

“How long have you been in this city?”

“Today was my first day coming. I needed groceries… and now I’m regretting it.”

She pushed the gun off my forehead and walked about for a bit. She found a pot lying on the ground and kicked it, effectively shattering it across the street too.

“Good so far… Now, what kind of spectrum vessel are you?”

I hated every minute of this as I confessed.

As my eyes moved about, I caught the sight of a pink-haired girl. She was dressed in a uniform of some kind, but I couldn't make out much with this psychopath walking about. She was watching from a distance. Likely scared by the scene, she raced off into the crowd of people running off.

 

 

“Dark spectrum…”

Her bright eyes shined brighter than a gemstone.

“Oh… I see why she kept you. I guess you are kind of screwed, aren’t you?”

Suddenly, she kicked me, causing me to fall over.

The world around me was becoming hazy.

 

I couldn’t tell what was going on anymore…

 

---

 

 

“Ah?!”

I found myself bound to an uncomfortable chair. My face was leaned to the side, and drool was running out of my mouth. It wasn’t like I was sleeping… more like I was in a daze and finally came to.

“Eh… I hope nobody saw that.”

I rubbed my mouth on my shoulder as I looked about. It was a dark room with grey walls and a single table in the middle. There was a one-way glass behind me and a door in front. This room reminded me of my books again. It was certainly inspired by the human European civilization’s design. It used to be called a precinct office interrogation room.

“… Arrrg… I seriously hope nobody saw that.”

My mind wasn’t clear yet, and the only thing I could think about was people watching me foam at the mouth as I was in a strange daze.

“Where am I?”

The place where a suspect would be pushed around by two investigators. I kind of expected two men to come in. One being the nice guy and the other… not so much.

Suddenly, the door shook. A burly man came through the door. With a stack of papers in hand, he approached, slapping them on the table.

"Alright you little fiery-haired punk, you're gonna talk!"

He was large, maybe around 6’5 or so as he towered over me. His bald head shined in the dim light of the room. With a reddish nose, a brown mustache, a casual shirt with a bright red tie, and pants that rode up around his big waist, he circled the table before sitting down.

"We have reported that you caused a lot of trouble missy. I have a lot of charges I can press on you. Disturbing the peace, reckless endangerment, chase and pursuit of a minor…"

 I lunged back.

“That barklight was no minor! She attempted to take my weapon!”

He scrunched up that cherry nose of his and turned away.

“I don’t know missy, it ain’t lookin’ all good for you, nope sir, nope sir. Jade told me to keep you until she came back.”

“This is why I need to grow my own tomatoes…”

I scorned my inability to be self-sufficient. My cravings got the best of me, and I went into town. Maxwell was right, I should have stayed alone and none of this would have happened.

“Alright, that’s enough Halmote. I can handle it from here.”

The beauty named Jade walked in. Her dark long hair that reached to her hips swayed from left to right as she made her way to me. At her command, the burly man walked out, shutting the door as he did.

“I want to start off by apologizing to you. I didn’t mean to leave you there… but things had to be done.”

I recalled what happened. That earthquake and explosion. There was a fire in the distance and Jade ran off to help.

“Y-Yeah… I ran over there to find you… and this strange woman started interrogating me.”

Confused, she looked at me.

“What are you talking about? I found you back where I left you. That explosion caused you to fall over and you hit your head. I didn’t have time to deal with you…so I handcuffed you and took off.”

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“What?”

“When I came back you were in a daze. I asked Halmote to look after you as I finished up my duties. It looked like you came out of it. I don’t know what caused it, but…”

She bit her lip.

“I’ll be honest, I don’t care.

"Right now I have a job, and you are the person I need to chat with.”

She sounded so matter of fact about it. But that's not what happened. I clearly remember running after her. But instead of saying anything else, I shook my head.

“Listen… I just came to town for groceries. This is a little much. If it’s about that barklight… she stole from me and-“

With her hand, she stopped me.

"Look, you have a lot of charges facing you. These come from witnesses' accounts. I know about what happened… you don't have to worry about that."

She laid out a bunch of papers. Each was scribbled so terribly I couldn't tell what they even said. Apparently, Halmote wasn't too good at their job.

“Legally, I can hold you here for the foreseeable future… and it’s not even about that incident with you and Lana.”

"Lana? Is that her name?"

I recalled her face. The bratty earth spectrum user who called her golem on me. Her name is Lana, it seemed. But the image of her vanished as everything in me wanted to just have those fried green tomatoes. My stomach began to growl.

 

 

“I just wanted to go home and make fried green tomatoes…”

I complained.

“But I don’t think that would benefit either of us, now would it, Feodora? If I just locked you in here and threw away the key.”

“I don’t think so.”

I pondered…

“Could I be in solitary confinement if you do?”

“No, you’ll be in a cell with three roommates at the very least.”

My heart sank into my stomach.

“Here’s the true reason I brought you in here.”

She sat across from me and brought out her hand.

 

 

"You are a user of the dark spectrum, aren't you?"

I grit my teeth as I looked her in the eye.

“…What about it?”

"You know how extraordinarily rare that is? Anyone who is born to use the spectrum is drifted towards one element. The vast majority of us are born with the highest ability of Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind."

I kicked the ground as she went on…

“Fewer than one percent are born with the compatibility to use dark or light. That means… you are special, I shouldn’t have to tell you that, right, Feodora?”

I turned away as she pierced my eyes with her fearsome gaze. I couldn’t deny that she was beautiful…but a little scary too.

“How long have you lived around here, Feodora?”

“I traveled from a forest around 70 miles or so. I arrived here a few months ago. I set up a cabin on the outskirts of the city. Today was the first time I entered here… and I regret that.”

People are stressful to deal with. There was a reason why I never associated with them much. I concluded that if I got out of here… I was never coming back.

“So, you’re a hermit, Feodora Cicer?”

“H-Hermit? That’s a cold word to associate me with. I’m not a hermit.”

“But you just told me that you live on the outskirts of town. You prefer to be alone and away from people… that’s the definition of a hermit.”

“C-Can you drop the hermit thing, please, Jade?”

“No, I’m writing it down into your records. It might be important for later.”

As it would turn out, I was now Feodora Cicer, the hermit girl. My body slumped all the more.

“Hey, fix your posture… Kids these days.”

I did as I was told and sat up properly. After a moment of writing, she looked back up to me.

“Listen, from my conclusion, I can’t let you leave today.”

“Why?”

“You fit the profile of a person I’m looking for in an ongoing investigation.”

“Profile?”

She pointed at me as she listed off what was on the paper in front of her.

“The person I’m looking for is likely young, a recluse, a user of the dark arts or dark spectrum at its highest caliber. They are a dark vessel…”

“You’re looking for a dark spectrum user… a dark vessel?”

She nodded.

"Yes, someone who has birth-level capabilities. Someone who was born with a line attracted to the dark spectrum. Someone just like you, Feodora Cicer."

My mouth jawed. The only person I’ve known was Maxwell who was like me. But now someone else around this city could be…

“Well, it’s not me.”

“You are the prime suspect in a string of missing people investigation now.”

“What?”

“And to me, you’re the likely culprit, and I have no intentions of letting you go as of now.”

She leaned back in her seat.

“However, I can let you walk today…if you help me with something important, Feodora.”

I was on edge as her stone face now had a slight smirk on it.

“…What do you mean?”

I asked warily. She crossed her arms and leaned in closer.

“I’ve been at a standstill in this case because I don’t have someone reliable who is privy to… the dark spectrum.”

I didn’t like where this was going.

I went on the defensive as I turned away.

“…What do you want from me?”

"There's been a string of disappearances around this city like I said. And the only things that turn up are these symbols."

She looked in her stack of papers and slid a picture across. I instantly knew what this was. This was a symbol of the dark arts. These symbols always appear in my dreams as if luring me closer to them. I… know them well without knowing what they mean. This symbol swung in a strange arrow pointing to the right. I had no idea what it meant.

 

 

“Anyone would assume that the culprit behind these disappearances is someone of the dark spectrum… in other words…”

“Someone like me?”

I blurted out but instantly I regretted it.

“Listen Feodora…there aren’t too many dark vessels in this world. The few I’ve known already passed away years ago. Many… aren’t around anymore. But what I do know is if you were on this case, you might be able to solve why these people go missing… unless you’re the culprit that is.”

“And if I refuse?”

“I lock you up under the pretense that you might be associated with this whole ordeal. Even if another incident occurs… I can’t be certain that you’re innocent.”

Like a sculpture of ice, she was cold but ever so beautiful. She was putting a gun to my head and forcing me along with her. Regrettably, I looked her in the eye and gave her my answer.

“For the return of my freedom… I’ll help you out for the time being. But I want to make sure you know that this is temporary.”

 

 

She nodded.

“Alright, I will write up a statement and put you as a consultant on this case. In return, I’ll allow you to return home once your duties are finished.”

She glared at me.

"But if you fail to show up at the appointed time, I will be forced to send knights to apprehend you. You will be charged with failing to appear, and I'll lock you up just as I pointed out before."

I slumped my shoulders now.

“Fix your posture.”

My body jumped back up like a dog following orders.

“And when is my work done? You’re…kind of twisting my arm here, Jade.”

“It’s finished when I say it’s finished. If I don’t give you the order to leave, you show up at the scheduled time every day. Tomorrow, I have a scene for you to investigate with me. I expect you to be back here by 9 in the morning. We'll meet outside Radiant City Brewery.”

That’s when she finally smiled.

“It’s a pleasure working with you, Feodora Cicer.”

“…Yeah, you too, I guess, Jade Opal.”

She finally released the holy spectrum bindings from my wrist. What was left was a red burn that made my skin look discolored. My body was finally able to relax now.

“I-I can go, right?”

“Yep, see you tomorrow.”

I stood up and made my way to the door.

“Oh, Feodora…”

“Huh?”

I turned back to her and met that charming smile of hers.

"Avoid the east gates of the city, please. I want you back tomorrow in one piece."

Her warning felt so ominous. I had no intention of going over there, but the fact of the matter is… every place in this city felt dangerous. I mean, a girl can’t even go buying tomatoes without being hauled to jail like this. 

When I stepped outside the interrogation room, I was guided to the main entrance by a knight who gave me my weapon back.

“Hey, so that bombing earlier… that was something else, wasn’t it?”

To the side of me, two knights were discussing that bombing earlier in the day. I recalled that time, it happened suddenly, and I fell to the ground. Jade told me that I passed out in a daze… but I clearly remember making my way towards it to find her. 

At least…that all felt real enough. And that strange girl with the dark blue hair and the gun. She interrogated me before kicking me. That’s when I…

“Hmm… was that a dream?”

I still had no idea what happened. But one thing is certain, there was a bombing, and they seemed to have got it under control.

“Well anyway, just keep your eyes peeled. We can’t have a psycho going around bombing places. It’ll only make it look like the knights can’t keep order.”

Not wanting to be questioned by them, I decided to take what I heard and make my way to the west gates. Jade warned me not to approach the east gates. I’m not sure why, but I’ll take her word for it. The less I have to deal with people, the better.

 

“…I still want fried green tomatoes.”

Dejected, I made my way home hungry…

 

 

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