Chapter 60: Birth of DESTRUCTION
Arora's eyes fluttered open as her consciousness slowly returned to her.
Partly at first, but then her eyes shot wide open as everything came flooding back.
She remembered her adoption, leaving the orphanage, and her fight with Raymond β her despicable uncle.
She glanced around with great effort, immediately noticing her glasses were gone.
Moments later, she realised that she was trapped inside a strange glass tank, constricted from head to toe with countless restraints that tore into her flesh slightly as she struggled.
The tank was filled to the brim with an otherworldly liquid that she had never encountered before. Somehow though, she didn't feel like she was drowning in it. Instead, the liquid felt strangely soothing.
She could feel it permeating every itch of her body, inside and out.
She thrashed as hard as she could, bubbles escaping her almost completely sealed mouth as screams tried and failed to pass her lips.
Finally, she looked beyond the glass tank, noticing the figures moving about around her, and those watching her.
Next to her pod stood a beautiful young woman with magenta eyes and cloudy white hair, dressed in the same strange black outfit Arora now wore.
Her intense gaze was filled with interest, like that of a mad scientist studying a perfect specimen.
Seconds later, a man walked up to her Pod with a smile on his face. It was the same man in a doctor's coat she had caught a glimpse of when she was barely conscious.
He spoke with the woman briefly, but Arora could only catch fragments of their conversation through the liquid.
"Soul power."
"Zue."
"Expanse... Great Expanse."
The last phrase immediately reminded her of the badge Mr Raymond had shown to the guard at the gate of Chicago, bearing G.E.
'Is that the name of their organisation? Are these the people that he works for? The people that are killing us?' she thought as her face contorted in hatred.
She began twisting furiously against the restraints as everyone in the strange lab quickly focused their attention on her.
The man in a white coat smiled curiously as he studied her struggling form. He turned to one of the women dressed in nurse outfits, and signaled her to bring him something.
A moment later, the nurse returned with a device as he took it from her hand roughly before putting it to his lips.
"Can you hear me, Arora Elke?"
Arora's eyes widened slightly as a voice suddenly reached her ears, clear as day, as if it was emanating from every corner of the tank.
"I'll take your reaction as a resounding yes." He said smoothly.
"You're probably curious about many things right now. Who I am, where you are, why you're here, why we're doing this to you and the other children..."
He paused for a few moments.
"And why you have to die."
"Well.. I'm not sure if I can answer all that, but let's start with introductions."
"I am the head of the Great Expanse project. "
Elijah Chasma."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, O great soul." He said with a slight bow.
Arora's hate-filled gaze immediately spun towards his direction as she glared daggers into him.
She remembered that name vividly. It was the person Mr Raymond had said ordered for her adoption.
More bubbles escaped her sealed lips as she moved frantically, desperate to break out of the restraints.
"Such intensity. I wouldn't do that if I were you. It's pointless. Those restraints are beyond your capacity to damage."
Elijah said as he began circling the liquid filled tank.
"What a marvel you are, Arora Elke. According to my associate here, your soul is truly beyond any other she's witnessed in this world." He said as he gestured to the magenta eyed woman.
Arora's brows furrowed slightly at the last name the man had been calling her for some time now.
Elijah noticed the slight change in her expression as he smiled.
"Oh did I pique your interest? Or are you more concerned with what I'm calling you. Elke."
"That was your father's last name. Henry Elke. I knew him well."
Arora's gaze softened slightly at the mention of the father she had never gotten the chance to know.
"...but I don't want to talk about that. I want to talk about you."
"Right now, you probably hate me. You must hate me so much that you feel your very being burning up. Well, I suppose that last part will be quite literal soon enough." He said, as he chuckled at his own joke.
"You must hate Raymond the same way as well."
"I truly am sorry, O great soul. If I could avoid this, I would."
"Unfortunately, we suffered a devastating setback during our attempt to advance to the next stage. The child brought here last time was far weaker than we expected. I blame Raymond for that oversight."
Cindy's adorable face flashed through Arora's mind. Tears began streaming down her cheeks, before being swallowed up by the strange liquid.
"Now we're forced to use you. In truth, we wanted you to be our very last resort. For the final stage of the project."
"But it seems we humans have not grown to the level where we can understand the workings of Destiny and fate. Not yet, at least."
Elijah kept going, unaware that Arora had tuned him out completely.
She was lost.
No more than that, she was broken.
Her world had crashed down in ways she'd never dreamed possible.
She'd started the day in anguish over her lost letters.
She had wished to leave the orphanage, and that wish had been granted shortly after.
Her dream of having a family had finally come true.
She'd been the happiest she'd ever been in her entire life.
Only for it all to come crashing down.
She had received cruel revelations after revelations, each one capable of changing her forever.
And now she had been brought to this strange place, surrounded by strange people... to die for their cause.
After a while, Elijah noticed she'd zoned out, ignoring his presence entirely. He frowned.
"That's quite rude. But oh well."
He walked to the magenta eyed woman, who now stood beside a massive machine connected directly to Arora's tank.
"I want you to remember this, at the very least, Arora. Your death will contribute greatly to saving humanity." He said finally, as he handed the device to one of the nurses. After that, he signaled for the magenta eyed woman to start. She placed her hands against the machines as her eyes suddenly glowed brightly.
The machine activated.
A second later Arora felt it.
She felt as if the liquid was slowly dissolving her. She tried to scream as loud as she could, but it was only drowned out by the very same liquid as she thrashed about in pure agony.
She didn't want to die. She wanted to be strong, to be brave. But she couldn't. She just didn't want to die.
At first, it felt like the liquid was burning her skin, muscles, and bones. But moments later, she understood it went far deeper. Her physical body remained unaffected. Instead, the pain reached into the very depths of her existence, burning her soul itself.
Elijah grinned in delight as the machine began lighting up again after being inoperational for over a month.
He looked back at a one-way mirror at the corner of the lab.
"It's working!" He shouted in joy as he ran out of the room.
Strangely, Arora found herself capable of seeing through the one-way mirror as if it didn't exist. She watched Elijah approach two figures before standing beside them. One was a gaunty old man dressed in regal wear. The other... Was Mr Raymond who wore a somber expression as he watched her die painfully.
She wanted to tear it off.
She wanted to kill him. She wanted him to be the one suffering in her stead. She wanted to destroy him.
Hours passed as Arora writhed in unimaginable pain. she could feel time tick by slowly as her soul was being burnt away, or more precisely, converted into something she didn't understand.
She felt aspects of her being slowly fade into nothingness little by little.
Eventually, even her emotions began to dissipate as well.
The only one she refused to let go was her hatred.
She hated Raymond. She hated Elijah. She hated Ms. Ann, Ms. Rogers, every single person here.
For humanity?
They were killing her for people she had suffered from her entire life.
She hated them too.
She hated this world.
This world that had played with her from the beginning. That had determined her tragic fate from the moment she was born. That had made a fool of her until the very end.
She wanted to destroy everything and everyone.
She shut her eyes, wishing for it all to end.
Then suddenly, a strange sensation enveloped her as the pain suddenly stopped.
She could think again.
She opened her eyes slowly as she glanced around.
Everything was still. The nurses around her were frozen mid motion. Through the window, she saw Elijah, Raymond, and the old man in the same motionless state.
She didn't understand what was happening.
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