The Last Utopia Page 20

  Sophie spread her hands to encompass the server room, the black machinery of the corridors and the clean student areas beyond them.

  “Just look at this place. Closely. How can you not see the signs here? How come the students couldn't see us, or their horror of a teacher? It's because they were never taught how to 'sense magic', whatever that means. The council keeps them in the dark on purpose, while those pods slowly turn them into vegetables. Didn't you see those so-called second years? Stuck in their tubes, all immersed in a fake game. The exact same thing's happening on the outside. People lament their pointless lives as they rot away. I was wrong. We're not oppressed, the council is way more insidious than that. Instead, we're numbed to the truth, with no desire to resist.”

  “...and what's wrong with that? Why can't people live happy lives without worry? Outside, we have a utopia, and inside, the students work hard to save the world, right?”

  “You know, I've been thinking about that word a lot. Utopia. And I don’t think something like a utopia can exist. It’s not in our nature to be satisfied. Why does the outer city have that pointless credit system and the monthly allowance when magic can supply us with everything we need? Why do people pay crazy sums so they can hang some paint on canvas into their gallery?”

  Somehow, I had hit a nerve with Sophie. While she continued her rant, she began to pace up and down the hallway.

  “It's because competition is in our nature. You know what makes people rich? It’s not a set amount. It’s having more than the people around them. That's it. As sad as it is, that's just how people work. That's why you can't ever have everyone be happy. Every structure has to have some bottom feeders, has to be built on the backs of some people. It's just that this one builds on the backs of very few. The only ones to suffer are outcasts like the Squalor gangs... and maybe the new mages.”

  “The mages? How are they suffering?”

  Though my stomach churned in its best attempt to stop my foolish mouth, the question still escaped my lips. I already knew I wouldn't like the answer. As Sophie realized where she had led the conversation, her feet stopped.

  Her face scrunched up in discomfort, she steeled herself, about to confront me with the inconvenient truth I couldn't face myself. She must have known that after her answer, things would change. For either of us, as well as for us both. Still, Sophie answered me in the end, with the truth. Because that was the kind of person she was.

  “If the city is running low on mana, why do you think the council would create this elaborate facade for the apprentices? There has to be some deeper purpose. I mean, all those machines and complex systems in the tower and the city need some kind of magic processor, right? Maybe while the students think they're training in those capsules, they're doing calculations instead. And the guards have to come from somewhere as well. Maybe once the students are no longer useful, maybe... maybe the guards used to be students too.”

  Before my mind caught up, my body leaned over Sophie, ready for the big fight.

  “Are you trying to say that this is my sister?”

  I pointed towards the sacks of meat at our feet. If they hadn't already died from my attacks, they were surely dead now. With their armors removed, their decrepit bodies fell apart all on their own.

  “So then why do you think the council wastes this much time and effort just to keep their students trapped and locked up? Why wouldn't they teach them proper magic? Wouldn't that make them more helpful in research or whatever the Grand Mages are doing? You know I'm right! Just 'cause you're getting hysteric again, thinking about all the poor victims, doesn't mean that looking away is a viable option! We need to stand up for ourselves and fight for what the council has taken from us!”

  “Every revolution will come with immeasurable pain. Weren't those your words? Why would we risk everything on a revolution and end up worse off!?”

  “'Eventual improvement'! I said 'improvement, not revolution'! How about some proper quotation for a change, huh? And we need to risk things because the system's fucking rotten! Look at this crap! It's all falling apart! Nothing in here can be saved, so just do what the old man has given his life for and for once forget about your goddamn sisters!”

  Just a second too late, Sophie realized her mistake. She had seen how I had dealt with Lester after he went for Amy, and yet she had still attacked my weak spot. Heavy steps led me forward, my mind blurred by absolute, boiling anger.

  Though she backed off, soon her body pressed into the barrier-covered walls behind her. I don't know what I would have done had we continued like this, but just before I could do the irreversible, loud footsteps interrupted us. Our heads snapped around as a small patrol of guardians walked down our corridor.

  In horror we saw them shout commands into their radios, guns at the ready. When they reached halfway across the corridor, one of them moved in on our hiding spot. Meanwhile, the others stayed behind to observe. I could never take out all of them and avoid an alert. Even if I somehow won the fight, we would only end up with even more guards on our tail. There had to be a better way. As a desperate plan formed in my head, I turned and pressed myself into the wall next to Sophie, before I reshaped the light barrier that had masked our surroundings.The flat barrier across the corridor retreated and shaped itself around the two of us, as well as our victims.

  Oblivious, the guard walked past me, past Sophie, past the bullet holes and past the corpses, all covered by the snugly refit light barriers. Again, my brain had worked by itself. Until then, I hadn't even known that I could manage such fine work. In the end, the guard marched around the corner and looked at the empty server room, still in pristine condition. However, on his way back his path would cross directly over the hidden leg of his downed colleague.

  Quick-witted as ever, Sophie hooked her boots onto the dead guard and managed to pull back the foot at the last second. Still, the sound had made our pursuer suspicious. When he turned towards us, the faceless mask stared into the empty space in his front. The knowledge of what was underneath the red cloth only increased my tension. In that moment, I could sense nothing but my beating heart inside my ears, as it crescendoed into a boom. Once again mana began to collect in my fist as I got ready for another desperate fight.

  “Unit 4 Beta, report.” The sound of the guard's radio saved our lives, and his own.

  “Area clear. Nothing to report,” he said in a sonorous voice, so wholly unfit for the man underneath, before he marched off with his squad.

  I looked after his back, almost glad about his interference. The incident had been far too close for comfort, but at least it had given me the chance to calm my mind. For once, I was able to think beyond myself and my own family. Instead, I thought about the wishes, dreams and aspirations of those men and women in the Squalor, about the sacrifice and benevolence of the Mystic, and about Sophie.

  Here was a girl full of talent, full of brilliance, who had spent her life trapped in a meaningless existence. Finally, she had found a chance to change the world, like she had never thought possible. How could she not get upset when I denied her demand for change again and again. Once I understood her, I couldn't take that from her, just as I couldn't leave my family behind. Thus, only one option remained, one I understood the Mystic had predicted long ago.

  “Phew, that was close,” Sophie whispered with a look down the hallway.

  Without a word of answer, I stretched out my hands towards the girl. When she turned to face me, my fingers had already landed on her temples.

  “What are you doing?”

  I ignored the girl's confused voice and focused on the shape of the mana. The old man's actions during our separation back in the caverns were still clear in my mind. This time, I would be the one to give my mana away. When we had walked through the empty towers with time to think, I realized how strange the old man's actions had been. At the end of his life, he only had so little mana left that the amount I had received was minuscule compared to my own reserves.

 
Now I realized: Maybe the Mystic had wanted to teach me the shape of mana transference, to prepare me for this exact moment. While I concentrated on my work, I looked into Sophie's eyes. The girl became more and more uncomfortable as the shape around her head was built. Flustered, she tried to pry away my hands, but I wouldn't budge.

  “Don't move. I'm giving you some of my mana.” I explained myself, but it did little to calm the girl down.

  “What? Don't! You'll need all the strength you can get later! We need you to destroy the council! We need you to lead us into the future!”

  Sophie struggled even harder, but my strength, reinforced through my mana shell, was far too great for her to overcome. Thus, I continued to trickle mana into her atrophied veins.

  “Why would I lead any sort of revolution?” I answered. “You really think I'm cut out for that kind of thing? I'm the soft guy, remember? The one who's gonna feel sorry for everyone, who can't make hard decisions. The old man knew that as well, I'm sure of that. I might not be much of a thinker, but if there's one thing I'm good at, it's reading people.”

  At last the girl stopped her struggle. With large eyes she listened to my revelation.

  “Why do you think the Mystic let you into his home, a place no one has been to in ages? Just because you were with me? Why would he spend all his free time talking to you? He couldn't even move a muscle without mana, so why waste it on you? Because he was bored? No, the Mystic knew just as well as me: Out of us two, the one who's cut out to lead a revolution isn't me, it's you.”

  Finally, my work was finished. Although a lot of mana had been wasted, a tiny amount had entered Sophie's own system. As someone who was born as a normal person, her own capacity was much lower than mine. Still, it would have to suffice. Unaware of her new powers, Sophie tried to refute me.

  “You're wrong! I- I'm nobody. I can't lead anyone, who would listen to me? In the first place, where would I even start? You think some weak girl can just waltz in and take over the gangs in the Squalor?”

  “That's why you have all this mana now. Here.”

  The guard's barrier glyph was still in my hand from before. When I held it up to Sophie, she took it with a dull face, overwhelmed by my actions.

  “Just pump mana into this thing and you can make your own shell. You'll be stronger than anyone in the Squalor, anyone outside of the towers. Considering this disk's efficiency, the mana stored in the battery and in your body is gonna last you years. That's more than enough time to make it to the top of whatever hierarchy your revolution will produce. Wear the guard's clothes. In all this confusion right now, you should be able to make it out of here and back to the Caverns all by yourself.”

  After I had sent the revolutionary on her way, I turned towards the second guard, eager to finish my own journey.

  “Wait! Where are you going?”

  Sophie panicked. Surely, she hadn't expected all that responsibility out of nowhere. It was a pressure I had felt ever since we had entered the Caverns. Under other circumstances, I would have relished in the karmic justice, but I had more important things to worry about.

  “While you might be convinced of the Council's evil nature, I still don't know what this place is. Not really. The answers you came up with might have been enough for you, but it's not enough for me. It’s all just speculation, and I need proof. I have to go find Eileen. And if, only if, you're right, you might see a spark from the distance. One which will set this dried-out city aflame, to burn out and revive from the ashes.”

  Again, Sophie shouted my name, but I had already reformed the light barrier around myself, gone from her view. I took the second guard with me and left in silence. At that time, I wasn't sure whether or not I would meet the headstrong girl again, but now wasn't the time to be sentimental. There was still much to do. First, I would have to find a place to change clothes.

  - Five

  Without resistance, the key card slid into its corresponding groove. In response, the glyphs around the door began to whir as I waited for the gate to open.

  Still, I understood that this path would lead me towards the last, deepest secrets of the city. To my right, a single guard stood at attention. Our break-in had caused far more chaos than I had first thought. Among other things, the guards stationed at the doors had been halved as everyone ran around the backstage in small teams, engaged in the search for the intruders.

  They still didn't know what had happened, so my red-robed disguise opened all the doors for me. Relieved, I realized that Sophie would make it out okay. I myself had reached the final sealed door at the end of the second year hallway, the one which housed the intensive training facilities.

  While I had seen it when we had followed the fake teacher, our unwitting guide had picked another path, so I couldn’t enter before. Beyond here would lie the third-year students, or so the writing on the door claimed.

  This was the end, the final station of my journey. If big sis wasn't in there, she would have to be even further along, and I wasn't sure if I could make it past whatever came after this. After all, in this rudimentary disguise, I would never make it past an actual mage.

  While I was deep into thought, the door opened into another large, clean hallway. Unlike the pods of the second years, the walls consisted of large, white panels, with no students to be found. Even with my enhanced vision, I had almost overlooked the seams in the walls. To my right, I found another red guard sat behind a short desk. Although I wasn't sure how the guardians talked to one another, at this point I would have to gamble.

  “I'm looking for one Eileen Rovis.” To resemble the mellow baritones of the beasts, I had modulated my voice with another sound shape. Strange how much talent can be born out of desperation.

  “Now? Hasn't there been a general mobilization?” The guard looked up from his monitor.

  “Look. All I know is that I was asked to check up on the student,” I answered, as cold sweat formed along my spine.

  The faceless mask stayed on me for a few endless seconds, but finally the beast looked back to the terminal in front of him. After a short search, his head came back up, willing to share his findings.

  “Ah, no wonder you're checking up on that one. That's the same number that caused all the chaos a year ago. Damn, of all days it's always on selection day. We're understaffed as is.”

  He pointed down the hallway and left.

  “The vault number is 1744, hallway D. Just down there.”

  “Thank you,” I replied.

  His head shot up in response. Maybe the polite answer had been a mistake, but I had no more time to care. I would meet Eileen, even if it was the last thing I did. With my goals reaffirmed once again, I left the guard behind. Hallway D wasn't hard to find. Upon closer inspection, all the shelves had unique serial numbers engraved on their front. 1738, 1740, 1742, 1744. Soon I reached my goal, but once again, I was stuck.

  There were no handles on these things. How was I supposed to open one? A closer look revealed the answer. A small indentation, so strange and so familiar, as if from a former life. This was the exact same shape as the indentation on the cab I had shared with Nate. Again I took out the guard's key card to unlock the shelve. With bated breath, I looked on as the panel slid out.

  Finally, I found what I had been looking for, the answer to my questions, the absolute terror.

  In front of me lay the remains of a human. The muscles had rotted away long ago and the dried up skin flaked off the bones in large chunks, to reveal what was left of the dark red meat. Countless tubes and cables had been inserted into the body and formed rivers under the skin, though the husk had no blood left to press through its holes and open sores. And yet, the nightmare creature's chest still heaved. Somehow, it was still alive.

  As all blood drained from my face to match the creature, I looked back at the panel. The number was correct, but I still refused to admit it. This couldn't be my sister. To further my horror, the corpse opened its eyes, heavy and slow, like a giant awakened from eter
nal slumber. Deep anguish had been carved within them, and the sight almost broke my heart. Even when our parents had died, Eileen's eyes had never looked this pained, and yet I recognized her without fault.

  “Big Sis!” As I shouted in disbelief, I ripped the mask off my face. I had to make sure my sister could see me for who I was. “What happened to you!?”

  Her eyes opened wide in understanding, as she recognized my face. With all the cables and tubes wedged under her skin, she couldn't move her body at all, and yet she still tried to force what was left of her lips to mouth her final words.

  “Don't talk. I'll get you out of here.”

  Her head shook in an almost imperceptible motion, but to me it was like a command, reinforced by her urgent eyes. Whatever sis had to say was important, and it couldn't wait. Once again I shaped the mana for sound and created a funnel from Eileen's mouth to my ears. Finally, I could hear my sister's words, after three years of absence. The throaty, guttural noise drove tears to my eyes.

  “slaughter...house. Where... leftovers... go. Mages... only... fuel. Run.”

  Her words spoken, she got up from her deathbed one final time. The sudden jolt ripped out the lines between her and the machines and opened her frail skin further, like scissors through wet paper. Until this day I don't know why big sis decided to end her life in that moment. Maybe she didn't want to be a burden to me. Maybe she had had enough of the pain and simply wanted to end it all.

  “No!”

  I screamed in panic and pain, horrified as I held up Eileen's collapsed body. I tried to create a shell, to stabilize her mangled form, but I soon saw that she was gone already. Still I tried, tried my hardest to make the impossible come true. I didn't know how long I stood there, as I held my sister's corpse to my heart and mumbled words of peace into her ears, but in that time, something snapped inside of me.

  Now, all I wanted to do was burn it down, all of it. The guards, the council, the city, none of them deserved to live. Not to me at least. The old man had been right again: I had seen the truth and made my decision. Though I didn't even consider the meaning behind Eileen's word's, the starved corpse in my arms, as light as a feather, was reason enough to end whatever had caused her torment.