The Black Box

23

We walk down the steps to the ground and pass where I met Jess. We walk into the center of The Shaft. I see that there are way more openings from the ground. I also notice that there's a pattern on the stone floor. It's like if you split open a tree trunk at its width. The rings were at least three feet apart.

"Welcome to The Shaft," says Christie, motioning all around us. I never looked up. So now I do. I look up and see that the ceiling is way farther than I thought. It's just visible to make out that the glass dome is covered with trees and roots, like Christie's.

Just then a guy walks from the leftmost part of The Shaft, out of one of the hallways. He has almost a teal shade of hair when he walks under a light. His hair is trimmed just so it sweeps over his forehead. He's my height and also is equipped with daggers. No swords. He walks closer and I see that he has gray eyes like Jess's but they don't have any red in them. He has symbols tattooed onto the sides of his neck that I don't understand.

"Hey Christie. Are these them?" he asks her, pointing to us. She nods. Jax looks offended.

"Who are we?" asks Jax, clearly confused.

"You'll see," says the guy. "Follow me."

We walk into the hallway he came from. We turn a couple of times and eventually came to an opened door. We walk inside.

Inside the room are Navi and Jess, chatting but stops when we enter the room. The room is obviously a mix between a lab and a library. It has books all over the table and the floor. The floor is littered with papers. There are test tubes and machines at the back of the room.

"Is this actually true? Man Jess, I might have to owe you a dagger," says Navi, rubbing his hand into his face, clearly dumbfounded.

"A dagger?" I whisper into Christie's ear.

"Yeah. It's a way they bet on things."

"Anyway, let's start the experiments," says the guy.

"Hold on Noah, they just came here, as I would think," says Jess, looking at us cautiously.

I guess that guy's name is Noah. Experiments?

"Woah, wait a minute! What experiments?" asks Adam.

"To see if you're the ones," says Jess, clearly bored. She's picking at her nails.

"The ones?"

"Yes. The ones."

"What the heck are the ones?"

"Do I have to explain it?" asks Jess. She looks over at Noah, telling him with her eyes and expression that he should explain it.

"Ok. So a long time ago..." starts Noah.

"Wait, how long is this gonna take?" interrupts Kevin.

"Do you need to be somewhere?" asks Noah, clearly annoyed that he was interrupted.

"No."

"Well don't interrupt me then! Anyway, a long time ago there was crystal shard. So it was really important to the people of the time so they looked at it closer and saw that it came with powers that a person couldn't even imagine.

"It wasn't really like elemental powers, well some were, more like powers that enhanced the human body. There were obvious ones like technical powers to be very intelligent and good with technology.

"Others, well, weren't too good. Some had the ability to kill in a single touch. Luckily no such amount was enough to give to a person so it was thrown into the depths and was never seen again.

"So the people though it was a good idea to give the enhancements to certain people that showed that they were capable of handling it. So they ground up the crystal and poured it into water and gave it to people to drink.

"They enhancements didn't work until it was a full 24 hours after the consumption of the crystal. The society became very organized and very well kept. Almost like a utopian society.

"The intellectual people were given the rest of the crystal that was left. They were smart enough to reproduce the crystal over and over.

"Then it became bad. Some of the intellectual became so into the crystal that they started to experiment with it. Then one day they found it."

"The killer one that killed in one touch?" asks Kevin.

"Yes. I told you not to interrupt!" says Noah, clearly more annoyed, his cheeks turning red. "So they consumed it, the corrupted intellectuals, and hid themselves from society until it was a day after they had the crystal.

"Luckily the most of the enhancements weren't able to be passed down generation after the other. Some were though.

"The deadly intellectuals began...touching people. Sounds weird I know, but they did. They infected the whole intellectuals but 10. My family came from two of those intellectuals who survived. Unfortunately, the enhanced people that could produce magic were wiped out.

"The corrupted moved throughout the city, killing everyone but spared just enough of people to escape and reproduce. They didn't spare them, more like forgot to kill them. Some of the enhancements could be mutated and you could have two. Some of those could be as deadly as the corrupted.

"The escapers began a new life and made a new city, eventually. Most of the people have mutated enhancements so it was very rare if someone only had one. It was better to have one because it didn't drive you into insanity after some time.

"Those with, let's say the ability to give life and to give death. Yes, there was one that gave death but you would be exhausted after using it that you would pass out. The killer doesn't take the exhaustion from you. They would be driven to insanity because they would raise something from the dead, but utter another word and the something would die. They also passed out unconsciously every time and eventually died.

"Those with two eventually died off and the pure, as we called them, were left. Some didn't though. They are what we are now. Now some of the intellectuals could see the future and foretold that the purest of the pure would save our world from destruction. It's important that it's the purest because they could wipe out any of the mutants and even the killer enhancer.

"Now we know our enemy, The Alliance, has gotten hold of the killer enhancer. We just need the Purest to side with us," says Noah, finishing. He carefully looks at us and looks us from top to bottom.

"And that's where you come in," says Jess.