Smoke on Xalia

Chapter 2: Kalico

Bright lights bothered my eyes as I stumbled into the cafeteria.
Ouch.
I tried to cover my face with my greasy black hair as I walked over to the counter, the cold metal floor comforting me as I did so. I scanned the counter.
Perfect. My favourite, crème brulee, was there. Along with Faklar fritters and a seaweed salad.
I hurriedly picked up a tray and rushed over to the line. Faklar fritters? In. Seaweed salad? In. Crème brulee? Hell yes.
How lucky we were to find this recipe in the Earth ruins, definitely one of Xalia's best discoveries. Lights though, were one of its worst, my pupils couldn't handle them, their purple magnificence was being destroyed by these torture machines.
I quickly looked around and spotted my signature table, Claire was sitting there, as grumpy as always. Being careful to not drop my tray, I speed-walked over, my pupils adjusting into the black darkness that was my sclera.
"Hello!" I bounced into my seat while I greeted my friend. She stared at me.
Did I do something wrong? Please don't don't tell me I forgot my clothes, oh god. I quickly checked myself. Sweater? Yes…. Short shorts? Yes…. Socks? Yeah… I looked at Claire again, that stare…. Ooooooohhhhhhh.
"What did you do this time?" I said as I threw my fork into the air and sent shadows out to grab it. "You know Betsy..?" "Of course, do you know how many times I've had to clean that stupid boat?" Betsy was Crimson's, 'trusty steed', a rocky old sail boat that was older than my grandmother, if I had a grandmother of course.
"Let's just say…. she got redecorated in the storm." Ah. "No way, I would've loved to see Crimson's face." Claire gave a short laugh in response. "Well, anyway, let's eat."

As I savored my delicious crème brulee I looked around, taking in my surroundings, slowly letting my eyes adjust. I spent a while looking at the posters on the wall, each one old, dirty and with plenty of cuts.
Xalia needs you! Was one of my favourites, all of the others just made me remember. I didn't want to remember. I didn't want to forgive. I just wanted to help everyone out there.
"You okay?"
Claire's voice cut through my thoughts like a knife through a warm crème brulee. "Huh?" I was surprised, "yeah, just… thinking."
She knew what I meant, we all tried to put on a façade, acting happy all the time, like we didn't know the importance of the mission. I could see the bodies, I could smell them rotting. I could hear the massacres, soldiers screaming, not even knowing what their attackers looked like.
It made me frown, it made my stomach churn, my eyebrows furrow and my façade fade.
"I get it, ok, my town was.. sl-slaughtered by those things, I had no other choice but to go on this crusade." She paused for a second and then continued, "but we can't let those memories get to us, no matter how bad they are, we have a duty now, a purpose." She looked at me intensely. "To find the cure."

The cure, that made me remember.
The reason we were on this mission could date back a couple months, I was with Claire when we met her for the first time.
Crimson
It was in a small bunker in Region Smoke, she had a proposition, join her to find the cure to the Unseen.
I shivered, the Unseen were brutal creatures, no one had ever seen them of course, but we had seen bodies. Deep claw marks all over them, chunks had been ripped out, leaving a messy job for the people who had to clean up.
"Hey, snap out of it." I looked upwards quickly, "oh, uh, sorry?" She looked at my plate of leftovers. "C'mon let's go, you need to distract yourself." We stood up and headed towards our bunks, Claire so desperately trying to distract me.

"So…" Claire said as we walked through the sub's hallways, "what game do you want to play?" I pondered over this question while dragging my smokey fingers along the carpeted walls.
"Hmm, how about chess?" Claire gave a short laugh, "you are obsessed with Earth." I gasped sarcastically, "the things they found in the ruins are just too interesting!"
I looked at Claire who was smiling. "Just imagine what their world was like, how they lived, where they like us?"
I paused, "stop laughing." Claire gasped, "I'm not!" I nudged her, "stop lying." As Claire started to form a response Crimson came round the corner, "ah, Claire, just who I needed." She handed her a toothbrush. "Up you go."

Silence.
Claire looked at her, dumbfounded. "Kalico, if you want you can go play chess with Blue." She smiled and shooed me away. I looked at Claire and started backing away.
While I walked through the lonely sub I thought, clever little thoughts of course. The main one I pondered, how come Crimson hates basically everyone, apart from me?
Huh, well, no reason to trip my mind up on that question, if Crimson likes me I'm lucky, simple as that. I stopped at the door to my left, bracing myself. I knocked, "come in!" Answered a smooth, calm, kind voice.
It was one of those voices that filled you up with happiness and expelled any bad thoughts. I opened the door. Startling ice blue eyes gazed at me as I walked in, sweat hit my nostrils as I took a step into the room.
"Ah! Kalico, how nice to see you." The figure with the icy blue eyes stopped whacking at the training dummy in front of them. "Oh, um, hi Blue, I was wondering if you would like to play chess…?" Blue shook his sweaty hair before responding, "is there something wrong with Claire?" I sighed, "Crimson managed to grab her on the way to the bunks, she's cleaning Betsy."
Blue looked at me, with piercing ice blue eyes that can look into your soul, "I know you and Claire don't exactly like Crimson, but--" I cut him off mid sentence, "just Claire, I don't mind her that much."
"Ok then, I know that Claire doesn't exactly like--" I shook my head, "nah, she despises Crimson." Blue paused, "can I continue?" I gave a sheepish smile.
"Now, I know that Claire… despises Crimson, but you don't have to catch the shockwaves of that despise and make yourself upset because of it." He had a point, but that was Blue, he was always the one who kept us together, sane, you could say. "Boring... Let's play."

Piece after piece, wood clanking against wood, almost creating music.
You could feel people's clogs turning, the atmosphere was filled with thought and determination.
Check. Move. Return the check.
Two equals facing off on a battlefield, each one dealing blows, each one thinking. Check...
Until, of course, the fatal blow hits.
Mate.
"Yes!" I started doing a victory dance, "congrats." Blue and Claire were the only real opponents I had for this game, and even so I had been the sub's chess champion for ages. I was the unbeaten legend.
"Why do you like chess, Kalico?"
Huh. Now that caught me off guard, I hadn't really thought about why I liked chess, I just… did.
"I have a hypothesis, if you'd like to hear it." I paused my victory dance, "what is it?" He explained while packing up the chess board, "chess is a simulation of a battlefield, each piece represents people on said battlefield." Of course I understood that, I had done my research. "When you play chess you have a sense that you are actually doing something, you're commanding soldiers." He started picking up pieces and putting them in the box, organising them perfectly. "You don't have any memories of your parents, or anyone in your family," he looked at me to make sure I wasn't going to leave because of what he just said.
He was right, I had never met my family, the only thing I remember was experiments after experiments in a royal lab, they weren't fond memories.
"Since you haven't met your family you don't know what your purpose is, chess makes you feel like you have a purpose." He put the lid on the chess box and walked it over to the bench, "of course, that is just a hypothesis, but in your case I am quite certain it is the case."
Deep down I knew it was true, when the royals finally threw me out to die I didn't know what to do, I knew I could defend myself, but for how long? And, even if I did survive, what would I do? I didn't know what my purpose was, who I was, did my parents support the royals?
Were they part of the rebellion?
How was I meant to go on without knowing who or what I was meant to be?
I gave a shaky breath and the ground shook.
Huh?
Suddenly, a piercing sound made my head go dizzy. It was the siren.
Why on Earth is the siren going off?. Crimson's voice went through a speaker in the corner of the wall, "there is a royal ship in proximity to us, everyone get to their bunks, Claire report to navigation, don't panic, I repeat, don't panic. I looked at Blue, he looked at me. They were here.

The royals were here.

Hi! Author here, this part is longer so I hope the few of you who read the chapters have more to swallow.
One more thing, I would really appreciate it if you left a comment saying what you think of this chapter and, maybe, leaving some critism. It would help me make the up and coming chapters better.
Bye!

The Author has fled to their cave.