Mental

Chapter 15

We all stood in front of the elevator that had tempted us for our entire lives. We all knew this led to the outside world but it was protected with a fingerprint scanner and only high-ranking officials were allowed to go up top. The Screwer and The Brilliant were with us and we were all silent with excitement.

The elevator dinged as it reached us and the imposing doors opened wide. The Screwer ushered us inside and we all shuffled in. We all stood awkwardly in silence as the elevator went up. I could hear the excited and anxious thoughts of Maker and Eona as we steadily made our way towards society.

The Screwer pleasantly made conversation, "I hope you all are as excited as me. I've been waiting years for my wonderful creations to get the limelight they deserve!"

I didn't care about being put in the spotlight, all I wanted was freedom. And the higher we went, the more I could grasp it in my eager hands. The elevator music filled the silence and we all watched with bated breath as the numbers got closer to the magical ground floor.

Eona whispered under her breath, "We're almost there" and she was bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Our excitement grew as the numbers got closer and closer.

Until the elevator dinged and the doors opened to a clean immaculate room. Maker, Eona, and I were led into a large room and some attendants took each of us to a small fitting room where we were given makeovers.

The lady who was doing my makeup was pretty but in my opinion, she was wearing too much makeup.

She was muttering to herself about which colors would look best with my complexion and how it would show up on camera with the bright stage lights.

My concern doubled when I heard that. Listening to her thoughts, it was a jumble of makeup jargon and color palettes.

"What exactly is going on?" I asked as she was musing on the eye shadow.

"Making you presentable for your big debut," she replied while still intensely thinking.

After ten minutes and piles of makeup later, she ushered me back towards the large room to reconvene with the other successes. Like me, they were both dolled up for whatever was about to happen.

A lady in a fancy skirt suit greeted us and bid us to follow her. She led us to a large stage and we had to wait in the wings. On the stage was none other than The Magnificent himself and he was giving a speech about how The Screwer has been innovating the world as we see it and how he has unlocked new possibilities for the human race.

In a loud grandiose voice, he said, "And I would like to present to you all the fruits of our hard-earned labor!"

With that, the attendant told us to go onto the stage and stand on the three X's on the floor. Nervous, we followed her command and the blinding lights shone on us and the crowd gasped in shock.

The Magnificent explained, "For the past ten years, we've been trying to unlock the power of the human brain and through countless trials, we have finally unlocked the full potential of the human mind. These three have various super abilities that make them more than human". He pointed at Maker, "He has the power to create any object as long as he can think about it, using the power of his imagination to create a better world". Pointing at Eona he said, "She has the power to control time, slowing down, pausing it, and speeding it up". Lastly, he pointed to me, "And she has telekinesis and telepathy".

A pause during his speech allowed the crowd to gossip among themselves and their thoughts were a complete jumbled mess. Due to the bright lights shining down on us, it was hard to look at the audience. All I could see were blurred-out faces along with fancy gaudy outfits with too many bells and whistles.

"If you are interested in becoming more than human, you are free to sign up for the chance to become more. More information can be found by accessing this website," he clicked a button and a link appeared behind him in big bold letters.

In a flash, many people in the audience whipped out their phones and they were intensely copying the link. I gulped, they weren't ready for what the process entailed. It was incredibly painful and the chance of failure was still significant.

But I doubt these fools cared. Their lust for power was evident from their thoughts. They were full of greed and wanted every chance they could get to climb the social ladder.

The attendant caught my eye and she was wildly gesturing for us to leave the stage, I motioned for the other successes to follow me and we walked off stage while The Magnificent continued his speech and answered the media's questions about us and the process.

The Brilliant met us backstage and ushered us into a fancy limo hovercraft. The plush leather seats were so soft and I sank into them. The Brilliant joined us and when the door closed, we had many questions for the son of the tyrant.

"What the hell was that all about?" I asked venomously. "Offering to give people superpowers with the lies of making this a better country. Many of them will most likely die from the process".

The Brilliant shook his head and replied, "I don't know what he's thinking honestly. He doesn't tell me anything. He just tells me what to do and I have to do them".

"What's the end goal of this though? The Magnificent must have some sort of result he's hoping for?" Eona asked with crossed arms as she thought.

Maker chimed in, "Besides being paparazzi bait, why are we here?"

The Brilliant shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know".

Eona's and Maker's inner voices were loud with confusion and concern but I continued to hear nothing from The Brilliant.

Changing the topic, I broached the topic I had been wondering about for a while now, "If you don't mind me asking, but why can't I hear your thoughts?"

The Brilliant stilled and he looked conflicted about whether he should tell me or not. For all we knew, our conversation was being recorded or streamed to The Magnificent.

After a few moments of silence, The Brilliant answered while not looking any of us in the eye.

"You weren't the only ones subjected to the experiments".

All of our eyes widened. The Magnificent put his own son through the agony and pain of the experiments to unlock his hidden potential. But somehow, he survived and gained some sort of power. We all stared at him and he refused to meet our eyes.

Maker pried, "And what did you gain from it?"

The Brilliant shifted underneath our piercing gazes and he finally answered, "I can negate any and all powers".

A lightbulb clicked in my head, which explained why I couldn't hear anything from him. It was strange for there to be a person who I couldn't read.

"Wow, that's overpowered," Maker said with a finger tapping his chin.

He looked abashed, "Please don't tell anyone about this. I'd be severely punished if it came to light to the public".

"As if we know anyone to tell this to," I scoffed.

The Brilliant looked out the window and he said, "We're finally at our destination, this is where you'll be staying".

We all got out of the car when it came to a stop and we all stood in awe of the towering building in front of us. The architecture was unique as it had a mixture of tall towers and a bunch of bridges connecting various parts together. Some floors jutted out farther than others giving it a very asymmetrical look. The countless windows reflected the stars in the sky and the towers pierced the faraway sky.

We all hesitantly followed The Brilliant into the building and the uncertain future was lying in front of us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Woah, stuff has happened!

I wonder what the topside world is like?

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