Re:Periodic : Deceiving Life in Another World From Zero

{53}- Voices of the Unheard | Speech of the Heroes

Rafiel Thompson POV

It was eerily quiet in the emergency shelter she was in. Hugging tight onto her brother, she saw that even the adults look unsettled, due to the horrifying broadcasts and the invasion of the so called 'Witch Cult'. It had been several hours since the announcement that the Control Towers to the Great Water Gates of Priestella had been taken.

Rafiel was a brave girl. At least, she thought she was. To be able to stand up against the Gorgeous Tiger, who was definitely a seasoned warrior although his looks are young, was definitely an achievement. Although she didn't know that.

What she did know that is that her home, the Water Gate of Priestella, is not safe anymore.

The event that has never occurred in history happened. So fast, in the blink of an eye, the emergency shelters that were not used for centuries were suddenly filled with people. That showed how severe the situation is. How grave it was, and how close everyone is... to death.

She wondered if the boy who saved her and her brother was okay, and she also thought of the Gorgeous Tiger. They were definitely fine, right? There was no way that the youths were killed... they were too strong... right?

With those thoughts in her mind, Rafiel shivered once more on her own, before calming her sniffling brother. It was the worse of times. Where was her mother, and her father? Are they perhaps... already...

The thought of it was too extreme. She didn't dare even imagine that. Then again, that vile woman's ear-piercing voice showered abuse upon the frightened people. Every one of her deranged, senseless words filled Rafiel's and the adults' minds with dread. Trapped in this dark shelter, they knew nothing of what was happening outside. It was only natural that as time passed with no improvement in sight, panic began to take hold.

First, the voices of mutual encouragement weakened, then gradually, anxiety and frustration festered in the silence. By the time anyone noticed it, displeasure had have become apparent on the faces of everyone around them, and the atmosphere had been infested with pent-up discontent and hostile gazes.

Once that begins, there was no stopping the tide.

Knowing this, the people in the shelter, who should be tied by their shared fates, began to keep their distance from each other, not only verbally, but with their gazes and their breaths.
As if to avoid being influenced by other people's consciousnesses, they shut out everything from the external world. Who knows what might draw someone else's attention, incite their anger, and end up pulling the trigger?

Suddenly, Rafiel lifted her face with a quiet moan.

While silently yearning for a change to come, she caught the subtle shift in the atmosphere.
Spurred to the same reaction, the people around her also turned their heads, perhaps for the first time in hours. This is because everyone living in this city knew that the faint tremble in the air―― was an indication that a broadcast was coming.

In that world of silence, it almost sounded like someone nearby sighing. That precursor to the broadcast sent a sense of physical revulsion throughout her body. The change they were hoping for should have been something positive. But a broadcast only brings the Witch Cult's malice.

What kind of impossible demand would that shrill voice impose next? But here, Rafiel's pessimistic prediction was betrayed.

Excuse me, but can you guys hear us? Is this thing on?

Uhhh... so um... can everyone hear us properly? Mic-test mic-test, one-two one-two...

The voice that came through was not the vile woman's, to everyone's surprise. Instead, it was two youths, sounding somewhat confused. Although it was not the charismatic voice of the man she used to hear every morning, it filled her with a tiny bit of relief.