Secrets From the Grave (Sinister 1.60)

Chapter One Birth of an Empire

Dedicated to MajenBeos02, bethansarah, Lumped26, carmeapple
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April 6, 2019, 6:07 am, Diana's POV

    "I wish I could say the Elitist Empire was born out of a sought betterment, that her creators wanted to cure sickness and diseases. Or had wished to become gods among men. But the fables and stories are just not true. This empire was born out of discovery and adventure. I was about seventeen years old, and I was working on my master's in ecology. Heavily focused on the relationships between living things and their environment. In the year 1978 around April a plane ran out of fuel and crashed into the pacific ocean. Its three occupants including the pilot were not special, but the missing plane made the news. Everyone likes a good mystery. No word was said for their location and it truly seemed like they had vanished off planet earth. And then a passing plane picked up their help signals and sent a rescue team to them. It was their stories that shook the world as they knew it." Letica takes a deep breath and her face bleeds into a comforting smile.

    "It was not a love story, but an appreciation for their lives, and an encouragement to the world to hold family members close. That was the unofficial story anyway. The official report was one of the rescues had fallen ill early into the one month they were marooned there. The others had no medical training, no information about plants or herbal remedies, and nothing to help them. So they did what they could in keeping him away from the wildlife, and provided water, and food. In three days without any intervention, the man was suddenly better. The pus-ridden infection on his leg from some bite was gone and he was no longer rocking in pain. His companions were unsure what healed him, but were otherwise thankful not to have to bury him." She shakes her head as if thinking of the moment frozen in time.

    "They raved so loudly about an island miracle cure that scientists started getting curious. Or rather I started getting curious. I did not have funding but the head of my department did. I was attuned to the story because it was what I spent most of my teenage years studying. I was not a woman that had many friends, just a high-level intelligence that allowed me to succeed my much older peers. And allowed me to study at an institution that would have otherwise shunned me due to discrimination or racism. I knew I was lucky to be there. The hero worship I felt for the head of my department when out of thousands of students he picked my location, was unmeasurable. The island I had submitted as a research topic. He told me that he was looking for the next big thing that could be this discovery. I expected manuscripts, I expected to be flipping through scientific interviews. I did not expect a flight plan, nor did I expect to be a lead scientist on a team to its discovery. Fascination blinded me. But do not ever think it was love. Do not ever believe when told differently that the hero worship mutated to love. It did not, it had not. Not then and not now." Letica says her words are like ice, her eyes resemble mine when I stared down the Blooded Warriors. I am looking at a strong woman. She may have been beaten and taken apart, but she has power in her truths. In her secrets.

    "The team was made up of the head of the department Devin Dimitriou, an animal behavior expert named Vera Mitchell, five brilliant scientists, a team of security controlled by Royce, and me. I quickly realized that Devin had spoken about me at length. I was by no means in control, but I was expected to bring in all the work. These great and mighty scientists sought out places on the island that were hidden. They believed miracles had to be buried deep below the surface. That all good things must be buried. Vera was enchanted by the animals and their peculiar behaviors compared to the mimicry animals from neighboring islands. I explained that the rescues spoke of the island itself being miraculous, but they did not mention reaching deep into its depths to find cures. But Devin was determined and like a blind man he sought a fountain of youth."