Siren's Elegy Volume 1: Orphans of Ashen Earth

Chapter 4: Revelations

May 16, 4021 08:00 [Matriarch 07- Boy's Dormitory]

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! The autonomous alarm clock woke Indra from his slumber, blaring in his ears. I hate this sound. Resigning himself to face the day ahead, he slowly dragged himself out of bed, rubbing the sleep from his encrusted eyes. He checked a small tablet on his nightstand, a HoloPad logo engraved on the back. He had received a couple of messages from the previous night, mostly from Akula and the others welcoming him back. However, two messages caught Indra's eye. One from Dr. Ouma reading: "Thanks for dinner and drinks last night. I had a great time ;). Come see me after lunch, I'll show you something interesting." Indra wondered if it had something to do with the presentation that she had been working on.

Looking at the other message that had piqued his interest, his heart sank; this one was from Jìguāng: "Welcome back to the world of the living. If you're well enough to walk then meet me in my office immediately after breakfast. There are some things we need to discuss regarding recent developments."

Indra exhaled deeply, almost deflating. Here it comes, he thought. Jìguāng is not going to be happy. Better get it over with. He grabbed his shower kit and a change of clothes and headed to the shower room. As he trudged down the corridors, lost in thought, ruminating over how things would play out with Jìguāng, a tall wispy haired man standing in the hallway called out to him.

"Hey! Indra! You hear me?! Oy! Shit-head! Turn around!"

"Oh, Akula. Sorry, I didn't see you there," Indra replied, still half-asleep.

"Damn right, you should be sorry," grinned Akula. "Look," he pointed to a crumpled flier he was holding, waving it up and down in excitement.

"I don't get it. A flier? Don't they usually just use those to advertise recreational clubs?" Indra asked, confused.

"Read it," Akula replied, still grinning.

Indra took the crumpled flier from Akula's outstretched hand before unfurling it and skimming through its contents. His eyes stopped moving, fixated on a single phrase typed in fine print: CITIZENSHIP LICENSURE EXAMS HAVE BEEN APPROVED FOR HOMUNCULUS SOLDIERS OF MATRIARCH 07. AN ANNOUNCEMENT WILL BE MADE RELAYING FURTHER DETAIL IN REGARDS TO EXAM CONTENT, TESTING AREAS, DEADLINES, AND ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS AT 10:00 05/16/21 IN THE AMPHITHEATER.

"Citizenship exams?! I thought plans for our citizenship were on indefinite hiatus. What made them change their minds?" Indra asked, puzzled, yet elated by the news.

"Not sure, but this is one helluva one-eighty, if you ask me."

"Ouma always talked about Homunculi integration into the general populace. But I never thought that Lunar Gate would consider it a viable option. If we become citizens we can enter cities and civilian settlements within Yuèliàng without the need for special jurisdiction." Indra, now fully awake, looked at Akula with a gleam in his eyes. "Do you know what this means?"

Akula wracked his brain. "We can live amongst civilians? Maybe even live a quiet life in the city instead of being mercenaries for Lunar Gate?"

Indra nodded. "We can use the money we've earned so far to purchase property in the city. We can find jobs and earn a living wage as regular citizens. Think of all the things we never got to do in Matriarch 07; cafes, restaurants, movie theaters, theme parks, public parks, shopping malls, and we'd all be able to live together without worrying about putting our lives in danger," he said jubilantly.

"It sounds great, but are you sure we'd fit in? I mean we aren't exactly accustomed to the life of a civilian and things here are state-of-the-art in terms of infrastructure, food, healthcare, and recreation. We also have about ten years at most before we die. Is it really worth uprooting our lives just to live in the city? Nothing'll get handed to us or be as easily accessible if we quit. I'm with you on getting our citizenship but I don't think it's necessarily a good idea to leave Lunar Gate, especially for Homunculi," Akula explained.