Quintessence Nightmare

Episode 3

Episode 3

Enear Flos

"I wanna be a farmer."

The first day Enear entered school as a transferee, the whole class was choked by a deafening silence. The wind blew the edge of the white silk curtain, letting the morning sunshine pierced through their white tables rested with tablets. As if the world had stopped, and only young Enear's thumping heart served as the ticking clock. Until the class bursted into laughter, including his teacher.

Enear knew it. Being honest won't help in this world. Or maybe he should just refuse to answer it from the start. Or perhaps it's her teacher's fault to ask such a question and then respond with an insulting laugh.

After the wave of mockery ended, his teacher picked up the displayed rose from the vase and lent it to Enear, curving her posture down to see Enear's reaction, vibrant leaf-colored eyes buried in his light coffee hair.

"Look at this synthetic rose, Enear. It has the same texture as the real ones. But do you know their difference?" she said, leaving the question hanging for seconds, inviting the other class to pull curiosity to the trivia she was about to announce, a jaw-dropping one: "This one never withered."

Fourteen-year-old Enear eyed the fake rose with hatred, felt disgusted to touch it, and disgusted by the logic behind his teacher's wisdom. "How did you know it was the same texture if you never touched the real ones, teacher? How rubbish reasoning. A kind of teacher that will teach me to be smart in the next 12 months."

"You have a bad mouth, farmer kid."

~

"Enear, you won't gonna believe it!" Dycron's enthusiastic voice echoed throughout the rooftop under the orange skies. "My client last night paid me twice the price!"

"Nice" Enear responded in a phlegmatic tone.

"Since you're my only supporter, I will treat you in the Capital!"

Suddenly, Dycron's smartwatch vibrated, illuminating a blue hologram revealing an inbox message. He froze, letting his blonde hair whipped by the warm, rusty air. His eyes widened as he touched the icon to unfold the email. "The client's message! Oh no! I'm not ready for the mass production of–"

His thoughts hung in the air. Is he reading it right? The message said that the item broke out easily, and they would never order from him again.

"What? I-I swear I used all the S-graded materials I have and even tested it yesterday! You saw how durable it is, right? The teachers and the guards even saw it! I even forced my boss to lend me money to buy those expensive materials! How could it break out easily?" After the panic, he lay on the floor losing all his enthusiasm into disappointment. He was truly confident that the client would love his invention. He made sure of it. But what had gone wrong?

"Did he ask for a refund?" Enear asked in a tone as if he barely cared.

"No," he said depressingly, feeling a heavy gravity pinning his body on the floor. His eyelids were shutting down, like a drained battery. Enear was expecting that reaction, though. But not the one after:

"Nevermind!"

Before Enear knew it, Dycron was already standing in a good posture, staring at the giant statues, filled with fighting spirits. "The next time I get a customer, my inventions will be like ecstasy. They'll ask for more and more until they can never live without it. Because I'll make sure I'll create the best and highest quality innovations in this whole world!"

Dycron pointed his finger to the statues in front of them. "And you! I'll replace one of you in no time, so enjoy until you can!" He climbed up the edge rail of the rooftop and stood fearlessly, spreading his arms to embrace the warm breeze, announcing to the clueless students below who couldn't hear him, "I, Dycron Geux, will someday be the Greatest Scientist of 2150s–the Era of Artificials!"