Allusions

chapter 1

Water filled a white chamber that held someone in it, slowly the water rose, yet the person remained calm. Ester was used to the water, one of their daily tests. They were told it was to help with their condition, to better understand.

Esters hair rose with the water, their long green thorny braid floating just above their head, their blue watery hair blending in with the water surrounding them. Once the water reached the brunettes face they separated the water, creating an air bubble. Gathering oxygen from the surrounding water to refresh their breathing air. After 40 minutes of sitting in the water, a loud buzzer sounded, draining the water from the chamber.

“That's enough for today,” a voice came from the speaker that sat in the corner of the empty room, signalling them to leave.

Ester exited the room, entering a long hallway that forked, twisted and turned, making it hard to navigate. With a slight flick of their hand, the water was completely sucked from their damp hair and clothes, making a small round bubble of water in front of them. The brunette passes the bubble from hand to hand, throwing it in the air and moulding shapes from it as they navigate the long corridor. With every step they took small plants stemmed from the ground. After many tries of replacing the floor to prevent grass from sprouting from concrete, the facility gave up. The white bands on their wrists slipped up and down their arm, falling under the sleeves of their dark grey jacket they had rolled up to their elbows. A long brown and green braid fell just below her shoulder, her bangs dropped to water at the ends.

With a few turns in the long grey hallway Ester ended up in the large main room of the building. The main room had 4 alcoves making other smaller rooms, a kitchen, living room, bedroom, classroom, and armoury. The kitchen was small and grey, having a fridge, oven, stove, counter and pantry. The living room was smaller than the kitchen, having only a couch, coffee table and tv. The classroom was large, filled with different kinds of teaching equipment for all levels of learning. The armoury was filled with an assortment of shields, weapons and disguise kits. Lastly, the bedroom wasn't too large, having a small twin bed, a desk and a closet.

Ester found their way into the kitchen, grabbing an apple before leaving to the living room to relax. The brunette had lived in that same area their entire life, they were born in the facility, grew up in the facility and will most likely grow old in the facility. It got boring, but time was often occupied by tests. Ester was told they had a condition that gave them unnatural abilities, and the faster decay of their body that came with the abilities is why they could never leave the facility until the staff found a cure. Often tests would be something to study their abilities or blood tests, the rare occasion of an educational assessment. They knew why they were at the facility and were not upset about it, bored, but not angered. That was until their break was interrupted by the main caretaker of the facility, her face appeared as the tv was turned on.

“E, how was the test?” She asked.

Ester was used to being called E, it showed them that they weren't the first in the facility and won't be the last. Other patients had either died or fled to the main city, Ester was all that was left.

“Good!” Ester told the caretaker, their voice cheerful and positive.

“That's good,” the caretaker started, “we have decided we will slow down testing for now, we wish to see your abilities in real life,”

“How so?”

“I assume you've seen some of the staff go on missions before, correct?”

Ester nodded their head, paying close attention.

“We will be sending you on said mission,”.

“Why not send a staff?” Esther's voice became panicked, they never had to go into the city before, nonetheless on a mission.