Shattered Symmerty

Chapter 4 The Rising Storm

But that hope? It was fragile, just like the cracks that ran through the city. And with the Festival of Harmony creeping closer-a shiny, perfect facade of everything wrong with Symmetria-Sunaina couldn't shake the feeling they were running out of time. The countdown to the festival wasn't a celebration. It was a ticking time bomb. Every day they failed to act made the city's carefully constructed illusion harder to tear down.

The days leading up to the festival were supposed to be full of joy, music, and synchronized fireworks. You know, the usual "everything is fine" act. But Sunaina? She was about as thrilled as a cat in a bathtub. Her hunt to expose Symmetria's fatal flaw was stuck in place, and all the festival meant to her was that time was slipping through her fingers.

"So, you're really gonna sit out the festival and mope over your conspiracy theories?" Jenna asked, flopping down beside Sunaina in their dimly lit base. The underground movement thing had clearly lost its charm for her. Sneaking around in basements, pretending to be revolutionaries? She wanted a win. A real one.

"Yeah, because nothing screams 'fun' like celebrating the 'harmony' of a city that's literally falling apart," Sunaina muttered, eyes fixed on the mess of papers and charts scattered around her. For weeks, that chaos had swallowed her brain.

Marcus, polishing his blaster with way too much enthusiasm, raised an eyebrow. "You know, it wouldn't kill you to take a break. Besides, the festival's the perfect chance to spot something off. You never know what you'll see in the crowd."

Sunaina gave him a look. "Oh sure, I'm sure the city's hidden flaw will just pop up between rounds of fireworks and overpriced snacks."

"Hey, you never know," Jenna chimed in. "Plus, we need you in one piece. Paranoia's not exactly productive when you're sleep-deprived."

Sunaina groaned, throwing her hands up in mock defeat. "Fine. I'll go. But don't blame me when I spend the whole time taking mental notes on how absurd this charade is."

And so, there she was, shoulder-to-shoulder with a mass of citizens who were either blind or blissfully ignorant of how close their city was to collapsing. The streets glowed with geometric patterns projected from the Resonant Machines, the low hum syncing everyone's emotional wavelengths like some invisible leash. The Guild of Harmonics had always been proud of their little invention. Machines that kept everyone's emotions in check, preventing chaos and disorder, supposedly saving the city from itself.

Yeah, because nothing says "functional society" like emotional brainwashing.

Sunaina scanned the crowd, watching the way people moved in eerie synchronization, like puppets on a string. The festival was a joke-a glittery, overproduced illusion to keep people believing Symmetria was perfectly in order. Judging by the glowing smiles and laughter around her, most had fallen for it.

Just as she was about to slip away-because seriously, how long could she pretend to enjoy this?-a deafening boom shook the ground beneath her feet. Smoke shot up in a plume from the direction of the government office.

"Holy-!" Jenna gasped, grabbing Sunaina's arm as the crowd dissolved into chaos.

"Was that... a bomb?" Marcus asked, still disturbingly calm.

Sunaina's stomach dropped. "Outliers," she muttered. Of course, the extremist faction had to go and blow something up. Because nothing fixes a broken system like turning a building to rubble.

Sunaina, Jenna, and Marcus sprinted toward the blast. The government office was wrecked-windows shattered, concrete chunks scattered everywhere, flames licking at the edges of the wreckage. The office had been mostly empty because of the festival, but some unlucky people had been caught inside.

"Help!" a voice cried from the rubble, snapping Sunaina out of her daze. She didn't hesitate. She and her crew dove into the wreckage, pulling injured people from the debris as fast as they could.

"Marcus, get this side!" Sunaina shouted, struggling to lift a beam off a dazed woman.

"On it!" he grunted, moving the beam with strength that still surprised her every time.

They worked in frantic silence until the official rescue teams showed up. By the time the area was sealed off, the festival had come to a screeching halt. So much for harmony.

They hung back on the edge of the wreckage, still catching their breath. As the last of the officials cleared out, Marcus leaned in, his voice low. "Think it's safe to, you know...borrow a few things?"

Sunaina rolled her eyes. "Borrow? Really? That's what you call breaking into a government building and stealing classified documents?"

"Hey, borrowing means we might give it back," Marcus smirked.

Jenna glanced around, making sure no one was watching. "Let's just get it over with before someone comes back."

They slipped back into the wreckage, stepping carefully over broken beams and shattered glass. Most of what they found was trashed-burnt papers, broken furniture. But then they hit gold: a heavy metal locker half-buried under a collapsed wall.

"This has to be it," Sunaina said, heart racing as they tugged at the door. After a few good yanks, the locker creaked open, revealing a stash of documents and strange, ruined blocks with barely legible writing etched into them.

Marcus grinned. "Looks like we hit the jackpot."

Sunaina grabbed a scroll, her pulse quickening as she skimmed the faded writing. "This is it. Evidence of the cracks. The malfunctions. Everything they've been hiding."

"Borrowing," Marcus corrected, stuffing the documents into his bag.

"You keep telling yourself that," Sunaina shot back, but she couldn't deny the flicker of hope inside her. Finally, they had proof.

Symmetria wasn't just a city-it was a machine, redesigned by the Guild of Harmonics to be an intricate web of control wrapped up in the guise of balance. The Resonant Machines were supposed to sync everyone's emotional wavelengths with the city's pulse, creating a perfect harmony. In theory.

In reality, it was like trying to force puzzle pieces into a frame they didn't fit. People weren't machines. And the cracks-both literal and figurative-were starting to show. The Guild didn't care. As long as the illusion held, they didn't mind a few people breaking down. If you didn't fit? You were just out of sync.

But Sunaina wasn't buying it. Not anymore. And now, after weeks of dead ends, they finally had something solid. Something that could bring Symmetria's carefully constructed house of cards crashing down.

As they sneaked away from the wreckage, documents in hand, Sunaina felt a spark she hadn't felt in a long time. Hope. Maybe, just maybe, they had a shot at tearing this place apart.

Of course, there was still the small matter of figuring out what the hell the Resonant Machines actually did-and how to stop them from turning everyone into emotional zombies. But that was a problem for another day.

For now, Sunaina had what she needed. And for the first time in a long time, that felt like enough.