Scarlet Crypt

The Revelation and the Device

“Cosette Lockhart,” Malty continued. Everyone was shocked to see someone in the same age like us to be a leader of a quadrant. Someone started applauding and we clapped our hands as she stepped forward with her helmet on her hand. She raised a hand and said, “I am pleased to see young men and women such as myself to be present here today. I am the youngest leader in our group but you shall not underestimate me. With all modesty, I have trained for almost all my life and I have received awards for it. So you might as well, choose your opponent well. Do you understand?” Her voice echoed as the silence stretched throughout the place.

“Again, do you understand?” “Ma’am, yes, Ma’am!” “Good. You shall rest and shall meet me tomorrow first thing in the morning here.”

We all filed back to our cabins and I went straight to my bed. I laid my back with my legs crossed and I stared at the ceiling. I thought about how these things happened so fast. It was not so long ago that they found me somewhere deep in the forests, but now, I am a part of their troops. “We have one beautiful leader, eh?” Garrick said as he interrupted my thoughts and as the smoke of the cigarette filled the whole cabin. “I guess,” I said. He looked at me and exhaled smoke again.

“Well, she’s quite proud, don’t you think?”  “Maybe.”   “Why do you always talk in riddles?” he asked, annoyingly.

I shrugged and stared at the ceiling once again. And I thought about our leader. For a woman, I saw that she was brave. In her gray eyes, I saw bitter experiences that made her strong and wild, but for a reason, I was certain that I knew her. I’m not sure why, but I felt like I did. As my thoughts floated in my mind, I slowly drifted away and I closed my eyes to sleep

~***~

I woke up at dawn and put on my shoes. I opened a window of our cabin and started climbing towards the roof. A wind greeted me as I laid down on the cold tiles of the roof. I heard foot steps behind me and I saw Ella. Her brown eyes looked at me scrutinizingly and I looked away. It was kind of awkward for her to do so. “Do you mind?” she asked. I looked at her and instead of answering her, I asked her instead, “Why are you here at this time of the morning?” She sat next to me and smiled. “Nothing, I guess. I saw you from my cabin, so I went here.” She looked down on her hands and fiddled on to something. I stared at it and she handed it to me. “It’s something from my father,” she explained. “He gave this to me before— before he died. I’m still figuring it out.”

I took it from her hand and the little device illuminated a little. It was rectangular; the same shape as a matchbox, but it was thinner. There were lines that divided the rectangular device into four. I pressed the second button and it glowed again. I placed it near my mouth and said, “Hello?” “What are you doing?” she asked me while looking at me as if I were a crazy person. “I’ve seen this before. It’s somehow used to transmit message from another device that could receive the kind of message it sends. It’s amazing how this still exists. It’s kind of.. limited.”

She grabbed it from my hand and experimented with the buttons. “Be careful though. You don’t want to send messages to the other side.” She stood and arranged herself. “Thanks,” she said. Carefully, she walked across the roof and she disappeared.