Chromium

8.2

This chapter is longer than expected, so I split it into two parts. This is the first part. (the second part is already available)

Unedited/first draft

After what happened in her room, Collins' attitude toward Dia made a complete turn. As they walked through the wide halls, Collins always stood two steps behind Dia. He behaved like a whipped dog, his head down and his mouth closed like he was too afraid to say anything which could seal his fate.

It was the glassy-eyes maid who led the way. Apparently, she wasn't very chatty---another way to say she didn't talk, at all---but at least she was able to able to answer simple yes or no questions.

Dia was intrigued, and at the same time, creeped out by her. She'd attempted to discover something more about the little maid, but it was clear she couldn't have a conversation with someone who just shook her head or nodded. Dia even set aside her disgust for Collins and asked him about her, but he was so shaken and scared of her that he just started jabbering. The only thing she understood for sure was that her name was Selene, she was seventeen years old and underwent some kind of special training.

"What kind of training?"

"I-i don't know, lady Zephyr."

Lady Zephyr. Dia smirked. Just a few minutes ago I was a whore. Now I'm a lady. He changed his mind very quickly.

It didn't surprise her. Collins looked like your typical bully: a coward who tormented the weak and feared the strong.

But there was something that was bothering her. Selene.

"Why does she look like me?"

Because that was the thing: there was a striking resemblance between the two of them. Or at least, it would have been if Dia was the same as before. Selene was a brunette, quite short though a couple of inches taller than Dia's former five-four. Her skin was a little darker, her eyes smaller, and the resemblance wasn't enough to say she looked like a double or a twin, but they were similar. No doubt about that.

If it wasn't for the maid's uniform and her robotic behavior, someone could easily mistake her for my sister.

"I don't know, lady Zephyr"

"You're like a broken record." Dia said, starting to sound annoyed. "What do you know?"

Now Collins really looked nervous.

"I-i...I-i don't know why she looks like you, but I know the Umbra personally chose and trained her."

Dia frowned. Personally chose and trained? What is this? A coincidence or another of the Umbra's sick games?

She was quite certain it was the latter, but with the Umbra you could never know.

"Since when?"

"A-about five years ago?"

Five years? It seems unlikely the Umbra planned this. I didn't even know him at the time.

Still, it was disturbing to look at her. She wondered what kind of training the Umbra used to turn a woman into a robot, stripping her of her emotions, everything that made her human.

But she had other concerns at the moments. She felt the guards were staring at her, watching her every move. At first, she believed it was because what happened with Collins, and she was afraid someone would try to stop her, maybe make her pay for what she had done.

However, there was no hostility in their eyes, but something much more primal.

Lust.

Dia wasn't used to it. Well, she'd always been quite pretty, and it wasn't the first time someone found her attractive, but this was on an entirely different level. She had never been the kind of jaw-dropping beauty who had that effect on men.