glitched | ✔️

t h i r t y o n e

Amara POV

I woke in some kind of glass room.

My body ached and burned, the blood in my veins glowing slightly.

"W-where am I?" I moaned, clutching my head, trying to stop the pounding.

A tall man with jet black hair stood in front of me, in a perfectly tailored suit.
He looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place where I had seen him before.

"You are deep underground in a holding chamber that was constructed nine years ago, just for you."

"What?" I rubbed my eyes. Maybe this was all a dream. But no, the man still stood there.

He began circling me.
"You were a very hard girl to find at first. Whenever we thought we had found you it was always someone else. But we didn't give up. And then... than Chelsie showed up on our scanners as 'at risk'. Risk of being taken. And when we followed up on her imagine our surprise when we found the biggest glitch in the system of all of them. A girl who should have been easy to find."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I moaned in confusion, pain keeping me from even thinking straight.

The man leaned close to me, his dark eyes penetrating mine.
"Someone was keeping you hidden from us. But we have found you at last."

"What are you talking about?!" Frustration boiled in my stomach. He spoke in riddles.

The raven-haired man trailed a cold finger down my cheek.
"Forget everything you think you know about yourself. What if I told you that you are the key to stopping the machine, to saving the world?"

I laughed.
"The machine isn't hurting anybody. The head of humanity does that."

The man chuckled, squatting down and taking my chin in his hand.
"You think the machine's only purpose is to set things back to the way they were? How sweet... I have a story for you. Get comfortable."

I glared.

He laughed before speaking.
"The world was falling to pieces. The air was barely breathable, species were dying off, sicknesses ran rampant through the world. Poverty had taken over three quarters of earth's population, and those who had money spent it on lavish parties. And only one man saw the truth. The earth didn't have much longer."

I clung to every word, the pain in my head momentarily lessening.

"So he began to construct a machine that would take away all the inventions that polluted the air, that would set things back to the days when the earth could sustain the life on earth. He worked for years, locked up in his laboratory as the situation became worse and worse out in the world. Until one day, he had done it. He screwed the last piece into the machine, and turned it on. But something went terribly wrong."

The man paused, leaning closer to me and lowering his voice.

"What the scientist didn't know is that someone else had been making small adjustments to his creation. So that when the machine was turned on it sent out electrical charges that struck half of the world's population, including himself. The world was plunged into chaos, and someone had to do something. So the very man who had orchestrated the electricity surge claimed he had been chosen to guide humanity to a better future. He implanted small chips in everyone's brains, chips that made them forget, and he took control of the world."

"The head of humanity," I breathed.

The raven-haired man laughed. "The very first. The only thing he couldn't do was give himself everlasting life. In fact, he was assassinated in his sleep, yet he had been wise enough to have trained someone to take over for him. Rules were put in place, curfews. And everyone kept forgetting. Hundreds of years passed, until one lady stumbled across something revolutionary. A ancient glass tube, buried deep in the ground, filled with a liquid that pulsed with eerie green light."

I had a feeling I knew where this was going.

"She began to study it, and soon she had duplicated the amount. She was pure genius, building a whole network of brilliant people who would fight against the darkness, searching for the one to bestow the power of the serum on. The power to shut down the machine with their mind, their will. And then... she picked a child, no more than seven years old. She picked you."

He laughed bitterly.
"It cost her everything. She vanished without a trace. Leaving us only a scattered trail of clues. It has taken years to find you."
He cupped my chin in his hand.

"At first I believed choosing a child to be her biggest mistake. But now I see the pure genius of it. We had been looking for someone older, for the longest time."

I glared up at him.
"What are you going to do to me?"

The man laughed.
"Doctor Celeste was always far too trusting, but I see you're not. Think about the pure irony of it- she unconsciously created the very thing she was trying to destroy. The world does not deserve to be saved. I have walked among the people, and seen their shallowness. I have read the books of history, and I have witnessed firsthand the cruelty of humankind. But I have mercy. I have a plan for the world, so they shall not perish. By my calculations the next electricity surge is coming soon, three hundred years after the first, but this time it's going to wipe all of the human life from this planet."

He was lying. He had to be lying. He was clearly insane.

"I don't believe you." I growled.

"Or I should say, most of human life. The only one left will be you. You'll slowly go insane, alone on this earth, until you finally crack. Or at least, that's what would have happened. Poor little Amara.... I'm afraid there's been a change of plans. You see, once I have proven to the world they are headed to doom they will panic. And when they panic they will not hesitate to sell their souls to me in exchange for the serum that will keep them safe from the electricity surge. And I will rule, not as the head of humanity, but the king of the entire world. The greatest ruler this world has ever had."

I spat on the ground. "You're despicable."

He stepped back, striding to the door and exiting the chamber. "Start the extraction process!"

Excruciating pain exploded in my chest as my arms flew to the side, screams escaping my mouth, my veins pulsing with green light.

I heard the voice of the dark haired man in the distance.
"How long should this take?"

"Six hours and counting, sir."

Six hours.... my eyes rolled back in my head and I drifted into the abyss.

•••

From this point I might be doing a lot of double updates.
I hope that this chapter cleared up some things... and sorry for the cliffhanger lol.

I have also updated the cast & aesthetics page, so check that out if you want. :)
Ah, and I made an aesthetic for Yulia as well in my free time.