The Esoteric Design Read online

  “Wha-what are you doing?” he choked as his arm began to slowly twist. “S-stop it,” he ground out through gritted teeth.

  “This is your punishment for disobeying.”

  With an unseeable force, Euclid’s arm twisted backward, snapping at the elbow. He screamed, reaching for the broken arm with his other hand. Gasping for air, he dazedly fed the tiny girl a nasty glower. “You little bitch!” Euclid shouted. “You broke my arm!”

  “Disobey me again and I’ll sever it,” Sapphire said sweetly before returning to her seat.

  The dark man moaned as he began to heal yet another wound, pressing his fingers against the broken joint.

  “No matter about this slight misfortune. We’ll have plenty of other chances to get what we want. And about Dovian, he may be quite useful to us.” The child smiled, swaying her feet back and forth.

  "Always Preferred To Fly"

  Chapter 10

  Standing in the center of the cemetery and listening to the soft wailing of Gavin’s mother was probably the most miserable experience Aria and Troy had ever encountered. The pale tombstone was a dull contrast to the beautiful green, plush grass and the vibrant oranges and reds of the surrounding trees. Aria shivered in the cold breeze, her hair twisting about her neck. She stood with folded arms across from Gavin’s weeping family. Troy shuddered beside her. Dark glasses covered the man’s eyes but did nothing to hide his silent desolation. Aria stifled a sniff, trying to let the autumn air dry her eyes. The rustling leaves melded with the murmuring of the preacher’s speech and the haunting cries and moans of those surrounding the black pit from which the young pilot’s casket was suspended.

  It was a charcoal coffin, surrounded by thick bands of platinum. A stark flag draped over the top in bold colors of red, white, and blue. Symbols of an eagle wearing a maple leaf collar, snake in its clutches, sat wingspread over the thick stripes. Strange how the melancholy scene before the young woman was probably the most beautiful thing she had ever laid eyes upon. Cemeteries were a place of death, yet the most decorated and well-kept locations in all the cities. Despite all the hatred and war, civilization seemed to still have respect for the dead. Too bad there wasn’t enough for the living.

  “I knew he shouldn’t have been a military pilot,” Gavin’s mother cried into a white handkerchief. “I just wanted him to be happy!” Her last word heightened in pitch as she wailed into the cloth, her shoulders shaking violently.

  Aria had to look away. It was hard enough to attend the funeral without feeling the guilt that perhaps there was something more she could have done to prevent Gavin’s untimely demise. Another chilly wind wrapped around the woman, carrying the scent of cigarette smoke her way. Her green eyes lifted, falling to blue embers and striking eyes of matching hue a few meters away. The woman froze, locked to the gaze of the dark-haired Sorcēarian, Euclid. He gave her a crooked smile, cigarette squeezed between white teeth. A hand gripped the woman’s shoulder, breaking her from her trance.

  “You alright?” Troy’s warm tone sounded.

  Aria met the man’s gaze momentarily before returning to find Euclid’s. He was gone. The trees swayed gently in the wind, colorful leaves trailing toward the ground.

  “Yeah,” she droned quietly.

  “Salute!”

  Militants in dress uniform lifted their weapons toward the sky. Shots rang out, echoing in the mournful silence of the increasingly depressing cemetery. Aria jolted at the sound, staring at the casket before her. Another shot rang out, reminding her of the painful explosion of the Hawk 90 disintegrating into the earth in a fiery ball. The third shot left her heart sinking, remembering the black silhouette of Gavin’s body making impact followed by a brown dust cloud. In the end, he still apologized to her for not taking her on that final date even though it was she who had promised him one. Two giant tears finally fell from her eyes. All the countless times he invited her to go out, and she carelessly blew him off. In that instant, she would take all those moments back and live like an ordinary person. His caramel-colored eyes, his radiant smile, the way he constantly drug his hand nervously through his hair, and even the constant annoyances and flirting–it was all gone. Aria would never have that again. Troy wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She looked up at him and realized for the first time that she had been crying.

  A quiet trumpet melody rang out in the distance as a sorrowful song played in Gavin’s honor. One after another, the family members and then friends dropped their flowers onto the casket as it slowly lowered into the ground. It was a traditional ceremony, reserved only for the military and elite. Most funerals involved fake flowers, and the bodies were always cremated due to lack of cemetery space. Services were often held in private inside of a family member’s home.

  Aria slowly approached the casket, thoughtfully twisting the white rose in her fingertips. Gavin always liked white roses. He had given her one a long time ago when they had first met. It probably cost him a small fortune as roses were painfully rare. Gavin constantly and desperately tried to get her to date him, which she complied with at one time, but eventually fear overtook her, and she had refused to go any further with their relationship. Aria’s smile faded as quickly as it came as she placed the flower on the fabric flag.

  “Goodbye, Gavin,” she whispered softly.

  “I’ll be checking in with you, buddy,” Troy murmured as he placed his rose.

  The trumpet song faded to completion as the funeral procession ended, and everyone slowly made their ways to their vehicles.

  “Excuse me,” a female voice called after the two. Aria and Troy both looked over their shoulders. “I’m sorry, but I just had to ask.” It was Gavin’s mother. She had eyes the same color as her son’s. Her hair was also dark like the pilot’s but decorated with honey-blonde strands. She placed a small hand on Aria’s shoulder. “You’re Aria, aren’t you?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Aria spoke slowly, not sure what was coming.

  “Oh! I knew it was you! I could tell by the blue in your hair.” For the first time that afternoon, Gavin’s mother smiled. “Gavin talked about you all the time!”

  “He, he did?” Aria gaped nervously at the woman before her.

  “Of course he did! I cannot tell you how happy we were to find out he had a girlfriend. We were so worried! He never talked about girls!” She smiled so brightly, it was almost alarming. Gavin’s father leaned forward and shook Aria’s hand. He fed her a lopsided grin, an obvious trait the pilot had inherited. “But, I don’t want to keep you. He always talked about how busy you were, with work and everything, but I just had to meet you.” Her smile faltered. “I just wish it were under better circumstances.”

  “I…I’m sorry, Mrs. Sigo,” Aria stuttered, her eyes downcast.

  “No, it’s alright. Gavin wouldn’t want you to be sorry.” Mrs. Sigo reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a small black box. She sniffled before handing the item to Aria. “He…he would want me to give this to you. He said he was going to give it to you for your birthday.”

  Surely it was some mistake. Gavin and she weren’t dating. In fact, it had been ages since she actually indulged in his bold requests. This gift certainly had to be for another woman. Mrs. Sigo eagerly looked upon the military woman. Aria hesitantly opened the box. Inside was a silver necklace with a small cat charm. Green jewels were inlaid for its eyes. Aria felt her heart sink. There was no mistake about it, this was meant for her.

  “He said you had a thing for cats.” Mrs. Sigo smirked thoughtfully.

  Everything fell silent between the four. Aria fingered the item and quickly looked up at the couple. “Thank you,” she managed to say.

  “No, thank you for making our boy happy.” Mrs. Sigo finally broke into tears. This was like pouring salt into a wound. Aria stared at the necklace instead, trying to fight back her own emotions. Mrs. Sigo glanced at Troy.

  “Ma’am.” Troy nodded.

  “Troy,” she stated simply before quickly walking away with
her husband following closely after, but not without him giving Troy a saddened look and a pat on the shoulder.

  Aria eyed the man beside her. He hesitated before stating, “I…uh, was considered a bad influence on Gavin. I kind of talked him into becoming a military pilot.” Troy swallowed hard. Aria was stunned. She was sure he felt just as much, if not more, to blame for their friend’s death. The soldier shook whatever pain he was feeling off, however, and looked over the item in Aria’s hands. “Birthday present, huh?” he chuckled softly.

  “Yeah,” Aria mumbled. Then, she suddenly felt sick. Glancing at her wrist, she stared at the date. As if things were twisted enough, today was her birthday. She stood silently for a minute before walking toward the vehicle. “Can we go now?”

  Troy didn’t answer but opened the door for the woman before taking his place in the driver’s seat. They sat in silence for most of the ride, taking the standard highway toward the City of Fountains rather than using the upper speedy monorails—a large network of tracks that magnetically locked vehicles on a rail and allowed travel at high speeds into the metropolis. Today, Troy wanted to take things slow, and he knew Aria always appreciated the more scenic route into the city. To her, everything looked artificial. Sure, it was beautiful with all its holograms and vibrant lights, but the constant flow of traffic, advertisements, and dank lower streets lined with garbage bins didn’t help a nostalgic mind.

  The cemetery lasted for kilometers before converging to bland and dry fields, then to cracked desert land. A place that once, long ago, held heaps of vegetation and supposedly fed the world with its grains and corn was now a place of death. Nothing survived outside the cities. Agriculture was done inside science labs. There were farming districts within the city limits where each floor of the giant skyscrapers held a different form of cultivation. But, despite the dreary browns of the flat surrounding landscape, the outside was still striking with its expanse of blue sky and bulbous white clouds. Aria, with her head against the glass, looked upward at the large wispy vapors. No wonder Gavin loved to fly. Up there, high above the filth of the world, was a place full of beauty and awe. Soaring in the endless blue and white could quickly settle a person’s mind. The projection screens at home, even with the billions of pixels, had nothing on the real splendor of an open sky.

  The car jerked as Troy took the exit ramp that suspended far above the ground to the monorail. They were entering Fountains, and the monorail was easier on the eyes than the pedestrian and waste-laden streets below. Climbing into the air, the vehicle moved toward the city which rested on a platform perched 500 meters above the desert floor by metal beams. Above the platform, buildings touched the sky with clean-cut architecture of silver and black; the cityscape was adorned with its busy lights of vibrant hues. The upper metropolitan was beautiful outside of the ground level. Hardly anyone lived on the lower floors of the city for aesthetic reasons. However, beneath the plate was an entirely different story.

  On the underside of the metropolis, dubbed the Underbelly, was an upsidedown industrial slum. Buildings below the plate were reserved for the mining, mechanical, laborious districts. It also housed the civilians who were too poor to live on the upper side. Those individuals lived in small shanties and single-room apartments that were nearly nine square meters, the latter being reserved for the more ‘wealthy’ of the inferior class. The population below the plate was much smaller than the upper side and contained the lower individuals of society, the kind in which the elites would have nothing to do with. Oftentimes, those who were considered different moved themselves to the bottom plate for more protection. The Underbelly was found to be cruel and ugly, but apparently the people below had a better understanding and respect for one another. They all stuck together like a support group and had a complete and utter disgust for those who lived on the upper plate. Underneath it all, holes were dug deep into the earth as the Underbelly mined for natural resources, aquifers, and equus beds. Supposedly, a whole faction of deformed and genetically diverse people lived underground away from the filth and judgmental citizens of Fountains. Whether they all moved there of their own freewill or were threateningly exiled was debatable.

  The actual reasoning for the design of the city was not necessarily meant to divide the poor and rich classes but was created for the use of natural air flow. The area between the ground and platform created a vacuum. Air flowed directly beneath the city and carried back up from the massive mining caverns the cool underground air. Because of this, the underside often had violent wind gusts, the reasoning behind metallic architecture. The winds, however, chilled the inner plate which housed the nuclear reactors used to power the entire megalopolis. Though the city had smog, it was considered one of the cleanest in the world compared to the hundreds of millions it housed. Due to the desert lands consuming the world, there was only a handful of cities left per continent. Hardly anyone lived on the outside other than those staying in military bases. The lands stretched for thousands of kilometers before one could reach another city-state. Because of this, once a person was born in a city, they tended to live there for life.

  A hard vibration shook the vehicle as it locked into place on the metal beams. The dashboard lit up, assuming autopilot as the car nearly tripled in speed toward the skyscrapers. Aria’s expression was flat as the white clouds quickly turned to a dull greenish-grey, growing into smog that ate away the vibrant blue. In seconds, the skyline of beautiful clouds was replaced by an urban view, the open-air full of smoke and flashing lights. Giant buildings lined the sides of the speeding vehicles. In a flash, vendors and tiny shops fluttered by in a colorful blur. The higher the monorail traveled, the cleaner and brighter the view became. Above the thin saturation of smog on the plate level was a brilliant and fresh landscape. The car moved to the side, turning past a hovering playground full of school children. White panels floated, suspended by silver walkways that connected to the sides of the skyscrapers. In the center of the panels were colorful patches of green grass and trees, small parks with picnic tables and locations for citizens to set up their personal comps, and fountains of all shapes and sizes lined with stunning bronze statues from both ancient and modern times. As they neared the center of Fountains, advertisements blinked and screamed with loud chimes and music. Aria rolled her eyes toward one.

  ‘Walten Industries: where you can get all your household and military needs in one location. If it doesn’t say Bio-Tech, it’s not the best.’

  “Please state your destination.” Troy’s GPS, Amelia he named her, droned through the radio speakers.

  “Home,” Troy replied.

  “Going to home.”

  Troy removed his sunglasses, leaning back in his seat. He ran his hands over his face, sighing loudly. Tilting his head to the side, he looked at the quiet woman beside him. Aria didn’t acknowledge more than a sideways glance. His olive eyes dropped to the black box in her hands. She was clutching the item tightly.

  “You know he cared about you a lot,” Troy’s low voice, though quiet, was loud in the silent vehicle.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” Aria grumbled.

  “Well, I’m just saying. So you know. Cuz I know you cared a lot, too…though you won’t admit it. But I think he knew that, too.”

  “Stop,” she whispered. Tears wetted her eyes.

  The car remained silent the rest of the journey. Within a minute, the vehicle was tugging its way into the parking garage’s twentieth floor; the structure itself was half the height of Bio-Tech. The car jolted from the monorail system, slowing nearly to a stop as Troy assumed control of the wheel, taking the endless paths to his reserved parking spot near the elevating system.

  “So, how do you think Dovian’s handling things?” he asked finally.

  Aria scoffed. “I’m sure he’s having fun. He basically volunteered to be held captive for a few days.”

  “That guy has got a weird sense of humor. When they came up to him, guns aimed and ready to fire, I nearly expected
him to send them all to ashes. But no! He just raised his hands and smiled! ‘Sure! Take me prisoner and poke and prod me all day with needles and endless ignorant questions!’ He must be very lonely,” Troy chuckled. Aria smiled at the thought.

  After escaping Ives, Aria and the others had luckily landed on a nearby island. Even in the midst of chaos, Gavin was able to direct them all safely to land. They had flagged the area, and with it being far enough away from the black hole named Ives, the SOS signal was promptly picked up by Bio-Tech’s security systems. A team was on the island within a matter of a few hours–the longest hours of Aria’s life. Upon landing in their zone, a group of five soldiers rushed from their Hawk with weapons aimed. They had no idea what the SOS was for, and once they laid eyes on the giant Sorcēarian, the militants were on high alert of him being a threat. Troy and Aria had to scream and shout a few times to reassure the team that Dovian was indeed an ally and that Ivory was with them and needed to be put into protective custody. But not before the general, Jeron Feyette, ordered the group to bind the taller man and take him in for questioning.

  Dovian put up no resistance. In fact, he seemed very pleased with the opportunity to meet with the military and be taken into custody. Aria protested, but Dovian only reassured her that there wasn’t anything the men could do to cause any harm to him and that if anyone should be worried, it should be them. After the argument had settled, everyone was safely boarded and taken back to the mainland to return to the city. A cleanup crew was promptly sent out to deal with the remains of the wreckage. Aria and the others had been back in Fountains for three days, and they had not been allowed to see the Sorcēarian.

  Troy placed his car into park, shutting the engine down. He quickly left his side of the vehicle and ran around the back to open the door for Aria. She gave him a smug smile as he did so. Troy tried so hard to impress the ladies, and sometimes he treated Aria like one. Closing the door behind the black-dress wearing female, he quickly opened the back door and retrieved a small, colorful sack. Aria eyeballed him suspiciously as they approached the elevator. She pushed the button for the housing level while Troy pushed for a different floor.