by Elle Grace
“Hello, Miss Hart.” A voice said from the dark corner. “I bet you are wondering why you are here.” He stepped into the dim light and continued. I said nothing. I knew to say absolutely nothing no matter what.
“Not very chatty, are we?” He said and slapped me, hard. He wore a strange mask made of metal shaped like a skull. “You will talk.” I just looked at him. “I will make you talk.” He yelled as he plunged a small knife into my thigh. Searing pain ran through my leg, but I remained stone faced. I was cursing something rotten inside my head. I had to get out, that was all I could think. He left the knife there as he turned around. I looked at it. I started shuffling getting my leg as close as I could to my hand to pull out the knife. I gently pulled it out, wincing and trying to be silent. The knife was in my hand and I made light work of cutting through the tape at my wrist. I was thankful they had not taped my legs. I tested my stabbed leg, moving it and then baring a tiny bit of weight on it. It seemed unaffected just painful. The man in the mask turned back to me now with a bigger knife.
“Any more vocal now Miss Hart?” He showed me the knife. I move quickly pushing his hand and making him stab himself under his chin. He crumpled. I ran for the vault door and opened it the best I could it was extremely heavy. The room behind had dissolved along with the gurgling dying breaths of the man in the mask. I had killed him.
I saw the water wall materialize in front of me and realised it was all over. I stepped through it. The world I had left behind had changed. The special visitor podium was now empty and there was one chair ominously tipped over. Colt stood looking at me, his gun firmly pointed at the other hybrids from my dormitory. They were all on their knees. Their hands tied behind their back.
“One of you is a traitor.” William was preaching. He saw me and stopped. I expected to have to join the line. “Miss Hart you have finished your trial and are now part of the Inperium.”
Lance and Caitlyn clapped overzealously, and I was surprised to see them happy about it.
“Your first task is to kill the traitor.” William told me.
“Well who is it?” I asked.
“You decide.” He said. “Who is the one that is most suspicious?” I could not believe what was happening. I certainly was not going to kill anyone they were all my friends. I knew no one was a traitor.
“I’m waiting.” William tapped his foot.
“Kill them all, then we know for sure.” Lance chimed in his two cents. Colt stepped forward and handed me a knife. Even in this situation they clearly could not trust a Mult with a gun, I thought.
“Who is it?” I asked him as he stepped forward.
“I don’t care mongrel, just kill one of them.” It was at that point it clicked. Colt had genuinely apologised to me about being so vile, so why would he do it again? I thought.
“Well how do you know one of them is a traitor?” I asked. “Specifically?” I looked around and I realised everything was a little too bright. The faces in the crowd all bore the same creepy smile. I suddenly knew that I was still inside the trial and that I had to obey to pass.
“Kill one of them now or I will kill you all!” William barked. I stepped forward to Cameron, knowing he would forgive me in the real world for picking him. I stabbed him straight in the neck and after seconds he fell forward, dead. As his body hit the ground everything disappeared. I exhaled the breath I had been holding, thanking the heavens that I was right.
It was pitch black. I controlled my breathing and closed my eyes.
I was suddenly flung through the appearing liquid wall and landed outside on the stone ground hard. Some people prematurely cheered as they saw me.
“Did they have to throw you out Hart?” Colt chuckled as he gave me a hand up and steadied me as I nearly fell back over again. Everyone was intently looking at the blue wall waiting for something to happen. Orange smoke began to rise from the top of it. Pink quickly joined it, then purple and blue. The water wall itself slowly turned a dark shade of deep red, just like the Partenth stone had done. Some people gasped, some people turned and stared at me. I felt very uneasy. It looked like a thick wall of blood for a long moment before it went back to being blue.
“What does that mean?” An older woman sat near William voiced the question we were all thinking.
“I’m not sure.” William was deep in thought. “We will find out though. For now, please place Viola in confinement until we can sort this out.” William beckoned two guards to come forward. They roughly put my hands behind my back and cable tied them together. People were whispering and watching interested.
“Is there really a need for that?” Colt exclaimed, angry at the rough treatment.
“Until we consult the ancient texts, we cannot possibly know what there is need for.” William answered coolly and I was dragged away down the gravel path. I could hear William announce they would move on to the next candidate as I left. I turned to see everyone watching me intently.
20
Colt
10am 9th September 2025
“You’ve changed your tune.” Tristan said his eyebrow raised. We had walked away from the circus that was the trials next to the arch. I had an idea on how we could get Viola freed.
“I just had to help her.” I replied.
“Guilt?” He asked.
“Something like that.”
He smirked at me and punched in a code to open the vault door. I forgot how much access he had. Air hissed from behind it as it slid open and I felt the temperature was several degrees cooler. Tristan stepped forward and down into the levels below the main building. As we reached the bottom, I could see rows and rows of books secured behind locked glass cabinets. The light was dim, and the concrete floor was poorly covered with a heavily patterned threadbare rug.
“What are you hoping to find?” Tristan asked.
“A reason for all the colours and why the archway portal and the Partenth stone changed colour.” I answered.
“The colours one is simple. Even William should know that. Viola is a descendent of all four beings. That is why she had all four colours. It is exceedingly rare, but it has been seen before.” He answered and I nodded remembering that I had heard of it before. “The red coloured portal, I cannot explain. That part was bizarre.” He sighed.
“She is special, isn’t she?” I asked him. Tristan was a man who knew a lot of things and I suspected he knew more about Viola than he was letting on.
“You certainly think so.” He smirked knowingly at me.
“I mean a special hybrid.” I shut him down.
“I have considered that might be the case.” He said diplomatically. “I think we would be best to check the journals of Thomas Walsh as he was the man who created the arch trials. He should know the answer.”
I nodded in agreement and he opened a cabinet and pulled out several leather-bound journals and handed some to me along with some white cotton gloves that barely fit my hands. We sat down and began to skim read hoping to find the answer.
It seemed like hours passed in that underground room with the two of us reading by dim lamp light. Eventually Tristan shouted out that he had found something.
He read from the page.
May 12th, 1859, it was observed today that during a routine trial, a hybrid was illuminated as peculiar. Instead of the standard two or three smoke colours, four were seen. This itself has been seen before and therefore was not very alarming. However, the portal itself changed colour, dark red, like the essence of life itself. Even with advanced questioning techniques the Mult had no idea why.
“It seems like even Thomas Walsh didn’t know.” I sighed.
“Wait a minute, there is something scribbled in the margin.” Tristan squinted to read it.
A note on this. The hybrid in question seems to have some sort of connection to the portal, he is able to enter at will. The half breed has since been put down. This power is dangerous.
“What does that mean?” I asked unsure. “Why would it be dangero
us if Walsh created the Arch in the first place?”
“I think it means that the arch isn’t closed to Viola. It goes back to the basic principles, once a candidate has completed their trial and the smoke rises, that is it. Their blood will never work to open the arch again. It seems that Vi, has a sort of loophole. Where she can enter the arch again for whatever reason.” He said and I was worried. William was not going to like that. He was a man of tradition and if traditionally they killed Mults with the power then I knew he would kill Viola.
“We can’t tell William.” I stated.
“No, we can’t.” Tristan added.
“Can you wipe out the scribbled note. So, it just says the first bit?”
“Really?” He looked concerned; I knew damaging a book would hurt him.
“Yes, that way we can show it to William and say it is clearly just a glitch, because of all the different coloured smoke.” I spoke my plan aloud.
“Do you think he will buy it?” Tristan asked.
“I hope so.” I sighed.
“Wait, you really have changed your tune. A few days ago, you would have been saying that we should let her rot because she is a Mult, and called her some offensive name. Now you are trying to help her. What is going on?” He stopped and looked at me.
“I hate all the stuff that has happened to her since she arrived here.” I mumbled.
“Hang on a moment.” Tristan eyed me suspiciously. “You have feelings for her, don’t you?”
“No.” I answered too quickly. “No more than any other new recruit.”
“I can tell you are lying.” Tristan laughed.
“I’m not.” I was defensive.
“If you are, you have to be careful.” He warned me and I knew what he meant. She was a hybrid and I was not allowed to have those kinds of feelings for her at the Inperium. It simply was not allowed.
“Well, it is not a concern.” I said as cold as I could. Tristan smirked at me. The truth was evident to him, he was one of my oldest and only friends.
“Let’s get this information upstairs and to William so we can get Vi out of the cells sooner rather than later.” He said leading the way up the stairs.
21
Viola
5pm 9th September 2025
It felt like I had been in the windowless room for hours again. I was getting ready to start scratching lines to indicate the days I was there into the walls. I heard what seemed like hundreds of deadbolts unlock on the door and it swung open to reveal William stood in the doorway. He looked smug. Behind him Colt stood looking concerned.
“You are free to go.” William walked in and looked down at me sat on the floor.
“Just like that?” I asked.
“Just like that.” He repeated. “The others are in the canteen for supper. I suggest you join them.” He spoke as though nothing had happened. It was strange. I had been in there for hours, I thought.
“And the trial thing?” I dared to mention it, I needed some answers and he clearly was not going to bring it up organically.
“It’s all sorted.” He was curt. Hiding something.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“We consulted some old Inperium journals and the red is nothing sinister, we suspect it is a trick of the light or something from the coloured smoke.” Colt added quickly.
“And the four coloured smoke was normal?” I questioned more.
“Actually no. The appearance of four colours is rare. It means you are a hybrid made up of all four types of being.” William mused, waiting for my response.
“Oh okay.” I was surprised. I thought I was probably mostly human, not a mix of everything.
“There have been a few throughout history, it means very little.” Colt reassured. I could see that William was tense about the whole situation.
I stood up and left the cell I had been confined to before they changed their minds.
“Everyone will have a day off tomorrow. You should use it to rest, Viola.” William said ominously.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because Friday will be a big day as you enter the simulation. That is another tradition here. It helps us to find you a guardian partner match and a role at the Inperium. I will be watching you very carefully Miss Hart.” He warned me. I already knew the guardian I wanted to be partnered with, but I knew my wants were not going to be taking into account.
“Watch as carefully as you want, there is nothing that you are going to see. You are an insane person!” I was angry. I felt like they had brought me to the Inperium to literally torture and threaten me.
As I walked out into the corridor light, I mulled over what he had said to me. It did not feel right. Even though I was not sure what it was that was wrong, there was more to what they were telling me. I wondered if I was starting to remember the things, they thought I should have known before.
22
Viola
6pm 9th September 2025
Walking over to the canteen I was lost in thought. After being released from the cell I had headed to the dorms to change before going in search of other people and food.
I was incredibly grateful for something to eat. My stomach had rumbled for hours in my concrete cell. The canteen itself looked similar to a high school lunchroom. It had several large round tables which had people sat around them most of the people in the room were younger. A vast majority being less than thirty.
As soon as I entered the room people started gossiping and whispering to one another. Making me feel uncomfortable. It was noticeably clear that I was not welcome at anyone’s table. I could see Colt sat at a table with Tristan. Colt glanced in my direction snapping his head back quickly to make it seem like he did not look at me. Obviously, he was in agreement with everyone else after seeing my trial.
I stood in line and waited to be handed a tray of heathy green food. James walked over to me and pulled me to one side.
“What are your plans for tomorrow?” He asked.
“I don’t have any I don’t think.” I responded. “Rest, I think.”
“I want to take you out on a date.” He smiled and I was taken aback that he felt the same way about me.
“I don’t think we are allowed to leave the campus.” I frowned.
“I have something in mind. Have breakfast with me.” He grinned.
“Okay?” I was unsure.
“Is that a yes?” He smiled again.
“Yes, I suppose so.” I was reluctant, I knew the rules. We grabbed our food trays and he guided me to join the rest of the group who all sat at a table together. He looked excitedly at me from across the table.
