1. Escape
- E-052, E-053. You are next. Come out as soon as you are instructed. And don't try anything funny if you don't want to die.
A mechanical voice was heard from the speakers installed in the room where two children were found.
On the old mattress of the bed where they were, the boy tried to calm the girl while speaking as quietly as he could to avoid being heard by the people watching the room.
"Do you remember what I told you? When I give the signal, you and I have to run without stopping, no matter what you hear, just keep running. Today is the only chance we have."
"...Can we really escape this place? We aren't the only ones who have tried to escape, and everyone who tried..."
"...Yes, I swear to you... Even if only you manage to escape."
The girl, not having heard her brother's last words, managed to calm down a little. Meanwhile, the boy played with something in his pocket, an object he had managed to steal from the people holding them captive; he hoped, he wished, that it would be enough for both of them to escape.
At that moment, the room door opened and the mechanical voice resonated again:
- E-052, E-053. It is your turn, come out right now.
"Act like always, we can't let them discover us"
"..."
Outside the room was a long white corridor that extended as far as the eye could see. A man with crossed arms was waiting for them outside.
"E-052, E-053, right? Follow me, and don't try anything funny"
Said the man while touching the pommel of the sword located at his waist, then turning around and starting to walk.
How long had they been walking? The silence of the corridor, where only footsteps were heard, had long since changed to the sound of tree leaves swaying and grass being trodden.
The group finally stopped upon reaching a clearing within the forest. Inside the clearing several people could be seen; they carried weapons like swords, axes, and bows, but none seemed interested in the newly arrived group consisting of an adult man and two children.
"Oh, Zack. I see you already brought the next pair"
A person looking like a scientist approached when he saw the group getting closer.
"Until now, all attempts to force an artificial awakening have failed. Even in this zone where magic density has been increasing over time, we still haven't succeeded. But my intuition tells me this time will be different. This time we will succeed! If we force the body to absorb all the mana around it and--!"
"Stop, I don't care what kind of experiments you are doing, I'm only interested in the payment I was promised"
"Apologies, I got too excited. So this pair are the next attempts, right?"
Zack simply ignored the scientist's words, looked at the children's faces for a moment, and left the way he came; it seemed his job consisted solely of bringing the subjects to the clearing and he wasn't interested in what would happen next. A small piece of fortune before the boy's eyes, which was quickly forgotten because of the new person who had introduced himself.
The scientist's gaze showed madness and desperation in equal measure; this man had long ago discarded his morality in order to achieve his goal. The boy tried to hide the girl from his gaze, but they were forced to advance to the center of the clearing.
"Good, we will commence attempt no. 26 to force an artificial awakening, subjects, please remain still for the duration of the experiment."
In the center was a circular metal platform with three supports placed around it in a triangle shape. According to the scientist, the objective of this platform was to concentrate all the mana in the area into a single point and thus get the body to absorb it and achieve the awakening.
The boy, observing this, started getting nervous; he was trying to look for the perfect moment where they had the best chance to escape to use the object he had kept, but he couldn't find it.
"Good, we begin the experiment in 3"
The place was better guarded than the boy believed, even if he used it and it worked, he doubted they would manage to get far.
"2"
Would it have been a better option to try to escape when they were with Zack? No, even to a child's eyes, that man had been the strongest one present. Even if all the hunters watching them now threw themselves at him, the boy doubted Zack would lose.
"1"
Time was running out, if he didn't use it now there wouldn't be another chance, he didn't even know if they would survive after this. The boy's mind had entered a spiral of despair: If he stayed, they would die. If they tried to escape, the hunters would kill them. Would the object be strong enough to buy enough time to flee and make them lose the trail? No, at most it would be a few seconds.
The boy's mind was working at a speed he had never seen trying to find a solution to his situation, a second felt like minutes... And from his despair, a determination was born. Even if he didn't manage to escape, he had to ensure that the person now gripping his hand so tightly could escape. His sister, whose name he had forgotten long ago due to the experiments, was the only thing he had left after that person they called mother sold them to whatever this organization is. It had been 5 months since then, and he couldn't even remember his own name anymore.
He didn't even know how they had managed to endure alive for so long when the other children disappeared in a matter of weeks or even days, it was a miracle that the two of them had managed to survive for so long... If living through whatever they had gone through can be called a miracle.
The boy made a decision, he took his sister's hand tightly and with his other hand grabbed the object hiding in his pocket. At that moment, he felt a strange sensation filter into the object, but he didn't have time to worry about what it was. He had to do it.
"Hm? How strange, the test hasn't started yet but the levels-"
It was now or never.
"RUN!"
The boy threw the object he had been hiding.
"That! Everyone! Close your-!"
And the world was dyed white.
Little by little the people in the clearing regained their vision, but there was no trace of the children who were there before. They had fled. At least, for now.
The light grenade the boy had thrown was magnitudes larger than it should have been. A normal grenade should have blinded for a few seconds, but this one, for some reason, had managed to blind and stun several B-Rank hunters for several minutes.
The first to speak was the scientist
"Find them! Quickly! I don't care what you do with the girl, but bring the boy alive! He is the key to the experiment's success!"
Along with his words, the group of B-Rank hunters moved in the direction where the children had fled.
How much time had passed? Seconds, minutes, hours? The sky that previously had an orange color was now dark and only a faint moonlight allowed them to see where they ran.
Inevitably, the stamina of two 7-year-old children gave out and they were forced to stop in the middle of the forest.
"Ha... Ha... Did we escape?"
The girl, trying to catch her breath, asked her brother.
"Ha... Ha... Ha... I don't know. We ran a lot... I hope it's enough"
The boy looked even worse than his sister. That thing he had let flow into the grenade, whatever it was, took a toll on his body. He could fall unconscious at any moment but refused to fall until ensuring the place was safe.
"We will rest a bit and then keep running, we have to make sure they aren't going to-"
But as if the world were laughing at his hopes, both started hearing voices.
"Are you sure it's this way?"
"Yes, the trail indicates they passed through here a short time ago. We should be able to see them shortly"
The boy quickly grabbed his sister's hand and started running in the opposite direction of the voices.
"Hello~ Where are you going?"
Only to find themselves facing a woman with brown hair with a pair of daggers at her waist.
"¡!"
"Hahaha, it's funny how everyone does the same thing. They hear voices coming from one direction and obviously decide to go in the opposite direction. They never consider it might be a trap"
The woman started approaching the children slowly.
"Hmm, well, you are still children so it's normal you'd fall for such simple tricks"
She stopped and looked directly at the boy.
"They told us we had to take you alive. But..."
She shifted her gaze toward the girl.
"What should I do with her? Kill her? Let her live? Take her back? What do you think, boy?"
The boy was paralyzed, he had no options left. Behind him was the rest of their pursuers and in front of him was this crazy woman.
In a desperate act to try to get out of this situation, he opened his mouth.
"Why don't you let her flee? According to what you said, only I am important. They don't care what happens to her"
"Brother!?"
"True, but, what would be the difference compared to if I kill her now?"
"..."
"Hmm, let's do something fun"
"What are you talking about?"
"If you turn yourself in without resisting, I will give her ten minutes to run. If she manages to flee, well, I don't care. But if I catch her... I don't have to continue, right?"
"And if I refuse?"
"I simply finish her right here"
"..."
"What are you talking about brother!? If I flee and you stay that would mean that-"
"Go"
"BROTHER! I REFUSE TO ABANDON YOU!"
"GO"
"BROTHER!"
"Please... Just run"
The woman, getting tired of the scene taking place, opened her mouth.
"Time is running out kids, I'm getting bored~"
The boy grabbed his sister's hands one last time and spoke.
"Please sister, I don't care what happens to me... But you, you are the only thing I have left, please, run and save yourself"
"You... you never intended for us to escape together... Did you? From the start you were willing to sacrifice yourself..."
"..."
"Brother..."
The girl let go of her brother's hands and hugged him tightly.
"I will find a way to save you, I swear. No matter what happens, I will save you."
"Yes..."
But the moment didn't last long.
"What a tragedy~ A brother sacrificing himself to save his sister. It almost makes me tear up. But, the clock keeps ticking, you know? Girl, are you sure you want to waste the valuable time your brother bought in a hug?"
"..."
The girl hugged her brother one last time, let him go, and started moving.
'Run, no matter what happens, just run'
With a single thought in mind.
'Run'
The 10-minute time limit had ended long ago, but the girl kept running.
"Am I over here~?"
The girl changed direction and continued running.
"Or here~?"
She changed direction again. The girl had long since lost all notion of where she was going. Like a hunter playing with their prey, the woman enjoyed watching the girl's desperate struggle to flee.
"But I think we should end this"
And before she knew it, the girl had entered a cave. There was no exit anymore, she was trapped in a cave and her only option was to keep going deeper inside.
She ran and ran, knowing the woman chasing her was simply taking her time to catch her.
She ran and ran, hoping to find a miracle to save her and her brother from this horrible nightmare.
She ran and ran, venturing toward the heart of the cave. Until...
"What is a human child doing in this place?"
