03) Silk - Sacris: The return of Chaos

The cold reigned supreme over Techvan. The rain, stinging and strong, did not stop falling on the beautiful town, so much so that the citizens were forced to remain holed up in their homes all the time. Not far from the city walls, almost flanking the coast, towered the immense “Academy of the science of the Pibu”. Within it, there were few Pibus left to guard the enormous school, while many students had returned to Klein Holz to reunite with their loved ones. The construction of the academy had been a success for the history of the Pibu. A place where you can study and expand the knowledge of the Tech technology's inner workings. The building itself, reminiscent of the color of its founder's skin, a flashy dazzling yellow, was about forty meters high. A hundred rooms for the students, fifteen classrooms for teaching and about twenty laboratories where dozens of "wonders" were created every day. No one could get in easily. You had to possess at least two fundamental requirements: an out-of-the-ordinary intelligence and being a Pibu. There were also many areas dedicated to the experimentation of machinery or figthing simulation. The academy lacked nothing. Nothing.

"Who could it be?"

Someone had knocked on the door of the academy.

"Who could ever be the degenerate who disturbs our rest in the middle of the night?" shouted the founder of the school as he walked towards the front door.

“Who could ever be so crazy as to venture out of Techvan with such a storm?”

As soon as he opened the door, he saw her. A small basket placed on the doorstep, with purple blankets inside.

"What do we have here?" asked the blond-haired pibu curiously, who was barely one meter tall. He wore small pointed moustaches that covered part of his upper lip and had a white wool pajamas, too big even for him. As soon as he moved the basket blankets away, inside it, he saw the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes upon. Big red eyes, little whitish locks, skin so light it looked almost as white as milk, and the most beautiful smile the academy's founder had ever seen. The innocent smile of a newborn.

“But, what are you doing here? Where are your parents?”he asked almost to himself. No one could answer that question. After looking more carefully at the basket, he noticed an inscription on the front: “Zagrya”.

"This cradle was made in Zagrya... But why leave you in Techvan? What twisted thought could have led your parents to leave you in front of my door? Leaving you on the edge of your rival city. How irresponsible..."

After a few seconds, Professor Gehirn took courage and picked the basket from the ground, determined to bring to warmth that poor creature that had already made a breach in his heart with such a splendid and innocent smile.

…........................................................................................................................................................................

"You had to get rid of her when you had the chance..."

A friend of Professor Gehirn, Propel, one of the academy's teachers and one of the most well-known and feared pibu in all of Sacris due to his weapons and flying machines, tried criticizing his colleague. Propel was a rather bizarre character. He rarely got rid of his “flying toys”, as he did not like to walk for long. He was always dressed as an aviator, with giant glasses that hid his eyes. On his head he wore a black leather helmet, fastened firmly to his chin. He also wore an ochre yellow jacket and red trousers. A bluish scarf kept his neck warm, while two thick, long black mustaches covered the rest of his face. He certainly did not go unnoticed when going through the hallways or tunnels of the academy.

"Have I ever complained about her?" asked the professor, who was smiling as he was looking at little Silk, dressed in purple silk pajamas, playing with her fake guns against little lead soldiers. Silk had been in Gehirn's custody for about four years and, ever since she arrived, she had caused nothing but trouble. She had blown up a dozen machines and destroyed an entire laboratory, smashing Propel's small remotely controlled airplane for no good reason. The little girl could not get enough of breaking other people's stuff.

"You haven't... But the whole academy has!"he exclaimed, thinking nostalgically of his old remote-controlled airplane, now reduced to a pile of rubble. Silk had used it without asking permission, crashing the plane into a side of the school. Unluckily, the day before, Propel had stuffed it with a newly invented and highly explosive fuel that was supposed to be used to test the duration of the flight.

“I don't think anyone objected when I asked for permission to keep this human child with me. Although the rules of the academy forbade it."

“Who could have imagined that she would send the academy into chaos!”

The professor laughed out loud, as he no longer cared about his creations, and his eyes were all for Silk. The commitment taken as a parent, however, did not change Gehirn as far as his work was concerned, which he completed with great commitment and precision both during teaching moments and during his scientific discoveries.

"No one, however, has opposed... No one. I didn't hear a whisper when I asked. You and Zunder have also consented to this adoption.”

Propel couldn't blame him. He loved the little girl too. But, if her destructive fury was already so immense at four years old, what would have happened during adolescence? As Propel asked himself these questions, little Silk approached her father. She often touched the silver braids that flowed down from her head, almost like a nervous gesture.

"Da! Da! Da!" she shouted, almost two steps away from him.

"Tell me, honey."

“I need new weapons!”

The little girl's red eyes lit up as she uttered the word “weapons,” but the sparkle of her eyes soon blurred, beginning to speak in her father's ear so as not to make herself heard by others.

"But we must not tell the other weapons..."

His father couldn't help but laugh a little.

“And why shouldn't they know?”

The little girl spinned a couple of times, until she fell for dizziness. She was thinking about the answer to give to her father.

"So they don't get jealous... I don't want to see them cry!”

This time it was Propel's turn to laugh. How could such an innocent creature create such chaos in the academy?

“I can't tell you to send her away from this school... She's still too cute. I would never allow myself to leave a creature like her in a world dominated by darkness and fear. Now I'm going to go convince the other teachers and I'll get Zunder to help me.”

Upon pronouncing that name, Silk snapped toward Propel, climbing on his knees.

“Uncle! Uncle! Uncle! Are we going to Uncle Zunder's? I want to get some boom-boom!”

Silk was referring to the explosives Zunder used for his experiments and weapons. Propel stared at Gehirn earnestly and worriedly, then laid eyes on the innocent Silk again.

“I feel like I'm going to regret what I'm about to do... But let's go see Uncle Zunder. Fast as the wind!”

…........................................................................................................................................................................

“Did you find anything to track her down?” the sheriff asked, hopefully. Violet had been up all night so she could make the city calm again. With the mayor at the hospital, she was the one who had to hold Techvan's reins. She had went hopefully towards her partner, who was analyzing the painter robot at the Techvan police station.

"I can't really tell... This is Tech technology. But I've never seen such an advanced level. This is a simple painter robot, but inside he has the best Tech equipment I've ever seen. I'm tempted to make him lighter by a few gears.”

Lu looked hopefully with the eyes of a puppy to get permission to compromise the evidence to be able to "study" it directly on herself, attaching the pieces of that robot to her armor.

"Not yet... Don’t be hasty. You can't grab new gears however and whenever you want. Especially if it's evidence!”

The lack of sleep was starting to kick in. Violet had begun to raise her voice and Lu had noticed her friend's dark circles.

"Go to sleep instead of bothering me then... You're impossible when you're sleepy.”

Lu was right. Violet felt terribly tired. Her body longed for the warm, soft embrace of her bed. But her mind was elsewhere. She worked tirelessly, going from a thought about Techvan's new threat all the way to Dustan's condition. She was worried about him and had received Aaron's message that she shouldn't worry. She should have felt better after that message, but then why did she feel a sense of suffocating anguish?

“I can’t... I must put up posters for Silk's capture, I must start studying the case, and I must make sure the citizens are safe..."

"Are there casualties?" asked the young woman, hoping for a negative answer.

"Fortunately not... But there are many injured, including the mayor.”

"If there are no casualties, go to sleep! I'll take care of spreading the bounty of the crazy girl on every Techvan building, and I'll start outlining a treasury defense plan as well. With a fresh mind you will be able to think more lucidly about the case."

Lu's reasoning was perfectly reasonable. If she wanted to capture Silk, she should have been as clear headed as ever. With a fresh mind, she would begin to hunt down the begetter of chaos.

"You're right... I'll go to sleep and hopefully I'll find Dustan at home. Good night!”

Lu was pleased that she was able to put her sheriff to bed. There were not many occasions in which she came out victorious with Violet. The sheriff's calculating brain wouldn't give anyone a chance. She was an investigative genius.

"I would be much happier for this victory if she wasn't dying of sleep..."

Immediately afterwards, she began to study what had happened during all that chaos. Between herself, she began to observe the young woman's whitish clothing and the technology of the mega-screen.

"It's going to be a long night..."

…........................................................................................................................................................................

"Darkness..."

Everything was dominated by darkness in that narrow, dusty and smelly place.

"I’m scared."

He felt locked up and without a way out. As if the world known to him was entirely delimited by those walls.

"What should I do? I want to go out."

After so much time spent in there, with his mind full of thoughts of anguish and fear, he took courage and pushed the upper wall forcefully. As soon as he moved, nothing changed. Darkness still dominated unchallenged. But now his world had become bigger. He got out of that prison. He got out of that strange box.

…........................................................................................................................................................................

It was a long time before he could find a way out. It was not possible to say for sure whether hours, days or months had passed. Time seemed to stand still. He felt lonely, sad and heartbroken. He would give everything he had for a bit of company. For someone who would hold his hand during his moments of fear. For someone who would call him “friend.”

"Still dark..." he said, in a voice full of despair. He had managed to escape from that maze. Now his world was even wider. But wherever he went, he saw only darkness in front of him.

"Maybe I don't deserve to see anything else..."

That said, he moved south in search of someone who could help him or keep him company. In search of friends.

…........................................................................................................................................................................

It had been a couple of hours and he was still walking non-stop south. He did not know why, but he knew the position of the stars and could orient himself with them. He didn't remember where he'd learned it. To be completely honest, he couldn't even remember anything about his past. "Where am I from? Who are my parents? How did I end up in this place?” these were the questions he had been asking himself since he woke up. After a long walk, he finally saw the light.

"Warmth!" he shouted excitedly at the sight of the first lights of dawn. He couldn't remember how much time had passed since he last saw any source of light. But the sensation he felt, so warm and pleasant, paid back that long wait and that long pilgrimage. For the first time since he came out of that labyrinth, he turned to the north, so he could observe his prison.

"How strange..."

It was a prison made entirely of bricks and had a pyramidal shape. He was amazed at its size, although it had moved several kilometers away, he could still see it as a building of gigantic size.

"I wonder how long I've been in there..." he exclaimed, turning around again and continuing his journey south.

…........................................................................................................................................................................

"An oasis!" he suddenly cried, with great relief. It had been three days since he had seen the light. He had finally managed to find a place where he could rest his legs. Before that he had walked endlessly in a sea of golden sand. Not waiting any longer, he ran in the direction of the oasis. He was not thirsty or hungry, but he was longing to feel the freshness of the water on his skin. As soon as he arrived at the place, he saw a huge spring of water, protected by some trees and other types of flora that he could not recognize. He held out his hands to touch the spring, but he suddenly froze.

"What?" he asked, in shock. He couldn't believe his own eyes. The mirror of water had allowed him to see his face for the first time. Before then he had never thought about what he might look like, he only cared about finding a safe place where he could meet other people. The spring brought back an image that frightened him deeply. A small boy, almost a meter tall and covered with yellow bandages, with two large yellow eyes without pupils. He could see nothing but bandages on his body. Only then did he realize that his arms and legs were covered with them, too. He had never noticed this before, since he had never wondered what he looked like. He certainly didn't expect i to be like that. What if there was a reason he was never hungry or thirsty? What if he was already dead? In an instant, a stream of tears came down from his eyes and he couldn't stop them. He had to cry and he had to vent all his discomfort. He couldn’t stop himself.

"What am I?"

Meanwhile, little by little, the oasis around him was slowly drying up. The clear spring gradually decreased the amount of water, the plants withered and everything began to turn black.

"Darkness? Not again!"

After a few minutes, the oasis disappeared. There was nothing but sand. An endless expanse of sand that embraced the poor little one who could not stop crying.