Nukledeus

They went out on the empty street, leaving Bertille's corpse behind. Chloé was so happy. At long last, she had managed to come home. The time had seemed so long, far away from home. At a crossroads, she stopped to gaze at her city. She could clearly see the dome, house of Nukledeus. Inhaling a breath of fresh air, she closed her eyes to let herself bask in Its light. Her throat was still aching. Her breathing was getting better but she still had trouble swallowing. Luckily, this Shadow Girl who hated Daphné so much, didn't have the time or strength to completely crush her windpipe. Chloé would recover, she'd survived once again thanks to Fergus.

She opened her eyes and saw him. He wasn't looking at her. He was standing against a wall, trying to hide in the shadows. A No-light through and through, after all. He was watching his surroundings like a hunted beast, his unsheathed blade still bloody from the crime he had just committed for her.

Then she felt someone taking her hand and pulling gently. Olek was trying to move her forward. His youthful face showed a great determination that failed to conceal his fear of never seeing Nikodem again. He knew he was too weak and he had to go to safety with Fergus, leaving his big brother in the thick of the battle. He also wanted to stay with Chloé. However, he couldn't help but worry: on the one hand, the cannibals could be cruel and fierce beyond comprehension, on the other hand, the guardians of the city were harsh and tough. They would machine-gun indiscriminately or bombard the area relentlessly and then reduce everything to ash to avoid the influx of other cannibals.

If Nikodem was on this side of the river, near the city, he was doomed. When the dome of Nukledeus would close, at nightfall, Olek's big brother would live his last moments and face his death for then would start the great purifying blaze. In the end, all non-believers aka No-lights, living beings or dead bodies, were fated to burn as an offering to Nukledeus.

Chloé took a step forward, prompted by Olek's smile. She felt she could understand his feelings. How many times did she fear learning of Daphné's death? She knew this relentless anxiety that undermines you, the fear of being left without news and the terror of receiving bad ones. And then one day, it's all over. Hopeless, one could only feel utterly alone and destitute, consumed by the remorse and shame of being so useless. She couldn't do anything to save her beloved sister. Feeling sympathetic, she returned Olek's smile.

But Nikodem was smart, he wouldn't die so easily. Olek kept on repeating it over and over. The boy trusted his brother blindly.

Chloé then freed her hand, she had fulfilled her part of the deal, they were inside Ark City. After a final farewell smile, she took a few steps back to run away in the opposite direction. Olek did not move at all but his face crumpled as she got away from him. She turned tails to regain her freedom, her life and her friends but was abruptly stopped in her tracks.

All the exits were filled with soldiers with all kinds of weapons. Their neutral and expressionless bearing didn't show the slightest hint of goodwill. They were doing their duty and obeying orders. Behind them, the crowd was growing and, with it, a roar of anger could be heard. They were close to rioting.

Chloé didn't even try to talk her way out or negotiate with the soldiers who were seizing her by force. Olek stared at her with an accusatory gaze as if she had lured him and Fergus into a trap, giving them hope before letting them down and abandoning them cruelly. She was ashamed of her desertion, even if it had remained a mere intention and she hadn't noticed the soldiers before trying to run away from the two No-lights.

If the soldiers were rather brutal with their prisoners, it was nothing compared to the crowd's jostle. The hateful looks and shouts towards the No-lights made Chloé's blood curdle while Fergus and Olek were struggling so hard that the soldiers, overwhelmed, could not keep the crowd from reaching them. Most of the arkians weren't taller than Olek, which put them at a disadvantage in a hand-to-hand fight.

In her No-lights clothes, with a scarf on her head to protect herself from the burning sun, Chloé was unrecognizable and grateful for this transformation. To think that she had almost showed herself to the soldiers so she wouldn't be arrested with the others! How naive could she be? If identified, she could be accused of high treason for secretly bringing enemies into the city. She was running the risk of being executed on the spot or handed over to trial by the mob.

In the midst of chaos, she repeatedly shouted to Fergus and Olek to stop resisting, that it only made things worse, that the crowd was ready to lynch them. But her calls went unheeded, lost in the massive roar that was growing by the minute.

Suddenly, a howl pierced the tumult and the crowd fell silent instantly. Holding their breath, nobody dared to even blink or breathe. Olek had just bitten the hand of the soldier restraining him, and blood was gushing. The man's cry of pain and terror had stunned the crowd. A visceral fear emanated from each arkian, the slightest cue could make them go on a revengeful killing spree.

Fergus had also stopped moving, waiting for the child-sized mob to react. Seizing this opportunity, Olek took his knife back from the belt of the unfortunate soldier who had managed to snatch it in the melee. Then he slit the man's throat with a quick gesture similar to Fergus' a few moments earlier.

The man collapsed and Olek, covered in blood, holding his blade in front of him to open a path, resolutely walked towards the door that had brought them into this hell. The crowd of arkians moved out of his way. They were terrified as if they were facing a wounded, wild and ferocious animal. With their small size, they could only look straight in Olek's eyes and what they saw, neither Chloé nor Fergus would ever be able to grasp it.

Once outside of the city, Olek ran straight ahead, away from the fighting. He wanted to get as far away from this accursed city as possible. Within a few hours, he had to leave Nikodem to certain death in order to follow the woman he loved and she had betrayed him. His young heart had been broken. Then, the man he had killed, the first of his short life, had drawn him out of childhood for good. He didn't want this violent world. He knew about it and saw it before but Nikodem had always been there to shelter him. Olek wanted to go back and find him, his brother, his only family, to nestle in his arms and cry his eyes out.

Olek slowed down. His tears were blurring his sight and mixing with the blood of the soldier still covering his face. The metallic taste that he was swallowing from time to time despite himself, made him nauseous. He had to stop. The events and emotions he had just experienced had exhausted him. Reaching the river, he washed as best he could the blood that dirtied him and laid on the bank, weary and firmly determined to let himself die.