A Newborn's Trial

The hum of the fluorescent lights overhead seemed to resonate off the metallic walls. The cool, clinical air carried the faint scent of oil and machinery, a big difference to the open skies Anemone had grown accustomed to. The citizens of the bunker stared at her as she walked with Renne towards the HQ. “Who’s that girl Miss Renne is walking with?” “What’s with those weird markings…?” “She looks unhealthy, does she eat enough?” whispers covered the air, echoing in Anemone’s head, but heeds no attention.

It wasn’t long before Anemone and Renne reached the HQ. Renne was summoned inside the meeting room, and brought Anemone in and made her wait on a corner. On the table, three high ranking officers welcome Renne and Anemone.

The three officers are; The Commander, Henry Graves. He leaned forward as Renne walks forward with his shadow seemingly looking larger as the man himself. Intelligence Officer Olivia Smith prepares her pen, writing any valuable information she may come across in the meeting, and the Operational Officer, Andersen Graves leaned back to his chair, crossing his arms with a calm, confident demeanor despite the topic.

Henry spoke with a firm but calm tone. “Let's get this meeting started. Renne Valérie, report what you have gathered from your reconnaissance mission.” Renne nods in response, and starts reporting her findings about the fragments' recent movements and the change in their surroundings. Until she started to talk about the encounter with the Supreme Fragment.

Henry attempted to comfort Renne. ‘I’m sorry to hear that, Valérie. We’ll notify the soldiers’ families-’

Before he could finish, Olivia interrupted him “Are you saying this Supreme Fragment could manipulate reality itself?” Olivia asked excitedly as Henry stared at her..

Renne nodded, with the trauma still fresh on her mind, she reluctantly answered “We fell for its illusion… When he broke the illusion, it felt like we were facing an unstoppable force…” she muttered as she avoided eye contact while talking about it..

“It seems like we need to raise our defenses, this Supreme Fragment is no joke. Andersen, after this meeting, come and assist me in the fortification of the bunker.” Henry ordered. “Got it bro.” Andersen replied. Henry sighs and whispers “He doesn’t take his position seriously does he…”

“I see, based on this information, the Supreme Fragment you’ve encountered may just be the one that ravaged the other bunkers last month. Named after the historical figure Vlad the Impaler, ‘Vladimir Noctis’.” Olivia said as she rubbed her forehead. “How in the world did you escape him?” she added.

Renne brought Anemone with her in front of the three and spoke, “It’s all thanks to her. If it wasn’t for her, the Crescendo Squad would’ve been wiped out.” She's still haunted by the experience, especially after having to encounter Vladimir Noctis right in front of her, teasing her.

Andersen leaned forward, interested in Anemone, sensing her strong combat potential. “So this is the kid they were talking about…” he paused for a moment as he took a closer look at her. “From what I can read from this kid’s aura, she seems pretty competent and she doesn’t seem to bear any ill will.”

Olivia adjusts her glasses, curious about Andersen’s comment and comments on her. “Well, my eyes aren’t able to perceive one’s aura as accurately as Andersen, but I’d like to run some tests! According to reports, she has an ability that works outside our established Ethereon system and if I’m not mistaken, that would mean she could be the key to the next level of evolution in fighting Fragments!” she muttered as her eyes sparkled with interest as she thought of the possible ways to experiment with her.

Henry observes Anemone’s behavior, and she finally speaks. “H-hello, I am Anemone, I… I have no memories of my past…” She said as she grabbed her arm, and looked away, before continuing… “I’ve been wandering the surface with my summons, looking for shelter.. Until I came across Renne’s group… I wasn’t affected by the illusion, but I couldn’t tell them about the Supreme Fragment as he kept suppressing it… When I finally broke free from his control, I tried to save all of the soldiers, but I wasn’t able to save the other two… Sorry…” she bows as she apologizes.

“Raise your head.” Henry affirmed. “You were under no obligation to save my soldiers, yet you did. That alone earns you my respect and gratitude.” 

Henry walks up to Anemone, and pats her shoulder. “For that, I’ll give you our utmost support and…” he paused as he glared at Olivia, then continued “...protect you from certain people with ulterior motives…”

Olivia avoids his eyes, and forces a smile.

“Hold on, I think that we really do need to run some tests on this kid, I'm kinda curious to see her capabilities.” Andersen utters. “Hey kid, let’s spar. I want to see what you’re capable of.” Everyone except Anemone and Andersen were surprised by Andersen’s request, but no one tried to object as they wanted to see her capabilities.

“I need to see how I fare against people in the bunker, this might be a good opportunity to do so…” Anemone thought and she accepted his request. He brought her to the training room, that’s brightly lit by white light on every corner. While the others watched outside, for safety measures. Olivia, worried that her new potential test subject might be harmed in the process, while Renne and Henry watched carefully.

“Alright kid, show me everything you’ve got, I need you to prove your worth to me.” he said as he took off his coat. “I’ll throw my coat in the air, you can prepare any attack that you want, and when it hits the ground, the fight begins.”

“Got it.” Anemone replied, then Andersen threw the coat in the air, as he unleashed his aura covering the whole room. Anemone mutters “Gimel, Converge” as wolf tails grow on her back, and her pupils contract. Olivia, fascinated, quickly took notes of this.

The moment the coat dropped, Andersen quickly condensed his aura into his fist, concentrating his force on that punch. But his vision of Anemone was blurry, something was amiss. But it was too late for him to realize, as Anemone landed a clean kick on his stomach, sending him flying and crashing into the wall.

Everyone was shocked, as they didn’t expect her to be that fast. “I didn’t even see her move!” Renne exclaimed. “It was very fast. I was just barely able to see it myself.” Henry added.

Andersen threw up after the impact and thought to himself, “Damn, she’s fast… I wasn’t able to read her movements.” before trying to get up. His vision on Anemone was blurry again, and he focused his aura on defense, and instinctively blocked in front. Luckily for him, he managed to block the punch from Anemone, as she leaves a bigger dent on the wall.

After blocking her punch, he quickly grabbed her arm and pinned her on the wall. He tried to punch her face, but she moved her head away. Anemone retaliated with a hard kick on his side, but this time, he stood his ground, and caught her legs.

Her pupils expanded when he grabbed her legs as he threw her across the room. “Gimel, Rush!” she yelled, right before hitting the wall. Gimel emerged from her tails, as her wolf-like traits disappeared and it caught her mid air.

“Devastate, Oblivion”

Andersen’s words carried throughout the room, as a strong wave of pressure came out. From his hand, a dark sword materialized, brimming with ominous energy. The air around him grew heavy, as the sword expressed its intent to kill. “Let’s have more fun, alright?” he muttered as he rushed through Gimel’s thick fur.

Anemone clicked her tongue, as Gimel was struck down by Andersen. As he focused his attention on her, she was running out of choices. “I know they’re just trying to get more information about me… I can show them… but a side of me is telling me to not hurt this man any further…” Anemone thought to herself. Before finally, she made her move.

She pointed a finger gun at Andersen and said “Dalet, Engulf.” The air fractured like glass, the shards falling away to reveal a void so absolute it seemed to swallow sound itself. The world disappeared, leaving only darkness. Andersen was taken by surprise by this ability and from the spectator’s view, they both vanished into thin air.

Renne was worried about what might happen inside as she won’t be able to rush in in case of an emergency, but Henry calmed her down. Olivia on the other hand was having the time of her life, finding a new type of ability

After a moment, the void was filled by the image of the surface, blinding Andersen by the sunlight. His eyes adjusted to the light then Anemone spoke. “Yeah, let’s have some fun!” before using Hei to heal Gimel. Andersen noticed the shift in her speaking behavior and replied. “Oho! You sure know how to keep a fight interesting!” before lunging in for another attack.

“Bet, Protect.” she uttered, as a large gorilla dropped from the sky, intercepting his attack. “Gimel, Rush.” She said as Gimel sprinted, to attack from beside.

Suddenly, Andersen dropped Oblivion and raised his hands. Andersen declares Anemone’s victory. “Welp, you got me! I think I’ve gathered enough information, so I forfeit now.” Anemone stopped Gimel and Dalet’s domain fell apart as Gimel and Bet disappeared. Bringing them back to the training room.

“Huh?” Anemone, confused at his abrupt decision to cut off the fight when both parties have decided to take the fight seriously. “I’ve seen enough. You’ve proven your strength.” Andersen elaborated.

“You’re really energetic huh? Just a few minutes ago, you were timid and all. Did fighting get you hyped up?” Andersen added. “No… I’m not like myself in combat…” She answered.

“This kid… She’s got real potential. I didn’t use any of my Ethereon’s ability, but she can definitely drag it out from me. But still, what’s up with her? The aura she expressed during the fight, it wasn’t from an Ethereon, it was more Fragment-like…” Andersen thought to himself, as Renne and Olivia rushed into the room while Henry followed them behind.

Renne checks on Anemone while Olivia asks her a lot of questions. Henry smacked Andersen’s head, saying “You two overdid it.” Andersen rubs his head and apologizes.

“Olivia, you should probably get Anemone checked up. She’s from the surface, she may have contracted some disease up there. It’ll be bad if they’re left untreated.” Andersen said casually, as he walked outside the room. “I’m out.”

“That man, I can’t believe he’s your brother, Captain Henry. He treats this place as if it were his playground! While you are too serious all the time!” she uttered, and she reflected on Andersen’s words. “He’s right, I need to run tests on her. From the way she acts inside and outside combat, there’s something wrong with her. Does she have a second personality? If she does, what triggers it, is it combat?”

Henry takes out his phone and makes a call with his worker. “Someone, go fix room 1208.” He said as he hung up right after. “Alright Valérie, do you consent to running tests on her? We need to check if she has any illness that she may have contracted from the surface.”

Renne consents, as they headed towards the diagnostic room. They gave Anemone general anesthesia to put her to sleep before starting the test. Olivia advises Renne, "Miss Valérie, you should head back to your barracks. You can come back tomorrow when you're well rested. I know this mission took a toll on you, just leave this to us."

"Alright, I'll leave her to your hands..." she uttered. While walking to her barracks, she starts to reflect on herself. "What kind of leader am I... I wasn't able to save my squad members... If it wasn't for her, we'd be dead..." The further she went from Anemone, the more her façade crumbles, revealing her insecurities.

~Chapter 1 End~

Author's Note: Honestly, I still can't envision where this story is going to... I'm genuinely just writing whatever comes to my head! (Please, leave a like if you're somehow enjoying my writing, it encourages me to make more worse content!)