The Unheard Song

If there is an opportunity to make this place better, it all lies in my hands.

“Suffering, pain, distress., was looking for some hope,

Death, sorrow, misery., t’was all I ever ahold,

Then I found a small light coming from a little crack,

I hold onto it like a kid who’s afraid of the dark,

The light wasn’t the one that could heal me of my scars,

T’was burning like a candle, it was the fire, I was the moth,

Light made me promises, the promises I could die for,

Soon the sun rosed and I could see the light,

Everything was revealed, it was wearing a black shroud,

My hopes were taken away, evil in the facade of light,

Evil covered me in his shadow and tried blocking the rays,

I was left in the shadows and never got to see the rays,

That rays showed me what was the meaning of my life,

I wish I had never witnessed the rise of the sun and its shine,

I could’ve rested dead in the bliss of ignorance.

Suffering, pain and distress, I am afraid you are back my friends…

Death, sorrow and misery, it is all I need and I don’t pretend…”

“Xiba, what are you singing so early in the morning?” Even though her voice is beautiful, she kinda sings the same as a singer I used to listen too. She was wearing a blue shrug and nothing else, to say the least, no decency.

“It wasn’t just a song, it was a memoir. Written by yours truly. She stood up from the side of my bed and bowed like an ancient artist who bows after a performance. “By the way, your vacations started right?”

“Yeah, I got the notification too, seems like they are closing schools early this year. Works for me, I will get more time to kill before time kills me.” I got out of bed and proceeded to take a shower.

“Hey Ed, I got a favour to ask you as well.” Xiba Looked at me with hopeful eyes.

“Yeah, anything.”

We were both standing in front of the new The Hope facilities, Xiba was still wearing the long shrug, but thankfully she was wearing clothes under it as well. She had a small laser knife on her too. I didn’t know what she was up to when she asked me for a favour to help her. Looks like it won’t be like going for a stroll or something.

“Now that we are here, I need you to enter the building, go to the 9th floor’s lab and steal the X virus samples.”

“Wait, what did you say?” I asked.

“Oh, you heard me the first time, alright.” Xiba was certain that I wouldn't deny her appeal. She was right I couldn’t. So I did what she instructed me to do.

I entered the building around 9:40 and the day was just getting started, Xiba installed some codes on my watch so that I could access the doors easily. Xiba didn’t do it because her records were already in The Hope and she could be found out easily if someone who knows her were there. When entering the building, I was asked to scan my watch and it somehow worked and I got high-security access to the building. I went straight to the 9th floor and tried going for the lab before anyone could get suspicious of me. As soon as the scientists left the lab I went for it, but the codes weren’t working, and it showed that I only had two more trials left before the alarm sets on. I called Xiba.

“Hey! Xiba, the codes aren’t working, any particular reason? I am pretty sure they’ll kill me if they found out.” I was sweating to think that it could happen. I was inside a high-security building and they had full authority to kill the trespassers. Xiba was still calm, she didn’t seem worried about it.

“Just try it again.” Xiba Replied.

“Are you sure?” I was hesitant to do that.

“Yeah, I am.” She sounded confident.

I tried and it didn’t work, I was a bit stressed now, so I asked her again. “Hey! It didn’t work Xiii Baa! Trying to get me killed?”

“Why would I rely on cheap tricks when I can kill you myself.” She wasn’t serious at all about the situation I was in. “Try again.”

“Wait, you know it’s not working, right?”

“I know, I know, just do it again. It will work a hundred per cent.” She seemed confident even after two failed tries. I had no other choice but to believe her. So I tried again.

It-it failed again, and I was sure the alarm could go on anytime. “Hey XIba it failed again and I am doomed, for sure!!!”

“Don’t worry, you are safe.”

“Wha-” The door opened. “Hey, Ed are you there?”

“Yeah, I am. It did open, even though it showed, failed.” I almost thought I was a goner.

“Well, the codes inside the watch actually are just trying to figure out the data from the scanner, and it cracks it in three sessions, that’s why it took three trails.

“you could’ve notified me about it earlier, I would’ve been much more relaxed at least.”

“Haha, what’s the fun in that?” She was still not serious. I don’t know if that is a good thing or bad.

I entered the lab, it was extremely clean, and every piece of equipment there was painted white. “Which container does Virus X contain?” I asked Xiba.

“It must be easy, the one with X marked on it, they are pretty straightforward in naming their stuff.”

I opened the container and got the virus X. I was about to leave but someone showed up right outside the lab.

“Hey, and who we have here, Edra.” The guy wearing a black jacket and grey joggers knew who I was.

“I am sorry, I don’t know who you are and who you are talking about. My name is Sayan Dicosta, I have the pass to enter, you can scan it.” I was confident that I could get away with it.

“Oh, it’s ok. I trust you, Mr Sayan, I must’ve misidentified you with someone else.”

“Yeah, probably, if you excuse me then. I am in a hurry.”

“Sure.” So he forgot about me again, interesting. Seems like he is losing his memory every time he transforms. I would be more careful if I were you, Shin.

He didn’t seem suspicious of me, weird. But Why should I care I got away easily.

“Woohoo! You managed to get away from the situation easily and got the virus pretty swiftly.” Xiba was happy that I got her virus and she was celebrating. At least I helped her in a way for a change.

“So, what did you want this virus for?” I questioned.

“First, you need to inject it into me.”

“What?! Seriously.” But, why?

“Well, I could’ve told you if you injected it first.” Oh, there she goes mind reading again.

“I am still reading, so better do it fast.” Even though confused, I injected the virus into her through her arm. She seemed fine when I injected but after thirty seconds, she seemed to start hallucinating. She was blabbering something as well. She then fell unconscious completely. I freaked out.

“Xiba, are you okay?!” I tried yanking her to wake up but she was out cold.

After thirty minutes she opened her eyes. “W-Wha-What just happened? Am I dead? Are you dead Edra?” She asked tentatively.

“No, I am not. I mean we aren’t dead., For now at least.” I said calmly while holding her head onto my arms.

“Sigh… Finally, it worked, yesss!!!” She was celebrating that she wasn’t dead by injecting that virus into her.

“So, what is it all about?” I asked.

“Well, first things first, I must tell you why I did this. Simply, I wanted to set free from the hands of The Hope.”

“How? By injecting a lethal dose of a harmful virus and nearly reaching God?” She laughed as I said that.

“Actually, yes that’s how it had to be done. You see, I am quite like you are, they experimented with the X virus before on me. With that virus, they also infused some nanomachines that were injected into my blood. These nanomachines could easily take control of my body if ordered from the outside computer controlling them. Shin had access to it, the only way to break it was by inserting another new dose of the same virus. As I am immune to it, I don’t have to worry about any side effects, and the nanobots destroy each other from within as they treat this new yet same virus as a foreign

object.” She explained pretty much everything to me clearly and by the looks of it, it seemed she had some sort of idea up her sleeves. So I thought, why not give it a shot as well?

“Say, Xiba. Can it work the same for me? I mean the virus which was injected into me?” I was curious and concerned about what could happen if I did that. Plus my DNA is fully mish-mashed.

“What you are thinking is valid Edra, It can even kill you instantly. It’s risky but if you wanna do this, let's do it together and in the right way.” She was supportive and encouraged me to do it together, which was reassuring for me.

“Wait for a second, why did you give me weird looks whenever I wasn’t being nice to Shin?” I questioned.

“That’s what you don’t understand, I was playing a character so I could build trust between us, and he won’t take over my body with those nano-shits. You need to play smart if you wanna survive in this wretched world.” She yet again smiled at me, but this time she wasn’t smiling just to comfort me, but rather herself., She was finally free from her curse.

“So, what’s the plan?” I asked

She went on to explain various stuff about The Hope, she told me about Soya as well as Dan, whom I have supposedly met before. I still didn't tell her about my memory loss which could’ve hindered our approach to defeating Shin. We made a plan which could bring not only Shin but even his whole The Hope structure down, whcih is managing most of Jahan’s economic, medical and scientific infrastructure.

We only had to expose him and bring the truth to the masses, which might’ve seemed easy, but in reality, it’s much more difficult. Hope’s data and information are never disclosed to the public, there was no evidence of its weird experiments, and whatever there was remains under surveillance 24/7.

I had an idea. “Hey, why don’t we seek the help of The Bio-Swit-?”

“Good Idea!”

“At least let me finish the sentence before answering.” She was probably reading my mind. I thought

“Yeah, it’s pretty convenient.” She winked. “If we have to seek help from The Bio-Switch, we first need to contact them and with precaution.” Xiba was right we already faced them once and I don’t want to face them again like that.

“Don’t you think? They may try to kill me as soon as I try contacting them? They wanted me as well, right?” I was still unaware of various stuff.

“What are you talking? The one who attacked us that day wasn’t from Bio-Switch. He was an imposter from The Hope.” Xiba was still in my arms, and she finally raised her head and sat with her legs crossed on the bed.”

I was surprised to hear that the person who attacked us was from The Hope. “Are you trying to say there is someone else in The Hope who is trying to kill us?” To which she answered, “Yes, there is, and that person is none other than Shin.”