Provocation

 “Are you still not concerned about this virus going around?” Carter had asked me while working. It had been about six months since I released this new unknown virus. It was a man who came to pick up the completed and examined Lenses. It took a quick “accidental” prick on the finger for me to change our world.

“Not too worried,” I answered, “Sure there’s no cure right now, but we’ve dealt with stuff like this since I can remember in the outskirts.”

“Unknown viruses? In the outskirts?”

I shook my head, “Not unknown, but sicknesses in general. We have to keep working anyway no matter the circumstances.”

Carter chuckled, “That sounded a bit bitter, Von.”

I cleared my throat, “Sorry, that wasn’t the intention.”

Carter shrugged it off, not asking anymore questions. I’m sure he knew why there may be bitterness, not just coming from me but from other Ergasia as well. But he chose to drop it. Good for me now, but it also showed the attitude of many Arbiters who knew the issues and wouldn’t bother getting involved. It caused more resentment to boil in my heart even though Carter had not done anything blatantly wrong.

“Ah, you put that in the wrong spot.” Carter corrected after watching me place the Lens I had been examining in the pile of the ones that passed, “You marked it fail, unless you meant to check pass.”

“My mistake, I put it in the wrong stack.”

Truthfully, I didn’t know whether it passed or not. Even after zooming in using my Lens, I couldn’t make out what I was looking at.

“You’ve done that quite a bit lately, are you okay?”

Honestly it didn’t occur to me that he might notice, though I don’t know why. “I’m okay, I guess just a little tired recently.”

He stayed silent for a moment and paused working. I avoided looking in his direction and kept sorting to the best of my ability. I could feel his gaze remain on me as I worked, seemingly making sure that I was correctly categorizing the Lenses we were inspecting.

“Von.” He spoke up after a few minutes, “Can you see?”

“Why would you ask?”

He stopped working and put a hand on my shoulder, “I don’t know how you got a Lens with your vision and I won’t ask questions, but if you can’t see we should do something about it.”

“What do you mean?” I didn’t know if playing dumb would work the best or not, but it was enough to get him to stop talking about it for now. Carter gave my shoulder another solid pat before dropping the subject the way I had hoped he would.

“At our current pace we can probably head home early. I’m going to order another coffee, do you want any?”

I shook my head, “Thanks though.”

Now that my vision was at the state it was, I didn’t have to worry about making it any worse. I read thoughts of those around me whenever I wanted, it was like I was constantly having a conversation with those around me. It made my life easier to simply know others' true intentions, but it only led me to think even more that what I was doing was right. Even Carter at that moment debated reporting me, letting it go, trying to secretly find a cure, his mind was in chaos. When presented with an issue concerning someone he knows and has proclaimed to care for, it was no longer black and white and he couldn’t pick a side. Quite frankly, when presented with such gray topics, no one could pick. If they did, they would decide the one that caused the least problems and damage for them, not the other person. All I was doing now was picking a more permanent solution on their behalf.

Carter and I parted ways for the evening. I returned to the Inveiglers whose plans were put to a halt when the virus began to spread. However, Cain continued to still work hard towards their goal of being the ones sitting on top. We exchanged greetings and he relayed to me some information he had heard, “Lumen’s been in contact with Dolion recently. He’s still alive.”

“How have they even been able to get in touch?”

He shook his head, “Lumen didn’t share that much, only that he received word from Dolion that he would be back soon.”

“Nothing on where he’s been?”

“Nothing.”

Our conversations tended to be on the shorter side the longer we knew each other. I didn’t have much to say to him nor he to me, we simply coexisted knowing that our opinions differed.

“Get a lot of rest. Our numbers may have gone down, but our will to fight has only increased. We’ll start to act in a few weeks and we need you there on the inside.”

I chuckled, “Of course, I’ll be there.”

Rest was the last thing on my mind. I sorted through the new articles and research concerning the virus spreading. The videos and articles projected through my Lens were still visible to my eyes. It was nice to see something again after a day in the dark.

No cure had been found, 1.7 million dead in six months, millions more bed ridden as of that night. Speculations on where it came from were vast, from animals, to food, to an outsider from another land we didn’t know about. Very few believed it was engineered right here under their noses, not that it mattered if they found out if it was or not at this point. They would still need to reverse engineer, find a cure, and spread it and it would take too long.

“If this was created, we would have bigger issues to deal with after it’s cured.” One news station stated, “That would mean that there’s someone out there that is practically committing mass murder right now.”

“What would someone's intentions be in creating such a thing?”

“What would make someone want to commit murder to begin with? Isn’t it resentment, hatred, anger? This incident, if orchestrated by a person, should make us look at ourselves and reflect.”

“This is no time for reflection, we can do that after we put an end to the virus.”

The announcers quarreled for a bit before I decided to stop watching. The only cure was in my hands, that is the original virus was stored away in the Inveilgers’ house.

I continued to read into the night, news reports playing in the background, until my alarm went off, the next day already beginning.

“You’re awfully calm, Mr. Ephialtes.”

The man in front of me, who I used my Lens to identify, blocked my entrance to work.

“Good morning, Mr. Hemlock.”

However, he wasn’t alone. Dolion was there too.

“Mr. Dolion, it’s been a while. How have you been?”

“See, I think the information is wrong somehow. He can see just fine.” Dolion spoke.

Information. Carter either said something or he was being observed through his Lens.

“Regardless,” Hemlock grabbed my shoulder and pulled me forward, “I have a few things I would like to ask you. I assume that’s okay?”

I nodded, “Yeah, that’s fine.”

The three of us, assuming Carter wasn’t hiding somewhere silently, made our way into the offices. Rather than going to the lab, the elevator continued up to the top floor, to an office for Hemlock’s use only.

“I’m glad it looks like you’re still doing okay.” Dolion said out loud. Yet his thoughts–

“No time to reminisce. Von Ephialtes, your Lens is glitching isn’t it? You could’ve said something and got it fixed. Doesn’t it give you headaches?” Hemlock asked, concern absent from his voice. This was an interrogation.

“It had a couple problems here and there, but nothing too bad.”

Half truth.

“Lumen. How is he?”

I laughed, “I understand now.”

“You understand what, Mr. Ephialtes?”

“You think I'm working with Lumen and his gang of misfits, don’t you? I have to say, I disagree with them.”

“Even if you disagree, you’ve been living there have you not?”

I nodded, “They did give me a place to stay. Lumen is a very kind man, even if I don’t agree with him.”

Hemlock seemed to move closer, his gaze felt like a fire running across my face, “I can’t get into your head. I’m sure you know what I mean.”

“What do you mean, sir?”

“You had bad eyesight as a child and now you’re blind. Your Lens has the glitch. I know this all to be a fact. To support my claim, no one in the government seems to be able to access your Lens’ current activity. When we examined you before welcoming you into our main lab, we got a report on your past activity. I did find it strange that we never got current reports, but now I know why.”

“You’ve done some research.”

“I have been doing research for the past few months. James Dolion here has been a lot of help.”

Dolion. He had such big dreams for the people. What has happened to him since I saw him last? What made him have such thoughts?

“You’re listening to him right now, aren’t you?”

I forced myself to stay calm. Just because I’ve been discovered doesn’t mean it’s too late.

“Are you surprised that he actually hates you? Hates Ergasia? Maybe I shouldn’t say he hates you, he hates that you’re one of the bits of trash littering our land. He wishes you were born an Arbiter.”

All my fond memories of Dolion went spiraling.

“Or are you more shocked that he knew about you when you were younger? That he took you in out of pity? That he knew your friend and he let him die?”

I bit my tongue.

“He saw him that day, the disease he had been suffering from for years finally caught up to him and he had a fit on the streets. Isn’t that right, James?”

A couple of deep breaths.

“We know exactly what was wrong with your friend, yet we refuse to treat it in Ergasia. They’re not worth the time or money.”

All of my efforts were becoming futile.

“What was your friend's name again? I guess it doesn’t matter. Trash is trash.”

I sprung from the seat I was sitting in, taking the closest object I could find in my hand and hurled it in the direction of Hemlock, “Don’t say another word.”