The Nova Experiment

Looking over the luxury apartments from level five, and at the light sucking black sphere in the centre of it all, Kalea inspected her watch, wondering if they were on time.

"Do you remember when he said he'd get here?" Kalea asked.

"Around eight, I'm pretty sure." Leonie replied quickly. "But he's a very busy man, remember? He only runs all of NeoBunny."

"Doesn't he run the whole city as well?"

"Well, he does. But I'm not getting paid to look after the city." Leonie replied, waving away Kalea's stupid comment.

"But still, I like the decorations he has here." Kalea whispered, touching the long wooden object, one of several that dotted his penthouse. On top were several large green objects, which were wide and covered the wooden pole in its dozens of objects. Touching it, it almost felt alive. And she felt better about her situation just by being next to it.

"Ah, miss Kalea. Admiring the trees, I take it?"

Kalea hit her head on the tree as Mersache's voice hit her ears.

"You know, these are living things. Back before the migration here, we used these to give us oxygen to breathe."

"So what do we use now?"

"Well, I assume we still use them, just on the outside. Then we collect the air in the vents, disperse it through the city, all the good stuff. Anyhow, enough science or whatever. You two must be freezing out here, so how about we head inside?"

Mersache stood in front of the door with his back to it. Kalea watched as his nose started dripping before his entire body melted into a puddle of blood. The puddle moved underneath the door, a small clicking noise was heard from the side, and the door opened.

"Well, ladies. Feel free to treat yourself."

Leonie ran in, looking around at everything in the living room. It was a room painted a light grey, with several shelves containing a multitude of books. Next to it was an entire wall being a TV. In front of the TV was a black felt couch. The wall across the TV had a balcony overlooking the living room.

"It's…big." Kalea said after taking it all in.

"Well, it was supposed to be a meeting place, but that never came to fruition. Now it's nothing more than a place to unwind and retreat."

"Woah. What do you even watch on something this big?" Leonie asked, looking at the TV.

"Whatever I feel, I suppose. Some interesting movies on that. A few things not of this realm, either. Would you be interested in something?"

"Nah, I can't stay still for that long." Leonie replied, turning away from the TV.

"Fair enough, fair enough." Mersache nodded politely. "But what about food, actually?"

"Woah, you eat food?" Leonie asked.

"Why wouldn't he?" Kalea replied.

"Truth be told, I don't exactly need it. But the taste, the sensation of feeling the food go down your throat. It truly isn't something I can live without."

"Hehe, throat." Leonie said to herself, putting extra emphasis on that last word.

"Now then, I'm almost certain I have the materials for a nice beef curry. I assume you're all interested."

"Sounds good." Both replied in unison.

As Mersache gave a quiet nod, walking into the kitchen, Leonie lay on the couch. She took the remote, flicking through all the channels on the TV. A lot of dramas about very sad looking people, a few talk shows that looked interesting enough, even if she couldn't recognise any of the people there. But eventually, something called 'PurgaTourney' caught her eye. Featuring two incredibly strong looking men. One with red hair channelling metal into his arm and trying to strike a man in a fluffy hat, who teleported away before he could strike, stabbing him in the back. The metal attached to the redhead fell to the ground, followed shortly by him.

"And Dr. Luck wins! He will be progressing to the final eight of the tournament!"

"Woah, this is insane!" Leonie yelled.

"It's staged, clearly. It's just professional wrestling with abilities." Kalea muttered dismissively.

"I don't know, he looks pretty dead."

"Yeah, because that's what acting is."

"Ladies! Your food is ready!"

Once the two of them entered the polished white kitchen, where they were instantly met with the aroma of the beef curry. Kalea sat down next to Leonie, taking a bite of the perfectly good-looking curry. She hated how good it tasted. Before she knew it, she was eating the curry with more intensity then with anything she had ever eaten. She was finished within a few minutes.

"Glad to see some things don't change with age." Mersache said calmly, his plate only half empty.

"Damn, Kalea. You never had something like this?" Leonie asked. "Not that it's bad, clearly! It's amazing, truly!"

"I grew up on level two, Leonie. You know this."

"Let the woman enjoy her food, Leonie." Mersache said quietly.

Once the other two ate their food, Kalea took their plates and left them by the sink.

"Thank you, Kalea." Mersache nodded. "Now, I feel the need for a shower. Anyone who wants to come is more than welcome to."

"Wait, I can come?" Leonie asked.

"Is that not what I just said?"

"Kalea! You want in on this?"

"I'm fine." Kalea replied peacefully. "I had a shower this morning."

"If you say so." Mersache nodded.

The two of them entered upstairs, and when the footsteps could no longer be heard, Kalea slowly left the kitchen. She looked around the living room, looking for something, anything. Evidence. Evidence of a bigger picture. Something that could convince her that whatever happened with Ulrich and the demon girl weren't fake. She looked towards the bookshelf first, flicking through the books. Nothing too suspicious in any of them. All in a language she understood, and pretty simple. Either basic philosophy books or some novels about people facing great evil. That had to be some kind of sick comedy on his end. If there was a secret message in one of the dozens of books, she wouldn't be able to find it. The next thing was to flick through the channels on his TV. Nothing of note, except for commentary on that fight she witnessed with Leonie. Everything seemed normal there, too. She went back into the kitchen, hoping something was hidden there. When on the table, was his phone.

She never bothered with these things, but you just kept these on you at all times, right? So if anything would be kept, it would be kept there. Tracing her finger around the phone, she found a button and pressed it, which did nothing. But the button under it powered on the phone, revealing the NeoBunny wallpaper. She swiped the screen hoping it would do something, but it didn't do anything except for making 'fingerprint scan failed' appear. Of course he would have something like that on his phone, but all that proved was that he was hiding something.

"Hey, Kalea!"

Leonie's voice beckoned her, and she tried leaving the room, looking as innocent as possible.

"You need something?" Kalea asked Leonie, who was leaning over the balcony wearing nothing but a very small towel.

"Yeah!" Leonie yelled back. "Mersache's offering some, uh...private time with us if you get what I'm saying. You want in?"

"No, that's fine." Kalea shook her head. "I'm too tired."

"Suit yourself, I guess." Leonie replied, arching an eyebrow, and retreating to another room.

Okay, everything was clear. The plan was obvious. Wait for them to go to sleep, then try to scan Mersache's fingerprints and see what he's doing. She lay on the sofa with a book, scanning the pages in an attempt to look occupied should somebody walk in. After looking at about three thousand words and only taking in about thirty of them, she decided to check the room that both of them were in. Worst case scenario, she would have to join them, which honestly wasn't too bad. They were both evil, but undeniably attractive, and hooking up with either of them would be a good time.

She opened the door, phone in pocket, and Mersache and Leonie were both asleep in the same bed. The gracious demeanour of both completely gone, sprawled across the bed, with Leonie drooling and Mersache snoring. Mersache was closest to her, thankfully. She took his hand, trembling as she did so. He twitched a little, and she had a mini heart attack, but it turned out to be nothing. She managed to swipe his finger across the phone and unlock it.

Finally! She crept out of the room, making sure the phone was still on. She found the bathroom, turning the lock. And then she began looking through it.

A lot of standard things. Pictures, a few simple games, surprisingly. But eventually, a word processor. She found something labelled 'The Nova experiment: soul awakenings'. She pressed her finger on it, looking to see what would happen.

Entry 1: The wars have concluded, and the remaining humans have been put into the Nova project. Jules Anchor and the newly made Nova families have been a great help in constructing the city in such a short time. We have roughly fifty million people squashed into one small city, with the Levels filling in as simple class dividers. I hope that within a few years, tensions arise, and an awakening will erupt out of it.

Entry 4: It's been about four years since the formation of Nova City, and tensions are beginning to arise within everyone. A prominent Nova family has been wiped out for perceived corruption, a family of blood mages. And once their crimes of embezzlement and history of abuse were made clear, sentiments against blood types have been rising. I truly wish to intervene against this, as nothing good comes out of it. But I understand that this could be what causes an awakening to happen. I'll wait these tensions out and see what happens.

Entry 6: It's been over twenty years since the formation of Nova City, and thirteen since I've needed to update. An entire generation has grown up not knowing anything but the city walls, and society as a whole has become complacent. However, a discussion with Jules and his new adopted daughter he found has given me an idea. Criminal actions in response to perceived slights have been steadily rising as the new generation grows up. Should we take these ambitious teens and put them in one place where they're forced to compete or die, an awakening should be bound to happen! I have a small media company to spread any messages I need spread but will be reporting to you with the results.

Entry 7: It's been twenty-one years since the formation of Nova City, and the first criminals gauntlet has concluded. It was a success with the citizens, proving I can continue the experiment. Unfortunately, none of the eighty criminals that were tested displayed anything close to an awakening. But the potential is definitely there.

Entry 16: Finally! Jules daughter has awakened! The raw power she displayed in that moment was incredible. Even I was frightened of her capabilities. We'll be keeping her around in the future, and I will be sure to show her off in the next PurgaTourney.

This was…what? This awakening thing he wanted, he found it? This entire city was made to find it? He destroyed the entire world to get it? And who was this person he was reporting everything to?

"Well, miss Kalea. How much did you see, exactly?"

Kalea turned around, and Mersache was behind her, wearing a purple velvet bathrobe.

"A-a-a-awakening?" Kalea stuttered.

"I see." Mersache nodded casually. "I can't just have you leak that information just yet, you're aware?"

With nothing to do, Kalea locked onto Mersache's face, and dashed towards it. Mersache simply melted his head into blood, forming it once again when Kalea was a broken heap on the floor.

"Tell you what? You helped me achieve the results I wanted. So I won't kill you. In fact, you get to be the subject of a side project I'm working on. How fun does that sou-"

Before he could finish talking, a disoriented Kalea tried landing a punch to his stomach, which he merely blocked with his arm.

"Now now, we both know you aren't strong enough for that." Mersache continued politely. "But you could be."

He shot a drop of blood onto Kalea's forehead and made her scroll through the phone. Until she found something called 'Project Chimera.' She was forced to press on it and read through the notes.

Entry A: A chimera, the results of multiple souls taking up one host. This is an interesting topic, but one not often explored, despite the potential benefits. Strong abilities are naturally always sought after, but what about multiple weak powers at once? Who wins in that case? If I get the awakening complete, it's something to look into.

Mersache wiped the blood off Kalea's face, before explaining what she just read.

"I was going to go ahead with a recent test subject. A surplus of souls has recently been acquired by me, you see. So, what do you say? Want to make history?"