Imperium

Chapter 31: The Hope of the People

"Um, hi. If this worked, that means... I'm talking to all of Eutria right now, and hopefully more..."

Deep breath.

"For those of you who don't know who I am, my name is Regan Angevin. I am a descendant of Ophelia Dev'mar Angevell, the founder of what you all know as the Imperium. But... there's a bit more to it than that. This goes beyond just what you know. This is beyond all of us, and yet, we are the ones who are forced to act."

Beneath the ground, in the train station of Nerawin, Colin stares at the radio with wide eyes.

"Edith... You need to hear this."

Edith appears around the corner, also staring at the radio and listening.

Her jaw drops as she hears the voice.

"The world you know and have grown used to is not the world we truly live in. It is the fabricated blinded perception that we have all been forced to see, simply because our 'masters' are afraid their test subjects will revolt the moment they learn the truth. The truth that has the potential to either build us up as a people, or tear us apart at the seams. But, well, look around. The world is falling apart, and if no one tries to stop it, then we've already lost."

"Because the truth is just that, we are all their 'subjects', ants in a farm that is our continents. Kept locked up and watched as we scramble about, trying to believe in the illusion that is 'freedom'. But the truth is that there is more. More than what you all know. More than Eutria. More continents beyond this one. More that the Imperium hides out of their fear of losing their control over us all."

The green shimmering panels just fell, spanning over the distance of the sky above the Orinas Sea and beyond.

Naomi stares down at her phone with wide eyes, Malachi and Nisha at her sides and Romeow climbs up on her shoulders, pawing at the device and the voice of Regan coming through it.

Nisha shows a small smile and looks off to the east. "They did it."

"But we don't have to remain trapped. I was born on another continent. The continent of Aramora, but I call a different place home. Utopia. The first continent to take control over its own fate by bringing down their masters. The Imperium that you know has not always been the only one. Before, once upon a time, there were two more branches of the same conglomerate power. For Aramora, it was known as the Dev'al Ordon. And for Utopia, the Dominion. But once the people of Utopia learned the truth about all of this, they were able to come together and bring down the Dominion. They took control over their own future."

"You can too."

Cree holds Reela tightly against him, listening to the broadcast on Giovanni's phone. He smiles at it somberly.

Toya pokes her head out from Reela's jacket and nuzzles the girl's face.

"Our enemy is not each other. Humans and Hexes do not have to fear each other. We can work together. We have to if we want to stop this control. Our enemy is the Imperium. The Director: Anneliese Corbin."

From the pinnacle of the Bastion, listening to her radio, The Director slowly crosses her hands over her desk.

And she smiles.

"I know that you have all grown used to viewing each other as the enemy. Hexes who put down the humans. Humans who live in fear of Hexes. Believe me, I understand that feeling. I come from Utopia, a continent with a similar divide. Only for us, the synthetic life that the Dominion manufactured that we know as SRL, were the ones who took control over their own fate. They didn't have to rely on the Dominion to make something for themselves. Humans lived in fear of the SRL. Wars were fought. Friends... were lost. I have seen it again and again in my own home, but it doesn't have to happen to yours."