The Initiative (A Sleeping Beauty Remix)

Thirty-Three

Thirty-Three

"We have reason to believe [REDACTED]

[REDACTED]

[REDACTED] that The Circle may have infiltrated the city."

-Confidential Report sitting on Commander Jackson Leonger's desk, The Palace, Sarias Kingdom

Music blasted through the loudspeakers—some ominous, heavy pre-recorded track with intense string instruments. It had the entire crowd's attention immediately.

I catapulted down the metal stage steps and over to the main control board where the director yelled at a sweating stagehand. "What the hell are you doing? Shut it down!"

"I'm trying!" The poor kid said, fiddling with buttons and adjusting dials to no avail, "it's not responding! None of the controls are responding!"

I slipped around the back of the control box and yanked out all the cords I could get my hands on, everything from little wires to large intermingled cords the size of my wrist.

"You are powerless," a distorted, deep voice proclaimed into the crowd's shocked silence, "You are nothing. Waiting around for destined love like pathetic sheep." A pause, then, "we are The Circle—"

I yanked the final cord and the entire east panel went dark.

Only, the voice continued at the other stages in the park.

"For centuries, Aces have depended on others for true freedom—"

I bolted past the control board and followed the cable lines weaving over the paved pathways, through the silver food trucks, all the way back towards the central stage. The cords fed into an outlet inset in the ground. But that outlet received power from the parks main transformers around the area. One of them only a few meters away. I ran for it.

"—We are in your cities, amongst your children—"

Two other agents had the same idea as me. "Get that open!" Agent Daniels yelled. The other agent had an oversized hammer and pounded away at the device. It was hardly more than a large 3 foot by 3 foot olive green metal cube. The city had locks on the door to prevent tampering. But we didn't have time to run around looking for a key. Nor did we have time to try and force our way in.

"Move! Move!" I pushed Daniels roughly out of the way.

"We are amongst you," the dark voice continued, "and we refuse to be silent. We will—"

I slapped my hands on the edge of the box and called Eva's ability. I let it wash over me like tiny spiders crawling up my bones, my Acemark warming in preparation, and pushed all the borrowed power into the box.

The metal absorbed the electricity and glowed a dull brownish orange as it heated. My hands burned. The higher the charge, the more intense the electric tingle under my skin grew until it felt like my whole body vibrated.

Eva's ability began to stutter and wear off and I threw the rest of what I had at the Transmitter. Please, Creator, I begged.

"We have waited for too long—"

The box glowed, the steel and electric crackling.

"And now, we will rise."

I grit my teeth and threw every bit of Eva's ability into the metal. The sheer power usage stole my breath and sucked out my energy. My knees went weak, legs shaking. There was a loud bang, and the resulting shock jolted me backward.