Inai Ni Yami ((Within Darkness)) {{FINISHED}}

Inai NI Yami ((An Original Story)) Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Done. It was all done with for now. 

I sat at the side of the room, a book in hand and deep in thought when the door opened, revealing six of the only people I knew I could trust; Sora, Rikka, Ares, Yuki, Daisuke and Keisuke. None of them looked to well, though all had continued on with their “lives” in the Dorei Sanctuary. 

Keisuke was back to training Zakiya and Yuki. Zakiya had gone back to his training and helping around with battle tactics and strategies. Yuki was back in the hospital wing of the Sanctuary, helping those who were injured go through the pain or otherwise treat them. Sora acted still as the Princess of all Dorei’s, taking in all that they asked for and answering the questions that constantly bombarded her with. Rika helped Zakiya with the strategies and keeping the Sanctuary safe, while at the same time she held a large mental barrier around the Sanctuary to keep out any unwanted strangers. Ares now went around the Sanctuary, doing odd jobs here and there since he hadn’t yet found his place yet, but his usual optimism had burned out. Daisuke too, had his own job of hacking into all of Evelyn Cole Bailey’s files, but even then he seemed burned out.

Everyone had burned out, and I was no exception. I couldn’t handle all the Dorei’s the way Sora did; I couldn’t strategize plans that would work like Zakiya did. I was not the most comforting person when it came to pain like Yuki. There was no way I could train people to fight like Keisuke, and I had no real knowledge when it came to hacking. All in all, I was nothing useful to this group. 

“We’re losing…” It came out only as a whisper, but everyone heard. No one seemed brave enough to deny it, or even had the resolve to; they all knew it was the truth. “Yesterday we have won but that was only because Eve had been able to wake up. If she hadn’t woken up, we’d be done - and even now we’re in danger. What was done to Eve…” 

I turned my head to the right, where Eve lay, flawless and beautiful just as she’d been before - but now she appeared to be like a corpse, a good portion of her body destroyed, the rest fixed up so that she looked at least presentable to the world. Rika looked away from her, as did Yuki. Keisuke stared, having noticed her for the first time. Daisuke gaped, his technology filled brain making the right equations and assumptions. He could see already that it was hopeless for them to work on her with the amateur equipment that they had. 

“They can do it again and again. They can attack us again and again, until we break. This silent war has always been asking for sacrifices to made, but most of the time those sacrifices were minor to us. Now though, we, the Kagami, are at risk. Forget about eternal life as a machine; forget about not worrying about life; forget about freedom. 

“ShiroTech has disposable machines; we aren’t, understand? They have infinite supplies and plans to new equipment and ideas that can possibly bring us down; we only have Rio and Daisuke who without the right machinery or equipment, can’t even help us as much as we need.” At that, Daisuke turned away in anger, his face showing how much he wanted to smack some silence into me. “Our own abilities are weak; swords? Chains? Empathy? None of this is enough. We’re not enough-”

“So what?!” Daisuke hissed, face red with rage. “What are you trying to say? That we just back down? That we give up? Because I can see it clear on your face that your resolved about something, and I just want to put it out there that I am not giving up!” Breathing hard, Daisuke glared furiously at me, but I was grinning, earning me a few weird stares from around the room. “What now?”

“I was getting to it. See, if they have what we don’t… why don’t we just steal it all?” That shocked everyone, and the silence that had covered the room was pierced through by questions and gasps. Rika smiled, having known what was coming and I gave her a thumbs up, grinning widely. But of course, someone had to break the mountain of questions with their own.