The Blue State rises on the horizon like a weary sigh — pale-blue constructions stacked beneath a dark sky, cut through by faded banners trembling in a dirty wind that seems eager to tear them down.
I run through the narrow streets. My boots scrape against the uneven stone ground, and the dark-blue liquid pulses beneath my skin — weak, but persistent. I open my hands; my fingers tremble. The corrupted Chi slowly unravels, its glow fading as if it had never been there.
— Hm… — I watch the light disappear as I take a deep breath. — So this is how you work…
I step inside.
The small room sits at the end of the alley. The cracked stone walls look even smaller than I remember. The window lets in a faint, dull, almost dead light. I shove the door open, my heart lodged in my throat.
Illia stands in the middle of the room, motionless. Her hood covers part of her face. For a moment, my thoughts stumble — why would she be here? Did Imi already know her from before?
I frown. My eyes slowly adjust to the gloom.
She… isn't what I imagined. Average height, long brown hair, a red blouse marked by Chiulrom's stripes at the center — white, black, red, green, and blue. Simple black pants. Worn boots.
And a strange way of occupying space — as if she were ready to flee or strike.
— You?! — I take a step back. — What's someone from the government doing here? In my house?
— As you can see, I have nothing for you.
Illia doesn't blink.
— Your sister… — she says, lowering her hood. — I found her looking for you. She could barely stand.
My stomach locks. So it was her… again. Just like on the excursion.
Why did Illia show up again?
And why would someone from the government help my sister of all people?
— I couldn't ignore it, — she continues.
I don't know what she wants now. After months without a sign…
My body reacts before my head.
— Imi?! — I turn at once. — You're sick… why did you leave?
Before she can answer, a metallic voice cuts through the air outside — loud, amplified, threatening. A Sentinel Devanador walks slowly down the street, and his voice echoes against the walls:
Footsteps strike like dry hammer blows.
A reddish light floods the window — psychic vibration.
They're here. Searching.
And I know who they want.
It amazes me how persistent they are. I didn't commit any crime, I think.
— Attention. Wanted individual identified. Young male. Pale skin. Space energy detected.
— If sighted, report immediately.
Illia turns to me, eyes narrowed, tension burning across her face.
Damn it, a lecture.
— It's you… Ark. You corrupted your Chi. — Ark… your sister needs you.
I let out a short laugh — dry, angry.
— I did what I had to do. — My voice comes out steady, steadier than I feel. — I did it for her. Imi is all I have left. If I don't leave Chiulrom, she dies. I need to find a cure.
I take a step forward.
— And you? Are you going to destroy the only person she still has? If you really care about her, then prove it. Don't say anything. Do the right thing.
— You don't need to do it for me… do it for her.
Illia doesn't back down.
— And you think arriving like this — alive by a thread, with that Chi tearing you apart from the inside — is going to save anyone? — Look at you.
— Better it tear me apart than she die whole.
She presses her lips together.
— You don't understand, Ark. I've seen what this does. I've seen people stronger than you turn to ash in weeks.
— Then hand me over already — I growl. — End it.
Silence.
But I hear the Sentinels' footsteps patrolling outside.
Illia lowers her gaze for a second. When she speaks again, her voice trembles — anger or pity, I don't know.
— I carried your sister in my arms that day. She weighed less than my pack. And still she asked me to find you. To tell you she missed you.
The ground vanishes beneath me.
— You… carried her?
— Yes. And if I turn you in now, she dies knowing the last thing she did was ask me to save you.
I swallow hard. The anger still burns, but now it burns differently.
Illia extends a metal plate and the cube.
— Then take this. Go to the Masterful City. Give it to Cindi. Tell her about Imi.
But don't come back here like a walking corpse, Ark. Come back as someone who still has a chance to truly hold her hand.
I take the objects. My fingers tremble.
— Why are you doing this?
She hesitates.
Her eyes drop to the floor for a second.
When they rise again, they're wet — but neither of us blinks.
She doesn't answer.
She just pushes the plate and the cube one more centimeter toward me, as if saying take it before I change my mind.
Silence falls like a hammer.
— Take care of her while I'm gone — I say, hoarse.
— I hope you take good care of Imi…
Illia nods.
— For Imi.
Then I look at the bed.
For a moment, I don't understand what I'm seeing.
Everything inside me collapses.
Imi is sunken into a gray cloth. Her pale skin… dark veins crawl up her legs like dead roots. The green blotches — the cursed marks of Ultra Cancer — had spread across her face.
They pulsed. Slow. Painful. Almost alive.
She coughs, a hoarse, wrong, cutting sound.
Her brown eyes — the same as mine — can barely open.
— Ark? — she whispers, her voice broken, fading.
I kneel beside her, take her hand. Cold. Bony. Far too light.
— Damn… — my throat tightens. — Your marks… they've grown again.
She forces a smile, small, painful.
— You came back… — she murmurs, her face trembling. — You always come back…
I breathe in deeply, trying to lock my rage inside a box that's already too full.
— I'm going to the Masterful City. There'll be something there. There has to be. I'll find a cure. I swear.
Outside, footsteps. Voices. Devanadors passing by the window — dark silhouettes, light-red stones illuminating the ground.
They've arrived.
Imi squeezes my hand with what little strength she has left.
— Be careful, Ark… for me.
I close my eyes for a second. My heart burns.
— I'll come back for you, Imi. And if anyone tries to stop me… — I smile, but it doesn't reach my eyes — …I'll make all of Chiulrom remember why they called me unstable.
I pull up my hood.
Open the door.
I don't look back.
The Blue State falls behind — faded banners trembling in the wind as I choose which path to take.
The road opens before me.
I descend a slope between rocks and tall brush. My heart beats too fast. In the distance, I see a group of Devanadors patrolling.
I crouch among thorny bushes, holding my breath.
Two silhouettes approach.
Black cloaks ripple in the wind, nearly blending into the night.
The stripes of Chiulrom's banner glow faintly on their tunics.
Their voices are cold, calculated.
— This young man… — one of them murmurs softly. — His Chi is breaking from the inside.
The other answers in a heavy voice:
— Chiulrom can't handle another case like this. Not now.
A short, heavy silence.
— And yet he keeps using it… — the first continues. — They always do.
The second clenches his jaw, irritated:
— I've seen this pattern before. It's sad.
I hear one of them whisper, almost unconsciously:
— Traitor.
The word pulls my stomach inward.
Hidden among bushes.
My fist clenches on its own, nails digging into my palm until I feel warm blood run.
I remember the metallic taste in my mouth after running for days, the wounds on my feet, the Chi burning my veins.
They don't know what they're talking about.
But something inside me awakens. Cold. Lucid. Determined.
And I won't stop.
I can't.
The road calls to me — rough, cold, indifferent.
And at its end, maybe… just maybe… there is still Imi's only chance.
I'll go after it.
Even if Chiulrom calls me an enemy.
Even if the whole world does.