When Erin had finally woken up, rather than her being in a white room, right now she was in a pitch-black room and couldn't see anything. A soft fabric was felt covering her eyes, so she assumed she was blindfolded.
"Looks like you're awake." A male voice said from behind. The sound was different from when they were in the white room, so she could assume she had been moved. She also recognised the voice, although the man didn't speak much. She could tell it was the same man who was with her before, James.
The soft fabric that was covering her face had been removed; still, her eyesight remained almost pitch black. Whatever room they were in, there wasn't a single spark of light. It was clear they were either testing her or still didn't trust her.
There were always rumours going around about how crazy members of Pure were, although Erin didn't outright believe them as the news reports would be clearly biased, but after a few first impressions of arriving at the base, she was beginning to agree with what she had heard.
The only thing that was keeping her going was the fact that Layla, who was also a member of Pure was such a kindhearted person.
'Did she go through the same thing?' Erin thought. The last room Erin was in it was torture for her. After spending just 20 minutes, she could feel her mind starting to crumble, but she held on for as long as she could.
The room was there for a reason, and it was clear it wasn't made just for her. It might have even been used for training their own members. If Layla too had gone through something like that, Erin was starting to change her opinion of Layla being weak.
She could imagine a regular person only lasting about fifteen minutes. However, truthfully she had no clue how long she had spent in there. When in the room, a second felt like a minute.
Although she couldn't see anything, she felt that her arms seemed to be strapped down and her back was upright. She was sitting on some kind of chair. The sound of James shuffling around and moving could be heard, and he seemed to be sticking on a sticky substance over different parts of her body.
"Don't worry too much, this is a normal procedure for everyone who comes to us for the first time," James said. "As long as you tell us the truth, you will be all okay."
The sound of another chair shuffling forwards was heard, and James was now sitting directly opposite Erin in the dark room.
"I just need you to answer me some simple questions, all you need to say is yes or no. Understand?" James asked.
Clearly, Erin was in no position to give snappy answers, so rather than snap back like she usually would, she complied.
"Yes," Erin replied.
*Ding
The sound of a machine to her right made a bell-like sound.
"You are Erin Hayley correct?" James asked.
"Yes."
Once again, the ding sound was heard.
"18 years old."
"No"
*Ding
"Female?"
Before answering this time, Erin paused slightly.
"No."
*Ding, *Ding.
This time the machine had rung twice instead of once.
When answering the question, Erin had answered falsely on purpose as she had a suspicion what the machine was, and now she had confirmed it. It was a Lie detector. Usually, one would have an ability user come over and check if they were telling the truth.
Since Pure didn't have many ability users, it made sense for them to use technology instead.
"Oh, so we have a smart one," James said. "It wasn't like we were trying to hide it otherwise we would have muted the rings, but if we catch you in a lie, remember this will be bad for you, very bad."
James then went on to ask Erin more questions. Most of them were very basic questions at first, mainly there to confirm she was who she said she was. Pure had done their research as soon as Layla asked for her friend to be taken in. They looked into the details and could tell her parents had died.
The next set of questions went on to confirm that she had just lost her abilities in the Truedream incident. So far it seemed like everything was going well and she indeed wasn't a spy.
All the information was currently being recorded and being sent over to the older women who stood outside the dark room.
"Are you the only one that knows about Layla's true identity as a member of Pure?" James asked.
So far, Erin had almost been answering instantly at every question that had come at her. For this one, she paused. If they were asking something like this, this meant that Pure clearly didn't want others to know Layla was there.
However, her hands were tied, even if she lied they would know. The problem was she thought about who would get the blame. Would it be Layla, or the others that knew about her?
"No." Erin replied.
At this moment, she wished she could see the expression on James's face. Perhaps it would have told her something about what they were planning to do to the others. Instead, she started to feel the fabric folded over her face once again.
When she was able to see again, this time, she seemed to finally be in a room with some sort of colour for once. The room was small, and she was currently sitting at a desk. When looking around, it looked like she was in some type of classroom that was filled with around thirty students.
The others sitting at their desks were of all different ages, but most of them were younger than Erin and looked like they would be in primary or elementary school. Just at the back of the room, James and a few other adults were present in the room as well.
When observing the room closely, she noticed that there were no windows, and it looked like the entire place was made of a metal-like material.
'Are we underground, or maybe another planet where the outside isn't safe?' she thought. While thinking of ways to escape or where they possibly were, a person stood in front and soon started to talk. He didn't say much and quickly turned on a video.
At first, Erin was quite interested in the video, but soon she realised what it was trying to do. The footage showed several reports that were never shown on TV. The bad side of the current system and how it was affecting people all over.
Videos of shelters that had been abandoned, families killed. Videos of higher ups torturing those of lower levels, while the higher levels enjoyed a life of luxury. She had to admit, it really did show the current situation of the world in a bad light, but Erin knew there were always two sides to everything. Especially as someone who lived on the other side.
Most of the people around here probably only had a painful life as a low level or being poor. In contrast, Erin was someone who had quite a luxurious life before. Not everyone was like what they were showing in the videos.
Her family was a great example of that. They had stayed behind and done everything they could to protect the citizens from a Dalki attack. Of course, Pure didn't show those types of videos.
Inside the Pure base, a meeting had been called. In a sizeable dome-like room was a long table with several seats.
At the head of the table, there were five seats each with a number on the back of the chair. Four of them were currently empty while the only one that was filled was number five.
In the seat, sat a woman, it was the same person who had been watching Erin this whole time with James complete her tasks. Spread around the room were several other seats, they too had numbers on them going from six to twenty. Nearly all of them were filled apart from a small few.
In one of the seats was James, who had the number fifteen.
The female in number five stood up, and at the same time, the rest of them stood up as well.
"Please, there is no need." The women said. "You know I don't like any of that stuff. The whole point of our organisation is to make everyone feel as if they are equal. Please sit down." She said.
The others sat down as ordered, but still, the mood in the room was quite serious.
"As you know, I'm the only single-digit here, so I am currently in charge of the base. Today's meeting is a special one, as we have been given a special task. Soon the inter military base tournament will be upon us. It's one of the only few times when all of the military base leaders gather. This will be our chance to strike." The women said.
*****
For MVS artwork follow on Instagram: jksmanga