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Equilibrium Fan Fiction
by David W. Huang
The
Cleric
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1 | 2 | 3 |
4 | 5 | 6
| 7 | Author's
Notes
Back to the past…
Cleric Loric danced between
lines of fire as he exterminated another pair of rebels. Xian took out
four rebels simultaneously in a move that involved an aerial kick and
trick shooting with two guns. An overly elaborate move that wasn't
purely pragmatic efficiency. If he didn't know better, he would imagine
Cleric Xian was enjoying himself, but he did know better. The citizens
of Libria felt nothing, least of all Clerics and certainly not some
emotion of joy. No, they depended on rational thought and absolute
logic... they would never let the primordial stimulus-response- some
vestigial throwback of the unfortunate lizard brain still buried with
in their psyche- overrule their minds and control their actions.
Consider these rebels. They
would have to be insane- or emotional, the same thing, really- to storm
the Monastery. Even an Apprentice level Cleric was the equal of two
rebel veterans. A full Cleric could take ten easily and one like Cleric
Xian could probably eliminate a squad blind-folded as long has he was
armed and ready. Such was the mathematically perfect science of Gun
Kata. In any case, there must have been some defect in their way of
thinking- a chemical imbalance caused by emotion- to create this
desperate and irrational attack on the Monastery. Surely, they could
never succeed.
For a moment, though, even
while dodging the hail of lead that could never quite seem to catch
him, Nathan doubted himself. He knew what he had thought was Father's
line of thinking, prescribed to Libria on a regular basis. But the
truth was, in his interviews and interrogations of sense offenders to
be processed, he could see that there was rationality in their minds.
That if he could add or imagine that unknown element of emotion to his
thinking, he could almost comprehend their actions and make sense of
their twisted logic. Surely, this attack was not a random suicidal
assault. In their minds there was a reason, a purpose... what could it
be?
[*KABOOOOM!!!*]
As if in answer, an
explosions rumbled around them and the entire Monastery began to shake.
The attack was a distraction as sappers took out the Monastery with
strategically placed charges. Before Loric could convey his revelation
to Xian an explosion ripped up through the floor between them. Nathan
blacked out briefly from the concussive force and came to further down
the hallway, the building still in the process of crumbling. The world
went silent and seemed to move in slow motion to Nathan as he took in
his surroundings. There seemed to be nothing but dust and smoke in the
air, but he could make out Xian's body on the ground laying in a pool
of blood, across the gaping pit between them. He tried to rise and
found it impossible, he looked down to see a large jagged fragment of
metal sticking through his thigh, his pants soaked in dark red blood.
Woozy, he felt like he was a million miles from his injury as he
stretched out his hand to try and touch it. As he tried to stretch that
endless distance the whole world fell into darkness.
A gripping swirl of almost
infinite darkness and tension washed over Nathan as he thrashed against
the panic and fear threatening to overwhelm him. He had no index from
which to compare what was happening to him to. His entire body was in
rebellion against him, his heart beating impossibly fast yet feeling as
if it had stopped, his skin sweating a cold putrid perspiration, yet a
chill gripped his core. On top of that his head burned, ached, and was
fuzzy and his muscles failed to respond. If he wasn't suffering from
intense fever, he might have realized he had experienced his first
emotion.
"Good to see you're awake,"
soothed an elderly voice as consciousness slipped from him once again.
"...how lucky you are. A
bona fide miracle my friend, a true miracle. Looks like God still has
some work for you on this Earth yet."
Nathan was still groggy and
his eyelids seemed too heavy to open, but he could hear fairly quickly.
The man speaking seemed to think he was listening... had he been? He
could hardly remember. The soft voice continued to flow as if chatting
with an old friend.
"Found you at the end of
that sewer pipe, nearly bled out. Was told to leave you to die but I
simply couldn't. Triage is hardheaded, but I'm in the business of hope.
They couldn't spare any blood for you with all the other wounded, so I
spared my own. I hope you don't mind. Ha hah. Not a doctor but I
managed to clean your wound and keep infection at bay... though you've
been in a fever for nearly a week now. You can keep this piece of metal
as a souvenir, it'll be here for you when you're better. Jenny says you
should have it melted down and put into the shape of a cross to wear,
but I think that's silly and besides we don't know if you're a
Believer. Perhaps that's why God kept you around while the rest of Oz
Company went to see Him... give you another chance to make peace with
Him, eh? Ha hah. No hurry, no rush, you will be well enough soon to
live a long and happy life in our new and free Republic soon! The
Republic you fought so hard to bring about and nearly gave your life
for! You're a hero my friend! A hero and a miracle!"
"He's not awake, is he?"
quipped a child's voice.
"Hm, no, I don't know,
maybe, perhaps. He was awake briefly twice yesterday. In fact he spoke
once, saying... Father... and I assured him the plan had worked and
that Father was dead, but I think he went to sleep again before he
heard me. Why do you ask?"
"It was rhetorical, I know
he's not awake now or he wouldn't let you babble on like that Brother
Martin."
The elderly man laughed and
scolded the youth. While the two discussed other trivial matters
relating to supplies, gatherings, weather, and so on, Nathan tried to
process what he'd heard. This man had found him and nursed him back to
health apparently under some misconception of who he was. Father was
dead and the rebels had won. Libria had fallen. Vertigo and panic swept
over him and he fought to maintain his composure on his cot. These...
physiological responses- feelings- had to be the result of missing his
intervals of Prozium during his recuperation. He had to get a grip.
Father wasn't dead... he
couldn't be dead. The security protecting Father was undefeatable. Even
if the rebels had somehow managed to take Libria, Father- and probably
most of the Council- was safe and in hiding. Nathan just had to survive
until he could make contact with them. For now, he was in an
advantageous position.
Cleric Loric was the first
investigator to uncover rebel infiltrators in the system. Since then,
the idea of infiltrating the rebels in turn had been on his mind. He
honed his practice of the intuitive arts. He acted and emulated, trying
his best to enter the mind of the sense offenders. When he had felt his
skills were sufficient to the task, he proposed the scheme to Vice
Council DuPont, who said he would explore the proposal and get back to
him.
Now, whether DuPont approved
or not he was going to put his proposal into practice.
"Boy, hey. Where am I?"
"Don't call me a boy!", the
large eyed child- a girl, apparently- protested.
"Now, now, don't take it
personally Jenny... the man's disoriented. Friend, you're in the
Catacombs." Nathan knew of the Catacombs. They were the now defunct
sewer systems of the Nether. The Council would have ordered them swept
but resources were tight for such an endeavor. "You were extremely
lucky, this piece of steel went through your leg without severing a
major artery or muscle group. If you keep off your leg for a while it
should be fine in no time. Oh, forgive me, I'm Brother Martin and this
is my little assistant and friend, Jennifer."
"Call me Jen."
"Right, sorry, Jenny." She rolled her
eyes but seemed to acquiesce. Brother Martin's smile never faded. "I'm
sure you have many questions but you've barely eaten anything while you
were sick. Let's get some food in you and we'll explain how we found
you."
They were good to their
word. Nathan took the mostly silent approach trying to absorb as much
information as possible. Apparently, they assumed he was one of the
suicidal rebels who demolished the Monastery. His signature gear had
been stripped off one of cells dubbed Oz Company. Jen's father had been
in that unit, but due to the double blind cell system, they couldn't
know he wasn't a member of Oz. That cell structure, which had been the
bane of the Cleric interrogator, was now the boon of this Cleric
infiltrator.
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