Chapter 1: Prologue
"Hum, I'm sure I know this street. I saw it before...was it yesterday ?"
Daphné heaved a long sigh, "I think I'm lost...again !" and she flopped down right here on the sidewalk.
"Ouch ! Damn, the ground is so low !" Turning her head right and left, she tried to find the citadel. At the very center, the square building called "Ark" was looming over the rest of the town. Daphné hated this bleak place, this "Ark", which gave its name to Ark City. She only found it useful when it helped and guided her during her nightly outings. When the back alleys melted into the fog, lightly sprinkled with a few wan lights, the imposing mass was a vital landmark. Still, one had to be above ground and lucid enough to go back to the dorm.
Evenings spent with Nicolas often lasted a long time, going on and on until late. He was always surrounded by girls from the offensive group, the "Shadow Girls", each one a true beauty. And among them, first of them all, Bertille the second-in-command. Jealousy was gnawing at Daphné, therefore she always only came back to the dorm after Nicolas took his leave. She really wanted to keep her eyes on him at all times. Just the thought of leaving him alone with the girls was enough to fill her heart with dread. Because of her young age, everyone treated her like a cheerful and frivolous kid. If only they knew...
The young girl then realized that she was still holding a bottle of alcohol and started to empty it thoroughly. Even though the liquid was burning her throat, it also warmed her. Like a fuel, it turned out to be essential the nights she had to meet up with the group and prepare for a raid or even move into action. That and the pills given by Nicolas.
She rummaged through her own pockets and only found a red pill and a green one. She selected the green pill and took it with her slender fingers to have a better look at it. It was so tempting, even alluring. How many did she already take ?
Slowly, she gently rolled the tiny sphere between her thumb and forefinger. Exhilarating Green, a strong psychoactive pill. A genuine concentrated sample of the great Nicolas' expertise. A real fortune as well. "So small but so expensive !"
Heaving a resigned sigh, she swallowed the drug with a generous draft of alcohol. She definitely needed this in order to go back to her limited and second-rate life. Luckily, she worked with Colette and she also had Chloé, her twin sister, her double but better.
Daphné suddenly stood up with a leap. She couldn't stay slumped and idle. She could feel the substance electrifying her limbs, as if Nukledeus Itself made her blood boil.
In her eyes, the dim lights started to sparkle, the walls rippled, Daphné started to dance. She was even shaking her head to increase the euphoria. She felt so good but totally intoxicated. When the flash passed by, she felt revived, renewed. She had no fear, everything was possible, even lying once more to Chloé. Resolute, she started to run towards the north staircase. Slender and nimble, she leaped from one cobblestone to another without paying any mind to the obstacles on her way. Without noticing, she started to climb the stairs while dancing.
"Ah, Sweet Chloé ! So honest and straight-forward until the end of time. Love makes me giddy and the wind of freedom blows me so far away from you. I wanna feel the living energy coursing through our veins, so much stronger than any Nukledeus. Life is so beautiful ! I'm so light, I feel like flying !"
Daphné performed a last dance step, spinning on one leg, before jumping. As if moved by their own freewill, her feet left the railing. Her body and heart soared, together with a cry of ecstasy...before falling down, three meters below, in the ice-cold water of a pond full of reeds.
As usual, Colette was tailing Daphné in the cold night. She didn't go to meet the "No-Lights" of course. Shadow Girls or whatever, these rebels and heretics didn't deserve to bask in the light of God. Nukledeus should only impart its light and energy to its worshipers. Shadow Girls was a truly befitting name for a group of No-Lights !
Colette sure didn't want to associate with suspicious people, she wanted to avoid problems. So, she was only waiting by a fountain, until Daphné went by, on her way back to Chloé in the dorm for interns. Daphné was her friend. They met for the first time during their Initiation ceremony.
They were lying side by side before being put to sleep. Then they would wake up in the light, after donating their women organs. Both girls were so young and frightened despite their faith.
After maturing, their organs were to be kept in the "Materna" in order to produce some wonderful and pure children for the global benefit of all arkians.
Growing up, the two young girls happened to be in the same group for multi-field-internships. Daphné helped Colette in the nursery, caring for the babies and younger children. She was really gifted with human relationships, everybody liked her even the small ones. On the other hand, Colette's expertise resided in meticulous tasks such as, for instance, produce and implant embryos in the hatchery. With time, both teens became inseparable, two bosom buddies.
Colette, the rational one, wished to protect her friend, especially from her own self when her enthusiasm led her astray, on side roads full of traps and pitfalls.
When Daphné became interested in the rebel group, Shadow Girls, some Mona warned Colette. She had to watch over her friend during her nightly outings, discreetly escort her between their dorm and the fountain, then wait for her to return. Colette followed the instructions to the letter, acting by the book as usual.
On this particular night, Colette felt infinitely grateful towards this Mona as she dove in the pond to fish Daphné out before she drowned. The young woman was unconscious. After some long and laborious minutes in the murky water, Colette pulled her friend through the reeds towards the bank. She still had to get her out of the water. Their soaked uniforms made her movements clumsier than usual and Daphné didn't help at all, her dead weight denying any kind of cooperation. Skinny Colette had to draw on her own resources in order to provide the effort needed to save her friend. And at the end of her rope, she resolved herself to settle her at the foot of the bridge crossing over the pond, sheltered from unwanted attention.
Exhausted, Colette didn't know what to do. She decided to go back and take a dry uniform for Daphné. She couldn't let anybody know otherwise it would be detrimental to her friend but she wished she could do more. She didn't have any strength left to carry her all the way to the dorm and she wanted, at least, to keep her from being caught red-handed.
Colette collected herself, gathered her remaining strength and set off. The icy water was still dripping from her bald scalp, her clothes were sticking to her limbs, sometimes, her sight would become blurred due to her exhaustion and she would lean on a nearby wall until the dizzy spell receded. Often stumbling, slightly staggering, she finally managed to keep going and reached her small room in the dorm. Her door was barely shut before she fainted. She woke up, several hours later, sprawled on the floor.
Ashamed of her weakness and worried about Daphné, Colette resigned herself to going to work, for the time being, leaving her friend to Nukledeus's benevolence.
Sheltered under the bridge, Daphné awoke a little before dawn with a splitting headache : a true hangover. She felt sore all over. Every muscle, every joint was aching and seemed to protest with each movement. She then realized that her clothes were crumpled and still wet as if they had to dry directly on her skin.
Suppressing her screams, so as not to draw the attention of early workers nor worsen her hangover, she stood carefully and went back on her way to her room. She didn't have any memories of the previous night except for a feeling of ethereal well-being. The events that happened after she swallowed the Exhilarating Green pill seemed to be drowned in a multi-colored fog.
Daphné walked into the room she shared with Chloé. Her sister was already up. She seemed upset and in a bad mood. The prospects of this day looked bleak. Daphné remembered that Chloé's current internship was located in the sperm-factory. The thought of inserting the milking machines on the males organs just out of the warming case, then to endure the smell of hundreds of sperm-samples going together in the mixer then the decanter to separate the impurities all day long and lastly, to watch the slimy disgorging, looking like translucent vomit, she had to spoon randomly to test the batch, was enough to make her feel sick, especially this early in the morning. Chloé's stress level was at its highest.
Daphné plastered a sympathetic and slightly apologetic look on her face, faked a smile with her lips and greeted Chloé. The latter raised her head and thrust her piercing and hard gaze in her twin's eyes. Without blinking, Daphné braced herself before the upcoming storm. Chloé reached out, grasped her sister's collar and forcefully slammed her against the wall. If she didn't know her twin better, Daphné would have sworn she was facing her worst enemy.
Fury and maybe hatred distorted Chloé's harmonious features, so similar to her twin's. Her ears were a scarlet shade and this hue was quickly spreading to her neck and face. She tightened her grip on her sister's collar, maybe she wanted to strangle her ?
At long last, she took a step back and released Daphné who slid down and sat on the floor, her wobbly legs resisting her attempts to remain standing.
Chloé was breathing heavily after her bout of anger but her steel-blue eyes only showed coldness and stubbornness.
"Where were you again last night ? This is the last time I stand in for you at the Worshiping ceremony and the very last time I take both mine and your dose of chemiocs !", she said, gnashing her teeth. Overdoses of therapy did not improve her temper.
Still seated on the floor, Daphné sighed, relieved. She disliked fighting with Chloé. She took her time to place her legs more comfortably before answering with a calm voice :"You are definitely right. From now on, I won't bother you anymore. I decided to join the Shadow Girls. This time, I will go to the dark side once and for all."
When she heard these words, Chloé's face became ashen. She wanted to scream but her throat was tied shut, the lump in her throat preventing any word from going through her lips.
"No, you can't. Don't do that, you're not like them, don't go with the No-Lights ! Don't leave me...", her heart was screaming but her mouth remained silent.
It was useless, too late. Daphné slowly lifted her left sleeve and Chloé, stunned and petrified, whispered "Nukledeus...". On Daphné's forearm, linked to a catheter, was transplanted a portable syringe, the same as all the No-Light rebels. It was a one-way trip. No way back. Daphné stood up and opened the door. She looked back one last time before closing behind her, "Farewell, Chloé" and she left, never to come back again.
Regaining her consciousness, Chloé hurried to the door. "Daphné, come back : Don't leave me !" The door was locked. Chloé kicked the door, hit it with her fists, she called her sister, yelling or pleading to be let out. Despite all her efforts, she remained locked inside. She then frantically searched for the keys, pushing or tossing her meticulously arranged belongings. Her hands were shaking, her tears were overflowing and blurred her sight. When she finally managed to go out, Daphné was long gone.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone