Beyond the Light (Part 3): Disclosure

 

Note: The countries referred to or mentioned in this story are entirely fictitious and weren't used with the intent to hurt any person's sentiments or to target any particular group of people.

III. Disclosure

It was a special night. Nina and Antin's parents had cooked their favorite dishes for dinner; and it most certainly suited the occasion: the twins had finished their school year, Mrs. Gregory had been approached by a new client, and Mr. Gregory considered being alive a reason enough to celebrate. Especially due to the fact that they'd managed to be unharmed throughout the war, and today was the day it'd all end.

That night, dinner was attended by four humble smiles, each ready to begin a new phase in their life.

'This dinner was worth the wait', young Antin thought to himself as he was about to attack his borscht.

The past few weeks were exhausting for the family; they had to live in hiding. Brown paper plastered their windows, bullet storms curbed their freedom after the sun set, but most of all, they'd lost the privilege of delicious meals. They had to survive off of ready to eat consumables, but luckily, it was all over. 

Just as a spoonful of borscht entered Antin's mouth, it was as if time slowed down momentarily; and not in the best of ways.

The window's cracked and shattered onto the floor in a million pieces. Bullets whizzed past the unhostile family, and not many made it to other side. The twins dived onto the floor and pressed their hands over their heads, their ears ringing with the music of the gunfire. And as pieces of their living room flew in every direction, they looked into each others eyes, each consoling the other. They had a special connection; they would often feel each other through a telepathic connection, and this meant either of them would sometimes know if the other was in danger, and could also feel his/her pain. 

They held hands and closed their eyes, hoping that this was just a bad dream. But they knew it was one that wouldn't end.

Mr. and Mrs. Gregory didn't live to see where their children were taken that night.

Present

Nina quietly moved towards her brother's unit, her weary feet stained with blood. Her own blood, of course, but the wounds didn't hurt her anymore. She'd been at the concentration camp for a while now, and the Calonian generals made her and the other captives do all sorts of inhumane jobs. They were accustomed to laying out railway tracks in the freezing climate of the region, and quite a few even lost their lives in doing so. The captives weren't fed properly, and there were days when they didn't eat at all.

Halfway towards Antin's unit, Nina was spotted by one of the guards, and he immediately ran after her. Once he caught up with her, he pinned her to the ground and started yelling at her. 

Then, he starting punching her back.

Hearing the screams of his helpless sister, Antin slipped out of his unit and ran in their direction. Upon reaching his sister, he saw the guard beating her with a cane, and her bruised back showed through her partially torn clothes. Antin felt his blood boil, and he grabbed a crowbar lying next to the construction gate. He firmly held it, and letting out all of his suppressed pain, he swung it hard at the guard's neck.

The guard immediately collapsed, and Nina started crying. 

Antin and Nina had been beaten up a lot...after all, it's all that happened at the camp. Their wounds were never tended, and both of them had already been infected with the germs of the area, on top of the pneumonia that they'd developed over the weeks. Nina's condition, however, had been worsened by the guard. 

She started gasping for air, and Antin started to panic. He had to think fast, or his sister could lose her life. He quickly started yelling for help, and soon, a few guards arrived at the scene.

They gathered around Antin and Nina, and saw that their fellow guard had fallen onto the ground, right next to Antin, who was holding a crowbar. One of the guards shrieked and grabbed Antin by his shoulders, and kicked him in his sides.

They left Nina in the freezing snow, and moved away with Antin and the body of their comrade.

The soldiers took Antin to one of the testing chambers and locked him in there. They then summoned their unit leader and informed him about the dead comrade. The general was furious, and demanded to be taken to the boy who had allegedly claimed the life of his friend.

Upon arriving, the general, who was called "the Lider", called for the local experimenter. And once he arrived, the Lider commanded him to test the new toxic gas on Antin.

The scientist loaded the vent capsules with specimens of the gas, and as he was about to ask the Lider for a final confirmation, a messenger arrived.

"General, two scientists from Pentin have arrived, and have requested a meeting with you."

The general said, "Tell them to wait, I have a matter at hand."

The messenger replied, "General, they seem to have an urgent matter. And they also seek two children by the names of Antin and Nina Gregory."

The general told the scientist to pause the experiment, and stepped outside the room, asking the messenger to escort them.

Antin came back to his senses, and realized that he was in some kind of testing chamber. Oh, just how he wished he could be with his sister. They used to have such a happy life before the "great war"; they'd play with their magic box all day, and dream about all sorts of imaginary characters. They dreamt of pixies, gnomes, phoenixes, werewolves and all sorts of sea monsters. Through their imagination, they'd build kingdoms, create pacts, make stories....it all felt real to them. They called their world "Anitia", a name created from their own names. Those were some great days.

But all Antin had now were memories of his sister, and very little hope. So Antin started yelling, and started pounding against the walls of the chamber, hoping to attract the attention of some passing Samaritan.

Meanwhile

Egor and Anatoly waited patiently outside the chamber in which, unbeknownst to them, Antin was being held captive. The Lider opened the doors and asked the men what they wanted.

Once he realized they were authentic Calonians like himself, he decided to start a friendly conversation with the two. He told him his views on the "great war", and how much he respected it. He truly believed that one of the next wars would bring Argenia back under Calonian rule, and reassured the scientists by telling them that the army was more than prepared for an all-out attack.

Egor and Anatoly, however, were in a hurry. They excused themselves out of the general's conversation and requested him to tell them whether or not they knew where the twins were. The general said that he didn't know where they were, and claimed that he had no idea where they were. He then stated that he'd be back in a few minutes, and left for the gas scientist's chamber.

After the Lider left, Dobby the pixie made himself visible and said to the duo, "He's lying."

Anatoly immediately replied, "No. He participated for Great war. Respected man. No lie from him."

As Egor was about to protest, he heard the faint screams of a boy who seemed like he was around 10 to 12 years of age, and the sounds were coming from the room that the general just came from.

Curious, the trio decided to investigate, and gently opened the door.

As soon as the door opened, Dobby got hysterical; he'd seen his young friend after so many days, and likewise for Antin. A tear rolled down Antin's cheek, and he requested Dobby to let him out. He almost forgot that Dobby was just a figment of his imagination, and was only visible because of how powerful his and his sister's beliefs were.

The scientists were about to help, but that's when the magic cardboard box appeared in Dobby's hands, and immediately set ablaze. Dobby felt excruciating pain course through his heart, almost as if it'd been chopped in half. 

The more the box was burnt, the more Dobby started to become more and more translucent. 

When the fire was put out with the help of the scientists, only a half of the box remained, and Dobby had almost become fully transparent.

Nina was dead now, and Antin had felt it.

"Dobby! She's gone! They killed her, Dobby! They killed Nina!"

Dobby and the scientists were devastated on hearing this, but as if adding fuel to their fire, green fumes began to appear in the enclosure that Antin was in.

The doors burst open, and the Lider appeared, furious.

"I thought you both were of true Calonian blood! I should've known better than to trust your word, why are you freeing the enemy?"

Anatoly replied, "He is friend. We need him."

The general spat, "No, my brother. He is an Argenian! He deserves to die, one way or another. He possesses rebellious blood. Now step asi- what is that?"

The Lider was shocked upon seeing Dobby's ghostly figure, and before he could react, Antin started pounding on the enclosure's walls. He was starting to inhale the gas.

The box once more set ablaze, and Dobby felt the searing pain return. He felt to the ground, and clutched his chest. The scientists had no knowledge about curing a pixie and so they helplessly watched Dobby slowly fade away.

Then all hell broke loose: the lid of the box completely burnt off, opening the portal to Anitia. All magical creatures started to fly out of the box and were sent haywire all around the room. There were werewolves, pixies, phoenixes, gnomes, giants, all of whom flooded the room, but had no impact on it. They couldn't interact with the matter of this world, partially because it wasn't their realm, but mainly because Antin was dying.

Finally, as the dragons emerged, the Lider managed to shake off his awe and immediately requested help from the other soldiers.

By the time they reached though, it was too late. The creatures became fully invisible, and the once spritely young Antin now fell to the floor, never to get up again.

As the last few parts of the box burned out, the scientists and the general felt tears form at their eyes due to what they'd just witnessed. Killing off people in the name of securing their nation only resulted in the annihilation of innocent souls like the twins', who possessed whole worlds inside them.

There was a long period of silence in the room, and it felt as though it'd never end.

The End.

***

Thanks for reading! This whole series was a slightly different way of expressing that war could be a solution, but never the right one. Are wars really in the right? Would you feel proud about having won respect, if it was born out of spilt blood? Is there any greater good, if you've sacrifice what you claim to have been in the wrong. Aren't you entering a paradox?

These are the questions I had when I heard about the various wars that have been and presently are being fought by various nations. I decided to finally write something on the topic after I was made aware of the damage that was caused to the innocent citizens of some of the nations, who might not have had any say in having wars in the first place. War really does ruin lives; it seizes the lives of the defeated, and everlastingly tortures the hearts of the victors with guilt.

Thus, there is never a victor in war. 

There are just those who survive.

**

Thank you so much for reading this series, and please do let me know if you'd like similar ones in the future. Also feel free to let me know your thoughts, suggestions or any feedback in the comments section below, they really help out a ton.

That's all for this one, and I hope you stick around for the posts yet to come!

-Armaan Kothare