The Light of Hope
By: Chibi-chan
*
“Darling, what are you doing up?” an Elw woman asked upon noticing the man that should be sleeping in bed with her was staring out the window instead. The Elw woman herself was not particularly out of the ordinary; she had the trademark long, fuzzy ears, the average height for an Elw, a perfectly normal hair color (light brown), and eyes that matched her hair. Nothing except for those whose company she kept was unusual.
“The others… the others who aren’t as fortunate as me…” the man at the window muttered. His blue hair, in disarray from having been slept on briefly, looked nearly gray in the moonlight. His red-brown eyes held a far-off gaze as he continued to look outside.
“Still thinking about that, Shin?” the Elw woman asked, quickly understand what was troubling him. “There’s nothing you can do about it right now, so please, come back to bed.”
The man, Shin, half-turned to look at her. “How can I sleep when the others of my kind are sent off to their deaths, either by way of war or way of exile?! You know they only let you keep me around because you say it’s for ‘research’, Melinda! How, how can they…” he said, trailing off, unable to say any more without breaking down completely.
Melinda grinned at him and said, “Ah, but it is research, in a way. A test to see how emotional you can be and to see if you can indeed reproduce.” She rose from the bed, walked over to him, and held him close. “I know, it hurts to watch what is going on, but this is war. It’s not pretty, and it’s not moral or ‘right’. There are sympathizers among my kind and the humans, and they’re doing all they can for now. After this is over, maybe they can be accepted, but for now… well, I don’t want to talk in circles, so I won’t finish the thought,” she said soothingly, stroking his hair.
“Melinda…” he murmured, reciprocating the embrace.
*
Shin had plenty to worry about when it came to his own kind. The barracks where what the Elw dubbed the “Fighter class” of Holmcross resided was something that resembled a prison more than a place for soldiers to reside. The members of the Fighter class had to be restrained and separated from one another to ensure that they wouldn’t kill each other. That was what the Elw feared in their creations; when they were willing to fight, they would fight anything. It took an electrified collar around their necks to subdue them at the end of the battle so that they wouldn’t end up killing those they were supposed to help. They were fed regularly, but not very well. The roof leaked, and there were only a few windows in the place. In short, it was an above-ground dungeon.
The so-called “Pacifist class” were no better off than the Fighters. Being rejected by society in general, they had no choice but to wander aimlessly in the war-torn land, searching for a place to belong but never finding it or to gather in small, poor villages and slums a careful distance outside human and Elw towns and cities. Only the more hopeful of the Pacifists chose the former choice. There was fear of even these peaceful types, fear that they were simply more subtle than the others and would plan an uprising after the war’s end. There was some justification to this fear, for there were sympathizers and some Holmcrosses that really were just more subtle that formed the Freedom Alliance, an underground movement to gain equal rights through rebellion.
Little wonder Shin had problems sleeping. Could you sleep knowing that others, those you very well could consider family, were forced to live in conditions like that?
*
“So, Mel, what’s on for today? Just the usual generic tests you do to keep them at bay?” Shin asked. They were currently in the laboratory Melinda worked for that enabled Shin to stay with her.
“No,” she said, “There’s an entirely different test that must be performed today.”
Shin became worried. There were “tests” that were supposedly taken on others of his kind, from which they never returned. Although sure in his knowledge Melinda would do everything in her power to keep that from happening to him, it was a grim fact that hung over the head of all Holmcrosses. “Test?”
“Yes,” Melinda replied, “But it’s not for you.”
“Huh? Not for me?” he asked.
“Correct,” she replied with a nod.
“Then what kind of test is it? And for who?” he asked. This was terribly frustrating for him, although this type of scenario was rather common. Melinda liked taking the roundabout way of telling people things whenever she could.
“Oh, it’s nothing, just a routine pregnancy test…” Melinda said, a mischievous glimmer in her eyes.
Shin froze, staring at her upon recognizing the point she was getting at. A cavalcade of mixed emotions fell upon him. For all the fear and happiness that had overtaken him, there was an overall sense of complete and utter shock that grabbed him and refused to let go. “You… you… you’re… you might be…” he stammered.
Melinda, grinning, nodded. “Looks like one of the research agendas just might have been filled.”
After hearing the words come from her mouth, Shin did the only thing he could do.
He fainted.
Melinda looked down upon her fallen darling. “Maybe I should had told you to sit down first,” she said.
*
Time passed, like it tends to do, and indeed, a child was born of the pair. It was about six months after the child was born a terrible thing happened to the three.
“What do you mean you need to ‘examine’ my child?!” Melinda cried, clutching her baby and taking a few steps away from her superior. She was now cursing the fact that she told Shin to go on ahead to home before her that day.
Her superior took his title of “superior” very seriously. There was such an air of arrogance around him even the Pacifists would feel a slight urge to smack him. He had long black hair that appeared to not have been washed in quite some time and narrow eyes that seemed to see right through oneself. “Why, this child could help us discover a way to calm the Fighters after the war, among other things,” he said.
The “among other things” part greatly distressed Melinda, or would have, if all her distress wasn’t focused on the possibility of losing her child. “I am sorry, sir, but I cannot allow you to take her away from me,” she replied with as much calmness as she could gather.
Her superior sneered. “Very well, if you won’t volunteer her, then we must use… other means.” A few seconds later, Melinda had collapsed on the floor, a tranquilizer dart sticking out of her neck. The superior picked up the child and, looking at Melinda, said, “That’s the price for insubordination. I hope you enjoy your time in lock up, my dear lady.”
*
It was later that night Shin received some disturbing news. A messenger told him that his “associate” Melinda and his child were both dead, and that he was to leave town by sunrise or else be subjected to “tests”. No details on what happened to them were mentioned, but Shin could only guess what happened.
After the messenger was gone, Shin fell apart. Figuratively speaking, of course, because although partly mechanical in nature, Holmcrosses still leave quite a mess if they literally come apart. In the first time in his life, he committed the first (Although still mild, relatively speaking) violent acts in his life. He threw things with intent to destroy. He put holes in the walls with his fists. He kicked the cat. The cat clawed him in return and he winced and kicked it again. All the while, one main thought and its sub-thoughts ran through his head: Why? Why this? Why them? Why now?
He eventually wound up in the baby’s room. The final line of resistance inside him broke upon looking at what was, up until recently, one of the few things that still gave him hope. All he could do then was fall to his knees and cry.
*
The slums. Quite simply, it was a sucky place to live. Child and adult alike wore but rags if they were lucky. Thievery was rampant, and the law was just a suggestion there. Since there was no real sewage system, it didn’t exactly smell like a dozen roses. However, if one lived there long enough, one stopped noticing. One stopped caring as well, for there was no way out for those who lived there. It was a dead end, a void the sucked the hope out of anyone. There was the place Shin had to reside since the alleged deaths of Melinda and their child.
To say it was completely devoid of hope was not completely true, for there the Freedom Alliance was gaining ground in terms of membership. A perfect place for someone who was still suffering from what he considered a great injustice. Thus, Shin soon fell in with them; those who could promise what had happened to him would not happen to someone else.
It was also how Shin found out what really happened to his little family…
*
The Freedom Alliance itself was made of a truly motley assortment of people. There were not just Holmcrosses there, but many Hiadans who had defected, a wide selection of humans, and even a few Elws. All had one focus: equal rights for all the races on Filgaia. Many outside the group saw them as terrorists, which was not such a stretch of the truth for there were some splinter groups that did fall into that trapping proudly. The main body of the group did not wish to harm others, but if it had to come to that, they would go through with it.
Anyway, a day weeks from that ill-fated day, an older Elw with connections inside the laboratory delivered information to the group about what was going down there. “It seems that the rumors are indeed true,” he began, “in that, I must shamefully say, that those inside Garabaldi Laboratories are in fact trying to find ways to lawfully execute those who refused to surrender their children of half-Hiadan blood. But there is also something strange going on in there…”
Someone toward back of the room asked, “Strange how?”
The old Elw shook his head. “Perhaps it is best we ask the person my contacts smuggled out that question…” he replied. He stepped aside and gestured for someone in the next room to come in. “Enter, dear lady, and tell your tale,” he said gently.
Shin, who was sitting in a chair a yard or so away, was startled to see who stepped in the door. “Melinda?!”
The Elw woman, recognizing the voice, turned to face its source. “Shin?!”
“Melinda!” Shin cried. He got out of his seat and raced to her to embrace her. “Melinda, they said you were dead!”
Melinda, clutching him in return, said, “They wished. Although I might be dead in a minute if you don’t loosen your grip so I can breathe!”
Shin obliged and relaxed the death hold he had her in, but didn’t let go completely. “Melinda… I know I should be happy that at least you’re still alive, but what about…?”
He didn’t have to finish the question. Melinda already knew he was worried about their child. “She’s… She really is dead, but she didn’t die right away,” she said. She broke away from Shin and turned away. “I don’t know all the details, but they most likely put her through ‘the gauntlet’, the full spectrum of tests, including those ones… those ones I dare not even think of, and probably a full autopsy, all in the name of ‘science’ and ‘future means of defense’.”
Shin looked down and away for a moment, then looked up and put his arms around her again. “A… At least you’re all right, and we’re together again…” he said softly to her.
She turned her face to him. “Oh, Shin…”
The old Elw cleared his throat. “I hate to breakup a reunion like this, but dear lady, is not the news you bear urgent?” he asked with a bit of regret.
Shin, understanding, let go and backed away as Melinda began to tell of what she knew. “I don’t know this directly, but a dear friend who kept an eye out for myself, my child, and for anything suspicious goings on informed me before I escaped that my former superiors at the lab have nearly perfected a nanotech virus that’s sole purpose if to wipe out the Holmcross race. The war is winding down, and after it’s safe to eliminate the Fighters without significantly reducing the odds of victory, they plan on releasing it on every man, woman, and child in the barracks and in the slums. My guess is that it will attack only those of a metallic nature. After all, what would be the good of releasing a plague that could kill them as well. If so, then the Hiadans are potentially at risk of succumbing to whatever illness it will cause.” She stopped briefly to compose herself for what was to come next in her report. “Also, after researching several children of half-Hiadan blood and… and one of half-Holmcross/half-Elw origins… they have come up with a new breed of Holmcross that, they hope, would be more manageable than the current Fighters. Unfortunately, as I said, they plan on wiping out the new model along with the old when they feel the time is right.”
A murmur spread across the room. Things did not look good for the alliance. The older Elw stepped forward and called for silence. “Certain key notes that were leaked to us indicate that this new breed, if it survives, might be the key to blurring the distinctions between us and bringing about true unity! We must not let it die!” he said. He paused for effect. “However, we have a bigger worry to deal with now. This virus Miss Ivanova has mentioned could mean the end of all races on Filgaia! This is our objective: to disable the nanotech virus before it is unleashed and to rescue the prototype before it is terminated! Our strategists will deliberate and find the best course of action. For now, you are all dismissed.”
*
Shin peered cautiously out the window of his small quarters through a crack in the cloth that functioned as curtains. Genocide… That’s what they’re planning… How horrible… we can’t let this happen. We can’t let those… those…those child-killing bastards to get away with this, he thought.
Melinda sat up in bed and looked at him. He’s at the window again. He’s always there when he’s distressed. I just wish I could help him… she thought, But what do I do? What should I say? “Shin…”
“… you didn’t let her go without resistance, right? Or else they wouldn’t have locked you up, right?” he asked, still staring out the window.
She shook her head. “Of course I resisted letting her go. I couldn’t just let them take my little girl away. I should have seen a trap set up as soon as that rat bastard supervisor of mine mentioned experimenting on her…” she said, somewhat bitterly.
“… we’ll stop them. We’ll stop them from doing that to anyone else’s child, right?” he asked, this time looking directly at her.
She nodded. “Right. Now try to get some sleep, OK? You can’t do anything if you’re half-asleep, you know.”
*
The mission took place a week later. Two parties were selected; one group to dispatch the virus, the second to steal the prototype. Shin and Melinda fell into the latter group. With information leaked to the Freedom Alliance and Melinda’s knowledge of Garabaldi Laboratories in general, they hoped to be in, out, and gone before any higher-ups were notified and with as few casualties as possible.
All seemed to be going well until on member of group one uttered the worst possible thing you’d want to hear during a mission: “Oops…”
Security was notified. All those in group one were either killed or captured. Group two had little time left…
*
“Damn, someone triggered the security alarm!” Melinda growled. “We don’t have much more time, Shin!” She looked around. “Shin?”
*
Shin, although a very loyal fellow, had a terrible sense of direction. He had gotten lost despite having followed Melinda and François, a Hiadan that had been assigned to the team with them, most of the way. For once, however, his horrible sense of direction led him to the right place. In a tube with enchanted mechanisms to keep whatever was in it in suspended animation was a child. By the number on the tube, Shin recognized it as the prototype. “Bingo!” he muttered under his breath, “Now to find the others…”
*
He found them, all right, but not in the condition he had hoped. François was already dead, and Melinda was bleeding pretty badly. “Oh Guardians… Melinda!” he cried out, not caring about the threat to his safety it brought. He kneeled next to her and set the tube with the child down. “Melinda, please don’t die…”
“Sh… Shin?” she said, weakly looking up at him.
“Melinda…”
“Shin… I won’t lie, I won’t… beat around… the bush for once…” she said, “I won’t make it. They’ll be coming back… Take the child and go…”
“I won’t leave you!” Shin proclaimed.
“You… have to… for our child…”
“Our child?” he asked.
“Yes, our… child… She was killed for its existence. She… lives on… Go, bear… the light of hope… The light… I see it… Shin…” she said. With her last breath, she repeated, “Shin…”
“Mel…” he whispered. He looked at the child in the tube. Her last request… I have to fulfill it… he thought before picking up the tube and hoping he could make it out in time…
*
After setting the precious prototype down in the cave, Shin wrote a letter he hoped would not be lost to the winds of time, a letter for the future. He didn’t put down every detail and even glossed over some of the more painful ones. They didn’t have to know his pain, they just had to take care of that child; the one Melinda called the “Light of Hope”…
*
“Eh? What’s this?” Zepet Roughnight said upon discovering a piece of plastine, a type of writing material from the era of the Demon War, near a tube with the glass covered in centuries worth of debris. He picked it up and read aloud to himself, “To the one who finds this child…”
*
To the one who finds this child…
Time is running out, not only for me, but my whole kind as well. I’m thankful that that Elw scientist gave me warning of what was to come. She had also seen fit to let me take on the task of letting me take with me what she and much of the others of my kind that were not affected by bloodlust as the “Light of Hope” and find a safe place for him.
You see, although our kind was made for war, there were some who disliked fighting and taking the lives of others, even though the enemies were called “demons”. They called us “rejects”, and thus we were shunned, even less liked than those few who were born having one parent one of the “demons”. Ironically, many of those children were called to fight for the humans and Elw because of their innate skill with the ARMs that were taken from the “demons”. It’s always so sad to see children get caught up in war. One way or another, however, our “Light of Hope” will not be forced to fight or be cast into an exile if he doesn’t want to do so.
This child that I carry with me, the one we call our “Light of Hope”, carries all of our hopes that our kind will still survive, and that at least one of us may see a day where neither human, Elw, and even the “demons” will feel a need to be at war with each other.
I leave this child here for his own safety. I pray that when he awakens, the virus the fearful humans and Elws sent to destroy all of our kind will be gone, unable to complete its mission. To whoever finds our “Light of Hope”, please take good care of him. Teach him there are other ways to live other than a life of fighting. Teach him that just because he has a special power, he shouldn’t use it unless he has a good purpose to do so. Most of all, instill in him that there will always be a future and that he should do what he can to ensure it will be bright.
Whoever finds this note, please respect my final wish. I, Shin, only wish I could take care of him and see this future for myself, but now that is impossible. Our “Light of Hope” must carry on at all costs! Our kind, the Holmcross, must not end like this! For our future… and your own… watch over the “Light of Hope”…
*
End
The light of hope never fades away completely…
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