The Rise Of The Consortium

Going to the evening patrolling job from her late afternoon party with her friends at the local cafe, Rio Tarnilier saw a broken fence on the road near a garden. No one should be there at that time. Struggling to put it aside, she saw a group of young boys around a woman with darker hair. Most of the women in this city had lighter hair. Her presence here could mean only one thing, that she was from the Zolzeim, the island. And they were not allowed in the city without any emergency reasons.

Feeling utterly terrified of whatever was going to come, she put away the broken fence and hid behind the bushes surrounding the fence and thought about what she should do. Having an interaction with the islanders was also forbidden.

A series of thunderous laughter felt familiar to Rio. Maybe the woman was in danger. Or maybe she was lost in the city by chance and these boys were troubling her. She must do something.

"Go there." A voice rang behind Rio's ear. "Who's this?" She jumped and tried to turn around to see who it was, but couldn't move her head. She realised that no one was there. It sounded close to her yet felt so distant.

She then looked at the group inside the garden and was horrified to see the lighted weapons on both sides. The woman had a dark blue broadsword while one of the boys had bright red longsword.

"Go there". One more time Rio heard the voice. Now it sounded soothing yet had the sense of urgency. She had to go and stop them.

Just when the boy advanced towards the woman, his longsword ready to attack, Rio jumped into the garden. "Hey kid,stop it" , now she was running towards the group with her shiny identity card and turning the blank part towards them. Catching her breath she kept her card upright to scan their faces. "What you are doing here at this time? Please all of you go back to your home before it gets dark." The boy with the longsword stopped in his place and turned to look at Rio. Both of them were equally shocked. This was Kysop Maning, the youngest of the great Maning family who shouldn't be bothered with. Not to mention he is the beloved brother of Kner Maning, the heartthrob of the whole Katokzeim, where every girl vows to do anything to get him but his only attention is only on our Rio who is extremely delighted and also subject to scornful discussions among young women.

So he was there on his private business. She did a grave mistake to step on this live-wire. This would cause a great disappointment to Kner Maning when he would know his love interest defamed one of his family members. Now that the card done scanning but her hand was frozen, she tried to shift her gaze towards the woman who was not behind the group anymore.

"Did anyone heard someone saying 'kid'?" He smoothed his mint green hair. "Is anyone among you a 'kid'? Inform this lady if anyone of you is a 'kid'." Here came another round of laughter, among the signature laugh of Kysop Maning.

How did she fail to recognize this when clearly she heard that laugh every time she met the Manings? If she had trusted her ears she wouldn't have to face such an emotion draining lecture in this public place although no one was there except a bunch of wrecking kids or better, grown ups. But that would soon make it to the headlines.

"You know what? You're the kid. Who have you this job who doesn't even know I'm turning 18 in the nightend?" Kysop's longsword now neither gave off that red color nor it had the blades to see.

"Don't bother with this girl, brother Kner will handle this, let's go relish our prize." another boy from the group who had vibrant pink hair looked up and down Rio's body and gave a smirk but she had a hard time knowing what meant.

"Ah, you're right." Rio felt relieved to see their head turn away. Now he was staring at the empty spot where the dark haired woman stood. Rio hadn't understood yet how the woman could vanish without any movement. And even if she went, where would she be?

But the silence was uncomfortable as the group searched the woman, while Rio clutched her card so hard wishing not to give the signal but her duty generally involves reporting such nuisances. Then from a corner of the garden, a bright bluish white fell on everyone with a blaring alarm that made all block their ears. Rio wished the alarm to make her fall on the ground so that she had an excuse for her act.

But soon the boys realised what she had done, Kysop charged at her with his empty weapon, only its hilt visible. "What have you done?" he thought she might move back with his approaching step, but her feet planted there.

"Where have you hid her?" Rio baffled at that thought. How could she hide a person? Moreover, how could she hide a person whom she barely knew? "How are you being so brave and all, you stupid 'kid'? Is it my brother's influence on your soft heart?" Kysop was now moving his hand fast where he had his sword to reveal its blade.

"Or that useless app everyone is crazy about?". All those words went by her head and couldn't understand what was he ranting about. She focused on her legs to move them back but as if glued to the ground, couldn't shake a bit.

"Surely brother has spoiled you by making you his girlfriend. You think you deserve it? When would you decline his offer, you disgrace of our Katokzeim?". At this point Rio couldn't see anything clearly. Her tears blurred her vision. She bent her head down and muffled her nose not to make any sound or to show them her tear messed face. Her mistake of being his girlfriend was now eating her. Although she might have got used to such comments in her workplace, but today she failed to control herself.

"So you have the guts to Charge against us? You foul?" he steadied his hand as if he has got a real sword. "Do you know how many Charges are against your family? Or in other words, do you know what are those? Hah, you might not even know who exactly has the charges". Without caring about the state of her face, her eyes shot up to look at him. How can he know what her family is up to? Was there any news all over the Katokzeim but she didn't get to know any?

"There's news that your Mom was seen at the Smoke Swirl more often than anyone else. Now you might know what that might mean. I wonder how she never--" Died yet? Rio's eyes filled with tears thinking about such a possibility. People who were seen there didn't last longer. People are said to be touched by unending trauma those who wander there. She could never imagine her mother having such problems. How these bunch of youths knew but not Rio? As she was going to ask him how he knew these, she saw his hands slowly raising the weaponless hilt.

"Soon you'd end up there and then out of our Katokzeim." Kysop's low growl raised hair behind Rio's neck. Slowly the weaponless hilt gave off reddish light and metal began to materialize. It now looked like a dagger. Its tip touched Rio's throat. Before he could push his weapon further, another metal clanked underneath.

"Weren't you missing me, eh?" The dark haired woman made Kysop go back, making him weaponless. Suddenly the blaring alarm fell silent and three officers made their way into the chaotic crowd inside the garden. Two of them guarded the gang so that none of them could to try to flee the garden. Neither they can come in contact with the fatal light band surrounding the fence nor they can cross it being alive.

The head among the three looked at Rio. "So, you're the one to report, Ms. Tarnilier? Why aren't you in your evening shift yet? And what are you doing here at this time?"

"Sir, I-- I was on my--wa--way but, I--".She felt as if life was draining out of her voice.

"And what about you all? What are you doing here at this time?" The officer was now looking at Kysop and his gang. His disgruntled face soon changed into nervous one when he realised the presence of the woman.

Rio felt she needed a place to hide instead of facing all these wrath from so many people. First, the most important member of the Manings and then this officer, JD Coulner, who trusts her no matter how she is seen in the society. She wondered what this woman might have for her. But that woman was rather looking relaxed as if she's watching an interesting movie.

"Miss, do you need any help in this city? I suppose you're lost on your way". That's all the officer could say. He was not fond of issues caused by such outsiders but had no courage to prevent those happening. In this case, somehow Rio didn't let anything happen.

"No officer, I'm here on my work regarding Ms. Tarnilier." The woman shot a smile towards Rio who felt shuddered instead.

"I'm sure you must be from the Zolzeim. So before you can interact with our citizen, you have to come with us to do some formalities." The JD Coulner was already losing his patience with useless kids taking his time and now to handle the case of an islander woman on his own was becoming more difficult.

"I've already got my entry pass so I can meet anyone here." The woman raised her palm which reflected light showing the officer the city logo and some scribbled information. Feeling satisfied, the officer glanced at Rio.

"But you've to allow Ms. Tarnilier to come with us." The woman was unwilling to let Rio go so easily. She had a purpose to be in this city and she'll get it done.

"Then I'm coming with you. I'll have a little talk with her after her work gets over." Her light smile never faded from her face all these time.

Maybe Coulner agreed to the woman, Rio couldn't say because she saw him speaking to his receiver something like 'YC Tarnilier has a charge against six juveniles' while the one among the gang was repeatedly saying that we're not juveniles, we're the youths or we're going to be the youths this year. She felt as if some pressure has lifted off her body as she involuntarily stepped back. Soon a vehicle appeared in front of them, and the light band surrounding the fence turned off. The guards started taking the gang with them, Coulner walking ahead of everyone. As Rio started walking, her legs gave up and she plopped on the ground. The woman rushed to help her stand. Rio shook away her arms from her. "Please don't. I can walk."

"You're the first of the Katokein to talk to me. And you're not like others. Atleast you came after all these time. You've not changed a bit." The woman was looking for some answer, her hopeful eyes checked Rio's body to find any traces of injury. But Rio's eyes were somewhere else. All that could be heard was 'Mum's gonna kill me','He's gonna be sad, he'd leave me' and 'No one's gonna let me work again' and she burst into tears again. The woman came to her senses as her crying intensified and instead of looking for injured part she let go of Rio's arm lightly. "Maybe you were right. You should walk on your own. But don't worry, everything will be fine." And surprisingly instead of crying audibly, she whimpered and tried to lower down. As soon as everyone got into the vehicle, the doors shut from all directions and it sped off to the local court.