The moment Garoo walked off the stage, he immediately noticed something that made his heart beat faster.
'Archie isn't there anymore…' he thought. He saw that at his stall, Archie was missing.
"I don't have time to ask where he went," whispered Garoo as he started to run around the city. He wanted to go to Archie's house, to see if he was really there.
The house wasn't really far from the main square, but he wasn't sure if Archie really went there. The moment he finished playing, Archie could not be seen anymore.
"His house is this way!" shouted Garoo as he breathed heavily. He could talk as loudly as he wanted because everyone was in the main square; no one would hear him anymore.
The moment he reached Archie's house, he immediately started to knock on the door as hard as he could.
"ARCHIE, ARE YOU THERE?!" shouted Garoo. No answer.
"Shit, where is he?" Garoo started to sweat hard as he began to run around the town, reaching the part near the port.
"IT WAS THE OUTSIDERS!!" shouted the mayor of the town. Multiple people gasped in surprise and turned towards them.
"No, what?!" shouted Darian, confused.
"It wasn't us!" shouted Liro the moment everyone's eyes turned towards him.
"Guys, we didn't do anything!" shouted Vane. The three men tried to defend themselves against the accusation of the mayor, but it almost became impossible; their voices got lost in the screams of the people in the crowd.
"I KNEW THEY WERE BAD PEOPLE!"
"I HAVE SEEN THEM BEATING UP SOME CHILDREN!"
"NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT, I SAW THEM GETTING NEAR THE TOWER!"
"IT'S THEIR FAULT!!"
Multiple people were screaming in the crowd, mad, but they weren't moving. Darian and the others simply felt themselves getting eaten up by their gaze.
The mayor was smirking under the mask. 'Perfect… everything is going according to my plan,' thought the mayor. He was able to convince the people that the outsiders were the real problem, when in fact it wasn't.
Eight years ago, the mayor had just been elected. It had only been three years since he got the title of mayor. It was late in the night, and he decided to ask the powerful voice what he should do.
The city was having a big problem with food; there were almost no fish in the sea. He wanted to know why that happened and if it was possible to resolve that problem.
"Hey, it's me," said the mayor, knowing that when he entered from the main door, the voice would activate, but to his surprise, it didn't happen.
"Are you there?" The mayor felt scared. In his three years, it had never happened. The mayor remained still as his body was shaking; he didn't know what to do.
"It's me, the mayor, can't you hear me?" The mayor now started to shout, but the voice didn't answer him. "C'mon, don't joke, it's important."
The mayor knew well that the voice never joked, but it was strange.
It didn't feel real.
"No, no…" The mayor, scared, reached the place where the light would usually turn on, but the moment he walked closer to it, nothing happened.
The mayor fell on his knees. "Please answer me…" The mayor could only hope for the voice to answer him, but it didn't happen. The room was still dark, and no one else was speaking other than him.
The mayor got up and smashed his hand on the small platform in the middle of the room. The moment he entered and called for the voice, it would almost automatically turn on, but right now it wasn't happening, not even when he smashed his hand on it.
Instead, something different happened. A small metallic plate fell on the ground. Hearing that, the mayor immediately went to check what was there. There was a huge crack; the metal, with time, got weaker, and as the mayor touched it, it slowly broke apart.
"No, no… NOOOO!" he shouted, scared, not knowing what to do. He tried to put his hand into the place where the metallic plate fell. He found some wires in his hands.
"What are these…" he whispered. Without noticing, he pulled the wires with too much strength, and they came off.
"What…" he whispered as he remained confused. "It isn't normal, right?" he whispered. He hoped for the voice to answer him, but no answer arrived.
"It feels like it isn't working anymore…" whispered the mayor. He was slowly losing hope. He didn't know what to do. His body was walking behind without him noticing. The moment his body bumped against a metallic shelf, something fell from it.
"What's this?" The mayor slowly took the thing that fell into his hand. It was a paper. The mayor didn't know how to read or write; it was extremely hard for him to even understand something.
But the mayor didn't lose hope, because the first thing that he saw on the small book made his heart beat extremely fast. It was the same light that would appear once the voice was active.
Near the light was written: 'AI', but the mayor didn't know how to read. He didn't even know where to start with that. His head was confused at the sight of these words; he was lost.
He searched around this small book, which was an instruction manual for the AI. The mayor searched for something that could help him understand. He found something that he had seen before.
"Hey, these are the wires that I found before," he shouted. They were still left on the ground. The moment he picked them up, he compared them with the drawing on the instruction manual, only to find out that they were extremely similar.
"So, does this thing can be read as wires?" whispered the mayor to himself. On the book, there was the word 'wires' with an arrow pointing towards the drawing of the wires.
"Argh, it's so hard!" shouted the mayor as he was slowly losing it. He didn't know what to do anymore. It was too hard for him to learn how to read.
'I can only associate the sound of the words I know with the words in the book… WAIT.' Suddenly, the mayor immediately had an idea.
"This is exactly what I need to do." The mayor was now going through the instruction book as he slowly regained his will.
"I swear, voice… I will make you work again," said the mayor as he looked directly at the place where the voice had to turn on, but nothing happened.
"But before that… I need to understand how to read, but I can't receive help from anyone. It is something that I can only do." The mayor knew that if he talked about this with someone, the voice would spread too fast, and the people in the town would immediately talk about the voice being turned off.
The mayor knew that if something like this happened, the city would probably fall into pure chaos. They would probably blame him, and everyone would think that he was the one who destroyed it.
"I can't make that happen," whispered the mayor as he fully regained his strength.
The mayor spent the following year learning how to read. He almost stayed in the tower every single day, and on the day of a festival, he told everyone about the decision that the voice made, of changing the years from 10 to 20.
At first, the people were confused and mad. It wasn't possible that the voice told them anything like that, but the mayor invented this excuse.
"The voice has told us that changing the mayor every 10 years will only make our city weaker. We need a stronger guide; because of this, the years have to be 20."
The mayor knew that the people would believe everything the voice said without any problem, but he still had to find a believable excuse. With that, he had even more time to find a way to repair the voice.
The first year and a half he spent learning how to read. After that, he was finally able to read like a normal person, even if he had to do it really slowly, or he wouldn't be able to spell some words properly.
"Finally… it has been so many years. Now I just need to understand what this book says… voice," said the mayor before stopping himself and shaking his head.
"Here it says that you are called AI… I will make you work again!" The mayor almost took it as a challenge. He still had 15 years before he wouldn't be the mayor anymore.
"The city, for now, has been going really well… but I still need to come up with ways to improve it," said the mayor. During the day, he remained in his house figuring out what the voice would say, while during the night he remained in the tower trying to fix it.
The moment he knew that someone entered the tower, he heard Lily's footsteps and decided to block the stairs that brought to the first floor with his magic.
"No one will be able to pass there…" The mayor, almost mad and angry, closed the entrance. Whenever there was the need, he would reach the upper floors by removing his magic.
Another seven years passed. The AI still didn't work.
"It is impossible… why can't I make it work?!" shouted the mayor, mad.
"I HAVE DONE EVERYTHING TO MAKE YOU WORK, I HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING, WHAT AM I MISSING?!"
"It's this thing… electricity… HOW DO I GET THAT? HERE IT SAYS THAT IF IT GOES AWAY I SHOULD JUST TURN ON THE GENERATOR, BUT I HAVE DONE IT SO MANY TIMES!" shouted the mayor, mad. He couldn't find a way anymore. With that, he decided to go out of the tower.
'I really wonder if I will be able to repair it… I have only eight years left…' he thought. The moment he went outside, he needed to relax himself.
'I guess I'll go listen to some music made by Garoo,' he thought as he decided to reach him.
But what he saw made his heart beat really fast in shock. There were outsiders next to Garoo? Outsiders in the town? The mayor decided to remain hidden. Darian's group had just arrived in the city, and the mayor was spying on them.
"What do they want…" he thought, confused.
As they passed, he knew that the festival was getting closer. He could barely keep up the act anymore. He had to act, and fast.
The day the festival was about to happen, he decided something.
"I will make the outsiders guilty… IT CAN WORK. I JUST NEED TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING, AND EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT… Why wasn't it the first thing that crossed my mind when I saw them?" The mayor felt that he was finally able to find the conclusion to his problems.
"I just need to come up with an excuse… well, I have lied so much in all these years, it won't take anything to make the outsiders guilty."
The mayor looked over at Darian's group, smirking. His expression could not be seen because of the mask, but he was having the time of his life. He felt like he had removed a huge weight from his shoulders. For the first time in eight years, he finally felt free.
"That can't be true, they have always remained with me!" shouted Lily as she tried to defend her friends. Naluri, closer to them, didn't know what to do; she was just looking down below.
"We saw how you always stay near the tower!"
"SHE HAS BEEN HELPING THE OUTSIDERS!"
"Lily…" From the crowd, Tatsy was looking both disappointed and confused at her friend. She could not believe something like that, but it felt clear that it was happening.
"That is why the monster will be extremely happy. WE WILL GIVE HIM THE BODIES OF THE TRAITORS!" shouted the mayor. Everyone in the crowd shouted happily.
"EVERYONE, YOU'RE GETTING IT WRONG! THE VOICE HAD ALREADY STOPPED WORKING SINCE THEY ARRIVED!" shouted Lily. The crowd was walking closer towards them before they stopped.
"Explain yourself, little child," said a voice from the crowd.
"You said it before, I always stay near the tower, but what if I told you that I even entered there?" shouted Lily. Everyone gasped in surprise. The mayor felt a bit scared hearing that.
"Exactly, once we remained in the tower, we heard the mayor complaining about the fact that it wasn't worki—" Darian couldn't even finish the sentence before multiple people screamed.
"HE'S RIGHT, I WAS WITH THEM THE MOMENT IT HAPPENED!" shouted Lily. With that, the mayor decided to go down from the stage.
"Let me pass." The mayor spoke with a cold voice. Everyone walked away, creating a path for him.
"Little Lily… you know that only the mayor is allowed to enter the tower. You were never allowed to enter there!" The mayor suddenly grabbed Lily's hand. Naluri's eyes widened, and with her stick, she removed the mayor's hand from Lily.
"Don't you dare touch my child!" said Naluri angrily. The mayor took a few steps back, surprised.
"I didn't expect that. Is everyone of the Tideflares a traitor suddenly?"
The group didn't know what to do. Behind them, there was a building, and they could not escape in any way.
"Darian, have you got something in mind?" asked Vane to his friend. Liro next to them was shaking in fear.
"Sadly, no… I didn't expect to run into something like this," answered Darian.
"You have got two choices, with the good… or with bad manners," said the mayor as he created a rock with his magic in his hand.
"What should we do, everyone…" whispered Lily, scared. Naluri immediately took a step forward, not scared, and decided to speak.
"They are not bad people. You know me really well. Why would I defend traitors? You know how much I love you all. Why would I betray you all of a sudden?" said Naluri as she started to speak.
"We haven't done anything wrong. No one here has ever ruined the tower. They arrived here with a purpose; it is to help our city… AND NOW YOU'RE CALLING THEM BAD PEOPLE? LOOK AT YOURSELVES! YOU ARE THE ONES WHO ARE BAD PEOPLE AND SHOULD BE PUNISHED!" shouted Naluri.
Everyone took a step back, scared, except the mayor and other people who were really hungry.
"You can't fool us! I know what type of people you are!" said the mayor. Behind him, someone else started to speak.
"Maybe some of you have magic that lets you control the minds of people. FREE LADY NALURI AND LADY LILY!" shouted a voice from the few people who didn't take a step back.
"He's right, free the—" The voice suddenly interrupted because of something that suddenly shocked everyone.
It had started to rain, but the water wasn't normal. It was purple. Purple water was falling from the sky all over the city.
The water was extremely cold and was falling really fast. The people, scared, started to scream.
"What…" whispered Darian, confused. He had never seen rain of this color.
"Archie's power?" murmured Lily, scared.
"What? What do you mean?" asked Liro next to her, scared. His whole body was shaking because the purple water was extremely cold.
"It's his power. Is he trying to help us?" said Naluri as she was still in front, but it felt too weird even for her.
"Purple rain… take everyone!" shouted a voice from behind the crowd. Suddenly, the air started flowing faster and became even colder. As everyone turned towards it, they saw Archie looking with mad eyes at the people.