Ronan turns his head to sweep his eyes around the arena.
Ivory had suddenly disappeared when he shot a blast of electricity toward her.
The electric blast certainly wouldn't have turned her into dust…
Ronan found himself feeling uneasy as thoughts began to fester and swarm in his mind.
Just where did she go?
A cool breeze of air at that moment brushed against his arm.
The cloaked figure moved his head to pinpoint the source of the coldness instinctively.
Ivory stood watching him, only a handful of inches away. Her face held an empty expression on her face.
Ronan instinctively performed a cartwheel-like movement away from the young woman.
Each of his limbs were shaking slightly from overexertion.
Everything was going exactly as Ivory planned it seemed.
Ronan watches Ivory's form shift. Her body slowly disintegrated, leaving a trail of snowflakes to fall to the ground.
What just happened?
In the blink of an eye.
The young woman reappeared in front of him and delivered a tremendously powerful punch, launching Ronan to fall several steps back.
The point total above Ronan maxed out at 10,000.
Lyra announces, "The winner of this match is Ivory. Great work out there!"
Ronan stared toward the ground and huddled in the fetal position, "Damn, was Ivory always this proficient with her abilities?"
He looks up from the ground while the monstrosity approaching him inched closer.
Lyra announces, "Ivory? The match is over…"
Step by step. Foot by foot.
The steps started off slow but increased in speed, each second that passed.
Ivory's hands were glowing in a dark shade of blue.
She was planning on attacking him again…
Why? Did she lose her mind?
The match was over.
Ivory runs and comes to halt in front of Ronan.
She pauses long enough so he could gaze into her empty eyes.
Ivory's eyes could only be described as looking into the eyes of someone who was deceased.
Ivory raised one of her hands as a shadow trailed behind her.
Lyra's form shifted from the shadow on the ground and reappeared behind Ivory.
The older woman wraps her arms around her to restrain her.
The memory of that event basically ended there.
He laid back in his small tent, curled up in a light green blanket.
Ronan felt himself staring toward the roof of the tent without any other thought in mind than of the past.
A crooked smile appears on his face beneath his mask.
The reaper whispered your name, Ronan.
If Lyra hadn't stopped Ivory, maybe you would have been killed by whatever was controlling her.
He sighs.
What will you do now?
The young man knew what he had to do. However, he was aware of the consequences of getting caught.
The sunburn users of the underground city would act mercilessly toward him.
He was sure they would interrogate him and then get rid of him.
Ronan grits his teeth.
I would go right into the incinerator.
He sighs.
The young man knew at least temporarily he would be in the clear.
He practically paced the entire area ten times by now.
No one expected him to be anywhere else right now.
Ronan understood what would and wouldn't draw suspicion.
He decided not too long ago to get permission from Lyra to head to his tent earlier than everyone else would.
As long as he was quiet. He could launch the communication signal.
Ronan closed his eyes.
His imagination needed to be involved to fully be able to start this call.
The young man imagined the vague outline of an old fashioned telephone booth.
He recalled the phrases Ada taught him.
The telephone booth was red. An iconic shade of red so much that now it had become rusted but not too rusted.
The dial and buttons were a shade of dark silver. Both almost pitch black.
The numbers ranged from 0-10. Hashtags and stars were scattered along the edges.
Badup. Badup. Badup.
The ringing sound spread around his head.
The call was beginning.
Ronan's mouth quivered. He was itching to speak again.
In that moment, the tension surrounding his voice box dropped.
He coughed.
He could finally speak again.
He breathed heavily and for just a second, let the tension in his body drop to zero.
Ada's agitated voice surrounded his head, "Hello? Hello? Hello?"
Ronan says in a robotic and raspy tone, "I… It's so good to speak again. There's so much I need to tell you."
Ada says, "Go on."
Ronan says, "There's real monsters down here. I mean there's human monsters."
Ada pauses, "What do you mean?"
Ronan says, "There's this one sunburn user who nearly killed me. The one who I had a match against."
Ada says, "That old coworker of yours?"
Ronan found himself unable to speak.
Why couldn't he confirm that to her?
At this time, he was able to speak but he just wasn't able to.
Ada says, "I see. How's your new body holding up?"
Ronan says energetically, "This body freezes up and I mean it really freezes up. I adjusted the strength and speed dial… then boom my ligaments froze."
Ada says with indifference, "There's adjustments that can be made…"
Ronan says, "Good. Good. I was worried I would be stuck like this when the war approaches…"
Ada pauses before saying, "There won't be a war if we act fast enough. That reminds me. What's your body's landscape conversion percentage so far for the entirety of the underground city?"
Ronan rolls up his sleeves revealing several shiny pieces of metal mixed with strands of human skin.
His shoulder was replaced with a green radar that worked to calculate every single aspect of the underground city.
This radar would keep calculating until it reached one hundred percent.
Ronan stares towards his shoulder, "The percentage is hovering around twenty percent."
Ada says enthusiastically, "Ronan, this is excellent news. There's not much longer until the council will be able to wipe out every single sunburn user off this planet."
Was the council's plan morally or ethically correct?
This thought bothered Ronan for quite some time now.
Killing thousands to millions of people for the sake of humanity's future.
That was at least how he understood this situation.
The sunburn and the council couldn't coexist.
One must perish for the other to thrive.
His thoughts pulled him toward the past once again.
Ivory, a coworker of his, was innocent. Someone who was impacted by the laws of a world that she didn't sign up for.
Did she deserve to die? If he refused this task, someone else would take his place.
If he refused, he would die eventually anyways.
Ronan felt himself approaching a selfish conclusion.
He asks with a trembling voice, "How about me? Will I have to die too?"
Ada says solemnly, "I'm sure there has to be some wiggle room. You're too useful to just scrap for parts."
Ada recalls, "I remember Councilor J, the other day saying that you might even be able to be on par with the Ambassador with that suit of yours in the near future."
Ronan repeats the words as a tear runs down his face, "The Ambassador? Really?"
That unimaginable amount of admiration and status was too much for any living being.
If Ada had said a replacement for councilor J perhaps he would have fainted right there and then.
Ronan was really trying to make a difference in this world.
In the past, he couldn't seize the opportunity to work in the research sector of society.
However this task would have a wide scale impact on humanity.
It was an opportunity that was irrefusable.
Living on a leash really did increase your chances of survival exponentially.
This was an idea that was too painful to grasp.
An idea that stung much harder than any insect.
Living by a leash was the only way to survive in this world it seemed.
The council was partially in control of the future of this world. There was nothing to be done about it.
However, the more he thought about it.
How could someone fully extinguish the sunburn?
Individuals who are sunburn users that reproduce and have children, carry the possibility to pass down recessive genes to their children to inherit the sunburn.
Ronan asks, "The sunburn would always be a problem, would it not? Everyone who had the sunburn could potentially pass it down or others could potentially gain it through over exposure to the sun?"
How could there ever be a solution to the sunburn?
Ada says, "Do not fret about such trivial matters. There's a solution. There's always a solution. Believe in the cause and the path will light its way."
Ada pauses, "Have you ever read the laws of rationalism, Ronan?"
Ronan says weakly, straining his voice, "No…"
Ada says, "In one of the first sections of the book… There is a paragraph that details the concept that logic is ruled as absolute solely because a large population believes in that logic."
Ronan says, "In other words?"
In that instant, a whirring sound began to be produced from outside the tent.
Ronan whispers, "Goodbye. I got some company."
Ada says sternly, "Debrief me later."
The communication signal cuts in his mind.
Ronan moves toward the whirring sound outside of his tent through a series of deliberate small steps.
What was that?
In a flash, a black mechanical ribcage enters the tent. The robotic creature looks around to find an alternative target before locking eyes with Ronan.
The machine jumps towards Ronan with its spring-like legs to propel itself towards him.
Ronan falls onto the ground and lands onto his back.
He gripped the machine's arms and legs.
He couldn't distinguish which was which but regardless was trying his best to restrain it.
The machine used one of its limbs to reach for his back.
The strength was similar to going up against two fully grown humans.
How are you so strong? What are you?
He wanted to talk but he could feel the tension surrounding his voice box again.
The words couldn't escape his mouth.
Ronan was losing his grip.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
In his peripheral vision he saw the green flap of the tent open.
Ivory held out one of her palms to release a frozen blast of ice toward the machine.
The machine freezes and becomes encapsulated in a solid block of ice.
Ronan gently drops the block of ice onto the ground with a hint of amazement spreading on his face.
His lips squirmed with words desperately wanting to come out of them.
Nothing but air released from his mouth.
Ivory walked toward him slowly.
She had life in her eyes, no longer looking as though she were sent from the afterlife.
Ronan, however, couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.
Ronan instinctually picked up the block of ice from the ground and handed it to Ivory.
Ivory smiles softly, "Thanks… This device… apparently it steals your energy, storing it in some other kind of external generator."
Device? External generator? Where's the apology for nearly killing me and sending a machine to finish the job?
Ivory's smile turns grim, "The machine was placed on me... This ended up impacting how I acted during our match due to speeding up the process in which I would reach a negative caloric amount."
Ronan wanted to say that's your excuse? Who would want to place this device on you?
He took a second to digest what just happened.
It was then Ronan realized he didn't think he would say any of this even if he could.
A tear rolled down Ivory's face.
Ivory wipes her eyes, "I know it's not an excuse but I'm so sorry Ronan."
Multiple tears fell out of her eyes and Ronan couldn't help but feel bad for her.
Ivory's voice broke up, "I really.. didn't want to hurt anyone. I didn't mean to lose control and to scare you like I did."
She holds the device tightly to her body and turns to walk out of Ronan's tent.
He could hear her gasp for air while she cried, walking away.
As Ivory opened the green flap of the tent to leave. He could partially gaze past the gap and saw that one of the proctors was waiting for her outside of the surrounding green tent.
A tear rolled out of his eye.
He was crying but why?
No one was right or wrong?
Maybe that meant everyone was wrong.
He was told that the sunburn was a parasite that needed to be removed for the sake of humanity's future.
If the sunburn wasn't removed.
He gulped.
The world would end.