The sun stood at the zenith, the day at its peak.
The circle of normalcy moves in the repetition, following its usual trend, but suddenly a pebble of obstruction arrives in its smooth path, thwarting it into the chaos.
In the clear sky of the Trost district, the murky smoke rises.
Stationed atop the wall, the Garrison regiment soldiers look at the abrupt rising of the smoke, which startlingly captures their attention.
Some of them instantly dive down using their ODM gear; they zip towards the area from where the smoke rises, intending to find out about this anomaly.
On top of the mighty wall, a tall garrison soldier barks orders at others.
Mitabi Jarnach, a squadron leader of the Garrison regiment, with the duty to protect the walls and the civilians inside the wall, looks at the East division of the Trost district; a worried frown appears on his face, thinking about how recently the higher-ups of the military have issued new protocols and guidelines.
Increasing the concentration of the military forces on top of the wall and how strictly they have given the orders to perform their duty seriously, with no hint of slacking.
When the orders arrived, Mitabi thought that they seemed to be preparing for the war, and now, looking at the sudden appearance of the smoke, Mitabi feels it not to be normal and instantly took serious actions.
"Squad one." His commanding voice reverberated upon the walls, making the soldiers tense.
"Immediately rushes to the area and assesses the situation."
Hearing his order, a group of soldiers immediately dives down; using their ODM gear, they hurriedly move towards the smoke.
"As for the others, you are all on standby; only if any signal or order arrives can you move from here."
"YES, SIR," the soldiers shout in unison.
Having given the orders, Mitabi also immediately fires the gas from his ODM gear, and diving in the air, he also moves towards the smoke.
With the help of the ODM gear, traversing through the tall walls of the eighty-meter, dense, and crowded market becomes as easy as breathing; with the frequent use of the ODM gear, it becomes their instinct to easily move through the dense area full of houses and buildings.
Whoosh
Whoosh
Arriving at the scene, Mitabli landed on top of a house.
Looking at the scene from where the smoke rises, a frown appeared on his face.
The smoke, which he can see clearly from the top of the wall to the next corner of the district, but now arriving here, he finds out the smoke to be already dispersed.
The time it takes for him to arrive isn't even an even number in minutes, but the smoke has already dispersed. 'It is not normal,' Mitabi thinks, feeling the sudden headache rising.
Looking at the area from where the smoke rises, he found the absence of any kind of damage, no hint of fire, or any other kind of source that would indicate the cause of the smoke.
The area, buildings, and even houses look spotless, like in any other area, except that the people look startled and fearful of the situation.
Whoosh
Finding the presence of Mitabi, a soldier arrives by his side and reports to him with a surprise expression on his face, "Sir, we have checked the whole area, but we haven't found what had caused the smoke."
"I have noticed that too." Mitabi replies, "Let's check up on the people present here; they should know something."
Saying that, Mitabi moves with the soldier.
Soon, noticing the commotion, other Garrison squads and the squads from other military regiments also arrive.
Landing on the ground, Mitabi instantly takes control of the situation; he calls for the sealing of the area and then gives orders to inquire of the civilians present there to find out about the situation.
And soon, the results also arrive; a soldier arrives with a middle-aged man in tow, reporting that the middle-aged man has informed him that he knows what has transpired there.
Looking at the resolute face of the middle-aged man Mitabi asks the man, "Sir, were you present here when the smoke appeared?"
"Yes, sir." The middle-aged man replies, "I wasn't just present here; I had witnessed all as to how the smoke appeared."
Hearing that, Mitabi asks the man to talk in detail about what he knows.
The middle-aged man then tells them how he was returning home from his work; everything was as usual; he crossed by the bakery from where he usually took the dessert while returning home, and today too, he intended to go there, but as he passed by there, he noticed two girls, a blonde-haired one and another with brown hair.
Both of them were in the military uniform, suggesting their background. While standing there, they were talking with a noble-looking handsome boy. The situation seemed normal; the handsome boy was smiling during the conversation, but suddenly—
"Then?" Mitabi asks the middle-aged man, who, remembering the details, continues in the shocked tone.
"Then? What happened that I didn't expect? The boy who was previously talking with the girls with a smile on his face suddenly, 'bam,' the next moment, he attacks them. I don't know what transpired between them, but the situation changes immediately."
"The boy was fast; he didn't give the girls any chance to react. Just in a moment of time, he was upon the brown-haired girl, his hand clamping around her neck. He strangled her with such force that I even felt that he might break her neck."
The middle-aged man takes a deep breath.
Inhaling~
Exhaling~
No one disturbs him, as they feel the tension in his voice.
"Seeing that sudden situation, I was shocked. Looking at the already unconscious brown-haired girl held in his hand, I felt anger rising in me. The girls look the same age as my daughter."
"So, I took the action. Similarly, the other people present there, some shouted at the boy, while someone took the step and moved towards the boy. On instinct, I also took a step and ran; at that moment, I was already ready to have a brawl with the boy, but suddenly—"
The middle-aged man pauses.
"What happened then?" Mitabi curiously asks the middle-aged man, who replies, "The smoke appears."
Hearing this, a question mark appears on Mitabi's face. "How? How did the smoke appear?"
The middle-aged man spoke with great tension in his voice. "The smoke—it appears from within the boy."
Hearing this, an even more incredulous expression appeared on Mitabi's and others' faces.
Looking at their faces, the middle-aged man said in a confident voice. "I can attest to what I have said, believe it or not. You can even ask others who were present there."
"The moment the smoke spread from the boy, it instantly filled everywhere; even seeing my own hand became difficult. The smoke was really thick, but as fast as the smoke arrived, it also dispersed that fast. When the smoke cleared away, I looked at the position where the boy had stood, but he wasn't there anymore. The girls and the boy vanished as the smoke disappeared."
The middle-aged man finishes, his voice tinged with heaviness.
Although no one said anything, they all felt that what the man had described as the smoke arose from the boy himself; no matter how they tried to think about that, it did sound absurd.
"Don't worry, sir; if what you have said is indeed true, then it will be very helpful for us, but you have to stay here till we find something." Mitabi says to the middle-aged man, thinking no matter what had transpired here, he will surely find out about it.
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Hey, have you ever felt that the universe is purposefully testing you? Placing hardships in the situation to toy with your will, testing your limits.
It happens with me.
Yesterday around 10 pm, after finishing writing this chapter, I was feeling content, and as I was saving the chapter, I mistakenly deleted it.
Looking at the blank screen, I panicked for a moment, desperately trying to bring back the words on it, but I knew it was futile. Then, taking a deep breath, I thought, "Maybe it is to test my resolve. Will I be procrastinating, blaming the situation?"
That was the moment I decided to not dwell upon what has already happened.
And rewrite the full chapter in two hours. Last night I slept peacefully knowing that I didn't waste time grieving over the situation.
Thank you and please point out the errors and the areas where i can improve myself.