Hidden

         
         

Prologue:

Nicoles :
Isn't it funny how one night can be the best and worst night of someone's life? This feeling is exactly what Nicoles felt the night that will be known as the victory of the saviours or the purge from the devil. She was already around 50 years old but never lost her lust of knowledge. She wanted to know everything that ruled her world. Every animals, plants and human that coexisted with humanity in this world. To achieve her goal, she worked her way up the social ladder giving her access to the world stage with the other 4 nations. But when she hit the summit she realised three things. One, that all the sacrifices weren't all worth it. Two, some things are better kept hidden than shared. Three, the other nations weren't as friendly as she imagined and world peace was just a facade. But what she never imagined was the fast extermination of the fifth nation, the Hiddens.

It was said : "the Hiddens civilisation is thousands of years old, with access to unknown technologies and raw materials that have unique properties. Although they could have improve life for the other nation, they keep their tech and secret hidden from everyone, fearing that sharing their advancement would make the other nation scared of them and make them the enemy of the peace." She found this quote in one of the old history book of the second nation, surprisingly this was a good description except that the Hiddens never were the real enemy of the peace but the defenders of equality. Unfortunately, their behaviour was seen by the world power the exact same way the author of the history book did. They saw a dangerous and secret civilisation rising to the world stage and got scared. Except for Nicoles, of course, she was the only one who managed to start real negotiation and trading between their nations. She managed to open a trade route between the fifth nation and the fourth. The fourth were focus only on agriculture, given the advancement of the other nation that was their only luxury, they were exporting fruits, vegetables, livestock, hunting or fishing tactics. In exchange, the fifth provided them with knowledge, in construction, physics and maths, but the most important, they exchanged the most valuable and precious crystal there is in this world. Those gems had the ability to store the energy of the world and redistribute it. It had various ways to be used and the one we used was fertilisation. By planting them around the fields, the agriculture focused nation started their golden years, having more harvest than they could ever imagined. Their trading with other faction went through the roof and as a nation we started improving the quality of life of every citizen.

But the fear of the unknown and their will of being the most advanced brought the first and second nation to do the unthinkable. They planned the extinction of the fifth nation and the destruction of their islands. No one knows when exactly they started to conspire but everyone know the date of the execution of their plan as it is in every new history book. They waited the world summit, which happens every 10 years in a separate, deserted island near the third nation, to start their machiavelous deed by infecting the fifth leader personal army with a deadly disease right before his boat left the island. The virus was engineered by the finest scientists of the first to target the adults and block their ability to use the power of the world. Unable to make a cure, the fifth nation started collapsing, loosing every social structure in place but this wasn't the objective of the first. After a week of blockade and monitoring the fifth, they launched the final assault that razed their islands. Having no army due to the illness, the fight only lasted one day and ended when the sun started fading in the horizon. With the first phase of their plan successful, they began the second part, preventing rebellion from the only allied nation to the fifth and the head of it, me.

That night, the leaders of the fourth nation had a important meeting to discuss everything that happened at the world summit and what decisions they made. But I had lost interest in it because of the politics, so Nicoles chose to delegate by giving her memo of the assembly to her assistant so he could read it to the leaders. She chose to go study the new books given by her dear friend K, leader of the fifth. She went to her safe place, a secret office hidden in a cave near the commercial deck. As she dove deep into her readings she couldn't hear when the whole army of the first and second disembarked into her lands. Nor did she hear the boat crashing in the cave, but the scream of shear pain from a woman brought Nicoles back into reality. She opened her office and went into the cave following the screams, and she found a small, single seated, canoe with a pregnant woman giving birth inside.

What the... who are you? What happened ? " asked Nicole while looking for towel and coming to her side to try and help the woman. "I'm K niece, IL. Our nation is lost, I'm the last one alive, you need to save my child please!"
She said between two screams and deep breaths. Nicole was single without children, she had no idea how to help her but she knew she had to do everything he could do she said : "don't worry, I'll go get our medic he'll help you" but IL interrupted her and give her a letter "I can't explain now but you can't go back to your home. He's coming, please save him."
Saying this took most of her energy but IL found enough strength for a final push and the next sound in the cave was the little child first breath. Even tho she was confused by the situation,Nicole took him with a big smile and went to give it to his mother but IL had her eyes closed. She tried to wake her up but the journey plus giving birth was too much for her body to handle. Her who wanted to be alone and in a quiet place tonight she ended up with a crying baby, a dead woman in her secret place and a letter that would change her life forever. And to add more weirdness to this night, the letter was addressed to her and she recognised K handwriting, meaning that even tho he never spoke about her, there was a high probability that IL was really who she said she was. So Nicole created an express crib within the all of the cave, placed the child and started reading the last words her friend wrote her. The letter opened her eyes on the secret of the world and what happened this night and she knew she had to run fast. Once she finished reading it, plans started forming in her head. She could leave, go found her old friend and start a rebellion, or go to the third nation for safety or start an all-out war against the first and second. Every plan looked flawless but there was only one that would allow her to take care of what's now her son. So she chose the path of the coward, as she called it, using her secret office she packed all useful thing she could think off, cut and dyed her hair trying to look like someone else than Nicole. Before leaving she lit the boat up and let it go to the sea as an express funeral. She then took her son and ran through one of her secret passage seconds before the first and second army bursted in the cave.

Since that night, Nicole, the leader died trying to run away from her sin and LI, the homeless mother was born. The leaders of the fourth nation were judged for treachery, executed and replaced by ambassador from the second nation. The history book were replaced, picturing the ancient leaders as corrupted and the fifth nation as evils that needed to be erased. The second and first were seen as the saviours and they transformed Nicole the unifier into the traitor. But those changes took some time to get in place whoever they started immediately a witch hunt. Searching for any survivors of the fifth nation who could have managed to escape and reach the island. But they didn't found any, even tho they were easily recognisable thanks to their unique colour of eyes. Something that LI learned about and how to hide it when her newborn eyes turned from blue to a beautiful light green. Him being too young to understand what risk his life was, she decided to hide him for the first years.





First chapter :
P :
The first things P learned were how to walk, hear and act like a blind men. From his point of view, his mother forced a blindfold on him, forbidding him from ever removing it in public. This would have been hard for anyone living a normal life but life was everything other than ordinary for P. He lived with his mother alone in the deserted forest. The name speaks for itself, there was only trees in this forest, no animals, no flowers or other kind of vegetation other than trees. The lack of food and diversity made this place go back to the law of the strongest. Those conditions made it unlikely for them to survive if it weren't for the hardcore training and the gift. And despite the challenge he acted as blind man except when his mother allowed him. But the conditions were that they had to be alone for at least 6 months,without seeing even one human, at night in the deserted forest. And that was the only time he could learn how to read or train with his vision. From birth, he trained his mind as well as his body. Physical and mental exercises was his day to day life, trying to live up to his mother legacy. Even tho he had no idea who she was exactly he knew that she had a secret weapon. One of the less common magic, ground magic was her way of harnessing the power of the world. P trained to try and manipulate the ground like his mother but he could never achieve it.

"Why can't I use the same magic as you? " he asked LI after a long training session. She paused to take her breath back and responded with a bit of surprise : "You will, don't rush it, and even if it's not like mine, I'm sure you'll have a gift." She had no idea that he knew what kind of magic she uses as she kept it a secret from everyone since it was a clear link to her past life. Nicole, the traitor, was the only ground user of the century and one of the best of history. The gift, as she referenced, is the only rule that apply to all the fourth nation. A small part of the population was able to harness the power of the world, just like the fifth nation crystals, and use it to control an element. Although they could use it, no one could actually see the source of this power and it isn't something pass onto the next generation.This luck factor scared P because he wanted to give his mother a better life and the easiest way for it was to enter the army under the magic power section. Because even at the age of seven he thought he knew their situation. They were poor, living in the forest with the wild animals at night, getting money from good or trying to be good people in the street during the day. Sometime, his mother would fix a cart or a wicker basket and people would give us either food or money as a thank you. But he knew that wasn't the life his mother had dream of.

The rare times they stopped in the city, he caught her looking at the new royal palace with fierce in her eyes, or at the half destroyed statue in the middle of the market. One time she stopped in front of one of the nicest house in their usual street but after a minute or two, her look changed and she took P by the hand and ran away as fast as she could. This made P worried because he had never seen his mother scared of anything or anyone before. When he tried to ask her about it her response was "I don't know what you're talking about" followed by a harsh training session. After this, they changed street and only came back after the next summer.

It was the usual hot summer followed by rainless storms at night. One time, as the sun was dissapearing in the horizon, they were watching the thunder hit the plains, P saw something no one else alive could ever see. Intrigued by it he hold his hand toward the sky and he as he closed it he felt like he had catch lighting itself. Of course catching lightning is impossible but as he held his hand closed it felt warmer and warmer. "I caught lightning, mom! " he said with a big smile. Without any conviction his mother looked at him, his hand and said " Well if you really caught one, make it hit this tree." She said while pointing at the highest tree on the border of the forest. Kinda offended, P mumbled "I'll send so many at it, that this tree won't be standing" right before opening his hand in direction of the tree and at the surprise of his mother, ten lightning stroke the same tree in the span of one minutes. P was looking at his mother with pride while she was literally in shock, nobody ever wild thunder like that. But that was only half her surprise, she knew he would be able to use the power of the world, she just wasn't expecting it so soon.

After the initial shock, she congratulated him for being the only know thunder mage but she also said "but you can't show it to anyone, because otherwise they'll force you into the army." "But this is exactly what I want, so you can live in a nice house and eat as much as you want!" Replied N with big hopes that LI crushed instantaneously, saying that the army wasn't the answer nor the good guys. She gave him the order to keep his power hidden. This day, N understood that for an unknown reason they'll live hidden in the forest, living of the good deed of others.
But what he couldn't understand was the why.
Why can't they live in the city?
Why couldn't he stop faking blindness and take a job?
Why did he have to keep their magic a secret?
Unfortunately, he couldn't dare ask his mother which is why he wouldn't get an answer before a few years and why they kept living on the edge of the civilisation. Because of that, N never made any connection with people other than his mother. The lack of human connection started to weight on N at a point where he started to act like a rebellious teenager. Going back in the city at night to see either whores trying to attract customer, homeless guys plotting to steal an old rich man mansion or even teenagers having fun bullying each other. From thelooks of it, humanity didn’t have a lot of happiness to offer.

But that was before N saw the girl called Elle, although everyone called her A. Not a common name for the rest of humanity but inside the 4th island A was common story. Used to show children that good deeds can help other but shouldn’t be at your own expense. Indeed, A was known for being so nice and trusty that he willingly gave all his stuff away to help others and died from the cold that year. Apparently, this girl had the reputation of giving you everything you ask for, or everything else she has if she doesn’t have what you need, and they were right. The few times N crossed path with her in the street he heard her, give all her money to a homeless man who asked her for money, handout her shoes to some random lady in the street that asked for it and she even gave her school bag as a gift to this random girl who lost hers.
Her overwhelming kindness wasn’t what stroked an the most, no. He could see her,even his blindfold somehow he could see her. So one day, N heard her talk and he decided he wanted to see her. He went in an alley he knew she would cross for some cover and waited for her to walk past him. When he heard her footsteps he uncovered one eye to look at Elle but what he saw broke his heart. He heard her sadness and loneliness, however he didn’t expect it to be all he could see on her face. She was looking down with her eyes semi closed, messy hair and one of the most shocking thing was that she only had underwear on, people took all her clothes from her. P hesitated one second to much and she disappeared in the crowd. Unable to follow her, he went back to his mother before she realised that he ran out on her.

That day, N saw the last time Elle would let other decide of her life.

Elle : Born in the cursed year, her believers parents taught her to balance all the wrong her birth caused. So, at the early age of 2, her only words were “I’m sorry”. She was taught never to raise her voice at others, never break anything in the house, never argue with non-cursed people, never fight and most , always go out of her way to please others, even at her own expense. Once she hit 4, she forced to go to school even tho most teachers got expelled and transferred to the imperial prison or executed. The only one left were the ones who accepted the imperial terms, washing history of the horrors the First caused, replacing the hero’s of the fourth by criminals. But school didn’t need to teach the truth for the student to realise how Elle was being taught at home, self-sacrifice and servitude. They started to use her, asking her for little things at first, a pen, some paper. Until it got to a point where every day she would come home without anything and her parents refused to buy her new stuff so she had totale a job at only 10 years old.

After that her days followed the same pattern :
Go to school on foot so she wouldn’t take space in the cart.
Learn about the greatness and kindness of the First, give her stuff to her classmates.
Go to work, buy new stuff, go home, cook, clean and go to sleep.
Wake up and repeat, again and again.

But one year, one her way back from work, a homeless man caught her attention. Normally she would just give some coins and be on her way, as she was taught to help anyone. But as she leaned forward to give him some coins, he politely refused. This threw her off and she couldn’t stopthinking about the old men. The next few days she started looking for him from work and realised that he accepted money from no one, the only reason he had some coins is because some people threw them at him without even looking at him. A homeless man refusing money was unthinkable for Elle so one time she waited on the corner of the street until it dark. Once the night falls, she saw the old man stand up. What she took for an old fragile homeless men turned in a less old and much more in shape than she thought. As she followed him she saw a real saint at work. He walked through the whole town, giving his coins to children in the street, giving water to the homeless and taking some helpless people under his wing. He then entered an abandoned church but at this time Elle education made her go home without waiting.
However that wasn’t the end of it as she started following him every night, going closer and closer to entering the church. The day she finally did, she regretted it almost instantly. She saw the place that her parents idealised for the virtues and kindness used as what she thought was a clandestine fight club. After only a minute she had to rush out. Her heart was pounding like never before, Elle who learned never to fight, never think about hurting someone was behind drawn to the church, to the fight. This young lady on,y watched a minute but she knew in an instant that if for any reason she ended up fighting in that church she’ll never stop. At that point she stopped following the homeless men. She wouldn’t even look at him anymore, for the first time she went against her education and ignored someone.

But one day as she left her work, a group of three men showed up, blocking her path. It wasn’t the first time she was approached by a group. Generally they’ll ask for money or her bag, but this time it was different. They were from the army, special division, and y weren’t looking for anything other than a nice and docile women. She tried talking her way out of it but nothing could have helped her, nor them. As soon as she opened her mouth to ask them what they want the first guy grabbed her by the shoulder and asked her to follow them, pointing at the end of the isolated alley. At first, she agreed in order to be kind and started walking by their side.
She had no real other choice.
But she had an ally, as the homeless man who watched the scene from a far felt obligated to help her. He tried to follow them but after seeing them take some corner he heard a lot of noise. He rushed towards them but when he arrived in the alley, the scene he saw wasn’t the one he was expecting. One of the guy was laying on the floor in a pool of his own blood. Elle was holding another one firmly on the wall, pulling his arm so far back you could hear it break. Meanwhile the last one was running away or a least trying his hardest with a broken leg.The homeless man was left speechless but he recovered his mind soon enough hence he heard orders form the army coming from the street.
They shouted for Elle to stop and, like another person, she let of the men and stayed silent as she looked around and realised she had disobey the most important rule her parents taught her without even knowing how.

Elle was so shocked she couldn’t even remember what happened in the alley. The army scooped her and the men’s up and went to their headquarters. After waiting a few hours, they let her go saying that she had to thanks “the monster”. As she stepped outside she saw the homeless man waiting. He made a sign for her to follow him and she did. He led her just outside the city, near the deck. There he sat in front of the sea and looked at the horizon.
“What’s gonna happened to me? “ asked Elle, scared. But he answered with a question.
“What do you know about the purifying night? “
Elle took a time to think and responded truthfully : “only that the imperial army from the First came after saving the world from the fifth, overruled our corrupted ,helped developing our island with new technologies,school,church and a new King. Or at least that’s what I remember from school.” As she finished her sentence, she saw the grief and remorse in the look of the semi old men.
“Right, that’s our new history, but the truth is never that simple, nor this black and white. But we’ll keep this story for later, for now all you need to know is that during the conquest lead by the first a monster blocked them from completely overtaking our nation. It single handled an army of couple thousands, alone and under armed. He used what we called strengthening. Despite what’s commonly believed the ability to use magic isn’t as simple as a birth gift. With what I saw during my life, I’m convinced that with training anyone can be able to use magic, maybe not as powerful as the gifted but it’s possible.” He explained without a look in Elle direction. “ That’s a nice bed time story but you still haven’t answered my question. What’s gonna happened to me?”
“Alright, alright, you want the truth? You’ll never be able to go home to your parents.” He said it with the most neutral tone ever heard by Elle.