They spent days combing through the data they retrieved. Not a single alarm was triggered. No soldiers came in waves to see who had stolen their information. No officials began to interrogate civilians to see if they were following rumors of the vault. It was eerie how easy it was for them to steal as much data as they did.

  But there they were, with a collection of articles and documents tied to events they didn’t even consider to have had government involvement. Every so often, one of them would show their findings to the others, but nothing caught Ayela’s attention more than an encrypted file called ‘Warlock.’ Try as hard as she might, there was no way for her to crack the password or figure out a way to unlock it. Even Asher, the most tech-savvy of the five of them, wasn’t able to figure it out.

  She copied the file onto her own personal drive, resolving to bring it to Karinth on a later day to see if he could get it open. It wasn’t long after that when she noticed a plan titled “Subjecation Event” with URGENT stamped across the front side of the folder in the image. Curious, she opened the file and quickly scanned through it, finding the data she was looking for. She exhaled all of the anxiety and tension built up in her lungs, and copied the file onto her thumbdrive.

  “It’s here,” she declared. Everyone quickly clambered all around her, shoving the chairs over and even spilling a class of water onto the floor. “Subjecation Event. It details a plan to eradicate all religions except for a select few for the purpose of subjecting imperial civilians under totalitarian rule, and igniting a second warfront with Durinveii and possibly Dominov. It details planted agents across the nation that will be seen on camera as Durinveii operatives. They’re even given false identities for the autopsy report to authenticate claims that Durinveii planned a military op, all so that Enthedrill can invade and conquer them as well as Songriveii. If Dominov ceases trade allegiances with the empire, they will be included in a third warfront… This is the biggest conspiracy we’ve ever-”

  Stolen story; please report.

  As she spoke, screams were heard from the streets down below. They rushed to the window and peered through as best as they could. There, in the middle of the street blocking all traffic and demanding the attention of the passerby’s, was a dwarf with explosives strapped all over his torso. They all felt how that scream sounded; anxious, paranoid, panicked. Ayela’s heart jumped into her throat, and she hesitated with what to do next.

  He was a young man, caramel-colored skin with dark, cropped hair. He was barely taller than Asher, but looked like he’d had his whole life ahead of him. She couldn’t see into his eyes from that distance, but she wondered if he’d regretted ever aligning himself with the empire. As if to answer her pondering, though, Kacyn placed a hand on hers and looked into her eyes with a mournful expression.

  No.

  The answer was no.

  This dwarf had no regrets. In fact, he was convinced he was giving aid to the greatest thing that ever happened to him in his life. Before she had the chance to intervene, though, a powerful explosion rocked the apartment and threw them away from the window. They groaned as they slowly sat up, each of them with cuts and bruises likely forming under their clothes.

  It was happening.

  Just as she found the answer, they all watched it unfold before their very eyes. The congregations. The operatives. The conspiracy. It was to subjugate the world under a single empire with a single tyrant at its helm. They found the answer only when it was too late to stop it. Tears fell from her eyes, and her heart burned with a flurry of different emotion. Why do men in power care so little for the lives they hold power over? She thought to herself in despair.

  …Is there any hope at all? Truly?