*Buzz…*

  “Good morning, Miss Yuna Baker! It’s time to wake up!”

  The ceiling lights flashed on, and the futuristic bedroom became as bright as day. Yuna, wrapped in her blanket, rolled over disgruntledly on her thick bed. The girl wanted to stay in bed longer, yet the amicably voiced AI governing her room forbade her.

  “Good morning, Miss Yuna Baker! It’s time to wake up!”

  The bed gently tilted on its side, gradually sliding Yuna down before she ended up right on the edges. Last-minute reflex woke her alertly as she grabbed the bed sheet, yet it was too late to save herself—

  *thump*

  *ow…*

  The drop to the floor was rather painful, yet her desire to sleep was stronger. After a short rub on where it hurt, her heavy eyelids drooped down, and she returned to slumber right where she landed with her weighted blanket and memory foam pillow.

  “Mmm… zzz…”

  Peacefully, she slept with no care for the world.

  “Good morning, Miss Yuna Baker! It’s time to wake up!”

  A mini rotorless drone flew out of a hidden compartment in the wall, and it approached Yuna with its equally tiny hands. While its display showed a smiley face, its intention was far from comforting.

  *slap*

  “OW! Hey!”

  A direct slap on her cheek, with another one incoming if she refused to wake up.

  Rising up quickly like a catapult, she dodged the second slap, having it crater on her memory foam pillow instead.

  “Alright! Alright! Stop being so aggressive!”, she moodily pleaded.

  The drone looked at her in the eyes with its unnerving digital smiley face, before enthusiastically saying:

  “Today is yet another wonderful day for your Vanguard training! Get up and get ready, for the future of Tachyon lies in your hands!”

  What lay in her hands now was her pillow, which she threw at the drone right as it finished saying. As she expected, the drone zipped out and in as the pillow continued flying across the room, but it was enough for her to release her spite on that annoying little bot that terrorised her sleep for the past two months.

  Still in her standard-issued pyjamas, she waddled into the bathroom with her messy hair and a towel over her shoulder. Locking off the sliding door, she stared at her miserable self in the mirror and reflected upon her brand-new life.

  “Ugh… Another day living a lifeless life…”, she loathed.

  Suddenly, digital displays appeared around her reflection in the mirror, showering her eyes with information before her body even showered. It presented her with various information she didn’t even ask for: date and time, weather forecast, today’s hottest news, advertisements, her sleep statistics, today’s training schedule and even a period tracker.

  Unamused and unsurprised, she had already gotten used to this smart mirror’s intrusiveness by now. Without the option to turn off, let alone customise its settings, she simply chose to ignore most of them and readied herself for a shower.

  Of the many things she was given after being sent here, the one thing she truly appreciated was the shower. Never in her entire life had she imagined that something as simple as taking a bath could be substantially improved from what she had in Tragula. The adjustable temperature, fragrant soap, and gentle drizzle from the showerhead made her fall in love with this mundane activity, taking away 30 minutes of her morning every day.

  Leaving the bathroom with a fresh feeling and a better mood, she adorned her training jumpsuit, readied herself in the mirror, and stepped out of her room into the windowless corridor.

  Her room wasn’t actually a room, but more of an isolation cell, located at the farthest end of the corridor. Unlike her homely and warm cell, this corridor was cold, and she had to jog through the entirety of it to timely report in at the training chamber at the farthest end.

  As each step thumped over the boring concrete floor, and stale air entered her lungs, it reminded her daily that she was taken here not as a tourist, but as a prisoner forced to undergo personal military training in this underground facility. She had come to terms with her new fate after two months here, but deep inside, she was hoping she could attain freedom once again.

  She arrived right in front of the massive metal door and stared up toward the camera above it. The camera caught on immediately and verified her face before the metal door clanged open just enough for her to slip in the middle.

  Inside the spacious hall, her trainer and two fully armoured guards were already waiting for her in the middle, standing still like trees. The stern-faced middle-aged man in the centre watched her as she pantingly ran before getting in place to greet them.

  “*pant* *pant*… Morning, sir!”, she stood up straight before them with her chest still going up and down.

  “Morning, Miss Yuna”, he said unemotionally.

  Looking at his wrist watch, he told her: “Today, you’re late by 9 seconds”.

  “But… It’s just 9 seconds!”, she argued. “That’s practically sharp!”.

  “In battle, 9 seconds can make all the difference”, he lectured. “If you’re lenient with time, the enemy could easily exploit it against you”.

  “Now, for being late and daringly arguing against me, you must go down 20 pumps”.

  She whimpered, thinking that she might be able to skip this routine punishment by now.

  “On my count: 1… 2… 3…”

  Yuna obediently followed the trainer’s slow counts all the way until 20, leaving her arms slightly fatigued but warmed up after finishing. Following that, her usual training schedule began for the day.

  Within the training chamber, she underwent many courses laid out around the chamber, from endurance training like running, climbing and jumping to skills training like unarmed combat and parkour. Sweats drenched her jumpsuit, yet she continued on relentlessly to complete today’s training for one and only reason.

  “Congratulations on completing today’s training flawlessly! Here are your performance records…”, the bubbly and cutesy voice from the large digital screen on the wall applauded her while displaying the results.

  After hours of training, she finally got to sit down with almost all her energy spent. Her face was red from a blood rush, her limbs felt heavy, yet her eyes and mind were fixated on the digital screen as she waited for the final result to come out.

  “…In total, you’ve achieved 89% of today’s objectives! Woohoo!”

  “As rewards for today’s hard work, you win yourself the following:”

  First-class lunch and dinner for today;

  5 hours of entertainment screen time;

  Free room cleaning service;

  And 500 credit points.

  “Darn it… I almost got that virtual reality exploration thing…”, she whined a little, seeing that she failed to land the grandest reward.

  “Well, gotta live with whatever I got today, it seems. It wasn’t too bad, after all”.

  Returning to her cell, she got to enjoy the rewards she reaped for today. She spent the rest of the day slouching on the reclining chair, watching television and playing video games, while ordering snacks and a facial spa treatment using the credit points.

  These weren’t the usual activities Yuna would normally indulge in, especially considering that she grew up with a traditional rural lifestyle in Tragula, where most of the activities involved going outdoors and interacting with others. But, living solitarily in a glorified white box with not even a window to look out of, she had to adapt herself to the strange Tachyonian leisure activities or end up boring herself to death.

  Surprisingly, even to herself, she found herself growing attached to all the material luxury she was given. Although she was depressed, deeply affected by her separation and sudden abduction, the dopamine rush from the items surrounding her numbed out her pain.

  They also became her sole meaning of living in this facility. Every day, as much as she loathed living this lifeless life, she trained hard just to continue getting the rewards given out by that screen in the training chamber. Without them, she would end up in a much more soul-crushing situation.

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  She did realise it was such a sad state to live in, yet reflecting on it would only make her more depressed. So, she simply chose not to reflect on what she had and instead continued indulging it day after day.

  However, today, something a little out of the ordinary came to greet her.

  *beep**beep**beep*

  The comms by the door notified Yuna of an incoming call.

  “Attention, Miss Baker, you’re required to leave your room immediately. Please prepare yourself within 15 minutes before the guards come and escort you somewhere”, her trainer informed her.

  Yuna, perked up from her seat, rushed to the comms and pressed the speak button.

  “U-Uh.. excuse me, sir, what’s going on?!” she asked, her mind all worried.

  “No need to get worked up. We’re just going to bring you to meet someone”, the man calmly clarified.

  *beep*

  The call ended, and Yuna was left wondering cluelessly.

  “Who am I going to meet?”, she thought, thinking that it might be someone from the military to check on her progress.

  Without wasting much time, she changed into a new jumpsuit, tidied herself up, and waited patiently by the door. Precisely 15 minutes from when the call was made, the cell door opened up, and the two guards outside invited her to leave her room.

  Unlike earlier this morning, when she had to jog along the entire corridor, the guards gave her a ride on their buggy and steadily drove towards the training chamber. They continued to drive through the chamber and boarded the cargo lift at the side, where they ascended to the surface section of the facility.

  Yuna was delighted to find herself boarding this lift once again, the last time being when they first brought her to her new place. As the grate shutter closed behind her, she jokingly thought:

  “Guess I’ll be able to see the sunlight once again…”

  Finally, as the buggy disembarked from the lift and parked at the loading bay, she got escorted out by another set of guards who then brought her up even further up the stairs toward the facility’s lobby. There, she encountered her trainer in front of the guest room, whom she approached and eagerly asked:

  “Sir, y-you’re here! Could you tell me who I am meeting with?”

  “Relax, Yuna, it’s not somebody that you should be worried—”

  Before her trainer could even finish his sentence, the guest room’s door suddenly opened up and a girl of her age emerged behind it while speaking to the other person inside. It startled both of them, and they simultaneously looked at her.

  “Dad, I think that must’ve been—"

  When that girl looked to the front, her gaze subconsciously locked onto Yuna, and so did Yuna onto her. They both stared at each other with similar eyes widened, shocked expressions, as their thoughts buffered from overloading.

  “U-uh, y-you… look familiar…”, Yuna stuttered as her index finger slowly raised.

  The girl’s smile widened as she waited for her friend to recall her own memory.

  “You… you still remember me, don’t you?”, she asked.

  Yuna’s mind hastily pieced together the puzzle from old memories, connecting surrealness with familiarity, while her lips hesitantly held off the name she wanted to mutter. When her confidence grew that what she saw wasn’t a dream, she carefully said:

  “Catarina…?”

  Catarina chuckled in happiness before teasingly responding: “Yes~?”

  “CAT!!! IT’S REALLY YOU!!!”, Yuna dropped all the formalities and happily jumped toward Catarina.

  Catarina managed to capture her in her embrace in time, and they both tightly hugged each other as Yuna teared up with joy.

  “Oh, Protective Angels… *sob*, I cannot believe I see you here… *sob*”, Yuna let out all of her emotions.

  Catarina gently patted Yuna on the back, fondly smiling upon hearing Yuna still using the word ‘Protective Angels’, like the good old days in Tragula. It gave her a sense of nostalgia for when her worldview was much simpler and smaller.

  Yuna’s trainer, on the other hand, watched on silently from the sideline, not wanting to disturb her moment of emotional happiness. Despite his usual stone-cold face, secretly, he was happy to see the girl under his watch received a cherishable moment after months of being kept in an underground facility.

  After a long hug, Yuna voluntarily unwrapped Catarina from her hands and held onto her arm as she looked at her friend’s significant glow-up. She admired Catarina’s cotton-woven jacket, the cute beanie on top of her wavy, blonde-dyed hair, and her stylish eyeglasses, alongside the general maturity of her face compared to seven years ago.

  “Look at you… You’re so different! I nearly didn’t recognise you, had it not been for your smile and eyes”, she praised.

  “Come on, Yuna… you’ve changed too!”, Catarina flattered.

  Yuna nagged: “I know… we're both teenagers now; but unlike you, my style remained the same as ever… while you’ve practically become another person!”

  “Hahaha, don’t feel bad, Yuna”, Catarina responded, “If it wasn’t for the fact that your hairstyle remained the same, Dad and I wouldn’t have realised that it was you in that photo”

  “Hold on, what photo?”, Yuna questioned.

  As she asked that, Catarina’s father came to the door to check on them. Unlike with her friend, Yuna was immediately able to recognise the man’s face upon looking, as nothing had changed except for more wrinkles and whiter hair.

  “Oh, Mr Ambersap, good to see you again!”, Yuna politely greeted the former villager from Tragula, releasing Catarina completely.

  “Good to see you, Yuna”, Mr Ambersap fondly replied. “How have you been doing here so far?”

  “Uh… well, the food and bed were great… but…”, she hesitantly answered while slowly gazing at her stern trainer.

  “Well, never mind, I know you must have gone through a lot before arriving here at the Angelic Miracle Institute”, he digressed.

  Listening to how Mr Ambersap spoke and seeing that he wore a formal Tachyonian-styled office wear with nametags on, she inquired: “Mr Ambersap, do you work here nowadays?”

  He clarified: “No, I don’t work here, but I do have a lot of business dealing with the Institute. The only reason we got to meet you here was thanks to my connections”

  “Oh… so that’s how…”, Yuna commented.

  “Anyway”, Mr Ambersap continued, “Yuna, do you want to get out of here?”

  “Huh… get out?!”, Yuna was shocked by how bluntly he asked.

  “I-I mean… absolutely… but the court said I have to stay here for a year. I am a resolutor after all…”, she recalled when the judge sentenced her to imprisonment, or in the court’s language, special containment for being a high-risk individual.

  “Hehehe, well~”, Catarina teased, “We’ve already processed your reallocation. So…”.

  “From now on, you’ll live with us!”

  “HUH? Cat, are you serious?!”, Yuna asked desperately.

  “Can’t believe it? Go ask your trainer!”

  Yuna’s trainer continued off: “What Miss Ambersap said was true. After long negotiations with multiple relevant parties, you’ll now be allowed to live with The Ambersaps while you advance onto a higher level of your vanguard training”.

  “That also means your level one training under me is now over. Congratulations, Miss Baker”, he announced nonchalantly.

  Yuna was left speechless upon being rained upon with good news after good news. Going from the mundanity of the underground facility to the sudden promise of a better life, her nihilism vanished, and lights began shining in her eyes once again.

  She stood upright before her trainer, and gave him a one last honourary salutation:

  “Thank you for everything, sir!”

  .

  .

  .

  As Mr Ambersap drove his family car out of the Institute and onto the Autoway, he let go of the steering and let his car autonomously cruise them toward Netrino City’s exit. Through the sky window, Catarina and Yuna saw the small armoured airship that would escort them hover right above them, silently ensuring that Yuna reached her new home safely.

  “Wow, Dad… never have I expected we would be escorted by an airship. Feels like a VIP here”, Catarina spoke to her dad.

  Mr Ambersap, having turned his driver's seat around, replied to his daughter: “Well, Catarina, this is how it usually goes when I’m on a business trip with my big bosses or some very important clients”.

  He then looked to Yuna, who was sitting tensely next to Catarina in the backseat, and continued: “It’s just this time… the ‘very important client’ is none other than your good old friend, Yuna, who is now a resolutor”.

  Yuna awkwardly laughed over the old man’s appraisal before responding: “Uh… Mr Ambersap, please don’t put it that way. I’m not used to being called like that”.

  Mr Ambersap crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat. “Yuna, have they informed you about what happened to Tragula?”, he asked.

  “I… uh, yes…”

  The memory of watching the aerial shot of Tragula’s destruction in the court haunted her still. It felt particularly unsettling to her, considering she had noticed when the heavenly ray struck, but not knowing where it struck until she had been brought to Tachyon.

  “*sigh*… In that case, I’m sorry for your loss, Yuna”, Mr Ambersap solemnly said.

  “Thank you, Mr Ambersap”, Yuna replied. “But, wasn’t Tragula your home too? Perhaps I should also give my sorry to you”.

  “No need”, Mr Ambersap said. “I left Tragula on sour terms with the other villagers, back when you’re too young to understand. To me, Tragula had nothing to do with me and my family any longer”.

  “However, I held no grudge against the youngsters there, such as yourself. So, when I learned that you somehow survived the Tragula incident, I couldn’t help but feel obliged to help you”.

  He continued: “Speaking of becoming the survivor, you also received a resolite right after the incident, no?”

  “Right?! You must be so powerful now!”, Catarina cheerfully added.

  “Uh, for starters, I haven’t actually used my resolite since they took it away from me. In fact, I don’t even know where it is now”, Yuna confessed.

  “And, second of all, without the resolite, I’m just the same old Yuna as ever. So… I guess I’m not that powerful by myself”.

  “Don’t worry about that. I believe that starting from the second level of Vanguard training, you’ll not only get to use your resolite back, but also push its limit to the maximum!”, Catarina said.

  While it excited Catarina greatly, Yuna wasn’t as thrilled as her old friend. Her face showed slight discomfort, feeling unease at the thought of pushing the resolite to its limit, though she was unable to point out why.

  “*Ahem*… By the way, Yuna, what are your feelings about becoming a resolutor?”, Mr Ambersap questioned.

  “My feelings…?”, Yuna responded.

  She took a deep breath and relaxed her body and mind for a moment before saying:

  “It… felt like a blessing and a curse…”

  Catarina and Mr Ambersap focused their attention seriously upon hearing that.

  “For one, it made me feel like I’ve been looked upon by a higher power. I’m sure everyone always dreamed of that, and here I am getting my wish fulfilled right as I had my life on the edge, which enabled me to fight back the soldiers confronting me”.

  “But at the same time, it also made me feel lost, since it gave me no clear message as to what I should do other than stand my ground against those soldiers. And after I got shot and woke up inside their medic tent with handcuffs on me, I felt empty seeing how I lost even with such a miracle”.

  “To me, I don’t understand what the resolite is for anyway. Does it want me to believe in it, or was it there out of pure chance?”.

  Yuna released a long sigh after that, relieved that she had finally let it out after keeping it in for two months, yet remained frustrated with the situation itself.

  “Honestly”, Catarina responded, “I may not be the best person to say this, but…”

  “From what I’ve learned from my Tachyonian friends and teachers, all of our wills and resolutions come from ourselves alone. It doesn’t matter whether people say it's driven by our mind or future self or whatnot; what matters is that everything you did relates to yourself, not outside force”.

  “So, regardless of whether you got your resolite or not, your desire to defend yourself against those soldiers all came from you, by which the resolite only came in to help you perform it”.

  “In other words, perhaps you shouldn’t wait for your resolite to give you the answer, but instead give it the answer that reflects who you truly are”.

  Though what Catarina said was simple, it gave Yuna the desperately needed guidance for her new life, especially as she was on the path to becoming a Vanguard. It made her feel complete and softened her heart for more Tachyonian wisdom in the future.

  “Perhaps Tachyonians were never soulless, but were busy powering their souls using their own will”, she wondered.

  Just as Yuna digested it all, their car passed through the cornering by the mountainside on their right, and the gleaming lights from Netrino City's skylines came into their vision.

  The spectacle of the city enamoured her as she lay her eyes over the horizon under the late evening sky. Though she had been there before when she was brought to the court, this was the first time she got to see the panoramic view of the hi-tech capital from afar.

  “And those buildings with all of their lights shining up the dark sky… that’s what happens when many people channel their willpower together…”

  “Thank you, Catarina”, Yuna muttered.