Aurora Over a Dead World

"What do you all think about this? Don’t you think it’s absurd that we’re being left in the dark about all of this?! Clearly something huge is going on since these ruins are crawling with soldiers!!" Tanya asks the other five who have gathered around her. It’s very late at night, and all of them have snuck out to this more private spot to talk about Zenith.

"Today I spent the whole day with Professor Zenith, and I can tell you that something involving us is happening too!!" Edith says, showing her phone as she throws more fuel on the fire.

"Look at this picture I took. These people here stopped Zenith to talk to her. I didn’t hear what they said, but the professor’s expression was really cold." Edith shows an image of Zenith and four soldiers wearing uniforms very different from all the others they’ve seen walking around the ruins.

"I-I think we sh-shouldn’t be trying to find out about the professor, right? I-Isn’t that wrong?" Unlike the others, Ashlyn feels uneasy about learning more because of the "other" person who will also hear all of this.

"Stop being so pessimistic, Ashlyn!! Something is really going on, and ignoring it is stupid!! And clearly it’s also pretty interesting that something’s happening!!" Tanya says mockingly while Eirwen gives her a serious look.

"If Professor Zenith hasn’t said anything, I don’t think we should go digging. She clearly has her reasons, and we’re overstepping."

"There are soldiers everywhere, we’re just students, and there are things we shouldn’t know!" Eirwen directs her complaint at Tanya.

"If you think it’s so bad, leave, Eirwen. Nobody cares if you’re not here. Oh, right, but the girl who received private military files from Professor Zenith really has a lot of moral high ground to talk about us wanting to know something confidential!" Tanya is harsh, referring to the videos and letters Zenith gave Eirwen about her father.

"Tanya, don’t be so harsh. Eirwen is right that this is problematic. Professor Zenith could end up losing trust in us," Charlotte says, not wanting trouble, especially since they’ve all only achieved a relatively shallow level of trust.

"...I think we should look into it. Tanya has a point." Rouge sides with Tanya. With that, Tanya, Edith, and Rouge show interest, while Ashlyn, Eirwen, and Charlotte show disagreement.

"We need to settle this among ourselves. It’s obvious they’re going to cause problems for us even if we don’t help," Charlotte says to Eirwen. Eirwen thinks about telling Zenith about this, but she knows it could cause problems if she does, because she’s already gotten too involved herself.

"We shouldn’t let this escalate too much and—"

"...Yes, yes, you should be careful." Everyone stops talking as they look to the side and see Zenith watching them. Eirwen, who had been speaking, falls silent immediately, growing nervous.

"P-Professor!" Ashlyn murmurs nervously as everyone tenses up.

"What are you all doing hiding back here? Do you think you can sneak around military installations? You’re insulting everyone. There are cameras all over the corridors. I was notified because you’re causing a commotion," she complains, looking at her students with frustration.

"Go back to your rooms. Tomorrow you’ll be sent back to the island and—"

"Professor, that’s not very fair to us. All of this seems to involve us too. We trust you, so why don’t you try trusting us?!" Charlotte says in a slightly manipulative tone.

Zenith notices what she’s doing. If Zenith backs down and sends them away, the trust she’s built will have a hole punched in it.

"..." Zenith slaps a disk onto the wall, disabling the room’s cameras, and gives Charlotte a serious look.

"Of course I can talk about it. It’s simple. I need you all to get stronger quickly, because in the very near future something problematic is going to happen, and you’re important for facing that problem," Zenith decides to mention only a few things.

"You can’t know certain things because you’d be entering government secrets, but what you can know is that things aren’t as safe as they seem."

"And you do deserve to know when something puts you at risk. I’m going to toughen up your training a bit, and I’ll mention more things as they come up."

"...Professor, what do you mean we’re at risk?" Eirwen questions while Zenith thinks about what to say to her students regarding that.

"...Let’s just say the future isn’t very promising. You can expect a future with a very difficult battle, and that future isn’t too far off." Zenith knows it won’t take that long.

Nemesis clearly doesn’t need much time. At the same time, she also can’t leave Zenith and Nadir alive because both are the key to ending her experiments.

So as an extremely intelligent monster who managed to spend so much time pretending to be human, she’s clearly going to return before Zenith and the island can be prepared.

Zenith’s superiors gave a minimum of two years and a maximum of six. So in six years at most, Nemesis will probably return to this island to finish what she started.

And Zenith knows it could be even sooner if Nemesis needs more blood. It’s obvious to Zenith that Nemesis only didn’t kill her because Nemesis herself still doesn’t know if she needs more of Zenith’s blood or not, so she left her alive as insurance.

But when that insurance becomes unnecessary, the "valuable resource" that is Zenith will become a dangerous asset. And since Zenith hasn’t made it clear that she’s the target, she doesn’t have as much protection as she should.

Zenith has thought about it a lot and talked with Nadir about revealing their blood, but they don’t want to become lab rats for the rare chance of maybe creating something that transforms monsters and humans. So even if it seems selfish, both decided to completely hide everything about themselves.

"So—" Tanya tries to speak and looks like she’s about to say something offensive, but Zenith raises a hand, interrupting.

"If you want to know more, you should graduate from the academy next year and join the military. Once you’re in the military, I’ll feel more comfortable informing you more about this." Zenith has talked extensively with Nadir about what Nadir did.

So Zenith simply decides to copy Nadir, giving her students an incentive. While Nadir offered a reward, Zenith tries to use everyone’s curiosity.

It works. They all look at each other, quite interested in the subject. And since they’d have to join the military anyway, the goal isn’t unrealistic or distant. It’ll just take some time since they still have to go through one more full year of study.

Because of their style of study, they can skip an entire year of schooling, since unlike most students they receive special classes different from the others.

"That sounds good to me. Graduating will be easy!!" Tanya says somewhat arrogantly, heading to the door. The others give slight nods of agreement as they start to leave, but Charlotte is stopped by Zenith.

"...Do you need something, Professor Zenith? I...was heading to my room. Being stopped by you like this is a little strange," she asks while Zenith waits for everyone to move away first.

"You’re the most manipulative and clever of the others. You must have noticed there’s a lot more to this than it seems, and I know that unlike the others, you’ll try to use it... I want you to stay quiet about it. Don’t rile up the others. I really can’t talk," Zenith tries to contain the problems before they happen.

"And if you try to find out too much, you’ll end up in trouble with dangerous people. Be patient. I really will talk more about this in the future." Zenith’s serious tone makes Charlotte shiver.

"What do you mean? What could be so big that it can’t be said and would bring trouble even to us?"

"..." Zenith thinks for a few seconds.

"Things that could ruin Aurora Island. Things that could kill you if they leaked. Things you really wouldn’t want to know before the time is right." Despite her tone, Zenith isn’t joking, truly treating Nemesis as the giant problem she really is.

"O-Okay, Professor... I-I wasn’t going to do that. It sounds dangerous... Couldn’t you at least tell me a little so I have some idea?"

"No."

"...Okay... Then I’ll go back to my room... Don’t worry, your warning was very clear. I won’t mention anything like that or make the others try to ask you what they shouldn’t."

"Don’t go yet. I need your help too. I need you to teleport me to Aurora Island, and then bring me back. I don’t want to have to go through all the bureaucracy that would be required." Zenith sees a good opportunity in Charlotte’s power and decides to take advantage of it.

"Wow, Professor wants to bend the rules? Can you really teach that to a student?" Charlotte returns to her slightly more provocative and manipulative tone.

"I can, because now you’re my partner in crime. So come on, create a rift to the academy. From there I’ll need you to create another one wherever I point." Charlotte stares into Zenith’s eyes before giving a nod. She didn’t expect Zenith to trust her like this.

"...Alright..." Charlotte creates a rift and enters first, since she knows Zenith never enters her rifts without someone having gone in first.