I found myself in a new room with my uncle. Looking at him, it was still hard to believe he was there, alive. My uncle was never a mutant with super strength or speed; he was just an ordinary man who drank quite a bit at home, but he was always a good guy.
"Right, Arata. I think I owe you some explanations," he said, a weight in his voice I didn't recognize. "I'll tell my story first, then you can ask your questions." "Fine," I replied, trying to process everything.
"It all started when you vanished. I called your name for dinner, but there was no answer. I went to your room and a pulsing, intense blue portal was right there before me. It seemed impossible, but as I got closer, I heard screams. Among them, I heard your voice. I didn't think... I just jumped to help you."
"But are you stupid, Uncle?" I interrupted, feeling a lump in my throat. "What if it was a recording? Who jumps into an unknown portal with nothing, no resources at all?"
He gave a tired smile, the wrinkles on his face appearing deeper under the room's light. "When it comes to family, Arata, we don't think. We just jump."
Those words hit me hard, but he continued: "I didn't land in the same place as you. I appeared in a warehouse and heard screams again. Running inside, I found Sid. The boy Felix—an old friend of mine—had left for me to take care of, but..."
"Wait! You knew Sid and you never told me?"
"Stop interrupting me, kid!" he exclaimed, regaining some of his old authority. "Sid lived with us for a few years, but your aunt and I had no money. We had to give him up for adoption again. But there was a kidnapping at the orphanage. Sid and other children were taken. Months later, they found the bodies of two children; three others, including Sid, were found gravely injured on different roads. He had lost an arm."
"And the culprits? Were they caught?"
"We caught five from their gang. Currently, Sid uses that mechanical arm made here in Classes City. There are things I haven't told you yet, but you know the important part now."
I felt a wave of indignation. "Uncle, I love you, but that was a mistake. You should have kept him. He could have been happy with you, even without money. Maybe none of this would have happened."
"I know, Arata. But you weren't there when the decision had to be made. You wouldn't understand."
"Even so, why treat Sid like trash now? You know what he went through, and you treat him like nothing!"
"Understand this: I need to be a strong leader here. This city was founded by those expelled from Classes City, who dug tunnels until they built everything from scratch. Those who aren't accepted up there end up here."
I leaned forward, my tone turning serious. "Uncle, I need your help to rescue Chad. Sid said he's in Classes City and that they injected him with drugs to turn him into a soldier. Will you help me?"
He placed his hands on my shoulders. "I have problems here in the city to solve first. If you want to wait at my house, I'll let you know when we can go."
"How long will that take?" "Truthfully? A few months."
"MONTHS? Uncle, I don't have that kind of time! Kai, Ren, and Penny are waiting for me. I need to save Chad!"
"Listen, Arata. Entering Classes City is complicated. We're trying to negotiate with the Mayor, but that takes time. Your friends can wait."
"Then let me help you, Uncle!" I fired back, using his own words against him. "I don't want to stand still. Remember what you said? 'When it comes to family, we just jump'."
He let out a short laugh, impressed. "That was a good one, kid. But what we face here is dangerous. There's a tribe of Corrupted in the West A sector tunnels, and the people are terrified of an attack. If you want to help your friends, prove you can help this city first."
"I'll prove it, you can be sure of that," I affirmed, feeling the adrenaline return. "So, shall we go?"
"Calm down, speedster," my uncle interrupted, holding back my momentum. "You're going to sleep. Tomorrow we'll talk about how we're going to solve the Corrupted problem. Take this key to my house."
He explained the way, quickly dismissing me from that cathedral-like building. Outside, the underground breeze was damp and smelled of packed earth. I found Sid leaning against a stone pillar, adjusting the pistons of his mechanical arm.
"Hey, Sid. You okay?" I asked.
He stopped what he was doing and stared at me with a dry laugh. "I don't remember you being so social. Before, you just wanted to interrogate me for info; now you seem like a different person after talking to the Boss."
"Maybe you're right. But I need some company tonight," I admitted, looking at the distant lights of the village. "How about showing me the city?"
Sid shrugged, the metal of his shoulder creaking slightly. "I was going to say no, but I'm bored enough to accept. Follow me if you don't want to be left behind."
What followed wasn't a tourist tour, but a frantic race. Sid didn't use the rustic bridges; he leaped over wooden stalls and climbed stone walls with an agility I could barely match.
"What is it, 'Original'?" he taunted, leaping from a parapet to the roof of a tool shop. "Is the 'Draft' here faster than you?"
I huffed, gaining momentum and landing right behind him. We started running across the wooden roofs, jumping over chimneys that belched oil smoke. In a moment of silliness, I tried to overtake him and ended up slipping on a loose tile. Sid, in a purely instinctive reflex, extended his metal arm and grabbed me by the shirt collar before I plummeted into an irrigation canal.
We both stood in silence for a second, looking at the reflection of the water below, and then burst into laughter. It was a strange laugh—the same voice, the same timbre, echoing in the void of the cavern.
We stopped at the top of the highest roof on the outskirts, where the view of the underground city opened up completely. From there, Classes City seemed like an unreachable concrete ceiling, while the terracotta lights below pulsed like embers in a fire.
We sat on the edge, legs dangling in the void. Sid took a small gear from his pocket and started spinning it between his organic fingers.
"You know..." Sid broke the silence, his casual tone fading. "Sometimes I forget that it's not your fault for being the mold that broke me."
"You know..." I asked, "I was thinking about my life here. It's been so frantic. I met a group, thought I could call them family, but I caused problems and now we're separated again."
Sid spun the gear. "I didn't have a good childhood. I wanted to learn to write, draw, read. Have friends. But traffickers kidnapped me; they wanted parts of my body. Then they tossed me out when they realized I was 'useless' for their plans."
"I know, my uncle told me. You know, I always planned a career, college, a girlfriend... I even wanted to lose my first kiss. My friends at school were always hooking up with anyone, and here I am, never having kissed anyone."
Sid let out a dry laugh that quickly turned into a roar of laughter. "So even the 'Original' has the same problems as the 'Draft'?"
We laughed together. The roof felt like a special place; the voices of people rose from below and the shop lights illuminated the cave in an almost magical way. It had been a long time since I talked about life with someone. I had forgotten how fascinating life can be. Looking at the street, I saw a busy bar.
"Sid, want to go there for a drink? I'm dying of thirst."
We climbed down from the roofs and entered the bar. It was spacious and strangely peaceful. Seeing people having fun and smiling made me smile too, for no reason at all. We went straight to the counter.
"Hey, my man. We want two glasses of water," I asked the bartender.
We sat on the stools while he went to get the orders. It was then that I noticed, a few feet away, a man with a coarse tone arguing with a woman. She was drinking alone, and her blonde hair shone brightly under the bar lights.
"Hey, cutie... why don't you join my group back there?" the man said with a dirty smile. "We know how to satisfy a hot woman like you..."
That guy was trash. I waited for her to tell him to go to hell, but unexpectedly, she just stood up. Without a word, she accompanied the man's group through the emergency exit at the back.
I turned to Sid, indignant. "Sid, did you see that? Let's go help her! She's in danger."
"Arata, if she went, it's because she wanted to. She wasn't forced," Sid replied, apathetic.
"If you won't go, I will!"
I left the seat and ran to the emergency door. I was already mentally prepared to face the group and give them a beating, but what I found on the other side was a shock.
Five men were scattered across the alley floor. Clothes torn, faces covered in bruises, and groaning in pain. The blonde woman was standing there, wiping dust off her hands with terrifying calm.
My mind short-circuited. Who is she?, I thought. I need to tell Sid. If she fights like that, she could be the key to rescuing Chad. I'm going to recruit her, no matter what!