"Alright I get it."
'Asshole.' Solstice thought of the person who woke him.
The young man, Solstice, got up from the bench he was sleeping on, annoyed as he just awoke from a terrible nightmare. Solstice stared at the government agent who just uprooted him from his sleeping spot. Solstice was just about 1.7 meters tall, tousled dark brown hair and spring green eyes, he was not lanky but also not thick, just average. Solstice was wearing a dirty brown polyester shirt, a black pair of pants, and some worn down sneakers. He was unhappily thinking about the terrible sleep he's been getting recently, especially with the nap he just had today.
The government agent, who was a local police officer, was just around 2 meters tall, built pretty well, you can clearly see some muscle definition, with a blond crew cut and blue eyes, overall a good looking man. His lively body was a great contrast to the dull lifeless park they were standing in. He adorned standard all-black police attire, his epaulette a dark red circle divided by one single vertical line, indicating that he was at the rank of detective.
'If only I looked as good as this bastard.' The young man inwardly lampooned himself.
No one really took the time to "enjoy" the park, in fact pretty much no one did. The park was located on the outer edges of the city, that city being Zephyr Heights.
The city was really divided into different regions, three different levels of living standard, starting from the center outward. Many different districts spread throughout each of the three levels governing different produce, material & energy production, and more. The outskirts was the outer third level, it was neglected and rarely ever had any added development to it, except for more grueling factory work and the transport of goods from the harbors spread throughout the coast.
It was a shame really, that the people of the third level, the people of the outskirts, would rarely be accepted into the second or first level Zephyr Heights. Due to a detrimental social hierarchy, the outskirts consisted of the working-class citizens, with limited growth potential for them. The outskirts were only made worse, as all criminals were sent to live there, and were strictly forbidden from coming back to the inner second and first levels of the city.
It did not matter if they were proven innocent after their banishment to the outskirts. Even if all charges were removed, the prejudice of the city people in the second and first level was too harsh, to the point where the person being persecuted often left to the outskirts themselves. Solstice was unfortunately one of the many people who were banished even though they were wrongly accused for something they never did.
Solstice had been accused of a murder he never committed and even after he was proven innocent, the damage the accusation had caused could not be remedied. People of the second and first level of the city could not completely forget the image that had been falsely branded on him and foolishly kept spreading rumors and treated him like he was less than worthless.
He had been accused of murdering his little sister…..which of course he did not, but what was even worse was that the incompetence of the city police was more than frustrating. Even after he was proven innocent, to this day they still have not been able to pinpoint the true identity of the perpetrator. Although there were some supernatural factors to that incident, he still felt they should've discovered more concrete clues.
'It's so damn unfair.' Solstice thought.
Solstice reached into his pocket and pulled out the remaining piece of his protein bar out of its wrapper. This would most likely be the last bit of food he will eat for the rest of his life, he was probably going to die soon. After stuffing his mouth with the last little bit of his protein bar and gracelessly chomping on it, he tossed the wrapper over his shoulder and it began to drift in the wind and landed in a puddle.
The good looking police officer scoffed, not in disdain, but in amused surprise. "Did you just litter in front of me?"
Solstice stared at the police officer's face with a deadpan expression. "Do you really care that much? It's the outskirts, nobody cares about this place." The detective didn't really say much in response, instead just crossing his arms, and shifting his weight on his back left leg, a lazy crooked smile formed.
'It's probably best that I tell him.' Solstice mind whirred with complicated thoughts. Scrunching up his messy hair awkwardly, he looked at the police officer who had a slightly amused expression.
Solstice mentally prepared himself. "Hey, actually I need to tell you something."
The policeman looked at him with a curious expression on his face and an upward twist of his brow. "Oh? Out with it then."
Solstice scratched his cheek and stared blankly for a second then, he recovered himself and spoke. "I'm having madness visions."
The detective looked visibly shaken then straightened himself, grabbed his temples and rubbed them with a somber expression on his face. Strangely, the detective chuckled before straightening himself to stand tall, then he clapped his hands. "Ok! How long?".
Solstice was weirded out by that, he looked the detective up and down, not sure what to make of him. "Not long, you snapped me out of my first one." Solstice replied.
The detective visibly brightened up after hearing that, now having a big smile on his face. "Ah, well that's great then, we can still prepare, you will need to come with me now. No exceptions! Let's go."
"Alright.....where's your vehicle?" Solstice looked around but couldn't find the detective's car anywhere.
The detective glanced down at Solstice. "Don't need one. Besides, we're not too far away from where we need to be, and I like walking, don't you?"
'Is this guy really a policeman?' Solstice had his doubts.
As they walked on the cracked sidewalk that had been overgrown with grass, Solstice took this moment of peace to take in the surroundings. The outer edges of the city were really dull with very little color. Here and there you can see remnants of a stop sign for what was once an intersection, leading off into a neighborhood that was poorly kept, trash littering the streets.
Most of the homes were poorly constructed, mainly from sheet metal or old cheap wood, in which groups of people attempted to live in such a small space. Maybe they got along, and figured out how to live with each other, or they fought each other to sleep under that roof. This particular area was practically abandoned, as it was previously wrecked from a supernatural attack, and no one bothered to fix this area back to what it was.
Solstice then turned his gaze left and noticed the ocean. There was a small harbor about a couple kilometers down the coast which mainly accepted shipments of goods from other cities. Trash and debris drifted along the easygoing currents and waves. Solstice never learned how to swim and frankly, he had an irrational unearned fear of large bodies of water so he never tried to teach himself.
It was terrible how the world developed. After all of the countries' governments simultaneously announced the presence of the Wyrd and informed the world of what it was, all of a sudden all societal structure collapsed for a while. Eventually each countries' government banded together to form one big administration, and society recovered their stability although it was never the same. During those lawless years the world was pretty much on the brink of collapse and even now, societal norms have changed from how they were before.
'Tsk. Who knows if anything the World Government says is true, they probably fabricated most of the information on what the Wyrd truly is.' It was also quite popular for people to not fully trust the word of the World Government.
During their walk, Solstice watched the detective suspiciously. It was then, the detective had pulled out a strange handheld device, similar to a smartphone, but with some added modifications. The policeman proceeded to point what seemed to be its camera to Solstice which made Solstice freeze in fear. A light appeared from the phone's camera, scanning him before narrowing itself onto Solstice's left wrist, this was where his microchip was embedded.
"What are you doing with that?" Solstice asked with a slight hint of fear in his voice.
The policeman replied in a reassuring manner. "Relax, I'm scanning you to see what files we have on you in our database, you're highly likely to be a criminal, or at least most people in the outer edges are."
The detective read the files while they continued to walk, after studying the screen for a couple of minutes, he proceeded to put the device back into his pocket and sighed deeply. "Murder huh, and a gruesome one at that. I'm sorry for your loss." The detective rubbed the back of his head slowly, seemingly in thought.
Solstice was taken aback by this. In fact no one really cared about his feelings about the whole situation and instead, just kept foolishly clinging onto the image that was casted onto him. His little sister was murdered in a vicious and violent manner. The images of what happened that day resurfaced in his mind, evoking some emotions in him he very much did not want to feel at this moment.
'It's too draining to think about it.' Solstice willed the memories and the negative feelings that came with them away.
"And another incident report years later, but the victim didn't press charges. Hmm…I really don't know what to think about you."
"That was a dark time in my life. And it wasn't really on my own volition."
Not too long later, Solstice found himself standing in the entrance of a government run building. It wasn't a police station, but what looked to be some sort of outpost. The front entrance was heavily reinforced with heavy alloy plates, with narrow slots where powerful turrets were peaking their barrel out, with the soldiers napping lazily in the gunner seats, not even bothering to hide their indolence properly from random people that would walk by.
The ends of the detective's mouth twitched seeing his colleagues napping on duty. "This facility is on the smaller end, I'm sorry you will have to bear with it. Luckily, we still have one of the three confinement rooms available for you to use."
At some point on their walk to the facility, Solstice learned the name of the detective. His name was Jest, he didn't bother to mention his last name which confused Solstice. Jest turned out to be a decent guy in Solstice's mind.
The two of them stepped through the front door of the building, Solstice had to shield his eyes from the blinding ceiling lights. The buzzing of the lights and the dusty office smell proved to be nauseating.
The facility looked like it hadn't been properly taken care of for a few years. Trash cans were filled with coffee cups, old wrappers and used tissues. Solstice noticed cobwebs in the corners of the rooms they visited here and there, if there was one thing that was relatively clean, it was the floors and the bathroom he had to use when they first got there.
'I think I'm gonna get a headache if I stay here too long.' Solstice coughed after inhaling some dust.
After rubbing his forehead as he felt a headache coming on, Solstice remembered something troubling that Jest had told him earlier. "Wait, earlier you said that you only have one room available for me? Does that mean the other two are being used?"
Jest glanced at him then looked away, a distant expression found his face. "Yes. There are 2 others currently chosen by the Wyrd being kept here while they undergo their trials. It is very strange that with you now, three people chosen by the Wyrd have shown up to a facility so far out, in the outskirts, which just so happens to have exactly three confinement rooms. I guess that's just the Wyrd having fun manipulating the chains of fate."
After a short moment, Jest seemed to have recollected himself and proceeded to guide him to a medium sized room and took a seat in a chair. The room was all in all practically empty, the only things that filled it was a small cot in the corner and the chair Jest was currently sitting on opposite of where the cot was.
What Solstice did notice though, was that the room was made of a more durable alloy then the outer defenses of the facility. The alloy itself, somehow Solstice could feel it emanating a foreign presence. This room was meant to confine, to keep something in, to keep something from escaping and causing havoc. Of course, this was merely a speculation based off a strange feeling, but he was pretty certain of its nature.
Jest then gestured to Solstice to take a seat on the cot, clasping his hands and also clearing his throat. "Ok! Let's get this started."