In the Pit, or as its inhabitants called it, the Lower Dimension, where dreams were buried without funerals or farewells, the air was saturated with the smell of rusty iron and smoke rising from hidden stoves. The tall, dark gray walls reflected the light of faint lamps that barely illuminated the paths of passersby. In this harsh place lived Yuta, a young man at the beginning of his training to lead the resistance, taking his first steps in a world that showed no mercy to the weak, alongside his friend Tairo, an older man more experienced in tactics, combat, and leadership.
They formed a mismatched duo in age and experience, but the spirit that united them made them like brothers. Tairo was like an older brother to Yuta; they ate in the same place, slept in the same damp corner of the hideout, and trained on the same hard, dust-stained ground.
Before them lay a collection of old weapons:decrepit rifles, swords with dull edges, and primitive hand grenades.
Yuta asked Tairo as he inspected a rusty rifle:
–Where did you get all these weapons?
Tairo smiled a sad smile and said:
–A secret source... He was a brave man, but he was arrested and executed. But we are safe now thanks to his sacrifice.
Their training was like a gateway to hell: exposing themselves to danger, making fateful decisions in critical moments, real combat encounters, and complex strategic plans. Alongside this, there was comprehensive study of the structure of the advanced Automaton that controlled the area, and attempts to decipher its weakness, which seemed nearly impossible. They repeated amongst themselves that perfection doesn't exist, but that Automaton was as close to ideal as it gets: it felt no pain, didn't sleep, didn't malfunction, it only followed orders.
Tairo would enter the ring with Yuta and they would fight savagely until blood was drawn, but in the end, each would extend a hand to the other for a handshake, as if that handshake washed away what happened inside the ring. At night, they would go to the nightclubs in the city's depths, where cigarette smoke mingled with the smell of sweat and cheapness. There, they gathered soldiers for their resistance; most were drunk or unqualified, but a flock of sheep led by two wolves is better than a pack of wolves led by two sheep. Tairo believed that decisions wrote victories, not numbers or weapons.
In the eastern part of the Lower Dimension, lived a fifteen-year-old girl with her mother under harsh conditions. The mother earned their daily bread working in nightclubs, returning every night exhausted, while her daughter prepared dinner for her with small, chapped hands. One night, the mother returned, worn out, and found dinner ready. She sat down to eat, smiling.
Her daughter asked her in surprise:
–Why are you happy, Mom?
The mother said,joy gleaming in her eyes:
–There's a resistance movement starting in the southern area, for a better life than this.
The girl looked at her with innocent eyes and asked:
–What is the resistance?
The mother answered in a quiet voice:
–They are real heroes, fighting for freedom and against tyranny, so we can live a better life, so we can see the stars, the sun, and the moon, and walk on grass... All these dreams, if the resistance succeeds, we can achieve them.
In the morning, as usual, the mother and daughter would climb to the high railings far from the roof, practicing gymnastics together.
The mother taught her daughter the sport with love and said to her:
–I buried my dreams here, but I want you to revive them for me.
The girl would reply with a bright smile:
–Okay, Mom.
They lived a simple routine; just mother and daughter, no human dared to intrude upon their small world. But what intruded into their lives wasn't human. On an ordinary day, while they were practicing gymnastics on the high railings, the mother inadvertently entered a dangerous zone. Suddenly, gunfire erupted from the Automatons, hitting her directly. She fell from a height of hundreds of meters into the dark depths. Another bullet, which missed the mother, hit the girl in her arm, breaking the bone. Yet, she didn't feel the pain; perhaps the shock was greater than the pain.
The girl descended to the bottom with trembling steps, searching for her mother in the darkness. She saw only darkness. At that moment, she lost consciousness beside her mother's body. Hours later, someone found her and took her to a doctor, where a cast was put on her arm. In that place, there were no graves, only a bottom that absorbed smells downward, and those who lived at the bottom lived atop the rubble of others' bodies.
That moment was a turning point in the girl's life. She decided to go south, where her mother had said there was a resistance. She spent months there searching in the strict secrecy surrounding the organization, until she found one of its members. She approached him and said in a low voice:
–Are you a member of the resistance?
It was Yuta – or rather, Mouse – who looked at her cautiously. He pressed gently on her shoulder and nodded.
The girl, her eyes tearful, said:
–Can I ask you for a favor?
He said,"What do you want?"
"Please,destroy whoever built this system."
Mouse laughed cautiously and said:
–Don't worry, I won't die before doing that.
Then he turned to leave,but stopped abruptly and asked her:
–What's your name, girl?
She said:
–Yuko.
He turned around,smiling, then walked away, leaving behind a spark of hope in her heart.
Mouse saw in her eyes the pain that burned her heart and made her goal revenge, but he did not know it directly until some time later because his previous life was simple but not painful, only facing poverty and oppression. Despite that, he did not accept to give up because his struggle was based on curiosity and on the syndrome of entitlement. He thought he deserved more, but the difference was that he believed that all people deserved better, although in reality most of the people did not deserve to be sacrificed for him.
That night, Yuko was smiling in her bed, thinking about Mouse's words, while he was asleep in his bed after a exhausting day. But suddenly, a mysterious gas emanated, covering Room 11 entirely. A dense gas, like a white fog, permeated the place, causing everyone to fall into a deep sleep that lasted a full week.
Mouse opened his eyes afterward; he had fallen on the floor, his gaze directed upward, and he saw what he had never seen before; stars twinkling and the sound of laughter and scattered talk in the air. He rose quickly to inspect the place and found himself in the middle of a modern city at midnight, its lights brilliant, its people laughing and going about their day as if in another world. His face was free of injuries, and he was wearing decent clothes. He raised his head in astonishment and said:
–Did I really do it? Did I go up? ?