The consequences of Indifference are greater than many believe.
The unfeeling or distance from emotion generates a rift within your soul.
Individuals start to feel a sense of neutrality to any issue and in turn have no passion.
This is the mark the council has left on the public.
Indifference toward change is the key to survival.
Repress change and embrace power.
After the last exercise, Kian and Lyra had met to discuss what he had done.
The murder he committed.
Lyra steps toward the blood on the floor but pauses above it with her foot, "This blood is on your hands, Kian."
Kian nods his head with a feeling of indifference toward the situation.
Lyra raised one of her eyebrows, "Do you not regret anything?"
Kian shrugs, "I merely did as I thought best."
Lyra smiles grimly, "The council has brainwashed you well boy… Tell me, can you truly even feel any sense of emotion anymore?"
Kian paused while taking a moment to look around him.
The rockwall was empty and this space was eerily quiet.
A smoky smell lingered in the air.
A small window placed toward the end of the space revealed a faint outline in the distance of an incinerator working to burn a corpse.
Was this all a mistake?
The young man didn't like to be alone with his thoughts.
The thoughts of his past however scared him more than the present.
The memories of the past sparked emotion.
He had tried to limit showing emotional responses the best he could.
Sometimes he would have a laugh with his old friends but his coldness quickly returned.
The young man gazed toward the ground where the blood on the floor was still fresh.
He could still smell the aroma of blood in the air.
The blood in the air intertwined with the smell of smoke producing an aroma of a burnt corpse.
This didn't make him flinch at all either.
This was when his answer had come to him.
Kian says coldly, "I choose…"
Lyra puts her hand in the air, "Stop right there."
Lyra puts her right hand on her face, scrunching eyebrows, "You're putting me in a tough spot. I need soldiers that can feel the weight of their actions."
The older woman takes a moment to think.
In the next minute, an idea almost sprouts in Lyra's head like if it had been planted in the ground this entire time.
Lyra says with disappointment, "Follow me."
Kian watches while the older woman moves her fingers across her glass display.
Just where would she be taking him?
Both of them left the space instantly and appeared in the center of the underground city.
The large orange led ball on the ceiling shined its bright light illuminating the city in a nostalgic mesmerizing glow.
If Kian closed his eyes, he could feel the fans on the ceiling moving to provide a gentle breeze for the city.
The city was just perfect in his eyes.
Lyra waves her hand in front of his face, "Earth to Kian. We still have to walk a little bit."
The two walked for a couple of miles and finally reached their destination.
Kian mutters under his breath, "Why are we in the residential area of the underground city?"
The young man followed behind the older woman while she examined each of the houses that were merged with the cave's wall.
The houses came in a variety of different shapes. Hexagonal shapes appeared the most but there were still houses that were less common that were rectangular or circular. Each of the houses shared the aspect of having tinted blue windows.
Kian stood still, unable to piece together why the older woman had taken him here.
Lyra carefully felt each of the stone walls.
The number for each subsequent house was inscribed on the wall but camouflaged within the rock's surface.
You had to carefully feel each number to deduce what number it really was.
The older woman was familiar with most of the families names and addresses in the underground city.
This would only take a few minutes to figure out.
Lyra says, "Here boy. Help me find the Matcher residence. Their number is 105."
Kian swept his hands across the stone wall while feeling each of the carved numbers with intense focus.
No, this was 110. That must mean that 105 was five houses to the right.
Kian walked five houses to the right and stopped at a circular shaped house.
The young man felt the number engraved on the wall. This was the residence labeled 105.
Kian says, "I found the home but just tell me why we're here again?"
Lyra shushes him with her finger before gently knocking on the door.
The door opens to a tired old man with olive skin and a bald head, wearing a blue jacket, and white striped grey pants.
The sight of guests had brought life back to the old man.
The jolly old man says, "You're Lyra and this young man has to be a fellow sunburn user, training to fight in the war."
Lyra smiles politely, "Yes, one of our finest, Mr. Matcher."
Ray says, "Oh, no need for formalities. Just call me Ray."
Lyra nods her head, "Ray it is."
Ray says happily, "Why don't you both come on in. I was just planning to eat dinner. Now I won't have to eat alone.."
Lyra says with a polite smile, "We'd love to."
Kian stood in place and looked around the house.
The underground city's homes were structured to be bare but livable.
The old man's roof was only slightly taller than six feet.
The kitchen and the living room were split up in one small room while the bathroom and the bedroom were split in another.
There was barely any space to walk around before you would enter one of these rooms.
You would probably fare better to crawl around and that's just what the old man did.
The old man crawled into the kitchen to fetch something for everyone to eat.
Lyra and Kian ducked their heads while taking a seat at the table.
Some individuals might feel claustrophobic about now but Kian felt nothing.
He was quite familiar with the homes of the underground city, especially their interiors.
A common descriptor he's heard of is a human trying to live in a hamster wheel.
This phrase wasn't just demonstrating the lack of space an individual had to live in but their ability to adapt to such a small space to survive.
Kian smiles bitterly to himself, "How pitiful we have all become…"
The old man quickly returns while barely holding their bowls of soups and three metal spoons.
Ray says following a cough, "I got these from Go-Go-Groceries. Nice and fresh. Eat up, you two."
All of them ate in silence for several minutes.
Ray decides to interject while feeling the intense energy in the air.
Ray smiles widely, "My grandson, Vincent. He's training to be some war hero just like you Lyra. Tell me, how's that kid doing nowadays?"
Lyra wipes the corners of her mouth with a napkin on the table with a solemn expression on her face.
Kian's throat had gotten dry.
This was.. This wasn't what he thought was going to happen.
Did Lyra really expect Kian to tell the old man to his face that he killed his grandson?
The older woman looks toward Kian, almost acknowledging his train of thought.
Kian felt a familiar coldness enter his body.
The sunburn acknowledged his partial distress and kept him calm for this event.
Kian says without emotion, "Your grandson passed away in a freak accident today sir."
Ray pauses for a minute before he bursts out laughing.
Lyra and Kian looked at each other for a moment with perplexed expressions on both of their faces.
Ray smiles while putting the palm of his hand in the air, "Stop. Stop. That's not funny. He didn't even go to war yet."
Kian stares intensely toward the old man.
The wrinkles on his forehead from years of stress had accumulated on his temple.
This man probably didn't have many years left in this world.
Should the two of them let him stay in a state of denial?
Kian tries again in a harsher tone, "Your grandson is dead. He fell off a rock wall and died on impact."
Ray stops smiling for a minute and looks toward Kian with a hint of animosity.
Finally, had the old man come to his senses?
Ray laughs yet again, "You really got me for a minute… My grandson fell off a rock wall and died on impact. Oh wow, what a jokester you're."
Kian gets up and shouts, "Old man. Your grandson is dead and I was the one who severed the rope to kill him."
Ray chuckles.
Lyra sat watching the scene unfold with a grin on her face.
What was going on?
What was up with this old man?
Lyra gets up and waves to Ray, "Thank you for the meal."
Ray points toward Kian, "You two, come by anytime. Especially this funny young man. Tell my grandson to come back home too soon."
The two get up to leave, ducking their heads upon reaching the door.
The effects of the sunburn had worn off after sensing no immediate threats.
Kian closes the circular stone door behind him, "What the hell was that about?"
Lyra doesn't reply.
Kian shakes his head, "I thought you wanted me to break the news but the old man didn't get it all."
Lyra sighs while looking toward the upper levels of the underground city. The Go-Go-Groceries sign could be made out in the distance.
Lyra says, "I brought you here to make you learn the consequences of your choices."
Kian says, "I get that.. but that old man…"
Lyra says, "The old man suffers from a mental illness, a by-product of the shift itself."
Lyra looks toward the blue tinted glass windows, "Shift Induced Irregularity."
Kian mutters under his breath, "Shit."
Irregularity was a mental illness created due to the shift.
Individuals didn't want to accept a reality such as this one so their brains started primarily focusing on pleasure.
The severity of the symptoms can range from a drinking or drug abuse problem to not being able to feel the absence of happiness anymore.
In other words, some of these individuals couldn't feel sadness.
The old man even now could still be heard loudly laughing when standing outside of the house.
Lyra puts a hand on Kian's shoulder, "I don't want a soldier who doesn't feel remorse for his actions."
Lyra says, "I want a soldier who can feel the full weight of their actions and refuse to rot in their past."
Kian nods his head, "I understand but what do you want me to do?"
Lyra begins to walk away from the house, "Nothing at all but remember Kian, the one thing you never want to lose in this world is yourself."
Lyra pauses before saying, "Don't be someone just because you were taught to be them. Think for yourself."
The thought of changing his emotionless demeanor and becoming someone else almost made him sick.
This was exactly who he was.
A murderer who saved his own life but sacrificed another.
Ideas like these began to sit in his mind.
Kian grits his teeth, "I'll see you tomorrow Lyra."
The question was left in the air unanswered.
Would severing the rope be the best choice next time?
The old man continued to laugh loudly but what Kian couldn't make out through the blue tined glass window was that the old man was shedding a tear.