CHAPTER NINETEEN

The next week, Heli bought herself a small room on the top of a tall midnight building in the black layer and locked herself in it with stacks of paper, pens, and ink pots. She didn't come out until three days later, and when she did, she immediately slipped out in her black hood to assassinate 3 elders in one blow. 

The next day, their bodies were found by bewildered people in the back alleys of the black layer, along with one poster for each elder that read "Overthrow the Color System". 

The same week, in a busy plaza, a hooded figure wearing a hood that could only belong to an elder slipped through the darkness, blending in with the shadows, and settled on the high window of their small apartment. 

Heli took off her hood and looked at the bustling city below. People, all of them black-layers, were milling around below. Again waves, rippling and swaying, surging tides of conversations billowed around Heli, making her want to shut her window and stop this whole business entirely. 

But still, from underneath her hood she took out a large stack of posters and put them on the windowsill. This way, things would dissipate naturally and without a hitch. All the papers were the same black as the windowsill, making it impossible to tell where they were coming from because they blended in so well, but the writing on them was made with startling white, which was easy to see. 

And now, she had to wait. 

Finally, a cold ruthless breeze that bit at her face blew, and scattered the papers everywhere like rain. This was done in one blow so flawlessly that no one noticed papers tumbling across the roofs and pavements until they glimpsed the white shimmering on its surface. 

White in the black layer, any sort of it, even the tiniest bit, was illegal. 

So instantly, many people picked up the paper, and, not able to contain themselves, read it, simply out of curiosity if nothing else. It read, in big bold, grand letters, "Overthrow the Color System." 

By the time they looked up at the widows, papers hailed down on them, the window which they had come out of was already shut, and Heli had already slipped away, unseen and unheard. 

The first act was finished.