Chapter 12: Her identity

Wake Louchette

The Mystica Glory building's busy corridors were full of workers walking towards their designated labs and offices with individual responsibilities to carry on their shoulders. Some were holding on their arms a bunch of papers. Some office workers were speaking on their phones with fast pacing on their voices' tone. Many researchers were bringing samples to study while reading a part of it, and the others were rushing while putting on their lab gowns.

I just came back from my hometown, Layvanna, last two days ago, and now I am finally back at work. If I have to explain in one word what the entire day would look like, I chose 'busy.' People here have no time to talk about unnecessary things that were unrelated to the task they were doing.

I ran towards the office while neglecting those who have seen me in such a rush situation. I have to do actions on my pending research, including those that are collaborative with other experts.

I think this is the price I get from staying almost 2 days away from Prislia. Bruh. I gasped in silence.

Later on, I felt a sigh of relief when I finally arrived at the office. My associate, Lance, was there sitting at my swivel chair. I glared at him, especially that his legs were placed at the top of my table.

"You're late." He said in a boastful manner. He raised his left eyebrow while swaying his butt to make the swivel chair move.

"Any good news?" I asked, neglecting his 'welcoming note' while putting my things on the cabinet right beside my desk.

I heard him breathed deeply. "Oh well, Mytica sent researchers outside of the city because of the fire incident that happened there." He answered with a casual voice.

I wasn't interested in what he said. That wasn't my responsibility, plus I was not assigned to it, so I'm out. I just went to the mirror and fixed my necktie.

Although Lance can tell that I wasn't interested, he managed to continue giving me more information.

"According to the news and to our own co-workers' report, firefighters were astonished when their fire truck produced 2000 gallons of water instead of the actual amount of water that can fit inside the container, which is 750 gallons." After saying this, he examined my reaction for a while. I felt no interest at all. And when he realized that I did not give a care about what he had said, he bent his head back then looked at me with raised shoulders.

He wanted to say something, but I caught him right away while pointing him to shut up. Now, his mouth was hanged open, frustrated to share.

With a heavy move, he put his legs out from my desk while rubbing his head.

Finally!

"Hm... A man who doesn't care about others' work but hates seeing people who don't praise his own research joined the group." He jabbered. It seemed to have a mocking voice at the tip of his expression.

How dare he told me like that! Bastard! He should thank me that he is my friend, or else I will break his bones into pieces.

My sharp eyes stared at him, wishing him to shut up. But instead of making him vanish from my office, he teased me with a smile.

He's damn annoying!

He stood and walked straight to the window where the whole 'new' Prisila can be viewed. "Maybe... You can help through their research?" He asked while still looking at the view. It was clear that he was hesitant to let those words out but still maintained to say it.

Helping them? Does he even know that I still have a lot of research to do? What a joke!

"Why don't you help me instead of asking me to fix the problem that I wasn't assigned to." I fumed in irritation and quite an anger while facing him.

He slowly faced me back with his hands in his pocket.

His face was acting like he was wondering his question while making a disturbing smile afterward. "I will, of course, I do." He said, confirming the work ethics we have as co-workers.

I thought our conversation ends here, but he said something that finally made me interested in the phenomenon.

"The fire that happened in Layvanna was solved not because of the water or the firefighters." At this point, our mood became more serious.

Layvanna, this is the name of my dearest hometown.

The fire happened there? No way! Why was it that I didn't know about that?

But what struck me the most was the last phrase he said. My forehead wrinkled, and I leaned towards him a bit. I became curious about what he was going to say.

He knew right now that I was intrigued, so he continued in an amused voice. "They said, they stop firing waters onto the fire when the huge burst slowly faded itself."

I stilled. I couldn't believe what I heard.

"But the thing was, all the things inside that factory turned into tiny ashes. The place, after it was burnt out, was bare except for the black burnt walls. The floor was filled with ashes, only ashes, no traces of products at all. Investigators even find it hard to trace the source of the fire."

Is that even possible? I asked myself. I was not even sure what I was going to ask.

"Weird..."

"I know, that's why I shared this with you because I know you're good at solving this kind of stuff."

-

We began to continue our research about the particular plant that randomly grew in this company's backyard. And, of course, we first get a sample of it before doing further investigations. The plant's most striking characteristics are that it glimmers like silk whenever it receives natural sunlight. On the other hand, if it does not accept any, it turns into a matte texture. We were all astounded after knowing the result.

We tried applying artificial sunlight right now to properly examine the plant, but it doesn't work. It only accepts natural light.

Its leaves color was a mixture of orange and brown bearing a golden yellow flower with white roots. I tried to put the plant in a rectangular transparent glass with polluted air and water. I was amazed by what we observed. The plant produced an apparent white wind surrounding the container until the contaminated water became clean again, and other tiny plants began to live that instant.

Later on, the newscaster's voice scattered all over the workplace after a sudden announcement from the speakers happened. Holograms started to show up everywhere; it even appeared here in the laboratory.

Obviously, the news was about the incident that happened in Layvanna. It also added a bit of explanation in connection to what had happened here lately in Prisila. They said the two unusual events were connected. However, this is just a possibility; there are no pieces of evidence yet.

And it's hard to find some.

"I feel pressured by what was happening in the world right now." A man in front of me expressed his thoughts. He was busy setting up the chemicals needed for our third trial.

He is Jayden Springer. He is one of the competitive scientists here in Mystica that I know, so I understand why he felt that way.

"I feel the same. We aren't finished solving the origin of the species that arrived here in Prisila, and now we are facing another case to solve." Replied Hisa while looking at the hologram. She was referring to the new plants that grew here in Prisila. I was just here, standing, listening to their conversations, and watching our fellow researchers receive the news.

And yes, this new nature is still here, surrounding the city.

Honestly, this event kept my interest.

I started working on the task when I heard the news saying that a lady was standing a few meters away from the fire trucks and wasn't bothered about the surrounding. They explained how the lady looks like, and the description seemed familiar. They also emphasized that she could be the reason behind the fire vanishing event and the unlimited water dilemma.

I quickly stopped what I was doing and looked right away at the hologram. It was evening when the video was tapped.

My eyes stuck seeing the scenario on the news. I cannot clearly see who that girl was, but she was wearing on her head a familiar chignon hairstyle. I felt the unsettling awareness of my own heartbeat; I felt rubato.

It was Sarah.