Anomaly

Chapter 416 – Back to a peaceful life

A few weeks had passed since the incident involving the priest and the pillar of light that tore through the sky like a divine spear. Despite the sheer scale of what had happened, my life remained relatively calm afterward, with no major changes to my daily routine, or at least, not at first glance. Technically speaking, security around the facility had been drastically reinforced.

My sisters and I were transferred to a new section even deeper within the complex: an underground area that looked like it had been built with the sole purpose of never seeing sunlight again. The doors were now thicker, made of some kind of heavy metal I didn’t recognize, and every entrance required multiple authorization clearances to open.

New containment measures were also put in place. There were more cameras watching us, additional sensors installed throughout the hallways, and above all, a noticeable increase in the number of agents assigned to monitor us.

While I already had a vague idea of the mess we had caused, recent events made one thing painfully obvious: the organization’s High Council was far from pleased with Emily and Laura for letting both me and my little sisters out and taking us outside without prior authorization. In fact, saying they were merely unhappy was probably a massive understatement.

Laura tried arguing that both my sisters and I were harmless, and that up until now, we had actually been helping humans deal with recurring anomalous incidents, situations that, without our intervention, would have almost certainly resulted in far more deaths and destruction.

Naturally, the High Council didn’t seem remotely interested in that detail. In their eyes, we were nothing more than highly dangerous assets: unpredictable variables that needed to be studied, cataloged, and, if possible, tamed. I especially didn’t like that last word.

“Tamed” carried way too unpleasant a connotation, as if my sisters and I were little more than sophisticated tools or malfunctioning machines waiting to be reprogrammed into following orders without question. Not individuals. Not allies. Just resources. As irritating as that was, I decided not to interfere or react.

Any impulsive response on my part, a snarky remark, a sudden movement, or even a glance interpreted the wrong way, could easily turn an uncomfortable situation into a complete disaster. So, in an effort not to make things even worse, I kept to myself.

My sisters had no reason to cause trouble either. Actually, now that I think about it, the only scenario where any of them would probably start trouble is if it had something to do with me. As long as I’m nearby, my little sisters tend to ignore pretty much everything else.

As for our new living arrangements, mine and my sisters’ included, the place ironically feels far more like a home than I expected. Or at least, a strange version of a home designed specifically for beings like us. Each of us was given what looked like a small private cabin, or maybe a miniature temple.

Honestly, I’m almost certain Laura was the one behind the temple aesthetic. It feels exactly like the kind of dramatic touch she’d add without hesitation. The buildings were arranged in a U-shape, forming what looked like a small private compound.

My cabin was positioned right in the center, directly facing the main entrance, while my sisters’ cabins were placed symmetrically along both sides, as if everything had been intentionally designed to emphasize my position within the layout.

In the open area at the center of the U stood a fairly large tree, tall, sturdy, with a thick trunk and a wide canopy large enough to cast a comfortable shade over most of the courtyard. It was even slightly taller than the cabins themselves.

There was also something resembling a sun glowing from the ceiling, though I honestly can’t identify a single sign that anything here was built by human hands. And don’t ask me how the hell they managed to install a “sun” inside this place, because that remains a mystery I’m still nowhere near solving.

According to Emily and Laura, while the space itself had been created through conventional human construction methods, everything else, including the cabins, the artificial sky above our heads, the fake sun, and basically every detail of this environment, had been shaped with the help of an anomalous object.

Neither of them went into detail about what exactly this object was capable of. The only thing they revealed was that this wasn’t the first time they had used it. However, according to them, it was the first time they had ever relied on it to create something on such an absurd scale.

Another important detail was the global aftermath caused by the priest’s pillar. Contrary to what I initially assumed, it hadn’t been an isolated event. In fact, identical phenomena had occurred in multiple cities around the world, all appearing directly in the center of urban areas and unleashing waves of mass destruction.

Buildings collapsed, entire streets were reduced to rubble, and chaos spread far too quickly for authorities to respond immediately. Unfortunately, because this was something completely unprecedented, countless innocent lives were lost. There were no protocols, no preparation, and not even the slightest understanding of what was happening during those first few minutes.

And even though, technically, none of this was my fault, it would be a lie to say I can stay indifferent knowing everything that happened. At the very least, thanks to the firsthand information I managed to gather about the summit, Emily, Laura, Rupert, and Victor were able to act quickly.

With that intel, they coordinated emergency responses, organized evacuations, and prevented the situation from escalating even further in other parts of the world. According to them, that alone saved countless lives.

Both Emily and Laura said I should feel better because of that, after all, in a way, I was also responsible for preventing an even greater tragedy. But honestly, I can’t really take much comfort in that idea.

It’s not exactly deep guilt or crushing remorse. It’s something drier, more irritating. A lingering sense that if I had understood my powers a little sooner, or figured out how to use them faster, maybe a good portion of all this could have been avoided. Maybe fewer names would’ve been added to the list of the dead. Maybe fewer cities would be mourning right now.

Nekra kept a particularly uncomfortable expression for quite a while. Even while trying to maintain her usual indifference, limiting herself to saying only: “That’s my job” there was still a subtle weight in her expression that betrayed a certain level of discomfort. I can’t pretend I don’t feel some guilt.

Technically, all of this only happened because I rushed in and acted before properly evaluating the situation. For a moment, I caught myself wondering whether things might have taken a less chaotic turn if I had observed longer, analyzed the risks more carefully, and waited for the right moment to act.

Then again, I also considered the opposite possibility: maybe things could’ve turned out far worse. The concepts were already dangerously close to their limit, unstable enough that even the smallest mistake could’ve triggered disastrous consequences. It felt like walking across a surface on the verge of collapsing at any second.

In the end, there’s no way to predict what would’ve happened if I had chosen a different path. Getting stuck on hypotheticals changes nothing. What I can say with certainty, however, is that I don’t regret my actions.

If there’s one thing I’m absolutely convinced of, it’s that things would’ve ended far more catastrophically if the priest had continued stockpiling concepts in such a reckless and irresponsible way, completely ignoring the risks involved.

Now, as for the powers I used that day, I still have no idea what actually happened. All I know is that right after doing what needed to be done, I blacked out. It happened so suddenly I barely had time to process it.

One moment, I was calm, staring up at the gray sky heavy with thick clouds, feeling the damp chill of that day brushing against my skin. The next, I woke up already resting in Althea’s lap.

When I opened my eyes, I was greeted by the sight of all my little sisters gathered around me, almost forming a small protective circle. Their faces carried wide, visibly relieved smiles.

From what I was later able to piece together, I apparently exceeded, by a lot, the limit my current body is capable of handling. A little more, and according to what I was told, my mind probably would’ve just collapsed instantly, frying like an overloaded circuit and turning into something comparable to a pile of mushy porridge.

Honestly? That’s a terrifying thought, if you ask me. Anyway, getting back to the aftermath of the incident, to sum it up in a few words: all of humanity plunged into collective hysteria. Fear of anomalies stopped being some distant concern and became a constant source of terror.

That was largely due to the death toll, a number no one was willing to tell me directly, which already said plenty on its own. Judging by people’s reactions, the hollow looks in their eyes, and the heavy silence whenever the topic came up, I’d guess the number of victims reached into the millions... maybe even higher.

Apparently, most of the population has started losing hope. Anomalous cases have been happening with terrifying frequency, and every new incident seems to outdo the last in terms of destruction and horror. There’s barely enough time for people to process one tragedy before an even worse one happens.

Honestly, I don’t think it’s strange that people are starting to panic. That feeling of helplessness in the face of something that can’t be understood, much less controlled, slowly wears anyone down. Not everyone has a mind of steel like Victor, or like Laura, who seems to live in the comfortable belief that I’ll somehow solve whatever disaster appears in our path.

That said, while all of those points are valid, there’s something that’s been bothering me for a while now. I can’t shake the feeling that someone is gathering pieces of a puzzle, as if they’re desperately trying to complete a much larger picture.

At first, I didn’t pay much attention to it. It felt like paranoia, or just too much coincidence to be worth worrying about. But then my sisters started appearing, one after another. That was the moment I stopped believing any of this was random. Coincidences can explain one or two occurrences, maybe even three, but not a sequence this absurd.

I started considering the possibility that someone is actually looking for them... or maybe gathering all of us together for some specific reason. And that’s the part that confuses me the most. Why? For what purpose would someone do this? What exactly could they possibly gain by bringing us together? The more I thought about those questions, the less I could accept the idea that this was all just random chance.

There had to be a pattern. At this point, only one of my little sisters is still missing. And honestly, that doesn’t reassure me in the slightest. If anything, it only makes me even more suspicious that something is about to happen, because I can’t stop wondering what exactly will happen when she finally appears. Will that be the final move before something far greater begins? Or maybe the moment when all the pieces are finally placed where they belong?

As these thoughts crossed my mind, lying on the bed in my cabin, I simply shrugged, keeping a calm, unreadable expression. There was no point in wasting energy trying to predict every possible outcome or getting lost in pointless worries. Whatever was meant to happen would happen.

For now, my best option was simple: deal with problems when they came up, just like I did with the priest and like I’ve been doing this whole time. So far, that approach had worked well enough. Overthinking hypothetical scenarios would only cloud my judgment and steal my peace of mind.

I let out a quiet sigh, staring at the ceiling for a few moments before closing my eyes. At the end of the day, it didn’t matter how many complications were still waiting for me, when the time came, I’d find a way to deal with every single one of them. Just like always.