Anomaly

Emily’s overall idea wasn’t bad. In fact, considering the situation we were in, it was probably one of the best options available to us. That didn’t mean it was perfect, of course. I could already point out a few loose ends in her plan, and there were certain things that could go wrong if circumstances didn’t cooperate. Still, I didn’t think our current situation was exactly conducive to less desperate plans.

Emily was fully aware of that, too. The High Council would certainly notice her involvement in my apparent... “escape,” so to speak. Not that they could actually contain me or stop me if I were determined to get away. If I genuinely wanted to leave, I doubted a few locked doors and security measures would be enough to keep me inside the facility.

That said, the High Council had some idea that Emily and Laura kept certain countermeasures on hand specifically to keep me grounded. Although, to be honest, I didn’t think they needed to worry quite so much. I mean, I was perfectly capable of controlling myself.

Most of the time... Anyway, there was also one small detail that it would probably be better not to mention to the High Council. The ice cream. More specifically, the fact that the ice cream Emily and Laura gave me was probably responsible for a considerable portion of my good behavior. Not that I was saying they were bribing me. It was simply a mutually beneficial arrangement.

They gave me ice cream, and I tried not to cause too much trouble. A perfectly reasonable deal, in my opinion. That being said, I wasn’t particularly worried about possible retaliation from the High Council against Emily and Laura. The reason was actually quite simple.

Even if they suspected that Emily, Laura, and even Victor had exerted some degree of influence over my apparent “escape”, I doubted that would be enough for them to take any truly serious action against the three of them. After all, none of them had actually lifted a finger to help me escape.

At most, they would have maintained some form of communication with me, probably through a wiretap or something similar, just to make sure they could still track my movements and maintain some level of contact.

Other than that, the High Council would probably treat the whole situation as if I had simply escaped of my own free will. Which, technically speaking, wouldn’t be all that far from the truth. I mean, no one had dragged me out of the facility, put a gun to my head, or forced me to face a ridiculously huge colossus.

I had gone because I wanted to... Well, maybe the situation was a little more complicated than that. But in the end, it had still been my choice. So even if the High Council suspected something, I honestly didn’t see any reason for them to turn this into a bigger problem than it actually was.

Anyway, setting aside all the problematic issues my departure would probably leave Emily to deal with once all of this was over, I lifted my gaze from the hangar where the team she had sent out would be leaving and directed it toward the road leading to the city.

The city was several miles away across the desert. Not so far that it would take more than thirty or forty minutes to drive there, but still far enough that the events taking place in this area wouldn’t easily attract curious eyes. Or, at least, that was how things were supposed to be. Because at this point, there wasn’t exactly a desert in front of me anymore.

Where there should have been an endless expanse of sand, there was now a seemingly limitless white surface. The winds had also intensified considerably. They howled across the region, kicking up white particles and making the sound of their gusts clearly audible even from a distance.

Fuuuuush... I turned my attention back toward the facility. Here and there, I could see patches beginning to freeze over. Structures, equipment, and sections of the ground were gradually acquiring a white layer that spread little by little, as if the cold were advancing without haste but with absolutely no intention of stopping.

And the worst part was that the temperature kept dropping. It wasn’t simply a matter of it being cold. This place seemed to be becoming more and more lethally cold by the minute. That was the main reason Charlotte had decided to stay with her family until the problem was resolved. It wasn’t the perfect solution, but it was better than simply leaving them alone in their current situation.

Charlotte had somehow discovered that she could emit some kind of heat aura from her body. I didn’t know exactly how it worked, and she probably didn’t either, but its range wasn’t particularly large. At most, she could cover her family’s entire house. Still, that was more than enough to keep her parents safe.

Given the circumstances, Emily saw no reason to stop Charlotte from staying with them. In fact, it seemed like one of the few reasonable decisions we could make at the moment. Of course, the High Council, as always, tried to make things difficult.

They insisted on preventing Charlotte from remaining outside the facility on days that hadn’t been previously designated for that purpose, citing protocols, security, and that whole collection of bureaucratic nonsense that apparently appeared whenever someone tried to do something even remotely sensible.

We came to an understanding rather quickly, though. All it took was for me to imply that perhaps they were in need of a visit from me. Nothing personal, of course. It was simply because we hadn’t had the opportunity to be formally introduced in person yet. I sighed at the sheer multitude of thoughts running through my mind and tilted my head back, causing my “Eyes” to turn toward the sky above me.

Not literally, of course. My eyes weren’t exactly real eyes, so there wasn’t anything there capable of reflecting the sky. But that wasn’t important right now. The day was disturbingly overcast and dark. Heavy clouds covered practically the entire sky, blocking out most of the sunlight and leaving the surroundings with an almost twilight-like appearance.

If I didn’t know it was still ten in the morning, I probably would have guessed we were approaching eight at night. I continued staring at the gray sky for a while longer, not really thinking about anything in particular.

My mind simply wandered from one subject to another as I waited. Not that I had anything else to do. After everything that had happened, standing around for a few minutes without having to fight something was almost relaxing. Almost.

A few more minutes passed before I finally heard a sound coming from the warehouse. Grrrrrnnnng... The large gate began to open, producing a loud, painfully obvious screech that echoed throughout the area.

Turning my attention back to the warehouse, I was finally able to get a look at the team of agents being sent on the mission. They appeared to be two separate groups, eight people in total. None of them were anyone I had seen before or interacted with in any way.

They had all been personally selected by the High Council for this mission, which, for some reason, apparently meant they didn't want to leave the team selection to Emily. Instead, they had simply given her the task of equipping them with everything they would need for the mission.

I didn't have any particularly strong feelings about it. On one hand, I was actually somewhat relieved that there wasn't anyone I knew among the agents. Fewer people I knew meant fewer reasons to worry if something went wrong.

On the other... These people were probably about to go through a pretty unpleasant experience because of those idiots in suits. Not that I had much faith in the High Council's decisions, but considering they had chosen the team themselves, I couldn't help but wonder if there was something behind their choices.

I sighed inwardly. Well, it wasn't exactly my problem. My only objective was to accompany them, not necessarily support or save them. Emily and Laura had left that entirely up to me, but my main priority remained the anomaly. We needed to prevent it from pushing the situation to a point of no return and, more importantly, keep Earth from entering another ice age.

We wanted to prevent that at all costs. That was also one of the reasons I didn't intend to stay with them for very long. I needed to investigate the anomaly on my own if I wanted to understand what was happening and, consequently, figure out a way to stabilize the climate as quickly as possible.

In other words, once we parted ways, they would be completely on their own. I just hoped they knew what they were doing. The High Council had assured me that all of them were veteran agents with extensive experience in this kind of mission, so, in theory, there shouldn't have been any reason to worry... The problem was that it was the High Council who had said it.

For some reason, that information did absolutely nothing to reassure me. I continued watching them until they finally finished organizing their equipment and started loading it into their respective vehicles. There were two vehicles in total, both apparently equipped to handle this kind of weather, but, to be honest, I seriously doubted they would make it to the city without any problems.

After all, these vehicles were specifically designed to deal with an icy, snow-covered environment. I doubted that included dealing with an anomaly capable of manipulating the weather itself. Anyway, at least they took less time to finish their preparations than I had expected. Considering everything that had happened up to this point, I still wasn't sure whether I should consider that a good thing or a bad one.

I let out one last sigh as I watched the two vehicles begin to pull away, heading toward the city. They were leaving without the slightest idea of what they might encounter along the way. And, to be honest, neither did I know exactly what awaited them. One final blast of freezing air struck my body before I simply let the wind pass through me.

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

A moment later, I began drifting backward, my body gradually disappearing as I slipped back into my dark world. I would follow them to the city. If something happened along the way, I intended to help them... To a point. But once they reached the city? From there on, they would be completely on their own.