Harvester (1)

~*~

When Gadriel opened his eyes, he was neither in the white room with Jessabiel, Reigns, and their subordinates, nor in the park near the temple of knowledge, nor in his room. No, the young boy was in a field dotted with flowers that he had never seen before. Another thing he also noticed was the pain or rather the absence of pain. It no longer ran through his body and gave him the impression that everything he had experienced so far had been unreal – a horrible nightmare which he had only just woken up from. Nevertheless, the teenager was not stupid and knew that he could fall back into a new cycle of torture and suffering at any moment.

About ten minutes passed and Gadriel was standing in the same place. No one had suddenly appeared by his side and no voice had mysteriously called him. He felt like he was truly alone in this field of flowers that stretched to the horizon. However, he did not let his guard down and decided to explore this unknown place. But in which direction to go to? It didn’t matter, he told himself. He had nothing to lose. So, he started walking, moving towards what seemed like an endless horizon.

As he was walking aimlessly through this beautiful yet unfamiliar environment, Arya’s son couldn’t help but think that this was the most good-looking nightmare he had ever had. Everything was so beautiful that he still had trouble believing that he was in a dream that was about to turn into a nightmare. Plus, there was the feeling, or rather the feelings, that he felt every time he touched a flower – the softness of it against the palm of his hand – and that of being able to move freely in this place without feeling the slightest pain.

Gadriel stopped abruptly, his gaze distorted by the shock of a sudden revelation. What if… what if this wasn’t a nightmare? What if this unfamiliar place he was in was something else, something he hadn’t considered. At that moment, cold sweat ran down the boy’s face as some memories came flooding back – the last images he had of the white room and Jessabiel. He realized then that he had been hanged to death by her.

The teenager then began to cry, the realization of what was around him hitting him hard. According to him, he was not in a nightmare or in another simulation created by Jessabiel and his men, but rather in a dimension where people went after their death.

“So, this is what it looks like. Everything is so beautiful.”

Despite this beautiful scenery, Gadriel could not help but cry. He would’ve loved so much not to be dead and would’ve also loved so much to enjoy life, to grow up, to become more muscular, to kiss a…girl, but he would’ve especially loved to have his mother with him to see him live all this. It was now too late for that, much too late. And in the middle of the tears, the young boy suddenly heard something, a familiar voice calling him.

“Gadriel!” she exclaimed several times.

He turned towards the latter’s direction only to see his mother, Arya, running towards him, tears in her eyes. And as he saw her getting closer and closer, Gadriel couldn’t help but have doubts, telling himself that he was still a prisoner of Jessabiel and Reigns, and that everything was going to turn into a nightmare once again. However, this place had nothing to do with anything he had experienced before, his previous experiences having always had something to do with one of his memories. This was completely different. Moreover, she wasn’t holding a knife in her hand.

Arya finally arrived in front of her son and hugged him warmly before starting to apologize.

“Gadriel, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I was not there for you. I’m sorry I left you all alone. If I had been there, maybe they would never have hurt you.”

“M…Mother.”

Gadriel remained silent afterward, not knowing what to say. All he could do in this situation was crying, crying hot tears because the person he loved the most was by his side, apologizing constantly. But it was also because of this emotional moment that both of them realized too late the changes that had taken place on the horizon. Indeed, mother and son did not notice that a strange fog had formed in the distance and was now rushing in their direction. It was only when Arya’s son heard his name being pronounced by a horrible familiar voice that they finally noticed what was happening.

“No. Not again,” Gadriel retorted.

“Gadriel, what’s going on? What’s that?”

The young boy didn’t answer his mother’s questions, too scared by what he had in front of his eyes, too scared by what was going to happen. For her part, Arya didn’t need her son to give her an answer, Gadriel’s behavior towards this strange opaque mist that was heading towards them immediately made her understand the situation. Therefore, she grabbed her child’s hand and the two started running.

In their attempt to escape, Arya did her best to reassure her child, telling him that everything was going to be okay and that they would get through this. However, the more they ran, the more the two of them had the impression that the horizon in front of them was endless – just a continuous succession of beautiful flowers that stretched to infinity. Furthermore, when Gadriel looked behind him, he realized that part of the mist that was chasing them had taken the shape of a gigantic hand that was trying to grab them.

“Gadriel!” the voice spoke once more.

Suddenly, the enormous hand violently struck the ground, causing an violent earthquake. And as Gadriel and Arya were trying their best to keep their balance, the ground cracked into several pieces before collapsing around them. The two lost their means of escape. Misfortune never comes alone, the place where the young woman was standing also cracked and she fell into the void under the horrified eyes of her child who could not help but call out to her in a cry of despair. At the same time, the young boy was completely engulfed by the mist and, like the previous time, was completely disintegrated by what was inside.

*

In a room equipped with various electronic and medical devices, Gadriel was completely naked in a huge cylindrical tube. The young boy was floating in a greenish liquid with a sort of oxygen mask covering part of his face. His body was then devoid of injury, of Jessabiel’s passage and her horrible torture session. It was as if none of that had happened.

Suddenly, Gadriel made a sudden movement followed by a second one and then a third one. At the same time, a beep began to be heard in the room, a beep that became more and more frequent as Arya’s son kept moving. He finally opened his eyes, fear then written on his face. The young boy tried to see what was around him, to see if he was still in the presence of the mist, but because of the liquid in which he bathed, it was difficult for him. The sound that was resonating in the room also ended up stopping, which caused the cylinder to empty and open.

The young boy then found himself at the base of the empty cylinder, trying to remove the kind of oxygen mask he had on his face. It was only after that he looked around only to realize that he was in another place that was completely unknown to him. His first thought was then to tell himself that Jessabiel was responsible for this. Who else would’ve had the idea to place him in this place and heal all his wounds? It was obviously Jessabiel’s work whose only goal was to torture him again and again.

Gadriel finally stood up, realizing at the same time that he was completely naked. However, the teenager didn’t even have to look for something to put on, clothes his size having been conveniently placed on a chair nearby. And just as he had put on his new set of clothing, Arya’s son heard footsteps coming from outside the room. Someone was approaching. So, he grabbed the steel chair his clothes had been on and positioned himself in ambush next to the one and only door in the room.

Arya’s son’s heart was beating faster and faster as the footsteps got closer. He didn’t know if the person was Jessabiel, Reigns, or even one of their subordinates, but he knew that this was his one and only chance to escape this place. From then on, when the airlock leading to the outside opened, Gadriel did not hesitate for a single second. He closed his eyes and struck with all his strength. A horrible metallic sound was then heard making him understand that he had reached his target.

Gadriel opened his eyes to see if the person he had just hit with the chair had lost consciousness. Unfortunately for him, this was not the case. Worse still, when his gaze met that person’s, his entire body ordered him to flee as far as possible from…from that woman. Indeed, the person Arya’s son had just attacked was none other than the young woman he had run into in Fjore after rushing out of the law enforcement building. But what was she doing there? Was she also working for Jessabiel?

“Do you know what I am?” she asked after silently observing him for a few moments.

“N…no,” Gadriel replied.

“Then why are you shaking so much?”

“I…I…”

The young woman found him strange and looked at him even more intently. And for good reason, the reason why he was shaking seemed to be unrelated to the fact that he had just hit her with a chair. Him shaking like that had happened before, back in Fjore. However, after a few seconds, she finally looked away and headed towards the control panel that was located next to the cylinder.

“It’s good you’ve regained consciousness. This will make your transportation much more pleasant…”

“My transportation?” he thought.

Why was she talking about transportation? Where was she planning to take him? Who was she really? Gadriel didn’t want to find out the answers to these questions. His priority at that moment was to escape from this place. Luckily for him, he was right next to the exit. Without thinking, the young boy seized the opportunity and rushed outside. And as he was running along a long corridor that led to another airlock further away, the landscape around him suddenly changed and he found himself back in the previous room where he bumped into the young woman. This hurt him a lot and made him wonder how someone could have such a hard body.

“B…but, how?” he asked, realizing where he was.

“I wasn’t done talking.”

“Who…who are you?”

“Harvester, a friend of Arya.”

Gadriel found her name strange, but what he found even stranger was the fact that she claimed to be a friend of his mother when she had never mentioned her. So, he had every reason to be suspicious, not knowing whether or not she was telling the truth. Plus, there was the phenomenon that had prevented him from escaping from that room, which made him think he was in a new simulation controlled by Jessabiel and her brother. And finally, there were all the signals his body was sending him, signals that were constantly telling him to run as far away from this woman as possible.

“You say you are a friend of Mother, but she never mentioned you. Why?”

And while the young woman told him that it was his mother’s decision not to do so, Gadriel waited for an opportunity, one that would allow him to escape from this room.

“It will do you no good,” Harvester retorted, having noticed the young boy’s gaze. “You will never be able to get away from me unless I decide otherwise.”

“H…how did you…?”

“No time to explain. We have to go,” she replied, turning to Gadriel.

“Go wh…”

Harvester abruptly placed her hand on the young boy’s shoulder and the two suddenly found themselves in what could be compared to an elevator. She pressed one of the buttons on the control panel before telling Gadriel that she had come to Exoduus because she could no longer feel his mother’s presence.

“I looked everywhere for her, but without success. In the end, it turned out that she had been captured, tortured, and killed by the same people who captured and tortured you. Fortunately, I arrived before you suffered the same fate as her. Now…”

The young woman stopped talking abruptly and suddenly looked up. Gadriel then saw Harvester disappear before his eyes with an effect that looked like reality was being fragmented like a cracked mirror.

*

A group of six armed soldiers suddenly entered Gadriel’s tree house. They slowly advanced, nervously searching for something in various rooms.

“Room 01, clear!”

“Room 02, clear!”

“Room 03, clear!”

“Room 04, clear!”

“Room 05, clear!”

“Room 06, clear!”

The soldier who was in room 06 which turned out to be the kitchen then contacted Jessabiel to tell her that there was no trace of their targets in the area.

“Stay put and let me know immediately if Gadriel or that damn woman shows up.”

“Yes, Ma’am!”

The moment the communication ended, the other five soldiers came to join him and started complaining about the decision that Jessabiel and her brother, Reigns, had made.

“I can’t believe they gave us such a shitty mission. All because they couldn’t keep an eye on one damn kid.”

“Keep your mouths shut if you don’t want to end up like the last person who dared to talk about her behind her back,” the soldier from room 6 retorted.

“Oh yeah! You think this mission is much better?! Have you forgotten what that woman did a few hours ago?!”

“Relax! That woman isn’t here. The house is completely empty as you can see, which means that it’s bound to be one of the other teams that’s going to come across her.”

One of the soldiers then approached Arya’s body that was still lying on the ground and couldn’t help but smile when he saw the state her body was in.

“That whore deserved her fate.”

“The creatures on this planet all deserve to end up like her. All this abundance and security are simply disgusting.”

Jessabiel’s other subordinates all advanced towards the lifeless body of Gadriel’s mother, at least all except one who was suddenly grabbed by the neck.

“I hope her son suffers the same fate. It’s because of that bastard that we find ourselves in this situation.”

“I agree. He deserves to end up in the same state.”

“You know, the last few days have been very frustrating…”

Hearing a female voice, the other four soldiers turned around abruptly, ready to fire, only to realize that the person they had all wished not to meet was standing right in front of them. Worse yet, she was holding one of their own in one of her hands, his body having turned completely black.

“Not only did I discover that you kidnapped, tortured, and eliminated a very precious friend of mine, but you also did the same to her child. A child who just hit me with a metal chair I might add…,” Harvester continued.

“Release him!”

“I’m not done talking. Lowers beings never listen. Anyway, if you want him, here he is!”

At that moment, Harvester threw the soldier’s body head first towards his other colleagues and he pierced through the torso of one of them before the two of them went to embed themselves in the kitchen wall.

“Fire!”

While two of the three remaining soldiers were firing incessantly at Harvester, which seemed to have absolutely no effect on her, the third activated his communication device and yelled a single word, “contact!”, before accompanying his colleagues in a barrage of plasma shots. For her part, the young woman just walked towards them, completely indifferent to their attacks. And for good reason, it was as if her entire body was absorbing them, leaving no mark in the process. Harvester then grabbed one of the remaining soldiers who was trying as best as he could to defend himself, but without success, no physical or energy attack working on her. This also forced his comrades to stop their shooting, not wanting to hurt him.

“Return to sender,” she retorted.

Suddenly, the body of the soldier she was holding in her hand was pierced from all sides as if it had just been hit by energy projectiles. Harvester then used him as a bladed weapon that she used to eliminate one of the two remaining enemies before getting rid of the rest of his body by throwing it behind her. The last man standing, frightened and seeing that he had no chance against this monstrous phenomenon of nature that had just gotten rid of his comrades as if nothing had happened, implored her to spare his life.

“I… I was just following orders,” he continued.

“You were just following orders,” she said, grabbing him roughly by the neck.

Harvester lifted him up with one hand before looking away at Arya’s lifeless body still lying on the ground.

“Please… I don’t want to… die.”

“You seemed very happy to see my friend in this state. What were you saying again? Oh yes, “that whore deserved her fate.””

The terror in the soldier’s eyes increased at the same time as the pressure around his neck. He didn’t have time to plead once more for his cause, however, as the young woman separated his head from the rest of his body before everything took on a much darker hue.

“Pathetic… I hope you’re not the type to be disturbed by so little, Gadriel…”

Harvester then turned around only to find himself facing the young boy who was observing the scene with a lot of fear in his eyes.

A few minutes earlier

Gadriel was alone in the elevator, wondering how high it would climb, but especially how Harvester had managed to disappear before his eyes. This woman was full of mysteries, mysteries that he was far too afraid to discover. Speaking of fear, why was he afraid of her? Since their first meeting back in the streets of Fjore, he had never ceased to feel a strong feeling of fear towards her, but why? Why did his whole body ask him to get as far away from her as possible?

When the elevator arrived at its destination and its doors opened, it added new questions to the long list of questions that the young boy was already asking himself. And for good reason, what Gadriel had before his eyes was none other than the living room of his home. The elevator was integrated into the immense pillar that supported the entire structure of his house.

Gadriel stepped out of the elevator, which closed behind him before disappearing into the pillar of his home as if it had never existed. He was then greeted by a “Release him!” followed by the sounds of energy projectiles being fired at something. The young boy took cover for a few moments, but his curiosity got the better of him, and even more so after seeing one of Jessabiel’s soldiers being propelled out of the kitchen before violently crashing into the wall of his living room. And as he was now advancing towards the place where the fight was taking place, he heard Harvester tell someone that he had seemed happy to see his friend in this state. Arya’s son then saw the young woman separate the head of one of Jessabiel’s soldiers from the rest of his body.

It was an image that shocked Gadriel to his core, also making him understand why his body was constantly ordering him to flee every time he was next to this woman. She was a beast, a force of nature.

“I hope you’re not the type to be disturbed by so little, Gadriel… It seems that you are.”

It was clear that Gadriel was disturbed by what he had just seen. With a simple pressure of her hand, she had managed to separate a man’s head from the rest of his body. So, he was afraid of what she would do to him if he were to… At that moment, the young boy remembered what he had done minutes before, the metal chair he had used on her.

“I’m dead,” he thought as he saw her walking towards him.

However, despite his worrying expectations, Harvester just passed right by him while telling him to go get his things from his room.

“Take only what’s strictly necessary. And also…”

The young woman reached out her hand to one of the picture frames on the wall, the one Jessabiel had tried to take down a few days before, and from it suddenly sprang a small octagonal disk with a blue jewel in its center. The latter, which was enveloped by a strange black energy, flew towards Harvester’s hand, who caught it right after.

“Keep this safe. It’s your guardian’s heart, Eve,” she continued, placing the disk in Gadriel’s hand. “Now go get your things.”

Gadriel, now holding Eve’s heart in his hand, rushed upstairs to his room while Harvester stayed behind. He then grabbed a bag – having lost his screen bracelet – and put some of his clothes inside. He came back downstairs a few minutes later, but stopped to pick up a framed picture of Arya and him, both smiling like it was the happiest day of their lives.

“Are you ready?” Harvester asked as Gadriel arrived at her side.

Arya’s son nodded his head in response. He didn’t really know what was in store for him, but there was no choice but to follow this woman who could end his life at any moment.

“All right! I just have one last vermin to exterminate and we can go. No need to hide, I know perfectly well that you’re here.”

At that moment, something broke down the front door of the house, a door that flew towards Harvester who deflected its trajectory with a simple movement. A mountain of muscles then appeared in front of them, a man who was much taller than the woman who was next to Gadriel.

“One last vermin to exterminate, you said. Let’s see who’s really going to get eliminated.”

To be continued!!!