The Girl Who Started the Revolution

9 | w h i s p e r

Cyrus was pulled forward and two hands immediately shot out to grab me before I could bolt in the other direction.

I yanked and kicked in the guard's grasp, but it was useless. He and another guard dragged me and Cyrus across the iron platform of the roof. The full moon cast us in a sickly white light that illuminated the faces of dozens of guards.

I flinched as the guard forced me to stand in place next to Cyrus. A breeze carried the scent of burned metal across to us, and I gasped in horror at the scene before me. Phil, who had moments before thrown me into radioactive flames, lay prostrate on the ground in front of the guards. Smoke rose from the mass of wires sticking out from his back.

I glanced at Cyrus and found that he was as shocked as I was. There were no helicopters on the roof, yet there were so many guards. They were all waiting for us.

For me.

One man stepped forward from the shadows. One man who I knew very, very well. One man whose face was plastered across the screen of every nation in Toran.

Emperor Cedonia.

His sandy hair was groomed back and his cobalt suit and silver tie were of the highest quality. He looked at me with fathomless black eyes that not even the moon could penetrate. Guards stood behind him at attention, and it only took me a moment to realize they were robots.

The wind blew gently across my face. It was like a whisper of death as Emperor Cedonia walked forward with calculated footsteps.

Step, step, step, went the soles of his immaculately polished shoes.

He stopped directly in front of me, but I did not meet his eyes. Instead, I focused on Cyrus. He was breathing heavily next to me, and when his silver gaze met mine, I couldn't help but tremble. We were both terrified.

A sigh sounded from the man in front of me. "Oh, my dear," the emperor scolded, "when will children like you ever learn? Do you know how many of my young citizens whose behaviors I have been forced to...keep in check? It depresses me."

I kept looking at Cyrus. He shook his head at me: Don't say anything.

"Why won't you look at me, my dear? Why won't you tell me how you staged that meeting to distract us? I can tell you how it didn't work."

I noticed a trail of sweat running down Cyrus' neck. Or was that my own dripping into my eyes?

Another exasperated sigh. "Take them to the edge."

I screamed as the guard yanked me forward, hauling me like I was a rag doll to the edge of the building. Cyrus' cry was drowned out by the clanging of his metal hands against the iron roof.

"You see," Emperor Cedonia said, walking to stand next to the edge, "we don't tolerate rebellion in Toran."

The robot holding me grabbed the back of my suit and, with superhuman strength, lifted me over the edge. I heard Cyrus' handler do the same. Hovercraft zoomed below us on the streets of Toran. I was crying now, the tears mixing with nervous sweat. My hands were shaking violently as I forced myself not to struggle. "You can't keep us in the dark," I told the emperor. My voice trembled, but I needed to be strong for everyone. I would make a stand. "For three hundred years, the government has kept the citizens of Toran from seeing the truth of your evil." I noted the way his black eyes flickered dangerously. "You control us," I said. "You keep us from knowledge. Everything is censored. But it won't be that way anymore."

It wouldn't be that way anymore because I had The Book of Knowledge. Even if I fell, someone would find my body. Someone would find the book.

Someone would discover our past and decide our future.

And that person would not be me.

I smiled through the tears at the thought of freedom. Of knowledge.

"Why are you smiling?" the emperor asked.

"Because I have everything," I whispered. "We're free."

The guard suddenly jerked me back onto the roof and Emperor Cedonia approached me. I flinched violently as he reached for my back. I flung my hand out to protect that which mattered most, but the guard grabbed my hand and twisted it, making me cry out.

The emperor extracted the book from my pack. "Now what is this?"

I could only stare as he opened it. As he smiled at me.

And as he ripped the binding in half, letting the pages fall to the ground to be blown away by the howling wind.

My world shattered.

The only question raging through my mind was: Why?

Was it a sin to have knowledge? To have freedom?

Why couldn't we have a life? A reason to live for?

Life without knowledge was a life that wasn't worth living.

The guard lifted me over the edge once more next to Cyrus.

"You have betrayed me, Lira," the emperor said. His expression was devoid of any emotion as he signaled to the guard. "And no child of mine will ever live to betray me."

And then the guard let go of me.

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A/N: What do you all think of this new development? Did it surprise you? Because I definitely know you guys are WAY too smart and guessed much of it in the comments! :D The next chapter will be posted on Wednesday!

Dedicated to @ShadowHuntress39, who has supported me all the way. Thank you, Natasha! :)