May Peace Grace Us

Chapter 55: An offer

Aila was fuming when she saw Gerald actually leading wolves in their territory. They had already discussed that Gerald would have no influence on their base and would only be an ordinary resident like everyone else if he stayed with them. He cannot take benefits if he does not work hard, nor can he use the name of a cousin of Bella to be above everyone else. Bella herself had bluntly told him of this face to face, should he have any idea she had given her warnings.

Better yet, Gerald is not given any of the candied enhancers. According to his usual virtues, they really cannot afford him to know and to experience the effects of the enhancers. There is no doubt he will sell it out or claim it as his own, which would be very demerit to their base.

Under strict instructions, he has no access to these. Even those little selfish people who are profit-driven know not to spread this outside of their own. There is no need for threats or sanctions, a good thing like this must only stay in your own hands. At least until they had grown strong enough to not be taken advantage of by others.

Gerald smiled and waved at their group as he saw them returning. Besides them were three strangers who were not really strangers in the eyes of Aila. They are members of a group that will later become a huge gang. Those overbearing groups who no longer respect others' lives in the face of their own desires. Aila would never mistake their members, even if the said people were younger than she had first and last seen them.

After all, it was due to these people that Bella was almost sold to. This was enough for her to forever remember them. And she doesn't mind killing them again like she did before.

“Who are these?” Harry spoke as he could sense Aila’s abnormality when she saw the strangers.

“Oh, they are my friends. They came here to inquire where I was and how I am after I disappeared days ago,” Gerald replied as he introduced them. “This is Melvin, Vince and Ron. Guys, these are my cousins’ friends; Harry, Aila and Travis.”

“Hello to you guys!” Said the one introduced as Ron. “I did not know that there were people here. Can we meet the one in charge? We want to join this base if possible.”

Harry briefly glanced at Aila before he said, “We should get inside first. Although we have cleared the terrain, it is still not safe to talk in here.”

As his words were reasonable, everyone went inside as suggested. The others in the team directly left and went to their next assignments, though some are sure to laze around for a while in their beds before they get back to their chores.

For Gerald and his friends, Harry let Gerald lead them to his assigned community house to settle in. Then, for the trio, they immediately disperse to three different areas to get things done. Harry went to find Stephen, Travis went to the lab, while Aila went to grab Bella.

Harry went to Stephen to represent him as the leader of this base. Because it is really unconvincing if it was their group who were to show up as leaders at this stage. At least age-wise, those people will not easily give birth to bad thoughts shortly.

Travis, as the one who has their spoils, went to the labs to give their department’s new supplies of crystals. He is not part of the production team this time around, but he is busy with another thing. After all, other than getting the crystals, he and Harry wanted to make an archive. He had to make the first batch of data to record that would be proofread by Harry later.

While Aila went to get Bella simply because the other girl was assigned to deal with her relative. Their war council had given her an edict to decide what she wanted to do with her cousin. But as she was initially soft with her cousin at first, this matter will surely make her retract all sorts of kindness she had in that relative of hers.

“Bella.” Aila called out the girl who was on the walls this time around. She waved her hand to show where she was, and thankfully the others saw her easily.

Bella talked to the person who was with her for a moment before she jumped down from where she was to Aila’s direction. Aila, seeing her falling, immediately panicked and rushed to her friend, momentarily forgetting that, as a supernaturalist, she is many times tougher than a normal person. Jumping from the height of the walls they currently have is not a problem for her at all.

Running at full speed, Aila saw Bella dusting her clothes before she met Aila half-way.

“What’s the matter?” Bella asked as she saw the anxiety in the other’s face.

“First….let me….catch my….breath….” Aila said as her heart beat erratically and her breathing was hard. “There is something I have to say to you personally before it reaches you from others’ mouths.”

“What is it?” Bella was curious, as Aila rarely became this haggard as long as she could remember.

“Your good cousin has brought in some people.”

Bella’s face then turned hard as she heard that. Briefly she turned thoughtful before she settled to frowning. Aila cannot read what she is thinking at the moment.

“Where are they now?”

“At the community house where Gerald was temporarily placed,” Aila replied as she noticed the man named Melvin was nearby. The guy was supposed to be in the area where Gerald was, but she remembered that this guy’s ability was close to shadow or cloning.

Knowing this, Aila nudged Bella to the side before taking out a specially made walkie-talkie to make a real-time radio broadcast to all the speakers on the base. She used some coded words that only the original residents knew to let them know that there were eavesdroppers and unwelcome people on the base. Warning everyone to not show anything out of the ordinary and not consume any enhancers for a period until these people leave.

“What is happening?”

“Rats. There are rats at the base.” Aila said with venom and unafraid of being heard. “As animals have grown to be a threatening existence now, I had to announce it for everyone to take note of.”

Bella then understood and then, with a crackle of electricity in her finger tips, she said, “Where is it? Can I test my abilities on them?”

“Later.”

As if afraid of knowing some mutant rats were at the base, the spy trailing them retreated tacitly. This guy is not a fool and continues to follow when the threat level has grown to an unknown dimension. So a retreat was a smart choice to make. Moreover, he does not want to be a fodder when the termination gets started.

Observing for a little while, Aila then asked Bella to make a show of strength over a clearing. This was a bluff and a warning for the strangers to not cross them. And nothing is more convincing than to let them know how dangerous their opponents may be when provoked.

Bella, with tactical understanding, waved her hand in the air before a streak of purple lightning struck the place Aila asked her to hit. The sky momentarily darkened and the ground was scorched black. Soon after the strike had landed, a loud sound rang in the whole base.

Everyone turned to their area in both awe and fear. Though their people knew the inside story and the powers of each of them, it still cannot stop them from being terrified whenever one of the hyenas showcases their abilities to the fullest.

“You’ve missed.” Aila smiles cheekily.

“Well, let’s just take it as not meant to be mine.” Bella followed Aila's mischief. “The reminder you announced will not be revoked since I wasn’t able to deal with the rats.”

Aila did not say much and only took Bella away from the area. She then brings her to the villa. Aila has some misgivings about what she was about to do, but she thinks this is the best thing she should do for everyone’s sake.

She is thinking of letting Bella have her memories of the future.

Over time, as their base is going in the right direction, Aila has found that what she knows and has is not enough for them to continue surviving in the future. She might have lived a decade of chaos. It can be said that, other than fighting, she really has no other ability. Another reason is that she was very eager for others to have a leadership position most of the time.

So she asked the if it was possible for one of her hyenas to be allowed to be ‘reborn’ as she did. It might be late in the game, but this is a great boost to their development as well. And, for the selfish part of her, she wanted to know how her friends were after she had ‘died’ back then. Only those who have survived after her death will know more and can tell her what has happened after she has perished.

The , ever soft on her, allowed her request after all others had asked it to do. On the condition that only one is allowed to remember and she cannot ask for anything similar in the future. It has conveyed that everything is a mess now because of those who returned in time and it can no longer follow the original ‘plot’. Though the protagonist remains the protagonist, everything else will be great changes in the future. Currently, the said changes are not so obvious, but everything will snowball into something bigger as time progresses.

The also tells her that the destruction of the ‘plot’ she made has allowed it to be able to meddle in something like survival and making her former community humanity’s last paradise, but it also made it unable to help her much later on. The expresses that it has grown stronger without the shackles of the plot. In return, its authorities will not allow it to continue meddling in the development of things as it should have in the beginning. Hinting that she could only ask for favors three more times after this one request.

“So what is up?” Bella asks as Aila takes the girl to her bedroom. Her teal eyes scanned everything her eyes could lay on, examining and silently making an evaluation of sorts.

Aila’s room, to simply describe it, is messy. There were plenty of papers with marks and notes pasted all over. Some were even attached to a string above the ceiling as if to maximize all the space for more things to plaster some more notes of sorts. Thankfully, other than the massive amount of notes, the other things in the room were neatly arranged and taken care of.

“Color me impressed. I never saw anything like this all my life.” Bella said as she reached out to a hanging note and read what was written on it. “I might be someone who likes to write down my plans and all, I was never this hardcore.”

“Well, no one can blame me for this,” Aila said, just as she gestured to Bella to sit on the bed. “A notebook seems to be not enough, so I just wrote them all wherever not. Come here first. I have something I need you to make a decision about.”

“What is it about?” Bella asked as she sat on the bed like Aila had gestured to her. “Are you going to confess to me and go to third base directly after doing so?”

“No!” Aila was flustered as Bella teased her so easily. “This is not about something Liza is more than happy to gossip about.”

“So what is this all about? There is no need to bring me here for no reason if this is something not on the line Liza is fantasizing about.” Bella said, as she called Aila cute on the sideline with her turning red in embarrassment.

Saying her defense, Aila defended that she does not have time for romance and if she were to confess love to someone it would not be Bella. Saying that she has yet to know if she is even attracted to any gender, and that if she is even attracted to someone, she will not be bringing them to a private bedroom to profess her love. That is just so wrong in her cognition.

After saying all that, she then put on her most serious face and asked her friend, “Do you like to be like me? To know the future and suffer from the memories you got like me?”