In History's Shadow | Chapter 1: Fear Not the Future, But the Past

Hello peoples, ChampionD on the scene. This is a story I've been wanting to tell for a while. A lot of brainstorming, plotting, and care went into turning this from an idea, into a full-fledged narrative. I hope you all enjoy it. Without further ado, here's the first chapter of In History's Shadow.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The clammy palms were a good sign.

Trina Adams stood before the gate to the warehouse. Metal plates hung from worn screws across the wall, and shattered windows lined its top. To her right and left, not a single soul walked the streets. She was alone. She crossed the gate threshold and strode to the warehouse's torn metal door, glass crunched beneath her feet. She slipped through the crevice into the warehouse. Large shipping crates dotted the space, and busted lamps hung from the railings above. The only light came from the patches of moonlight that littered the ground.

She clenched her sweaty hands.

Traps await the fearless.

She grasped the Pokeball at her waist as she walked between the crates. The sound of crunching glass echoed through the space. She whipped around to the source.

"It's me," a voice whispered.

Trina's muscles relaxed. A young woman came from behind a nearby crate.

"A wonderful place you've got here, Brenda," Trina said, gesturing to the crates.

"I had to take...precautions."

"I hope I don't leave here feeling I came for nothing."

Even in the dark, the trembling of Brenda's hands, the quiver of her body, wasn't lost on Trina. She reached out and softly grasped her forearm. Brenda jumped.

"It's going to be alright."

Brenda took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "The congressman was agitated, anxious. When I asked him about it, he told me he was just having problems at home. But I didn't believe him. When he was with his wife, it was picture perfect, but whenever he would come into the office….he was a different man. When he disappeared, I knew something was wrong even though the police ruled the case awol."

"The congressman was seeking re-election, his numbers weren't looking too good. An unscheduled vacation might save some embarrassment."

"He didn't run away! Something happened to him. I'm sure of it."

"From what I understand, he handled a lot of Dicio City's resources, correct?"

"Yes."

"Any unusual fluctuations in city supplies?"

"Two months ago, I noticed a dip in warehouse materials. I inquired about it, but the congressman said it was the result of a simple reorganization."

"How much of a dip?"

"Millions in metals, infrastructure supplies, and heavy equipment."

"Does that sound simple to you?"

Brenda was silent.

"Is there data on all of this?"

Brenda reached into her pocket and pulled out a flash drive. "I ed everything from the past six months."

Before Trina could clasp the drive, a beep echoed.

"Get down!"

Trina threw her Pokeball into the air. Garchomp materialized.

"Protect."

A shield of green light enveloped them as an explosion erupted before them. Nearby crates tumbled to the ground with a loud boom, Trina's bones rattled from the impact. The fire burned bright all around.

Protect's emerald light faded.

Trina grasped Brenda's hand. They raced between the burning crates toward the exit. Her heart thrummed against her chest, the heat ghosted over her dark skin, and blood rushed in her ears.

"Brick break, Garchomp."

Garchomp dashed ahead and slashed the door with ivory fins. It fell with a boom. The moonlit entrance grew larger with each step. Just as they came to the threshold, a beam of silver light raced towards them. They jumped clear as the attack crashed to the floor, it exploded on impact. Trina flew backward, out the exit, and crashed to the ground outside. She cried out and grasped her arm. She stood up on wobbly legs. Her head whipped from right to left. Brenda was nowhere in sight.

"She's still inside, Garchomp!"

They dashed back towards the warehouse. Numerous explosions erupted across the building's surface. The roof caved in with a thunderclap. Trina stood wide-eyed as fire licked the warehouse bricks.

Trina's eyes narrowed at a dark figure high above in the distance.

"Garchomp, let's-" she fell to her knees, glass, and pebbles biting into them. She winched and clutched her side. Garchomp rushed to her side and scooped her up into its arms and took to the skies. From where she lay in Garchomp's arms, she glimpsed the brightly lit hospital. It grew larger and larger.

I'm so sorry.

Tears streamed down her face. She could do nothing but tremble.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

A day ed since the incident, and now she was ready.

Trina sat, her eyes glued to the monitor. Her eyes narrowed as the news report played across the screen.

"Dr. Simon Jarin, a lead researcher in the field of infrared detection, has gone missing. Authorities have looked into the matter and concluded that Jarin was most likely the victim of the recent storm in western Vertreis. More details as we get them."

This has to stop.

Her feet tapped against the marble floor. She turned to the other black-suited agents that sat at her right, her left, and the ones that streamed in front of the large double doors before her. Not a single one spared a glance at the screen. Trina frowned.

Is this amateur hour?

Even the agent seated at the desk before the doors, kept his eyes glued to his computer.

They have no clue. We could be facing a region-wide disaster and they have no clue.

Her feet tapped more rapidly against the ground.

The agent seated at the desk rose.

“Agents Adams, Director Banks will see you now.”

“Thank you.” Trina rose slowly from her seat, she winched, and softly grasped her side. She stood still for a moment, then made way for the doors. She straightened her black business suit and shifted a lock of black hair from her dark-skinned face. Once near the sable giants, a soft click sounded. She opened the door and strode into the office. A large desk sat in the middle of the room, and a series of floor to ceiling windows sat at its back. Two chairs lay in front of the desk.

“Agent Adams, your request for this meeting was urgent. How may I help you?” the director said, gesturing to the seat before him. Trina sat in the chair.

“Simply put, sir, we have a serious problem.”

“Do we?”

“All across Vertreis and in nearby regions, various officials and scientists have disappeared, and I believe it's no coincidence. If we don’t act soon, there's no telling what the outcome will be.”

The Director narrowed his eyes.

Trina opened her briefcase. “I sent you some reports-”

The director raised his hand. “I got them.” He rose from his seat and walked to the massive windows. He stood immobile before their streaming light. Before long, he turned to face Trina.

“I expected you to be sitting at this desk in a couple of years; you know that?” He strode back to the desk, resting his forearms on the back of his chair. “I when you first ed up, it had been a while since I saw such a rising star in the BWA. What happened?”

“Sir?”

He paused, the moment hanging between them. “How close are you to finishing the marsh report?”

“The Marsh report? I haven-”

“I put that report on your desk three weeks ago. You’ve wrapped up cases in a fraction of that time before.”

“Given this crisis, I thought it best to put that on hold. With people disappearing and ancient artifacts vanishing and all, it seemed the wise thing to do.”

Director Banks braced his hands on his desk. “Where’s your evidence?”

“I've sent you-”

“You've sent me a pile of circumstantial reports. Where’s your evidence?”

“I....”

Banks sighed and sat back down. “Trina, I know everything that happened with Sheila has been hard on you. I think you should take…”

Images of Brenda, the warehouse, and the fire flashed through her mind. Trina shot up. "This isn't some kind of grief-induced Hysteria. Yesterday I-"

"You mean your unauthorized mission."

Trina gritted her teeth. "Something is happening. We need to get ahead of it."

“We, as an organization, need to focus on our mandate. We are the primary law enforcement agency of the world. Our duty is its protection and stability, and we all need to that.”

“Sir-”

“I want the marsh report on my desk by the end of the week. And I don't want to hear anything further on this subject. Am I understood?”

Trina clenched her fists. “Understood.”

Banks nodded. “Dismissed.”

Trina turned on her heel and made way for the door. She grasped the handle.

“Trina.”

She halted and turned to face the director.

“So many times we look to the sky and fear the next future hurdle, that next disaster, but more often than not, it's not what's ahead that we should fear, but what’s behind. I want you to think about that.”

She held his gaze for a few moments before leaving his office.

She stood on the other side of the massive doors, her heart pounding and her hands trembling.

"Trina!" She turned to the source. Agent Gavin Ramos stood nearby. He waved her over. She walked to him.

"Were you just talking to the Director?"

"I was standing in front of his office, I'll let you connect the dots."

"What were you talking about?"

Trina said nothing.

"You didn't?"

"I had no choice. Vertreis could be standing on a knife edge. I'm not going to be the fool who kept quiet at the barrel of a gun."

"Trina, for the sake of your career, drop this." Gavin turned and made his way down the corridor.

I'm on my own.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Trina took in a lungful of fresh air. From atop the BWA headquarters, tall skyscrapers built into the hollow shells of rustic brown structures stretched ahead of her. Numerous smaller buildings sat between the myriad spires. They, too, interwoven with ancient ruins. Garchomp stood at her side.

“When Vertreis implodes, they can’t say I didn't warn them." Trina grasped her head. "Must there always be a wall?”

Something rough rubbed up against her cheek. She turned to the source.

Trina smiled and rubbed Garchomp’s head. “I never need to doubt with you.”

A loud boom sounded, and a tremor rippled through her body. Trina’s eyes widened. In the distance, a large plume of smoke billowed into the sky. She returned Garchomp in a flash of red light and bolted to the staircase at her side. She swung the door open and raced down the stairs.

Once at the bottom of the landing, she ran into the corridor and called the elevator at its end. It came with a soft ping. She entered and rode it to the command floor. She walked out the elevator into chaos.

Agents scrambled through the level. Phones blared. Voices barreled. A news report scrolled across every screen in the office space.

“The facility for artifact conservation has suffered a devastating explosion. First responders are already on the scene.”

Trina’s eyes narrowed then grew to saucers.

Oh my god.

She raced for the elevator and rode it a few floors. Once it halted, she dashed out, past the various cubicles, to her office at the end of the floor. She opened the door and made way for her desk. She shuffled through the miasma of folders and papers. She stopped at one. The documents shook like leaves as she looked through page after page. Her heart pounded against her ribcage.

I’m wrong. Please be wrong.

She halted. The single paper between her fingers trembling as she read it.

Facility for artifact conservation report:

Various artifacts en route to the conservation facility have disappeared. The cause is believed to be a dangerous amount of storm activity in western Vertreis. All recently discovered artifacts will now be fast-tracked to the conservation facility.

Trina wanted nothing more than to be wrong. But the knot twisting in her stomach and the sweat greasing her brow were telling a different tale. She sat up and walked to the door with paper in hand.

"I’ve got to bring this to Banks."

Her palm hovered over the door handle.

He won’t believe me. He’ll think I’ve swam to the depths of the deep end. I need proof.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Trina trudged through scorched rubble to the white tent dead ahead. Firefighters and paramedics streamed all around with Blastoise and various other water Pokemon at their sides. Machamp carried off large burnt stones, and Reuniclus levitated boulders in blue outline. Three days had ed since the explosion.

Trina was there the moment the all-clear went out. She reached the tent and peeled the white curtain aside. In the middle of the tented space, a woman in a firefighter uniform stood surrounded by medics and other fire officers. Trina moved to a corner of the tent. She tapped her foot to the gritty ground as the crowd began to disperse. She strode to within greeting distance of the woman.

“Commissioner Essen?”

She turned her blue eyes onto Trina. There was such a warmth to her gaze that the locusts swarming in her stomach began to rest.

“Yes?”

“I’m Agent Trina Adams from the Bureau of World Affairs, and I wanted to get your thoughts on what you think caused the explosion.”

Trina extended her hand. Essen gave it a firm shake.

“It's our pleasure to help the Bureau whenever we can. From our investigation, we’ve concluded that a cascade failure in the facility's power generator caused a chain reaction in the power distribution network, which led the generators to explode.”

“Are you saying it was an accident?”

“That’s the conclusion we’ve reached.”

“Curious that such a cascade failure would cause all the generators to overload.”

“Unfortunately, cascade failures can quickly run rampant. The fact that the generators needed an overhaul didn’t help matters.”

The knot in her stomach was twisting anew.

“Did any of the artifacts survive?”

“None.”

“Is there a report I can review?”

“Of course.” Essen pulled out her phone and sent Trina a digital file. “That should have all the information you need.”

“Thank you, Commissioner.”

“Anytime.” Essen turned to a group of medics as Trina left the tent.

It's the oldest trick in the book—the old fake out play.

Once outside, she unlocked her phone and perused the file. The various energy traces, blast patterns, and casualties were listed in the report.

Two hundred people….gone.

She stood stone-still in the middle of the debris.

I’ve got to rule this out.

She pulled a rectangular device from her pocket and began scanning. One by one, the same energy traces from the report blinked across her screen. She shifted to a lower band frequency. The scanner vibrated, and its screen flashed green.

I’ve never seen an energy trace like this before.

She consulted the report, but no matter how many times she checked and rechecked it, there was no mention of it there.

This is not a standard frequency to check, which is why they missed it.

She gripped the scanner tight.

If whoever is behind this had no problem murdering two hundred people, there's no telling what else is coming.

Trina’s eyes roved across the debris.

I may not know, but I intend to find out. Sheila….I’m coming.

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

TPL was done by the amazing Kat

Series Synopsis

Thank you for giving this a read. I hope you enjoyed it. Please feel free to give ; constructive criticism is one of the many keys to improving as a writer. With that said, ChampionD g off.

#Curatorreview