Anomaly

Chapter 355 – Worship of the true gods [1]

The days that followed were surprisingly quiet and uneventful. No signs of imminent world-ending destruction, no dimensional invasion tearing reality apart, no anomalous case outside the norm that the anomaly response team couldn’t handle without major difficulty. By usual standards, this silence felt almost unnatural.

In the meantime, I sank into a routine of complete laziness. I spent most of my days without even getting out of bed, buried beneath tangled sheets and crumpled pillows. Half my time was devoted to eating ice cream, tub after tub slowly disappearing while I stared at the ceiling or let my thoughts wander aimlessly, and the other half, well... sleeping.

One curious detail is that I don’t actually need to eat, much less sleep. Even so, the cold, sweet taste of ice cream remains genuinely pleasurable to me, a small indulgence I allow myself without guilt. As for sleep, it works more like a state of mental rest than a biological necessity, technically, even when I’m “asleep” I’m not truly unconscious, just disconnected from the world for a while.

Tenebrya adapted surprisingly well to the environment and quickly formed bonds with all the other sisters. To be honest, I noticed she’s quite spoiled by the others, who seem to treat her with intense care, as if they see her as something fragile and precious.

Some scientists came to visit her to analyze the new anomaly, but most of them barely managed to conduct truly precise tests. Tenebrya doesn’t communicate verbally; instead, she expresses herself through pure emotions, transmitted in a direct and transparent way.

It’s a subtle language that only we, the Virtues, can fully understand, a blend of sensations, impulses, and intentions. Laura still visits me from time to time.

She remains visibly uncomfortable with Tenebrya’s presence, always trying to avoid her gaze, as if there’s something about her that deeply unsettles her. Even so, I can see a gradual change: little by little, she seems to be getting used to it.

Although she still avoids looking at her directly, Laura can now remain in the same room as Tenebrya without showing the same level of tension as before, a subtle but undeniably significant development.

Victor also visited us frequently; truth be told, he probably spent more time with us than anywhere else. Much of that was because of his little sister, Chronas. He visited her almost every day, using practically all his free time to see her and play with her.

It was interesting to watch how his posture changed when he was near her; the rigid expression he maintained around his superiors gave way to a childlike lightness.

On a few occasions, Victor even requested permission to take Chronas outside the facility, perhaps in an attempt to offer her a glimpse of normality beyond the metal walls and corridors of the installation.

Naturally, every request was denied by upper command. The justification was always the same, direct and impersonal: they couldn’t allow an “atomic bomb” to leave whenever it wanted just because a lower-ranking member wished it. The words were cold and made it clear that, to them, Chronas was nothing more than a dangerous asset.

Needless to say, the response angered everyone. Almost everyone in the facility knew Victor, and not just by name; many owed him their lives, rescued during missions no one else would have dared to take.

Even so, authorization continued to be repeatedly denied, refused by cold voices on the other side of the communications line. The days dragged on under a silent tension, exchanged glances in hallways and whispered conversations in break rooms.

Until, on a surprisingly calm morning, when the facility’s pace felt almost normal, Emily made her decision. Without fanfare, she disabled every surveillance camera one by one as the monitor lights flickered and vanished in sequence.

Then she opened every security door along the path to the surface exit, unlocking routes that would normally require multiple levels of authorization. When someone asked what was happening, Emily simply shrugged with a carefully rehearsed innocent expression.

“Oops... looks like there’s been a little equipment issue. It’ll take some time to fix” she said, discreetly winking at Victor, a gesture quick enough to go unnoticed by most, yet clear enough for him to understand exactly what it meant.

She trusted us, the Virtues, quite a lot. Actually, it wasn’t just her, most of the facility shared that trust. We might be eccentric, I couldn’t deny that, but it was more than clear that we weren’t evil.

There was a kind of silent understanding between us and the others: a strange yet functional coexistence. We were free to move through almost the entire facility. Leaving the installation, however, was much more complicated. For me, that was never a major problem. I was content with what we had.

Ice cream available at any time, a television always on, showing light and entertaining programs that helped keep boredom away, and video games with the latest releases. In the end, looking around and at the life I was living at that moment, I really had nothing to complain about.

That said... for some time now I’ve been overcome by a strange sensation. It’s as if various emotions are being forced into me, inserted one after another without any pause, love, joy, sadness, and countless others piling up, blending into a constant flow.

Still, among all of them, one stood out above the rest: adoration. An intense and suffocating reverence surfaced repeatedly, like a tide that never retreats. For a moment, I considered the possibility that my sisters might be experiencing something similar as well.

I watched them closely, searching for any sign of change, any subtle difference in their gestures or expressions. However, they seemed exactly as they always had, calm and unchanged, and faced with that, I dismissed the idea, even though the doubt lingered.

I pushed those thoughts away as much as I could. After all, it wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. The real difference, though, was the intensity: this time, everything felt stronger.

***

(POV – Emily Parker)

Emily stood with her arms crossed, her back resting against the cold elevator wall as she watched the glowing numbers slowly shift, marking her descent toward the deeper levels of the facility. The sterile white lighting flickered faintly above her head, reflecting in her eyes.

Her fingers tapped automatically against her arm, following a silent rhythm only she seemed to notice. A quiet exhale slipped through her nose as the digits continued to change, each illuminated number bringing her closer to her destination.

The elevator’s low mechanical hum filled the enclosed space, accompanied by the almost imperceptible creak of the cables. Finally, the expected number lit up on the panel. Emily straightened, uncrossing her arms just enough to adjust her posture and position herself directly in front of the metal doors.

For a moment, her reflection in the brushed steel seemed to stare back at her. The doors opened with a soft hiss. On the other side, a long, impeccably lit corridor stretched out ahead, its walls smooth and pristine.

Laura was already there, standing a few steps ahead as if she had been waiting for some time. There was something strange in her expression, not exactly concern or surprise, but a subtle tension that made her eyes seem more alert than usual. Emily stepped out of the elevator.

She walked toward Laura, her steady footsteps echoing softly through the space until they finally drew the attention of her friend, and subordinate, who lifted her gaze in Emily’s direction. Laura had seemed lost in her own thoughts until that moment.

“Oh! Boss, you finally made it!” she said, straightening almost immediately. Laura’s tone, as always, carried a lightness that felt slightly out of place for the kind of place they worked in.

Still, something felt different this time, Emily noticed it right away. Laura’s eyes revealed poorly concealed anxiety, and her fingers tapped restlessly against a nearby surface, as if she were holding onto news she wasn’t quite sure how to deliver.

Emily gave her friend a warm, friendly look, her eyes shining with a mix of amusement and affection as a subtle smile formed on her lips. She tilted her head slightly, as if mentally replaying their earlier conversation, and let out a brief amused sigh.

“After you practically threatened me to get here as fast as possible?” Emily teased, raising an eyebrow in mock accusation: “I didn’t have much of a choice”

Emily let out a soft, almost imperceptible sigh. A faint wisp of her breath drifted into the cold air of the facility as she slipped her hands into her coat pockets, her fingers searching for warmth in the worn lining.

She turned to Laura once again. “Let’s head to my office” The words came out simple and firm. Without adding anything else, the two of them started walking down the facility’s long hallways.

Naturally, Emily’s gaze drifted toward the tablet Laura was holding tightly, almost protectively, in her hands. The tension in her fingers betrayed an urgency that went beyond the casual tone she was trying to maintain.

“By the way...” Emily began, lifting an eyebrow slightly: “What exactly did you want to show me that was urgent enough for you to practically threaten me?”

As if she had suddenly remembered something important, Laura blurted out: “Oh!” Her eyes widened briefly as she hurriedly raised the tablet, her fingers moving quickly and precisely across the screen. After a few rushed taps, she turned the device toward Emily, her expression now a mix of urgency and anticipation: “Boss, you need to see this!”

Emily raised a brow slightly as a silent question echoed in her mind: what could possibly be serious enough to leave Laura this visibly shaken? Realizing that, Emily set aside any other distractions and focused entirely on the glowing screen.

It was a news article. The small text and dense paragraphs made it difficult to grasp the full context at a glance, but something caught her attention immediately, a name, large and bold, leaped out like a silent warning. Her eyebrows arched a little higher.

Emily repeated the words almost in a whisper, as if hearing them aloud might make them clearer, but it only deepened her confusion.

“Cult of worship devoted to the true creator gods...” she murmured, frowning slightly as her eyes traced the phrase again: “What does that even mean?” She tilted her head.

Emily took the tablet from Laura’s hands and scanned the screen, her fingers moving quickly as she analyzed every piece of available information. Texts, images, short videos, and message screenshots blended into a chaotic avalanche of data. As she continued, her gaze grew sharper, and little by little, a broader understanding of the situation began to form in her mind.

Laura, who had remained silent until then, watching Emily’s every reaction, finally spoke: “I’m not sure when it started... I’ve been tracking these messages for a while. People claiming they witnessed the [Angel of Death] and her sisters... and started treating them like goddesses, but...” She trailed off, lips parted as she searched for the right words: “It just... suddenly exploded” she continued, exhaling slowly: “Now everyone seems to believe it. Everything’s turned into chaos”

Emily nodded slowly as she examined the texts and images before her, her eyes scanning every detail with meticulous attention. That uncomfortable sense of déjà vu was unavoidable, something similar had happened when the anomalies were first revealed to the world.

Back then, the incidents were still small enough to be contained, treated as isolated events or kept out of the spotlight. But after that... everything simply spiraled out of control. Reports began piling up, each new case more complex and difficult than the last.

Small towns became epicenters of inexplicable events, and what had once seemed rare started happening more and more often. Slowly, almost like an inevitable tide, it became impossible to hide the truth: the world wasn’t as safe as people had believed.