Page 94 of The Order: Rise of the New Empire

"Then what?" she questions. "What do you think will happen if Elyon sees a Cleansed like you, a martyr, making your way back to New Haven-"

"And what are you doing?" I yell, getting in the young girl's face. "All you've done is pop in when no one needs you, fucking with people's heads-"

"I'm running, Kaiden, before I am forced to," she whispers. "When this war happens, and it will happen, there will be casualties, and when the blood has been shed, and the dust has settled, this world will not be the one you knew."

She pauses, taking a step closer, her runes so prominent in this lighting.

"And I know which side you will be on by the end of it."

Saying nothing else, she moves past me, making her way down the path I had arrived from.

"Where are you going-"

"It was nice having a conversation with you, Kaiden. I have a feeling the next time we do, it will be under much worse circumstances."

Winnowing into thin air, she leaves the conversation floating in the air around us, giving me even less clarity than I started with.

Continuing on my path, the dust slaps my face, the outline of New Haven's ward coming into perspective. Surrounded by multiple guards, the place I once considered a home now resembles that of a fortress, one guarding the Earth's greatest secrets.

I don't have a plan.

In fact, the last thing I have is a plan.

All of this is all a coin toss, just hoping they don't decide to kill me before I've even made it to the front entrance.

Would Forest be doing this for me?

Is what I am doing foolish-

"Kai," Aaron's startled voice yells.

Reaching for the walkie I had foolishly brought, static fills the line, making his voice close to impossible to hear clearly.

"K-Kaiden, where are you-"

"I'm going after my sister," I snap coldly, his voice immediately quieting down. "I am not waiting around, allowing you all to plan her demise like I am foolish enough to keep myself in the dark," I hiss.

"Kaiden, please, that's not-"

"Goodbye, Aaron," I snap, tossing the walkie into the barren lands, letting my quad roll over it, shattering it into multiple pieces.

"Stop!" one of the Officials near the entrance yells, all of their weapons raising, pointed straight toward my head.

Not stopping, I rev the engine up, forcing the quad closer despite the array of weapons pointed at me.

"We said stop, or we will fire-"

Hitting the brakes on the quad, I stop before the men, letting the wheels kick up dirt. Swinging my legs off the vehicle, I sling my bag over my shoulders, raising my hands in defense.

"I mean no trouble," I whisper. "I'm just here to see my sister."

Whispering on their communication devices, the Official closest to me looks me up and down.

"You're Andrew Blackburn's kid," he snaps.

He is a man I have seen before.

One that had been in my house once or twice, asking me how studies are going.

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