Chapter 15: Exodus Interlude: Hazyah Katz
I, Sansula Badila, younger brother of Benesha, was given the honorable duty to guard Princess Maeve in the Utrecht Metropolitan Self-Development School.
This is because I am the most excellent and exemplary soldier in the DMYD (Dutch Military Youth Division).
King Frederik and Queen Elara introduced me to Princess Maeve in the royal palace, located somewhere in the province of Zuid-Holland.
"He is the younger brother of Benesha," she said to her parents.
"Doesn't that make him even more befitting to guard you?" The Queen smiled.
"You all know my sister?" I asked, surprised.
"I used to be in the same kindergarten as your sister," the Princess smiled.
"And we are very good friends with your parents, Sansula," the Queen said.
"I had no idea…"
I didn't know that my parents had such a tight relationship with the Dutch monarchs. And that my sister was close with the Dutch princess. But I later came to learn why my parents and sister never told me anything about this…
I had to enroll in the Utrecht Metropolitan Self-Development School, since the Princess did the same. I have to be her secret bodyguard there.
I had a perfect score on the entrance exam. And I was invited by the principal of the school itself. He wanted to meet me in the month of July; one month before school began.
I thought that he wanted to see me because of my perfect score. But it was for an entirely different reason…
I stood before the school gates, and pressed the bell. A small camera was attached to the bell, and also a speaker, from which I heard a female voice call my name: "Sansula Badila?"
"Yes," I answered. A woman walked up to the gates. I suppose she's the one who answered me on the bell.
"Welcome, Sansula Badila," she smiled. She was a beautiful woman, fair-complexioned, blue eyes, blunt bangs and hair tied in a braided ponytail. She looked like Benesha's kindergarten teacher, Zipporah, who recently passed away in a car accident.
"Thank you," I replied. The woman gave me a tour around the entire school. I saw the ins and outs of the school complex, the dormitories, the shopping mall, the park, you name it.
"And, what do you think?" She asked.
"I've never seen a school like this before…"
"I know right?" She smiled. "The principal has yet to arrive. So why don't you relax in this beautiful park?"
"What will you do?"
"Me?" She chuckled. "You'll see me later. Don't worry about it."
The woman left me all by myself in this great park. I sure felt lonely walking around here. Seeing several animals, like birds, or cats, having their mates. Whilst I have no one but myself…
The heat was eventually getting to me; it was 30 degrees Celsius. So I decided to lean against a tree trunk in its shade. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep…
I slowly woke up a moment later, and my eyes still had to adjust to my surroundings. I noticed a figure standing in front of me… It was a girl.
She was the most beautiful girl I've ever seen in my life. A wheat complexion, silky wavy dark brown hair and amber eyes that appear to be golden in color.
She stared at me in fascination. "Am I seeing a hallucination…?" I said. The girl chuckled.
"Ah! I'm sorry!" I fully awoke and realized that she was real. "That was rude of me."
"It's okay!" She smiled. "I came to pick you up, Sansula."
"Yeah?"
"But you were so peacefully asleep that I didn't want to wake you up…"
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"To the principal's office," she answered. "I got an invite, just like you."
"Are there any other people who also got an invite?"
"Not that I know of."
"So you also got a perfect score on the entrance exam?"
"Yep!"
"How did you know my name, though?"
"Zipporah just gave me a tour of this utopian school. The tour ended in the park, and she told me to wake you up and head to the principal's office afterwards."
"Wait, who gave you a tour?"
"Zipporah. Didn't she give you a tour too?" This has to be a freaky coincidence. The Zipporah I know is dead. So she cannot possibly be her.
"Anyway, what is your name?"
"You actually already said my name!"
"I did?"
"My name is Hazyah, it means "hallucination" in Hebrew."
"No way…"
"By the way, do you happen to know where the principal's office is?"
"No," I answered. "Hasn't Zipporah told you?"
"She hasn't…"
1
The two of us entered the school complex together and looked at the map. "Looks like the principal's office is at the very end," she remarked.
The two of us headed to the office together. "Say, Sansula…"
"Yeah?"
"Why did you actually apply to this school?"
"Because I wanted to experience something new, something different."
"What was your life like before enrolling in this school?"
"I can't disclose that."
"I already know that you're a soldier, and that you've been given the duty to guard Princess Maeve in this school."
How did she know? Did the information leak? Or did she hack into the system?
"Hey…"
"Don't worry, I didn't do anything unlawful like hacking into classified military documents."
"Then?"
"Zipporah told me."
"Is she supposed to know that though…"
"Aren't you going to ask why I applied to this school?"
"Well, why did you?"
"Because I am bored and need some excitement in my life."
"Hah, that's an interesting answer…"
"Let's get along, Sansula," she smiled.
"Sure, Hazyah," I returned the smile.
The two of us arrived at the principal's office, and I knocked on the door. "Come in," the principal said. Hazyah and I entered the office and took a seat.
"I, Nathan Mazzi, Welcome you both to Utrecht Metropolitan Self-Development School, Sansula Badila and Hazyah Katz," the principal said, with Zipporah standing beside him. "And congratulations for being admitted into this school and for your perfect scores on the entrance exam."
"Thank you very much, principal," we expressed our gratitude.
"You both are probably wondering why I invited you to my office a month before school starts…"
"Does it have to do with our perfect scores on the entrance exam?" Hazyah asked enthusiastically.
"Partially," the principal answered. "The two of you aren't the only ones with a perfect score. But you are the only ones with a perfect score who are also exemplary human beings, with excellent characteristics, potential, and athleticism. The two of you are what the boys and gals of this school should aspire to be like."
"Oh, thank you very much," Hazyah blushed. I guess she likes being praised and complimented.
"This school is divided into 5 classes ranging from the lowest; E, to the highest; A. But there also is a special grade… a heavenly grade, which is grade S also known as "the Classroom of Eden". The students in this grade have more freedom than all the other students beneath them. And only one male and one female out of the 100 students can be in class S at a time. The two of you managed to enter class S right before school even began."
"That's incredible!" Hazyah rejoiced.
"But as they say; with great power comes great responsibility. There is something I want the two of you to do for me…"
"What is it?" I asked.
"You both can turn back now and act like you never even applied to this school. Because what I'm about to tell you, and request from you, is something you will not be able to turn back from. So are you sure you wish to proceed?"
"Yes," I said, determined. "I have a duty to perform here, which is to protect the Princess. I already accepted this duty. Only a coward turns back from his word. And only an untrustworthy person doesn't fulfill his promise."
"And you, Hazyah?"
"This sounds like it could be interesting. So I'm in!"
"The woman standing beside me is the clone of my late daughter Zipporah," he said, shocking both of us. "You see, I am a scientist. And with my laboratory team I managed to create homunculi. I created 8 of them at first; all female. I created them through the genes of 7 infertile couples. The problem is that the homunculi were born having a personality deformity…"
The screen behind the principal turned on and showed us a picture of 7 girls, one of which was my sister Benesha. I also recognized Princess Maeve, Mandane, Haniya and Eliza…
2
"These homunculi are; Princess Maeve, who is Superbia of Pride. Your sister, Sansula, Benesha Badila, Ira of Wrath. Mandane Esfahani; Acedia of Sloth. Haniya al-Bacchus; Luxuria of Lust. Minah Sawada; Invidia of Envy. Eliza IJzerhart; Avaritia of Greed and Kayla Graven; Gula of Gluttony."
"So their personality deformities are the seven deadly sins?" Hazyah remarked.
"You catch on quickly. As expected from a S-rank student. I want you all to help these girls overcome their sinful nature and become virtuous ladies before they graduate from this school."
"You said there were eight homunculi you created," I said. "Who is the eight?"
A picture of Alisha appeared on screen. "Alisha Badila; Optima Prima. My first homunculus ever. She is the most corrupt out of all of her sisters. I created her combining the genes of the 7 infertile couples. But none of them wanted to take her in at first. Neither did the 7 girls accept her into their sisterhood. So Alisha suffered from loneliness and depression as a result. She became bitter, and wanted to psychologically destroy her sisters through making them suffer in a worse way than they made her suffer."
"Unbelievable…" That was everything I could say at the moment.
"Alisha manipulated your parents, Sansula, to adopt her and to make her your fiance. She is the one who forged you into the person you are today. She wanted you to join the Dutch military so that she could use you in order to accomplish her goals. She made Mandane and you fall in love and become best friends, only to ruin the relationship just so that she could hurt Mandane. Similarly, she made you sleep with Haniya so that she has leverage against her."
"This can't be true…"
"Unfortunately, it's very true. Alisha also used one of your bombs to kill my daughter Zipporah and her husband Yeshaya, while they were in their car. So I cloned them both, because I miss them."
"Cloning… creating homunculi in a lab…" Hazyah was processing all of this. But so was I.
"I want the both of you to stop Alisha from hurting her sisters any further than she already did. And to help her get over her childhood trauma."
"I do not condone what Alisha did," Hazyah said. "But the fact that the people she is related to neglected her, must have been very painful for her. I do sympathize with her."
"So do we… But she's out of control and has taken many innocent lives already. She has to be stopped before more innocent people die."
"Shouldn't she receive the death sentence over this?" I asked.
"She has committed these murders without leaving any hard evidence behind… She is too intelligent and outsmarted all of us. So the only way to stop her is through helping her deal with her trauma. Zipporah and her husband Yeshaya are here to help Alisha and her sisters to overcome their sinful nature. And I have also created other homunculi to assist you two; Hidde de Ridder, Eleonore Houthakker and Tifsa Iqbal. They know that you will lead this 'project' so to say…"
"I had no idea we already had the technology to create humans in a lab…" Hazyah said.
"No one does. So you two will also have to sign papers of confidentiality."
Zipporah gave us the papers which we both signed. "My very own sister and fiance… Are homunculi…" I still couldn't believe my ears.
"I know that this is hard to deal with, especially for you, Sansula," he said. "I'm sorry…"
Hazyah and I left the school. "I'm going left," she said. "Since I'm going home by bus. I live in Utrecht."
"I'm going right," I replied. "I live in Amsterdam so I'm going to take the train back home."
"Are you going to be okay, Sansula?" She asked, worried.
"I don't know… I just learned that my sister and fiance aren't actually human. And that my entire being and life has been crafted by Alisha, a master manipulator."
"So now it's time to forge your own path in life, and create your being from scratch."
"But how? Should I stop everything I'm doing? Should I stop being the person I am? Because everything I do and everything I stand for have been crafted by Alisha and not by myself. I feel detached from myself…"
Hazyah gave me a hug, saying, "You have me in your life now, Sansula. We are both in this together. You are my Adam and I am your Eve. We both stepped into the Garden of Eden and ate from the Tree of Knowledge. And thus, both of us have to bear the burden of knowing of the existence of homunculi that are out there to harm human beings. It is our duty to stop them."
I didn't respond. Because I didn't know what to say to her. I feel disconnected from myself; from my feelings, my thoughts and my very own body. It feels like none of this is mine but Alisha's…
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