World of Women - World of Women – V4 – Chapter 30

I had fallen asleep on the car ride back to Amaryllis. I didn’t know what necessarily caused me to wake up, by my eyes drowsily opened to see it was still dark out. I could feel the head of someone pressed against my shoulder. At first, I thought it was Lilith, but at some point during the ride, she had managed to get off my lap and was sitting on Mia’s in the passenger front seat.

That left Cornelia, who was sitting next to me. I looked down to see her nestled peacefully against me. In the last twenty-four hours, her entire worldview had been decimated. She had been a loyal follower of the Amaryllis government and the extended Male Protection Act. Now, she had lost seemingly everything. We were practically fugitives, and the government she had once thought were the good guys were the very people that had given her trauma when she was in high school.

Yet, at that moment, lying against my shoulder, she looked extremely peaceful. Her breathing was regular, causing her chest to rise and fall slowly. Her soft lips were just slightly parted like she was anticipating a kiss. If just a bit of drool hadn’t fallen out and gotten my shoulder wet, I would have seen her as irresistible. I distinctly avoided continuing to look at her, instead, focusing out the window. That was when I started to notice an ominous orange glow in the distance.

I could hear blaring alarms in the distance, but they came closer and closer. I saw the familiar flashing of a police vehicle. We pulled over, but they drove right past us, speeding toward the city at an alarming rate. As we got closer, I began to notice increasingly more traffic on the other side of the city, as if people were currently fleeing.

“Brooke.”

“I see it.”

The sounds of sirens had finally woken up Cornelia, who snorted, and then wiped her mouth. The other girls seemed to be waking up as well. Brooke had been the only one who hadn’t gotten any sleep the previous night. I said previous because it looked like the sun was just starting to rise. By the time we could see the city clearly, the sky was turning grey. However, it was clear the ominous orange was coming from the city as if massive fires had erupted. No, there were massive fires. The sky wasn’t grey. It was smoke!

“Huh? What’s going on?” Lilith had finally woken up. “Are we under attack?”

“The city is burning!”

Brooke flipped a switch, turning on the radio. A voice immediately began to talk.

“Women are fleeing the city in droves. Nothing like this has ever happened before in the history of Amaryllis.”

“Exactly, Marge, what news have you gotten from the site.”

“There was recently a mass uprising at the local prison. It started early this morning when the prison was inexplicably attacked.”

“Attacked?” I leaned forward. “Mom? Hannah?”

“Shh!” Brooke hissed, turning up the volume.

“The government is urging everyone to stay calm. The prison was deliberately attacked by a group of terrorists known as Alyssum.”

“Now, my reports tell me that the Alyssum is a remnant of the old lipstick lesbian gangs from before the Day of Wrath. Is there any confirmation they are related to the old WRA?”

“It’d be prudent to believe that they are.”

“Lies!” I shouted.

“Shut up!” Brooke snapped.

I forced myself to come down. In general, they didn’t let guys listen to the news and other such reports. All the stuff we received was filtered in the name of our protection. Even Cornelia’s apartment locked out various channels and blocked radio signals. That meant that I only had a small bit of the whole picture when it came to how the news spread and distorted the truth.

“Once again for those just tuning in, a massive prison breakout has been organized by known terrorists. They freed several high-profile prisoners including various man-haters and members high in the WRA. After breaking from the prison, the group didn’t escape the city, but instead launched an attack on the male district.”

“They have no shame! They must really hate men!”

“It’s not clear why they’d choose to attack one of the most secured areas of town.”

“They were successful though.”

“Reports are still coming in, but it’s believed they had some inside help. There must have been WRA members inside the perimeter who helped them get in.”

“This is just terrible. Surely, the city is doing something.”

“They did attempt to surround the district, but that all changed just thirty minutes ago when the entire district and parts of the factory district suddenly raised into the sky.”

Our eyes immediately all turned to the area over Amaryllis where the male district had been. Low and behold, there was a new island that had never been there before. There were still dirt and various other things falling off the sides and raining down on the crater below.

“What in the world?” Brooke gasped.

“The sky?” The cohost asked in disbelief.

“This is not a rumor. This is confirmed information. A new flying island formed over Amaryllis.”

“How is that possible?”

“According to an insider, another island was being built, but shortly before launch they abandoned the project and buried it. Someone must have reactivated the engine and launched the island. Gas lines were torn, fires were ignited, and entire buildings were torn in two as the island tore out of the city. Once again, this only happened thirty minutes ago. It’s taken the majority of the prisoners, as well as the entirety of the male district.”

“This is really bad. Will the engines even hold out?”

“It’s unknown as to the quality of the engines. Naturally, if they believed they were capable of still launching, they wouldn’t have built them on the male district.”

“My ass… they probably planned to blow it all up to hide the evidence after they slaughtered everyone! They’d claim it was an accident.”

The girls all shot a glare at me again, and I closed my mouth.

“Officials urge the public not to panic. If you are worried about the engines falling and the landmass collapsing on the city, please leave in an orderly and calm manner.”

Beep! Beep!

I looked across the street to see a massive traffic jam filled with panicked women. They were all trying to leave the city, convinced that the WRA was planning on dropping the island on the city. I was a little curious myself. Just what was Faeri planning? By that, I didn’t just mean Lyra, but Hannah as well. I didn’t have any doubt that this so-called prison break had been executed by Hannah. If she knew about the sacrifice, that might have been why she went to prison in the first place.

I felt very irritated. It would have been nice if they had kept me in the loop from the beginning. I wouldn’t have been in this situation now if I had known everything. Maybe that wasn’t entirely true, but it still irritated me that they thought they had to keep me out of everything. Looking over at Cornelia, I guess given my company it might have been difficult, but that didn’t stop me from feeling a bit lost now.

“What are they currently doing? Right now, all of the men in the male district are in great danger.”

“They are currently assessing the situation and creating a team that they’ll be sending up there. The task force will be charged with rescuing as many men as possible. Remember, men must be protected at all cost.”

“Of course, but what about the greater risk to the city as a whole. This island fall seems reminiscent of an event that occurred on the Day of Wrath, where a WRA agent tried to drop an entire island on the city. This would have caused untold destruction. Is there a contingency plan set up like the mana pillars they erected last time?”

“That should go without saying. The city’s mage council was able to cast a powerful spell, stopping the island’s fall and saving the city. Should a similar event occur today, the mages are naturally on standby to do the same.”

“Mage’s council!” This time it was Lilith who spoke out in outrage. “Those cheap bastards! It was me who erected that tower.”

“I seem to remember helping.” I coughed.

Brooke let out a sigh and then flipped off the radio. At that point, the pair had just descended into a conversation about how great the government was and how they’d resolve everything. It was pure propaganda filth.

“That brings us to the next question,” she spoke up with a heavy voice. “What do we do next?”

“We’re going to the island.”

“How? The entire thing is probably blocked off now. They’ll be sending swat teams up there too.”

“Lilith?”

“I-I’m not a taxi!” She declared. “Ah… my knowledge never came up with teleportation and transportation spells quite like Clyburn’s…”

That second part was spoken with a fair amount of reluctance. If she couldn’t do it, then she couldn’t do it. As for me, I couldn’t fly, and my teleportation needed some kind of runic fixed point. I was racking my brain if I had remembered to leave any runes up there, and I came up blank.

“What could we honestly accomplish if we went up there anyway?” Cornelia spoke up. “The Alyssum are already filled with armed women, and they have any number of hostages. A few more women, and a hand, won’t accomplish anything!”

“Accomplish…” My eyes brightened and I grabbed Cornelia and kissed her. “You’re a genius.”

“Ahh… wh-wh-what?” She turned red, pulling away from me, but I had already leaned forward to the people in the front of the car.

“I have an old friend I need to see,” I declared.

I quickly gave Brooke the address and I asked for a phone. The girls didn’t have one, so we had to make a stop. It was Mia who went into the store and got it. Of everyone present, she was the only one who wasn’t on some kind of wanted list. Then again, it was probably known that she was traveling with Lilith, so even that might be true. I was hoping the city was in such a panic right now that this kind of thing didn’t matter.

She came back in and tossed the bag to me. “The store was empty, so I just took it!”

“What?”

She blushed. “I-I left money on the counter.”

“It doesn’t matter, just make your call already.”

I did, dialing the number hastily.

“Yes?”

“Allie?”

The voice paused for a moment. “Who is this?”

“Do you see the situation going on right now?”

“How could I not?” She responded, her voice sounding bitter. “However, I am no longer on the council. I was removed at the start of the Male Protection Act. If you were hoping to use my status as Senator, then you would be mistaken.”

“We need to talk, I-“

“Not on this line. Her favorite spot. Meet me there.” Click.

I looked at the phone for a moment and then hung up. “Change of location.”

The traffic was abysmal, and getting through it took far longer than I had hoped. It was an hour later when we pulled in front of a small ice cream store. The place was closed up, and there was no one around. It wasn’t clear to me if the place had just closed because of the city-wide emergency, or if it had been closed for a while. Either way, it looked pretty beat down and aged.

I saw a black car parked in the parking lot. It wasn’t clear who was inside because the windows were all tinted. For all I knew, it could be government officials coming to arrest me. Would she do that? I wasn’t sure. I had to try though. I opened the door and took a step outside. The other girls moved to get out too.

“No. I’ll be having this conversation alone,” I told them.

I began to walk away from my car and toward the black vehicle. Finally, the door opened, and a familiar woman stepped out. She was in a business suit, and despite claiming she was no longer a senator, she looked the part. This was Ashley’s mother, Allie. She had been the one who had covered up Hannah’s transgressions during the Day of Wrath. She was why the city thought that it was the WRA that nearly knocked the island out of the sky, not a schoolgirl taking orders from me.

If I had to guess, this cover-up was probably part of the reason they were able to remove her with the passing of the extended male protection act. However, I believed that she was a woman who genuinely believed in protecting men. Although she had been the one who sent me abroad, she never could have predicted the pirates. She had a son whom she had lost, and then later a daughter who had died at the hand of those who wanted to hurt men. She had lost a lot in her life.

Still, I didn’t know how far I could trust her until this moment. The pair of us had kept our distance from each other as our connection had been a fleeting one. However, I called on it now, because I had no one else I could lean on.

“Clyburn,” she said as she approached me.

If there was anyone else in the car, they similarly remained inside. The pair of us were standing in the middle of a barren parking lot for an outdoor ice cream stand.

“Ashley said that this place had the best ice cream,” I said, shaking my head.

She nodded with her eyes on me like a hawk. “I may no longer be a senator, but I have enough pull to know that a warrant recently went out. You were placed as missing, and are a high priority target.”

“They don’t want to use the word ‘arrest’, huh? Well, an arrest would be accusing me of doing something wrong, and they don’t have anything they could accuse me, or any man of, other than wanting the same rights women possess.”

“I was there on the day you gave that speech,” she admitted. “If it’s any consolation, I also voted against the MPA. That also sped up my dismissal. According to them, I was no longer someone who held the best interests of men in my heart. They said my feelings were cloudy.”

“They would…”

“What do you want, Clyburn?”

“I need a meeting with the head of the Council, the Prime Minister of Amaryllis.”

Her eyes widened in shock and then turned into absurdity. “You what? Do you honestly think I can just snap my fingers and make a meeting with her? Now of all times? Why?”

“The WRA wasn’t arrested, and the women who currently hold the floating island aren’t the WRA.”

She frowned. “What are you saying?”

“It was a coup. They used the day of wrath to arrest any retractors. The women who were thrown in jail were those opposed to the WRA.”

Her eyes widened once again. “Some of those names… I knew it! They even tried to accuse me of it. Had I not lost… they might have succeeded if the situation was different. What are you saying? The Amaryllis government is the WRA?”

“Not all of them, but enough that they’ve been able to control things for some time.”

She shook her head. “This… this is some pretty hefty allegations. Do you have proof?”

“I don’t.” I saw her expression changing and I held up my hand. “That’s why I need a meeting with the Prime Minister. Five minutes. Five minutes and I can get the proof we need.”

“Clyburn, what you’re asking me to do is treason! I’d be lucky to be executed. More than likely, they’d lock me away so I’d never see the light of day again.”

“In a few hours, armed women are going to storm that island,” I said, pointing to it, barely visible through the thick smoke and natural fog of Amaryllis. “They are going to immediately begin killing the only ones who are trying to protect the city and the men in it. You haven’t seen the male district. It’s a derelict place where men are treated little better than dogs!”

She looked away, her expression sinking. “I’ve seen it. However, there is nothing I can do about it anymore. I no longer have any authority.”

“Can you make a meeting with the prime minister?”

She vaguely shook her head. “Maybe… but…”

“Look, that slaughter isn’t the worst of it. That entire island is a giant summoning circle. The slaughter they’re about to begin will be a blood sacrifice, opening a portal and allowing demons to enter this world. If we allow them to succeed, then we’re all screwed!”

At this point, the expression on her face changed from reluctance to disbelief. I immediately winced, realizing I had gone too far. Speaking about protecting men and lipstick lesbians and man-haters infiltrating the government was one thing. A conspiracy about summoning demons and taking over the world probably felt like pure fantasy. I had lost all of my credibility in a single swift move.

“I’m sorry, Clyburn,” she said the predictable line. “There is absolutely nothing I can do. There is nothing you can do for me at this point that would convince me to make such a stupid risk.”

“Are you sure about that?”

A new voice came, causing both of us to spin in alarm. Allie grabbed at her belt, where she must have had some kind of weapon hidden away in her coat. However, when she saw a girl step out from behind the ice cream stand, her mouth fell open and her legs wobbled like she was about to hit the ground.

“A-a-a-ashley?” She gasped.

I was also shocked to see her. This was the former demon Ash, who had been stalking me since I had returned to Amaryllis. I haven’t seen her since the male district, and I never would have guessed I’d run into her here.

“Hello, mother.” She smiled, and her voice and demeanor felt exactly like the Ashley of old.

“Ash… what…” I swallowed as she turned to me.

“I’m sorry. I know you wanted to talk to mother about this first, but I just couldn’t contain myself any longer.”

Allie turned to me, a shocked expression on her face. I didn’t know what game Ash was playing at, but for the moment, I decided to play along.

“I didn’t want to… ah…” I didn’t know what to say.

“Whhaooo… mama…” The sound of a baby erupted, and for the first time, I noticed she was carrying a young infant in her hands, only around a year old.

“Shh… Shhh… it’s okay.” She bobbed her arms up and down in a motherly way, hushing the baby.

Allie was completely mesmerized, staring between the baby and the mother holding it. “Wh-who is this?”

“This… this is my son, Ashton,” she said.

She walked over to Allie and then showed her the baby. For the first time, I also glanced at the baby in her hands. She had appeared with the child before, but I had always ignored it. I feared that he was some kind of demon, or that there was something wrong with him because of his mother.

“Ash-ton…” Allie shook, and tears began to fall down her cheeks. “H-how is this possible?”

“I… found out I was pregnant after being shot, and I also found out it was male. If I revealed myself, then everyone would know that Clyburn is capable of having children 50-50. They would have realized he really is the Chosen One, and then some would try to destroy him. So, I did the only thing I could do. I faked my death.”

“Y-you… faked it?”

“There are forces out there that want to see Clyburn and his children dead. Demons and demon-worshipers.”

“And you knew about this?” Allie turned to me.

“Ah… I only showed myself to him rather recently. He also thought I was dead for the longest time.”

In a few moments, this former demon had fabricated a perfectly convincing story. The only thing that didn’t make a ton of sense was the age. Demons took longer to have babies, and as a result, this baby that should have been three years old looked closer to one. Her mother was so emotional though, that she didn’t seem to notice.

“So…” Ash smiled devilishly. “About that prime minister.”