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Who else likes character development
Part 1, Chapter 1 - The Journal of Akos Frost, I.
I am Akos Frost. Born to Spirio and Nina Frost approximately fifteen years ago, I have always been called an Anomaly. Most people don’t differentiate between types of Anomalies, but I.C.E, the Interests Control Executive, does. They call me a ‘Glitch’, A classification given to Anomalies with specific types of abilities.
I may as well begin with my childhood. I grew up isolated, never going to school, yet still learning quickly from the world around me. My parents were always busy, doing this, doing that, and never having time to do more than feed me. I looked after myself mainly; one of the many things about Anomalies is their extended mental capabilities and quick learning, and as a higher class of Anomaly, I found knowledge in all sorts of places.
It might help if I explain the classes of Anomalies anyway, the person reading this most likely doesn’t know about them. If I remember correctly I.C.E Classifies them into four types - Differ, Divergence, Glitch and Error - and even then Differ is split into 3 categories. Differ-1s are the most common type, approximately half of Anomalies are that type. You are classified as Differ-1 if you are noticeably stronger than humans. Differ-2 is the second most common class, stronger than Differ-1s and with a few physical changes such as glowing eyes.
Differ-3s are where Anomalies get dangerous. They have noticeable physical features, examples off the top of my head include scales and horns. They also can manipulate the world in ways that can be described as none other than magic, their powers are not extreme, but they can still be deadly.
And Divergences. Indeed the idea of a Divergence scares me the most, as they have the ability to manipulate the physical world.
A good way of visualising this is as a triangle, one corner represents the physical world, home to humans. Another corner represents energy, home to what can only be assumed to be whatever cruel gods or inter-worldly celestial forces created this world. And the last corner represents darkness, home to Anomalies. Divergences may be part of the darkness, but their powers lie in the physical world, ripping it apart, putting it back together, moving, transferring, being, doing, having. All of those concepts under their command, at their fingertips.
Glitches are part of the darkness, but their powers instead lie in the energy, I’ll let the reader of this journal guess what that means, but I would rather not leave my greatest secrets lying about on a bit of paper.
It is guessed that somewhere between zero point three per cent and two per cent of Anomalies are Glitches, still far from the rarest.
Errors. They are the rarest and strongest type of Anomaly, as their power lies in the darkness. I know little about them. Most people assume they are inherently evil, which is incorrect, a fact that I know from experience.
It is probably best if I do not give any more information away, the risk of an enemy discovering this journal is too high.
As I was saying, I Akos Frost, found most of my information from libraries, at least before the Purge when there were still libraries around. I first discovered my true abilities when I found a book titled ‘Anomalies - The largest danger on earth’ which lay out some inaccurate yet simple enough information for me to start investigating the things I could do.
My best friend is Riku Takatoki, an Error and one of the most good-hearted people I know. I met them nine years ago today, and since then they have become a sibling that I never had to me. Sometimes annoying but mostly just a confusingly abstract ball of joy.
They once said to me that perfection is just a lie made by those seeking refuge from their guilt and regret, and instead, we should seek the small happy moments in life, the ones that truly have meaning. I think that is a good moral to live by.
Twelfth Day of the Third Month of Autumn
Nine years ago today I met Riku Takatoki. They have since become a sibling that I never had to me.
We have a hideout in the Silent Wall, at the border between the Seventh and Fifth Districts. I think it was some sort of old storage room but we have since converted it into our own place, nobody could get in, it’s too hidden and you would need a key anyway. Inside we have a view over both of our Districts, as well as access to passageways throughout the abandoned wall. There are a few large desks and boxes that we keep things in, books, paper, pens, etc. There is a working electrical light in there which could suggest the wall isn’t as ancient as we originally thought, but we never paid it much attention. Both Riku’s and my own house cannot compare to this place, it’s somewhere that only we know about.
Since the Purge the only real reason we went there was to read the books we hid away, although they aren’t technically illegal to own, some of them are quite rare and we would rather nobody knew about their existence, but today Riku came up with the idea of writing journals, an idea which I liked a lot, so here we are.
I don’t have much to say, apart from I hope whoever is reading this understands our language.
Thirteenth Day of the Third Month of Autumn
Today is Friday the Thirteenth, some in the Fifth District say it is an unlucky day, but Riku tells me that’s nonsense and that I should be looking out for Tuesday the First instead, do I believe them? No, of course not! Why should I believe that any one combination of day and date is unlucky?
Anyway today I went on a walk through a nearby park, it’s getting noticeably colder now winter is coming. No snow yet, even for such a desolate country as Aspua it would be concerningly early. There was an unusual lack of wind though.
Riku was telling me bad jokes about cats, so I don’t really remember what else we did today although I had a nice sandwich from our favourite place down the road.
Fifteenth Day of the Third Month of Autumn.
A storm hit today, and the clouds obscured even the relatively nearby Silent Wall. I hope Riku is alright, their house isn’t built to withstand this weather and I doubt they could have gotten to the wall. I think I.C.E has almost tracked me down, I was an idiot yesterday and accidentally walked into the path of their soldiers, they might have suspected something from my overly panicked reaction.
I try to cover my tracks as effectively as possible, most evidence linking both myself and Riku to Anomalies being in our Journals, which we have agreed to keep on ourselves, or in my house at all times - where nobody could get their hands on them.
Hopefully, that means that if your reading this you are from some sort of distant future civilisation, possibly Anomalies still exist in your time, and possibly I.C.E has fallen.
Just maybe we can one day be free from this agony.
Seventeenth Day of the Third Month of Autumn.
The clouds began to clear today, so I went to the wall and found Riku there, they said they couldn’t stand being in their house anymore so took the secret underground tunnel that we had found a few months back. I’m surprised that the tunnel wasn’t flooded and glad Riku didn’t get lost in the catacombs. They managed to get to the wall and into our hideout and had been sleeping in the dry these last two days.
We spent the day exploring part of the wall near the Fourth District and found a good supply of paper we moved back to our spot. I promised Riku that we could take some to their place next week, but unfortunately, I would be busy for the next few days. My father has been acting strangely, he hasn’t spoken to me for the last eight years yet all of a sudden is asking for me to go on a trip with him for ‘work purposes,’ I don’t even know what his job is!
Riku and I are meeting on the twenty-fourth sometime mid-morning.
Twenty Third Day of the Third Month of Autumn
Spirio is concerning me, we are at a hotel in the Third District and he has been acting unusually nicely for someone who has completely neglected my existence seemingly since I could breathe. I’ve been asking him why he needs me for this work trip when all I do every day is explore the district, and he refuses to answer. What’s more annoying is that he claims he needs me for another few days, meaning I’ll have to run away sometime this evening if I’m going to meet Riku.
The Third District is quite spectacular, I wouldn’t have thought I could find anything better than the Fifth but clearly I was wrong. There are many large parks and houses, as well as giant streets made just for the sake of art.
Riku should really see this place one day
24/3/3/2096
I am in a rush, currently, it is about mid-afternoon but it is getting dark quickly and I am at the wall.
Riku was nowhere to be found here or at their house, and I am concerned by their disappearance. There was noticeable evidence of a fight on the rooftops near their house, not too unusual by the Seventh Districts’ standards but still concerning. I.C.E cannot have found them, there is no way I let evidence slip past my grip and into their hands. I am planning on returning to the Fifth District and trying to look for them before returning back home and confronting Spirio. If only I wasn’t dragged out on a work trip, I could have kept them safe.
Twenty Fifth Day of the Third Month of Autumn
I.C.E Finally found me. Luckily they had also captured Riku at the exact same time, which in my opinion is a mistake on their part. We could have fought through their whole army with little more than a scratch, or at least that’s what Riku said afterwards.
We met a woman called Commander Iridia Stone who seems nice, but I can sense some other intentions from her, we also saw a man who I can only assume is Captain Alfred, no idea what part he plays in all this but it seems to be important
Spirio didn’t believe me when I told him that I’d been at the I.C.E headquarters these last few days, why is he caring so much all of a sudden?
