chapter 10. Survival Lessons

The barn smelled of dust, old wood, and dried herbs. Light filtered through the cracks in the boards, creating striped patterns on the ground. Gray, still trembling from the adrenaline, sat on an overturned crate and listened to his heart gradually calm down. Lira, standing by the door and listening to the street, finally exhaled and turned to him.

"Well, hero, are you satisfied?" Her voice was still filled with anger, but there were also notes of exhaustion. "You wanted an adventure? You got one."

"I... I didn't know," Gray said quietly, looking down at his worn-out shoes. "I just wanted to find you."

"Find me? For what? To go to the gallows together?" She snorted, but then her expression softened. She saw that he was truly afraid. "Okay." Shouting Vivan's plans on the street is like setting yourself on fire and waiting for the rain to put it out. Do you get it now?

Gray nodded, swallowing a lump in his throat.

“He—this guard. He said Vivian was interested in children. For ‘re-education.’”

Lyra paled, even in the dimness of the barn. To Gray, it was the appearance of her skin, a lighter, duller shade.

“He’s not lying,” she whispered, sinking down on the crate opposite. "Vivant has been lobbying for a long time for the idea of the "Institute of Harmonious Development". Sounds nice, doesn't it? In reality, a special receiver for Monochroms and... unwanted Chromatics, like me. To "study and correct their anomaly". Most in the Guild consider it barbarism. For now.

“Why?” asked Gray. “Why does he hate us so much?”

Lyra looked at him with slight surprise, as if the answer was on the surface.

"You know that color is not just a paint, don't you? It's energy. Power. Money. Authority."

Gray nodded. His father was explaining.

“So. Gray isn’t just the absence of color.” Lyra paused dramatically. “It’s the absorption of color. Have you ever noticed how colors fade in old, abandoned places where nothing has happened for centuries? Or how, after a powerful magical storm, when the colorists have drained all the energy from an area, it becomes gray and lifeless for a few days?”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Gray froze. He'd never thought about it. He just saw the world that way.

"Monochroms..." Lyra chose her words carefully. "You don't just lack color. You unconsciously extinguish it around you. It's subtle, almost imperceptible. You're like living sponges, absorbing the magical noise. For someone like Vivan, obsessed with control and radiant, pure power, it's a nightmare. You're a living reminder that his perfect world is impossible. That there will always be something that will consume his beautiful color. You are the silence in his loud symphony. And he intends to eliminate the silence.

Gray sat there, stunned. His existence, his very being, was an act of resistance. He wasn't broken. He was a threat to the system.

"But... but I'm not doing anything!" he exclaimed.

"Does gravity do anything?" Lyra retorted. "It just is. And it makes everything fall down. You just are. And you make the energy... subside around you." For us colorblind, it's barely noticeable. But for a powerful Colorist, who can sense the slightest energy vibration, it's like a knife in the back.

She paused, giving him time to process the information.

"That's why your father... he was trying to find a way to 'heal' you. He probably thought he could make you 'invisible' to such sensitivity. Hide you." She chuckled bitterly. "Foolish man." The best thing he could do was teach you how to control it.

“Control?” Gray looked at his hands as if seeing them for the first time. “How?”

“I don’t know,” Lyra admitted honestly. “But they say that the strongest of your… those called ‘Grizzly’, the elders… they can do more than just extinguish color. They can make silence. Complete, absolute silence. Extinguish sounds, scents, even magic within a small radius. They’re like black holes.” She looked at him with new interest. "Maybe you can do that, too. When you grow up. That is, if we're both not re-educated before then."

Her words hung in the air, heavy and full of new meanings. Gray was no longer just a boy with a strange habit. He was a bearer of power. Quiet, unassuming, but capable of frightening the most powerful people in the world.

Suddenly, there was the sound of loud, steady footsteps outside. Not just one person, but several. Rough voices were heard:

— Inspect the sheds! He's gone missing somewhere!

Lyra froze instantly, her eyes wide with fear. She darted to the crack in the wall, looked out, and abruptly recoiled.

—Guards,— she whispered, and the panic was back in her voice. — There are already several of them. They're looking for us.

She looked at Gray, and her previous confidence disappeared. They were trapped. The first survival lesson had just ended. The most difficult exam was about to begin.