In a dark room, a small beam of sunlight was aimed directly at the floor near the bed. The room itself was a mess-clothes scattered on the ground, food left on the table, the blanket lying abandoned on the floor.
The man lying there moved.
"Mm…" he murmured.
"Simon Hall Flitz" -the name written on an ID could be seen etched onto a cashier's uniform hanging on the wall.
Simon's eyes opened.
It was silent.
"I'm alive…? Oh, that's right. I've always been alive."
he thought, half of his face sunk into the pillow, his hair messy, dark eyebags clearly visible.
He slowly sat up. His brown hair was unkempt, his black eyes dull, his expression lifeless-almost dead. His gaze drifted to the window, then to the sunlight on the floor.
"This place looks… gloomy. Well, it wasn't always like that. It was like a funland back then. Well, my life was," he thought.
The view panned up to the ceiling. A leak had formed-water gathering slowly, trembling as it prepared to fall. Then, a droplet broke free.
As it fell, time slowed.
The droplet stopped right in front of Simon's right eye.
Then-swiftly-it continued downward
And fell into a pool of darkness.
Everything turned black.
Dawn and Beyond: Prelude
Chapter 1 - Catastrophe
2018 - Germany, Berlin. September 8.
A white flag bearing a black eye symbol at its center rose and fluttered in the wind. Beneath the eye, the word "Espionage" was written.
"We're the Seven Eyes!"
A young, twenty-two-year-old Simon shouted, as he and six others were huddled around a table.
"Espionage is our mastery, and we are the best that this nation can offer," Simon continued,
rolling a marble across the table until it stopped right in front of an X-marked spot. Seeing this, the others' eyes widened slightly in quiet surprise as they lifted their gazes to Simon himself.
"Are we really going overseas on this one?" one of the male teammates, Sam Martin, asked, a bead of sweat forming at the side of his head.
"Well, considering the enemies are foreigners and they've captured the Senator, we'll have to be quiet about all of this. And it would definitely be better for the operation to be overseas," a female member, Yumi Garcia, said.
"Hmm…" another male member, Silas Ivanov, murmured, while the others, wordless, stayed quiet, their eyes fixed on the map on the table.
"That's right. This is indeed a very questionable operation. However, we as the Seven Eyes cannot fail-" Simon replied, their white flag fluttering in the wind atop their base.
"And we've been through a lot already. We've rescued high-profile targets before and infiltrated federal governments already. And need I say, they were all successes?" He smirked.
"That's why we can't back out. Because all of our cumulative skills of-" Before continuing, he placed his hand in the middle.
"Assassination, gathering, disguise, observation, and mastery," he said one by one. With each word he uttered, the other six glanced at one another-some smiling faintly, others simply closing their eyes. But all placed their hands in the middle, forming a circle of hands.
"We are the Seven Eyes!"
Simon shouted, all of them lifting their hands into the air in unison and shouting,
"Yeah!" all at the same time.
Scotland, 12:00 AM, midnight.
In the night of a desert-like area, behind a wall, fingers suddenly lifted and pointed upward, then shifted to pointing forward-a signal to move.
First, three black-suited figures moved quietly but swiftly, circling walls and silently taking out guards. They were followed by three more, each heading to different parts of the manor, breaking locks and disabling security systems.
One of them set a bomb, which detonated quietly on a vault. Lastly, Simon descended from above, planting a circular device that rotated and bored a hole through the roof.
At the same time, they all entered, Simon landing last on the floor. Each of them wore an earpiece microphone.
As they moved inside, it was dark. But upon looking around, they found themselves in a large library. They stood silent for a moment.
"Woah…" Yumi whispered.
"Is this really where the Senator is being held?" Silas asked.
"Well, this is a rather large library. And the outside was heavily protected as well. And considering it's dark," Sam added.
"It feels like they were torturing him or something…" another female member, Ashley Williams, said
"Let's start searching," Simon said seriously, his expression focused.
They split up, moving through different sections-some fooling around, Silas showing a book to Yumi as she looked confused. Simon tried climbing a bookshelf, wobbling before falling and scattering books beneath him.
Then finally--
Eyes widened, and a gasp escaped. "Here! Everyone!" another male member, Gabe Francis, shouted.
Hearing this, everyone rushed over, Simon reaching him first. Gabe stood a few feet away, the others close and forming a broken circle around Simon, as Simon slowly approached the silent, seated Senator, an open book resting on the table as if he had been reading.
"We have to hurry. Backups may arrive, or the plan will screw up," a male member, Flynn Hansen, said.
"I can help. I'm trained in the medical field, so I think I can be of use if needed, Simon," Ashley added.
"Simon?" Silas asked, as the room remained silent even after the others spoke.
"Earth to Leader Simon?" Gabe added, waving at him from the side.
He wasn't replying, instead starting slowly to shake.
"Simon…?" Sam asked, worry growing in his voice.
Then we pan in on Simon's face. His eyes were widened, his mouth slightly open. And finally-we see it: a slit across the Senator's throat. His face was blank, his body already cold.
"He's already… dead--"
"Everyone!!" Simon suddenly shouted as he tried to turn-but as the moment slowed--
"Hm." A smirk. From outside, hundreds of meters away, a sniper was already set in position. He wasn't targeting any window, but a wall-unseen, yet fully confident.
"Wait, why--" Yumi's words were cut short as a sniper round pierced through the wall, passing through her head in the blink of an eye.
Her eyes widened. Everything going silent, her hearing drowned out by a ringing sound. Blood slowly began to spill from her head.
As she slowly fell to the side, she looked at Simon running towards her.
"Simon… you don't have to do this. We've already talked about this before. We can be confident in many things. Even in the dangers of life. But, as it's always been, not everything will always be a success. You did enough. For me and everyone else. It's time for me,"
Then, with a faint, gentle smile,
"I guess." she continued.
Her body hit the ground, her eyes remaining open-lifeless.
Seeing this, Simon's eyes widened further. He began panting, the others equally horrified-unable to move, hands covering their mouths.
CLATTER-
the sound of the sniper's bolt handle being pulled for another shot. The man steadily returned to the scope, aiming at another section of the wall.
Teeth clenched.
"Fall back!! Now!! This is an ambush!!" Simon shouted, sweat pouring down his face, his expression hardened.
At his command, some clenched their teeth as well-tears forming, fists tightening until they bled-but everyone began to move, turning and running.
While they were running, a faint "BEEP" caught Simon's attention. Then it came again.
"BEEP."
The entire library was suddenly showered in the sound. They all looked around,
confused, the noise growing stronger-as if slowly clogging their ears. Simon's eyes widened once more.
"Everyone--" his words were cut off again.
SHOOT-
A bullet passed through the wall once more, piercing Gabe's head. In Simon's eyes, time slowed. Gabe's eyes widened-then everything snapped back to normal, and he collapsed onto the ground.
Despite witnessing it, they kept running. The others' cries grew stronger yet muffled, some trapped in immense shock, their eyes reacting even when their minds could not.
As they ran, Simon closed his eyes and clenched his teeth harder.
"Everyone… there are bombs all over this library. Inside the walls," he said-not shouting, but loud enough to be heard.
Hearing this, Sam shook his head and clutched his already bleeding hand, his expression turning serious.
"Right. We have to get--"
SHOOT-
SHOOT-
Two quiet swoops as the bullets passed through the air
Sam's words were cut short as a bullet pierced his head, and he immediately collapsed-while, at the same time, Flynn was shot as well.
Seeing this, Simon could only stare at the ground beneath him. The shock was so overwhelming that he couldn't produce tears or fear anymore-his expression was simply dead.
"Shit! We covered everything before starting this mission… How did this all happen? Were we betrayed? Were we outsmarted? Did I… kill all of us--"
"Simon!!"
His thoughts were cut off as Silas suddenly shouted his name.
Snapping back, Simon stopped and slowly turned around. Silas was already some distance away.
"The bombs are getting louder. We all won't get out before the explosion," Silas said.
"No, we can still-" Simon tried to say.
"There's only one hard drive left to break the exit's lock system. We won't all make it," Silas continued, his voice growing weaker.
Simon's eyes remained wide, his mouth open, his body shaking-unable to speak. As he began to turn toward the exit--
A hug.
Ashley wrapped her arms around him from behind, holding his head.
"We used to call you Salmon back when we were kids. You reeked back then, haha. You kept jumping into the ocean like you didn't care about your life. But now… you need to live, Simon. We still all love you," she whispered.
Then more arms wrapped around his neck. Simon turned around.
No one was there.
Looking further, he saw Ashley already lying on the floor with blood.
Simon still couldn't speak. His panting grew heavier. Then, hearing a faint sound below, he looked down and saw the hard drive already embedded into his stomach.
"Ashley put it there," Silas said.
Simon looked back at Silas, who was simply… smiling.
"Take care, bro. Live your life, or we'll haunt you ourselves. The world needs your expertise," Silas said.
There was no fear in his voice-only a faint assurance.
The hard drive released a small red light at its center and began to beep.
"No. No. No. No. No!!"
He thought it-then screamed the last No with everything he had.
Before a concentrated burst of flame erupted from the hard drive, immediately violently propelling him away--
and everything, went black.