Chapter 27: Past Fragment: The Crimes of Augustus (1/2)

Julie Costa tended to her garden, hastening the growth of its wheat.

As a green aura flowed through the plant, it bore purple yields, full of nutrients. She had spent weeks tuning the exact ratio of protein, improving its resistance to cold, and increasing the plant’s ability to remove pollutants from soil.

Julie’s Green power activated whenever she touched a living being, allowing her to intuitively understand how their body functioned, down to the genetic level. She could make minor edits to the DNA, breed new species from a single parent.

This special plant was only one of many experimental crops growing inside the farm. Wheat capable of thriving in a polluted area, maize absorbing ambient radioactivity… Her personal plot of land was a strange, colorful assembly of unique floral constructs.

Although the sun had already set, light shone upon her, making the thirty-year-old biologist stop in her tracks.

“Julie,” a man’s voice echoed above her, sounding like embers consuming wood. “Still working at this hour?”

“Hello, Leonard,” Julie raised her head at the man flying four meters above her, a human-shaped figure of flames and blinding light. “I could say the same for you.”

Even when he toned down the light his body produced, it was difficult to look at Leo Hargraves. His Red Elixir had given him the ability to turn into a living sun, transforming his human flesh into solar flames and giving him control over his own gravity. Leonard had once told her that he always suppressed most of his power, lest he incinerate entire cities with his mere presence.

Unlike many Genomes, the Carnival’s leader always used his real name, believing it made him accountable and more trustworthy. It hadn’t stopped people from giving him a nickname though, one worthy of his overwhelming power.

Leo the Living Sun.

Unfortunately, the poor man burnt his clothes whenever he transformed. Unlimited power came with downsides.

“Is your husband here?” Leonard asked her. “I have news.”

“He’s putting Giulia to bed,” she replied. “You’re finally moving on?”

The fiery man nodded with a hint of regret, his presence attracting a few gazes. At this hour, most of the community was still awake; farmers patrolled the walls, tended to the fields, or just played dice outside.

The Costa family’s farm included a large house, shacks, a barn, farmlands, and several pens for animals. Two dozen people lived on the property, mostly refugees which Julie and her husband had taken in after the Genome Wars started. Over time, the community had built wooden walls and fortifications around the property, to deter attacks from bandits and marauders.

In fact, one such attack was how Julie met Leonard in the first place. His Carnival had slain a Genome bandit leader terrorizing the region, then stuck around to make sure the local communities could sustain themselves.

Her husband Bruno, a muscled, handsome man with black hair and blue eyes, emerged from the barn, smiling upon seeing Leonard. He had many knives around his belt, for his power allowed him to turn any blade so sharp that it could cut through anything. Wood, steel, diamond… nothing could resist him.

When they heard about his power, most people believed Bruno was some kind of badass killer, but they couldn’t be farther from the truth. Julie’s husband was the sweetest, most wholesome person on earth, and the only living beings he had used his gift on were cattle.

It was that kindness that made her fall in love with him in the first place. Julie had moved to Campania in 2002 to investigate the high number of cancers in the region for her Ph.D. thesis. She had interviewed Bruno as part of her research, and what had started as an academic project had transformed into a happy marriage.

And then Last Easter happened.

That Wonderbox… Julie still didn’t understand why her family had been selected to receive one. Why did a couple in the middle of nowhere receive Elixirs? Why did that Alchemist maniac even distribute something so dangerous?

Before she knew it, Julie’s world had been turned upside down. A madman had devastated Salerno in a power-fueled rampage, a totalitarian Genome dictator called Mechron had taken over central Europe, and all of Italy had been carpet-bombed back to the stone age.

Since the family farm was located away from population centers, it had been spared from the destruction. Bruno had decided to hole up there, waiting until the dust settled.

It never did.

“Bruno, Julie, it’s been a pleasure,” Leonard said, “but unfortunately, the day has come for the Carnival to relocate.”

“So it’s finally time, uh?” Bruno said, clearly saddened. “It has only been two months, but to me, you’re part of the landscape now.”

“Ah! Maybe one day, once peace returns, I will build myself a house nearby.” Although she couldn’t see his face through the flames, Julie was convinced Leonard was grinning ear to ear. “Campania is such a beautiful region.”

It was. Even the rampant chaos couldn’t change that. “So this is goodbye, not farewell,” Julie said with optimism.

“You’re always welcome among us,” Bruno said. “Giulia will be the saddest. She calls you Uncle Leo now, you know?”

“‘When will Uncle Leo come?’” Julie mimicked her daughter with a chuckle. “‘Uncle Leo is best Uncle!’”

Leonard laughed in response. “Ah, stop, you’re making me want to stay so much,” he said, before sighing. “I promise I will return for her birthday.”

“I will hold you on to that,” Julie replied.

“Your daughter… your daughter is the future, in more ways than one,” Leo said. “We must fight, so that our children may grow up happy. No matter the burdens they will bear.”

Yes. The burden of powers.

Bruno and Julie had conceived their daughter soon after they each took their Elixir. Their little girl hadn’t manifested powers yet, but she already showed signs of secondary Genome mutations. Resistance to sickness and toxins, hardened organs, accelerated healing...

A second-generation Genome.

Julie suspected it had been the Alchemist’s goal all along. To foster a new race of superhumans capable of breeding; a species that would soon replace the homo sapiens, until the old humanity vanished like the neanderthals.

“There is a new organization making waves in Calabria,” Leo said. “I thought you should know.”

“Doesn’t the ‘Ndrangheta control the area?” Bruno asked. The Calabrian mafia had taken over the region after some of their members received Elixirs, overpowering the local authorities.

“They did,” Leo replied. “They have been wiped out.”

“Wiped out?” Bruno frowned. “As in—”

“Wiped out. Men, women, and children.” Leo crossed his blazing arms. “The responsible party is apparently an offshoot of the Camorra, but ten times deadlier. It wants to unite the mafia families under one banner, and if met with resistance, its Genomes leave no survivors. It has made it very difficult to track their members, and the communities they subvert won’t even speak to outsiders.”

“Will you fight these people?” Julie asked him, worried. Calabria wasn’t very far from Campania.

The mighty Red Genome shook his head. “Pythia wants us to move north and fight Mechron. She has seen him develop orbital weapons in a few years, with catastrophic consequences down the line. And a new Psycho in France, Manic Plague, is a living pandemic whose danger grows exponentially the longer she remains active.”

As Julie feared, there were simply so many dangerous Genomes around. Some of them were existential threats to mankind as a whole, and Leo’s Carnival couldn’t be everywhere.

Even now, Mechron, Genome warlords, and the remnants of the pre-bombing military fought for control over the wasteland they had created. The Genome Wars, people called it. The fighting was way worse north of Italy, but it didn’t mean the south was safe.

With the collapse of civilization, mankind had embraced both its worst and better instincts. Marauders, Psychos, and bandits roamed the countryside; but Bruno had welcomed many refugees inside the farm, and they had formed a stable community.

One that, hopefully, would help the world heal.

“We’ll be careful,” Bruno promised, putting a hand around Julie’s waist.

“Please do,” Leo said, giving them a final nod. “Kiss Giulia for me.”

And so, Leonard Hargraves flew away, moving across the night sky at a fighter jet’s speed.

“He never was one for long speeches.” Bruno held his wife in his arms. “I’ll miss him.”

“Me too,” Julie said. The region felt safe with the Carnival nearby. Even while their community and neighborhoods could defend themselves, nobody dared pick a fight with a freaking sun. “But so many people need his help, far more than we do.”

Her husband nodded, glancing at the crops. “They’re ready?”

“Yes,” she said. “Once I would have said introducing new species into the ecosystem is a terrible idea, but…”

“I would rather have purple maize than glowing corn,” Bruno chuckled, Julie shaking her head at his lame joke. He kissed her on the lips. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Times may be hard… but they would beat them.

They spent a few minutes making out until someone dared interrupt them. It was Benny, one of the guards. The only farmer taller than Bruno, who never went anywhere without his trusty shotgun. “Sorry, chief,” he apologized. “But I gotta stop you before you move past second base.”

Bruno laughed, breaking the embrace with his wife. “What is it?”

“We have a visitor. A lone traveler, who asks for hospitality.”

“At this hour?” Julie frowned. It often happened, but few people dared travel at night nowadays.

“What kind of traveler?” Bruno asked.

“Clearly a Genome, all shiny and chrome,” Benny replied. It had to be, to travel alone at night through unsafe roads. “He says he comes bearing gifts, and he brings a horse full of supplies. Fuel, weapons, food.”

It wasn’t the first time another community sent a trader to the Costa farm. More often than not, they exchanged food for scavenged tools.

Unfortunately, some traders were marauders in disguise, scouting a community for a future attack. Once, the farm let everyone in, but after an incident cost them three people, the group had grown far more careful.

“We can’t let him in,” Julie told Bruno. “I’m sorry, but…”

“We can offer him food and water, but no roof,” Bruno told Benny.

“That’s the thing, he says he will just give gifts and then leave,” Benny replied. “But he wants to talk with you personally, Bruno.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, he has heard of your power and is curious to see it in action. Apparently, he researches superpowers, and he’s curious to see if you can really cut anything.”

That was odd. Julie exchanged a worried glance with her husband, who was clearly suspicious. “How many people are awake?” Bruno asked Benny.

“Piero, Donna, Alice, and Luca keep their weapons aimed at his pretty head,” the man replied, putting his shotgun’s barrel on his shoulder. “I told the others to ready their guns, just in case.”

“Okay, I will meet him. Hopefully, it’s just paranoia talking.” Bruno put a hand on Benny’s shoulder. “I entrust my wife to you, my friend.”

“Y-yes, sure!” Benny instantly tensed, taking this seriously.

“Don’t joke about this,” Julie lightly scolded her husband, but he waved her hand before moving towards the camp’s main gates.

She looked at Benny, who fidgeted awkwardly. “Sorry, ‘mam. I’m not good at casual conversation.”

“Benny, stop calling me that,” Julie said, exasperated. “You’ve been there for three years. I believe we could talk on a first-name basis.”

“And I will still call you ‘mam until Giulia is old enough to take over.”

The biochemist shook her head, before returning to her garden.

With nukes and plagues having devastated the western coast, Julie hoped to introduce these new species to fight against environmental pollution. According to her projections, it would take only five years to purify Italy’s air and soil back to their pre-apocalypse level… and ten to undo the degradations caused by humanity’s industrial activities.

In time, all of Earth would become a garden.

“I’ll never get used to it,” Benny said, as he watched her use her power on the wheat. “I’m not religious, but… it makes me wonder if a God does exist.”

“That wasn’t an Act of God,” Julie replied. She heard booming thunder, briefly wondering if a storm approached. But the skies were clear, cloudless. Odd. “Just an experiment from a brilliant, but twisted mind.”

She couldn’t explain it any other way. God wouldn’t be so cruel as to create monsters like Mechron and unleash them on the world.

And suddenly, lightning hit the farm.

A crimson flash of light filled Julie’s vision, as if thunder had struck the earth right in front of her. She heard a powerful boom, coming straight from the entrance, while the farm trembled.

She turned around, and when her vision returned to normal, there was a burning hole where the farm’s mains gates once stood.

“Bruno!” Julie immediately panicked, rushing towards the entrance before Benny could stop her. The farm’s alarm system activated, signaling an attack while smoke spread in all directions.

When Julie moved close enough, she was welcomed with a scene of horror.

A powerful force had blasted people through the farm’s fortifications, with enough force to shatter them. Corpses were dispersed on the ground, utterly savaged. Julie could barely recognize Donna among them, most of her body having been incinerated. Piero had lost his head, Julie only identifying him thanks to his trademark blue shirt, now painted red.

And Bruno… Bruno was among them.

Both parts of him.

A bolt had thrown her husband through the gates, tearing him in half below the waist.