The rust that humanity
itself had created,
leading to rusting of the pure.

Farad opened his eyes and then closed them back immediately. The ceiling lights were too distracting. He tried to lift his arm, hoping to cover his eyes, but he couldn't. He felt numb.

"Some medics found you at the explosion site. You had fallen unconscious due to blood loss." he recognized that voice.

"Don't you have anything better to do?" he asked while he heard the clicking of a switch. Finally enabling him to see.

"Farad," The President said while sitting back down next to his bed. "You are out of the Presidential race."

"...the reason?"

"Someone found out that your father was a Verisian."

"Doroteya?" Farad saw the President's eyes darting away from him. Of course it was her. She hadn't reached her position through just sheer hard work. It also involved stepping over someone else's.

"What are you going to do now?" The President said while reaching out to a glass of water.

"Join the army."

The President put down his glass and then asked, "After all the hard work you've put into studying? You would waste all of it by giving away your life in a pointless war?"

"A war..." Farad smiled, "...I remember I didn't ask you about the nationality of those who bombed the festival. Verisians presumably?"

"Why do you ask me questions you already know the answer to?"

Farad bended his arm and pushed against the bed to lift himself halfway up. That was how it felt, then, to be completely useless. "Tell Doroteya and Haeve this, I won't stop."

The President stared at Farad and then finally recognized the truth in his words. He bowed his head and whispered, "I wanted a better life for you, but if this is what you desire, then I cannot stop you."

Farad stumbled through the hallway of the hospital, Room 24...Room 23...Room 22, there it was. He turned the knob and entered. He saw Walom sleeping, but his hand still holding his mother's.

Farad sat in a nearby chair and tapped Walom on the shoulder. He didn't wake up. Farad was about to give it another try, and alert him, but he stopped himself. It was better if he just sent a letter to him explaining everything.

Farad got up and exited. The sight returned back to him.

He had helped in picking up the remains after he was done with escorting all of the injured out of the area. It took less time for him to gather ten people and explain to them what they had to do, than it did for him to gather all of the bones and the burnt flesh of a single man.

He hadn't cried for the state he was in, he hadn't cried for that man but, thinking about that man's family...he couldn't handle it any longer.

He buried his face in his right hand and bawled his heart out. It was an unusual feeling for him, and he figured he would be attracting many confused onlookers.

But then Farad remembered, he wasn't the only one there to have been broken by the world's injustice.