Heterochromia

Silence ruled the control room. Barely a breath was taken as assorted eyes looked to the events unfolding on the camera feed. A bank of eight screens presented the viewpoints of the Crimson agents, with biometrical data beneath each operative’s display. Collectively, the images told the story of the final assault, the battle which would win the war.

In pairs, the Crimsons moved quicky and stealthily through a wooded area. When they converged on the Jade retreat, the enemy would be eradicated.

Spotting an anomaly on one of the screens, Sienna Claridge spoke into her mic.

‘Hadley, back up. Pan left.’

As one, the whole team stopped. Hadley’s screen showed him complying as he scanned the area.

‘What did you see?’ his voice crackled through the speakers.

‘Could’ve been a doe, but I want to make sure.’

Hadley’s transmission rocked as he stepped slowly forward. Furtive movement behind the trees caught everyone’s attention.

‘Careful,’ Sienna warned.

Hadley crept closer to the hidden creature.

The tension in the room became stifling, pressing in and making it hard to breathe. All eyes were now trained on the one screen.

The mysterious figure broke from cover. Hadley swore.

‘Abort. Abort.’ Sienna commanded. ‘Get them out of there.’

In an instant, the control room exploded with activity as controllers spoke urgent orders to their operatives. Though they worked with exercised authority, none could break their gaze from the image frozen on Hadley’s monitor – a mythical Albino rushing at the soldier.

*

Hadley awoke on a soft bed. Keeping his eyes shut and his breathing even, he focused his other senses. A sharp yet unpleasant smell filled his nostrils. In the distance, soft voices whispered words he could not discern.

After waiting two minutes, he peered at the room around him. Pale walls; one single bed, an easy chair, a bedside cabinet; one window and one door. The hush beyond the room was akin to that in a church or a graveyard.

Knowing that he was in a hospital did nothing to quell his concerns. Until he knew which sect controlled the facility, he had to assume he was in enemy territory.

The door swung open silently, startling him. A woman smiled at him as she approached the bed.

‘Hello,’ she said pleasantly. ‘It’s good to see you’re awake. Let me call Dr Mutuku.’

Hadley stared up to the nurse’s face and felt his head swim. He had expected to have either been rescued by the Crimsons or captured by the Jades. He had not considered that he could have wound up in the care of one of the other groups, yet the nurse’s blue eyes told him everything he needed to know – he was being held by the Cornflowers.

Scanning the room again, Hadley began to plot his escape. The chair appeared light enough to lift, sturdy enough to smash the window. Assuming he was not more than two floors up, that may be the easiest egress. His other option would be to break one of the pieces of furniture from which he could fashion a cudgel and take his chances through the door. Not knowing how many Cornflowers he would encounter between this door and one to the outside world made that plan the least favourable.

A black woman entered the room, head down as she read from a tablet.

‘Good evening, sir,’ she said. ‘I’m Anisa Mutuku, a consultant here. When you’re feeling up to it, there is much I’d like to talk to you about.’

Hadley raised his chin in defiance. They would get his name and rank, and nothing more. His determination faltered when the doctor raised her face to look at him.

He stared in fascination at her brown eyes.

*

Pain racked through his body, causing Daniel to cry out as he awoke. Every bone ached, every limb throbbed. Even lying still did not ease his suffering.

Gritting his teeth, Daniel pulled himself to his feet and looked around. Above him came unfamiliar birdsong while all around were the scents and sounds of small woodland animals.

Why the hell am I in a forest? he wondered.

‘Hello?’ he called out. ‘Can anybody hear me?’

With no reply, Daniel set off. He didn’t know where he was so he figured any direction was the right one. As he moved through the underbrush, stretching muscles and loosening joints, the pain subsided until it became a tolerable discomfort.

Confused with how he had ended up in the great outdoors, he cast his mind back to the last thing he could remember. There had been the excruciating chest pains, the ambulance journey to the St Aiden’s hospital and the Kenyan doctor telling him she’d be back as soon as she’d received the test results.

Daniel couldn’t remember the doctor returning. Has he passed out? Was this a dream? Or had he died, and this was the land of death?

‘Hello,’ he cried again, with more urgency. ‘Anyone? Help, please.’

Someone must have heard because there was movement ahead. A large form was striding in his direction.

Daniel felt queasy when he saw that the approaching figure was dressed in a cowled cloak. Not quite as black as the Grim Reaper’s, but close enough to frighten him. He considered turning and running but he knew, in his delicate state, he would not get far before he was caught.

The stranger drew nearer, stopped and pulled back his hood. His fine hair was white, his skin so pale it was almost translucent and his irises colourless. Daniel recognised that the man suffered from a defective melanin-producing gene; he was an albino.

*

‘I’ll give you the good news first,’ Anisa said. ‘You were not suffering a heart attack, merely a non-terminal – if incredible painful – case of trapped wind.’

Hadley could not take his gaze from the doctor’s eyes. Brown eyes, the colour of chestnut, the colour of chocolate. He had never seen such a weird, yet mesmerising, thing.

‘We believe you passed out from the pain,’ Anisa continued. ‘You seem to have avoided hurting yourself, however, when we examined you we noticed something has happened to your eyes.’

Hadley’s brow creased in confusion. He could see fine, so what was she talking about?

Anisa paused as she looked directly at him. She seemed to be steeling herself for delivering bad news.

‘Tell me,’ he said without emotion.

She leaned forward and took a hand mirror from a drawer in the bedside cabinet. Holding it out to Hadley, she did not release it when he grabbed it.

‘I want you to prepare yourself,’ she said.

With a pounding heart, Hadley lifted the mirror and, doing it quickly before he lost the nerve, looked at his reflection. Between his broken nose and the scar in his left eyebrow, his eyes seemed normal. The whites were not bloodshot or yellow, the irises were the same shade of scarlet they’d always been and the pupils were of equal size.

He closed one eye to inspect the eyelid. Seeing nothing untoward, he checked the other. Again, no laceration or screen growth.

He placed the mirror down and turned to look back into Anisa’s brown eyes. How can she have brown eyes? he asked himself.

‘I don’t understand,’ he said.

Confusion flashed on Anisa’s face. She looked to the nurse who seemed just as bewildered.

‘Your irises,’ Anisa said to Hadley. ‘They’re red.’

He nodded.

‘That’s because I’m a Crimson,’ he said. ‘Just as she’s a Cornflower,’ he added indicating the nurse. ‘But I have no idea what you are.’

*

The stranger pointed a white finger at Daniel.

‘You’re different,’ he whispered.

‘Yes, I’m–’ Daniel stopped himself from saying normal, not wanting to cause offence. ‘I have skin pigmentation, that’s all.’

‘No, no,’ the albino said, waving his hand dismissively. ‘I don’t mean different to me. You’re different to you.’

Daniel opened and closed his mouth, unable to find the words to express his confusion.

‘When I ran past you earlier, after you and your sect had seen me, you had red eyes. You were a Crimson. Now you’re Cornflower.’

‘I really don’t know what you mean. I’ve never seen you before.’

The man looked Daniel up and down, studying him.

‘It is you,’ he said. ‘But it’s not you. How can that be?’

Daniel wanted to get away from this madman in the woods, but he had no idea where he was or how to get out of the forest.

‘Look, I don’t understand what you’re saying. I just woke up in a strange place and have no recollection of getting here. I don’t even know where here is. Please. Can you lead me out of these woods?’

The albino lifted the cowl over his head. At least Daniel now knew why the man hid his face; his lack of melanin meant the sun’s ultraviolent rays were potentially harmful, so he protected himself in the depths of his cloak.

‘Yes,’ the man said in answer to Daniel’s request. ‘I will take you. People need to know about you.’

*

‘I already told you, I’m a consultant here at St Aiden’s. What do you mean, you’re a Crimson?’

‘Consultant,’ Hadley scoffed. ‘That’s just a job. What sect are you?’

‘Sect?’

Hadley did not know if the doctor was genuinely ignorant or if this was a new form of interrogation tactic. Surely there could not be a new kind of human. Well, if she wants to play dumb, I’m game, he thought.

‘I was born with red eyes,’ he explained, as if talking to a child, ‘so I was placed with the Crimsons. The Defenders of the Blood. It is our divine duty to ensure humanity is not removed from the land.’

‘A noble cause,’ Anisa said. ‘Though I do not see how that onus falls to just one group of people. Should we not all try to prevent mankind from becoming extinct?’ She seemed earnest in her question.

‘There’s a gulf between mankind and humanity. All the sects are human, so mankind will survive. But humanity is the thing that makes us special; our thoughts, our emotions – our blood.’

‘And who would try to stifle humanity?’ Anisa asked.

Hadley turned to the blue-eyed nurse. Though she was obviously a Cornflower, her face seemed as entranced as the doctor’s, as though she were learning about the world for the first time

‘Masters of the Seas,’ Hadley said.

*

The albino moved swiftly through the forest and Daniel struggled to keep up. He considered letting the man get so far in front, then head off in another direction. But Daniel had no experience at traversing through nature whereas the albino proved to be adept. Following him was Daniel’s surest way to find his way out of the forest.

Sometime later, Daniel’s spirits were lifted when they broke from the cover of the trees. Ahead of them a low valley stretched down to a small settlement of stone houses. Without pausing, the albino strode fearlessly toward the hamlet. Daniel followed.

As they grew closer, Daniel noticed none of the buildings had windows. There was nobody to be seen, imbuing an eerie atmosphere on the place.

His guide led him to a large house near the centre of the village and, after a customary knock, he opened the door and went in. Daniel paused briefly, looking around for signs of life – or help – before entering.

‘Sebastian, come in,’ the homeowner said, moving to embrace the stranger from the woods.

‘Jerimiah,’ Daniel’s saviour said. ‘I bring you an oddity. Perhaps a portent of better times.’

When the men parted, Daniel saw that Jerimiah, too, displayed the same pale skin and white hair. That would explain the windowless buildings, Daniel thought. A village of albinos.

‘You bring a Cornflower,’ Jerimiah said. ‘Nothing odd about that.’

‘Cornflower now,’ Sebatian agreed. ‘But not an hour ago, a Crimson.’

Jerimiah peered closer at Daniel.

‘Not possible,’ the homeowner said.

‘I haven’t any clue what you are talking about,’ Daniel snapped, feeling frustrated at being discussed as though he was not present.

‘Have you not heard of the Colour Wars?’ Jerimiah asked.

‘Of course I’ve heard of racism,’ Daniel answered. ‘I’m an adult living in the twenty-first century.’

‘Colour Wars,’ Jerimiah repeated, ‘not… racism.’ He spoke the last word as though he had never said it before. ‘Sect versus sect, killing one another over the colour of their–’

‘–skin,’ Daniel finished. ‘Yes. Racism.’

‘Eyes,’ Jerimiah corrected. ‘The colour of their eyes.’

*

‘The Masters of the Seas want to do away with humanity?’ Anisa asked.

Hadley nodded.

‘Theirs is a false god of the sea, the ocean. They believe only water is to be revered and we, people, are nothing but vessels to keep the waters of the world clean and pure.’

‘Keeping the oceans clean seems like another good cause to me,’ Anisa said.

‘That is the way of the Cornflower. The false way.’

‘You mentioned other sects,’ Anisa said. ’How many are there?

‘You don’t know?’ Hadley was beginning to feel that she was playing with him. When she shook her head, he explained, ‘There used to be seven, eight if you count the Albinos.’

‘Used to be?’

‘Old legends tell of three ancient sects who were defeated hundreds of years ago.’

‘Which leaves five sects, including the Albinos, still around today,’ Anisa surmised. ‘You’ve spoken about Crimsons and Cornflowers. Tell me about the other two.’

Hadley was beginning to understand the doctor’s plan. She would test his resolve by flaunting the heathen beliefs. By feigning ignorance, she hoped she could get him to see similarities between the Crimson way, the true way, and the foolish ideals of the other sects.

But he still could not explain her brown eyes.

*

‘Why would people fight over the colour of their eyes?’ Daniel asked.

At the same time, Sebatian said, ‘Why would people fight over the colour of their skin?’

‘I don’t know,’ Daniel admitted. ‘I think it’s less to do with skin colour and more to do with cultural history. The way events of the past cast shadows on the present.’

Jerimiah looked at his friend. ‘Sound familiar?’

Sebastian nodded. ‘Modern society perpetuating the outdated standards of a bigoted past.’

‘But I still don’t understand,’ Daniel said. ‘If these Colour Wars are all about eye colour, why not wear coloured contact lenses?’

Cocking his head in puzzlement, Jerimiah asked, ‘What are contact lenses?’

‘You’ve never heard of a contact lens?’ Daniel asked in disbelief. ‘A small piece of glass, or plastic, that sits on the eyeball. They were originally used to improve eyesight, but now can make irises seem a different colour or shape.’

‘The people of this land have no desire to change their eye colour. It is what gives them identity, heritage, a place in the world. I suspect your racism people would not seek a skin dying solution?’

Daniel thought for a moment. Would he, a white man, consider changing his skin tone to that of his Ghanaian or Indian friends? He could not answer; and if he were hesitant, could he expect others to alter their own flesh?

*

‘Canaries and Jades,’ Hadley announced.

‘Yellow eyes and green eyes?’ Anisa asked.

Hadley was confused by the doctor’s methods. If she were pretending the sects were unknown to her, using a mind-trick to try to trip him up, she would not have made the connection so quickly. If she was truly unaware of the Colour Wars then she was learning fast, demonstrating her quick thinking.

‘So your sects are defined by iris colour?’ she continued. ‘Red, blue, yellow and green?’

Hadley nodded in confirmation.

‘And each sect wants dominion for their own cause?’

‘For their false causes,’ Hadley said sharply. ’The Canaries call themselves the Saviours of the Chakra. They preach that only by knowing the inner soul can people reach their full potential. They are the smallest threat and so will be the last to feel defeat at the Crimson.

‘The vilest enemy are the Jades, the Guardians of the Earth. They believe Mother Gaia is central to all and that people should honour and protect the land we live upon. They foolishly refute the fact that the earth is there solely to provide humans with resources. They would sooner fight and die to keep great seams of coal and valuable deposits of oil untapped.’

‘What of the Albinos?’ Anisa asked.

‘They are so rare we thought them nothing but rumour.’

‘You don’t think that any more?’

‘I encountered one during my latest mission. It ran right at me, pushed me to the ground as it sped past. That was just before I woke up here.’

‘So you don’t know what their… raison d'être may be?’

‘For all I know, they would kill the rest of us to bleach the world of colour.’

*

Daniel always knew that the colour of a person’s skin does not inform about the individual. As he contemplated chemically altering his skin tone, he realised how strongly attached he felt the ancestry it held. Not always something to be proud of – God knows there were multitudes of atrocities committed in his race’s history – but he derived some sense of identity from his Caucasian skin.

Right or wrong, Daniel would feel a traitor should he employ some type of skin dying technique.

‘No, you would not change the essence of your identity,’ Jerimiah said, obviously reading Daniel’s expression. ‘Not even to prevent future crimes in the name of racism.’

Daniel heard an accusation in the man’s words. He was acutely aware he was in a stranger’s house in an unknown location. As he didn’t know where he was, it was unlikely anybody else knew his whereabouts. Daniel was utterly at the mercy of the two albinos.

‘Changing things at an individual level is not enough,’ he said, discreetly eyeing the door. ‘The problem is systemic. It’s rooted deeply in society. It would require the conscious effort of everyone to successfully address.’

Jerimiah nodded. ‘Otherwise,’ he said sadly, ‘the end result is killing everyone with a different skin colour. A different eye colour.’

Daniel sensed an unspoken threat from Jerimiah and felt his heartbeat in his temples. He could rush for the door, but Sebastian was closer and would grab him before he had even touched the handle. His only option was to talk his way out of this situation.

‘Killing me would not end the problem,’ he pleaded.

Both Jerimiah and Sebatian looked shocked at Daniel’s outburst.

‘We don’t want you dead,’ Sebatian said.

‘You are special,’ Jerimiah added. ‘When Sebastian first saw you, you were a Crimson but somehow you have transcended. You are no longer part of the Colour Wars.’

‘I never was.’

‘Perhaps not,’ Jerimiah mused. ‘Maybe you are not of this world, sent here to bring people of all sects together in unity. You could be our saviour. Tell me, what is your name?’

*

Anisa was silent for a moment. Behind her beautiful brown eyes, Hadley could see her brain ticking along at great speed.

‘If I’m understanding this correctly,’ she said after a while, ‘each of your people live for a higher cause. Crimsons want to defend people’s individuality, Cornflowers care about the oceans and the seas, the Canaries push for the souls of the population and the Jades want to protect the land, the planet?’

‘An over-simplification, I think, but you have the crux of it.’

‘All to the exclusion of other sects’ ideals?’ Anisa added.

‘There is only one true way,’ Hadley stated.

‘Has any of the sects ever thought that all your goals are worthwhile? That you could combine your efforts to make a world which respected the land and the sea as well as encouraged the growth of humanity and the development of the soul?’

Hadley considered Anisa’s proposal. A world where all the sects’ visions were equal? It was preposterous. Each tenet was mutually exclusive. The Jades would never permit the expression of personality and the Canaries could not exist is a world devoted solely to the waters.

‘There is only one true way,’ he repeated.

‘Then let me ask you this,’ Anisa said. ‘Into which sect would I fit?’

Hadley looked again at her soft chocolate eyes. She belonged to none of the sects he knew, not even the ancient Pumpkin, Plum or Wisteria.

‘You don’t,’ he answered hesitantly. ‘There isn’t a sect that exists for you.’

‘And yet I exist. So if it’s possible for a person with brown-eyes to live, could it not be possible to meld your sects? To strive for unity with a shared hope for the future?’

Hadley had no answer for the doctor. A world where Crimson and Cornflower helped develop the spirit and the individual, where Carnary and Jade cared for the seas and the land? Could it be that the sects could work together for the betterment of both mankind and the planet?

‘If you were to put forward this idea of coalition,’ Anisa pushed, ‘people would remember your name. By the way, what is your name?’

*

Separated by worlds, the two displaced men answered:

‘Daniel Hadley.’

*

Danielle Hadley climbed out of the PREC and flicked on the television. The twenty-four-hour news channel continued to report on the gender riots in China.

Daneille cursed.

As a theoretical physicist, she believed in the existence of the multiverse. Somewhere, she knew, there was a parallel world in which men were not persecuted or seen as inferior. A world without a glass ceiling.

Hoping to reach this land and learn from its utopian standards, Danielle had built the Parallel Reality Excursion Chamber. She had applied her years of study, fine-tuned her calculations yet still remained in her own broken world.

Frustrated, she returned to her computer.

One day, when the apparatus worked correctly, she would be able to transport into another reality’s version of Danielle Hadley, effectively swapping places with her otherworld double.