The next day, we left the inn and headed back into town. We had a bit of a late start since yesterday was a long day of traveling. We weren't really sure what to do. Yesterday was a complete bust and we can't talk to any of the people on the hill — not with that lady there.
"So what should we do today?" Tessara asked.
"To be honest, I don't know. Maybe we could try some other nearby towns, see what they know."
"Yeah, I guess"
We hopped on the bike and started to ride out of town. I turned back to make sure Tessara was secure. When I looked forward again, a person was standing right in the middle of the road less than twenty feet away. I slammed on the brakes. The bike lurched forward — hard.
I looked up at the person and the bike was tipping forward at nearly ninety degrees. Our faces were only inches apart. I could very clearly see it was a man. The bike fell hard back on both tires. Tessara's head hit the back of mine and I swear I felt my brain hit the front of my head. I lay my forehead on the handlebars and sat for a moment, trying to get the pounding in my head to stop. I looked behind me and Tessara was laying on the ground groaning. I looked forward and the man was just standing there staring at us, he was wearing an old dingy brown cloak, it was covered in rips and tears. His face was mostly hidden under his hood, but I could see the tip of his nose and his mouth.
"Hey! Are you trying to get yourself killed?" I said, already irritated. My head continued to pound. He just smiled.
"Um, hello?" No response, just him staring at us.
"Alright, I'm not in the mood for this today so could you just move out of the road?" I said, getting off my bike and kneeling down next to Tessara.
"You've been causing quite a disturbance," he finally said in a deep voice.
"In this dead place, yeah I bet." I remarked.
"I think I can help you." He said, motioning me forward with his hand. I paused for a moment and he walked towards me, then leaned in close. "Follow me, not safe to explain it here."
I looked around and then back at him. He was walking off down the road. He gestured at us, telling us to follow. I stopped for a moment, thinking about whether or not I could trust him.
I decided to try my luck. I walked about five feet and heard a groan, then turned back and saw Tessara still laying on the ground motionless. Right, I can't just leave that idiot lying on the ground. Or can I? No, no, I can't, she wouldn't leave me so I shouldn't leave her. I slumped in annoyance and threw her over the bike, then wheeled it down a small dark alley the man had turned down.
I walked for a little while before I caught up to him, the alley had trash cans and loose garbage littered all around it. Small rodents scurried into holes in the walls as we passed. I looked up and he was waiting under a dim doorway. He walked in and I left the bike outside.
Tessara slowly slipped off the bike onto her feet.
"Are you done being a baby now?"
She nodded as she stood up, wobbling a bit. I doubt she understood a word I just said. She slowly followed me into the room. It was a cramped with a kitchen in the far back corner, a bathroom on the left wall, a small table in the center and a closed door to our right. The walls and ceiling were made of wood that looked like it was only seconds away from rotting into dust, and the metal tiled floor was a dark shade of brown. Almost as if the floor had been rusted through to the foundation.
He stood, pouring three cups of some sort of liquid on the table. He motioned for us to sit as he sat in the chair farthest from the door facing us. He slowly took off his hood.
He looked like he was in his late twenties, with dark short curly hair, dark skin and brown eyes. He was wearing baggy black cargo pants, and a blue vest with small yellow accents. Underneath he had a dingy white tank top. I cautiously sat in the chair, and made sure to keep my guard up. He may be willing to share information, but that doesn't make him trustworthy.
"So what do you know about those snobs on the hill?" I asked.
"Oh, come now. Relax, take a drink — it looks like you've been on the road a while." He said with more of an accent now, one I couldn't quite determine.
"We don't have time for a break, we need to know what's going on here now!" I leaned forward as I said that and Tessara put her hand on my shoulder. I sat back in my seat and crossed my arms.
"Chill out would ya, just have a drink, I only want to talk."
"What even is it?", I said, eyeing the cup. It was black like coffee, but it didn't smell like much though.
"Tea. I made it myself." He said with a wide smile.
"If I drink this you'll start talking."
"Yes, of course."
"Alright, fine," I said while taking a sip. I nearly gagged the second it touched my tongue. I had never tasted anything more bitter in my life.
"Oh I'm glad you like it," he said with a small smirk.
"Are you sure that's tea?" I said, setting it down and wiping my mouth.
"Yeah, close enough," he said, clearly trying not to laugh.
"Ok, whatever. It doesn't matter. We just need to know what's going on here," I said, trying not to make a face while scraping the taste off my tongue with my teeth.
"Right, well first, who are you? And what exactly brought you here?" He said, his face turning more serious.
"You first." I said
"The name's Oro. I live here," He said, rolling his eyes.
Before I could say anything Tessara interjected, "I'm Tessara and this is my friend Vera, we're luminaries here to investigate some weird black market shipments entering our ci-Owwww!" She said, as I stomped on her foot mid sentence.
That was more than enough information. Too much for someone we know nothing about.
"Black market shipments, hmm? Interesting," he said, taking another sip.
"Do you know anything that could help us?"
"When did those shipments start showing up in your city? And what city was it again?"
"Nazul!" Blurted out Tessara, I glared at her. We have no idea who this guy is and she is giving away too much.
"Oh lighten up, we're here because I believe we have a common goal, your info may help me help you." He said, intently staring at me.
I glared at him and he just smiled.
"Fine, they started about four months ago," I said.
"Four months? That's a little after when they showed up," He replied and stared off as if he was thinking.
"Who? Those people on the hill?" I said, very intrigued.
"Yes, them, and a militia group — one I had never seen before. Dropped into this place like it was a goddamn active warzone, shooting first, asking questions later type shit. They were very orderly and well trained — they marched perfectly in line, matching uniforms, high grade rifles — they were the real deal."
"Sounds like a cool movie scene," Said Tessara
"Can you take this seriously?"
"What? Sorry, it just popped into my head."
I rolled my eyes. I can't deal with her today, "Continue", I said, motioning my hand forward.
"They came into town and set up their houses on the hill. Brought a shit ton of digging equipment, though I'm not sure quite what for, yet." He said.
"Do you know who they were, or where they came from?"
"No, I can't say I do. Some rich corpo looking fucks, so they're not from around here, that's for sure. I do happen to have some pictures. Maybe you'll recognize them," He said, getting up and grabbing a folder off a shelf to our left. He slid it across the table at me.
I grabbed the folder and opened it. I pulled out some pictures and set them out on the table. I picked them up one by one and started analyzing each of them — none of them looked like anyone or anything I'd ever seen.
"Did you take these?"
"Yeah, best I could without getting spotted." He said.
"They don't look familiar, and I'm not a huge fan of the dark green and gray in their uniform. Looks tacky and basic." Said Tessara.
"Of course you'd think something like th-" I said, looking down at the pictures. "Wait — green and gray uniforms? They look exactly like the soldiers at the docks. And that symbol on his shoulder plate — I've seen it before. I don't know where, but I do know it."
I studied the picture. The symbol was a weirdly shaped skull that has lines that make it look like it fades out — with sharp but simple features. My brain was clawing for the answer as to where I had seen this, but I couldn't pull it forward.
"Well that's definitely something," said Tessara
"Yeah...what else do you know?" I asked
"Not much, other than those glorified idiots over there are the leaders — or funders. Something like that. They seem to be the ones in charge."
"I think we should go pay them another visit — and this time, I'm not taking no for an answer," I said.
I looked at the next picture, it was of a small building. There were guards stationed outside with several trucks parked in the back of it.
"What's this?"
"I think it's a research facility. Saw it a little further south — just outside of the city. Not sure what it's for, but there was a lot of activity going in and out from there."
"Gotcha. We should check that place out too, it must be important."
"You have anything else?" I asked.
"Well, they started taking the magic users away and took as many people that were left to their mine. Caused quite a scuffle, as I'm sure you could see."
"You call that a scuffle?"
"It's hyperbole," he said, dropping his eyelids in an unimpressed manner. "Like I said, they took whoever survived over to the mine and burned the dead bodies."
"Well, that explains the empty city."
"What about the police here?" Asked Tessara. Wow, she actually asked a good question I didn't think of.
"Yeah, where are they?", I said.
"We don't really have police here, more like an enforcement council. I think they got taken with them, not much of a force against a well armed militia."
"Maybe. Anything else?" I asked.
"Nope that's all I got."
"Alright, let's go," I said, standing up. I was gonna lose my mind if I had to be there any longer.
"Thank you, Mr. Oro", Tessara said as she stood up.
We started walking towards the door. "Wait, why did you stop and tell us all of this?" I looked back at him from the front door entrance.
"You seem like good folks trying to do the right thing, I'm just doing my part."
"What do we owe you?" Tessara said.
"Nothing, just promise you'll kick their ass back to where they came from."
"You can surely count on us to do that!" Said Tessara with a new level of enthusiasm.
"So what are we gonna do, you got a plan?" She said, turning to me.
"Yeah, I think I do," I said as I rolled my bike back out onto the street.
"They're here, I saw them. We already confirmed they stayed at the Castle Inn last night," said a voice
"Yes and earlier we believe they were heading south out of the city, but we lost them after that." Said another voice.
"Yes, of course commander, we'll find them." Said the first voice.
I looked to my right and saw two soldiers in the same green uniform as the ones from the picture. They were armored nearly from head to toe. Most likely too thick for Tessara's pistols. I'd rather not just run in not knowing the whole situation. They seemed to be talking in an earpiece in their helmet. Someone higher up from the sound of it.
"Get back." I said as I shoved Tessara back into the alley, she hit the ground with a hard clunk.
"Hey! What was that for?"
"Shhhh!"
"What, don't shhh me after you shove me to the floor."
"Will you just shut your mouth, there's soldiers out there right around the corner," I said, whispering. She peeked her head around the corner.
"Ohhhhh…" She said, leaning back into the alley, "So what now?"
"Let's go out the other side," I said, walking back the way we came. A lot of people must live in the alleyways. It was filled with hanging clothes, garbage bags, and all sorts of stuff.
We quickly made it to the other side. Then, right as we were about to walk out, a group of the same soldiers walked past. We were able to move out of their sight just in time before they saw us.
"Alright, this isn't going to work. We need a new plan."
"I think I have an idea," Tessara said, looking up at the clothes hanging.
"You've got to be joking. This isn't a TV show," I said, annoyed.
"Oh, come on, it will be fun! Not like we have much of a choice, anyways. We can't go out like this."
She was right, we didn't have much of a choice. I groaned at the idea though.
We snatched clothes off the line and threw them over our current clothes. Especially making sure to cover our emblems. Tessara grabbed what looked like a school uniform. It was a dark green and brown sort of dress. It was a little too big for her.
I snatched a basic blue t-shirt and dark baggy jeans. Not my style at all, but it did hide who we were, for the most part. I decided to also put my hair up. Tessara threw on a hat.
"I'm leaving the bike here, it's enough to expose us." I said.
"Right." She said, as we slowly walked out of the alley, and looked in both directions. The line of soldiers was gone and the street was pretty empty. I grabbed a backpack and quickly threw our gear in there. Then, I tossed it over my shoulder.
We slowly walked out onto the street. It also helped that the sky was getting darker. The further we traveled down to the hill, the more soldiers appeared.
"Hey what are you guys doing?" Said a soldier from behind us as we walked out, "Your curfew is eight o'clock sharp, it's almost nine!"
I ignored him and continued to walk.
"Hey, stop!" He yelled.
"Oh, I'm so sorry Mr. Soldier! You see, me and my friend here were just out late studying for the upcoming semester and we just lost track of time," Tessara said in the most innocent tone. "Please don't tell our parents, we might get in trouble and you wouldn't want that to happen, would you?" She said, grabbing his arm with both her hands pleading.
"Um, um, well normally I'd have to report this for suspicious activity, but just this once I'll let you guys go. So long as you go straight home! It's not safe around here at night." I could see a small portion of his face through the helmet and face coverings. It was very red, for sure.
"Oh don't worry we will," I said, as I dragged Tessara off, she was trying so hard not to laugh.
"Yes, I saw his face, haha you're so funny," I said in a bored tone.
"Hey, it's not like you had a better plan! Plus, it actually was pretty funny," she said, crossing her arms.
"Yeah, if you're five years old," I said, rolling my eyes.
"Oh, shut up!"
We ran around a corner and into the tree line. We snuck around the outer edge and soon made it to the base of the hill. The front was covered in soldiers. Where did they all come from? There were a ton of them, about fifteen in this area alone. There weren't any this morning when we were leaving. I guess our presence was quite the news. Although, I'm surprised they knew what we were. Seems the word of us got here pretty quick. That figure from Nazul must be with them.
"Let's go around the back, we don't want to cause a scene. Who knows how many more there are?"
"Alright, I'll follow you," she said.
We made it all the way to the back and stared up at the wall. The walls were a dirty white metal and about twenty feet high.
"I'll give you a boost and then I can grapple up or something," I said, putting my gear back on.
"Are you sure you can get me up there?"
"Are you doubting my abilities?"
"No, not at all," she said with a sarcastic undertone.
"Just step-up," I said as I put my hands together like a platform. She stepped up with one leg and pushed up as I flung my hands up to boost her. She flew up in the air pretty high. Well, a little too high — she flew a little above the wall, and she kinda freaked out silently flailing around. She missed the wall and started falling straight back down, I tried my best to line up and catch her.
She landed right on my face, butt and all. What a lovely situation, thank god the school uniform was a long dress and not a skirt. She slid down my body back to the ground and landed on her butt.
"Ew you nasty ass, I can't believe you just did that," I said, wiping my face.
"What did you want me to do? I was falling!" She said, standing up and dusting herself off.
"I dunno, turn? Anything other than what you did."
"Maybe you should just aim better."
"Whatever, just step up." I said, rolling my eyes.
I planted my hands again and put about half the amount of force this time and she grabbed the edge and pulled herself over. Then I used my grapple hook, and climbed up the wall, dropping down on the other side.