Inside it looked like a small town, how perfect it was set up. We walked up from in between what looked like two houses. The buildings were set up in a circular pattern, with a strange metallic fountain in the center. The houses were sharp in design, and the colors were white, with gold trims and gray highlights.
They definitely had more money than they knew what to do with. I looked back at the main square and it was completely empty, no soldiers or anything. If they were going to be anywhere, I thought it would've been in here. We cautiously snuck around, sticking close to the buildings to stay in the shadows.
Now that I thought about it, we had no idea who we were looking for or who knew anything. We didn't even know who was here. Talk about unprepared — and I considered myself professional. In my defense, I didn't have much time to prepare, nor did I have much information to go off of except that there was something strange in a city on Austri.
Alright. Well, now I guess we have to improvise, so my guess is to find the richest looking building. I'd assume the richest person here has to be the one in charge. I scanned the buildings until I found it., It was the only one with three levels. That had to be it.
I motioned to Tessara to follow me, and she nodded. We walked around the buildings towards the big one and then snuck around back. All the lights were off in the structures, so everyone must be sleeping. We looked in through the windows — all the lights were off, too. I thought about where to enter as I slowly circled around the lower floor.
It was a rectangular building. It looked as though the levels had been placed on top of each other, not like one uniform building. Each level was slightly off centered and seemed to have some sort of hydraulic landing arm attached to the floor below it. After scoping out the place, it looked like a small window that led to the top floor would be our best bet. I pointed at the window. "There — I'd say that's our way in."
She nodded and I shot a grapple hook into the wall just above the window. I grabbed her arm and we both shot up. I pulled her up and she pushed it open. There didn't seem to be a lock on it, which was convenient. I retracted the hook as I climbed into the window.
Once we climbed in, it was a small dull gray room designed as a workspace. There was a desk off to the left with a small lamp and several bookshelves. I walked over to the desk and saw it was full of pictures. One was a soldier and the other looked like a scientist since he was wearing a stereotypical lab coat. Judging by the chevrons, the soldier was a Commander. He was in a lot of the pictures. Perfect, let's hope he's in here.
That said, if he is, him being that high of a rank won't make this task easy either. There was also a small white photo album. I opened it to see a group of girls wearing a little less than a bathing suit. I figured I'd leave that one how it is. I don't even want to know what's in there. Tessara then came over next to me and put some books on the desk.
"This guy looks like quite the nerd when it comes to wars." She said, sorting through the books.
Every single one of them was about the dark wars. The first dark war occurred about ninety-two years ago and the second eleven years after. The first was a war against a powerful witch who sought to destroy the world, the second was a huge magical uprising. There are conspiracy theories that the second one was also led by her, but she was confirmed to have died at the end of the first one, so that's very unlikely. Ultimately, the world governments at the time — using an army of robots called Remnants — destroyed the magic armies and splintered them across the globe. Not before they nearly destroyed it. Nazul was the last major city left and said to be the birthplace of the UCG not long after the war ended.
"Yeah, it looks like he's a commander, too," I said, showing her the pictures.
"Great... sounds like we're about to have a lot of fun," she said, sarcastically.
"Yeah, but if he's sleeping, then we have the advantage, so let's go."
We made it toward the stairs at the back of the room and slowly crept down them to a hall on the second floor. The metal walls were covered in picture frames. There were pictures of all sorts, plants, animals, scenery, soldiers, battle scenes, and plenty of other things. Not my number one choice for a wall, but to each their own I guess.
I ignored the insane amount of pictures all over the place and then began slowly checking each room one by one. Tessara did the same in the opposite direction. I opened the first door and it was like a mini museum — full of cased artifacts and old weapons. This guy clearly was a fan of history to go around and collect all of this.
I silently closed the door and moved on to the next room. It was full of photography equipment, drying racks for photos and other picture developing tools. I then looked back at Tessara and she was motioning for me to come over to her. Whatever it was seemed important. I went over to her and peered at what she had been pointing at. It was a giant fish tank full of all sorts of aquatic creatures. "Really? That's what was so important?" I said.
She just mocked me by mouthing it with an overly expressive face. I gave her an intense glare and she instantly shut her mouth and just looked away, annoyed.
We slowly made our way to the stairs down to the first floor. I was so focused on being quiet I didn't hear the man snoring in the chair in the living room. Carefully, we walked around the man in the chair and stood to either side of him. He had a bag of chips on his chest and he looked a little chubbier than he did in the picture. He was also wearing what looked like a tracksuit, but other than that it looked kinda like him, maybe. I nodded at Tessara and she pulled out one of her pistols from her holster and pointed them at him. I tipped the chair back and slapped him, he jolted awake and sent the chip bags flying to the floor.
"Huh, wha?" He said half awake, "Who'r… um who're you two?"
"I'll be the one asking questions, not you."
"Huh, oh… it's you two, the luminaries." He said, rolling his eyes. "Those outfits ain't fooling anybody."
"Well they worked good enough to get us this far," I snapped, "now what the hell are you doing here?"
"Whoa there missy you better watch your tone, or I might have to mess up that pretty face of yours." He said changing his tone to a more hostile one.
"Oh it sounds like you wanna do this the fun way." I said, turning towards Tessara. She then leveled her gun at him
"You can't kill me, it's against the Luminary code." He said almost offended, putting his hands up.
"You wanna test that theory?"
"Alright, fine!" he said with a pleading look.
"What? Change of heart?" I said, with clear annoyance.
"Please, just don't kill me." He said, terrified.
"Alright, then. If you don't want to get hurt, I suggest you start answering my questions," I growled, leaning in closer to him. I slowly began backing up, because he smelled like a goddamn sewage pipe.
"What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here? Well I'm supervising and documenting the city."
"Bullshit, I know you're with that militia. There's more than that going on."
"I can't say."
"I guess then I can't hold back my urge to burn you."
I flicked my sword out and activated it. Then started to bring it towards his face.
"Ok, ok! It's a project."
"What project?"
"A history project."
"Oh what? Researching how the war has affected cities? The wars were nearly a hundred years ago, why the hell are you doing that now?" I asked. "Actually, before you answer that, who do you work for?"
Then something made a clanging noise below us. He must have a basement, but what made that noise? I turned back to see him flipping the lamp of the side table off, revealing a button. He whispered something derogatory under his breath as he reached for it. I swung my sword up as fast as I could. The man's hand fell to the ground and he slowly brought his hand back towards him and stared at the stump that was now at the end of his arm. His eyes were filled with terror. I shoved my sword at the man's throat.
"Drop the act and start being honest. You only have so many limbs, so I'd start talking before I get bored. What are you doing here, all of you?" I said, gritting my teeth.
"You can't be doing this! There's rules — laws you have to follow. This is way outside of both your territory and authority!" He said, holding his arm. "Even your partner doesn't agree with this!"
I turned to look at Tessara and she just looked away. I quickly snapped my head forward again.
"Does it look like I give two shits about rules and territories right now? I have reason to believe your project is the reason the only father figure I ever had is dead and possibly has far greater implications. Now one more time before you lose your other hand. What are you all doing here?", I snapped.
"I don't know much, I swear! The operation is pretty secluded and classified, so we only know our personal tasks," he said quickly. I moved my sword closer to his throat and I saw his skin start to turn a shade of red.
"I swear, I swear! It's the truth!"
"Alright then, so what's your job?"
"I-I'm the documenter! I take pictures, videos, and record our progress to report back to our main building."
"Wow, it looks like I did pick the right house. You just so happen to be the guy with all the information. Finally, some real fucking progress."
I leaned in closer.
"If you can't tell, I'm a little irritated. I've had a rough last couple of days and I'd love for you to tell me just who and where you're sending this information to."
He paused for a moment. I flung my sword down and to the right, cutting off the tip of his first three fingers and the front arm piece of his chair. He cringed his face until he looked like a tomato and started shaking.
"Ok, ok p-pl-lease stop!"
"Hey Vera-"
"Back off." I snapped, cutting Tessara's sentence short.
"Start talking. Hesitate again and it'll be the whole arm," I said, trying not to scream at him.
"I'm not playing games!" I brought my sword back up to his face, "Nazul, I send my reports back to Nazul city."
"Where in Nazul, to who?" I said quickly.
"Seran…he's the one running the operation," he said in a defeated voice.
"Seran? As in the CEO of Artech?" I asked. The man nodded. I quickly turned to Tessara and she flinched.
"We need to get back to Nazul now," I said.
I turned back to the man.
"What are they doing with the ore?"
"I don't know," he said in a tired voice.
"Oh really?" I said bring my sword back up again.
"No, no I swear they didn't tell me anything, I have no idea. Please, that's all I know I swear."
"Hey Vera that's enough."
"Shut it, I'm not done." I said, whipping towards Tessara. She backed off and threw her hands up in a fake surrender.
"One more question — where are they mining the talamite?"
"Um… a mountain, north of here. I mean south."
"Well, which one is it, north or south?", I said, leaning in closer with my sword.
"South! It's definitely south", he said, staring at my blade cross eyed.
"You sure?"
"Yes, yes, I'm sure, I'm sure." He said, nodding insistently.
"Good, well now it looks like you're no longer of use." I said, raising my sword again, this time at an angle.
"Please no, don't. I don't wanna die. Please!" He said as I swung the sword down.
I slammed the hilt into the side of his head and slumped over in the chair. I turned to see Tessara let out a deep breath.
"What? I'm not that heartless, plus the code does say I'm just not allowed to kill people. Even if I want to."
"You just cut off his hand, three of his fingers and teased cutting off his arm! You easily traumatized him for the rest of his life." She said, in an unsettled tone.
"He'll get over it."
We tied him down to the chair with some electrical cords and stuck tape all over his mouth and proceeded back up to the top floor. Suddenly, I heard a creak next to us. Half a face stuck out a doorway. I instantly drew my sword and flew at the door. The person ran down the hall, but tripped. I stood over them with my sword, and saw it was a girl around my age, maybe a little younger. She was pretty dirty and had ripped clothing covering her body. She had long brown hair, and dark blue eyes.
"Who are you?" I said insistently.
All she gave me was a terrified look.
"I said who are you! Answer me!" Tessara then came and put her hand on my sword, lowering it. I pushed back trying to refuse, but she looked at me and said, "You need to calm down today, I got this."
"What if she's working with them?"
Tessara just rolled her eyes and moved her hand up as if presenting the girl to me.
"Yeah Vera, totally she's with them."
I shook my head and deactivated my sword. She looked at the girl and said, "Hi, my name is Tessara and this is my friend Vera! What's your name?" She held out her hand and the girl inched back.
"It's ok we're not going to hurt you," Tessara said in a calm voice, "So tell me what's your name?"
There was a pause and she mumbled something too quiet for me to hear.
"What is it?" asked Tessara again.
"It's Yuma," the girl said in a small voice.
"Yuma?" said Tessara.
The girl nodded.
"So Yuma, what are you doing here?"
Tears started to well in her eyes.
"It's ok, how about you just tell us how we can help you." Said Tessara.
She nodded, but then pointed down the stairs behind her.
"There are more, down there."
"Down where? The basement?" Tessara asked.
She nodded. Tessara started to go to the stairs, but I grabbed her arm.
"We don't have time for this. We've been here too long as it is and the clock is ticking. While we're here dicking around with this girl, they could be creating a super weapon or killing people."
"I understand, but we can't just go. We have to help them! There could be people dying right here."
I paused and she shook my hand free, "We don't have time."
"There's always time to help someone," she said, looking me straight in the eyes. I could feel her sincerity, and I knew I wasn't changing her mind.
"Fine, let's go waste more time," I said, starting to make my way to the stairs. Suddenly, there was a hand that grabbed my arm. I turned to see the girl trying to stop me.
"What? I thought you wanted our help."
"There's something else down there." She whispered.
"Who the fat guy, we already got him?" I said.
She shook her head, "A monster, he makes sure we don't leave."
"A monster?" I said, with a confused face.
"Mhm, he watches us and makes sure we don't act up or try to leave, if we do he hurts us."
"He hurts you?"
She nodded. If I wasn't already pissed, I definitely would be now.
"Don't worry I'll take care of this," I said, and she grabbed my arm.
"No he'll hurt you," she said, gripping tighter.
Tessara looked down at her and said, "It's ok, we can save them, we can save all of them."
She let loose and tears started welling up in her eyes. Tessara came up and hugged her.
"Wait on the top floor until we come back, lock the door, we'll come and get you when it's over."
She nodded and ran down the hall and out the doorway. Then I heard a voice. "I smell a little piggy out of their cell. Where are you hiding?" The voice was gravelly and deep — more like a growl than a voice. It was definitely not human. I heard metal scraping the ground as it walked somewhere below us. "Come out, come out, I'm not going to hurt you… I promise," he said chuckling.