On the border of the eastern Megaden and the west, a building poked out among a tangle of vines and roots. It was dwarfed by the trees of the area, which seemed unable or unwilling to grow directly around it. They instead tried to color the blank stone cube with their overgrowth. Only a small square near the front was cleared for the doorway.

The inside was starkly empty, aside from a few pillars and tables with chairs around them. Unlike what would be expected of buildings of this size, there was no fireplace or sconces to produce light. Instead, a few chandeliers hung from the ceiling. In each of them was a massive crystal, which seemed to gather the outside sunlight and shine it through the interior of the building.

Opposite of the building’s front door was a smaller one that led to a set of stairs down into the ground. Beside the other door were two people, one crouched on the ground and the other staring towards the entrance as he leaned against a pillar.

One of them, a man had tan skin, and was fairly well built. He was wearing a loose linen shirt dyed brown to match his pants. His eyes were shallow, but with bright mahogany irises that made them stand out. With a crack of his neck, he stopped eyeing the entrance for a moment to look at his partner.

“You shouldn’t be messing with the ground too much you know. This whole operation is supposed to be hidden. Thought you would be the one with the most discretion given your background.”

His partner, an Erudine woman, looked back at him with a glare. Her skin was pale and stretched thin over her face, something common for her kind. Unlike almost any Erudine, she didn’t hide her face behind a mask. Jagged scars ran the length of her cheek and neck, and the tip of her nose was cut short, her right earlobe severed just the same.

“I’m killing time. Do you have any idea how boring it is to be in a place like this? Only one entrance, only one exit. There’s nothing to scout out or explore; I doubt anyone will even come by here after we leave.” She stood back up. “It feels like we’re just being led in circles, searching for whatever it is that talking book downstairs wants.”

“Her name is Olivia, Twenty-Two. Besides, having someplace that’s easy to guard is better than one we have to constantly stay vigilant for.”

“Not to me, and especially not when you’re being persistent in glaring at the entrance the whole time. Do you even know what we’re supposed to be waiting for?”

“No. I’m not partial to understanding the King’s plans.”

“Yes, well, you never seem to question him at all. Even when I do try and look into things, I just get the run around and end up on missions like this.”

“His methods are—"

“Yes, yes, yes, I know, Jason! His methods are mysterious, incredibly complex. Truth of the matter is that he’s probably not telling us anything so we can’t snitch on them if we end up getting captured by whatever group is after him now.”

There was a deep crash from the stairwell and a drawn out hiss. Both of them stared at the way down, but a woman’s laugh reassured them the one down there was alright. Jason uncrossed his arms and moved closer to the stairwell going down.

“We’ve been over this before, there’s something bigger than the both of us. Even if you don’t believe in what he’s doing, you can understand the gravity of it all, right?”

“I can’t see past what’s happening right in front of me, and what’s happening right now is a whole lot of nothing and no reason for doing it.”

“You’ll see soon enough. I have faith in my King, he could be asking us to head into danger, but he avoids doing so when he can. All of our labor is for the best.”

Twenty-Two rolled her eyes. “At least the dangerous missions are more interesting. I can work out some frustrations. The animals don’t even come near this building anymore since we scared off the first few when we arrived.”

“Are you really so bloodthirsty that you’d rather the building be besieged?”

Twenty-Two didn’t respond verbally, but the way she hid her face let him know she was smirking. Before they could start their bickering again, footsteps echoed out from the stairwell. Both of them stood up and got closer as a short figure dressed in a heavy white coat and mask rose to the top.

The coat was padded and heavy enough to completely mask their outline. Similarly, the mask was built to protect the wearer from any sudden fires or falling objects. The masked lifted off, and a cheery young woman’s face was revealed beneath it. She patted the sweat from her brow with one gloved hand and looked between the two of them with a cheery smile.

“Glad to see you two getting along!” She said.

“What is it, Olivia?” Twenty-Two asked with her arms folded.

“Oh, um, well I just wanted to bring you both downstairs to help me. I think I’ve cracked what some of the machinery does, but I’ll need your help moving some pieces down there.”

“Are they stuck to the walls?” Jason asked.

“No... I just can’t reach them. There’s not really anything for me to stand on to get up that high,” Olivia admitted.

Twenty-Two let out a small laugh before passing Olivia on the way downstairs by slipping past her right side. Jason gestured for her to move down first and they followed suit. A brief noise drew his attention for a second, and he stopped at the top to look around. He glanced down the stairs and noticed both were already around the turn, only giving the room one last look over before heading down there himself.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

The stairs bent a few more times, descending several floors into the ground. By the time he reached the bottom, Olivia was already giving Twenty-Two instructions on which pieces to move and where to put them.

At the bottom of the stairs was a massive rectangular room, lit with a deep blue color from strips on the ceiling. The walls were made of a bronze colored metal, and every meter or so was some kind of mechanism jutting out of the wall. At the far end was a large pile of broken gears and mechanisms on top of a table that spanned the entire back wall.

Jason quickly caught up to them and started bringing the heavy pieces aside. Once there was more cleared away, it revealed the far wall having a series of metallic buttons. They were arranged in a rectangular grid, all of them having the same kind of blue strips like the ones on the ceiling. Jason finished setting down one of the last heavy gears and moved beside Olivia.

“Anything you can tell us from this?” He asked her.

“Yes, but not much. This place was very clearly built by whoever made Alzholme to begin with! I mean, I already suspected that much from the metal and strange location, but these lighting paths make it obvious.”

She put her hand on one of them, rubbing over the metal material with her thumb. There was a slight warmth where the strip was, but the metal itself was very cool to the touch. Olivia swallowed hard and pressed down on the button. It moved very slightly before catching on a hidden brake.

“I expected as much.”

“What do these things even do?” Twenty-Two asked.

“Well, that’s the issue with a lot of the old spots in Alzholme. This place was very clearly abandoned, but on top of that it seems like they were trying to cover up whatever these are for.”

“If they didn’t have a use for them, and didn’t want anyone else to use them, why not just break them off or close down the whole building?” Jason asked.

“Exactly! I can’t tell what they were thinking here, but it’s possibly they just wanted to hide it away temporarily? It’s possibly these were a part of some more arcane functions, or they could have been connected to some mechanism involved in the ascension two hundred years ago!”

“The what?” Twenty-Two asked her.

“The ascension. Don’t you know anything about history? It’s the most important part of our modern life!”

“Believe it or not, my training didn’t include things like ancient history.”

“She’s talking about when Alzholme launched itself into the great night. This whole country used to be connected to the planet you can see nearby at night. At some point about two hundred years ago, the entire place shot off of the ground.” Jason answered. “Bit sad you weren’t taught something as easy to notice as that though. You know they say that those who don’t remember their history are doomed to repeat it.”

“The maskless don’t have to worry about that. I was taught that nothing I did would ever be recorded in history books. Why bother learning about history if you’re never going to be remembered yourself?”

Jason stared at her with concern, but held his tongue. Sensing the tension in the room, Olivia climbed onto the table and started marking down notes about the buttons and their placement. After a few seconds of idly waiting, Twenty-Two cleared her throat and grabbed the researcher’s shoulder.

“Are we done here then? We kind of need to check back topside.”

“Oh dear, I’m sorry, I forgot you were here. Yes, I’ll just be busy marking notes for a while. Once I’ve finished I think we can head back to the hideout before going to the next location.” She replied before closing her journal and looking to Jason. “I really need to tell the king that I’m glad he sent me out here in my next report! I had no idea there were so many locations like this in the Megaden. Even after 200 years, there’s still so much to learn about Alzholme...”

“I’ll be sure to pass on your gratitude if I see him.” He replied before heading back.

The two of them left her to the tedious work and began the long climb back up to the surface. Once they were a floor away and out of earshot, Twenty-Two let out a short laugh.

“All this work and just for a set of useless buttons. You know, even though I complained about being here, it’s almost worth it to find out what a joke these places turn out to be.”

Jason paused for a second and held his hand out. They were close to the top now, enough to have light from the main room fall on the turn in front of them. Twenty-Two looked past him just in time to see a small movement in the light on the stairs. Both of them bolted ahead as fast as they could.

The main hall was as empty as it had been when they left. All the entered was a small bug, fluttering near one of the lanterns. Jason paced out into the center of the room, giving his partner a quick nod. Twenty-Two returned the gesture and knelt down to the ground.

She looked at the spot where she had toyed with the dirt, spotting a small footprint inside of it. Her eyes defocused and she stared forward. A slight tingling sensation radiated off of her skin, slowly stretching around the building like a field. Her breathing slowed in tandem with her heart, her ears twitching as the beetle buzzed overhead. After a few seconds, the beetle landed, and the room shifted ever so slightly.

“Projectile, pillar right, 3 heads high!” She shouted.

Jason’s right hand shot out from his side before his head could turn. There was a black ball frozen in the air just ahead of his fingers. He grabbed it and chucked it back from where it came. An Urchski dressed in dark brown clothing from head to toe lept out. He scrambled for the door just as his smoke bomb detonated at his former location.

Before he got close, his feet suddenly locked onto the ground. He looked back to see Jason holding out his hand against him. Twenty-Two bolted ahead, holding a knife out in her right hand. The Urchski attempted to throw another bomb, but she snatched it out of the air and tossed it to the side. As she got closer, he pulled out his own knife. Before it was even out of its sheath, she had her own on his side.

Jason released his hold and started towards them himself. The Urchski continued to try and hit her, but his every blow was parried or blocked. Eventually she disarmed him entirely, placing her blade on his neck and stepping on his toes. The spy let out a yelp and tried his best to squirm away for a minute. By the end, he was panting and Jason was between him and the doorway.

“Well, that was fairly entertaining for one little spy.” Twenty-Two said with a laugh. “Now tell us who sent you and we might be inclined to let you live.”

“This is Eastern land! Votesks Land! What you are doing is trespassing!” He hissed at the both of them. “You are not allowed to be here, and you must leave immediately.”

“Strange for someone enforcing the law to try and spy on us first.” Jason commented.

“Oh dear, breaking Urchski law though? I had no idea what were doing was so criminal. Maybe we should get rid of our furry little witness here...” Twenty-Two said, bringing her face closer to the prisoner’s.

“W-Wait! That would only make things worse! I was only spying because we didn’t know what you were up to here. If you kill me... they’ll have to send more people!”

Twenty-Two looked back at her partner and cocked an eyebrow. Jason knelt down beside the Urchski to get at eye-level and moved the blade away from his neck. The spy gulped heavily and rubbed his throat gently as he looked between the two of them.

“So, you work for this... Votesks family. You might just be able to make it out of here alive, but only if you can answer a couple questions for us. If you give us the wrong answers, I’m afraid I’ll have to let my Erudine friend here have some fun. Understand?”

The spy looked over at Twenty-Two, holding the blade in the palm of her hand as she stared with a wicked grin. He quickly nodded to Jason and subtly tried to inch himself away from her at the same time.

“Good. Now, have you got any means of communicating with the head of this family, or at least someone else who can? I want something direct and concrete.”

“Yes, I can! I mean, I’m a second cousin, but I take orders from one of the sons.”

“That works. How long have you been tracking us?”

“Just today... the way you keep poking into the stone places was too obvious. I was sent to tell them where you were, and how many of you there are.”

“Well then, that’s not very good. Guessing we’re going to have to try and cover our tracks better. Not exactly easy when we’re twice the height of the locals though.” Jason said, rubbing his chin. “Listen closely, you’re going to go back to whoever it is that sent you, and tell them that what we’re doing is some harmless exploration of old structures. It’s a part of a research venture, you see. I’m sure he’ll understand that we mean no harm to... whatever it is he uses these places for.”

The Urchski looked back to Twenty-Two before nodding. Jason released his grip and they both watched him scurry off. Once the sound of his footsteps was gone, Twenty-Two let out a frustrated sigh and walked towards the door.

“We should’ve just killed him, you know. Not like Urchski’s getting stabbed is something that unusual in the Megaden. Maybe we could even have hidden the body and they’d think he just ran off.”

“You can’t just resort to murder as your first response... even if it is what you’re good at.” Jason said, heading for the stairs inside. “Let’s go tell Olivia we need to move.”

“What, are you trying to say you think my methods are wrong? They’re just what I was taught during my time among the maskless. I had assumed that’s why the king suggested I come along. Do you think he was mistaken in inviting me along?” She asked him in a voice thick with sarcasm.

“If I respond, you’re probably going to interrupt me again.” He replied before heading downstairs.

Twenty-Two hesitated at the top before frowning down at his descending figure. “You know, I prefer it when you’re being stoic over trying to be sarcastic.”