Capitan Lincastle – During Masters Carson and Naafs meeting.

I am seated in my office, going over some other non OutWolder related reports when my communication crystal buzzes notifying me of an incoming call. As soon as I place my hand on it to charge it with Mana I know it is encrypted, a call from Sir.

I mentally grown as the call connects, what does he want now?

“Lincastle!” he yells, “Why did that OutWolder leave your headquarters?!”

I flinch from the yell, “Sir? What are you talking about, Hayes should be in the cell. He wouldn’t be

cleared to leave.”

“Then why did I get a report that it and its duplicate left along with Adoazze and her team?”

“What? That doesn't make sense.”

“I don’t care that it doesn't make sense! You assured me that it would fall into Institute hands and now it's doing whatever it wants! And to top it off Carson and Naaf are having a meeting at Miss Celies right now! Probably about this very damn situation!”

“Sir, I can’t help you, it's out of my hands. I only just finished cleaning up the records and files so that it looks like Hayes did it. I don’t know how else I can help you.”

“I know, you're too useless to solve this. I will sort this mess out. I want you to do something else instead.”

“Sir?”

“I want all units to avoid the Terrenberg docks and warehouses for the next few days.”

“Warehouses? That’s what you want me to do? Not trying to sort out this OutWolder situation?”

“Yes, because it seems that's all you're capable of doing. If it turns out that I need you for this OutWolder then you’ll be the first to know. If not, then you’ll be the last and everyone else will be first.”

The threat of being found out by the other Guardsmen makes my heart skip a beat and I feel the anger bubble up inside of me. I keep it from exploding by thinking of my son.

“Yes Sir.”

The connection cuts off, Sir had cut the connection leaving me to deal with this situation. I just can't escape, just can't get away from him. I lean back in my chair and lay my hand on my face, letting out a little groan.

What should I do? How can I get myself out of this mess... What is in those warehouses?

Why would they give a suspect that much leeway to operate and even leave the facility? Why are the Masters meeting, for Michael or maybe more?

The last time we had talked Sir had said that one of his duplicates was near the far western quarter of the city, there's nothing down there. The Terrenberg docks are hardly even used much except for local fishing, and crime.

What could be in there? Maybe, just maybe if there is something there I can use it as leverage against him, get Master Naaf to help me.

I am not so stupid that I leave right away however, so I leave a recording for Master Naaf incase I do not return. It explains everything, the mistake I made all those years ago, how Sir got me on his payroll and how I had manipulated evidence. I pour out all my feelings into this recording, all the regrets and pain I had hidden away and slowly realise that I have wanted to say this for a long time.

“Master Naaf, I just want to say that, I’m sorry for what I had done. But I hope you can understand that my telling you this now is not something done out of necessity, although it did start out like that but, it's been something I have wanted to get off my chest for some time now. All I ask is that my son isn’t told. He shouldn’t have to deal with his old man's mistakes… That’s all.”

With the recording ready and set to be delivered to Master Naaf via internal crystal messaging I don my gear and head out. Not telling the Guardsmen to stay away from the docks and instead directing them to move into the vicinity of my house and my boys school. Some slight lie about possible mischievous youngsters in the area. I walk out as if I am leaving to go home for the day.

As I walk out of the Headquarters I feel a slight weight off my shoulders, almost as if all the guilt is washed away. Or maybe that's just me imagining things. I smile a sad smile and start walking towards the Terrenberg warehouses. It is late in the afternoon, soon it will be dark, as I walk down the road I look down a turn, another road.

I could just walk home, see my boy again, come back tomorrow and delete the recording I made. Just leave it all and hope that this all disappears but that temptation is quickly removed with a shake of the head.

“This is something I need to do.” I say under my breath, I have one last look down the familiar road before turning away, away towards the docks.

Soon enough the sky darkens and the crystal lighting turns on, yellow lights turn on and the week-long festival is back in full swing, only a few days left before it is over. I must be the only sad person walking through this festival of cheer and happiness.

I walk down dark alleys, back streets and eventually find myself in the vicinity of the warehouses. The lights are still lit but not as close together which leaves gaps in the shadows, some lights flicker. Either from bad maintenance or mana is being syphoned off from them. A minor crime, but not one I am looking for.

I walk for hours, and either enter or look through the windows of dozens of warehouses, the locking crystals easy to pick with the taught Power I have, my rank as a Guardsmen allowing me to open whatever doors I want. Within reason of course.

I do get some looks, homeless or vagabonds sleeping in the streets or living in boxes see me entering and leaving warehouses but only give me a side eye. They are not interested in me unless I take interest in them. I have searched about a dozen warehouses so far, filled with boxes of old equipment, goods that were never shipped or other items long forgotten.

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I finally come across a lone rectangular warehouse, hidden behind derelict buildings crumbling to dust. I make my way through this forgotten area known only by Coblousceene and other vermin, I walk up to the front large double door and press on the crystal on its lock.

Strange, the crystal is not unlocking. It’s not that it's broken, it wont allow me because of my rank? I think I found the spot. I do a loop around the building, with a more careful eye. Despite looking run down and abandoned no windows are broken, no loose stonework and nothing missing from the roof. It's been camouflage to just look like it's derelict, from the windows I see nothing but an empty room with decaying cloth hung up in the rafters.

At my current rank I am given a few Powers that would otherwise require a higher security clearance. One of which is the Passthrough Power, a Power that allows its user to walk through any wall or object they choose. A Power specially created for Guardsmen a long time ago for situations just like this one.

I activate the Power, my body and items become intangible. The Power allows me to see, breathe and walk or touch without becoming tangible again. I become almost invisible, as if I am a holo-image instead. Once ready I walk through the wall.

The outside is easy to pass through, as if it is not there but I can't walk completely through it. I push hard, harder. The only grip I have is my feet, not giving me much traction but I eventually get my fingers on the other side, then my hands, elbows, head, a leg and finally I am through.

I breathe in again as I become tangible, the Power forcibly deactivating. I look at the wall in shock as I realise that all of my Powers won’t activate. Or at least I try to look as there is no light in here, it's dark as pitch in here. Touching the wall I can feel Powered wire laced within it, a grid of wire running along the entire wall, slightly embedded within it, even the floor and maybe the roof. The lights, if there are any, thankfully stay off but I doubt they will stay off for long, there must be a security system in place, but as to what that thing was I don’t know.

From my side I pull out my Powered weapon, a sword with crystals embedded to project force, cutting and mana drainage. I try to charge the sword with Mana but it immediately drains away. Nothing?

Checking, I see if I can imbue myself with the local mana. Only a little, drops that would otherwise be a healthy stream of mana flow into me. I do get some more as I move around but otherwise it is stagnant. Is it because of that wire grid?

I place my hands on the grid again and try to draw mana from it with no luck, as it moves from the wire and into me it gets drained away just as fast. No Powers, No Powered Sword, old school it is.

I prepare myself for the worse as I step away from the wall, the room is not luminated, no light flows from the windows. In fact they appear boarded up… The outside windows are modified to show a fake inside. Clever.

I walk around the edges looking for the doorway I saw from the outside, I soon come across it. Another crystal lock on the inside? What kind of security do these people have? I need to have a talk with the Crystalists Guild when this is over, who made these? I feel around the door looking for something to unlock it but nothing. Just flat walls with wire within the stonework.

I follow along the inner wall again, nothing. Just endless wire, not even a door. I try to drain mana from it as a walk, trying to find a break in the wire but nothing. Who could have made this? I do a complete loop and arrive back at the front door again. Sighing I turn my back to the door and walk in what I hope is a straight line toward the centre of the room. Maybe I’ll run into something.

I slowly shuffle forward, sword in hand trying to feel around. The only sounds are the sounds of my feet and the odd squeak of my leather boots. Thump, thump, thump, crack.

My foot had just kicked something wooden. It's only at foot height and I lean down to touch it. Definitely wood of some kind, a box or crate of some kind? This could be just what I am looking for. Now what is it?

I think for a moment as I feel around the box, as I do I brush against more boxes, several of them are placed next to the box I found, with more placed behind those ones. I need a way to light things. I try to pull in mana from the wire grid, as I do I try to light it, excite the mana to light it a little.

A dim light glows, barely giving off any light. I pull as much as I can from the wire in an attempt to make it brighter, my eyes now used to the darkness sees the box in front of me more clearly, but cannot even see vague outlines of the other boxes unless I move closer. Bringing the light as close as I can to the crate I use my sword to pry away the nails and wooden boards. It's not supposed to be used like this but under the circumstances I’m sure the sword won’t mind.

An audible crack is heard, as if a massive explosion was set off despite it being a slight creek of the wood. It’s too damn quiet in here. I slowly pull away more and more of the wood. Allowing the light to fade and going by feel, I eventually pry a board from the top of the crate and reach inside, feeling small glass bottles secured in place with wooden supports and surrounding in packaging.

I pull out one of the bottles and create light again, I lower the bottle next to the dim light so that I can finally see what is so important here. A bottle, or vial of a clear, watery substance. I pry the metal cap off the top of it carefully so as not to spill anything, which is quite tricky to do with one hand.

I bring it to my nose and give it a sniff, smells like the ocean, seawater. Why would… I gently place the vial on the ground and knock it over, spilling the liquid onto the grid. Immediately the grid surrounding the water glows and the light brightens, the mana in the grid flowing through and dissipating through it causing nearly the whole floor, parts of the wall and even some of the roof to glow a dim white light.

I am very thankful that I didn’t get any of that on me. What in the Tides is Shae-Eq doing in Oghqoa? And in vials no less… This must be what Sir wanted us not to find, why he wants to move Guardsmen away from here. How many are here?

I try to feel around and count how many vials there are by feel, hoping that none of them are broken or leaking. I can't confirm how many there are but probably over 50-60 vials, I slowly move away from the Shae-Eq, just in case there is any leftover that was not drained by that grid.

I try to count how many boxes there are as I move around them, 10, 20, 30 boxes and that’s just around the edge. As I reach over the crate to see how far deep it goes I touch other boxes stacked higher. How many are there? Thousands of vials?

As I walk around in the dark I suddenly hear a whirring from behind the crates, a light appears on the back wall, squinting I walk around the crates. Hiding behind them I look around a two high stacked crates just hiding me, peeking around the corner I see two people carrying a crate from a Hoist onto another crate. The Hoist is in the middle of the room and must have travelled vertically. Those are not used commonly, only for temporary usage, who are these guys?

I stay out of sight as these two load crates and crates out of the Hoist and into the warehouse, the Hoist goes down and up again and two more guys appear with a fresh load of crates. Three of them picking them up and moving them around with one moving away and over to a wall. I can’t see what he’s doing from my vantage point and he quickly disappears. I keep watch hoping that I stay hidden in the darkness as the light is only directed toward the back wall.

I stay low, lying on the ground, quiet and keep only my eyes out of cover watching them, once I get out I’ll grab a memory recording of these and give it to Master Naaf, he should.

Crack! Something smacks me in the head from behind and a man yells out to the others who come running over. I quickly try to stand up from the ground but I am hit again and fall to the floor, I am kicked and hit with something, my defensive Powers not activating in this low mana environment. My final thoughts are cut off as it all goes black.