“There you are!” Allan glared at the filthy vagrant sleeping in the alleyway. “John, I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”
“Allan...” He spoke groggily as he roused himself from slumber. “Where have you been?”
Allan felt the blood drain from his face. “I… I was in jail.”
John stood and brushed himself off. “I told you not to meddle. What were you charged with?”
Allan’s eyes darted back and forth, lowering his voice to a whisper. “First-degree murder.”
John stared at him. “You’ve never killed anyone in your entire life.”
Allan threw his hands up in frustration. “Get out of my head!”
“I’m sorry!” John exclaimed. “I just had to make sure. Who do they suspect you of killing?”
“An old friend of mine.” He met John’s gaze. “I think Timur did it, but the police won’t listen to me.”
“What exactly did you tell them?”
“The truth, of course.” Allan said.
John cringed. “And how exactly did you describe your miraculous healing?”
Allan gawked at him. “How did you know about that?”
John raised an eyebrow and narrowed his gaze.
“Oh...” Allan acknowledged. “That’s right. There’s no keeping secrets from you, is there?”
John shook his head. “Every Seraph has a unique gift to complement their powers.”
“Wait...” Allan said. “Are you saying that you are one of these Seraphim too?”
“I was one once, yes.” John deftly changed the subject. “Why did they release you from custody?”
“They didn’t…” Allan’s eyes darted toward the street again. “I kind of… broke out.”
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“This isn’t good.” John shook his head. “Your powers erupted again, didn’t they?”
Allan nodded.
“Clearly something upset you.” John sighed. “You must learn to control your emotions. That is the key to controlling your powers.”
“He took…” Allan moaned as the tears pricked at his eyes again. “He took Lily.”
“Lily…” John stared into his eyes again. “Lily… ah, your girlfriend. I see…”
Allan cast his gaze to the ground. “What… what should I do?”
“Tell me what happened, exactly.”
“An officer came to visit me last night. She told me there were signs of a struggle at my house, and they found…” Allan choked on the words. “They found… they found a lot of Lily’s blood in the front room.”
“And you believe Timur did this?”
“I spent all day walking along the underside of the boardwalk searching for that drain, but I couldn’t find it!” Allan said. “That’s the only place I can think of where he might have taken her.”
John nodded, deep in thought. “There’s another entrance.”
Allan’s eyes lit up. “Where?”
“It’s actually downstairs, in that building.” He pointed to the building to the right of them. “Let’s move quickly, before you’re spotted.”
They snuck around to the opposite side of the headquarters for CyberBolt Entertainment, entering through the subterranean garage. Fortunately, the toll booth guards had gone off duty for the evening and the garage was currently being metered by machine. With John leading the way, they ducked under the barriers and made their way to Timur’s reserved parking space.
“It might take me a few minutes to locate the entrance.” John approached the wall. “It’s been a few years.”
After a few minutes of fumbling around, John pressed on a contour in the wall, which caused it to sink inward and slide away with a whirr. Together they ran down the dimly-lit passageway for over twenty minutes until they came to a large door. Allan threw it open and recognized the familiar pipes that formed most of the walls and ceiling. Upon entering the main chamber, a charred message stood out offensively:
You will find her at the altar of the Temple in the City of the Ancients
“What does it mean?” Allan asked, gasping for breath.
“The message can only mean one thing.” John shook his head in dismay, “Timur has taken her to the world Zion.”
“Where?”
“I’m afraid I need to accelerate your training.” John determined, “I stumbled across this holy Seer Stone in an alleyway. I know not how it came unto me, but I suspect this was meant for you.”
John pulled the small object out of his pocket and shoved it into Allan’s hand.
Allan recognized it immediately. It was identical to the Seer Stone stored in his inventory in Conquest.
That confirms my suspicions. I must be trapped in a strange side quest in the game!
The stone glowed white hot, searing Allan’s palm. He screamed out in pain as he tried to shake it off, but it had somehow adhered itself to his palm. His eyes glowed with a bright silver light. John held tight to Allan’s shoulder as the two of them were engulfed in Allan’s silver aura. With a sudden flash of light, the two of them vanished.
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