Walking up to the glass, Claire stared at the forest and trying to understand what she was seeing.
"Is this thing actually real?" Clarie wondered to herself. "How is a forest able to exist underground?" As Claire looked at the forest, she saw a deer casually eating the grass. Looking up, it seemed to stare at her before returning to its meal.
"It looks so adorable!" Hannah stood next to her, staring at the deer.
Out of the shadow of the forest, additional deers appeared and joined the first with eating the plant life on the floor of the forest.
Claire's eyes also picked up other animals commonly seen in such an environment. It only added to her confusion, making her wonder what Star and Moon was capable of.
Turning her head, she looked further down the hallway, where they needed to go to register as the video had requested. Though they hadn't been inside of the shelter for much time, it still felt like they had been inside for hours. There was still the feelings of having been transported to another world.
Claire placed a hand on Hannah's shoulder, "We should get going."
Turning to grin at her friend, she nodded. "I wonder what else we're going to see inside of this place."
Walking down the hallway, Claire's eyes kept roaming about and taking in everything around them. Down the entire hallway, the forest could be seen on either side.
They soon walked into a wider area. On the far side were several doors, looking like elevators. A dozen metal posts were placed in front. It gave a bizarre feeling, making them wonder what this new area's purpose was.
As Claire approached one of the posts, she soon was a screen on the slanted top.
"Please place your bracelet on the screen."
Claire read the words displayed on a calming greenish-blue background. The colors in the background were slowly swirling about. She turned to look at Hannah, "What do you think?"
Having walked to one of the other posts, Hannah shrugged and raised the arm that had a bracelet worn on the wrist. "It's similar to what Star and Moon Studio had when you wanted to gain access to something, so I don't think there are any problems."
Following after her friend, Claire placed her own bracelet on the screen. As soon as the bracelet was close to the screen, it changed to a rotating circle as though thinking through some kind of process. In a moment, the screen changed to display different words.
"Thank you! We have detected your special privilege! Please wait to be escorted! We hope you enjoy your stay!"
"Special privilege?" Claire read the words again, not understanding what it was talking about. "Escorted?" She turned about, trying to figure out who would be waiting for them. "Are any of the Star and Moon employees working inside of this shelter?"
"Did you get the same thing?" Hannah asked, her voice sounding equally confused as what Claire was experiencing.
Nodding, Claire said, "The question is who are we waiting for inside of this place?"
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
As though summoned by her words, a door slid open on one of the side walls. The way it was designed, the door was hidden and not meant to be noticed by any of the people coming into the shelter.
Walking out the hidden door was a woman, with long green hair. What made Claire's eyes widen in surprise was how the woman's skin was a light shade of green, giving her the appearance of being a dryad from those ancient mythologies. Claire's breath caught in her throat as she gazed at the woman. Even if compared to beauty models, the woman would've outclassed them due to the mystical beauty surrounding her. The shape of her body being the desired hourglass shape, coveted by women.
Claire noticed the emblem on the woman's uniform, the logo of Star and Moon, pinned just above her right well-proportioned breast.
"Welcome, Claire and Hannah," The woman bowed in greeting when she stopped between the two girls.
"How did you know our names?" Hannah asked, mystified by the beautiful woman.
Smiling sweetly, the woman pointed at the posts, "Our system was able to pull the necessary data from your bracelet. In addition, we were able to detect the added qualification not inside of the bracelet."
----------------------------------------
Claire lifted up her bracelet to have a good look at it. "I knew this thing was useful for paying for things, but I think I just realized how valuable a resource it actually is." She could only imagine what life would be like without the development of the device.
"You mentioned 'added qualification'," Hannah spoke up. "What do you mean by that?"
With both hands gracefully clasped together in front of her, the dryad appearing lady answered, "For whatever reason, you have received a valuable gift." Her eyes shifted to look at each of them. "Judging by your reactions, I have to assume that you were not aware of the gift. One of my fellow employees must have deemed it necessary to break protocol."
Hearing what the woman described, Claire's mind went straight to Raven. Hearing that what they received had broken a Star and Moon protocol, she was worried that Raven would get in trouble.
"Don't worry. Though the person responsible shouldn't have done such a thing, each carrier of the item in question is given certain allowances based on the circumstances." The woman reassured them with a smile.
Hannah let out a deep breath.
Just like her friend, Claire felt a deep feeling of relief, knowing that Raven wasn't going to be punished for doing something to help them. Once she understood that nothing was going to occur, Claire felt compelled to ask, "What was that stuff for?"
Nodding at Claire's question, "One of the benefits is having a degree of a connection to Star and Moon, which is what allowed you to not only locate this shelter but also open it without having the standard authorization." The woman answered. "This shelter was designed to provide security for the residents of this military facility, when the inevitable demise of it occurred, due to the Modified Humans outside."
"How do you know about that?" Claire didn't know what to think as she heard the woman so casually mention the Fort being overwhelmed by the Modified Humans.
Raising a hand to her mouth, the woman appeared to realize what she had said, "I apologize." She lowered her hand back to clasping the other. "I didn't mean to be so cavalier when talking about the Fort falling to those monsters. As part of my responsibility, I've been monitoring what has been occurring inside of the Fort, especially the information being passed around by the various groups."
Claire looked at Hannah, who was looking back at her. She thought back to Chelsea, wondering if their friend should be alerted about this information.
"Regardless of whether the military becomes aware of their network having been compromised, it would ultimately do nothing to prevent the inevitable conclusion." The dryad anticipated their thoughts.
"Did you guys know about this Fort being at such a risk?" Claire almost didn't want to ask the question but felt it was necessary to learn more about everything.
Tilting her head, the woman said, "It's not that we knew that this would occur, but there was a high likelihood of this being the outcome the moment we came in contact with those creatures." Seeing their silence, she continued, "The Modified Humans are beings never before witnessed in this world. The way they're able to adapt so quickly made the outcome to be obvious."
When the woman mentioned how they came in contact with the Modified Humans, Claire remembered that night when Raven sounded surprised that two groups had been activated.
"Is Star and Moon able to protect us?" Hannah asked, her voice shaking.
In response to Hannah's question, the woman frowned.