“Did you hear the news?”

“What news?”

“The Prophet is going to make his first public appearance in months!”

“What!? When!?”

“Next week! Apparently he’s gonna be at the unveiling of a new statue at the Grand Cathedral. I’ve heard it’s dedicated to the Goddess Who Dreams.”

“Woah, seriously?! I wonder if I can get off of work so I can go…”

“You should give it a shot! So many important people are gonna be there!”

“Like who?”

“All the top brass, for one. But get this, I also heard that there’s gonna be a performance by LIA!”

“No way! The popstar all over the news recently?”

“Yeah! Isn’t that awesome?”

“Oh, man. Now I have to go. I love her song…”

Two guards stood outside of the entrance to an old warehouse, chatting away to combat the boredom encompassing the otherwise peaceful night. The moon hung high in the sky surrounded by her retainer of stars, a slight chill in the air just enough to be invigorating rather than cold. In contrast to the soft lull of the waves upon the nearby docks, idle chatter and the clanking of moving heavy boxes drifted out from the building into the open air.

A thin stream of light spilled out of the door onto the outside pavement, glinting off of the boots of the guards where they stood, one leaning casually against the doorframe while the other was upright but relaxed. The backlighting made their appearance fuzzy from the outside, but a lit orange cigarette butt danced across the figure of the one leaning as he took a drag before puffing out a cloud of white.

Normally, smoking was a sinful act frowned upon by Church officials, but the Church had been rather lax about this particular activity lately. No one would bother to say anything to a couple of low-level grunts anyway. It’s not like they were guarding the Grand Cathedral. This was a random warehouse with no official ties to the Church. Even their uniforms had been slightly altered to vary from the typical priest uniform. Although they were priests, it's not like the average person would know that.

The other guard was fiddling with his metal bat as they talked, examining a small dent as he explained to his partner about the statue unveiling. At the sound of footsteps, he looked up to see two nuns he didn’t recognize approaching. One was tall and the other was short, but they were wearing the proper guard uniforms, although they looked a little ill-fitting. He eyed them up skeptically.

“Who’re you? New around here?” he questioned them.

His partner stood up straight, flicking his nearly-finished cigarette to the ground before stomping it out. He scrutinized the two before him, hand hovering over the silver hatchet fastened to his hip just in case.

“Your uniforms don’t seem to fit too well,” he added, backing up his partner’s suspicion.

The taller one’s clothes looked a tiny bit too tight, as if one little overexertion of strength would tear the fabric to shreds. The sleeves had also been ripped off and her arms looked to be covered in some kind of armor. Conversely, the shorter one’s uniform looked too big. It seemed okay in some places, but in others, she was swimming in it. The sleeves drooped over her hands, and she also looked uncomfortable at the length of the skirt, tugging at where it fell below her knees awkwardly.

“Ah yeah,” the shorter one said with an abashed chuckle, “You’re right, we are new. Our tailored uniforms aren’t ready yet, so we had to borrow some. They don’t quite fit us.”

Bellicosa wanted to die. She never thought the day would come when she would wear any uniform of the Church of Solomon’s. But, her partner had insisted that this was the best plan. She claimed to know the in’s and out’s of lower-ranked Church work due to her time training to become a nun. Bellicosa had wanted to remind Avida that that was over four years ago and some things had probably changed, but as usual, her partner didn’t listen.

So here they were, after knocking out two guards and stealing their uniforms to pose as fellow Church officials. Avida had been so excited about the plan that she hadn’t even consulted Bellicosa before rushing in to tackle a guard. She almost didn’t overcome her shock in time to take care of the second guard before it was too late.

The uniform she wore was definitely too small, becoming increasingly uncomfortable by the second. She already had to rip the sleeves off to get it to fit on top of accommodating her gauntlets. Bellicosa made a mental note to get back at Avida for this later somehow. She glanced over at the other, who seemed to be unaffected and having the time of her life playing pretend. She had gotten rid of her “fun country” accent she used for mercenary work and was talking like any central Acheron local would.

“How’d you get assigned to warehouse duty?” the guard with the baseball bat asked.

“How else? We wanted to work at the Grand Cathedral, obviously, but the higher-ups said we needed to do some grunt work at the docks before even dreaming of it. The warehouse is so boring, though, and now we’re probably gonna miss out on the statue ceremony because of it,” Avida whined, playing the perfect part of a spoiled young girl.

It wasn’t rare for young men and women to join the Church in hopes of being stationed near the Grand Cathedral. It was in a bustling downtown area and basically had its own ecosystem. The people who worked there ate, drank, and lived lavishly compared to most places. Not to mention it was the safest place in the entire city, with hardly any incidents involving Pneuma Morta on record. Many compared life at the Grand Cathedral to living in a utopia.

However, it wasn’t easy to get in. Usually those who worked there had some kind of connections, or were just from extremely well-off families who regularly donated to the Church. Most were sent to form more connections for their families. Many wanted to become even more wealthy themselves, marry into another wealthy family, or gain more power and influence within the Church itself.

Still, even among the most rich and powerful, selection for those who worked at the Grand Cathedral was exceedingly strict and cutthroat. It was certainly not out of the realm of possibility for heirs of the elite to do a few years of work at another, more remote, location before working their way up to the Grand Cathedral. Many of them would still never make it. In the end, most believed it was worth it just for the chance. Still, spoiled brats would be spoiled brats, and they definitely still acted the part in most cases.

A statue unveiling ceremony was one of the few occasions the Grand Cathedral would be open to the public, and an especially rare opportunity to see the reclusive Prophet. All of the noble and elite of the Church of Solomon would likely be there, as well as Church officials from other branches. It’s no wonder everyone was dying to go. Those who missed it would be missing out on an excellent networking opportunity with the upper crust of society!

“Oh, you’re trying to go to the statue unveiling ceremony, too?” the guard perked up.

Sensing that this nun was probably from a high-class family based on her attitude and speech, his demeanor seemed to lighten considerably. His partner was still a little skeptical, although his grumbling had also ceased somewhat. He looked at the two in a new light.

“Yeah, well, if we can get out of this crappy guard duty that is,” Avida complained with a flip of her hair. “I’m such a huge fan of LIA! I just have to go.”

Bellicosa stayed silent and let her partner do the talking, thinking that Avida was doing a little too good of a job playing a spoiled rich girl. She focused on adjusting the scarf around her neck that she had refused to take off. The second guard’s eyes honed in on the action, and they widened in surprise once he recognized the scarf as a designer brand. Seemingly convinced of their story, the last drops of suspicion fell from his face and his relaxed posture returned. Bellicosa mentally thanked her partner for the expensive birthday gift.

“I’m a big fan, too! If you can, we should go together,” the man suggested with a wink.

“Totally, haha,” Avida said with a smile, but Bellicosa could see that her partner’s teeth were clenched in irritation.

“We better go inside and check in for our posts first,” Bellicosa cut in.

“Right, right! Well, see you around!” Avida called with a wave as they stepped around the two men into the warehouse.

As soon as she turned around to face forward again, Avida frowned. Bellicosa playfully nudged her partner with her elbow before winking dramatically.

“We should go together~” she teased.

“Shut up,” Avida laughed with an eye roll. “I’m way out of his league.”

“Who is LIA anyway?”

“I don’t know, some up and coming popstar I guess.”

No one in the warehouse seemed to spare them a glance as they continued on. Just as they had seen from the outside, the building was full of stacks upon stacks of wooden crates. It was most likely this place was used as a storehouse. As for what it was storing, it appeared to be a variety of things.

A group of workers were bent over an opened crate filled with silver artifacts, while another group hovered around one that looked to be full of stacks of books. Others were lugging in a series of crates from a back entrance that seemed to have just arrived via the docks. Everyone was wearing the same uniform with some slight variations.

Most of the workers were too absorbed in their tasks to even notice the two newcomers’ arrival. Those that did notice only barely spared them a glance before getting back to work on whatever it is they were doing. It seemed like all-in-all, Avida’s plan was a success.

As they were approaching the back stairs leading to the office, they were finally stopped by a guard. The woman was short and stocky, at least in her forties or fifties, but her shirt still bulged with muscle. Her hair was short and frizzy, and she chewed obnoxiously on some bubblegum, lips smacking together as she spoke.

“Stooooppp,” she ordered, sliding in between the pair and the stairs. “Don’t you newbies, know?” smack “Only the boss is allowed up there!” smack

“Okayyy, well, we’re looking for the boss, lady,” Avida replied, tone annoyed as she easily slipped back into the rich girl persona.

“Whaddaya need the boss for?” smack

“We’re new transfers. We were told to check in with him,” Avida explained, grimacing at the woman’s annoying habit.

“He’s not up there, anyway,” smack “He ran out,” smack “You’ll have ta wait for him to get back.” smack

Avida was about ready to pummel this woman if she didn’t stop chewing her gum so irritatingly! Her fist unconsciously clenched at her side as she grew increasingly agitated.

“Here, ya can help unload the new boxes and take inventory while ya wait,” smack, the woman said, pointing to the new shipment that had just arrived.

“Ugh, sure, just leave us alone!” Avida snapped as she turned and stomped away.

Bellicosa just smiled apologetically before following. The woman frowned at the rudeness but didn’t comment, turning back to what she was doing before. The two helped drag a few more crates inside, each feeling heavier than the last. Bellicosa, being the muscle of the duo, did most of the work while Avida slacked off and pretended to lift the other side. After doing this a few times, all the remaining crates were successfully moved in.

Stolen story; please report.

“Open that one over there and take inventory of what’s inside,” a guard ordered them, stuffing a clipboard into Bellicosa’s hands.

Once the two were able to move a bit out of the way of prying eyes and ears, Avida thought it would be a good time to come up with a plan.

“I thought this was the plan,” Bellicosa said, dumbfounded.

“Well, we’re inside, but now what? We can’t keep working like this forever. Rhea’s probably being held up there,” Avida explained.

“You didn’t think of that before!?” Bellicosa chided, still whispering so as not to draw attention.

As they argued back and forth, Bellicosa pried open the lid of the crate with a crowbar before tossing it aside. They peered in at the trinkets scattered among the packing materials, Bellicosa pretending to write stuff down as they “inspected” the objects.

“Hey! I got us this far!” Avida complained, feeling like she had to defend herself.

“...”

“Okay, relax! I’m just joking! I thought of a plan already,” Avida assured her.

“What is it this time?” Bellicosa groaned.

“You distract them while I sneak upstairs.”

“...”

“I distract them while you sneak upstairs,” Avida corrected.

“No, no,” Bellicosa sighed. “You’re still recovering from your injuries. I’ll do it.”

“Thanks, partner,” Avida said with a smile. “Don’t worry. I got it next time.”

“Yeah, yeah. Sure you do.”

Bellicosa reached into the crate and pulled out a random object. It was a container shaped like a round silver ball. The insides sloshed around when she shook it, so Bellicosa guessed that it was filled with holy water. Perfect.

“I think there’s something wrong with this!” Bellicosa cried, drawing the attention of everyone nearby.

Then, she sneakily drew a rune onto the side and the silver ball exploded, steam flying out in every direction. A couple people screamed in fright, while others ran over to make sure everything was okay, including the obnoxious woman from earlier. With no one watching the stairs anymore, Avida easily snuck away from the gathering crowd and made her way up in a flash. She only relaxed once she was sure that she was no longer in sight of those on the ground floor.

As Avida slinked up the last bit of stairs, she didn’t come across anyone. At the top, there was a single long hallway that ran the length of the back of the building with only a few doors dotted throughout. She figured the one in the middle had to be the office since it overlooked the warehouse floor from the center. Sure enough, when she approached that door it was locked.

Avida contemplated how to get in. There was no keypad this time, just a standard door lock that needed a regular key. The boss most likely kept such a key on him at all times. She could blow the lock off with her pistol again, but that would definitely be too noisy and draw too much attention. Avida sighed. It looked like she’d have to do this the old fashioned way.

Could she pick the lock? Maybe, but she wasn’t sure if she had the right tools on her at the moment. Besides, with her luck, it might take too long and then the distraction would have been for nothing. So, the next best option was obviously to kick the door open. Avida had done this many times, and after sizing up the door and realizing it was made of soft wood she thought it should be pretty easy. As anticipated, with a single kick, the door flung open.

She didn’t even have to use much force, so it wasn’t too loud either. Still, she quickly ran into the room and closed the door behind her just in case someone heard. Of course, it didn’t exactly close perfectly anymore after having been kicked open, but it would do for the time being. As she breathed out a sigh of relief, she looked around trying to spot Rhea. To her surprise, Rhea wasn’t there at all. Instead, a redhead sat tied to a chair with a gag in her mouth, looking back at Avida with equally surprised eyes.

“Phoebe!?”

She rushed forward to ungag and untie the woman, who was still looking at her in shock.

“What are you doing here?” Phoebe asked once the gag was undone.

“I should be asking you that! What’s going on? Why are you tied up here!?” Avida questioned.

“I’m in the middle of a reconnaissance operation,” Phoebe sighed. “Why have you interrupted?”

“I didn’t know you were here! We were following someone,” Avida explained.

Phoebe stood up and dusted herself off, and Avida noticed for the first time how injured the other was. She had blood at the corner of her lips and her cheek was slightly swollen like she’d been punched. There were lashes on her arms and legs and her entire appearance was messier and more disgruntled than Avida had ever seen from the usually calm and composed woman. Still, she carried herself with elegance as if she didn’t feel a thing.

“Following someone? Was it that researcher?” Phoebe asked in annoyance.

“Yes! Have you seen her?” Avida confirmed.

“No,” Phoebe shook her head.

“Dammit! Did that fortune teller just bullshit us?” Avida huffed.

“Fortune teller?” Phoebe questioned with a raised brow.

“Forget it,” Avida said with a wave of her hand. “So what’s going on with the resistance? What operation is happening?”

Phoebe paused as though she didn’t want to answer before relenting.

“We were tipped off that the Church was keeping supplies and sacred relics in this warehouse, so we decided to conduct a raid. I was sent ahead as a scout. I let myself get caught to gather information, which I was in the middle of when you showed up,” she explained.

“Sorry about that,” Avida apologized, feeling guilty.

“Doesn’t matter now. It wasn’t part of the plan, but it shouldn’t affect anything at this point. Why did you think that researcher came here?” the redhead asked, changing the subject.

“She left behind a file with this address on it after she escaped from the hotel room,” Avida groaned.

“How did she manage to escape? It’s unlike you guys to let a target get away.”

“She pretended to go to the bathroom to shower, then jumped out the window. Lemme tell you, we were on the FIFTH FLOOR. I still don’t know how she managed that completely unscathed,” Avida whined.

“I don’t trust that researcher, despite what Atlas says. There is more to her than meets the eye. She’s dangerous, so you should be careful,” Phoebe warned.

“Awwww Phoebe! I didn’t know you cared!” Avida cooed, cozying up to the resistance soldier.

“I don’t. Get off me,” Phoebe grumbled, pushing the mercenary away from her.

Just then, there was a loud BOOM and the whole building shook. Startled, Avida ran to the window to look out at the warehouse floor. An armored car had busted through one of the walls, and cloaked figures came pouring out. Phoebe came over to look as well, staring down at the chaotic scene with amusement.

“It looks like my backup has arrived,” she said proudly.

Resistance soldiers flooded in from every direction now, surrounding the warehouse workers. Many of the workers had never had to fight, and being outnumbered, were quickly overwhelmed. The majority gave up immediately, raising their hands in surrender. The few that didn’t were quickly taken care of by the resistance.

Avida and Phoebe ran out of the office together, heading for the stairs. Upon leaving, they saw that a woman was crouched in the upstairs hallway, probably having run away in the initial chaos and hoping to hide. Avida recognized the woman immediately as the annoying gum chewer and felt the corners of her mouth curl into a malicious smirk. The woman shrieked in fear at the approaching figures.

“Only the boss is allowed up here~!” Avida informed her in a sing-song voice.

Then, she skipped over and kicked the woman right in the head, slamming it into the wall behind her, knocking her out (hopefully). The woman’s plea died on her lips as she slumped to the ground. Phoebe didn’t even bat an eye at the display, continuing towards the stairs as if she hadn’t seen a thing. Avida happily joined her and the two descended without any more interruptions.

As soon as they reached the ground floor, the redhead began barking orders to the resistance fighters while Avida went off in search of Bellicosa. As it turned out, some of the resistance members were present at the lab a few days ago, and so they recognized Bellicosa and avoided fighting with her, telling their comrades to do the same. That way, Bellicosa was able to also take down her fair share of Church goons.

Avida approached just as her partner was peeling off the guard uniform with an irritated look on her face. The uniform appeared to have suffered greatly in the battle, torn in many places where it was previously too tight, the fabric unable to hold out against the mercenary’s range of movement as she attacked. Avida couldn’t help but let out a laugh at the sight, alerting Bellicosa to her presence.

“No sign of Rhea?” she asked, ignoring the clear amusement on her partner’s face.

“Ah, unfortunately, she is nowhere to be found. Instead, I accidentally rescued our favorite redhead over there,” Avida answered, pointing at Phoebe in the distance.

“So this was all for nothing?” Bellicosa complained, holding up the tattered uniform in anger.

Avida was about to utter a snappy response to her partner’s dismay when there was a commotion towards the front of the warehouse. Several resistance members had gathered, forming a circle around someone as they held out their weapons. Curious, the two mercenaries exchanged a look before heading over without another word.

“Stop right there!”

“Who are you? Identify yourself!”

As they got closer, they could hear the guards shouting at the individual, but they still couldn’t get a good enough view to make out whoever it was. That was, until the person spoke.

“Now, now, I believe some people here are expecting me. This is a rather rude welcome.”

Avida’s head whipped in Bellicosa’s direction in utter disbelief. The taller mercenary wore a deep frown. They both had become very familiar with that voice over the past twenty-four hours. Rhea.

Sure enough, as they pushed their way to the front of the crowd, they were greeted by the sight of the researcher with a relaxed expression, even sporting a small, pleased smile, her hands held up in mock surrender. Well, honestly, that was all the expression they could see. For whatever reason, Rhea had a white bandage wrapped around her eyes, acting as a blindfold.

“What the hell are you doing!?” Avida called at her in anger.

As though she were expecting the two to show up, Rhea’s head inclined in the direction of her voice. The researcher’s smile became a little bit greater as she faced them.

“Aha! There they are. Although, I thought they’d be a little happier to see me,” she said, seemingly puzzled.

“Even if I were on my deathbed and you were delivering me life-saving medicine, I still wouldn’t be happy to see you,” Avida told her. “Now why don’t you explain what kind of game you’re playing here, Rhea?”

“Game?” the blonde inquired. “What game?”

Seeing that the mercenaries apparently did know the newcomer, many of the resistance relaxed and lowered their weapons. Phoebe ordered them back to work, although most of them working nearby continued to do so while eavesdropping not-so-subtly. The second-in-command herself stood a few steps away, analyzing the researcher with a critical gaze.

“What’s going on?” she asked apprehensively.

“Ask her,” Avida said, pointing at the researcher. “First she runs away, now she shows back up again. And what’s with the blindfold all of a sudden?”

“I told you I was still looking for something,” Rhea shrugged. “As for the blindfold… it’s a secret.”

“So you’re looking for something here? What is it?” Phoebe interjected.

“Who is that? I’m sorry, I am unfamiliar with your voice.”

“Don’t worry about me. Just answer the question,” the redhead ordered.

“Hmmm…” Rhea seemed to consider this.

“Last time you said it was leverage,” Bellicosa pointed out.

“Oh? I’m surprised you remembered! Yes, that’s right,” Rhea cheerfully replied.

“What kind of leverage?” Phoebe asked, brows furrowing in suspicion.

“Leverage against the Church of Solomon, of course. It’s leverage that benefits us all, so don’t worry about that. As for the other details, well, I still gotta keep some cards close to my chest, right?” Rhea smiled.

“That must be why Atlas said you were valuable,” Phoebe said, mostly to herself. But Rhea seemed to have heard it.

“There’s that name again! Atlas, huh? Sounds like you work for him. So Atlas is the name of the resistance leader?” the researcher surmised.

“How did you know I’m part of the resistance?” Phoebe questioned, increasingly alarmed.

“It wasn’t hard to figure out given the circumstances, even with a blindfold on,” Rhea told her.

“What have you been up to? I thought you would have gotten here before us,” Bellicosa asked, changing the subject.

It wasn’t good to let the researcher get into one’s head, which she seemed rather adept at doing. Bellicosa had noticed throughout the conversation that Rhea was quite good at picking and choosing which questions to answer, and how to distract from the ones she didn’t.

“You are a very astute one,” Rhea commended. “I did arrive first, as you suspected. But I made a stop at the last minute to see that fortune teller, and she told me that if I went in by myself, I would be captured for sure. So, I decided to wait and let you guys do the dirty work for me. That way I could search the place freely after.”

“What else did you ask the fortune teller? There were multiple sticks of incense burning,” Avida pointed out.

“Hmm… let’s see… Love prospects, of course!” the researcher said jovially.

“Oh really?” Avida scoffed. “And what did she say?”

“I can’t tell you that, it won’t come true!”

“Are you dumb? It’s not a birthday wish!”

“Haha, why do you wanna know so badly, huh? Don’t worry, your name didn’t come up.”

“Thanks, but I wasn’t worried about that!”

“How did you know for sure that we would show up?” Bellicosa interrupted, having enough of the ridiculous conversation.

“Well I left you the address, didn’t I? Did you really think it was an accident?” the researcher asked.

“That fortune teller told us that if we entered, we would find Rhea shortly after…” Avida realized.

“And then you did! How about that, huh? She was pretty amazing.” Rhea chirped.

“...”

Everyone was speechless.

“Let me find what I’m looking for, and I’ll happily go back with you. No more resistance necessary,” Rhea said before pausing. “...hey, that was pretty funny.”

“Just go!” Avida snapped.

About a half hour of searching later, Rhea rooting around in crates and inspecting every single object and surface imaginable, she emerged with a small silver jar. The surface of the jar was covered in various engravings of ancient text and runes. Other than that, it was rather… unremarkable.

“That’s it?” Phoebe questioned skeptically.

“We went through all of that… for this!?” Avida shouted angrily.

“This is more valuable than you can imagine. We better get out of here with it while we can,” Rhea told them, suddenly serious.

“There’s no rush. The resistance has control of this warehouse for now,” Phoebe said. But Rhea seemed increasingly anxious.

Just then, a whistling sound caught them all off-guard as an object darted across their vision, almost too quick to see. When Avida turned her head to look, she saw Rhea standing a few meters away, but the researcher was unusually pale. She glanced down to see an arrow protruding from her stomach, a growing spot of red staining her purple sweater. Rhea stared at it in shock for a moment before falling to the ground, cradling the silver jar closer to her chest as if she were terrified of dropping it.

“Rhea!” Avida subconsciously called out. As much as she despised the woman, she was supposed to keep her alive!

Rhea didn’t move. Avida drew her pistol and hurriedly looked to the direction the arrow had come from. Standing on a low beam above the docking entrance to the warehouse stood a young man, bow in hand and a quiver of arrows on his back. He had long, dark hair, almost as long as Avida’s own, straight except for where it was braided away from his face. Long bangs framed his youthful features. He didn’t look older than twenty at most, and he was quiet and solemn as he moved.

As he drew another arrow from his quiver and notched it, it began to glow with magical energy. He pulled back on the string and fired again, this time at Phoebe. Luckily, now that they knew the boy’s position and were alerted to his presence, they could dodge. It should have been no problem for Phoebe, but as she moved out of the way, the arrow curved after her! It changed trajectory mid-air, following her until she just barely rolled out of the way, the arrow lodging into the ground with explosive force.

Before anyone had time to react, another glowing arrow was already in flight. This time, Bellicosa stood in front of everyone and rushed to create a projectile barrier. This was a spell that Bellicosa was very familiar with, and she was able to summon it quickly. The pale blue veil of magic sprouted in between the young man and the group instantly.

To everyone’s surprise, however, the moment the arrow made contact with it, the barrier shattered, and the arrow continued to fly straight as though unobstructed before lodging itself into Bellicosa’s shoulder. The mercenary cried out in pain, gripping her shoulder furiously as a thin trail of blood made its way down her arm. She fell to her knees.

Avida wanted to rush over to check on her friend, but she knew better than that. Now was not the time to be impulsive, and the two of them had suffered worse in their line of work. Instead she fired three consecutive shots at the man, but he dodged each of them effortlessly with his lithe frame. It seemed he was skilled both in magical and non-magical combat. What a nuisance.

“What have you done to my warehouse!?” the young man asked, his enraged voice reverberating off of every corner of the space.

Suddenly, the boy’s arrival made sense, pieces of the puzzle clicking into place. It appeared that the boss was finally back.