Sincan trudged behind as usual, barely keeping pace with the rest of the group. Somehow, they had found themselves in the Lomavian jungle, which was under the care of the Kaldavar city council. His arm had healed significantly from the nasty bite it took back in Jonzu, thanks in part to Moris. His face, however, was a different matter.
Firil led the group through the thicket of trees and exotic animals, glancing at her map to make sure she wasn’t lost. “You can’t read that thing, can you?” Sincan asked her.
“Shut it, I can. Just need to find a stream,” she whispered that last part to herself. Sincan groaned, knowing not even their leader knew where they were going. Moris was right next to the Scalin man. He seemed to be sweating much more than usual. “You okay, Mor?” he questioned him. “Yeah, just a bit…tired I guess. Did you know we used to cool down by panting? Wonder why we abandoned such a useful skill.”
He changed the topic abruptly. Sincan took the sign and said, “Yeah, weird…” After a few minutes, Moris picked up his pace and moved to the front of the group. The others were a bit worried but he didn’t give them enough time before he started speaking. “I was with him. Oxe, I worked for him too,” he blurted out. Jake and Kos stood, astonished at the proclamation. Firil’s eyes dropped to the ground below—her expression softening into a frown.
“I know…” she said and turned back to walk towards their destination. Too many times, why does this keep happening. Are any of them actually my friends? I’d trade my family’s wealth a hundred times over if it meant I could be genuinely happy, she thought to herself. “Aren’t you going to say anything?” Moris asked, frustrated.
“What am I supposed to say?! Tell me, Moris!” she stepped up to him, pointing a finger at his chest. “Am I supposed to get angry again? Am I supposed to go through the entire process of being angry at you?! Is that what you want?” she demanded.
“No, I- I don’t want that! I just want something, a reaction. Shouldn’t you say something? I’m as bad as Sincan, even worse considering I didn’t tell you until now!”
“I can’t care anymore, Moris. You think you’re the first? You think you’re even part of the first ten?” She turned around. Everyone silently followed. Only Sincan waited for him. They moved.
****
Sincan and Kos held the map in front of themselves, making sure to take notice of any significant landmarks. It was a cheap piece of parchment, more for decoration but fully functional if one needed to use it. Considering none of them had a working connection, it was the best they could manage.
Not long after, they stumbled across a clearing. The sound had guided them there. Their eyes followed the river, continuing past the long abandoned home all the way to the top of the waterfall that rested in the middle of the jungle. The water moved through rocks, crashing down with a thunderous noise. Firil stepped forward as Sincan pocketed the map. Kos had come in handy this time, Sincan only acting as a second pair of eyes for her.
Firil looked over to the house with a melancholic expression. Kos walked up to her and waited. “I remember going here so many times. If only I could’ve remembered the name of the place, we’d have gotten here much faster,” she said.
“At least we’re here now. We won’t have to wait much longer. Do you need a moment?” Kos asked.
“What? Uh N-No, not unless you guys are comfortable with that,” Firil replied.
“Fir, maybe it’d be good for you. We’ve been fighting too much lately; don’t you think?”
“I guess we have. Alright, let’s have ourselves a look.” She gained a small amount of kick in her step as she eagerly walked to the house. Opening the door wasn’t too much of a problem for Sincan to bust through.
“Why couldn’t you do your thing, Moris? With the snow?” Sincan asked among the dust.
“You need to see the thing you cast a Revolution on, Sincan. It was a really old lock, so I’m guessing they didn’t factor that in,” he replied shyly. The rest of them walked past him into the open lounge. It was filled with old toys, furniture and an open kitchen in the corner. Firil picked up one of the toys but Sincan walked past the hallway next to the kitchen, inspecting the couple of rooms that were in the house. He opened one of them to find a typical kid’s bedroom, filled with more toys, bewltronics and magazines laid out across the floor.
Oh, they’re going to love this, he thought as he turned around. Before he could open his mouth, he noticed something. None of them looked remotely in the mood for one of his jokes. He swallowed what he was about to say and closed the door.
Firil looked at her favourite toy sadly. Her grandfather had bought this for her after a successful session of nagging. She played with it every day, but somehow forgot to take it with her when she decided to go back home. Opening the fridge revealed some rotten fruit and insects. The smell of the expired food was stomach wrenching, accentuated by the sounds of bugs moving around inside of the fridge itself.
She closed it in disgust and moved on. Looking around, all she could find were traces of fun she’d had. She picked up the pictures of her grandfather that she kept on her night stand. She slid them out of their case and tucked them into her pockets. It would be a nice reminder. “I think we’ve seen everything we need to see here,” she said, addressing everyone.
“We haven’t seen the safe yet, have we?” Jake asked.
“It won’t be here. I remember something, only because grandpa was really excited whenever he talked about it. I think it’s going to be a pain getting there. Unless…” she trailed off, moving back to her room. She came back out a few moments later with a giant tarp. “This’ll do nicely.”
“What’s that for?” asked Sincan. “Well we wouldn’t want to get wet now, would we?”
****
Sincan had been granted the honour of keeping the tarp up under the waterfall as the rest of the group passed, the force of the water itself was annoying to deal with—making sure the rest of them passed dry was even more so. After the last of them had gone by, he dropped it next to the entrance. The entrance to the cave of course, one that was placed seemingly behind this waterfall. Judging by the look of it, it might have been here longer than the waterfall in fact.
“Now why would he take you to some creepy cave?” Sincan asked. The last question had gotten him stuck with a bothersome task, he hoped this one wouldn’t give the same result.
“It’s a tomb, I think? It looked like a traditional Lokorian tomb, at least. On the inside, I mean,” she said, slowly pacing towards the inside. She seemed to be enraptured with the walls of the cave, carved in stone were pictures of people and places, of exchanges and of battlefields. She found herself speaking before she even knew what she was saying.
“Ludvan Nasari. Grandpa loved talking about him, he’d go off on rants about the man for so long I’d start thinking he didn’t need to breathe,” she said to the others. The group were confused at what she was talking about, but let her enjoy the moment. Sincan took a particular interest in the topic. “So what did this Nasari even do?” he asked.
Firil replied in a slightly frustrated tone, “Ludvan Nasari. Show some respect to the ones gone, Sincan.” He paid no mind to her statement, it wouldn’t hurt to ignore her for once. He joined her in looking around. He walked alongside the wall, noting the progression of a baby to an adult. Picture by picture, grey hairs started appearing in the man’s face, until the last one. The man was stabbed by a spear, his honour guard too spread out to help him.
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“Grandpa Volt used to tell me all about him. He even tried making me read a biography on him. He said young philosophers affect the world more than old ones. Heh,” she chuckled, amused at the sayings of her late grandfather. Sincan felt the need to reply.
“Sounds like the old man was a good person. Sad that he couldn’t make a less bratty grandkid, though,” he joked.
“Haha, very funny. Let’s move on.” Sincan was the only one to follow her, Chosh always behind her. That little mole thing always seemed to be quiet enough that no one noticed it. The rest of the group kept studying the hallway and the events depicted on the walls, hoping to find some secret entrance. Jake sat on a nearby rock, looking down. Firil stumbled into the chamber housing his casket. Except there was no casket, just a faded tapestry hanging from the ceiling, the scene visible even after all these years. Ludvan Nasari on top of his horse, a spear through his chest and his honour guard scattered around the field.
Sincan stood there in awe of the image woven. “So he died fighting? Honourable way to go, I suppose,” Sincan said. He held out his fist in front of him and said a few words in hushed tones. He then kissed his fist and unclenched it. Firil copied the prayer and they stood quietly for a moment. The rest of the group poured into the chambers and began searching around. Firil herself was a bit preoccupied with a nagging feeling.
The room looked as it had when she came here as a child but there was one thing that stood out of place. A part of the wall that looked just like the rest, with carvings drawn on it. Maybe my memory is slipping, but I don’t remember this one. She observed the wall, placing her hands in several places until finally, Click.
The wall began to give way. It ground against the stone and made some dust before finally stopping to reveal an entrance to a set of stairs. The group had been eyeing her curiously but now stood right beside her, waiting for her command.
“I don’t suppose this Ludvan had an interest in mystery serials?” Sincan asked. “I don’t think that would have been a detail my grandfather would have skimped on. He himself was a big fan of them, however,” Firil answered. She started stepping down, careful not to trigger any traps that may be.
“Reminds me of one of those Detective Wight stories on the net,” Moris muttered as he stayed near the entrance. “Not coming?” asked Sincan.
“Someone should keep watch and…might be best for me to keep my distance for a while,” Moris replied.
Surprisingly, the room itself had no traps whatsoever. A door at the bottom of the stairs opened up to a small room that looked younger than the tomb. The centre of the room housed a raised pedestal with a safe on it. Its metallic sheen was dulled with the passing of time, yet it still looked much too modern for the tomb it was housed in. Firil started chuckling to herself, looking at the safe. “Why does he have to be so lame?” Tears were forming in her eyes as she spoke appreciatively.
She approached the safe but before she could put her hand on it a small can fell near the doorway. A grenade fell near the doorway, focusing the attention of the group. They were a second too late as a flash went off, blinding them. Once their vision cleared up as best as it could, they noticed that the safe was missing. Sincan’s heart started racing as he ran up the stairs, past Moris who was laying on the ground, groaning. He ran past the tomb and out of the hallway carved into the cave, bursting out from the waterfall in time to notice a purple Gear leaving the scene. It was beginning to lift off, safe in hand. An airship was high up in the sky, waiting for the arrival of the package.
Sincan growled, noticing the white coat escaping from his sight. Okshender, to me! He screamed inwardly. His own Gear came a few moments later, landing down beside him and opening up its cockpit. The inside was furnished with a soft seat, and multiple controls that Sincan had barely any idea on how to use. “Are we going to chase after Soot, young Sincan?” Okshender asked. Sincan seated himself and closed the entrance, leaving the screens as his only illumination.
“That’s the plan. We need to get that safe back, now!” he bellowed at the Gear.
“Might I remind you that you have only the minimum training required to pilot a Gear? Facing a trained individual such as Tox could only spell death for you,” Okshender said.
“We don’t need to win…this time. We just need to get that safe.”
Moris came out of the waterfall and locked eyes with Sincan. The rest of the group came out behind him. “Take me with you. I can help, Sincan!” he told the man. “Not by yourself,” Jake said as he put a hand on Moris’ shoulder, “I’ve got a plan.” Sincan looked at the both of them and accepted. “Get on then,” he said through the speakers in his Gear. Okshender put his hands down and picked up them up. He shot off into the sky as Firil was too stunned to respond.
The wind swept past the two men as they clung to the giant hands of Okshender. They were approaching the airship quickly. Soot floated over the edge of the ship, peering down towards them. His hand extended out into a barrel and a scope came up from forearm. Sincan tried moving away but a bullet came rushing towards Okshender, hitting him in the shoulder and shaking the Gear as it continued. “Ok, any damage?” he asked. “My left arm won’t be so suitable for wielding weapons anymore. Anything else will require the use of a Wheel engineer,” Okshender reported back.
Sincan took cover under the airship. He slowly floated up and around the ship, trying to get closer without getting in the range of Soot and his sniper rifle. As he was near the lower end of the ship, a barrel popped out from the edge, aimed at him. Okshender raised the arm carrying Moris and blocked the shot with his armour plating. He lunged upwards with a burst of speed, tackled the other Gear away and landed on the deck; shaking the ship as he did. Before he could recover, Okshender set down Moris and Jake on the deck of the airship. They immediately ran for the structure at the end of the ship. Soot stood up and Tox began speaking. “Really? The last man to pilot that Gear had more training than you, and even he didn’t stand a chance. What makes you think you’re any different?” Okshender had pulled out a sharp weapon from his forearms that looked like straight blade with a pointed tip.
“Because the last guy played by the rules,” he said as he rammed Tox, ignoring the shot that came from his rifle. Okshender slashed across, cutting off the scope of Soot’s weapon and taking off a chunk of armour with it. Soot backed off but Sincan took the opportunity to slice through the deck itself and hit the plating on one of the thrusters. Tox grunted in anger and aimed the rifle at Okshender again. The shot took off Okshender’s pointed horn, missing his face by a small distance. The horn fell off of the ship into the forest below. We’re running out of ideas here, Ok.
“We just need to distract Soot, yes? Then let us do that.”
****
Moris and Jake walked carefully through the entrance of the ship. Jake had used a clever application of electricity to open the door inside. They happened upon a split with signs they couldn’t read. “Moris, you go grab the safe. I’ll try to bring the ship down,” Jake said. “Bring the S-Are you insane?!” Moris replied as quietly as he could. “That bastard won’t stop chasing us unless we give him a reason to. I’m thinking this will be a good one. We also need to make sure they didn’t lock the safe away.”
Moris didn’t have time to ponder what Jake said as he bolted off towards one of the directions. Moris contemplated for a second before moving himself. He had brought his pouch of water along with him. The cameras had probably caught sight of him already. He carefully ran, checking every door in his path. He encountered some people on his path, but with the help of his new Fire Wheel, they weren’t much trouble. They were mostly workers who put up some of a fight. The ship seemed more like a personal carrier than some sort of military vehicle. Moris met the end of the hallway and the door that covered it. It had mechanical locks in place and looked solid enough that it would take Moris a miracle to unlock.
A miracle did come in the form of Jake, who had cleared out the control room and figured out how to unlock the doors. He glanced at one of the mirrors pointing to the outside, where he noticed the condition that Okshender and Sincan were in. Moris quickly entered the room and waited for Jake to unlock the bars that separated him from the safe. As soon as he did, Moris grabbed the safe and started hauling it across the hallways. On more than a few occasions, a couple of security officers showed up to fight him. He made it out of each fight with another wound. Maybe a cut, burnt skin or something else. One of his horns was broken but he kept dragging that safe, panting all the way. Jake confirmed that Moris had almost made it to the entrance again. He then shut down the engines and ran for his life.
****
Okshender was in horrible condition. Soot had run out of sniper bullets and resorted to a physical duel with the white Gear. “That Gear of yours is too valuable to be in your hands!” Sincan struggled against the controls. “So you try and break it apart into little pieces? Sounds like a childish way to deal with something!” Soot backed off. The fight naturally led to them floating above the ship.
“You don’t even understand something as simple as that? Do you honestly believe I’d harm such a valuable piece of technology?” Tox asked in amazement. They noticed the ship falling too late. Tox cursed as he flew over to the bottom of the ship. Sincan looked over and noticed Moris coming out from the ship’s entrance, dragging the safe behind him. Okshender flew down as well and landed which annoyed Soot’s pilot. He picked up Moris as he fell unconscious as well as the safe in time to notice Jake exiting as well. He noticed the Gear immediately and ran to it, landing on top of his other hand. The cracks running down Okshender’s faceplate looked victorious.
“Ready?” Sincan asked Jake.
“I think we are,” Jake replied. Sincan fired up the thrusters and flew away, leaving Tox to hold up the ship all by himself. It would take a while for anyone inside to wake up and work the engines, especially since Jake made sure to smash the controls. They felt a wave of relief wash over them as they escaped the sights of Tox and Soot. It was quickly replaced by a sense of fear as Sincan noticed the wounds Moris was bearing.