The interior of the base was brightly lit with lustre stones hanging from adjacent walls, they glittered and sparkled fluorescent spectral colours against the blackened wooden walls of the base. The open top ceiling allowed the sheen of the sun to contort through, basking all inside directly with the warmth and glow of the soon becoming sun fall. The sun rays highlighted the grooves of hidden partitioned compartments within the bases structure, on the floor, on the walls, even the four corners; the base, simple from an outsiders perspective was actually more complex than meets the eye.
Once all the members entered Oscar immediately closed the black wooden doors of the base, the clacks and bolting of the giant doors closed like an elaborately complex maze. He finished securing the only entrance and exit by placing an intricate cubed gem in between the centre of the two doors and letting the arabesque crystal solidify to complete the lock. The door chimed a gentle tune, and with a light glow of indigo the then black doors became a backdrop of contemporary art of ornamental design. The delicate patterns coiled, twined and curved interlocking to complete the seal.
“Right!” Huffed Oscar, pleased with himself after locking the bases door.
By then everyone had already taken seats within the base with the exception of Tyle who was leaning against the wall and Azekah who was giving Raulie first aid. Raulie was lying on the bench located next to the right wall. The other members were seated on collapsable wooden stools arranged in a semi circle around Raulie, all of whom were concerned for her well being; besides Carl. This was the first serious injury of the newly assembled root, their exam hasn’t even taken place yet and for an injury of this scale to occur before that, at such a pinnacle time was beyond unlucky and a serious disadvantage for Raulie.
“We need to take her to the doctor—” said Nilly.
“That won’t do.” Oscar replied nonchalantly.
“What do you mean? She’s in such a bad state, the longer we—”
“—Look, we don’t have time for this! You can take her to the doctor now, but if you do that both you and Raulie will be disqualified!”
“WHAT!?” Everyone replied, gasps could be heard as faces of disagreement began to show.
“I mean what I said. Who told you shits to be playing in the forrest anyways? This is all on you.” Shrugged Oscar as he made his way to the centre of the base.
Tyle began considering options in his mind, his slanted posture arouse to an upright stance.
“Look, I understand your feelings guys, but Oscar wouldn’t say this if there wasn’t a reason… Lets hear what he has to say and act accordingly.” Tyle reasoned.
“Finally, a voice of reason!” Oscar said in relief.
“It’s true, as you know I’m now an RC leader… I don’t really have experience, I was more of an individual player when I was at Taproot… Theres no manual in leading, teaching and advising… I’m still learning as we go so you need to keep that in mind. I get that for some of you Adventitious wasn’t a first choice, and for many of us we’ve been ruled out… but theres a reason for us being here. The Grand Central Tree believe that they’re a lot of unregulated practices going on in Taproot against Fibrous. There’ve been complaints from the two organisations of sabotage, theft and even assaults on members of both roots, so our group was formed as a neutral RC to investigate both groups secretly and send back information—”
“—So we’re snakes?!” Carl spat.
“More like informants…” Huffed Nilly begrudgingly.
“Lets Oscar finish.” Voiced Azekah, wanting to hear everything.
“Whatever.” Carl rolled his eyes in jealously of Az’s response.
“It is what it is. Call it snaking, being informants, spies, who the fuck cares; thats what the reason for our group was. They wanted a subsidiary root that could police the other two, they told me to select promising, but unconventional members or the rots/decays that no one wanted, but showed potential. The idea was to have a small group and train you guys to elites, the problem with that is, Tree didn’t want the other groups to know of our activities and our objectives… So they couldn’t openly sponsor us… The pretext of our cluster to the other roots is that we’re a new RC with unorthodox members.” Said Oscar.
“So what changed?” Questioned Az.
“Oh, so you caught on huh? Well, apparently the Grand Central Master at Tree was the one who discreetly decided on the cultivation of Adventitious, he was the one who briefed me and made it possible to even start this root. The other members of the Grand Central don’t even know our objectives, all they know is that they agreed to allow a new RC to form that involve misfits or failed Root Classification Entrance Test members. So we’re basically the Grand Central Masters personal informants.”
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“Well I’ll be damned…” Mumbled Carl.
“This was one of the reasons for our formation, the next is something new that has just recently been added and as you guys have probably guessed already, it caused the rapid timeline for your exam to transpire. Usually once you’ve joined an RC you’ll be given advice on you’re crafting styles and job prospects before your exam. Essentially, you’re tutored and given resources. Then, once you pass you’re given a licence to practice.You guys already know the rest… The problem with our new task is that there has been recent news of Omnivores making their great migration, as you know its about to be autumn and all, but theres news that a pack of Savages are on their tail. They want us to keep tabs on them, since we’re in good terms with the Omnies. God knows why they want us to do it, but in order for us to even accept such a task you guys need to have a licence. Our other jobs included checking in on the local villages that live outside Sub Central, again that would acquire us to have surround knowledge and equipment… I think this is a test from the Grand Master to see how we work as a team, our strengths and weaknesses, how we handle co-operating with other roots…”
“Thats a lot expected from us Oscar!” Said Nia.
“It actually is! You all have skills, well some of you… Some of you’re here to fill the quota, but have something within I guess… The main problem is for us to be requested so soon, it’s troubling. To summarise though, our objectives are to snake, reconnaissance, potential support for the Omnivores and to check up on villagers. Understand?”
“Yeah we get it, but why can’t Raulie get treatment?” Asked Ji-Ho.
“Good question, we’ve been requested to check up on the villagers and our transport is coming tomorrow 5am sharp. So you guys need to have passed the test, been briefed on the schedule of the trip and taught how to use basic craft weapons by then. The moment you leave, theres no point in coming back since you would’ve missed so much. The closest doctor is at the Olea Centre since we don’t have an in-house medic yet, it’ll take at least half an hour by foot, give or take considering you’re traveling with an injured person… Not to mention the wait time. I’ll be honest with you all, Raulie isn’t going to make this trip. I’m not sugar coating it, she’s a liability. Her eyes are already oozing, they look like they’re infected… Not only would bringing her be a disadvantage to us, but it’ll also put her in harms way as well as stunting her healing. I’m not saying Raulie can’t get treatment, I’m saying you shouldn’t jeopardise your own future over someone else. You don’t even really know her. It’s been a week since everyone has joined, barely establishing friendship in that time. Why risk it?” Oscar was speaking a truth that most didn’t want to hear.
“HE’S RIGHT!” Said Carl, jumping to his feet.
“Shut up Carl.” Sighed Nia shaking her head in disagreement.
“I agree. Not a good idea.” Deluna whispered. She’s usually quiet, but her serious nature in terms of work was something she didn’t want to be interrupted. Deluna who’s also skilled isn’t good with communication, she often keeps to herself. This caused her to be misunderstood by her peers throughout her education; they thought of her as rude and stuck up resulting in her being blacklisted. Oscar however liked her personality and her sense of justice so he personally asked her to join Adventitious.
“See! Even moss girl agrees!” Sniped Carl to Nia.
“Yeah, but I bet she has her own reasons, you’re just agreeing out of selfishness!”
“What do I always say? One less person to feed means more food for the able!” Carl smirked.
“Ughh, get over yourself—“
“—No Nia, they’re right, I’m just going to cause problems and I don’t want to be the person to hold everyone back…” Raulie sat up sobbing. “Thanks Az for the first aid, and thanks Nilly for helping me get back… I… I … I don’t want to be the one… why me? I just wanted to be able to wear nice clothes… I only wanted to explore…”
Said Raulie as she sat there on the bench, holding her head in her palms hunched over, close to her knees. Tears so heavy and filled with such sadness that drops of clear salty liquid secreted from her nose and began dripping over her lips. Raulie was in a state of hysterics, what was her life going to be? What will she say to her parents when she returns home? Can she even go home? Is there a place for her? This was her one chance considering she failed the RCET and only by chance she was offered a place in Oscars subsidiary group. Will she need to wait a year to take it again? She’s already 23 and a girl at that, her parents had already agreed with their family friends to an arranged marriage of their son. Her family wasn’t rich at all, far from it thats why she couldn’t afford the cost of the RCET even though the minimum age to take it is 18. She saved every bit of her own money for the Root Classification Entrance Test and when she had enough for the test and a bit to support her self, she ran away to take the entrance exam against her parents wishes. They always thought the RCET was a waste of money, and no one in her family had ever been in a root, so to them it just seemed like a con on the working class that would get their hopes up. She just couldn’t comprehend why such ill fate had begotten her.
The room fell into a deep silence, no one dared utter a word, everyone knew the miserable reverberations and despair of failure that looms over such misfortune. What could be said? Nothing; no amount of charm could ever bury the truth, for that would only be perceived as offensively presumptuous hapless optimism.
“I’m taking her to the hospital.”