I’ve put the beads into a necklace. They call to me somehow, the presence soothing my anxieties. Somehow, separating them feels even worse.

-From Professor Shokolov’s Journal, 23rd Entry

AxEl popped a Prophecy pill into his mouth and felt Phantoms appear in his vision. This was one of the stronger variants, so he could see a minute into the future with them.

He watched the Phantoms passing him by, but they were all the same. They walked into the cave, made small talk and heard their own footsteps before them. The pill quickly dissolved, yet his eyes took a second to fade back from that smoky glow.

“It’s clear,” he told Anagen and Nook while motioning them forward.

They stepped inside, crunching the dirt and rocks underneath them. AxEl touched the glowing bewllan on the walls in order to refresh his internal reserves, dimming the light in the process as they went.

They walked deeper, the light receding behind them as AxEl absorbed them. Nook shuffled near the both of them and Anagen walked with solemn purpose. They stopped at every single sound they heard, no matter how small the stone dropped or animal crawling.

Eventually, the rocky tunnel opened up into a wider area that gave them more breathing room. The cave was lit up with bewllan as well, so they took a second to rest.

“Ana, do you have a map of the cave system?” AxEl asked.

“Yes, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen this one on any of them.”

AxEl stretched his legs. “Doesn’t matter. It just means we’ll have to find the location ourselves,” he replied.

Then he heard crunching underfoot behind him. AxEl looked behind himself into the tunnel, but couldn’t pierce the darkness. He stood for a moment, heart beating in his chest, looking at it for any sign of movement.

Then a small light came from deep within. Not the cool blue light of bewllan, but the warm light of a small fire. And then the fire came hurling towards them.

AxEl reached into his pockets and took out the Firewire blunts. He shoved them in his mouth and jumped towards Nook and Anagen. The dynamite fell too close to them, however.

A large explosion and a deafening sound shook the caverns. AxEl screamed as he and his group were knocked backwards into the cave. His back burned with pain and he couldn’t hear the others. His own voice was inaudible to him as he felt someone pick him up.

The cave began to shake. Rocks fell and Anagen took deep breaths. Nook was terrified and looked to both Anagen and AxEl but found them incapacitated in their own ways. He lifted AxEl up on his shoulder, glancing at his back and wincing.

“Ana,” he said. She didn’t look over. She must not have heard him.

“Ana!” he shouted, redoubling his voice. She looked over with widened eyes. He looked at AxEl and she followed, grabbing onto him from the other side.

Even with the both of them, carrying around AxEl was a chore. Nook shook at every pebble that dropped near their feet and every sound that carried through the caverns. The rumbling had died down, sending the caves into a new equilibrium.

“Ana, where are we going?” Nook asked.

“I-I thought you would’ve known,” she replied, her voice shaking.

“Oh, sure I do, all-knowing that I am,” he quipped, but Anagen just looked back at him confused.

“Sorry. Just please tell me where the exit is,” Nook said.

“Okay.”

They walked forward, sometimes crawling, sometimes climbing. Nook tried to get AxEl to say something, but he remained silent.

Come on, man, wake up.

They reached the end after a painful amount of time, covered in cuts, bruises and sweat. Nook sat AxEl down softly, before resting his back against a wall.

“Ana, give him some more Firewire,” he told her. She was looking at the rock wall, but Nook didn’t see any entrances. She nodded and walked back to AxEl’s body, goading it into accepting the Firewire mixed with the bit of water they had.

He took it, and Anagen set him down. Then she drank it herself and Nook panicked.

“What are you doing! He needs that!” he said.

“I… know how to get out of here,” she said. Her eyes bled into smoky grey after a moment and she offered the bottle to Nook.

He drank from it as well and felt energy rushing through his veins. The cave felt less cold now, and he stood up. Nook followed Anagen over to one of the piles of rock. She started digging through it with her bare hands and Nook followed. They shoveled through them, until finally they met with a light glowing on the other side.

Nook cleared the last pieces of rubble frantically and opened it up. There, he saw more bewllan shining.

“Pick him up! It’s open!” he shouted and Anagen nodded. They both climbed the pile of rubble and brought AxEl through.

“Fa…. Find… No….” He said, whimpering. Nook had tried to parse through, but it seemed mostly unintelligible whispers. Anagen didn’t seem interested in what AxEl was saying, looking straight ahead as she muttered to herself.

When they saw the entrance come into sight, they gasped. Nook sped up, dragging both Anagen and AxEl along with him. He almost ran towards it before finally feeling the cool night breeze on his face. Nook dropped to the ground, and Ana followed soon after as they laughed in relief.

“Ha…. W-we’re actually outside.”

Then a light shined in both of their eyes, bringing their attention to the man holding it.

“What are you doing here!” he shouted at them, his voice stuttering.

“W-we can explain!” Nook started, then remembered AxEl. He pointed backwards at his body.

“He needs help! Bring an ambulance, a car, anything!” he shouted back. The man holding the flashlight hesitated and glanced at AxEl. He saw the slow breaths, the rising and falling of his chest and put away his flashlight to run towards him.

“By Faceless himself, what happened to him!” he shouted, bringing out a phone. Nook and Anagen both felt foolish for not having tried it themselves but desisted.

“I need an ambulance. There’s a kid here! He’s hurt! Please… Yes, thank you.”

He put away his phone and eyed Nook and Anagen wearily. “What happened in there? Me and a couple of the other miners heard an explosion at night.”

Nook didn’t know how to explain himself. He looked to Anagen for guidance, but she still seemed too transfixed on herself to respond.

“I’ll explain on the way there,” he answered.

****

AxEl woke up with a cough. Bright white lights covered his vision and made everything look blurry from his position. He was laying down, or so he felt. When he tried moving, an intense pain came over him and he yelped.

“Stay still, AxEl,” said Nook. AxEl recognized the voice, though not the blurry face that accompanied it.

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“W-where are we?” AxEl asked. He tried sitting up once more, but a set of hands pushed him back down. It was Anagen’s hands.

“Nook’s…right. Don’t get up, you’re hurt.”

He sighed, then put his head back on the pillow. His eyes darted left and right, looking at the metal trays, curtains, and the fence on his bed.

“Hospital?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Nook replied.

AxEl heard a door open and saw a shadow approaching the curtains. They parted to reveal a bald woman in a nurse’s outfit. She held a set of documents in one hand and a pen in the other.

“He’s awake this quickly? I’ll have someone sent over to take a thorough examination later. But first, Mr. Cran,” she said, “You need to fill out the details of this form.”

She put the paper on the table next to them and stomped away quickly. Nook took it and read it over.

“I think I can answer these. Name? AxEl. Age? 19. I’ll write down your mother’s number for the emergency con-“

“No, don’t!” AxEl said, his arm extended. He winced again at the pain.

“AxEl, she needs to know what happened. You’re hurt,” Nook replied. “This is way worse than what DoxEn did. You could’ve been killed!” he said the last words loudly, drawing some unwanted stares from the people outside the curtains.

Anagen walked over to the curtains and closed them before Nook continued.

“What happens if you die one of these days? I… I can’t tell her, man,” Nook said.

“Please, Nook,” AxEl said, his voice barely above a whisper. “She can’t know. She would never understand. Just put your own number down instead,” AxEl pleaded.

Nook held the pen in his hand. He sighed finally and wrote down his own, hoping his friend knew what he was about to do. A little bit later arrived the nurse. It was a man this time and he tested AxEl’s eyesight, hearing and mental capacity.

“Mostly fine. He doesn’t seem to have suffered any brain damage. But that doesn’t seem right with his injuries.”

The nurse looked around for a moment, eyeing the three of them up and down. “He wouldn’t have happened to be… on some kind of drugs, would he?” the nurse asked.

Nook froze up. AxEl didn’t seem to be paying attention to the conversation, simply having fallen back asleep.

“No, none. He wasn’t on any drugs.”

“No steroids, no narcotics, not even any Bullets?”

Nook paused for a moment and the nurse took the opportunity to continue.

“Look, I need you to tell me if he was taking anything. We have patient confidentiality, so I won’t reveal anything you said here to the police, I promise. But you have to help me if you want us to help him,” the nurse reasoned.

Just when he had needed her the most, Nook saw that Anagen wasn’t in the area. He toiled inwardly, but the sight of AxEl’s bandaged body convinced him.

“He’s been taking Prophecy, and Firewire.”

The nurse wrote those down on the pad in his hand.

“That would explain the severity of the wounds. Explosions would usually do more than that. Anything else?”

Nook was about to explain when someone else burst through the door and was stomping towards them. Anagen followed behind them and Nook’s fear heightened.

“What are you doing? You’re not allowed to be in here unless you’re visiting a patient o-”

“You can have your examination later. I heard that the patient was stable?” the lead police officer said. He was a brown-skinned man with a thick beard and heavy shoulders, looking like the ideal strongman.

“He is, but you’re still not allowed in here. When the patients are ready to be discharged,” the nurse said.

“We can’t do that. This is relevant to an important case that could save more lives. Move aside,” the officer said and shoved the nurse away. The nurse, looking angry, shuffled out of the room, muttering something that Nook couldn’t understand.

When the officer tried approaching AxEl, Nook stepped in his way.

“You don’t need to ask him anything. He’s not lucid enough to give a statement,” Nook said, though his legs still shook.

“I don’t need a working statement from him. Just enough clues to get us by for now,” the officer explained.

“Well, then ask me and Anagen,” Nook said. The officer stopped in his steps.

“That can work. Come with me,” he said, then led the both of them out of the hallways of the hospital. He stomped his feet, making Nook wince with every step. He opened the front doors with both hands, and both Nook and Anagen followed him outside.

“KoEl, get me some water bottles and something from the store,” he shouted at a nearby officer, who stepped into his vehicle and sped away at his command. The policeman motioned them towards the curb, where they both sat down in front of him.

“I’m sorry if I came across as a bit… demanding,” he started. “I’ll need your statements fast, so tell me if you need to stop to take a breath or eat something,” he offered.

Nook shook his head. “No, it’s alright. We can tell you.”

“Well, then let me introduce myself formally. I’m police chief AnIn. And you two are?” he asked.

“I’m Nook CrAn. This is Anagen,” Nook answered for both of them. The chief nodded.

“And what are you doing in Minahret? I don’t recognize yourselves. Do your relatives live here or?”

Nook shuffled around on the pavement but the chief was thankfully distracted by the arrival of KoEl. He handed over water to both him and Anagen along with a store-bought sandwich.

“We were just touring around. A sort of… road trip around HuedoLupan,” Nook answered. He swallowed a lump in his throat while the officer looked at him with a scrutinizing expression. Then he simply chuckled.

“Well I’m honoured our humble town was prominent enough to make it onto your list. Your friend over there, she doesn’t seem to talk much?” AnIn said, pointing at Anagen.

“I… apologize. I’m having a hard time concentrating,” she replied, then looked downwards.

“It’s not an issue, take your time. Now then, can you tell me the exact series of events that led you down that tunnel? I wouldn’t think such a place would interest young people?” AnIn asked.

“We thought exploring them would be fun. When we found one of the entrances, we went inside. But then someone threw an explosive behind us. You can see what happened after,” Nook said.

“And these people with the explosives. Did you get a picture of them? Any recognizable clothing, any features that might help you distinguish them?” AnIn asked.

“No, nothing of the sort. There was just a slight sound one moment, then dynamite near our feet the next.”

The chief was crouching in front of them at this point. Behind him stood officer KoEl with perfect poise.

“It’s concerning they would target you. Though, from what I know, the entrance you used was something of an unorthodox one,” AnIn stated.

“We got in over our heads. Went exploring old shacks until we found an entrance behind one of them,” Nook blathered. Chief AnIn waved him off.

“I can see it happening. You found something you weren’t supposed to, and people knew that they couldn’t let you leave with that knowledge.”

Nook rubbed at his eyes. The officer asked a few more questions after the fact, but it was hard to focus when so much had happened in a singular day. The sun had risen up by the time they were done and the officer was about to leave.

“And if you find any more information or you fear that you’re in danger, come to the station. Goodbye, then,” the chief said, before driving off in his own patrol car. Nook stood up and his muscles ached. His eyes were so heavy in fact he could barely muster the strength to keep them raised.

He heard snoring and looked down to find Anagen sleeping while sitting. He grabbed her and dragged her along with himself somewhere they could get some actual rest.

****

AxEl dreamt of nightmares. Of a fight that had not happened. He dreamt of people chasing after him and him being too slow to run away. Despite all the foresight Prophecy gave him, despite the strength in his veins from the Firewire. When he fought, he wished he could run. When he ran, his nightmares followed, catching up.

He toiled around in his sleep until finally, he jolted awake. Sweat covered his face and he wiped it away, adjusting to the lights of the room he was in. It was bright, with the clinical whiteness he associated with hospitals.

He looked around for his friends, but found them closer than expected. They were leaning against his bed, sleeping so peacefully that he hadn’t even noticed them. They still bore marks of dirt on their clothes and grime on their bodies, but they looked to be in better shape. AxEl winced when he realized he had sat up, but the pain in his body wasn’t as severe as he thought it to be.

Those visions… Have I been using it too much? He thought to himself.

“Hmm….AxEl? You’re awake? They said you should get something to eat once you were,” Anagen said after yawning. She nudged Nook awake too, who sat up with similar fatigue.

“I’ll eat something. Have you both been here all night?” he asked. The sun was at mid-day, which made him a bit more conscious about the time he had spent unconscious.

“Long as you have,” Nook confirmed. A nurse walked over to AxEl and her eyes widened in surprise.

“Ah! I’m so sorry about not being able to conduct the tests yesterday. Please, stay awake so I can help you,” she said and pulled out some instruments from the drawer beside her. She brought one of them closer to AxEl, but he moved away.

“What are you talking about? You’ve already done this?” he asked.

“No, we haven’t?” she replied.

“It wasn’t you, but another nurse. He checked me, didn’t he?” AxEl said.

“You must be suffering from some sort of hallucinations. Rest assured, we can help with those,” the nurse replied in a disarming tone.

“He’s not lying. There was another nurse yesterday who conducted tests. Didn’t he bring the results to you?” Nook said.

“Sir, I assure you, we haven’t. I’m sorry about the delay, but we couldn’t spare any nurses for the task yesterday. You were already asleep by the time I’d had come by,” she said.

AxEl felt a chill down his back. He glanced at Nook and Anagen both, who nodded in his direction. “A-Ah, you’re right. I think we just confused it for something else,” he said.

The nurse looked pensive, but accepted the explanation with no further query. Once she had left, AxEl breathed a sigh of relief.

“Someone’s working ahead of us,” Anagen said.

“I don’t think it’s just that. My car, I thought it was just bad luck. Someone took it,” AxEl said. Anagen clenched her fists.

“Nook, go see if anyone’s listening on us. Be discrete about it,” Anagen said. He took off quickly, clear to him the implications.

“Ana… I’ve been wrong. I’m just realizing now how lucky I was to survive DoxEn,” AxEl said.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been using a hammer to solve what a scalpel needs. I can’t keep throwing my body at this and expect to get out unscathed. Not anymore,” AxEl said.

“I need your counsel. Please, tell me how we can beat the Silvertongues. They always seem to be ahead of us,” AxEl said. Anagen sat silently for a few moments.

“The nurse before asked about our Magic Bullets. She was insistent on it and I don’t know for what reason. I think that she might’ve been scouting out our capabilities,” Anagen explained.

“So, she knows who we are and what kind of Bullets we can use.”

“But that’s not the only thing we have. If we’re going to fight them on equal footing, we have to use their tactics. And I know how to.”