Mindfire. I found a bunch of leaves of the Mindfire Bullet placed in my path. I know not what this creature wants from me, but I cannot simply forget what I have seen.

-From Professor Shokolov’s Journal, 38th Entry

AxEl toiled with what to do in the middle of the night. Preserve the one location he cherished other than his own house, or give in and reveal it, giving Anagen and whoever she brought along access to the secrets within.

But if he didn’t, and they missed an important clue within the house, the Company would get their hands on the same product that had made AxEl and his entire trade so successful. In the end, he decided, but with a faint heart.

When Anagen woke up the next morning, both Nook and AxEl were in her room once again. FenEl had gone out for the day, so they were both looking through the documents Anagen had organized. Reports of the people crossing the AnaHon mountain range. Their builds, hair colour, skin colour, any personal information they could gleam.

Then Anagen came in through holding a few more papers in her hand.

“About LokIn,” she said, as she handed over the files to Nook. Nook took them with reverence, leaving the room. He didn’t spare a single glance for AxEl, something he was glad about.

“What do you need, AxEl?” she said. Her attitude had reverted back to the one she kept around them when she first spoke to them.

“I’ll bring you to Professor Shokolov’s house,” he explained. A smile crept onto Anagen’s face.

“Thank you, AxEl.”

****

Time had not been kind to the professor’s house. AxEl couldn’t get the place cleaned out, so it had gathered dirt and dust everywhere. The walls were covered in mud and dirt from the storms, there was damage from the snow all over the roof, and the tiles were breaking apart. There were cracks present all over the place as well.

The only reason no one had tried to explore the house any further was due to its distance from Barksight. AxEl, Nook and Anagen stood in front of the entrance to the house, on the paved path leading to the door. Overgrown grass crept onto the path and the driveway.

AxEl put his hand on the rusted doorknob, twisting it and entering the house. It creaked open and AxEl brushed the dirt off of his hands. Inside, he tried flipping one of the light switches, but no light turned on.

AxEl glanced at Nook. “Hard to keep up with bill payments when you’re halfway across the country,” he shrugged. Anagen reached her hand into her bag and brought out a couple of flashlights instead, handing one to each of them.

AxEl turned it on and flicked it towards the living room, finding the entire thing covered in a thick layer of dust. He saw moss creeping up the edges of the couch, and a splotch on the ceiling that seemed to be wet and dripping water.

“How long has it been since you’ve visited the house?” Anagen asked, brushing past one of the vases.

“Years at this point,” AxEl replied.

“And you found out about this professor how?” Anagen further asked. Nook opened the door into the kitchen and opened the fridge. A bit of dust sprayed out, and inside were some old and expired foodstuffs. Most of the things that hadn’t expired looked moldy and soggy.

“AxEl thought he was the one producing all of the Firewire for the Revolvers. Turns out, he was just some guy who was researching a new kind of plant,” Nook explained.

Anagen walked to the top of the stairs and searched through the hallway. “What kind of Professor was he?” Anagen asked.

“An archaeologist,” AxEl explained. Anagen opened a door at random and found a bedroom. There were no photos inside, however, and it made the place feel barren of any life.

“What…. Happened to him?” she asked. AxEl walked past her and shined the light below the bed.

“We don’t know. By the time we found the place, he was gone. And he hasn’t returned since,” AxEl said, searching the floors and underside of the furniture. He stood up afterwards, dusting himself off.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Come on, there’s an important place you need to see,” he said, bringing her along. Nook leaned against the door that led downstairs into the basement. When AxEl brought Anagen to it, he raised his brow.

“Do you think they’ll still be growing down there?” AxEl asked. Nook placed one hand on the door and pushed it open.

“Let’s hope so.”

AxEl took careful steps down towards the basement, and observed Anagen as the blue glow of the mushrooms came into view. It was just as he remembered it. There was no need for the lights to be on when the mushrooms themselves provided bioluminescent light.

Blue shined on every corner of the lab and the mushrooms stood at the center of it. They were a bit overgrown; their triangular and squarish tops having shifting images upon them. AxEl thought he caught his own visage on them, but they quickly faded afterwards.

Anagen put a hand to one of the mushrooms, and plucked it right out of its soil.

“So this is where you began…” she said, caressing the plant. She watched with a shine in her eyes, examining the plant top to bottom. At the back of the lab, something shined a similar hue of blue underneath a thick cloth.

“This is the first crop? I thought it would have some unique conditions for its growth,” she asked.

“Far as me and Nook know, it doesn’t,” AxEl said. Nook removed the cloth and a bright blueish white glow blinded them for a moment.

“Sorry about that,” Nook said, but kept his eyes fixed on the large bewllan Crystal. He punched it once and moved away from it. Anagen came towards it, poking at it to test its strength.

“A bewllan crystal of this size by itself should be really expensive. Your professor must have been a rich man,” Anagen said.

“We’ll have to take this place apart top to bottom to find evidenc. And I’ll have to personally look up this Professor to see if he’s said something about Prophecy,” Anagen said, putting a finger to her chin. She then snapped towards AxEl.

“Would that be fine with you?” she asked.

“By all means, go ahead.”

By the time they’d begun, AxEl began to realize just how thorough she wanted them to be. They emptied out the cushions, rolled up carpets and flipped every piece of furniture in the house to look under.

AxEl and Nook did most of the heavy lifting. And after the first day, they weren’t successful in finding anything. The first day had only taken them through the first floor, however. By the time they came back to scour through the second floor, AxEl and Nook were heaving and tired. Anagen had done her fair share of the work, with the three of them having the dirt on their fingers to show for it.

She dug up a part of the front lawn, as well as knocking on every inch of the walls to make sure none of them rang hollow. By the time they noticed a slightly off-center floorboard, they prayed it would lead them somewhere.

Anagen sat down near the floor and pulled at the board. It seemed to come apart easily, revealing a small hole. Inside of that hole lay a single book, bound in leather and aged.

It bore no name on the surface, only a simple book clasp. AxEl and Nook leaned down next to Anagen and they both looked on in awe at the book.

“This was here this whole time and I didn’t even search for it?” AxEl cursed.

Anagen opened the clasp with a click, then the book itself. Inside it were a number of entries, all cited with their exact number.

There’s only two ways I can ever imagine Prophecy being available to the populace.

12th Entry.

She flipped to another page.

I’ve practiced with Prophecy some more. Under safe circumstances, obviously-

5th Entry.

Anagen’s eyes darted around the page, taking in each word of the Professor in his unique writing style. She then flipped to a further entry to read even more.

I keep going outside, but the feeling of being watched never goes away.

30th Entry.

Anagen and the rest kept reading, their eyes glued to every word. Then Anagen finally flipped to the end of the book, towards the words that seemed so hastily scribbled on the pages. Nothing like the eleagant writing like before, they looked almost like they’d been written by a child. Then she read the final words.

Goodbye.

Final Entry.

“This was his journal,” Anagen said, as she finished skimming it.

“Someone or something was after him and he ran, and that’s why he left the house,” Anagen said.

“But what was after him? Was it that creature he keeps talking about?” Nook said.

“Those could just as well be hallucinations from overusing Prophecy. Things like the Green Reaper and Hell’s Icebox are just stories,” Anagen explained. AxEl took the book off of Anagen’s hands and had begun to read through it during Nook and Anagen’s conversation.

“Might be that someone discovered his Prophecy operation and had him hunted down to be silenced,” Anagen theorized.

“Then they would have come for me and AxEl next since we spread it even further,” Nook deflected.

“But after you found the plant, you grew an empire around you. Shokolov didn’t have the protection you two do now,” Anagen said.

“Guys, here,” AxEl interrupted. They turned to face him. AxEl traced his fingers along the page.

“He talks about something called EraNoohve. It was a temple of sorts. Might be he got Prophecy from there,” AxEl said. “And here, he notes how the Eihkand had access to Prophecy. So he knew they had it,” AxEl added. He then set the book down and raised a brow in confusion.

“But how did the Company? They don’t know about Shokolov,” AxEl said.

“They don’t, I’m assuming. They’re just searching blindly. Probably only know of the barest link between the Eihkand settlement there and the Bullet,” Anagen replied.

“Then we find the temple first. See if we find any Prophecy mushrooms inside. If we do… we’ll see from there,” AxEl said, turning away from the both of them. Anagen kept staring at the book, looking front and back at each page.

“I need to search through his notes more. The Professor might have known more than he says directly on each of the pages,” Anagen said.

“And what about the temple?” AxEl asked impatiently.

“I’ll bring a helicopter over,” Anagen stated.