It had been a couple of days since Rae first conversed with Noria. Talon was still nowhere to be found, so he’d floated around between different Servlacs, asking them to take him to Noria. Every one of them -- all two of them, that is, as he’d given up after that -- had re-introduced him to her. Rae had chalked it up to having a new Masked attend him, but Noria… both times, the Promem had stared at him blankly. He’d tried further coaxing her to tell him about the temple, and both times he felt like he was starting from scratch again.

Something was going on. ‘I have to find out what is happening,' Rae thought as he walked. ‘I have to.’

He was on his way to visit his fellow castaways when he stopped in the hallway leading to the room. There was a masked standing by the door to the room, posture oddly similar to the one that was standing guard.

Rae’s visits to the crew had also become less and less frequent, and not by choice. The last time he passed by -- or, rather, tried to -- he had been firmly told that his visits were detrimental to the wellbeing of the injured, and that they had to stop. Any argument had died on his lips, guilt snaking in his stomach, and he went away. He’d been told the same thing the time before, but with much begging and cajoling, he’d managed to get in regardless. Perhaps he could manage to get in again?

It didn’t seem so. The masked’s posture told him enough -- visiting would not be possible, not now nor anytime in the near future.

“I thought this was clear enough the last time you came by. Apologies if it wasn’t. You are no longer permitted to visit the injured.”

Rae’s skin rankled. Refusing to take no for an answer, he stood up on his toes, trying to peek into the room above the masked’s shoulder. His eyes landed on the single person in the room and all traces of logic and calm left him. He yelled suddenly, rushing past the masked blocking the doorway, trying to get inside of the room, arms outstretched. The guard was taller than him, and with a longer reach that could’ve easily kept him at bay, but Rae took him by surprise when he slammed right into him and pushed him down, simultaneously pushing down any traces of guilt.

They toppled, first the masked, then Rae, landing into the room with a thud. There was no one else in the room that he saw, no one other than Hirai. Empty beds lined the walls of the make-shift infirmary; beds that were neatly made and painfully empty. He could see no traces of the pitiful personal belongings that had greeted him the first time he’d stepped into the room to visit the castaway. No traces at all; not under the beds, not on the floor, blending in the shadows, and not in the corners of the room either.

Quickly getting up, Rae ran over to the single occupied bed, searching her face. She was sleeping peacefully, unperturbed. He reached for her hand, wanting to wake her up, to ask what was wrong, when someone came up behind him and grabbed his arms, forcing them away from her.

“Let me go!” Rae cried, twisting. The grip held. The masked started to pull him away.

Conscious of the trouble that he would be in after everything, but feeling that there was no other option, he stomped down on the masked’s foot. The servant let go of him, crying out in pain. Rae scrambled away, putting as much distance as possible between the masked and himself, using Hirai’s bed as a physical barrier.

The short scuttle woke Hirai up, who looked around with wide, not-yet-focused eyes. Rae recognised the look as identical to what must’ve graced his own face when he came out of his own drug-induced sleep. “Hirai,” he said, clutching at her hand. “It’s Rae.”

She looked back at him, face completely blank. Rae quickly glanced up at the masked standing on one foot near the door of the room, latched onto the wall for support. The paint on the mask seemed to darken, as if reflecting the wearer’s feelings. Fear and anger overpowered Rae, and he reached down, taking his shoe off and hurtling it at the masked. It harmlessly bounced off the door-frame but it did the trick -- the masked hobbled out of the room, calling for help.

Returning his attention to Hirai, he took her hand once again, shaking her. “Hirai, listen to me,” he said, whispering. “It’s Rae. I’m not going to hurt you. I need to talk to you. Where is everyone? What happened? There were- many, the crowd and- all gone.” His words ran together. She continued to look at him with the same blank look. He took a deep breath, forced himself to slow down for her sake.

“Nearly everyone… there were a lot more people here last week,” Rae tried again. He could hear voices getting louder and his heart jumped, but he continued to speak slowly, squeezing Hirai’s hand. “What happened to them? Where did everyone go? Did the… did the masked do anything to them? To you?”

Still no answer. Time was running out. Rae looked around wildly, searching the room for anything that he could use to fully wake her up. His eyes landed on a water jug on the supply-table at the far end of the room. Dropping Hirai’s hand like flaming iron, he jumped up, tripping over his own feet as he lunged towards the table. The voices were getting louder, and he could hear steps now. Rae came back with the jug, “Sorry for this.”

Grimacing, he drew his arms and the jug back, then hurled it forward, emptying it over her. Time slowed. He watched as the water flew through the air, drawing closer and closer, only to come to a sudden stop right above her face. Whipping around, Rae saw a group of Servlacs stepping in the doorway, one of them coming right for him. “Hirai!” he yelled desperately, throwing himself onto the bed, clutching her shoulders. “Hirai, wake up!”

Awareness finally flooded her eyes but it was too late, and the wrong kind. Instead of the recognition he expected to see, he saw panic, fear. “Who?” she asked, struggling to push herself up and distance herself from him. “What is going on?”

A masked had latched onto him, pulling at his legs, trying to drag him away from Hirai. “No!” Rae kicked, holding on even tighter to Hirai. The water that was frozen in the air had been put back into the jug, and the jug was floated back onto the table. The other two maskeds came around the bed, wooden fingers ripping his own away from around Hirai’s shoulder.

Rae kicked and clawed, but they easily overpowered him, separating him from Hirai and dragging him out of the room. The last sight he saw before mist enveloped his head, blocking his eyesight, was two masked leaning over Hirai, reassuring her. “He is no one important,” was the last thing he heard.

- - - - - - -

Ever since the infirmary-room incident, he’d been confined to his room, locked inside save for walks around the temple complex twice a day, one after lunch and the other before dinner. Before when he could roam around and was on the Promem’s eating schedule, his breakfast and lunch used to be combined into one large meal. Instead, food was now delivered to his room three times a day instead of the two. By the time he usually woke up, breakfast would be set up on the stand next to his bed. The second day locked in, he stayed awake throughout the night, alternating between pacing around his room and staring at the ceiling, worry and boredom mingling into one. He had caught the masked delivering breakfast early in the morning, giving her quite a fright.

Over the next few days, Rae had made a point of waking up early but staying in bed, faking sleep, as he tried to pinpoint the exact time food was delivered to his room. The masked did not have the foresight to change up the time at which they came -- after the first few times it was easy enough to wake up right before they arrived. The idea to ambush them, to lay in wait then pounce, came up several times, each more insistent than the last, but he’d brushed them off, saving it as a last resort.

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Even if he somehow quickly and quietly overpowered the masked that delivered breakfast, the Servlac probably wouldn’t reveal any information. After all, none of the ones that had accompanied him on his laps around the complex even deigned to acknowledge him, let alone answer questions. The ones that delivered food would be no different. No. The risks of someone discovering what he’d done were also much greater, as were the consequences. Safer to walk out and try to get information instead. He’d listened in at the door enough times to know that after the original morning rush, the hallways would be silent for several hours. If he managed to get out undetected, that should give him enough time to freely roam about then return before anyone noticed his disappearance.

- - - - - - -

The tip of the early morning sun appeared above the walls, casting light through the canopy of the trees that made up the temple compound. The rays blended with the green of the trees, colour appearing on the ground as if filtered through green-shaded glass. Footsteps sounded through the hallway, stepping into the puddles of light on the ground and sending ripples. Leaves shook from the hurried passing of the masked as they dashed through the hallway. Soon enough it was still and silent again, the light growing in the silence.

Rae poked his head out of the room, looked around, then stepped out. The door closed behind him. He had been watching the comings and goings of the masked for several days now, learning their patterns. There shouldn’t be anyone roaming the compound in the morning. Satisfied that no one discovered him, he walked slowly -- yet sure-footed -- through the hallways, opting for the middle of the path instead of sticking to the sides. Shoulders pushed back and head held high, Rae took his time navigating the labyrinth that was the complex. Now and then he heard raised voices, yelling, but he kept at it, striding purposefully despite his racing heart. His knees quivered, but he locked them as he walked. ‘Better awkward than fearful and out of place,’ he thought to himself.

A masked appeared in his path, carrying a chest under a mound of blankets. Tight with tension, Rae kept his eyes strictly pointed in front of him, careful not to catch the masked’s glance lest that make her take a closer look at him. The masked bowed as she passed by him, otherwise ignoring him.

Rae let out a sigh of relief, relaxing his clenched fists. ‘Those will make me stand out,’ he thought, then stuffed his hands in his pockets. Not a very serene look, but it’d have to do. How he wished that a hat would’ve been included in the clothes he’d been given by the masked, or even a hooded jacket. The simple shirt he was wearing felt too revealing. His hair was neatly combed back in a poorly attempted disguise; it would be useless under scrutiny, but it was the only thing he could think of on the spot. 'If only I can find myself one of those masks. Now that’d be a sight to behold. A great disguise.'

The plan he concocted the night before was more of a loosely shaped idea than scheme. Sneak out, find information -- an end goal with no method. Rae expected the last part to come naturally as a result of sneaking out of his room, but the reality was much different.

He walked faster, head held high when all he wanted was to hunker down and hide. Rae came to an intersection in the hallway and he stopped. 'Which way to go?' Left, deeper into the compound, towards the courtyard? Or take the right, skirting the edges of the Keepers’ Temple, searching for an exit?

He took the left. It was the riskier of the two -- he had no idea if the Servlacs would already be swarming over the place, getting it ready for brunch. At least it wasn’t as big an affair as the dinners were; Rae took comfort in that.

Arriving in the courtyard, he furtively looked around then stepped in. It was so... open. Rae hadn't fully realised how big it was. There was no reason to hide before; he’d also never counted the Promems that filed in, assuming that the size of the temple was a relic carried over from the past. Only now did he connect the size of the place with the number of people inside it. The revelation put weight on his walk. So far, he had only encountered the one masked on his way to the courtyard. Why? And most importantly, would it be the same on the way back?

Rae banished the thought from his head. 'I need to focus,' he told himself.

He walked on soft steps to the archway through which the Promems -- to much fanfare -- entered through during dinner. It was nothing grand -- just stone, simply adorned, other than engravings that he mistook for vines. On closer inspection, he realised that what he had assumed to be vines and branches snaking down the columns were actually elaborate carvings. The pillar was warm to touch, and he could feel the meticulous lines that were the ‘branches". 'Interesting,' he thought. Rae wondered what else in the Temple was not as it seemed -- were the trees even real? The masks, out of wood? He didn’t feel as certain in his senses anymore.

Glancing around the courtyard one final time, seemingly taking everything in as if he'd never seen it before, Rae walked on through the archway and down the Promems’ corridor.

Foreboding nestled in his stomach. It seemed to darken the walls around him, make the sound of his footsteps against tiles much sharper. ’Tiles. What is this place?' Rae thought. Only the wooden walls seemed familiar. For all he'd walked around the compound, roaming hallways and passages, he had never seen anything that wasn't made out of wood. 'First the archway and now this.' He slowed down, carefully placing the front of each foot before lowering the heel, trying in vain to muffle the sound of his footsteps. It seemed to just make it worse.

Rae abandoned his careful, slow walk, apprehension giving way to fearful irritation.

Despite having no sense of direction, no clear destination in mind, he felt drawn to the end of the corridor. Different from the rest of the Temple, this hallway was long and straight, the opposite to the short, turn-filled halls he was familiar with. Rooms were laid on either side, door after door after door. Rae lost count of how many there were. Whatever the actual number was, he had no trouble imagining that it would be an overwhelming one. Already he'd passed more than three dozen doors -- on just one side. He couldn't help whispering, "This is huge."

His whisper, so quiet that it was nearly silent, echoed down the hallway, shocking him to a standstill in front of a door. 'How is this possible?' he wondered. A multitude of emotions raged inside of him; urgency won. Hypnotised by this new place, he'd lost track of time. Through the canopy of the trees, the sun shined strongly, light piercing through the leaves. Rae did not know if he could trust his sense of sight anymore, not with his inner clock all jumbled up.

The hallway seemed to stretch on and on, the end appearing even further than when he'd first gone through the archway. There were sounds coming from inside the rooms, different snippets of conversation. Rae approached one of the many doors, laying his ear against it to hear more clearly. The sounds were still muffled, but louder, slightly more distinct. He could make out two different voices. A scared, confused one, and a comforting one, whom Rae assumed to be that of a Servlac from its formal, almost reverent way of speaking. It was hard to tell for certain what was going on without sight, but it sounded like... it sounded like the Serlac was explaining to the other -- 'probably a Promem,' Rae thought -- where they were.

Rae kept hearing mentions of unfamiliar terms. The longer he stayed at the door, listening, the more his worry and sense of urgency abated, replaced with curiosity. He could see no connection between this and the disappearances of his crew -- he saw Hirai's scared face in front of his eyes for a brief flash -- but it was still something. ’A start’s a start,’ he thought.

A voice called out to him. "Hey, you! What are you doing here?"

Startled, he hit his head against the door as he got up and whirled around. He watched the masked run towards him, panic flooding over. Rae raised his hands, then took a step away from the door, seeing no clear course of action. The door he’d been listening at opened and another masked stepped out, summoned by the accidental ‘knock’.

"You aren't supposed to be here," the new Servlac said, looking at Rae. He squinted, but otherwise didn’t move.

Rae didn't fight back as the first one caught up to him and grabbed him, roughly pulling him away.