CHAPTER 21 - THE OFFICES
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The cold night air enveloped the camp and the entirety of the island. The wind blew, singing with its divine voice, accompanied the various moons, which, like sisters of different sizes and ages, playfully circled the planet. Like goddesses, guardians, they watched over the land. From a certain point of view, that’s exactly what they were: guardians. They controlled natural phenomena and maintained the stability of that vast world. Yet they were distant, unknown. Nothing was yet known about them, but their greatness was recognized, and they were worshipped as goddesses on many islands, in many cultures. Under the gaze of the sister moons, the event was about to unfold.
In that noisy silence, Natirra remained inside her tent, feigning sleep. She had noticed something: among all her companions, one of them woke up easily. She turned toward Monomia, sleeping.
It had happened the previous morning; she had woken him up by moving. She would need to be more stealthy, even more than usual, or risk waking him again. She wasn’t sure if trusting Gaid would prove to be a good idea, but when she thought about it, she saw no other solutions. In reality, if she had the privilege, she would have called on more of her friends, but she feared that might sabotage the plan.
It was also odd that Gaid showed such a peculiar interest.
"He wants to advance his research... But that's not the only thing, there’s something else, I’m sure of it, but... I don’t think I can get it out of him." Despite being overwhelmed by curiosity, she had to accept that, from a certain point of view, she couldn't really afford to read minds.
But it was understandable. Anyone would look at someone sideways after learning they study spirits. Was he aiming to become a priest or some kind of strange shaman? Natirra couldn’t know; she wasn’t interested in the island’s religion or the goddess Amelis, the island’s protector. Yet his talk of spirits, the signals from the spirits, had convinced her.
"Strong emotions, fears... Eneas. Something happened to her." A heavy thought passed through her mind, suspicions about Eneas’s fate. But Natirra brushed them away; she couldn’t theorize before investigating.
Suddenly, she raised her head, hearing a suspicious sound, and soon after, saw the tent entrance open slightly, revealing a curious eye. Fortunately, she was aware of the situation, or she might have had a heart attack. She turned toward Monomia and the others, biting her hand to cover any sound from her mouth, then slid out of bed. She was already dressed in her uniform, boots, even her helmet, because she felt deep down that there was a serious risk. She moved stealthily, reaching the edge of the tent, but heard the grass make a suspicious sound, and turned to check if anyone had woken up.
Fortunately, no one had. She stepped outside and found Gaid waiting. They exchanged a nod and walked away from the tent with the sleeping quarters, finding themselves outside. The path to the offices was still far, on the opposite end of the camp, but now that they were outside, they could at least speak quietly without any risk.
Natirra, in the situation she was in, was starting to feel a bit afraid, but Gaid, who unlike her was driven by the desire to understand what was happening, was ready to proceed.
«"We won’t take the main path; we’ll follow a route where we have less chance of being found, but you’ll need to be stealthy, understood? We can’t talk while we’re moving."»
«"Understood..."» Natirra said, sounding a bit less confident.
«"We’ll go in, look for something in the head officer’s room, then we can leave as if nothing happened. If we find something important. Alright, we’ve talked enough; it’s time to go—"»
Before Gaid could finish his sentence, Natirra felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped as she turned around, but what she saw in front of her was, unexpectedly, Monomia himself. He had a confused smile on his face.
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«"Hey, what are you doing out here? It’s night."» He said, looking around, while yawning with his usual smile.
«"You made me come out at this hour, I thought it was morning."» Then, looking at Gaid’s face, he recognized him. «"Oh, hey! You’re the guy from the fight, what was your name again, Gai—"» With a quick move, Gaid covered his mouth. Unlike the other two, Monomia was speaking loudly, which was in no way advantageous for the duo, and sooner or later, he would have to learn to lower his voice.
Gaid turned to Natirra. «"Don’t tell me you made him come out."»
«"No, no… He woke up on his own."»
With force and speed, Monomia pushed Gaid’s hand away, and this time with a decent tone, asked, «"Where are you going?"»
«"Oh… Uh..."» Gaid tried to come up with an excuse, then turned once again to Natirra. «"Tell him to go away."»
«"Go back to the dormitory, Monomia."» Natirra requested. Despite trying to sound like an authoritative figure, she failed in the attempt.
«"What? Impossible. I want to know what’s going on. Where are you going?"»
Despite Gaid continuing to throw glances of disapproval, Natirra felt compelled to explain, but omitting some parts. «"It’s about the investigation for Eneas, we’re... going to the offices."»
«"Why did you tell him?"» Natirra, now realizing she had gone too far, tried to find a way to include Monomia in the group.
«"Monomia can be of help. He’s really strong, and he’s also part of the investigation and... and... and you owe him something, right? He came to you during the fight, didn’t he?"»
Gaid sighed a bit, but finally decided to let him join the group. «"One more won’t hurt. But he needs to keep his voice down, or he’ll get us into trouble."»
Monomia, who had only understood that he could now follow them, smiled confidently but turned his gaze toward Natirra. «"But… Why do you want to sneak into the office? Isn’t it risky?"»
«"The girl will explain everything to you, all you want to know, but for now, let’s go, we need to hurry, the night won’t last forever."» And so the three began following Gaid, stealthily moving through the camp.
As Natirra explained everything, in detail, that Gaid had explained to her, and the main reason for their infiltration, Gaid made sure there were no guards around. The path he had taken was the longest because it involved zig-zagging between the various structures.
He leaned against one of the walls, watching a group of three guards move away from the area. «"Clear. We should be there."»
«"So, spirits communicate with us through signals, and you dreamed that Eneas called you to come to the office?"»
From the tone with which Monomia said it, it almost sounded like a work of fiction from some tale narrated by the elders. But it was Natirra’s truth.
Unexpectedly, Monomia smiled again, but it was a proud smile. «"Of course, that’s it. You’re talking about a prophecy."» Even Monomia knew something about it, and Natirra was stunned.
«"If what you say is true, then your friend Gaid has opened a way for us. But... you should have told us earlier, I could have called the others, we would have had the advantage."»
Gaid turned to Monomia, the group now seeing the offices from a distance. «"We can’t take the risk; I didn’t plan for you to come. But so… you know about prophecies."»
«"It’s basic knowledge here, for the priests of Amelis, since it’s a way to communicate with the goddess Amelis.”» Natirra was confused by such knowledge from such a guy, but she kept listening.
«”I’m not one, but a branch of my family specializes in it. I come from a family of sailors and warriors, we all do a lot of stuff!"» That got Natirra curious about Monomia’s family, but still… She felt like waiting to ask.
Gaid spoke, turning to Monomia, «"When we find your friend, you’ll tell me everything you know about prophecies."»
Monomia looked at Gaid; his expression didn’t convince him. «"Only if you can explain the reason for such a request."»
Once again, Gaid hesitated, frowning. «"Personal research."»
«"Into the occult, huh..."» Monomia wasn’t convinced and promised himself that he wouldn’t explain anything until he had a valid reason. The power of spirits was something he recognized as significant. And it wasn’t something light to hand over to someone who wasn’t studying it for noble reasons.
In the meantime, Gaid, to change the subject, told the duo,
«"Okay, enough talk, we’ve finally arrived."» He stood in front of the office entrance and turned to his group. «"Listen, we need to get inside before it’s too late, understood?"» And so, the three entered, leaving the door behind.