“Clara! What the hell are you doing here?!”
Mikella’s shout could be heard all the way outside the biodome. She immediately ran over to the also running Clara, crashing together into a sisterly hug. Clara seemed more than happy to be reunited with her sister, but Mikella was the opposite.
“Sissy!” Clara shouted. “I came here to look for you!”
“Well, you found me, but you’re not supposed to be here!” Mikella pleaded, her eyes bulging and ready to tear up at the sight of her here. She knelt down to Clara’s level and spoke softly. “Do you remember the tower? The scary place filled with those knights? This place is probably as bad, maybe worse! That’s why you’re not supposed to be here!”
Clara’s eyes widened at the news, and there was definite fear in her eyes now as she looked around. But contrary to the two, Clara pressed her lips together in a show of defiance.
“But I had to be here! I have to tell you something important!” Clara pleaded, but then she let her eyes wander down to the ground. “But… Not now. It's a very, very important secret that only you and Bobo gotta hear.”
“Is it more important than your own life?” Mikella gripped Clara’s shoulders tight, but not enough to hurt her.
“More important than all our lives!” Clara responded, and that finally got Mikella to pause.
Zeke watched in awe at the scene, but not more so than the rest of the soldiers. Of course all of them were shocked to find a child suddenly being here. If it weren’t for the barrier, they might as well consider Clara as a possible casualty.
Outside of Clara, two others came into the scene. One was Vivian, who was just as shocked to find herself here along with Clara, and another woman. First Zeke thought it was a child, her short stature making it hard to discern through the smoke, but he was surprised to find out that it was one of the female soldiers under Zacharia’s unit.
It was none other than a female Dwarf in all her glory. Just like Adam, she was short-statured. However, he was surprised to find that this girl was not as stocky and barrel-figured like male dwarves. She was definitely shorter than Adam, reaching only 4 feet and a half, almost two heads shorter than Zeke’s tall 6-foot frame.
But once again, contrary to most dwarves Zeke would imagine, she was rather voluptuous, her leather armor showing some curves here and there. He could only suppose that the stockiness had got to go somewhere, and clearly they got to their assets. Outside of that, she looked like an ordinary girl with orange hair strapped into a ponytail. She had a wand, similar to the scout mage girl that went with Mikella, but she also had some knives holstered here and there across her armored vest.
“Oof, that was a sorry mess,” The dwarf girl responded, waving away her hand to clear more of the dust. “Hey, you! You that girl’s father?”
Zeke flinched at being called out by the dwarf girl, being the first time they met each other, as well as being called Clara’s father. He shook his head politely.
“Uuh, no, I’m her, uhh, older brother. It’s uhh… complicated,” Zeke tried to explain, but he was doing so terribly that he quickly changed subjects before the dwarf girl could get more confused. “Anyways, what happened? Why is Clara here?”
“She’s been going on and on about meeting you two, that’s what’s going on!” The dwarf girl said with an almost frustrated tone. Zeke couldn’t help but grimace as he could imagine how persistent Clara could be. “I keep telling her that you two are occupied, but the girl won’t keep still! So I asked Vivian to come with me to see if we could do a quick visit. I figured since we got the barrier and all, it would be fine, but…”
The dwarf girl shook her head, recalling the scene that just occurred. Zacharia, one of the first soldiers to come around before the whole mess started, showed up. The girl quickly saluted him, instantly returning from her state of a groaning and tired caretaker to a proper soldier.
“Eliza, what happened up there? Surely you would’ve noticed the elevator going out of whack?”
“I did, sir!” Eliza, the dwarf girl, responded crisp and properly. “But just when I was about to study the elevator before we went in, Clara just went running all on her own! I tried to stop her, but I think the mana surrounding the elevator caused my magic to go haywire…”
“That’s when the two of us decided to go after her, then the elevator just went… down,” Vivian shivered, hugging her shoulders. “I-Is there a way for us to go back up? I’m not really comfortable just being here…”
Zeke noticed Vivian’s face turning pale, her hands continuously rubbing her forearms. She looked deathly afraid of just being here despite being surrounded by the soldiers and the barrier alike. Zeke supposed that this is just how some people in this world would feel when they weren’t built for combat, instead only opting for staying in the safety of the town and having a normal life. For her sake, it was teaching the younger generation.
“Clara, see?” Mikella said, pointing out Vivian’s poor state. “Because of you, now you brought so much trouble to other people. Is it really that important, to trouble everyone around you, just to give a message?”
“Yes!” Clara shouted back, her face scrunched up in defiance and a hint of anger. It was clear that Clara refused to stay put, even putting off Mikella who looked taken aback.
“Alright, alright, that’s enough, lay off the poor girl.”
Both siblings turned back to Val who clapped her hands loud enough to get their attention. She looked mildly displeased, probably for the same reason as Mikella.
Stolen story; please report.
“Mikella, I’m sure whatever it is that Clara wants to say, it has to be important enough for her to do this. You know, Zeke knows, and I know that Clara is a good girl that wouldn’t break the rules for no good reason.”
“I-I know that! I know that more than you think! But Val, this place is super dangerous! She doesn’t even have levels to protect herself! What if staying here just causes damage to her bit by bit?”
Zeke paled at the memory of that happening to Clara, when they were trying to leave the tower and were facing the giant ghost knight that would’ve killed them. Its aura alone was enough to make Clara bleed out in pain, her tiny body unable to handle the force.
If what Mikella was worried about was the area being too strong for Clara’s body to handle…
“Val, I agree,” Zeke said, easily supporting Mikella’s claims. “If Clara stays here–”
“She’ll be fine,” Val stated, surprising both the partners. “But if we haven’t felt anything like that all this time, then there is no strange damage that can occur. Not to mention, you’re in the hands of Journeymen where their auras are stronger than anyone else here. No matter what, Clara will be fine.”
Despite the clear look of anxiety taking over Mikella’s face, her shoulders relaxed and her eyes darted to the ground. Zeke also pursed his lips, realizing that he was the one that was supposed to know that himself, being the brains and all.
Shame and embarrassment took over him as Val continued.
“So calm down and look around you. This is clearly not the time or place to have this conversation. Let’s first find out what’s going on first, then get worried, then finally bring out the punishment, okay?”
“...Okay,” Mikella said, her voice muted and demure. Her anger was just gone now, and all that was left was a frazzled 20-year old who just found out her sister could’ve been killed.
Though Clara blanched at the thought now that she realized she was going to be punished. Even so, she shook it off as she stared at Zeke.
“Bobo, can we… go somewhere else right now?” She asked, this time she pleaded in hopes that he wouldn’t get angry at her.
At this point, everyone around them began their own business, clearly knowing this wasn’t something that they needed to see. The only ones left behind were the journeymen, Myra, Jackie, Philip, and Piker, the ones they knew the most. Cloud was mostly talking with Vivian at this point, figuring that Val had all this figured out.
“...Not yet, first I need to find out how to fix the elevator,” Zeke said, turning to Clara and giving her his full attention. “Then, we’ll talk. Make sure to listen to Sissy and everyone else here, alright? Don’t go off on your own, and never–never ever–get out of this barrier around us. Can you promise me that?”
“Yes, sir!” Clara nodded profusely. Zeke knew she wasn’t an idiot child who’d just run out of the safety of the barrier. Then again, she also wasn’t the type to run into an unstable elevator and head into a dangerous area.
Which made him even more confused as to why she was so adamant to find them. Turning to Cloud who finished talking with Vivian and was now heading over to Val and Mikky, Eliza being with Zacharia at this time, he spoke to him.
“So, can we fix the elevator? Not that I don’t wanna see Clara again, but I really, really don’t want her here right now.”
“You and me both,” Cloud shook his head. “But this might take a while. But don’t worry about it. Just go back to your family and see this through.”
“You sure? I can probably fix it faster by being here” Zeke asked, figuring his Runist skills would be put to use.”
“I know, but wouldn’t you want to spend some time with Clara? It might take us a while before we can come back home. You should try to spend as much time as you can with her before she has to return.”
Zeke pursed his lips in understanding, then he nodded. “I know… and yeah, I should. Thanks Cloud.”
“Hey, no problem. Sometimes being the man of the family is harder work than trying to reach the Master stage,” Cloud chuckled.
Zeke nodded in understanding. Who else but a father like Cloud would understand how difficult child-rearing could be?
Zeke returned back to the base town, going over to his home where he spotted Mikella finishing her talk with Val, Vivian, and Eliza. The three women left, passing by Zeke. Zeke then offered a greeting to the dwarven girl.
“Hey, Miss Eliza. I just wanna apologize for how Clara acted. I know it’s been rough, and I appreciate everything you did…”
Eliza was the very girl that Zacharia commissioned to ‘keep an eye for Clara’. But rather than the usual spying, he just sent a caretaker who’s good with kids. Eliza smiled warmly, reminding him of a kindergarten teacher who already had decades worth of experience.
“Nah, it’s fine. She’s a real sweetheart, which was why I got so worried when she suddenly wanted to see you two. I know the situation’s kinda messy, but don’t be too hard on her, will ya?”
“Yeah, she had it hard enough already,” Zeke nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Zeke waved to the women and then turned to Mikella, who just looked as fearful as he left her. Clara seemed frightened to even move before Zeke came in, and like a drowning man finding a ship in sea, she ran towards him for salvation.
“Bobo,” Clara said, looking up at him. “Can we talk now? I promise, it’ll be super important!”
Zeke looked at Clara again, with a careful gaze this time. She looked hurried, but not as though it was utterly pressed. Obviously she read the room and realized her wrongdoing, but she was still adamant in sending her message, whatever it was.
But the mood was dour, and he was afraid that this might heavily impact Clara’s mental state. So, he figured there was one thing he could do for the sisters to restore good will between them both.
“I know it’s important, but you just got here. Let’s rest for a little bit and have something to eat.”
Clara looked upset that she had to wait some more, but the thought of food easily amended her as she smiled and nodded.
…..
“Alright, so what’s this super important message you had to tell us that got you so wound up?”
Mikella started, finally getting into it.
They took the time to get a wash from being outside, and ate a simple meal. Since they didn’t have much here, they didn’t eat much, but seeing Clara going hands on while excitedly talking to Mikella about the place here, Zeke smiled to see the cute little sister once again.
But as soon as they were done, Mikella began the discussion about this message of hers.
A hint of trepidation passed over the two as Clara realized what she needed to do. Her eyes widening, she nodded profusely before responding.
“Right! Umm… my friend said that she’s gonna wake up soon, so please give her a bit of…”
The two corked their brows to hear what kind of ‘friend’ basically forced Clara to head into this dangerous area. Just as Mikella was about to ask, Clara trailed off in the most unnatural way.
Her eyes glazed over, and her head wobbled downwards. Just when Zeke was about to check what was going on, she suddenly lifted her head up.
And her eyes glowed so bright they became pitch white. Before the two knew it, the entire room they were in was submerged in a flash of light, and they couldn’t do a thing about it as they felt their entire world shift and twist out of whack.