The manor was more akin to a barracks than a country estate with enough room to house a hundred but lacking luxury in its build. Regardless, it was adequate for their temporary stay, and even impressive when considering that the attendant had casually handed it out to them. Although it was some ways out of Brightmoor proper, it was by no means near the border as Silas spied a great wall encircling the city in the distance. A city like this no doubt faced dreadful hordes, but seeing as how peaceful things were inside, it seemed none of the monsters made it past these walls.
Since the teleporter had been in central, they had taken the bus here to the manor. While it was somewhat redundant considering they were only going back to central now, it made sense to do it this way as it allowed them to collect themselves at their base first. They had seen nothing worth taking caution over during their journey here, which was why they split apart into separate groups now to explore the city.
Silas went with Mia, taking the bus and intently watching his surroundings as they swept past. Brightmoor had clearly been built up from the remains of some other city as the aged, pre-Apocalypse buildings were neighboured by dozens of System-built ones, many of the designs and materials the same as found in Riverside. People thronged the footpaths, and vehicles of all types whizzed through the streets, though notably no hovercars. It would have looked like a scene from any pre-Apocalypse city if not for the weapons that men and women openly carried on themselves, ranging from guns and blades to more bizarre contraptions.
So many people so close together also meant a high aura density, dulling Silas’s senses. The only ones he could discern were the remarkably powerful ones, which was surprisingly far more frequent than he would have liked. Brightmoor’s guards patrolled the streets and stood stationed at crossroads, easily identifiable by their black and navy blue uniform under thick armour. A large number of them only wielded melee weapons, suggesting along with their auras that they were high-level warriors instead of just being ordinary soldiers armed with guns.
For their first hour, Silas and Mia walked with no destination in mind, casually sightseeing. This changed when Silas struck up a conversation with an idle guard with a question in mind.
“You good, geezer?” the guard asked, flicking the ash off his cigarette.
“Yeah, I was just wondering if you had any kind of station here to ask for lost people. Like people you got separated from during the Apocalypse.”
Taking a drag, cloudy white breath streamed out of the guard’s mouth as he spoke. “Sure there is. We’ve got that… Uh, what’s its name again?”
“The Logger’s Office or something,” his mate offered, leaning on a wall with one foot against it, a short stub of a cigarette balanced between his fingers.
“Yeah, that’s it.” The guard turned back to Silas. “It’s, what, like a fifteen minutes walk that-a-way. They take a log of your name, family, destination, that kind of thing, and ask if there’s anyone in particular you’re looking for. They’ll ring you up later if such a person comes under their radar, or if someone else is looking for you.”
“Oh, cheers,” Silas said, heading in the direction with Mia at once. They found it without issue, mainly because of the winding queue waiting outside. When they were about to head for the back of the queue, a portly woman in uniform stopped them.
“My, oh my, not everyday I see a power couple like yourself. I get the feeling you’re not from around here, though.”
“Uh,” Mia turned to Silas, bemused.
“Yeah, no, we’re here for the congress,” he said.
“Good, good, I’m supposed to be on the lookout for folk like you,” the lady replied with a wink. “If I could just catch a name?”
“Sure, Silas Wycliffe.”
“Mia Pascall.”
The lady appeared to be checking something on her System screen, before smiling. “Of course, you two can go on in right through then. A bit of Brightmoor hospitality for our visitors.”
Although this earned them quite a few glares from those waiting in the queue, they didn’t have the appetite to wait for hours, so they took the offer with gratitude. The VIP treatment continued inside as they were immediately seen individually by loggers.
Taking a seat by the table, the man past the computer offered a tired smile. “Name?”
“Silas Wycliffe.”
“Your geographical position when the Apocalypse began?”
“Blackpool, England.” The words felt strange coming out of his mouth, as if they were centuries-forgotten. At the very least, it felt like it had been that long.
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“Family?”
“Chloe, Chloe Wycliffe.” Then after a pause, “Ethan Wycliffe.” Ultimately, he had no clue of how Chloe felt towards him after he had run out on them, and there was no guarantee she would be glad to see him. This meant that she could also be purposely not searching for him. But there was no way she would do the same for Ethan, which was why Silas listed his name here. Perhaps this way the computer could make the right connections, anyway.
“And who are you looking for?”
“Chloe Wycliffe, and Aengus Abercrombie as well, I guess.”
The logger nodded, clicked through a few screens, then shook his head with a sorry look. “Doesn’t appear they’re on our database yet. But don’t worry, we’ll notify you the moment they come on. You’re not living in Brightmoor, are you?”
“No, I live in Riverside.”
“Cool,” the man said, logging this down into the file too.
Suddenly, it dawned on Silas that it was possible that Chloe would never come to Brightmoor and add her information to the database. He needed some other way to check if she was even here in the first place. “Hey, could you tell me where the closest Seer or whatever is? You know, someone who can help me locate people.”
The man softly frowned. “Well, I think Roxanne’s the closest one, but she’s a bit cuckoo so up to you if you use her services. She’s just down the street from here, in a house with weird lights and decoration. You can’t miss it.”
Leaving, Silas found Mia waiting in the hallway. “How did it go? Are your parents on the database?”
She shook her head with a weak smile. “You?”
His grimace was enough of an answer for her. “Looks like we share the same poor luck.”
“Oh, what about Aengus?” she asked, walking out with him.
This brought a splash of life to his expression. “He’s still on the leaderboards, so there’s no way he didn’t get an invite. Chances are we’ll see him sooner or later.”
“How do you think he’ll react on seeing us?” she asked, nudging him in the ribs with her elbow. “Reckon he’ll have any more short jokes for you?”
Silas dragged a hand down his face, pulling it out of shape. “I’m not even…” He gave up on the response, instead nodding appreciatively at the portly lady who had let them in. They went in the direction the logger had pointed Roxanne at. “Listen, it’ll be good and you know it. He’ll be chuffed on seeing us, I bet.”
“What if he’s changed though?”
Stopping in his tracks, Silas faced her, both of them staring at each other with serious expressions until finally she cracked up, shortly followed by him.
“Not a chance,” she said.
“No way,” he said, simultaneously.
They came to Roxanne’s place in five minutes, easily recognisable by the multicoloured ambient glow from inside the house and the stuffed animals hanging from the foyer like it was some sort of creepy taxidermist. Knocking on the thick wooden doors, their arrival went unanswered. Despite this, Silas heard low murmurs from inside, specifically from the upstairs lit-up room, so he had Mia raise him with telekinesis to look through the windows. He caught sight of a frizzled woman in her forties tenderly stroking a giant bone, simultaneously drawling incomprehensible words.
To his surprise, she was quick to notice him and screech. Dropping back down to the ground, they only had to wait a minute before Roxanne opened the door, pointing a pistol at them with a trembling grip. “Like peeping on me, do you now, you perverted little voyeur? Thought I had lost it, had you now? Well, I am sorry to inform you that I am still here, still strong.”
The sting of their glares and their lack of reaction was enough for her to eventually lower the handgun, grumbling obscenities under her breath. “All you rankers are the same, believing yourselves to be indestructible.” She retreated back into her house, leaving the door open. When they hesitated, she called out. “Well, are you going to enter or just stand there goggling at my house?”
The insides were a clutter of bones, furs, and other creepy items, and Silas and Mia stepped carefully as they followed Roxanne upstairs, taking to a room with a rotating LED set in the centre, painting the walls with an ever-shifting blur of colours. There was a wide oak table to one side, a bed almost as unkempt as Roxanne in the corner, and giant wardrobes and cupboards along one wall. And of course, the clutter which littered the rest of the house was here as well.
“So what brings you here? I had supposed all the fools would visit the loggers instead of me.” Roxanne saw the glance they exchanged, and she explained. “What do you think they are going to use all that data for? Sure, it will sit pretty for most of its lifetime, but if you just so happen to go against Lucian, then that information could come in handy, don’t you think?”
Silas’s throat felt dry all of a sudden as he considered the possibility, however his worry quickly washed over. He didn’t intend to oppose Lucian or anything of the sort - he had had his fill of politicking in Riverside, and that was plenty for him. Besides, it was ill-advised to turn on each other when there were literal monsters outside. “I want to find my sister, Chloe Wycliffe, and Aengus Abercrombie.”
“And you?” Roxanne asked Mia.
“Oh, my parents, Donatello Pascall and Alison Harper.”
“That will be 5000 credits,” Roxanne said, making a hand-it-over gesture.
Silas transferred the money without much care - he had more than he could practically spend, anyway.
With this complete, Roxanne finally got to work, picking up the giant bone which Silas had seen earlier. A surge of power rushed out from her body as she gripped the bone tightly, her eyes rolling back. For a moment, it appeared she would fall back as well, but instead she somehow froze on her heels, maintaining the awkward position for the better half of a minute. When finally she broke the trance, she tripped back but caught herself before she launched face-first into her clutter.
Rising, she first looked at Silas. “Your sister is distant, but there are many people she knows here. I suppose they teleported over for the congress.”
“Who?” Silas asked, leaning forward.
Roxanne shrugged. “My visions are hardly ever so clear as to show faces. But the other person you asked for, Aengus, he’s already here in Brightmoor. If I was seeing right, he is asleep in a manor right now.”
“And my parents?” Mia asked, her voice tight and low.
“They are dead.”
“But when I asked Montigo, he said they were alive.” Mia turned to Silas, looking for confirmation.
“I would not be surprised if some other Oracle named them alive earlier - from what I saw, they only died recently. Now, usually I would not be able to name the killer, but from the numbers I saw and the overall destruction, it is rather clear who it was. It would appear Kuraim and his moving horde came upon your parents.”