Anna

The interloper pushed the knife close. The danger of cold steel clung to her neck. Just a single flick of their wrist and Anna would be drenched in a puddle of her own blood.

Did something like this happen to Ellen? The possibility silenced the fear in her head.

“Don’t move,” her assailant’s voice boomed in her head, “I have a few questions—”

Anna didn’t hesitate. Mana surged from her Azurite pendant—the surroundings cackled with violence as electricity discharged from her body. Her assailant had no chance. Blasted by the point-blank shock, their hands went limp. Anna immediately shook herself free and drove her elbow into their chest.

Thud!

They collapsed past the dense undergrowth. Anna pursued. She suddenly found herself amidst a clearing in the woods. Faint vestiges of moonlight streamed through the canopy, providing some semblance of light. Her assailant was on the ground, writhing from the electricity rampaging through their body.

Anna stomped ahead. She grabbed them by the collars and ripped off the mask concealing their face.

***

EMIL

Emil stared helplessly as the interloper pried off his mask. The muscles in his arms and legs continued to convulse uncontrollably. Stars and vivid colors spun in his periphery. A sharp, numbing pain hummed through the layers beneath his skin. No matter how much he willed his body to move, his limbs refused to comply.

“…Emil?”

He froze at the sound of his own name. They know who I am?! Panic shot down his back—until the interloper pulled down their own mask and hood.

A bundle of bright scarlet hair dropped onto their shoulders, accompanying a face that he had grown used to seeing the past several days. It was Anna.

Huh? What the hell is she doing here?!

Emil’s mind spiraled into chaos—partly from the earlier attack and partly from disbelief. He had been on standby, perched atop of his previous observation point, hoping to catch another straggler visiting the area where Ellen was murdered last night.

The incident left many unanswered questions. What was Ellen doing before her death? What killed her? Who were those people that dealt with her body? He was searching for a lead when he spotted a suspicious figure encroaching onto the Third Sector.

Wait, could Anna be involved? Before he could consider the possibility, Anna suddenly slapped him across the face. He winced, his head spinning from the throbbing pain.

“I’ve been looking for you all day!” she growled, “Ellen. I visited her room after class. It was emptied and her nameplate was removed. When I questioned the staff, they told me she had withdrew her enrolment from the Academy.”

Emil’s eyes widened at the revelation. Damn, they already removed her records?

“I call bullshit!” Anna spat, her voice quivering with desperation, “Something must have happened to her, and the Academy is trying to cover it up. You know something, don’t you, Emil? Tell me!”

Her eyes were savage as she frantically shook his collars, begging him to speak.

Emil gulped. Bitterness danced on his tongue. His throat felt strained, as if a dozen invisible threads were sealed around his windpipe, steadily tightening like a noose. Murderous energy filled the air. He was no stranger to being on the receiving end of someone’s bloodthirsty rage, but this one hurt.

Although their time together was brief, Emil thought he had built some semblance of trust between him and Anna. Enough to not be treated like a villain.

She’s not in her right mind. Desperation somehow led her near the site of Ellen’s death. Emil couldn’t guess how she even got this information. He feared what happened if she discovered the truth.

“Spit it out!” Anna screamed into his face. Menacing sparks snapped in the air. She was a powder keg, begging to explode. Emil clenched his teeth—nervous at the murderous pressure. He had to pacify her.

And so, he lied.

“She was kidnapped.”

His words hung in the air. The surroundings seemed to freeze in time as if it was holding its breath at his deception. Anna was still, eyes bloodshot, seemingly in shock.

“I knew it,” she suddenly declared. The suffocating pressure around her lightened as the murderous energy dissipated. Emil let out a sigh.

His relief was short-lived.

“Get up!” she suddenly pulled him to his feet. Despite her small size, Anna was surprisingly strong. Emil’s legs wobbled, struggling to stay upright. Most of his muscles were still paralyzed from Anna’s earlier attack.

“You’re coming with me. Ellen’s in danger. We have to go save her!” she proclaimed. Emil tried to shake her off. It was useless—his arms couldn’t exert any strength.

“Where?! We don’t have any information on where she is!”

“There’s an abandoned ruin somewhere north from here. If you saw her kidnapped in this area, then probably they—”

“And how did you get this information?”

“An information broker in the Second Sector!” she hissed, flashing him a chilling glare. Her patience was wearing thin.

This is ridiculous.

Emil pressed his hand to his head, suddenly feeling nauseous.

“Are they trustworthy? Could you vouch for the validity of his information? And did he tell you anything else? Like how to get to these ruins?” Emil asked, trying to make her realize how reckless her approach was, “If you haven’t noticed, we’re deep in the middle of nowhere. It’s pitch-black. There are no roads, no landmarks, nothing to discern where we are and where we’re headed. Were you just planning to stumble your way to this mythical ruin?”

“This is the only lead I have!” she snarled. Tears suddenly cascaded down the side of her face. Her eyes trembled with a glint of madness. The hands clasping onto his arm began to dug into his skin. “Or do you have a better idea?!”

Fuck, should I have just told her the truth? Anna’s recklessness stemmed from her belief that Ellen was still alive. It was heart-breaking to watch her desperation.

No, I can’t let her continue like this. She’s going to get herself killed. Whatever that murdered Ellen might still be lingering in these woods.

“…Just give me a second, please. I can’t move yet,” he said, trying to buy time as he sunk back onto the forest floor. Anna’s bloodshot eyes remained fixated on him, unmoving. Her hands were twitching for action.

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He thought back to the situation last night. There were three silhouettes that came for Ellen’s body. They seemed to know her, and they mentioned that she was likely killed by some sort of specimen that got loose.

“Cremate her near the lab.”

Emil recalled distinctively overhearing those words before the three mysterious figures ventured deeper into the woods. This seems to align with Anna’s information. Now he had a solid hypothesis that a laboratory was hidden in this region of the Third Sector, presumably by a set of abandoned ruins. Finally, he had a lead for his overarching objective in Azure City. Unfortunately, it came at the cost of a friend’s life.

He shook his head, silencing the guilt that was threatening to swell up. Assuming these assumptions are correct, how would those people from last night navigate to the lab? Everywhere around him looked the same—filled with the same patterned foliage and stifling darkness.

Suddenly, he recalled the words of the person who examined Ellen’s body.

“There are faint vestiges of mana on her neck.”

The statement boomed in his head. Of course, they were Exalted. And at least one of them could see mana. Emil glanced up at Anna. “Let me check something,” he said, limping to the edge of the clearing. Some semblance of control had returned to his hands as he pried open a section of the dense undergrowth.

He squinted into the abyssal darkness. Slowly, his eyes began to adjust to the absence of light. Then, near the ground, about five feet away, the faintest of blue specks flickered in his view. They were absurdly tiny—nearly indistinguishable if he hadn’t been looking for him. He crawled close to the first one. Soon, more and more specks revealed themselves. Like an endless stream of distant stars on a clear night, the blue specks formed a trail.

A hidden path. Created by fragments of Azurite.

“Do you see that, Anna?” he asked.

“…No? What am I supposed to see?” she said, confounded as she crept close beside him. Emil picked up the closest speck. Indeed, it was a shard of Azurite, barely bigger than a small quartz of sand.

What a devious plan. A path that only a subset of Exalted could find.

He dropped the Azurite shard in Anna’s hands.

“You’ll need to trust me on this, but there’s a hidden trail marked by these fragments of Azurite,” Emil explained, “That’s probably where we need to go.”

***

Slash!

Emil cut down a layer of dense vegetation blocking their way. As the foliage fell, another glimpse of the Azurite trail was revealed. He followed the crumbs as it led them deeper into the wilderness of the Third Sector. Anna was behind him, her hands clenched tightly onto the hems of his cloak. To her, the forest must have been pitch-black.

“How did you found out Ellen was kidnapped?” Anna suddenly broke the silence. She must have calmed down a bit if she finally has the clarity to ask. Thankfully, Emil had enough time to concoct a story.

“I saw her by chance outside of the campus last night. She was being carried away. I lost her trail by the edge of this forest,” he said, picking his words deliberately. Some of it were half-truths, purposefully kept vague in case he said something to contradict his earlier lie.

“Did you see who kidnapped her?”

“No. But they were definitely Exalted, especially if they were using this Azurite path to navigate the woods. I was hoping to capture one of them tonight to interrogate Ellen’s location. But I found you instead.”

His response was met with silence. Not wanting to give Anna the chance to dwell on his words and pick apart his flimsy story, he immediately followed up with a question.

“What were you doing here anyways?” he asked, “You snuck out of campus, went to an information broker, and somehow stumbled your way here. You did all that based on what? A faint chance that Ellen might have been in trouble?”

“Yeah? What of it?” Anna retorted, clearly irritated. Emil couldn’t help but smirk on her belligerence.

“It’s reckless. What if the Academy wasn’t lying about her withdrawing her enrolment?”

“I didn’t believe them from the beginning. But if I was wrong, then so be it. I get caught and I get punished. A trivial loss. But if I was right and I didn’t act…” Anna suddenly trailed off, “…Ellen is my friend. She might be in danger. Did I really need any more reasons to act?”

The crunch of leaves behind him suddenly grew louder. She’s getting angry again.

“I suppose not. But why act on your alone? The Sentinels were an option.”

Anna’s grip on his cloak steeled. “Are you stupid? You think the Sentinels would listen to me over the words of the Academy? One inquiry and they would have learned that Ellen supposedly moved out. And that would have been the end of their investigations.”

“Fair point.”

“Besides, since we’re both here in this damn forest, you seemed to have arrived at the same conclusion as I did. So, should you really be criticizing me about recklessness?”

Emil scoffed, raising his hands to signal his surrender. While this incident fell under the scope of his Steiger objectives, he would be lying to claim that he wasn’t at all motivated by his brief friendship with Ellen. Guilt ate at his heart. The sight of her dying moments was seared in his head. If he had been faster last night, could he have prevented her death?

His solemn thoughts were cut short by the distant ring of the Azure City clocktower. Midnight. They’ve been on this path for awhile now. His arms were sore from constantly hacking away at the dense undergrowth. At least his body seemed to have recovered from paralysis.

The trail of Azurite on the forest floor suddenly vanished. As he swung to break another branch blocking his path, Emil saw a faint glimpse of moonlight trickling in from the canopy.

“I think we’re at the end of the path. I’m going to take a peek,” he whispered. Indeed, the undergrowth thinned significantly. Emil gently pried apart the shrubbery in front of him, careful not to make any loud noises.

“I think it’s clear,” he said after probing the vicinity. He stepped out into the open, wincing at the noise of his body brushing by the densely packed undergrowth. He shifted to the side, hugging the shadows of the forest’s edge to make room for Anna to follow.

Now that he was out in the open, it was significantly easier to see. Moonlight illuminated the surroundings. They were at the edge of a large glade. Man-made structures built out of stone were sprawled out along the treeless flat land. Greenery sprouted in the gaps of the paved stone.

Ahead, various statues carved out of marble were scattered across the ruins. They were worn down by age, lacking the luster and majesty at their inception. Most of the statues were either decapitated or had the upper torso broken off. The few statues that still possessed heads had their faces smeared, unrecognizable.

“…Did your information broker say anything about these ruins?” Emil asked, trying to hide his discomfort at the ominous sight.

“No, just that they existed.”

“From what I can tell, this looks like a former site of worship. These statues were likely depicting deities, dating back to before Ardair’s founding.”

“Didn’t know you were a scholar. How about putting that head of yours towards doing homework instead?” Anna said as she crept towards the dilapidated structures farther into the glade.

Emil took the hint and followed. Upon closer inspection, there were obvious signs that this sacred site was being used. Fresh footprints coated in mud smeared along the paved stone. Broken crates and barrels littered the premise.

“People have clearly been here,” Anna suddenly said, “I don’t see Ellen anywhere though.”

“Let’s see if she’s inside,” Emil replied, wincing. Eventually, he would have to unveil the truth.

They were at the foot of the dilapidated buildings, which turned out to be a small temple. Broken pillars were scattered before the entrance. Withered vines and moss covered the surfaces of the decrepit structure. The entrance was open.

Anna motioned for him to enter first. Emil rolled his eyes, but complied.

As he stepped in, his nose was immediately assaulted by a pungent smell. It was the familiar ferric musk of decayed flesh.

Something was dead. Alarms rose in his head. Emil immediately dropped to a fighting stance, ready to react to anything.

“What’s wrong?” Anna asked, worried at his sudden reaction.

Moonlight crept in from a circular hole on the ceiling. Old paintings drew in oil and linen tapestries decorated the walls of the temple. They would have been majestic—had they not been stained in blood.

What the hell is this?!

The inside of the temple was filled with steel cages. Inside were carcasses of various animals. Torn limbs and body parts dangled from iron chains affixed to the ceilings. At the edge of the room were workbenches filled with scalpels, knives, cleavers, and other sharp items that Emil couldn’t describe. Beside that were shelves filled with jars of translucent liquid and unidentifiable blobs—presumably containing organs and other internal body parts that needed to be preserved.

He stumbled backwards. The madness before him was too revolting to bear.

“Emil?”

“Don’t come in!” he replied in a harsh whisper. Anna doesn’t need to see this. In fact, the disgusting scene might give her the wrong ideas. In the midst of his shock, however, he forgot the type of person she was. Ignoring his warning, she immediately pushed past him without hesitation.

“What is—” Anna froze. Her eyes went wide. Her face twitched as she processed the hellish horrors in the room, writhing with disgust that quickly morphed into terror. Suddenly, she dropped to her knees.

“Emil…you don’t think that Ellen—”

“No. Probably not,” he cut her off and stepped in front of her to block her view. It was obvious what she feared. “All these…parts look like they came from animals. As far as I can tell, none of them belonged to a person.”

Well, I guess this confirms that vile experiments were being conducted here. Emil grimaced at the blatant cruelty on display. He couldn’t fathom what sorts of madmen operated this facility—and why exactly Ellen was involved. Feeling nauseous, he walked towards the workbench along the side of the temple. Anna trailed behind him, not wanting to be left alone in this disturbing laboratory.

“What are you doing?” she asked hesitantly.

Emil scanned the surface, careful not to touch any of the bloodied parts laid out in the open. “Looking for documents. Notes. Something that could explain what they were doing here.”

“Who cares about that right now? We have to find Ellen!” Anna tried to pry him away from the workbench.

Dammit, do I have to tell her the truth here?

He was going to push back, until something pricked the side of his ears.

Footsteps. They came from just outside the temple.