The human oasis that the mages had found themselves in was at the heart of a scorching desert , a small swamp at the fringes of the camp being the only source of water in sight. This was , however , a small-scale illusion created by the protection dome around the oasis. Once out of the dome , everything from the climate down to the typography would change in an instant .

“ Brother , is it okay if I ask why you were once removed from the ranks of the mage's association ?” Naaman dropped down next to Hamilton under the shade.

“Why do you wanna know?” The man took out an alcohol flask . Without Cynthia to police him , Hamilton was slowly going back to his old ways.

“ It just seemed odd for you to be dismissed only to be later reinstated and your rank even raised to second class,” Naaman replied .

“ Spoken like a true first class . Get out of my sight , I can’t stand your arrogance ,” Hamilton closed the flask and slipped it back into his inner coat pocket.

Naaman gave a heavy sigh , trying to think of a way to get through to the man. Honestly , even he himself thought he looked like a fool , trying to hang around a stranger who clearly wanted nothing to do with him.

“ Does the name Ludicrous Caesar ring a bell?”

Now that got Hamilton listening.

“ What do you know about that man ?” Hamilton turned .

He recalled Caesar having dared Jack to a duel back when they were still in the Parliament building , which meant that there was a small chance the two had met after his disappearance.

“He is what is called an enforcer. And he was after your friend Jack , the same man that we are supposed to be hunting . Listen brother , I am against what the mages are planning to do , just as you are ,”

“ What good will what I want , accomplish right now?” Hamilton decided against asking how Naaman knew about his relationship with Jack. If he wanted to tell him , then he’d do so on his own accord.

“ Alone there isn’t much , but if we can find other like minded people to join us , we can make a difference ,”

“ Why are you helping?”

“ Good question. You see, I want earth to survive this apocalypse , and with the way the Mage Association is handling the situation , I don’t like our chances. I’ve spent a few months listening to the Heretics and their ideologies , let’s say they no longer sound so crazy anymore ,”

Another mage approached the two and informed them of an impromptu briefing to be held by the commander. With the tone that the mage used to deliver the message , it was obvious that there was a sense of urgency. The mage didn’t even stick around to hear their reply.

“ We will pick this conversation up later , right now let’s hear what the commander has to say. I hope it has something to do with the worsening civilian situation,” Naaman excused himself.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Hamilton got up too to follow but stopped when he saw someone else running towards him from the opposite direction. A smile came upon his face when the person arrived.

“ Ryan , tell me , did you find anything?” he started at the guy before he could even catch his breath.

“ After the attack on the army headquarters , the military sent in a rescue team that made an account of all people that were present. They also counted the injured and the dead ,” the man started , taking huge breaths.

“ I don’t need to know all that. Tell me , did they find Cynthia Snow and Linzy Chase?” impatience filled up his face.

“No , and strangely they were the only people to not have been found. Puzzled by this , I decided to check the surveillance, hoping to get a trace on them ,”

“ And what did you see on the cameras?”

“That’s the other problem , someone had corrupted and deleted most of the footage. I only managed to retrieve the footage from the administration block which was lucky to have a double back up system . I am currently working on decrypting whatever virus they infected it with,”

“How long will it take ?” He tried suppressing the frustration to no avail.

“At best three days ,”

“I’m paying you enough to get it done in under an hour. You have one day, understand ?” Hamilton grabbed the man’s collar , his face contorted like a blazing bull in rutting season.

“Understood boss , I will try my best ,” the man whimpered as Hamilton let go , nearly throwing him off his feet as he did so. Once free , Ryan turned the way he’d come from and bolted before Hamilton could get his hands on him again.

----------------------------------------

By the time Hamilton got to the assembly point , Henry had already begun his briefing. He noticed Hamilton’s lateness but decided to ignore it; there was bigger fish to fry.

“ As I was saying , for those of you who missed it , the scouts have returned with both good and bad news.

The good news is that there is a way out of this desert. Everything about this planet is a mystery, and it seems that right now, we are inside a dome creating the illusion of a desert environment.

Two kilometres South is where you’ll encounter the invisible barrier ,and once past it , you will find yourself in a jungle.

The bad news is that the scouts have also taken concern of the likelihood of unidentified monsters laying siege outside the barrier , but since we cannot see through it , there is no way to be sure.

If we are to proceed with the mission , we need to neutralise it before anything else. In the process, we will also gain access to food supplies by foraging inside this jungle ,” Henry briefed them.

He then took a step to the left and asked a woman who had been in the front row of the audience to step forward and join him.

“This is Esther Schovik . Despite her status as a first class mage , many of you may not recognize her because of how recently she has been recruited into the ranks of the Mages Association.

She is the new third most powerful mage globally ,” Henry let this announcement sink in and arouse as many murmurs as possible.

“This shows you how serious the Association is in catching Jack Kamphar. She will be leading a select few of you outside this mysterious dome and ensure that there are no monsters lurking outside.

Remember , you will be working without home control or aerial surveillance.

This will be in completely unchartered territory that will require you to be on your guard at all times. Do not underestimate anything you encounter nor get careless for even a second , understood?”

“YES SIR !” they yelled in unison.

“ Good , rest well . Deployment is in eight hours.”