CHAPTER 48: PROPOSALS & MISSIONS
Dr. Miguel walked toward a metallic door at the end of a hallway. Robotic machine guns lined each side of the walkway leading up to the entrance. It was a large, imposing gate that stood to be 20 meters tall. An electronic key reader was placed toward the side of it. Miguel’s signature smile slowly faded away the closer he got to it. Swiftly, he slid his ID card against the reader machine and watched it blink green. The pistons attached to the metallic gate fired up, cranking it open slowly.
Site A2 - Oblivion Hold. IREs at the highest danger levels of Upsilon class were contained here. Magical wards, adamantium walls, and even countless Warden-class IREs were used to make sure none of the dangerous entities kept inside were ever allowed to escape. Even with all of these protections, however, breaches did happen.
Stepping inside, Dr. Miguel felt his lungs fill up, as if he had sunk beneath a deep ocean. It was almost impossible to breathe. He had already expected this however—closing his eyes, he spoke two simple words:
“AGI, activate.”
A status window appeared within his mind’s eye.
Employee Name: Dr. Miguel Pierre
Employee Codification: F049
Status: Department Head [Division Leader]
Department of Mythological Affairs - Hand of Relics Division.
“Entry to Site A2 is restricted. Lift Restriction?”
[Yes] [No]
He chose ‘Yes’ with his mind. AGI recognized his thoughts.
“Escalating Privileges…
“Access Granted.
“Welcome, Dr. Miguel. Site A2 anomaly behavior has escalated beyond normal thresholds. Proceed with caution.
“The Eyes of God are watching you.”
He exhaled slowly—his ability to breath had finally returned to him. Straightening his collar, Dr. Miguel slowly walked inside the dim corridor. A strange, tar-like miasma covered the air, but it didn’t inhibit his ability to move at all, unlike earlier. On either side of the walkway, metallic doors stood at precise intervals from each other, stretching down into the depths below and rising up into the infinite, star spangled ceiling above, as though the walls themselves were anchored within an endless void. Beneath his feet, the floor was transparent—it looked as if he was walking atop a shallow, murky ocean. The eerie and infinite corridor extended out beyond his own vision.
He continued walking, and walking, and walking—ripples forming beneath every one of his steps, hiding incomprehensible shapes that stood just out of direct sight. He ignored them all and continued walking forward—his face frozen like a statue. It was only after he reached a certain point that he stopped and turned to his left—one of the doors lining the corridor came into view, with a placard attached to it:
“IRE O-4001”
Miguel placed his palm over its surface—it slowly faded away, revealing a whitish-gray fog that cascaded downwards toward the murky ocean-like floor. He took a deep breath and stepped inside the wall of mist.
What greeted him on the other side was unlike the dim and eerie corridor. It was a regular room with an office desk and bookshelves. A window was positioned behind the desk, dripping sunlight into the office space. To the left side of the desk was a black leather couch and a coffee table, with the coffee machine placed on a shelf just next to the sitting area.
He sighed and glanced at the leather office chair which was turned away, facing the window.
“Director 004. Why do you always use this office space… Site F13 already has an office for you…”
“Because it calms me,” he replied. The office chair slowly turned around, now facing the old researcher. A man wearing a dark black suit with rounded glasses covering his crimson irises was sitting behind the desk. His signature frown was easy to recognize from a mile away.
Miguel frowned. “Is it because of the strange activities of IRE S-8181? The anomalies stored in this sector of Oblivion Hold are clearly not complying with their containment procedures. Even AGI has recognized this.”
Director 004 reached for his cup of coffee on the office desk and took a sip. “Indeed. Site A4 is also having similar issues.”
“Site A4? The Oneiric Vault? Impossible…” He commanded AGI to activate and began searching for recent case files on Site A4. What Director 004 was saying was true. Strange activities have been cited.
“But this is impossible,” he said. “Site A4 and Site A2 are completely separate realms! It would need to breach the time-space Mysteries that govern those dimensions! And to do it without even a single ward or O-class IRE detecting these rogue anima signals is preposterous!”
“This is Solomon we are talking about,” the Director reminded. “If not for his desire to cooperate, he would already be classified as a Pandaemonium class IRE. Even if we combined the capabilities of every HPP facility in the west coast of the United States, we would still be no match for HIm, probably.
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“A simple spatial barrier is nothing but childs play to Him, even in His currently weakened state.”
Miguel sighed. “So what did you bring me here for, then?” He suspected their conversations to be highly classified, but for the Director to be this precautious and use IRE O-4001 to isolate himself from everyone else in the facility… Was highly suspicious.
“IRE A-1549,” he said with his eyes glowing crimson. “It may have some connections to IRE S-8181.”
“What?!”
He continued. “Your department’s 004 division was ordered by HQ to investigate a set of ruins found in Rome, Italy. It was fairly close to the Vatican’s borders—I wouldn’t be surprised if the underground labyrinth extended inside their territory. I suspect that the strange activities from IRE A-1549 and S-8181 have something to do with it.”
Dr. Miguel crossed his arms. “Does this ancient labyrinth relate to Solomon in some way?”
“Mythologically, yes. That is why your team was called for this mission. Your flight to Rome has already been scheduled.”
“I see…” He glanced over at AGI which updated with the information regarding his new task. He glanced back at the Director, his gaze now more focused. “I assume you’d want me to bring Intern B34, Julie-Anne Kafka with me? She no longer belongs to the Hand of Relics division, but her involvement will most likely be crucial.”
The Director nodded. “Promote her to Investigative Agent. She no longer needs to be classified as an intern.
“Also, use your authority to deactivate AGI’s soul tracking on her. Let her roam free without any monitoring.”
Miguel’s eyes widened. The Director gave him no chance to ask why, however.
“Excessive monitoring will get in the way of IRE A-1549’s actions.”
“So you want to use her as bait?” Dr. Miguel’s frown deepened.
The Director leaned forward, elbows resting on the desk, fingers interlocked tightly as his gaze sharpened while staring at the jaded researcher.
“For the sake of humanity, no price is too great.”
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Soren leaned against the skyship’s railing and admired the glistening sun as it made its descent over the distant horizon. It has been two days since they departed, and they have yet to even leave the Feylith Forest’s borders. As the skyship continued to sail North, the sacred Spirit Blossom Willow became smaller and smaller. And yet, even now, two days later, the golden crown of leaves was still as enchanting as ever.
Aside from the exquisite views and the delicious food the ship’s cook made for them each night, most of the crew discussed the Vynasians and their armada of skyships. He had been eavesdropping on their conversations—according to them, that legion was heading away from Yadria, into the North West where the expansive black sand desert resided—The Eclipse Moor.
Soren had no clue what exactly was going on in the Eclipse Moor for the Vynasians to be this interested in it—he was simply glad they weren’t headed for Yadria. The day the sky shattered, Soren couldn’t help but think the world was about to end. Although no one panicked onboard the deck, he could instantly tell that the mood had shifted. There was an air of nervousness that continued to linger, even now.
Soren sighed with a smile. At least I obtained something useful, he thought. He opened his Soul Weapon again toward the correct page.
Voidstar Voyagers (Mechanica + Magecraft + Mystery)
A colossal skyship capable of navigating The Rift. A strange and powerful magecraft spellform lines the hull of the ship, allowing it to levitate. It is also primed with countless wards and defenses that protect it from the echoes of the rift. Unknown technology is used in its craftsmanship.
He stared at the page with a wide grin. At the time, while everyone else was startled by the emergence of the Vynasian armada, Soren got the idea to use [Eyes of the Fairy] on one of the skyships. Although it was risky, he knew the benefits were worth it. And, he wasn’t wrong with that assumption.
Not only did his Soul Weapon [Record] fifty percent of the schematic to create the ship, it also chronicled the magecraft wards and spellforms for allowing the ship to levitate as well as its other defenses. But by far the most important aspect had to be the strange Vynasian magecraft spellform for navigating the Rift. This was a huge piece of information to secure, especially since one of his own titles listed on his Soul Weapon gives him protection from the rift.
Soren had always planned on eventually traveling back to Earth at some point—he needed to do so if he wanted to uncover the truth about Scribe-of-Worlds. This could prove to be a crucial step in that direction, especially since it allowed him to compare different methods for protection. He couldn’t trust nor rely on just the title Mr. Unknown had granted him.
Still, this didn’t come at no cost. Aside from the usual brain damage, the biggest side effect of [Eyes of the Fairy]—time dilation—had activated once again. According to Myrin, Soren had been frozen, suspended in animation for an entire day. To him, it felt like using [Record] on the Vynasian skyship only took a few minutes, but for everyone else, his body was frozen in time.
This somewhat bothered him. If every time that effect activated, his body froze in place, how was he able to navigate the forest when he was running away from the Headless Ogre? It all didn’t make any sense to him. Still, he knew he would probably be able to piece together a theory sooner or later. He just needed to continue using the ability enough times to fully understand the trigger mechanism behind it.
Just as he was about to flip the page to a diagram showing the internal components of the Vynasian Voidstar Voyager, a hand swiftly wrapped around his neck—Myrin. The handsome elf smiled brightly as the wind blew his hair apart.
“What are you doing?” He asked joyfully.
Soren sighed and closed his Soul Weapon. “Just reviewing the information I've recorded so far.” He wasn’t lying, but he also wasn’t entirely telling the truth. After the countless conversations with Myrin, he had figured out a way to somewhat counter his ability. Since Myrin required reading the tunes of his soul through his Echo of Mind, Soren simply focused on telling half truths whenever he spoke with him. This allowed him to focus his thoughts on the truthful portion of his statements, making it hard for Myrin to differentiate between which ‘Echoes’ were the truth and which weren't.
Myrin sighed, “there you go again… You do know I don’t have my Soul Realm activated right now, right? I am not snooping around your thoughts.”
“I know that,” Soren chuckled. “I am mainly doing it to screw with you.”
“How petty…”
Soren ignored his complaints. “I want to ask you something important.
“Myrin, will you allow me to join Star Fate Guild?”
“.....” Myrin stayed silent—his hand still wrapped around Soren’s shoulder. Soren didn’t say anything—he waited patiently for his answer.
“Soren, did Tina ever tell you what our goal is?”
He shook his head. “All I know is that your leader, Mistress Sienna, deploys you guys on certain missions.”
“I see…” He rubbed his chin. “Let me explain it to you then.
“Mistress Sienna’s goal is kickstarting the next Age of Fantasia.
“An age where the Celestial Orbits of Fate turn once more.”