The brick-textured walls drove past him, as Glenn trekked down the steps. Spirit-bulbs lit the entire way down, deep to the earth to the old ruins of the interworld gateway, and also the expedition’s operation center. The space between was spacious, owing to Galvin’s generosity when he shaped and carved the passageway. Perfect work too, without any signs of cracks or wear, even after a year of being in place.
The stairs bottomed out, coming to a flat square before reaching a nano-steel door, forged from elemental terra and aqua through some process Gale would gladly talk anybody’s head off about. Something the younger man mentioned he wrote a paper on in university, years before he joined the Agency. No wonder he got along with Instructor Tali, or kitten as Glenn called her.
All he knew was that it was one of many things they had to keep secret. The material was stronger and lighter than any naturally occurring alloy, and all but unknown here.
Shapes and lines running along the top of the door flared.
“Scanning… Authentication accepted… Welcome Home Glenn Albatross!”
Glenn snorted at the last bit, certain that wasn’t a standard programmed greeting. Gale messing with the script to make their lives out here a bit more comforting. Not that he needed it. Isolation from the greater world was a normal part of their job. Regardless of the world they were in.
The door slid open. Spirit-bulbs flashed from the ceiling revealing the compound.
Laminated stone tiles formed the floor, easy to clean and maintain unlike the wood flooring of the tavern. Most of the furniture within had been delivered as “mental wellness equipment” a few weeks after they arrived. Several orange sofas surrounded the center, resting above a blue carpet. A large viewing screen covered one entire wall, with a scanner to play recordings of late news bits from home and a few games to kill time.
On the far side was the kitchen, complete with a modern stove, refrigerator, freezer, and a few spice cabinets. By far the most used and most precious section of the compound. Glenn was glad he didn’t have to subsist on local food here. A one word of summary of how he found the cuisine here was lacking.
The only things which looked official were several dura-plastic cases stacked in a corner of the room and the central operations center sitting between the sofas. A large black hexagon riveted with various shapes.
Glenn took a seat on a couch, sifting through the coin pouch Brennan gave him. Among the copper coins he found a gray one, and slapped it on one of the operations center’s circle-ports.
The circular outline glowed and flickered. Glenn placed one hand into a triangular-port besides it. Formerly invisible imprints running up his arm glowed, and information screens flashed in front of him.
Access Granted… Accessing United Talmoran Republic Intelligence Agency archive…
A three-dimensional hologram appeared, mirroring the surrounding area. A large cluster of buildings on twin walls representing the nearby Imperial Capital of Norastaad on one side and the town of Esthel on the other. Forests, roadways, ponds, and all manner of areas of interests marked the area between. Blue screens populated around the hologram, detailing various notes and mission objectives. Everything from local weather to population demographics to groups of interests.
“Accessing Data… 10%... 50%.... 100%... Weekly report file (Brennan Overwood), addendum included… [Open?]”
Glenn flicked a finger to open the addendum.
Description: Sorry for the off-cycle request. I know you gents are sticklers about getting things in standard format but this is a tad bit important. I have word of a rare herb that is a cousin to a few species back home. Local legends are pretty clear about its medicinal use, and further speculation indicates it may exhibit additional properties well worth researching. Only problem is it blooms during the peak of the summer solstice and a verified informant confirmed it grows in the local high-borne hunting grounds. I think it is pretty clear that I cannot procure this myself in a reasonable timeframe so I’d like to reach out and see if you gents can procure it on my behalf. I included a depiction of the herb in the request file. Please take care not to damage the stems.
Request: Procure 20x Solenight roots. (Please take care not to damage the stems.)
Further Details…
Glenn sighed; a bit disappointed that this was it. He had hoped for something that would provide a bit more of a challenge. Some excuse to give his skills a bit of exercise.
Instructor Valera’s hand replayed in his mind. The mistake which grated him all the way down here. All he had to do was accept it, and play the role of a humble freeman. Just like he had done for the past year.
Instead, he slipped. Small but noticeable. He always prided himself on self-control, but something about that instance raised up shadows of his past he had long thought buried away.
Glenn sighed. He’d have to be more careful from now on. Galvin said the stresses of their job caught up to everyone. The key was recognizing when and adapting accordingly.
And for this an evening run and some fresh air may do the trick.
He focused back onto the request. It was simple and straightforward, and with red-flags scattered all throughout it. Everything from where Brennan got his information to the location he was being asked to search. Glenn had a feeling the researcher’s criterion for “verified informant” was not as robust as his. From the few months he spent time with him, Brennan seemed like the type who was more book than street smart.
Either way, it was an official request, and he wasn’t one back to down from ambiguity. Glenn stood up, rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck.
He swept the message aside with a finger, turning his full attention to the holographic map.
Glenn probed it with his hands, zooming in to a walled forest between the city and the town. The high-born gardens. Several red diamonds peppered along the walls, moving in real time as predictive routes of guard patrols. As far as he knew, the information was current. The gardens were off-limits for a common freeman, but Gale managed to squeeze by with Tali on what he called an “academic stroll” two months ago. By the time he left, he had collected a good deal of data on the region, sprinkling sensor tabs all around the area.
Not that Glenn needed to worry. Nothing in the gardens would be an issue for him to deal with.
He pulled up a search bar, inputting key aspects Brennan mentioned about the plants with a virtual keyboard. Everything from exposure to sunlight, moisture, locality to water, and distance from other plants. With each new filter, sections of the gardens grayed out, narrowing the areas he needed to visit, until all that remained was an exposed hilltop centered in the middle. A bit off the main road, and far from any guard patrols.
All the data he needed. Time was of the essence now, as the summer solstice would end in a few hours when the twin moons reached their height in the sky. Something he still hadn’t gotten used to after living under just one moon for most of his life.
Glenn tapped a few buttons, downloading the information to his personal database, and drifted to one of five doors lining the wall opposite the viewing screen.
It swept, revealing a room triple the size of the previous one and a ceiling twice as high. Most of the space was taken up by a hexagonal sparring ring. Char marks still fresh on the ground from his morning routine. One of the practice droids mounted against the walls had its arm missing, courtesy of a match a few weeks ago.
He stepped down a set of stairs and swerved to the left, entering another room carved into the wall. As he went inside the lights flickered on. Twin cabinets on opposite sides of him flipped open, revealing row after rows of weapons, armaments, and supplies. Closets at the end of the room opened, revealing three power-suits of varying sizes. A cylinder which could fit an adult man spun open in the corner, revealing a stool at its center.
Glenn smiled. The sight never ceased to bring joy to his eyes. He stepped through, past several rows dedicated to various aether-guns belonging to Gale. All of which would probably never see the light of day, given operational secrecy constraints.
Not that the kid minded it. He did prefer the softer and more diplomatic aspects of their job.
He stopped at the row just before he got to the closets, at his personal stash.
A Returner Tomahawk sat at the top, equipped with link imprints to call it back to the owner’s hands. Twin Tetrium short-swords equipped with magmite emblazers. The blades sharp and impervious to wear and tear. When the magmite emblazers were activated, they could cut at the cellular level. A Drifter Maul, capable of gaining density right before a strike to maximize weight to impact. And that was his usual menu. More exotic tools sat in the lower drawers, all brought just in case.
And these were just the ones he was authorized to bring. Class three or lower once again per operational secrecy constraints.
He reached to the very bottom of the drawer, past all his preferred weapons and pulled out his most used tool in past forays. A standard-issue police-baton, built to the right lightness to strength ratio to inflict the optimal amount of pain without risking lethal injuries.
Glenn walked past the closets, leaving behind the power-suits. Those most definitely would never be brought out here, barring an emergency off-world evacuation.
He took off all his clothes save his undergarments, and took a seat in the stool in the middle of the cylinder. The imprint machine hummed to life.
All the markings and imprints around his body became visible as the machine scanned them. Triangles, squares, lines, circles, pentagons, and hexagons. Each representing a specific imprint and ability that could be powered by the pure spirit core beneath his heart. Several blue screens appeared in front of him.
Estimated Functional Capacity: 36. Available: 21
Current Spell Slots
CL 3 (Terra)- Body Hardening
CL 3 (Aqua)- Healing Stream
CL 3 (Aer)- Motion Accelerator
CL 3 (Ignis)- Fire Blast
CL 3 (Aer)- Lightning Blast
CL 2 (Shadow)- Masking
CL 1 (Terra)- Dust Cloud
CL 1 (Aer)- Air Burst
The top five he had on at all times for basic security. Three defensive and two offensive imprints. Air burst and dust cloud were remnants from his last off-cycle request, the former useful in discreet ranged attacks and the latter useful for a quick getaway. Glenn scrolled down the imprint list, adding a few selections to the list.
CL 3 (Shadow)- Active Camouflage
CL 3 (Shadow)- Active Shielding
Glenn pressed the [Done] button, letting the machine whirr
Glenn smirked and stood up. A few more things and he would be ready to depart.
***
Glenn crouched from tree-cover, peering around the surrounding forest through his night-vision goggles. Scanners in his eyes picked up a few moving figures hidden in the background.
Entity: Rabbit (Category 0)
Entity: Rabbit (Category 0)
Nothing he had to worry about. The bustle of the town behind him was but a whisper, though he could hear signs of people leaving the bars. Everything should be done and well by the time he got back, which meant Galvin and Gale would take care of cleaning everything up. Thankfully.
He crouched.
[Motion Accelerator (Aer CL 3) Activated]
The trees blurred as he dashed forward, leaving the trap-door behind. He drove through the forest like an arrow, dodging and ducking around bushes and foliage. Toppled trunks and hidden roots.
A few minutes passed as he covered the distance in a fraction of the time it would take for a horse-drawn carriage. He still couldn’t believe people still used horse-drawn carriages. Even worse was the high-borne who used them didn’t even need it. A magus could get anywhere with his elemental powers a lot faster. Instead, they used carriages, if only as demonstration of one’s status. To show one had the leisure to waste time and have an animal haul one through the countryside. Wasteful.
The forest began to clear, giving way to the plains. Glenn let spirit flow through another imprint.
[Active Camouflage (Shadow CL 3) Activated]
[Spirit Capacity: 35,200/36,000]
He saw his arms flicker into the background, taking on the image of their surroundings. As he rounded a hill, a tower strode up in the horizon leading down to the flickering lights and dark shapes of the Imperial Capital of Norastaad.
A near exact replica to the city of his birth, Heidelberg. Which made sense given Norastaad had been the template by which the third legion had built Heidelberg. Guided by a scion of the Valekhof dynasty.
And while Heidelberg and the Valekhofs had been reduced to ruins in their world, Norastaad remained standing. The proud eagles of the Valekhof dynasty still waving in the distance. Not just as Kings now, but as Emperors.
The clear divisions of haves and have-nots were built into the city’s very architecture. High-quarters behind the main citadel. Low-quarters behind the lower walls. And outside, dispersed in many campfires were the lacklander encampments.
Glenn averted his eyes, avoiding the draw of more unwanted memories. He pivoted north. One mistake was enough for this evening. He did not need to make two. All he had to do was focus on the mission.
Another forest rose up in the distance, surrounded by stone walls cracking in several sections. He stopped a few steps after cresting the hillside.
Two people, dressed in curved helmets and plated garments passed along the bottom of the wall. His sensors matched their profile to the one he had stored.
Entity: City Guard (Category 1)
They moved along, bored and relaxed, without any sign of alert. Neither held a torch due to the visibility provided by the full moons, and appeared not to worry too much either of any threats. Most of the incidents in the gardens after all usually involved adolescents and young lovers or both trying to sneak through the gardens for a thrill. Hardly something which warranted physical danger.
They disappeared past the curve of the wall and out of sight. Glenn poured spirit into his imprints.
[Spirit Capacity: 35,160/36,000]
He took a deep breath, feeling his blood pound.
Then he dashed down the hill-side, the wind flapping along his vest and streaming across his wrapped face. As the wall started to veer towards him, he jumped.
Glenn flew toward the sky, the wall streaming downwards in a blur of white sheetrock, until he finally cleared it. His ascent slowed, owing to the precise timing of the leap, and he drifted on top of the wall with barely a tap. Beyond, Zegovia trees coated the entire enclosure, with branches the size of normal tree trunks and trunks the size of houses.
He wasted no time leaping off the wall, kicking off one branch to another and another, zig-zagging downward to the grass. He landed maintaining his momentum and continued forward. Deeper into the forest.
***
It didn’t take him long to get to the spot he cross-referenced from earlier. A hill exposed to the moonlight. A bald spat in the forest canopy. It took him even less to find the herbs. Bright orange tulips and blue stems gleamed in the moonlight.
Glenn stepped up to the hillside, taking off his knapsack. He opened the flap to whip out the first of twenty preservation capsules, and used his hands to dig the plants out the earth, carefully following the steps outlined by the researcher.
As he plucked out each plant and gingerly set them inside the vials, he recalled a few conversations he had regarding this area from the researchers. It sat on a minor ley-line in the planet’s spirit energy cycle, nourishing the underlying flora and develop special properties not found elsewhere. Places like this existed in Cruxxom, although most had been converted to generator plants, powering the modern societies of the descendant countries. In the country of Talmora proper, the only ones untouched were the ones on C’thraxxi reservations.
He took a look around, basking in the sound of wildlife, the sight of fireflies glimmering in the midst, and hundreds of glowing plants. He wasn’t a tree-hugger, but he did appreciate the natural beauty of the landscape.
Something chirped from below, followed by the sound of something digging through the dirt.
Glenn jolted back, pulling out his baton. He turned in the direction of the voice, noticing two jagged antennas and a carapace peek its head out the earth. The creature lacked eyes, letting out a yawn along its caped mouth, revealing rows of jagged teeth.
Entity: C’thraxxi Cruxling (Category 0)
He relaxed, lowering his baton and surprised at finding a cruxling all the way out here. It seemed like the little thing had done as most of its kind did in the absence of a leasher or a hivemind. Eat and sleep.
It must have just buried itself, feeding off the latent energy in the ground.
The cruxling crawled out, poking its head and front feet onto the grass. A single antenna pawed at his foot, detecting him through the camouflage. It must have been drawn out by the shadow energy emanating from the cloaking field.
Glenn took his baton and tapped the antenna away. The cruxling squealed, digging back into the earth. He snorted, finding its reaction a bit like watching videos of housecats. Amazing how they were once seen as genocidal demons from the pits of hell.
He let the thing crawl back into its hole, reminding himself to mark the sighting for later. Their C’thraxxi liaison would love to get his hands on it. He’d have to organize a trip the next time the researcher came back from the Northern Wastelands.
Glenn packed the bottles into his knapsack, checking to make sure he had twenty capsules filled up. He kicked the dirt around to hide the traces of the plucked flowers, then swept the knapsack onto his back and dashed back through the forest.
He drifted through the trees for a few minutes. However, as he drifted close the main road splitting through the gardens, he caught sight of several figures along the road.
Glenn stopped behind a tree, and peeked around. Through his goggles he could make out five figures armed with makeshift clubs and weapons. Lacklanders judging their attire, which made their aggressive posture even more eye-raising. They surrounded a girl who held a power-staff against them. Hesitation and uncertainty painted throughout her face and posture. A purple cat grizzled in front of her, its back raised and hind legs poised to strike.
He recognized her, if not by the bright visage of the academy crest planted on her cloak then by the familiar glasses and purple braided hair that came by the café during school afternoons. One of Instructor Valera’s students.
