The Stage Theater was one of the oldest theaters established in Loen. Its short building, compared to its contemporaries at the time, concealed one of the largest stages constructed. The massive balconies on either side towered above the main seating and its audio design were praised by Emperor Roselle himself. The theater had hosted dozens of famous dignitaries and it was rumored that it was even the favorite haunt of one of the royal duchesses.
“Where did Ava say that she was going to meet me before the play?” Lewis muttered while looking around at the main entrance of the theater. The wooden sign showed the main attractions shown tonight, and The Corsairs of Sonia were brightly colored green above the other plays.
“Lewis! Over here!” a familiar voice called out above the chatter of the other theatergoers.
Lewis turned around to see Ava walking towards him with another young man hurrying behind her. He recognized the man as Kieran Warne, one of the students who attended Professor Soren’s lectures.
“Nice clothes,” Lewis smiled while greeting them. He was not wrong though; Ava wore a deep red dress with a silver necklace. Kieran on the other hand wore a midnight blue suit with a small watch that hung off his wrist. Both had cut quite a dashing young couple ready to enjoy the finest that the city had to offer.
“You too,” Ava giggled, she took off the necklace and jingled it around her palm. “My father spent like 60 pounds on this in preparation for my 18th birthday. I’ve decided to show it a little early for you guys when we watch the play.”
“Impressive” Lewis said while examining the necklace. 60 pounds? That is like two years' worth of salary! He turned to Kieran, “Well, are you excited to watch the play tonight?”
“For sure, though I don’t understand why it’s still so popular,” Kieran spoke softly. He looked around the crowd before saying exasperatedly “We’ve all seen this play before when we were kids. Why didn’t we watch one of the up-and-coming plays like The Inferno?”
Kieran was a quiet and studious young man who came from a more modest background compared to the other students in Professor Soren's lecture. While the aging professor didn’t attack Ava as much, he had still made it quite clear that the three of the students weren’t exactly welcome at his lecture. Naturally, that made Ava, Lewis, and Kieran bond together through their mutual dislike of the lecturer.
“Come on Kieran, it was written by Emperor Roselle himself!” Ava flipped a lock of her brown hair towards the black-haired man. She grabbed out the three tickets from her purse while proclaiming, “The story is still good enough to stand the test of time! I’d like to see some stupid play that would go out of fashion the minute the critics talk about it!”
Lewis interrupted her while smirking, “Since when is a story about a pirate named Jack Sparrow and some undead pirates going to stand the test of time?”
Ava pouted, “Hey! You need to have some imagination if you want to enjoy a good play! Let’s start lining up, the play starts in a minute from now!” She stepped up to stand behind a line of viewers who were eagerly waiting to enter the theater. The two other men looked at each other before following her.
Ava was so excited that the soles of her feet were lightly bouncing up and down. Lewis, seeing her action, was about to make a quippy wordplay until he saw a man leaving the theater in great haste. The people around him could not help but frown when the man passed them; it was considered a great insult to the theater if theatergoers were running around their premises.
The man was dressed in an elegant black suit with a hat that hung low over his eyes and carried a large briefcase. While he was walking on the cobblestone road, he tripped over a particularly large piece of rock and a few papers spilled out next to the three friends. Lewis, who was the closest, quickly bent over to pick up one of the papers to hand it to the man.
Hold on! That emblem on the top right corner looks exactly like the symbol on the paper that Lawrence had dropped back at the newspaper! Who is this person? As Lewis passed over the paper to the man, he took a quick glance at his face out of curiosity and could barely stifle a gasp. It was Ira!
Slowly and carefully, Lewis looked away from the face making sure that his face didn’t betray his tumultuous thoughts. Ira must be going to meet with that man to hand over the papers from that botched deal! Lewis surmised while analyzing Ira’s appearance. His eyes seem tired and there seem to be lines etched into his face. He must have spent a great deal of time worrying about this trade and what decision he will make! But what does this have to do with what Lawrence is going to do? I have to follow Ira, it might help Lawrance out with his story and would solve my lingering questions. The only problem is, how can I get rid of Ava and Kieran without too much fuss?
Lewis stopped in his tracks while he pressed his hand to his temple and groaned out theoretically, “Dammit, my head really hurts for some reason! I don’t know if I can watch the play right now. While he was moving his hand to his temple, Lewis used his fingernail and dug it into one of his nostrils.
When Ava and Kieran turned around, they were shocked to see blood seeping from his nose. Lewis was a remarkable sight with one hand rubbing his head while the other covering a portion of his nose.
“Are you okay?” Ava cried as she handed over her handkerchief. “If you want, we can walk you to the nearest hospital instead of going to the play!”
Shit! I can’t have either Ava or Kieran hovering over me while I try to follow Ira. Lewis cursed in his head and said aloud, “No, it is fine I just had a headache this morning. I should be fine, you guys should go watch the play first, I’ll join you when this bleeding stops.”
Lewis shot a look towards Kieran who nodded reassuringly and wrapped his arm around Ava. “Let's go, Ava, my mother is a doctor, she has taught me enough for me to think that it's not a serious medical concern.” The two of them headed inside the theater and were soon covered by the other people behind them
Lewis waited until he was sure they could not see them and hurried off towards the direction of Ira and the Underway. I’m sorry Claire, I know I made a choice back at home to not go to the meeting, but I want my answers!
…
The Underway was still packed at this time of day since many of the people selling their goods in the morning and afternoon were packing up. Of course, there were still a few clandestine markets that were operating throughout the entire day, but for most of the merchants, it was time for them to pack up in the general market.
The normal guards who roamed around the marketplace were missing, most of them going back to do whatever shady business had to be done elsewhere in the Underway. Lewis heaved a sigh of relief when he had seen this, it had allowed him to slip through the throng of people easily without being stopped for questioning.
Lewis hurried past a few merchants wrapping up their crates, one of his hands still pressed against his nose. Shit, I cut a little too deep when I dug inside with my fingernails. I better clean that cut before it gets infected or something.
While bemoaning his carelessness, he quietly retraced the steps to enter further into the Underway. Many of the street lamps were perpetually on and the shops further down the passageway were still open to receive as many customers as possible. If I remember correctly, the house in which Ira is going to make that deal was on the corner of the upcoming street.
When he caught sight of the building, he could see the back of someone just entering the front door. As he took a deep breath Lewis reached into his back coat pocket and then swore Fuck! I wasn’t planning on eavesdropping on this meeting, so I left my revolver back in my room. Damn, this is going to be much harder if I get caught. Well, the time to make regrets is now behind me, I’m already here!
He looked up at the familiar house, its gloomy facade and crumbled structure made many who saw the building pass by it without a second glance. However, the faint light that pierced through the faded curtains betrayed the fact that the building was still occupied. Ira must have been in a serious hurry; I wasn’t able to see him until that very last moment he entered the building.
Lewis walked to the side of the building and carefully grabbed onto the pipe. He quickly scrambled onto the first-floor apartment as he had done before. He looked at the accompanying window and felt relieved, the latch was still open!
He slid into the deserted room. The room was still relatively unchanged from his previous excursion into the building. The only notable change was that the iron chests that lay around the floor had disappeared. Lewis crept towards the opening on the floor where he had previously listened in. Strange, this hole seems a bit bigger from what I can recollet from my memories. He strained his ears to listen to the conversation below and tried to also peek through the crack.
“Good choice,” a familiar voice purred out approvingly. Lewis held his breath in fear. It was the voice of that man who had violently killed Ira’s companion last time! Lewis looked at the white-haired man closely, he wore a deep red cloak with shiny black boots. The view reminded him of those traveling magicians who would go from city to city to amaze their audience.
“Here are the rest of the papers that we stole from the locked drawers, Mr. Beckett” Ira spoke out. The sounds of the briefcase clasp clicked open, and the rustling of papers followed. “You can find the records of that deal that the company was involved in during the establishment of the trade agreement with the rubber suppliers”
“Wait!” the man, presumably, Mr. Beckett commanded, “Men, please leave this room and head to the basement, I must speak with him privately” The sounds of footsteps echoed throughout the building until it was dead silent.
“As I was saying, you may now take a look at these files,” Ira said. Lewis could see the elegant man incline his head slightly towards Mr. Beckett while handing over the papers.
“Very good, these would go wonderfully when I pass on the papers to the Oracles”, Mr. Becket responded after carefully scanning through the pages, “We are now closer to building the world that our lord has envisioned.
“Hahaha, this is the first important job the Oracles have handed to me, and I have done it perfectly!” he boasted to the other man.
What world and what is so important about this? Lewis raised one eyebrow; All I can see from here is the fact that a few sensitive papers have been exposed. At best, it would shut down a company or two!
“That’s all nice and all,” Ira said impatiently, and he took a seat down on a nearby chair “What of my contributions to this deal? I have risked my whole job and betrayed several friends to get these papers. Is it enough for me to get my reward?”
“Hahahaha, you have demonstrated enough faith and trust in our organization. We have produced a suitable reward that shall reciprocate your efforts. “Mr. Beckett laughed strangely; the laugh sounded oddly high pitched. The sounds of bottles clinking onto a table followed a thud.
“First, I must ask you of this for formalities sake, for this type of reward that you have hinted so desperately when we first met. Are you willing to join our brotherhood to push forth the dawn of a new age?” The laugh was now gone, in its place, a sinister and commanding voice boomed out from Mr. Beckett. He swept his cloak back and let it flutter behind him.
“Yes, anything for this, I accept your offer to join your brotherhood” Ira almost shouted hysterically. His normally composed manner had shifted into that of a sailor in a sinking ship desperately looking for a lifeline.
“Excellent! now feast your eyes upon the generosity of our Lord!” the white-haired man pointed towards an object in front of him. Ira moved around the table to take a closer look with Mr. Beckett.
Lewis pressed his eyes onto the crack below the floor, he could see the heads of two men standing before a metal table. There was a small red velvet box that revealed three small vials each filled with a discolored liquid that commanded the attention of his eyes.
“These are your rewards now that you have joined our grand vision, “Mr. Beckett gestured towards the vials reverently. “Each of these potions will grant you the necessary abilities to aid our organization with distinction! I cannot stress how great these rewards are such that I had to move my men to the basement to conduct this affair!”
Potions? That congealed stuff looks poisonous to even drink! Lewis squinted his eyes further.
He could hear Ira swallow his saliva before saying, “So this is the step to gaining great power? What is in each of them?”
Mr. Becket responded seriously, “The far-left potion grants you the initial ability to follow the Sequence of our Lord, the True Creator’s pathway! The middle one will give you powers of the pathway of space!” He picked up the last potion and held it up in the air. “This last potion will grant you the powers of an elite killer! We obtained this potion from another organization with whom we have collaborated on multiple occasions!”
Ira paused for a moment, looking at the bottle in hand, and then said, “I have always wanted power to control the very lives of the people who I meet. To govern their ability to hang onto this realm. I chose this potion!”
The other man was silent for a moment and then said sternly,” Very well, the pathway belongs to you. Take your potion and follow me, I must head to the basement to perform a ritual to see if your potion will be successful!”
That’s my chance! Lewis leaped to his feet as soon as the sounds of a door opened below, and the two men left the room. I must go down to see what those so-called potions can do.
He quietly opened the door and checked down both hallways. Looks like Mr. Beckett was right, all his men are down by the basement. The coast is clear! He found the stairs and tiptoed down the steps taking care to prevent overly loud creaks from permeating the building.
The room where he was previously watching was minimally furnished. Only a small table in the middle could be seen with a few chairs on the sides. The two potions that the men had left behind were still lying on the table, their contents glowed every few seconds.
Hmph, so these are the potions that will grant a person supernatural power? Lewis tiled one of the potions as he peered into the viscous liquid. The fluid seemed otherworldly and for some reason, small swirls could be seen, merrily moving to his eyes.
“I would be careful handling these potions”
Lewis froze in surprise when he heard a familiar voice speak behind him. He quickly turned his head to see a short and thin man looking at him amusedly. “Mr. Lawrence?” he whispered softly.
The man raised his eyebrows in confusion before it quickly faded away.
Lewis paused when a sense of realization came upon him. No, wait, I remember now, that’s not Mr. Lawrence! It's-
“Sorry for my earlier deception, Lewis,” the man grinned apologetically and took his peaked hat to reveal short black hair, “You can call me Regis”
