Log 11:
Date: July 7th, 2190 I.C.
Time: 07:06
Location: Imperium City Warp Station
It was the next day. I woke up earlier than usual to head to the Warp Station in the Outer Business District. My parents sent me off with a few pastries and the love-filled embraces I wouldn’t be able to feel until I came back. Even though I’ve worked in the field many times, I could never get used to the feeling of leaving my parents. Perhaps the looming thought of not coming home made this whole thing intimidating.
I stepped onto the cable car. It was empty, for the most part, since commuter time wasn’t for another hour. My red Investigation jacket flared open, revealing my white polo shirt flapping in the gentle morning breeze.
I slap my cheeks with the palms of my hands.
“It’s okay, Ari. You’re gonna be okay like you always are.”
Yet my knees were still bumping into each other, buckling inward more and more.
I slam down onto them with my fist, furious that I was still hung up in the past.
I grit my teeth silently, clutching tightly onto my backpack while watching the paved street below me blur past my eyes.
“What should I do?”
>>>
The cable car pulled into the Warp Station’s platform. As I exited through the gates, I was met with the sight of a grand steel colosseum standing ten stories high. People with their luggage appeared as small as ants from a distance. Several stone paths from several cable car stations lead right to the archways carved out in the ultra-modern structure.
I follow the path in front of me to one of those entrances. The old fashion street lamps that had oxidized into a turquoise color decorated the path with some greenery. The automatic doors to the colosseum opened up. The floor transitions from uneven rocks to seamless tile. In front of me were long lines of travelers checking in at the reception desks while getting their items verified for anything illegal. Of course, I didn’t have to go through this procedure.
I walked up to a tiny booth sitting off in the corner of the long reception desk. It was painted a bright red and had the three shards of Imperium City painted onto it. A glass cover separated me from the person who sat inside the box.
“Hello, welcome to Imperium City Warp Station.” She greeted sweetly. “How may I be of assistance.”
“I’m checking in for the 7:30 Warp to Jannad at Terminal 7.”
“Perfect. I’ll need to verify your ID and inspect your baggage.”
I pull out my Imperium City Resident Card and hand it to her, which she then scans to verify whether it is real or not. She also scans my face with a Sigil since there have been instances where criminals disguised themselves as someone else to access the warp. If a normal person did that, they would be fined three Gold or potentially get detained for a week under the charge of identity fraud.
Of course, everything went smooth sailing since I had no criminal record, to begin with.
Then, the receptionist steps out of her box while holding her hand to indicate that I pass my belongings onto her. Once again, I complied with her instructions, and she popped open my backpack, even going as far as to enlarge my Ether box and weapons case, which I had compressed to fanny pack mode or back pouch mode, depending on how you want to put it. It didn’t take her long to verify everything was okay. She glanced over at me, smiling as sweetly as she welcomed me.
“You’re all set, Investigator Rai.” She said, handing me my stuff as well as a ticket with a barcode on it. “Please proceed to Terminal 7, down the hall to your left.”
“Thank you.” I grinned, shoving the ticking into my inner jacket pocket. “Have a lovely day.”
“You as well. Best of luck in the field.”
Following her instructions, I found myself walking through a curved hallway along the edge of the colosseum. The arched glass windows were connected by steel beams passed me by as I observed travelers coming and going into the Warp Station either from the cable car stations or the nearby Hackneys. To my opposite side, numbers lined the corner of smaller passages to larger waiting rooms with rows of uncomfortable faux leather chairs separated by plastic armrests and Ether chargers.
I scrunch my brows together, scanning for Terminal 7.
“Five. Six. Seven-“
I made a hard left into the passage, which took me to a waiting room identical to the other ones I had just seen. There was barely anyone at the terminal, but one familiar person was there.
Blank.
He was sitting alone with one leg crossed right over the other, his arms folded together, waiting.
Waiting.
Then his head turned in my direction, faster than I could blink an eye.
I waved my hand awkwardly, and he waved back in kind.
“You’re here early.” He took the initiative to speak.
I clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth and sat down next to him.
“I could say the same for you. I took a look at the info last night. The Dungeon we’re heading to is located at a solar power plant in the middle of the Orken Desert.”
The desert lands were known to receive an abundance of sunlight, and with the recent discovery of solar power, the desert cities struggling economically soon became tycoons overnight.
“That’s strange,” Blank said, placing his hand on his chin. “Typically, Dungeons don’t appear in places where Barriers are constructed.”
>>>
Due to the rapid development of Ether technology, humans have created foil-proof Barriers which prevent the formation of Dungeons in urban areas or essential facilities. Hence if a Dungeon does form within the Barrier, that could only mean there was either an anomaly, or someone had created a catalyst for the Dungeon to form. But since so many Dungeons were forming all at once, it was like the former.
>>>
“We are living in strange times.” I laughed, folding my hands together. “But we’ll need to see for ourselves what’s going on. Only then can we tell. Since we’re working together, you mind telling me your Position?”
Blank replied almost immediately.
“I’m a Dimachaerus.”
“So a dual-wielder. Makes sense since you use blades.”
“You?”
“Flag Bearer,” I told him.
“Hard class.”
“Yeah. Few of us these days since the training is grueling.”
>>>
Flag Bearers could be considered one of the more obscure Positions in the Adventurer profession. Not only did one have to have mastery of Sigils but also have high Ether control to manipulate their body. This manipulation of the body using Ether is another type of Arcmagia known as Aura. Many close-combat fighters like Alistar specialize in using Aura, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t use other forms of Arcmagia. As long as one knows how to control Ether, one can use all types of Arcmagia.
However, learning multiple kinds of Arcmagia is difficult. Hence many tend to specialize in only one form of it. As for Flag Bearers, we need to know how to use both Aura and Sigils to a high level which is why the class is difficult. On top of that, we also need to know how to wield a Gleafaver, which takes years to master.
>>>
“Why a Flag Bearer?”
“I’m a bit of an Uruna fan,” I responded shyly. “Took up Flag Bearing because I wanted to be like her. Kinda childish, ain’t it?”
Blank shook his head.
“No, not really. Many aspire to become their childhood heroes.”
“Does that statement apply to you?”
He shrugged.
“One could say that-“
Yet, before he could say more, the door leading to the Warps behind the announcer podium in the room swung open. A female attendant dressed in a green blazer emerged, her black heels clicking against the tile floor as she readied herself behind the mic on top of the podium. She tapped on it a couple of times, the speaker picking up the sound of her finger and static that pricked my ears.
“If I may have everyone’s attention. We will now be preparing to enter the Warp to Jannad. Be sure to have your ticket ready to be scanned and all your belongings as well. Thank you for using Imperium City’s Warp Station, and may you all have a safe trip to your destination.”
The attendant clicked off the mic.
The fifty or so people sitting in the waiting room stood up, myself and Blank included, and wandered over to the podium where the attendant readied her scanner. I place my ticket under the scanner, the glowing red light from its head turning bright green.
With the wave of her hand, the attendant waved me through the gate and then Blank.
We sauntered through the steel passage concealed behind the door. My footsteps made contact with the metal floor, grinding against them with the soles of my combat boots.
Soon I saw light. Light filtering out from the end of the tunnel. The steel floor meets with the concrete of the colosseum. My eyes are initially blinded by the strong sunlight, but when I glance down, they are blinded by something else.
Huge oval-shaped structures standing nearly the height of the colosseum with enormous numbers carved into their bodies hollowed out by a luminous blue light that seems to have its own kind of attraction. Guards clad in heavy armor surrounded the structure, ready to pounce on trespassers who managed to emerge successfully from the Warps. I shuddered at that thought as the beady eyes of the guards piece my own as if staring into my soul, making me clutch my backpack even tighter.
As the travelers emerge from the tunnel, another attendant guides us to a menacing-looking Warp with the number seven engraved onto its apex. The glowing blue light in the center of the Warp appeared to be sucked inwards akin to a black hole Sigil. The guards move away from their positions, allowing the travelers to pass through the Warp.
A warm feeling envelops my body. It’s brief, but on couldn’t help but want to stand in that spot for eternity. Yet, instead of remaining at that point between space and time, I continued walking. Walking till I could see the people in front of me disappear, vanish from the space as if they were never there.
I take one more step. My foot disappears, then my arm. Another one, then my leg vanishes and soon my head. I pull my body through the light. A burning sensation hits my foot, then my face. Before I knew it, I was sweating like crazy. The sun was higher in the sky than I last remembered it. And the air, drier than I was accustomed to. It was also much warmer than Imperium City, situated in a windy valley.
The guards standing around the gate were different. Instead of wearing bulky silver armor, they wore loose garbs covering their bodies from head to toe. A turban with a black gem encircled in silver wings embroidered onto the center was a distinguishing feature everyone knew.
They were part of the Shahid’s Reserves of Jannad. In short, they were the Prime Minister of Jannad’s Elite force, similar to the Royal Guard in Imperium City. However, what confirmed that I was in a completely different time zone was an enormous neon-colored billboard plastered to the wall of the limestone warp station that practically screamed ‘Welcome to Jannad, the Desert Capital of Oriar’.
I had arrived.
I check the time on my Glancable.
11:43
It was a four-hour time difference between here and Imperium City.
I feel a tap on my shoulder. It was Blank who was pointing over to my right. In the corner of my vision, I was met with an olive-skinned girl with black hair braided down to her waist and piercing brown eyes, which were a strong indicator that she was a native. She pointed at me with her slender finger while waving her other hand up in the air. A Sigil matching the Imperium City Emblem hovering right above her head.
Blank and I broke off from the group and headed to the girl mimicking a reeling motion. As soon as we were two feet in front of her, she stopped, placing her hands on her hips proudly.
“Cahlem eu Jannad! Welcome to Jannad, Investigator Rai and Blank. I am your guide, Tanya Eigthsard. We’ve been expecting your arrival!”
Tanya thrust her hand with a toothy grin, which I accepted in kind, while BlanKknodded silently.
“A pleasure, Ms. Eightsard.”
“No need. Now, if you two will follow me, we’ve got a ride to catch. I do advise you clutch tightly onto the provided sick bags because this ride will be bumpy.”
“Pardon?”
And before I knew it, I was riding in a Hockey twice the size of the ones in Imperium City with bulky wheels to ride the dunes. Unlike Imperium City, which was constructed in the planes, Jannad was built on the steep sand dunes of the desert. The orange mounds could be seen from every part of my eye. The low-rise flat-roofed bungalows painted in vibrant were quite a contrast to the triangular multi-stories homes of Imperium City. There were hardly any tall constructions except for the occasional sky scrappers in the dunes and the wall that surrounded the city. Vegetation was quite sparse considering that we were on the outskirts of Jannad, but if one headed closer to the center, they would find more trees and native shrubs surrounding a body of the bluest water I have ever seen. It was a shame I had work to do. Otherwise, I would like to enjoy a vacation here.
The Hackney blazed past the gates. My body jostled in the cabin as the Hackney climbed over the hills of sand. The orange dust scattering in the hot air as the Hackney plowed further into the mid-day sun.
“We’ll arrive at the Orken Power Plant in an hour.” Ms. Eightsard hollered from the front. “I recommend getting a quick shut-eye, it helps with reducing motion sickness.”
“Thank you, Ms. Eightsard,” I shouted from the back, the powerful engine of Hackney muffling my speech a bit.
“I should be thanking you, and just call me Tanya,” Tanya responded. Our only Specialist in Alconian Veins is off investigating another Dungeon. I didn’t think our Request to Imperium City would be responded to quickly. Alconian Vein Specialists are as hard to find as a needle in a haystack.”
“I understand,” I replied, keeping my eyes closed to reduce motion sickness. “We’re quite rare. Also, will you be participating in the Dungeon?”
Tanya nodded.
“Yes, I’m the other Investigator you will be working with. We have a few more waiting at the base camp.”
“If I may inquire, what is your Position?”
“I’m an Okcu. In the common language, you would call me an Archer. You?”
“Flag Bearer. The guy next to me is a Dimachaerus.”
Tanya snapped her fingers together.
“Perfect. We were lacking a Mid-Ranger and a Frontliner.”
“Who else do you have?”
“Ah, we have a Tanker and a Healer. It’ll just be the five of us doing the initial dive. Typically there would be eight to ten, but there’s a shortage of Investigators. A backup team will follow us twenty minutes afterward sooner if something comes up. Our locations and information are recorded live through our systems.”
“Seems handy,” Blank spoke for the first time on the ride.
“It’s all part of protocol.” Tanya continued. “That’s why Dungeon casualties have been kept to a minimum. I’ve heard from the higher-ups that you’re new, so I’ll give you the rundown of Formal Dungeon Closing. We have three groups that enter the dungeon: Investigators, Backup, and Closers. We are Investigators, so we get the first peak into the Dungeon. Whatever we discover will automatically be sent to the other two groups. Backup exists to assist the Closers and us. If we fail, Backup will continue the investigation for us and inform the Closers that they are ready to close the dungeon. However, if we’re not dead and Backup is close enough to our location, they will come to help us.”
“What is the mortality rate of Investigators in Dungeons?”
“Fairly low, Arian. About 10% since Backup typically save us before things go south. Also, it’s not like we Investigators are weak either. The prerequisite is that we have the strength of a 7-Star Adventurer, but I’m sure you’re aware of this already.”
I nodded.
Investigators were the cream of the crop. Most who become one are typically the best in their graduating class back in their academy days. However, in the case of Imperium City Academy, approximately 40% of my class became Investigators upon graduation. I’m part of the 60% who didn’t, but here I am, amongst the best, saving Oriar from falling to ruin.
“With all these measures in place, even if we don’t die, we might end up with a few injuries, which is on the better side of things.”
“Out of curiosity, do Investigators participate in the Boss Fight?”
Tanya shook her head.
“No, because we do the dangerous work of finding the Boss Chambers, we typically don’t fight. That’s the Closers job. Worst case scenario, we do, but our task is to find a route to the Chambers while Backup secures it for the Closers. We just have to get in and out ASAP."
"Sounds good." Blank and I said in sync.
"Great. Now that you have the gist of what's going on, we'll be at the base camp soon. Rest, cause you're gonna need it."
"I'll keep that in mind."
And so I take one last glance up at the sun. Its blinding light obscured my vision, preventing me from looking past its glowing facade.
Preventing me from seeing the truth.
