New chapter! I did it! Hopefully this one is better than the first couple. I reread them a little while ago and I have to say thank you so much for reading this far. I know that it really sucked in the beginning. Thank you for your reviews and comments, I love reading them. If you have any tips for me feel free to email me. Thank you all so much, I hope you enjoy this one!

Cruxis Corporation

Chapter Nine

"Okay, this is a bit intimidating." stated Ashley as she looked up at the enormous crystalline structures that made up the Cruxis buildings.

"I knew it would be big, but not this big!!" said Emily in amazement. "Are we really going to work in there?" she asked Anna, a worried look crossing her gentle features.

"That's what Kratos told me; he said to tell anyone else looking for work and show up with them at ten in the morning." said Anna as she too nervously looked at the large glass building that shone in the bright morning sunlight. She then began to fiddle with the buttons on her black business jacket. She and the others had decided that they should make a good impression by wearing black business suits they borrowed from Ashley's cousin Jeremy.

"Wait, this guy's name is Kratos?" said Ashley. She gave Anna an amazed look as she asked this.

"Yeah, why?"

"Don't you know anything about the Martelian faith?" asked Ashley incredulously. "Kratos is the name of one of the three angels who protect the goddess Martel! Even their workers make a mockery of our beliefs!!"

"Maybe it's just a coincidence? I don't think that Kratos is the type of person to take advantage of people's beliefs…" muttered Anna. She looked nervously at Ashley, when she was met with a cold stare she tried her best to avoid it by eyeing the massive glass Cruxis structures. Anna then took a deep breath and tried to force down her apprehension. "Well, it's now or never" she said, walking up to the large glass doors and pulled them open, the other two young women followed closely behind her.

The inside of the building was just as intimidating as the outside, polished steel grey floor tiles reflected the morning sunlight that shone in through the large glass walls that faced the bustling street. A dark blue pathway flowed from the front door to the back of the room where it ended in a jagged 'W' shape. On the wall in the center of the 'W' was the Cruxis symbol, beneath the symbol was a large dark blue desk with a single young brunette woman sitting behind it. On the wall behind her and to her left was a large dark blue wooden door with a sign on it labeled 'Employees Only'.

Leaning on the desk talking to the woman behind it was another young woman. This one was wearing a long white lab coat and black slacks. She had shoulder length dark grey hair with a few strands that fell onto her stern facial features. At the trio's approach she stopped talking to the brunette and faced them expectantly.

"Are you Anna?" she asked looking the three over.

"I'm Anna, Kratos told me to come here at ten…" said Anna nervously.

"Yes, I was informed of the situation. Lord Kratos sent me down to meet with you and tell you what your jobs will be during this trial period." She said giving them each a calculating glance.

"Lord Kratos?" asked Ashley giving a suspicious glance at this strange woman.

"Yes, Lord Kratos. I advise you to refer to him as such during your time here. I was told to show you the ropes around here. Please follow me." She said turning and heading through the door labeled 'Employees Only'. The three gave each other a nervous glance and then quickened their pace to catch up with her. When they matched her pace she continued, "My name is Kathleen, you may address me as such or as Miss Deja. You will be working under me so feel free to ask me any questions you may have about the work you will be doing." The small group was heading down a narrow hall, as they turned a corner Anna saw that the low walls surrounding them were actually cubical walls. The entire area was filled with office cubicles, Anna didn't know how many, it looked like they continued on forever.

"…Are you a half-elf?" asked Ashley stopping. She was staring wide-eyed at Kathleen's ears. The rest of the group came to a stop and turned to stare at Ashley. At her remark Anna immediately looked as well. Her ears were pointed. Anna had never seen a half-elf before, she had heard of them in stories from her father and the more outspoken people of Luin, but she had started to believe that they were some sort of fictitious character. She had never thought that she would be talking to one now.

"Yes, I am a half-elf. If you have a problem with that you are requested to leave immediately." She said as she tucked a few stray hairs behind her right ear. At her remark Ashley looked like she was trying to suppress some question or remark that had sprang to her mind. Anna looked nervously at her companions and made up her mind.

"We don't have any problem with that, we were just surprised; that's all…" she mumbled under the arctic stare of the half-elf. This statement earned a smirk from Miss Deja.

"Lord Kratos said you wouldn't have a problem with it. I apologize, this was a test designed by Lord Yuan. He told me to make sure you weren't avid half-elf haters since the majority of Cruxis employees are, in fact, half-elves. Seeing as you passed the test: Welcome to Cruxis."

"Wait, this was a test?!" came Emily's startled reply. Kathleen nodded grimly at her. "What would have happened if we failed?"

"You would have been 'escorted' out of the building." came a cool reply. The group turned and to their surprise Lord Kratos was standing leaning against a cubical wall with his arms crossed.

"Kratos!" gasped Anna.

"Lord Kratos." said Kathleen with a slight bow. "I was wondering when you would pop up." She gave another small smirk, "Here they are, I've tried not to traumatize them too much for you, much to Lord Yuan's dismay." At that both she and Kratos began to chuckle quietly.

"Very well, I shall take them from here." said Kratos, Kathleen bowed to him and then turned and went down a narrow hallway between the cubicles, disappearing from sight. "Alright, follow me. I shall take you to where you three will be working." After saying that he quickly turned and began walking down the hall the way they had been going before the conversation about half-elves had occurred. The three gave each other another nervous glance and then hurried to catch up to Kratos.

Soon they made it to the end of the hall. At the end was an open space with several doors on the wall. Anna recognized these as elevators, they each had buttons to push to get on and numbers above them showing which floor they were on. They also had numbers on the doors; Anna didn't know how many there were, in front of them there were about twenty doors labeled twenty through to forty. Anna assumed there were more located elsewhere, but if they only went up to forty Anna had no idea. Kratos approached the one labeled twenty-three and pushed the button that was to the right of it. Anna noticed that some of them had two buttons and others only had one. The buttons had either an up or a down arrow painted on it. The one that Kratos selected had a single button with an arrow pointed up on it. The door opened in less than ten seconds, allowing them access to the interior.

Inside the elevator was small, the walls were silver and there was a narrow metal hand rail along the walls. The three entered the elevator after Kratos and turned to face the open door. Kratos then pushed the button with the highest number on it; three. Anna became a little confused at that, she had seen the outside, there were way more than three floors in this building, more like three-hundred. 'Perhaps each elevator can only go to certain floors, that's why there were so many' thought Anna.

"You three will be working on the third floor. Currently we are unsure of how long you will be staying with us, the more you please us the longer you will stay. Until you know your way around the bottom floor someone will always be there to escort you to this elevator, so you won't have to worry about getting lost. You will work in my department under Kathleen, so feel free to ask her or anyone else you meet any questions you may have. Bear in mind though that some of your questions may not receive an answer if they are about an inappropriate topic."

"What's an inappropriate topic?" asked Ashley.

"You will find out soon enough." Said Kratos as the elevator door slowly opened. It revealed that the third floor was set up much the same as the first floor, there were millions of cubicles and narrow hallways in-between. Kratos began leading them through the endless sea of office space towards the large windows located at the back of the room. At least that was were Anna thought they were going. Halfway towards the windows Kratos stopped and entered one of the cubicles. The cubicle was empty; there was no one in it. There was however a desk, a chair, a stapler, two wire baskets, a jar of pens, and some stamps and ink pads. "Anna, you will be working here." He pointed to Anna's two friends and then across the narrow hall. "You two will be working over there. It will be your job to receive documents and properly fill them out. You will be briefed on how to do that later. You will also be responsible for sending specific documents to certain locations. Any questions?"

"Are we going to be required to live here like all your other employees?" inquired Ashley.

"No, you three are different from us; you can come and go as you please, just make sure you do the work we assign you. Until you are comfortable navigating the building feel free to get Kathleen or anyone else to take you where you want to go. Ah, here is Kathleen now." said Kratos looking over the low cubicle wall. Anna wished she could see over it too, but alas it was just a little taller than her and her two friends.

"Yes, here I am." said Kathleen as she came into view. "Thank you for your help in explaining things My Lord, I will take it from here."

"Do all Cruxis employees like to just randomly show up?" asked Ashley with a small smirk. Kratos chuckled at that.

"Indeed we do. Anyway, I will see you three later. Try to remember all Miss Deja tells you and follow her orders as best you can. Good luck." said Kratos as he turned and left them without a second glance.