Chapter 11: Day 26

Luctor knocked three times, as softly as he could, on the door of 73581 Klenx Drive. It was precisely 1:32 AM, as his watch attested; he had arrived two minutes after he was supposed to. Getting out of the hotel was no easy task; Luctor knew that there were guards; Black Wings as well as independently hired guards stood vigil outside all the exits of the hotels.

Except one. Well, actually, except a hundred, but Luctor only needed one. He had slid open the window in his hotel room as quietly as he could (the squeaky thing had almost given Luctor a heart attack when he first tried to open it.), slipped out wearing his more comfortable and stealthy Chrysian wool clothes, and climbed to the rooftop of the building. From there, it had been a simple matter to travel via rooftops to his destination, half a mile away, as the map of Edelstein had promised.

Come on! I'm only two minutes late!

But still no answer...

He looked up at the building, where a single window was open three floors up. The building itself, an apartment complex, was five stories tall, as were all the buildings around. But none of them... none of them had their windows open as obnoxiously as this one. It seemed so out of place – it seemed–

Deliberate. They want me to climb up there. They want me to prove I can help.

Luctor laughed as he used the ledges on the wall to get to the open window and slip through it; this was absurdly easy, considering his more dangerous maneuvers in the past had included jumping off cliffs. Then he abruptly stopped laughing, as soon as he was inside. It was completely dark and seemingly uninhabited; no light, no people, no greetings...

A shadow shifted to his left. Narrowing his eyes, Luctor turned to his right, letting whoever it was think he had not seen...

Misdirection.

A whoosh as a fist flew through the air–

Another whoosh as Luctor turned around and blocked it–

Interception. Let's turn the tables now...

Yet another whoosh as another fist flew at his face–

Luctor grabbed the attacker's wrist instantly and pulled his arm, smashing him into the wall behind him–

Retaliation.

Luctor threw a punch at the man's head, but he was already gone, somersaulting away and reaching into his coat–

A light switch was flipped, and the entire room was bathed in light; Luctor's eyes felt a little uncomfortable as they adjusted. He turned around and saw that his attacker was the man from Edelstein Park who had slipped the message stone into his pocket. He was still wearing the same clothing: long khaki coat, wide black hat, and black sunglasses.

In his hand was a small green and yellow crossbow, pointing straight at Luctor's face.

Another man was standing next to the wall, where the light switch was. "Well, will he do?" he asked gruffly.

"He's more skilled than I expected."

That voice... Luctor wouldn't have believed that the voice had come from the man – if indeed that was a man – in front of him. It sounded... feminine. Familiar. But he couldn't place it...

And then everything snapped into place; the crossbow – no, it wasn't a crossbow, it was a bowgun – in the man's – no, the woman's – hand, the voice–

"Mercedes?" Luctor asked tentatively. Could it be Mercedes? Mercedes, the Hero of Bowmen? The Mercedes that I knew one hundred years ago?

"How do you-" she began, then stopped. "Who are you?"

Luctor took the absence of a reply to be an affirmation. "It – it's me, Luctor!"

In shock, Mercedes let her bowgun lower itself by a few inches, then shook her head and raised it again at Luctor's face. She took off her hat and sunglasses, revealing her pointed elfin ears and slanted sapphire eyes. Her entire being exuded confusion; her eyebrows were scrunched up, her mouth opened slightly, her left arm hung at her side, and her head was tilted backwards as she looked at Luctor.

"Impossible... he has white eyes and brown hair..." She paused. "But hair can be dyed and eyes can be covered with lenses..."

"It's me, Luctor! We fought the Black Mage together! I was with Aran in Henesys, and then that Resistance person came, Mark Guque, and–"

Mercedes cut him short, squeezing the rest of his words right out of his lungs with a tight bear hug. "I thought I'd never see you again!" she squealed happily. Her eyes were moist, and Luctor could see what could have been a tear forming at the corner of her eye before she blinked it away.

"It's so good to see you!" she sighed blissfully, a stupid smile on her face as if she were drunk.

"What's this?" A pale man with long black hair spilling from his head walked into the room, rolling up the sleeves on his suit. "Ah, but don't I know you? Luctor, wasn't it?"

"YOU!" the Thief snarled in reply. He pushed Mercedes behind him roughly, snapped his fan open, and sprung at the newcomer with the viciousness of a tiger.

He brought his fan down at the man's throat in what could have been a fatal strike, but the man blocked Luctor's hand from getting any farther than his shoulder, grabbing Luctor's wrist with his left hand. A three-foot long scepter appeared in the man's other hand, which he then used to hit Luctor in the stomach with, sending him flying back against the wall.

The man clicked his tongue as if he were disappointed, smiling coolly at Luctor. "Luctor, Luctor, as incompetent as always."

Mercedes, who had been watching with a hand over her mouth, motioned for the light-switch-man to back down. "What's going on, Luctor?"

Luctor gestured wildly at the man. "Don't you recognize him? It's Desla, the Black Mage's right-hand man! He's one of his generals!"

"Incompetent and clueless. You haven't changed a bit, Luctor."

"Stop it, Desla," Mercedes snapped before turning to Luctor. "Desla's turned to our side. He's helping the Resistance."

It was Luctor's turn to gape blankly, and he did so at Mercedes with gusto. "Why would he join us? What does he gain by-"

"Well, revenge, for one," Desla said, minus the smug expression he had been wearing just three seconds before.

In its place was an expression of sorrow, of loss. Of pain. Luctor knew all three emotions all too well. Had something really happened between Desla the Demon Slayer and the Black Mage? Was it extreme enough to alienate one of his best men?

"I'd rather not talk about it," Desla said. "I'm going out to set the charges. Ask Mercedes if you're so interested." He tapped the top of his own head with his own weapon, and his entire form rippled. When it had settled, he looked like a maintenance man. He waved to Luctor and walked out the door.

"Why is he here?" Luctor asked as soon as the door banged shut.

"He – I can't say it, Luctor, it's just... it's just too horrible..."

Luctor sighed, then looked up at light-switch-man. "Who's this?"

"Oh, that's Scilo. He's part of the team."

"Um... team. Uh-huh."

"Oh, right, we still have quite a bit of stuff to go over. Please, sit down," Mercedes said, gesturing towards what was probably a dinner table. "Scilo, please bring out the maps and close the window."

As Luctor sat down, Scilo shut the window, pulled a gigantic map out of nowhere, and set it down on the table. It was crisp and new; they probably had several replicas of the same map. It wasn't of Edelstein itself, Luctor knew, because he had seen an actual map of the city.

"First thing you need to know," Scilo said, "is that we three make up the infiltration team. The machine that we have to disable – I'll be dealing with it. You two just have to get us in and out safely."

"Sounds simple enough," Luctor murmured.

"Oh, how I wish it were that simple. The problem is that the target machine is in the depths of the Edelstein Mines, which just happens to be where the Black Wings have set up base. Getting in and out is no easy task – there's one entrance and one exit."

Luctor shook his head. "Now, wait a minute. You're telling me that the Edelsteinians have zero emergency exits out of the mine?"

Mercedes shook her head as well. "That's what we're telling you. The Edelsteinians were extremely smart – they built tunnels that can never collapse. Even in the event of an earthquake, the support structures would hold it all up, no problem. They didn't even bother with an emergency exit because they were so confident."

"...You're kidding."

"Nope," Scilo said. "Anyways, on with the plan. This-" he pointed at the map "-is a map of the Edelstein Mine. This-" he pointed at the top of the map "-is the entrance to the mines."

And for the next three hours, Mercedes and Scilo explained to Luctor the plan, which was already set in stone:

12:58 PM: Change of guards at the mine entrance. No action taken. Each shift consists of a group of six guards at the entrance.

3:14 PM: diversion. The Resistance and Desla would put on a spectacular show in the middle of Edelstein Square, involving explosions and massive destruction. They would incapacitate any Black Wing guards headed their way, including Luctor's escort. This should draw many of the guards away from the Edelstein Mine.

3:20 PM: Luctor's escort would be gone by then, leaving him clear to switch clothes, take out his contact lens, and race to the rendezvous point of the merchant store one hundred sixteen meters from the entrance of the mines.

3:25 PM: The team would get together and wait.

3:33 PM: The guards should be tired by now and less vigilant. Exactly thirty minutes until the next shift comes in. Luctor and Mercedes are to knock out the six guards with sedatives. The team will enter, get to the machine, and disable it as soon as possible.

?:? PM: Team exits, revives the six guards with an antidote to the sedative, and leaves discreetly.

"When are we doing it?" Luctor asked. The plan was straightforward enough; the only potential source of trouble would be guard patrols within the actual mines. Unlike the guard patrols on the outside, the Resistance had limited knowledge on what the guard movements on the inside would be like. What little they had was all gained from spies they had placed within the Black Wing organization. Most of the meeting was spent going over the information and planning a route to the machine.

"Tomorrow," Mercedes said. She glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. It was almost 5 o'clock. "Go back to your hotel before dawn, and get some sleep. Rest up for tomorrow."

Day 27

Poki Hotel: 3:13 PM

Kaza was taking his afternoon nap in his bedroom, blissfully unaware of the fact that he was probably going to be hit in the head very hard quite soon. Luctor was pretending to take his afternoon nap in his bedroom, painfully aware of the fact that he might be killed quite soon.

While he was pondering what the afterlife would be like, a huge explosion resonated through the entire building, making it shudder as if it were a boat floating out in the ocean in the middle of a storm. The wood in the building creaked as it shifted, and the window next to Luctor cracked but did not break. After less than a second, it was over. More explosions sounded in the distance, rattling the glass of the windows but not shaking the building as violently as the first.

Kaza tumbled into Luctor's room, his hair standing up all over his head wildly. "Are you OK?" he yelled.

Luctor nodded.

"Smoke's coming from Edelstein Square." He pointed out the window. "I'm going to go check it out. Stay here, it's safe."

Luctor nodded again, but Kaza wasn't looking anymore. He had already rushed out of Luctor's room and out into the hotel corridor.

Edelstein Square: 3:15 PM

Desla stood in the middle of a crater, watching the events around him unfold. The Resistance men were scattered all over the square, waiting for the Black Wing patrols to arrive. Their orders were clear: knock the Black Wings unconscious, but do not kill them. This was merely a diversion, not a full-blown battle.

The morning before, when he had seen Luctor, he had come here to plant the charges that would bring the Black Wings like flies to honey. There were fifteen in all: fourteen were a simple matter to place, in trash cans around the square, in buildings adjacent to the square, and other arbitrary places. But the last one... Desla had to go down into the long-forgotten underground tunnels that used to be mines.

That last charge was to detonate first; it was the largest of them all, and was to create an explosion large enough to be felt throughout the entire city. And because he didn't want to vaporize himself, the charge went down below the city, where its power could be felt, but not its heat.

On his right, the bottom of a building exploded into a cloud of dust, blowing rubble all over the square as the support columns nearest to the explosives collapsed. The rest of the columns, unable to bear the weight without the other columns, crumbled slowly but surely, and the entire building tipped over and crashed into the ground like a drunk man on a unicycle.

And so the Resistance waited, their last explosive charge spent. They had, of course, bought out all the buildings around the Square a couple of weeks ago to make sure that no one would be in them on this fateful day.

And then, the words that would mark the beginning of their fight rang out as the scouts placed in the streets around the Square came running back to the Resistance forces.

"Desla, squad of fifteen from the east! Four minutes!"

"Squad of seventeen from the west, five minutes away!"

"Eighteen men approaching from the north! They'll be here in three minutes!"

"Seventeen coming from the south! Six minutes!"

Over sixty Black Wing forces coming their way. More would inevitably come once the first sixty something failed to return to their headquarters, but even sixty was more than Desla had thought would come.

Oh well. Sixty is nothing compared to the thousands they have... This is why they put me on the job, after all.

He reached out and pulled his scepter, a brutal-looking three foot long weapon, out of nowhere. The orb at the end, crackling with dark energy, was surrounded by what looked like four ax blades, although the flat metal pieces were completely blunt. A small glowing force shield was on his wrist.

"Remember, try to capture them if you can!" he roared.

A bolt of black lightning flashed by Desla's head, deflected only by his wards. He whirled around to meet the onslaught of the first squad of enemies, calling his men to remain in position.

Edelstein Mine entrance: 3:31 PM

The infiltration team was crouched behind a pile of rubble in front of the Edelstein Mine entrance, which was nothing more than a big shrubby hill with a cave carved into its side. Several guards were pacing impatiently back and forth directly outside of the cave, waiting for their shift to end. Each of them wore the Black Wings emblem on their jacket and hat.

"Hold on. Let me check the cracker." Scilo took a small device out of his backpack, pressing seemingly random buttons on it, then turned it off and put it back inside his pack. He looked up. "Take them out," he whispered to Mercedes.

Mercedes loaded her bowgun with a dart tipped with a powerful sedative, then shuffled to the very edge of the rubble pile for a clearer line of sight.

Is that really six guards? Luctor wondered. He counted the group of guards at the entrance...

..and immediately knocked Mercedes' bowgun down.

She looked irritatedly at her teammate, annoyed that she had now lost aim. "Why'd you do that? I was just about to fire."

Luctor pointed urgently at the entrance. "That's not six guards," he whispered. "Unless they changed the number of guards per shift, that's not all of them."

After a pause, Scilo whispered back, "He's right. There's only five. Where's the last one?"

"Are we even sure there's a last one?" Mercedes asked. "They could have reduced the number so they could get an extra man to the square."

Scilo shook his head. "No, no. They wouldn't leave their headquarters at risk just to be able to send another man out."

"The last guard has to be out of sight," Luctor concluded. Mercedes and Scilo both nodded silently. They were all thinking the same thing: if they knocked out one of the guards at the entrance, then the last guard would probably see them and raise the alarm. They had to take the missing one out first...

Each of them scanned the hillside, trying to look for him. They continued in silence for another minute, after which Scilo turned to Mercedes and whispered, "Maybe they did send him out."

But Luctor wasn't listening. He heard them talking in hushed voices, but he didn't pay them any attention, because he had seen something...

A discoloration.

A spot of black in a sea of gold straw and green shrubs. Of course, it could be just a shadow, but...

There you are... The splotch of black grew bigger as the wind blew at the hillside, dividing the straw to reveal the shape of a marksman who lay flat on the ground, his crossbow stretched out in front of him.

Luctor pulled Mercedes over and pointed the marksman out to her. "Can you make the shot?"

"Looks to be about a hundred fifty yards... should be no problem." Mercedes lifted her bowgun to eye level, lining up the two notches on her weapon with the marksman's face. She adjusted her aim for wind and gravity, then pressed the trigger.

The dart, gleaming menacingly in the sun, was visible for less than a second before it was too far to see. A few seconds later, the marksman's head slumped to the ground as if he had just dozed off.

After nodding silently to Mercedes, Luctor scooted past her to Scilo's side, and watched the two of them go about their business. Mercedes handed Scilo her empty bowgun, which he reloaded with a dart even as he passed her the other bowgun, which she then fired without hesitation at the guards. This efficient exchange allowed Mercedes to fire all five darts in the space of four seconds, knocking the guards unconscious before they even realized they were under attack.

"Let's go," Scilo hissed at Luctor.

The small group sprinted across the ninety-three yards of open space between the rubble pile and the mine entrance, staying low to the ground to avoid detection. Their added efforts were unnecessary, however; not a conscious guard was in sight.

Once inside, they quickly reviewed the floor plans and the route that they would follow to the machine in the depths of the mines, then moved into formation. Mercedes was the advance, in front of the others check corners, and Luctor hung behind a tad to cover their rear. Resistance was pathetic; they encountered a grand total of two guards, who were both quickly incapacitated with Mercedes' darts.

In less than five minutes of running through the smooth whitewashed walls of the Black Wings headquarters, the infiltrators were in front of the defense mechanism, a huge conglomeration of copper snakes coiling all over the main piece, which was an enormous hunk of shiny metal. The trio stood there in silence, admiring the thing; it was amazing, they all knew, that this one piece of machinery could prevent even the most powerful magicians on the planet from teleporting near Edelstein. Amazing. Scary.

"Mercedes, go outside and keep watch," Luctor murmured. "Scilo, get to work."

The Edelsteinian knelt down before the machine, pulling a small device out of his pack. He plugged it in to the machine before pressing a not-very-visible button, making an interface pop up that was strangely reminiscent of Omega Sector's projection systems.

When Luctor voiced the last thought aloud, Scilo laughed. "That's because the Omegans built the machine," he explained while going about his business. His head didn't even turn as he talked to Luctor. "It was installed here after the Great War. Ironically, it was built to keep the Black Mage out in case he ever tried to return..."

Machine room entrance: 3:39 PM

Mercedes paced back and forth, keeping watch for any guards that might come this way. If there were any guards, she had to take them out immediately, before they sounded the alarm – it was of the utmost importance for the team to not be discovered while they deactivated the machine. If they were discovered, the Black Wings would know that they'd been to the machine and their plans would be ruined; it would take the Black Wings just a few seconds to reactivate it.

It's amazing, Mercedes thought, to see two of my closest friends after a hundred years! If things had gone normally, I would still be alive, but I would have watched them grow old and die... it's almost too good to be true for them to be alive!

She shook the thoughts out of her head. This was no time to be thinking about her friends dying. Besides, there was still one person missing... the hero of pirates. Mercedes wondered if he could still be alive... sealed away just as the Black Mage had sealed Aran and herself away...

Petra... I hope we'll find you.

A warm breeze flitted through the corridor, making Mercedes' golden strands of hair dance about as if they had a life of their own. She smiled, welcoming the comfort of the soft wind.

Then her smile froze and melted right off of her face.

We're underground, she thought as she whirled around. There wouldn't be wind, since the corridors don't have ventilation... Expecting to see some kind of magician readying a spell to cast at her, she whipped her bowguns out in front of her.

But there was no one.

She sprinted to the end of the corridor and rounded the corner, expecting to see a fleeing Black Wing.

But there was no one.

She briefly considered running further just to make sure there was no one, then dismissed the idea. It would be folly to stray too far from the machine room. She turned around and walked back to the machine room, where she continued pacing uneasily.

After another few seconds, another warm breeze blew through the corridor.

Mercedes instantly turned, facing the wall and pointing out her bowguns in either direction with her arms outstretched. She looked back and forth, searching for the person who was trying to drive her insane with some soft breezes.

But there was no one.

Practically shaking with apprehension, Mercedes tried to calm herself down. Maybe it's just Luctor messing with the wind again... I should go ask him.

Another warm breeze blew through the corridor, chilling Mercedes down to the bone. She shivered and began walking to the door of the machine room.

"Mercedes..."

What was that? Mercedes thought nervously. "Who – who's there?"

"It's me... Luctor."

"Luctor is inside the machine room! Show yourself!"

"Turn around..." the air whispered.

Mercedes did so and almost fainted from shock. There, floating a foot above the ground, was a transparent Luctor – every wrinkle, every pore, every feature the same as the one inside the machine room, except milky white. Even his posture was reminiscent of her Thief friend. "Luctor is inside the machine room..."

"I am dead."

"But you're..."

The specter laughed. It was an unnatural laugh; Mercedes cringed at the noise, which sounded like glass being crushed. "The Black Mage killed me one hundred years ago. The thing inside is nothing but an illusion, created by the Illusionist."

"Akyrum..." Mercedes whispered. "Is it possible? Is it really you?"

"Akyrum will use the illusion to spy on the Resistance... learn of their battle plans. You must kill it."

"H-how?"

The ghost smiled, and again Mercedes cringed. "Kill it like you would kill a man." A warm breeze made its way through the hallway, and the ghost dissolved into nothingness.

A sparkling diamond made its way down Mercedes' cheek as she absorbed the ghost's words.

Luctor, alive? It was too good to be true.

Athena Pierce's home: 12:46 PM, Victoria time

"Athena!"

The bowman elf turned her head towards the voice, busy picking up her books from the floor. They had fallen off of her bookshelf just a few hours ago, when the last earthquake had struck. There had been several earthquakes lately, two since Luctor's departure for Edelstein three days ago, not including the most recent. "Yes, Milea?"

The young woman's face was redder than a tomato, Athena observed. Milea evidently had some very exciting news... or maybe it was just because the girl had run a long way in a short time.

"The last earthquake – I thought it felt like it was coming from Sleepywood, so I went down there to ask the Rememberer. He told me that all the recent earthquakes had been coming from the deep temple!"

Athena dropped her books as the blood drained from her face and into whatever region of the body that would make her feel less frightened. "The – the deep temple?"

Milea stooped down to pick up Athena's books, but the elf waved her away. "Are you sure? The deep temple?"

"The Rememberer's very own words, Miss Pierce. Is something the matter?"

Athena closed her eyes and felt her blood rush back to her face, along with some terrifying thirty-year-old memories. "The last time earthquakes came from the deep temple," she whispered hoarsely, "Balrog broke free of his seals."