Cassie crawls, pulling her grappling hook with her and wraps it tightly around her hip. She looked down and spotted Eins putting the gun back to Derek's head.
"We left some grappling equipment in the tomb," Heisenberg reminded, "Toss down our grappling equipment and if you try anything, we'll paint the room with Lowell's brains."
Cassie groaned in annoyance before she took out her grappling hook and threw it towards an exposed beam on the ceiling. She swings across and towards the cave. Once she stumbled into the main room, she spotted the climbing equipment left behind and she dropped it down to the mercenaries.
Cassie swung across the lab and she landed in the rathole once again. She scooted back to let some mercenaries crawl into the rathole. How easy it would be to just kick them over the edge and kill them but Derek was still in their grasps. But, while the mercenaries were still climbing into the rathole, she decided to go exploring ahead without them. It was practical and it would help give her an advantage. She moved forward, crawling on all four before she had to crawl on her stomach. Good, she could use the size of this hole to her advantage as well. Once she reached the end of the rathole, she came out through an opening that was the end of the line.
She takes her first step out of the rathole and into the lost city of Ys.
Ys was a city underwater with walls made of water that Cassie could see leading into the ocean. There were fish swimming as well as sharks. As for the city itself, it looked like some version of Atlantis. There was a castle made of pure gold in the center of the city and the steps were made of bronze. Up above her, was a concentrated light coming from the moon. She made the first step of going down the bronze steps with exercised caution.
"This is Ys?" She took three or four more steps down the bronze set of stairs before she stopped. "I can't believe that we're in a lost city once again. I just wish the circumstances were different." She sits down on a step and sighs with her forearms resting on her knees. "Now this is a beautiful city and I wish that this city won't end up being destroyed in the end but that's the curse that comes with being a Drake."
"I knew you wouldn't mislead us," a familiar voice said. Harris admired the city for a brief second before he put his guard up and stepped down towards Cassie. "Our original goal was to keep you from finding Ys before we did but it turns out, you have a knack for doing all the work for us and staying one step ahead, even though you were five thousand steps behind us. But we do know of your history of destroying lost cities."
I remember in the journal that there was a snake made of gold that guarded the lost city. That's my ace in the hole, that's the one weapon Vita Longa could not strip me of: Knowledge of this snake guardian.
Cassie stands and turns around to see the rest of the mercenaries. She counted the villains to make sure everyone was there but realized that Derek, Joshua, and Erkin were absent with Eins, Zwei, and Drei.
"Where the hell are the others?" Cassie almost growled. "Where's Derek?"
"We left them," Heisenberg answered, "Insurance."
Derek...this just motivates me. With the Three Mercs gone, that means there are only sixteen enemies left, including Heisenberg and the named ones.
"Get moving, Cassie," Marcel ordered as he pushed her.
Cassie gets moving against her will, stepping down the bronze stairs and leading the group of mercenaries. She kept looking from left to right, hoping and waiting for this snake guardian to pop up. If they had to go deeper into the city to look for the Philosopher's Stone then so be it.
"Eins, Zwei, Drei," Harris spoke into his radio, "Status update." He waited for the reply but there was nothing but static. "We're out of range," he told Heisenberg.
Dumbass, Cassie mentally said, I heard you.
"Don't worry," Heisenberg told, sensing Cassie, "I've already prepared a plan because I suspected we'd be out of range for any communicating device."
The group walked down the steps and they watched patiently as they got deeper and deeper into the lost city. They reached the two large front doors of the golden castle and everyone (nobody was left out) pushed open the two doors with all their might. It budged slightly and one by one, they slipped through. Two mercenaries stayed outside on Heisenberg's orders and to make sure that two doors don't close on themselves.
"This place is enormous," one mercenary mentioned, admiring the beautiful interior of the castle.
Everything in the castle was made of pure gold. From the ground to the ceiling to the furniture, even to liquid that was dripping from the ceiling.
"Pick your poison," a second mercenary said.
"How many times do mercenaries like us see lost cities?" another stated.
"Or people in general," Harris corrected.
"Where could the Philosopher's Stone be?" Pavel asked. "Could it be at the top?"
"That would be the idea," Marcel answered, "At the top but if I had half the mind of an alchemist, I would make it difficult for intruders to get it. I would be setting up booby traps."
"That is something that normally comes with the territory," Cassie shrugs as she puts her hands in her pocket, "But it is like I said, the traps are self-activated by the victims and hidden in plain sight."
"And what about the snake guardian?"
Cassie appreciated the fact that she had her head turned from Heisenberg so he and the other mercenaries couldn't see the shock on her face.
He knows about the snake guardian.
"I don't know what the snake guardian is exactly but I'm assuming it is a metaphor," he continued, picking up a chalice from a table made of gold. "There is a snake symbol on the bottom of this chalice and I noticed another symbol on the back of the table. It's a riddle for us to solve."
Cassie's widening eyes went unnoticed by the army of mercenaries. She smiled mischievously. They don't know about the snake guardian. Experience has told me that when they mention a mythical creature in any sort of literature, listen without any hesitation.
"I've done these kinds of riddles before," she said, "It usually means that we have to be vigilant and when we solve this riddle, look for the snake guardian. The snake guardian I'm assuming is a series of obstacles that we have to solve in order to get the Philosopher's Stone. You're lucky that I'm still alive otherwise you would've missed this idea."
"Even in death, you'll be valuable," Heisenberg said, "I've heard stories of humans turning into pure gold and dying. You'll literally be a trophy."
"Don't forget," a mercenary shouted, "We get to take whatever we want from Ys as payment."
"Of course," Harris nodded and answered for Heisenberg. "Everything in this lost city will belong to you as soon as we restore Rome to its glorious days."
"You're incorrect, Harris." Heisenberg turned and face his right-hand man. "None of this is about Rome anymore. This is above us."
"What in the world are you talking about?"
"There is a civil war going on in Italy. I've been contemplating what to do when I return Rome back to the old days before I realized, I rather that not be the case.
"What the hell are you saying?!"
Heisenberg looked hard at Harris, bending his hands into fists as adrenaline spiked through him. "Vita longa is not returning Italy to Ancient Rome, we will support one side of the Italian Civil War. The Neo-Fascists."
"What are you talking about?" Harris suddenly jumped, "The Neo-Fascists are Mussolini's fascists in modern times. They're the main reason we're trying to restore Rome to its glory. We're fighting for peace within our country and to return Rome to that peaceful state."
"I understand that this is the goal of Vita Longa but I no longer support Vita Longa." He reaches for his hip. "I've been raised by Vita Longa since birth and I was only allowed to want what Vita Longa wanted and when leadership passed down to me to continue with something that I never wanted something in the first place, my eyes were open for the first time: Vita Longa is evil." He paused. "I believe what the Neo-Fascists are doing is good. I believe that Mussolini was the correct leader for Italy and had it not been for Italy collapsing, he never would've existed in the first place all those years ago."
"This mission had never been for Vita Longa's cause for peace, but for your independent desires for a dictator."
"I wish to be the new leader of the Neo-Fascists," he said, "My desire had been to find the Philosopher's Stone using my cult group's prior knowledge and then search for it. Once I obtain the Philosopher's Stone, I'll turn every metal within reach into gold and use it to fund the Neo-Fascists. Then, I would use the power of the stone to become immortal so I can lead the Neo-Fascists forever and never die."
"That's a tall order, not even God can grant it."
Heisenberg turned towards Cassie. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't you understand?" Cassie scoffed, "You claim that Vita Longa is evil for planting goals in your mind but what you don't understand is that you're still evil even when acting on your own behalf. What those fascists monsters did all those years ago was inhumane, they wanted to build an empire with the Nazis of an Aryan race. And another thing that you don't understand is that the Philosopher's Stone doesn't turn you immortal, you'll just have an infinite lifespan but you'll still be able to die. This means that you can't use the stone to revive a corpse but when you get shot, even after achieving life longevity with the stone, you will still die."
He pulled out a gun and aimed it at her skull. "You're not immortal, neither is Lowell."
Harris raised his gun. "Don't kill her."
"Why do you care so much for this girl? Wasn't she your enemy and from what I heard, she knocked you into the ocean."
"I object to cold-blooded killing," he said, "It's people like you that I hate and makes me want to establish the peace that Rome once had. I can't believe it but I'm rooting for Overlord to kill all those Neo-Fascists."
Overlord, Cassie remembered, Overlord is that global terrorist organization hell-bent on taking over the world as a way of establishing peace. Compared to Heisenberg, Overlord are saviors and I vaguely remember Overlord acting as a third party in the Italian Civil War but they only target Neo-Fascists. The one time I'm grateful for Overlord.
A gunshot went off and Cassie thought she finally met her end but when she looked, she saw blood launch from the back of Harris's head. He collapsed to the ground on his side, his gun sliding out of his hand and towards Marcel's foot.
"If anybody pulls a gun on me one more time," Heisenberg warned with his booming voice to the mercenaries, "I won't hesitate to kill you. Remember, all the gold in here can be yours if you just cooperate."
Marcel and Pavel looked down at their fallen commander. They actually looked sad. Cassie observed them and when Marcel looked up, he spotted Cassie. She scooted back but gave a confused look when Marcel kicked Harris's pistol towards her feet. She picks it up quickly and hides it in her back, nodding gratefully to her former enemy.
Cassie turned to Heisenberg and was about to move but something set off her senses. She felt like something was staring at her from above. There was a drop of sweat that rained down her cheek. With hesitation, she looked up towards the ceiling but couldn't see what it was when there was a rumble behind her.