CHAPTER 13 – Song for the Aimless

This new person, this man, was tall, well over six feet, with fair skin and dark reddish hair streaked with black that was pushed back from his face and a tattoo of a single black tear on his left cheek while dressed in a black outfit. One that was form-fitted to his body, giving anyone ample view of his physique. This man was leaner than Caim, almost like herself but still clearly masculine as he also had gloves that looked to have been altered for attachments, claws perhaps? But the most peculiar thing about this man's attire was that he had high heels on, which added to his already tall height and were relatively narrow and possibly sharp.

Reina guessed that this man was the close-quarters type of combatant, one of the worst types she'd rather not have to fight against.

"Who… are you?" she demanded after biting the inside of her cheek.

The man cocked his head, the single earing of a red-flowered crystal swayed on a silver chain in his left ear as he gave a rye smile that reached his red-amber eyes. "No one in particular. At least not to you. I came here looking for something, but that particular something does not wish to be found."

Reina just looked at him, saying nothing.

"Say, how did you find yourself down here?"

She kept her weapon pointed at him, but he didn't seem the least bit bothered. If anything, he looked amused by it. "There's a tunnel that leads to a ladder if you go all the way south. It's not too hard to spot. How'd you get here?"

The man spun his right wrist a few times before pointing up. "Truly unfortunate, but not the worst circumstance I've been in by far. It's a rather unlucky event, but it does allow me the freedom to look around. I've heard some fascinating things about this place, and it did not disappoint." His red-amber eyes went to her as he continued to smile. "Though I doubt it's the same for you as it is for me. Not that it's of any of my business."

Taking that as having no interest in fighting her, Reina walked past, wanting to find the rest of what Artemisia needed and then…

Caim.

Shit...

"Are you looking for something?" the strange man asked.

She looked back at him as the man held up his hands gingerly as if playing in the form of surrender.

"I mean nothing nefarious. You simply look as though you came to find something."

She bit the inside of her cheek before speaking. "I am," she said. "I was asked to look for some tools. I've already found six. I just need to find four more." When the man moved to get closer, Reina reacted and quickly drew her spear, pointing at his throat once again. "If you're playing me, I'll stab you."

The man smiled as though he was offered a mountain of gold.

What was with this guy?

"Nothing of the sort. I merely wish to offer aid to someone gracious enough to tell me of another way in or out." He then held out his gloved hand, noting that he had the gloved stylized to have nails, or maybe claws, at the tips. "Please."

She looked at his hand, noting the claws attached to his hands, then back to his face before looking back at his hand once more. And with a sigh of reluctance, handed the strange man the map.

"Hmmm…" was his only response as he brushed some of his hair behind his ear. "What was it that you were looking for again? What kind of tools?"

"High-quality tools that a blacksmith would use."

"Tools for a blacksmith in Crater City. And how many was it again?"

She frowned. "Four," something about how this guy was acting was a bit odd to her. What's more, the way he spoke was somewhat effeminate than the men she was used to seeing. But then again, this man was anything but some regular guy regardless of how he talked and dressed.

"Ah," he said after a moment. "Yes, that makes sense." His eyes then went to her as he then pulled out a red pen. "I believe I know where you can find these last four tools you are looking for. Thank you." Then handed the map back to her.

Why was he thanking her? But she had a bigger question on her mind.

"Why even help me?"

"Because you helped me, simple, isn't it?"

A little too simple for her liking.

Airing on the side of caution, Reina glanced to the map, seeing the locations; when she and Caim ran around, she recalled some of the areas would be hard to get to. However, given how the ground had quakes, that could have very well changed since then, especially after that last one. Reina glanced back to the chasm promising to herself that when she found those four tools, she would come back to help Caim, regardless of her personal feelings.

With that in mind, Reina turned to start her search, only to stop when many Shades came crawling out of the hole.

Reina sighed in aggravation as she took out her weapon. The whole world just seemed so against her today.

"Hey!" She barked out when she saw the strange man move out of the way, jumping to stand precariously on some thin, tall post. "You're not going to fight?"

"As much as I'd love to, I can't. I've been given strict orders not to engage."

"Then what was all that earlier?"

"Helping you was a return for helping me, had you no way of knowing another way of getting out of here, I would have left you where you were. Besides, I don't have my weapons on me. I'm currently just observing, as I was told to do. "Just observe. Don't fight or get involved." That kind of thing. Though with this, it should impress the higherups."

"…What are you talking about?"

"Oh, did I say that last bit out loud? Whoops, please pay no mind to that." The way he spoke made Reina believe he was talking with a tremendous amount of sarcasm. Like he didn't care if someone, in particular, heard him or not.

"Right," was all she said back before focusing on the fight at hand. And when it was done, she began heading in the direction of the hidden tools. Only to find that the strange man was still hanging around watching her from a distance.

"How long do you plan to stick with me?" she asked warily, not okay with another stranger just popping in and hanging around her.

"Just until you find one of the tools I marked on the map. I want to be sure it's correct. Then I'm off on my merry way."

Reina merely looked at the man but gathered that he wasn't lying since what he said earlier sounded truthful before he changed his tune and spoke sarcastically about his job.

Whatever that job entailed didn't matter to Reina. Just so long as she could find the remaining four tools, track down Caim and chuck his sorry ass out of a potential pit of death and despair, hand off what was promised to Artemisia and then hop on Rostam's back and be on her merry solitude way.

She hoped.

Really, really hoped.

Shortly after, Reina came across a hidden area where one of the tools was hidden inside a locked box that was easy enough to break open thanks to the amount of rust and her spear.

"Is that what you were after?"

"Yes," Reina said as she added it with the rest in her bag.

"Good, then with that, I'm gone. Good luck with the rest of your endeavours. Reina."

Reina immediately turned around to the man but found that he was gone. How in the world did he know her name when she never told him?

He did say that he was observing, so had he been watching her and Caim the moment they came here? Just how long had he been down here?

Forget it. It shouldn't matter, he's gone now, and I know where to go for the rest. "Let's just get this over with." She said to herself after sighing, then began her next search for the remaining three. And besides coming across a few more Shades, much less than before, she was able to get a hold of the last three with relative ease. Squirrelled away in some forgotten, hidden corner of the city that was once blocked off but became accessible thanks to the several quakes that took place.

Once finding all of them, Reina made her way back to the chasm. It had been a while now, so maybe she could toss down a bomb to see how far it would go. On second thought, that was a bad idea. Given how unstable many areas of this place was, it could cause another quake and possibly make it impossible for her to get down there.

As she remained sitting in a squat, looking down into the deep darkness that awaited until she recalled the small "sun" that Caim had created that still hovered above her. Smaller versions of that which floated around the City for them to see where they were going, perhaps if she could light some dried branches, she would be able to create some makeshift torches and toss them down the chasm to see how far it went.

She turned to track down something wooden to test it out, but the moment she had, Reina began to hear the sound of singing once again in the distance and realized to her shocked horror that she now stood in front of the Church's doors.

What?! Was her immediate thought. When did I…? How did I even get here? She thought with deep foreboding. She couldn't remember. No matter how much she tried, she just couldn't recall.

It made no sense, given that while they were first searching for the tools, they had tried to reach the Church, mainly because Caim thought one of the unknown tools could have been hidden inside, which did make sense, but no matter what the two tried they couldn't find a way past all the debris. Hell, even when they had, it seemed to be blocked by some invisible force that shocked Caim. Which made the man want to attack this invisible force but pulled back from doing so by Reina telling him they didn't have the time for it, which he did with a tremendous amount of reluctance.

Yet now, she was standing right at the entrance, the doors wide open, waiting for her to enter. From where she stood, it looked just like the previous Church: same entrance, layout, everything. Of course, that said nothing of what could have been inside. Like with the first one they entered and how people had gone to that place to die.

Would the same be for here?

Did the people of this City enter this Church as they held hope for salvation? Or did they wish for their death?

Or would it be something else entirely?

But if she went through here, there could be underground tunnels, and if there were, then perhaps, she would meet up with Caim again.

Reina looked back the way she came. It would make more sense than just blindly jumping down a hole. But then again, she had no clue what would be waiting for her if she went into the Church and the last thing Reina wanted was to deal with what she had before when first going inside one.

Ultimately though, before she could decide, there was another more significant tremor where she found herself leaning against part of the Church as a tall building came crashing down, blocking the way to get back.

"You've got to be kidding me…" she muttered in annoyance. She sighed again with narrowed eyes towards the Church's interest. Maybe this is my karmic punishment for not jumping down the hole…

Reina turned and entered the Church with a breath of defeat. And like before, the door to the main hall was locked, sealed off with some kind of magic with those strange letters. Were all of these Churches like this? Or was her luck just that bad?

Reina began her way through the different side rooms to locate the key, collecting what she found along the way, including those strange glass-like roses. She found that only five could be taken in total from each vase. The rest just seemed to be permanently a part of the interior. Not even her spear could make any fall lose. Given how this placed seemed to work, it didn't surprise her. She saw no clothes or signs of human remains, making her wonder if this place was somehow different from the last one, until finding the key, this time being on the other side that she hadn't looked at before.

Reina went to open the door with key in hand like before, and just like before, when she inserted it into the lock, she felt a shock going right to her brain and behind her eyes. Just like last time. What did that mean?

Shaking it off, she kicked open the door with her weapon in hand, thinking that she might come across what she had before but found nothing but empty pews as candlelight burned setting a warm orange glow around her. It felt inviting, but she wouldn't relax. Keeping her guard up, Reina made her way to the statue, where this statue of an angel had five sets of wings instead of two. What was the significance between each church and the statues that resided within them?

Did this mean that there were five in total? Or were there more?

As much as she wanted to mull this over, she needed to find a way down into the underground and search for Caim.

Thinking about her last encounter with the woman when in this Church while in the City of Mist. Reina scanned for a type of switch that would open a way down. Thankfully she didn't have to look far.

All of the Churches must have had the same layout since the hidden door opened in the same place as the last one.

The underground, however, was something else enterally. She had no clue what would be waiting for her down there, and she couldn't remember the path she took when down in the underground the last time.

So with one final deep breath, Reina jumped down the trapdoor to whatever would be awaiting her down below in these unknown catacombs…