Beyond the Veil

by Knightdale

"The prophecies spoke of a savior, one who would bring order to Chaos, only to release Chaos on the innocent. One who would restore the Balance, only to finally break it."

5. Tale 1 - Chapter 04

Tale 1 – The Breach

CHAPTER 04

They didn't pause to look around and see properly where they were, or whether they were pursued or not. All April knew was that they needed to get away from their improvised exit point as fast as humanly possible. So, she ran, navigating the unknown structure of the huge tower, speeding up small flights of stairs, past stores and offices – all closed, taking turns on instinct, looking for the way into the shuttle station. Adrian followed her lead without a complaint. Only after they'd finally reached the last floor, which April recognized as the Metro Mall she'd visited days before, did they finally allow themselves to stop and draw breath. Only after this April remembered to look for any signs of life nearby other than themselves. The place was empty and silent, no lights were on, only the daylight coming from high windows was available. The two fugitives walked to the gate that led to the shuttles departing to Grendel Avenue. They both found this slow walk as the opportunity to assess their pitiful state of being.

"You're wounded." Adrian said suddenly, looking with frightful eyes. April took a look down at her palm. "It's just my hand," she said, lifting it to inspect it up close. There was a cut right across it, right in the middle. The edges were swollen and it stung badly, as much as she'd tried to ignore it. She tore a relatively clean piece off her tunic – the material was harder than she'd anticipated, and a pretty painful effort for her injury - and wrapped it as tightly over the wound as she could, trying to subdue the pain.

"That wound needs proper treatment." Adrian said unnecessarily. She'd need medical care for it, she silently agreed with him, but that sort of luxury would have to wait until later.

"I know," she sighed, "When we get back… And you don't look that well yourself, you know. You don't have any serious injuries, do you?"

He shook his head at once, even before he started examining himself. "Just a few scratches, nothing dangerous. Our looks might give us away though." He said frowning, examining a torn sleeve of his shirt. Sure enough, they looked as unworthy of the upper level, and Grendel Avenue in particular, as they could. April's left hand, which she held in a tight fist both to keep the clumsy wrapping in place and to force the blood flowing from her untended injury stop, was all red up to and past her wrist and had apparently left many marks here and there. Her tunic front was bloodstained, dirty and wet from sweat, she had torn her pants at her knee and she wouldn't dare take a good look at herself in one of the many glossy surfaces around there to check the state of her hair. Adrian wasn't much better off, except he had less blood on him, and probably most of it was hers, and his hair was still too short to be capable of being messed up. Otherwise he looked like a slumdog just like she did, dirty, sweaty, and she noticed he had torn his shirt in quite a few places, especially on the back, most probably when trying to get up on the elevator car. If there were any cops around who had been notified about their unsanctioned visit, they would be caught out by just being looked at.

"What choice do we have?" April asked, it was a rhetorical question and he must have understood as much, as he only nodded, pursing his lips. "Now what?" was all he asked. April, still not completely recovered from the 'exercise' and fright she'd received several minutes ago, jerked her head in the direction of the aerial dock, hurriedly heading towards it, not forgetting for a second that there was still pursuit somewhere behind (below?) them, even if their adversaries had lagged behind for a moment.

The gates were unprotected from man or technology, they passed through without encountering any hindrance and stopped short a few steps away from the shuttles. Luckily enough, there were several decent looking ones left. But there was a question hanging in the air, which she didn't want to voice, but her friend did it for her anyway. "Will those even work?" Adrian almost whispered, making rather accurate guess as to what their means of transportation should be and what new obstacle could be in their path. "And aren't these the sort of vehicles we were advised not to go near just this morning?" April's brows rose high in surprise at this, "The Vestrum has translated it for me." He explained, smiling sheepishly.

"We'll have to take a chance." She said decidedly and marched right to the nearest one. The Shuttle looked intimidating. Even though it hadn't been very long since she'd flown to the Guardian's Realm, sitting in a real pod for the first time in her life. By all rights the shuttle should've been easier to operate. Its structure was very close to that of a Hovercraft, and while she hadn't been near one since the day she passed the license test, she still should have been more confident than when she launched herself as well as completely clueless and confused Adrian into the open space. Sadly though, the very real chance that the thing might malfunction and the fresh memory of Hovercrafts falling from the sky to their tragic end didn't leave her mind.

But all the doubts and misgivings had to be cast away. She was aware that she had started on a roller-coaster which rushed her from one terrible danger to the other and she couldn't get off now, if she wanted to live.

A few minutes later, when April and the Twelfth Guardian were safely (or semi-safely) in their seats, the seat belts fastened, the shuttle soaring through the sky, Adrian's eyes fixed on their target destination, April frantically looking around to see any alarming signals from the system, she realized she'd broken all the records in the amount of questioning one's own decision making prowess in a single day. And it wasn't even noon yet. On the bright side her faith in her own luck restored a little bit by the fact that, incredibly, against all reasonable expectations, the Shuttle didn't malfunction the slightest bit, save for generally poor navigation due to the pilot's inexperience. "If only I could use the autopilot…" She grunted when a particularly strong jolt scared the breath out of them.

"What's an 'autopilot'?" Adrian asked, his voice just a little shaky.

"It's…" April struggled to find the right words for him, "It's a function that will make the aircraft fly on its own, without my commands."

"Oh?.." The idea didn't seem to enthuse him all that much, "Would it really be better to trust this mindless thing rather than your own knowledge and skill?"

April gripped the steer nervously, and allowed herself a humorless scoff, "If only I could count myself as knowledgeable or skillful, Adrian, if only." Almost as if to try and prove her disregard to her own worth correct, the shuttle gave another jolt and a shudder, the view in front of them became a little skewed. Please, work well! Please! April pleaded wordlessly, trying to steady her heart gone rogue in her chest. Her eyes Froze on the wheel and if she'd tightened her grip even a bit, she might have risked breaking it. The aircraft seemed merciful, at least. Soon it stabilized and April somehow managed to correct the course, as vague a course as they had.

From the seat next to hers came a rather weak voice of her friend, causing her to tear her eyes off the 'road' and look at him in concern. "Why can't you use that autopilot then?" He moaned, his face was grayish and sweat covered. He looked exactly the way she felt.

"Because…" April responded in a shaky, a lot more high pitched voice than she intended, she took a deep breath and cleared her throat, "Because," she repeated with a more respectable tone, "if the autopilot malfunctions, it can take us to a very different direction or simply slam us into the nearest building. I... prefer to have as much control as I can right now." She swallowed hard and concentrated on the fast approaching hill. Grendel Avenue's massive, gleaming architecture was less than a minute away already. She remembered where the docs were, but turned the shuttle away from them, to a very different direction. They floated over the many aerial bridges and paths, the shadow of their vessel glided smoothly over their bright surfaces. She turned her head this way and that, searching a spot suitable for landing, hoping with all her might that she could land the damn thing properly, which had always been the hardest part for her in every training simulation she'd ever tried, never mind the brave, sometimes crazy flights through the air well above the virtual ground.

There was finally something ahead. A sizable park had been constructed in the middle of a circle of several skyscrapers – modest looking, by the standards of Grendel Avenue. It was a circular plane with green lawns, trees and bushes. Creepers had sprouted their branches all along its diameter, as if it were a precious jewel set in a bezel of green foliage. Several bridges shot out in the direction of every single skyscraper, connected to each other with narrower, less impressive bridges, allowing to choose whichever way anyone wanted to go from there. No people about. To April it looked like an obvious candidate for landing. Adrian probably thought the same. He shifted in his seat and clutched his seatbelt nervously, before she had even started in its direction. He made a sound indicative of something on his mind, but closed his mouth, and chose silence instead.

She didn't inquire just yet, deciding to occupy her mind with the task at hand and ensure their survival all the way to the end of their flight. Adjusting the speed, the angle, she gripped the wheel with more strength than she'd ever thought she'd had, even ignoring the trickle of blood coming down the handle and a fresh wave of pain in her palm. She tried to even her breath instead of holding it as she watched the "ground" coming closer and closer. For a moment there she thought she'd messed up, the shuttle was shaken by a sudden contact with the pavement so strongly, that had they not been secured in their seats, she and Adrian might've fallen out of them. Her whole body froze. Her eyes stayed wide open instead of shutting tight to spare her the horror of watching the approaching death at the very least…

But, thankfully, that moment passed. The shuttle stood still and April's hands shot to the buckles of her seatbelt without her even thinking about it. Adrian wrestled with his while she stood in front of the controls, shutting down the engine, trying to remember the safe and proper procedure of doing so. When they finally left the aircraft, it was in a hurry before anyone checked on an unregistered landing by unknown visitors and the abandoned shuttle. Her knees were shaking a bit, but overall she was almost pleased with herself. They scurried onto one of the bridges. There was no great dilemma in choosing the right direction, their target loomed over every other building, monstrous in size, as ominous as it was brilliant.

"May I ask…" Adrian broke the quiet almost reluctantly, "the reason we landed here and not to one of the places assigned for it?"

"Do you mean the docks?" April asked. He only nodded in response. "Because nobody expected us to land here, of course." She explained patiently.

"Oh…" He paused. "Good thinking," he finally said, "and good job on the flight too." He glanced for a moment down from the edge of the bridge and immediately brought his gaze back up.

April managed a feeble smile, grateful to hear something encouraging. "Thanks." She answered, and might have said something else as well, if not for the extremely disturbing noise that stopped their progress and made them look back in suspicion. It was coming from their shuttle, or, at least that was the only plausible suspect in vicinity. There was buzzing, irregular, racing up and down in volume as well as pitch, often interrupted with loud sizzling.

"What?.." April breathed, mostly to herself, eyes wide and fixed on the shuttle. Her feet took her a few steps back without her consent after cracking sounds came. "I shut it down, I shut it all down." She said, already preparing to flee from a fast approaching disaster, the likes of which she had already seen during the all around chaos days ago.

Adrian voiced her own thoughts a second later, "Should we run for our lives?" He asked urgently.

She didn't even need to answer. Fresh series of bangs made them both turn and run after merely exchanging a quick frightened look. April covered her ears and instructed him to do the same. She could only hope that they would get away fast enough from the force of explosion and the rain of metal debris that was bound to follow. When the sound of the final, powerful blast reached them, shaking the hanging ground beneath their feet, it caught up with them when they had nearly crossed that bridge and were about to enter a more dense, building rich section. For a fraction of a moment there was fear that the bridge would give way and break down. But it was, indeed, only their fear. The explosion, while loud, didn't prove to be as destructive to its surroundings as its sound would suggest. Another look back revealed the shuttle's shell still mostly intact, though deformed in places and releasing black smoke. Destructive or not though, it was noticeable and alarming, and was bound to bring some sort of patrol to the place quite soon. So they didn't risk another pause. They sped across the aerial walkways, taking odd turns to keep out of sight as much as possible. It was much more difficult to do in this brilliant place exposed to heavens and prying eyes, than it would be down on earth where the simple mortals lived, which was rife with shaded corners. Not to mention, April was only half paying attention while the other half of her mind was busy kicking her for making yet another stupid mistake, even though she was clueless what exactly it was – she had followed the instructions step by step, she was almost sure.

Finally, when they were both completely out of breath and April's heart issued a threat to get stuck in her throat and choke her, they stopped. Adrian initiated the idea, stopping abruptly and taking a sharp turn to take them to the nearest building, gesturing her to follow, looking frustrated and thoroughly exhausted. They stepped onto a courtyard of what could've been a fashionable club, or a banquet hall of some sort, at least the section in front of them was. There was no knowing how many facilities this or any other building could fit. This was yet another skyscraper among countless others. The main entrance, towards which Adrian headed – only to essentially collapse on its half a dozen steps, elbows on his knees and his head thrown back, exhaling deeply and slowly – was a tall door with a rounded top, shut tight and secure, of course. Statues stood on either side, their poses were graceful, the flow of the folds on their clothes exquisite. April was strongly reminded of antique Greek statues, yet this lot were clearly dressed in modern clothing. This perfect mixture of old and new was conveniently obscuring their image to anyone that might look in their direction from afar, making them harder to spot while giving them plenty of freedom to look around from that feeble shelter.

Apparently, the upper level was not in the least immune to the troubles that plagued the world down below. The spotlessness she had once seen here was marred by scorch marks telling the tales of fire hazards that must have taken place, and debris thrown around the many roads. What she really looked for, however, was a sign of patrolling cops coming their way - the cue to resume running and maybe duck and dodge blasts if needed. But nobody was running their way, there came no blasts, not even angry shouts. In fact, no one was out as far as they could see. Maybe they were all shut in relative safety of their homes, intent on waiting out the troubled times. Maybe that was the reason cops were absent as well - guarding the wealthy individuals that could pay generously for such services, instead of marching in the deserted streets on the off chance that somebody wanted to cause trouble. What do you know, even corruption has its pros, She thought.

"That could have happened while we were inside that thing, could it not?" Adrian spoke after a while. His voice was level again. He didn't sound reproachful, but it still sent April in defensive mode.

"I guess so." She muttered. "Although I still don't understand why it happened at all." There was no answer from him, his face was reshaped into a thoughtful frown, eyes looking in the distance. Is he actually trying to figure out the reason? April thought bemused. The very idea sounded ridiculous, if she, a girl of her time couldn't guess, the man lagging behind by over a thousand years had no chance. "We should get moving…" She urged him. He nodded and got up slowly. They crept to the edge of the building's wall to look around and make sure again that there was no pursuit after all. She thought she saw figures moving far from their spot, but neither of them could tell for sure whether they were police, or simple citizens. The figures didn't seem to be coming in their direction, which was a relief. Their destination - the grandiose building that housed MTI – was right ahead of them now, massive in size, shining and striking. The words "Malkuth Technologies Inc" stood proudly over the entrance in form of neat, stone carved letters. It wasn't too far, and the way was empty. She looked at Adrian and jerked her head towards it. The latter tamely spread his hands in a clear gesture of 'as you wish'.

They started briskly towards it, trying not to look too suspicious and shifty, but constantly looking around for signs of danger. They walked in silence, April still the one leading the way. She'd never given it a thought, but the structure of the mid and upper levels was eerily similar to Venice, what with all the bridges crisscrossing each other. Except, where Venice had water below, the levels had air. Where Venice was humble, homely and cozy, this place was enormous, majestic and polished. It bore down on anyone that didn't feel important enough, trying to squash all the seeds of confidence they might have and show them they didn't belong on the top of the world. She looked at Adrian, wondering how he felt being in this place. The latter was craning his neck in almost all directions. She noticed he avoided looking down, trying to keep his gaze to his eye level or higher, only glancing down for a second or two at a time. There was a twinge of guilt April quickly suppressed. She wasn't so stupid as to not realize how bizarre it all must have seemed to him, and that there was little to no chance he'd ever been on any building this tall. But she reminded herself that he'd insisted on coming with her and he had known all along where they would go.

It took them perhaps up to thirty minutes of walking a straightforward route. Close to the MTI tower, April came to an abrupt stop when she was near enough to see the entrance was guarded. Adrian came to a halt beside her. "What now?" he asked breathlessly. There was only one man, with no suit as it had become expectable, but a heavy, probably loaded gun in his hands. He saw them, they could tell, but didn't react immediately in any aggressive way, he just sent them the standard 'I'm watching you' kind of look before directing his eyes somewhere else.

April swallowed hard, "Theoretically," she said more to herself than him, "we should be allowed to just go inside. We are on the upper level, normally we should automatically be considered to be the upper level citizens..." She paused, chewing her lower lip.

"But…?" Adrian prompted her, but instead of giving her time to answer, he answered himself, "If any guards here have been notified that there was an intrusion, just like those men were who assaulted us down there, they will suspect us, especially given our barely presentable state." He made a vague gesture to indicate his clothing.

"Exactly." She said, taking a furtive look at the pathetic state of her own dressing. "But There's a chance..." she started, closing her eyes and tried to remove the messy bangs glued to her wet forehead, "that this guy knows nothing about what happened, even if someone is already notified. I think he could let us in and even answer our questions."

"And if he doesn't?" Adrian asked, unimpressed.

"He'll arrest us, or shoot us on the spot." She said with a false casual tone before switching to sincere urgency. "Look, we're out of time and out of potions. I can't pull any magic tricks anymore."

"I thought you were an Artisan." He reminded her.

"I'm not…. I mean," April threw an anxious look in the guard's direction, "whatever powers I have, I can't control them. Other than Shifting, I don't know how to use any magic..."

"Shifting isn't really magic..." Adrian noted, but April hardly cared about such details at the moment.

"It doesn't matter! Look, the point is, there is only one way we have in that building - the normal way. We have to go to him and pretend we belong here. Either we try to pull it off, or we might as well just go back where we came from."

"How are we going to do that?"

"I've just told you…

"No, no, no," he waved her off, "how are we going back, if you are unable to use any magic tricks as you called them? I'm quite sure we can't just jump off any of these bridges."

There was silence in which Adrian's gaze became more and more bewildered and April simply stood there while leading a mental fight with herself and her conscience. "You don't know?" he asked, his gray eyes slowly becoming so wide they might pop out of their sockets. His disbelief was so great it didn't seem to leave room for anger, which, she hated to admit, he had every right to. "You don't have any plans," he went on, still more incredulous, "nor any remote idea how we're supposed to be getting back?"

"Well, strictly speaking, I didn't exactly have a plan for getting in at first either, did I?" She muttered pouting a bit.

"And you called me suicidal..." He kept staring at her open mouthed. April pursed her lips. This was no time to argue. If Adrian didn't want to follow her anymore, she couldn't force him, but he'd have to make a decision soon and not hinder her.

"So what now?" She challenged him, "Do you want to stay here and wait? 'Cause I don't mind if you do."

He snorted, "What's the point in that? I've come this far… I can't stop now, can I?"

His look was now plainly accusatory and she didn't know whom she wanted to kick more, him or herself. "Maybe, maybe not. You could wait outside until I return, that's always an option", she said, calling forth all the patience she possessed, "We're seriously running out of time, we need to get moving until someone finally deigns to go and check what that commotion was all about."

Adrian hung his head, resigned for the worst. "Let's go then." He said, grumpy and offended. But there was nothing April could do or say to lift his mood, or her own, for that matter. So, without any further discussion, they headed directly to the huge building they'd both had the misfortune of 'visiting' once before.

Trying not to think about what the guard would make of their less than stately appearance, April cleared her throat loudly as they got close to the entrance. Here, for once, things actually didn't seem to go very wrong. The guard eyed them with surprise, clearly taking note of their bloodied clothes. "Ma'am, sir…" he started uncertainty, "please, be warned that citizens are not advised to walk outside until further notice." Then, still more hesitantly, added, "Do you require help of any kind?"

April put on her best brattiest demeanor. "Oh we're just fine." She said, hoping to sound as arrogant and spoiled rotten as she was supposed to. "We may need to ask you a few questions though." The guard straightened to attention, looking wary, expecting trouble, perhaps? She imagined he could've thought he'd be blamed for whatever misfortune had befallen her and her companion. "How often are you stationed here?" She asked him curiously. The question caught the man by surprise.

"Me, ma'am? My regular post isn't here, but there is a shortage of hands so they sent me to guard this entrance for now."

"Oh…" April thought for a bit. "So you weren't stationed here uh… last Sunday?" She hoped she remembered the right day.

"No, ma'am." He said, looking at her blankly.

"Do you know who was?"

"No, ma'am." He shook his head lightly, "May I ask why you inquire?"

He definitely thinks there's some trouble, April thought. Out loud she said, "I have a few questions for him regarding a very important matter."

"Well, I honestly don't know, ma'am. I would advise asking the personnel manager but most people who work here… well, they're not here now, of course."

It took a bit of effort to hide how excited the news made her. "Alright, sorry to bother you." She said briskly, as she noticed Adrian starting to fidget in place, the reason soon obvious to her - she heard distant shouts. It sounded like someone might have had taken notice of the unregistered shuttle laying smoking in the middle of the lovely square. It was time to leave.

"Now let us in, please." She said, cocky and cold. And to her utter amazement, after just two seconds of staring at her in blank surprise, the guard simply complied, doing nothing but huffing in a frustrated, tired kind of way - so uncharacteristic for the day for someone to be less than problematic. "Yes, of course." He said, sounding strangely bored, moving aside to let them pass.

"Thank you." She said and walked past him with her chin held up, with Adrian in tow.

"We're here to serve and protect!" The words caught up with them in the darkness.

Their footsteps echoed in the spacious, empty corridor. April felt a bit chilly when they stepped inside the large circular hall. The bright illumination that used to greet the incomers was off, daylight barely entered from the short corridor, still making it possible to see the shape of their surroundings. For a second April felt disheartened by this, thinking the electricity had let her down a second time, remembering apprehensively that she didn't see a single lightbulb on since she stepped in Grendel avenue. But she quickly noticed the electric lights on the receptionists desk and the faint light of the elevator button. "The power's on!" She breathed, excited and relieved. "If the staff hasn't been here to turn all this on… these guys must have some automatized backup generators working on fuel to keep the important functions of their facilities running for days!"

"Did nobody else have those?" Adrian wondered. "Why didn't people use them?"

"Some probably did, but either they didn't work or there just wasn't enough to keep them going for this long. The generators would cost money, as well as their fuel," she explained, "to keep all this" she gestured all around them "running working for this long, they would need tons of generators, or one huge and powerful one. These guys are rich enough for that… Nothing for us to complain about at the moment at least."

They stood in the middle of the hall, April glancing from the elevator to a relatively small door on the opposite side, unsure what to do next.

"Where to?" Adrian asked, a little impatient.

"Well, I think we should go this way first." She pointed to the door. "I need to find the personnel records and see who was stationed at the entrance that day. The guy outside was no help." She headed to the door.

"Do you think he could be a valuable witness?" Adrian asked, following closely. April wasn't pleased to hear a tad of doubt in his voice.

"Yes, it's pretty much what I hope for." She answered briskly.

"Why not anyone else?" He objected. "This place is huge and filled with dwellers. Many people could have seen the battle."

"Yes," she agreed irritably, "except I can't go knocking on every door on every street and asking random people whether or not they saw two dragons fighting in the air. I have no idea who might have been here in this part of Grendel Avenue and who could witness it all. The security guards, on the other hand, are a different thing. They are supposed to be on a lookout all the time. If two dragons fighting each other fell from the sky right above their heads, they were bound to notice it and even if they thought it was a show of some kind, it would still be one hell of an impressive show, they wouldn't just ignore it. So our best bet and the shortest route is finding whoever was standing out there when the battle happened. Understood?"

Adrian sighed, "Yes."

The door slid open the moment they approached it and they entered a very dark corridor. April had to start sliding her hand along the wall to make sure she didn't lose the sense of direction. There were more lights right ahead of them, blinking green and providing minimal lighting, only enough for them to know the tiny lightbulbs were placed on doors. When they got close, those doors started sliding open as well. April's initial relief from having her life turn easier slowly turned into dismay. When the first door she got level with opened wide for her convenience, she found it strange and suspicious. This is supposed to be the enemy's fortified heart, it should not be welcoming me with open arms. "Umm… try to be as quiet and attentive as possible, okay?" she half whispered to her companion and slowly, carefully crept inside. The moment she did so, she realized it would be very hard to find anything in here. The door swished shut in a few seconds and she and Adrian found themselves in pitch black darkness. "Find a light switch." she told Adrian exasperated. "A little protruding thing somewhere on the wall." She clarified in case he didn't understand what she was referring to. Shuffling in the darkness they both took to searching different walls.

"I think I have found it!" Adrian exclaimed suddenly and there was a clicking sound which confirmed his success, but the bulbs remained stubbornly unresponsive.

"You gotta be kidding me!" She snapped.

"No, I really have! It's just not working!" he said defensively. April scoffed.

"That's not what I meant, it's just an expression." She waved her way to him through the pool of darkness. "The power is definitely on to keep the doors functional, but the electricity isn't provided to the light bulbs? It's like a bad joke." She found Adrian's head and knew the switch had to be nearby.

"Do you think it was done on purpose then?" He asked anxiously. April found the switch.

"If it was," she said clicking it on and off in vain. "I doubt it was a trap of any kind." She gave up. "I suppose they needed to get around the place more than they needed the light, so they decided to save up some energy. They must have disabled illumination on purpose. Let's see if we can find a flashlight somewhere here."

Their search was long, rife with stumbling into furniture, metal shelves, each other and falling over card boxes. When cold light suddenly cut the dark and almost blinded Adrian, who had been holding the flashlight directed at his own face - having never held a working one in his life - it felt like a small prize for their troubles.

"Thank God," she sighed, rubbing her bruised elbow - earned from an unwanted contact with a drawer knob, "let's see where we are."

Taking a look at the room didn't provide the needed information. They headed outside, the doors obediently moved out of their way. Going label after label they finally found the door that said "Archives". April stepped in eagerly. "This looks too good!" She said, pointing to the many rows of shelves that held files - physical, tangible, good old plastic and paper files. She dashed to them, searching for personnel records. There was a whole section dedicated to security. Beyond the shelves on the other end of the room there was a screen and, by the looks of it, it was on. April promptly took the seat in front of it, launching an elaborate search through the files, while Adrian stood behind her, observing the screen with genuine interest. It must look like a magic mirror to him, she thought. "I'm looking for the schedule." She explained, "The guy outside wasn't here that day, so he doesn't know anything. If I can find the schedule, I'll know exactly who I need to question." He only nodded. She wasn't entirely sure he truly heard her, he seemed absorbed in the screen.

She didn't need to search too deep, there were hardly any files except for the plain databases and spreadsheets (there was only one suspicious folder she wouldn't touch, ingeniously named "Ero"). The Database she was looking for was quickly discovered. April scrolled through the huge list, organized by many sections of the building. The sheer amount of those was overwhelming. When the desirable date was finally found, she stared at it eagerly. There were two people assigned to guard the main entrance of the MTI building. It seemed they had worked in shifts. She closed her eyes for a moment, making sure she remembered the time of the day right. It had been evening, a glorious sunset fit for the epic battle of two mighty dragons. She tucked the sad memory away for the moment. Officer William Howden was assigned on her target post during most of he second half of the day. April jumped up from the chair and ran back to the shelves. "It must be here!" She whispered wishfully. Adrian stood beside her, providing much needed light. She scanned frantically. The guards were many and so were technicians and engineers looking after all the equipment and providing new security plans. But she found him soon. The file H I-U - had to include the man's data. She snatched the file and dragged it out of its row, tearing it open and skimming through the pages eagerly. "Howden… Howden…" she mumbled… There it was - "Howden, William". There was his full name and contact information, and many other things she had no interest in - tiniest details of the person's health, personality, habits and connections in life were all documented and put down for her convenience. "Found him!" She grinned at Adrian. "Here's his address, it's…" Her face fell just a little bit, "I hope we can find him soon though. I don't know the upper level at all, I have no idea where this might be."

She was broken out of her contemplation by Adrian suddenly going to the door, leaving her standing in the relative darkness, creeping silently and grimacing when the door automatically slid out of his way. "Damnation!" He hissed.

"What is it?" April asked, but he waved her quiet. She put down the file carefully, rolled the papers of officer Howden and put them in her satchel in a hurry before she crept up to him.

"I heard footsteps." He whispered, "Someone was here near this door."

She felt chilly. "You think guards are checking out this place?" She asked, lowering her voice even more than him, hardly even hearing herself.

"No, it didn't sound like it could be them. The guards I've seen are all heavy build and wearing heavy footwear." He observed thoughtfully, "That sound was light tapping on the floor."

"Could be anyone from the personnel," She mused, "it could be the cleaning staff or…"

Adrian poked his head out. "Whoever it was they were not carrying any light." He told her. "Do you think it's possible, perhaps, that someone wandered in by mistake?"

"Yeah, let's hope so." April answered without any real hope, trouble seemed to like to find her just when she thought things were going her way.

"If we have what we needed, we should get moving." Adrian said before she would. Nodding affirmative April followed him out. He kept the flashlight directed strictly under their feet, not to attract attention earlier than necessary.

They passed the corridor without meeting anyone and were soon back in the large circular hall, still just as empty and quiet as it was when they entered. The mysterious person was nowhere to be seen. "Where to now?" He asked.

April pointed to the elevator. "The office of the Green of the Draic Kin." She told him in a dramatic whisper. "The last time I was there, there was a lot of valuable information there, and that's only at a glance. I'm sure we can find many important documents in there, I don't think MacAllen would trust anyone with the most important secrets, especially about himself. He would keep everything that mattered close."

"Like any legendary dragon guarding a cave filled with treasures." He noted and shrugged, "Lead the way then."

April headed to the receptionist's desk. There were several buttons on the display. She was sure the security alarm would be a hidden button somewhere underneath. It left only one obvious suspect and that was a gold colored button on the far side of the surface, easily set apart from others, with two buttons with arrows to its side. It looked fancy and special enough to belong to the extravagant leader of the Church of Voltec. Worth trying. Her hand was just above the button when a loud hiss and a subdued bang of a door made her jump. She and Adrian both spun to the direction of the sound and gaped in surprise at the unexpected guest.

A little girl had come out of the very corridor they themselves had just left a minute ago. She looked seven or eight years old at most. She had blond curly hair and curios blue eyes, which she fixed on them intently, while slowly, carefully coming forward. So it was her footsteps Adrian heard, April realized with a mounting sense of unease. "Hello!" She tried to sound as unperturbed as possible. "What are you doing here alone?" If she's alone, that is.

The girl stopped halfway between them and where she'd come from, stray wisps of hair around her face glowed faintly and made her disturbingly ethereal in appearance, standing there in the middle of an abandoned, shaded, echoing hall. "What are you doing here?" The child returned the question in a sharp, high pitched voice, tilting her head to the side.

"I'm just looking for something I've lost." April invented.

"You're not supposed to touch anything there." the girl informed her darkly. For such a small child she sounded rather stern and even menacing.

Or I've watched too many horror movies, She shook her head. "I know I'm not. As soon as I find what I'm looking for, I'll leave, I won't touch anything else. I promise." Hey, I'm actually telling the truth, in a way, she thought bemused. The little one was looking up and down her bloodied mess of an outfit suspiciously and while April definitely didn't like being analyzed and suspected like this, she caught herself studying the child with almost just as much interest. There was intelligence in her gaze, the kind that gave her a sense of being much older.

"Who are you?" The girl demanded, "You're not with the new uniform guys, are you?"

"The… New uniform guys?" April echoed, quickly scrambling for a more or less believable answer. The child must have meant the security, or the corporate goons. Can I actually sell it? She decided she'd have to. "Yeah, we are, actually. And we need to find something important here, no children are allowed. You should run home."

There was a pause. For just a few seconds their little interrogator looked from April to Adrian and back. Then her expression changed, from the curios intelligent one to a typical, childish, almost clueless and, in April's personal opinion, terribly unconvincing one.

"Yes, ma'am." She chirped after a few seconds long pause, sounding rather casual, drawing her gaze down. Then, without even a second glance at them, marched out of the hall and into the main corridor leading outside.

The moment the girl was out of sight, April slammed the button and ran, as fast as she could, to the elevator, grabbing confused Adrian by sleeve and dragging him along. The elevator door opened indeed, proving her guess about the button correct. She turned to push the button she needed to send themselves up, but the horrible realization struck her.

"There's no button here..." She whispered, "Oh no, I completely forgot! The elevator can only be sent up on that floor by the receptionist!.." And she looked at Adrian.

"One of us has to stay down here?" he offered, surprisingly perceptive.

"Well… that's the only way, yeah…", she rubbed her neck, frustrated and ashamed, "how could I forget…" she moved swiftly to the door that was about to close and held it in place, wincing at the pain the careless treatment sent through her injured hand.

Adrian nodded, while helping her by holding the other door. "Then I'll do it, just tell me how."

"No, you don't understand!" April whispered shaking her head frantically. "It's dangerous for you to stay here. That kid is trouble, she didn't believe a word I said and she's probably ran off to security guards to tell them there's someone suspicious lurking around here!"

"But the guard let us in…" He tried to argue, though his words did nothing to ease April's mind.

"That doesn't matter, if she tells them she thinks we acted suspiciously, he may still check, or send someone else to do it. We're already in danger if whoever checks the shuttle, tracks us here." She bit down her lip, "Listen, when you send me up, get out of here..."

"Here you go again…" Adrian rolled his eyes.

"I mean it!" She whispered fiercely, "Get out of this building and find a place to hide, somewhere not too far, maybe?.. So that I could find you when I get out."

"And what about you?" He asked, turning to lean onto the door's edge with his back, holding it in place with his weight and crossing his arms at his chest, scowling at her. "You'll be going to the "dragon's cave" all alone?"

"I'll be fine," she tried to convince him, "this elevator will take me all the way up to the last floor, then I'll jam it somehow so that no one can use it but me. They're gonna need a long time to get up there by stairs, if they can even find any, if they even have stairs going up to that location…"

"So they will meet you on your way downstairs when you're finished?" he almost pleaded, "April… This is not going to work, let's get out of here if it's so dangerous!"

"I'm not going back until I find every possible little secret this guy has been keeping in his office!" She snapped. "You don't understand and I don't have time to explain right now, but no matter what you say, you can't stop me." She said with finality and ferocity that seemed to take Adrian aback. For a second he just stared at her. Then he took a deep breath.

"Very well, how do I send you up there?"

April wished she could tell him how grateful she was that he didn't argue with her anymore. Later, when they were safe, she would. "The buttons that have arrows on them, on that desk, she pointed. He left the elevator and took up the receptionist's position.

"The arrow pointing up, I presume?"

She nodded. "Be careful out there."

"You too." He pushed the button and the doors slid shut, and the car started the fast and smooth ride upwards.

April swallowed hard. From the very start nothing had gone quite as she'd wanted it and she was still regretting taking Adrian with her. If she was completely honest with herself, this mission was for her own personal gain more than anything else. She needed to investigate for herself, not for anyone else's sake. And so far the former Guardian had proven truly useful and essential only for pushing the button that had sent her to MacAllen's office. Within the minute it took to get to the top of the skyscraper, April managed to brainstorm over a possible exit from the upper level, worry about her partner in crime getting caught and even consider (very tentatively) a slight possibility that the office she was headed to was still occupied by its owner. The very thought made her shudder, but at the same time hopeful, as strange as it was. After all, if one survived, then maybe…

The car stopped with a slight jolt and the doors hissed softly, opening to a shaded empty office. When April stepped out, so very slowly and carefully, her breath got caught at the sight of demolition that met her inside.

The way she remembered this wretched place was with a rich blue carpet stretched to the huge glass wall, and several glass containers along the walls on either side of it, containing artificially bred humanoid creatures, submerged in liquid and deep sleep, bred with powers like hers and probably more.

The luxurious carpet had turned into a mess of stains and glass shards. Blood marks. The Warrior Shifters were gone, their vessels were shattered and the liquid had been spilled on the floor, torn wires and tubes were protruding from where they were plugged into the floor and the ceiling. It was ominous, it was scary. Instinctively she backed into the elevator and took a frightened look around the whole office, as if those things could still be in the room, ready to attack her at any second. It wasn't so, her brain already knew it, but the hair on the back of her neck stood none the less. What did their absence mean? Had they awakened and busted their way out of their containers? She couldn't come up with a single harmless explanation for this puzzle.

She was snapped out of shock by the elevator doors closing. Her arms shot out reflexively, to hold one side open, the other automatically doing the same – she had been standing in their way, not even remembering she was supposed to jam the elevator. With a quick glance around the room she ran out, grabbed the armchair standing at MacAllen's desk and quickly dragged it over to the edge of the elevator. She stood waiting for a few seconds to check whether or not her trick worked. The doors slid back into place, but slid back open after encountering the obstacle. After a few seconds the process was repeated, then again. She took a deep breath. She was free to search the place now, there would be no disturbance at least for some time.

April turned back to the desk. Unlike the last time she'd seen it, there were no papers on it. Nor were any scattered around the office. That's odd, she said to herself, has anyone cleaned up here since their battle? But it was a stupid question, she assured herself. The mess showed no sign of having been cleaned and she doubted anyone less than MacAllen himself was allowed to touch the desk and its contents in any case. This didn't bode well. Feeling colder than ever, she pulled a drawer. There were a few stationary items, but nothing of real interest. She pulled another one, then another. There were five drawers, bereft of anything of value. She pursed her lips, frustrated. There may be secret compartments here, she though and pulled the drawers out completely, felt the edges on the bottom, the insides of the desk itself. It was futile. No secret buttons, no hollow space cleverly hidden from uninvited guests like herself.

"Seriously?!"

When April gave up on vandalizing the desk, she found she had not been very attentive and should have expected something like this all along. When she looked closer at the dimly lit floor, she realized some of the stains were footprints. There was a great mess of them which made them hard to recognize for what they were. Either there had been several people, or someone had done a lot of walking and pacing, most probably both. And whoever it had been, it struck her like a truck, had taken all the documents that had disappeared from MacAllen's desk. After all, all the drawers had locks, but she had no problem opening a single one of them.

Someone had done the job before she had the chance. Whoever it was, they were now in possession of very secret and very dangerous knowledge, as well as the full information about herself, probably more extensive knowledge than she had - after all that was the real reason she was there.

April stood numb for a while, much longer than it was wise of her. Repetitious bumping of the elevator doors on the armchair sounded as if from afar as she tried to pull herself together and decide what this meant for her, or for the world. The first thing she could think of was I came here for nothing. She had endangered The twelfth Guardian and herself, literally poured sweat and blood, wasted valuable potions and was expecting to be discovered by armed goons at any second with nowhere to run. All these risks, all this effort only to reach the destination and discover that somebody had simply marched in and then out, taking with them everything she had been hoping to find. She felt frustration welling up inside her and it threatened to pour out of her eyes, but she stubbornly held it in, refusing to give in to despair.

"No way they'd find everything", she said under her breath furiously. "They wouldn't know how much they would need to look for. They didn't know what I know about him, didn't know what he was…" What practical advantage that could possible give her - she didn't know herself, but she held onto the idea, the idea that she had a head start in something, that there was at least one little thing she was superior by. She made several long rounds, searching every nook and cranny (even imaginary ones) around the office, trying to see if she could unlock some hidden hideaway, find undetectable clues, all but forgetting that there could've been a search or a chase being performed in the building. Sadly, even if there was anything hidden away from any intruders, still safely tucked away somewhere, she was just as unsuccessful in spotting it as her unnamed predecessors. Her frustration grew and the search became more frantic. Sweaty and trembling from a nice mixture of exhaustion, chilly temperature and building rage, April finally stopped and leaned onto a wall, looking at the mess of the office. She had done everything she could, leaving bloody imprints all over the place in the process. It was futile and she knew it.

Picking herself up from misery of failure, she glanced at another place she needed to go but wasn't sure she could, nor was she looking forward to it. The second elevator leading up to the secret lab she remembered only too well and what it had led her to. There was nothing else to it. She dragged her feet to it and pushed the button to open the door. During her last visit it only obeyed to MacAllen for some reason. This time it casually swished open and with certain trepidation she entered it, in a few seconds she was in the dreaded laboratory.

At first glance nothing seemed remarkable, the lab looked almost exactly the way she remembered it from her unfortunate visit. But when she thought about it, the oddness of the order of this place came to the surface of her mind. Everything was perfectly intact, all the equipment worked, and was powered. More she thought about it the less sense it made, but her hopes suddenly rose up again. It seemed like this was the one place they had not entered, she must've been the first visitor here since that tragic day. Everything was untouched. She didn't know why the mysterious intruders had neglected exploring an actual secret lab and she didn't particularly care for a moment. What she did care for was what could still be found there. Surely, a secreted place like this had a bigger chance to hold the most precious information than the office she'd just left.

Her footsteps echoed in the vast space. Her eyes skirted over the metal panels and rods, many tubes and wires crisscrossing one another on the floor. There were shards of broken glass of the container from which a monstrous mutant had burst out, chasing her out onto the Hovercraft exit. The strange blue liquid had spilled onto the floor and through many elongated holes in it. April stared at it for a moment, then suddenly crouched on all four and peered down through the same holes. The floor she was standing on was merely a platform, a sort of metal bridge extended from the entrance to the wall opposite. Down there below her feet was an endless well of possibilities.

If she squinted, she thought she could see some blinking lights, faint enough to be mistaken for a trick of an eye, but it was logical for something to be down there. Where she currently stood was too empty of the experimental workings, telltale signs of the dirty work done behind the scenes until the spectacular results were brought up for the one who ordered it. This was a whole new section of the skyscraper and it didn't look like there was access from anywhere but here. There had to be a way to descend below, there had to be a floor, or several floors of labs. She lifted her head and looked around to see if she was missing anything important. There were levers and buttons that could trigger any unimaginable process. She wondered if it was worth the risk or if she should simply pull out all the wires and make a long makeshift rope ladder for herself.

She had little time to consider her options, however, as the elevator suddenly coming to life without her prodding pulled her out of the reveries and a new wave of dread washed over her. April heard it slide smoothly and coming to a stop somewhere down below, before starting again. Horrified that she had already been discovered, she looked around feeling trapped and helpless. There was nowhere to run and very few places to hide, and certainly not a single one that could hide her properly. The only direction she could go was the Hoverpad exit, left open since her "visit". Oh God, not this again. She thought panicking, wiping cold sweat covering her forehead with the back of her injured hand. But, having no other way out, she jogged to it anyway, feeling like a trapped animal. It was windy outside. She stood shivering in a corner of the tower's exterior, waiting for whoever it was that would find her in a minute. She heard the elevator door faintly in the howling wind, the footsteps must have been very careful if their sound was drowned, because she heard nothing for a while. She didn't dare hope that the person was going to turn back and leave the place without checking outside. It seemed more likely that they were crawling to her hiding place silently. That was it, she was caught. Then…

"April!" Came a careful call from the inside. "Are you here?"

Adrian? April could hardly believe it, but she had no choice when the call was repeated, louder and clearer this time. It was really him, he'd done it a second time. She all but ran inside and gaped at the man, who in turn tried to exhale in relief, but he was too out of breath and holding a stitch in his side.

"What are you doing here?" April asked, aghast. "How did you get up here?"

Adrian struggled to speak. "Later," he said, "guards are… coming here… we must leave..."

"How the hell are… " she cut herself short, it was no time for conversations, explanation would have to wait, "Okay, screw it!" And she zoomed past him to the lab elevator, Adrian following her lead once more. "We'll take the elevator to the first floor," she informed him.

"What if they're waiting down there as well?" He asked in a hurry while they rode back to the office.

"How many are there?"

"I don't know, there were several. Someone could have stayed on the ground floor just in case."

"April, wait…" He attempted weakly, still too breathless to provide whatever objections he had in a forceful enough manner. "There's another way…" he finally managed when they were inside the elevator. She barely registered what he'd said when the doors opened and she ran out to the other elevator. Yet another surprise was waiting for them there. The armchair April had so cleverly left in the way of the automated doors was almost completely inside the car now, apparently, the impact with the doors had moved it inch by inch and she hadn't noticed. At first she stood dumbstruck on the spot seeing it, realizing what would happen the very next time the doors attempted to shut themselves. Then she darted towards them just a second too late. with a sharp clang the doors pushed the armchair out of the way and shut themselves tight. Even as she banged on the button to call them back, she could hear the car gliding down, apparently to someone who had called it before she had, perhaps having been calling it this whole time. This was it, she thought once more, they were hopelessly trapped. Except…

"Come on!" Adrian grabbed her arm and practically dragged her to the opposite wall and stood facing it.

"Um… What's going on?" April asked dubiously, looking from Adrian to the wall, trying to identify the target of his attention. Nothing. Adrian didn't answer, nor could she see anything interesting on the plain wall in front of them. It was just a wall, empty of anything noteworthy. No suspicious holes, no handy pictures covering a secret button, or anything of that sort. "Seriously, what are we doing?" She repeated. As a form of answer, he smirked and extended a hand towards…. She didn't know what. But the next moment she leapt back and let out a cry of dismay. Where there had been nothing but a wall, a simple door appeared out of nowhere and Adrian's hand lay on a small doorknob. "How did you do that?" She asked, amazed. Her mind immediately jumped at a conclusion of holographic concealment likes of which she'd never encountered having been used to mask the door. But instinct told her that wasn't quite it. It would've ben very uncharacteristic for him to figure out such technology.

Adrian threw her an excited look, full of hope, "We might still avoid meeting them on the way down!" When he opened it and they both darted out without a second glance at the office, to her surprise, they were greeted by light. They ran through a short narrow corridor with fluorescent lights above all the way along the high ceiling. At the end of it numerous flights of stairs began. They leapt over the steps in their haste.

"Where are we going?!" April managed in a choked whisper.

"Just a few flights down," he answered, panting. "It's almost like a small maze down there, I think we can hide from them if we reach it before they do."

And if we don't? April thought alarmed. It was risky, and she had already taken a fair share of foolish chances, so far none of them paying off as generously as she'd thought. But she gritted her teeth and said nothing. She had no alternative to suggest after all.

"Almost there!" Adrian intoned under his breath. Even his footsteps became more quiet at that point. He seemed to be trying to tiptoe down on that speed - a useless attempt, April thought, but seeing how they were pretty much speeding towards their pursuers until they could change their course, it was well intended. She took after him. It must've looked like they were dancing down the stairs instead of running, she thought. Not a minute had passed when they heard the voices from downstairs. If they had not been trying so hard to make as little noise as possible, they would've missed the distant sounds completely. The security must've reached them at last, or they would soon. Adrian didn't even seem to think to stop. He bolted down with the same neckbreak speed and made a flailing motion with his arm which April suspected was a "Follow me!" or "Don't Stop!" command. He took two more flights and was all of a sudden out of sight, disappearing in an unremarkable corridor April would've sped past without noticing. She came to a sudden halt, such that she almost went rolling down the next flight with the momentum, but she grabbed the ledge to quickly steer herself to the right direction and followed him through.

He had been correct, it did look like a small labyrinth of sorts. There were short passages ending with shut doors leading who knew where. In a few seconds they came at a crossroads where the passage forked in three directions.

"Left!" Adrian hissed and she followed, hoping he knew where he was going and that they wouldn't find themselves trapped. She didn't ask if this was the way he'd come, she supposed it had to be. He navigated the "maze" quite well, a turn here, a turn there and he never even stopped to contemplate where to go, only slowed down a tad bit at certain points, but then swept by the stark walls like a breeze. Soon they left the threatening voices behind and April found she could breathe freely again. She started looking around with interest. Where did these doors and passages lead? Adrian had chosen a more or less straightforward route, as far as she could judge.

"Are you sure you know where to go?" She asked him carefully in as low a voice as she could with her breathing still uneven from the run.

"You could say that." he responded, his voice sounded strained and he seemed somewhat distracted.

"I just don't want us to end up cornered like that again." She said bitterly.

"Yes…" he said, and April looked at him suspiciously, speeding up a bit to take a look at his face and almost stumbled onto the floor seeing it. She was sure now that he hadn't heard what she'd told him, or hadn't understood. It was clear from his expression that his mind was elsewhere, eyes half closed and unfocused, as if he'd gone blind, brows slightly furrowed and lips parted, his mind clearly not in here and now. Yet somehow he kept navigating this unfamiliar place with ease, choosing which way to turn and where to proceed straight ahead with surety of a man who knew exactly where he was going. She was about to ask if he'd felt sick, when he said, almost whispered, in a very low voice. "It's close now."

"What is?" She asked bewildered.

"We'll see." He answered vaguely, his voice hushed.

"Are you looking for something? Do you know where you're going?" April insisted, but he didn't answer anymore. "Adrian?" Still no response. She became more and more alarmed. He looks like he's in some kind of trance, she thought, what is he doing? Could he be using magic? Then it hit her. Born in Stark he might be, but he was still a Shifter and the Guardian at that, born in a time with no Vanguard hunting down the possible Guardians, making it easy for these chosen few to take their sweet time in Arcadia, learn as much as they could, prepare to fulfill their life's purpose. Adrian's trips to Arcadia must have been a lot more fruitful than hers. Probably more numerous and quite a bit longer too. Her week of frantic skirting around and doing whatever couldn't possibly be a standard for a Shifter's "education". How he managed to use magic in this place was another matter, but if he could, it was a piece of good luck she wouldn't question. She was just about thinking to try opening a Shift when Adrian stopped abruptly. She came to a halt beside him and looked at him, observing the change in his whole demeanor. His eyes slowly opened and refocused, he stared right ahead. It was the end of the passage they'd taken last. A narrow one with just one door in the end of it, which they now stood facing.

"This is it." He whispered. "Come on." And they slowly approached it. April gave it an appraising look. The door certainly differed from all the others they'd seen in the tower so far. It was solid metal, perhaps aged steel, with an even surface, and extra safety measures manifesting in several means of locking it. It sported a handleset, two keyholes, as well as a relatively freshly installed DNA scanner. There was a board on the door too. The bold letters proclaimed the entrance was for those with special permissions. The two of them would not, of course, heed the warning. April stopped with a hand already on the handle. "What's inside?" She asked Adrian hesitantly.

"I don't know." He answered. She narrowed her eyes on him. He did seem to be honest, his eyes alight with curiosity echoing her own. She was starting to think that she needed to reevaluate her judgement of his persona. "Let's go in." He said impatiently, interrupting her line of thought, and April, deciding to put her contemplations away for more convenient time and circumstances, pulled it open.

It was indeed open! She didn't know whether to be excited for not needing to come up with impossible ways to break through that door, or disappointed by the suggestion that this place was most probably emptied by the same mysterious intruders that came here before them and cleared MacAllen's office.

They stepped in carefully, closing the door behind them with a very faint squeak and a click. It was an entrance to yet another corridor, but, just like the door leading to it, it looked sufficiently different from the rest of the building as a whole. It looked older, the walls and the ceiling were not as pristine, they looked aged. Their color was light creamy and had an uneven, textured surface. Even lights seemed to have a different, only slightly yellowish hue to them. The wooden floor creaked sometimes under their feet, though their step was light and otherwise silent thanks to a carpet that lined it. All in all the design of the whole place had noticeably cozier, if old fashioned, homely sort of feel to it in comparison, or there was an attempt at it in any case. April wondered at it as they proceeded, abandoning their previous sprinting speed, to jog to the end of it.

"So," she said after a while, "Are you going to tell me what brought us here?"

"Power…" Adrian answered uncertainly, then added in haste "I wouldn't say magic, but something… Something extraordinary. I felt it on my way up when I got close. We should be near to its source now."

She stared. Extraordinary power? The source was near? "How can you tell?" She asked and Adrian flashed a broad grin. "I've been trained." He announced with some pride, "In Arcadia I tried to learn quite a few things. This was always something of a gift of mine - if there was a magical object in the vicinity, I was the first to feel it, or if anyone from a magical race, or someone with a gift to magic was before me, I could tell without even looking at them. Of course, it was a skill I had to hone, not just inherent talent." He added matter-of-factly.

"Lucky you." April muttered almost grudgingly and looked away. "And what did you do with that door up in the office?" she demanded a few seconds later.

"The same thing", he said, his grin widening even more, "It was a door that revealed itself once you found it. Only, that actually was magic in its traditional sense, quite a simple working too, but more than enough an obstacle to stall anyone unversed in, or unaware of magic." He took a very careful glance in her direction, "You can learn how to do things like this too. I could help…"

She just shrugged. "So, do you have a guess what this power is that you're 'feeling'?"

"I'm not sure…" He answered thoughtfully, "It's very unusual, and it's getting stronger, which means we're on the right path."

"Rushing into the unknown again." She noted.

"I suppose." He agreed.

The corridor forked and Adrian chose the left route without much hesitation. April followed. There were doors here, also heavy and iron cast, but each one with only a single lock - all open. She slowed down and stopped. "Hey," she called quietly, "I think we should take a look!" As Adrian stopped and retraced his steps reluctantly, she opened the very first door and entered. It was not what she'd expected. She thought she'd see shelves aligned with data files, or a lab full of remnants of the Vanguard's sinister experiments. It was just a room, not much unlike her own room at the Border House. Small, simple, livable. It wasn't extremely tidy, a layer of dust had covered the few pieces of furniture and the floor, but it couldn't have been abandoned a long time ago. There were no cobwebs, no sign of mildew, everything was in good repair, only a chair was toppled over, but otherwise nothing seemed amiss. Her curiosity piqued, she approached a small cabinet and opened it. Not much, just some folded clothing. She pulled it out and stretched it before her. It was a plain white outfit. Not really a uniform but clearly lacking individuality and looking very sterile. Like something one should be given in a hospital.

"Did someone live here?" Adrian asked, opening a small door, there was a tiny bathroom in it.

"Looks like it." She whispered, though she didn't know why.

They poked around for just a bit, until they realized there was nothing of importance to be found there and exited the place quietly. There were more identical looking doors along the way and April couldn't help opening a few of them to see if they were just as similar on the inside. They were, and while Adrian fidgeted and urged her to hurry up for there could still have been pursuit, she took some time to explore them as well, to see if she could come up with a good guess as to what purpose these rooms served and whom they were supposed to accommodate, if that word could be used. The forbidding massive doors on these tiny apartments seemed to scream of imprisonment.

When she finally quelled her damned curiosity enough to drag herself from yet another chamber, Adrian led the way with fresh vigor, perhaps to prevent her wasting time sightseeing on the way again. April still kept looking around to see if there was a room indicated as archives, management or anything of the sort. Anything that could store interesting documents, anything that could give her useful information. It was hard to do at such fast pace and Adrian not even considering to go off course for a second more. On the other hand, she had to admit that this mysterious power source was probably the most interesting thing they could've searched for.

"Almost there!" Adrian proclaimed with great excitement after a minute or two and started running full speed, April hurrying to catch up with him again. They went into an empty and wide corridor - a lot wider and taller than any others that brought them here, bearing proportions of an ancient royal castle rather than an average facility in a modern building. At the end of it stood huge, imposing doors - up to three meters tall perhaps, and just as wide. It had no locks or bolts, no handles to pull and no scanners for DNA, iris, fingerprint, or even something as hopelessly outdated as plastic cards.

But there was something that made April's heart speed up quite a bit and she didn't quite know the reason. She felt something - something, she figured, Adrian must have been feeling all along. Much later, in a safer environment, when she'd had time and luxury to sit down and retell the events of that day, she would struggle immensely trying to describe it and ultimately fail. Something was pulsing. It went over her senses like waves of breeze, cool and soothing. She felt her body and mind relax to such completion she didn't think was possible. She breathed in deeply, like one leaving a stuffy, airless, smelly room and emerging into virgin nature all of a sudden, greenery in abundance, clear transparent mountain air pouring itself into one's lungs without any effort, and the seemingly distant and dormant primordial part of subconsciousness shaking awake, roused by leaves whispering in the wind, aching to give its voice to bird calls and a river roaring somewhere far away, almost like music, like a song, ancient, timeless... Snatching her mind away even further...

April didn't know for how long she had stood there, entranced. She was brought out of her reveries by a sudden movement by her side. Adrian, whom she had all but forgotten, stepped carefully forward and extended his hand to the door. Hesitating, as if afraid he might burn it, he rested his palm very slowly on a faint circle in the middle of it, on their eye level, hardly noticeable until it was pointed out. "It's coming from here", he said in a hoarse whisper and shivered slightly.

"I know," April answered, just as quietly, as if they were both afraid they might break some charm they seemed to be placed under. She was still partly lost in this strangest of perceptions, threatening to pull her back into the hypnotic experience any time. "I can feel it too. What is this?"

"I have no idea…" he shook his head. "Not magic, I'm sure of it now… But I don't…" he jerked away and whirled around as a sudden clank echoed from somewhere afar.

"They're on our tail." April made a rather obvious statement. Of course, she thought, anyone's attention would've been drawn to that door. They would check these mysterious facilities. "Should we hide?" They looked at each other and she could tell they were thinking the same thing. The allure of the grand door emanating inexplicable, fascinating power was too strong to just walk away from it without having tried to enter it first. April walked closer to the door, stopping at Adrian's side and took a good look at it. "If only we could find a way to open it…" She whispered wistfully.

"I don't think this opens any ordinary way," he said, eyeing the door, "But I'm not sure magic would do it either, except, perhaps for that explosive potion you had."

"All spent," she cut shortly, shaking her head, then pursed her lips and brushed her fingers over the surface. "This is too extraordinary to be accessible for regular personnel around here. I think… Only MacAllen himself and maybe his trusted few would've known the way to open it." She tried to clear her mind of the influence from the power source and think as hard as she could. Whatever the secret to opening the door was, it was too well hidden. If there were sensors - though she could see none - they wouldn't register her and Adrian as acceptable people anyway. If there was a code, she didn't know it and couldn't see where to enter it. It was so obvious that they couldn't gain entrance there, she felt stupid for even contemplating it when the most reasonable course of action was running away and hiding from the oncoming cops. But for some reason she couldn't. Whatever lay there, she felt as if she was connected to it in some obscure way and she found herself unable to walk away from it.

"I wish we had time…" She whispered, gliding her fingertips along the thin lined circle and brushing the center of it lightly. The next moment she yelped in surprise and so did her companion as the door suddenly came alive. The circular line lit up and slowly, and rather loudly, the door slid to the side out of their path. They stared with their mouths hanging open, dumbstruck and disbelieving what had just happened. The security could hear it, April was sure of that, but the success was too unexpected and overwhelming to allow the fear taint it.

"How did you do that?" Adrian gasped.

"I'm not sure I did anything." She responded and stepped tentatively forward. There was darkness ahead, but not a total one. The light spilling in that facility from the passage revealed a rectangular platform on which they stopped and took a look around at the vast hollow space. There were circular stairs going down to the bottom of it, disappearing out of sight. Without even exchanging a questioning look, they started descending into the dark chasm. Immediately there was a loud bang from the door shutting itself. Well, at least it should stop the pursuit behind us, provided that they can't open it. April thought to herself, and Adrian asked her next thought out loud: "How are we supposed to get out of here?"

She only sighed, so tired of facing one inescapable trap after another, but somehow escaping them all in the last second. "We'll see. There may be another exit.. I hope."

He made a noncommittal sound and they both concentrated on now nearly invisible stairs that went a very long way along the circular walls. They kept gliding one hand over the wall, to make sure they kept close to it and not risk falling in the abyss on the other side. April kept glancing uneasily to the bottom. There were lights down there and strange contraptions and devices slowly became visible after some time was spent walking down the stairs. Their descent took a while, careful as they were not to slip or stumble. The whole time it took April had been wondering whether or not their pursuers had heard the door slamming shut, whether or not they'd be able to follow them into this cave like facility and how she and Adrian were going to get out if they did, or if they didn't and decided to camp at the door until the two of them went out on their own accord. She was also wondering about the mysterious power that brought them there. Its influence had weakened significantly already and was gradually declining in strength. Despite what she'd previously assumed, it didn't seem like its source was inside this place, but rather in, or on the door itself. Was it a spell to ward off intruders? She wondered for a moment. It could have been, except it seemed to have worked backwards, at least where April and Adrian were concerned. What sort of a protection spell would first call them here and let them in the moment they touched it? "Umm, Adrian?" She started uncertainly, "do you think this could be a trap?"

"A trap?" he replied, not all that surprised to hear it.

"It did lure us pretty effectively.."

"Who would set it up for us though?" He asked thoughtfully.

"It may not have been for us. Just for intruders in general."

"It could…" He stopped himself, probably giving it some good thinking. "It felt too forbidding to be a luring spell." He declared in the end. His choice of words came as a surprise.

"Forbidding?" April blinked at him.

"Yes, like something tabooed, something beyond reach and I'd better not try to touch it or else. It gave me that kind of feeling."

"It felt nothing like that to me," she said thoroughly surprised, "It was the opposite, actually. It just drew me to it."

"Interesting," he sounded genuine, "spells can be designed to call for something inside the person they're affecting. When that's the case, the reaction will vary from one man to the other depending on their own individual traits. Those spells are a lot more difficult to set up, as far as I know. They require great power and knowledge and skill, so they are very rare. But… Like I said, I'm thoroughly unsure that thing is magic."

"What do you think it is then?" Asked April.

"Well, the lord of this place was a Draic Kin, isn't that correct?"

"Yes..?"

"He could have done something, using his own powers."

"Which… isn't magic?" She asked, exasperated. Understanding just how little she knew about all this, and how much she probably should've known - had some circumstances beyond her reach and knowledge not prevented it – was excruciating.

Adrian paused, pondering the question. "I suppose anyone in Stark would still call it magic and see no difference. Everyone unversed in the Lore of the Worlds, that is." He clarified. "But the power of the Draic Kin comes from their own world. Magic is the trait of Arcadia and it used to be the trait of the original world before the divide. It's a different force of nature. Or a force of a different nature, one could say."

"Okay, I get that there is a difference, I think. But How can you tell that difference?" April wondered.

"It's more of a guess than anything else. Different sorts of magic and different people's magic feel different too, but that thing that stood in the doorway is too alien. If I'm wrong and it is actually magic, it's the most extraordinary thing I've encountered in my life. The thing that awaits us at the bottom of this pit, on the other hand…" He paused, seemingly for a dramatic effect.

"Yes…?" April prompted, catching on.

"It's definitely magic. Also unusual, and very powerful."

"Really?" She felt excited. Could it possibly be that they hadn't gone through all that trouble for nothing? She looked over to the bottom once more, outlines of the tech assembled below were easy to make out now. Whatever the purpose of this machinery was, it had to be important, after all, it wouldn't be placed in an oversized Batcave otherwise.

They walked the rest of the way in silence, reaching the bottom tired, but full of anticipation. It was a sight to behold. Rows of strange consoles stretched from one side of humongous circular hall to the other. Some of them were identical, but some, April was sure, had to come from different Eras entirely. She easily spotted a few that reminded her of illustrations from books and articles about old technologies. At home she'd had a book called "Rise of Computing Machines" she used to goggle at as a kid, that showed pictures of old, bulky boxes with rounded screens, or walls filled with buttons and small triggers. She could see machines similar to those on the edge of the room. Others, on the other hand, looked as sleek and modern as anything she'd expected from a high tech secret lab. The most interesting ones, however, were the ones that glowed with magic. These instantly drew both their attentions. Located further in the opposite half of the room were rather unusual machines indeed. April assumed they were machinery because they roughly followed the design of nearby consoles, but these differed significantly with the absence of any usual interface, including a normal screen. In its place was what at first looked to them like a hollow space, but something shimmered in a ghostly fashion over it - a thin layer of some light substance. Upon closer inspection April thought it had to be some sort of a magical replacement for a normal screen. Its texture reminded her of potions the way it swirled and twirled around chaotically, albeit potions were more solid looking than this. There were a few similar consoles nearby, some of them glowing faintly in different colors. A large screen on a very wide and bulky one with a metal frame and large glassy screen kept outputting strings of numbers nonstop. Or, rather, April thought at first that they were numbers. As she got closer, she realized she didn't recognize most symbols and the ones that actually looked somewhat like numbers and letters she was no longer sure about.

"I wonder if some of these are the machines that create barriers against Shifting?" Adrian said.

"I thought the same thing." April agreed. "MacAllen called the barriers magical. It looks like there's a lot of magic here."

"Do you think you could figure out which one of these does that? If you did, we could disable it somehow and Shift right out of here."

The idea certainly appealed to her, but if she was realistic, the chances that she could make the heads and tails of that system were slim to none, Adrian was giving her too much credit. "That's unlikely", she admitted, "but we should try anyway..." They stepped carefully, trying not to stumble over many wires and tubes that crisscrossed the floor, peering at the machines and trying to find the hints as to what purpose each one of them served. It was hard enough even with their displays bright and active, but some didn't even have them.

"It's strange," she heard Adrian's voice faintly, he was a good deal away from her by then.

"What?" She called.

"Some of these are connected in some manner, their magic is, anyway. They work as one." April looked over at the consoles Adrian stood in front of. He had chosen a group of magically glowing ones (which was to be expected, she supposed) as the target of his attention. "It's as if they were different parts of the same living being, if that makes sense." He added thoughtfully.

"Yeah, it could be a farm," April said, and seeing him turn his head to her in confusion, clarified: "it's when different machines are connected in a sort of a net to handle tasks that would be too difficult or impossible for only one to handle on its own. It's done when a task requires more power than any one of them can provide, do you understand?" Adrian seemed to, he nodded slowly, clearly thinking this over. Then she looked around at the vast cavern, an idea striking her, "Maybe all of this is one farm!" she exclaimed. It seemed possible. If only they knew what task it was handling though… "It could've been powering the magical barriers then!" Adrian shouted. Again, a very real possibility and she nodded vigorously with genuine enthusiasm.

"We may not even need to wrack our brains for a proper shutdown then!" April theorized. "If we unplug enough of them to disrupt the process or weaken the power if that's the way it works..." as she paused for just a second to draw breath, she heard something that halted her and made her crane her neck up to the way they'd entered. Adrian did the same.

Noise was coming from above, not very loud, but still clearly audible. It continued for several seconds, stopped, picked up again… Unless she was much mistaken, someone, somehow had opened the door and entered the place. She gulped and looked at Adrian wide eyed. They were both thinking the same thing: could they possibly be discernible from that height? They were at a disadvantage standing in a pool of shimmering light while the security guards remained in the darkness, at least for a time. She looked around, to find somewhere to hide. She gestured to a little cluster of larger consoles and she and Adrian took refuge among them, crouching behind the central large console, where a shadow fell. It was a feeble hideout at best and one that could only buy them a minute at most, until they were discovered. "April," Adrian whispered, barely heard over the buzzing and humming from the machines surrounding them. "I have an idea! Try to open a Shift…"

April looked at him in surprise, "Haven't we already established that we can't Shift in and out of this place?" She whispered back.

"Just trust me, please!" He pleaded. She didn't understand what he was hoping to accomplish, but she tried anyway. Not believing in the success, she didn't bother to select a safe place and simply concentrated on Journeyman Inn again. Like she'd expected, it didn't work. The same cold reluctance met her from the Dreaming as when she had tried to Shift to Grendel Avenue from the Inn. She looked at Adrian exasperated, but he, to her great surprise, looked overly excited.

"I knew it..." he whispered fiercely and beamed at her. "We were right, you were blocked from exactly here. I felt how the power rose in resistance! Should we try and disable these machines while the guards are still up there?"

Her eyes widened. She looked up at the darkness above, calls from the security guards to each other – orders, warnings - were clearly heard now, they drew nearer every second. Then she looked down and stared all around, at the complex net of the machines she'd never seen before. There was only one way to disable it in due time and that was to damage it. There would be no proper, safe shutdowns for this. She nodded at Adrian decisively and reached out to the nearest console that had only a few buttons on it. She started pressing them frantically and chaotically, seeing if she could mess it up. The thing beeped in what sounded to her like an annoyed sort of manner, a few more sounds came from a console right next to it and a few tiny light bulbs flickered where they'd been dead before. But then nothing. Adrian caught on and tried to do the same on other consoles as April too proceeded from one to the other. There was disturbance soon enough, some warning messages popping out on screens, more disturbed beeps and one Adrian was working on went completely dead. A Shift still didn't appear, but they could get somewhere with this. "Keep it up" she mouthed at him and they set laboriously to work. Then, suddenly, there was a very loud and forceful shout.

"You there! Don't move!" She stopped dead. They'd been noticed already. She stole a glance at Adrian, who too stood unmoving where he'd been, he only glanced back at her carefully. "Hands up where I can see them!" the same voice ordered. They obeyed. A few more orders were given to two more guards that were with him, for one to keep an eye out and search the place for more intruders and to keep these two at a gunpoint. "Who are you and how did you get in here?" He shouted.

"We work here!" April answered, the thought striking her so unexpectedly, even she was surprised. The man didn't buy it for a second.

"This whole building was evacuated, nobody's supposed to be here! Identify yourselves!"

"That's not true!" April retorted, while thinking what she'd do when they had finally descended the stairs and taken them both in for questioning. It was clear that if that happened, they'd suffer grave consequences. "We are not the only civilians here! There was even a little girl... "

"That little girl", the man interrupted sternly, "informed us that there were two thieves in this building…" Brat. "…and by the description she gave us," he pressed on, his voice full of arrogance and disdain, "they sounded like they could be the same two lowlife criminals from the lowest level of the city that blew up the Interlevel Elevator, infiltrated the upper level, stole a shuttle and left it to explode in the middle of a park in Grendel Avenue!" He finished listing their sins of the day. April and Adrian looked at each other desperately. These guys knew everything they'd done and when they were captured and interrogated, a lot more information would be in their hands. She couldn't let that happen, she wouldn't. Slowly, very slowly she made a tiny, barely detectable movement with her head – a movement only someone standing close had a chance to take note of – pointing out the largest consoles in the center, close to where they were standing, just a couple of steps away. "Now stay where you are and don't try anything funny, or you'll be shot on the spot!" The stranger told them, his voice nearer and nearer. She was sure those weren't just words and he would do just as he threatened to, yet she saw the alternative of being captured, tortured and perhaps being gotten rid of, or imprisoned for a lifetime a far worse alternative and well worth the risk she was about to take. Adrian returned his answer with a slight nod. They both suddenly dove as one towards the chosen shelter and just as they did, guns fired. Adrian let out a muffled shout, the next second he huddled by her side where they both crouched, his right palm pressed to his left arm. April looked at it fearfully, but there was no time to even ask how badly he had been injured. In a split second she managed to summon enough concentration to make sure Shifting still didn't work and decided to use drastic means. She had no time left to try and be discreet, she had to be destructive. The console they were cowering behind had a lot of wires and plugs that connected it to all the ones that surrounded it in a circle. She pulled the plugs out. Then, foolishly, outright grabbed wires with her bare hands in her impatience and tore them out violently. One of them must have been damaged. The next thing she was aware of was her body being seized, her arms felt as if something had grabbed them at the wrists and pulled violently in opposite directions, hopelessly trapped in some hellish version of a straitjacket, sent into convulsions. She must've had some lucky stars still left heavens, because the power of shock threw her backwards, stumbling over more wires and one of her feet accidentally unplugging even more wires, the ones in her fist hanging loose and free of the machinery and suddenly her body was hers again. The whole system started misbehaving. Red lights flashed, there was buzzing and screeching. More blasts came their way, accompanied by shouts. Sparks flew all around them and in a few seconds they could see the guards were now running down the stairs to apprehend them.

"We must Shift now, April! Where to?!" Adrian shouted to her.

"To the Isle of Alais!" April blurted out without thinking, shaking and disoriented, "It's the safest place now!.." But Adrian was shaking his head vigorously even before she had finished the sentence. "I don't know that place! Let's..." but their negotiation time was up. A blast hit overhead, way too close, forcing them to shuffle over to the side and try to make themselves smaller. Their assailants were closing in and they had found a better angle to shoot, apparently. In seconds they would have their heads blown off with guns, or they'd fall prey to the very same objects that were shielding them for a moment. A row of machinery was caught in a series of fiery explosions - whether from being shot or the damage she and Adrian had purposely done, she didn't know. Not close enough to roast them alive or tear them apart, but definitely big enough to knock them to sideways and almost deafen them. Sparks started raining out of several consoles. Soon the whole place, themselves included, would be caught in fire, and the existence of a working fire alarm system was still under a question mark. There was no time to discuss anything or argue. With one final terrified look around at the fiery cavern April opened a Shift - to the right place, she hoped vaguely. It opened right below her feet and both of them falling into it, she grabbed Adrian's hand, who had whelped in surprise and yelled "Wait, no!" as he followed her, falling together in the pool of light.