Hey guys... we meet again in the fifteenth chapter...

I'm really sorry it took so long to get this chapter done... thank you for your patience.

For the next update, that is still this story, because it's almost done... in the first Arc. Right... story Arc. Actually, I intend to divide all chapters in this story into each Arc, neither the previous chapters, nor the upcoming... according to its main storyline.

The first Arc : "A New World."

And now... happy reading, then.

Chapter 15: Unpleasant Welcome

Black sky with two cold lights. Underneath, two blue birds hovered between the blue-purple light. A cold night breeze, staring forward without hesitation.

Grassy ground bathed in moonlights. As a foothold for those blue birds who constantly stomping their talons on this land. Moving forward, with one clear purpose...

"Martha..." Jewel said to herself, slowly descending to the surface, "We are going to..." she's stomping her talons on the ground, and then jumped again, "Save you..."

Together with Blu, she was running toward the hills to the northeast, toward a hill called Tungsin more precisely. The hill is south of the vast and dark ocean, and it's the highest and widest hill on this land. It didn't take long to get there, because the hill was already in front of them.

"So, this is... Tungsin hill," said Blu, as they stopped on a stand-alone hill among the vastness of this grassy land.

A hill that is close to the cliff, or it can be said to be on the edge of a rocky cliff that is connected to a vast ocean in the east-north. When the night time comes, the sea looks dark and creepy, so the bottom of the cliff filled with rock can't be seen, as if swallowed by the darkness of night.

Jewel looked around for a moment, before her gaze fixed on a bushy tree growing on a hilltop surrounded by an iron fence, "I'm sure Govaqry as said by him is there." she pointed toward the bushy tree.

"I think so..." Blu replied, still looking around. He doesn't see any other living things on this land. Since they've landed their talons, until they arrived here, "I'm curious..." He said, "That beast as described on the map. Why didn't we see any of them? Though local people are afraid of their attacks."

"You're right." Jewel replied, "But, we are coming for Martha, aren't we? Come on... Blu."

They walked up the hill through the path leading to the top of the hill. At the end of the path, they saw a large courtyard that surrounded by a fence made entirely of vertical iron rods. A bushy tree growing in the centre of the courtyard, and became the only tree they saw all along this grassy land.

"The gate has been opened." Blu said in a low voice. There was a small gap in the gate, "But, this is weird..." he whispered.

"What's wrong?" Asked Jewel, still doesn't understand.

"If this is really a place of slave trade..." he began explained, "It's fairly loose, isn't it? No one guard."

Jewel stunned after hearing his explanation, it seems she realized something. She immediately ran through the entrance gate into the courtyard, toward an old building behind the bushy tree. While Blu following her.

Without thinking twice, they immediately broke into the front door, leading to a room that was really dark. However, their steps stalled by feeling something under their talons... the sensation of a cold liquid.

"Th-this is..." said Jewel, touching the palm of her talons with her wings to make sure what it was.

Not long after, the lights in the room were on. Apparently, the lights in this building are automatically set to turn on a few minutes after someone enters this building. Using a heat sensor

"Bl-blood!" she said in a shocked tone, seeing blood stains on her wings.

A terrible reality...

They were greeted by seven corpses lying on the floor, and there are some who bumped their heads against the wall to death. A pool of blood trampled by Jewel, comes from one of dead bodies... a gray-feather bird with a scar on his left eye, with a hole in his head.

Jewel cannot say anything. She was silent as she closed her beak with her wings, staring at the corpses before her eyes. Just like her, Blu... he just paused with a gaping beak, can't believe his eyes.

"Ma-Martha..." Jewel pulled out a word in a tremulous voice. Trying to close her eyes, and turn her face away from the horrible sight.

"No..." Blu said, though somewhat shaken by this incident, but he tried to convince himself, "We're not late."

"Huh?" Jewel responded, looking at Blu. Her face was hesitant, but her eyes began showed a confident.

"We're not late..." he continued, "Martha must be all right... trust me."

Blu's words soothe Jewel's mind, and her heart, making her feel better. Then, she rubbed her teary eyes, though she's still shaken by this incident. Slowly she nods...

"Come on Jewel... be strong. We are going to save her, and bring her home safely..." said Blu, encouraging her.

"Okay..." she replied nervously, "But I... I feel sorry for them."

"Me too..." replied Blu, "I don't know what happened here..." he also feels sorry for them, "But, we have to save Martha, right? They've gone, and there's nothing we can do."

She became silent, brooding...

"We will call the authorities later. I think there is such a cop on this planet who will handle this. Don't worry." he continued," So... let's find her."

Jewel nodded slowly... and they began to explore this old building.

From the first room they entered, there are two doors leading to the right, and left side of this building.

"We should split up." said Jewel, breaking the silence, while looking at two opposite doors.

"Are you sure?" Blu asked, somewhat concerned about her.

"Positive..." Jewel replied, "Isn't this the best choice?"

"Th-that's not what I mean." replied Blu, in a slightly worried tone.

"You go left, I'll go right..." ignoring his words, Jewel immediately walked nervously to the right door.

"Jewel..." muttered Blu, worried about her. Then, he looked at the seven dead bodies lying on the blood-stained floor, "I'm so sorry guys... rest in peace," he said to them, then walked slowly toward the left door.

From outside, this building only lengthwise to the right and to the left, with less width. The first room they had entered is in the centre of this building. This building isn't terraced, but has a high roof. Because, the first time Blu and Jewel entered the centre room, the distance between them and the ceiling is high enough.

Overall, this building has only three main rooms... centre, right, and left.

The right room, connected by a long hallway, with a small width. There are no doors in this hallway. Only the rows of windows facing the sunrise on this planet, so the light can illuminate this hallway during the daytime.

Jewel is on the way to this room. She walked slowly, occasionally calling her name, Martha... though there was no answer. Along the hallway, she didn't find anything terrible... unlike in the centre-room. At the end of the hall, she found another door, which led to the right-room. At first, she was a bit hesitant to open the door. However, she tried to convince herself...

"Come on, Jewel... be a strong girl," she mumbled to herself.

She gulped, take a deep breath, then opened the door slowly. The door makes a loud noise, echoing in the hallway.

To her surprise... she was looking into the room with bulging eyes. Her face was pale, and breathless. Staring at something behind the door,"Th-This is..."

Meanwhile, Blu. He headed to the left room through a hallway that looked exactly like the hallway Jewel had passed. The building was designed in symmetry so that the right and left side of the building look the same with each other. Impressed tidy, and orderly, with a spacious and clean courtyard. Most grasses are soft, under the moonlights.

Blu managed to get into the left room easily, he didn't see any other corpses along the way. It turns out the left room is a financial administration room. He could see a wide diagram attached to the wall. A diagram showing not about money, but the number of children who have been sold, and... who have died.

"This is madness..." he mumbled, watching the diagram. The number of dead children is greater than the children who have been sold. In the lower right corner of the diagram there is a writing... 'Bankrupt'. With red ink that lights up.

"No, this is not red ink..." he mumbled, paying more attention to the inscription, "This is... blood."

Blu who had just realized something, approached the diagram, and touched the bloody writing, "And it's still new."

Once satisfied with the diagram, Blu approached a desk near the window in the left corner of the room, a table illuminated by moonlights. At the desk there is a memo beside a yellow ink glass...

"What's this?" Muttered Blu, picking up the memo, and read it,

"By order of the R.T council, I sent you to see M.A, then..."

He flipped through the memo, but there's nothing... only those words. Looks like the memo isn't finished yet. Someone who wrote the memo was in a hurry, his/her handwriting isn't tidy, with thick ink and some ink spots dripping around the scrap paper. At the end of the word, there's a scribble slant was coming from the word 'then'... then in the word 'R.T' a vague-look of a word which is the full name of the initial R.T, but somehow deleted and changed into an initial.

There's not any clue of the memo written by whom and shown to whom. A yellow ink written on black paper, make Blu curious with the truth here. However, he cannot do anything, just guessing.

Without a word, he inserted the memo into his shirt pocket.

"Blu...!"

Suddenly he heard a voice echoing in this building. A voice that came from someone who is familiar with him.

"That is..." he mumbled, "Jewel's voice!"

Back to Jewel who still stood stiffly in the right room. Her gaze was fixed on the one thing that was so noticeable to her.

"What is that?" Said Blu, after running toward the right room where Jewel is. He glared at a strange-looking iron wall inside an old building.

"Jewel, did you know anything about that?" Blu asked, walking toward her, and shaking her shoulders, "Hey, Jewel..."

However, her gaze wasn't fixed on that iron wall, but something else...

With trembling eyes, and a cold sweat pouring down her face, she said haltingly, "N-not just that..." she pointed at something.

"What-what?" To his surprise, Blu realized something more than 'weird'... "Dead bodies... again."

Blu cannot express it with words. A terrible sight, for the second time he saw these dead bodies. A room that is the only one without lighting. The light that should be light up this room had been damaged, or even destroyed.

The moonlights coming through the windows, illuminating the bodies that lying on the floor. There was no blood, no bruises, and no other signs of violence. Those birds just suddenly... died.

But, the horror they encounter wasn't just that. The terrible part of the corpse was the terror seen on their faces. In every corpse, there was a pale, fearful face. Their eyes stared in horror and their bodies stiffened, some people with their hands raised up. Their beaks were gaping with white eyes.

"They have..." Jewel said slowly,"Protected..."

.

.

.

.

.

Okay guys... thank you for taking the time to read this simple story.

And the next chapter is the last chapter for the first Arc...