It all looked too easy. This place was supposed to be among the most secure labs? Their group got to the door and eliminated the guards with just a little effort. Granted, everyone except Aielyn was an elite in one way or another, but it still looked too easy to her. And then their luck ran out. The woman, who looked like a forest flower, somehow eliminated Nesha without anyone noticing. And when Ylrian saw her, he looked... sad?
"Oh, fuck," he cursed. "Hi, Lor, you're as beautiful as ever."
"Cut the crap, Ylrian," she said with a smirk. "What are you doing here?"
"Look, Lor, we're not here to hurt anyone. At least not anyone you care about. So, just let us go inside, we'll do also you a favor."
"And how do you know who I care about, traitor?"
"Well, certainly not the Lepharists, right?"
"Cut the crap, Ylrian," Seritha grunted. "Since you could have taken us one by one, Lorsa, but instead you showed yourself, you want something from us. What is it?"
Lorsa? Right, Lord Vaizel's Wing. No wonder she's pissed.
"I want to know, why you're after this one lab?" Lorsa gestured to the space around.
"We got a tip, that something or someone interesting is here," Ylrian smiled, but Aielyn could see the smile was a bit forced.
"Strange, I got the same tip," Lorsa said. "By seeing you coming here. Who tipped you off and what's here?"
"We don't know who or what's inside," Seritha said quickly, before Ylrian threw another pointless answer. "Lady Triniel is very suspicious of spies and if a wrong word got out, the Lepharists could act before we got here."
"That makes sense," the flower ranger agreed. "I'll help you with the lab, then. In return, I want just a few things. First, if there are any Elyos prisoners, I'll take care of them here, you won't be dragging them to whatever place is your base now. And second, after we're done, I'm keeping the assassin sleeping somewhere around here."
"Agreed," Seritha nodded and without further delay opened the entrance door and entered the lab. And immediately cast a sleep spell at a few guards, who were going to check the noise outside. The rest of the group carefully followed. Lorsa stopped by each guard and gently pressed a napkin on their noses for a few moments.
The hallways had smooth stone walls and floors and were very clean and quiet. And any guards or workers, who appeared, were quickly put to sleep or otherwise silenced. A few of them had keys with numbers. They reached a point, where a flight of stairs split off from the main hallway.
"Aarten, Lonewolf, Lorsa, continue this way," Seritha pointed to the hallway and turned towards the stairs. "Ylrian, Aielyn, with me."
They ascended the stairs and entered another hallway, this one had several doors on each side. Numbers on each door corresponded with the numbers on the keys. Seritha gave Ylrian and Aielyn a few keys each. Aielyn headed to the nearest door, turned the key in the lock and to her surprise the door opened without any trap or trouble. But as soon as she reached the door frame, she quickly raised her arms in front of her face, as a ceramic vase hit her.
"You're not taking him from me!"
Aielyn stepped back and ducked, just as a chair flew over her head.
"If you're not a Lepharist, we're not here to hurt you!" she shouted, as she took cover behind the door.
An Asmodian woman with long, tangled dark red hair ran out of the room with what looked like a leg from another chair in her hands. She was barefoot and dressed in a simple night gown with two heavy aether-cuffs adorning her ankles. And her eyes were glowing fiery red.
"If you just get near him, I'll kill you!" she yelled.
"Alright, we're not taking anyone who doesn't want to!" Aielyn barely evaded the next attack. "Please, calm down, we can just... talk?"
"I'm not talking to any of you sunfuckers!"
"Shairun?" Seritha's shaking voice broke the rage.
The Asmodian prisoner turned around and stared at the sorceress in disbelief. The glow in her eyes dimmed.
"Seritha? Are you... real?"
Seritha nodded and without a word she quickly cast a spell that froze everyone except her in their place and created lots and lots of beautiful snowflakes glittering in the air.
"It's you... you're real..." Shairun dropped her improvised weapon and tears rolled over her cheeks. Her black eyes stopped glowing completely. "I missed you."
"I missed you too," Seritha canceled her spell and the two women quickly ran to hug each other.
Aielyn relaxed her muscles and quietly went into the opened room. It was very small and didn't contain much more than a bed, small table, one broken chair and a crib. Something moved in that crib. Aielyn walked over to it. A small baby wrapped in clean white linens was curiously watching her with its huge black eyes. As she walked closer, the baby moved its arms and smiled. Aielyn also smiled and raised her hand to say hello.
"Get away from him!" Shairun yelled from the door and Aielyn instinctively made two steps back.
"But I..."
"She's alright, Shairun, she's with us," Seritha said.
"But she's an Elyos!"
"She's half Asmodian. And she won't hurt... uh..."
"Osvi, my son," Shairun took the baby from the crib. "Look, Osvi, this is Seritha, we're going home with her."
"You... had a baby... here? What is this place?" the sorceress was clearly taken aback.
"Israphel is building an army. I don't know much, they've kept telling me the only reason I'm alive is to give birth to... I hate this place."
"Army of babies?" Aielyn blurted.
"Babies grow up. And if the parents are powerful daevas, they're more likely to Ascend and be powerful themselves," Seritha said.
"So... you're pretty powerful, right? Well, obviously. Who's the..." Aielyn stopped, when she saw Seritha's glare. "I-I... guess I'll go check the other rooms."
The ranger stepped outside of the room and took a deep breath. She walked to the next door with the number of one of her keys.
"Hey, Seritha, you should come here!" Ylrian called from another opened door. Aielyn ran towards him and soon Seritha joined them.
The room was slightly bigger and more decorated than the Shairun's one. There were even a few potted plants giving off a mild and pleasant smell. The person half-sitting half-lying in the bed wore the same gown as Shairun and aether-cuffs, which she had not only on her ankles, but also on her wrists and around her neck. Her hair was blonde, almost golden and although her eyes were closed, Aielyn knew they were bright green. And she was very visibly pregnant.
"She's not reacting to me," Ylrian looked helpless.
"Lady Yustiel?" Seritha walked over to her and gently touched her arm.
The Lady of Life slowly opened her eyes, looked at her and after a few seconds closed them again. The good news was, she was alive. And that was all.
"Aielyn, find the others and send Aarten here. Unless they are in an emergency, he's needed here more," Seritha said and got up. "Leave the keys here, we'll check who else needs a healer's attention."
"Yes, of course," Aielyn nodded and ran to the main hall, where they split up. The main hall had a few more branches, but she followed the occasional trail of incapacitated guards or researchers and found the rest of their group in an administration room. Lorsa and Lonewolf looked especially interested in sifting through the research notes and prisoner records.
"Uhm, Aarten, Seritha needs you in the other... upstairs. It's quite urgent."
Aarten looked relieved, put down the papers and left quickly. Aielyn wasn't really eager to do the paperwork, so she quietly left the room to explore some of the other halls and rooms. One branching tunnel led downward, ending with a sturdy metal door. There was no lock, only four heavy latches. Aielyn lifted them and opened the door. After a few meters there was another door, which was comfortably warm to touch. She opened this door too and a wave of aether washed over her.
It was a large room. An unconscious man was tied to the opposite wall, wires and tubes attached to his body and to various devices and glass containers around the room. In those containers several elemental spirits were captured, some other spirits were chaotically moving all around the room and occasionally fighting.
~ o ~
Nesha woke up sitting under a tree, slightly dizzy and with her arm up and tied to a branch at her wrist. Her weapons and her cube were gone and she couldn't feel any aether. And she smelled a remnant of something. She didn't know what exactly got her, she only remembered being hit by an aetheric arrow before losing consciousness. An enemy ranger was somewhere around and very capable one. She got up and cursed upon seeing the aether-cuff. There was no way she could get rid of it without any tools. The branch she was tied to wasn't too strong, though, with enough effort it could be possible to break it. It took her several minutes and she got a few bruises on both hands. After freeing herself, she looked around. The lab wasn't far. Very carefully she sneaked under the trees and the bushes. She couldn't step through the shadows, but she still knew how to hide. There were no guards in front of the entrance to the lab and the door was partially open. Nothing moved, so she walked to the door. Behind it were two unconscious guards. Weren't there supposed to be at least five of them? She took their daggers and continued through the hallway, still dizzy from whatever she smelled before. The aether-cuffs slowed her body's ability to get rid of it.
"Nesh? What are you doing here?" Ylrian was walking down from a flight of stairs.
"Someone put me to sleep, I think a ranger. Combination of sleep arrow and potion."
"Yeah, it was Lorsa. She's here with us, sort of a temporary ally. Not for long, though. Do you feel this strange aether current too?"
"Not really," she raised her hand with the cuff. "Can you help me with this?"
He checked the aether-cuff and shook his head. "Nah, I can't open this."
"Can you shoot it?"
"It will burn your hand if I do."
"At least I'll feel the aether."
"Alright, I can try. Hold on," he pulled out his gun and started charging it. But before he could fire, the glow on the gun dissipated and Ylrian gasped in surprise. "Shit!"
"What happened? Is it broken?"
"No. There's no aether around."
"What?"
"It's as if the aether was sucked out of this place", he breathed heavily. "There's almost nothing around... But the current is still here, it's just way too weak. Let's go."
Nesha followed Ylrian through the main hallway, noticing the few guards and researchers, who were still unconscious. Shouldn't they wake up without aether to keep them sleeping?
"What happened to the guards outside?" she asked.
"We knocked them down and ensured they'll stay that way."
"They're gone."
"What?"
"There's no one outside, only two guards behind the door."
Ylrian stopped and looked at her.
"I'm not joking. I didn't see anyone."
"Right. So we either walked into their trap, or we had really bad timing. We should hurry to see where the aether's going."
After a short walk they turned to a downward tunnel and reached the room with spirits. Aielyn, Lorsa and Lonewolf were already there, watching the chaotic ball of aether forming in its center. The spirits were running around, as if in panic, but something prevented them from leaving the room.
"What the fuck is this?" Ylrian gasped.
"It's collecting aether, somehow," Lorsa responded.
"They're torturing the spirits to do that. We need to stop it!" Aielyn said.
"Yeah, it looks like it's going to explode," the gunslinger agreed. "But can't tell if it's knock us unconscious explode, or collapse the mountain explode."
"We need to calm the spirits down and send them home. If there are no spirits, this will stop," Aielyn insisted.
"And you know how to do that?" Lonewolf asked.
"No, but he might," Aielyn pointed at the other side of the room. After a few seconds of focusing Nesha recognised a human figure at the wall. It wasn't moving.
"Nesha, can you step through the shadows there and wake him up?" Ylrian asked.
"Not without aether. And I don't really see any shadows there."
"This room is full of aether," Aielyn objected.
Nesha raised her hand with the aether-cuff.
"Ah, right. Lor, could you..."
"No."
"I'll go," Aielyn said. "I was taught... I know how to talk with spirits. Do you have aether pudding? They like it."
"Here," Lorsa reached to her cube and handed her a few pieces of pink jelly.
"Alright, whatever you see, don't go in. They're already super stressed and I don't want them to lose it and kill me, don't spook them more."
Aielyn took a deep breath and entered the room, just as a wind spirit was running towards the door. She knelt and offered it a piece of jelly. The spirit freaked out at first and the wind gave Aielyn several shallow cuts. But after eating the jelly it calmed down and let her pet it. It was still shaking, but it wasn't attacking. For now.
~ o ~
Something was wrong. And not only about the aether being sucked into an elemental chaos. No, this lab should be well guarded. But the resistance they met was too weak. No, something in this situation was a trap. Or everything. Lonewolf glanced at Lorsa. She was nervous. A while ago she eagerly picked several documents and stuffed them into her cube. Was she really trying to gather evidence against the Lepharists, or was she hiding it for them? He never met her, only heard rumors about her and there was nothing that could help him decide.
"Hey," he hissed, looking to the tunnel. "Do you hear that?"
Heavy thumping sounds echoed through the tunnel. The trap was triggered.
"Lyn, whatever you do, hurry!" he shouted and ran up. He didn't look if the others were following, but as he got to the hallway and headed for the intersection, where Seritha and Aarten went, he stopped in surprise and immediately hid in the nearest alcove. Two robots were marching towards them and he just barely evaded shots from their cannons.
"Fucking aethertechs," Ylrian swore next to him.
"How are they functioning without aether?" Lorsa shouted from another alcove on the opposite side of the hallway. She got hit and her right arm was all but unusable.
"They must have their own supply," Ylrian said. Unlike the standard models they had metal and glass cover over their heads. "I'd do the same if I were them."
"And what would you do if you were us?" Lorsa pulled an odella bandage from her cube.
"How many aether jellies do you have?"
"Three!"
"That doesn't give a lot of space for error. Give them to me, I have a plan."
"Are you insane?"
"Stop stalling, idiot," Lonewolf grunted. "They're slow, but they're almost here. What's the plan?"
"I eat one jelly and distract them," Ylrian pointed at the aethertechs. "You eat the second and take the third to Seritha and tell her to create portal and take all the prisoners out."
"That's your plan? Just letting them escape?"
"Lorsa, it's bigger than just... us. Lady Yustiel is there and if she's the only one who escapes, it's a win. We can't let Israphel keep her."
"Lady... Yustiel?" the Elyos ranger was in shock.
"The jellies! Now!"
Lorsa reached to her cube and threw a pouch at him. Ylrian pulled one jelly from it, stuffed it into his mouth and gave the rest to Lonewolf. The he unholstered his guns, ready to charge them. Lonewolf checked there were indeed two jellies left, ate one of them and waited for the aether to spread through his body. As he got ready to step into the shadows, Ylrian screamed, dropped his guns and fell to his knees, clutching his head.
~ o ~
As the aether was spreading through his body, Ylrian gently directed it to keep the aether in his upper body to charge his guns through his hands. He had a limited supply, he had to use it efficiently. As he glanced at the approaching aethertechs, he remembered the frustration, the sadness, the feeling of being betrayed by his Lord, that finally drove him to leave and go to... to... Inggison Illusion Fortress. A memory appeared, he was walking through hallways as colourful as butterflies, talking to... someone... waking up under a tree with the urge to find the rebels.
~ o ~
Nesha watched as right after eating the jelly Ylrian collapsed.
"What did you give him?" she yelled at Lorsa.
"Dammit!" Lorsa cursed, pulled something from her cube and nodded at Lonewolf. Then she threw the thing at the closer aethertech. It exploded and smoke filled the hallway. Lonewolf disappeared in the smoke, Nesha could only hope he got through.
An aethertech stepped out of the shadows and aimed its cannon at Ylrian. At point blank. Nesha sprinted, bumped into him just in time to save his head from the blast. But she wasn't fast enough to escape it herself. As the aetheric blast hit her chest, she lost her breath and pain exploded all over her body. Her vision faded and the sounds were quieting too.
"Lorsa!" she heard Ylrian's voice as if from a distance. "Do you have scrolls?"
~ o ~
Lonewolf ran through the smoke, cursing Ylrian and whatever happened to him after eating the aether jelly. He evaded the aethertechs, found the staircase, where Seritha's group originally went and ran up. In the hallway with several opened doors, another aethertech was fighting with Aarten. The cleric had no access to aether, but his staff was solid and he knew how to handle it. He was holding up, but it was still an uneven battle. Lonewolf nocked a wooden arrow, spared a bit of his precious aether to imbue it and shot it at the robot's back, where he suspected its aether supply. The arrow created a few sparks, but it didn't look like it had any effect.
"Where's Seritha?" he shouted.
"Hiding!" Aarten replied and parried another armored fist attack.
Lonewolf dropped his bow, unsheathed his dagger and tried to sneak behind the aethertech. Now it was aware of his presence. And became careful.
~ o ~
"Shhh, you'll be alright, I won't hurt you," Aielyn gave her last piece of the aether jelly to a fire spirit, careful not to touch it. She already had a few injuries and wet clothes from the other spirits she tried to calm down. She was almost at the other side of the room. The spirit took the jelly from her hand and flared, she resisted the urge to jump away, any sudden movements could scare it. "I'll end this torture soon, don't worry. I'll also free your friends from those jars, okay?"
As the spirit was munching on the jelly, she slowly got up and walked over to the man tied to the wall. His face was covered by either his tangled black and grey hair or equally looking beard. He wore only his underwear and his body had numerous scars and injuries. She didn't recognise him, she could only tell he was an Asmodian. His eyes were open and he was breathing, but he was barely conscious and didn't react to her.
"Alright, I'll get you out of this. I don't know how, so I'm sorry, if it hurts."
She started with the cables, unfastening the straps holding them on his skin. His body twitched with every cable removed. When she detached the last one, the aetheric swirl in the room's center dissipated and the spirits freaked out again.
"I'm really sorry. It will be over soon, I hope. I'll get you out of this."
As she was pulling the tubes taking his blood from his skin, she wrapped odella bandages around him. When she untied the straps holding him at the wall, he collapsed. She made sure he was comfortably leaning against the wall and begun opening the glass containers.
"The aether should be normal now. But if you don't move, I can't carry you. And I don't know where the others are or if they left me here. I'm nobody after all, so if I get captured, it's no big deal. I don't even know anything valuable."
The freed spirits mingled with the others and all of them were converging around the man. They weren't attacking or hurting him and after a few seconds he groaned and tried to get up. Aielyn quickly ran to him, the spirits got out of her way.
"Careful, I'll help you," she put his arm around her shoulders and helped him stand. "Can you walk?"
"I don't know. Who are you?" he asked with difficulties.
"I'm Aielyn. Lady Triniel sent me."
"She's alright, then. How's the war going?"
"Oh... It's... complicated. I'll tell you when we get out. We need to find... the rest of my team."
"Lead the way."
~ o ~
The sudden return of aether almost caught Lonewolf and Aarten by surprise.
"Ha, now you're fucked!" the cleric grinned and threw sparks at the aethertech, followed by a swing of his staff imbued with aether. Now the Lepharist inside the machine was caught by surprise.
Lonewolf ran back, picked up his bow and fired four aetheric arrows in rapid succession. The aethertech punched Aarten, shoving him to the wall, then jumped towards the ranger, its fist glowing. Lonewolf ducked and rolled at the last moment and the robot hit the ground, cracking it. A huge ball of lightning hit the machine and it shut down. The ranger quickly climbed up to the head shield, opened it and punched the Lepharist in control. Several times, just to be sure he stays unconscious.
"So it was a trap," Aarten spat.
"Yeah," Lonewolf nodded. "Or they were ready for everything. Ylrian said Lady Yustiel is here."
"Yeah. Let's leave before more of these fuckers come," the cleric led him to the most distant room, where Seritha and five other women were waiting. Four of them were pregnant, one had a newborn baby in her arms.
"What..."
"Open the portal," Aarten said, looking over his shoulder. "We don't know when they shut the aether down again, so let's get the fuck out of here."
The sorceress begun channeling the aether and a glowing ring appeared in front of her.
"Aarten, take Lady Yustiel, the rest of us will follow."
The cleric nodded and gently led the Lady, who looked like her mind wasn't even there, through the portal. The red-haired woman then helped the others to follow them.
"Shairun, Lonewolf, go, I have to go last," Seritha said.
"You're leaving the rest of your team here?" Shairun frowned.
"Don't tell me you're worried about the Elyos part of this group? You?"
"No, but you said they were allies. We don't leave our allies behind."
"This time we have to. Please go."
Shairun held her breath for a moment. "Alright, I'll trust you."
After she stepped through the portal, and Seritha looked at him, Lonewolf shook his head.
"I'm staying."
"You?"
"I found notes about another lab. My wife might be there. And I've seen plans of this building, I can get out."
"Walk in Azphel's shadow," Seritha said her goodbye and stepped though the portal, which dissipated behind her.
~ o ~
"Oh, no," Aielyn stopped walking and stared at the turn in the tunnel.
"What's it?" the Asmodian spiritmaster raised his head.
"The voices... I-I don't recognise them. Those are the Lepharists, we... we're trapped here."
The man raised his hand and channeled aether around it.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm not going down without fight. If they want me, I say let them pay the price. I'm taking them down with me."
The spirits, that were tailing them, became agitated and ran past them ahead to confront whoever was coming. One wind spirit stayed behind and stared at the duo.
"What's wrong, little one?" Aielyn asked.
"It wants to... tell us something. But it's hard to concentrate like this," the man reached towards the spirit and sent a little wave of aether at it. The creature jumped and ran several steps behind them, where it scratched on the wall. When they didn't react, it whistled and squeezed itself between the stones, disappearing in the wall.
"Emergency exit?" Aielyn's eyes brightened. She led the man to the place and examined the stones. She felt how the spiritmaster stiffened and channeled aether. "It's alright, I think I almost..." something clicked. "Ha, it's open, let's go."
They walked into the dark tunnel, along with an earth spirit, who joined them at the last moment and Aielyn closed the door behind them. Before she could grab the aetherlamp on the wall, the man pushed her away and the earth spirit bumped into her. She fell and the spirit crawled on her chest. The wind spirit stood nearby.
"You're a damned Elyos," he spat, his voice was shaking and he was breathing heavily. Aielyn could only see a blurry outline of him.
"Well, yes, sort of, but I'm here to help you."
"Help me? With what? With remembering some important information about the Asmodian army?"
"No!" she was desperate. They couldn't stay here, not this close to the door. "I don't know, when you were captured, but the war ended a year ago. And the Asmodians lost. Lady Triniel leads the resistance against Israphel and..."
"You're lying," he whispered.
"I'm telling the truth. Israphel's minions killed my parents, that's why I joined Lady Triniel..."
"What... what happened with the other Shedim lords?"
"Lord Azphel, Lord Zikel and Lord Marchutan are dead. Lady Lumiel is missing, presumably dead, but no one knows for sure. Lady Yustiel was also missing, but we just found her here, in this same lab as you."
"Where's the rest of your team?"
"I-I don't know. They left, when I was trying to get to you through the spirits to untie you. I... I think they left, Seritha would prioritize getting those who matter to safety, if something bad happened. And you heard the voices, something bad did happen."
He was quiet for a moment, she could hear only his breathing.
"We have to go, or they'll find us here," she said quietly.
"I don't trust you," he said. "But if my options are you or back in that hole, I'll go with you. For now." He whistled and the spirit freed Aielyn, who stood up and lighted the aetherlamp.
"I'll keep it dim," she said apologetically and walked through the secret tunnel.
After a few minutes they reached a storage room with emergency supply boxes. The man found a set of plain pants and a lab coat and put them on. Aielyn searched the boxes for anything valuable, but found mostly food and some drugs.
"Do you see any shoes?" the Asmodian asked.
"Hm," she looked around. "Only these shoe-wraps, but they won't be really useful in the jungle."
"A jungle?"
"Yes, we're in Heiron. We need to go to... I think the Shugos have a small base near the coast, we might be able to buy transport there."
He shook his head in disbelief again and put three layers of those shoe-wraps on his feet. They continued the escape tunnel, until they found a heavy door with several latches. Aielyn put down the aetherlamp and one by one lifted the latches. She readied her bow.
"They might wait outside, just for sure," she whispered. "So be ready for anything."
She half-opened the door and immediately ducked, aiming through the hole. But nothing happened. Only leaves of palms and grass moved in a breeze. She stepped outside and checked the perimeter. The jungle sounds and smells and heat were intense in contrast to the lab, but not overwhelming. And no one was around.
"It looks clear," she said.
The Asmodian stepped outside and squinted. It was a bright day and the only thing standing between them and the sun were the huge tree leaves. He dismissed the wind spirit, but kept the earth spirit around.
"Which way now?"
"I don't know," Aielyn shrugged. "We need to find out where exactly we are and the directions."
"That way back to the lab."
"Yeah, but which way from the lab are we? Let's go this way for now, uhm... mister... can you tell me your name?"
"Didn't you say Lady Triniel sent you for me?"
"Yes, but she didn't say whom we can find. I'm sorry, I get it, you're supposed to be someone powerful and important, but I don't know you."
"And you don't need to, Elyos," he grunted. "Until you prove what you said was true."
Aielyn chose the path and without a word started walking. She didn't check if he was behind her, it was up to him to decide, whether or not he wanted her help.
"Halt!"
Aielyn froze on the spot. Was she too at the spiritmaster, that she didn't pay enough attention to her surroundings? Two Lepharists with guns stepped from between the trees.
"Amateur," her companion quietly cursed behind her.
"Don't move! And drop your weapons! Now!" one Lepharist gestured his gun at her bow. She dropped it.
"No, not amateur. Idiot," the Asmodian said and suddenly one of the Lepharists started gasping for air. The other one shot at them, but at the same time the earth spirit emerged from the ground and he lost his balance. Aielyn quickly took her bow, aimed at him, but before she could shoot, he was hit by two other aetheric arrows. When both Lepharists were dead, a familiar figure stepped out of the trees.
"Puppy! You're alive!"