Uncertain Future
The entire affair had been simultaneously straightforward and convoluted at the same time. Everyone in the Wanderer's Inn had been disarmed and questioned on what had happened. The simple answer was that the group responsible for the disturbance was a cult of Decay who had somehow snuck into Crossroad and instigated a fight. The difficult issues revolved on why the cultists even bothered, why the tablet Amber had was so important, how Hammond was going to get insurance for the incident, and what exactly was going on in Toth's mind when she decided to hack one of the cultists with an ax.
Most of the patrons and tavern staff were given a light slap on the wrist and were forced to spend the night in a cell for "disturbing the peace." For Amber and Toth, the matter was far more complicated. Both were stuck in an interrogation room being questioned about the specifics of the incident despite having given a thorough recount earlier.
"If you want the damn thing take it," Amber sighed as she leaned back in her chair, "I would have smashed it if I knew it would have caused this much trouble."
"Anything in particular they could have wanted?" the officer sitting across from her asked.
"Medical files, schematics, weapon designs, large scale combat strategies, you tell me. As far as I know, there's a soup recipe on there that they wanted."
"I doubt the Decay is interested in soup even if its followers might," the officer sighed before facing Toth, "And speaking of the followers, just what the hell were you doing in attacking them?"
"Stopping them," Toth said nonchalantly.
"So you risk potential assault, battery, and murder charges. Why?"
"The answer you want to hear is that they were threatening my friend here-"
"I'm not your friend," Amber glared at Toth.
"-and pointing a gun at Hammond."
"So you decided to be a vigilante… What's the answer I don't want to hear?" the officer groaned.
"Music warned me they were bad news."
"Music," the officer said bluntly.
"Yes, music," Toth said with a smug smile as she leaned back, "The specific song was Ulterior Motives composed by a musician going by the name of Phonetic Hero."
"Oh hell it's one of these issues."
"Try living with it your entire life. I could tell you what's playing right now if you want."
"I'm good," the officer got up, "Thank you for cooperating. We have more questions and there's a few others who will need to be present for them. I'll be back in a few moments."
Amber glanced at Toth as the officer exited. She had never heard of a song named as such and it sounded silly to her. That and who goes by such a name?
"The current song is Wisdom's Tragedy by Disasterpeace if you're wondering. Still trying to figure out specifically why," Toth said without looking at Amber.
"Okay, I've tried to be open minded but I've had it for one night," Amber growled, "You've been hovering near me for days, I was threatened by a bunch of maniacs over a three hundred year old piece of crap, and now you're spouting nonsense."
"Let me guess, you think I'm crazy, correct?"
"Yes."
"Believe me, I wish I was," Toth sighed, "Blame my parents. Too many experiments with Dustwater and trying to gain heightened senses. Take a guess who got the heightened senses instead."
"That doesn't explain a thing! You have been borderline stalking me and I want a reason."
"The music reacts differently around you," Toth shrugged.
"Oh great! Next you'll be telling me I can make the sky purple and read people's minds."
"Actually-"
"Nope! Nevermind, I don't want to hear it!"
Edward was sitting next to Sil in a cell. Out of all of his experience on the surface, this had to be the most perplexing of it all. Somehow everything revolved around Amber and while that should have set off every paranoia induced alarm bell in him, it did not. The fact he was also unperturbed about being forced to share space with Sil, another individual he had been running into quite frequently no less, was equally as strange.
"So...normally I would not bother but seeing as we both are friends to Amber and this revolves around her, what's been bothering you?" he asked Sil.
"Huh?" Sil looked up, seemingly coming out of a daze.
"You've been avoiding us," Edward said bluntly, "And before you deny anything, I can tell you're not happy about doing so. If anything, you look guilty just sitting a meter away from me."
"It's better you don't know," Sil hugged himself tightly.
"Whatever you're hiding can't be that bad," Edward leaned forward with a glare, "So what's really going on Sil? What's under the vest?"
Sil flinched and had his ears stand up at attention in shock. This surprise did not last for long, however, and he quickly shrunk into himself further. It was almost as if he was ashamed of something he had done.
"You're better off not knowing," Sil said weakly.
"I'm the patient one. If Amber were here she would be chewing your ears off to get an answer," Edward rolled his eyes, "I know you're part Guardian since you can do those magic tricks of yours."
"It's the Light," Sil said in exasperation before covering his mouth as if he just let out a secret he was not supposed to.
"Your eyes also glow and from my knowledge Guardians have a defining trait that makes them unique. So...despite also being part Moki you're hiding half of who you are. So what's under the vest and why are you afraid of yourself?"
Sil casted anxious looks between the cell gate, Edward, and himself. Somehow, Edward saw right through him.
"How did you know?" he asked tiredly.
"Had Moki for neighbors growing up, Amber mentioned you summoned a bow out of nothing, I've seen other Guardians before, and you waving a mace around earlier filled in the blanks," Edward shrugged before scowling at the surprised look he received for his answer, "What? I'm a Europan, we're observant of everything even when we're not paying attention."
"Well you might want to work on that then," a police officer opened the gate and interrupted the two of them, "Come on you two. We have some more questions for you."
"I thought we were done," Sil said as he got up slowly.
"You have connections to your friend and-" the room seemingly distorted for a brief moment and everything suddenly appeared to be pixelated, "-we need… What the hell?!"
"This is new," Toth said as she examined her pixelated arm.
"This is new? This is new?! Everything looks like crappy eight-bit computer graphic images!" Amber yelled hysterically.
"Please tell me you have an idea as to what is going on?" Wraith glanced at Susan.
"Honestly I'm barely holding it together myself," Susan said with a nervous chuckle as she looked around the room.
Everything had changed. The individuals, the chairs, the desk, the room, all of it had changed. Everything was flat and pixelated, no matter what angle it was viewed at. Simply put, the entire world had just changed and no one had any idea how or why.
"How are you so calm about this?!" Amber yelled at Toth.
"Meet other people like me and you hear all sorts of interesting things. Wonder if this is how Serrot viewed the world," Toth said nonchalantly.
"Amber, what have you done now?" Edward asked as the cell door opened.
"Me?! I didn't do a damn thing!"
"Why am I here exactly?" Sil asked as he followed behind Edward.
"Maybe this explains the music," Toth mused.
"Enough! Everyone just shut the hell up and stop it! Panicking won't help anyone when everything has gone to muffins!" Susan all but screamed, seemingly having steam coming out of her ears and eyes going dark red.
Everyone indeed stopped, even the police officer who had opened the door and was standing behind Edward and Sil looked anxious. The world distorted again and everything returned to normal, even having Susan looking like she was ready to commit a murder until she took a deep breath to calm down.
"Now I'm more concerned about you secretly being part dragon," Wraith said after a few moments of silence.
"Were-whatever's don't exist," Susan muttered before facing Amber, "Now then, somehow everything leading up to what happened earlier revolves around you and we all would like answers. So to start, mind explaining why we all are in a police station?"
"This again? I've already explained this three times now," Amber whined.
"Well explain it to me and my friend here then. You had something old and valuable that a cult of the Decay was willing to kill over. I need answers and I'm getting them by the order of Queen Mercia of Cherrystone, now."
"You have those orders?" the police officer asked.
"Truthfully they likely got destroyed months ago," Wraith said.
"Then I can't-" the world distorted again with everything appearing to be made out of clay, "lass dich weggehen mit... Oh was jetzt? [let you walk away with… Oh now what?]"
"Should I be… Why do I sound like this?" Edward asked as his accent shifted and appearance changed to make him look like he was a proper soldier.
"Ce n'est pas ma faute je le jure! [This is not my fault I swear!]" Amber cried out, clothing now looking like she was a hunter.
"Well this is just fantastic," Wraith said as he pinched the bridge of his brow, surprisingly changing the least, "Susan, think this is related to what got us into this mess?"
"Mercenaries armed with Coalition weapons, energy weapons, and supported by Decayed? Them somehow being involved with this is the least ridiculous thing to happen this night," Susan rolled her eyes, voice higher pitched and cloak looking more like a shawl.
"Decayed working with mercenaries? That's a good one mate," Sil said before he covered his mouth in surprise, "Where did that come from?"
"Nun, das ist sicherlich sehr interessant. Was kommt als nächstes? [Well, this is certainly quite interesting. What's next?]" Toth asked cheerfully, the cloth under her armor appearing to be made out of rubber and having some kind of tank on her back.
"Ne reste pas là tout amusé par cette merde, salope! [Don't just sit there all amused about this crap, bitch!]" Amber yelled just before everything returned to normal.
Everyone looked at each other in silence. After a few beats, all eyes turned to the police officer.
"Where's my bag and that damn tablet?" Amber huffed.
Five minutes and no distortions later:
"So let's just go over this one more time," Edward groaned as everyone stared at the unpowered tablet on the table, "This three hundred year old computer is what those cultists wanted. Said cultists may or may not be part of a larger group who ambushed an expeditionary force dedicated to keeping these kinds of things locked up. You find it because it was your job to dig them up and you just so happen to dig up the one item containing information regarding a biological superweapon that was determined to become a genocidal higher being. Said superweapon was in perpetual war with the Jackal of all beings for three centuries and is the sole reason why Central Town is the way it is to this day despite being dead now. Do I have that right?"
"Ignoring the fact that the Jackal was responsible for it in the first place? Basically yeah," Amber let out another frustrated sigh.
"I don't get it," Sil said bluntly.
"People make big scary thing, big scary thing murders everything, big scary thing dies three hundred years later, crazy bastards want to know how to make one of their own," Toth explains.
"We're going off of an assumption for that last item. One way or another, the Immortal Cell was nothing but trouble and the less we bring up the Jackal the better. Damn manipulative bastard," Amber growled darkly.
"Why not simply delete the data then?" the police officer suggested.
"Delete one thing you might delete something else that you want to hold onto. A lot of projects were interconnected with one another. The Immortal Cell, monstrous as it was, resulted in decades of scientific progress in just about everything."
"Why not simply destroy it all then? Part of our work was to destroy what could not be contained," Wraith offered.
"My work to be specific. You were involved for the fun," Susan rolled her eyes, "But I can argue against doing that, at least at the current moment."
Everyone looked at Susan confused. Hold onto the information? Why not simply smash the tablet and be done with it?
"You dug this out of a ruined fortress, correct?" Susan asked Amber.
"Probably was a research facility but close enough," Amber shrugged.
"Let's assume that this is merely one record you found. Who's to say there wasn't another record holding the same information? Your Central Town might be isolated, but not to the point of having completely no outside contact. We saw how easily these cultists wandered into the city and we didn't realize it until they were in the room with us."
"Yeah well good luck finding another tablet exactly like this one. You need to go searching through a wasteland filled with monsters, treacherous terrains, and automated defenses. This is also assuming you'd even find the facility in the first place which may be powered off when you find it."
"You'd be surprised just how many would be willing to do all of that for personal gain," Edward said, "The Coalition started out as a research commission. A few brave, foolish, almost suicidal individuals risking their lives through kilometers of underwater caves infested with some of the most aggressive creatures recorded in hopes of finding a hidden facility in a cave that probably also has a thresher nest in it. Most never even got close but many still have come back with a good haul. It's quite profitable if you succeed."
"There's also the Labyrinth of Auriga which sees similar expeditions," Toth said.
"So what do we do then? If I knew how much trouble this thing would have been I would have never left Central Town with it," Amber huffed.
The room had once again fallen into silence. Everyone eyed the tablet with suspicion and uncertainty. It sat innocently on the table but gave off a volatile aura. There were arguments to destroy it and arguments to preserve it.
"Your group specializes in these matters, right?" Sil asked Susan.
"We don't usually deal with items this advanced but yes," Susan answered.
"We could let you handle it then. You understand these matters better than the rest of us."
"He's got a point," Wraith said.
"We're going to need help getting there though. If this is the same group they could be anywhere," Susan said before turning to the others, "We'll need an escort to the Kingdom. You'll be compensated for your troubles of course."
"Let's get going then," Amber stood up.
"I'm afraid all of you are going nowhere until tomorrow afternoon," the police officer said.
"What?!" Amber, Wraith, and Susan exclaimed.
"You all are being held for disturbing the peace. That is ignoring vigilantism," the officer pointed at Toth, "lack of official governmental orders," Susan and Wraith, "and endangering the city via schematics for a weapon of mass destruction," Amber.
"Shall we ignore the submarine in the harbor capable of launching nuclear explosives?" Edward rolled his eyes.
"You for being a smartass," the officer turned to Edward.
Amber collapsed back into the chair. She was tired, hungry, annoyed, and confused on how to progress. She had thought she could take the time to plan her next course of action but ever since leaving home it had been one adventure after another. Now it appears she was getting roped into another one. Looking around at her companions, she could tell they had their own thoughts about this as well.
Strangely, the most complicated thing about the matter was how she was going to explain all of this to her employer.