PreCursive
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Chapter 182 - Void
🕑 Added 2024-05-17 17:00:11 +0000 UTCI wasn’t a total moron, of course. I didn’t trust this woman as far as I could throw her. Even if…that was probably farther than I would expect, if I engaged Sylvan Vigor at full strength.
Moving on.
The point being, I wasn’t going to walk into a meeting with a Herztalian/Calonawr noblewoman with unknown intentions entirely alone. I’d gotten Hook’s approval to recruit some backup for my little impromptu operation involving Rhiannon. I wasn’t going to involve Renauld any further in this situation, as I genuinely didn’t want to put him under any further scrutiny. Thankfully, I belonged to an organization purpose built for this kind of thing.
Obviously, I tapped Sylvia as part of my backup, as one of the people I trusted the most in my life. I didn’t think that was enough, though, so I went looking for anyone that was free in our dockside temporary base of operations. My first choice would have been Dusk, but she wasn’t around. Still out on her own infiltration mission, whatever the hell that was. Instead, I found Crook and Wisp doing their best to relax together in the small, fishy break room we’d fashioned out of a tool shed.
They had tea and everything.
Wisp was more than willing to assist when I explained the situation to the two of them, thanks to the passing friendship I’d struck up with the older woman. Crook was…a little harder to convince, but after a bit of cajoling from Wisp, agreed to tag along.
Which brought us to now.
It was very late at night by this point, as the meeting time that had been specified as three hours past midnight. Not only that, but it was an unusually dark night, as the normally bright silver illumination provided by Elys was absent. It was a new moon tonight, and the shadow of Vereden was cast upon the celestial body, bathing the world below in a deeper, darker night.
The hustle and bustle that was normally ever-present on the streets of Elderwyck had long since died down by now, and there were only a few stragglers on the road. Mostly rebellious teenagers, drunks, and packs of guards and soldiers. But they were few and far between, as most normal people actually liked to sleep.
The four of us were crouched together on top of a roof, concealed by the shadows of an overhang above us. As we were actually attempting true stealth tonight, and didn’t wish to be identified or associated with the Order, none of us were actually wearing our normal mission armor. Instead, we were all wearing relatively non-descript clothing under dark, concealing cloaks. However, my backup were still wearing their masks. I, unfortunately, didn’t have that protection.
Within eyeshot of us was the meeting spot that Rhiannon had apparently set in the message conveyed through Renauld. That of a small, local garden tended to by the people of Elderwyck. It reminded me somewhat of a park from back on Earth, but the comparison wasn’t completely accurate. During the day, it was a popular local gathering place for the city, complete with a small plaza. Usually, it was packed with people and vendors hawking street food from dawn till dusk. As it was after dusk, it was barren and still.
We’d been here for some time now, watching the meeting place. None of us could be certain that this wasn’t a trap of some kind, and so we had wanted to observe it just in case. But we’d seen nothing, despite the general feeling of unease I could feel in my gut. At first, I hadn’t realized what it was that unsettled me about Rhiannon. From the way she had interacted with me and simply from how she had spoken, something about her set my teeth on edge. It was as if she was a predator that didn’t take anyone seriously, and expected all of us to play along with whatever game she was playing at the moment. But eventually, I’d realized what had put me so off-kilter about her, what had made me so intensely distrustful of Bleddyn’s kin.
She reminded me of Magnus.
I don’t even think it was just that she was a noble. Something in her eyes…there was an utter disregard for people that lurked in those burgundy depths that reminded me of him.
Even with Ringed Mind, enough of my portioned brain was distracted by thoughts of my former ‘owner’ that I lost track of my observation. I was knocked out of my near seething by an elbow to the ribs. Following it, I found a black mask speckled with white dots staring at me almost disapprovingly.
I suppressed my instinctual embarrassment. “What is it?” I asked Crook in a whisper.
Instead of answering, she just jerked her head slightly in the direction of the park. Squinting in that direction, I tried to see what had caught her attention. With how dark it was out here, I nearly couldn't make it out. But when I did, my heart rate picked up slightly.
Sitting on a wooden bench in the darkened garden plaza across from our position was a shadowed figure. Due to the lack of light, it was difficult to make out many features about them. Only a few things really stood out to me about the silhouette.
They were tall, and they were maybe wearing a dress. It could just as easily be a hooded cloak, though, or even both. I think? I think I could see some strands of long hair escaping a hood.
That was it. That was the limit of what my Perception score could interpret.
I cursed, wishing that I had a far-eye on me. Sadly, they weren’t quite as ubiquitous as I had hoped they were. They were really only commonly used by Naval forces, and were hard to come by for everyone else. Even clandestine Agents like us didn’t normally get assigned one. The only people that I knew who always had one on their person were Grey, Dusk, and Bella.
I knew I should have stolen Bella’s when I had the chance.
I turned my head back to look at my companions to see that they were all inspecting the distant figure as best as they could as well. “Does anyone have a high enough Perception to make out any detail?” I whispered hopefully. I was greeted by a round of head shaking at my question. I sighed. “Damn. I’m going to have to go down there, aren’t I?”
Wisp patted me on the back softly. “It’ll be fine,” She said soothingly, before thumbing the string of the bow slung over her back. “I’ll keep overwatch on you from up here.”
Crook nodded slightly as well, before turning to face Sylvia. “Whisper, when Hangman goes down there, we’ll circle around the meeting point. You go left, I’ll go right.” My partner nodded slightly at the command, her mask trailing away from the plaza to settle on me
I took a deep breath and then crept away from the edge of the building we were hiding on. Once I was out of sight, I stood up in order to jump down to street level to approach the shrouded figure. I was stopped, though, by the feeling of a hand grabbing my own. Turning around, I was surprised to see that Sylvia had followed me and tilted her mask up high enough to revealed her undisguised, Mithril face.
Before I could ask her what was wrong, her lips closed in on mine in a kiss. Her arms closed around my back.
A measure of tension escaped my body, as I wrapped my arms around her and returned the embrace. After a moment, we separated. Sylvia leaned her forehead against mine. “Be careful,” She murmured, only inches away.
I nodded slightly. “I will,” I promised her in a whisper. Over her shoulder I could see Wisp fake swooning as she started to set up a firing station, while Crook was standing not far from us and looking on in near disapproval.
I know it was inappropriate to be acting like this before a mission. But, well.
I didn’t care.
I separated from Sylvia, and then turned and jumped down into the alleyway below. Moments later, I heard Whisper and Crook follow behind me. But they didn’t follow, as I stepped in the darkness of the streets.
I raised the hood on my cloak, and started walking towards the garden plaza.
As I wandered into the shadowed greenery, it felt like there were a thousand eyes on me, spying from behind every branch and leaf. It could just be my paranoia acting up. It could just be my instincts as an Agent. I couldn’t know. All I could do was tamp down my fear with my middle ring, and keep walking.
From one moment to the next, I stepped out of the concealment of the garden and into the plaza where the figure, presumably Rhiannon, was waiting for me.
Across the stone of the court, they sat motionlessly on a wooden bench, their back turned my way. I watched them for a moment, unnerved. I didn’t realize why until I noticed they weren’t moving.
At all. I didn’t even see the rise and fall of steady breathing, coming from the figure.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
Something…something was wrong here. I could feel it in my gut.
For a moment, I was extremely tempted to turn around and just walk away. But…this could potentially be an unprecedented opportunity for the Division. If we gained an informant highly positioned in the Duke's court, who knew how much easier our operations in Elderwyck could be? It could save lives.
I tamped down on my fears and my instincts, and took a step forward into the plaza. I deliberately scuffed the stone with the bottom of my boot, making an audible noise.
That got a reaction. The hooded head of the figure turned slightly, but not fully around. They didn’t stand, either.
I kept walking until I was standing only a few feet away from the sitting figure. Still, nothing. My eyes narrowed, and then I started circling around the bench until I was standing before the seated figure. They…were definitely a woman, I could see that much. It was too dark to make out the color, but they had a dress on underneath their cloak, concealing a feminine figure.
But their head was lowered, casting their face in shadow. I couldn’t make it out.
After a moment where I stood in deepening silence, I broke it. “Rhiannon?” I asked warily, my voice echoing out across the stone of the plaza.
The figure stirred once more, and their cloaked head began to rise.
I could finally see their face.
Horror crawled down my back at the sight of it. If…you could even call it a face.
Because they didn’t have one.
In place of normal human facial features, this…person had a vast expanse of crawling, shifting, swirling darkness. It was as if a pool of undulating oil had grown to cover every inch of skin that this thing had for a face. Within the depths of that crude, I swear I could see the agonized faces of people moaning and crying, begging to be set free.
I…I…
What was this?
It couldn’t be a human.
And it certainly wasn’t Rhiannon.
As struck with horror as my surface, outer ring was at the sight, luckily my inner rings were less so. My hand sprang the handle of my concealed daggers at the small of my back. At the same time, I pulsed Sylvan Vigor to max strength and attempted to spring away from whatever the hell this thing was.
But it was too late.
As if from nowhere, a pool of undulating shadows appeared underneath me. From inside of it, dozens of inky black tentacles erupted and wrapped themselves around my body, restraining me.
I was trapped, but not enough that I couldn’t turn my head. The figure still seated on the bench before me hadn’t moved an inch in order to cast whatever Skill or Spell was holding me in place. I twisted my head to look behind me.
I cursed under my breath at what I found.
Standing behind me, having appeared silently as if from nowhere, were four cloaked figures similar to the one on the bench. Their bodies were fully concealed, while they each had the same disquieting effect obscuring their faces. One of them had their arm outstretched in my direction, their fingers outstretched in a claw position. A thick strand of nearly liquid darkness was connected between their palm and the pool at my feet.
The figure in front of me on the bench finally spoke. “Hans Schefel,” They said in a disturbing voice, sounding almost as if it had been synthesized. I could just barely make out a feminine note hidden within. “We have questions for you.”
They didn’t know my name, then. Only my cover.
I remained silent. This didn’t escape the notice of the figure. They finally stood up from the bench they’d been sitting at all this time, speaking again. “I advise you to coop-”
They didn’t get the chance to finish their sentence.
Because a glowing silver crescent of Ki erupted from the treeline of the plaza, and severed the strand of darkness holding me still. I had never let go of Sylvan Vigor, and so I immediately took the chance to spring towards the source of it. Sylvia stepped out of the tree line to my left as I touched down, her drawn short sword still glowing slightly from the attack she had freed me with. At the same time, Crook dropped down from the trees above us, to land in a three-point crouch to my left. She had already drawn her combat stave shaped like a shepherd's crook, and was holding it prepared behind her. I finally got the chance to draw my own weapons, getting into a defensive stance with both Oninite daggers.
Across the plaza from us, the group of shadowy figures had gathered together and were staring at us. The lead figure, the one who had been waiting on the bench, spoke first. “Nocturnes,” They said flatly. The cloaks of the figures shifted, almost as if they were reaching for weapons.
Crook straightened up from her crouch. “SED,” She nearly snarled in response, griping tightening on her stave. I tensed at the word.
Despite what I had thought after first sight of them, these people weren’t Monsters.
They were our counterparts among the Loyalists, instead.
The lead figure raised one arm to point a leather-clad finger at us. “Take them.”
The SED Agents sprang at us, fully drawing their weapons as they did.
We met them in their charge.
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