Prelude To Battle
Riana Brians and Keith Lothal
A flick of the lightswitch brought the room to life. Two figures stepped through the door.
“It sure is shabby.”, Riana muttered under her breath.
“Can’t be helped. It’s just a cheap motel on the side. Besides, we’ll arrive at our destination in a day.”
Keith followed up his words by giving Riana a disapproving look. Riana responded with a light glare of her own. She recognised the veiled grievance hidden within his words:
So can’t you hold in your complaints for just today?
Riana didn’t know what annoyed her more, Keith’s protest itself, or that the man himself seemingly didn’t anticipate that she’d see through his words. It ticked her off, but she decided to ignore it. After the past few days, she had come to realise her and Keith seriously did not get along. If she lunged at the man’s every word, they’d be arguing non stop.
‘Still, what’s the deal with that snob? A complaint or two here and there isn’t going to kill anyone.’
Keeping this new complaint to herself, Riana simply walked off, placing a bag of instant foodstuffs and other groceries on a small table nearby. In turn, Keith took off his coat, before taking out a sheet of newspapers from under the table.
They both avoided eye contact. Silence ensued for the next moments as neither side offered conversation. Keith simply read the newspaper, whilst Riana fiddled with the television remote.
Riana was the one to first break the ice. She spoke out, “So Keith, how did the talk with the Everest family go?”
In return, Keith tilted his head up from the newspaper he was reading, before replying, “Quite good, actually. Amongst all our misfortune, at least one thing’s working out for us.” Riana knew what ‘misfortune’ he was implying. The fact that all their communication devices had disappeared as they appeared through the Crack, meant they had to drive all the way to the nearest known Cordiale center in Ottawa, the Canadian capital. No, they just couldn’t call the Cordiale for a pick-up, since whatever god above decided that would be too easy for them. Instead, they were stuck riding the jeep with the Everest family for the past few days on the road. And even that had been made worse by the recent congestion of vehicles on the road, no thanks in part due to the Crisis.
They could have relied on one of the organisation's many public phone numbers that existed to aid stranded operatives like them, but Riana unfortunately hadn’t memorised any of them. As for Keith, he was still relatively new to the organisation, and wasn’t even aware the Cordiale had such things. In the first place, an operative like Keith who was only three-years in service shouldn’t have been placed in any missions that required such numbers. Keith’s rapid promotion was a rarity in and of itself, and alas, a hindrance in such situations. His unfamiliarity with the organisation showed in these circumstances.
When Riana had first told him of the existence of such public numbers, his first thought had been, ‘Secret organisations are way too complex’. His second thought had been, ‘Such convenient things exist, yet she didn’t bother to learn any of them?’. Through the exchange, his opinion of Riana had worsened another step.
Putting that aside, Keith followed up on his reply, “The Everests have agreed to come along with us until Ottawa, so we’ll be following standard Cordiale procedure, at least,”
With a bit of hesitation and afterthought, he added on, “Riana, you…do know what the standard procedure is, right?” If it was any other senior operative with a whopping seven years under their belt, he’d have thought such a question ludicrous. For better or for worse, however, Riana seemed to have the intelligence of a toddler when it came to such things.
Riana produced yet another annoyed glare at his words. She had the sudden urge to utter another slur, but managed to hold it in and produce a somewhat normal response, though she couldn’t hide the irritation in her voice as she did so. “Yeah, yeah. I know it, of course. It’s up to the operatives on the field to bring in any witnesses of their missions,”
She paused,
“Though, I don’t think what we’re doing now can be called a normal mission.”
Keith winced at her words. From fighting off hordes of monsters, jumping into a strange glowing crack that made said monsters, to fighting off even more monsters after landing half a world away before finally escaping with their lives, the past few days had been nothing short of a nightmare. Though he had lamented their earlier ‘misfortune’, Keith knew just how lucky he and Riana had been in surviving so far. He decided to redirect the topic of discussion.
“Riana, what happens to witnesses when they’re brought to the Cordiale?” It was a question fuelled half by curiosity and half by concern. It had only been a few days, but he had gotten to know the Everests during this time. Enough to be concerned over their potential fate. What if they were silenced through force? What if they were killed? Keith seriously doubted the latter though. From his experience, the Cordiale didn’t seem that unethical, as far as secret organisations went. He could imagine the CIA or MI7 doing far worse things.
“Oh, that? It’s not that bad. They apparently have some high-tech gizmo that can erase certain memories. Give ‘em that, plus some counselling for any mental shocks, and the family should be fine.”
Keith decided to ignore what part of ‘mental shocks’ sounded fine to her, but comforted himself with the fact that at least it wasn’t the worst of his predictions. Despite his inner relief, he couldn’t help but ask out loud, “Is that how it works? It still seems rather……immoral.”
“Well, better than…you know,”
Riana made a slicing motion with her thumb on her neck.
“The other option.”
Keith nodded. He continued, “But why keep the existence of Origins a secret anyways? From the looks of things, the Cordiale seems pretty loose about the Crisis.” He held up the newspaper article he was reading. On it were the headlines in bold: “Large Unknown ‘Crack’ Phenomena Above The Western States” And on the article itself were descriptions and pictures of some of the monsters that had come out from the Cracks. Keith recognised a few of them, whilst others were completely unfamiliar. Some made him feel glad they hadn’t stayed there for too long.
Riana responded, “Hell if I know. Maybe the higher-ups just thought there wasn’t any point in keeping the Crisis a secret. It’s not as if it gives us Origins away.” She paused for a moment, considering something, before continuing, “Taking into account the scale of the past two ‘Great Origin War’, and how the Cordiale managed to cover them up, I wouldn’t say keeping the Crisis under wraps is an impossibility. Maybe the higher-ups felt it was unnecessary, or felt that the cost was too high, or maybe something’s changed from back then in the past.” She made a thinking pose for a while, before putting her hands up in defeat. “Yeah, all I can do is speculate for now. That’s not for operatives like us to know. At least, not for now.” With her recent promotion, it was only a matter of time until she learnt more about the upper workings of the organisation. Maybe in the future, she could even land a high-ranking job in one of the Ministries.
Keith sighed, and Riana followed suit. It was rare for the two of them to act in accordance with one another. Their affinities and personalities contrasted in a way that would make even cats and dogs tremble. Still, at this moment, the two of them were in perfect sync. Despite their awful chemistry and their difference in experience, the two of them were nevertheless both operatives that risked their lives on the field. In regards to this specific part of them, the two understood each other quite well. (Though neither would ever openly admit it, of course.)
They understood the stress, the burdens, and the responsibility of fighting not just for themselves, but for their fellow operatives on the battleground, and both coped with it differently. Keith honed his leadership, to become a perfect soldier and leader. Riana rejected leadership outright. She ran solo-ops throughout most of her life as an operative. She was responsible for no-one, neither was anybody responsible for hers.
As their minds began to adjust to the reality of the past few days, it was the weight of being operatives that hit them both. At this moment, sitting in the small, shabby room, Riana and Keith shared a rare moment of silence in mutual understanding. The incident within the cave haunted them both. If they had been just a bit unluckier, both of them would have probably died. Had Keith not saved Riana, or had Riana not reacted quickly enough, or had any one of their fallen comrades not fought as hard, then the two of them wouldn’t still be standing here. It weighed a lot more on Riana, whose inaction in the early stages had cost many lives. Lives she could have saved.
The guilt returned to Riana. Guilt she had been trying to ignore until now, but she couldn’t ignore it any longer. A small, cry-like sound escaped her lips as she remembered the scene of the massacre, and those she failed to save. Keith would have normally said a word or two, but he simply closed his eyes in silence.
The two of them both knew that the world was changing. Something big was happening behind the scenes, much more than just the Cracks or the recent Crisis. Yet the only thing footsoldiers like them could do was try not to die. They could forget the grand scheme of things, because for those on the field like them, the survival of both them and their comrades was their greatest priority.
Riana tried to distract herself. It was the only thing she could do to ease herself. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths. Calming herself down, she turned her mind back to her recent promotion. ‘If I rise up the ranks…I’ll definitely learn more about this world and the Cordiale. Maybe then, I’ll finally quit being a footsoldier. Something more.’
She recalled a dialogue with a former coworker.
‘I’ve met a lot of people like you. So ambitious, so naive. But you’re far worse off than any I’ve ever met so far. You ignore everything else in your life just to chase after greater heights. A greater position, a greater strength. In all the time that I’ve known you, that’s all that seemed to matter to you.’
Riana grit her teeth. It wouldn’t surprise anybody to know she hadn’t gotten along with that particular coworker.
Shaking her head, she refocused her attention back to the present. Or rather, the topic both she and Keith had been avoiding.
“But maybe, he knows something.” She pointed to the bed in the middle of the room. Tucked within its sheets was the figure of Ezra Calvin, the most mysterious element throughout this whole ordeal. “One thing’s for certain, he’s definitely not an ordinary researcher.” Riana nodded along to Keith’s words.
‘Aura’
Never once had she imagined that she’d witness Aura from so close. After feeling its power so clearly, she couldn't help but yearn for it herself. Maybe one day, she would achieve Aura. To reach that pinnacle, reach that level of strength she had seen that day, if such a thing was even possible at all.
She unknowingly clenched her fists, before releasing them again. The sight of true, unyielding power had changed her. She had always been chasing after greater power, but after so many years of training and no progress, somewhere in her mind, it had all felt so dull and pointless. With her eyes now opened, she could see how sluggish and unstable she had been in the past. Now, she could see a whole new plane of possibilities laid in front of her. If she got her hands on Aura, surely even the highest positions within the Cordiale wouldn’t be an impossible dream. The position of ‘Legionnaire’, or even……
…
These were insane thoughts, and she knew it. She turned her focus away from her lofty ambitions and back to the present. Looking back at Ezra, she spoke to Keith, “He definitely has some answers. There’s no way he’s that powerful without being in some high position. Maybe he’s a senior operative working incognito, or something.”
Keith asked, “But what was that power back then? That strange…….atmosphere around him. It felt like I was going to be crushed by his presence alone.” He could still feel the helplessness from back then. He had always thought of Origins as just ordinary humans with an advantage. He had always scoffed at radicals that claimed Origins were a ‘greater species’ different from humanity altogether. Now he couldn’t help but wonder, if those lunatics had seen what he had seen with his own eyes. Whilst their ideas still sounded stupid, he now felt as though he could understand a sliver of their words and logic.
‘Ezra could have destroyed the whole town.’
That was the impression Keith had gotten back then.
Whilst he was still immersed in his thoughts, Riana responded to his earlier question, “That atmosphere? Oh, you’re still new, right. That’s ‘Aura’. And Origins like him are called ‘Aura-grade’ Origins. It’s the stuff of legends, actually. From my past seven years as an operative, I’ve only ever felt it one other time.”
“I see…”
Perhaps sensing dejection in his tone, Riana offered a half-hearted word of encouragement, “But hey, cheer up. Trust me, people like him are just out of the norm. It’s definitely not normal. Besides, we can ask him for some tips while we’re here. Maybe there’s some secret to Aura. It’s not everyday that you get such a chance like this, you know?”
Vitality returned to Keith’s voice as he scoffed at Riana’s words, “Ask him for tips? Are you serious? For all we know, he could be our superior. He–”
“If he was our superior,” Riana interjected, “He’d have acted much more authoritatively back then in the cave when the monsters first came out. At least, if I were in his position, I’d show off my powers to calm everyone whilst taking charge of the situation.”
“You were quivering in your boots, though?”
“Shut it, junior.” As if recalling an embarrassing past, Riana snapped back instinctively. But her previous words gave rise to a different question.
“But still, why didn’t he take charge? Or rather, why didn’t he use this Ability back then?”, she couldn’t help but murmur out loud.
‘He could have saved a lot of people’, was the thought that was probably going through both their heads at the moment.
Keith popped up, “Maybe his powers have a side-effect, like what we’re seeing now.”
Riana nodded. That was the most obvious scenario. After killing the ogre, Calvin had been asleep non-stop. From throughout their entire ride in the jeep, to arriving at this motel, the man had been fast asleep. Riana groaned at the memory of carrying him out of the jeep. She could still remember the smirk on Keith’s face as he watched her struggle to carry the man. Despite his average build, Ezra was surprisingly heavy.
Ignoring her past embarrassment, she added on to the exchange, “I haven’t heard of an Ability that could have such a massive side-effect, like being asleep for two days in a row after use. Damn, it’s not like we can check his condition in any hospitals, if only we had a rejuvenator–”
Her voice cut abruptly mid-sentence. Her body jerked slightly, whilst her face grew tense. Keith simply gave her a befuddled stare. If she could, she would have looked out of the window of their room. Thankfully, her training kicked in, suppressing the slight trembling of her arms and calming her tense nerves. Seven years of experience and rigorous training had afforded her the skills to notice something was amiss. Alas, Keith didn’t share such skills.
“Riana? What’s wrong–”
As the man began turning his head around to check their surroundings, Riana stopped him.
“Don’t. Move.” Her voice was soft, but her tone was grave. Keith's carefree attitude began to dissipate as he realised she was serious. Riana turned her body, ensuring her mouth was obscured from the direction of the window. It was to prevent any lipreading. She continued in a hushed whisper,
“We’re being watched from afar.”
It all happened in a single moment. Immediately after those words left her mouth, the sound of a clicking tongue echoed across the room. Then, a voice.
“Ah, busted. But as expected, that traitor does have some accomplices after all.”
Prelude To Battle
Riana Brians and Keith Lothal
A flick of the lightswitch brought the room to life. Two figures stepped through the door.
“It sure is shabby.”, Riana muttered under her breath.
“Can’t be helped. It’s just a cheap motel on the side. Besides, we’ll arrive at our destination in a day.”
Keith followed up his words by giving Riana a disapproving look. Riana responded with a light glare of her own. She recognised the veiled grievance hidden within his words:
So can’t you hold in your complaints for just today?
Riana didn’t know what annoyed her more, Keith’s protest itself, or that the man himself seemingly didn’t anticipate that she’d see through his words. It ticked her off, but she decided to ignore it. After the past few days, she had come to realise her and Keith seriously did not get along. If she lunged at the man’s every word, they’d be arguing non stop.
‘Still, what’s the deal with that snob? A complaint or two here and there isn’t going to kill anyone.’
Keeping this new complaint to herself, Riana simply walked off, placing a bag of instant foodstuffs and other groceries on a small table nearby. In turn, Keith took off his coat, before taking out a sheet of newspapers from under the table.
They both avoided eye contact. Silence ensued for the next moments as neither side offered conversation. Keith simply read the newspaper, whilst Riana fiddled with the television remote.
Riana was the one to first break the ice. She spoke out, “So Keith, how did the talk with the Everest family go?”
In return, Keith tilted his head up from the newspaper he was reading, before replying, “Quite good, actually. Amongst all our misfortune, at least one thing’s working out for us.” Riana knew what ‘misfortune’ he was implying. The fact that all their communication devices had disappeared as they appeared through the Crack, meant they had to drive all the way to the nearest known Cordiale center in Ottawa, the Canadian capital. No, they just couldn’t call the Cordiale for a pick-up, since whatever god above decided that would be too easy for them. Instead, they were stuck riding the jeep with the Everest family for the past few days on the road. And even that had been made worse by the recent congestion of vehicles on the road, no thanks in part due to the Crisis.
They could have relied on one of the organisation's many public phone numbers that existed to aid stranded operatives like them, but Riana unfortunately hadn’t memorised any of them. As for Keith, he was still relatively new to the organisation, and wasn’t even aware the Cordiale had such things. In the first place, an operative like Keith who was only three-years in service shouldn’t have been placed in any missions that required such numbers. Keith’s rapid promotion was a rarity in and of itself, and alas, a hindrance in such situations. His unfamiliarity with the organisation showed in these circumstances.
When Riana had first told him of the existence of such public numbers, his first thought had been, ‘Secret organisations are way too complex’. His second thought had been, ‘Such convenient things exist, yet she didn’t bother to learn any of them?’. Through the exchange, his opinion of Riana had worsened another step.
Putting that aside, Keith followed up on his reply, “The Everests have agreed to come along with us until Ottawa, so we’ll be following standard Cordiale procedure, at least,”
With a bit of hesitation and afterthought, he added on, “Riana, you…do know what the standard procedure is, right?” If it was any other senior operative with a whopping seven years under their belt, he’d have thought such a question ludicrous. For better or for worse, however, Riana seemed to have the intelligence of a toddler when it came to such things.
Riana produced yet another annoyed glare at his words. She had the sudden urge to utter another slur, but managed to hold it in and produce a somewhat normal response, though she couldn’t hide the irritation in her voice as she did so. “Yeah, yeah. I know it, of course. It’s up to the operatives on the field to bring in any witnesses of their missions,”
She paused,
“Though, I don’t think what we’re doing now can be called a normal mission.”
Keith winced at her words. From fighting off hordes of monsters, jumping into a strange glowing crack that made said monsters, to fighting off even more monsters after landing half a world away before finally escaping with their lives, the past few days had been nothing short of a nightmare. Though he had lamented their earlier ‘misfortune’, Keith knew just how lucky he and Riana had been in surviving so far. He decided to redirect the topic of discussion.
“Riana, what happens to witnesses when they’re brought to the Cordiale?” It was a question fuelled half by curiosity and half by concern. It had only been a few days, but he had gotten to know the Everests during this time. Enough to be concerned over their potential fate. What if they were silenced through force? What if they were killed? Keith seriously doubted the latter though. From his experience, the Cordiale didn’t seem that unethical, as far as secret organisations went. He could imagine the CIA or MI7 doing far worse things.
“Oh, that? It’s not that bad. They apparently have some high-tech gizmo that can erase certain memories. Give ‘em that, plus some counselling for any mental shocks, and the family should be fine.”
Keith decided to ignore what part of ‘mental shocks’ sounded fine to her, but comforted himself with the fact that at least it wasn’t the worst of his predictions. Despite his inner relief, he couldn’t help but ask out loud, “Is that how it works? It still seems rather……immoral.”
“Well, better than…you know,”
Riana made a slicing motion with her thumb on her neck.
“The other option.”
Keith nodded. He continued, “But why keep the existence of Origins a secret anyways? From the looks of things, the Cordiale seems pretty loose about the Crisis.” He held up the newspaper article he was reading. On it were the headlines in bold: “Large Unknown ‘Crack’ Phenomena Above The Western States” And on the article itself were descriptions and pictures of some of the monsters that had come out from the Cracks. Keith recognised a few of them, whilst others were completely unfamiliar. Some made him feel glad they hadn’t stayed there for too long.
Riana responded, “Hell if I know. Maybe the higher-ups just thought there wasn’t any point in keeping the Crisis a secret. It’s not as if it gives us Origins away.” She paused for a moment, considering something, before continuing, “Taking into account the scale of the past two ‘Great Origin War’, and how the Cordiale managed to cover them up, I wouldn’t say keeping the Crisis under wraps is an impossibility. Maybe the higher-ups felt it was unnecessary, or felt that the cost was too high, or maybe something’s changed from back then in the past.” She made a thinking pose for a while, before putting her hands up in defeat. “Yeah, all I can do is speculate for now. That’s not for operatives like us to know. At least, not for now.” With her recent promotion, it was only a matter of time until she learnt more about the upper workings of the organisation. Maybe in the future, she could even land a high-ranking job in one of the Ministries.
Keith sighed, and Riana followed suit. It was rare for the two of them to act in accordance with one another. Their affinities and personalities contrasted in a way that would make even cats and dogs tremble. Still, at this moment, the two of them were in perfect sync. Despite their awful chemistry and their difference in experience, the two of them were nevertheless both operatives that risked their lives on the field. In regards to this specific part of them, the two understood each other quite well. (Though neither would ever openly admit it, of course.)
They understood the stress, the burdens, and the responsibility of fighting not just for themselves, but for their fellow operatives on the battleground, and both coped with it differently. Keith honed his leadership, to become a perfect soldier and leader. Riana rejected leadership outright. She ran solo-ops throughout most of her life as an operative. She was responsible for no-one, neither was anybody responsible for hers.
As their minds began to adjust to the reality of the past few days, it was the weight of being operatives that hit them both. At this moment, sitting in the small, shabby room, Riana and Keith shared a rare moment of silence in mutual understanding. The incident within the cave haunted them both. If they had been just a bit unluckier, both of them would have probably died. Had Keith not saved Riana, or had Riana not reacted quickly enough, or had any one of their fallen comrades not fought as hard, then the two of them wouldn’t still be standing here. It weighed a lot more on Riana, whose inaction in the early stages had cost many lives. Lives she could have saved.
The guilt returned to Riana. Guilt she had been trying to ignore until now, but she couldn’t ignore it any longer. A small, cry-like sound escaped her lips as she remembered the scene of the massacre, and those she failed to save. Keith would have normally said a word or two, but he simply closed his eyes in silence.
The two of them both knew that the world was changing. Something big was happening behind the scenes, much more than just the Cracks or the recent Crisis. Yet the only thing footsoldiers like them could do was try not to die. They could forget the grand scheme of things, because for those on the field like them, the survival of both them and their comrades was their greatest priority.
Riana tried to distract herself. It was the only thing she could do to ease herself. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths. Calming herself down, she turned her mind back to her recent promotion. ‘If I rise up the ranks…I’ll definitely learn more about this world and the Cordiale. Maybe then, I’ll finally quit being a footsoldier. Something more.’
She recalled a dialogue with a former coworker.
‘I’ve met a lot of people like you. So ambitious, so naive. But you’re far worse off than any I’ve ever met so far. You ignore everything else in your life just to chase after greater heights. A greater position, a greater strength. In all the time that I’ve known you, that’s all that seemed to matter to you.’
Riana grit her teeth. It wouldn’t surprise anybody to know she hadn’t gotten along with that particular coworker.
Shaking her head, she refocused her attention back to the present. Or rather, the topic both she and Keith had been avoiding.
“But maybe, he knows something.” She pointed to the bed in the middle of the room. Tucked within its sheets was the figure of Ezra Calvin, the most mysterious element throughout this whole ordeal. “One thing’s for certain, he’s definitely not an ordinary researcher.” Riana nodded along to Keith’s words.
‘Aura’
Never once had she imagined that she’d witness Aura from so close. After feeling its power so clearly, she couldn't help but yearn for it herself. Maybe one day, she would achieve Aura. To reach that pinnacle, reach that level of strength she had seen that day, if such a thing was even possible at all.
She unknowingly clenched her fists, before releasing them again. The sight of true, unyielding power had changed her. She had always been chasing after greater power, but after so many years of training and no progress, somewhere in her mind, it had all felt so dull and pointless. With her eyes now opened, she could see how sluggish and unstable she had been in the past. Now, she could see a whole new plane of possibilities laid in front of her. If she got her hands on Aura, surely even the highest positions within the Cordiale wouldn’t be an impossible dream. The position of ‘Legionnaire’, or even……
…
These were insane thoughts, and she knew it. She turned her focus away from her lofty ambitions and back to the present. Looking back at Ezra, she spoke to Keith, “He definitely has some answers. There’s no way he’s that powerful without being in some high position. Maybe he’s a senior operative working incognito, or something.”
Keith asked, “But what was that power back then? That strange…….atmosphere around him. It felt like I was going to be crushed by his presence alone.” He could still feel the helplessness from back then. He had always thought of Origins as just ordinary humans with an advantage. He had always scoffed at radicals that claimed Origins were a ‘greater species’ different from humanity altogether. Now he couldn’t help but wonder, if those lunatics had seen what he had seen with his own eyes. Whilst their ideas still sounded stupid, he now felt as though he could understand a sliver of their words and logic.
‘Ezra could have destroyed the whole town.’
That was the impression Keith had gotten back then.
Whilst he was still immersed in his thoughts, Riana responded to his earlier question, “That atmosphere? Oh, you’re still new, right. That’s ‘Aura’. And Origins like him are called ‘Aura-grade’ Origins. It’s the stuff of legends, actually. From my past seven years as an operative, I’ve only ever felt it one other time.”
“I see…”
Perhaps sensing dejection in his tone, Riana offered a half-hearted word of encouragement, “But hey, cheer up. Trust me, people like him are just out of the norm. It’s definitely not normal. Besides, we can ask him for some tips while we’re here. Maybe there’s some secret to Aura. It’s not everyday that you get such a chance like this, you know?”
Vitality returned to Keith’s voice as he scoffed at Riana’s words, “Ask him for tips? Are you serious? For all we know, he could be our superior. He–”
“If he was our superior,” Riana interjected, “He’d have acted much more authoritatively back then in the cave when the monsters first came out. At least, if I were in his position, I’d show off my powers to calm everyone whilst taking charge of the situation.”
“You were quivering in your boots, though?”
“Shut it, junior.” As if recalling an embarrassing past, Riana snapped back instinctively. But her previous words gave rise to a different question.
“But still, why didn’t he take charge? Or rather, why didn’t he use this Ability back then?”, she couldn’t help but murmur out loud.
‘He could have saved a lot of people’, was the thought that was probably going through both their heads at the moment.
Keith popped up, “Maybe his powers have a side-effect, like what we’re seeing now.”
Riana nodded. That was the most obvious scenario. After killing the ogre, Calvin had been asleep non-stop. From throughout their entire ride in the jeep, to arriving at this motel, the man had been fast asleep. Riana groaned at the memory of carrying him out of the jeep. She could still remember the smirk on Keith’s face as he watched her struggle to carry the man. Despite his average build, Ezra was surprisingly heavy.
Ignoring her past embarrassment, she added on to the exchange, “I haven’t heard of an Ability that could have such a massive side-effect, like being asleep for two days in a row after use. Damn, it’s not like we can check his condition in any hospitals, if only we had a rejuvenator–”
Her voice cut abruptly mid-sentence. Her body jerked slightly, whilst her face grew tense. Keith simply gave her a befuddled stare. If she could, she would have looked out of the window of their room. Thankfully, her training kicked in, suppressing the slight trembling of her arms and calming her tense nerves. Seven years of experience and rigorous training had afforded her the skills to notice something was amiss. Alas, Keith didn’t share such skills.
“Riana? What’s wrong–”
As the man began turning his head around to check their surroundings, Riana stopped him.
“Don’t. Move.” Her voice was soft, but her tone was grave. Keith's carefree attitude began to dissipate as he realised she was serious. Riana turned her body, ensuring her mouth was obscured from the direction of the window. It was to prevent any lipreading. She continued in a hushed whisper,
“We’re being watched from afar.”
It all happened in a single moment. Immediately after those words left her mouth, the sound of a clicking tongue echoed across the room. Then, a voice.
“Ah, busted. But as expected, that traitor does have some accomplices after all.”
