12th Fragment: -FRIGID-
"One final knot…and, all done!" Rupert proudly declared after tying the two unconscious men to the chairs -- thanks to the rope he found in the basement.
"Hush, not so loud," Lucy softly reminded her brother as she stood guard near the entrance. Seconds later, the front door swung open, and Lucy gasped as the draft of cold air hit her squarely in the chest.
"It seems we are in the clear. For now," Sam calmly replied before carefully closing the door behind him. "How are they doing?" he asked Lucy while rubbing his clammy hands together.
"Still knocked out,” replied Lucy before she glanced toward a man with cut lips. “But as usual, my brother went overboard with one of them – nearly smashed the guy's face into pieces."
"For the last time, it was a complete accident," Rupert ranted, "It was dark, and I ended up with a tiny...miscalculation."
Lucy grunted, "Our masks are equipped with night vision. So, how in the world did you miscalculate?"
"Oh. Well, as they always said: shit happens," Rupert casually shrugged his shoulders.
"Alright, alright, save your bantering for later," Sam mouthed as his eyes darted to the intruders. He immediately noticed one of them wearing a yellow pendant with a familiar-looking emblem. Goaded by his curiosity, the vermillion-eyed man quickly dropped to his knees to take a closer and soon found, encased within the transparent amber – a miniature silver snake coiled around a fancy chalice.
"So, did you find anything interesting?" asked Rupert after hearing his friend grumbling to himself.
"How about a supposedly dead organization?" said Sam as he searched the man with the cut lips. Eventually, he recovered a few oddities such as a shining black button, a small glass vial, and, "A keycard? Quite a strange object to carry around in one’s pocket, especially when you're in the middle of a desert, don't you think?"
“It must be for some kind of door. Wait,” Lucy instantly recalled what she read from Elisabeth’s journal. “Lizzy said she discovered electronic components near the old ruins. Whatever this keycard is for, we’ll probably find the answer there.”
"Hold on a sec," Rupert interjected, "This doesn't make any sense. I mean, come on? The Disciples of Vidia? They’ve been extinct for what? 20 years? In case you forgot, Markus himself executed the last member of the organization, therefore putting an end to their decades of terror. For them to make a sudden return is just so, I don’t know, sudden?”
"That is true. Furthermore, all their research notes are also locked away permanently in the Archive, where no one, not even the Chief of the Council himself can access it," Sam added and later turned his attention to the vial in his hand that contained a bubbly pinkish liquid. "Perhaps all we can do is confirm it ourselves – find out how far the rabbit hole goes.”
Lucy sighed heavily, "It’s time to wake them up then?"
“Of course, it is,” Rupert grinned before shifting his gaze to the flat-nosed man.
“Wait, Rupert. Not-“
The elder Nightingale lightly slapped the man in the cheek, waking the latter up. "Wha-Who?" the man stammered, slightly dazed from the jab the elder Nightingale gave him earlier. Once his vision returned to normal, his face became drained of color when he saw the masked trio standing in front of his very eyes. "Oh God, you-you're the Faceless," he whimpered.
"So, you already know who we are. Good, that’ll spare us from the introduction," Lucy remarked. “You must be having a splitting headache, am I right? Well, you can blame my friend for that one. He can be a bit of an ass sometimes.”
“Once again, people: it was just a miscalculation,” Rupert pouted.
“Anyhow,” said Lucy before she drew her dagger and gently rested the sharp tip against the bonded man’s chin. “Would you be so kind as to tell us your name?”
"M-My what?" the man fidgeted.
"I’m sorry, you must still be a bit disoriented. Your. Name. Please"
"Keith."
"Keith. Well, nice to meet you, Keith. Your buddy over there, what’s his?"
"He's...um...E-Earl,” Keith groaned. “Are you going to kill us?”
“That depends,” said Lucy, shortly before moving her dagger away from the anxious man. “I’m gonna ask you a few questions and if I find your answers satisfactory, then maybe we’ll let you and your friend go. Sounds fair?”
Keith nodded nervously at her, prompting Lucy to first ask, “Where did you come from?”
“T-The ruins…”
“And?” Rupert interjected which made Keith tremble in his seat.
“I…I can’t tell you. They’ll kill me.”
“Who? The Disciples of Vidia?” Sam blurted out the name without a hint of hesitation. “We already know who you are working for. So, let’s cut to the chase and answer the question.”
Keith blinked his eyes repeatedly; he could also feel cold sweats trailing down his back. “The ruins…We came from the ruins.”
“Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Lucy once again took over the conversation. “For the second question, what happened here?”
“We-Well…Our superior wanted the Faceless that resided in this house. He said it is so we could…extract her cells for our research,” Keith explained. “But by the time we are here, the house was already thrashed and the person who lived here is nowhere to be seen.”
“Really? You’re not lying to us, are you? ‘Cause if you do…”
“No! I’m not lying to you!” Keith cried out in return. “I swear I don’t know what happened to your friend! If I do, I’ll tell you!”
“Hm,” Lucy huffed before turning her head toward Sam. “What do you think? Is he telling the truth?”
“Maybe, if he can tell me what this is,” Sam showed the vial to the shackled man. Keith opened his mouth slightly to answer but later changed his mind for some reason.
"Didn’t you hear him? He asked you a question," Lucy said menacingly, resting the dagger against the man’s sweaty jaw.
Keith twitched, feeling the sharp edge pressing against his neck. "I…I can’t. I’ll be dead for sure."
“Dead? You should realize by now that the Disciples won’t be that merciful to a tattletale. They’ll make it slow, and not to mention painful,” Lucy chuckled. “Me and these two gentlemen here? We could at least make it quick.”
Keith was rendered speechless. After a brief moment of contemplation, the flat-nosed reluctantly told the trio about the mysterious liquid, "It's…It’s an experimental drug...developed by our researchers five years ago. What it does is temporarily grants the imbiber with the Faceless ability."
"Woah," the Nightingales muttered, obviously amazed by the weird-colored concoction.
Seeing how the siblings were distracted by the new information, Sam decided to lead the interrogation, "That’s impossible. We've confiscated all of your data - executed all of your senior researchers, including your leader. Those should have at least put your work 50 to 100 years behind – unless you had some help."
Keith's eyes widened, "Look, that’s the only thing I know, alright? My only job is to follow orders and don’t bother asking questions."
"Ah, the living standard of a true coward. Now, I see why they made you the errand boy. Well, can’t really blame you for that,” Rupert commented.
“I told you everything, right? Can I go now?” Keith's voice cracked.
“Not yet,” Lucy responded, shaking her head. “We haven’t talked to your friend yet. Besides, what’s the hurry? You’re not thinking of warning your friends down in the ruins, are you?”
Then, from out of the blue, Earl rose from his stupor and began to quiver in his seat. Keith watched in horror as the man's face reddened, followed by streams of thick, crimson liquid flowing out of his orifices.
“What are you doing to him!?” Keith shouted.
“It’s not us!” Sam lashed back at the panicking man.
Earl’s head jolted from right to left; the skin on his face started to peel off as if he was exposed to direct sunlight. Soon after, his eyeballs popped out of his sockets followed by a bubbling green fluid spilling out of his mouth.
Then, the spasming man simply froze in his place.
“Earl? Earl…?” Keith called softly even though he knew his friend would not answer.
Lucy tiptoed toward the corpse and placed her fingers below his gaping jaw while avoiding the flowing sticky liquid. "Yeah, he's gone," she gloomily confirmed.
“Damn. That was…that was pretty gnarly,” Rupert exhaled.
"What...what happened to him?" asked Keith, still staring at his deceased friend with an expression ranging from shock and confusion.
"My first guess is poison, but I never saw one acting as aggressive as this," Lucy spun around to bombard the man with several questions, "Did the Disciples give you something? A pill? A capsule? Or perhaps an injection?”
"H-How did you...?"
"Hey, focus! Did they or did they not?" Lucy cut him short.
"After they recruited us, we were scheduled for a mandatory health inspection. One of the doctors injected us with a nano-tracking device – just in case we got lost in the desert."
"Hm, I don’t think it was a tracking device. It’s probably a proximity microbomb - triggered when you are too far away from the ruins for a certain period of time," murmured the youngest Nightingale.
Realizing the situation, Lucy swiftly swung her dagger to cut off the restraint around Keith's torso -- much to the latter's surprise. "We need to get him to the ruins right now before his organs turn into cheese."
“Let’s head there now,” Sam nodded his head and he quickly yanked Keith off the chair.
“Urgh! My legs! I can’t feel my legs!”
“You’ll be alright. A little stroll will perk them back up, that’s all.”
“Wait!” Lucy sighed. “His friend’s body. We can’t leave him like this.”
“The hell we can’t. We’ve got no time to clean the place up,” Rupert protested.
“It’s not about cleaning up the place,” the young Nightingale growled. “It’s about respecting the dead. Whether they are our allies or enemies, they still deserve a proper burial.”
“Then, do what you must,” breathed Sam. “But make sure to keep an eye out for any hostiles.”
"Aye, chief," Lucy gave a single nod to the vermillion-eyed man, and despite wearing the mask, Sam could hear her whisper a simple, ‘Thanks.’
“Hold it! We…I…?! Oh, fine…I guess I’ll be the mortician’s assistant then,” Rupert complained before rushing to his sister’s side.
"I don't understand," said Keith, with a confused look on his face. “Why are you trying to save me? More importantly, why are so eager on giving Earl his last rite?"
"Oh, don't take this the wrong way. We're not doing this out of the kindness of our hearts. It’s just…it’ll be a great inconvenience to us if you died before we could even finish grilling you," Sam uttered. “Now, shall we get going?”
qs********************************************
[Meanwhile…]
[The Dungeon, Tower of Nexus]
“SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!”
The auburn-haired woman was fuming with anger. She cursed vociferously at the empty isolation chamber – the same chamber where Cindar was supposed. Rowanna touched her earpiece, furiously backing into the little device, "Shut down the entire Tower! Jack Cindar is on the loose! I repeat: Jack Cindar is on the loose!"
**qs******************************************
With the flashlight in his hand and his mask's night vision, Sam followed the man closely from behind; while at the same time, his vermillion eyes darted around -- actively searching for potential dangers. Even so, an unexpected enemy was the least of his concerns.
For each step he took, the burning sensation in his legs grew intense due to the sandy surface -- not to mention the freezing night breeze that sliced through his skin like a hundred invisible knives. He never once thought he would die from hypothermia, but perhaps it was time for him to reconsider the possibility.
"W-What is that?" muttered Keith, pointing at a distant white flame. It floated on top of a dune -- gracefully swaying left and right as if beckoning him to come closer.
"Ghost fire," Sam mouthed, "The bane of night travelers. Like the rod of an anglerfish, it lures the lost and the curious with its warm, deceptive flame."
"You're saying as if that thing belongs to something big."
"It does. That is why we need to keep moving-," Sam turned silent as he felt the sand shifted between his feet, followed by a hair-raising screeching echoing throughout the desert.
"The hell was that?" said Keith as he felt a shiver down his spine.
"That…is the Sandcreeper."
12th Fragment: -FRIGID-
"One final knot…and, all done!" Rupert proudly declared after tying the two unconscious men to the chairs -- thanks to the rope he found in the basement.
"Hush, not so loud," Lucy softly reminded her brother as she stood guard near the entrance. Seconds later, the front door swung open, and Lucy gasped as the draft of cold air hit her squarely in the chest.
"It seems we are in the clear. For now," Sam calmly replied before carefully closing the door behind him. "How are they doing?" he asked Lucy while rubbing his clammy hands together.
"Still knocked out,” replied Lucy before she glanced toward a man with cut lips. “But as usual, my brother went overboard with one of them – nearly smashed the guy's face into pieces."
"For the last time, it was a complete accident," Rupert ranted, "It was dark, and I ended up with a tiny...miscalculation."
Lucy grunted, "Our masks are equipped with night vision. So, how in the world did you miscalculate?"
"Oh. Well, as they always said: shit happens," Rupert casually shrugged his shoulders.
"Alright, alright, save your bantering for later," Sam mouthed as his eyes darted to the intruders. He immediately noticed one of them wearing a yellow pendant with a familiar-looking emblem. Goaded by his curiosity, the vermillion-eyed man quickly dropped to his knees to take a closer and soon found, encased within the transparent amber – a miniature silver snake coiled around a fancy chalice.
"So, did you find anything interesting?" asked Rupert after hearing his friend grumbling to himself.
"How about a supposedly dead organization?" said Sam as he searched the man with the cut lips. Eventually, he recovered a few oddities such as a shining black button, a small glass vial, and, "A keycard? Quite a strange object to carry around in one’s pocket, especially when you're in the middle of a desert, don't you think?"
“It must be for some kind of door. Wait,” Lucy instantly recalled what she read from Elisabeth’s journal. “Lizzy said she discovered electronic components near the old ruins. Whatever this keycard is for, we’ll probably find the answer there.”
"Hold on a sec," Rupert interjected, "This doesn't make any sense. I mean, come on? The Disciples of Vidia? They’ve been extinct for what? 20 years? In case you forgot, Markus himself executed the last member of the organization, therefore putting an end to their decades of terror. For them to make a sudden return is just so, I don’t know, sudden?”
"That is true. Furthermore, all their research notes are also locked away permanently in the Archive, where no one, not even the Chief of the Council himself can access it," Sam added and later turned his attention to the vial in his hand that contained a bubbly pinkish liquid. "Perhaps all we can do is confirm it ourselves – find out how far the rabbit hole goes.”
Lucy sighed heavily, "It’s time to wake them up then?"
“Of course, it is,” Rupert grinned before shifting his gaze to the flat-nosed man.
“Wait, Rupert. Not-“
The elder Nightingale lightly slapped the man in the cheek, waking the latter up. "Wha-Who?" the man stammered, slightly dazed from the jab the elder Nightingale gave him earlier. Once his vision returned to normal, his face became drained of color when he saw the masked trio standing in front of his very eyes. "Oh God, you-you're the Faceless," he whimpered.
"So, you already know who we are. Good, that’ll spare us from the introduction," Lucy remarked. “You must be having a splitting headache, am I right? Well, you can blame my friend for that one. He can be a bit of an ass sometimes.”
“Once again, people: it was just a miscalculation,” Rupert pouted.
“Anyhow,” said Lucy before she drew her dagger and gently rested the sharp tip against the bonded man’s chin. “Would you be so kind as to tell us your name?”
"M-My what?" the man fidgeted.
"I’m sorry, you must still be a bit disoriented. Your. Name. Please"
"Keith."
"Keith. Well, nice to meet you, Keith. Your buddy over there, what’s his?"
"He's...um...E-Earl,” Keith groaned. “Are you going to kill us?”
“That depends,” said Lucy, shortly before moving her dagger away from the anxious man. “I’m gonna ask you a few questions and if I find your answers satisfactory, then maybe we’ll let you and your friend go. Sounds fair?”
Keith nodded nervously at her, prompting Lucy to first ask, “Where did you come from?”
“T-The ruins…”
“And?” Rupert interjected which made Keith tremble in his seat.
“I…I can’t tell you. They’ll kill me.”
“Who? The Disciples of Vidia?” Sam blurted out the name without a hint of hesitation. “We already know who you are working for. So, let’s cut to the chase and answer the question.”
Keith blinked his eyes repeatedly; he could also feel cold sweats trailing down his back. “The ruins…We came from the ruins.”
“Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Lucy once again took over the conversation. “For the second question, what happened here?”
“We-Well…Our superior wanted the Faceless that resided in this house. He said it is so we could…extract her cells for our research,” Keith explained. “But by the time we are here, the house was already thrashed and the person who lived here is nowhere to be seen.”
“Really? You’re not lying to us, are you? ‘Cause if you do…”
“No! I’m not lying to you!” Keith cried out in return. “I swear I don’t know what happened to your friend! If I do, I’ll tell you!”
“Hm,” Lucy huffed before turning her head toward Sam. “What do you think? Is he telling the truth?”
“Maybe, if he can tell me what this is,” Sam showed the vial to the shackled man. Keith opened his mouth slightly to answer but later changed his mind for some reason.
"Didn’t you hear him? He asked you a question," Lucy said menacingly, resting the dagger against the man’s sweaty jaw.
Keith twitched, feeling the sharp edge pressing against his neck. "I…I can’t. I’ll be dead for sure."
“Dead? You should realize by now that the Disciples won’t be that merciful to a tattletale. They’ll make it slow, and not to mention painful,” Lucy chuckled. “Me and these two gentlemen here? We could at least make it quick.”
Keith was rendered speechless. After a brief moment of contemplation, the flat-nosed reluctantly told the trio about the mysterious liquid, "It's…It’s an experimental drug...developed by our researchers five years ago. What it does is temporarily grants the imbiber with the Faceless ability."
"Woah," the Nightingales muttered, obviously amazed by the weird-colored concoction.
Seeing how the siblings were distracted by the new information, Sam decided to lead the interrogation, "That’s impossible. We've confiscated all of your data - executed all of your senior researchers, including your leader. Those should have at least put your work 50 to 100 years behind – unless you had some help."
Keith's eyes widened, "Look, that’s the only thing I know, alright? My only job is to follow orders and don’t bother asking questions."
"Ah, the living standard of a true coward. Now, I see why they made you the errand boy. Well, can’t really blame you for that,” Rupert commented.
“I told you everything, right? Can I go now?” Keith's voice cracked.
“Not yet,” Lucy responded, shaking her head. “We haven’t talked to your friend yet. Besides, what’s the hurry? You’re not thinking of warning your friends down in the ruins, are you?”
Then, from out of the blue, Earl rose from his stupor and began to quiver in his seat. Keith watched in horror as the man's face reddened, followed by streams of thick, crimson liquid flowing out of his orifices.
“What are you doing to him!?” Keith shouted.
“It’s not us!” Sam lashed back at the panicking man.
Earl’s head jolted from right to left; the skin on his face started to peel off as if he was exposed to direct sunlight. Soon after, his eyeballs popped out of his sockets followed by a bubbling green fluid spilling out of his mouth.
Then, the spasming man simply froze in his place.
“Earl? Earl…?” Keith called softly even though he knew his friend would not answer.
Lucy tiptoed toward the corpse and placed her fingers below his gaping jaw while avoiding the flowing sticky liquid. "Yeah, he's gone," she gloomily confirmed.
“Damn. That was…that was pretty gnarly,” Rupert exhaled.
"What...what happened to him?" asked Keith, still staring at his deceased friend with an expression ranging from shock and confusion.
"My first guess is poison, but I never saw one acting as aggressive as this," Lucy spun around to bombard the man with several questions, "Did the Disciples give you something? A pill? A capsule? Or perhaps an injection?”
"H-How did you...?"
"Hey, focus! Did they or did they not?" Lucy cut him short.
"After they recruited us, we were scheduled for a mandatory health inspection. One of the doctors injected us with a nano-tracking device – just in case we got lost in the desert."
"Hm, I don’t think it was a tracking device. It’s probably a proximity microbomb - triggered when you are too far away from the ruins for a certain period of time," murmured the youngest Nightingale.
Realizing the situation, Lucy swiftly swung her dagger to cut off the restraint around Keith's torso -- much to the latter's surprise. "We need to get him to the ruins right now before his organs turn into cheese."
“Let’s head there now,” Sam nodded his head and he quickly yanked Keith off the chair.
“Urgh! My legs! I can’t feel my legs!”
“You’ll be alright. A little stroll will perk them back up, that’s all.”
“Wait!” Lucy sighed. “His friend’s body. We can’t leave him like this.”
“The hell we can’t. We’ve got no time to clean the place up,” Rupert protested.
“It’s not about cleaning up the place,” the young Nightingale growled. “It’s about respecting the dead. Whether they are our allies or enemies, they still deserve a proper burial.”
“Then, do what you must,” breathed Sam. “But make sure to keep an eye out for any hostiles.”
"Aye, chief," Lucy gave a single nod to the vermillion-eyed man, and despite wearing the mask, Sam could hear her whisper a simple, ‘Thanks.’
“Hold it! We…I…?! Oh, fine…I guess I’ll be the mortician’s assistant then,” Rupert complained before rushing to his sister’s side.
"I don't understand," said Keith, with a confused look on his face. “Why are you trying to save me? More importantly, why are so eager on giving Earl his last rite?"
"Oh, don't take this the wrong way. We're not doing this out of the kindness of our hearts. It’s just…it’ll be a great inconvenience to us if you died before we could even finish grilling you," Sam uttered. “Now, shall we get going?”
qs********************************************
[Meanwhile…]
[The Dungeon, Tower of Nexus]
“SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!”
The auburn-haired woman was fuming with anger. She cursed vociferously at the empty isolation chamber – the same chamber where Cindar was supposed. Rowanna touched her earpiece, furiously backing into the little device, "Shut down the entire Tower! Jack Cindar is on the loose! I repeat: Jack Cindar is on the loose!"
**qs******************************************
With the flashlight in his hand and his mask's night vision, Sam followed the man closely from behind; while at the same time, his vermillion eyes darted around -- actively searching for potential dangers. Even so, an unexpected enemy was the least of his concerns.
For each step he took, the burning sensation in his legs grew intense due to the sandy surface -- not to mention the freezing night breeze that sliced through his skin like a hundred invisible knives. He never once thought he would die from hypothermia, but perhaps it was time for him to reconsider the possibility.
"W-What is that?" muttered Keith, pointing at a distant white flame. It floated on top of a dune -- gracefully swaying left and right as if beckoning him to come closer.
"Ghost fire," Sam mouthed, "The bane of night travelers. Like the rod of an anglerfish, it lures the lost and the curious with its warm, deceptive flame."
"You're saying as if that thing belongs to something big."
"It does. That is why we need to keep moving-," Sam turned silent as he felt the sand shifted between his feet, followed by a hair-raising screeching echoing throughout the desert.
"The hell was that?" said Keith as he felt a shiver down his spine.
"That…is the Sandcreeper."
