Chapter 3 - The Hanged Man
Chapter 3
Date: 14th Septembera
Location: Phoenix Grace Main Office - Chentrilla City
"And that was all I saw!?" said Diamond, lifting his head off the table look at two "Wolfrians" in black suits staring back at him. He had spent the last week being interrogated by Phoenix Grace and other authorities about the murder of Chief Engineer Remmy Scarlet and was getting sick of seeing the same room as he explained over and over again the events leading up to Remmy's murder.
"We are not discounting the fact that you were involved in Engineer Scarlet's murder" said a grey wolf who stared at him with an icy look, a professional tone to his voice. Phoenix Grace had moved quickly to erase all records of Remmy in order to minimise the press and control the issue internally, Phoenix Grace did not like any law enforcement authorities interfering with their employees and work, so they tended to keep it quiet which was why Diamond was still being held in the main company building under heavy guard.
Diamond sighed as sipped a cup of water which was on the table, these to people made him uneasy but he could not work out why, was it there icy looks at him or the inferring that he was guilty of a crime that he did not commit or maybe just the felt that he was trapped and they had provided no legal counsel which was against Terran Law...
But Phoenix Grace made its own rules.
The company itself had boasted that it existed for hundreds of years, originally founded by Ivan Grace in the late twentieth century, the corporation had risen to become a major role in the economy of Chentrilla and influenced nearly every country in the world. Phoenix Grace was originally a shipping company contracted for import/export business but had expanded into many other markets such as food, textiles, pharmaceuticals and even a little weapons contracting. This company was as massive as it was dominant and even though most of the company's past before the Asgard War remained shrouded in mystery, Phoenix Grace had arisen to manufacture a huge amount of products and computer systems which existed all over the world along with the invention of the WSN (World Synchronisation Network) which allowed people all over the planet to communication electronically. Phoenix Grace had pushed Terra into a new digital age of technology that no other company could match.
"Mr Dust" said the other wolf who was wearing deep black sunglasses to hide his face from Diamond. He paused for a second, trying to structure his sentence, his voice a lot deeper and more dominant than his associate. "Remmy was working on a piece of technology... where is it?"
Diamond looked up. "How should I know but... strange..." he thought to himself. Why was
Phoenix Grace changing their tune to talk about what Remmy was working on, would they have not just considered it a piece of junk? Unless... It had a purpose and they knew that... which is why they made sure that Remmy found it. Since the accident, the whole area of Everonth Mountains had been sealed off by "ENRISE", a secret service and military division of Phoenix Grace that served to protect the company's assets and nobody with lower level access was allowed. Diamond knew this from a conversation that he overheard while he was being held here on "suspicion of murder"
The wolf with sunglasses peered through them at Diamond. "We are waiting... Mr Dust?"
Diamond froze, trying to compile all his raging thoughts into his head.
"I know nothing about that." He spoke.
"Oh come now Mr Dust? We know that you spoke with Remmy about that same device just hours before he was murdered. We also know about the discovery of the Valkyrie and the excavation efforts that were taking place WITHOUT higher approval and as leader of an excavation team and senior cryptologist we are holding you personally responsible..."
"Alright!" shouted Diamond, seeking to end this quickly. "What exactly are you getting at? I did not find the artefact and Remmy brought the team there WITHOUT consulting me!"
The wolf without sunglasses stared back at Diamond, he did not even blink when Diamond raised his voice and just stared at him blankly.
"Where is it, Mr Dust?"
"I DON'T know!"
Time: 14th Septembera
Location: ENRISE Research Base â€" Serenity Isle
Night was falling quickly on Serenity Isle, a beautiful island that lay in the middle of the sea with no land mass available for miles. Serenity Isle had once been a thriving village of a race that guarded the three divine weapons inside their sanctuary, all of which had been used to once seal away an evil ascended spirit from the planet Atlantia that had ruled Terra and many worlds as part of her empire for almost 1,000 years before she was defeated almost 8,000 years ago. Now the town of the protectors, Millennia lay in ruins due to an intense battle that had taken place nearly 300 years ago and all but one of that race had been wiped from the face of the planet.
However now Serenity Isle was filled with lush green forests and beautiful canyons making it the perfect place for Phoenix Grace to set up a remote research base.
A small boat moved slowly towards the docks at the bottom of one of the cliffs which led underground and into the research base. It moored itself inside a cavern which had been fitted by metal to become a dock and the only entrance to the base.
Inside the base was surprisingly technologically advanced as Phoenix Grace researched many of their new discoveries here away from the preying eyes of the law. Inside the base was a large chamber which held a glass control room with several computer monitors which looked out into a large chamber where the major find from the Valkyrie-Artefact, the sphere with the girl inside.
A scientist was standing in front of two other scientists inside the control room, he was another wolf-like species with grey fur that stuck out under his white lab-coat.
"Is Test-Phase 1 complete?" he asked with a slight tone of impatience and irritation.
"Yes" barked a "Caninia", a dog-like species that sat at the console in front of him.
The wolf shuffled again with irritation, extracting information from anyone was like extracting blood from a stone. "And?"
"The metal of the casing is an alloy that we have never seen before but from the look of the position, whoever built this thing, built it to last ya know what I mean? It's built specifically to keep that girl in there... in Doctor Revanno and I think..."
Revanno laughed slightly at the Caninia in front of him, it was amusing to him that he never spoke until he asked him too and then would not shut up. "Alright" he said, chuckling.
The dog looked up, slightly confused. "What?"
Revanno just laughed a little more and then attempted to control himself.
Suddenly a computer beeped and Revanno turned to it, watching it with his eyes.
"What!?" he exclaimed. "I want a full report"
The other scientists in the lab control room went berserk at the controls and gave him a smattering of reports.
"I don't believe it!"
"We are loosing containment!"
"That thing is expanding into our systems, main power is out"
Revanno looked out into the test chamber completely confused as the large sphere that they recovered shot out life-like metallic tentacles which branched into the other areas.
"WHAT IS GOING ON!?"
Meanwhile, one the surface of Serenity Island, the same scientist fox that was part of the excavation team was tampering with the device that Remmy had been working on before he was murdered. He had changed somewhat, his fur had become almost pitch black and the veins along his face were throbbing as his eyes glowed a brilliant red for a second.
"Come to us, Oh Goddess of Righteousness!" he chanted. "Be with us once again for the first time in 300 years... Arise!"
He pressed a large button on the artefact which had opened up since to reveal a control panel which he was now manipulating.
"Free from your eternal prison to lead us to salvation again..." he chanted, his voice appearing to phase in and out.
"You are free!"
Inside the complex, the sphere blasted open with a massive release of white light that blinded everyone in the control room. When everyone's vision returned to normal, an adolescent girl stood naked with long, dark red hair draping from her head down to her shoulders, he moved her talon-like claws up to her mask and removed it revealing a face of incredible beauty, pure white skin with a blank look on her face, her lips were a deep shade of red which complimented her large green eyes.
Revanno had never seen anyone like her before, he was so intrigued that he ignored the possible danger of what he did not understand. He opened the hatch from the control room and climbed the ladder down onto the catwalk of the large metal test chamber which was now being engulfed by large, metal tubes that moved like they were alive. He cautiously approached her despite numerous objections by his staff. The girl had her eyes closed and her head drooped forward and was still covered in a jelly-like substance which had sustained her within the sphere.
"Um....." said Doctor Revanno, scratching his muzzle and looking for words, the doctor was not as young as he used to be which could be seen from his rapidly greying hair. "We are pleased to make your acquaintance... You are safe..."
The girl shot her head up in an unnatural fashion to stare at Revanno but did not say a work and within a short flash of light, Revanno believed that he could see another woman behind her, as if spirit like but he shrugged it off.
"So....." he said, looking even more perplexed. "What.... wh.... what is your name?" said the scientist in a slightly fearful tone.
The girl did nothing, she just stood there before making a very slight whisper in Doctor Revanno's mind.
"Kestra"
Doctor Revanno looked back her in shock.... No species he was aware of could perform telepathy, this intrigued him completely but before he could think anymore, he felt a sharp pain as something lanced through him. He looked down and a huge chunk of metal was now sticking through his torso, he looked at the blood and then in Kestra's cold eyes as the other scientists looked out in terror and began to clamber out of the control room however the doors were somehow sealed.
Revanno fell from the cat-walk onto the main floor below and lay there as he looked up and drew his last breath.
"My confinement has been long.... Now lets have some fun.... Shall we Daddy?" whispered Kestra silently and began moving through the test chamber, breaking pieces of metal off and making them swirl around her, after almost 300 years... she was free.
Date: 15th Septembera
Location: Eastvale Villiage â€" Arficaan Continent
"I am here?"
"Where are you?"
"I am waiting for you"
"Why?"
"Come back to where you belong.... Asga-salong"
Freya woke up with a start, she peered into the darkness of her room, she had been sleeping peacefully until she had a terrible nightmare, the wind swept into her room while the curtains on the walls fluttered out in the wind. She took steps to control her breathing and climbed out the bed to shut the window of her small room.
Freya was a half-breed, between fox and wolf, she had long silver hair which came all the way down her back to her petite backside, her hair was smooth except her fox-like ears sticking out of her head. She had beautiful and unnaturally bright green eyes and a small body frame. She wore a beautiful silk dressing gown that was a slight shade of pink and white, she stood at the window trying to calm herself, letting her already sweaty hands wipe the sweat from her forehead.
Freya walked out of her room to a small staircase which she descended down and into the living area of the small house which she lived in. The was another person sat at a laptop on the lounges dining room table, it was a rat-like humanoid which had a long nose and very beady eyes. Freya came up behind him.
"Clypsie, what you doing up this late" she said softly to him. The rat lifted his head and turned round to greet her.
"Oh nothing...." He said looking round and closing down the lid of the laptop quickly.
"You... should.... get some rest, yeah.... Go and have a nice sleep."
Freya laughed and switched the lounge lights on. "Elcypse! Tell me what you were up to... this instant" said Freya trying to play a dominant role and then bursting out laughing. "You were looking at dirty pictures on the WSN again?"
Elcypse looked up at Freya blushing slightly.... "No"
Freya shrugged it off, she knew that he was not being truthful with her, Elcypse had been her friend and closest companion for so long that she knew him inside out. Freya had started out life as an orphan girl who lived off the trash on the streets of Gia, another great city of Terra, in the north which was breadbasket of Terra, providing most of the raw materials needed for construction and development. This highly industrialised city also had virtually no police force so crime was rampant and the government soon lost control of the city to anarchists. The following week, the local Terran authority ordered the military to enter the city and both of Freya's parents were shot dead in front of her inside the bar that her father owned. Freya was lucky as she was spared by the cleansing squads who took pity on the lone child and hid underneath the floorboards while the solider who saved her, talked this his ruthless commander and convinced him that nobody was left inside the bar.
From that moment on, Freya had been alone in her universe, surviving on the streets of Gia until one day, when she turned 18, a strange injured rat walked into town and from that moment on, after she cared for him and nurtured him back to health he vowed to protect her.
Elcypse looked down and changed the subject quickly. "I thought you was sleeping?" he said in a high-pitched squeaky tone.
Freya sat on the sofa of the run down house which did not actually belong to them but instead was a building that was scheduled for demolition with the new building of the Eastvale Wind Farm however the project was abandoned and the loving council of Eastvale had allowed Freya and Elcypse to live there in exchange of working within this simple farming community.
"I had.... a nightmare" she said looking over at Elcypse who got up and poured her a drink, setting it down on the table beside her.
Elcypse stared at Freya with a curious intent, he sat down next to her and put his long tail around onto his lap. He looked at her, she was so very beautiful, he had been in love with her since they first met but had never told her because he felt unworthy to her beauty. "I guess...." He said quietly, trying hard to keep his thoughts on what she was saying and not her. "Nightmares are terrible things... what was it about?"
"I don't know.... That's just it.... I appeared to be on a different planet but it was like Terra. I saw Eastvale, Gia, Chentrilla, Locarno, Molrann and all the other cities but they were all in ruins and all I could hear was this girls voice, she sounded young and she.... She was singing....?" Freya took her drink and looked confused, as what often happened with dreams was now happening with her, she could not remember details. "I was.... so sereal"
She gazed into the liquid into the liquid in the cup and smiled. "I know it's just a silly.... Well dream but it felt so real, so vivid and now it is all just slipping away again.... But I know I have seen that girl before!"
Elcypse put his arms around her and held her close to him in a friendly hug. "Don't worry.... It was only a dream."