Shadowbane

The sound of an alarm blaring woke me up from my slumber. I opened my eyes and saw that everyone in Maya's unit was jumping out of their bunks. I sat up and watched them hurriedly bolt out of the room. How long was I asleep... My core still feels like it needs to rest.

I checked the console and it showed that ten days had passed since I first arrived back at the fort. And I'm still this exhausted? My core must've really been stressed to the max holding off all of those curses... Wait, how did it block the curses? When my halo is out I lose the veil on my core, so...

I rolled out of bed and activated my halo. At first it seemed like it always had; no veil. But after inspecting further I could sense a really thin but dense layer of veil covering my core. I was unable to interact with it, and it even kept disappearing from my senses as if it was never there. How long has that been there?? I mean, thank god it was, otherwise those eyes would've debilitated me until I could no longer dodge the machine, but it's still bizarre that I have another veil now... I need to ask Luna about it when I get back.

Someone ran into the room with a Tyranium armor suit on, helmet and all. They opened a nearby cabinet and pulled out a huge duffel bag. They slung it over their shoulder as they looked over at me, "Sorry, Reimia, we need to leave! The caravan heading north to Jarvil is getting swarmed right now. We'll talk about your mission another time, yeah?" The person said through their speakers. I could tell from their voice that it was Maya.

Before I could respond she ran out of the room. It looks so bizarre seeing that high tech suit holding a green duffel bag. But my Uncle said the relic ones were created in a way that makes them really hard to destroy. That's why he suggested the bag I have right now.

I picked the two emblems up and put them back in my bag before exiting the room. As I made my way toward the main courtyard I didn't see anyone or hear anything aside from the alarm that was still blaring, and even when I reached the courtyard there was nobody there. There's no way they emptied this place out, so all of the reserves must be waiting below somewhere? I suppose with all of the console cameras you don't need to personally watch the walls, but this still looks odd to me...

After making my way down the ramp I finally ran into someone, the guards at the gate. They warned me to avoid the North for now, as their sensors were picking up thousands of machines milling about between here and Jarvil, so both forts were out in full force trying to thin their numbers as much as possible. I thanked them and left in the direction I always approached the fort from. The south.

"No need to scan in, you're clear. In fact, you've been given clearance to land in the main area from now on." The gate guard cut off my reply and continued, "I already know what you're going to ask. The answer is simple, a clan vouched for you. More than one actually. Both Hothgar and Inoue did. Also, you must have some friends in the head office, because even that would usually not be enough."

Shannon maybe? Or my Uncle did something. Honestly, it wasn't that big of a deal having to go through the gate every time, but I suppose this is a nice quality of life change.

I walked past the guards, through the long open snowy field, and took one of the elevators down to the main floor. 'Welcome back' an automated female voice said as the elevator doors opened.

On the way to the head office I passed by several groups that were heading up to the surface. As usual, the looks I received were laden with confusion. I stuck out like a sore thumb after all, and it didn't help that I still had snow on me.

I entered the head office and walked up to Shannon's desk. She was currently helping someone else and didn't notice me at first, but when she did her eyes went wide as she stared at me. The lady she was helping glanced back at me and quirked an eyebrow.

"... Apologies, Miss Helia. I believe it'd be faster if I sent you to my boss in the back. Would that be fine?" Shannon asked.

'Miss Helia' was surprised but happily took her up on the offer. Shannon led her to the back where her brother was waiting. I only got a quick glance at his face before she closed the door, but he was clearly annoyed.

When Shannon arrived back at the counter she tapped on it and said, "Show me."

As I dug them out of my backpack she was typing on her console to bring up my mission statement. This is the first step upon arriving back at base. You come here and give a brief status update on the mission, and then do a full dive down below at one of the offices on R-4.

I placed both emblems on the counter and she immediately closed her eyes, pinched the bridge of her nose, and heaved a heavy sigh.

"How... Just, how?"

"Magic."

"......"

Shannon narrowed her eyes at me for a moment before typing on the console again. A few seconds later she said, "There, I confirmed that you succeeded..."

I placed the emblems back in my bag and chuckled, "That's it? Not going to push for information?"

"No, silly girl. I can just watch the footage later after you sell it. It'll probably sell for as much as those two emblems are about to net you..."

Assuming I do sell it. My Uncle will have to show me how to cut out all of the parts where I was invisible, which makes up almost the entire trip, so there won't be all that much left to sell.

I said goodbye to Shannon and headed for the exit, but on the way I saw a man nearby talking into his console while looking at me. He was whispering, but I definitely heard the word 'emblem' at some point, so it was obvious what he was talking about. Eh, if they want to spread it around that's fine. I think I'm going to have my Uncle turn em in anyway. I'm way too exhausted right now to do it myself.

After I entered the elevator and entered 'R-37' I sent a message to my Uncle, telling him to come to my (our?)home.

What the...?

Once I reached R-1 I could see that a massive party was going on. The lights were blinking in all sorts of different colors and there were people partying everywhere. On a couple of the large TV's I could see people talking with the words 'Uruguay Victory!!' on the bottom. Oh right, that event they were talking about before I left... Looks like Inoue lost, but oh well, whatever sadness they're feeling right now will be completely wiped away when they find out that I returned their emblem.

R-2 through R-7 were about the same, with varying levels of partying going on, but only silence awaited me at R-37. Ahh, now this is much better.

I walked all the way to my home in that same silence. While it wasn't exactly a boisterous place, it was still a fresh experience hearing literally nothing the entire time. Everyone must be in the upper floors partying.

I placed my keypass into the slot and entered my home after the door opened. My Uncle was already waiting for me in his old chair.

"I thought that thing killed your back?"

"It does and is as we speak, but fuck the chair, tell me what happened!"

There was a big smile on his face as he watched me pull the emblems out of my pack and hand them to him.

"You got here fast too, were you nearby? I sent that message maybe ten or fifteen minutes ago."

Irvine nodded, "I was visiting someone a few doors down who used to be friends with your parents and I." He flipped the emblems over and scanned every part of them with his portable console. "Unreal... You really did bring them back. Put the footage on the TV! I gotta see this shit for myself."

"That's fine, but you remember we can't sell it, right? Not the parts where I'm invisible."

"Hell yeah I remember. Those cunts are already going to have their eyes on you after this, and finding out you can turn invisible will make it far worse. I'd like to think they wouldn't do anything drastic, but who knows what they'd stoop to these days... Oh, speaking of which. I found out why nobody wants to talk about Viktor and everything related to him is so buried."

I paused for a moment as I was plugging the TV into the console, "... And?" I said as I inserted the cord.

I walked over to the couch and laid down on it as my Uncle flipped through multiple menus on the TV.

"He was one of Arkaios' last Warriors here in Arcadia. So that means he was also in the group that had been sacrificed to Demons."

What...?

I thought back to the time I met him in Xethra. His weird out of character appreciation for Arkaios when the man seemed to hate anything that wasn't related to the Xerath. That also explains how he ended up in the Xerath's realm...

My Uncle continued as he searched through the footage for the moment I left the outpost between Fort Weiss and Jarvil, "But I haven't been able to find out who sacrificed them. And I gotta say, it's not earning me any friends as I go digging up this old history. The big clans have their eyes on me now. Which is going to make it all the funnier when I cash in on that emblem bet."

As Uncle Irvine played the footage (while fast-forwarding through the dull parts)I knew I couldn't really put it off anymore. I needed more sleep.

"Uncle, you'll see why near the end, but I need to rest badly. My core is still exhausted. Turn in those emblems for me when you get the chance, okay?"

"Don't worry, I will. And I'll take care of the fallout that will accompany it. But are you sure you don't want to do it yourself? It'll invite some problems, but you're also going to be praised by a hell of a lot of people. It's sad to see that you're going to pass all of that up... And aren't you into girls? You can get any girl you want after the feat you just pulled off!"

"Heh, I'll think about it after I'm rested up. For now it's hard to think properly when my core is begging me to sleep."

I rolled on my back and locked my arms over my stomach. "Goodnight Uncle. I'll see you in a week or two."

"Right... Goodnight, Hime. And good work out there... I mean it."

As usual, I focused on my core and told it to turn off. A moment later everything went black.

I woke up, finally feeling refreshed. All of the heaviness in my core had disappeared. About damn time... But how long was I out?

I turned the TV on and the date on the screen said that twenty days had passed since I went to sleep. Fucking machine... It laid me out for way too long. I'm not going to feel better until I kill one of those cunts.

I went up to the bathroom and removed my armor. For the next hour I rested in the tub while cleaning both me and my armor. I could hear the console downstairs beeping at one point but I ignored it.

Once we were fully clean I walked downstairs and looked through the console's history. There were several missed calls from 'Expedition Lounge'. The hell is that? The mission giving place is my first guess but I never heard the word 'expedition' yet pretty sure.

I checked on the console and it confirmed that the place I received the mission from was indeed the 'Expedition Lounge'. Hmm, I should call my Uncle first.

I went through the numbers until I found my Uncle. After only a single ring he picked up and said, "You're finally awake! Holy hell, Hime. You're far richer than I am now. Not immediately though. Instead of money upfront, I signed you up to take a percentage of all profits they make from their clan houses for the next one hundred years."

"How much percentage are we talking here?"

"One percent, and I know that sounds low, but trust me. A fully functioning clan house brings in a ridiculous amount of crystals. And, well, they couldn't really pay you outright anyway... They're both hardcore in debt, as most clans are that don't have access to their faculties." Irvine said.

"Then why even keep the clan title? I don't get it."

"Eh, there's a shitload of different reasons to keep a clan tied to your family even if you're broke, but I'm sure they also have their own personal reasons that outweigh any practical ones. Especially the Inoue clan members. I got a weird feeling from them the two times we've met. They're far more uh, passionate than I'm used to. They even went all-or-nothing on their bet with Uruguay on the machine hunting event. I don't know if you saw, but they lost, so they're basically owned by Uruguay now. They didn't think you'd actually retrieve the emblem, so..."

So in other words, if they had waited they'd be rich and prestigious, but now they're slaves because they never expected someone to actually retrieve their emblem. Sucks to be them, but for me it doesn't matter who owns the clan house since I'll be getting paid regardless.

"Oh, Uncle. Why the hell is the Expedition... Office? Or no, was it called a lounge? Either way, why are they calling me?"

Irvine paused for a moment before replying. "I took care of everything, so they're either going to pester you for the full footage, or someone put in a specific request for you. Which isn't much of a surprise after what you just did."

Specific requests huh... Is there a single reason I should accept them? I returned here for three reasons. One, was to spend some time in my families home again. Next, I needed money to kill Viktor. And finally, I wanted to acquire the core's codes. I don't necessarily need to do that last one since I'm now passively acquiring money through the clan contracts, but there's no fucking way I'm going to pass up the opportunity to unlock all of the secrets to this place.

"I'd rather not take on any special requests directed at me. Can I tell them to leave me alone?"

I could hear him laughing through the console, "I knew you'd say that! Whatever they're trying to offer you will pale in comparison to your true objective, right? Don't say it over the line, but yeah, you can tell them to fuck off. Maybe don't put it like that but you're free to decline any requests that come in from the lounge."

Good. There's really nothing I can gain from them except... Well, I suppose they would be kind of fun. I'll admit I'm curious but I think it's for the best that I just focus on my mission. I'll either die trying to kill Viktor or survive and make my way to Gaia. Then, and only then, will I relax and have fun when I find my friends again. If I win of course---Actually, wait... There would be plenty of down time after I get the core's codes, as they'd need time to go through all of the information and whatnot anyway. So...

"... You know, I'm thinking about leaving right away for the---Err, you know what."

"What?! You just got back! Or well, not quite 'just', but from your point of view you've barely been here an hour. Are you sure you want to leave already?"

"Not immediately. I still need to see two people before I take off. Arkaios and Yulong."

"Yulong... Oh, that one Abyss obsessed scientist? I see. Well, if that's what you want to do, then I'm not going to stop you. And the Leviathan is going to arrive back here in three days, so there's that too."

Three days? The timing couldn't possibly be better.

After that I made plans to meet my Uncle at Bertram's bar later on and hung up.

Okay, now where did I put that note Shannon gave me... My bedroom, maybe?

I walked upstairs and entered my old bedroom, finding the note with Yulong's address on it sitting on the headboards of my bed. Thank god I didn't lose it. I really didn't want to call her right now.

As I punched the note's address into the console I couldn't help but notice the 'R-3' part. The man obsessed with the Abyss lives in the top residential district? I didn't see that coming. I figured he'd be somewhere in the twentieth or thirtieth layer.

After walking back downstairs I stopped at the door and looked down at myself.

I could create a regular outfit, but it'd still be pure black... Looking through my Mom's or Sister's closets for anything that fits is also a possibility but I feel weird just thinking about that.

After some deliberation I decided to stick with my armor. I felt safe inside it, and after my Uncle's ominous words, I figured the safer I was, the better.

Ugh...

At first I thought the reactions around me were the usual ones I'd receive; people weirded out by how I looked, but I quickly realized that wasn't the case this time. One girl even ran over and took a photo of herself next to me without even asking me for permission.

And the fact that I was on the third layer was making it far worse. These were the nobles of Arcadia after all. While they were elegant looking, a lot of them also had robotic parts attached to different parts of their bodies, or they straight up replaced their limbs with mechanical ones. One guy even had two robotic legs. They appeared to be rather well done, but still, it was hard to adjust to the sight of them since I was pretty sure none of these people ever saw a single second of combat, which meant that they were removing their own body parts to replace them with robotic ones purely for aesthetical reasons.

For combat reasons I'd understand if it was the superior choice, but is that even possible? Obviously power suits exist and the higher in quality you rise, the better they are at handling any mana you pour into them. But they're just replacing a single body part, so... Yeah, I really don't know.

It took me a little while even with directions, but eventually I found myself at Yulong's place. I knew it was a possibility when I saw that he was on the third layer, but I can't believe he's in one of the six main clans...

I had previously seen images of the clan houses, and they were all built into the side of the layer. Just like the home in front of me. Maybe he's one of those bored nobles that isn't interested in the local politics? At the very least he's not wanting for money if he's living in this place.

I pushed the console button next to the gate, but nobody responded. I pushed it again, but still, nobody responded.

I continued like that for another five minutes before I finally heard the speaker flare to life.

"I was ignoring the console because I wasn't expecting anyone, but would you look at you... What an interesting creature. White hair, red eyes, black armor, and yet you have Elven ears... So very strange. Oh yes, I remember now. I was going to yell at you for disturbing me. So then, strange girl, why is it that you are here ringing my doorbell over and over like an annoying little gnat."

"Hmm, I gotta say, my first impression of you isn't very good. Are you Yulong?"

"And she's so very honest! A refreshing trait in this sea of filth. Pattering on, day after day about their birthrights, love affairs, prestige. But did you know, girl? At the end of the day, they are nothing more than common rabble. Glitter up the garbage all you want, it's still garbage."

"... That's nice, but I'm here to talk about the Abyss, not the people here."

"Not interested in the garbage but is interested in the Abyss? You've advanced from vaguely intriguing to mildly intriguing..."

The gates opened up as Yulong said, "Do be quick about it. As intriguing as you are, I was in the middle of something very important when you arrived."

My first thought is that he's rather bizarre, but he'd have to be to be interested in the Abyss, so it's not like I wasn't expecting this.

I walked through the long courtyard until I reached the large double doors that were opening on their own as I arrived. I expected a large grand hall but instead all I saw was a rather quaint lounge area and six different doors.

"Far left door. Take it all the way to the end of the hall and then turn right. I'm in the first door on the left." Yulong said over the speakers.

I followed his directions down the hallways until I entered the door he specified. The inside was a much larger room than the one I first saw. There was a set of stairs leading up to a small office-like area and there were bookshelves full of books lining the entire wall. I also saw beakers and other tools up there. Meanwhile on the ground floor there was several couches, a mattress on the floor, some chairs, and a massive TV. Yulong (A handsome tall man with short black hair, wearing a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt) was currently sitting on the couch playing a video game.

"Oh yes, this definitely looks 'very important'." I said after approaching him on the couch.

"Sarcasm, how nostalgic... Now what is it that you want in relation to the Abyss, weird girl."

"I've been there, and I was hoping you could make sense of the things I found while I was there."

Yulong dropped the controller and looked at me with pure disbelief.

... Heh, that's an even better reaction than I had expected. I'm going to really enjoy this.