TRASH

Eliza was relieved that Max was quick to pack up and leave today. He was always gracious enough to obliviously alert her that he was leaving by popping his head in her office with a chipper farewell.

Now she was halfway done retracing her steps through the mostly empty halls. The lighting in the windowless building had been set to artificial night, which still allowed a soft blue glow for wanderers to trace their steps and make out signs. But aside from that, and the occasional muffled noise of a Follower going about their business in their cell, it was an extremely off putting after-hours design choice. She reached the end of the first strike wing, preparing to take her typical route to Max's office, when a movement from the adjacent corridor caught her eye.

She froze, staring down the hall. The shadow in the corner of her eye had been the only tell of a presence. No footsteps or chatter sounded from the cluster of rooms it connected to. In a place so ripe with death, there was always rumours of a restless spirit or two tormenting the halls. Eliza was not the superstitious type and typically plastered her blame on the faulty lighting enchantments that still flickered from when the Psyche Ward was first constructed over Ra'zerun's arch. But she had seen more than she wanted to of this shadow.

It had walked.

Eliza didn't dare to risk a hello. Not when she wasn't supposed to be wandering about the psyche ward either.

She allowed her heart to still, adjusting her steps to walk on the tips of her feet and avoid the clacking heels. There were less nefarious explanations. Sithech had one or two groups of Lurkers that patrolled the halls. They sat in the cafeteria most of the time, or slept on benches.

Perhaps one had needed a bathroom break.

She kept to her route, ignoring the fact that she knew the bathroom wasn't the way the shadow had headed. Whatever it was, It was above her pay grade. And she had clocked out.

Eliza stopped at her destination, running her fingers along the edge of Max's door to feel for something. Her fingers brushed an invisible edge near the doorknob, and she gently channeled some of her magic into it. The paper thin enchantment glowed with tiny runes along its edges, siphoning into the locking enchantment on the door until she heard a small click.

She quickly opened the door, peeling off the spell breaker and shoving it in her satchel. Without a pause, she tip toed across the room and went straight for the desk and grabbed Max's pass key. Two lights still sat flickering on the edge of the desk, their dancing shadows playing images in her mind. The passing shadow she had seen earlier nagged her, and she cocked her head to the papers on Max's desk. She had handed the dismissal reports off to him earlier today. To her luck, he hadn't gone through them and stamped them off. They would be a good excuse if she ran into that shadow and they were a Lurker.

She grabbed them, and quickly left the room.

Eliza favoured speed over stealth as she rushed for her next destination, passing the empty offices that peppered a hidden hallway to the two strike wing. At the cusp of the doorway, a simple, thin wooden door sat. It looked like a closet that might contain a few shelves of medical supplies, and because of this, it was overlooked by the staff.

But the simple door did not open without a very special key.

"Hello artifact storage," she muttered, checking her shoulder for any guests before pressing Max's pass key to the handle. A fine etching of runes scattered across the metal handle, and the door clicked.

Eliza slipped into the artifact storage and immediately went to work. Many of the objects sat behind an additional layer of protection, be it a locked box or powerful seal etched to the surfaces of confiscated contraband and trinkets that Ra'zerun deemed corrupt. But aside from a temporary stash for lower grade artifacts before they were sorted to the armoury, it also held the blueprints the Pyche Ward needed to control the followers under its roof. She sifted through a basket of wound scrolls, reading the dates on their gold ribbons. She was quick to locate the desired paper, gingerly unlatching the seal to unwind the fresh parchment.

Her eyes raked across the inked drawing, runes washed over the page like walls of text around an intricate diagram of a circle that resembled a necklace of pointed stars. She pulled a folded white paper from her bag, unfolding it to a seemingly endless size until it matched the splayed diagram in front of her.

She laid it flat on the drawing, touching each corner as she muttered a spell. With a little bit of magic, and a lot of prior practice, the ink of the diagram bled onto her paper, perfectly matching every intricacy of Perry's perfect writing. She blew on the page softly, waiting for the enchantment to dry, while she erased the evidence of her heist.

After carefully arranging the scrolls back to how they had been, she backed her way out of the room, fixed on making sure she hadn't left anything by accident. But her troubles would find her quicker than forgetting a personal effect in the restricted area.

A voice came from her right. Sharp and growling. "Eliza?"

Her blood froze, and she forced herself to jump in surprise, quickly slipping Max's pass into her shirt. She whipped her attention to the source of the voice, an older man staring down at her from the end of the hall. He was fitted to a black uniform, similar to the Lurkers, with a waxy golden bird pin on his breast glinting under the light enchantments.

He fixed his glasses when he came closer, the crows feet at the corners of his eyes growing as he squinted. "It is you."

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Eliza's voice came out like a nervous song as the Archon approached. She hurriedly ripped the dismissal reports from her bag to wave at the man. "Sithech! Working late? I was actually wondering then… were you down in the first strike wing? I was going to see if Max was still around to take my dismissal reports and thought I saw someone heading down this way."

He stopped a respectable distance from her, eyes wandering around her clothes and the open door to pick at every detail he could. Finally, he made room in his attention to answer Eliza. "I came from my office."

"Right." Eliza replied, lacing her fingers in front of her to keep the nerves from showing. "I had an odd feeling about it, so I headed this way hoping to run across a lu- guard." Her gaze followed Sithech's as they both stared at the storage. "But I came across the door to the artifact storage… open."

Sithech eyed the door, his brow furrowing. "Open?"

Eliza nodded. "So I popped my head in to see if someone was in there. Probably not smart after hours I know-"

He turned to face the door fully, nudging it wider with his foot. "And then you walked inside?"

Eliza nodded. "Couldn't see anyone, so I went in and did a full check."

"Seems like you were in there a little longer than a 'quick' check."

Eliza stopped, stammering on her words as she stared over her shoulder into the room, catching the old Archon's expression from the side, more tired than suspicious of her placement. "I saw a spider. I was trying to catch it."

Sithech frowned, unconvinced. He peered past Eliza's shoulder, scrutinizing her once more. And then he smiled - much to Eliza's frustration. "Show me the spider."

"It escaped."

"A web then."

"It's just a spider." Eliza reasoned. "I should have just closed it, and reported it."

"No. That's not protocol." Sithech replied, holding Eliza's stare as if she'd somehow recall whatever obscure rulebook Sithech was hinting at and correct herself. Finally, he sighed. "A door to a highly secured vault is wide open, you are alone, what do you do?"

Eliza shrugged. "I'm not a Lurker."

Sithech grimaced at the name, waving his hand dismissively. "Precisely, you are unarmed. You do not approach it. You do not look inside. You do not walk inside-"

Eliza raised her open palms in surrender. "What you're saying makes a lot of sense in retrospect."

He clicked his tongue, slipping a small mettalic baton from his bag and smacking it until it lit up. The lighting device made the shadows on his sunken cheeks deeper, and casted a shadow with his bushy eyebrows that resembled claws grabbing for his forehead. "Now about your excuse - I am hard pressed to believe that a spider managed its way into the artifact storage, and you would take it upon yourself to care to catch it. To my office."

Eliza grounded her feet with a scoff. "Come on, aren't I the second most trustworthy person that works here?"

Sithech tilted his head, pulling his arms up into a tight fold. "Who is the first?"

"You know who." Eliza teased, the Archon's brow furrowing deeper. "You just don't want to admit it. Don't worry, your secret's safe with me."

Sithech's confusion sank to irritation. "I don't think we're on the same page."

"You know, just between you and me, Max wouldn't be half the Archon he is now without your guidance." Eliza continued, pushing out any form of flattery that came to mind while she desperately searched for an excuse that would satiate the nosy Archon. "He really looks up to you.

Her eyes settled on the doorframe where she caught the smallest speck of movement. An eight legged speck to be exact, casually trying to sneak onto the wall. She barely registered Sithech's voice as excitement buzzed across her body.

"Max has a very long way to go." Sithech remarked flatly.

"Ah! There it is!" She cried, the Archon twisting in surprise as she lunged for the small spider. The timing was nothing short of divine as she scooped the little creature into her palms, giving Sithech the smallest peek before closing off the view completely.

Sithech stared long and hard at her cupped hands. What magic may have been seen on the blue spider was meddled with Eliza's - and the Archon, for once, cared very little about disposing of the small invader. He was far too fixed on Eliza's blunder of an excuse.

Her ducks had run around in a panic, but somehow resembled a line. He propped his chine at her. "Your bag."

Eliza turned her body, welcoming the Archon to a search. Sithech grabbed the lock breaker out of it first, displaying it to Eliza with a dead frown. They both knew it needed a locked door to be open to do its job and cut an enchantment from resealing itself. Something like that would have been caught quick with regular daylight patrols.

"Gift from the hubby, I keep leaving my house keys at work."

"You can't bring these into the Psyche Ward." He replied, pocketing the enchantment and continuing his search.

He pulled out a small knife, flipping it open to appraise the steel point.

"Self defense. I walk home."

He tapped the tip, holding it up to judge its sharpness, then measuring it to his thumb. "Quite small, it won't do much. You can legally have one twice this size on you."

"Noted."

He put the knife back, the folded paper catching his attention next. Sithech held the tiny scrap of paper, its expansive enchantment clear as day as he unfolded a corner, putting Eliza on edge once more. "What's this?"

"Life sized nude of my husband. I keep it in my purse." Eliza blurted, holding Sithech's unwavering eye contact. "I can show you."

"No." He handed it back, wiping his hand with a grimace. He let out a frustrated grunt when the rest of the bag came back without any magic. "Why?"

"He's never at home. Why not?" Eliza replied, eyeing the artifact storage. "Can you lock this up? Max clocked out."

"I heard him in his office I thought."

Eliza paused, killing her nerves at Sithech's words before they reached her face. "Maybe he is then. He was fixing his desk leg or something, but that was half an hour ago. I imagine he's done by now."

"That explains the banging." Sithech stared at the storage, hissing out a sigh. "I'll talk to him about this tomorrow. Leaving this open is unacceptable."

"We don't know he's the one who left it unlocked. I didn't see him down here. Maybe it was Perry."

"Perry." Sithech growled, his eyes half rolling before he stopped himself. He popped his head into the storage one last time before locking it back up, then motioned for Eliza to join his side for the walk to Max's office. She accepted the gesture with a little more enthusiasm than usual. Sith never left her side when he caught her in the halls alone. It was nothing beyond an assumption that she had no means to defend herself. But tonight, after the shadows had played more games in her corner vision than she'd liked, the company of the grumpy old Archon was appreciated.