My will cannot be enforced without a force; a force cannot be built without cooperation; cooperation is impossible without each side playing their part in a mutually beneficial agreement. Among the corporate demons, there is no room for cooperation, much less mutualism. --48.7 Seconds Post-Integration.
Hera took the lead. Using her glyph torch, she illuminated the way, casting the Interior's shadows aside to make way for their light. Hours passed by and when it seemed like they were going nowhere, the torch suddenly sparked several degrees brighter.
"Oh, we are close! So close!" Hera yelped. "It looks like the shrine is up!"
'Up'? He looked where Hera pointed. Literally, up.
"How are we going to haul our arses up there?" Clark knew little about Hera, so maybe she had athletic talents, but he only had so many acrobatic abilities waiting in the wings.
"We will have to climb..." Hera said, then stopped. Hesitating, she spoke again. "On second thought, I am getting tired. You must be tired, too. We will have to use magic."
"Magic? What do you mean?"
"An item, of course. Hardly anyone can use natural magics anymore, if that was what you were confused about."
He remembered as much from one of SIMP's explanation of magic and the commodified magic sold by Augustford. Even so, with Hera being someone of age and experience and even religious difference, he half-expected her to be able to use natural magic. "No. What item?"
"An expensive tonic called 'Whisper's Willow.' Drink it and enjoy floating for ten minutes." She pulled the tonic from her pouch-bag and gave another to him. "Drink it fast. It doesn't taste like anything, so don't tarry."
Clark received the bottle. It looked completely ordinary, which was a far cry from those fancy bottles lining the shelves of the Guild kiosk he patroned. He uncapped the bottle and chugged it. He was half-surprised when it tasted like water.
Moments later, both he and Hera were floating. "Holy shet! Holy shet!" he cussed. "It's working!"
"I know," Hera said more subdued. "Please, quiet, and follow my lead."
Following Hera was easier said than done. For one, their floating in the air left them at the whims of the air currents. Which still existed in the dungeon's interior. Though he had a hard time finding where the air had come from, it affected him all the same and caused him to drift away from Hera. To correct this drifting, he had to 'will' himself toward where he wanted to go. Hera taught him how, with magic, one had to express intent just as much as consuming the dandy. Magic, after all, was simply a tool, and did not know how to act, however refined it was through its commodity shape. Not without input, that is.
So, that's what he did. He willed himself toward Hera. And it worked!
How the intricacies of magic functioned was beyond him. Not that he had to understand it. He slowly kept his pace with Hera until they arrived at a circular 'door,' or whereabouts, which Hera shoved up and open for them to cross. Clark was about to close the circular door when Hera stopped him, saying, "We don't know when or how we will be back. Leave it open."
Doing as she said, he crossed through the circular passage. Doing so, they ended up in a place which had a much more industrial look to it. Pipes hissing steam and whirling gears churning with other gears were the dominant aspect of their new area. Their passage led only in one direction, which was of great relief to Clark, who had, by now, started to get antsy on leaving the Interior.
"The glyph light is glowing well now! We must be extremely close!" Hera whooshed ahead of him following the light.
They came to another circular door which Hera pushed up. It led them to another industrial hallway which culminated in another circular door. Pushing through that door, led them into a space which he could only describe as a supply closet.
Ahead, was a plain-looking door, this one a conventional shape. He cracked a peak and saw people beyond, all dressed in the garb of the Containment Department. He wanted to linger and take in the view, but Hera closed the conventional door before he could.
Hera put her finger to her lips. "Now, we can close the passage behind us. But only just. We will have to beat a retreat from here yet."
"Where are we?" Clark wondered aloud. "Aside from the obvious. Clearly, we're inside some back part of the store... a backend to the backend, I guess. I guess we should continue, yeah? What will we be doing?"
Hera took a moment to consider. "We should first gain the lay of the land. Find what this area is being used for. My glyph torch is going wild, so the shrine should be close. We cannot risk directly confronting any security guards. Stealth will be our friend."
He nodded. Clark knew about stealth from observing how Theo moved. That and he had, at times, needed to be stealthy on his approach to Augustford. Many ravenous beasts roamed the Wastes. More often than not, evading the worst of the creatures was the best way to go.
"Good. Theo taught me how to move my body and where to move my body when he was with me. I can pass that on to you. First, you're gonna want to--"
"Actually," Hera interrupted. "If it is fine with you, I have a dandy which will help us move unseen."
"Oh. That's fine, too," he said, being handed another unassuming bottle.
"Before you drink that," Hera admonished. "Take note. It is not like the levitation dandy we drank earlier. That potion is a lot more expensive. It also will turn your belly to mosh if you have too much, too quickly. Small sips only. Understand?"
"Yes, ma'am," he said, taking one such small sip.
"It works when you focus your intent. Just like the last potion. Focus on becoming unseen. If you will it so, it will become, so." Hera took a sip herself. Seconds later, she became invisible.
"Whoa," was all he had time to say before Hera chided him for not focusing. "Okay, give me a moment," he said, focusing on becoming unseen.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
"There you go. Keep that thought in mind and don't become distracted. If you become distracted, the tonic will stop working. So, if you don't want to get super-fired, focus like your life depends on it -- because it does!"
"Nothing like fear to strike the focus of the gods into you..." Clark silently bemoaned. "How do I drive myself into these circumstances? By not saying 'no' I guess, but still..."
With both of them properly invisible, Hera checking him over to ensure no part of him was left visible, they gently opened the supply closet door. Hera was right on his backside. She whispered into his ear, "be careful. Your body is shielded from sight. But not any sounds emitted by your body. Footsteps, flatulence, burps, and the rest of the sounds our frames make will be heard. Tread carefully and control yourself. Tap on my shoulder for affirmation. Keep within arm's length of me and you should be able to see me as a shimmer, if nothing else. Any further away and you will only see air."
About to say, 'will do!' Clark instead kept his mouth shut and tapped several times on Hera's shoulder. Together, they left the supply closet.
Outside of the closet, they encountered hardly anyone. Was it break time? Large stone columns filled the space at intervals. Each column was designed with intricate scrawling and art. Clark recognized none of it.
Although they did encounter a guard after a while, they waited for the guard to pass on their patrol. Then they dashed past their route.
Clark followed Hera. As she said, she did appear as a shimmer while within arm's reach. Ensuring she did not drift too far from him, he kept his vision locked onto the outline of her shimmer, following her every move. Their journey brought them to the center of the large room, where they found a piece of construction equipment. A vehicle, specifically. One designed to bulldoze whatever was in its path.
"This room is empty," Hera said. "We should move on to the next. Let's follow the trail left by this machine."
By machine, Hera meant the bulldozer. On the ground was a tread trail leading to wherever it had worked previously.
Slowly, they followed the tread trail into another large chamber. This chamber had many columns like the first chamber but several of the pillars were destroyed. Those which were destroyed looked to be smaller pillars than the large ones with intricate designs they initially encountered. Yet, like the first chamber, this chamber held nothing. Hera returned them to the first chamber, and had them follow in the direction opposite they had just gone.
This new room seemed more fruitful. Many more security guards were on patrol and many more workers besides. Several other bulldozing vehicles were in action, wrecking pillars, or trying to, anyway, as they saw the vehicles smash into the smaller pillars but without much success. This new room was too chaotic for Clark to keep up with and he wondered what Hera's plan was; really, what they could even do. Hera led him into another supply closet for a chat.
"Okay. I think I have a plan," she whispered. "I am going to need you to take another sip of the dandy and warm up close to a supervisor..."
"Lord-be, why?" he asked.
"You need to steal an access key."
"Why can't you be the one to steal the access key?"
"Because I am too big to fit through the small space. I need you for that. That, and my body is having some issues which I need to sort out in this closet. It embarrasses me to speak so frankly, but it is what it is."
Clark rolled his eyes but acquiesced. He was already in 'it,' so there wasn't any reason to decline. "Just tell me what to do."
Body issues. Size issues. Clark grumbled his displeasure at being the one sent off to steal. It was so risky. That was the problem.
When he was with Theo, they had been exploring abandoned store blocks and culling slimes. Sure, they had blown up a couple of engine blocks, but that was out of necessity. For survival. Here? They were only stealing from the company they worked for -- sigil stones notwithstanding. Then, what was it that Hera meant when she said, 'super fired'? What was that about?!
Realizing he was becoming distracted, Clark shut out all thoughts which weren't about being hidden. He knew one thing, so far, he did not want to be caught. He slid though the fences and checkpoints without issue, coming far too close for comfort to many a burly security guard bulging with muscles and battleaxes. 'Let's not give them reason to manhandle me,' he warned himself. 'Stay calm. Stay focused. The objective is ahead.'
The objective was the supervisor tent. Hera's keen vision picked it out long before he had. As she noted, around the tent was many barbed wire fences. What wasn't protected by a fence was cluttered with heavy boxes and suitcases filled with who-knows-what. Clark resisted the urge to touch and investigate.
Crossing the final checkpoint, he entered the supervisor's field tent. To his chagrin, the tent was not empty. Not only was the supervisor in, but so were a small team of his underlings. Since the tent was not spacious, he would have to move gingerly if he wanted to grab the supervisor's badge without bumping into people. Clark stood back and observed the people milling inside the tent. He would need to wait for the perfect moment to--
That moment came sooner than he expected. Mid-thought, even.
The supervisor shouted, "Team One, go on lunch. I can manage for a few minutes until team Two clocks in."
A chorus of affirmations shot back, and the team left their supervisor be. It was in that hurried bedlam of workers desperate to go on break that Clark made his move and snaked his way through the leaving mass. Alone with the supervisor, Clark snuck to their back and carefully, more carefully than he ever had pinched something before, detached the man's identification badge from his belt and put it into his pocket in one swift motion.
"Shet, that was close," he whispered, before clasping shut his mouth with his sweaty hands.
"Someone there?" the supervisor asked and turned around, right in front of him.
Face-to-face with the supervisor, the man had a hard look. Their eyes scanned the area, searching for whoever spoke. Clark kept his hands sealed over his mouth. He didn't dare take even a single step. One wrong move was all it would take to destroy his career and his village.
"Huh. Guess I'm hearing things," the supervisor said to himself.
Carefully, Clark took a step backward, then another. Then, terror -- voices from behind!
He whirled around and saw who talked. It was a group of people. "Hey, boss. Overtime was approved so we're in a bit early. Hope you don't mind."
The supervisor made only a delighted grunt as he motioned for them to take their seats. Off balanced, Clark had trouble coordinating himself in the midst of the newcomers and the supervisor. He nearly collided into the oncoming team as they entered the supervisor's tent. At the last second, he flung himself against the edge of a table, shaking it. No one seemed to pay it any heed, thank the gods, and he tiptoed out of the tent and back through the various checkpoints.
If helping Hera was going to involve sneaking around and thievery, Clark would have to think twice about if he wanted to assist her in the future. For now, he was happy he hadn't been caught with his proverbial pants around his very real ankles. It would have been impossible to explain otherwise.
He made his way back to Hera with the identification ID along for the ride. Upon entering the supply closet, he found a half-dressed Hera in an extremely smelly enclosed space. Rifling his nose at the odor, he asked if she was alright.
"I am fine," she said. "Apologies for sending you out in my stead. I will not make a habit of it. As your nose bears witness, I have seen better days. I think I am good, now. Some gas was expelled. Give me a moment to redress and we'll be on our way."
He turned his back to Hera so as to give the woman some privacy. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"Yes, yes. It is the dandy. I had a sip too many out of caution. I paid the price for it. Heed my words. You found the ID? Good. Onwards. I was able to do a touch of scouting while you were away, and I think I found where we should go. Follow me."
Clark was surprised Hera had the time to scout when it smelled as if she and her stomach were having an all-out war. Grateful she had done the scouting, though, he followed behind her, though not directly on her back for fear of receiving the tail end of a smelly gust. Together, they made their way several chambers deeper into the strange Interior space. Around them, they saw construction tools, workers using powerful equipment, and Containment Guards patrolling. On the final chamber they entered, he saw what Hera had been searching for -- a massive temple built into the very wall of the tower.
They found another secluded place to talk and to take another sip of the stealth potion, which was now half-gone.
"That is what we're looking for, I take it?" he asked.
"Sure is," Hera replied, looking pained. "We need to get out of here and fast-like. But we can't leave before we finish our quest. So, I've come up with a bold plan, if you're in the mood for some destruction."
Hmmm. Doesn't really have the same ring as a title with the word 'DOOM' huh?
Have You and a Co-Worker Ever Gone on a 'Quest' (Big Task) for the Company?
