An Asnean Odyssey: Bastien
Chapter Eighteen

Eighteen

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you. Oh, no no no. You’re far too valuable.”

Liet’s eyes fluttered open to see a slender man hunched over Skye, who was sitting on a stone bench a few inches high with her wrists chained to the floor. Liet’s arms were stretched above his head, his wrists shackled to the bars of their cage.

“Your friend, on the other hand,” The man struggled to contain his laughter. “Well, to put it simply, I’m going to hurt him.”

Liet tried to force himself free, causing his chains to rattle. The man turned around to face Liet, a large smile spread across his lips, revealing his jagged teeth.

“Ah, you’re awake. Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Marlo,” Marlo extended his hand for a few seconds, then retracted it. “Ahaha, sorry, how rude of me. I know you can’t possibly greet me in your condition. Anyways, I was just telling Skye here how much fun we’re going to have. Me and you, I mean. Sadly, Skye’s not going to be joining us in our little games. Oscar would kill me if I put a scratch on her. Ah, but she can still watch!”

Liet couldn’t help but stare at Marlo as he talked. He had a long, sharp, curved nose which resembled the beak of a bird. A small bronze chain dangled from his chest, which had a pocket watch attached to it. His eyes were completely engulfed by small pink veins. Marlo shifted his attention back to Skye. He bent down and held her head steady as he uncurled his long, flaccid tongue and placed it on her chest. He pulled his tongue up her neck and across her cheek very slowly.

“You taste fantastic...Oh, I really wish I could get beneath your skin...” Marlo whispered into Skye’s ear. “But I guess that’s what your friend is for, right?”

Skye began to cry softly as Marlo stood up and approached Liet.

“You know what my favorite part of a meal is?” Marlo asked Liet, still maintaining his grin.

“Food poisoning?” Liet responded smugly. Marlo’s smile faded.

“That’s not funny,” Marlo turned to Skye and produced a small pair of scissors from his coat. “Now see, Skye, I was going to wait until tomorrow to start playing with the two of you. But your friend, he wanted to be funny. He wanted to show off.”

Marlo let out a sigh and turned his attention back to Liet.

“Which is your primary hand?”

“W-what?” Liet was confused.

“Which is your primary hand?! Which do you write with?! Which do you eat with?!” Marlo shouted at Liet.

“My right,” Liet cringed. Marlo’s lips stretched across his face again.

“My right hand is my primary as well,” Marlo commented as he pulled a piece of synthetic out of his jacket. He reached up and grabbed Liet’s left hand, pulling his fingers away from his pinky. Marlo gently placed Liet’s pinky between the blades of his scissors. “If I do this right...it’s going to hurt a lot.”

Marlo squeezed his fingers together slowly, causing the blades of the scissors to dig into Liet’s flesh. Time seemed to freeze for a moment as the blades pierced his skin. Liet looked around for something he could use to escape. Finding nothing, he bit his cheek, hoping it was just a dream. Everything returned to normal and the scissors continued to dig into Liet’s finger. Marlo’s tongue shot out and wrapped itself around Liet’s wrist as crimson blood began to pour from his wound. Liet began to grind his teeth as he tried not to scream from the pain. After a few seconds Marlo squeezed the scissors tighter as the blades dug into something solid.

“Hmm...I guess I overestimated...” Marlo said to himself after retracting his tongue. He pulled the scissors out of Liet’s finger and licked the blades clean before placing them back into his coat, only to replace them with a small saw-like knife. He placed the synthetic between Liet’s index and middle fingers and held his hand steady. “Hold this for me, will you?”

“Please stop...” Skye cried out as tears poured down her face.

“What a waste of perfectly good blood...” Marlo ignored Skye’s pleas as he began to saw through the bone in Liet’s finger, causing blood to splash onto his face and coat. Liet could no longer hold back and began to cry out in agony. “Oh...yes! That’s what I want to hear!”

Marlo grabbed hold of Liet’s finger as the saw finished slicing through the bone. A few squirts of blood managed to make their way out of the wound before Marlo liberally rubbed the synthetic over it. He wiped the saw on his coat before placing it back in his pocket. He turned around and bent down in front of Skye.

“How do you think he’s going to taste?” Marlo asked Skye as his tongue shot up to lick the blood from his eyes. “I think he’s going to be just scrumptious. I’ve never seen someone with red blood before.”

“You’re a monster...” Skye softly cried out. Marlo began to laugh uncontrollably.

“So are you, young lady!” Marlo managed to cry out through his cackling. He grabbed Skye’s chin and held her face up to his, placing the severed finger between them.

“Close your eyes Skye...” Liet told Skye.

“Close your eyes...” Marlo seemed distant as he talked to himself. Skye held her eyes shut with all her might, forcing all of the tears that had gathered in the corners to slide down her cheeks. Marlo rose and returned to Liet. “Fine, I’ll just make you watch instead!”

Marlo reached into his jacket and pulled out two metal clip-like objects. He held Liet’s eyes open and attached the objects, which held Liet’s eyelids in place, making him unable to blink. “Enjoy.”

Marlo held the severed finger in front of his lips and licked all of the blood off. He then opened his mouth and began to tear small bits of flesh off of the bone with his razor teeth, slowly chewing them, savoring the taste. Once he had devoured most of the meat, he dangled the remaining bone above his head, then dropped it into his mouth and began to chew it, a huge grin plastered across his face the whole time. Liet cringed as the crunches echoed throughout the small basement. Finally, Marlo swallowed the bone and removed the clamps from Liet’s eyes, placing them back in his jacket. Liet’s eyes immediately snapped shut.

“Did you enjoy that as much as I did?” Marlo asked Liet. “You taste absolutely amazing. Best I’ve had in years. I cannot wait until tomorrow. Oh, we’re going to have so much fun!”

Liet responded with silence as he held his eyes shut.

“It seems you’ve lost your wit. Isn’t that unfortunate?” Marlo smiled as he opened the cage door and began to leave. “Rest up, tomorrow’s going to be a busy day!”

When Liet finally opened his eyes again, Guy was leaning down in front of him, examining the blood on his shirt. The room seemed a lot brighter now that Marlo had left.

“Quite a mess you’ve gotten yourself into, huh?” Guy asked, smiling as usual.

“What are y-”

“Uh, uh,” Guy pressed his finger to Liet’s lip. “She’s been through enough, don’t you think? She doesn’t need to see you talking to yourself.”

Guy stepped out of the way, giving Liet a clear view of Skye. She had her head between her knees and was sobbing quietly. A small pool of tears had gathered on the floor between her feet. Liet nodded slowly as Guy retracted his finger.

“Now, how do you plan to get out of this mess?” Guy asked. Liet offered no response. “Ah! Don’t answer that. I know how you’re going to get out of here. Oh, but I’m not going to tell you, no. That wouldn’t be any fun, y’know?”

Guy strolled around the small cage, occasionally crouching down for a moment, as though he were examining the floor. Eventually, he reached Skye, and crouched in front of her. He extended his hand, as though he were going to rub her cheek, but stopped a few inches short.

“What happens when you leave food out, Liet?” Guy asked. Liet responded with silence again. “I’ll answer for you. It spoils. Do you eat rotten food? I know I don’t...”

Guy continued to stare at Skye for a moment before rising to his feet. “How are you going to get out of here, Liet?”

“...Skye...how are you doing...?” Liet asked. Skye didn’t respond. “Skye...”

“...I’m fine...” Skye’s voice sounded weak.

“Skye...We’re going to get out of here. I’ve got an idea, but I need your help,” Liet softly said to her. “Do you still have the blood you took from me?”

“Yeah...”

“Alright, good. Do you think you could roll them across the floor to me? I’m going to need both of them.”

Skye struggled to bend low enough to the ground that she could reach into her pocket. Eventually she managed to slide a couple of fingers into her shirt. After a bit of rummaging around, she produced the vials of blood and a few small objects that resembled thumbtacks. After forcing the thumbtacks onto the tops of the vials, she gently placed them on the floor and rolled them to Liet, who stopped them with his feet. He picked one up between his toes and lifted it to his mouth.

“Skye...I’m going to put the blood in my mouth, and when I do, I want you to scream.”

Liet held the tack between his teeth and removed it from the bottle, spitting it onto the floor. He then tilted the first vial upwards. A metallic taste ran across his tongue as the blood began to flood his mouth. He placed the first vial back on the ground and did the same with the second, closing his eyes and allowing his body to hang limp once he was finished. Skye released a loud shriek that echoed throughout the small room. The lights dimmed as Marlo shoved his way through the door into the basement.

“Why are you scre- Oh, god. Shit. Shit. Shit!” Marlo began to become frantic. Liet had opened his mouth ever so slightly, allowing the blood to slowly seep through his lips and drip to the floor. Marlo rushed over to Liet and forced open his mouth, causing the blood to spill out. Liet’s eyes shot open. Before Marlo could react, Liet reared his head back and slammed it into Marlo’s skull, knocking him backwards. Marlo slipped on the empty vials on the floor, slamming his head into the stone bench that Skye was seated on. His body fell to the floor just beside Skye, who quickly began to search his pockets. After a few seconds, she produced a key and unlocked her shackles. She rushed over to Liet and released him as well.

“Come on, give me a hand...” Liet requested. He bent down over Marlo’s motionless body. A small green pool had begun to form beneath his head. Liet had begun going through Marlo’s pockets.

“What are you looking for?” Skye asked.

“Synthetic.”

“Why?”

“He’s going to die if we just leave him like this.”

“Then let him die! He was going to kill you!”

“It wasn’t his fault...He’s not...He needs help...” Liet finally found the synthetic. He rolled Marlo over and examined the wound on his head. It was a rather large gash that had green fluid flowing freely out of it.

“Of course, he’s insane! He deserves to die. If you let him live, he’s just going to kill more people.”

Liet applied the remaining synthetic to Marlo’s head, which caused the bleeding to stop. “He just needs someone to take care of him...”

“Fine. Whatever. Let’s just get out of here.”

As the pair began to leave, Liet noticed that Guy had disappeared again. They pushed the door open slowly in case there was someone on the other side. The door led to a staircase, which they quickly ascended. There was another door at the top of the stairs, which Liet went to open.

“We can’t go out this way,” Skye stopped Liet.

“Why not?”

“Don’t you hear that?” Skye asked.

Liet strained his ears to try to hear what Skye was talking about. He could barely make out painful metallic breathing on the other side of the door.

“Yeah...” Liet thought for a moment. “I’ve got another idea. Stay here, alright?”

“What are you going to do?” Skye grabbed onto Liet’s bloody sleeve.

“I’m going to talk to her.”

“No, you can’t reason with them!” Skye cried.

“She needs my help,” Liet tried to convince Skye. “I’ll be fine, alright? Just stay here.”

“If you’re going to be fine, then why do you want me to stay here?”

“Because I’m not going to let anything happen to you...”

“Liet...”

“I’ll call you when it’s alright to come out.”

Skye nodded and Liet pushed the door open. A teslaguard was positioned to his immediate right. He could hear her struggling to breathe beneath her thick armor He walked in front of her and began to open his mouth. The teslaguard immediately shot out an arm and grasped Liet by the throat, lifting him into the air.

“I’m...sorry...” the woman struggled to say. Skye ran through the doorway and threw herself at the teslaguard, hoping to knock her off balance. The teslaguard didn’t budge, but shifted her gaze to Skye.

“...Skye...?” the woman seemed to be flooded with memories. “Skylen Curiousitas? Is that...you?”

The teslaguard released her grip on Liet, causing him to fall to the floor. “How do you...”

“Fiona...” the woman gasped. “Do you...remember me?”

“Fiona?!” Skye was suddenly worried. “We have to get you out of there! Liet, help me with this.”

By the time Liet rose to his feet Skye had already begun waving her multi tool around Fiona’s breastplate. After a few moments she grasped one side and began to pull, followed by Liet soon after. After a few good tugs, Liet and Skye collapsed onto the floor as the breastplate fell to the ground.

“Oh my god...I really am a monster...” Skye gasped. Fiona’s bare chest was exposed. Liet could clearly see a countless number of small gears twisting and turning beneath her skin, a few of which had actually torn through, allowing a mixture of black and blue fluid to ooze out of the open wounds. Fiona removed her helmet and held it by her side. Her eyes were a brilliant blue color, with glowing blue fluid leaking from the corners, staining her cheeks.

“This wasn’t your fault, Skye. Marlo did this, not you.”

“I worked on the teslaguards! I did this!” Skye cried out. Her sleeves were soaked in the tears that she was constantly wiping away. “The older models used external components to generate an electric current, but the suit was too heavy for anyone to wear...So we shifted our focus to...internal components...”

Liet remained silent, unable to divert his attention from Fiona’s face. She had a dull bronze gear poking through the side of her cheek with bits of flesh hanging off of the teeth of the gear.

“I’d figured out a way to make it work, but it put the subject in extreme pain and wasn’t very practical...so I scrapped it and moved on to other methods...Oscar must have...he...” Skye could hardly talk through her tears.

“Is Master...Alright?” Fiona asked.

“Marlo is hurt pretty bad...” Liet responded. “I put some synthetic on him and it stopped the bleeding, but you should probably take a look at him.”

“I shall go...assist Master...” Fiona began to head for the stairs.

“Wait a minute...” Liet stopped her. “Could you please...take care of him, but don’t let him come after us...”

“Of course...” Fiona forcefully replied. “Thank you...”

Fiona headed down the stairs into the basement, her heavy feet shaking the earth with every step.

“This isn’t your fault...” Liet wrapped his arms around Skye and tried to comfort her, but she immediately pushed him away.

“Fiona was...she was like a sister to me. We grew up together. When I got taken in by Leinhardt, I convinced him to take her as well. She could never really wrap her head around the more complex theories, but she was able to help me out in the lab...” Skye had begun to calm down a bit. “I... I killed her...”

“She’s not dead, Skye. We can still save her.”

“The process is irreversible! She’ll die if we try to help her...” Skye collapsed on the floor.

“...I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing...?” Skye asked Liet.

“Because I can’t cry your tears...” Liet whispered softly.

“Why would you want to...?”

“So that you don’t have to...” Liet responded. Skye rose to her feet and wiped away her tears, then wrapped her arms around Liet, who stood motionless. “We should probably get out of here.”

“Ah...yeah, sorry,” Skye released Liet. The pair examined the area for the first time. There was a door directly across from the one they had just come out of. A strange staircase rose up from the center of the floor, but it looked impossible to climb due to the angle of the steps. Another staircase covered the wall to their right, with a large set of double doors to their left.

“I don’t even know where to start,” Liet thought aloud.

“This is actually perfect,” Skye told Liet. “We’re in the clock tower right now. We’re right beside the castle.”

“Okay, but how do we get out?”

“Through the double doors,” Skye walked over to the doors and gestured for Liet to open them.

Liet grabbed the handle, which seemed to grab him back, and pulled as hard as he could. The door didn’t budge. “I think it might be locked.”

“Damn...We need to replace the key...”

“Where do you suppose it’ll be?”

“Assuming that Marlo is the guardian of the tower, it’ll probably either be on him or in his chambers,” Skye pulled out the key she had taken earlier and tried to slide it into the keyhole on the door. The key didn’t even fit into the slot. “This one’s no good.”

“I didn’t feel any other keys when I grabbed the synthetic.”

“I suppose we should check his chambers, then.”

“I wonder where they’ll be...”

Liet walked over to the door opposite the one they came out of and opened it. The small space inside was filled with coats and umbrellas. “This one’s just a closet. Maybe up those stairs?”

“Nope, that’s where the clock part of the tower is,” Skye explained. “These stairs, however, are quite interesting.”

“They aren’t just decoration?”

“It’s an interesting illusion,” Skye commented. “Place your foot flat on the steps, then stand up straight. Think of it like climbing off the top of a ladder.”

Liet placed his foot flat on the bottom step, like Skye instructed, then attempted to place his other foot on the step, aligning his body in the process. He looked back to replace that the room had become somewhat angled. “This is...I...”

“Yeah, isn’t it amazing?” Skye pushed Liet up the stairs as she followed him.

“I... yeah...” Liet began to walk on his own, eventually reaching the ceiling where a door was waiting for him. Liet turned the handle on the door, which slid open with very little effort. The room behind the door was filled with all sorts of clocks. Five of the clocks were stopped at midnight, all of which had brilliant silver faces. An ordinary wooden desk sat at the back of the room with a small book sitting on its surface. On top of the book lay the bone from an index finger, the tip sharpened to a point and stained black. Behind the desk sat a simple wooden chair. A collection of clothes hung in a small hole in one of the walls. “I think this is it...”

“Yeah, seems like it,” Skye agreed. “You grab some new clothes; I’ll look around for the key.”

“Alright,” Liet walked over to the makeshift closet to select something to replace his bloodied clothes. When he began to inspect the selection, he realized that they were all the same. Grabbing a shirt and a pair of pants, he quickly slipped out of his clothes and into the new ones. The shirt was a plain black shirt with five black buttons running up the middle and the pants were just plain black pants. Once Liet had finished changing he made his way to Skye, who was sitting in the wooden chair staring at the desk. “Any luck?”

“None,” Skye seemed deep in thought. “Do those clocks seem strange to you?”

“Uh...” Liet had no idea which clocks Skye was referring to.

“The ones with the silver faces.”

“Well...no, not really...”

“I just...there’s something about them...” Skye stood up and shoved her faced into one of the clocks. “There’s a bit of wear on this one...Liet, check the others, will you?”

“Er, yeah. Alright,” Liet made his way to each of the other silver-faced clocks, checking for any signs of use. “The faces are covered in scratches.”

“Alright...” Skye thought for a moment. “Liet, try turning the clocks to...eleven thirty.”

Liet moved the hands of each clock with his finger until they all read eleven thirty. “Alright, now what?”

“I don’t know...” Skye replied. The pair waited for a moment, hoping something would happen. “Try...eleven twenty-nine...”

Liet adjusted the clocks again, with the same results as before.

“Twenty-eight,” Skye commanded. Again, Liet adjusted the clocks, and again, nothing happened. “Twenty-seven.”

Liet adjusted the clocks again, and again nothing happened. “Nothing’s going to-”

“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“The desk clicked,” Skye’s face lit up as she ran over to the desk. “But what clicked? Hmm...”

“Maybe a drawer or something?” Liet suggested.

“No, no. There aren’t any drawers...” Skye scoured the desk, trying to replace what had caused the click.

“Can’t we just smash it and see what we replace?”

“No!”

“Why not?” Liet sighed.

“When is smashing something ever a good idea? What if there’s something delicate and important inside?” Skye pointed out.

“I suppose you’re right...” Liet trudged over to the desk. Although his intention was to help Skye look, he ended up just sitting on the desk. He picked up the sharpened bone and rubbed his fingers along the smooth surface. Looking at the small book, Liet got the sudden urge to write something. He picked up the book and began flipping through the pages, which were all covered in barely legible writing. The very last page in the book was the only one without writing on it. He placed the tip of the bone on the page and tried to write ‘hello’, but the page remained blank. He looked at the rest of the desk, but there was no inkwell. Liet looked at the sharpened bone for a few seconds, then pricked his finger, allowing the blood to thoroughly coat the tip of the bone. He then proceeded to write ‘Liet Rochben’ on the blank page of the book.

The book responded by filling the line below Liet’s writing with words. -So, you’re Liet, eh?-

Liet quickly answered the question by writing a simple ‘Yes’.

-What exactly are you trying to accomplish?-

‘What do you mean?’

-Coming here, killing Oscar, why are you doing this?-

‘I didn’t come here on purpose. I had no choice.’

-Didn’t you? You always have a choice. I ask again, why are you doing this?-

‘It just seems like the right thing to do.’

-Are you trying to save yourself?-

‘Save myself from what?’

-You tell me.-

‘Am I in danger?’

-Tell me, Liet, are you afraid?-

‘Afraid?’

-We all die someday. Does that frighten you?-

‘No.’

-Hmm, perhaps you’re already dead, then.-

“The key!” Skye shouted. Liet snapped out of his daze. He was staring at a blank page.

“Skye, is this page blank?” Liet asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“I guess the key was in this book...” Liet replied.

“I wonder if the click was the book unlocking...” Skye thought aloud as she grabbed the key off of the table. She quickly jumped up from the chair and grabbed Liet by the sleeve, pulling him out of the room and down the awkward stairs. Liet lost his balance during their descent, causing the pair to tumble to the bottom.

“Sorry, I guess I pulled a little too hard...” Skye apologized.

“Don’t worry about it,” Liet groaned as they climbed to their feet.

“Would you like to open it? I mean, you did replace the key,” Skye asked as she gestured towards the lock of the door. Liet took the key from her hand and raised it to the keyhole. He noticed that his hands were shaking uncontrollably as he tried to slip the key into the slot.

“I-I’m good...” Liet answered as he returned the key to Skye.

“Oh, um...alright...” Skye seemed a bit worried as she twisted the key into the keyhole, causing the door to emit a loud click. She pushed her way past the door into the barren city streets. They were directly outside the castle gates.

“Where’s everybody at?” Liet asked.

“I’d say they’re hiding,” Skye assumed. “I mean, the city is under attack right now.”

“Still? How long were we out?”

“About an hour,” Skye looked at her chronometer.

“Hey Skye...You said that if I went back, I’d be dead, right?”

“Back where?”

“To my side...”

“You wouldn’t be dead, you’d be very close to death,” Skye corrected.

“How does that work...?”

“I’m not sure exactly. We did some simple tests, and objects stay in the same condition on whatever side they were on before if they go back.”

“Oh, uh...okay...” Liet didn’t understand at all.

“Alright, I’ll explain it a little bit better. If you took a piece of paper from this side, we’ll call it side A, and placed it onto side B, your side, it would be a fresh piece of paper, like a new copy. Now, if you were to burn that piece of paper on side B and bring the ashes back to side A, the paper would be in the same condition as it was when it crossed over originally.”

“Oh, alright. That makes a bit more sense.”

“It’s difficult to determine where you’ll end up when you cross over, but not impossible.”

“I see...” Liet’s gaze shifted to Skye’s chest. “Do you have a pen...? And a piece of paper?”

“Of course,” Skye reached into her pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper and a small hoop-like object with a pointed tip.

“What’s that?” Liet pointed to the hoop.

“It’s a pen...” Skye was a bit surprised that Liet didn’t know what it was.

“How’s it work?” Liet asked. Skye slipped the hoop around her thumb and placed her middle finger at the base of the pointed part of the hoop. “Oh, that actually makes sense now.”

“It’s really not that hard to figure out...” Skye said under her breath. Liet took the pen and pressed the paper up against the wall and started to quickly scribble something on the paper.

“Eh, what are you writing...?” Skye asked.

“It’s uh...” Liet was trying to think of what he should tell her. “It’s a suicide note!”

“You aren’t going to...”

“Er, no. No, of course not. It’s just, uhm...” Liet struggled to explain his way out of it. “Don’t worry, you’ll never have to read it.”

“Then why are you writing it?!”

Liet forced an awkward smile and rolled up the piece of paper, then aligned it with his index finger. He pushed his head towards Skye, locking lips with her, and slid his empty hand beneath her shirt and up through the collar, grabbing her pendant on the way. He clicked it open and pushed his finger inside, along with the paper, then snapped it shut again and pulled his hand out of her shirt.

“W-what was that for...?” Skye asked, her eyes were a deep red.

“Nothing, you just looked like you needed a kiss,” Liet lied.

“I-I don’t...I...” Skye was so befuddled that she had completely forgotten about the paper.

“How are we going to get into the castle?” Liet asked.

“I...I... Er...The same way you got in before...” Skye responded nervously.

“Is that really safe?” Liet warily followed Skye as she began to circle around the castle.

“Of course. There shouldn’t be a lot of guards around. They should all be defending the city.”

The duo arrived at the gate, which was unguarded, and pushed their way through the to the courtyard. Once inside, they quickly made their way to the castle and entered.

“I don’t like it here,” Liet noted. “It gives me the creeps, y’know?”

“Alright, I guess we’ll try to make this quick then.”

“You were planning to drag it out...?”

“Er, no. I just meant that I was going to have a look around and maybe snag a couple materials,” Skye smiled innocently. Liet wandered through the large, empty chamber, eventually making his way to the throne in the center. Skye walked up behind him and gazed at the cupped hands with him. Liet ran his hand across the smooth surface of the ivory hand. It felt strangely warm against his skin.

“Nice chair, isn’t it?” Skye asked. Liet didn’t respond. He was completely enthralled by the throne. He slid his hand up to the back of the throne and ran his fingers in between the scale-like carvings. He felt a prick and quickly pulled his hand away, lifting it to his face to check for injury. His hand was unharmed, but he had the strange urge to lick his palm. Moving his hand closer to his face, he stuck out his tongue and dragged it across his hand. A familiar taste filled his mouth, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He looked over at Skye, who was standing completely motionless. It took Liet a few seconds to realize that she wasn’t blinking. Liet ignored her and shifted his focus back to the chair. He placed his hands on the thumbs, which served as arm rests, and slid himself into the seat of the chair. He felt a sense of empowerment as he crossed his legs and rested his chin on his hand.

“Wha-?” Skye said in shock. “How did you get there?”

“Er, what do you mean?”

“You were standing right next to me and then you just sort of appeared in the chair.”

“I don’t know, you just froze and I got the urge to sit down...”

“I wonder if it could be a side effect of the Manipulator...” Skye whispered to herself.

“It’s happened a couple times since we got caught,” Liet explained.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, everything just stops, y’know? It happened once in that clock place when we were looking for the key, and it happened just before Marlo...” Liet stopped and looked at his left hand.

“I see...” Skye responded. “This is interesting...You have to let me know if it happens again.”

“I guess I can do that.”

“No. You have to,” Skye restated. “This is very important, alright?”

“Alright, I’ll tell you if it happens again.”

“Good,” Skye smiled. “Shall we go then?”

“Where might you be going?” A sharp voice inquired. Liet shot up from the chair to replace that a rather short guard was standing behind the chair. His hair was hanging gently from his head due to his lack of a helmet. The guard barely came up to Skye’s shoulders.

“We just came to see Oscar,” Skye instantly replied.

“Oh, uh...why?” The guard asked nervously.

“I’m the head researcher in the labs, and this is my assistant,” Liet waved sheepishly when Skye looked towards him. “We’ve just made a rather amazing breakthrough with our...uh...”

“Our Sloopo-Spiral Gammaspherinator,” Liet butted in. “We’re just not sure if we’re allowed to tell you about this. Top secret stuff, y’know?”

“Y-yes, and we were hoping to bring our results directly to Oscar!” Skye chirped.

“Oh, I uh, sorry. He’s not here right now...” The guard awkwardly replied.

“Do you know where he is? This is very important.”

“I think he said something about Shefira a while ago...” The guard tried to recall. “But maybe he was just complaining...”

“Awesome!” Skye chirped. “Thanks for your help.”

Skye began to run to the end of the large chamber, followed slowly by Liet, until the guard called after them.

“A-a-are you sure you guys are from the lab...?”

“Of course!” Skye called back, almost at the end of the hall.

“Could I see your identification, then?” The guard asked. Skye stopped dead in her tracks, causing Liet to bump into her, as he had spaced out, lost in his own thoughts.

“O-of course...” Skye responded somewhat worried. She slipped her hand into her shirt and pulled something out of her pocket before turning around and walking slowly to the guard.

“Sorry, I just...you’re not wearing uniforms, and it’s just been kind of a strange day...” The guard tried to apologize.

“Oh, it’s no problem at all. Here’s our paperwork,” Skye pointed her multi tool at the guard and squeezed it with all of her might. The multi tool began to hum gently and emit an eerie green glow. After a few seconds, it shattered in her palm, launching a small green orb at the guard. Upon making contact with the guard’s chest, the orb disappeared and the guard was launched backwards, eventually crashing into one of the pillars, leaving a large crack that spiraled up to the ceiling. The fragments of the multi tool were carelessly floating in the air around Skye’s hand. Skye twisted her wrist and tapped a piece of the multi tool with her thumb. The pieces slowly wrapped around her hand, forming a sort of skeletal glove. Skye let out a quiet gasp as the final piece slid into place.

“What did you...” Liet was shocked. “Is he dead?”

“Maybe,” Skye responded.

“Maybe?! You don’t even know?”

“I’ve never tried that before. How am I supposed to know if he’s dead?”

“Why would you use something you’ve never tried?”

“There’s got to be a first time for everything, right? Who knows when I’d get a decent chance to use it again?”

“You couldn’t just do it to a wall or something?”

“Lab tests are no fun. Besides, that wouldn’t show me what it does to a person,” A chaotic smile peeked out from behind Skye’s lips. Skye turned back to face the end of the chamber and started walking towards it. “I guess we’re headed for Shefira, then.”

“You’re just going to leave him?” Liet could hardly contain himself.

“What would you have me do?” Skye seemed a bit agitated. “He’s not bleeding, so I can’t patch any wounds. If he’s hurt, all of the injuries are internal, and we don’t really have time to operate on him. The best I can do is finish the job if he’s not already dead, and I’m not going to kill an unconscious man who may or may not be dying just because you’re worried about his well-being.”

“I’m sorry...” Liet apologized. “I just hate the idea that my actions could have caused someone’s death...”

“You didn’t do anything,” Skye tried to comfort Liet. “My actions may have killed him. We all die eventually, perhaps it’s his day.”

“Exactly. I didn’t do anything...”

“Someone’s going to replace him. If he’s injured, they’ll fix him up.”

“I suppose...” Liet reluctantly agreed, knowing that they had more important things to do.

“You were right, by the way.”

“About what?”

“You are terrible with names,” Skye smirked.

Liet sighed in agreement. “How are we supposed to get to Shefira...?”

“There’s a portal in the lab.”

“Is it like the matter transporter...?”

“No, not at all. The portal slows the flow of time around a specific area, while increasing it inside that area. It causes a fluctuation that can move matter across long distances.”

“As long as it doesn’t feel like the matter transporter...”

“You don’t even notice a thing,” Skye told Liet as she pushed open an almost unnoticeable door in the corner of the chamber. The pair descended some stairs and arrived inside of a large white room. Enormous clear tubes were lined up against one of the walls, each tube containing a different specimen, one of which even appeared to be human. Another wall was covered with bookshelves, neatly organized with not a single book sticking out further than the rest. A row of tables were positioned in the center of the room, each with a different kit of tools depending on what the table was used for. There was a door off to the side that was labeled Specimens and Materials A-C. Tucked away in the opposite corner from the door was a small circular pad on the ground, big enough for maybe three people.

“Where are the rest of the specimens and materials?” Liet asked.

“There are more doors in the supply closet that lead to the rest of the materials. There’s also a testing area and a few other things through there,” Skye gestured to the pad in the corner of the room. “Go stand on that, I’ll be with you shortly.”

“Where are you going?” Liet asked as he walked to the pad.

“I’m just going to grab something,” Skye responded as she disappeared into the supply closet. Liet looked at the clear tube beside him. It had a human-like creature inside of it. The creature’s eyes were closed and it had some strange tubes inserted into its throat, which Liet assumed were to help it breathe, as the tubes would twitch every time the creature’s chest rose and collapsed. Both of the creature’s arms had been removed, replaced with crude clockwork imitations. The skin had started to creep over the false arms, accepting them as part of the creature’s body. Skye returned from the supply closet and joined Liet on top of the pad.

“Here,” Skye said as she held out her fist. Liet opened his hand and Skye dropped a small tablet into his palm. “Eat this.”

“What is it?”

“It’s so that you don’t vomit when we get to Shefira.”

“Oh...” Liet responded. He threw back his head and dropped the tablet in his mouth, while Skye simply nibbled on hers until it was gone. After chewing the rather tasteless tablet for a while, he swallowed it.

“Alright, Liet. Close your eyes and I’m going to count to three. When I get to three, open them,” Skye instructed.

“Okay,” Liet answered as he closed his eyes.

“One...Two...Three.”