As he walked down the staircase with Salazar, the trapdoor behind them closed and the lights on either side along the corridor lit up. It was a long corridor decorated with wall brackets in the shape of snake coiled around a torch and dim green lights in place of the fire. The entire corridor was made of some dark slate like rock having a ghastly ambiance. There were a lot of lanes to the left and right and some doors on the walls occasionally marked by various symbols. There was an entire network of rooms hidden below the ground.
"So, Walter is not the mansion?" asked Balthazar.
"No, he hardly is ever in the mansion. That is just a place of residence for the members of the family. Some of the doctors, researchers and elders have their offices there. Even we have alternate offices there, but most of we security personnel and most of the secrets of the family are held here underground. Walter manages all of this from here and only goes there when he needs to make an appearance to the family," explained Salazar.
A few minutes later, they reached an end to the road. The same symbol seen on the trapdoor rock was etched on the wall. Salazar tapped on the symbol and announced that he had arrived with Balthazar. A moment later, a vertical slit appeared at the center of the wall and it slowly opened up into rectangular entrance, 7-feet long and 4-feet wide.
Both Salazar and Balthazar walked through the door entering a large dark semicircular room with them at the center of straight side of the room. There were only four of the small green lights in the room hardly providing any light in the room. A few metres in front of him there was a table and behind it there were about 10 men sitting opposite him in the shadows. "Stay here," said Salazar and walked away from him and stood silently.
"Mr. Balthazar Blyth, I am Arthur Blyth," said one of the person sitting by the table. "I was one of the elders in the family. Now, I serve as one of the advisers of this table. You have been recommended by Walter Blyth to join our ranks. We are here to inform you about it and confirm the same. You are a probationary member for now and you will not inform anyone of us or the forbidden area. You will be assigned a mentor who will make all the necessary introductions and provide you the required information."
"Once, the probationary period is over, we will convene again to determine if you are qualified and conformable to be an agent that serves this table. If you fail to meet our standards, you will forever lose the qualifications to ever enter the forbidden area. You may take your leave now," he continued.
Salazar walked back towards him and led him back through the door into the tunnels. "Come with me. We will now meet Walter", said Salazar.
"Is Walter supposed to be my mentor?" asked Balthazar timidly. After his parents death, Walter had him train physically for two hour everyday in the morning. The week after the their death, he met Walter for the first time. Walter introduced himself as his granduncle and he repented for being unable to save Balthazar's parents. Ever since that moment, Walter took care of him. From that day, Balthazar became Walter's apprentice in every way but name. Walter taught him the basics of the human body and how to fight.
His days began with fighting Walter for half an hour in the morning, followed by Walter personally teaching him physics, engineering, biology, finance, society, history and many other stuff that would help him be an independent person. In essence, Walter had raised him in place of his parents, but was far more severe and tough than any family member would be. Thus, Balthazar had a lot of respect for Walter, but also was extremely intimidated by Walter. Hence, the thought of being mentored by Walter made him extremely queasy.
"Walter mentor you? That would be extremely improbable. He hadn't taken an apprentice for a long time and I doubt that would begin now," said Salazar confidently.
After a few more minutes of walking silently, they had finally reached a tunnel which was unusually large. "These corridor holds the Walters office and a few other elders' in the family," he said. The corridor had large doors on either sides. A few metres later, they stopped in front of one of them. This frame of the door was adorned with the sculptures of a snake coiled around a rod with its hood raised above it on the left and right sides. Salazar knocked on the door and went to the side. As the door slid open, the light from the room almost blinded him. Salazar gestured Balthazar to go in and remained behind.
After the past few minutes spent in the dark and dim corridors, Walter's room seemed exceedingly bright to him. As his eyes adjusted, he saw that the other then a table, chairs in the center of the room and a large row of file cabinets behind, the entire room was filled with large number paraphernalia arranged neatly on racks. The varied from modern combat armor to weapons that were centuries old. "There are some really old stuff here," he thought. "I have only ever heard of such stuff in history books and old videos."
"Do you like the collection" asked Walter appearing from behind a suit of combat armor. Walter was a tall man just a little under 7-feet, with sculpted muscles and a thin handsome face. He had dark-brown cropped hair with a set of green and red eyes which gave of a subtle feeling that he was looking through a persons thoughts and soul.
"How did you manage to collect all this?" replied Balthazar in wonder.
"Oh. It is not all my work. These have been collected for over the past six centuries by the family. These are some of the most significant weapons and arsenal in their times which were famous in the entire known world. But now most of these are obsolete and impractical unless in extreme circumstances. Most of the new weapons can be considered improvements on some or the other of these old ones or combination of a few. Every head kept these to remind them to not forget the past and that all our present achievements wouldn't have been without the efforts of our predecessors."
"You always loved to talk about history and the past. I guess it runs in the family. Huh," said Balthazar.
"Maybe. You grow old enough, you might also tend to appreciate it. Sit down," said Walter pointing at a chair by the table. "So, how was work at the frontier?"
"It was not bad. Had a few good moments. Lot of work and opportunities. Got to see new places and different kind of folks. It was entertaining and maybe a bit educational. It had a frightening aspect to it. But, I guess I kind of got used to it now," replied Balthazar smiling.
"Wow! Now even you learned how to talk. What happened to the silent boy who never spoke until spoken to. One hour, every day for ten years you trained with me daily, but never did you talk so comfortably in my presence," said Walter.
"Come on, Walter. I am no longer a kid.I am still frightened of you. I still am a bit reserved and don't talk much. But, I learned to talk when necessary. Gone was the time, when I thought that a man should stay silent at all times and only show his intentions through his acts. Sometimes, a single word can have more effect than a hundred actions," replied Balthazar.
"Now you are almost as talkative as your sister," said Walter with a coy smile.
"I'm not that bad," said Balthazar quickly. "Just have a bit of charm compared to my time here," he added looking at the roof as if he was pondering over his state of existence.
"Haha. Definitely. I agree. Now let us address the elephant in the room," said Walter. "You remember why I asked you to join the alliance military force?" he continued in a serious manner.
"You told me that I am not ready to work alongside you. So, sent me out to go and experience the world a bit," said Balthazar.
"And why did you wan't to work for me?" asked Walter.
"Because I wanted to avenge my parents and you were the best option, I could find," replied Balthazar.
"Do you still want to join us for the same reason?" asked Walter.
"Yes and No. I want to avenge my parents. But I also learned that I was also meant to be dead on the same day. I intend to avenge my parents not only for revenge but for my peace of mind. The less number of people that want and dare to kill or harm me the better. As for being the best option for this purpose, I don't know if this is. But, it is the one I choose," said Balthazar.
"Well, at least you learned to care more about your own life," said Walter. "That is what I wanted you to understand. You were the best fighter in the younger generation of the family unarmed and armed combat. But you always had an attitude where you didn't care for your life or those around you. A dead man can never avenge their loved ones."
"So, what now? Am I ready to join you guys?" asked Balthazar.
"Yes and No," said Walter imitating Balthazar voice. "You are on probation. We will test you occasionally and decide if you are worthy of being one of our agents. You wouldn't be given most of the privileges of an agent nor their clearance to information till such time."
"I was hoping you could have a little more detail than the shadows at that table," said Balthazar in disappointment.
"Salazar took you to them?" asked Walter. "I guess they would have called for you," he continued.
"Who are they?" questioned Balthazar
"They are somewhat similar to the council of elders. But they hardly get their way around anything important. They are a bit of sticklers to unnecessary formalities. If not for the occasional intervention of the advisers on my behalf, they would be extremely tiring. As you have already met them, you are to be considered formally joined us and that is good," said Walter.
After that he got up and walked towards Balthazar and sat on the table with in front of him. "In the last report of your recent adventure at the moon, you mentioned the knights of the old republic, but all your sources that could verify it conveniently died. Also this person Dave, he appeared out of nowhere," said Walter.
"I can't tell him about uncle Max before I know how he would react. At the end, Max is still his son. Even if tell him, I need conclusive proof to convince that Max is a traitor. Especially, since Max is on the council of elders," thought Balthazar. So, he could only stick to the what he mentioned in the report.
"So, was the explosion at the moon. Clearly, I misjudged the situation. If Jane was alive, we could have gotten more details from her," said Balthazar with a passive expression with no trace of guilt.
"He clearly lied and by his expression, he knows that I know it. He has no regrets in the death of Jane and is openly expressing it. She couldn't be his source and is probably just a patsy. He is still keeping his source confidential. I guess, he has no conclusive evidence and is just playing it by his hunches. Well, at least he trusts me and that is a positive behavior, I guess," thought Walter.
"Salazar would be your mentor during your probation. Any doubts, you can contact Salazar," said Walter. "Also another thing, this can be considered your first mission. In the family, we always laid emphasis on the fact that one needs to earn his keep and every child would be encouraged to get a job once he becomes an adult. You have a successful career and have become colonel at the age of 22."
He got up and walked around to a rack of weapons. "That is good," he continued. "But, to serve this outfit, you need to have a source of income in this sector of the universe that would provide you cover for any operations here. This is usually a simple issue for most. But, you also serve in the alliance military and have moderately strong presence at the frontier. By the rules of the alliance military forces, you wont be able to seek alternate employment. That leaves you only one option. By three months, you should be able to own at least a part of a minor legally recognized organisation or firm. Failure to do so will result in the immediate expulsion. Though you can ask your sister for help. You have strong fighting skills and also no small amount of contacts. I would strongly suggest you to rather create something of your own."
"You may leave now."
Balthazar got up and went through the door.
"Best of luck, Bel. You chose a path similar to your father. I hope you live longer than him," said Walter talking to himself.