Year 4667 of the Unified Imperial Calendar:
Fourth Month, Day 9. (2:36 PM)
◇ Astra's POV ◇
Without wasting much time, we went inside the hole as we moved carefully in wariness of dang— okay...I won't delude myself anymore.
"Aaaaahhh!!! Slow down! Slow down!" I screamed as I could feel my guts switching position within my stomach.
"What a disappointment." She spoke as she looked at me like looking at trash. "And you call yourself a man?"
"I don't care if I get called baby!!" I retorted. "Just put me down please!"
That's right. I was now being carried by the maid—in her shoulders—as she ran along the passage. Completely disregarding the darkness, she moved nimbly and quickly like a cat jumping from rock to rock. Except that instead of jumping, she was falling from rock to rock.
She ignored my pleas as she hugged my waist tighter, and went forward as I saw her feet glow everytime she landed.
"He—He-y...ugh...Hey!..." I managed to call out while the bobbing was killing me. I wanna puke.
She stopped. "What?"
I took my time to breath. "That glow on your feet." I pointed to her feet. "Is that magic?"
She frowned, and grabbed me by waist again. She then moved faster than before. The hell was her problem?!
Why did I have to ask for her help?!!
◇◇◇
After a while of being carried, the maid finally stopped as she put me down. Finally...I can rest...
I wanna puke... but I'm not gonna do so.
I sat on my butt as I took heavy breaths. It was hard to breath like that. Damn it. That maid is crazy.
From now on, lets call her... Crazie!...only in my mind.
"Hey." Crazie called out. "Look."
She pointed to a certain direction. It was kinda dark, so I couldn't see it. I turned on the flashlight function of my smartwatch, and then flashed it to where she pointed.
"Valkyria?..." I muttered in amazement.
It was Valkyria. The one and only. But the problem was, where was its pilot?
As I wondered, the maid called out again.
"Slave."
"M-Maam?"
She pointed at another direction. I lit it there, and saw a passage. And it seem going upwards.
"I see." I said. "Maybe she mistook it as a way out."
Well, I couldn't blame her. When someone falls down, the way out would only be up. Unfortunately, she might have been mistaken.
"Let's go." The maid ordered again as I instinctively nodded. Damn. I'm a complete underling of a maid now...
Screw this...
◇◇◇ Third Person POV ◇◇◇
It was a bright place. Ever since Reyshia saw this place an hour ago, she was shocked. From what it seemed, this place was a laboratory of some sorts. But why didn't she see any devices? It certainly piqued her interest.
From what she heard, what the Emperor was looking for was a laboratory. If this wasn't one, then her efforts might be useless.
Still, this bright place with its own power source was a massive find for her. With whatever's powering this place, she might be able to use it for her territory. So she continued on.
"What strange place..." she muttered.
Well, there was no old things that wasn't strange. But this place that she was seeing was definitely one. There were letters and labels on some parts and places, but she didn't recognize what was written on it. It seemed to be a different language.
There were also strange devices, but they seemed to be some customized Data Terminals, and she didn't know the letters there too. She wandered upon a room with a familiar look, but surprisingly, it was just a toilet.
There were also Display Panels in some rooms, but it was way thicker than what she was used to. No matter where she looked, it was nothing but strange.
The more she scanned the place, the more she lost hope. It wasn't the one she was looking for, the chances of it being the one was slim.
However, Reyshia refused to give up. For the sake of her future.
◇ Astra's POV ◇
We continued on—this time without me being carried— and managed to reach some sort of area where the ground was metallic. Each one of our step made metallic thuds, as the metallic smell of rust entered our noses.
Crazi however, was frowning. "This is..."
"You know this place?" I asked.
"No."
No. She definitely has an inkling on what this place is. Well, at least I know better than probing a crazy sadistic maid. My guts tell me that asking her would lead to no good.
She looked forward, as if searching for something. She then glanced at me with a serious face. "Let's hurry on."
"Yes, maam."
And so we moved onwards, not noticing the blinking green light from behind us...
◇◇◇
We walked for about ten minutes. On our way, I did not dare speak in front of Crazie at all. She's crazy after all, thank you.
In any case, I noticed that as time went by, her face seems to become more and more displeased. Mysterious, huh?
She suddenly stopped. "hm?"
Okay. I'm getting nervous. What the hell is it now?
She gave me a sidelong glance. "We'll run from here." She instructed. "Something's ahead."
"Okay."
Doing as she said, I started running on ahead. Yes. I went ahead, afraid that I might get carried again. You can't blame me. It was damn horrible.
Even so, it seems she still has a bit of consideration in her as she just glanced at me. She then started running too, at a pace where she stayed behind. Now that was curious.
Why do I feel like I'm running into a trap? I came here to save Lady Reyshia, but now I'm worried about my own life. This isn't karma doing its own shit, right?
After running for a bit of while, I finally noticed something ahead.
"Light?..." I muttered as I looked at the lights in the distance. It was faint. And it seems obscured by something. I turned my head towards Crazie, and she was looking at me.
My heart leapt from surprise. Shit, that look on her face made me think she's planning to kill me. What did I do wrong?!
"I-Is anything wrong...maam?" I asked with while desperately suppressing the shiver in my tone.
She gave me a piercing cold glare. "I'm warning you," she said with hostility. "if anything happens to Lady Reyshia, I'll kill you."
"..."
Is this actually a bad situation?!
'Okay. Calm down, Michael Benedict. You just have to keep running and don't look back.' I told myself.
We continued on as I tried to ignore my exhaustion that had crept into for a while, and then saw what the light were coming from. It was from above some sort of electronic door. A metal one. And if I have to pick a perfect description on how it looked like, it looked like an elevator door.
We approached the door, and it opened with a crisp *ding* sound. And what greeted our vision was a very tiny room with nothing but a bunch of buttons and arrows. Seeing those, I had a thought.
I see! So it was an elevator after all...