Bang!
A huge stack of paperwork was dumped onto a sturdy wooden desk.
The person in the front of the desk did not know whether to laugh at his misery or cry because of the enormous amount of paperwork he needs to look over.
Looking up, he smiled wryly at the person in front of him. Riley smiled back at him with a gentle smile that did not contain any warmth.
"Abner, please take your time to finish up checking all these paperwork. There are still piles left for you to see," Riley said as he informed the person in front of the desk of his still-many-remaining workload causing the man's violet-purple eyes to twitch at the thought of it.
"Riley, my friend, my dear comrade, you know I can't get through all these paperwork, right? At least I can't alone," Abner said in a low voice as he stared glaringly at the high amount of paper he needs to go through.
Riley rolled his eyes. Somehow this action of rolling the eyes which would usually make people feel like they were being made fun of or foolish gave others an elegant and enchanting feeling when he was the one who did it.
Swatting away that dreamy elegant atmosphere as if he were swatting a fly, Abner stood up and, at the same time, a strong wind blew into the office. This wind coincidentally blew all the papers on Abner's desk onto the floor.
The papers chaotically and messily laid on the floor as if a storm had pasted through. Some of which were still fluttering in the air like butterflies. However, unable to appreciate their beauty in the glittering sunlight also sweeping into the room, Abner snatched one of the papers flapping its wings mockingly in his face in the air without even looking.
Switching his line of sight to the piece of paper held in his hands, Abner read the information in the paper aloud, "Michael Cooper. Age 37. Captain of Dewll Town's militia."
"A captain of a militia at such a young age, wow. Even if it's only a small town's captain, he could still be considered to have some skills and ability," Abner thought aloud as he continued to scan through the other person's information, which also included some of the details about Dewll Town's structures and buildings.
"What I call 'wow' is the fact that you who is only 26 years old is about to become the 'king' of the underworld. Now that is what we call super-amazingly-impossible yet is possible because it happened to you," Riley retorted as he gathered up the papers from the ground and placed them in a neat, high pile on Abner's desk once more.
Looking at his desk full of paperwork he needs to look through, Abner felt a headache coming on, wishing that another wind would come along and blow them all out of the window.
Michael Cooper. He was the one Abner had read about that day. The same man that had ordered militia soldiers to chase after them.
It was a sudden, but timely, realization for Abner.
Ignoring the inquisition and raised eyebrow on Ash's face, Abner turned his body to the right and walked toward the wall.
Why was it timely?
Because along with the information included about that man was the information about this town's structure and buildings—and their hidden passages.
When Abner reached the wall, he stretched out his hand and gently placed his palm above the cool surface. Moving his palm across the wall from right to left and up to down---all over the surface of the wall---he concentrated on feeling the sensation transmitted into his brain from the core of his palm. With his eyes closed to amplify the signals and feelings.
Clack. Bump.
Abruptly, Abner opened his closed eyes, his pair of violet-purple eyes seemed to glow as he stared at the wall in front of him like it wasn't a wall but an enemy.
Gathering his strength into his arm whose hand was on the wall, Abner pushed. It didn't take a lot for the area on the wall he was pushing on to give in, creating a square indentation in the previously smooth and seamless wall.
Letting go, Abner retreated a few steps, watching as the seemingly immovable and permanent wall moved below the ground.
Abner's eyes were cool and calm as he watched all this happen before him as if he had already anticipated this happening.
"Whoa." Ash who had remained silent and actionless throughout all this let out an exclamation of admiration and felt impressed as he walked to Abner's side.
Secretly, he felt surprise in his heart. He was suspicious as to how Abner knew, but he didn't ask.
Instead he wordlessly followed Abner in walking down the dimly lit passageway. The stone stairway and narrow passageway exuded a cold and ghastly feeling that could easily scare a mentally weak person into peeing their pants, and coupled with the dark setting, it was even more fear-inducing.
However, Abner did not pay this any mind, his only focus was on getting Arlo out of this underground prison. Lightening his breathing and steps and listening carefully to any movement that can provide him information on whether there were guards down there, Abner cautiously descended the stairs.
At the bottom of stairs, he saw a wide hall with prisoner cells on both sides of the hall. Though not all of the cells were filled, a fair share of them were already occupied.
As it was nighttime, most of the prisoners had already gone to sleep, dead to the world of the living; drowning in their dreams.
Abner quickly walked forward to scan through each of the many cells, searching for Arlo.
When suddenly....
"Hey, youngster." Someone called Abner.
Alerted, Abner turned to look at the prisoner who had called to him.
Walking toward that person's cell, Abner watched him with his emotionless violet-purple eyes covered by shadows.
However, the prisoner wasn't frightened by his deep, unfathomable stare, instead the other grinned, showing his set of teeth with a missing front tooth.
"You. You and that guy aren't real guards, am I right?" Cutting straight to the point without twists or turns, this prisoner spoke straightforwardly. "I know I'm right. I've never seen you two around here before."
"We're new."
"Impossible! Even if you were new, if you want to come 'here' then you must be accompanied by an old guard, someone that has been working 'here' for a long time!" The prisoner refuted Abner's claim immediately.
Abner kept silent.
The prisoner continued, with a look that seemed to be full of wisdom of years, "You must be intruders then, I've seen lots like you from time to time. Never seen you people make it out. Must be here to rescue your companion."
Hearing no answer and not minding the silence as response, the prisoner continued his long monologue, "Today I saw someone new come in—I bet he's the companion you're trying to rescue—he seemed young, and sporting a head of unique green hair. He appeared like he was drugged when he was dragged here. I think they tossed him to the inner most area.
"Oh—looks like it's almost time for the guards to arrive soon to do the daily three-times-a-day check. You better hurry up now, youngster," the old prisoner smiled benignly as he kindly informed and reminded Abner. "Now don't not trust me, I tell you, I can feel it when it's time for them to come in and check us. Been here for so long, it would be a miracle if I can't feel it in my guts! I..."
Then the old prisoner rambled on and on about his experience in the prison, his experience before he was held in prison, and what he would do if he ever gets out of prisoner and other miscellaneous information.
Although it did not seem like it, Abner had been seriously intently listening to everything the old prisoner said, as information, no matter what kind, is always useful in unexpected and sudden situations.
When out of the blue, Abner's eyes sharpened when he heard a specific piece of information from the old prisoner's mouth.
"...gotta be careful of those paths though, they would make you dizzy and puke and lose your way forever until they catch you..."
"Wait!" Abner suddenly interrupted the old prisoner when he once again began to ramble on some other random things and no longer mentioned anything about those 'paths'. He continued with urgency clear in his voice, "What are those paths you're talking about?"