Hitryel exhaled as he turned away from the fallen skyguard, still biting hard onto Kelty's gloves. He lifted his tied hands, pushing arms away from his back. Elbow of the right arm bending slightly, he rotated his shoulders to contort his arms and bring his hands to the front.
"Freak," Joysaleen said, standing by the wall opposite to which Tolin lay flat.
Hitryel relaxed his jaw, catching Kelty's gloves in his hands. "That's what I expect of someone who moans at a fall."
"I did not shout at you for crashing into me," Joysaleen said, rolling her eyes, walking toward the broken table. "My hammer was on top of this desk you just trashed."
"Hold on," Hitryel said, watching her sort through the broken pieces of furniture to find her hammer—hands tied behind her back, she was using her feet. "Your weapon wasn't even taken from you and your feet weren't tied. Why were you not fighting back?"
She squatted after facing him, picking up her hammer from within the wooden scraps on the floor. She rose to her feet and hid the hammer in the pack around the back of her waist as she met his eyes. "And what could I have done, hm? Heal them to death?"
"I thought you could also hurt."
"I can," Joysaleen said. "But I'm not a freak like you who can fight with tied hands. To use a Bane Cross, I first have to put a Blest Cross on my target. And to do that, I have to stamp them with a blood-soaked hammer." She looked down at her feet and her brows rose.
"Too bad," Hitryel said with a shrug. "But at least I know where the key to my cuffs are." Cuffed again, seriously? Hitryel sighed internally, remembering what had happened during his final ABC fight.
"Mine is with Celd too," Joysaleen said. "Ernash, the miner-helmet-guy, took my mask and—"
Hitryel turned to the door. "So it looks like I'll have to see more of you."
"Hm?" Joysaleen said, irked. "What's that?"
Hitryel glanced over his shoulder. "You know what I'm talking about," he said flatly.
"I'm the reason you're alive," Joysaleen said in revolt. "I didn't even tell these skyguards about the two of you even after they took my mask and burned it. What more can I do for you to trust me, Sir Hitryel?"
"Time'll tell." He turned forward and started toward the door.
"Agh! Whatever!" Joysaleen said, frustrated. "And where do you think you're going?"
"To get these cuffs off," Hitryel said. "Isn't it obvious?"
"And where's the key?"
"The southern mines. You would've also known if you paid attention."
"Forget mines. Where's south?"
Hitryel's eyes closed halfway as he stopped and flushed. "Why should I tell you that?" he said with a set jaw.
He could almost sense Joysaleen smiling slyly behind his back. "Just accept it, Hitryel," she said. "You two need me. Someone has to balance out the rashness you and Ryuzio put out."
"Cut the smoke," Hitryel said, turning around. "Just tell me where the southern mines are if you know."
She lowered her head with a smile, eyes to the floor.
Hitryel followed her eyes in confusion, landing his sight on the large sheet underneath her right foot. "Is that a…map?"
"Seems so," Joysaleen said with a closed-eyes shrug, pouting her lower lip out. "Now pick it up so we can have a closer look."
Hitryel eyed her in annoyance, a nerve popping on his forehead. "Do it yourself." What gave her the idea that she could order him around?
She smiled, eyes still closed, pulling her hands apart as if to highlight her handicap. "I thought you cared about Ryuzio more than this. After all, he's the one those skyguards went after. If we don't hurry…"
"Smoke you!" Hitryel spit his pride as he stepped forward and bent to pick up the map off the floor. He was expecting some sly comment from the pink-haired girl but it never came. Standing tall, map and gloves in hand, he was greeted by her smile, eyes sparkling with innocence. Hitryel clenched his fists.
"Don't crumple it," Joysaleen said with a frown. "We won't find another."
Hitryel flipped the map over to himself. "What do I need YOU for, then?" He scanned the map formed with grids and diagrams. Each area was color coded and sprinkled with too many symbols, and on the top right was where the compass was planted, revealing the directions.
But what were these several locations marked with a black dot? What was even more intriguing was the fact that it was the only symbol "drawn" on the map—the others were printed—making it stand out as not part of the original design.
Hitryel rolled his eyes down to the place on the map soaked in reddish ink. The southern mines. If it weren't for the words written on it, he'd have been unaware of it. The map lacked a key to it, encrypting the symbols. It made sense. This map wasn't supposed to be commercial but one only readable by these skyguards. This led to a problem.
Where were they currently? There was not a mention of this office in the map—most likely because it was on the surface…
"We're at the centre," Joysaleen cut in from beside. "That box, you see, represents the elevator."
"There's no legend," Hitryel pointed. "How can you tell?"
"I'm good with diagrams," Joysaleen said simply.
Hitryel winced, thinning his eyes. "Do you think I'm an idiot who'd trust the hunch of someone I don't trust?"
"It's not a hunch," Joysaleen said. "Now keep the map fully open so I can pick a route for us."
Hitryel complied. It was unnecessary for him to do all the weak work. He was more than happy to have her do it for him instead. Absently looking around as the pink-haired girl nosed in on the sheet he held, his eyes fell upon the framed photograph on the wall opposite to the door. He started toward it.
"Hey!" Joysaleen said, eyebrows furrowing. "I wasn't done!"
Hitryel stood an arm's length away from the wall, looking at the picture. It was a group photo of all the skyguards and miners. The four skyguards to the very front in the picture were the ones who'd captured them. Lexnal the Commander, Ernash, Celd, and Tolin the Captains. The others looked more or less like regular people. They didn't have the air of superiority that most skyguards had.
"Are you done with that?" Joysaleen asked.
Hitryel stepped on something as he turned. Looking down, he found it to be a marker amidst the broken desk scraps. He looked at Tolin.
Then smiled demonically.
###
Ryuzio's breathes were starting to weigh him down. Lucky for him, the elevator was right up ahead. "You really can't miss it, yeah?" But…putting Hitryel's pairstone on his left palm, he found it was pointing up. To the surface.
He made it to the elevator that'd lead him to the commander guy's office. And just in time, for the light inside the pairstone was barely alive. Only thing was…what was Hitryel doing up there? Wait…!
"The Skybridge!"
He started toward the elevator with cautious steps, but soon realized that not a single skyguard was near it. That only made it easier for him. The hard part was yet to come. He stood in front of the door of the elevator and tilted his head in confusion.
There was no handle.
"Buttons?" Ryuzio said to himself as his eyes fell upon the panel beside the door. It had two buttons: one with an arrow pointing up, the other with an arrow pointing down. "Up, obviously." So he pressed it. And the door slid open.
He smiled as he stepped inside the small space, feeling proud that he'd gotten something right on the first try. The door closed and soon he was ascending—
Ryuzio stuck to a corner, hands on the adjacent wall, the rising floor confusing his senses and gut. "Weird…" But it ended soon and the mouth of the elevator opened. He stepped out and glanced over his shoulder. Thankfully, the elevator did not go down. "Just stay there. I'll be right back." Eyes forward, the hallway was leading straight to a wooden door.
Hand gripping the knob, Ryuzio Surged his Ether as he yanked it open. The door came off its hinges, hanging on his hand. "Hit! Don't think I'll let you win this easily!" He thinned his eyes. "Heh?"
The empty room was in shambles, furniture all broken, a wall cracked. Ryuzio threw away the door and used the pairstone once again. It tilted toward the wall opposite to the cracked one. Following it, eyes on the floor, he stepped into the room. Most of the wreckage seemed to be on the left, as if someone dumped the furniture there from the other side.
His eyes were attracted by the soft glow on the floor to his right. Lowering himself, he picked up the thing emanating that glow.
"The other half!" Ryuzio said as he straightened up, each hand holding a pairstone. He brought them closer to see if he'd been correct, and indeed, these were the same ones. Well, two halves of the same pairstone to be exact. The size and color matched, but more importantly, bringing them closer made them click together, as if they were magnets.
"Heh?" Ryuzio just realized what this meant. "How am I supposed to find Hit now!" he shouted. He looked around the room. "So he was the one who did all this." But as Hitryel had been wrecking this room, the pairstone must've dropped loose from his pocket.
Scanning the room, Ryuzio's eyes landed on the open safe inside the wall straight from the door. He stepped closer to the wall and something cracked beneath his feet.
He looked down and found it to be a framed photograph, the glass of which was signed across with a black marker. He picked it up to read the—
But before Ryuzio could read what the signature said, his eyes fell upon the four figures standing at the center in the group photo. Legion 55 banners hung to either side of the background. He turned to the door when he realized what it all meant.
"I just met three of those skyguards…" And they all were heading toward Arold.
"THAT was the Lexnal guy?" Ryuzio said to himself, hurrying out the room. "He was supposed to be here. Arold can't take on all three of them alone. I've got to help him." And he knew where to go. He was listening back then, after all.
'Follow us to the southern mines and together we shall take care of the ambushing cavelurkers, shouldn't we?'—
Ryuzio broke his run to a sharp halt.
He put his hands on his head, grinding his teeth. "But where're the southern mines!" Hitryel's pairtone—which was now a perfect sphere—fell off his hand. He quickly picked it up and pocketed it, trying to figure out how he'd find Arold inside this rocky maze…
"Wait…" A boulder of an idea hit Ryuzio's thick skull as his pocketed hand rubbed against something. He stood straight-backed, a smile forming on his face. He fished the thing out from his pocket. It was his own pairtone…the other half of which was with Arold himself. Ryuzio put it on top of his left palm and it rolled forward, pointing down.
Ryuzio smiled, closing the pairstone inside his fist. "Don't worry, Arold. I'm still here!"