Saturday. July 4, 2054. 3:30 pm.
Zero was crouched hidden underneath the dense foliage and slowly peeked out the bushes to see his surroundings. This was his third short surveillance in the past couple of days. A quick hour or two of just sitting around in different spots to watch the guard's movement was a long and dreary process. Two days ago it was up in the tree, yesterday was hiding in the water acting like a log, and now today he was covered in mud pretending to be part of the bushes.
It wasn't too difficult to do to just sit down underneath some dense bushes and watch. What was difficult throughout the whole process was sitting still and watching everything without falling asleep. The number of times he almost fell asleep was quite a bit to count.
During the first scouting, there were a couple of times when Zero was almost caught by the guards because of their unexpected appearances. In the beginning, he had forgotten to rely on his abilities, but after the close encounters he used his Keen Hearing to help alert him. The crunching sound of leaves saved him on numerous occasions. When the silence was broken, climbing like a squirrel, he would hide. Just like in real life, he noticed that guards did not look up. From that moment on, he knew that NPCs with little training in the arts will tend to ignore overhead surroundings.
It wasn't just that that he noticed. On the second trip, he had to sneak in the pond that was next to the mansion without making a splash. When he finally was underwater, floating with a log over his head, he had to meticulously cut out a hole that would allow him to watch the bypassing guards without being caught. The amount of patience he had to endure to just cut a hole in the floating log took a lot longer than expected.
Breathing was another problem; he had cut out a large willowy brown weed like plant and makes a long snorkel without making it look to conspicuous. Cutting through the hole and breathing the snorkel was a challenge that took a while to accomplish. When he was done, he was able to breathe normally without it. He had learned a lot of the guard's pattern, but at the same time almost got hypothermia from staying in the chilly pond for too long.
The amount of suffering ordeal he had to go through to just to get a bit more information of his surroundings. How he loved his past teachers for teaching him all his Ninjitsu skills and hated it when it came to the time to do it.
His back ache just thinking about it. A couple of hours had passed since he had been battling his drowsiness. What was worse was that there was nothing to do but to watch. He couldn't meditate, write, do anything but just sit there. The only thing he was allowed to do was watch and think. Thinking was not the problem, it was what to think about and how to keep yourself entertained.
Should I make spaghetti tonight? he thought as he sat very still. He tried his best not to move a single finger. Small gnats buzzed around his young face. He did not have much baby fat anymore. Now he looked old enough to be nine years old.
Nah. Anna doesn't like it. How about mushroom soup… or should I go with a more oriental dish?
His stomach growled at the thought of delicious food.
"Hey Ken!" a man's voice shouted, echoing into the dense trees. Heavy footsteps shuffled their way close by towards Zero.
Zero froze. This was not good. Whoever this was getting close to his hiding spot was making it difficult to escape. If he moved right now he would be found. This was not a good start to end the day with when today was the day to infiltrate the mansion later tonight.
With each step the person took, Zero heard the leaves crunching under the heavy boots. He even saw a little bit more of who this person was. It was a guard walking around with a heavy set of silver armor. Zero could barely make out his facial features because the majority of them were hidden behind the helmet.
"Ken! Where the hell are you?" shouted the guard. He whooshed his sword in front of him, cutting through the thick bushes. It stopped a couple inches short from Zero's face.
Beads of sweat fell from his face. He couldn't even gulp for the fear of being found out.
"I'm here, damn it. What do you want, Tim?" Another annoyed voice was heard coming closer from Zero's right side.
"Master Dion has informed us to come in to get things ready for tonight. He wants everyone to change up and get ready."
Ken sighed. "Alright. I was dreading this day. How could Master Dion do such inhumane act? Is he insane?"
"Watch your mouth, newbie. You don't want to be caught stating such facts in front of him or you would be dead in matter of seconds." Tim waved his sword back and forth, almost slicing Zero's nose off. "Damn gnats. This is why I dislike working out in the woods. These annoying pests just stick to you like glue."
"Sorry, let's go before we get in trouble. You know he doesn't like to be kept waiting," Ken stated with worry.
"Yeah. The last time someone did that to him they lost a couple of fingers." Tim shivered. "Let's go before that happens to us."
Crunching sound of leaves and twigs snapping underneath steel boots faded away. Zero let out a heavy sigh and fell backwards.
"That was too close." He wiped away his sweat and struggled to get up, but his knees shook and wavered .
"Come on, leg. Move." Zero smacked his leg a couple of times to let the blood flow through. Death at this time was not something he wanted to go through especially because of the twenty-four hour limit he would be stuck in.
Taking a small step, his foot got stuck on a tree root. He fell forward face first with his hands splayed out. In a matter of milliseconds his body's natural instinct to pull into a roll took effect. Tumbling down a steep hill, he arrived at the bottom with barely any scratches. He was a bit dizzy from the roll.
Sand entered his mouth and it covered his whole body.
"Pfbt!" Zero spat out in disgust. He looked up towards the direction of where he fell and noticed that he was in a large hole. It was going to take a minute to climb back up.
Brushing the sand off his clothes, Zero began to explore. He hadn't noticed this terrain before. It was hidden well from the rest. It was like a giant pothole that had only one way to go up and it was through the steep hill. Plants covered it well and kept it hidden from sight. There was even a small stream that entered and exited the pothole. Where it would go he didn't know.
To his left, he saw a small old stone door covered heavily by damp green moss.
Where would that go? he pondered, and his curiosity got the best of him.
His hands pressed against the cold stone door. He forcefully pushed with his might and it barely budged open.
"Come on. Open." He huffed and strained to push it further. The sound of grinding stone against stone could be heard. A small opening was made where he could barely squeeze through. Pushing against stone and wall, he squeezed through with only a little difficulty.
It was a damp tunnel that smelled of stale air and moss. He wondered how long it has been since it had been opened. Only a sliver of light passed through the cracks, making it difficult to see.
Rummaging through his backpack, he pulled out a magical fire lamp that used minimal fire magic. Just a simple phrase was needed.
"Turn on," he stated. He always wondered why this word was not Fire or Light on. Either way it didn't matter at this moment. He had a time limit to go through this place as quickly as possible. He had other things to do and prepare before it hit sunset.
A dim light lit up his surroundings. There wasn't much to see but an endless looking tunnel that was held up by wooden beams. Small mushrooms were scattered on the wall, and glow worms dangled from the ceiling.
Zero walked forward into the long tunnel. It felt like an endless walk that would never stop. He didn't know if he had walked for an hour or ten minutes. It was hard to tell when everything looked, smelled, and felt the same.
Finally he arrived at a dead end. There was nothing but a wooden wall that blocked his path. Carefully placing down the lamp, Zero began to search the surrounding wall.
Every door has some kind of switch or something, he thought as his hands pressed against the wall trying to feel if there was any kind of switch. It's a game, why wouldn't there be one?
And almost silent click was heard. Zero's finger pushed in a small switch in the middle of the wooden wall. The wall rumbled and shook. Dust blew in his face, and the door quietly opened. In front of him lay a passage way that led to a pantry. Freshly stocked food was placed all around the walls and in front of him.
"I know where this is." He glanced around the room. "It's the Dion mansion's pantry," he said with excitement. Another secret passage he had found in less than two days. What a lucky find. He smiled in glee. There was another way to escape with more chance to survive.
"This is going to be too easy." He smirked with confidence. Now he just needed to figure out a plan on how to get to one of the locations he had found.
The door to the pantry twisted open. Zero bolted towards the hidden door and slightly closed it without making sound.
A cook entered picked through a barrel of potatoes near the middle of the pantry.
"Master Dion wants this. Master Dion wants that. Noooo. He doesn't like this. Why won't he just stick with one instead of making dozens," grumbled the cook. "They don't understand how hard it is to prepare for a whole festival of people and they expect me to finish it by tonight? Are they insane?" The cook slammed a potato in his hand back in the barrel.
"I would like to see them cook for thousands of people not just one." He waved his fist in the air. Stopped and sighed. "They wouldn't even listen anyways. At least the guards are not picky with their food. For once I wish they would stop complaining."
The cook rummaged through a second barrel.
"I swear though, I think I heard some eerie sounds near one of the passage ways not too far from here during the middle of the night. Was it a scream? I don't know." He shivered. "Better not to think about it. Hopefully there is no ghost running around here."
The cook quickly picked through what he needed and left in a hurry. Zero pushed the wooden door back in place. He turned around and followed the passageway back into the open air.
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