Finally, they arrived at the coordinates that had been given to them, and were greeted with a shocker.
The space was empty! There was nothing there at all! They were on the outskirts of town, and literally in the middle of nowhere. For Scarlett, this was the tipping point. She was already annoyed from all the teasing, this only pushed her over the edge. Gasping exasperatedly, she threw her hands up in the air, and began to throw a tantrum;
"These sons of bitches!! Bastards!! You see what I mean??!! They're playing us!! They've been playing us all this while!!"
Eliana was taken aback by the outburst;
"Jeez sis, take it easy."
"No! Don't tell me to take it easy! Can't you see this is nothing but an annoying prank? We need to go! NOW!!!"
While both sisters went at it, Alex remained calm. His narrow slit eyes surveyed the environment, searching for any clues whatsoever that could point him in the right direction. It actually made sense that a secret organization like this would be out here in the middle of nowhere. Meaning, they would be well hidden, away from society, away from normal people, safe from wandering eyes and curious intruders...
Immediately, something caught his eye- STONES.
At first glance, they looked like nothing peculiar. He would have probably glossed over the rocks if he had been a regular person on the move. But given the situation, everything had to be taken into account.
These rocks in particular were too neatly arranged to have occured naturally. So, this only meant they had been put in that particular order by someone. Prompted by this prime piece of discovery, he left the sisters behind and walked towards this geographic anomally with a confidence. Sure enough, it was just as he had suspected.
There was no way nature had put them in such an eye catchy position. Someone had definitely arranged them in that order, meaning it was a matrix entrance.
Recognizing this was one thing.
The main task was to get the appropriate spell to open this entrance. But Alex reviled the thought of having to go through that tedious process. Especially when all he had to do was---
BOOM!!!
He released a surge of the raw energy of the power of god, forcing the entrance open with brute force, instead of trying to figure out the password like a low level lock picker. Like a super computer relying on the powerful computing force to break bypass a heavily encrypted file, Alex opened up the entrance to the matrix here.
Scarlett and Eliana could only gawk at the awesome display of raw power. A blinding flash of light ensued, temporarily blinding both girls. When their eyes finally came to focus again, they saw that three figures had emerged from the chaos. They stood there like a bunch of aliens. Their very peculiar costumes did not help their case at all. It looked like a hybrid of a medieval mages' robe, and the professional style of a modern business organization.
In the middle of the other two was none other that the boss lady herself- Mina.
She did not look happy at all. Well, in retrospect, there was never a time where Alex had ever seen her happy, that permanent scowl on her face appeared to be her default look. But this time, she definitely looked pissed, shocked, and irritated. He had never seen all three of those facial expressions on the face of one person.
"Mister Alex! You've been here for only a couple of minutes, and here you are, already wrecking damage!"
"I was simply trying to get your fancy door open. That was the whole point of all this wasn't it??"
She ignored his question and gave him one of hers;
"How did you do it?"
"Do what?"
"How did you find the correct spell so quickly? The clues provided were very well hidden."
Alex simply laughed. He wanted to say something witty like; 'He simply found himself in his artistic expression.' But he did not say anything. This only fuelled Mina's incredulity. She prided herself on her ability to stick to the status quo. And Alex was just the opposite of what that represented for her.
This was not how it was supposed to go! The newbies were supposed to find it extremely difficult and frustrating to get locate and execute the perfect spell to unlock the entrance. That bit was supposed to put them in awe of The Guardians, and place them in a psychological state of mind that would make them easy to be awed.
But this cocky young man had managed to blow all that away. Hence, her anger.
Mina was livid, Alex was indifferent, and Eliana was intrigued. But Scarlett's state of mind had completely undergone a one hundred and eighty degree turn. Within a very short while, the older of the sisters had gone from being skeptical about this whole thing to being fully submerged in the mystery of the whole thing!
Maybe it was the whole cloak and dagger thing that the organization had going on. Maybe it was the possibility of a dangerous adventure up ahead. Whatever it was, Scarlett's curiosity was fully piqued. With Alex by her side, and Eliana with them, her childhood fantasy of saving the world like a Harry Potter trio was finally coming to life. Only this time, there was actually going to be real magic and stuff.
Mina decided to overlook this first breach in protocol, and proceed with the next order of business.
"Newbies!" even though they were well within hearing distance, she still yelled.
"I don't know where you think you are! But The Guardian is not like the other two organizations! This is a REAL ORGANIZATION!!"
Looking directly at Alex, she directed her follow up statement to him;
"Simply put, it means that there's a certain way we do things here! Order is our motto, and learning is a continuous process. This is not the army!! We don't ask you to follow orders blindly. And this is definitely not some corporate entity!! We are not a profit driven organization. Think about it more like a university than any of the other two."
Hands folded in front of her, she began to pace back and forth while she delivered her 'welcoming address.'
"So, bear this in mind, and you might actually do just fine here. We will not force you to do anything! If you decide to, you may spend the rest of your lives here without working. Feeding, and accomodation is completely free!!"
She paused to let that last part sink in.
"That's right. You did not hear me wrong. I said feeding and accomodation is free! You will not be taxed to pay a dime in that regard. We are community here, and I mean that very literally. The communal lifestyle is something we're very proud about. Every thing is shared between members. Of course, this does not extend to your personal materials. You will be briefed on that much later."
She stopped her pacing for a moment, and stood still;
"That's all you need to know for now. But before we proceed, are there any questions?"
All three of them were smart enough to know that this was a trick question. Mina was more than willing to use any question they tried to ask at this point to ridicule them and further subjucate them. There was no doubting the fact that she had delivered this same speech countless times, and therefore had ample experience in breaking down newbies. So, they wisely chose to keep their questions to themselves. At least until later.
Mina clenched her jaw. It seemed this was a smart bunch.
"Well, in the absence of any question, you may now follow me."
Alex was actually impressed. Sure, that was an electrifying welcoming address. But it was the system that first made a good impression on him.
All of them, led by the formiddable Mina, walked through the gate was represented the next stage of their lives. The Guardian's area was not what any of them were expecting. They all had very different pictures in mind of what the place would look like, but the sight that met their eyes totally dwarfed their expectations.
Mina had been right.
But she really down played it by far. The Guardian's base of operations was incredible.