I quickly followed Fleur as we made our way towards the town square, looking back over my shoulder at where the strange man was but had somehow disappeared from my view. Fluer's face was tense, and I could tell she was deep in thought. We walked in silence for a few moments making sure nobody was around to hear our whisperings until she finally spoke.
"Father August just gave me some new information," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "The person we're investigating is named Pandora Boone. She's been sought after by the church for a long time but they couldn't take her in as she hasn't done anything worthy of her termination." Fleur looked up at me, "Until now."
My stomach sank. "What do you mean?" I asked, my mind racing. "Does that mean this is not just an investigation now?"
"Was it ever?" Fleur looked at me with resolve in her eyes. "It's not like missions go exactly the way we want them to go."
We continued walking past the church and further into the outskirts of Fallhalt. The buildings diminishing in stature although still more elegant than anything back in Leode.
"It seems that Pandora has been smuggling materials for quite a while now, much longer than we were told prior," Fleur explained. "And there's a possibility that she has already created a false artifact. If that's the case, it could be very dangerous not just for us and the church, but for the public too."
I nodded, understanding the gravity of the situation. "So what's our plan?" I asked, my heart racing.
"We have a location," Fleur said, a hint of determination in her voice. "Father provided us with an address of a small-looking warehouse in the outskirts of the city. Pandora has been known to move around a lot but the church hasn't noticed any changes for a while. He said that it might be the place where Pandora is storing the smuggled materials and possibly the false artifact."
As we approached the warehouse, my heart was pounding in my chest. Two guards stood at the entrance, both looking alert. It was hard to tell if they were armed but no sword-like weapons were to their sides.
"They're carrying," said Fleur as if she knew what I was thinking. "Likely to be revolvers."
My eyes widened in surprise. "How did you know that?" I asked, impressed by her intuition.
Fleur gave me a small smile. "Just a guess based on their attire and the way they're standing. They're trying to look nonchalant, but they're definitely guarding something. Pandora."
We approached the guards, and I prepared myself for a confrontation, but Fleur surprised me again. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and then a strange energy emanated from her body. It was like a shimmering aura that surrounded us both, and suddenly the guards didn't even seem to notice us as we walked right by them and entered the warehouse through the main entrance being guarded.
I looked at Fleur in awe. "How did you do that?" I asked, my voice filled with wonder.
She looked a bit worn out from using that mysterious power. "Don't worry, you'll be able to do something like it soon enough. Give it a few years or so," she chuckled under a light panting.
As we walked inside the warehouse, my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. It was a small space, with stacks of crates and barrels lined up against the walls. There was a pungent smell of chemicals in the air, and I could see some tools lying around, indicating that this place was used for manufacturing. The warehouse looked old and unused as if it had been abandoned long ago. Was Pandora really here or was this just a red hearing?
Fluer reached for her pocket but hesitated and pulled away. "Look around for some kind of entrance, and try not to make a sound," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
I don't know Father August, but Fleur trusts his information. If Pandora really was here, she wouldn't make it easy to get to her.
Both Fluer and I began to search the area, looking for anything that resembled a hidden entrance. It was slow going, and the tension was thick in the air as we knew there were guards right outside. I moved as quietly as possible, not wanting to alert anyone to our presence. Every sound seemed amplified in the small space, making me jump at even the slightest noise.
Suddenly, I heard a slight creaking sound. I turned around to see Fleur pushing a large crate aside, revealing what looked to be a small trapdoor in the corner of the floor. She gestured for me to help her, and we both lifted the heavy trapdoor to reveal a dark, narrow staircase leading down.
A shiver ran down my spine as I knew I was in too deep now. As we descended the metal, windy stairs, I felt a sense of unease creeping up on me. The darkness seemed to swallow us whole, and the only sound was the creak of our footsteps on the windy staircase echoing off the walls. It felt like we were descending into the bowels of the earth itself.
The air grew colder as we reached the bottom of the stairs. I could hear my own breaths echoing back at me, and my heart rate increased. We entered a large open basement, which was almost pitch black except for a few dim lights hanging from the ceiling. My eyes had already adjusted to the darkness from earlier in the warehouse so I could still see.
I looked around the rather expansive basement, trying to spot any signs of Pandora, guards, or any life, but it seemed like the basement was empty. The room was rather bare, making it seem larger than it actually was. Only a few shelves, tables and chairs were placed around the room. My eyes were drawn to a lengthy table in the center of the room against the back wall, covered in strange and unfamiliar objects.
Fleur strode towards the table with a sense of purpose, her eyes scanning the various materials and powders that were strewn haphazardly across its surface. She picked up a small vial and held it up to the light, squinting at the label. "This is from a shipment we intercepted a few months ago, Pandora must've already been involved back then," she muttered to herself.
I approached the table tentatively, unsure of what I was supposed to be looking for. Fleur seemed to notice my confusion and began to explain, her words tumbling out in a rush of excitement and urgency. "These materials are highly illegal and dangerous to the public. Although dangerous, higher authorities in many arcanist circles use them for beneficial purposes to the underground society," she said, pointing to a pile of powders that looked innocuous enough to me. "But again, in the wrong hands, they can be used to create deadly poisons, explosives, and all sorts of other things."
As she spoke, I noticed a list of names on the table, of which some were crossed out in a strange order. "What's this?" I asked, pointing to the list.
Fleur's expression darkened, and she picked up the list, scanning it quickly. "Hmm," she grumbled. "I'm not entirely sure. Uvan, Lorenzo…Rex."
"Fleur?" I asked.
"Do these names mean anything to you?" She continued.
I shook my head in unfamiliarity.
Fleur looked back at the documents. "They're the only names crossed out, I wonder if they have anything to do with Pandora's shipments of illegal materials. Seeing as I don't know any of the names it could be connected to Araway and maybe even the free territory south."
I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the amount of information being thrown at me. My mind was clouded with new information, trying to piece everything together. Araway, the free territory, Pandora, illegal materials, and now these names... it was all starting to feel like a tangled web.
I was about to respond when something caught my attention from the corner of the room. A glint of light sparkled from a shiny object nestled in a rather shadowed corner. As I moved closer, my eyes adjusted to the dark, and I could make out a metallic object gleaming in the dim light. I couldn't quite make out what it was, but it seemed out of place among the mundane objects on the table.
As I drew closer I could make it out more. A bright sparkle, much like the hue and scintillation of an opal coming from a round golden object… around a thin chain?
I followed the chain that was connected to the object upward and lost the end in the darkness of the room's corner. But then, something else caught my eye, something much more unexpected.
A pair of eyes stared back at me from the dark corner. They were emerald green and seemed to be staring right at me. I froze in place, unsure of what to do. The eyes were beautiful, but they also seemed to be watching me intently.
My heart started pounding in my chest and I could feel beads of sweat forming on my forehead.
All of a sudden the lustre of the eyes were lost and went a bright white all over like a cloud covering the sun.
I let out a whisper to my associate behind me still pondering over the documents at the table, "Fleur… I don't think we're alone."