The strong wind of the Pietas' engine swept away the thin layer of snow from the green grass in the partly snowy plain. The steam escaped from the metal joints, driven by the hot order of internal pistons that, at regular intervals, pumped the fuel and lubricant between the gears and the engine.
With a lightning gesture the Steamship crept into the iron mouth of Hangar III, a large structure with a deep black color, built with heavy iron sheets. Under the warm sunlight, the building seemed to shine with purple light.
The air jet began to subside as the mighty vehicle gently rested on the white concrete floor, raising dust and rags in the air.
A buzz announced the shutdown of the Pietas. A subtle whistle followed by a steam jet implied that the doors were about to open.
A long series of small platforms stretched from under the sliding entrance, forming a particular staircase long enough to reach the floor. All plates were held tightly together by thick red wires.
A dry sound echoed in the hangar, the heel of a boot collided with the step directly outside the door, ringing in the air. The steps of the figure became more pressing. She was a woman dressed in a wide blue cardigan and a pair of trousers of the same color, under a nice white shirt with a floral pattern, her blond hair moved by the flow of air that swayed through the structure.
A tall boy, completely dressed in black and with a long beige coat flying in the hangar wind. His eyes were tired and the dark circles under his glasses confirmed that theory. Normally Klint wore sunglasses to protect himself from the sun, as his eyesight was flawless. Unfortunately, Monica only had disposable pilot glasses.
Without saying a word, he began to descend the stairs and they both set foot on the floor. Klint looked around, paying particular attention to the snow outside the gigantic entrance portal.
The man dressed in overalls and with a pencil over his ear nodded, smiling, and after a short bow he fled to a group of red containers. Klint saw him disappear into the vast maze of steam and tanks close to what he imagined to be a warehouse.
Shortly after the gentleman returned to the wheel of a small three-wheeled car, the flamboyant white of the bodywork and its tapered shape, almost like a rocket, attracted much the attention of Klint, who approached it intrigued.
Besides being so smooth and elegant, the car was also terribly quiet and with diligently cared for interiors, black leather seats and touches of purple in the details. The minimal and geometric look enthused the boy, that really liked such a design.
Monica shook hands with the engineer, thanking him heartily, probably even embarrassing him given the red color of his cheeks.
With an elegant and athletic gesture, she jumped inside the car, onto the passenger seat. Her clothes bounced off before resting on the seat.
Still slightly asleep from the sedative effect, Klint merely responded, feeling slightly guilty and biting his lip. Acquiring a licens in Andimica was rather simple, but required money and time, things that Klint really couldnt use lightly.
After settling down and calming his anxiety, Klint fastened his seat belt and made the effort to remember the few driving lessons his owner had given him, he pressed the accelerator with force.
The car flew very quickly out of the hangar, almost like an out of control rocket wrapped in a cloud of white steam and red sparks. Klint, however, seemed perfectly capable of handling the vehicle.
His right hand skillfully maintained the control of the gears and the brake while the left, with delicacy, could manage the steering wheel despite the tremendous speed of the turns.
< Actually, I'm amazed, even I seem to be used to it. >He replied smiling with his eye fixed on the road, to avoid regretting his safety.
Klint immediately noticed and stopped the car abruptly, putting a hand on her shoulder, enduring the embarrassment. Klint did not know how to deal with women, yet he was extremely capable of empathizing with others.
He told him trying to stare into her eyes.
She recovered, sighing and matching her gaze, slowly with a finger pushed Klint's head back, smiling.
The car resumed the path through the green snowy fields, getting to dive into a forest completely dark and lightly lit by purple streetlights. Klint remembered the shape of those lights, yet when he had seen them they were an intense yellow, almost orange.
That forest brought back in him the memory of the clearing, the blood and the smell of death, those creatures and the figure that had spoken to him in his dream.
< Intimate? how can a place that seems to have come out of some Legends from 700 years ago be INTIMATE?! > Klint replied, raising an eyebrow, with even more doubts than before.
Sometimes the Hel pours into the world, causing Singularities, which often bring destruction and death. However, more rarely do they allow the birth of individuals like us, of the Meta or as those boring scientists call them, human with positive feedback at the frequency Hel.> Monica replied, emphasizing that he did not like that description at all, dwelling that the term Meta, was much nicer and easier to remember.
< SEE! Everyone says it but even if I am the commander continue to refuse to call it so officially. > He snorted while biting his thumbnail. Klint found his pouty face quite funny.
Asked Klint, his face lowered and his gaze turned to the accelerator. Though he was fasting, he became nauseous at the thought of it.
< NOIR takes care of precisely this, finding a cure and keeping the population of Andimica safe from any singularities, unfortunately those beasts are on the lowest step of obscenity that Hel can give birth to. >
Klint swallowed thinking of the pain that a handful of those beasts were capable of creating and now he learned that those were just docile critters in relation to what Noir had seen and perhaps faced.
Although he was sure to be in the summer and on an island, the bitter cold and ghostly atmosphere made it possible for him to think the opposite.
Her voice was sometimes dampened, making the pain of that memory tangible.
< Meta live much more than normal and it's not nice to call someone old! > Monica snorted, glaring at Klint. He apologized in silence, lowering his head despite not saying anything.
< A fierce fight took place between the Association and a Meta, probably the strongest ever recorded, not even the whole agency managed to do something to stop it. We were forced to sacrifice part of the island to exile it into the Hel, tampering with the natural order of things on this earth. > She started explaining again, bringing up that painful memory.
Klint looked at her face, noticing two large drops about to fall from her corneas and a slight paleness in the cheeks.
The girl raised her head, her eyes completely shiny and ready to vomit out sadness and desolation, but slowly managed to finish her speech.
Klint simply smiled and stroked her hair one last time, looking back towards the road, which seemed to have finally arrived at the exit of the woods.
< Unfortunately I suffer from Dissociative Amnesia, I remember almost nothing and when I try violent migraines attack me, I want to find an answer to that but my sister has priority, The only thing that intrigues me is a dream I keep having...> He interrupted Monica's attempt to apologize to him, moving the speech away from that document.
< I hear the screams of my sister, a burning forest, a storm and two men fighting in the rain and suddenly a white lightning>
The conversation stopped as soon as the car came out of the dark forest, allowing the giant monolith of dark stone to settle in their field of vision: it seemed like a real mythological creation, a splinter of rock so high as to penetrate the sky and probably to lie for hundreds of meters above.
Without realizing it, the two arrived at the foot of the mountain. Monica pointed out to Klint a completely white structure with 2 entrances illuminated by a soft purple light. With a simple maneuver Klint parked the car in the first tunnel that he understood was the elevator for vehicles.
< Why you say tha...TTTTTTTT!!! >
He did not have time to formulate the question that the machine flew upwards like a bullet, pushed by a powerful jet of air. His skin trembled as if it were jelly and his eyes struggled to stay open. The climb lasted about 3 minutes, but for the poor boy it seemed like an eternity as he felt his stomach being tossed around inside him.
The car was taken by a mechanical arm and placed on the platform, Monica opened the door and went down extending her arms. In the process, the mechanical claw retreated by puffing jets of white steam.
Now you're ready to make a nice entrance. > Said the girl, as she laid her palm on a black plate, near the gigantic door that separated the platform from the entrance.
A robotic voice echoed through the darkness of the rocky walls, slightly illuminated by the strange purple lanterns present in the forest, this time of reduced size.
A dazzling light struck the boy, who promptly covered his face. A slight snap and a faint tickle on his hands made him so curious that he opened his eyes.
A group of people settled in front of him, who sat, who leaned on the stairs and others standing with sparks and small strips of confetti. Everyone stared at him wearing black uniforms or white coats with embroidered N somewhere, except for some subjects.
The boy looked up confused, noticing the huge red and gold banner that bore the inscription "WELCOME NEW RECRUITS".
Klint instantly understood that it was Net's idea and just looked at it with a stern, questioning air, which led Monica to give him a big mouth and throw more confetti at him. Lance found himself covered in shreds of colored paper, becoming like a scarecrow.
Klint turned, noticing a man averagely tall and muscular, wearing a red shirt in tone with his crimson tuft and at times blond, his hair was quite long, falling on the nape and a little on the sides, his young and energetic face while having a quite fatherly look.
< nice to...meet you, I see that you already know who i am, no? > Replied Klint smiling and shaking his hand firmly, almost intimidated by the figure.
He turned and noticed a girl with long white hair and slightly covered by a black bow. She was tall enough to reach just above his chin and wore a slightly revisited maid's uniform: A dress with a long dark skirt, leather shoes of the same color and over the black and white dress a beige blazer that Klint found perfectly in tone.
Embarrassed by the girl, Klint quickly and furiously took off his coat, eventually getting caught and needing the help of the maid to escape.
< How much elegance, I definitely feel out of place. > He thought, smiling with a strong discomfort, simulating the bow of the girl.
Although her hand was so thin and light, her grip was much stronger than Ross, so much so that Klint had to strive not to be impressed.
The maid smiled and hurried off into the white corridors at the sides of the room, making the soles ring out on the thick, metallic floor.
Monica sat next to him, attracting the attention of many members gathered there, especially one on the stairs behind the sofa, who had been watching Klint with a grim air since he had entered.
< Klint is talented and is a very good person, he is simply a little shy.> She introduced him to the whole group, grabbing his arm and lifting it in his place.
Suddenly a figure began to approach in a hurry and fury, while losing various paperwork from the folder under his arm, without deigning to collect them.
At first glance he looked like a tall man wearing a coat decorated with yellow stripes and very large, but a detail continued to nag the view of Klint: In the head he wore a gas mask of white color, in tone with the gown, with some metal plates that appeared to be lead.
The figure leaned over Klint, bending his back in a supernatural way, breathing anxiously from behind the mask. All that scene led Klint to shake his head several times.
Read Klint intrigued, as he moved the sheet abruptly to prevent both Monica and Lucas from filming it. Unexpectedly his curiosity overcame his embarrassment.
Lucas anticipated it, speaking now in a tremendously cold and severe tone.
The atmosphere lifted when Arte returned with two trays and Oriental-style teacups. She elegantly laid the silver plates and began to pour into the brown cup, decorated with a leaf-like green motif, the boiling tea.
The greenish liquid emanated a warm steam, which gave Klint a sense of warmth he liked. He reminded him of the little comfort he had found in his apartment when he first moved in.
He took the cup, his sleeve receded toward the shoulder, showing his arm elegantly carrying the cup to his mouth. The boy's eyes widened in surprise and satisfaction, the warmth and rich taste of tea had him awakened.
Klint replied, smiling but obviously embarrassed given the number of eyes on him.
< Changing the subject.... to whom would we be waiting? > Klint asked while stealing pillows wherever possible to create a fortress against the eyes of the room, especially from Monica.