Back at Barksley and Jasmine, after Barksley returns to his original state, he stares at Jasmine with a stunned look. But while he was staring at her, something amazing happened. Jasmine flashes a sultry glance as she gazes at Barksley. She then closes her eyes, a small smile playing on her lips, and begins to recite the mantra maze of the plan. Her voice is low and husky, the words dripping with malevolent intensity.
Inhaling deeply, she recites: "Derousticrousti Bardnexixi Rumblestizidi Mancri Mancri Maze!!" Then, she reaches for a strap under the leg of her uniform trousers and pulls out a dagger, which she holds in her hand. As she does so, a mystical glyph etched on the dagger's hilt, shimmered with a soft, ethereal light. Meanwhile, Barksley looks on, smirking and ridiculing her in his mind, wondering what she'll do next. But, unbeknownst to him, something remarkable is about to happen, revealing the true power of her strategy.
Jasmine, after reciting the words, opens her eyes and smiles. Suddenly, the building they are in starts to shake, as if awakened. The wall opposite Barksley slides open, revealing a hidden compartment, which shoots out a crossbow attached to the wall. Barksley, stunned by Jasmine's smile and the building's movements, looks around in confusion. As if alerted by something, he turns back, but it's too late. Arrows from the crossbow shoots him, one narrowly missing his heart and the other hitting his waist. Feeling the pain, he shouts in anger and turns to stab Jasmine with his sharp fingers, like razor-sharp claws. However, underestimating her plan, the floor beneath her starts moving downwards, and she begins to descend. Smoke or fumes start shooting out, affecting only Barksley, enveloping him in a cloud of smoke that makes him cough and stumble. As Barksley notices her calm expression, he shouts ferociously and attempts to attack her again. But before he can, the smoke overwhelms him, causing him to lose consciousness. He slumps to the ground, coughing and trying to find the source of the smoke, but it's too late. The building returns to its normal state, as if nothing had happened.
Leah, done with defeating Captain Jack, appears inside the minister settlement's surroundings, intent on disappearing. She materializes within the military house settlement and stops for a second, looking around in stunned silence. The place is eerily quiet, with no guards in sight. Then, the rune-etched sentry bells toll out a warning. She rolls her eyes seductively and thinks, "Great!!".
Vyntaria, 10th of valtor, 515 ER
In Xerxes Eye IV, Dobbie, one of Topple's informants, shouts to Yasmine from his alcove nestled in the council cove, "Yasmine, you're needed at the Xerxes Earies immediately!" The Xerxes Earies is a place where eagles used for message transmission across the human Kingdom of GOAZER are being raised and harbored.
Dobbie received a message from a small, handheld contraption, a mechanical wonder that enabled swift and secretive communication over long distances. This remarkable arcane-transmitter, cleverly designed to convey sensitive information, was instrumental in coordinating their efforts. When a firefly symbol on the arcane-transmitter began blinking, Dobbie knew a message was waiting. By placing his hand on the symbol, the message was revealed, played out in a sequence of clicks and chirps that only he could decipher. The arcane-transmitter, small enough to fit in the palm of his hand, was a marvel of ingenuity, a secular tool that served as a trusted companion in his work as a messenger."
Dobbie, having received the message from the small, handheld contraption, a mechanical wonder that enabled swift and secretive communication over long distances, now sought to resend the message to his colleague, yasmine. He tapped the firefly symbol once more, and the arcane-transmitter sprang to life, allowing him to relay the message to yasmine's own alcove. With a few swift clicks and chirps, the message was sent, destined for yasmine's ears alone, a testament to the device's ingenuity and the messengers' reliance on its secrecy and speed."
In Yasmine's office, an identical inscribed firefly symbol glowed softly in a similar alcane-transmitter, its magic-powered mechanism humming to life. Recognizing the familiar arcane-transmitter, Yasmine picked up the arcane-transmitter, and Dobbie's voice whispered in her ear, the message transmitted through the magical connection. She listened intently, her eyes locked on the firefly symbol as it pulsed with a glowing light, conveying the urgency and importance of Dobbie's words."
Dobbie: "Yasmine, you are needed at the Xerxes Earies."
Yasmine frowned and sighed, rolling her eyes in anger and frustration as she held the remat, the same arcane-transmitter she had used to receive the message from Dobbie. "Dobbie, why can't you do it yourself? You're always pushing your work onto me. I'm occupied, and you're occupying me even more. What's going on in that head of yours?"
Dobbie replied, "Yasmine, please, just this once. I'll treat you to Mama Jiji's later. You were tasked with it first, remember?"
Yasmine reluctantly accepted the task, still grumpy. She replaced the remat in its cradle, the same arcane-transmitter with the inscribed firefly symbol, and rose up from her perch in the alcove. She dusted herself off, exited the alcove, shut it's door and approached the sturdy oak door leading to the eagle enclosure. She rapped on the sturdy oak door, and a worker slid open a small viewing slit. "ID, please," she requested. Yasmine handed over a black circular light tag with her picture on the front and red writing on the back that read "Xerxes Informant". The worker took the tag, closed the slit, and examined it through a peephole, verifying Yasmine's image on the tag. After confirmation, she called out to yasmine and handed her the tag.
Daisy: "Hello, what is it?"
Yasmine takes a deep breath, inhales and exhales, then leans in closer to the oak door and answers. Yasmine: "It's me, Yasmine. I've got another one from QH, supposed to deliver a message from an eagle with code 145678i."
Daisy hears the reply nonchalantly, and after a brief hesitation, she replied. Daisy: "Oh yeah, I just got a notice about an eagle with that code a moment ago. Give me a moment to verify the details, and i'll use that code to confirm the message, then I'll send it to the intended."
After replying, Daisy pockets the tag and walks to a locker beside the person who collected the tag from Yasmine's hand. She unlocks it with a key, shuffles through a stack of scrolls, and stops at a parchment embedded with the insignia of the Topple military. She locks the locker, unscrews the scroll, discards it, and goes through the parchment. After opening it, she reads it, then walks to her desk, drops the parchment, and collects the remat mounted on the wall beside her desk.
(To be continued in the next chapter)