Silence befell the entirety of Checkpoint Oriesal in the wake of the splicer appearance in the anomaly. Neither Calypso nor Paragon was sent to the scene of the anomaly, which turned out to be a great benefit not only to Nighthawk, but to the 2 Vanquishers as well.
The Vanquishers sent to the anomaly had died due to copious amounts of wounds after successfully untangling the anomaly.
On the other hand, the Hunter who had originally sent the cry for help mysteriously vanished after the incident, and had not been located since. The overall morale of Checkpoint Oriesal consequently plummeted faster than anyone could have expected, causing personal investigation and speculation over who exactly was inside the anomaly.
The splicers.
No one knew of this word except for Nighthawk. A mystery passed down to him by his now deceased father. The word haunted his brain as the fallout of the disaster set in. He was sure that the people seen within the anomaly were splicers.
No doubt about it.
But who were they?
New theories and investigations rose in an attempt to answer this question. Human curiosity is strong, and after hearing about the entities within the anomaly, that curiosity made its appearance.
In a rather extreme way.
Nighthawk sat down on his bed, the light in his quarters turned completely off. He was unable to see even two inches in front of him, exactly how he liked it when he slept.
Except he wasn't sleeping now.
He was lost in thought yet again.
Meanwhile, a class was beginning. And Calypso was attending.
When it came to being a Vanquisher, one of the most important qualities of your power that severely affected your class was how potent the essence within your body was. Like many other aspects of the Vanquisher, this could be trained, but it was rather confusing how one would go about this.
Calypso, finding herself falling into this confusion, had attended a 2-hour long optional scheduled class on increasing the potency of your essence. And it was about to begin.
Calypso slumped down into her seat, tapping her fingers against the hardwood desk she sat at in boredom. The class was supposed to begin 6 minutes prior, and yet the instructor was nowhere to be found.
As she peered around the room, examining all of the Vanquishers that had attended the class, she noticed the rather gloomy demeanor of the majority of them. This class is supposed to be popular, and yet not even half of the room is full… probably because of the incident with the anomaly. The news spread like a wildfire, I'm not surprised everyone knows already. I - god, I'm so glad I didn't decide to go. I would've died.
As the minutes ticked by, the absence of a teacher began to get to a portion of the Vanquishers present. As they stood up and left one by one, Calypso stayed in her seat, still hopeful that someone would appear.
She wanted to become more powerful so she could take on notices like the last one and come out alive.
So she could defeat the "people within the anomaly".
Even if she didn't know who they were.
And her hopes were fulfilled.
After 13 minutes of waiting, the door closest to the podium opened, and in walked a man that looked to be in his middle-ages. A small beard covered his chin, and his glasses latched to his head as if they were too small of a size. Nevertheless, he didn't seem to be bothered by it.
After arriving at the podium, he cleared his throat, scanning the now nearly empty room. A tinge of guilt crossed his heart upon the realization that the reason the class was so empty was most likely due to the fact that he was late.
"I'm sorry for being so late, to everyone still here. My friend, a Hunter, was rather… disturbed by the events of the anomaly that occurred last night. I had to help relieve his stress, and it seems that it cut into the
time of this class. Once again, I apologize. You may call me Professor Irolage. I will be your teacher for today." He spoke, arranging his books and devices on the podium.
Calypso understood the apology, and she accepted it within her own heart, though all it could make her think of was Nighthawk's desperate pleas when the message had first come through the night prior. What is he hiding from me? She thought to herself, rubbing her forehead gently. He already told me about the vision he had, and I thought that was a pretty big deal in and of itself. Is this really bigger than that?
"I will now start the class. Today, we will be -"
The professor was immediately interrupted by the door to the classroom slamming open with a deafening noise. A girl proceeded to walk in very calmly, severely contrasting the door slam she just caused. Her straight light pink hair flowed behind her gracefully, and her sparkling green eyes stood out against her hair. Upon catching sight of Calypso, a large smile grew on her face as she strode over to the seat next to hers and plopped down, setting her books on the desk with a loud thud.
"There's no way." Calypso mumbled.
"Hey Cali! What's up?" The girl said cheerfully.
"I told you not to dye your hair pink, you moron. It looks so stupid." Calypso reprimanded in a harsh tone.
"Hey, it looks good! I wouldn't have done it if it looked bad." The girl said.
"You're clearly blind."
"That's not a nice way to talk to your best friend."
"Yeah, well my best friend is the stupidest person I know, so sometimes I have to."
"Rude."
"Yeah, that's the whole point. Ugh, why does someone like you get such a cool codename? Annoying."
"I rock that codename like a badge on my chest. Just imagine it - Aria, the Baron of Oriesal. It sounds so cool."
"Why are you using your real name?"
"Because it makes it sound cooler."
"It still sounded stupid even with your name in there. Just stick to Baron, please."
"Why are you so grumpy today? Wake up on the wrong side of bed?"
"My day was actually going fine until I saw your hair."
"Cmon, Cali. I know you're happy to see me. Admit it."
Calypso sighed.
"I am happy to see you, you big dork. Just not your hair."
"Drop it with the hair, would you?"
"I just can't get over it."
"Sounds like you like itttttt."
"Over my dead body."
Suddenly, the professor raised his voice, startling both girls.
"Would you two like to pay attention, or leave?" He asked sternly.
"I - oh, sorry, Sir. We'll pay attention, I promise." Calypso said, facing back towards the front of the room and focusing her attention towards the lesson. Baron did the same.
Meanwhile, a notice had appeared on Nighthawk's device. An anomaly directly in the center of a highway had occurred, and a hunter was requested to exfil out from Oriesal and scan it.
Due to the recent incident, the number of Hunters who wanted to take the notice was significantly decreased out of fear of the people within the anomaly. There had been no recorded sightings of these people at any of the other 22 checkpoints around the globe, but the danger was still real and vastly considered to be one a Hunter should avoid at any cost.
But Nighthawk wanted to see the splicers.
This situation was good for him, because it meant he could take on the notice without having to worry about other Hunters taking it. Nighthawk, in a flurry, reserved the notice for himself in a matter of seconds, a sigh of relief exiting his mouth.
Nighthawk felt no malice towards the splicers.
No intent to kill.
Only interest in what they were.
And how they came to be.
Nighthawk stood up, preparing himself for the notice at hand. He moved to the corner of his room where he opened his wardrobe and took out his Hunter mask, a mask required to wear for Hunters embarking on a notice. Lifting the helmet up, he placed it on his head and pressed a button on the side, causing the mechanisms within to close the open backside around his head. This was the only piece of gear required for hunters to equip before working on a notice, a black metal helmet with small eye holes to see through.
And he left.
All Nighthawk heard was the quiet whir of engines as his aircraft pierced through the sky. 5 minutes remained until he would arrive at his destination, a large 8-lane highway in the middle of an enormous urban area. He wondered how the anomaly would be covered up to the public, due to being on such a busy highway. He knew it would work though. The corporation never failed when it came to concealing anomalies.
As he approached the highway and it came into view, a sight came into view that boggled Nighthawk's mind. No cars on a busy highway in the middle of the day. While there was a severe thunderstorm warning and an abundant amount of rain falling from the sky, there would usually still be a small amount of vehicles on the road in such conditions. But today, there were none. Hulsteo's got its ways, I guess. Still strange though. Nighthawk thought to himself as his aircraft lowered down onto the highway.
As the ramp at the back unfolded, Nighthawk walked out and peered at the designated segment of the highway where the anomaly was reported. An empty road with a prismatic glow emanating from it. This was it.
Nighthawk set down the scanner he had been carrying, preparing for the scan of the anomaly as any Hunter would do. But this was different. At least, the planned outcome would be different. Depending on the results of the scan, Nighthawk would not request a Vanquisher.
He would go in himself.
After the scan, he proceeded to check the details. LT (Loosely Tangled), Low Priority.
He could enter this one.
Of course, this wouldn't be without difficulty. Nighthawk had never actually entered an anomaly himself, so despite having the ability to, it wouldn't come naturally as it would for a trained Vanquisher. This was also a risk considering the fact that Hunters normally couldn't enter anomalies, so on the off chance that he had unwanted company and was spotted doing such a thing, the consequences and reactions would be catastrophic if the sight were to go public or told to someone.
Taking a deep breath, he approached the area of the anomaly, trying to recall how to channel his essence into the anomaly and enter through it. After careful planning, Nighthawk held his hands out to the anomaly and relaxed, allowing his inner essence to flow through him and into the anomaly itself.
Clearing his mind to allow for better flow of the essence, Nighthawk focused as hard as he could at the task at hand, and eventually, his efforts resulted in success. His body fell limp, and he passed out, his consciousness transferring to the inner tangles of the anomaly.
Darkness plagued his vision almost immediately upon entry, although his eyes were open. And so he waited.
And waited.
And after what felt like an eternity, he awoke. Light infiltrated his vision as a ceiling came into view. Once again, he couldn't feel anything, control his body, or use his voice.
This view also brought into scope the question of why he was inside of this vision and not inside the collision that had occurred. Am I a special case? Am I the only person who gets these weird visions instead of actually entering the collision?
As Nighthawk entered his spectator state once more, his field of view shifted as whoever was in control turned their head to the right, which brought a room into view. And then instantly, within 3 seconds, darkness shrouded Nighthawk's sight again. He was able to pick up on an amount of details during the extremely short time period, details about the room that had appeared in his sight.
A window with no curtain was across the room from the bed, the morning light beaming through. It was most likely what woke the person up.
A desk was situated directly in front of the window, a few papers scattered about its hardwood surface.
The walls, floor, and ceiling were all made of wood as well, and the main source of light in the room other than the sunlight that came through the window were torches lined along the walls of the room. It looked almost medieval.
Directly next to the bed was a wooden wardrobe, its hue slightly darker than that of the architecture of the room. The door next to the bed on said wardrobe was slightly ajar, with the other one shut. Due to the opened door being the one next to the bed, Nighthawk couldn't see inside of the wardrobe like he could if it were the other door.
The door to the room was directly in front of the bed. It stood tightly shut, denying entry of any from outside the room.
Overall, it was an average room.
But not one that appeared similar to a room of today.
Not one that appeared similar to a room of Earth.
Something entirely different, or something long forgotten.
When Nighthawk awoke, he was lying face-up on the cold pavement of the highway, the rain of the thunderstorm pouring down onto him. He coughed violently upon reawakening, hunching over to his right while he clutched his chest. Standing up with little balance, he recalled what he had seen to the best of his ability.
That's not a big help, not at all. I barely got any information from that. I didn't even enter the body of the collision at all. I just had another vision, a short one at that. What could this mean?
Can I enter again?
Nighthawk approached the anomaly once again, holding his hands out and executing the exact same technique he had last time. Focusing his mind on the task and channeling his inner essence, he prayed for the best.
But nothing happened.
"I've been… denied entry? Can no one access anomalies twice?" Nighthawk asked himself, lowering his arms back down to his sides. "I should probably get a Vanquisher over here anyway. I'm cold and alone out here."
Nighthawk shivered as he made his way to his aircraft, entering once again through the rear ramp and sitting down in the pilot seat. He pulled out his communicator from his pocket and prepared to send out the Vanquisher request.
"I wish I could have seen the splicers… but I couldn't even enter the collision. I know they're dangerous, enough so that the Hunter from the incident had to use the emergency checkpoint-wide broadcast channel. Or maybe that was just out of fear." Nighthawk said, pressing the broadcast button.
"Anomaly… crap, I said it wrong. Oh, whatever. Anomaly B84M, Low Priority. Loosely Tangled. Requesting General-Class Vanquishers in the area." He spoke, pressing the button to end the broadcast afterwards.
The rain plummeted down outside even harder, which made Nighthawk even more grateful he could hide out in his aircraft until a Vanquisher arrived. And due to this being a Low Priority anomaly, he would have to wait for longer.
And so he did.
He waited.
Cold, curious,
and alone.