Chapter 14
As Aida and Kai maneuvered their way throughout the crowd of tourists and normal citizens, an image of a circle with a line across it was engraved on a decent-sized metal plate hanging from a nearby building.
"Look Aida, that must be the local inn," Kai spoke quietly to his companion.
The two Faerlu members cut through a few more people before sliding through the door and into the giant building.
"Welcome to the Forgotten World!" A loud male innkeeper managed to get out over the loud customers that filled his tables.
Kai and Aida stopped to be aware of their surroundings before pulling their hoods down to not attract any suspicious attention. The two walk to the back of the inn and to an empty table. Quietly they sat there, inspecting with their eyes and listening for anything that could be used to help them navigate to the Old Governments Official Faction Department.
"Did you know that the Forgotten World is actually a play on names referencing the myth of a Forgotten World that can only be reached through the ruins in Anucis?" One customer spoke mysteriously amongst his colleagues.
"The fish in the market is apparently carrying resources for a Faction that is currently uprising within the city, the Dusk alliance is apparently here looking for them at this very moment," another said from a different table.
"I heard the Dusk alliance is here to talk to the Old Government, though nobody has seen them in at least a hundred years," a drunk customer spoke from the table next to them.
"Excuse me," Kai had turned and spoke to the recent drunk customer of the inn.
"Yeah?"
"Where exactly is it rumored that the Old Government is at exactly? Out of curiosity," Kai asked.
"Why the hell should I tell you anything? Traveler..." The drunk mumbled out of annoyance.
A pouch of Kins flew onto the table in front of the man.
"Just am interested is all," the Faerlu leader spoke calmly.
The drunk stared at the pouch for only a moment before grabbing it quickly.
"They say the old Floaters on the east side of Njomon, there is one with strange engravings around the structure. It seems to be where most see the Dusk Alliance roaming in," the drunk spoke aloud before standing up and stumbling to the bar for another drink.
"Let's go there then," Aida said softly as she stood in sequence with Kai.
The two of them crossed through the town quickly and cleverly as to not be suspicious, they passed a few Relnad soldiers as well. Hoping to not be discovered, they quietly ran across the last bridge to the massive Floater that carried the abandoned buildings from the slums of Njomon on the East.
"There Aida!" Kai said while pointing to a building past a few others, carrying unique and ancient engravements across the outside of it.
The Faerlu Faction members jogged to the door of the building before pulling it open and running in. Aida stood next to Kai with as much shock on her face like his.
"What is this?" Kai asked out loud.
Around them were lights, running off of unknown power traveling throughout the building. Pipes also ran along with the corners of the walls and into the floor. There was little to no furniture, but clocks and other unique objects filled the building, as well as books and a spiraling staircase to the floor above.
"I saw them go this way!" A voice outside yelled out of nowhere.
"Soldiers," Aida and Kai looked at each other before quickly moving up the spiraling staircase.
There was one room once they were up the stairs, the door was locked after being shut behind them.
"We need to figure out what in the hell we need to do here," Kai said urgently.
In the room they were in now, a shelf with no books on it stood against one wall, a desk sat against another, and a large standing clock stood against the last. Both of them split up to engage with their surroundings. Aida instantly ran to the empty bookshelf to look around it, and Kai to the desk.
Aida looked over the bookshelf, but it showed no sign of information. Kai opened the notebook that lay on the desk, but the pages were empty.
"Anything over there?" Aida asked.
"Nothing, I don't get it," Kai responded with a hint of frustration.
The two stood there, lost on what to do next. Finally, after a few more silent moments, Aida began to run her hands over the empty bookshelf, feeling some sort of engraving underneath one of the shelves.
"Wait! I have something," she quickly proclaimed.
After kneeling down, she could read what seemed to be a message carved into the bottom of the shelf.
" 'Thousands of years ago, we were the beginning of a New Era, this Era held what is rare today. The number you're looking for is the informative page.' "
"What does this even mean?" Aida asked aloud.
"IN HERE!" A voice yells from outside of the building they are in.
Suddenly the floor shook as the door to the building was smashed in.
"Look for them! I know they're here!" Another soldier yells.
"We have to hurry Aida! The only thing I can think of is a Primal Year of the Historical World, this being in between the tenth and fifteenth Decade of this time period," Kai spoke quickly as he began flipping through the empty notebook.
"But the pages are empty are they not?" Aida asked.
"Yes, but I have an idea," Kai answered, stopping on the twelfth page of the notebook.
Pulling out a small blade, he presses it to the palm of his hand to slightly cut it open.
"If my theory is right, Sacer was at its prime in the twelfth decade of the Historical World," Kai spoke.
The soldiers could be heard making their way up the stairs and to the room they were in now. The Faerlu Faction leader slowly drops some of his blood onto the pages, instantly revealing the hidden writing that he had guessed to have been there.
"What does it say?" Aida asked.
"LET US IN!" A soldier yelled from outside the door now, they began banging against it trying to push it open.
" 'There were 152 Factions at the beginning of the Old Government, these 152 Factions were the growing point for the Historical World,' " Kai finally finished.
The two of them looked at each other before moving their gazes to the giant clock that stood on the opposite wall. Once they were to it, Kai slowly moved the only hand that was on it to the number one, then to five, and last to two.
"There's no way this means something right?" Aida asked softly, the sound of soldiers beating on the door echoing throughout their room.
After the hand reached the last number, the whole building began to shake, and suddenly the soldiers became distracted as they began to stumble down the stairs from the intensity of the quake-like feeling.
A few more moments passed, and the clock moved itself to the side from where it was originally placed, revealing a small door. Quickly, Kai and Aida opened the door and went inside. The extremely cramped space held just enough room for the both of them as they shut the door behind them. Poles ran from the ceilings, giving the passengers something to hold onto, as suddenly the room they were in made a loud vacuum-like sound, before dropping from its current location, and down into the depths of the world.