The Two Lives Of Aaron Wade: The Gamer The Heir - 152 The Ocean City Of Atlantis III

ZACK, DARKE & MACK

The elves were already in the upper city, and that was done two hours before Zareth and Raven Song decided to make their move. If anyone were to ask, all the trio would say was trade secrets, after all they were trained soldiers, and Mack had the makings of a great spy, the fact that he could also cook was also quite a bonus. The three of them were hanging around a bar close to the north exit of the city, which led out to the woods. However said exit was closed, and the only other way out was to leave through the harbor and sail around the edge of the island.

However that course of action would definitely draw more attention than any one of them would need or be able to handle at the moment. The moment they got on the island, it hadn’t taken them too long of a time to discover the shady movements in the city. Well calling it shady would be given them too much credit as even the guards of the city itself seemed to be walking hand in hand with players and the denizens of the island to move a couple of goods out of the city and into the forest outside it. Mack reckoned they were probably heading to the mountain in the distance, or the massive hill that overlooked the city north of it.

Or they might be heading to some other clandestine location, but the thing is, they needed to find a way to get through, or at the very least find out what was going on. And not just that the had to figure out an escape route while they’re at it. And from what they’ve noticed, getting on the island was not a problem, but getting off was going to be a hassle. Movements to and fro from the harbor was locked down right, even the massive 100 meter in diameter pond in the middle of the city that led to the lower city was locked tight and being guarded by a bunch of ferocious looking guards. I wouldn’t exactly be easy if at all possible to bypass these guys without starting a fight that would bring the whole forces of the island down on them.

“Can I get you guys anything else?” a young human girl working as a bar maid walked to their table with a tray in hand. The food in front of them was hardly touched and the wine still hung at the brim of their cups. Mack knew not eating and just sitting there silently will draw attention, and even if they had on disguises and physical attributes that set them apart from each other, their mannerisms were so similar that they might be easily recognized as clones of each other.

“No thanks, we’re good here, just get us some water if you don’t mind.” Zack said to her with a wild smile on his face, his shaggy hair hanging allover his face and giving him a rather wild look.

“Okay, one jug of water, coming right up!” she replied with a smile that was a little too bright, before turning to go get the water.

The elven clones had to make a discussion, but given that they were in a bar where it was quite possible that the contents of what they had to say could be heard by the wrong party, hey had to shift a much older much more obscure language that not more than 5% of the current eleven population knew how to speak, much less the rest of the Galaxy. It was an old human tongue, one that was even already extinct before the great rebirth. That language was Latin.

“So what do we do now, obviously something is going on in this city, but it seems it’s concentrated outside of it rather than inside. An they’re keeping everyone else not in the know insides the city, this is probably the only way they could keep whatever it is they have to do under wraps and prevent any sort of interference.” Darke spoke up as he took a spoonful of the food in front of him.

“Even so, our movements would be a little bit restricted due to how tight the security it, whoever these people are, they’re not taking any chances. We need proper schematics of the city, and also a way off this rock should things go sideways. Locating the priestess is not our job, we just have to know what’s up with the island and how to get off it when the time comes, so we should just go us on recon and finding other avenues of escape without having to blow this place sky high like the captain suggested.” Mack said, taking a drink from his cup in the process. Zack furrowed his brows and asked.

“I don’t get why you suggested we look for a way off and do reconnaissance instead of looking for the priestess. Shouldn’t it be us who finds her.”

Mack looked up, not at all blind to the bitterness in Zack’s tone and the annoyed look on his face. He shook his head and smiled as he looked at what was essentially his clone, just as he was his, but a person he saw as his younger brother.

“That’s exactly the reason why I said we shouldn’t be given that task. Jack’s our brother, and we love him very much. But we would not have been able to think clearly and objectively due to how personal such a task would be for us. And I know you would say that it’s because it’s personal that we would be more focus, but that’s a lie. We’ve been doing this our whole lives, we’ve had to watch as our brothers died on missions due to emotions getting in the way.

It’s not just us putting their life on the line, and even though the Captain, the new girl and Raven Song can come back to life at the cost of being weakened, if Zareth dies due to a mistake on our part, like letting our emotions get the best of us and not making rational decisions. We’ll never be able to give ourselves, even if we manage to save Jack, and there’s the very deal possibility that we might fail. So please be calm and let’s do what we have to do, the captain has not failed us yet, and I doubt he would now. Besides, this is his personal quest, not ours, we’re just along for the ride.”

>>>>>

Aá SEVEN & PERSEPHONE

I stretched a bit, endlessly grateful for finally being out of that damn ice ball, nobody even cared to check what did of bounty Persephone had come to cash in on, so no one knew it was me the very much shared captain of the Acheron. Normally I should be happy that no one was looking for me, but this was fucking annoying, no one was even paying any sort of attention to me, and I really wasn’t liking it. But our next order if steps would be to use the compass to find a way to the upper city, because I’ve checked, with the constant dragging feeling that pointed upwards, it more than proved that the priestess was above and not below.

Currently Persephone and I were in a horse right in the middle of the lower city, fish people swam every which way blissfully ignoring us, however I didn’t have too much time on my hands. I couldn’t remain underwater indefinitely, apart from my augmented racial trait, I could only stay underwater for about two hours before I need to go up to breathe, and I was running out of time.

I pulled the compass out and gave it a cursory look, it was pointing west and coupled with the dragging feeling I was getting from it, it was probably taking me where I could find a path to the upper city. I turned to Persephone and gave a tilt of my head, telling her to come on. She made that ball of ice again, encasing me in it before swimming in the direction that I subtly nudged her towards.

The city was really busy, and for an underwater city it was also quite beautiful, not exactly what I expected. But like every other city, there was always a slim, a dark and seedy underbelly where those people without the best of opportunities had taken to calling their home, it was also the stomping ground of common criminals. And it is well known that Atlantians where freaking pirates of the worst sort.

The slums weren’t any more welcoming than the city it was a sort of, however everyone here seemed really eager to mind their own business. Which quite honestly worked well in our favor and I was quite happy for that. Eventually we came up to a building that looked like a dilapidated church, now the buildings in the under city were mostly made from pillars of towers jutting out from under the main island itself, or built on under it, using the bottom of the island as a foundation, so instead of building from the ground up, the built from the top down.

The building was abandoned, and written in bright red letters above an open doorway were the words “Beware! Beware! Death lays beyond!” Well let’s not say that the aquatic races didn’t have a flake for the dramatic, I literally felt chills from reading that, or maybe it would be because Persephone dispelled the ice ball. She looked at me with raised eyebrows and asked.

“Are you sure you read the directions correctly? How the heck can this place lead to the upper city?” I ignored the insulting tone in her voice as I answered.

“The compass has never led me astray before, sure it’s sent me into the literal jaws of death before, but I believe this is the way. Come on, we’re running out of time.” I said to her as I swam into the entrance with her following close behind.

{ALERT: INSTANCE DUNGEON}

{You have discovered the Instance Dungeon: THE PRISON OF CALYPSO/ exp and skill increment increased by 40% for duration of Dungeon run. All stats reduced by 80% should you fail dungeon run! Drops increased by 100%}

The moment the message faded from view, Persephone turned to look at me with an annoyed look on her face. I on the other hand had a sheepish look on mine, I did lead her here in the first place, but I really wasn’t sorry. However why was I having this very weird feeling of Deja Vu , like I’ve been in this same kind of situation before. I looked at the compass hanging by my neck and narrowed my eyes, the last time; we ended up in a dungeon filled with mutant nereids. Then I decided to phrase another question.

“Take me to a safer and discreet path to the upper city”

And then the fucking compass spun towards another direction, and Persephone saw it along with the ugly look on my face. Damn it! It’s always important to phrase where you wanted to go or what you shared properly, but I had just asked for an alternate path to the upper city, and for a compass that’s mainly made for the hung of treasures, it would definitely lead me right into a fucking Dungeon.

“I’m sorry Persephone, but we have to see this through. I won’t make a mistake like this next time.” I said to her as pulled Sky and shifted her into her staff form. I was underwater so fighting with a bow or a sword would be really hard.

“Oh don’t worry about it, I get first pick of all the loots anyway.” She said to me as she spun her ice daggers around her fingers.

“Like hell that’s happening! I…..”

*Booong!*

“Save the argument for later, now! We fight!”