Seeds of Discordia

A soft breeze blew over the city as a crescent moon looked down, almost smiling at the inhabitants. The amount of people walking around had lessen thanks to the hour of the night. It wasn’t too late in the night, but it also wasn’t so early. It was about a quarter to ten. They had chosen this time since people were either finishing up the night around the area or were already home.

Liam took in a long deep breath as he stood in an alleyway close by the Teleportation Tree. He had Veil of Shadows activated so no one would be able to see him. He held it for three seconds before slowly letting it roll out over his lips. He was feeling nervous about what he was about to do. He was tasked to sneak inside the Teleportation Tree, reach the floor that held all the offices of the New Arrival Agents, search each room to see if they held any kind of information tied to what the Fiddler’s Spider Web has been searching for, and get out without making a scene.

He was nervous because of all of that plus it brought back some memories. After Earth started to go to hell, he had to do similar things to try and get supplies for people, information on targets, and more. While back on Earth he didn’t have magical powers or skills, the hecticness the planet was going through at the time made it a bit easier since people were occupied with everything all at once.

This time though he had magical abilities and skills he could put to use. He had never done this in this world, so he wasn’t sure how well things were going to go. Add in the fact that they had magical defenses and probably security measures he had no idea about, he wasn’t very confident.

Lady Arachne, however, was oddly confident and supportive that he could do this. She wouldn’t tell him exactly where this confidence came from, but she was strongly adamant that he could get in and out without any issues.

Liam looked around at the tops of the buildings around the Teleportation Tree. Somewhere, on one of those buildings, Silent Paw and Echo Talon stood. They weren’t as confident in Liam as Lady Arachne was at first. After the shorter woman told him to use Veil of Shadows in front of them, they were surprised. It came to a shock that they had a really hard time finding where he was. After Noxi pointed to look for a shadow on the ground they finally found where he stood.

Since they weren’t going to enter the building with him they had to come up with a way they could support him. If things got dicey they were tasked to try and extract him out. The problem with that though was they needed a way to know where he was and if the situation was dire enough for them to intervene.

The solution? Echo Talon revealed a device created through the works of Artificery and magic. It was an exceedingly small circular device big enough to fit snug in his ear. It reminded him of a Bluetooth earpiece especially with how it worked. Like any earpiece they could communicate back and forth with each other. The difference between this device and an actual Bluetooth earpiece, besides the fact it only worked with Echo Talon’s Echo Magic, was Liam didn’t need to open his mouth to speak into it. The magic picked up on the vibrations in his throat. He could speak with his mouth closed and it would come in clean and clear on Echo Talon’s end. It also only sent what he wanted to, to her by just focusing on her. It kind of reminded him of how he and Eri communicated. If he focused on her she got his thoughts.

Another cool feature about the device was no one would be able to tell he had it on him unless they looked at his ear. The device didn’t pulse with mana unless it was used and even then the amount of mana that pulsed from the device was so weak it was hardly noticeable.

“Are you ready?” Echo Talon asked softly.

Without opening his mouth, Liam replied, “Yes. Heading in now.”

Liam slowly walked towards the entrance of the Teleportation Tree. While everywhere around the tall building was quiet and empty, this particular place still had activity thanks to the comings and goings of people.

Liam spotted an employee that was heading for the building and walked as close as he could so his shadowy visage that appeared on the ground would blend in. He was still far enough that the person he used as a disguise wouldn’t be able to tell someone was behind them.

He wasn’t sure if they were going to head for the desk or for the hallway that led to rooms, elevators, and stairs that he had walked through on his first day here. He got his answer the moment they entered the building.

The man he was using as his shield had made his way to the hallway. However, the moment they got to the entrance they were stopped by two Lion-folks that were standing on both sides.

This was new to Liam. When he had arrived a few days ago, they weren’t there. Liam pushed his thoughts aside as he listened to the conversation between the three.

“Identification?” one of the Lion-folks questioned.

The man Liam was standing behind let out a sigh as he grumbled, “Alex you know its me. Why do we have to do this every time?”

The Lion-folk, Alex, shook his head. “Come on man. You know I have to do this.”

The man shook his head before taking out a card to show Alex. “I know. I just find this all too much.”

After Alex looked at the card and handed it back, he replied, “I agree, but Fred is certain that something is going on and with everything that had recently happened he wants security to be tighter than ever.”

Fred? Liam thought to himself as he tried to remember where he had heard that name before. After a second he tied the name to the Bear-folk who had mistaken him as a Demon-kin.

“Didn’t the mayor turn down his proposal though? How did he get away with this?” the man asked.

“He’s the Head Security here,” Alex stated. “While he has no power outside of here, he has power over security and the rules that revolve around them inside this building.”

The man let out a sigh before shaking his head. “Whatever, hopefully this ends soon. If there was a line to get through here I would be late to clock in.”

Alex let out a laugh. “That’s the only thing you’re worried about? Must be nice. Get going before you truly do end up being late because you decided to take time to complain.”

Liam followed the man through the entrance of the hallway. He remained cautious in case the two Lion-folks were able to spot him. However, as he passed them he noticed they weren’t as alert as he thought they would be. It looked like they were only relying on their sight instead of anything else. That was good for him.

So even Fred believes something is going on? I don’t know if that’s a good sign or a bad one. But good for him. He looked like the responsible type. Liam thought ss he followed the man down the hall.

After walking halfway down the hall, the man entered a room to his right. Since this wasn’t Liam’s destination he switched to another person who exited the room and continued down the hallway. As they walked he noticed there were more people walking around than was necessary.

Majority of the Beast-kins walking around looked like they belonged to the security force. Liam took it as a shift change was about to happen, which was both a good thing and a bad thing. Good because many of them would waste time talking which meant their focus would be on anything exciting or lack of excitement of the day. Bad because the new guards would be more awake and alert than the ones who had been on duty all day.

 Liam walked down a few hallways going left and right. He to switch from person to person since his disguises kept going the opposite way he needed to go. It took a good minute, but after some people hopping or shadow hopping, he finally found the open door that led to the stairwell.

He, and his two temporary companions, had gone over the layout of the building and which paths were the best to take. They finally settled on him taking the stairs since the elevator would be risky. If there were too many people going in and out of the elevator then there was a chance someone would either bump into him or notice an issue with the shadow he made.

The staircase was the best option because hardly anyone liked to take the stairs. He did have to be cautious around the doors he passed on each floor since the employees kept them open in case of emergencies.

The floor he was aiming for was around the middle of the building, floor fifteen. At first Liam argued that he would be too tired after climbing so many stairs, but everyone in the room waved the concern away. Noxi explained that the stats he had would prevent that from happening. It wouldn’t be an issue until he reached floor twenty to feel any tiredness for his level.

This surprised Liam. He didn’t take stats into consideration. This brought a new questioned to mind. He knew they all knew he was low in the levels, but they didn’t know his stats were twenty-five percent sealed. He didn’t know if that would be an issue, so he decided to keep an eye on his stamina as he made his climb.

As he started his climb, he said while keeping his mouth closed, “First objective cleared.”

Liam felt his ear vibrate a bit as Echo Talon responded back, “Good work. Take your time making your way up the stairs. Don’t rush and put yourself in a situation that will harm you.”

“Got it,” Liam replied.

It took him around thirty minutes slowly making his way to his targeted floor. He was stalled at a few door entrances since people had decided to walk by when he tried to pass them. A couple of times he held his breath because he heard a person or two recommend taking the stairs down. He was happy to hear the others with them call them crazy for that suggestion.

 He was glad he made the decision to not have his Spirit Weave ability activated during this first part. He would have emptied out his Spirit Pool before he needed it. After meeting up with his two accomplices he found a spot where he could deactivate it and top it off. He had Devoured a Minor Soul Orb and had it ticking down in case he needed to give a higher replenishment during the mission. He just hoped he timed things right with it.

  They didn’t know where he was going to hid before the mission started so they couldn’t see that his shadow looked different from earlier. He was pushing things this way, but he figured it was good practice since he would probably have to do things like this in the future.

As he approached the door to the fifteenth floor, he slowly peeked into the hallway and saw no one was around. This floor was eerily quiet, but it wasn’t a surprise. All workers who used this floor normally left around eight. Any that were still around were those who were working on special cases. The likelihood of that happening was extremely low.

Liam turned left and started his way towards the door at the end of the hall. As he made his way to it, he stopped and placed another type of device Echo Talon had given him every few feet.

These devices were small circular devices the size of a shirt button that sent out weak echo pulses. These pulses would be able to detect when someone walked by them and send a signal to both Liam and Echo Talon. Echo Talon would be able to hear these pulses since they were created using one of her magical abilities. Liam would be able to receive the signal thanks to a receiver device he was given. The signal that was sent to him would let him know which one was tripped by the strength of the pulse the receiver device gave him. The farthest ones would send a weak pulse and would gradually grow in strength as the person who walked by them passed the others.

He didn’t need to worry about collecting the devices back or someone taking them because Echo Talon had a failsafe installed that allowed her to send a certain frequency through her Echo Magic that would cause the devices to destroy themselves and turn into dust, not leaving a single ounce of proof they were there.

Liam was fascinated by these creations. The more he heard about these and the possibilities Artificery held with both creation and magic the more he wanted to learn it. He had to hold his curiosity of the craft back so he could focus on the briefing, but after this was down he was going to ask a lot of questions.      

After setting up the last one, Liam stared at the door he needed to get through. He lightly jingled the handle and felt it was locked. He cursed internally because according to the Association’s knowledge these doors couldn’t be locked. Liam crouched and looked at the handle. He noticed there was a key hole big enough for him to look through. Thanks to his heightened sight he was able to see through the hole and see the room on the other side.

The entire room was dark since the sun was down and the Yooperlite stones were turned off. As he stared through the keyhole a few ideas played through his mind. He decided to try out one of them since it would be the best to use.

He took in a deep breath and, while keeping an eye on the spot he wanted to appear through the keyhole, he activated Shadow Step. To his relief, he felt his body dissipate into a cloud of smoke before reappearing on the other side of the door.

He let out the air he took in before using the ability and smiled before reactivating his Veil of Shadows. He wasn’t entirely sure if this would work. However, this was better than trying to activate his Spirit Weave form and trying to use Shadow Double on the other side. He both didn’t want to waste any Spirit Pool points and wasn’t entirely sure if the ability would work with no enemies around. He really needed to gain the ability outside of that form.

His guess with his Shadow Step working through the door was highly skeptical as his guess with Shadow Double working, but he believed it had a higher success rate since he was able to see through the keyhole and the entire room was covered in darkness.

Once more, without opening his mouth, Liam reported, “Second objective cleared. However, the door was locked.”

“Was it really?” Echo Talon responded with slight concern. “You didn’t have to break it did you?”

“Negative,” Liam answered. “Was able to get through without having to break our pick it.”

“Is that so?” Echo Talon said with an amused tone. “I might need to have you join me on more missions that require us not having to break doors down or pick them. Continue on.”

Liam smirked at that comment. He was happy he was showing some promise especially to someone who looked annoyed at him continuing their Chain Mission. Before he moved, Liam pulled his goggles down over his eyes to get a better view of the room. He could have used his Dark Sight and tried to level it up so he could see clearer in the dark, but he knew he didn’t have the time for that. He needed to hurry and look through all the documents in this room.

He started with the shelves planted in the corner of the right back of the room. He searched through books to see if there were any hidden places or items disguising themselves as books. What he found were nothing exciting. Rules, procedures, and handbooks on the position of the person who’s office this was along with other positions.

There were other books containing information about what the city held, businesses, and people of note. Nothing stood out for what he was looking for. This area was a bust.

Liam moved over to the cabinets that littered the other side of the back area next to the massive window. After opening and searching through each document placed in each folder, again he found nothing special. They were just of people from over the years that had arrived from the Tutorial Area. One thing that did stand out was there were only four people who arrived recently this past month. He was even in there indicating he was the last one to have arrived recently to this area.

His information on the paperwork didn’t have much. Just some notes of what he said during their interview, his age, first name, and some odd stuff. He placed it back and looked around the room once more.

He didn’t see anything that indicated there were hidden spots, or any scrapes along the flooring for hidden rooms. He decided to check the desk that was centered in the middle of the room.

The top of the desk was neat and clean. Nothing out of place or placed in what could look weird. He opened the bottom drawer of the right side and saw there were more papers. He pulled them out and stacked them in close to the edge. He opened the drawer above it and saw nothing but pens, pencils, and other office equipment one would have.

He went through the stack of folders filled with paperwork and noticed it wasn’t for the New Arrival Agent Department. Instead, the paperwork ended up being reports for a man named George Jinkalin. Liam didn’t know who the man was, but after reading through reports he deduced that the man must be the mayor of the city.

He hadn’t met the man nor head a lot about him, so he wasn’t entirely sure if his guess was correct. However, the details of incidents, issues, problems resolved as well as people who they were keeping an eye on in case they caused problems made him determine that his guess was correct.  

After looking over the reports, Liam pulled a few that he felt could be helpful while putting the rest back in their folders and in the drawer. He then moved over to the bottom drawer on the other side of the desk and found more folders with paperwork in them. Like the other said, he placed these ones in a stack on the edge to indicate where he had gotten it from.

He then open the top drawer and noticed a couple things weird about it. First the only thing in it was a clipboard. At first glance the clipboard wouldn’t be something that would catch his eye. However, it was how high the clipboard sat in the drawer. For the size of the drawer, the clipboard sat up too high.

Liam pulled the object out to get a better look at the drawer. Like he had thought. There was too much missing space inside this drawer. Not only that, but as his vision zoomed in to find any details he overlooked, he noticed slight markings along both sides of the drawer that stopped at a thirty degree angle upwards.

Liam placed a hand in the drawer and pressed down to see if it was a trap door. To his luck he felt the fake bottom spring down and then up as he slowly brought his hand out. There, inside the hidden compartment of the drawer was a steel case.

Liam pulled out the steel case and inspected it. He activated Mana Sight to see if he could spot any mana leaking from it, but to his surprise there were no such securities. He wasn’t sure if the person this belonged to was stupid for not placing any or if they were that confident that no one would ever find it. After thinking about the lock on the door, he believed the latter was the reason.

Still, Liam was cautious as he looked for a way to open the steel case. He felt stupid as he found it was a lot easier to open it by sliding the cover off of the case. Again, this just told him how confident Lucy was on no one being able to enter the room.

He gently placed the lid down and looked at the first folder that faced him. It read, Targets. He pulled it out and looked at the next one that read Allies and Potential Threats. He pulled out two more before stopping at the last folder. Liam’s brows scrunched as he read the words in a soft whisper subconsciously, “Project S.I.V. Retrieval.”