81 Mysterious Facility... I Think?

Taking in the dimensions of the room, I am dumbfounded, 'How difficult would it be to make this place, and what is it for?'

The room is huge, and the walls are covered in concrete to prevent collapse. Similarly to the tunnels, the roof is arched, but the floor itself seems to have been smoothed and leveled out. Within the walls, metal pipes of various sizes run in and out; some seem to be electrical while others seem to be for moving liquids.

Directly in front of us, a warehouse door that seems to be around ten or so feet high and eight feet wide sits partially open. The door looks to be heavy and dense, and if not for it already being opened, our odds of opening it would be near zero. The walls of the warehouse also appear to be made of steel, but there are a few windows mounted high up with bars protecting the glass. A large symbol is painted on both sides of the wall, which consists of a pair of hands with a simple face drawn on to each palm. The face and hand on the left appears to be wrinkled and old, while the one on the right seems to look pristine and young.

Jimmy looks at me questioningly, "Do you recognize that symbol Eira? You're staring at it pretty hard."

"Hmm, not off the top of my head, although it seems vaguely familiar…" I sigh, "I don't know. What about you, Kardama?"

Kardama stares at it and studies it closely, "Nope, I've never seen it before. Doesn't seem to be a demonic symbol."

"Well, should we go in?" Eden asks.

I nod, "It looks like that's where Sam is, so yeah, it looks that way."

"Wait," Aponi says, pointing to a corner of the room.

Turning my head, I spot two normal Crawlers creeping from some kind of pipe mounted within the walls. They exit quietly and carefully before moving toward the ground where the concrete seems to be damaged. To my confusion, the first approaches the area and takes in a mouthful of soil, swallowing it while the second stands guard nearby. A moment later, it starts making a gagging sound similar to that of a cat coughing up a hairball before vomiting the soil back up.

'What? The Crawlers are the ones infusing mana into the soil, but why… and how?'

Once the Crawler has vomited, they swap places, and I take the opportunity, 'Ego, give me a basic \u003cAnalyze\u003e on that Crawler before and after it does whatever it is doing.'

Name: Unnamed

Gender: None

Race: Human Crawler

Level: 2

Health: 110/110 (Weakened - Mana Poisoning)

Mana: 10/-

'Mana poisoning, that's pretty much what I thought would happen and what I've been waiting for.'

The Crawler does the same as the first and eats soil before vomiting it up.

Name: Unnamed

Gender: None

Race: Human Crawler

Level: 2

Health: 110/110

Mana: -/-

'...Ah, well, this explains how they've been taking care of their mana poisoning problem. This just raises more questions than it answers though, to be honest.'

Behind me, I hear someone begin to gag, and I turn to find Kardama staring at his mud-stained clothes.

"I-It was vomit. I stuck my arms into the mud and fell into it, and it was all vomit," he whispers to himself quietly.

I move my hand to punch his leg before remembering what he's covered in, stopping myself, I kick his foot instead, "Stop gagging or they'll hear us."

"Actually, it looks like they're leaving." I hear Eden say.

Looking back into the room, I can see the two Crawlers quickly run back into the pipe and disappear.

Aponi stares at the pipe with a pensive gaze, "What was that about anyway? What were they doing?"

Taking a minute to consider revealing what I know, I judge telling them the truth won't hurt, "Infusing mana into the soil to cure their mana poisoning."

"What? What's mana poisoning?"

"It's when your body takes in more mana than it can handle. Usually only happens in extremely high mana areas or if someone drinks a mana tonic when they already have full mana."

"Huh? Is this a high mana area?"

I shake my head, "It's higher than most places right now, but that's not why they have mana poisoning."

"Then why do they have it?" Aponi continues to inquire.

"Crawlers basically can't handle any excess mana in their system, yet part of the requirements for being in the system is that your body can absorb mana from the ambient air, so you can see where this would be a problem for them."

Eden interjects, "Wait, I've been wondering what is essence?"

Licking my fangs in thought and petting the bear cub I think of the simplest explanation I can, "That's a really complicated question that many have spent a great deal of time researching. Still, I'll try to summarize, essence is like a life specific energy that can be used to upgrade the body and soul while mana is more like general energy used for casting of spells and such. It is possible, although incredibly difficult to change essence to mana, but doing the opposite is thought to be impossible… Anyway, I know you're all curious, but we're getting way off-topic. I want Aponi and Eden to wait outside, just in case."

"What? Why?" Eden says disgruntled.

Aponi sighs and finds an area that isn't muddy to sit down, "I don't want to stay out here, but I guess it makes the most sense for me to stay."

I nod at Aponi and turn to Eden, "Someone needs to stay out here with Aponi, and I decided that's going to be you, so please just listen to me… Also, I need you to watch my bear cub."

Eden looks at me worried, before quickly recovering her neutral demeanor and nodding. The bear cub cries loudly as I remove it from my chest and hand it to Eden.

Kardama laughs, "Geez, I'll stay if it's that big a deal; it's not like we're walking into a Meatgrinder Demon or something."

Sighing and rolling my eyes, "You don't get a choice, and if it were a Meatgrinder Demon, I'd make you go in alone."

"...Don't joke about that." he shivers.

With that, Jimmy, Kardama, and I enter the warehouse stealthily. The place is gigantic with rows of wooden boxes and even it has a few forklifts parked near the entrance as if left with the intention of returning soon.

"What year would you say those forklifts are Jimmy?" I ask curiously.

"Eh, I don't know… They look pretty old, but they also look well maintained. Also, they weirdly don't have any obvious brands? Maybe, specially designed forklifts that can be repaired easily… That's how mail trucks work as well, so it's probably the same concept."

I look at Jimmy with surprise, "How did you know all that?"

He smiles and answers me quietly, "I am… I was a machinery specialist in the Navy for a while. The military will sometimes have generic machines like this for easy long-term upkeep."

"Ah, I see. That's good; I'll remember that. Speaking of well maintained, this place is surprisingly not very dusty."

Stopping to look at some of the wooden boxes I notice many of the ones nearby seem to be food rations.

"Crackers, canned hams, bagged corn, tons of flour… What is this place?"

Without time to explore further, we move between the racks of food rations while listening carefully for… Wait, what am I listening for?

"Jimmy and Kardama, I Uhm, can't seem to remember why we came here… could you remind me?"

Jimmy looks at me, confused, "What? We're here for… Huh? I-I can't remember either."

"Is something wrong with you two? We came here for… for… uhm? Wait, give me a second." Kardama stutters nervously as he clicks his teeth together, trying to remember.

"One second."

Using the ring, I contact Aponi and ask her why we came in here, "H-Hey, Aponi… Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, I can hear you. Is everything okay?"

"Maybe?... More importantly, why am I in a warehouse?"

"Uh, is that a trick question?"

"No. None of us can seem to remember."

"...You're tracking Sam."

"OH! That's right! Thanks."

Immediately I turn to Kardama and Jimmy, "Sam. We're here for Sam! We're tracking The Brutes. I remember now…" I say to Jimmy and Kardama.

The two of them remember at the exact same time.

"T-That's right." Jimmy whispers.

Kardama nods enthusiastically, "Yeah, we were looking for the Sam guy."

Breathing a sigh of relief, I nod, "Yep, we're here for… For what?"

"For!... For?" Jimmy blinks while Kardama simply clicks his tongue in frustration.

A bit of anxiety comes over me, and I decide on a counter, "Don't let the reason we're here slip your mind again, keep thinking about it, and let's keep moving. If you start to forget, ask someone else… every thirty seconds, someone says why we are here to remind everyone else."

Using the ring, I contact Aponi and ask her why we came in here, "H-Hey, Aponi… Can you hear me?"

"Yes, I can still hear you. Is everything okay in there?"

"Maybe?... More importantly, why am I in a warehouse?"

"Are you serious? You're in there for Sam… Ei."

"OH! That's right! Thanks."

I look at Kardama and Jimmy confidentially, "Sam! We're here for Sam."

Kardama and Jimmy both look as if they're having a eureka moment, and now with haste, we push forward at an accelerated rate. We pass by tanks of water, rations, fuel, boxes of flashlights, batteries, and many other daily necessities.

"Sam!" Jimmy states.

Thirty seconds pass, "The human with an S name!" Kardama says.

Thirty more seconds pass, "The moron." I mumble with worry. "You know what, I'll just get Aponi to remind us. This isn't working."

Using the ring, I contact Aponi and ask her why we came in here, "Aponi… Do you know, why am I in a warehouse?"

"Eira, I've been trying to contact you. You guys need to leave this is the thirteenth time you've contacted me!" Aponi shouts through the ring in a panicked voice.

"Uh, this is only the third?"

Someone taps my shoulder and I look to find Jimmy pointing, "Eira, what are you doing? We found a hatch over here."

I nod, "Ah, that's probably good."

Kardama looks at me, "What were you doing just now?"

"I…" my head begins to hurt and I bite my lip, "I don't know... Oh, is that a hatch?"

Kardama and Jimmy both look surprised and the three of us stand around the hatch as if staring at an alien spaceship. With confusion, I grip the hatch's handle, "I think we probably want to go down this hatch… probably."

They both look at me with distress and nod, so I pull open the hatch revealing a ladder. I go down first, discovering a room full of what looks to be wine bottles placed carefully and delicately upon rows of wine racks.

I scratch my head and look back up the ladder, "Okay, you two come down. This is where… something is."

"Yeah, I'm sure something is nearby," Jimmy says with a nervous laugh.

Weirdly my anxiety is extremely high, 'For some reason, I don't want to be down here anymore. But why?'

Thinking hard, a moment of clarity hits me, and immediately, I unexpectedly receive a message from Aponi, "Eira, you all need to leave! You keep forgetting things! Leave!"

My eyes go wide as I remember everything for only a second before it almost completely disappears again. Jimmy and… the Shadow Demon steps next to me, "We should leave immediately! This isn't somewhere we should be without more preparation! Hurry, back up the ladder!" I yell at them urgently.

The Shadow Demon looks at me with a red face, "A-Alright."

He turns around slowly while not averting his gaze until the last moment. Annoyed by his slowness, I kick him in the rear and some kind of weird mud sticks to my shoe, "What is wrong with you? Go! Don't worry about stealth; just run for the exit!"

"Oh, okay… Hey, when you're older we should talk," he says.

"You lustful idiot! RUN while you still can!" I shout.

Jimmy and the Shadow Demon ascend the ladder quickly, and just as I'm about to follow, I notice a manila folder nearby. Running over, I grab the folder that I think I want for some reason and then quickly ascend the ladder.

We run through what I think is a warehouse. In front of me is a human? Wait no he's Blood Race, I think, but I'm the last of my kind aren't I?. Then a demon… a Shadow Demon, maybe, runs in front of the human. Wait, am I running from something? I stop and spin around quickly, and prepare to attack whatever is behind me. Just as I am about to form a scythe from blood I realize I'm already holding a scythe.

'Ah, when did I get this scythe?... I'm a bit hungry; I wonder if there is a ramen shop nearby?'

So like that, I walk the mysterious facility looking for any sign of a ramen shop in this maze of boxes.

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