Chapter 23 - The Spiral Staircase

"Where's your brother right now?"

Xanie smiled thinly as she answered, "He ran away from home. Nobody knows where he is."

"..." Hecathe suddenly regretted asking such a question but Xanie didn't look to be too affected by it.

Hecathe gulped as he waited for Xanie to speak up first and thankfully, she did.

"Captain, follow me," Xanie spoke up as she went into Hecathe's room and pushed the bed away.

Hecathe squinted and was about to question what the girl was trying to do but before he could question it, she suddenly pushed the bookshelf an inch back and the cleared up space on the floor suddenly opened up, leading down to a spiral staircase.

Xanie clapped her hands as she looked down at the dark stairway, "Captain, just go down and follow the map."

Hecathe seemed to be a bit hesitant as he looked down at the spiral staircase that just seemed to go deeper and deeper into the ground. It was dark and narrow which made Hecathe feel extremely uncomfortable.

Only at this point did he care to realize that his plan was indeed dangerous. If he were to go in there and faint due to the closed-up space and lack of oxygen, he would surely be dead and there would be nobody willing to go look for him.

Xanie seemed to have seen through his worry so she smiled as she spoke up reassuringly, "Captain, I'll give you two days. It should be more than enough for you to get to the city. When you get there, send me a message and if I don't get your message, I'll take it as you not having been successful in this plan. Don't worry about it, if that happens, I'll send some people down there to search for you."

It sounded like a solid plan and Hecathe couldn't help but be a little surprised to see that this girl had planned everything more thoroughly than him who was the master brain behind this entire plan.

"How do I send you a message?" Hecathe asked and the girl frowned in turn, looking to be a bit confused and surprised.

"Captain, you'll send a message through the QMS."

"QMS?"

Xanie nodded her head as she took out something from her pocket, "The QMS. Quick Messaging Service. Don't you have one of these?"

Hecathe looked at the thing that looked much like a watch and he nodded as he lifted his left hand and showed it to the girl, "This thing?"

Xanie nodded as she walked closer and pushed a button on the watch.

Light suddenly came out of the watch and displayed an image of the screen on air.

"Oh..." Hecathe would certainly be lying if he said that he wasn't a bit impressed as he saw the latest technology.

Xanie swiped on air and the screen changed to contacts. She instantly typed in her contact number and pressed save before looking at Hecathe and giving him instructions, "Just press this icon here and speak the message that you want to send."

Hecathe nodded as he lifted his hand up and pressed the button before saying a simple "Like this?" to the watch.

Xanie chuckled as she saw this and at the same time, the watch in her hand also lit up as it played the same audio recording of Hecathe who had sent her a voice message.

Xanie nodded as she responded, "That's it. This device uses no signal so you should not have any problem sending me a message."

Hecathe nodded as he put his hand down and listened carefully to Xanie.

"Captain, I suggest you get dressed already. Did you pack all the things you'll need? Water, food, clothes, and money?" As the girl asked this question, Hecathe couldn't help but be reminded of his mother who used to ask him this same question every time he used to go on school trips.

Hecathe unconsciously chuckled as he nodded his head and answered, "Everything except for money has been packed. I couldn't find any money lying around."

Xanie's eyebrows creased together as she asked, "Why not money?"

Hecathe coughed as he came up with a lie on the spot, "It's been so long that I've stepped out of this place. Naturally, I had no use of money and hence, I no longer remember where I kept all my money."

Xanie sighed and looked to be a bit sympathetic as she responded, "That's going to be a problem. Ocasia is said to be a very expensive city. You'll need a lot of money to get by."

Hecathe nodded as he also sighed at his own fate.

Xanie gulped and after a minute of careful deliberation, she took out her purse and handed over all the money she had to Hecathe, "Captain, this isn't much but it should help you at least a little."

Hecathe was more than happy to see the girl voluntarily giving him money like this. He didn't even hesitate to take it and immediately counted it before keeping it away in his pocket.

"Thank you," Hecathe was at least polite enough to thank her for her help.

"No worries, captain. You're the one paying me anyway so it's indirectly your own money," Xanie chuckled.

"But still, you have been very helpful. I'm impressed by your dedication," Hecathe complimented her and Xanie looked to be extremely happy as she grinned from ear to ear.

"Captain, you're too nice with your words," Xanie also didn't fail in giving back polite responses.

"Now," Hecathe sighed as he looked down at the spiral staircase once again, "Do you have something I can use as light?"

"Hmm..." Xanie seemed to be thinking about it seriously before she suddenly clapped her hands and went searching in the side desk.

Hecathe frowned as he looked at her cautiously.

This girl seemed to know this room pretty well and no matter how much she had managed to help Hecathe with her knowledge, Hecathe still found it a bit weird and suspicious that this girl knew this room so well as if it were her own room.

Xanie picked up something from inside the desk and took it back to Hecathe. She clicked a button on it and the lamp-like thing lit up completely.

"It's an eternal lamp. An old model of the product but it gets the job done," Before Hecathe could question her, she had already explained in detail what the thing in her hand was, "It can stay alive for eternity and only shuts down when you deliberately shut it down. It doesn't use batteries or signals so even if you go down in the secret emergency passages, you won't have to worry about the light suddenly going off."

Hecathe took the lamp from her hand and bowed his head slightly as he thanked her once again.

Xanie looked down at her watch and gulped as she announced, "Captain, it's already late. You must get going now."

Hecathe nodded as he heard her, "Wish me all the best."

Xanie smiled as she did exactly that, "All the best, Captain."

Hecathe took a sharp breath in as he closed his eyes for a mere second and did a small prayer before stepping on the spiral staircase with the eternal lamp clutched in his hand.

After taking a few steps down, he coughed as he took in all the dirt that covered the place.

"This place needs some serious maintenance," Hecathe muttered in between his coughs, and Xanie who heard him chuckled as she immediately responded back.

"I'll be sure to convey that to the cleaning department."

Hecathe went in deeper and deeper down the spiral staircase but these sets of stairs looked to be neverending. After going down the stairs for a while, he looked up to see the opening of the place that he had entered from.

He was so far down by now that the entrance looked to be a small circle of light that was the same size as his thumb. He sighed as he looked down and tried to use the lamp to see how much more he had to climb down and as expected, he couldn't see the bottom just yet.

He continued on his journey for a few more minutes and suddenly a rancid smell started abusing his nostrils.

Hecathe's face cringed up as he immediately covered his nose and continued to go down as he complained to no one in particular, "It freaking stinks as well!"