Chapter Text
We were asked to help a man, claiming that someone was injured and needed assistance. Naturally, the five of us knew we needed to help. So, we ventured out towards the location, stopping only to fill up our water bottles by a nearby river. It was there that I noticed a strange building not that far from where we were. I called out to everyone, and made my way over to it, not bothering to wait for everyone to catch up. When we made it there, I immediately took notice of the faded symbols that paint the side of the building. Upon further inspection, I was unable to make out what the symbols made. I touched the side of the building, running my hand along it. I get the feeling of metal and plastic, along with something grainy coming off on my hands. Learning from the others, we found out that this place wasn't here for long, despite how old the building seemed to look. It also had zero doors or windows. I also noticed footprints leading away from the building. As we were distracted with the flat building in front of us, we heard voices coming our way. My eyes flicked to everyone, tilting my head upward to look at Gawain and Ginevaa, who are on top of the building. They immediately shifted towards the middle of the roof, and laid down. I grabbed Aiden's wrist, noticing him starting to shake. Of course this had to happen now. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Korbin follow us to the foothill nearby in a poor attempt to hide from the five robed figures that made their way to us. They stopped in front of the building, and that's when one of them looked up. My breath hitches as they called out to our friends on the roof. I wait with baited breath as Ginevaa comes down, my fingers not holding onto Aiden twitched despite trying to keep calm. "Leave, now. You can't be here." One of them said bluntly. She nodded, and hurriedly made her way in the opposite direction. It's then that Aiden, next to me, starts to scream. My eyes widen as they turn around, turn their gaze to Ginevaa, and the one in the middle pulls out a crossbow. My instincts took over, and letting go of Aiden, I jumped out into view. "Wait, don't shoot! She was just leaving. We can leave." I kept my voice calm, despite the tremors that wrack my hands. "Sir, we're going to have to ask you to leave Grab whoever else is with you, and leave immediately. You can't be in this area while we do the ritual. You can watch from afar, but leave here." I nodded, and grabbed a still screaming Aiden, shooting Korbin a quick glance, hoping she was still hidden from them. "Is that everyone?" The man asked me.
"Yes, this is everyone I came with." I said as convincingly as possible. The man squinted at me, unconvinced. "Search the place." I saw Ginevaa go to try and stop them, but she didn't seem to form words. "Wait! Why would I lie? I literally jumped out in front of your crossbow to save my friend. Why would I put anymore of my friends in danger?" I tried not to sound annoyed, but it dripped from my voice like venom. They stopped and looked at the man who told them to search. He clicked his tongue, and called off the search. "Just leave. And take that automaton with you." I flinch at the name, knowing I'll have to deal with a pissed off Aiden once he can move again without accidently setting himself off, but now's not the time to deal with that. With Aiden's wrist in my hand, I dragged him along, Ginevaa trailing in front of me. Once we were a reasonable distance away, we stopped. I turned around and saw that the men turned around too, and started chanting. I'm enthralled in what's going on, when I heard the small *ding* next to me, and I know exactly what's about to happen. I turned just in time to see Aiden grab the bomb that emerged from his stomach, and go to throw it. I throw my hand out, grab his wrist, and hold it in place so he can't throw it. I watched his head snap to mine, his eyes dilated angrily. Ginevaa also comes over to grab the bomb, but immediately let it go when Aiden throws his arm around, bringing me with it. I land sitting up, yet hard enough to knock the wind out of me temporarily. He glared at me. "You heard what they called me." He growled.
"I know they called you an automaton, but are you really going to put our friends in danger because of it?" I spat out, immediately regretting my decision when his eyes seemed to dilate more, one of his arm saws out, and pointed at me. "What did you just call me?" He said, a scary tone to his voice. That arm saw isn't just for show, and the thought that he'd point it at me terrifies me. The hand not currently death gripping his wrist is held up, clicking the blades out in a futile attempt to seem like I'm not scared. The fact that it's shaking slightly doesn't do much to convince anyone. "I didn't call you that. They did. You know what you are to me. I know you're angry at them, but we still have two members down there. You want to put them in danger?" Despite my shaking hand, my voice remains steady. His eyes shift, and he sheathed his saw, and shakes his wrist in a way that I know he won't act irrationally. I let go, clenched my fingers, and sheathed my blades too. He then looks Ginevaa's way and tosses her the bomb. "You wanted this right? Here." She let out a scream, but caught it with ease. I stopped watching, and turned to the ritual going on. My eyes focused on the small metal tube they were holding up. It was a small tube, with six pushable buttons on the one side, and two metal prongs on one end. I made a mental note of it, as they plugged it into the building, making one wall open up into a doorway. Great! Now we can go inside and see what's there. My thoughts were cut short when I watched Gawain jump off the top of the building, cleaving the man in the middles head completely in half. The ax traveled down the man’s body till it reached his neck, where the ax was logued in the man's collarbone. theThere's a piercing scream as one falls, their hood falling with them, showing a female no older than mid twenties. Everyone else seemed just as stunned, except they acted instead of fled. Ginevaa sprinted to get to them, but fell slightly short when an unfortunate fish jumped out of the river, clocking her right in the face. It would have been funny, if the situation was any different. I also sprinted to get to them, but also fell short when I stepped into the river, and was submerged in water. I pulled myself up and out of the water and attempted to catch my breath. Doing so I watched the one man, or well the boy shoot a beam of something at Gawain. It seemed to throw him off, and disorient him. The two swordsmen swing at him. One of them missed, but it seemed like he wanted Gawain to move because the other striked where he moved. The girl stood up, and started running away. Korbin immediately made her way over to her, hopefully stopping her. I ran to the doorway, and as much as I wanted to go in, I turned around to face everyone, unsheathing my blades for safety. "Please, no more fighting. Put down your weapons, and we will leave." The man closest to me looked at me.
"Like we'd believe that. Look at everything you've caused." I tried to wrack my brain for something else to say, but only managed to come up with, "Who are you?"
"We are the order of the Vortex." He then lunged at me, swinging his sword and catching my side with a hard hit. I flinched, hard, despite myself. I needed to get a hold of myself! I heard Korbin shout, "Be careful of the old men! Her father is there!" I flick my eyes to the man that just hit me. I brought my hand to my side, flinching as I felt the sensitive skin from the blow. "I heard that the girl's father is here. We don't want to hurt you, or her." His eyes narrowed. "I'm her father. And I'd gladly protect her." My eyes flicked to Ginevaa, who stood in front of Gawain. "No one attack. Just give me one minute." She said very convincingly. I took this time to hold my hands out, sheathe my blades once again, place my hand back on my side, and move in-between Gawain and the man so he knew that I wouldn't let Gawain hurt him. It was at this moment that the structure just disappeared. I looked at where the building was in absolute awe. How did that happen? I heard a small beep sound, along with mild ticking coming from the dead man. "What is that?" I kept my voice even.
"That's how we knew when to come back here. How we knew before it left." The man said, a grim look on his face. I tried to listen for more, but my mind was starting to go fuzzy due to the stress and shock of the situation. When I came to, I watched Aiden walk towards one of the men. Despite myself, I flung my hand out to catch his wrist. "Be very careful with what you're about to do." I tried desperately to keep my voice even. I can't have another fight, he looked so determined. If we fight again, more people will get hurt. We can't fight again, we can't. Aiden's cold hand on my wrist breaks me from my spiraling panic. "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing. I'm not going to hurt them." He placed my hand back on my side (when did I remove it?) and continued on his way to the younger man. "Give me the notebook." The man gave in immediately, and pointed to the bag on the ground. Aiden opened the book, and I could see him taking multiple pictures of the pages. He closed it abruptly and looked at the people. "I want to take this." He said as Korbin came back with the girl. "You can't have this. This is our only way of finding where we will go next." The man said, anger in his voice at the mere thought of the notebook being taken from them. No no no, this is escalating again. My panic is short lived again, when Aiden complies, and puts it back. Ginevaa took Gawain with her in the air, and the rest of us walked away on foot. With the aid of Aiden, my wound is patched up, and we set up a camp while Ginevaa and Gawain go hunt for food. I was peacefully writing this down, when we heard a scream come from the den our friends went into. Here we go again.