----
It was interesting to see that sort of equipment in this world. According to the owner of the little shop, those were either found on historical sites, or were accurate replicas of real life items found around the dimensions.
Tomoyo looked around the store while her escorts where back at the entrance just watching her. It had the feel and the atmosphere of an antique shop, but everything seemed brand new to her. She looked at one of the displays. A book.
Picking up in the interest of the potential costumer, the woman got near the girl. "That's one of the replicas I was talking about. It's a one-to-one scale of the legendary Tome of the Night Sky, when created during the Belkan era. You could say that it was a ancient data storing device, since it could remember store the data of any spell used against its master. No one knows what happened to the book, but it could be lying around anywhere in the world. Maybe even in a little antique shop." The woman smirked.
Both Lutecia and Vivio, hearing the story tried to speak about how that the implication was definitely an lie, but were beat to it by Tomoyo who picked up on it. "Are you trying to imply that this is the Tome of the Night Sky?" She said, doubting.
The woman, looked at her with a serious expression, then glanced at the other two near the door, before breaking a laugh. "Pfff... Of course not. This one I made myself. I love this kind of ancient folktale." She took the book from the display. "See?" She said, showing to Tomoyo.
The book wasn't a book, but rather a piece of carved wood, painted in a way to look like the real thing. "Wow. You're really good with this." The girl said.
The woman laughed off. "No, no, no. I just love to do this kind of thing." She smiled. "Here." She picked another piece. A red jewel.
Vivio seen the so called 'device' on the hands of the vendor, almost jumped at her. Before a hand from her friend got her by her shoulder. "Let her." Lutecia sent mentally. "She doesn't seem like a bad person. She's just telling the costumer a story. That's all."
Vivio pouted but let the woman continue with it's speech.
"This was said to be one of the more powerful devices from Al Hazard. Unbreakable and unbeatable. The mage that had this as his personal device would be considered one of the most powerful ones in existence." She placed the gem on the counter. "It was called Raising Heart, before it too, disappeared without a trace." Again she smiled.
Tomoyo took the gem, inspecting it and seeing what looked like just a regular spherical red stone. "And the truth is?"
The woman looked incredulously at the girl. "He-Hey. It was a joke. Have you never heard of Raising Heart?" Upon seeing the girl look continuously to the gem, she let a breath out. "I don't where you came from, but to not know about this..." She grinned again. "This is a one-to-one replica of the Ace of Aces' Device she used on the Jewel Seed Incident. That story I just made on the spot. Don't you know who the Ace of Aces is?" She asked a mix of worry and doubt on her face.
Before Tomoyo could answer, Vivio said. "It's Nanoha-mama's device, Tomoyo-san." She said proudly. "I'll ask her to show you when we get back."
The raven haired girl nodded and turned again to the counter but the woman wasn't there anymore. Looking around, she was rounding the counter and coming back to where Vivio was. "Did you just said what I think you said?" She said, kneeling down in front of the girl. Her eyes beaming with enthusiasm.
Vivio scratched her head and looked to Lutecia, before looking down at the woman again. "...yes?" She answered tentatively.
The vendor examined every single inch of the blonde's face before announcing. "I knew it!" She glomped the little girl. "This is my lucky day! We gotta take a picture. I gotta post this on the wall." The woman started bouncing around the store pulling Vivio by her hand. "With so many girl running around, copying the image of the Sankt Kaiser, I almost didn't recognized you by being the real deal."
Vivio tried to loose the grip from the woman, before finally saying. "Hey. Calm down, please."
The woman turned to the girl, seeming almost hurt. "I'm sorry." Then she got back to her cheerful self. "It's not everyday that a religious figure of your port comes into a humble establishment like mine. Please, could you honor me with a photograph and the right to put on my wall?" She revered the little girl with too much enthusiasm for her tastes.
The little blonde looked at her companions looking for assistance, but both of them were too busy chuckling at the treatment Vivio was getting. She turned again to the owner of the shop and slumped her shoulder. "Okay."
The woman instantly and literally jumped in the air. "Yay!!!" Then rushed to get a camera that she handed to Lutecia. "Please?"
The Belkan Summoner simply nodded and pointed the camera at the girls, and couldn't help but chuckle at the proud beam the woman was wearing.
Amidst this, something else caught Tomoyo's attention, that seemed familiar. There was so much stuff piled around, and over it that she almost thought it was just another counter or display, but when she got near, and moving a few of the items around she saw for what it was. A piano. She opened the lid and felt the keys on her hand, before turning again to the commotion that was settling down.
When she made mention to ask for more information about the piano an alarm made both Lutecia and Vivio call their devices. A holoscreen appeared before them and, after a few seconds they turned back to the raven haired girl. "We have to go." Lutecia said firmly, before getting the girl by her hand.
Tomoyo took another look at the piano, before turning to the store owner to wave goodbye and getting out of the store.
----
"What's this?" The boy said, as he felt the something wet on the back of his head. He meant to lift his hand to it when felt that he was lying flat on whatever was wet. He opened his eyes but couldn't see much in the darkness, only a few shadows around him. He tried to stand up, but found that his body was sore and he was drowsy. Trying to piece together again what had happened he remembered the beat down he took from the creatures and snapped his eyes open almost instantly again. "Damn it."
He fought the soreness of his body before looking up again and recognizing the figures in that dim light. It was the creatures that must have carried him here. He punched again the ground but again felt that wet material on his knuckle. "What is this thing?" He scoped some of it and took near his eyes, so maybe he could see what it was, but didn't recognized even then. He tried to get up to his feet but he felt his body was getting heavier than he remembered. After touching his clothes he realized that he was completely soaked in that slimy thing. He took off his shirt to relieve some of the extra weight but his body continued to feel drowsy, and his legs were almost giving under his own weight. He cursed again, before putting the shirt on the floor. Under the dim light he looked around him and saw several people lying around like he was a moment ago.
The creatures didn't seem to care that he was up and about, so he knelled down near one of them and shook the person, but didn't get any response from the person. He tried another one, but none of them seemed to answer him. He leaned down and confirmed that they were alive, but no one else seemed to answer his calls.
At this moment he heard an cry of pain from somewhere down the darkness that he couldn't see. Then a guttural roar was heard moments later and then silence again. He lifted his head and looked all around him were dozens of people in the same state. He slipped and fell after this on the floor, using one of his hands as support, so he hadn't fell flat directly on the floor. "What the hell is this?" He looked around again to see if any familiar face was near him, but didn't recognized anybody. He was about to get up to see if he could search for someone, but another thing caught his attention first. The pocket of his shirt that he had discarded was emitting a faint light at regular intervals. He thought that he was seeing things, but after paying attention to it for a few seconds he determined that it was really it. He got back his shirt and reached to the light.
----
The images on the big screen on the other side of the wall of the command room were a display that would hunt the sleeps of most operators in that room for the times to come. There was being presented the live feed of the events unfolding on the site of the most recent threat to the people of MidChilda. What was the most horrible was the people were being carried inside the cavern without much effort by the creatures and not one of them was getting out.
Hayate didn't want to think that the people that were being carried inside would be turned into monsters themselves but the proof was right in front of her, with the several creatures using the remains of human clothing. She just hoped that the team they assembled in a rush, the few minutes prior to this, would be enough to deal with the situation. She didn't like it that things got so out of hand so fast, that, in the end, they had to do exactly what they didn't wanted, send several of her closest friends and family to the site.
"ETA?" She asked to the operators in the room.
"T minus 22 minutes." Alto answered instantly.
They wanted to have a teleport-capable person with them at the moment, but the only ones that could handle the teleport of so many people at once were Shamal and Yuuno together, and since they still didn't know exactly what they were dealing with, it was best for the librarian to continue with his research.
"We're picking up another device signal on the site, aside from the ones already there." One of the operators declared, with a glint of hope, that was shot down an instant later as she notice the readings on her screen. "Oh..."
"What?" The General asked.
"It's only a personal communication device." The girl answered.
Hayate grimaced. That wouldn't help them, but if they had someone already inside that they could talk to, maybe it could help them understand better the situation and plan ahead. "Try contacting it. Heck, try contacting any devices on the vicinity. If anyone in there is still alive, maybe we can get lucky."
"Roger."
Looking at the monitor beside her, Hayate saw the choppers loaded with the people that was sent to deal with the problem, when a strangers voice was heard in the room. "Wahh..."
"Here's the TSAB's Ground Forces' Command Central." The operator continued. "Who are you?" In front of her the dark image of a shirtless boy was being displayed.
After a few moments, the boy got closer to the display, looking curiously. "My-My name is Li Syaoran."
"Syaoran-san." Hayate said, the image of the boy now being displayed on the big screen on the other side of the room. "Are you okay?"
The boy looked puzzled by the display for a moment before stating. "Yes." Then looked beside him. "What's happening here?"
"We still don't know much about the situation, but I'm glad to see that you are still you. We have help on your way, but could you help us with a few information?"
"Yes. No problem." He then disappeared for a moment from the display. "Ouch." At the same time a painful cry was heard, and a few moments later a another cry, but a bit more guttural, with no pain whatsoever on the voice.
"Oh my god." The General took her hands to her mouth. "What happened? Syaoran-san! Are you there? Are you okay."
A few moments later the boy appeared again on the display. "Sorry, I fell. There's some slippery stuff on the ground here." Then he looked beside him. "And there's some weird monsters here too. And there's this scream that comes every now and then."
Hayate grimaced, thinking of the people that were carried inside the building. "Are they threatening you?"
"No. They're just standing there." He pointed to somewhere off screen.
"I see." At this moment, another monitor appeared beside Hayate, showing the medical reports from the boy's stay on the Medical Center. "Were you hospitalized a few days ago?"
Syaoran looked at her puzzled, wondering how did she know that. "Yes...?"
"It says here that you are a A ranked mage. Is that correct?" She asked again.
Syaoran grimaced. "Is what they said to me, but I..."
"Oh." Upon finishing the reading realization downed on the General. "I see. You lost your memory."
He nodded. "And I'm not registered as a mage too, from what Subaru-san told me."
"Subaru Nakajima? Do you know her?" Hayate asked.
"Yes. She's the one who rescued me."
Another scream of pain could be heard. The boy grimaced and looked off screen again.
The conversation almost took Hayate from her primary objective in this contact, but the scream led her back to it. She took a deep breath while frowning. "Syaoran-san, do you see anything else around you?"
He looked around again. "No, is too dark."
"Use your device to create a font of light."
"Yes."
The boy was troubled for a few moments. "Hmm... What's a Device?"
Everyone in the room had almost the same reaction of disbelief before Hayate explained. "The equipment that's projecting my image to you."
Syaoran looked down and took the object in hand. "This?"
"Yes..." But upon seeing the device in his hands the Hayate had to grimace again. "No." It was a simple comn device. It didn't had any other functionality.
"Sir." One of the operators understood the situation. "There's still the other four devices from the scout team in his vicinity. If he manages to get near one of them, we can send an new user order to the device remotely."
Hayate picked up. "Syaoran-san. Can you see anything else, maybe another blinking image or anything else?" When he shook his head Hayate turned again to her operators. "Can you guys guide him to the device that's nearest to his position using the comn device as base?"
"Already on it." Alto said, inputting data on her keyboard. "Syaoran-san. You should see a four little red blips on your screen." When the boy nodded, she continued. "Follow one them. They are near each other. When you successfully retrieve one of them, put it near your comn device and we'll do the rest."
The boy nodded, and started following one of the blips on his screen. "May I ask what's happening?"
"We don't have full understanding of the situation too." Hayate sighed. "We're hoping that you can help us more, since you're the first person we can actually talk that is trapped inside the cavern."
"Cavern?"
"Yes, you must have been unconscious when they took you there."
A few moments later he got something from the floor and lifted to the screen. "Is it something like this?" He showed wristband with cross-shaped design on one of the sides.
"Yes, that's it. Now just hold on a minute."
----
He was starting to feel the drowsiness. The people on the screen in front of him were saying something to him, but he was almost sleeping while standing. The only thing that kept him from falling to the ground completely was the noises that the wristband was making every now and then.
"I'm not feeling very good." He thought, fighting to stay awake. He didn't want to be at the mercy of the creatures if they caught him in his sleep, but his body was increasingly making him more and more interest in the idea of falling asleep.
"Finished!" When he heard this shrill voice, it jolted him awake again from his half sleep. "Just try calling for it."
"Calling for what?"
"The device. Just say it's name. Prometheus." He looked at the wristband rather dubiously. "Go ahead."
Syaoran looked at the object and said. "Prometheus."
"Acknowledged new user. Register user name."
"Just say your name and let it guide through the installation process." The General said.
"Hmm... Syaoran, Li Syaoran." He said tentatively.
"Acknowledged. Scanning new user magical signature. Stand by." The metallic voice continued. "Scan complete. Select weapon type."
"Hmm..." The boy didn't know what to select until he remembered how he used the bamboo stick when he was on the hospital's courtyard. "Sword."
"Acknowledged. Stand by, ready." The wristband latched on his wrist.
"The installation is now complete." The woman on the other side of the screen said. "Try asking it to set up."
"Set up...?"
To his surprise his clothes disappeared and in its place a uniform similar to the people on the encampment appeared in its place. A large white shirt wrapped tightly around his torso just above the waistline where it was a little more larger, until it reached a little above his knees, a pair of black pants that wrapped around his legs and a pair of metallic shoes on his feet. On his hand a simple cross-shaped sword appeared. "Wha..."
"Oh-ho. Even if it's not one of my designs, that's not bad for a first timer." Hayate snickered. "Now ask for it to project a light in front of you and see if you can make out the interior."
"Hmm..." He was about to call for it when something caught his attention. His drowsiness and sleepiness were gone. "Why am I not drowsy anymore?"
"You were drowsy before?" Hayate asked, since the boy didn't seemed anything different. "Alto, Prometheus should be able to send more data now that's active. What can you tell me."
"According to the readings there's some kind of substance on the floor that is a magic sedative." Returning her look back at the boy, she said. "Since you activated your barrier jacket, your body is now metabolizing the sedative more faster than it can act, so you should be safe for now. Anyway, call for a light."
He looked down at himself. "Hmm... Prometheus...?"
"Yes, milorde." His sword blinked as the Device answered.
"Milorde?!"
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