The Tales of Infinia

Chapter 8: In Close Pursuit

It was dreamlike about what seemed like a year ago, which was actually just some hours ago after I was transferred to my first assignment in the Liberation Force here in Darwin Harbor.

I can still hear the applause, the cheers, and how my name was announced by the man I look up to, General Delagado himself, to serve under his jurisdiction. The years I've spent at the Academy finally pays off, even if I'm just stationed at a logistics base, just knowing that I'm in servitude of the general gives me a feeling that this is the right path I'm taking.

My father was really proud of me after I walked up that stage along with the other seniors that were also assigned to the harbor, his smile beaming at me with pride along with lots of my instructors standing in front of their tables, Stilleto at the right side of the hall.

Another thing that hyped me up last night was that Valle is also stationed here in Darwin Harbor as well. The sad part about it was that he isn't part of the normal troops stationed around the harbor like me, but still, I'm happy knowing that he's really stepping up towards his goal of being an ace tactician in the TLF, being assigned in the control room.

I reckon he's got like two or three hours of sleep because working inside the control room has its tight-knit schedule of attendance even though he's just new within the ranks, but regardless of that, I'm quite surprised he's classified as higher in rank than me.

As for me, I barely got any sleep at all. Every time I try to close my eyes, I remember the dream I had yesterday, the feeling of that sudden cold emptiness, the voices, the screams.

Amidst the feeling of joy and pleasure after arriving in this Tecknotian outpost, I can't help but feel an ominous presence below the ground. It resonated with the screaming I heard in my head. Boy if Stilleto was here, he'd shake my soul out of me to wake me up.

Help me!

Don't leave us!

A lot of the voices I kept hearing said those very words almost a thousand times too much to forget. It makes me lonely, but at the same time it fills me with this deep hatred for something or someone I don't even know, it's not the mages, nor the tight-knit schedule around the outpost, and not even the siren wailing right now signaling the next batch of troops in the patrol rotation.

Luckily mine is still at night, but this doesn't mean I should slack off in my quarters. I need to get a hold of myself, it's my first day in the Liberation Force. It's kind of good that I wasn't placed in the frontlines just yet, because if I was, I would've been doing push-ups right now, maybe a hundred of them before carrying a heavy rifle during my rounds.

I had a very small room here, small enough to fit this small navy-blue bed I'm lying on and that tiny desk. The wall in opposition to me is actually the closet. It slides open when I press the button near the light switch, and yes, the light within the dorms aren't automated.

The floors were the same as the Academy's, solid metal. I don't know if it's really just me, but I heard something below the ground. A soft thud, and some voices as far as I remember. Something about it didn't feel right, so I instantly got up despite my sleep-deprived state and knelt down on the cold metal floor, pressing my ear at it, trying to listen for something.

There was nothing.

A second before I was about to get up on my feet and deem myself not crazy, I felt a slight shock from the floor making me nudge back in surprise. "Dammit.", I whispered to myself.

"Ther huo sa fyu-na he san-iu..."

Words came echoing within my ears as if someone was talking to me. I looked on both sides, but there was no one, no one in the room besides me.