Beyond the North

Then, fight!

Rejto heard knocks on his door; it was the detective again, the one who had appeared a few months ago. "Can I come in?" he asked. Either way, Rejto didn't have a choice, so he let him in, and once again, he asked questions about Rejto and about strange movements in the neighborhood, and once again, he looked around his house.

— "Thank you for your cooperation," the detective said as he left.

Rejto felt pressured, but he couldn't; he didn't want to stop, not now. But finally, the pieces would fit together. Rejto went to the computer and sent a message to Tel; they would have to go on another day to avoid raising even more suspicions.

A few days passed, Rejto and Tel prepared to go to the place he pointed out, although they found it strange that Tel appeared with his arm bandaged, he simply said he sprained his wrist. When they called Cynna, she refused outright. Rejto tried to convince her, despite the conflict, her answer was no, so the two prepared to go alone. Since the goal was just to retrieve the book and they were going at night, the most they would need was something to cover their faces. And while the two planned, Cynna watched... the girl didn't know what to feel.

Quickly, night fell; Rejto felt his heart racing, as if it were about to burst out of his chest, but still, he decided to continue. Two hours before all the doors of all the apartments were automatically locked, he left, making the excuse that he was going to a party at his friend's house, just like Tel, who did the same. The "operation" of the two would have to be quick, after all, in the morning of the next day, all the apartments would be checked, and if Rejto and Tel didn't return at the specified times, their suspicions would probably increase.

At night, the streets were guarded by the guards, they wanted to make sure that nothing was out of place. Rejto and Tel met at the specified place; an abandoned factory, which used to be home to homeless people or squatters, so no one passed by there. There, the two stopped and took a deep breath.

— "Damn... I feel like my heart is about to explode..." Tel commented.

— "..." Rejto simply remained silent.

The young man was conflicted with his thoughts, his heart continued to race, his blood boiled, if they were caught there, it was the end of the line for them, but if they went back, they wouldn't find out anything, and the whole plan would also go down the drain. Rejto sat down and put his head between his legs, he thought, and thought and thought; was it really worth continuing? Was it really worth just going back and continuing his life as if nothing had happened? Impossible to know.

Beside him, Tel noticed his conflicted friend, he looked around a bit and saw that there was no one nearby, he thought about speaking up, but decided to let Rejto come to his own conclusions.

— "Tel..." Rejto opened his mouth and...

— "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--"

Unbeknownst to them, a homeless man was beside them, the two were taken by surprise by the homeless man's scream, and soon, they ran, adrenaline consumed their bodies and soon, they heard footsteps heading their way, Rejto ran as fast as he could, as much as he could, and then, his legs collapsed from exhaustion, it was the end of the line, Rejto looked back, and just waited for the guards to arrive.

— "SHUT UP, YOU BASTARD!" the guard shouted.

Rejto showed surprise, then he peeked, and saw the guards beating the homeless man, as he couldn't speak, the homeless man tried to point in a direction, but was soon kicked.

— "Damn homeless, can't they stay quiet for once!?"

Again, Tel and Rejto breathed a sigh of relief, Tel then looked at Rejto again, the young man lowered his head, thought, and thought, then... he stood up and looked ahead.