Zerua Unchained

Chapter Four

 Orielle and Selro make their way to the Donut Building. So far it's been pretty peaceful. Nothing out of the ordinary. When they made it to the barracks, Orielle opened the door to their room.

"Guess they were chickens," Selro mumbled as he stepped inside.

As she was about to follow him in, she noticed that a black Dragonborn was standing in the hallway. She glanced over and realized it was Gelroy. He gave a small wave as he huffed on a cigarette.

"It's not safe to smoke in here," Orielle called out to him. "Make sure you put it out correctly!"

"Yeah sure," Gelroy responded.

Orielle gave him a suspicious look as he continued to watch her and she followed Selro inside. She then slowly peeked her head out again as Gelroy threw the cigarette bud on the ground.

"I saw that!" Orielle shouted.

Gelroy eyed her and stomped the cigarette bud with his foot. He waved and disappeared into the room. Orielle sighed as she closed the door behind her.

"What a weird guy," she mumbled.

"That whole team is weird," Selro says. "I'm going to bed."

The bugbear headed into the room he shared with Mikaela. Orielle followed to head towards her room.

"Uh.. Orielle," she hears Selro call out.

"Yeah?"

"Mikaela's not here."

"What?"

Orielle ran over to their room and sure enough Mikaela's bed was empty. It didn't even look like it had been used since the bed was made in the morning. The two of them looked at one another and Orielle opened the door to her and FRIEND's room. The automaton was lying still in bed. Orielle walked over to him and shook him gently.

"FRIEND? Hey, wake up."

He slowly turned his head to her.

"Hey sorry, but do you know where Mikaela is?" Orielle asked worriedly. "She's not in their room."

"I heard her say she was going to look for you guys," FRIEND responded.

Orielle gave him a contemplating look.

"We would've seen her on the way back.." she mumbled. "There's only one way to get from here to the tavern."

"Unless she took the long way," Selro piped up as he stood at the door. "She left her coat and badge though."

He held up Mikaela's fluffy coat and silver pocket watch. Orielle furrowed her eyebrows. She felt chills go down her spine as the thought of Jasper and the other kids in her village getting kidnapped crossed her mind.

"I'm going to go back to the tavern and look for her," Orielle says.

"I'm sure she's okay," FRIEND reassured.

"Even after Selro picked a fight with Tarryn?!" Orielle hissed, staring at the bugbear.

"Shit, you don't think..?" Selro groaned. "That piece of crap."

"I'm going to run back to the tavern. Are you guys coming or not?" Orielle demanded.

FRIEND and Selro looked at one another.

"Yeah alright, we'll come," Selro agreed.

The three of them start to run out of the Donut Building. They passed by one of the Automaton guards who was watching them.