The Moon Bites, literally

Curiosity (nearly) Killed The Cat (read : Knight)

Ki had lied a bit when he told everyone the reason for traveling out of St Freya. Of course, he did fell like going to more places now that he had a decent amount of trust in himself, but he also wanted to snoop around for some info related to his not-so-little secrets. Originally, he wanted to finish his business with that as quickly as possible so he could take some well-deserved rest. Originally.

So, what the hell am I doing here exactly ?

Ki sighed as he circled between the trees. This place was completely unrelated to what he sought. Far from his original objectives, it was a forest in Vladivostok 51. The place where that pink glow he glanced at was supposed to come from. Approximatively. Ki wasn't sure where to go at first, but a few kilometers ago, his feet suddenly began to move and he instantly knew where to go. Eerily, it was as if the glow in his memory had taken control of his mind and body. That would have frightened most, but Ki's curiosity won out. A very bad habit of his he never truly managed to take care of. Still, he was plenty capable of realizing this was just too random and possibly dangerous, but to try and deny his curiosity was futile : it always won out in the end, it would just take more time and bother him even further. Better to take care of this as soon as possible.

But there really wasn't anything here. He had been under those trees for close to an hour without anything happening and was beginning to feel a bit stupid. Had he just been tired that day ? Then again, he trusted his gut feeling, but reality didn't seem to agree. Should he just-?

The noise made him jump to his feet, ready to give a very bloody nose to anything that might try to get the jump on him. On his right, a few meters away, the ground had slid away to reveal a staircase light by small lights on its walls. Ki relaxed a bit as he felt no enemy close but kept his guard up, nonetheless.

This was obviously an invitation. Possibly a trap. Very likely a trap. What he had to do was crystal clear : turn back, contact St Freya, and have this investigated. Indeed, this was the prudent, logical and correct course of action.

So I seriously am one hell of an idiot, huh ?

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Going down the stairs wasn't particularly eventful or hard. The entrance didn't even close after him, so he could always rush back out if something happened.

Still, this is quite deep underground. How could I have seen that glow if it came from whatever's down ?

Questions kept piling up, something that Ki really couldn't stand. He hurried, eager to know exactly what kind of surprise awaited him.

And boy, it was a surprise.

The stairs finally ended, leading to a wide room. Ki stepped inside, keeping his powers at the ready, and gasped at the spectacle.

The room should have served as some sort of lobby for whoever used this underground facility. But Ki doubted it would be of use anymore : the place was in ruins. Corpses, pieces of the wall, machinery and computers were thrown around randomly, a textbook example of the scene Aima Beasts could create.

There's also Aima Energy present in the air...This was probably a research facility. In that case, did the test subjects escape ?

Ki slowly approached one of the corpses. It was in quite the sorry state : its head and torso were all that was left. Curiously, his face was covered by a pale mask with crossed black swords in the shape of an offset X on the left side and only a red eye on the right. Most curious of all, he was carrying an umbrella. Weird.

But what was even weirder was the other corpses. They looked all the same : same head, same torso, probably. Some were far too damaged to determine with precision how identical they were. Just what was going on here ?