The receptionist didn't speak as they guided us out of the office and back into the chamber of doors we had first arrived. We passed by the reception desk and headed into the other corridor quickly turning down a several flights of stairs. The structure of the dimensional pocket wasn't like the Violet Oath's. Each room was connected and didn't warp to different areas. We didn't pass another door as we continued down the stairs and it was only after descending several dozen metres that we reached a white painted door.
"A bit far, isn't it?" Vanter commented.
Miss Amy, the receptionist laughed awkwardly, "Well there is reason for that. Umm August can explain more." She gestured towards the door, but didn't move any closer, "Please head inside."
We all raised a brow at the rather suspicious behaviour but approached the door regardless. Vanter pushed it open. What I expected was a room full of servers and computers, a dark space lit by blinking lights of the devices stacked within. Instead, it was brightly lit. The walls were painted white with cream coloured tiled flooring. A lady well into her years sat behind a neat and tidy desk with a single computer, sipping at a cup of tea. She turned her head towards us and smiled. Her skin was wrinkled about her eyes and her hair an elderly grey. Even how she dressed reminded me of the neighbourhood grandma.
"Please have a seat," she gestured warmly to the white table beside her, already laid out with cookies.
"Would you be August?" I asked hesitantly.
"That's I am." She chuckled, "Did you expect a young woman with vibrant blue hair and a punk rock mentality?"
"A little," I replied honestly.
"Well, that girl did exist, but like anyone else, she grew older." Her eyes glinted with youth, "Her skills however only improved. I am still quick on a keyboard like ever before. The Director informed me you had a job that needed assistance. Quite the rare occasion for a guest to come by."
"Some of our family and friends have been kidnapped. We need to find where they are." I took out a USB stick, "Agent Wester told us you'd be able to find where they are if you had this."
"And what is this?" she took the USB curiously.
Zen answered, "It's the access key the Violet Oath used."
"The access key!?" August almost spat her tea. "Oh, I have been waiting for years for this."
She span her chair away from us, instantly absorbed by the task at hand as she faced computer and didn't hesitate to plug it in. She began to clack away at her keyboard, rapidly sending the clicking noises into the room. Screens rapidly popped onto her monitor closing just as quickly. It was impossible for me to tell what she was doing.
"Sorry but I'm lost here," Ana admitted for us all. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making a copy of the key as well as analysing it. The dark web bounty board requires very strict keys to enter it. You need to build up a social credit of sorts to access deeper into the website. We've been able to find keys of plenty of different groups, but none had high level access."
"And the Violet Oath's?" I asked.
"They would have the highest," August grinned and a glimpse of what she may have been like in her younger years crossed my mind. "Now I'm accessing the Bounty Board. Done."
The website was quite barebones. A job, a link and a cost. We didn't have much time to stare as August rushed ahead. The jobs ranged widely from kidnappings, murders to body guarding and guiding.

YOU ARE READING
The Game Before the Fall
FantasyArdent Friend has already witnessed the Fall. The cities of Earth torn apart and those that remain forced to hide in dungeons for safety. What started as a joyous merging of worlds ended in nightmares as Rift Walkers, the enemies of all life, ravage...