The Lost Wielder

Chapter 12

Unbelievable.

That was the only word Lyra was able to think.

The group had followed Felli's description down to where the shelters were located. They were hoping that they would find survivors and some answers; however, what they found was something the group was not expecting.

There was a strange scent that filled the area. The deeper the group went into the area, the worse it got. For that reason, Felli decided to stay above the surface, where the stench wasn't as bad. The rest of the group followed her flakes and they soon arrived to a sealed door. What concerned them was the fact that the stench was the strongest by the door.

"This is disgusting..." Sharnid remarked, one hand covering his face. With some force, Sharnid and Layfon managed to pull the doors apart and what they found shocked them all.

There before the group laid piles of dead bodies. Lyra had to do all she could to keep herself from vomiting right there. Based on the smell, the bodies had been dead for days.

With a hand covering her face, Lyra slowly entered the room. It was dark in the shelters. The room was very big. It was a decent sized shelter, but instead of being filled with survivors, there were dead bodies before them, all in the same colored uniforms.

"These are all Military Artists..." she muttered. Not being able to stand it, she walked back to the rest of the group and told them what she confirmed.

"Well that explains the Military Artists, but then what about other people?" Sharnid asked.

Nina stared at the bodies, thoughtfully. Lyra could see how it was affecting her. To just see a large amount of dead humans, just thrown into a room to rot, was disturbing. Lyra could understand. This was the first time for her as well. Up until now she had only seen the military artists fighting. While Savaris did put her through some harsh training even forcing her outside the city a few times, she had never seen anything like this.

"Gah, I can't stand this," Sharnid suddenly remarked and started to walk back. Lyra, Nina, and Layfon followed him, not wanting to discuss it down there.

"Just what happened here?"

"Well we know half of the riddle. There's still more and we can't risk leaving it unsolved," Layfon muttered.

Nina just nodded her head, "we'll stop here for the day. The sun is about to go down. Let's meet up with the other team while there's still daylight," she decided, as they reached the top where Felli stood waiting for them.

The stench wasn't as strong now, but it was still disturbing.

"The fifth platoon has given us instructions for a rendezvous," Felli reported.

Nina nodded again, "okay then. Tell them we're coming."

They followed Felli's description.

Lyra took up the rear and was about to follow, but hesitant. She couldn't help but think of the bodies. She couldn't understand why they would be tossed in like that. Whoever did it, was in the process of trying to cover up, but ran out of time.

Or did they?

"Lyra, you coming?"

Lyra turned to see Layfon had stopped and was looking at her expectantly. Lyra just nodded her head and followed.

-x-

"Hey, Goru."

"Hm?" He observed his surroundings as he replied to the voice coming from above his shoulders. He had divided his platoon into three teams. The team with the Psychokinesist had stayed behind to wait for orders. Gorneo and the other team had begun their investigation of the area.