Obsidian's Reign ¹

∷ Chapter 42 ∷

AFTER THE BRIEF altercation caused by Marek's sudden appearance, the group had teleported away from the forest to the mountainous outskirts of a seemingly random town. They collectively agreed to let Marek be, aware that their suspicions would hold no ground without proof. Even so, none of them was willing to give up on their initial suppositions, choosing instead to keep a close eye on the half-human attendant should he be unfortunate enough to slip up.

But their issue with Marek was the least of their problems, for a new one was quick to arise.

Rylan exhaled heavily as he glanced at himself before shifting to look at Zephyr.

"This isn't going to work," he said, indicating their bloodstained garments. "We can't go anywhere looking like this."

"I'm sure the humans will not mind," Adric said, picking at a drying bit of blood on the front of his shirt.

Clara frowned, "They will mind."

"Demons walk around covered entirely in blood in the Underworld and no one makes a fuss," he continued, shrugging nonchalantly.

"We're not in the Underworld anymore. We're on the Surface populated by humans who, by the way, are not used to anyone walking around drenched in blood."

"Clara has a point," Celdric intervened before his brother could protest, causing him to huff in irritation.

"Before we get to that," Jae said. "I need to clarify: what exactly are we doing here? Why did you get us to teleport here of all places?"

"Cloud Industries," Celdric said.

A few seconds passed without a word being exchanged before Jae said, "I'm sorry—what?"

"Cloud Industries," he repeated, looking around at the clueless faces staring back at him. "You haven't heard of it?"

The others shared a look between them before they collectively shook their heads.

"It sounds familiar," Rylan said, the only one with an opposing opinion on the matter.

"I'd be surprised if you, in particular, haven't heard of them," Celdric commented before proceeding to explain, "Cloud Industries is a software engineering company."

At that, Rylan's eyes widened in recognition.

"So you've heard of it?" Celdric asked.

"I've seen the name pop up a few times in several of Alphaplex's acquisition proposals. It's been around for a while, doesn't seem to be doing too good, but has always rejected any form of help when rendered."

He paused, frowning, "But what does it have to do with anything?"

Jae was the first to piece together the clues, saying, "It has a similar purpose as Alphaplex. It functions as a portal point to Heaven."

He glanced at Celdric for confirmation, to which the latter nodded.

"Our goal is to get to the Cloud Industries building. Once there, it'll only be a matter of time before we advance to the next phase of our mission: killing the General."

"So the building is in this town?" Zephyr asked. And to everyone's surprise, Celdric shook his head.

"Then what are we doing here?" Jae asked again, irritation on the rise.

"It's the closest town to where we landed and it's also the least densely populated. This place is our only chance of getting those two–" he paused to nudge his head in Zephyr and Rylan's direction, "–a new set of clothes before we proceed. Anywhere else and we'd get busted by the authorities on suspicious terms."