Realm of the Sun

Chapter 25

The door was quickly destroyed, trampled by the onslaught of people, coupled by the fact it was made of wood and served as perfect kindling for Bennett's flames. Unless he was carrying fire or a combination of combustible gases and flint, it was clear he was a thoroughly trained Elite of the origana order.

Akari and Bennett moved together, and dove into the room to the left. A moment later, the rest of the group could hear Bennett shout "clear!" to them. Hua moved Michael, onward to the right side of the safehouse. Hua's gift was invulnerability- she was essentially a human shield. Since Akari was their only healer, that left Solarie and Paisley mostly unprotected.

"Upstairs it is, then." Paisley mumbled before motioning for Solarie to join her. Oddly enough, there was something familiar about Paisley's catalyst- it was probably a derivative of another catalyst she had studied or encountered before.

They moved upstairs, watching for any signs of movement or some kind of struggle. The first room they entered was a bedroom- completely empty, spare for a bottle of greenish liquid and rope, and devoid of any signs of life. That could mean two things- the hostages weren't being kept in this house, or the hostages were somewhere else in the house. For the sake of hope, Solarie prayed to whoever would listen to her high above that her best friend would be alright.

One room after the other, they cleared the entire upstairs, joined by others soon after Bennett and Akari had made their rounds downstairs. Michael and Hua weren't far behind. But alas, there was no sign of anyone in the building.

"This one is completely empty. Hopefully the other groups have more luck," Bennett declared.

"I don't think so," Michael gestured for all of them to follow him. He moved downstairs, walking to the back of the house and into the kitchen.

Akari tilted her head. "Bennett and I cleared this room. There's nothing here."

"I did an extra sweep of this room, and something was bothering me about the dust pattern on this window," he pointed to the rusted window sill, and everyone glanced over. He was right. The dust didn't settle in the same way as the dust on the counters did. It was different. Something happened here.

Paisley looked closer, before sighing. "The window was probably left open, and the wind shook the dust. The house is empty. There's nothing here."

"No," Solarie said as the realization hit. How could she have been so stupid to overlook it?

The rope, the rope, the rope.

"No?" Michael repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"No," Solarie clarified. "The house isn't empty. It's abandoned."

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"Paisley, do you remember the rope and that bottle of weird green liquid in the first bedroom?" Solarie asked, confirming she wasn't just imagining things.

Paisley shrugged. "Anyone could put rope in their bedroom. I don't judge people too much."

"But the rope was completely clean. Fresh," she urged on. "People were here, but not anymore. The hostages must've been moved to another location recently, and were taken through the back window." she pointed to the window sill with the strange dust pattern. "Look closely," she pointed. "That isn't the wind. Those are boot tracks."

"She's right," Akari nodded. "If you compare them to our own boots-" she tore off her left shoe- "it's an exact match. Look where the dust does and doesn't change. Those are the crevices in our shoes.". Her belt jingled as she stuffed her foot back into the boot, the various medical additions attached clashing against each other.