hi yeah this chapter is not as long as the previous one thank god
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When we rose the next morning, neither Lukas nor I acknowledged the conversation of the previous night. Actually, even more than that- he pretended like it had never happened.
The two of us hardly even spoke as we left the treehouse and began the long trek towards Beacontown. Julia and Radar still had plenty of things to say to each other and both of us, but I didn't have too much to say back. Apparently Lukas felt the same, at least at first.
It didn't help that, the further we got in our journey, the more I felt like something was wrong. It started as a faint uncomfortable feeling, a tiny instinct that someone was watching us or something like that. The instinct didn't leave as we exited the spruce forest and ventured through a savanna.
Julia, again, was leading confidently, studying her locater map every so often. Radar had asked her if she could just teleport us there with her Admin powers, but she'd winced and apologetically said she hadn't gained that particular ability.
Despite this, she seemed to be in pretty good spirits, which made me think the suspicious feeling was unique to me.
We walked for hours, through plains and forests and everything in-between. There were a few times we had to build small bridges over rivers, but for the most part, the trip was pleasantly uneventful. Aside, of course, from my anxious feeling of dread that slowly worsened the closer we got to our goal.
Julia and Radar struck up a lively debate that I only partially listened to, but that kept them entertained for quite a bit of the journey. They eventually pulled Lukas into the conversation as well, and, to my surprise, he seemed content to add his opinions without starting any new conflicts with Julia.
I had difficulty focusing on whatever topic they were so enthusiastic about. I was lost in my own little world for most of the time, deep down in layers of worried thoughts.
Something felt off about this timeline. I remembered that Julia had said that earlier, multiple times, but now it was me who was feeling that way. The uncomfortable sensation of anxious doubt settled heavily into my chest, making me feel almost like I was poisoned.
This made me slightly jumpy, and I kept thinking I saw strange things that weren't really there when I fully turned to look. The others didn't seem to notice this; or if they did, they chose not to say anything.
Finally, things began steadily looking more and more familiar, and Julia cheerily announced that we were less than an hour away from Beacontown. We were approaching the town from the south, which was not a direction I usually travelled in, though the floating tower was impossible to mistake even from a distance.
A storm was rolling in on the horizon when the crimson walls finally came into view. It intensified my feeling of worry even more, like even the sky was preparing for something bad to happen.
It struck me as fairly strange that the walls around the town were still red, since both Julia and I had changed ours. Radar pointed this out in a thoughtful voice, but he seemed more curious than worried.
Then we entered the gates, and worried didn't even begin to describe the way I felt.
It was different. So phenomenally different that I had a brief, irrational thought that we weren't in Beacontown at all. Some of the most distinctive buildings near the front of town were completely gone, reduced to rubble by who knows what. As I looked around, I noticed that it wasn't just near the gates; there were wrecked buildings all over the place.
A lot of the untouched ones looked unusually dark and well-fortified, something that was such a far cry from my own Beacontown that I almost laughed from the strangeness of it all. At home, a lot of things were purely decorative- the more colourful and unique a build was, the better. But here, all of that was stripped away.
The people didn't walk casually down the streets, rather they slunk from shadow to shadow. A lot of the others I saw seemed rough and dangerous, bristling with strange weapons and giving each other (and us) untrusting looks. I didn't see anyone I recognized, though this place was already so different that I wasn't sure if I would have been able to identify someone even if I had known them back in my own Beacontown.
It was Lukas who finally said it, as we walked cautiously along the side of the main street, trying not to attract attention.
"What the hell happened here?"
We paused in the shadow of a tall stone-brick building. "I have no idea." I said. "This place is insane."
"Okay, well, let's theorize." Radar suggested, a little nervously.
Julia tapped her chin, frowning. "Maybe...this timeline's Prime never defeated Romeo?"
Lukas glanced around again, then shook his head. "No, that can't be it. This place doesn't look like it did when Romeo was in charge, and it doesn't have the same...feeling, if you will. Plus, I was looking at this timeline's gate earlier, and I caught a glimpse of the Prime fighting Romeo with the golden gauntlet."
"Is it possible that this Prime's just...evil or something? Or...maybe she's, I don't know, gone." Radar said quietly. Julia gave him a slightly alarmed look.
"You think she might be dead?"
Radar shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "Possibly? I mean, look at this place. Does it look like someone like you or Jess is in charge here?"
"What if..." I started. "What if the Prime is alive, but she's not here? Remember, we're technically in the future. What if the Prime went with Petra when she left Beacontown, and some new villain took over?" I guessed.
Julia's worried expression turned dark. "That's...shit, you might be onto something. This definitely isn't the Beacontown we know, and if the Prime really did leave..."
"...it wouldn't be too hard for it to devolve into something like this." Lukas finished for her, gesturing vaguely to the main street.
"So then, what do we do?" Radar inquired. "How are we supposed to find anything out?"
Frowning thoughtfully as she surveyed what we could see of the town, Julia said, "Maybe there'll still be clues, or someone who can help us. If we can track down someone we know, they could hopefully tell us some things about the Prime."
"But I thought it wasn't a good idea to tell other people about the timelines." I pointed out. "Obviously, us Primes are an exception, but I found something in Ivor's research that made it seem like people knowing about all this could end up destabilizing things even more."
Radar, who had been gnawing furiously at his lower lip, added, "But what else are we supposed to do? If we can't talk to people..."
"That doesn't mean we can't talk to anyone; it just means we can't tell them about the timelines." Lukas corrected.
He said something else about constants, but my attention had been diverted by a lithe woman with long chestnut-brown hair who stood across the street. I didn't recognize her, but there was something about the way she stood that made her seem vaguely familiar. I did not feel like I knew her, like with Julia and Jacek, so I knew she wasn't a Prime, but there was still something discomforting in the instinct that I'd seen her before.
Of course, she was also made more unsettling by the fact that she was watching us quite intently.
I glanced away quickly, ducking my head. "Guys, I think if we're going to keep talking about this, we need to go somewhere more inconspicuous. There's..."
I looked back at the strange woman, but she was gone. I blinked and glanced around, unsure if I was seeing right. Where had she possibly gone in the fifteen seconds that I'd been looking away?
"What?" Lukas asked. I didn't answer, still scanning the streets for the auburn-haired woman.
"You four aren't from around here, are you?" an unfamiliar voice asked in a silky tone.
We all jumped and whirled around, to see a person step out of the shadows of a building near us. It was, of course, the woman I'd just noticed watching us. Now that she was closer, I noticed that her brown hair had an odd purpleish tinge to it, as though it had been dyed violet but faded out.
She smiled slightly at our surprise, and though it should've been a friendly gesture, it seemed full of sharp edges and poison. "You must've noticed that you...stick out, somewhat. Beacontown doesn't get many newcomers these days."
"Uh...um, yeah, you're right. W-we're new." Julia stammered. The woman's smile widened, becoming slightly more genuine, and I noticed that her grey eyes had a faintly purple tint as well.
"Well, then you'd have no way to know that being out on the streets without someone looking out for you is not such a good idea. Any kinds of dangerous things like to roam around here." The way she said the second sentence subtly implied that she was one of said 'dangerous things'. "What are your names?"
Julia quickly introduced us all. "This is Jess, Lukas, and Radar, and my name's Julia."
The woman nodded slowly, but before she said anything else, Radar- who was looking out at the town again -asked, "What happened here? I didn't expect Beacontown to be so...dismal."
I wanted to tell him to be more careful with his words, but the woman sighed and said, "This town has been through some dark times, especially in the last few months. It is not the illustrious place it used to be."
She spoke as though she'd been here in the town's glory days, but if she had been a Beacontown resident for that long, shouldn't I recognize her? I was proud to say that I was familiar with most of my town's people, especially the ones who had been there long-term. So if she was one of them, why didn't I know who she was?
Unless, of course...she wasn't in my Beacontown, just this one. But if that was the case, why?
My thoughts were interrupted by the stranger saying, "You should come with me; I'll take you to the woman in charge. I've got a bad feeling there'll be another attack soon, and she'll be able to keep you safe."
"Attack?" Lukas echoed. She nodded.
"Rebels and whatnot. Like I said, things have gone intensely downhill recently." She turned to go, gesturing for us to follow. We did, but hesitantly.
I grasped Julia's elbow, forcing her to hang back a few steps from the others. "I don't think I like this. Who is she? And who the hell is in charge of this place?"
She nodded. "It looks more and more like you were right; there's no way the Prime is here. But I think if we're gonna get answers, we'll have to just go along with this."
"But we've got no idea what's going on, and if we get tricked or trapped or something, we'll be completely vulnerable." I said, scowling.
Julia glanced nervously ahead at the auburn-haired woman who appeared to be leading us towards the Order Hall. "I know, Jess, and I hate that. We've just gotta be vigilant, and pray we're not walking into a trap. I think this lady is trying to help us, though, so maybe we'll be okay."
I chose not to voice my earlier suspicious thoughts about this supposedly-helpful stranger. She seemed genuine enough, but there was still something off about her, little details that didn't match up, and I didn't know what to make of it.
I quickly forgot about all of this, though, when I got a good look at the Order Hall. In my Beacontown, it was a beautiful structure, the exterior glimmering with stained glass and quartz, with the defining gold symbol above the main entrance.
In this twisted version of the town, it was a ruin.
Most of the roof was gone, caved in devastatingly in multiple spots. Gigantic sections of the walls were gone, and many of the remaining glass blocks were cracked beyond repair.
The unknown woman must've noticed my expression of horror, because she grimly said, "It was destroyed in one of the first rebel attacks. None of us are happy with the way things have gone, but this kind of mass destruction...? It's senseless, and horrible."
She sighed. "Luckily, we still managed to adapt."
Two unfamiliar people were standing on either side of where the doors used to be, though they let us pass without so much as a word. If the Hall was still this new leader's headquarters, then this woman must be fairly familiar with them. Several iron trapdoors covered a large gap in the floor, which opened to reveal a large downward-leading stairway when the brown-haired woman threw a nearby lever.
"Down this way." She beckoned, already starting down the stairs. Julia and Lukas followed her slowly, and Radar and I trailed behind after exchanging a slightly anxious glance.
"The leader...lives below the Hall?" Julia asked.
The stranger nodded. "She and all her closest allies. Beacontown is unpredictable, so it's safer to not really be in the town at all. No one thinks to look for us here."
The stairs opened up into a vast underground room, lit with Redstone lamps. Dim tunnels led off to the unknown, and I could hear faint voices echoing out from some of them.
A tall man came out of one of these tunnels, hurrying towards us. His short, scruffy brown hair was pushed stubbornly away from his forehead, and a dark red bandana was tied over his mouth. His nose looked like it had been broken once or twice, and an ugly scar stretched up from the right side of his jaw to just below his eye. "Selle, where have you been? Forces are heading towards the gates; there's-"
"Going to be another attack, I know." She said smoothly.
He gave us a scrutinizing look, dark eyebrows furrowing over his green eyes. "Who're these?" His voice was slightly muffled by the bandana, but I could swear I recognized it.
"Newcomers to Beacontown. We need to get them to her, so they'll be safe during the raid. You know how ugly things can get." The chestnut-haired woman said. As she spoke, she made several significant motions with her hands, as though signaling something to him that she didn't want to say aloud.
This immediately put my suspicions on high alert, especially as the man's expression darkened and he nodded once. "Well, they chose a great time to show up. We don't have time to deal with this right now, not with-"
"You know full well our leader's priorities." she interrupted. Her voice had dropped slightly, taking on an ominous tone. "Dealing with the rebels is important, yes, but she has made it very clear that if there are those that haven't been sucked into this town's darkness, they are to be protected. She will want to know they're here."
He scowled at her for a moment, but his next words were lost to a tremendous crash from somewhere above us.
Radar yelped. "What was that? What's going on?"
The scarred man practically growled. "We're outta time. Come on."
He darted towards one of the tunnels, a different one than he'd come out of. There was a wooden button on the wall beside the entrance that he pressed before going inside. The auburn woman followed, her face a tight mask of mixed emotions.
She gestured for us to come with. "I'm not sure if they know that our base is down here, but they haven't gotten to us yet. That doesn't mean we're completely safe, though."
The tunnel, despite not being very tall, was fairly wide, with other passageways branching off here and there. It seemed like there was a whole network of these underground alleys, leading off to all corners of the base. I wondered who had taken the time to dig out and build all this.
Another woman appeared out of one of these side tunnels, stopping short when she saw us. She was a little shorter than the scarred man, but quite a bit taller than me. She had long black hair that fell slightly in the way of her slanted brown eyes, and she too wore a kerchief over her mouth. Her lavender t-shirt had several holes in it, and the knees of her faded blue jeans were similarly tattered.
She glanced between us and the brown-haired woman a few times, her eyes resting perceptively on me for longer than the others. I stared back uncertainly, not sure if I recognized her or not. The bandana hid nearly half her face, but there was something uncanny about her eyes that seemed vaguely familiar.
The auburn woman made a strange signal with her hand, and the newcomer nodded knowingly. I was getting the feeling that this group had a whole language of hand motions and significant looks.
Another loud crash shook the tunnels, making me almost lose my footing. The second woman's eyes narrowed as she looked up at the ceiling, alight with a betrayed sort of hostility. "We need to go." She murmured.
Her voice was quiet and serious, with a commanding undertone. The brown-haired woman straightened her back, having almost been knocked over by the explosion above. "We're almost there," she told us as we continued hurrying down the tunnel.
My instinct that something wasn't right was only intensifying. I suddenly realized that we didn't have any clear way to know what was really going on- if we were in the hands of villains, it was too late to find out the truth.
Beside me, Lukas was wearing an expression of intense concentration. It was impossible to know what exactly he was thinking about, but if the suspicious way he was looking at the dark-haired woman was any indication, he wasn't any surer about our situation than I was.
"Where are we going?" Julia asked in a hushed voice.
"Right through here." The auburn woman said, pausing and flicking a lever that opened an iron door set into the side of the tunnel. She held the door open while the second woman went through, gesturing for us to follow. The room inside was barren, with an obsidian floor and two smaller tunnel entrances visible on the far side.
The second woman made a beeline for one of the other tunnels, but before I could follow, a hand suddenly clamped down on my shoulder. I spun around to see Lukas staring wide-eyed at me. "Wait, Jess."
"What?" I asked. Julia and Radar also paused, waiting to hear what he had to say.
Lukas's nervous eyes were darting between me and Julia. "This isn't right. None of this is right, there's something fishy going on. I don't know what-all is happening, but we definitely do not want to be here."
"Why? What happened?" Julia asked.
The blond man gulped, giving her a cagey, almost scared look. "She's the Prime."
"What?!" Radar gasped.
"That woman with the black hair; she's the Prime. I told you, I was looking at this gate earlier, and even though it took me a bit to recognize her with the mask, I know it's her. She's the Prime, which means-"
We didn't get to find out what he thought it meant, though, because while we were standing there discussing her, the second woman- the Prime? -had crossed the room and thrown a lever attached to the wall between the two tunnels.
Instantly, hidden pistons lifted a section of obsidian, creating a wall between us and her. I turned in shock to the door we'd come through, but I only had a second to see that it was shut before another row of pistons pushed up a second wall.
We had walked straight into a trap.
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hahaha not sorry
so, any guesses as to who these three new characters are? i know i've dropped a few hints about the scarred man and i've said quite a bit about this particular Prime, but i'd be very surprised if anyone knows about the brown-haired woman :))
tell me what you think!
i know this chapter was kind of a mess, and i'm sorry. this was honestly just another example of me thinking things and then not being able to translate my thoughts into words
anyways
next chapter in a week!
Word count- 3289
(wow,, that long?? for some reason i thought it was a lot shorter)