10 Where are we?

The man who had helped Hecathe escape from the restraints now fought against Marvin and kept him busy, giving Hecathe ample time to run away from this place.

While a huge black-suited man had lifted Hecathe up with just a hand and promised to take him to the nearest police station.

The man immediately started running and after just a few steps, he took something out of his pocket before throwing it in front of them.

Hecathe's eyes widened in shock as he saw the sudden circle that formed in front of them.

The man didn't hesitate as he passed through the circle and the entire scene around them changed in the blink of an eye.

'Was that a freaking teleportation device...?!'

They were completely out of the battlefield, however, there was just a small problem. When Hecathe looked around at the place, he couldn't help but frown.

It looked rather... Dead.

"Where are we?" Hecathe anxiously questioned the man who was carrying him on his shoulder to the police station.

He had pondered over it before. This place didn't look like Derton.

Derton was the city where Hecathe was born and raised. It was filled with the latest technology and there were probably more fake trees than real ones. It was Utopia for people who loved futuristic ideas and it was hell for those who preferred peaceful countrysides.

Hecathe had lived there his whole life so he naturally knew every corner of that city. He knew that place like the back of his hand; the best places to go and the worst places to go, he knew them all.

It was because of this that he was confident when he concluded that this place wasn't Derton at all.

The man turned his head a bit and side-glanced at Hecathe as he answered, "Captain, we are still in Zeblor."

Weird...

"I see..." Hecathe took another minute to ask his next question, "And where exactly is Zeblor?"

The man seemed to be a bit shocked as he snapped his head at Hecathe, "Huh? Zeblor is in Athia, of course!"

"Oh... Silly me, I guess," Hecathe responded as he decided not to ask his next question.

Where in the hell was Athia?!

As long as Hecathe could remember, there was no such place on earth or maybe his geography was just too weak and he couldn't remember the existence of such a place.

Well, it had to be the latter cause Hecathe was sure that he was still on earth. The possibility of not being on earth sounded pretty ridiculous, however, Hecathe still decided to ask just in case.

"We are still on earth, right?"

The man's footsteps slowed down as he looked at Hecathe with what Hecathe presumed to be confusion and suspicion, "Captain, did they hit your head?"

"..."

"Of course, we are still on earth!"

Hecathe chuckled as he tried to save himself the embarrassment of asking such a stupid question, "I know! I know! I was just joking. Don't mind me."

The man was silent as he heard this and it didn't look like he was planning on saying anything for the rest of the way either.

However, Hecathe's original question was still left unanswered. He was still completely unaware of his own whereabouts.

Hecathe had never enjoyed dealing with cops from foreign countries. The reason was simple: It was because police from different countries side more with people from their own countries. They discriminate legally and it was truly a pain in the ass.

Since Hecathe didn't wanna ask any more stupid questions, he decided to just wait and see what happens. The police would surely give him more information about this place.

The frown on Hecathe's face never went away as he let his eyes trail around the place.

The more he observed everything, the more confused he got.

The place they were in before was filled with trees and greenery however, as soon as they got out of that place, Hecathe couldn't even spot one tree. At least not a tree that could be considered alive. All the greenery in this place had dried up and it was covered with dust.

There was dust, a lot of it, and a lot of boulders as well. Huge boulders that looked to be black in color, but what threw off Hecathe the most was the gigantic craters on the ground.

These craters made it look as if a comet had crashed on earth but there were so many of them that it made it seem as if the comet had brought along all of its friends.

Hecathe never heard of a comet shower before and he was sure that the three days he spent in captivity weren't enough for such a big thing to happen.

Even though it looked suspicious and Hecathe wasn't sure if this place was even on earth, he still decided to just ignore it.

"The police station is quite far," Hecathe commented.

The man said nothing as he kept on running.

After a few more minutes had passed, the man finally stopped. He put Hecathe down from his shoulder as he spoke up, "Captain, we're here."

Hecathe frowned as he heard this. The man had stopped in the middle of a crater. When Hecathe looked around, He couldn't really spot a 'police station' so it was only natural that he was confused.

The man said nothing more and stood there like a log of wood.

When Hecathe tried to move around, the man stopped him as he cried out, "Captain, don't move!"

Hecathe immediately stopped and his right foot that had been slightly lifted now rested back on the ground. He listened to the man and stood there looking at him for more than a few seconds.

When a solid minute had passed with them blankly staring at each other, Hecathe was finally about to break the silence and say something, however, he stopped as he felt the ground under him suddenly move.

"Huh?" He looked down immediately as he noticed that the sand had started to creep up his leg or to be more specific, it was his body that was sinking into the sand.

His eyebrows creased together and in the next second, his eyes went wide as he realized what they were standing on.

"Quick san-" He wasn't even able to complete his sentence as he felt his whole body instantly sink into the ground as if the ground under him had simply turned into water.

He wasn't the only one who was devoured by the ground.

Hecathe thought he was about to die, but in just a few seconds, he saw the sand clearing up. He fell down on the floor with a 'thump' and groaned as he felt the pain from the hit travel up his butt.

The man who had come with him took off his helmet and shook off the sand as he gave Hecathe a hand.

Hecathe frowned as he looked up to see that the sand did not fall down with them. Well, some of it did but the majority of it didn't.

He glanced at the outreached hand of the man and took it as he pulled himself up to his feet.

"Are you sure this is the police station?" Hecathe questioned although he clearly knew that there was no police station on earth that had such a weird entrance.

The man nodded his head as he answered, "We are at the station!"

Hecathe squinted but said nothing as he finally concluded that it was better not to waste his time in asking questions.

As long as this man didn't try to kill him like Marvin did, it was all good.

"Follow me, Captain." The man informed as he took a few steps forward.

"Umm... Okay..." Hecathe was a bit hesitant but he still decided to follow the man.

He looked around at this underground hideout which looked a lot like a city with no natural lights.

He was immediately in awe as he looked at the infrastructure. There were a lot of buildings and a lot more of the same black-suited men that had arrived and saved him from being executed.

As the others saw him, they immediately bowed in respect as they greeted him, "Captain!"

"Captain, we were waiting for you."

"Captain. I'm glad to see you coming back safely."

"Captain!"

Hecathe gulped as he wondered why everyone was referring to him as captain.

He didn't say anything back but simply nodded as a greeting when he received so many warm reactions.

It was certainly his first time here but he was so warmly welcomed that he felt as if he was being mistaken for someone else.

"Where are we going?" Hecathe questioned once again.

The man didn't bother turning his head as he responded, "Where else would we be going to? I'm taking you back to your office, captain."

Hecathe took a sharp breath in as he finally concluded that there was a huge misunderstanding about his identity here, however, was he going to correct such a big misunderstanding? Of course, not. Why would he try to correct it if it was doing him no harm? In fact, he was more worried about their reaction when he really does reveal that he wasn't the 'Captain' they were looking for.

Soon, they stood in front of a building that was located in the middle of this underground city.

The building had black colored glass covering most of the walls. It didn't look eye-catching but it didn't look hideous either. Compared to the other showy buildings, this building looked rather ordinary.

There were two guards standing on either side of the building's door.

When they saw Hecathe, they immediately bowed their heads and greeted him like all the other people did.

"Captain Alphius, we are glad to have you back!"

Hecathe nodded as he responded confidently, "I'm glad to be back."