Tour Part.2 ARTIFICING!

"Hey, Scarlet can I ask you something?" I asked cautiously as we walked towards a small building.

"Sure ask whatever you want" Scarlet look back and smiled.

"Ummm don't take this the wrong way but why are you so friendly with me, this is the first time we've met right?" I questioned politely.

"Ohhhh it's because over the years Paul has told me so much about you and a friend of Paul's is a friend of ours, so you're basically family now." She answered.

"Ohhh...…" I responded as I looked down, he must have told her about our messy past.

"Don't tell him I told you this, but he still cares for you dearly." She turned her head and winked at me.

"Ohhhh... really?.... it doesn't seem like it," I replied.

"Trust me he does, If there something I can ask you?" Scarlet requested politely, I began feeling my heart beat faster and faster, my mind was racing between what she could possibly ask me.

"Ummm, Sure…" I cautiously agreed.

Scarlet stopped and turned to face me and started to fidget with her hands and feet, "ummm... can we be sisters?" She asked quietly.

"Sorry I couldn't hear you very well, did you say sisters?" I politely questioned, Scarlet's face slowly turning red, as she began to fidget more, nodding up and down.

"Of course!" I smiled.

Scarlets face beamed with a smile, as she lunged to hug me. My body instantaneous straightened like a plank and quivering uncontrollably. "Ummm… Ummm….. Umm….." I could barely utter a letter.

"OMG, I'm so sorry!!!" Scarlet instantaneously jumped backed apologising profusely again.

"It's…. It's…. okay…. you just got a bit carried away." I tried to reassure her and struggling to pull a smile.

"I'm so sorry! It's because I never really had any sisters or a girlfriend, so when Paul spoke so much about you, I thought you'd be the best sister ever!!" Scarlet smiled from ear to ear. "Sometimes when Paul visits home he would always bring me, and we would watch movies and relax, and I always wished I has a sister like in the movies!" Scarlet explained, talking extremely quickly I could barely make out what she said.

"Hold on one second? Did you just say Paul visits home? What did you mean by that?" I inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Well it's very important no one else finds out but I can tell you because Paul said you guys were best friends and we are sisters now! Paul has a special deal with the King of Arcadia which grants him permission to travel back to his world on special occasions, so he would also take me and we would have a blast. I get to meet his family and friends, chill out, shopping, drinks, food and games. Your world is so amazing! I absolutely love it, especially movie and pizza!" Scarlet explained with a giant smile.

What?! Paul is allowed to go visit home whenever he wants? OMG I might be able to return home or at least tell my family about everything that's happened. My excitement rose with the possibility of reuniting with my family and friends, but then again he doesn't even notice me, let alone help me.

Scarlet turned around and began leading the way again. "Oh and by the way, you can put your wand on your sash, there should be a slit you can thread it through," Scarlet informed me. Looking down at my sash there were two slits near the middle.

"Is it okay to have my wand on show like that?" I asked as I threaded my wand in place, it felt like having a loaded weapon on show.

"Yeah, it's totally fine. If anything it would deter anyone who would think of doing something to you" Scarlet answered.

The set of buildings we were walking to look very modern looking compared to the general architecture of Atlantis. The building was made of metal and glass with a very modern cubeish design and tinted windows.

"Here we are." Scarlet spoke out as we approached a door.

A small panel opened up revealing a small red circle, which appeared to scan scarlet, "Rank S Scarlet, identified, security level 10." A female robotic voice spoke out, as a door appeared and opened allowing her access.

"Stay here Emilia! It's important not to get any closer you might trigger the defence systems." Scarlet warned.

Scarlet walked in, the door closing behind her and vanishing. This building looks very secretive, with security levels as well, I guess this is must be one of the most important buildings in the School. It suddenly dawned on me that she said earlier this was the engineering department, I wonder if this is where Tim is.

Several minutes pass when a door appeared and she popped her head out, "sorry it took so long Emilia! I had to sign some documents and persuade a couple of students to grant you access." Scarlet apologised and flicked a small coin to me, "catch!" she shouted. Catching the small coin, I could feel that strange feeling inside the coin but it was extremely faint. "This should grant you access." She smiled as she popped back into the door and vanishing again.

Confidently trusting Scarlet I walked towards the wall, and as expect a door appeared and opened for me. Stepping into the building, the inside went far beyond my imagination. The inside was impossibly large, far larger than the building on the outside! "Scarlet... how is this possible?"... I questioned in wonder.

"Basically we are in a different dimension at the moment it's an extremely high-level spell," Scarlet explained.

"Ohhhh I see….." I replied, but not quite understanding.

"Come let's go" Scarlet smiled.

The building was filled with people reminded me of a busy train station, as Scarlet lead the way everyone began taking care not to walk to close to her, "So this is the Engineering HQ, basically the heart of the school. Students and Teachers here deal with the very important everyday operations of Atlantis. Also, this is where students that do high-level Artificing will generally conduct their experiments." Scarlet explained.

"Artificing?" I questioned, I've never read or heard about this as all.

"Artificing is the making of gadgets and mechanical machines, and sometimes infusing Arcanum..... hmmm...… Oh during the examination, do you remember Hanna Grand-master Artificer? She is basically the most famous artificer producing the more advanced and strongest machines and gadgets currently. The golem in the room behind her is personal bodyguard, that one, in particular, is rumoured to be stronger then an S ranked Student, and the school has a small army of mechanized golems and other machines." Scarlet explained.

"Woah that sounds pretty dangerous," I said worryingly.

"Ahh it's alright, Arcadia is pretty neutral when it comes to conflicts for lands." Scarlet explained as we began walking further in. "Come, I want you to meet someone, the last remaining member in our team Ashley, he's one of the up and coming artificers" Caroline smiled.

We walked to the middle of the entrance hall, looking up I could see well over 30 floors, each floor identical to the next with a very modern design. The whole building was filled with students and golems and flying machines. There was no sign of lighting, everything seemed to illuminate themselves. "Ashley, can we get some help reaching your lab?" Scarlet spoke out, holding a finger to her ear. Blue runes suddenly began slowly appearing under our feet "stay within the runes Emilia we wouldn't want you missing limbs." She warned, frightened with what scarlet said I straightened my body keeping my hands to my side ensuring I was well within the rune.

As the runes slowly began connecting, they all glowed with a bright blue flash causing my eyes to slam shut, opening my eyes and waving away the smoke the spell expelled, we were in an extremely large room filled with uncountable number of mechanical parts, gadgets, tools and materials. "Scarlet you really need to learn how to get here on your own! You just have to enter room 257!" I heard a male voice speak out from the other side of the room.

"Yeah, but you know me, I like seeing you inventions at work," Scarlet replied.

"You lie, you just like annoying me" The male voice spoke back.

"Okay, I do just a little, but I do enjoy seeing your inventions in action," Scarlet spoke out and began walking to the source of the voice gesturing me to follow. "By the way, I brought a friend!" Scarlet added.

"WHAT?! You know you can't bring new people here before I vet them! Why can't you just follow one rule?!" The male voice complained as we approached the source of the voice became more and more visible. The young man gave a very clean-cut and tidy hair, but his clothes were dirty I guess from all the tinkering, but the most abnormal thing about him was that he has a robotic arm.

"Yes I know but she's special," Scarlet explained.

"Doesn't matter you know everything I do here is secretive and I don't want anyone trying to steal or copy my experiment!" He responded.

"But, the girl I have here is Emilia." She added.

"Wait 'The' Emilia?" his head shot up to take a look.

"Yup 'The' Emilia." She replied.

Ashley instantly got up dusted off his clothes and began walking towards me, "Hi I'm Ashley part of Paul's team nice to meet you." He said holding his hand out his robotic arm to shake my hand.

"Ohh nice to meet you as well." I happily replied, hesitantly shaking his robotic arm.

"Please take a seat." As he snapped his figures, several huge golems approached carrying chairs and a table placing them on the ground so we could sit, and walked away.

"Wait so those golems move on their own?" I questioned.

"Yup making a machine to help around the lab is the first thing most artificers learn to do." Ashley smiled. As they returned with drinking glasses and a jug of water, pouring out water and placing it on the table in front of each of us. "Would you like some food?" Ashley asked.

"No thank you" I replied.

"Ohh Ohh does your cooking bot still do those lovely bread rolls?" Scarlet asked.

"Bread rolls please with butter." He spoke out, and the golems responded by nodding and walking away again.

"So Ash? What are you working on now?" Scarlet questioned with a cheeky smile on her face.

"A: You know I hate that name and B: after the last incident you know I'll never be telling you again!" he politely replied.

I couldn't help but stare at his mechanical arm, it was quite an engineering feat, that far surpassed technology back in my world, "are you interested in my arm?" he asked kindly.

"Sorry for staring." I apologized quickly looking up to Ashley's face.

"Not at all, I understand it's a bit abnormal." He added, looking at me very thoroughly, "So you're Emilia? The one Paul talked so much about!" Ashley asked.

"I guess so….. What has he exactly told you about me?" I asked, fidgeting with my hand slightly.

"Well only good things to be honest, how you guys were great friends, yada yada, he used to miss you a lot, stuff like that. But it's so great we can finally meet you!" Ashley answered.

"Well, I'm not all that great, to be honest," I added with a lower tone looking down at the floor.

"No one is perfect, but a friend of Paul's is a friend of ours!" he smiled laying back on his chair relaxing. "You're family now, so if you need anything please don't be afraid to ask! But could I ask one thing?" He requested.

"Sure" I happily replied, picking up the glass and taking a drink

"Did you love him?" he asked with extreme confidence.

My heart skipped a beat and almost sprayed out my mouthful of water, "Ummm…-" I nervously spoke but was interrupted by the arrival of the robots again placing plates in front of us and a bowl full of mini fresh bread rolls, and a plate of butter with a knife. "

"Ash you can't ask a girl a question like that!" Scarlet spoke out.

"You can't? Ahhh I'm so sorry!, I don't get out much" Ashley apologized.

The room suddenly letting out a loud siren sound and began glowing amber, "Ohh crap this isn't good" Ashley shouted.