Mission Completed

Before I realized it, the group of villagers had escorted us to a tiny hut, which evidently led underground. I say hut, but it was just a door that opened up to stairs leading down into the darkness. The townspeople seemingly didn't intend to enter with us.

"Go ahead", one of the frowning men nudged me to move.

Lubbock had finally fallen silent, though he was still aloof, not caring about our current predicament. I looked from one villager to him to the stairs that led to the basement. Just then, I felt someone grab my hand in the crowd. I looked over my shoulder to find Mills, forcing his way toward me. He squeezed my hand, reassuring me that they'd be here when we came back up. Whoever this Doctor was, I thought, must be one frightening woman.

Lubbock and I made our way downstairs to a dimly lit, damp corridor. It smelled of something that I couldn't quite put my finger on, something pungent, embittering. We walked on, as there didn't seem to be more than one path before us. At times, one of our steps would make a splashing sound. We weren't even sure what we were stepping in. Lubbock seemed utterly disgusted by it. And yet, he had stopped complaining.

When I looked at him, I think he veiled a hard expression with a clueless one. I didn't think his childish self was capable of pretending like that. I could tell that he simply hated this squalid dungeon. We were soon through with the corridor and standing in a spacious courtyard of what I liked to imagine was a house swallowed by the Earth. In the background, the dripping sound of water broke the otherwise dead silence of the place.

The smell had disappeared too. A wooden entrance stood in front of us. There were two more doors, smaller and much less inviting, so we decided to take the one that looked more promising, more used.

The quarter looked lived in. There was a mangy bed in one corner, covered in white, dust-strewn sheets. I bet if I looked closer, I could find a bunch of cobwebs too. The bed was leaning on one side, one leg shorter than the rest. It had been eaten by the rust. Whoever lived here, cared none for sleeping. What caught my attention was a small circular dining table in the middle of the room, with one rusty chair sitting across it. It looked far too uncomfortable to be used for sitting, yet the table had dishes lined on it. Someone had enjoyed quite a hearty breakfast.

On the other end of the room, were counters and cabinets, stacked with old and broken medical equipment. The Doctor must have quit her practice a long time ago. A singular light bulb flickered over the counters. It barely lit up the room but it was enough. The Doctor seemingly had no interest in sleeping or sitting down to enjoy a book or something. It was like a jail cell.

Lubbock went ahead and started fooling around with the broken medical equipment with utter contempt. I didn't say a thing. He was in a mood that I found impossible. I looked blankly at the small door that stood opposite us. Perhaps a latrine. The door was shabby, titled to one side, only one of the hinges holding it together.

Then, just like that, the door swung open and appeared a pale-faced woman in a wheelchair. She had apparently been alarmed by the clink clank of the medical equipment that Lubbock was dismantling.

The woman wheeled in and shut the little door behind her. I watched her in silent surprise. Lubbock looked her way once and then went back to doing what he was doing before.

"Two young men!", she spoke in a gentle, hoarse voice, "Well, I'll be damned!"

In the light, I caught a better look at her. Slightly droopy eyes, dark hair with streaks of grey, somewhere in her forties at best, pale skin, a pointy nose, and a very attractive smile. She was a very gentle woman, never raised her voice, never lost her composure. Even in her wheelchair, she seemed to be standing steadily. She operated her wheelchair with a knob on one of the arms. She had made it comfortable by putting in pillows and stuffing blankets. That explained the unused bed and the rusty chair. She needed neither anymore.

"Oh, my manners!", she snickered sheepishly, "Pardon me, I haven't had company in a long while."

I didn't move a bit, staring at her with all the keenness in the world. She didn't even seem bothered by it. Her graceful countenance shifted slightly when she looked at Lubbock, who had now retired from his investigation into her old equipment. She weakly smiled. That amount of smile was enough for someone as slender as her.

"The villagers...", my voice came out a bit weird so I stopped mid-sentence and began again, "The villagers brought us down here."

"Yes, I heard. Please forgive them. They've been a little on edge with everything that's going on. But they're all good people."

"What's going on?"

"It's a long story. A legend, really. Just old wives' tales."

"Well, you people sure seem way too worked up for just old wives' tales", I commented.

She chuckled. Her chuckle was like a small whisper, fading with her breath, utterly weak and forced.

"That's true."

"We'll hear it", Lubbock said, authoritatively. I myself was a little surprised. And so, I believe, was the Doctor.

"Well then, so you shall. But oh, I forgot! I am Ema. Doctor Ema."

"Not retired?", I had to ask.

"Not a bit", she replied just as casually.

Since she had no chairs to offer, our conversation continued while Lubbock and I stood in the middle of that room. She seemed to have little notion of hospitality. I didn't mind.

"It's the Laughing Man", she began, "He's come back."

"Who?"

"An old legend. The Laughing Man wrought havoc everywhere. He turned everything upside down. Ruined the system. People wanted to eliminate him but...he was far too powerful. No one could ever catch him. In Shamballa, people tell stories of the Laughing Man when they want to scare their children into sleeping. But it is just that, in the end. A story. Whatever Laughing Man existed, he came thousands of years ago. But these people just don't like outsiders. He said he'd return someday", she fell into a brief thought, "Strange. That's all he ever really said."

"Well, aren't they one superstitious bunch?"

"Indeed so", she chuckled the same chuckle again, "But there has been...some disturbance. It started about ten days ago. I couldn't explain it, despite myself."

"We only came here a couple days ago, or to be precise, we came to Agartha", I tried to clear any suspicions.

"Oh, I have no doubt regarding you", she meant it, "So you came to Agartha?"

"You know it?", I couldn't quite get around the fact that Agartha was right above Shamballa.

"Of course", she smiled, "We all came from Agartha, after all."

"What?"

"That's true. We fled Agartha and came down here."

There it was, our mystery solved. We had found the missing people. Our mission was fulfilled.