005

We woke up early the next day, outfitting most of our devices with EMP shields, we treaded the same path we took before. This time, with little resistance as we cleared out most of the machinery.

It took 3 hours for us to get from our hotel to the castle proper. The air outside tasted rusty, and the skies burned red inside the castle's nature field. According to reports from previous caretakers, the castle's skies were blue, and the skies tasted like the sea.

"So, signs of tampering. Haya, can you confirm that?" I asked her.

"Got it, chief." She pulled out her laptop, and sat by the stairs of the veranda of the castle. I looked around as she fiddled with her laptop. Typing in keywords as she activated a device that detects electrical activity in the area.

I hear her hum a familiar tune, one that I can't seem to remember. I looked at the surroundings, the windows are shut tightly and I can't seem to see anything inside. I peered my eyes from one corner to another and- a movement of a cctv camera. "Ha-" I tried to get her attention but she stopped me.

"Yep. I know, there's people there, and veeerry active. I think I can still feel interference from their devices right below us. And they're watching." She taps 'Enter' with a click. She looks in my direction, "Do you want me to disable the cameras?" She asks.

"Can you scout it out first?" I replied as she nodded in agreement. Looking around the castle's exteriors, in the far distance, beside the castle I notice several machines, walking aimlessly. They're models made late into the war, deactivated near the castle after the end of the 2nd machine war. Made to look human for whatever purposes they had in mind.

Human-like… humanoid machines looked to the ground, at their feet, as they walked around not interacting with one another. One of them jolted its head high into the sky and let out a loud, disgusting scream. The scream continued, its pitch getting higher as it went on until- its head blew up. And it fell down, deactivated.

"Sorry, It was too annoying." Haya remarked, "Anyway, I want to send the data directly to you but they might intercept it. So I'll just say it," She then told me about the layout of the castle, showed me exact blueprints that were once lost to time. Of catacombs deep inside it, she added that sonar imaging data from a few hundred years ago revealed that the catacombs stretched across the entirety of the hill and under the surface of the earth.

Add to that, there seems to be several people there. Robed figures with the mark described by 'J'. "Alright, turn it off now." She tapped a few more times into her laptop. Followed by the loud 'CLICK' noise as she hits the 'Enter' button.

"Done." She said, "I also put their records into a separate storage and deleted it from their drives. Should you need it. Now let's go inside."

"Thank y-" As I was about to head out, I saw her pack her laptop and proceed up to the front door, "Inside? Are you crazy!? We go back, and ask for assistance before entering."

"Pfft," she rasped, "It'll be fine, we got each other. Come on, 5 minutes in and out we just check what it's like in there." She puts her hands at the large front door of the castle and starts pushing it open.

Dust and smoke emanates from inside the castle. Causing Haya to have a huge coughing fit. I handed her a handkerchief, "You took your meds?" I asked her. She denies and informs me that her medicine is back in the car. I sat her back down and ran back at the car and looked for it.

As I looked for the meds in her messy part of the car I momentarily looked back at her and saw her looking inside the castle. I looked back at the mess and heard her ear-piercing scream as she gets pulled inside.

"HAYA!" I yelled aloud as I jumped over the car, almost tripping on a rock and rushing inside, pushing the castle's doors. I hear her scream echo throughout the castle.

I tapped my staff to the floor and whispered,

Illuminate

As it glowed a bright white light, illuminating the surroundings. I saw splotches of dark red blood. Her blood, to be exact, from her tuberculosis coughing fits. I looked around further at my surroundings.

The room I'm in, the entrance, is extremely fance, though largely dilapidated. Red carpets trail the hallways, there's tons of red draped all over. Perhaps it's the lighting of the exteriors. The blood splotches lead further inside.

I followed it, and I can perfectly see the trail that her kidnapper moved through, and followed it. The trail lead farther and farther inside, as the rooms and hallways looking more and more abandoned.

There are no lights, broken furniture all over. The wallpapers, peeling off. It feels heavy, "HAYA!?" I yelled aloud in the hallway, no response.

As I followed it further, I came across a dead-end, except for a long elevator shaft on its right side. I looked above it, and there's nothing. I looked below, it's a dark abyss. I shot a light down below.

I saw it fall down the endless abyss, and disappear. Sighing, I opened up the sonar imaging data of the castle that she gave me earlier. And I see that the elevator shaft descended down to an unknown point. It seems that there's something down there that's obscuring any scouting information from coming in.

And so, with no other choice, I jumped. I fell down an abyss, into the information blockage, and below me was nothingness with I, being the only bright light falling into the darkness below.

Until I reached the bottom, and splashed down the cold cold water. I fell deep as I tried to swim up, I managed, the chill pierced down my robes into my skin. It's hard to breathe then I realized that the water all around me is calm. But the darkness is deafening, aggressive. With no other light source other than me, I shot a ray of light into the sky, hoping to hit something before it disintegrated.

The bright ray flew high before hitting the ceiling, brightening the area like the sun in daytime. I can perfectly see my surroundings, the deepness of the water and its vastness in where I am, a cenote.

In the vast distance, I see a shoreline and so, I swam all the way there and crawled down its sandy slopes, exhausted. I breathed heavily, feeling the sand down my grips, and rested on my back before it.

The light shone brightly at the cave's ceiling, sharp stalactites litter it. A tragedy if they had fallen on me. Eventually, the light died out. And another shone from behind me. It was subtle, and seems to lead further into the cave. Perhaps she's there.

Perhaps…