Crule leaned his back on the cold concrete wall. He felt its chilled coolness then came the feeling of sliminess. Years of ignorance made the wall a perfect gathering places for grim, moisture, and mold. Crule quickly revealed a face of disgust and looked at his “borrowed” clothes already dirty beyond imagination.
[Crule]: Well…at least I blend in a bit more now.He sighed.
His red clothes have been stained with a yellowish grey liquid and his scarf was ruined by the corrosive juices sliding down the wall from a pipe above.
Crule quickly removed what was covered in the sickening stuff…what remained was a pair of dark grey pants and some rags he manage to “rescue” from a clothes line nearby. The rags he draped over himself like a poncho and wrapped some around his head to cover his hair.
[Crule]: What I need now…is information. Walking around knowing nothing about the place makes me stick out like a sore thumb…But where can I find information without revealing too much about myself…What he needs right now is a place that is neutral to outsiders…somewhere where he wouldn’t be painted as a target but can also get information…especially on the 8 demigods and the Twin Star royal family.
Something as important as the Twin Star royal family had completely been forgotten in his time. Which means someone or something utterly wiped them out early from history and the only ones who remember are the old seven monsters themselves…Even then, they weren’t important enough to be mentioned to Crule.
There was also the fact that there was an 8th demigod…This point bothered Crule.
He was also unsure if the treasure that brought him here was time based or memory based. If it was a time based treasure, he would have traveled back in time…thus all his actions may deeply impact his time. If it was a memory based treasure…he would be living through the memory of someone important…perhaps one of the demigods or maybe even a member of the royal family.
Crule needed to figure out which type of treasure it was before he can perform any major actions. He already messed with the future by traveling back…now that he has gone even farther his impact would have an even greater effect due to those damn “butterflies”…
While Crule was pondering, the Sage was in a bad mood.
[Sage]: Where did this outsider come from…we should be mid warp, nothing should be able to enter the Ark unless through one of the designated portals…If the outsider had entered through a portal, we would have known as the energy fluctuation would shake the entire vessel…The Sage looked very upset. The kids around him had already ran and hide in their rooms. They recognize the look on the Sage’s face and realize they shouldn’t approach him at this moment unless they want death.
Although the Sage is kind most of the time, he does have his…darker…times. Those children who have seen it with their own eyes have already fled. Those who knew about it but haven’t seen it stayed but were wary.
The Sage left after standing for a while. The kids slowly got out. They wanted to blame Jane for bringing someone that made the Sage go into one of his “darker” moods. They looked at Jane with annoyance and disgust. But being already used to it, she just ignored the other kids and left…
The Sage never had a strict hold on the kids. They could come and leave as they will, but these street kids were smart enough to know they wouldn’t last on their own. After the Sage left, Jane finally went to look for Crule. She still didn’t believe he was bad…just as she didn’t believe the Sage was all good. Her intuition tells her Crule was a nice person.
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Whilst Jane was looking for him, Crule had already left the slum city. The guards stared in confusion at him as he left. His new clothes made him look like a resident but the guards know most of the residents of the small slum city.
They wanted to stop him to ask who he was but Crule left too quickly for them to have the chance.
Soon Crule found a manhole cover above and climbed out back into the upper streets. He found himself in another dark alley way. Several dumpsters lined the street and steam rose out from the pipes connecting to the buildings surrounding him.
Instead of walking on the streets, this time Crule surged energy in his legs and climbed the side of the building. He quickly reached the roof.
From the roof, he would see the artificial sky dome above him. Although it looked like a normal night sky, patterns could be seen as lines outlining each panel was visible.
A wind blew gently as the sound of the city was muffled by the whistling of wind traveling through the city.
[Crule]: For an artificially created city, they sure did pay attention to detail…There were no animals though…No birds, no rats, and no insects. Although Crule couldn’t use his energy to sense for them, he secretly knew there weren’t any.
[Crule]: I need a map.Crule sat down on the roof. He closed his eyes as he try to map out the city from what he saw from the roof.
There was a very tall and important looking building a few hundred meters west of him. On the opposite side, a few kilometers away was what looked like a support beam? Such a big dome should be able to hold itself up due to its shape but Crule assumed the engineers were better safe than sorry when involving the only hope for humanity.
He ran toward the support beam. Being in a higher place means a better view of the city.
Even with his strengthened muscle, it still took Crule an hour to reach the towering structure. A single bead of sweat fell from his forehead.
[Crule]: I don’t remember the last time I had such a workout.Looking at the smooth outside of the tower, Crule sighed.
[Crule]: Looks like I have to climb it from the inside…He looked at the small metal door that has been locked by a giant padlock nearly half the side of the door.
[Crule]: It seems to be a maintenance entrance…but this lock…Crule stared at the giant lock. It looked very interesting as there were two handles on each side and no keyhole.
[Crule]: Perhaps…He gripped the handles with both hands and channeled his energy slowly through them. An audible click was heard as the lock opened up and fell on the ground with a dull thud.
[Crule]: This kind of lock in this place…Perhaps one of the demigods was a blacksmith.Crule smirked as he realized he was in a very interesting situation. So many unknowns…the exhilaration of adventure once again filled him.
Through the door was a long spiraling stairway. The lights were turned off so the darkness above made the stairs look eternal.
[Crule]: *sigh*…I’m definitely getting my share of cardio today.Thus the climb begun.
