Agent of Seraphim-Chapter 45: Traces of Technology

Karl was traveling at lightning speed, taking a brief glance at the surroundings to look for any signs of movement.

The surroundings were pitch dark, but Karl had ways to cope with it. His cape fluttered in the air, lightning sparks strobing across it and lighting up his field of vision.

With the ground briefly illuminated, he spotted fresh footprints that were still crisp, left behind only recently.

He kept his eyes straight, moving past the vast, murky field, with occasionally sharp rocks protruding out of the ground.

When there were some demon worms and creatures in his way, he would whack them off, without spilling blood onto himself.

The demon worms were easy for him, but he took more hits than usual to kill them. He looked at his new weapon with scorn.

’Karl, do you like your new weapon so much?’

He did not answer the spirit attached to him and continued without stopping. His friends were still holding on, and he needed to give them aid before it was too late.

"Like? This piece of shit rod is disgusting." He replied to the spirit.

The metal rod in his hand, his new weapon, had bulging bumps across it, spreading like a vein. At the end of the rod was a worm’s maw.

—SCREEE

"I shouldn’t pick it up. Why do I listen to you..." Karl sighed, condemning his bad decision.

’This place reeks of death.’ His spirit said in his mind.

"Yes, and it left a bad taste in my mouth," Karl muttered.

’Grrr. You have another mouth now!’ His spirit teased.

"I’ll feed it to Thundra as soon as I get out of the den," Karl swore.

Karl sniffed the air again and lowered his body. He stepped up his speed with a sudden burst of lightning energy. The scent of blood and iron was getting close. He would soon reach Eddy and the others.

***

"There he goes, so quick!" Seraphine exclaimed, eyes fixed on the holographic map. The dot indicating Karl’s position darted swiftly across the distance.

"Yes, but the outsiders are so slow," Brand grumbled. He was camping for the traitors but growing impatient from waiting.

"But how is she still sleeping?" Brand was curious. He was not steady enough for her to be unaffected during the run.

’Her hair was twitching...’

"Ahem... You’re awake?" Brand asked cautiously.

Ruby, who had been leaning on his shoulder, turned around and looked at him with a hesitant, tender gaze.

"How long have you been awake?" Brand asked in a low voice.

"Since you were talking to yourself..." Ruby murmured.

’Then she had heard a lot...’

As he hesitated, Ruby looked him in the eyes and asked, "What is GHOST, and who is Seraphine?"

Those were some bombshell questions Brand couldn’t answer. But he couldn’t just turn away and escape.

He looked into Ruby’s eyes, which were fixed on him intensely.

’Tell her... I’m not Essen...’

A small rift opened beside him, within arm’s reach. He extended his hand into it.

He smiled at Ruby’s surprise expression and said. "This isn’t the time to talk about it. They’re coming."

He retrieved the Vibrant Shield from the dimensional pouch and handed it to Ruby.

"Take care of it until I’m done cleaning up the traitors."

He took a quick glance at Ruby. Her face was blushing red, yet her gaze stayed on him. She was fiddling with the trim of the shield.

’Wait for me, okay?’

He stepped forward, preparing to intercept the traitors who would be arriving soon.

***

Brand stared at his map. The two dots had moved closer, but soon halted.

’Huh?’

A moment later, the dots pulled back, curving to the side, as if trying to bypass him.

’Look at this...’

He let out a tight grin.

Brand moved quickly toward them. On the map, the two dots sped up, almost as if they already knew where he was.

Jet black scales crept across his body, and his presence faded into the shadows.

He chased after them, but he was now blended into the backdrop, using the dark environment to his advantage.

Yet, the two dots still seemed to be aware of his approach, even after he fully merged into the darkness.

’Something doesn’t feel right...’

"Sera, am I being tracked? With spells?" Brand asked the playful angel.

"There are no traces of spell, however..." Seraphine grinned and pointed at his back.

Brand undid his Scarab Shell partially, only his back. He then tried to scratch it and found a small bump sitting behind his back. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

He peeled it off and examined it closely.

There was no blinking light or sound, but he could tell what object this was.

A high-tech tracking device, so flat that he wouldn’t be able to notice it, if Seraphine hadn’t pointed it out.

"I see... There really are high-tech civilizations out there, just like Seraphine said."

"They must be coming from the city..."

He recalled what he had experienced so far.

When he first arrived in this world, he had been in an open, vast desert, with nothing but a dragon chasing after him.

He only went towards the Emas Tribe after Seraphine pointed it out to him.

From then on, there were no signs of advanced technology, nor any change in the level of technology on Earth. That’s when he got the impression that this was a fantasy world of magic and dragons.

But when he reached the village, he noticed traces of a fallen advanced civilization. The villagers and travelers traded goods, and among them were metal scraps that didn’t match their current level of technology, nor the environment in which they lived.

’Could there still be advanced technology out there that the villagers know nothing about?’

He remembered that the two outsiders were from the Sanalia Kingdom, a kingdom that held influence over the vast desert. While the Emas Tribe was only a small village within it.

And the shield in his hand...

He had a feeling that he would get some answers from these two outsiders disguised as warriors.