Defiance of the Fall

she saw that item.
That machine must have been something extremely important if it made her ready to risk her life to betray us all.”

They hurried over to the table where Kenzie plugged her tablet into a control panel as the rest looked for clues.
They couldn ’t find anything though, forcing them to wait for Kenzie ’s findings.

“It’s actually some sort of spatial drill, ” Kenzie said with surprise.
”Researching its technology was commissioned by some Head Researcher twenty years ago, but it was just finished two weeks ago.
It can drill a tunnel through chaotic space, and it seems even better than the array we used to force open the path to the mystic realm. ”

”Head Researcher? ” Thea repeated with confusion.
”Who ’s that? The Cartava Clan? ”

”I don ’t know? ” Kenzie said as she hesitantly turned toward Zac.
”Did she say anything like that? ”

”It ’s hard to trust anything she ’s said until now, but I doubt it, ” Zac said.
”If they had the means to order the base to this degree, then they would probably have been able to escape long ago. ”

”Then who? ”

”Perhaps the base itself? ” Ogras muttered.
”Didn ’t you mention some Administrator before? ”

”That ’s just the name of the computer system controlling this base.
Would it really order itself to research something? ” Zac hesitantly said.
”If it was able to do that, it could just have done it, right? ”

”More importantly, can the natives use that item to force their way outside? ” Thea interjected.

”Possibly, ” Kenzie nodded.
”But I ’m not sure how well it would work, it ’s an experimental technology.
And they would have to use it at least close to our portal.
Drilling anywhere else won ’t do them any good.
They would probably just end up in outer space. ”

“So, she has the key to escape this prison?” Ogras spat.
“No wonder the lass took the risk.
With all of us stuck in this place, our force is severely weakened.
If they figure out some way to ambush our people, we ’re screwed.”

“Can you warn them?” Zac asked as he turned to Kenzie.

’

“It looks like we are jammed, we can only pray that they are prepared.
I don’t get it… Just how did she figure out how to take this thing?” Kenzie muttered.
“If they had any knowledge of an item like this, wouldn ’t they have fought harder to come here themselves? Long before we arrived?”

“Her eyes… Time,” Zac muttered, finally putting two and two together.
“Her ability doesn’t allow her to peer into the future.
It allows her to go back in time.
We were probably the ones to tell her in an alternate future.
Shit, she’s been misdirecting me with half-truths since the start.”

“That’s heaven-defying if true,” Ogras exclaimed with shock.
“The backlash has to be immense.”

”You saw her eyes.
Her second eye got a curse as well, ” Zac said.
”I think she crippled herself to bring that item to her clan.
If she can even make it back alive. ”

”I don ’t think she would have taken the risk if she believed she wouldn ’t make it, ” Thea said.
”She would have had a better chance of saving her people by staying with us if that was the case.
She might just have been playing weak, or she has some special method to at least temporarily withstand the backlash. ”

“Are there any other exits to this place? ” Zac asked.

“I can’t see from this terminal,” Kenzie said with a shake of her head.

“Quickly, look around,” Zac sighed.

The group immediately spread out, entering the side chambers one by one.
But it only took them a minute to confirm that they really were trapped.
The only exit was the way they came from, and attacking any surface of the lab seemed to trigger the massive security response.

”Well, it looks like we ’re stuck.
What do we do? ” Thea eventually sighed.
”Leviala Cartava will be back with her clan in a few hours, and I think they will immediately set out afterward.
There ’s no way they won ’t seize this opportunity.
Our people might be attacked in less than ten hours. ”

”Can you see if any of these machines can help us out? ” Zac asked as he turned to Kenzie.
”They were made by the base, so they might not trigger the alarms? ”

”I ’ll try to figure out some way to escape this place, ” Kenzie nodded and immediately walked over to the closest item and started tapping away on her tablet.

”Well, that ’s my cue, ” Ogras muttered and disappeared, leaving a confused Zac behind.

’

”If it comes down to it I ’ll use my escape skill.
I ’ll only lose a few levels, ” Thea said as she walked over to him.

”Doesn ’t it send you in a completely random direction? ” Zac asked hesitantly.

”Well, yes, ” Thea admitted with a grimace.

”Let ’s see what Kenzie can come up with first.
No point in you risking your life if there ’s a better solution out there, ” Zac said.
”You ’d probably end up in the void around us or some random section where you couldn ’t get back.
And teleportation in this environment… ”

”I guess there ’s not much I can change even if I manage to get out of here by myself, ” Thea said with a helpless expression.

”I ’m sorry about all this, ” Zac said with a sigh.
”I underestimated her too much.
Now both our people might be hurt because of me. ”

”It ’s not your fault.
No one is working harder than you to protect our planet.
You simply can ’t control everything, ” Thea said.
”It ’s an important lesson for us all.
Besides, we all knew that the stakes were high going in.
Let ’s just see if we can turn things around. ”

”I ’ll see what Ogras is up to.
The look in his eyes made me a bit worried, ” Zac wryly smiled before he gave Thea one last look.
”Thank you. ”

He walked over to the storeroom he saw Ogras slink toward before and a frown spread across his face when he saw what the demon was up to.
Ogras was trying to snatch the stored treasure, a vial containing some unknown liquid.
The only problem was that it was behind a containment field that looked a lot like the liquid electricity that had flooded the area outside just a minute ago.

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“What are you doing?” Zac frowned.
“We have bigger fish to fry, and you might trigger the alarms.”

“I’m no help when it comes to taboo technology, I’ll leave that to your sister,” Ogras shrugged without taking his eyes off the vial on the other side of the electricity wall.
“I figure that if we’re stuck here for the moment we might as well take the good things left behind.
Isn’t that why we came anyway? Besides, I ’ve already confirmed that these things aren ’t connected to whatever that lass did.”

A dozen shadow spears slammed into the barrier the next moment to prove his point, and Zac only breathed out a few seconds later when there was no retaliation from the Administrator.
He was about to retort, but he stopped in his track when a new prompt appeared; the fifth quest in his training chain had been doled out.

[The Benevolent Ruler (Training (5/9)): Seize at least 2 opportunities for your followers.
Reward: Reward based on performance at the end of training regimen.
(0/2)]

[NOTE: Failure to comply with training regimen will result in loss of 4 levels.]