"You seem to have a type of way about you speaking about wanting to come in and save us, but what exactly would you be saving us from, hmmmm?" Eclipse let out a soft giggle beginning to pace around the area in front of Alexandria and Valentina.

  "It must be apparent to you that I control what most people fear. Where their senses are dulled, and some are even snuffed out. Do you really think we need you or anyone else to save us?" She bit her bottom lip taking in a deep breath taking in everything around them.

  "The other facilities maybe yes need you however you are strong, but we are disaster. My daughter and I basically bring light and dark to this world. While the others bring the water and the air and the ground beneath your feet. Isa is with you, isn't she?" Taking in another deep breath she could smell the familiar scent of Isa lingering on the clothes of Alexandria and Valentina.

  "The only good thing to come out of this facility was her suit. The rest of us are trapped in rooms to prevent the abilities that we were born with and some that were given to us by these foul people. In actuality that suit is made from a bit of me. What better to temper fire than the dark. What do you believe happens when you put a cover over a flame?" Another giggle escaped her lips as she covered her one hand with the other.

  "Essentially, you're taking the oxygen away which is what fire feeds on. Which goes to say Gale could've been capable of keeping Isa in check. However, the only way to take away the oxygen is to put something in the dark. They may have been successful with some of their experiments but not enough and as you could probably tell outside Mist even though she is contained inside an area full of equipment to suck the very moisture out of the air she can still create the barrier around us. And for some odd reason in all of this technology I haven't seen a single one of these researchers glean that that is actually what has created the mist. They still believe it's a phenomenon for the dormant volcano. What a silly superstition. They are silly creatures. What do you think Alexandria?"

  "Do you believe that we are still human or are the walled cities just playthings mere toyboxes if you will for us. They what to try and figure out a way to save themselves. To be able to walk out of those damnable cities without having to be in a suit or to be pumped full of so much antivirus. Theres hardly any blood in them. As you can see by the area around us these researchers had plenty of blood. You continue to bombard the facility with your weapons. I suggest you cease. If you truly wish to liberate us, I will hear what you have to say. However, you must do something for me in return. I cleared out this area, but my daughter is not around. If you can locate her for me within a set amount of time, then whatever you wish will be done. However, if you fail to find her you will pay. I will take a sense from you. Well, technically with darkness I can take away sight. I can take away smell. I can take away hearing. I cannot take away touch or taste because no matter how dark it is you can still feel things. So, hmmm?" Eclipse looked around trying to find something different. Something that could act as a catalyst. They had not been talking long, and this was something much different.

  "Hmmmmm, I will give you an hour. Remember if you fail you lose a sense and then you leave. Because as you can see, we do not need you to liberate us. If I can do it by myself even though I am the oldest here. I am not the strongest. You do not want to meet Glade when she's in a bad mood. Although we would be very helpful to your cause. Valentina, set an internal clock when it goes off inside you the time is up and then I will appear." Eclipse opened her hand, and a black thread slithered out of it jumping into Valentina's shadow.

  "That is how I can find you. If you stray or try and run after the time limit is up after failing. I can come out no matter where you are." She tilted her head to the side and looked at Alexandria. "When I disappear, the timer begins. If you can find Aurora before it is over I will gather the others together and we will listen. And if we all agree that is if you succeed then we will see if you are the person we should follow. Be mindful however, we are not like the rest of your crew. We do not follow blindly, and we always question." She snapped her fingers twice and disappeared.

  Valentina could feel the clock start inside her as she looked at Alexandria. "We need to go now."

  "Okay. First let's see if anything in here is working. Even if Eclipse used it to find Aurora, we still need to check it just in case." The two of them split up in between the rooms that were in front of them. It was a research area, a common area, and then an area that looked like it was a security gate. Alexandria started in that room figuring that the cameras would be there. She decided to take ten minutes to look through as much as she could and then she remembered they had no idea what Aurora looked like.

  Valentina decided to take the research area since there had to be some clues there as to what else happened before her and Alexandria entered the facility. Of course, this wasn't the first time she had been in a room like this. However, it was the first time she was here without people watching her every move and being restrained in some way, shape, or form. It sent a shiver down her spine for a moment not even wanting to think about how Alexandria would feel if she had to look through this type of room.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  There wasn't much around her since everything had been knocked over or destroyed. She walked carefully through the room avoiding the broken glass and other items littering the ground. Of course, she couldn't get any useful information about Aurora aside from a single vial which seemed to be saved from the carnage that Eclipse brought upon the researchers and this room. She walked up to the desk looking at the vial closely. It was interesting since it was blood, but it was glowing as if someone had put a small light inside it. Valentina was a bit hesitant to touch it however this was something they needed to look into regardless. Valentina looked around for anything to put the vial in but there was nothing. She took in a deep breath patting herself to see if there was a pocket or area this could be stored until she could get it back to their base to be analyzed. Thankfully she was able to find some clothe to wrap around the vial and slide it into her pocket as she continued to search the room.

  Eclipse had given them a task that could possibly be impossible, but at the same time it was a way in. It was the first time Alexandria had ever been terrified even under experimentation she was scared, but Eclipse's presence was like taking a ship and balancing it on someone's shoulders and expecting that person not to die from the utter weight that fell upon them. She wanted to be able to complete this test. The others sounded like that could take on whole walled cities by themselves without even trying. If everything Eclipse said was true, she could send one person to each city, and they could take it out in the blink of an eye. Even with their entire force it took them a day or two to just take out one. She shook her head and continued to look through the recordings.

  It was mostly researchers, and she saw Eclipse a few times. The time limit was almost up and then she saw something. The girl didn't look much older than Eve and she wore a bright white dress. In the recording for some reason, she was illuminated. Alexandria figured that was Aurora and she checked the time stamp. It was at least twenty-four hours ago which meant Aurora could be anywhere. After that she allowed the video to play and as she walked away, she heard the carnage they had walked into and saw after Eclipse granted their sight back. She had followed Aurora to this point but now had lost her which either meant Eclipse was unable to follow her or wanted to use Alexandria and Valentina to not only locate Aurora, but also maybe gain a future for her.

  There was no telling how many people were still left inside the facility, and all the names Eclipse had mentioned before as if they were supposed to know them. Alexandria figured none of them had seen the outside in quite some time which meant Eclipse was a bit unhinged. Of course, that was an understatement after standing there and listening to her for all that time. The other interesting thing was the fact the smell from all the bodies wasn't what it was supposed to be. It should've smelled rancid, but it didn't smell like anything at all. There were way too many questions to answer and now wasn't the time for her to stand here and dwell on it. She was going to keep all this in the back of her mind making sure it was bought up again even if she had to keep it in the back of her mind until they were out of this fight.

  Alexandria left the security booth and made her way into the common room. That is where she found a piece of fabric and it looked almost identical to fabric that Aurora had been wearing in the video twenty-four hours ago. "Valentina!" She shouted picking up the piece of fabric.

  Valentina came into the room. "Yes, Alexandria?" She looked around for a moment making sure there wasn't anything or anyone in there with them.

  "This is a piece of Aurora's dress." Alexandria said extending her hand towards Valentina.

  "How could you possibly know that?" She asked raising an eyebrow and taking the piece of fabric from Alexandria's hand.

  "Video footage. She was here twenty-four hours ago. Eclipse did this yesterday and she's just been sitting in this room waiting either for us or for Aurora to come back. Which either means she is playing a game with us or wherever Aurora is Eclipse cannot follow. We need to do something. We can't leave the facility that would be cheating. Twelve minutes have already passed we have forty-eight minutes to go. We need to find her quickly. Do you think you can go back twenty-four hours to find out how this piece of fabric was ripped off?" Alexandria asked with a sense of urgency in her voice.

  "Well yeah but that's going to mess with my timer. It could shred through the hour or give us too much time depending on what I do." Valentina replied wrinkling her nose.

  "Can't you do it separately?" Alexandria let out a small, exasperated sigh since they didn't really have time for all this.

  "Hmmmm, well, if I used the manipulation on the fabric instead of the room it won't mess with the internal clock." Valentina smiled a bit thinking of the possibilities.

  "Fine do it. We don't have time for this." Alexandria wasn't trying to be pushy, but they really needed to hurry up.

  "Alright, Alright. Give me a moment. Valentina needed to really focus as to not mess anything up. Everything moving forward was riding on her doing this right. She was going to get this right as she padded the area where the vial of blood, she had picked up was safely placed.