Chapter 10: Captured

Akira woke up somewhere completely new, he assumed it was the godless faction hq. He was sat on the floor, his hands in cuffs. “ I chose to surrender,” Lily says, she never planned on fighting Lan or the other girl, Lan had apparently carried him here. How nice. Speaking of, Lan joins them in the room, along with the girl from before, “ Morning,” He greets the duo, he glances over at his companion and then back to us quickly as if he had forgotten something, “ Right my bad, this is Lila. My assistant,” He says patting her head, she flashes a smile as if she hadn’t smacked him in the head a few hours ago. “Let's get to the topic at hand. Show me what you found in that basement that day,” Lan asks narrowing his question clearly at Akira, the only person who would know what that meant. Before he could say anything Cleo materialized in front of everyone, not just for Akira to see, judging from Lilas's excited reaction. Lan remained stone-faced. “If the Union is having trouble with you people why haven’t they sent in a Seraphim, from what I’ve heard they seem like they can handle it?” Lily asked, Akira had wondered the same thing but he wasn’t gonna risk asking. Lan leans against the wall, “ They did, the sixth Seraphim,” Is all he says, “ Oh yeah, there used to be six seraph units, but one day it was cut down to five…” Akira trailed off, he was able to easily put the two together, Lan had killed the sixth Seraphim, leading to the disbandment of the sixth unit. Lan really was toying with him before, if he really wanted to he could’ve easily killed Akira. Lily leaned back against the wall, “ So why didn’t they send anyone else? That lady Seraphim from before seemed strong and she was only the fourth, surely they could’ve sent the first or something,” Lily asked, the girl next to Lan, Lila, looked like she was gonna rip apart Lily if she kept asking questions, fortunately, Lan spoke up. “ They did, after the 6th they sent the first Seraphim, it ended in a draw, I took his arm as a trophy. After that they didn’t want to risk sending their top dogs if there was a chance they’d die,” Lan holds out his palm, showing off two alchemical runes, Lan had fought with the first Seraphim, took his arm, and still ended in a draw. Not to mention he took his rune and somehow implanted it on himself. “ This is fun and all but how about letting us go so that we can get to the fragment, I mean no rush its not like the Union has the authority needed to get in, but just in case I’d prefer we go sometime soon,” Cleo had reappeared sat on top Lilas head, it seemed to be a habit of hers to just appear on top of peoples heads. “ You can go, but Lan is busy with something so he won’t be joining you,” Lan's head droops upon hearing whoever that was, Standing behind him was a lady with the same colored hair as Lila, they must’ve been sisters, “ A few days ago a strange monster was sighted near one of the villages, its turned the nearby cave into its home. Lan was supposed to deal with it like I asked but it seems he’d rather chase after strangers,” Lilial was glaring at him, he was rather upset. Lan smiles sheepishly, “ I’ll deal with it as soon as I can,” “ Now, You’ll deal with it today,” “But-”“Today. You can bring your little friend if you want, but it needs to be done by the end of today,” Lilal gave one last warning before leaving, Lan let out an annoyed sigh while rubbing the back of his head, he eventually regained his composure, “ Alright, here's what we're gonna do. You, me, and Lila will deal with the monster problem while your friend will fill in the lady from before about everything she knows regarding the heart and what kinds of trouble to expect when he gets inside,” Lan removes the cuffs Around Akira and Lily's hands, allowing them to stand freely. The four split into groups of two, Lan would bring Lily to the scary lady while Lila guided Akira to where they kept his things from when he was captive, like a few minutes ago. The two walked in silence, they eventually reached the room labelled storage. The door opened after Lila scanned her hand on a screen, inside were boxes of stuff, and a table with Akiras bag and sheath. With a little help from Cleo, he was able to put the metal sheath back on, his bag still had everything inside, even the gun. It seems they didn’t get the chance to go through his things, Akira rejoins Lila in the hall, they continue walking in the opposite direction they came. Lan had told them to meet at the south entrance, Akira obviously had no idea where that was but Lila did, cause she practically lived here. Akira carefully rummaged through his bag, trying not to make it look like hes going to pull a weapon or something, Lila was a few steps ahead so she slightly turned her head to observe what he was doing, from within the bag Akira took out one of two apples he had remaining. Fortunately for him, it remained firm, both of them. He would’ve taken a bite but Lila was staring with great interest, and hunger perhaps. Right, he had forgotten, Taro had said these only exist within the desert. Akira carefully reached back into his bag and offered the last apple to Lila, without any care for what it could be she grabbed it from his hands and began observing it more closely. Her walking pace had fallen in line with his, she looked back at Akira waiting to see what he did with his, and he took a bite out of it. The taste remained the same as before, Akira could only assume it was because of how it was grown that it was able to retain its ripeness. Lila Followed what he had done and took a bit of the fruit, her entire expression brightened, its safe to say she liked it. By the time they reached the south entrance, the only thing that remained of Lilas's apple was the core, “ Oh wait no, I don’t think you're supposed to eat that part,” Akira stopped Lila before she ate the core itself, he wasn’t sure if it was edible but just in case he didn’t try. Lan stood waiting by the doors, Lan led them to a car, Akira assumed they would be walking, the only type of transportation he had been on was the train, obviously, he had seen cars before, there a plenty of those in New Frandhenven, it's just he’d never been in one before, so this was also new to him. Lan was driving, obviously. Lila and Akira sat in the back. Old Frandhenven was very different from New Frandhenven, most of the land was bare. Trees stood tall, occasionally they would pass by a village, he caught a glimpse of small animals roaming around the village, it seemed that the people living here were able to coexist with the inhabitants. It's not like New Frandhenven doesn’t have animals, it does, it's just strange seeing them out in the open near homes and whatnot. Akira was startled when something poked him in the face, he turned to see that Lila had shifted closer to him, she held her hand out,

  “ Give me another,” She demanded, he could only assume she was referring to an apple, which he was out of. “I'm all out, next time I promise,” he wasn’t sure when he would drop by the village again, but it wasn’t anytime soon, she was disappointed but didn’t say anything, she went back to her side of the car. The car abruptly comes to a stop, it seems they reached their destination. “ We find the monster, kill it, then we go looking for the heart,” Lan turned around in his seat to face us, Lila got out of the car first, making it seem Akira upset her or something, but not really he was still caught up on what had happened on the way here. Akira snaps out of his train of thought when he notices Lan staring at him, a smile envelopes his face, “ I hope you know how to fight,” He says in a somewhat menacing tone before getting out of the car. Akira pondered the things he had done in his life that could’ve possibly led him to this situation.