I’ll Make Sure To Lighten The Load Off Your Shoulders…

Chante leads the group to a tall and majestic marble statue of a woman. He looks over his shoulder a few times. Then approaches its face and pushes in two pressure plates in the eyes, then the ears, before finally hooking his fingers into its nose and pulling up. The nose clicks as it flips up and underneath is a small red button that he presses, causing the statue to shift. It slides across the floor and reveals a staircase going down. As they descend, Adrian turns behind him and watches the statue slide back into place. Evelyn looks behind her.

“What’s up? You coming or not?”

Adrian is quiet for a few moments before replying, “Yeah… Must’ve just been my imagination.”

They continue on with small LED lights on the ceiling, their only light source before the space opens up to an enormous room. Inside of it the room is filled with large round tables, rows of lights yet to be switched on across the tops. A few people dressed in scribe robes shuffle throughout the room and Chante begins to lead them to the nearest one.

“Welcome to the Historian society.” He said, “Here, we preserve our history, the real history. So that we may pass it along to the next generation.” He then turns his attention to one of the few scribes and they shuffle to the first table. As they turn it on the lights come to life and begin to move around the table, showing a hologram of the earth, the moon slowly orbiting around it. “Now, I was informed that my fellow scribe, Shimmy, has already told you about the Overdrive drug’s origin?”

“That’s right, but I don’t understand it. He was a little vague…” Evelyn says,

“We tell our scribes to keep their secrets close to the chest. This information must be kept well guarded. For we have made many enemies by not letting the truth die.”

“And that truth is…?”

“I’m glad you asked, allow me to connect the dots on what my scribe said.” Chante nods to the scribe by the table and the image begins to change.

“Look, this is cool and all, but it’s gonna take more than a light show to-” Adrian starts but the image of a familiar insignia catches him off guard. The crow, with the snake in its talons, flashes across the screen, “What the…?”

“Oh? Do you recognize these insignias, boy?” Chante asks,

“Yeah…” He replies, turning to Evelyn, “That’s the same symbol I saw in the storm.”

“Oh yeah, it does kinda look like how you described it.” She says,

“Really? You’ll have to show me where you found it… This insignia belonged to the country of Levisar and this one…” Chante says, turning his attention to the other insignia, a long serpent strangling a crow with its body. While its mouth stretched upwards towards a picture of the sun as if it was about to eat it. “This belonged to the country of Ronilus. They both existed before the storm was even thought about…”

“Heh, that’d be nice…” Adrian remarks,

“It was…” Chante continues, the table going back to the image of the Earth and moon. However, a small cluster of lights travel to the moon, intersecting. “Until the moon was hit by an asteroid.”

“An asteroid?” Evelyn asks,

“It is said that our planet's resources came from being showered by asteroids over the course of millions of years. Each one holding material that would then be used for our daily lives. The same can be said about the moon.”

“So, wait, wait, wait, you’re saying that the moon was hit by an asteroid and inside that asteroid… Was the Overdrive drug?”

“The materials that came about its creation, my dear.” The image on the table changes to a blueprint of a machine, vials jutting out of a spherical base, lines of teal across it. “This machine was used to synthesize many different medicines. Plagues of old were simply washed away and the Overdrive drug was no exception. A highly advanced steroid, one that could be used by the general public to increase overall productivity, or at least that was its intended use.”

Evelyn stares up at the machine in awe, “Do you have any idea what this means, Adrian?! This machine could synthesize a cure for the burn!”

“I wanna say I don’t believe it… But for once I do. Guess dealing with the Thunder blade and the storm chaser was for nothing, huh?” Adrian replies,

“I wouldn’t be so sure…” Chante chimes in,

“What do you mean?” Evelyn asks,

“After the discovery of these new resources, a war broke out between Levisar and Ronilus, each country wishing to have the new technology for themselves. In an attempt to wipe Ronilus off the map, Levisar created a weapon. One that would seem like a regular occurrence but hidden underneath was a terrible truth…”

“The storm…” Evelyn finishes his sentence.

“Correct, wishing to give the people of their country the burn. But it only backfired…” The image on the screen changes to not one, but two swirling storms, “Ronilus retaliated with their own…” The two storms combine, “Creating something uncontrollable and devastating. Destroying the entire world, turning it into what you see now.” Chante continues, “The two countries dissolved, but they did not die, as they were reborn… Levisar, the storm chasers… Ronilus, the Thunder blade respectively.”

Before either of them can reply to this revelation, the sound of screaming cuts through their thoughts, coming from upstairs. The sound of gunfire quickly accompanies it and Chante’s face twists into a look of horror.

“No, it can’t be…” He said,

“It’s them! They must’ve followed us here!” Shimmy says in a panic, “I told you we needed to take the utmost caution!”

“Calm down! Who’s here?” Evelyn asks,

“The Thunder blade…” Chante answers, “They’ve been hunting us, reducing us to hiding underground like moles…”

Adrian smirks, “You don’t say? What do you say, Ev? Ready to kick some ass?”

Evelyn nods, a look of serious determination on her face, “Yeah!” She turns to Chante, “Don’t worry, sir, we won’t let them take all the hard work you guys built.”

“Okay, we’ll stay here, there’s a panic room just for situations like this. We won’t open the door until we hear your voice.” Chante replies,

The pair dash towards the stairs and disappear up them. After hearing the statue slide across the floor, Chante turns to his scribes.

“Everyone! To the panic room now!” He orders,

The scribes all begin to shuffle to the back of the room with Chante leading them. He takes them to a wall and feels the edges of it, resting his hands on grooves unseen to the untrained eye. However, as he finds the door, Gale’s childish voice echoes throughout the large space.

“Aw… That’s it? I thought there would’ve been more rats… With how complicated this hideout is and all… By the way, don’t you think it’s a bit on the nose putting it in a museum?”

“G-Gale? What- what are you doing here…?” Chante says with a trembling voice, his eyes widening with pure terror.

“Hm? Oh! Hey doc!” Gale says with a wide grin, recognizing Chante, “Been a minute, huh? You look awful!” He laughs,

“Gale… Please… You don’t have to-” Chante starts but is cut off as Gale puts a finger to his lip,

“Shhh… I know, doc, I know. Sometimes the guilt weighs down on people, I mean I would after making that weapon…” He motions to the table still displaying the storm, “But it’s okay! I’m here now… I’ll make sure to lighten the load off your shoulders.”

Above ground, Casey continues opening fire on the fleeing crowd, laughing his head off. Hanna and Jobe also pick off the running members of the crowd.

“Look at ‘em go! Run! Come on, make it difficult!” Casey said,

Hanna wipes blood off of her katana, “You need help…”

As Casey turns to reply, he’s pelted in the face by a flying bust, toppling him to the ground. The other two turn and see Adrian following through with his swing, before slowly coming to rest. Evelyn is next to him, cracking her knuckles, an angry look on her face.

“If you want a challenge, I think we’ll be more than enough of one, dickhead.” She threatens,

“I don’t know, Ev, might be a challenge for them… But they’d need at least triple of these numbers to be a challenge for us…” Adrian sneers.

Casey slowly gets to his feet, blood trickling from the fresh wound, his joyous face replaced by furry. He stands with his two comrades and all five people collectively get into their fighting stances.