Chapter 12:

Chapter 12: Problem solving

SOLARIS: Journey Through Another World

Hana had paid for their rooms at an inn when they arrived. Ko'An reminded Alice of places from her world; most of the buildings she had walked by were made with either wood or a type of concrete, with some of the roofs being the curved tile types, or just normal tiled roofs. The first floor of the inn doubled as a restaurant. Hana had gotten a room for both of them to save money. Alice only noticed now that Hana was carrying two bags with her; she tossed one of them to her, and after peering inside, she found a new set of clothes. For now, she stripped down to the shorts she had been wearing underneath the dress pants, and she decided to sleep in the dress shirt, taking off the coat and setting it aside. Fortunately, the room had two beds, allowing Alice the luxury of having her own. Hana had gone down to grab a bite while Alice made herself comfortable in bed. She tucked herself underneath the soft comforter; the feeling was so nice that she fell asleep nearly instantly. When Alice woke, it was late in the evening, and Hana had woken her. It would take a miracle for her to sleep as long as she wanted to. Oh, how she missed sleeping in. Hana had treated her to a light snack from the restaurant at the inn before they set off to look for the Scholar.

" We'll most likely find him in the Ko'An prison; he was tasked by the King to investigate something; the details are only known to him," Hana explains. The floors in the city were paved with stone tiles, with a little ridge separating the road used by horse-drawn carriages and the sidewalk where people were walking. They passed by all kinds of buildings, which were a mix of old and new. Night had fallen, but the kingdom was still so alive that people walked the streets, and the sound of chatter and laughter resounded through the area. The Prison was on the far edge of the city, for safety purposes, she assumed. All kinds of criminals were in here, from thieves to serial killers, or so she believed. This was her first time here. Hana handed the guard posted at the gates a piece of paper, supposedly an ID. Once it was checked over, he spoke into a walkie-talkie, and the large, solid stone gate shifted open. The inside was gloomy. The interior was made from a dark stone. Up ahead was someone she assumed was high up in the chain of command, as they wore a different uniform from the other guards. " Hello, Immortal Hana, I'm the Vice Warden of Ko'an's prison. The Warden and Immortal Kain are in sub-level 3. I'll take you." He gestures to the large elevator behind them. Once inside, the Vice Warden presses the button to take them down to level 5. " What brings the Thousand wars here to Ko'An?" The Vice Warden asked, and Hana took a moment before replying.

" A personal Investigation is going nowhere; having the Scholars' perspective on it would be a great help," She responded vaguely. Once they reached the fifth level, they continued to follow the Vice Warden. There were two floors of cells, with the second floor being accessed by a railing walkway. The center was empty, allowing one to see up to the second floor. " This must be your first time here," The Vice Warden says, smiling. Alice nods as she carefully looks around.

" We keep all the light offenders on the first two floors, while those who've done things multiple times, like robbing, distributing drugs, and other things, are held on 3-4. Floor 5 is for those who have killed or done something else; these people won't be seeing the light of day for a while," His tone of voice shifted drastically when he got to floor five.

" What about the sublevels?" Alice just realized they were supposed to go to sublevel 3, but got off at 5. They reached another elevator, which was more reinforced than the other one. " The way down to the sublevels can only be done via this elevator; the worst of the worst are kept down here," he says as they step in, the Vice Warden scans his eye before being allowed to press the button to the third level. Originally, we only had two levels, but the third was built specially."

" How many people exactly are in sublevel 3?"

"That's the thing, only one."

As the Vice Warden had said, the whole place was blank. They walked into the main area of sublevel 3, where further ahead was another large closed doorway, and standing in front of it was the Scholar and the Warden. The Scholar wore a light grey robe that went down to his ankle underneath a paofu. When he spotted Hana, his expression lightened.

" It is good to see you again, Immortal Hana." The two embrace in a hug; the scholar had the face of someone who knew a lot. His face had wrinkles, and his short hair was grey. He wore round spectacles.

" So, what's the King got you doing in the deepest part of Ko'ans prison?" Hana asked the Scholar to look back at the large door,

"I'm looking for someone; all I was told was that an unauthorized individual entered, but never left." He explained, " But what about you? What brings you here? And who is this?" He asked question after question, to which Hana answered. She explained who Alice was and why they were here,

" Entropy poisoning, huh...yes, I'd need to see the patient's condition to figure out a cure. But I can't leave until I catch whoever it is that broke in." Alice let out a sigh internally. But all they needed to do was find the intruder,

" We'll help,"

" You will?"

" Yep, once we find this idiot, we can head back asap and cure Cleo." Alice turns around to begin looking, but Hana grabs the back of her shirt, keeping her in place. " We'll help, where haven't you looked yet?" Hana asked, letting go of Alice once she settled in one spot. " I've been down here for a while now, so every other floor. I think it would be best if your apprentice and the others search floors 1-5, while we look on the sublevels." Hana agreed to this, sending Alice back up to begin her search. Before she left, she needed to know something: "Who's behind there?" she asked the Scholar, pointing to the giant doors. She needed to know who it was exactly that they needed to build an entire floor just for them.

" Years ago, during the time of the first Kings, there was a threat, one so large that the five Kings had to work together just to seal him away. If he were to be set loose today, there's no telling if he could be stopped."

How boring. She was the one who volunteered, but this was taking so long; the first two floors were clear, aside from this, where would they be? Maybe the system had something, open quest tab,

-SIDE QUESTS-

- FIND THE INTRUDER(0/1)

This confirmed there was someone. When she checked the map, she found that it highlighted the guards as green dots, and the inmates as dark green, so if the intruder were on this floor, she would just have to look for a different colored dot, perfect! Alice began walking around, keeping an eye on the map for any strange colored dots. Eventually, she would reach the fifth level. While staring at the map, she walked by one of the cells and stopped. The inside was damp, off to the wall was a sink and in the far corner a toilet. A person lay in the bed, lifting his head up when he noticed Alice staring. She promptly moved on; unfortunately, nothing. All that was left were the sublevels, which Hana and the Scholar checked over, which meant her work here was done. She found herself standing in front of the elevator leading to the sublevels. She was really tempted to go down to the third level and see if she could find a way past the big door and catch even just a glimpse of who's locked there. Stepping into the elevator, she sees that-as she suspected- the button to the third level is gone; instead, the finger scanner pulses above the two other buttons. What could she do? Alice maximized the map; she found that it was a layered type map, meaning she could toggle between the different floors, from the first all the way to the sublevels. This allowed her to see that two people were on the first sublevel, most likely Hana and the Scholar, and on the third level was the intruder. Out of sheer panic she pressed her finger against the scanner only for it to flash red, denying her access, she could go and find the Vice Warden but that would take too long, peering over the side Alice makes sure nobody else was near, she carefully jabs her sword into where the button should be, and prys the panel open, revealing the button and allowing her to press it. Alice kept her sword drawn when she stepped out onto the floor. Ahead, the door was busted open, revealing on the other side a medium-sized iron dome that was also ripped open. It was only when she passed through the gates that she realized the donkey was on a pillar surrounded by a deep moat that seemed to go down forever. The only way across was the bridge; on the walls were mounted guns. They looked like they packed a punch, or used to; the intruder had somehow broken all of them. The sudden blare of the alarms startled Alice as the entire area shook violently. The dome seemed to have been made from a certain metal. Upon touching the metal, she could feel her strength diminish, and it was cold; the rip inside allowed her to see that whoever it was inside had numerous shackles holding them down, and high in the ceiling was a giant hole leading up and out. At the base of the dome was a plaque, engraved on it was a single word, a name.

" Morningstar"

-MAIN OBJECTIVE-

Reach Level 900

REACH DIAMOND RANK IN 5 MONTHS AND HAVE ARTHUR JOIN YOUR TEAM

~~FIND THE SCHOLAR~~

SUBDUE MORNINGSTAR(0/1)

PREVENT THE DISCIPLES FROM BRINGING THE VALUED ONE

THE STARS BECKON YOU, ANSWER

-SIDE OBJECTIVES-

FIND AND CURE CLEO OF ENTROPY POISONING

CAPTURE THE ESCAPED SUBLEVEL PRISONERS(0/4)

PROFILE: ALICE