Across The Isles

They ran hurriedly and unceasingly, going across several different rooms they had no intention of stopping to search. It was clear, however, from the variety of rooms that flew by—Matthias and his people of the realm he called "Adeimantia" had their own culture and need to fulfill dozens of different needs: a game room to placate boredom, a canteen to feed large amounts of people, an auditorium to deliver speeches, a library to poeticize their knowledge—but when Wendy and Noir came ten steps out of the library, thus they came to a crossroad. Wendy squinted down one hall to the right, still gripping Noir's wrist. Noir, having found his footing again panickedly whispered: "Wendy, what is the plan here?! Do you think there'll be some exit that'll lead to another sky-city—or are we just running around in circles?"

Before Wendy could answer, several passersby came out of the library, confused and startled from the duo who just abruptly ran through. Behind them came running Matthias and Alphaeus, who, ironically, stumbled over his own people.
"Ugh—" he shoved two of them, "Clear the way, middlemen! We have a crisis!"

Wendy silently pulled Noir by his wrist down the right hallway. It was long, empty, and tall—with marble flooring—excellent for generating echoes. They could both hear Matthias and Alphaeus but a few steps behind. When it came to the longest stretch at the very end of the hall, one that connected to a grand, bronze door, they stopped chasing after Wendy and Noir and instead sat at the corner. Matthias crossed his arms and laughed triumphantly. The pursued duo had to reach the end of the hallway before they found out why Matthias got so cocky.

"That door," he began, "is to the vault. As such, it is to remain tightly locked at all times. Mine dearest friends, thou hath just, of thy own accord, convincingly sealed thy fate. Haha!"

"Why are you doing this?" Wendy shouted with exasperation. "We didn't do anything wrong!"

"That may be so…but thy pathoses are rarities—as such, thou would make difficult enemies if thou got away unscathed."

"Aha!" Noir shouted. "Thou told us earlier it was because we misled thy subordinate. Thou misled us, and so art worthy of the same penalty!"

Matthias cocked his head in a confused manner. "No…I spoke the truth…I just spoke the truth of that moment. It is not as though thou required a deeper answer. Now, my subordinate would be happy to take care of thee this time…Alphaeus?"

Alphaeus again drew his sword and started to walk towards them.

"Wait, Alphaeus," Noir started, "Think of it. Thou art headed by an ill-equipped ruler—a boy probably half the age of thee. Why wouldst thou not slay him, take his crown, and rule with the same iron fis—a better iron fist than he?!"

Alphaeus scoffed. "Thou can see his pathos, thou can see mine. That should answer thy question."

Noir did not understand and did not have time to understand. He and Wendy looked at each other in shock and with a wounded conviction that it really was all over.

"Wait!" Wendy shouted, "You mentioned something about lockpicking when you lived with that other guy—"

"Yeah! Because it was a shoddy apartment door that I could circumvent with some dental floss, not something like this!"

"But look at it—isn't there something we can do?"

Noir began to examine the door and his eyes flickered. "You…you're right! This thing—heavy as it looks—looks like it's only got a small bolt on the other side—and it doesn't even look metallic…if we had something thin and long that could work as a lever, we could pry it from the bolt and run into it to break it down!"

"What about your belt? Not like you need to use it anyway…"

"Not the time to be weird, Wendy!" Noir shouted angrily. This fit of anger sent another fireball flying from his hand, knocking Alphaeus's sword from his hands for a brief moment.

"O…kay—you get a pass for that one," Noir said.

"What about this? Could this sever the bolt?"

She held up the fake ID of Noir from the bar.

"That…the card might snap first. The bolt will have to have withered for some time."

Alphaeus was a mere ten steps from them. Noir said:
"You have to try! Chisel at it through the side! I'll hold him off."

"Noir! No, it's too risky!"

Noir ran to Alphaeus and stood eye-to-eye with him. Noir always wanted to master the martial arts—this would be his first chance to practice. He held up his fists while Alphaeus kept his sword steady.

"So far…" Noir muttered, "it's been all or nothing…with me."

Alphaeus, clearly ashamed of his earlier failure, did not take Noir seriously in the slightest. He almost had to stifle a chuckle as Noir put up his fists. With this hubris, he went right for the kill, lunging directly towards Noir with force and agility. Noir felt his senses heighten in that micro-instant and heavily leaned left out of the way. He quickly stepped one foot over the other to regain his balance, with which he delivered a swift kick to Alphaeus's stomach and sent him tumbling backwards to the marble wall.

"Alphaeus!" Matthias shouted, "Enough poppycock, end him!"

Alphaeus leaned on the wall to pull himself up and charged again at Noir, employing the same predictable move. Noir swiftly sidestepped him, grabbed him by the back, and pushed him into the other wall. Though he seemed to be out of his depth, Noir was holding his own.

"This," he taunted, "is your best guy?"

Matthias cocked his head angrily. However, while Noir looked away, Alphaeus grabbed his chest with one hand and his sword with the other. Noir held back Alphaeus's arm with his left hand and tried to kick his feet out from under him—Alphaeus, however, kicked them away and unlocked his arm from Noir's. But before he could deliver a fatal swing, Noir headbutted him with all his strength. Alphaeus dropped his sword, bent over, and put both hands to his face. Noir tried to reach for the sword before Alphaeus tackled him, smashing him against the marble wall. He held him up by his chest—his eyes empty and his face stern, as though he were holding back before then. Noir squirmed against the wall, kicking and punching, but to no avail.

"Wendy…any progress over there?" Noir asked, trying to get attention off of himself.

"The bolt is starting to creak…I can hear it!"

As soon as Alphaeus turned to look at her, Noir put his hand on his face and pushed. His grip loosened and Noir could squeeze out of it. He sprinted and slid to the sword. He grabbed it and stood up, eager to deliver a fatal blow to Alphaeus's head. When he was a moment from swinging, however, Matthias spoke out from across the hall:

"No unauthorized weapons art acceptable in Adeimantia," before waving his hand. The sword dissolved from his hand and turned into sprites that floated away, similar to what happened with the enigma. Noir held his mouth open in a state of shock.

"O…kay." He mumbled. "I…didn't need that anyway…"

At the end of the hall, Wendy was starting to kick at the door. On her third kick, she finally heard the bolt snap. "I got it! I got it!" she excitedly proclaimed. "I need you to help me break it down!"

"NO! Alphaeus, destroy them!" Matthias shouted.

Alphaeus, unsure of what to do, charged at Wendy with a Wilhelm scream. Noir chased after him, trying to tackle him from behind. Ironically, Noir tackling Alphaeus tackling Wendy was what provided the force to break down the door. However, as Matthias mentioned in passing, this would be the door to the vault. As such, sirens blared immediately as the door broke down. Wendy pulled herself off the ground and screamed at Noir to run with her—but Noir was still grappling with Alphaeus on the ground.

"Thou art not getting away alive!" Alphaeus insisted. Noir delivered another swift headbutt to him on the ground and wrapped his arm around him. He applied pressure until he heard something snap. Wendy looked at Noir and asked bluntly: "Did you just—" Noir answered, "I think so. We need to go!"

They ran out the exit away from the hall while Matthias slipped into the vault behind them. He muttered to himself: "Useless Alphaeus…but no matter. They can get away…they took the bait and I got exactly what I wanted…"

He held up a scanner that read out the duo's identities.

"Call off all units, I want them alive."