Chapter 22 - Sneaking In

Trista checked the glowing tracker in her hand, her thumb tracing the edge of the display.

"The signal is coming from somewhere around here."

Mr.Hugo looked around, his eyes scanning the empty, cracked pavement.

"Doesn't look like much."

"That's probably the point."

They continued walking in cautious silence until Trista suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

"Mr.Hugo."

He turned back to look at her.

"What?"

She pointed wordlessly ahead.

At the end of the street stood a large stone building. It looked nothing like the crumbling, abandoned warehouses surrounding it. The structure was old but meticulously well-maintained, built from dark stone with tall, narrow windows. There were no signs outside, no nameplate, no exterior lights and no obvious indication that anyone was using it.

Yet something about it felt intensely wrong.

Trista couldn't quite explain it but she felt a sudden prickle on the back of her neck as though they were being watched from the shadows.

"Do you feel that?" she whispered.

Mr.Hugo nodded grimly.

"Yes."

He activated his ObserVation, letting the diagnostic magic sweep forward. A faint, invisible pulse travelled through the air and his brow furrowed.

"There is a significant amount of magical activity inside."

Trista looked up at the looming stone walls.

"Then why didn't it show up on any public records when we had looked at it?"

"Good question."

They approached carefully, sticking to the shadows of the street. The heavy front entrance was locked tight.

Trista looked left and right.

"Side entrance?"

Mr.Hugo pointed towards a narrow, gloomy passage squeezed between the main structure and a neighbouring warehouse.

"Let me check."

They slipped into the alleyway where a small metal door sat tucked behind a forgotten stack of wooden crates.

Trista crouched beside it, testing the handle.

"Locked."

Mr.Hugo examined the heavy latch.

"Can you open it?"

Trista looked faintly offended.

"I'm not a thief."

"You've spent the last month sneaking around the entire city placing illegal magical equipment."

"They were research equipment!"

Trista sighed, reaching into her bag and pulling out a small, specialised tool.

"Move."

A few dexterous seconds later, a subtle click echoed in the alley.

Mr.Hugo raised an eyebrow.

Trista looked away quickly, tucking the tool back into her coat.

"I've had to learn things."

"I see."

They opened the door and quietly slipped inside.

The corridor beyond was pitch-black but as Mr.Hugo adjusted his spectacles, he noted something critical: there was no dust, no cobwebs and no signs of neglect.

Someone was actively maintaining this building.

Mr.Hugo raised a hand.

"Quiet."

They moved slowly down the hallway, their boots silent against the clean floor.

Near the end of the passage, a faint purple glow leaked from beneath a heavy wooden door.

Trista swallowed hard.

"NightGlow?"

Mr.Hugo nodded solemnly.

"Definitely."

They approached the door on tiptoe, peering through a narrow opening in the frame.

Both of them stopped, their breathing catching in their throats.

The room beyond looked nothing like an ordinary research laboratory.

The walls were covered in complex, glowing circular markings. Heavy metal structures surrounded a massive platform in the centre of the room with thick cables and magical conduits running endlessly between them. Several dark crystals floated suspended inside containment rings, pulsing with thick, purple-black energy.

At the centre of the room was something that looked almost like a ritual circle, except it wasn't purely magical.

It was part laboratory, part containment chamber and part something neither of them could readily identify.

Trista whispered, her voice trembling.

"What is this place?"

Mr.Hugo didn't answer.

His eyes were fixed entirely on the centre of the room.

There was something there.

Or at least, Flo insisted there was.

“Wait, where did you come from?” squealed Mr.Hugo.

“Quiet! Trista used her DuskComm to call me here.”

“Where’s Cocol?” Trista asked.

“I’ve sent Raphael back to the Observatory.” Flo replied.

“Whose Raphael?” Mr.Hugo puzzled.

“Long story, no time for it now. Now shh!” Flo blurted while she activated her DayShine ObserVation.

She had followed them inside without drawing attention to herself, leaving Raphael behind at the Observatory after telling him to return there discreetly. She had not wanted him anywhere near whatever they were about to discover.

Mr.Hugo sighed and took out one Ghost Detector.

The device immediately lit up.

Trista frowned.

"But I can't see anything."

"Neither can I."

"Shhh." Flo hissed.

Now she remained hidden nearby, watching the containment chamber.

And unlike them, she could see exactly what was inside.

"There's a Lost Being in there," Flo whispered through DuskComm.

Trista's eyes widened.

"Where?"

"Right above the platform."

Trista stared at the empty space Flo had indicated.

"You're sure?"

"Yes."

Flo's voice became quieter.

"It's small. It's barely holding its shape. The core is golden-white."

Mr.Hugo looked towards the empty space again.

"What is it doing?"

"Nothing."

Flo paused.

"It's just... floating."

She watched the Lost Being carefully.

"It looks confused."

The Lost Being floated helplessly above the central platform, its form faint, unstable and translucent.

It simply drifted there, lost, small and profoundly confused.

Trista swallowed.

"That's..."

"One of them," Flo whispered.

Before anyone could say anything else, a figure clad in a heavy dark cloak approached the chamber.

Flo's voice immediately changed.

"Wait."

The person raised a hand.

A wave of purple NightGlow magic spread across the room, rushing straight into the containment field.

Flo's eyes widened.

"What are they doing?"

The Lost Being suddenly began to tremble violently.

Its faint golden-white core flickered erratically.

"Aagguhh..."

It whispered, the sound echoing hollowly through the conduits.

Trista instinctively covered her mouth.

"Flo..."

"I see it."

Flo's voice was barely audible.

"They're using NightGlow on it."

The cloaked figure didn't stop.

The NightGlow magic intensified, surging into the chamber. The Lost Being's translucent form twisted and contorted.

Flo watched in horror as its confusion rapidly spiralled into fear.

"Why is it getting scared?"

She could see the emotions moving through its form as clearly as she could see its core.

"Something's changing."

Its fear became wild panic.

Then the panic coalesced into overwhelming anger.

Flo's breathing caught.

"No..."

Its body expanded violently.

The harmless, drifting ghost transformed into something monstrous and distorted as jagged limbs formed from volatile, unstable magic and its glowing core darkened to a dangerous crimson-black.

The creature slammed its massive form into the containment barrier with terrifying force.

BOOM!

Trista nearly jumped out of her skin.

Mr.Hugo immediately grabbed her arm and pulled her back behind the solid stone wall before anyone inside could glance at the door.

Flo ducked down as well.

"They're doing it deliberately," she whispered.

Mr.Hugo's expression darkened.

"Yes."

Trista peeked back through the narrow gap.

The creature inside continued thrashing wildly against the energy barrier, letting out distorted shrieks.

"They're turning them into monsters."

"But why?" Mr.Hugo murmured.

Flo remained silent for several seconds.

Then she whispered through DuskComm.

"I don't know."

Her voice was shaken.

"But it wasn't like that when it arrived."

They waited, keeping out of sight as a second person entered the main chamber.

"The emotional amplification is stable," the newcomer reported, checking a diagnostic console.

The first cloaked figure nodded.

"Good."

"The Lost Being's original state was completely passive."

"Most of them are."

Trista's eyes widened in the dark and Mr.Hugo's jaw tightened.

The second voice continued calmly, reading from a clipboard.

"They arrive disoriented and confused. They don't understand what happened to them."

"And then?"

"We amplify the strongest emotional response," the second voice explained, glancing towards the raging creature. "Fear, anger, grief, loneliness... whatever is strongest inside them. Once the emotional response reaches the required threshold, the Lost Being becomes completely unstable."

Flo's expression changed.

"They're choosing the emotion."

The creature slammed against the barrier again, shaking the floor beneath Trista and Mr.Hugo's feet.

"Then we release it."

Trista pressed her hand tightly over her mouth to muffle a gasp.

The first figure nodded in approval.

"Into the designated area."

Mr.Hugo's eyes narrowed.

That's how the incidents happen.

Trista looked at him, the horrifying truth dawning on her all at once.

"The mountain... the shop... the haunted houses... all of them."

Flo listened silently.

Then she whispered:

"That means all of them were made like this."

They had finally found the missing piece of the puzzle.

The Lost Beings weren't causing widespread destruction because they were inherently violent or malicious creatures. They were being systematically captured and manipulated.

The original Lost Beings were harmless, disoriented souls but someone was hunting them, locking them away, amplifying their darkest emotions with NightGlow magic to turn them into unstable magical weapons and then releasing them onto Cirnia.

Trista's hands began to shake uncontrollably.

"All those people..."

Mr.Hugo looked down at her.

"What?"

"They weren't monsters."

She whispered it while looking back through the doorway at the thrashing creature.

"They were just lost."

Flo looked towards the Lost Being again.

Her expression softened.

"And someone made them suffer."

Inside the chamber, the transformed Lost Being let out another distorted, agonising cry.

Trista had to look away.

"We have to stop this."

Mr.Hugo nodded firmly.

"But first, we need to know who is behind it."

They remained hidden in the hallway, holding their breath as the researchers continued their work.

One of the figures walked over to a large wooden table piled high with documents.

Mr.Hugo carefully shifted closer to the gap in the door with Trista following right behind his shoulder.

A thick stack of papers sat near the edge of the table.

Mr.Hugo couldn't read every detail from where they stood but several bolded headers were clearly visible:

SOUL RESPONSE PROTOCOL

EMOTIONAL AMPLIFICATION

FIELD DEPLOYMENT

TARGET SELECTION

Mr.Hugo's eyes narrowed.

Target selection.

The phrase chilled him to the bone.

Checking to ensure the researchers were turned away, he reached through the cracked door and snagged the top document.

Trista grabbed his coat sleeve, whispering frantically.

"Careful!"

"I know," he murmured, slowly slipping the paper out of the room and into the corridor.

It contained a detailed list of city locations, complete with timestamps. Several of the entries matched the exact coordinates where the Observatory's GPS network had recorded Lost Being activity over the past month.

Mr.Hugo's stomach dropped.

"They're selecting where to release them."

Trista stared at the list in horror.

"Why those places?"

"I don't know."

Flo leaned closer, trying to see the document.

"I don't think we're going to find that out here."

Suddenly, an authoritative voice echoed from the far side of the laboratory.

"Has the latest subject been prepared?"

Mr.Hugo and Trista froze instantly, pulling back from the door.

A researcher answered.

"Not yet."

"How long?"

"Approximately ten minutes."

"Good."

A second voice chimed in.

"We don't want a repeat of the mountain incident."

"Yes sir," the first voice replied smoothly.

Mr.Hugo's eyes widened.

The mountain...

Trista whispered against his shoulder.

"That was them."

Flo's expression tightened.

"They were testing this."

People had barely escaped that terrifying incident with their lives and now they knew it had been a calculated test.

The voice continued nonchalantly.

"The subject was particularly unstable. It served as a very useful demonstration."

"And the researcher?"

There was a slight pause.

"Still investigating."

"Then keep a close eye on him."

Mr.Hugo's expression shifted.

They were talking about someone who had stumbled onto their operation, someone actively looking into the disturbances.

Trista looked at him, her heart hammering against her ribs.

"Mr.Hugo..."

He nodded silently.

"We need to leave. Now."

"But we haven't found out who is in charge!"

"We won't find out if we're caught."

Flo immediately whispered through DuskComm.

"Go. I'll follow."

Trista looked towards where Flo was hidden.

"Flo, be careful."

"I will."

Keeping their backs to the stone wall, they began retreating down the dark hallway.

One careful step.

Then another.

Trista slipped towards the exit with Mr.Hugo right behind her.

They were almost at the side door when Mr.Hugo's foot caught the edge of an old metal conduit leaning against the wall.

CLANG!

The metallic ring echoed loudly down the corridor.

Both of them stopped.

A voice roared from inside the laboratory.

"Who's there?!"

Trista's eyes went wide.

"Run!"

They bolted down the passage as heavy footsteps erupted behind them.

"Stop them!"

Mr.Hugo grabbed Trista's arm, pulling her around the corner just as a jet of purple NightGlow energy slammed into the wall where they had been standing a second before.

BOOM!

Stone shattered, showering them with debris.

Trista ducked, coughing through the dust.

"That was close!"

"Keep moving!" Mr.Hugo barked.

They reached the metal side door and Trista fumbled frantically with the handle.

"Hurry!"

"I'm trying!"

She shoved the latch open and they burst into the night air.

Mr.Hugo slammed the heavy metal door shut behind them, throwing his weight against it for a second.

"Run!"

They sprinted down the narrow alleyway and burst onto the main street.

Flo was already there, having escaped safely.

Behind them, the sound of pursuing footsteps echoed for several frantic seconds before slowly fading away into the distance.

They didn't stop running until they were several blocks away, finally ducking into the safety of an unfamiliar, dimly lit avenue.

Trista bent over double, hands on her knees, gasping for air.

Mr.Hugo leaned heavily against a brick wall, catching his breath.

Flo was trying to catch her breath too.

Neither of them spoke for a long time.

Finally, Trista looked up, her breathing still ragged.

"They're using Lost Beings as weapons."

Mr.Hugo nodded gravely.

"We know that now."

"They capture them..."

"Yes."

"...amplify their emotions..."

"Yes."

"...turn them into those monsters..."

"Yes."

"...and release them."

Mr.Hugo turned his head, looking back towards the dark silhouette of the stone building in the distance.

"Yes."

Trista swallowed hard, rubbing her cold arms.

"But we still don't know who is behind it."

"Or why they're doing it," Flo added, her voice low.

Mr.Hugo reached into his coat and carefully smoothed out the stolen documents.

"But now we have proof."

Trista looked down the road towards the centre of the city.

Together they began the long walk back towards the main road.

None of them noticed the silent figure standing at an upper window of the old stone building, watching them leave from high above.

The figure stood perfectly still, watching until their shadows completely disappeared into the night.

Then the figure turned away from the glass.

Back inside the containment chamber, the Lost Being continued to tremble, its golden-white core flickering weakly beneath the suffocating mass of purple-black magic.

The cloaked figure raised a hand and fresh NightGlow magic began to gather around their fingertips.

Somewhere in the dark room, a quiet voice commanded:

"Prepare the next one."