“Are you going to answer it,” asked Arson. He looked at the small transparent rectangle vibrate on Almarine’s desk with the picture of a very serious looking man being projected above the device. The man’s face transforming into an image of his upper body in a swirl of particles, making The man’s uniform visible temporarily before it disappeared. “Yes.” Arson looked between the image and Almarine who didn’t move to answer the flatscreen and back again. “What is graveyard?” “It's a police force dedicated to ending all criminal existence in creation,” Almarine answered quickly and still focused on the image of her ex-husband. She’d known he was going to call, but when hadn’t been something she assumed would happen so quickly. “Momma Almarine, can you make me into a—“ Arson stopped asking his question; Almarine snatching the flatscreen off the desk and answered before it stopped its ring, with no time to spare, the man amidst a voicemail when she answered. “What are you even thinking woman, call me back, you are being looked at by four departments over this little treasure hunt, they're wondering what, you know what I’m not doing this over a voice mail, I’m on the way,” said the man before Almarine responded. “Winter, hello, Winter, can you hear me,” blurted Almarine before the man could hang up. “Mari, what are you doing? Please tell me that you aren’t doing what I think you are doing,” said Winter. “Hello who is it,” asked Almarine the hologram projection of her ex-husband clearly displayed in front of her. Arson pointed at the man who stared back at her, and almost managed to speak, but the glance Almarine sent his way was a side eye with enough grit to silence demons. Arson closed his mouth and dropped his hand back to his side. “Hello Almarine, I know you can see me, this isn’t a faulty phone from some ancient museum, I bought you that flatscreen so you couldn’t play this game with me,” said the man. Almarine began to bang on the device, the light unfazed, Winter rolled his eyes at her antics, he even managed to look in Arson’s direction. The single point he sent toward Almarine enough to signal to Arson how unbelievable the man thought her to be. Arson smiled, and shrugged. “You would be able to break the flatscreen if you were even at a fraction of your own power, Mari. I bought the phone with the highest durability rating on this planet for a reason. Please stop.” “Hello, hello, stupid phone,” yelled Almarine. “You know if you don’t want to speak you could just hang up the call,” said the man; his growing agitation discernible by the lines that now creased his face, aging him drastically in that moment. Arson didn’t know why but he felt for the man, Almarine still banged the device, and it only took a few more moments for Winter to hang up the holo-call. “Are you okay momma Mari?” The woman nodded once and released the longest sigh he’d ever heard from anyone. Then jumped, startled by the flatscreen ringing again with a giant tombstone image rather than the face of Almarine’s ex-husband. Arson didn’t dare ask anything after the last attempt, the wait for her to answer this call far more brief than the one previous. “Hello, Orphan Mother, this is Commander Savage with Graveyard,” stated a slightly older gentleman, wearing the same uniform as Winter had been wearing, only Arson noticed how the man’s jacket had far more runes stitched into the shoulders and chest. “Good morning,” responded Almarine. Her sudden change in appearance came as a shock to Arson, as moments prior she’d seemed far from calm. Frantic even, like when Rob couldn’t find an ingredient he needed in the kitchens. “You have a registered event scheduled at your orphanage tomorrow, and the inspection team needs to analyze the set up prior to the extravaganza as the paperwork we sent over stated, we wondered if you were free now,” asked the police commander. “Of course, how soon should we expect you?” “One of my men is a part of the MirrorLight family, we can portal to your given location currently if that wouldn’t inconvenience you?” “By all means, please do,” said Almarine, and for the first time in Arson’s life, he witnessed a portal being ripped open in space. The doorway of light’s edges peeled back in the middle of the room like a rectangular flower. Literal space rolled back into itself like the pages of a well worn book. Arson had only seen books because Almarine had many in the office where he often found her, and though he couldn’t read, he wanted to learn. Badly. “Seasons greet this blessed land,” said Commander Savage when he exited the portal, directly in front of the man Arson knew to be Winter. While Arson couldn’t read, Almarine’s greeting and introductions told Arson many things. The first was that MirrorLight was Winter’s surname. The information only stuck to his memory as it was the name mentioned in correspondence to how they’d arrived. Apparently the group of five behind commander Savage, and Sergeant MirrorLight were here to make sure that nothing that could be found during the treasure hunt could lead to unnatural disaster. They also needed to ensure that none of the findings were illegal to give freely, such as books, or nexuses, a type of mana crystal that stored information. Arson wondered if he could find a nexus that would let him know how to become a cultivator. He’d wanted to ask Almarine, but saw how busy she was already. He’d thought she’d be the best person to ask, but after learning what the various types of mana crystals there were after someone asked within the inspection team, Arson had a new goal. The portal was still open, and led directly into a room full of officers all at work in a large open area. Holograms of crimes happening all over the CityNation of Maelstrom could be seen being designated as priority, or too negligible for the potential loss of life that often came with criminal activity in high populous areas of their society. “Sparks…” Arson stuck his head in and his eyes went wide when he realized he couldn’t see the end of the room in two directions. The large open area seemingly without end, men and women directing aid or even elimination teams to areas Arson had never seen even during his short time on the Holo-web. His hand touched the edge of the portal as he stepped through and he felt a small jolt run through his fingertips. He looked down and saw that his hand was alight, but as he blinked the illumination vanished. “That was cool, but I bet my hand glowing with a weird light isn’t a good thing,” said Arson as his head spun momentarily. “This is as good a place as any to find nexuses, Almarine wouldn’t have let all those people in so easy if she already had them laying around, so I’ll start with the people that confiscate them first and see what I can find,” said Arson excited. … Almarine walked the group of seven through the orphanage. Arson had run off somewhere, which was perfect timing as far as Almarine was concerned. I don’t need anyone asking him the wrong kinds of questions right now. Almarine followed the group she’d allowed into her sanctuary, prayers in her mind that her largest secrets wouldn’t be found. The study full of her most prized possessions; hidden within a cave. The habitat core being used to support the orphanage that she had never let anyone see, and Arson, the closest thing she’d ever had to a son. Her punishment for warcrimes against the system, had once left her in a state of insecure depression. The feeling of being without a path, had also made her treatment of her charges far from kind, until her daughter was born. Being the General of an Army, and a loving mother had been a drastic change for her. Her love of combat and violence was a near addiction that she battled even still, but as she walked through the orphanage heart filled with hope that her remaining secrets wouldn’t be revealed, exactly what she didn’t want to happen, occurred. “Commander,” said Winter. Almarine’s ex-husband's voice pulled her from her thoughts. A flatscreen was raised toward commander Savage, who shook his head, and looked over to Almarine. “Is this young man one of yours,” asked commander Savage. “I think so, maybe…” Almarine tried to keep her mind focused in the moment that she saw Arson running down the hall of the Graveyard precinct. Winter gave her a strange look, unnoticed by all but commander Savage, who may think it odd that she didn’t remember every face she encountered if he read the dossier on her. He may even find it ridiculous. Yet his reaction to the sight was less concerned than she would have expected. “We did leave a return portal open, this happens more than I would like to admit, but give us some time and we will return him here if this is where he belongs,” offered the commander. To which Almarine simply smiled and gave a dismissive wave in return to try and make light of the situation. “Have a few trainees secure him please Winter, and make sure he is actually an orphan and not one of the ranking officers' children,” demanded the commander. The situation at hand seemed solved, but Almarine couldn’t help but notice that Winter still watched Arson run through the halls of the precinct. “Here are the fields that the orphanage is known for, these crops aided by mana to grow are the only reason this operation is so large, and considered to be the best place to find a child, especially for those cultivators whose paths result in the inability to bare offspring,” said Almarine. The tour continued and Almarine showed them every area that would be involved with the treasure hunt planned for the following day. “How many are expected to show up tomorrow again?” asked Commander Savage for the second time. “One of the orphans here is advertising it for me, the young woman has many of those details, but I am sure that the last time she mentioned a number to me it was a small amount, I would like to say around 10 thousand, maybe a few more” answered Almarine. She was surprised by the number, but only until she saw the scandalous clothing Jasmine wore to take pictures for the add. Lucky we don’t have 100 thousand showing up… “I see, and are any of the orphans going to be taking part, or should I ask do you have a candidate that you believe will be able to find some of the more precious items we’ve seen lain about?” asked Winter, still fixated by the young boy yet to be caught on his flatscreen. “No,” responded Almarine with no further words. Only another look in his direction.. Winter wore a serious expression that left Almarine’s nerves on edge.. Her worry only rose the moment he once more lifted his flatscreen in her direction. “You sure? This little monster seems to be giving much of our staff an issue." said Winter. His screen showed Arson slip around a handful of people that were obviously looking for the child. Almarine mentally noted that the obstacle courses she was putting Arson through, had given him a speed, flexibility and stamina that none there could refute was enough to give even some of the cultivators on the search team issues. Arson even managed to avoid being seen by a young woman who flew through the air above many of the station tables the officers used to connect to the security grid within Maelstrom. He could be seen rolling from underneath one unoccupied desk to another when practically all onlookers had their backs turned. “He must be one of yours with how well he is moving at such a young age,” said Almarine. The attempt to avert attention from herself was futile by that point though, she could see in her ex-husband’s eyes that he was already convinced she was the direct cause of what they now saw. Winter’s comment made her wonder if she should make Khalif avoid participating in the event; his abilities in movement now even more difficult to hide by his current level of skill and development.. While watching Arson though, she knew she had bigger problems than tomorrow’s event. “Wow, that’s rather impressive, if our systems weren’t passworded I’d be worried that he’d be able to make it —“ The commander’s words stopped dead as Arson stood pursued by none in a room prompted to give a password by the AI system linked to the precinct. The voice of the artificial woman coming through clear on the projection of the area Arson was in on Winter’s flatscreen as if they all stood in the room with the young boy. “Password,” asked the AI. “I’m looking for nexus or lexicon mana stones is what I think they are called, what’s a password, if you give me some time I can ask Momma Almarine,” responded Arson. “Password Almarine, accepted, mana stone vault accessed,” said the artificial woman’s voice, before a portal ripped open in the room to everyone's surprise, with the exception being Winter. Who’d both set up the portal based security system, and its master lock password. “Well…, looks like he is mine,” said Almarine. Winter lifted a glare from the holograms of Arson walking through a security portal and directed it right at his ex-wife. “You think?” … Though Arson could not read. The symbols that accompanied all of the words that could be seen outside each room, or above each of the entrances to the large hallways gave him enough of a guide. He found the police lockup after he followed symbols that reminded him of a key-hole filled with golden coins that looked like the credits the older orphans often passed around. The old design of doors and basic locks was only familiar to him because they could be found in some of the older architecture within the orphanage. Now that he stepped through his second portal for that day, Arson was amazed at what he saw. Piles and piles of various mana stones could be seen stuffed haphazardly on shelves in the bright room to the point that Arson didn’t know where to begin or what he was looking at. “Seems like I found something, but are these all Nexus stones?” Arson began to walk the aisles of shelves in the room, his hand out touching stone after stone like an interested child would in a grocery store full of candy and toys exclusively. The small boxes that attempted to flash into his vision detailing how his locked Overlay was downloading any and all content held within the magical databases… went unseen and unnoticed. The small red flickers mistaken as light bouncing from the many colored gems of crystallized mana used to store information of varying types and depths. “Hmm, I don’t think I can use any of these, unless I have to find a specific one maybe,” asked Arson aloud to himself, continuing to touch any and every crystal seen with no apparent result. Eventually he came to the center of the room and began to touch even the eleven large stones that sat in a perfect circle there. All 11 made a connection to his overlay, downloads that would normally be restricted for any one Overlay to download, subverted by Arson’s having had still had his own locked and unusable. Being forced to pick from a few available sources of information was seen as common. Normally a cultivator accessed, a craft, a martial form, a mana type, and sometimes even a legacy, but that was as much as the system would allow. Knowing this many cultivators saved this opportunity for after their cores had developed. This made it so that the information being downloaded was accessible through their Overlays. While Arson had just made connections with countless nexus and lexicon stones. Not having his core allowed him not to be restricted by the system yet, which made the connections possible. While the situation of being around such a vast wealth of knowledge wasn’t something that a potential cultivator had ever made contact with in at such a young age before Arson, a few had either come close, or received a much more pure and refined set of stones to connect to. The difference between them and Arson, was the scope of the content in its variety. The graveyard department of Maelstrom had taken these items from criminals, powerful families, and even fallen immortals. What he would one day be able to learn from what he’d downloaded, was priceless. Potentially giving the boy a database within his head filled with information on nearly every aspect of cultivation and life abroad. “This sucks, I didn’t learn how to become a cultivator at all in here, and where the sparks is that portal again?” It took Arson a while but he found the exit portal. The scene on the other side of the portal far different from the empty room he’d entered through originally. He could tell he was in trouble by the faces of the men and women gathered there, but it was Almarine’s own glare that made Arson want to run. “We’re leaving…”
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