"It'll be a rain cycle for the next little while." Lex explained. "I hope you don't mind getting wet!"
Frost learned many new things in the hours that followed. The Void apparently operated on randomized weather cycles that mimicked normal planets. Last time Frost was here the heat was stifling. Now, it was a rain cycle, specifically one registered as severe on the index. The rain in question was currently busy beating on him with all of the ferocity and force of an enraged grade schooler. Water pellets the size of times, tasting like an amalgamation of metal and salt upon his lips.
If he focused hard enough, he could pretend it was a massage.
[TheConquerer356: Rain cycles were always my favourite. It helps mask your approach upon the enemy and the sound of an army's footsteps.]
[GreatGadfly30: I usually spent rain cycles cramped up in my study. Marching through them is… Undesirable.]
[MasterOfTheFlute: It is yet another facet of life to be enjoyed. Take the rain and the sun as it comes, yet enjoy it all the same.]
"My hair is going to get ruined!" Lana yelled through the downpour.
"You won't need pretty hair where we're going, Princess!" Frost yelled back.
"Realmhome is close!" Lex said, ignoring their bickering.
Frost happened to know the way, as well, though it was hard to see through the rain. They'd taken the most locationally apt portal into the Void by way of throwing themselves from a bridge and into a familiar tree. It was a place that brought back bad memories for Frost, but it was undeniably the closest to their destination. He only hoped that his exit wouldn't be as rough as it was last time.
By the time they reached the city of Realmhome, the water was up to Frost's ankles in depth. It was raining so heavily that he almost couldn't see Lex at all. He ignored the feeling of water sloshing in his boots, and followed aimlessly, trying his best to not lose his way. One wrong step could send him slipping to the ground, or wash him away into some unseen district. Lana was holding onto Frost's coat behind him, determined to bring him down with her should she fall.
"We'll stop here!" Lex turned around and grabbed Frost by the lapel. "We're in Riot Town now! Don't do anything stupid, got it!?"
Frost nodded. Their definitions of "stupid" were surely very different. This was like asking a cat to not meow. Frost, unlike a cat, had been well-trained in the art of the agreeable nod in his orphanage days.
Lex was visibly unconvinced by Frost's gesture, but didn't have the time nor will to debate it. "Right," he said. "Follow me!"
And they entered some sort of bar. The door had a barricade going to about knee level that they had to step over. It was the only thing keeping the place from flooding. Lucky, too, since it had delicate and fancy looking wood floors that would soak right through. It was wide and expansive. The bar itself was on the opposite side of the room, the rest of which was filled with three pool tables and a dozen tables. Billiards, it seemed, was something from Earth that caught on here one way or another. It looked much like bars Frost had seen with a few noteworthy differences.
None of the beer here was from a recognizable brand. Half of the people weren't human. A quarter of the people were smoking some strange smelling stuff that was neither weed nor cigarettes. There was no television. As well, the people who weren't playing pool were playing card games. One table was playing poker with cards Frost recognized, and the other was playing a strange battle game not unlike Magic the Gathering with entirely foreign looking cards. Judging by the above-average amount of Earthling games, Frost was delighted to find out that his planet had bearing over something in the Void.
The place was packed with strange and suspicious looking characters. Frost had no idea why he was here. At this point, he'd resigned himself to following Lex without asking questions. At least for now. He moved while listening to the whispers of the crowd. White hair on one so young? Look at that kid's hair, it's just like him. White hair in a place like this… They were talking about him. This was unmistakable.
"I've never been into a bar here," Lana said, slightly amazed. "Or on Earth, for that matter."
Frost turned back to her. "Considering the big game you talk, I'm surprised you're such a goodie two shoes."
Lana narrowed her eyes. "We can't all be Luca Sutherland," she said mockingly.
"Mhm… Who?" Frost asked.
"Ah. You don't know? He's a pretty famous criminal around here," she explained.
"He sounds like a fun guy. Still, a notorious criminal is not how I would describe myself. I… Simply do what needs to be done." He shrugged.
"Like shooting me in the shoulder?"
[Checkpointer20: She's so hard done by, isn't she?]
[TheConquerer356: A disobedient woman should be hit.]
[Checkpointer20: What the hell?]
Frost ignored all of the comments as they reached the bar. Lex leaned into it and Frost joined him to the immediate right. The bartender, a woman in her fifties, was busy tending a group of men at the edge of the bar to Frost's right. She gave a mug to the three of them and topped it off by squeezing a strange blue and bulbous fruit into them. It essentially looked like a blue lemon. Frost tilted his head at that.
"It must be interesting for a first-timer," Lex said, trying his best to look casual.
Frost looked around the bar, confirming that they weren't the centre of attention. "Second-timer," he corrected. "This place is strange. I couldn't make something like this up if I tried. Only reason I know I'm not dreaming." And indeed, the scenery around him was like some bizarre alternate Earth where the beers were strange and the people were weird colours.
"Well… You aren't a writer," Lex said with a grin. "The only thing you're creative with is ways to hurt people."
Lana nodded in approval to Lex's left.
"That's why you brought me along, isn't it?" Frost asked. "I won't deny it because it's true. But let's not try to pretend like it isn't useful."
Lex's smile faded a little bit, but he gave a solid nod. "You're right. Although… The other reason you'll find out soon–" He spoke to Frost with a subtle reluctance and respect despite his own gravitas and sense of importance. It had been this way since they'd fought. Perhaps he saw some sort of potential within Frost and had no interest in provoking it. Belleram Medeara had seen the same.
"The technology here is baffling," Frost noted as the conversation fell into silence. "It feels like it's more futuristic, and yet it's lacking."
"Be careful," Lex said. He unbuttoned his blazer and tightened his tie. "If you get me talking about that kind of thing, I might never stop. I did study this stuff after all."
Frost glanced back at the bartender who still seemed to be busy. "Go on."
Lex closed his eyes in contentment. "The Void is an anticonsumerist society. Generally speaking, planets with heavy tech production are ruled by merchant capitalism rather than politics. Earth is no different. The government is lobbied against and ruled over by uber-rich powers you've never heard of. To avoid that, almost all production is done locally and by small businesses in the Void. The beer you find at a place like this likely can't be found in the next town over. The tech that does exist is imported from off-world at a ridiculous premium."
"The cars?" Frost wondered, recalling them driving down the streets.
"Rare. Expensive. Custom," Lex said. "The same goes for firearms. I prefer to buy them on Earth. The one thing about the Void is that its customs are nonexistent. Anything can go in and anything can go out. None of that is without risk, of course."
"You're just as knowledgeable as you pretend to be." Frost was slightly impressed by this. His knowledge covered things like mathematics and engineering, not so much economics.
"My other self isn't all for show, you know." Lex was visibly embarrassed about that. "I told you, this knowledge is more important to me than myself. If it wasn't, I wouldn't have bothered making the trip."
Frost frowned. Inwardly, he wished he had something that was important to him. He'd have given his life to protect Vera, if only it had been possible. This, more than anything else, made him jealous of Lex. You have something to live for. I wonder if you know just how special that is.
"Hey." Lex said to Frost, jolting him out of his stupor. "You'll find it. Maybe not now. Maybe not tomorrow. But you'll find it."
Frost was speechless. He opened his lips to speak, and to ask Lex why the hell he'd brought them to a bar anyways, but the bartender arrived at that precise moment.. She moved to tend to Lana first, who was busy trying to fix her hair that currently looked like a soggy mop and wouldn't stop looking that way any time soon.
The bartender was a girl in her twenties, with a cute face, a slim figure, and long brown hair tied into pigtails.. She definitely wasn't the owner of this place. Far too young for that, or at least Frost thought so. Maybe things were different in the void.
Lana quickly looked up when Lex tapped her. "Ah. I'll have whatever these two are having."
The woman nodded, and moved to Lex.
Lex leaned in close. "Do I know you?" He asked.
The bartender's face gave nothing away. "Maybe. You do look familiar."
Lex nodded with a sly grin. "I'm a man known by many."
After hearing that next line she leaned in closer, enough that Frost could smell her peppermint breath. "What do you need? And who are these two?"
"I need access. And these two are with me. I was called here by–"
"I've heard enough." She pressed a hand to her lips and whistled loudly. The whole place went silent, and all of the customers immediately turned to pay attention to her. "Shut the place down! Two minutes!"
At her command, the doors were slammed shut and two men stood guard. All of the eyes in the room were on them now. Frost had no idea what the hell was happening. That conversation just then must have been some sort of code. That must mean that these people… This whole bar…
Rebels.
[TheConquerer356: My type of people!]
"Ah!" A man said from the corner. "So the rumours are true, then?"
Murmurs around the room whispering fairy tales.
"The cavalry has arrived," Lex affirmed. "The Realmguard's monopoly on history ends now."
Frost and Lana were like deer caught in the headlights. They felt like stars on a red carpet. All of the men were celebrating knowing they'd arrived and that the raid on the archive transfer was real. These were people who'd dedicated their lives to fighting the Realmguard, it seemed.
A few of the men started blessing Lex. They put a hand over their heart and then sent it out to him. "For truth. For true Eternity."
Lex closed his eyes and took in the praise. "For true Eternity," he replied. Then, he turned to the bartender. "Take us down. Frost, Lana, follow me."