11:30 pm.
Darius was already on the rooftop of the building they agreed to meet on. He constantly looked at his smartwatch. It took him some time to convince Kaelen and Riven, till they finally gave in.
But he still doubted and wasn't fully convinced Kaelen would show up. The time struck 11:40 and he scoffed, " what a bunch of cowards ."
Then he heard sounds coming from the side of the building, slowly he walked over and saw Riven and Kaelen climbing up.
"You finally picked up your balls and glued them to yourself again," he said, a smirk tugging at his lips as he offered his hand and pulled them up one by one.
" Will you ever be less offensive?" Kaelen retorted, brushing dust off his jacket. Darius didn't respond, already focused on the vent.
" Okay, remember you must stick to the plan. And if anything goes wrong or anyone gets caught, you're on your own and your not to snitch or reveal your Allies."
That was the condition he gave them.
The plan was some what nerve wrecking as the museum was heavily guarded with modern and high tech equipments, because deep inside it lay the Hellspire Orb.
That orb was the key to hell , the portal used to open the demon realm. And if fallen into the wrong hands, it would bring destruction and war.
However, Darius's boss was a few steps ahead . Days before the heist, he had sent his men to hack the museum's security systems in order to study guard routes, laser grids, and camera placements , which gave them inside access to map out the artifact's exact location and security weaknesses.
Darius had already disabled the rooftop sensors with a frequency jammer that was given to him as one of the tools for the heist.
On the blue print, the bangle of Narak'Zar was on the south side of the Hellsphire orb. Since the orb was the most valuable and dangerous item, they planned to cause false alarms and triggers which would potentially draw majority of the guards to the Hellsphire's location.
Once that was done they'd enter through a rooftop ventilation shaft, and before dropping in they'd disable motion sensors and heat detection giving them enough time to grab the artifact and escape.
Kaelen had a bad feeling about the entire situation, but he needed the money urgently.
The three of them geared up, wearing more protective wear and headed towards the vent that was above the location of the Narak'Zar.
Darius turned to Riven and gave him a nod.
Riven was to go in the other direction where the vent that led to the Hellsphire orb was located. He was the one in charge of setting the alarms off as the two collected the bangle.
Darius opened the vent, hooked a contraption and rope around it and the other two ends to himself and Kaelen.
"W-What is this ?" Kaelen whispered.
" It's a recoil line Kae, how do you think we're going to come back up here?" Darius replied.
He pulled out a walkie-talkie, imitating radio sounds, " Agent Ri… calling agent Ri , are you there?"
" Yes, I am here." He replied flatly.
"We're going down the vent,stay focused and on my signal…disrupt the alarms."
" Sure."
"You first," he gestured Kaelen towards the vent.
"M-Me , why me?"
" Kae, look at me and look at yourself. You're way lighter and skinnier than I am. If the rope around you had to unhook from mine, I can easily grab you and pull you up. Now stop asking too much and get into the vent we don't have enough time."
Kaelen hesitated for a while, and finally stepped into the vent. Darius followed suite, and they slowly reached the wide space shaft which had openings of different vents, pointing in different directions.
"Remember keep left and keep quiet."
Kaelen crawled through the vent, the air was rather chilly, and the metal surprisingly didn't make a single sound.
He pushed forward with Darius behind him and the closer he got to their target the more uneasy he felt.
But he couldn't protest or change his mind at that moment. They were already in phase two of the plan and he definitely knew Darius wouldn't let him back out at such a time.
Pushing his doubt aside he continued till they were above the glass case that contained the Narak'Zar .
He crouched silently above the vent, peering down into the dimly lit chamber below. The room was lined with tall glass cases, each holding ancient, terrifying relics that seemed to radiate horror and fear.
One case held a twisted crown of bone and rusted metal, its jagged points stained dark with something that looked too old to still be blood.
Another displayed a severed monstrous hand wrapped in a golden thread, its fingers curled in a claw-like pose, suspended mid-air as if frozen in time.
A third artifact shimmered with an oily sheen ,a dagger made entirely of black crystal, whispering something just beyond hearing.
Everything screamed terror.
But Kaelen's eyes were locked onto the Narak'Zar.
To him the bangle looked like it was breathing. It looked exactly like the picture Darius shows then, deep red, with black thread-like lines twisting around its spiked shape.
It looked dangerous.
As Kaelen kept staring, he felt strange. His chest grew tight and tight by the minute. Sweat beads started to form on his skin. He started to feel hot and dizzy, like something was pulling him down. His head felt heavy, and his vision started to blur as the world around him became quiet.
All he could see was the bangle. It felt like it was calling him, not with words, but with something he could feel.
He couldn't look away nor blink, he didn't even want to.
Until Darius tapped him out of his haze, " Kae what's up with you ? Why aren't you responding?" he whispered.
" What did you say ?"Kaelen blinked rapidly,as if coming out of a dream.
" I said…is there anyone down there?"Darius hissed, his eyes narrowing.
Kaelen shook his head slowly, "Oh…no I don't see anyone."
Darius pulled out his walkie-talkie and spoke ," Riven it's time." He received an affirmative response. "And now we wait ,"
While they were there in silence. They heard a loud growling sound and it echoed through the vent.
" What was that ?" Darius asked concerned.
" It's my stomach, " Kaelen replied feeling embarrassed." I haven't had proper food or anything to eat for about two days now."
" Don't worry after this, you'll be able to get as much good as you please." Darius replied patting him.
There conversation was interrupted by the sound of the alarms ringing. A sign that Riven had succeeded. And just as predicted they heard the sound of heavy boots and footprints fading away from the entrance.
" That's your que." he nudged Kaelen.
Kaelen's hands trembled as he opened the grid of the vent. He poked his head out and looked around to make sure all the cameras were off and there wasn't anyone present.
Throwing a bit of the rope down, he held on to it and lowered himself down slowly until he was right above the case. It had an opening above, which made everything easier. Darius handed him a long rod with a hook at the end.
He slowly lowered it, and that feeling started again. Everything around begun to fade, it was just him and the bangle.
" Kaelen,will you stop acting up and grab it already you'll get us caught."
He snapped back to reality and begun to wonder why he was feeling that way.
" Maybe it's just a demon effect, after all I'm surrounded by things that belonged to them." He thought to himself.
He pulled it up, grabbed it with his hands and placed it into the inner pocket of his jacket.
"I got it."
Darius nodded and pulled the rope up, the mission was finally over.
"Now let's get Riven and leave before they notice it's missing."
Darius spoke through the walkie-talkie , but there was no response.
" Riven our mission is a success, we've got it it's time for us to go."
But there was nothing but silence from his end.
He frowned and clicked it again. "Rivennn? Come on. This isn't funny."
" W-What's wrong ? Is Riven okay ?" Kaelen fueled his brows.
" There's no response from him, we need to leave, Cmon this way let's go we need to get out of here fast."
" What ? No we can't leave without Riven."
" we don't have time Kaelen…" Darius snapped and held out his hand, "give me the bangle."
Kaelen pulled back instinctively, clutching his jacket. " No…We're here because of you and there's no way we're leaving this place without him. I'm not giving you the bangle until we find Riven."
" You're being difficult.".
" And you're being selfish…" he snapped back.
" if we don't go and look for Riven , I'll abort cause chaos and get us caught."
Darius exhaled sharply, "Alright…fine."
The two of them unhooked the ropes around them, as Darius scanned the blueprint on his smart watch.
" This way ," he pointed.
They begun to crawl in Riven's direction, but nothing , absolutely nothing on earth would have prepared them for what they saw ahead .