"Ahhh!! I told you, the others just won't listen to me. I've tried to act well and serious during work, BUT THEY DON'T GIVE ME ANY DAYS OFF!!!" shouted Chud. Together with him, both Tyel and Martheel were sitting at the table drinking.
Tyel, arriving at the same time as the one from the loop, was able to meet both of his friends again, chat the same way that happened last time, and agree to the meeting.
As the conversation was becoming more and more intense and Chud had started to scream louder, more people got near the table. Every time Chud started to drink, he started to think less and he just spoke every single thought that came into his mind.
"We've told you, Chud, this might be the reason too. Everyone is watching you right now," said Martheel. Even if he knew that it was useless, Chud knew that everyone got near him whenever he was drunk, but he still drank as much as he could to receive this much attention.
Martheel was sitting next to Tyel with Chud in front of them, and while he was drinking his second beer, Tyel was eating a hamburger and he had just finished his second beer.
"At least you're lucky you can return home during the night. Vaelkarin there, he's always assigned to the night shifts and during the whole afternoon," said a guard near Chud's table, pointing towards his tired friend, who had to work for another eleven hours during the night.
Chud left the beer on the table and got up. While he couldn't walk straight and everyone was watching him, he positioned his hand over Vaelkarin's shoulder. This guard was a small guy who had just joined the guards and didn't know how things actually worked here.
"I'm sorry… I will not cry or complain anymore… burpppp." Chud positioned his hand over Vaelkarin's shoulder and started to speak, looking at the young guard with a sorrowful expression, even if it looked more like the one of someone who was about to fall asleep.
"Ehh, gross!" shouted the guard as Chud burped as hard as he could. The whole room started to laugh extremely hard at Chud's burp, who clearly enjoyed this type of attention. As Tyel looked around, he realized that over the years he had gotten more used to this kind of place.
The guards, who just a few hours ago were all shouting and treating the prisoners badly, were currently all drinking together. Tyel, remembering one of the guards that had recently become a prisoner and based on how much he had, thought, 'I wonder if once we destroy this shit of an emperor, everyone can drink together like this normally.'
As Chud returned to his seat, he completely collapsed, and Martheel got up from his chair so that he could help him get up. "It's over, everyone. Chud is going back home," said Martheel. As Tyel finished eating the burger, he helped Martheel bring Chud outside the prison so that Martheel could get him home safely.
"Don't worry, everyone… the legendary Chud will soon return," Chud turned around while he was being dragged away by Martheel. All the guards behind raised their thumbs up too, knowing that once Chud would come to drink together with them again, all the air would become happier.
"Well, Tyel, we'll catch up tomorrow then. I'm going to bring this one to his own home," said Martheel as he heard some snoring near his ear. Realizing that Chud had already fallen asleep, he couldn't waste any time.
"Well yeah, see you tomorrow then!" said Tyel as he waved happily to Martheel, who did the same and walked in the opposite direction to get Chud safely back home.
'I've spent a normal day… after what happened in the latest loop, I've got so much information to give to the others…' Tyel reached the hidden alley and entered the rebels' base to give information to the others.
The group, as always, was still awake, knowing that this was the time Tyel would have arrived if he had gained some information.
"Yoo, Tyeeel!!" The first one to greet him was Vane. As Tyel got downstairs, Vane was sitting near the entrance as the whole group was hearing Darian's stories from his past.
"Yeah, there was this huge place called a university during my time in which—Oh, hey Tyel!" said Darian. Everyone else turned around and noticed Tyel reaching the room. "Have you got any information?" asked Vane, excited at the thought. Tyel nodded his head.
"And it is pretty huge actually. My future sight power is really great for us." Tyel, who spoke with a proud tone, smirked as he noticed everyone's faces, and as he took a seat, he started to explain what he saw.
"I found a way to enter the secret laboratories… but it might be a bit hard to reach them," said Tyel as he started to explain what he had seen in the latest loop.
"The problem is already the fact that there are multiple robots outside the hole we created… is there something more?" asked Lily, worried. Tyel nodded his head.
"You remember where you found the seamstress the first time, right?" asked Tyel. Darian, Liro, Vane, and Lily all nodded together.
"It was right on Karyuz's ruins. Why are you telling us this?" said Liro. "Don't tell me…" added he as he noticed the look on Tyel's face. The thought of all the plushies he had fought against sent a huge shiver down his spine.
"Let's say that she is living under the old city in a huge yellow place… that is connected directly to the secret laboratories," said Tyel with a serious tone. Hearing what he had just said, everyone gasped in surprise.
"There's something under Karyuz?" asked Syrmax as he adjusted his monocle, caught by surprise.
"And the seamstress is living there?" added Orechin. He even questioned the existence of the seamstress; after Darian and the others explained that they had fought against her, he was already surprised, and now hearing that he would meet her soon scared him. "…and did you say she?" asked Orechin, confused.
"I heard that too… what do you mean by that? Is the seamstress supposed to be a woman?" added Darian, even more confused.
"I know it's a lot to take in… but in the future I've seen, Zrelekai was referring to the seamstress as a her. So yeah, I don't know how or why, but that thing is a woman… I've noticed it playing with her plushies too," answered Tyel, as it was something hard for him to believe too.
"Playing with her plushies? I did that when I was three… but I guess having the power to make them alive surely must be funny for someone…" pointed out Darian.
"And so? To arrive at the secret laboratories to save Catripple, we first have to deal with everything before it, so the seamstress and all of her plushies?" asked Orechin. Tyel nodded his head.
"But since we've seen her appearing randomly in front of our eyes on top of the Karyuz ruins, that means there must be a sort of entrance to this place. Have you found it, Tyel?" asked Vane. "Sadly, no. This is the only information I've been able to gather in the future I've seen before I got killed by Zrelekai."
"Syrmax, you've always been interested in the past of Karyuz. Do you know if there is something related to this place? Like maybe, I don't know… a map of these rooms?" asked Orechin as he noticed Syrmax searching through the countless papers in the furniture right behind him.
"I can't seem to find anything… in fact, hearing that surprised me. When I talked with Uxar about Karyuz, he never told me anything about it," answered Syrmax as he kept searching through the countless papers, taking them into his hands one by one. "But I guess he didn't know anything about it either; it must be something new."
"Then it means that it is something new?" asked Liro. Darian, next to him, nodded his head.
"It must have been created by Zrelekai… maybe to give a house to the seamstress? But if this place is huge like Tyel has described to us, I wonder what the real utility of this place is," answered Darian. As he kept speaking, he lowered his voice more and more as he started to get lost in his thoughts.
"Well, I guess that we can't know this stuff until we try to reach it. When are we going to go?" asked Vane as he clashed his fists together.
"The moment I'll have my next free day, so exactly in three days," said Tyel.
"That's great, then we will focus on creating the plan… at least if something bad happens, we will know how to escape, so that you don't have to always use your power," said Darian. Tyel happily nodded his head.
"Thank you… well, this was all the information I gained thanks to my power. I promise I'll try to gain more information…" With that, Tyel got up from the chair and waved at the group behind him.
"Well guys, if I discover something, I'll come to you. If not… I'll simply arrive the day before our departure." With that, Tyel waved at the group again, who waved back, and Tyel got outside to return home before it got too late.
"Well guys, I'm going to sleep. I'm feeling too tired." The first one to go to sleep was Syrmax, as he had woken up really early today.
"Hey… how long has it been since Bianca departed from my base?" whispered Darian. "What?" asked Liro, confused.
"I was wondering why the backups haven't arrived yet… don't you find it strange?" asked Darian. Lily, hearing the two of them talking to each other, walked next to them and nodded her head.
"It has been almost three weeks since we arrived here… I happened to think about it today too. Like, shouldn't they have already reached us?" said Lily, confused about what was happening.
"Hey, what are you talking about?" shouted Vane as he got near the group, reached by Orechin too.
"I happened to overhear something about your companions. What happened?" asked Orechin. "Nothing happened, this is the problem…" answered Darian as he grabbed the phone from his backpack and wrote to Rusty to see if he knew something.
"Hey Rusty, has Bianca returned to the base with the backup forces for us? Do you know something?" wrote Darian. Rusty noticed the text almost immediately and replied.
"No master, it has been exactly 16 days since you arrived in Ardoris, but Bianca hasn't returned yet," answered Rusty.
"So? What did it say?" asked Liro. Darian shook his head. "He says he doesn't know either." As Darian was about to turn off the phone, he noticed another text arrive.
"Master, something else important happened. Are the others reading your phone right now?" wrote Rusty. Hearing that, Darian's heart began to beat really fast.
"No, no… what happened?" asked Darian. "Hey, has he told you something else?" asked Vane. "He's simply telling me about the growth of the plants, boring stuff for you."
"Hey, that isn't boring, I want to know it too," said Lily. Darian was currently reading the text Rusty had sent him, and he felt something strange in his chest.
"It's the black feather. It activated once again."
"What? Are you sure?" answered Darian, surprised by what Rusty had told him. The others all seemed curious about what was going on, even if Darian wasn't saying a single word.
"I've seen it with my own eyes. It became completely purple and it entered the same stage we had seen the last time it became active," answered Rusty.
"Have you tried locating the source of the power? But especially, when did it happen?"
"Locating the source of the power was impossible, and it happened around a week ago. I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know if I should wait for you to return here or if I could already write you in chat, with the risk of the others seeing the text."
"So? What did he say?" asked Lily, excited to hear the news about the plants that Darian brought from XERBAB-7. "That they were growing perfectly. He hasn't sent me a picture as he had to turn off now, but tomorrow I'll ask him without any problem."
Without even checking the other texts Rusty had sent him, Darian closed the phone.
"Oh well, still, the fact that he hadn't heard anything from Bianca is strange. She should have arrived at Skar-Zhul and even at Therya by now. Like, now that I think about it, it might still take a bit for them to arrive in Ardoris if they departed the exact day Bianca arrived, but they should have reached the base by now, no?" asked Liro. Darian, lost in his thoughts, tried to find a solution.
"Maybe they haven't passed by the base and they are going directly towards Ardoris…" proposed Darian.
"I hope so… I'm scared that something bad might have happened in Skar-Zhul or even Therya," said Liro. Vane, to calm him down, positioned his hand over his shoulder.
"Hey, remember that they have got Alerya. No one will be able to attack the city as long as she's with them," said Vane with a reassuring tone. Liro nodded his head. "I hope so."