Hirune went down the basement stairs. She planned on grabbing a couple books and reading them before she joined Ellen and Tundra on their departure. Then when she went down there, she realized none of the bookshelves were labeled.
For such a fancy basement she expected it to have some sort of way to properly organize things, but either way she still wanted to learn at least something. She looked around, reading the spine of each book she came across to see if any of them were to signalize a specific form of organization or a section in the shelves that told her what the books in that rough area were about.
But nope, there was nothing. She sighed with a slight scowl and looked up at the clock; she didn't want to hold Ellen up too long.
She walked up the stairs, her hand sliding on the wall as she did, then suddenly something pressed down slightly. She stopped on the exact step and stared at the wall. She pushed on it a little harder and it opened up to this hallway that was illuminated by a curtain of golden lights. She looked up and down the stairs, maybe another hour or so wouldn't be so bad. After all, it was still morning.
She walked down the ethereal hallway, then found herself in a room with lots of ancient and dusty looking manuscript that seemed to stretch vertically forever. Many lengthy latter's going to the eternally stretching floors.
She then looked at the manuscripts a little closer, they were ancient in age but the language they were recorded in was still used today. Too bad for her, she couldn't make out most of the writing, only a sliver because Ellen taught her some of it on both car rides as she believed that Hirune would find it handy someday.
The language was Verachian, it was the only universal language in the world. Yet only important personnel were taught the language. Luckily for her Ellen knew it for some secret reason and she'd taught it to the others in the team. She sighed, thinking of how much they'd either give her tips or tease her whenever she practiced it and pronounced something wrong.
She already roughly knew the alphabet, so she could translate a small amount of it, yet it was still puzzling. The sentences were written as if they were in code, the few phrases that weren't being like riddles. The only phrases she could make out in the writing being, 'Mother of Curses,' 'Devourer of Fate,' 'Void of Genuineness', and something about truths. Which were all pretty peculiar, making her question what the section she was reading could be about since they all seemed corelated to something. She stayed there a little longer trying to decipher some more but inevitably decided that she'd come back another time when she was able to decently speak Verachian.
She walked out of the hidden room, then looked left and right. Then she stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her when the coast was clear. Then she walked up to the area she hadn't gotten the chance to properly get a look at; it was the top floor that looked like a hotel lobby. The first time she was up here and conscious she felt as if she was running for her life, and in the other two occasions she'd simply neglected its existence.
It was pretty fancy, some comfy sofas in a small area that had a more modern flat screen TV, the clean marble floor covered up with a brown rug decorated with some gold italic flower designs on the edges of it. The front desk to check in was also kept tidy even thought it was clearly not used anymore, the giveaway being the stacks of papers on it, behind the counter being a tube that seemed to be made to send the papers down to the floor below them.
'So that's why there's a weird desk with printing presses in the floor below this one. Does that mean this was a hotel once?... If so, which kind of hotel?' Hirune thought on that for a bit while walking out of the glass double doors that had the same color and pattern as the carpet on the floor.
Then she stopped when she took in the fresh air and looked at the surroundings of this tropical forest within a ravine. She then spotted a note on a tree and took it in her left, holding it between her index and dumb as she walked reading the note. Her right hand in her pocket, her thumb caressing her revolvers chamber as if her mind was set on two different things at the same time.
The note read, "We're waiting on the coast near this little house that's on the ledge of a cliff over the ocean. I also brought Kala along, - Ellen Chronologia."
Hirune thought about what she read for a moment, Kala? She thought about it for a second then nodded her head sideways. Inviting her to join them in something that required them to cross a body of water was smart. After all she did meet her in such a way that she saw her abilities in the water, so it'd be safe to say she appreciated the extra company.
She kept on walking, ignoring the fact they were unknowingly meeting right behind her house. She was more busy thinking of what she would do when she got to the Triple Red Peaks. It was obvious she was going to try and get as many answers as she could from there, but that wasn't what she was focused on at the moment. Instead, she was thinking of how she would fight if anything unexpected happened there.
After all, she was brought along to Medio last time without knowing that they were going to fight someone until they got there. Who knew anymore, maybe there was something or someone up there and she'd have to kill again. She wasn't mentally prepared to see guts flying everywhere, but if she knew there was a chance she would, and that she'd have to get through it. She also had to consider the most important choice: Revolver or Devourer Jaws?
That was the 'To be, or not to be' question, if she went with the revolver she'd run out of ammo and if she chose the Devourer Jaws, she wouldn't be fully sure on how to use them, but it would be good practice. There was nothing forcing her to choose one or the other either, after all she had both in her arsenal to use at any time, she just wanted to know which one she should use first. Finally deciding that her revolver would be her trump card, she'd use the jaws to get a better understanding of them, then if it all went downhill, she would empty the chamber into the cranium of whatever it was.
She started walking down the dusty and rocky path again, yet something felt off this time, but she didn't know why. She was getting the same dirty looks, and she was looking at the same scenery as always, yet it felt nicer than usual. Was it from being away for a day? After all she'd never been outside of Triste before, or was it because she was actually going somewhere to see people that cared about her?
She shook her head, an eyebrow raised with a sliver of a smile playing on her lips as she wondered what this weird feeling was, and why she was so excited to go somewhere. Almost as if she actually wants to go. Unlike any other time, she didn't feel like she was going somewhere where she wouldn't force herself to pretend to be someone she wasn't.
The smile finally bloomed, her eyes shining and mildly watery, she couldn't help but feel glad that she'd finally found a niche group of people that would accept her.
Eventually she walked on the shore, the orange shaded ocean swooping in and out, feeling it's warmth on her feet. Looking out into the ocean, she saw this orange tint concealed the deep red shades of blood in the rest of the ocean.
When she looked up ahead of her, she saw Ellen, Kala and Tundra. She started going a little faster and waved at them enthusiastically with her left hand, reaching an average running speed.
They all looked at her direction and gave her a little wave, not as enthusiastically but it was better than nothing. She slowed down as she was at arm's length away from them. "What took you so long?" Ellen said in a warm tone.
She stared at her, she should probably tell her about the secret room she found, but then she probably wouldn't be able to decipher the writings due to Ellen most likely saying something around the lines of 'You're not ready for this yet,' or 'But well talk about it later.'
She thought for a moment, then just told her about her searching for books but with a white lie, "I was looking for books on Namulenza but the books weren't ordered properly. So, for an hour I tried to organize them, then when I realized how long I was taking took another hour to put the books back." She said with a thoughtful smile.
"Well, we appreciate the attempt. Anyways, hop into the boat. This rides sure to be bumpy so you might want to hold onto the railing," Ellen responded.
They all hopped into the boat, The boat was medium in size, the only actual seat being the driver's seat. There being a remotely made seat in the middle that could be opened up to reveal the engine.
It was common for the few times sea creatures were spotted that they'd bite the hood, so for safety and utility the engines are always placed within the area of the boat that holds the passengers. Luckily the boat had side railings that they could hold onto while standing so they wouldn't fall out.
Tundra was driving, as the boat started Hirune's back hit the engine fast as she fell from the sudden speed of the boat. As she stood up, she held into the railing with her disheveled left hand and rubbed her back with the other, then she felt a sudden sharp pain in her left hand as her muscles retracted around the bones. She instantly shrieked and sat back down near the engine grasping her hand. She looked at it and saw it was soaked in ocean water, it felt as though she'd just touched the sun. She slowly calmed down taking deep heavy breaths and heard Kala laughing hysterically as Ellen sighed.
Then suddenly what looked like an eel with spines shredding it's back open and frontal legs hopped onto the boat in front of Kala, and she shrieked in terror. Now Hirune was the one laughing. But it was cut short when she saw another of that same eel but the size of a skyscraper slowly rising out of the water, it's terrifying facial expression of vexation and indignation only noticeable when it roared at them causing all of the bloodied sea water to fly out of its face.