Heavy vehicle was driving for several days without a single stop for refueling or maintenance in quite harsh conditions. Of course, Brail knew about a mix of something akin to a modern awakened tech and old world's mundane but highly technological engineering, called Spelltech. After all, Spelltech discoveries was a basis for most of Dream Realm scientific developments, even if some parts of old knowledge were lost or neglected by the realm itself.
This was truly fascinating, and details of how exactly armored carriage works probably would take his whole attention in any other situation. Unfortunately, nobody did answer how this thing, apparently called Rhino APC, the only name Brail managed to overhear, was exactly operating, instead he was getting question after the question during the trip.
He picked the only right strategy: tell everything they interested in about himself, tell only that he had a cohort, but not how many they are in numbers, explain what he understands in current situation, but not what should exactly happen. This way he won't interfere with other cohort members situations.
Brail also wasn't against explaining how the life in his time was and compare it to what these people had, but apparently this particular team was not interested in distant future. All they needed was dry facts, possible dangers, nuances he knew about operation in general, and anything else threatening their mission. But here he couldn't say too much, considering they were reluctant to give him at least anything.
Nearing the destination they established some type of truce. Soldiers were getting answers, not like they believed everything explorer said, just noting everything down. Brail was getting strange food and quite a smooth, even if a little secluded, ride. When he asked about absent food variety, all they did was throw couple disdainful glances, as if it were his fault.
Eventually, even if all Brail could sense, thanks to the handcuffs, were insides of the Rhino, he managed to discern strong air currents crashing into the nearing tall walls. As APC stopped and bright light was focused on its front, a side door opened and giant man with young swordsman stepped outside. When they stopped in front of their transport, a loud metallic sound cut through the air, following with several pair of subtle steps on the snow.
"I'm Awakened Dorn, First Irregular Company of the Evacuation Army, we were ordered to arrive on this station."
'Dorn, huh, that name was never mentioned, well, he's just awakened. But they are actually elite response squad.'
As far as he remembered, from the history briefing, Irregulars were independent force who reported only to high army command and were regularly sent in harshest hellholes during evacuation.
'Second Company took heavy losses in Eastern part of the continent, while First one was completely wiped out…'
"Awakened Tei. My team is currently in charge of this facility."
'What?'
"According to information we got, an Ascended should be in control of this station. What happened?"
Giant's voice was slightly subsided but concerned. There was a couple second of silence.
"I have the same question to you, Awakened Dorn, considering Masters should be in charge of Irregular cohorts."
"We had a situation several days ago… Can we speak inside?"
"We need to check something first."
"Sure."
Couple minutes later, heavy gates opened, and their vehicle started slowly driving inside. Two soldiers followed local awakened to the nearby building, but everyone else were still sitting in the Rhino.
Shortly after, Dorn and tired, rough looking man, presumably Awakened Tei, climbed the stairs and entered APC. With couple nods to Irregulars, they walked to the Captain's room. Eyeing Brail for couple of seconds Tei turned to others.
"He told, he would behave and cooperate, correct?"
Getting up from the chair, without taking eyes off his prisoner, tall awakened nodded.
"Yes. And for now, except spouting bullshit, and obvious substitution of our commander, he didn't create any problems."
"Familliar situation. Master Brail, right? Wear this and get up."
Awakened handed him a half-mask with black visor. After he pulled it on the face, two hands took him under arms and lead out of the vehicle. With vision and essence blocked, all Brail could discern is that they were escorted by at least a dozen men, they were somewhere near the water, and that it was very cold. Nobody said a word during the walk.
Five minutes later, he finally had a chance to warm up, the air become stiff, door closed, then was another room, and another. In the end there was a loud click, and something opened. Half-mask was removed, and explorer could finally have a look, of where he was led.
Small square room, or more likely a container of sorts, with one glasslike wall mirrored from inside. Two benches near right and far wall. On one of the benches, on long gray military jacket, was sitting tall middle-aged man in black bodysuit, his gaze jumping between Brail, Tei and people outside.
"Make yourself at home. Hope you will tell us more than this one."
Before Brail could ask something, heavy door closed behind him with a loud thud.
'Great. At least I can concentrate now, without…'
"I didn't see you in the facility, who are you?"
Tall man was wary of him, but otherwise looked relaxed.
"We just get here. And apparently, I'm now a prisoner just like you. What's your name?"
There were couple seconds of silence, then the guy opened his mouth.
"Verne. You can call me Master Verne."
'The only master on this station. Why did they lock up a commanding officer? If I had to guess...'
"Master Verne, I want to ask something. What is the central constellation at the Starless Shore?"
Cellmate's face instantly lit up and he answered without hesitation.
"Headless Knight. Your answer?"
"The Maze. I asked the Spell to not be alone, and apparently it listened. Glad to see you, Lith."
"Haha, yeah, glad to see you too, Brain. How did you fuck up?"
"Stop calling me like that already. Got careless, plus I think the guy who's place I took is a powerful sensor or something, so he should sense much more than me. Three Awakened managed to expose me because of that after an hour of ride."
"Even if, don't tell me you lost to just three guys of lower rank, man."
"Not exactly. There was three more in capsules, and I didn't see them. Two women got my attention with some screens, and, after a second, I was kissing floor in cuffs. These Irregulars are no joke."
"So you got baited by a women. And then some guys jumped you from behind. And here I thought you would be the most cautios. But you fell for the oldest one in the book."
Cohort's main powerhouse start laughing out loud.
"Wha... You know what, I'll tell Milly that you returned to this stupid jokes of yours."
Lith instantly shut his mouth and returned to his usual poker face.
"You wouldn't."
"Maybe not. Anyway, how did they catch you? Let me guess you got a lot of questions instantly and didn't know the answers, right?"
"Something like that, but no, not instantly. I tried to play it cool first, but… Eventually the choice was either fight them or silently walk in the cell. I didn't want to make the situation worse, plus guys didn't do anything wrong. Before that I heard a group of people must arrive, so I assumed that events would be unraveling here, and that guests are our team. I was right. Partially. Who's Irregulars by the way?"
"You were at all the briefings, didn't you learn at least something? Government specops, a unit created for evacuation campaign. I got very 'lucky'. How many did you tell them?"
"I tell them nothing, obviously. Just showed I'm not insane and don't want to create a bloody mess. Decided to follow the rules. You?"
"Well… I didn't know what is happening at all, so I tried to trade. Got almost nothing, revealed quite a bit."
"…Like what?"
"Like my name, where I'm from, some hints of what I know about the situation. Tried to communicate without getting beaten up."
Lith put his head in both hands and exhaled slowly.
"Do I need to remind you, who was the first guy to tell everyone around him, over and over again, to only do this in case of emergency?"
"No. No. But this was an emergency, okay?"
"Sure."
Brail sat on the bench, pulled his legs and crossed his arms.
"Anyway, central conflict is evident. We apparently somewhere near the beginning of the campaign in the central part of the continent. Team of Irregulars was sent here to help evacuate the facility, I am their leader... Well, was, not anymore. What else? I already saw a heavy unnatural snowstorm, so I assume Winter Beast is not so far, and soon, if not already will be moving north. And I don't think that events will take place here. You saw Falcon Scott in the beginning, right?"
"Sentient snowstorm and a heavily reinforced Siege Capital on the shore, is this it?"
Receiving a nod, Lith countinued.
"I was standing on one of the walls until the whole city was rebuilt, then mountains appeared, and I was on one of the peaks looking down at the giant horde of Nightmare Creatures, then from another one observed half-drowned in the lava city near the volcano, and then I was looking at the ocean. Realized the vision was over only when a scientist called me."
"Yeah, so it is really the very beginning. What did you learn here? We need to form a plan."
"I was exposed yesterday, but I was only observing, tried to minimize conversations and throw every headache on the deputy, plus nothing was happening so far, so I didn't learn much. It's research facility, what exactly they are researching I don't know, but there are several hundred scientists, plus their head, your team apparently come here to evacuate."
"Thats good to know. But who the hell is the guy, if his evac is the most elite squad in the reach?"
"Some old mundane dude, don't know, I didn't speak with him at all. Going further, garrison consists of thousand or so mundane soldiers and fifteen full cohorts of Awakened, I'm the only Ascended. They have interesting tech, like several dozens of walking four-meter exoskeletons with ballistic and other type of range weapons, small two-meter ones for at least half of mundane infantry, lot of heavily armored military vehicles. Actually, there is almost no transport I'd call civilian one. So, I suppose this is quite important station."
Brail start making mental notes to memorize everything. If they were evacuating by land, it would be only north, right into the hordes and blizzard. If his hands will be untied, and they manage to work alongside the army, not being just prisoners or running away, he needed to take into account everything they had in disposal.
"What's with communications? Guys I was with couldn't contact anyone from the army because of the weather."
"It was normal, until I got in the cage, so should be okay. Station has two communication windows in a day, plus emergencies, so I think they already notified their command about me."
"So what? Even though you didn't tell them anything, you did nothing wrong, didn't sabotage them. We can propose assistance, provide information, plus you are military officer yourself, basically."
"Nothing, it's just their commander disappeared during critical event and there is someone other in his body. As an officer I will tell you such situations never end well. They tested me with some of their devices and memories though, so at least I'm not a Nightmare Creature in their eyes."
***
Several hours later, door opened, and two unfamiliar awakened walked inside their box. Their hands were on hilts of already summoned memories, still not leaving their sheaths, tired but sharp gazes darting at the prisoners. Behind them was mundane woman wearing white robe, glancing at both of them with cautious curiosity. After her, the scary little devil, Awakened Kimmy, though she seemed to cool down, and a new man in charge, Awakened Tei came in. Tei gestured toward Brail and Lith.
"You can proceed as we agreed."
Scientist nodded, adjusted her robe and spoke in neutral tone.
"Greeting. My name is Miss Bethany. Professor wanted to speak with you both, but first you will talk with me."
'It's just the same name, right? Right. No way.'
Miss Bethany was acting calm and serious, but under her bravado there was unmistakable nervosity. Lith was silent, so Brail decided to speak up, plastering the most amiable smile he could.
"Good day, Miss Bethany, you can call me Master Brail. As I said to Irregular team, I will gladly cooperate If it ensures my, and my cohort member safety. We mean no harm and will help as we can."
Brail motioned to ex-commander of the facility, and he agreed, slightly nodding his head.
"Good, then I will start from simple questions. What is the name of your friend, what is your affiliation, how did you substitute two our Masters, where are Ascended Verne and Ascended… yes, yes… Captain of Irregular cohort, and what is your purpose of infiltrating this facility?"
'That's not very simple.'
"Sure. His name is Master Lith. We are explorers from North Division of the Expeditionary Forces of Humanity. Our task is to close the Category Three Seed and secure the citadel. We have nothing to do with infiltrating your facility and have no ill intents against people here. Lith told me he didn't give you any information, but don't hold him accountable, he was acting according to the established set of regulations. However, without revealing some things, I wouldn't be able to answer your questions. So…"
Brail cleared his throat, contemplated for couple of seconds and continued.
"I ask you to listen to what I have to say calmly and to not make rash decisions. We did not plan to do something to two Ascended, but I can't honestly say we didn't substitute them in a way. Technically you are looking at Master Verne and… Captain of Irregulars. Is just that the Spell decided to give us their roles. This is our Third Nightmare."
The only unmoving face belonged to the little devil. Others? With each word, faces in the room were becoming darker and darker. Miss Bethany was staring at the floor with unmoving gaze.
"So, you think that you're in the Nightmare… great. What your crystal shows?"
"He's not lying, or at least he believes it's true."
She turned back to Masters.
"And you have nothing to do with the observatory?"
"No, we have nothing to do with obse…"
'Wait. South… Observatory… there are several, but...'
"What is the name of this facility?"
Scientist raised her brow and proceeded with mocking grin.
"We thought mister Lith over there already sniffed everything out here, considering he was roaming the object for three days strait. Isn't it the first thing you should do if you're in the Nightmare? Recearch center called Lunar Observatory, or LO shortly, number fourty-nine. Now let's discuss…"
But Brail wasn't listening anymore. He tried to stop his hands from trembling, his flaw was not doing him a favor last couple of days, and spoke in subdued tone, close to a whisper.
"We need to get out of here…"