Chapter 49: Artifact's Knowledge

In the dark silent room, Kase still unconscious with just a piece of fabric over his forehead. After a moment, and a few beats of movement his eyes flutter open. After realizing what had happened, he sits up, leaving the fabric falling to his lap.

Puzzled, he looked at his surroundings. His bed is fitted in a cubicle, the room itself is cluttered by clothing and tools with one pile of fabrics of all sorts stacked in the corner like dead bodies.

Movement is seen from the corner of his eye, causing his heart to skip a beat. Looking in the direction, he sees a silhouette in tbe dark corner of the room. The figure matches that of a woman A sigh of relief escapes his lips when realizing it's Leah.

"It's you," he moved his feet to the cold metal floor.

She turns her head, her hair catching more light as it shows it's maroon hue. Standing herself up, she steps into the light to reveal herself to be Kevra, the same woman who'd knocked him out earlier. Seeing her, only brought him chills.

With his first instinct, he stands up with haste.

"Where's-"

"Relax!" She said, gesturing her hands to him.

"Your friend is perfectly fine."

"How do I know if you're telling the truth?" He said, frowning at her, lowering his hands.

His suspicion finds her impressed.

"There has been many Intruders. I have dealt with them without remorse. If I wanted you dead, then you wouldn't have woken up."

She's right, Kase thought. It would have been another story if it was someone else.

With her lips forming a smile, she steps towards the doorway before looking over her shoulder at him.

"Leah is downstairs. There, she is having a meal. If you follow me, I'll take you to her."

Hearing 'food' only reminds Kase how hungry he actually is. It's been a while since he has eaten anything. It would be a treat to eat something now. He agreed to follow her downstairs.

While walking with her, Kase notices the robots staring at him, all heads move in unison at his direction as he walks with Kevra. Some of them seem to still be suspicious of him.

He jumps when feeling Kevra's arm around his shoulders.

"Relax, everyone. From here on out. He's no longer an intruder, but our guest. If anyone of you cause any harm to him, you'll be dealing with me. Understood?"

All of the robots agrees to her before chatting to each other again as if it never happened. Kase cannot help but look at them with a curious mind. Few of them have features that are a striking resemblabce to an average person, some are female and male in with one difference, polished plates cover thier bodies, like normal skin, the plates mold to the movements of their body.

"See?" Kevra said with a smile, looking at him.

"As long as I'm here, no harm will come to you, nor your friend."

Moving her arm off himself, he clears his throat.

"That's reassuring."

-

Kevra brings him into a room which resembles a kitchen, with two sinks under a rectangular space, a person would have to bend as they would need avoid hitting thier head on the frame.

He is so distracted by what he sees, he only just now noticed Leah eating food before she herself, raises her gaze to see him, urging her to smile at him.

"You're awake," Leah said, standing from her seat before walking to him.

"Told you he'd wake up soon," Kevra said, looking at him with a smirk before walking to what looks like a fridge.

"How's your head feeling?" Leah asked, tilting her head slightly.

"Well, it feels like I have had one too many drinks." He chuckles before his gaze shifts past her.

"Are you sure you can trust her?" He whispered.

Leah looks over her shoulder briefly, watching as Kevra opens a bottle before sipping it followed by a wink in her direction.

"She's been nice so far," Leah answered, looking at him.

"Plus, she has history with my brother. Apparently she has been away for a few years. This whole time my brother presumed her to be dead."

"So you're just going to trust her, just because she has some history with Aven?"

"I need to trust her. And I need her to trust me. It's the only way to convince her to hand over that relic. We don't want things to get ugly."

The two of them continued to argue for a moment while Kevra downed the rest of her drink before looking at them with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not going to give it to you," She said, throwing the bottle in the bin beside her, and walks towards them, urging Leah to face her.

"What?" Leah said, narrowing her eyes at the woman.

"Don't think I didn't hear you. The relic." Kevra crosses her arms.

"There is no way would I allow a scum like Anya to have it."

"What's so special about it anyway?" Kase asked, taking a step forward.

"Does it really matter to you if I tell you?" Kevra glares at him.

"Look,* Leah said, letting out a sigh with her eyes closed before opening them again.

"We just want to give it back to her for important information she agreed to share with us. Here's a deal. We take back the relic you stole, then you come back with us in our ship afterwards?"

Kevra stares at them both, arms still crossed in a moment of silence, her finger tapping on her forearm. Just then, she starts laughing, urging Leah and Kase to glance at each other before looking back at her.

Kevra's laugh stops with a few chuckles coming out before sighing, smile disappears, with a narrowed look in her eyes.

"Are you two that gullible? Do you even know how things work here? Do you even know Anya herself? I've worked for Anya before. I know how she operates. As soon as you bring her the artifact, there's no telling what she'll do. Would she kill you, or let you off with a warning and not give you any information. Do really want to take that chance with her?"

Leah looks down in thought for a moment. Similar feelings arose, the same feelings she felt back on earth.

Fear.

She looks at Kase, urging him to look at her. She doesn't want someone else she cares about to get hurt because of her poor judgement.

"What do you think?" Kase asked her, urging her to look at the maroon haired woman.

"You have a point," Leah said, trying to stand firm, trying not to let her fears show.

"But maybe she'll hold her part of the deal. She would owe me that after what I've gone through when finding her theif."

"Like I said to you before, with Anya," Kevra said, taking a step forward, arms still crossed.

"Anya doesn't owe anyone anything, deal, or no deal. She holds to a deal if she feels like it, or if it suits her. She loves to tickle ears before crushing hopes. Like I said before: It's up to you to take that chance."

"Well... that's informative," Kase added, he looked at Leah before looking at Kevra.

"When you said, 'Taking a chance.' Does that mean you're going to give the relic to us after all?"

Raising her eyebrows, Kevra is taken back by his comment. She shakes her head.

"No! I was being hyperthetical."

"Oh..." Kase said, looking at Leah, noticing her stillness.

*What's wrong, Leah?"

"Hmm?" Leah looks at him before looking ahead once more.

"I'm thinking."

Pinching her lips, Leah takes a breath through her nose.

"I only want to know one thing," Her question urges Kevra to tilt her head slightly.

"Why is the artifact so important to you?"

Letting out a sigh, Kevra lowers her arms to her side.

"Fine. I'll show you then. Follow me." Her disappointment shows on her face.

"Not you." She quickly turns to Kase, leaving him with a puzzled look on his face.

"I want this to be between myself and her. In the meantime, make yourself at home here. Whatever you feel like eating, just take."

Kevra steps out of the kitchen, leaving Leah to look over her shoulder at him.

"We'll be back soon," she said with a smile before leaving the kitchen as well.

—

Both Leah, and Kevra walk into a large circular room. They aren't alone, as there are other androids working on the computers at tbe ends of the room. In middle, a large beam stands, branching from the floor to the ceiling with a small chamber at the base, a blue light emits from it. Inside, the silhouette of cubed object is seen.

As Leah walks closer to it, she realizes why Anya is so bent on retrieving it.

"Is this it?" She asks, already guessing what it is.

"Yes." Kevra stops a few inches away. Looking beside her, she places her hand on the plate before it scans across her palm followed by the glass seal to slide open.

Looking at it up close, Leah can now see the glowing glyphs imbedded into it. It's a shame she can't read them, it would have been interesting to learn what it says.

Carefully, Kevra takes the cube out, her gaze fixed on it for a moment before standing face to face with Leah.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" She said, looking up at her with a smile.

"It really is," she said, staring at it as Kevra tilts and turns it for her to view the other sides.

"What do you think the glyphs mean? Can you read them?"

Raising the cube slightly, Kevra smirks.

"I've encountered these glyphs before. After a few headaches trying to decipher it, I finally understood where it came from." Kevra turns to place the cube back before the glass seal closes again.

"And?"

Kevra turns to her with a frown before walking past her, urging Leah to walk beside her.

"And, what?" Kevra said, looking at her as they walk out of the room before the sliding doors closed behind them.

"What does it say?"

"Well," Kevra said, clearing her throat.

"Apart from boring texts about life in the universe. It has something that sparked my interest. Not only did I learn that it's a piece of the Seraphims' technology, there seems to be an instru-"

"The Seraphims?" Leah interupted, stopping in her tracks, urging Kevra to turn to her with a frown.

"Yes? Haven't you heard about them?"

"I have," Leah said, walking once more, followed by Kevra beside her.

"My brother told me stories about them when I was little. I thought he was just joking, you know how older siblings are." 

"I wouldn't know. I don't have any siblings," Kevra replied as they both turn left where the hallway cuts off.

"As I was saying. I found that there were instructions written on there as well-"

"What instructions?"

Kevra is feels like losing her patience with her.

"Let me finish," she said, followed by Leah apologizing to her.

"When I was reading it, the instructions were about bringing out a hidden energy within someone. As I read further, it seemed so familiar to me as if I had already read it long ago."

Listening to her last sentence, sounds a bit familiar to her as well. Hidden energy

"So you're saying..."

"I'm saying that it's an instruction manual to enable someone to do this." Kevra stops before raising her hand as blue transparent flames surge out from it before closing fist, crushing the flame into fading filaments.

"What?" Leah said, trying to process this. In all her life, she never knew that the abilities that she was taught by Aven, originated from the Seraphims. She looks at Kevra with a stunned look in her eyes.

"Are you telling me, that not only did Aven teach us how to use these abilities, he somehow got his hands on that artifact?"

"Yes, but not that one. My guess is, there's more of them." Kevra starts walking again.

"The one I have. Its instructions are more complicated than what Aven taught. It has a different requirements too, if someone wants to learn it, they would have to be younger than us when we first started."

"So why does Anya want it so bad?" Leah said, before walking beside Kevra once more.

"She's not s child anymore. You don't suppose she would have a child learn these abilities too?"

"I doubt Anya even knows where it came from without deciphering it herself first. She probably wants sell it to the highest bidder."

Leah stares ahead for a moment as she walks into the large room she first came in when she first arrived. The robot she and Kase defeated, is no longer in her, only the aftermath of the battle.

"I can see why you don't want to get rid of it," she said, as they both walk through the double doors as they slide open before closing behind them.

"I don't want it to get into the wrong hands," Kevra said as they continue into the hallway.

"I was bent on selling it too before I learned what it actually was."

"So you're just going to keep it?"'

"It's safer that way. If it got into the wrong hands, I can only imagine how they'd raise up a poor child into an unstoppable weapon they could just use to get what they want."

Hearing that, causes Leah to feel chills run through her spine. She can't imagine how evil one would be to do such a thing. Which only brings her thoughts to her brother and what Raine had said to her about him. She knows that he was responsible for what happened to planet Earth, life almost wiped out.

Was her own brother a monster? Just how many planets has he helped destroy? She doesn't care what Kevra, Alecia, or even Silas did. Knowing what her own brother did, disturbs her deeply. She is almost near the kitchen now. It's best not think about negative things, not around Kase.