Fog, Ash and Storm

Hearing that voice that was distinctly unfamiliar, Eva turned to give Ester a sharp glance which was returned with a non commital shrug.

But jokes aside, both Ester and Eva swiftly reacted to the voice.

Bending their knees so that they were half crouching, they carefully navigated the entrance and began to dim the lights and lower the intensity of the filtration units.

Sure this had the downside of letting in some toxic air into the hideout which would be a pain to filter later and sure it's going to be dark to the point that you could barely see past the tip of the nose, but it's a better option then alerting people to their presence with light and sound.

Carefully kneeling on the ground, the voices of three- no, five, people reached their ears in crystal clear quality.

'I knew it was a good idea to instal those Echo chambers.'

It was a pain in the keister to set up, but the effort was paying off.

"Yes mistress, I can swear on my last eye that the one you are looking for is here."

'...Please stop looking at me like that.'

Subtly ignoring the glare that Eva was giving him, the man continued in an ingratiating tone.

"It's just that the scent has ended here..."

Frowning, Ester subtly smelled himself only to smell nothing but the same scent that covered the entire surface of the planet.

Trash

In the beginning, due to the fact that this trash planet was infused with hundreds of thousands of scents it was ridiculous to expect someone to try and select and pick out one particular scent.

Especially since Ester made sure to walk through places with a high stench to confuse trackers or hunters aiming for him for one reason or the other.

He had heard that a select few of the Surface Nomads were able to separate such scents though.

Furrowing his eyebrows, he gestured for Eva to go get her equipment as he slowly approached his own set on the table.

Grabbing his Aether Wrench which could double as a combat wrench, Ester's hands paused when an eerily familiar voice responded to the man.

"Five days rations."

"Six"

"Five"

"You drive yourself a hard bargain Five and a half"

"Deal."

With the sound of something rustling in the background, Ester couldn't help but replay the conversation that the man had just made with the woman.

'Haven't I heard that voice before...?'

Without getting a second to mull about the unknown but familiar voice speaking without the distinct muffle of the respirator, the man instantly knocked on the door of their hideout.

"They're in here mistress, I just caught wind of their scent again."

"I see."

Clicking their shoes against the steel floor, the woman of... Ester closed his eyes and focused his senses... a meter eighty stood outside the door and began to knock on it.

It was then that Ester froze.

Three short pauses, one long pause, two short pauses.

If it was just this then Ester could liken it to this eerily familiar women having a prophetic ability that allowed her to briefly observe the past.

A prophetic ability wouldn't be able to copy the code that followed soon after however.

"I am Astra, 1403 the three legged, one mouthed and two armed, open the gates to the flame or I will make a vow to the Architects and hunt you forever."

Eva who had just returned a few seconds later was no different, having frozen at the front of the hideout, hot weapon in hand.

Staring at each other relying on the dim light the aether charges were emitting, Ester and Eva both simultaneously turned to the door as Astra cleared her throat.

"...Aren't you going to invite me in?"

Turning both the lights and the filters back on, the loud hum of the filters filtering the air hissed alongside the subtle din of the lights.

Almost impatiently, Ester swung the door open to see a familiar face that they thought had long been lost.

"And here I thought I would be greeted by the little scrub, who's this?

Smiling without a mask, a woman with slightly dark skin greeted them from beyond the doorway as grey eyes seemed to curve into crescents.

Staring into that face marked with the oh so familiar cross shape underneath her right eye, the grey eyes met his own as she smiled calmly

"Will you invite me in Ester? I missed you dearly my brother."

Black hood shaking on her head, Astra stepped into the hideout only to pause in shock as her eyes caught sight of the other figure within the hideout.

Face betraying her surprise, Astra stammered in surprise from underneath her hood as bits of brown poked out.

"E-Eva?"

Voice quivering, Astra seemed intent on denying the truth in front of her in fear of being disappointed.

Thankfully, Eva wasn't a figment of her imaginations.

[I'm still alive sis]

Slamming into her body, Astra nearly collapsed to the ground as her arms instinctively made their way around Eva's thin body only to hesitate.

It was only when Eva tightened her own arms around Astra's body did she close her arms around Eva's thin body.

Smiling underneath his respirator, Ester slowly stepped forwards and flanked Eva as his eyes scanned his friend whom he had once thought was deceased.

'...They changed.'

'Oh who am I kidding, of course she changed.' Absentmindedly rubbing his left arm, Ester dragged his eyes across her exposed legs embedded with metal.

'It would be stranger if she didn't change after the Failed Escape.'

'She still seems healthy.' Staring at the brown hair lingering on her head in a vibrant hue, Astra seemed to notice his gaze and turned to him giving a small smile.

Shaking his head, Ester shook off his lingering memories sticking him to like black tar and focused his attention on the man who had somehow found him

Not to brag, but before he went into hiding he was known as the Twilight.

And as the Twilight, he made sure to erase all forms of his presence that could be used to trace him.

It wasn't even a lie.

Footsteps? He made sure to stay light footed no matter the scenario.

Scent? He was covered head to toe to prevent his natural scent from leaking, he also took measures against his natural scent from arising.

Appearance? Hard to associate a pile of trash with a human.

Hair? Tightly wound underneath a hood and mask combo.

Sound? Turning off the Respirator and holding his breath in this sound laden landscape was effective enough

To summarise it roughly, it was nearly impossible to find out where he would come and go as every sign that could be used to track him was erased with no little effort.

'But they still found me, how?'

Staring at the four, they were separated into two distinct groups, one with three people wearing yellow spiked wheels on their chests and the other containing the final group member.

'This one is probably the new gang in town.' Ester narrowed his eyes at the three wearing the same rare yellow hood over their heads.

Noticing his gaze, the three of them turned to stare into Ester's own eyes allowing him to notice that they all had yellow eyes.

One pair of yellow eyes were uncommon enough, for all three of them have yellow eyes was an uncanny coincidence that was hard to believe was just a coincidence.

'They're more dangerous than I thought.'

Eyes scanning their appearance, the yellow spiked circle contained an unknown item within it while his attention was dragged to the hot weapons at their waists.

It's a fact that even a child needed a weapon for self defence, but even an old soul who's been here for some time now wouldn't have easy access to guns.

This meant that the Golden Sun either had an Alchemist or a Blacksmith that could manufacture black powder guns or they found a hidden Arsenal.

Either way, this new gang of religious fanatics was much more dangerous than Eva had initially evaluated.

'If it's the former then that's good luck, but if it's the latter...'

Ester's mind coldly calculated the strength of the Gang if it was assumed that the three in front of him were the elites of their gang.

'I'll probably need to use higher tier weaves.'

But that would probably be difficult in his current state of only having one arm, subtly shaking his head, he turned to the one that Astra had talked to earlier.

'So this is the one who found me?'

With what little dark skin that was exposed from underneath the numerous pieces of cloth on his body, Ester could tell that he was one of the Surface Nomads.

There was a chance that he was just a subsurface dweller with particularly dark skin but Surface Nomads were one of the few specialized tracking groups.

There was a need of it since without their skills, they would have perished long ago.

There was a surprisingly high amount of hidden monsters despite the desolate surface.

Awkwardly adjusting their respirator mask, the loud sound of air hissing through his lungs entered Ester's ears as soon as he noticed his gaze on him.

"..."

Staring into the man's triple pupiled produced with means only known to the Gene Shaman of the Surface Nomads, the Guide was the first to look away.

'Timid, it's surprising that he lived this long... in hindsight, that's probably why he lived that long.'

He narrowed his eyes.

'It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth that he's the one who found me though.'

Glaring at the man who was goggles were fogging up from his labored breaths, if he got his way, the man would disappear the very next day.

Turning his gaze away from the man who subtly let out a sigh of relief, Eva finally patted Astra's back while gesturing at the open doorway.

[Come in Astra, I've been dying to see you again, your guests are going to have to wait so that we can cleanup, our home is a bit messy..]

A bold faced lie to anyone who heard it with the underlying tone being the lack of trust between the two parties.

And understanding this implicit statement, the gang only nodded their heads without making any comments.

Cheerfully gesturing for Astra to enter their hideout, Ester didn't miss the subtle gesture behind Eva's back.

'I understand.'

Nodding his head quietly, he sent a final glance to the Gang before slinking into the back of their hideout.

---

Taking the seat besides Eva, he nodded towards Astra who took the empty seat opposite of them.

[So what brings you here Astra.]

"Is there a need for reason with friends?"

[If that's the case, you should've found us much earlier than two years later, we thought you were dead like everyone else.]

"A harsh statement" Astra smiled lightly and raised her left leg, tapping its surface and letting the sound of metal ring out dully.

"I was left just as harmed as you, I needed to repair myself after all" Her eyes went distant.

"Especially after that stunt you pulled, what was the thought process?"

[Firstly, that wasn't even my idea] Eva shook her head before tapping against the table. [Secondly, why seek us out after all this time.]

"I thought it efficient to lay low after the demon took one thing from everyone."

[Stop avoiding the topic] Eva's eyes which seemed like a never ending fog stared at Astra who stared back with similarly grey eyes.

"..."

[...]

A silence stretched on between them as the silent standoff took place for a few moments.

It was only when Astra raised her hands in surrender did this tension bleed off.

"You caught me, I found something that needed..." Astra's eyes turned to Ester who sat their silently twiddling his thumbs. "Are you not going to talk Ester?"

Turning to Ester, Ester subtly turned his gaze to the place where her hands had just been placed.

Following his gaze from the table to his eyes, a pair of grey eyes calmly met hers like a clear lake.

"Ah..." Astra chuckled underneath the palm of her hand as she finally understood why he was silent. "You're not actually present are you Ester?"

"What gave it away Astra?" Left hand having been replaced by a blade at some point, another Ester held the knife against her throat.

"Those eyes of yours..."

Astra turned to look at Esters grey eyes hidden within the goggles with a perverted grin on her face.

"I could never forget those cold eyes of yours."

Moving to touch Esters face he pressed the edge against her throat as ash grey eyes stared into her Stormy grey ones.

+++

Tree