The Earth After Rebirth

Sekani took out his backpack from the pocket and enlarged it. He took a bottle of water and threw it at Nikolai, he caught it just before it hit him on the head.

"Aren't you tired at all?" He asked taking large sips of the water.

"Of course not, this was a good exercise." He said adjusting his contact lenses.

They did more than just making them see in the dark. The note stated that they could zoom in any object that was a few meters away, while they waited for the sun, he was counting the guards and learning their movements every so often.

To his answer, Nikolai was shocked to the core. He more than trusted himself with fitness, for some reason he underestimated Sekani. Maybe because Kiro never once mentioned that he was a beast or something like that.

"Pheew. Wilfred wasn't kidding, this gate alone has over fifty guards, at least ones visible to me. This will be hard." He scoffed bitterly.

That broke Nikolai off from his thoughts, he was on his feet in no time standing next to Sekani. Doing the same thing he was doing with the contact lenses.

He figured he couldn't be tired, not yet. He could rest all he wants after this was done. He looked from one guard to another, they weren't just armed, they looked physically capable.

Nikolai took a deep breath and watched carefully.

"Do you think they're patrolling the area around?" It had been several minutes and he was noticing a pattern.

"Very good. But there are a few seconds before the second team arrives at the gate, you think we can make it?" Sekani was just making conversation, trying everything he could to release him from his nerves.

"Of course we can do it, I'm counting five seconds. That should be enough to get us over, hopefully there's no alarm." He answered confidently.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Sekani was satisfied with his answer, his mind seemed to have calmed down from the state it was some time ago and that was a good sign.

"I bet you there's no alarm, look at the guns they're carrying, they have silencers. They really wanted complete privacy." He let Nikolai know of his thoughts.

"But that's gotta do with the alarm?"

"Did you see any animals coming up here?"

"A few."

"Exactly, they could set off alarms every day if there was one. Look closer at the gate."

"Carcasses..." He answered involuntarily.

It was clear then that they shot everything that came as close as a few meters of the gate. Animals didn't know any better, if they wanted to graze the grass closer that's what their little brains will tell them to do even though they saw some dead animals about.

"The sun, it's setting." Nikolai said barely a whisper.

What he came here to do was coming more and more real and it made him a little nervous. Even back then, in the underground he didn't feel this air of seriousness.

And he was right to not feel it, because this was a whole different level.

"Fear is good. You survive because you have fear, paranoia, caution that will set off alarms in your head. So please don't try to shove it down, cling onto it, it'll make you a much better fighter." Sekani gave him his last advice.

Before they knew it, they were embraced by darkness. The wind was picking up but not so extreme that it would get in the way of their fight but enough to hear leaves rustling.

Sekani smiled gently, maybe this was a sign from the gods that they were on their side. Because now they could walk to the gate without being too careful.

"Are you ready Nikolai?"

"Not really."

"That's a good answer. Let's go."

Nikolai unsheathed his two knives and started following trying his best not to step on anything that will give them away.

The closer they got, the bigger the structure became. Now that they were right in front of it, it was a wonder that they didn't see it from Sanctauri, it was a mountain basically, a big mountain.

Surrounded by even bigger walls, as long as the walls were the mountain still peeked through.

"Aren't mountains volcanic?" Nikolai whispered.

"Don't whisper just speak normally. To answer your question, it depends on what the mountain is made out of. But I have a bad feeling that this one is." He just hoped it wasn't active.

They were closer to the clearing now, they stopped and started counting down from ten and when they reached one they ran toward the wall with as much force as they could exert. It took them less than five seconds to reach the side and they pushed themselves against the wall.

"Bet you regret wearing that suit now!" Nikolai joked.

Sekani turned to look at him and put a single finger on his lips. Nikolai felt a little idiotic for talking and making jokes at a time like this, they were too close to the wall. They could hear the conversations the guards were having.

"Oh man, vacation time is close, I can't wait to get out of this shit hole." One voice said.

"So true, if the money wasn't so good I wouldn't be here." Another that sounded younger chimed in.

"Do you think they get other people to guard this place when we've been given time off?" A different one asked.

"Obviously not. We only get a week off in a year, have you looked at the slaves in this mine? Doesn't matter if we're here or not, they don't seem to notice at all." The younger of the two voice said.

"Ouch!" There was an audible complaint they didn't know what had happened.

"You must be an idiot to think they leave these people unattended. We aren't only here to keep them from escaping, we're also here to keep anything from getting in."

"You didn't have to punch me for that!"

"I did, you're being an idiot. Don't forget what you're here to do."

"I have never seen anyone but animals trying to get inside here."

There were boots sounding, their voices growing fainter and fainter as they went on, the two assumed they were in the middle of the change.