Chapter Text
Josiah let out a small sigh as he filled his backpack with his communicator, engineering tools and medical equipment. He looked around the main room to see the other members of his team doing the same.
He got up from his crouched position on the floor and stepped up on the orange octagonal platform in the centre of the room, leaning slightly against the M.O.M’s main circular control system with his arm.
Josiah looked up to see the control system’s large projector that was held up by four black, wire-covered pillars diagonal of every corner in the room. He could overhear Elijah and Shiloh bantering near the monitors to his diagonal left. They were both seated on the grey, concrete floors while they argued over who gets the bigger backpack.
Micah, Michelle and Judah were sitting close by on the far wall, actually packing their things (surprisingly) . The trio were leant against the cyan walls of the space next to the parallel silver tubes that went down to just below the lights that were placed on the middle of the wire-covered pillars. Josiah could see that Judah was trying not to bump his head on the big, octagonal light on the wall above him.
Gala was seated on the stairs that lead to the tall platform in the bottom-right corner. There lay the sliding, octagonal doors that granted the team access to the rest of the agency on the back wall. She was tying her shoelaces, and with the light that waa diagonal to the identical one above Judah, Josiah thought he had died and went to heaven for a moment while staring at the ex-princess.
…
He was snapped out of his trance by an agent typing furiously away at the monitor on the platform with long, straight, purple lights on either side of the table it sat on, which was leant against the right wall. Right of the platform, sat the large table of monitors arranged in a semi-circle that they usually used for their main duties. Josiah could also see several agents writing endless lines of code into the computers.
The TV screen on the left wall displayed the energy system of the realo they were headed out to. Just by looking at the energy waves that were being displayed on screen, Josiah could tell it the area was slightly unstable but still safe to travel to.
“Alright!” Shiloh said loudly, standing up and walking in front of the TV screen with her preferred backpack in toe, Micah quickly on her heels at the call to attention. Josiah, along with the others, stood towards them in a straight line when the duo turned to face them. “Our mission is to reach the urgent distress signal coming from this realo!” Shiloh raised her arm up to the TV screen, drawing attention to the information displayed on the monitor.
“After several of our agents gathered some information, we know that most who’ve gone into this realo, have gone missing unexplainably. So, it’s very important that we stick together as a group!” Micah announced, clapping his hands once for effect.
“Your communication devices will show a compass that will lead us to where the distress signal is coming from. We don’t know what’s causing these disappearances, but we’re gonna find out while also helping the people of this realo. We want to remain cool, calm and collected for this mission. ” Shiloh said. Josiah internally doubted that the group would remain ‘cool, calm and collected’ when faced with whoever lived there.
“Let’s do this, people!”
At Shiloh’s call, the group rushed forward towards the arxis room. Josiah glanced at the rusty walls and beige flooring before turning his attention to the main attraction. He glanced to his side to see an agent pressing various buttons on the control panel, before colours of black, yellow and grey swirled into vision between the arxis’s exterior.
Shiloh, Elijah and Judah stepped into the portal first, quickly followed by Gala and Michelle. Before going into the portal from himself, Josiah was stopped by the feeling of Micah gently grabbing his shoulder. He turned around to see his brother’s slightly uncertain expression.
“Is it just me or does this just not feel right? I mean- something just seems off about how all these people who go into realo go missing. Seems fishy, or something.”
Josiah turned around to face him fully, “Don’t worry, how bad can it be? Your gut has been wrong so many times before.”
“Hey!-”
“Remember that time in the courtroom where-“
“Okay, okay! I really don’t wanna relive that…” Micah shuddered.
“Don’t worry, it’s gonna be okay. You’re so paranoid. Absolutely nothing's gonna happen.”
Micah sighed, “Alright, let’s just go.”
Josiah gave an agreeing nod and stepped through the portal, willing himself to whatever was on the other side.
As he manifested into the realo, he was surprised to find that the area around them was just…a normal village. Albeit a very large village, but still a village nonetheless. Compared to all the missing people reports, it looked relatively normal. Josiah still made an effort to keep his guard up regardless of the seemingly peaceful area. He heard Micah step out of the portal behind him before it closed with a big swoosh.
Josiah scanned the area around him, seeing bustles of villagers with pointy-ears and animalistic features pushing carts around, selling stuff, all the medieval things you’d see in movies. It seemed like they were at the front of the village, neutral-colored cottages and stalls placed on either side of them. The tan stone path they were standing on seemed to stretch on through the considerably long village.
“Wait…” Josiah said aloud, turning around to face Micah, “Where are the others?”
Micah furrowed his brows, turning around and seeing nothing but the endless sight of oak trees. “Did they go on without us or something?”
“Nah, they wouldn’t have enough time without us seeing them…” Josiah trailed off, taking a small step forward. “What happened?”
“Did the arxis, uhh…, malfunction or something?” Micah weakly asked, coming up to Josiah’s right.
“We just got it fixed up yesterday, that can’t be it. We checked it before going too!”
Josiah tugged the strap on his backpack absentmindedly, “It must have something to do with the realo itself.”
“And doesn't Judah have the beacon..?” Micah stated in cold realization. “Are we stuck here? Oh god, just when everything was going good!”
Micah closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose while Josiah quickly threw his backpack off his shoulders and began to rummage around in it. He pulled out his communicator and stood up straight again, flipping the monitor open and pressing the ‘on’ button.
When the screen lit up way too brightly, he scrolled down to Shiloh’s contact and tapped the ‘select’ button, stretching his arm out. Micah leaned over Josiah’s shoulder to see the call pinging.
The phone rang once…
Twice…
Three times…
“Please pick up…” Josiah pleaded under his breath.
Four times…
Micah shifted nervously on his feet. “What if they’re-“
“Josiah? ” A radio-muffled voice came from the device, making Micah violently flinch. “Are you okay? Is Micah with you?! I- “
“Y-yup, we’re okay!” Josiah quickly interrupted, “Uh- Micah’s with me! Uh- S-say hi?”
“Hey, Shiloh!” Micah awkwardly waved before realizing you couldn’t display holograms on the small, circular devices, unlike most of the communicators from the M.O.M Agency.
“Are they okay? ” A muffled voice came from the screen, the sound steadily growing louder as the person approached.
“Yeah they’re fine just.. ” Shiloh muttered to the other person, her voice getting caught in her throat. “Where are you guys?! ”
“Are you guys in a safe area or- “ Elijah blurted out. His voice was fast-paced and stutter-y, Josiah could practically hear the worry on his brother’s face just from his tone alone.
“Yeah, yeah, we’re in some kinda…village.” Micah responded, taking a double take of their surrounding area.
“PLEASE, HELP US! ” An unfamiliar voice echoed, making Josiah and Micah turn their heads at one another in confusion. “Something's wrong here! Everything is out of order, time is going insane and-"
“Okay, uhm, elf-looking-lady? Can you PLEASE shut up for a minute? ” Michelle’s distant voice hissed.
“Who was that?” Josiah asked, bringing the communicator closer to his body.
“Just some crazy old lady ranting about how this ‘evil prince is gonna challenge great Queen Holora to the throne’ and ‘how he’s gonna be at the castle any minute’ or something like that .” Judah’s voice answered. “It doesn't seem that important so… ”
“...That does seem pretty important, to be honest.”
“Well, I mean it IS important, but we have to find you guys! ” Shiloh urged.
“We don’t want you guys to get hurt. ” Gala chirped.
Josiah blinked at the sound of Gala’s voice. He felt his brain turn to mush and his stomach devolve into butterflies.
“We can meet up-“
Josiah covered Micah’s mouth with his hand and shoved him backwards. “No- no, don’t worry! We'll be totally fine on our own! I’m strong- and I’m brave. We can totally do this ourselves! Right, Micah?”
“N-“ Micah tried to interject from where he was sitting on the floor, but Josiah quickly nudged his stomach with his foot and gave him a stern expression. “I-I mean- yeah, sure, we'll be totally fine by ourselves!”
“Are you sure? ” Judah asked, “We could always- “
“No, no, it’s fine!” Josiah assured while Micah picked himself from off the floor. “We could always come to where you guys are at. Can you tell us your location?”
“We’re at the big, grey castle in a large village called…Fleylia. ” Shiloh answered.
“Oh, no way!” Josiah said, looking at the dark brown wooden sign to their right with big, bold letters carved out in the middle of it. “We’re at Fleylia too! Now where is..”
Josiah looked up to see an incredibly tall and large castle north of the duo. Waves of houses spun about before it finally reached the distant castle. Josiah concluded that it had to be at least a 2 hour journey to get there.
“Oh no.” Micah muttered under his breath.
“What’s wrong? ” Michelle quickly asked, “Are you guys okay?!"
“Nope, nope, we’re fineee!” Micah quickly countered, waving his right hand dismissively.
“Alright, while you guys find a way to us, we’ll see what that elf was talking about. Sounds good? ” Shiloh announced.
“Perfect…” Micah winced.
“Alright, see you guys soon! ”
When Josiah heard the call end, he closed the communicator’s circular monitor and stuffed it in his bag, zipping it up.
“What have you done?” Micah huffed.
“I have no idea.” Josiah groaned, putting a hand over his eyes.
Micah stared at him grumpily for a moment before grumbling and picking up his brother’s backpack. Josiah gratefully took it and threw it over his shoulders.
“Let’s get moving, then.” Josiah sighed, taking a big step forward and onto the journey to the castle of Fleylia.