“Huuh—huh

Huuuh—huh”

“H-hhhhuhhh”

Everything is quiet…

Everything except for the two people laying on the floor,

One breathes hard aa though they are out of breath, the other breathes faintly as if on their last breath,

Both naked bodies lay still shivering from the extreme cold they’d just been exposed to

“Hahh—huhh”

Apollo raises his head up from the ground

(“Are we dead?”)

He looks around a room lit in a dull red light, there is a large oval table in which it’s top is depowered screen, the walls at the head of the room are also screens,

Apollo and Himari lie to the back of the room on a circular platform, behind them a glass-like barrier of which behind it are glowing red ores,”

“Aghhh” Apollo spies a touch interface that could be the power to the left side of the enclosure,

He tries to get up but grunts in pain

(“My legs,”)

Clawing himself with his arms alone, Apollo makes it to the interface, an touches it

….

Duhdunn♪

The red lights now shine brightly as all the screens in the room power on at once

{Scanning….

Scanning…..

Scanning……

Beings identified,

One Tellus human

One hybrid Gaia/mana being

Neither appear to be in service of the supreme leader,

…..

Question: Are you friend or foe?}

A grid like matrix of lines appear on the screen with a robotic voice to accompany it,

“A... friend?” Apollo replies totally unsure what to make of this

{Scanning….

Scanning…..

Lie detector test complete, you are not an enemy,

Welcome to the only constructed resistance base, Codename; The Velvet Underground

My assigned name is Saint, I am an artificial intelligence left behind by the resistance,

How may I be of service?}

“….Help us” mutters Apollo

{Scanning…

Scanning….

The Tellus human appears to be suffering from massive blood loss,

Gaia hybrid has frostbitten legs and extreme hunger due to overuse or drainage of mana,

This base is equipped with tools required to treat you both however your hunger cannot be solved here,}

“What does that mean?” Apollo still confused and feeling very lightheaded

{Please use the sideways elevator to head to the operation room, if you die here, I cannot assist you,}

Bing!♪

A light shines around a mechanical door to the right of the room,

Not wasting time Apollo, grabs Himari with one arm and drags them to the door with the other

Ping!♪

The door slides open like an elevator but instead of going down it moves sideways to a different section of the underground….

……..

……..

……..

*****

“After that I don’t remember much, Himari and I were out for weeks,” tells Apollo

(His entire experience has been interesting to say the least)

“Saint the computer woke us up, we still weren’t fully healed but it said we would die of hunger dehydration if we stayed in ‘regenerative stasis’ any longer,

It snowed us these suits we’re wearing now, and told us how to operate the teleporter, to relay point B, this forest,”

“Where they met me,” Sprite chimes in

“I can create any fruit vegetable and everything on the plant spectrum,” she states proudly

“Sprite has been helping us with food while we heal up on formulate our next strategy,

There is also another ‘thing’ that is helping us but I suppose you will see it for yourself soon,”

(Thing?)

“……..”

“Kage will be fine don’t worry about it,” Apollo assures the woman who hasn’t said a thing

“…..”

“I know, I know, but I’m almost back to one hundred and I have a few new tricks, I’ll protect us,”

“Am I missing something?” I look from the quiet Himari to Apollo

“It’s matrimony,” Sprite explains

“Marriage here is a magical bond that allows two people to communicate without speech,

No matter how far apart you are, they’d still be able to feel each other’s emotion,

Kind of like me and this forest, you could say I am married to the forest,”

“I can already feel emotions except it’s with everyone,”

(I do have put some focus into it though…)

“Then maybe you are married to everyone,”

“I don’t think that’s possible Sprite.”

“This was the just the optimal way of communication between us without risk of being compromised, think nothing of it,” Himari folds her arms leaning against a wall

“….” Apollo smiles slightly and the woman turns her head away from us

“So this Velvet Underground, how do I get there?” I change the topic

“There is a teleportation panel under a dinosaur’s nest nearby,” Apollo replies

“But let’s stay here for a bit, I don’t want to go through that machine again”

“Why?”

“It’s absolutely nauseating,

Like your being swung around in circles repeatedly,” Apollo makes a face

“Ok, then why–awww!” I turn mid sentence to Sprite who makes her fingers into thorns and pokes me hard.

“Stop asking, all the time,” she says obstinately

“……” I stare at the plant person blankly before sighing

“Sprite likes conversation in case you couldn’t tell,” Himari remarks

“I hadn’t noticed” I respond sarcastically

“What do you when it’s just you alone here Sprite?” I ask

“If I’m not listening to the trees, then I sleep,”

“That’s it?”

“Mhm, I don’t mind because plants like sleeping it feels good to stay still absorbing light,”

“How did you get mixed up with the resistance here then?

I find it strange that a computer program would send Apollo and Himari to a forest, those two things don’t relate”

“The forest is, or at least was the resistance, the same people who built the Velvet Underground are the ones who’s souls as bound to this forest,

The trees hope that one day someone would discover their base and finish what they started taking down the supreme leader,”

“….” Apollo shuffles his feet about nervously hearing that

“I apologize again Sprite that we can’t be the ones to help you,

After we get our child we plan on leaving…”

“It’s nothing,” Sprite smiles cheerfully

“We have been waiting here thousands of years already, I’m just grateful to be able to speak to people, someone else may come a few hundred years from now, you don’t know”

…….

……

The room gets uncomfortably quiet,

Unlike Apollo and Himari who feel somewhat guilty for not helping

I do not care.

The last time I got involved with someone else’s resistance, I ended up…

Well, I ended up how I am right now…

(I want nothing to do with any kings or chairmen or leaders again)

….

“What do you want to do Kage?” Sprite breaks the silence

“As in my goal?”

..

(Does it matter? whatever path I take, always end in the same for me)

“I don’t know, Sprite, I was planning on causing havoc to get back Apollo and Himari, but they already got away, so I guess I’ll help them for now until they leave,”

Whack!

Apollo slaps me hard on my back affectionately

“Its so weird to think that we’ve known each other for a couple months and a few years at the same time,”

“If you do plan on helping us, be prepared to do a lot of waiting because we haven’t made any moves yet,” Informs Himari in a stoic tone but I can tell she is grateful as well

(I wonder why her opinion on me has suddenly changed)

“How come?” I inquire

“Wouldn’t you want to get the child back as soon as possible?”

“We would if we knew where it was, and if we did, we would have to formulate a foolproof plan to get in and out quickly,”

(Where it is…….)

“…

I’m not sure about the plan yet Himari, but…

I think, I know exactly where it is.”