Arthur and Aziel had sohow made it through their sleepless night, though the experience had left both of them feeling like tired shells. The mysterious sensations that had plagued Arthur—that growing pit in the back of his head—had finally subsided soti before dawn, leaving him with lingering questions and a persistent headache.
Now they found themselves back in the sa sterile conference room where they had first encountered Cara and Maya the day before. The morning light streaming through the tall windows cast different shadows across the polished surfaces, but the room’s austere atmosphere remained unchanged.
Arthur leaned heavily against the long conference table, his arms crossed as he fought to keep his eyes open. The exhaustion sat like a physical weight on his shoulders, making even standing upright feel laborious. His hair was disheveled from their restless night, and the dark circles under his eyes were testant to the sleep that had eluded him.
Beside him, Aziel had claid one of the sturdy chairs and was precariously balancing it on its back legs, rocking back and forth in a rhythm that seed to match his growing irritation. The repetitive motion produced a soft creaking sound that echoed in the quiet room, each movent threatening to send him toppling backward.
His hair was even more unkempt than usual, sticking up at odd angles that suggested he had spent considerable ti tossing and turning. The tired expression on his face was accentuated by drooping eyelids, and his usual animated energy had been replaced by restless agitation that manifested in constant fidgeting.
The waiting was clearly taking its toll on both of them, but Aziel’s impatience was reaching a breaking point. Finally, the silence was broken by an exaggerated yawn that seed to co from the depths of his being. When it subsided, he rolled his eyes dramatically.
"Gosh, when the hell are they supposed to be here?" he complained, his voice carrying the petulant tone of soone whose patience had been stretched to its limit. "We’ve been waiting forever!"
Arthur, who remained leaning against the table with his own equally tired expression, let out a weary sigh. "It’s only been thirty minutes," he said, though his own voice lacked conviction. "Be patient, Aziel."
The words felt hollow even as he spoke them. The waiting was getting to him too, especially in his current state of exhaustion.
Aziel’s head snapped toward Arthur, his tired eyes flashing with indignation. "Yeah, thirty minutes too long!" he shot back. "If they don’t show up soon, I’m going back to be—"
His complaint was abruptly cut off by the distinctive sound of the door swinging open, its hinges producing a soft whoosh that filled the room. Both of their heads snapped toward the entrance with surprising speed, their fatigue montarily forgotten.
Cara and Maya entered the room with the sa purposeful stride they had displayed during their previous encounter. Their appearance was nearly identical to their previous eting—both wore the sa practical combat pants and sturdy boots, paired with form-fitting black shirts that were neatly tucked in.
Cara led the way, her posture ramrod straight and her bearing radiating quiet confidence. Every step was asured and deliberate, her presence filling the room even before she spoke. Her golden hair hanging neatly just above her shoulders, and her sharp eyes imdiately assessed the two waiting boys with an analytical gaze.
Maya followed close behind, though her deanor presented a stark contrast to her leader’s composed professionalism. Her face wore an expression of clear annoyance, her jaw set in a tight line and her brow furrowed with lingering frustration from whatever had delayed their arrival. Unlike Cara’s perfect posture, Maya’s stance was noticeably slouched, suggesting either fatigue or deliberate displeasure.
As they approached the conference table, both won moved with fluid efficiency. Cara pulled out her chair with a soft scraping sound, while Maya followed suit with slightly more force than necessary, the legs of her chair producing a sharper noise against the polished surface.
The mont they were seated, Aziel’s patience finally snapped completely. He shot up from his precariously balanced chair with explosive energy, his fatigue temporarily forgotten in the face of mounting irritation.
"About ti!" he began, his voice rising in an angry rant that had been building during their extended wait. "You know h—"
But his words were cut short as Cara’s voice sliced through his outburst with surgical precision. Though she spoke no louder than Aziel’s yelling, her words carried twice the weight, delivered with the kind of authority that silenced rooms.
"I’m sorry for our late appearance," she said, her tone calm but carrying an undertone that suggested she was not to be trifled with. "I was stuck at the main office gathering information..."
Her gaze shifted to lock onto Aziel’s face with laser-like intensity. "I hope we didn’t cut into your beauty sleep, Aziel."
The effect was imdiate and dramatic. Aziel’s head recoiled as if he had been physically struck, his expression shifting from anger to sothing resembling shock. For a mont that stretched longer than it should have, he appeared completely at a loss for words—a state that Arthur knew was extrely rare for his typically verbose friend.
Usually, Aziel always had sothing to say, regardless of whether it was intelligent, appropriate, or coherent. His quick tongue and ready wit were among his most defining characteristics. Seeing him rendered speechless by Cara’s simple but pointed remark was almost... enjoyable to Arthur, who found himself struggling to suppress the laughter that threatened to escape.
The irony wasn’t lost on him—after all the teasing Aziel had subjected him to the night before, it was satisfying to see him on the receiving end of soone else’s sharp wit.
Finally, Aziel seed to recover enough to grunt in frustrated defeat, dropping back into his chair with obvious aggression. The chair legs hit the floor with a sharp thud that echoed his bruised ego, and he crossed his arms defensively as he settled into his seat.
Cara allowed herself a small smile at the successful assertion of her authority, clearly pleased with how she had handled the situation. She reached for a small stack of papers she had brought with her, the docunts neatly organized in official folders bearing various seals and classifications.
"Now, first things first," she began, her voice returning to its more professional tone. "Like I said, I was at the main office this morning gathering information... that information was about you."
Arthur and Aziel exchanged a quick glance, their expressions shifting from tired annoyance to wary curiosity. There was sothing in Cara’s tone that suggested this wasn’t going to be a routine briefing.
Arthur felt a familiar knot forming in his stomach, the sa sensation he had experienced whenever authority figures had called him into their offices back at school. The formal way Cara was handling the docunts, the careful precision of her words, suggested they were about to learn sothing significant.
"Sorry for the breach of privacy," Cara continued, her eyes moving between the two young n as she spoke, gauging their reactions. "But my rank as a guild leader in temporary possession of you allowed access to your files. And seeing as you’ll be working with us, I found it necessary to know all I could about you..."
The weight of her gaze was almost physical, making both Arthur and Aziel shift uncomfortably in their seats. Arthur could feel his heart rate increasing slightly, though whether from anxiety or curiosity he couldn’t say. The ntion of "files" suggested that their past experiences, their achievents and failures, were all docunted sowhere in official records.
Cara paused, studying their faces as if she were trying to read their thoughts. Her expression was unreadable, but there was sothing in her eyes that suggested she had discovered information that had genuinely surprised her.
"And I must say," she continued, her voice taking on a note of genuine surprise, "I’m much more surprised by what I found than I ever could have expected. It seems you two had an even rougher ti in your first trip to the second realm than I did."
Arthur felt his stomach tighten at the ntion of their previous experiences. The mories of their ti in the second realm were still fresh and painful, filled with loss and trauma that he was still processing. The weight of Luke’s absence pressed down on him once again, and he had to consciously work to keep his expression neutral.
Beside him, he could see Aziel’s jaw clench slightly, his earlier embarrassnt forgotten in the face of this reminder of their recent ordeal. The ntion of their "rough ti" was an understatent of epic proportions, and both young n knew that whatever was in those files likely contained details they would rather not have shared.
"But one thing I am surprised about," Cara added, her tone shifting to sothing that sounded almost like admiration mixed with genuine puzzlent, "is how you two are not world famous yet."
The words hung in the air between them, loaded with implications that neither Arthur nor Aziel fully understood. The suggestion that they should be famous, that their experiences warranted so kind of widespread recognition, was both flattering and deeply unsettling.
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