Crawling in the Dark

Time was short. Action needed to be swift. The danger to the villagers and the squad were high with the amount of uncertainty. They didn’t know what they were getting into with their mission. All they knew was they couldn’t fail.

The thought of failure repeated through Eudokia’s mind. She thought she prepared herself for the moment. It was what she needed, but she couldn’t help the thoughts. ‘What if they’re dead? What if I get them hurt? Or can’t find the intruders.’ It continued through her mind, making it difficult to focus. Had her team known, they would have hesitated climbing onboard the vehicle she made for them.

Each of them had different ideas of what to expect when they arrived in the area. However, reality defied them all. None of them believed that they would find the village completely normal. Eudokia dropped them off outside the village, about a kilometer out. From their vantage point, nothing was wrong in Kapni. Everyone carried about as though it was a normal afternoon day.

Eudokia looked back at her team. They wanted answers, but she had none to give. She wanted the same answers they did. ‘I expected some sort of change. If the intruders were in the area of Kapni, I figured that they would go to the village. It’s the only place with civilization, it would only be natural.’ Thoughts turned about for Eudokia. However, it didn’t solve the immediate problem. She needed to give her team orders. “Alright, we don’t know the situation yet. Anything could be happening, Daidalos and Hestia, take the perimeter to the right. Hilarion and Nikon take the left approach. We meet on the other side in thirty minutes.”

They all accepted the orders, but had some concerns about the plan. Nikon voiced his questions, though not in his usual tone. “What will you do? You can’t go alone.”

She tilted her head back towards the village. “I’m going through the village. We’re just dealing with normal humans, so I can go invisible and observe the situation. I don’t want to spook them, if they happen to be inside.” It surprised her a little to see that they actually looked a little uneasy about her going alone. “I’ll be fine, but I need to know if anything is happening outside of the village. Once we have more recon, I can make a plan. For all we know, the intruders aren’t even in the village and Squad 94 is still in pursuit. I need you, so I can make sure this all ends the way we want.”

“We understand!” they answered.

“Thanks,” nodded Eudokia.

Chapter 205 – Crawling in the Dark

Five minutes already passed since they departed. Eudokia made it to the village gates, rather what amounted to a gate. The gate was merely two thick trunks from trees they chopped down. They had one guard posted, looking very lazy. ‘I’m not detecting any sort of deception from him. He simply is bored.’ She moved into the village, staying out of sight with her power.

Everything seemed the same the further in she went. It made her feel uneasy as though she should be seeing something and simply missed the sign. ‘I thought they might be holding them hostage and forcing them to act normal, but I’m not seeing any signs at all.’ Her eyes scanned everything she could. She only had twenty minutes for her investigation. ‘If they aren’t here, where are they?!’

No answers.

Eudokia left Kapni with nothing. She didn’t like the feeling it gave her. Something told her she missed something, but she didn’t know what it was. She wanted to go look more, but she had a deadline. ‘Perhaps they found something. I need something to go on or I’m just running around in the dark.’ It gave her a little hope, that they might have something waiting for her.

She was the first to arrive at the designated rendezvous. It made her a little anxious, but Hilarion and Nikon arrived shortly after her. The looks on their faces told her enough, but she still checked. “Anything?”

Nikon shook his head. He looked a little down after the response. “Everything looked clear. We didn’t even find signs of travel.”

“I see,” Eudokia muttered, staring into the distance from where Nikon came from. The flat plains gave her a good view. It was peaceful as it appeared. ‘Still no answers. This is only going to get worse if Daidalos and Hestia show up with the same thing.’ She wished for better results from them.

A minute passed and the three looked at each other. Concern filled them. It might not have seemed long, but they were all well trained for travel. There shouldn’t be a large difference in their times. Eudokia gave it another minute of no sight before taking action. “We’re going. Nikon take the rear guard. I’ll take point.”

“Yes, sir!” Nikon moved with no question in the order. They were on the same page.

Eudokia trudged forward fighting off the emotions that threatened to destroy her face’s composure. She wanted the forward position selfishly to keep it away from them. ‘How could I let them go alone? But I didn’t know. I had to send them, if I didn’t…’ Her eyelids lowered a little as she forced a hardened expression. ‘I’ll find them. They won’t be allowed to get away with this! You can’t hide from me!’

It only took ten minutes for them to arrive at the site. Their tracking skills hardly had the experience of real work, but they didn’t need much to recognize when the footprints changed. Nikon stared at the ground trying to recall his training. A short distance away, Hilarion stood guard with the anticipation of an ambush. Eudokia already confirmed for them no one else in the area with her power.

She stared off at the village once more. ‘Where are they hiding? They must be nearby.’ Her teeth grinded together stinging her teeth from the pressure.

“Sir!” called Nikon, “Can you help me?” It took him calling again to actually get her attention.

Eudokia flicked her expression away and focused back on the task. “Right. You find anything?” She walked over to the main area where it looked like Daidalos and Hestia were ambushed. Leaning over, she stared at the vague marks in the grass and dirt.

“I’m not very good at this. I can get a general sense, but no idea their numbers.”

A ripple expanded over the area. “Step aside. I’ll reveal the secrets of our intruders.” Unlike her normal Field, nothing appeared. The grass remained and it seemed as though nothing happened. Such nothingness didn’t last. A blue light grew out of the ground covering all of the blades of grass in an outline. From the tips, particles went into the air.

Suddenly, figures materialized quickly in stationary positions. Only two of the figures had real form to them, the ones representing Daidalos and Hestia. The remaining four figures were unknown with only a rough estimate of size, height and weight based off the imprints left behind. It eliminated any sort of need for real tracking skills.

“Four,” remarked Eudokia. She drew a circle in a counterclockwise motion with her finger. The figures started moving as though time rewound. They watched their comrades move away from them. Eudokia brought it to a stop when the unknown intruders stopped moving.

They walked over to the positions the ambushers took. There was no cover to protect them and the ground was very flat. Eudokia bent down staring deeply at the blank shapes. ‘What were you thinking?’ She seemed to expect an answer, but naturally it gave none. More important matters concerned her. Taking a position near to them, she looked over at her two team members. ‘It’s a clear line of sight isn’t it? How’d they miss it?’

Eudokia measured the distance and elevation change. “Nikon!” She motioned out to him to go to where Daidalos stood. Once in position, she laid down in the grass trying to understand the scene better. ‘We can see each other easily…’ The question made her pensive, resting a hand to her face.

However, Nikon didn’t have the patience for thinking it through calmly. “How the hell did they sneak up on them? Daidalos and Hestia would have seen them!” The lack of a response made him yell even louder. “It doesn’t make any sense!”

A little bothered by the interruption, Eudokia glanced up at Nikon. “I agree. From the positions, they never would have missed them, but the facts are what we have. Meaning…” His interruption left her without the answer. She was working towards it.

“Meaning what?” demanded Nikon.

Standing up, she walked around the area examining the angles. Nothing else was possible. “They couldn’t be seen, somehow.” Eudokia wandered around the area trying to see something.

“But there’s no way they couldn’t have been seen.”

Glancing over at him, she acknowledged him so he couldn’t keep yelling. She went back to pacing around. “Yes, but saying that isn’t getting us to the answer. There was a reason they weren’t seen. My Field isn’t making it clear, meaning that whatever they did wasn’t with the terrain. The only answer I can see is a disguise, though in this I’m not sure what would actually work. But it’s the only conclusion. I can’t see any other way.” Twirling her finger, she fast-forwarded the scene. “Dwelling on the unknown isn’t going to help us.”

She needed to see how things played out. The ambush moved quickly once the two passed the point. Coordinated and skilled, the intruders easily overpowered both. Once unconscious, they were carried off in the direction of the village. The whole thing bothered Eudokia. Her hand tensed up at the sight of them disappearing in the distance. ‘So they are in the village…’ She motioned to the others to fall in. “We’re going back,” she declared, determination dug into her eyes.

There was something she missed. She was certain of it even more after seeing it. ‘They’re in the village. They must be keeping things quiet, but what’s their objective? This isn’t a normal intrusion. Something strange is going on.’ Eudokia didn’t like the feeling the entire situation gave her. There was a darker side to the questions. She was afraid of where it would lead.

When they arrived back at the village of Kapni, everything still didn’t change. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Children ran about the playing, while their parents worked. They didn’t seem to know something was wrong. An eerie sight.

Eudokia searched the border of the village for any signs of unusual activity, but nothing revealed itself. She tilted her head back to Nikon. “I’ll go follow their trail and scout the area. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

“But…” Nikon reached out for Eudokia. “What about us?”

“Follow the plan and keep an eye out for any other squads. The 103rd Squad was ahead of them, so they’re likely to be here soon.” He appeared nervous at her orders. It seemed a little strange for a child comforting an adult, but they were her team. They were her soldiers. “This’ll all be over soon. I won’t allow this to go on any further.”

Running after the trail, Eudokia tracked the intruders using a device she created through her power. ‘Standard procedure would be to perform a search of the entire village, but I can’t risk tipping them off with hostages. I have to move carefully.’ The trail brought her to a fork. The intruders went in two different directions. ‘Which do I follow?’ She modified her device to give her a little more information. She needed to know the weight to judge where they took her men.

‘Left…what’s to the right then?’ Staring at the device, she found older tracks going in the directions. It was difficult to pull apart, but it seemed they went through more than once. ‘I can only investigate one in my time.’ She turned and ran off following the path. ‘My team comes first!’

The end of the tracks came to the house. It looked like any other house in the village. The size was larger than the surrounding ones, likely because of a bigger family. Nothing strange seemed to be happening from the outside. However, Eudokia knew it appeared that way before and she missed it. ‘They’re inside or nearby.’

First, she checked the perimeter for any guards. She found none as she expected. They remained hidden, appearing normal. Tracks led to only the back door. The limited movement around the outside of the house made it easier to track and sort through the older tracks that likely belonged to the family.

Carefully, Eudokia approached the back door trying to listen for anything. She heard two voices speaking, but it was impossible to hear. ‘I can’t make it out. The voices aren’t getting through the door.’ A window was nearby, closed with the curtains drawn. She tried to peer inside, but came up short. ‘If I was older I’d be able to see.’ Her eyes only made it to the windowsill. It hardly offered an ideal view and she was already stretching her feet as much as she could. She pulled herself up a little, but the wood groaned a bit making her hesitate.

She took a second option. Working with her powers, she weakened wood in the wall enough to make a hole. Something blocked her from seeing inside, likely furniture, but she could hear the voices. ‘It’s still too hard to make out.’ The voices were still distant.

“…desu ka?”

Eudokia’s eyes widened for a moment. ‘They’re speaking Japanese!’ Once she realized they spoke in a different language, the words suddenly became clearer to her. Unfortunately, her understanding of Japanese was far from perfect. Most of it didn’t make any sort of sense to her. ‘Wish I remembered a translation Addendum.’

A minute passed with her attempting to translate, but she only made out fragments. ‘They’re speaking too fast for me.’ Eudokia eventually decided that she wasn’t going to get anything further without a proper translation. It was then that she remembered the time. ‘I’m going to be late!’

Running back the way she went, she felt a little excited. She had found them. It wasn’t much, but she could start a plan. She was certain her men were inside. Once she got back to Nikon and Hilarion, they could come up with a plan to rescue them. ‘Just wait a little longer. I’ll be back!’

When Eudokia arrived back, she was a little out of breath. The excitement altered her pacing, leaving her more out of breath than she expected. “I found them! We can rescue them now!” Eudokia finally caught her breath and looked up. Her eyes widened a little. Nikon and Hilarion were nowhere. They were gone.