Chapter 2: Into the Woods
A young girl in a dark cloak is seen going through the forest exploring it while looking for rare finds in the forest of Khufu. The young girl is barely five feet tall with light blonde hair with Ice blue eyes and light brown skin. The young girl looks almost like she would barely be an adolescent however she is just a little small for her age and most people make that mistake when seeing her because she looks more as a small child or a very young teenage youth.
The young girl is wearing a lightweight cloak with a silver threaded Griffin crest design and with silver trim on the edge of the cloak. The cloak covers the girl from her head going all the way down to her toes. Under the hood of the cloak her face is masked with white scarf so that you can only see her blue eyes. The cloak that she wears could be bought and sold anywhere in the central market from the mid to high class merchants from the shops inside of the Academy & Military schools inside Academia.
Some of the garments that are under her Blue and Silver crested cloak from one of the schools inside of Academia however would tell a different story entirely. Some of the items however that she has on would truly show that she is someone of importance like a noble's daughter or of high standing. Like the crest on her ring that she wears around her necklace
Her tunic that she is wearing is blue and white and assemblies would look to be like what a Sailor would wear. It has the same color blue as the cloak for the flap in the back and also has a silver trim for the flap's edges and the same for cuffs of the sleeves. With a decorative red scarf or a neckerchief that is clasped together as it is guided through inside of a piece of looped fabric on the blouse leaving a tail to hang down from the loop.
On the front breast pocket of the tunic it has a Blue and Silver crest with a griffon that is the same as her cloak. This crest is something that you would find more often at respectable Magic or Military school here in Alexandretta. Along the back of the tunic it too has some embroidering of a griffin showing and shows that she is a student of the academy learning one or more of the disciplines of War, Magic, Gathering, and Science.
Along the young girl's waist you can see that she is wearing a leather utility belt with another type of crest serving as the buckle. This crest is different however from the one on the one on her shirt and cloak. The one on her buckle is more decorative and elaborate than what is on her tunic, something that you see in a more of a noble family or of higher standing as it were. The belt is equipped with a couple of pouches that she uses to hold magic tools and other things like item sciences to use for exploration and gathering.
Below the tunic she has a mini skirt that is colored the same as her top. At first glance you might think that the tunic and skirt would look more like a school uniform than what a seasoned adventurer would wear out going through the forest. Then finally a pair of leather high knee bracers or moccasins that the girl uses when she explores the forest so that she can move in the forest without being traced or make that much sound while going through the forest.
The girl that is going through the forest, whoever she may be is dressed for an exploration adventure into the woods today. Her destination today is the inner chamber of the Ancient ruins and she starts studying the ancient knight frame that was discovered by a gifted student from the Academy long ago. It was because of this discovery that Academia City came to be one of the wealthy places for trade and wealth of knowledge.
The young girl often comes into the forest because of her wanting to understand everything. Find out something that was not discovered before in her books and being away from the city is what gives her a breath of fresh air. A sense of freedom from her daily activities and classes in her day to day classes
She can normally be found poking around the ruins or practicing her hunting skills in the forest. Whatever game she gets helps her out in her classes for crafting material and if she sells or trades the game at the market she can make a good amount of coin in the process. There are some things that you can't get out of the markets in Academia even though they have a great collection of things at the markets there.
She has been coming into the forest more and more like if it is calling out to her. as if the spirit of the forest was Telling her to find something as it were. The girl stopped by the creek inside of the forest to get some water and when she was about to leave she sensed something coming from one of the giant trees in the area. It was like a voice that was directing her to come here and say hi.
She began to step towards the area where she sensed the forest calling out to here and discovered the biggest tree that she has seen in a giant crater inside of the forest. Stunned by the site she looked around and noticed that there was a bridge going from the edge of the crater to the tree. She makes her way over to the bridge carefully so she doesn't fall off the edge of the crater.
When she made it to the bridge she could see what seems like an opening to something. The girl is curious and begins to go over the bridge and see what is there. Her heart beats begins to go a little faster as she comes to the opening. A thought ran through her mind, has this always been her? To her knowledge that there was one ruin and we are not even close to it. Also If this was an undiscovered ruin why hasn't anybody claimed this site?
The girl examined the door and found some text that she is not quite familiar with that is written on marble stone doors. She wipes away some of the moss and dirt that was covering the writing and still that did not help her with trying to read the writing as some of it is also worn away. She pulled out a book and was able to determine that the writing is indeed an ancient language. Did she just discover a new location for an unknown Ruins she thought. She continued to examine the entrance looking for a way in and see if she could find any marking that matched up with her book.
Without warning the doors had been eliminated like she had never seen and the doors had slid into the walls themselves leaving a set of grooves where they once stood. The voice that seemed to have called out to her now is more clear and stronger than down at the creek. She was sure now that it was coming from this place.
The girl looked past the entryway and saw a corridor that she was able to walk down. She began to walk inside of the entryway wondering what treasures she could find. As she entered the corridor it had illuminated with some kind of unknown light that she had never seen. It was not any kind of flame magic that she has seen before or the use of a traditional oil burning lantern or a torch that lit the way but something different.
The walls of this ruin was also made out of some strange material that she has never seen also. Some of the walls were made with a transparent material. Glass and it was a lot clearer than what can be found inside of Academia. They were so clear in fact she could see inside of the room going as far back to the wall on the other side of the room. She notices tables, chairs, benches, and what seems to be machinery equipment that are built with unfamiliar materials to her as she walks passed.
The doors made of mirror like steel have no handles with strange lettering on it like what was found at the opening of the ruins. The walls, and floor made from marble stones not native to the land with strange metal fitting around the clear glass. This ruin is completely different from what she has read about the past ruins that were previously discovered. The architecture and structure of these ruins looks as if it has been pulled from another world and nothing here could be compared to the other ruins or any building inside of the city of Academia or even the kingdom.
While she is aww mode of how these ruins are different from the rest she did not notice that a local group of ruin robbers had followed her into the ruins. A group of people that are more interested pillaging the ruins and selling the items that they find instead of sharing the ruins and their discoveries with the nation. They followed her all the way down until she came in front of a massive set of doors.
She knelt down to reexamine some more of the Ruin text that was found in good condition this time. With the letters in good condition she can begin to translate some of the text that she has found here to find out more about this place. She pulled out a pair of glasses with an enchanted power that is able to translate any foreign text.
A helpful expensive tool to use when exploring ruins and translating texts from other lands if you have them. Normally if you did not have a pair of these enchanted glasses you would have to be accompanied by a talented translator while exploring the ruins. A translator would cost a small fortune for exploring an unknown ruin like this. In the best case if a single explorer with not a lot of money and didn't have this magic tool they would buy and bring the latest textbooks to translate ruin text while also hoping that they brought the right ones.
"-A.M.E.E. Project - Authorized Personnel Only - As per the Project Leader K. & S. H.-."
Hmm A.M.E.E. Project what does that mean? She paged through some of her textbooks to see if she could find a reference about this. With no luck she wasn't able to find anything about it. Well I have to ask an instructor when I get back then about this A.M.E.E. Project. She is really knowledgeable about things from the past. I wonder if she would know anything about it.
The group of robbers had liked what they have seen so far while they were following the girl inside of the ruins. The robber has been biding their time waiting for the perfect time and decided now was that perfect time to move in to kill the girl so they can then begin to exploit the contents of these ruins for their personal benefit.
The girl moving senses something is amiss with her surroundings. She smells a scent of blood in the air that wasn't there before. She performs a chantless spell to search the area for danger. She discovers that there are other people and something else that she can't place her finger on inside the ruins with her.
She sighs as she counts five people in the area behind her. With her spell she could tell where their positions were at without even having to look at them. Well these guys are all thumbs she thought while they were doing a poor job now of masking their presence. Seems like I have grave robbers as it were here with me and they are not the friendly type she thought to herself.
She begins to ready a few spells and starts to reach for her bow in preparation for the fight that is about to occur. The robbers already have begun to move in to kill her are unaware that the girl already knows that they are in the room with her. She steadies her nerves and takes a deep breath and then begins to stand up to turn around to face the so called robbers .
Just about the time that she heard something thrown into the room. Ka-Boom! an explosion just appeared in the middle of the room. The room was filled with a bright light blinding her along with a big explosion. What was that I can't see or hear now what is going on in the room. The girl discombobulated from the explosion and bright light now fell onto the ground.
The five grave robbers were caught in that explosion too. The girl couldn't hear the strange rustling sounds in the room for which she was at. Were there more than five people inside of the room she thought? The girl unable to see could barely make out a figure running through the room. Attacking the robbers that target her as it were, protecting her from them.
The room fell silent from the fight that just took place. The girl is still unable to fight back as she feels herself being thrown down to the ground and then dragged into somewhere behind where she was. The girl kicking fearing for her life is now actively trying to get away from her attacker and pulls out a knife. She thrust it at her attacker hoping that it would be enough to let her go.
The girl heard a clanging sound as just before she heard the blade of her knife shatter.
"Stop or you hurt yourself Lily." a female synthesized voice that she could not recognize had told the girl that was being dragged.
The girl after hearing her name had stopped fighting and was frozen in fear that this person that was talking to hwe actually knew her name. Lily was unable to recognize the voice of the person that was dragging her. Lily, now concerned and frightened at the same time feeling a little helpless, decides to do as she was told.
They went into a brightly lit room and Lily had then felt the grip on her loosen as she was released from the creature dragging her. Lily had then felt herself being lifted on top of what she guessed was one of the tables in the ruins.
"Who are you!? How do you know my name?!" Lily asked
"That is not important for the moment, however we have to see if you are alright now. Are you able to see now?" The voice asked as she began to examine the girl.
Lily's eyes seemed to be dilated however she was able to see two figures now in the bright light. The tall figure looked like a warrior bunny while the other figure that dragged her looked like to be the size of a Direwolf.
"My vision is a little fuzzy still and this room is too bright for me right now. Along with my ears are ringing from that loud noise still. Also did you have to drag me through the ruins?." Lily replied.
"Sorry about being dragged, it would seem that Blake still needs to learn that you can't drag people that you are Protecting. Your sight and hearing should return in time however I still will need to take a look to see if there will be any permanent damage." The warrior Bunny Girl replied while giving her counterpart Blake an angry look under her visor.
"Avatar AMEE Unit named Blake is working at optimal conditions, Mistress needs to give better commands in combat situations." Blake replied
Lily's attention peaked as she heard the word AMEE. Lily remembered in that moment that it was the name that was on the door. So AMEE was this creature here that she could barely see and it was protecting her?
"What is a warrior bunny like you doing all the way out here?" Lily asked
"Well technically I am not from the Bunny race actually I'm not from any of these lands technically speaking" The figure replied
"I may be a little blind right now but I can make out your long bunny ears so don't try to deny it."Lily Stated as she can mostly make out a figure with what looks like a bunny warrior.
"Fair enough I do suppose that I do look like a bunny when I have the AMEE hard suite on." The figure replied
"What is this AMEE creature that you speak of and what is a hard suite? Is that the reason why did my blade break when I tried to stab that thing to get away?" Lily trying to get answers from the bunny figure.
"Well the blade it broke as a result of it was an inferior materials and made poorly from the standards of my land that I come from." the bunny said
It was inferior and easily broken by having inferior materials and was forged together by poor craftsmanship? How is that possible as that knife was crafted by some of the best smiths in town. She even gathered the materials herself and watched over the process to make sure that it was the best reliable blade that she had on her to go exploring.
"Also how was the blade Inferior made? I made sure to use the best materials in the land and the best smiths in town so it shouldn't have broken so easily." Lily was shocked that it would be easily broken because it was inferior.
"And of the AMEE creature and hard suite?" Lily pressed for an answer.
"Well the AMEE unit is something that we will have to talk about at a later time." The Bunny replied.
"Where did you take me and why is this room so bright? It's like we are standing outside while we are inside." Lily asked.
"Well right now we are in the AMEE wing of my laboratory. As for the light they are called LED's and they are Powered by electricity." The bunny girl replied
"What is this electricity that you speak of? Is it a form of magic that you can cast?" Lily asked. Lily is trying to get as many answers out of this metalized bunny woman as she can about these ruins.
"Hmm I guess you would call it lightning magic as it were." The Bunny girl replied
"What was the original use for these ruins and how would a warrior bunny like you called a Laboratory here in a place that has not been discovered yet?"
"Oh I believe that it will be far beyond what you will be able to understand as well as my brother made me keep it a secret for many accounts on why I can't tell you. Hmm I do wish brother was here though. He would be able to look into that AMEE unit and check the protocol programing." The girl's voice exclaimed, showing a little more concern for the AMEE unit that saved Lily.
Programming? Protocol? What is she talking about Lily thought? Is it some form of secret magic or personal magic that has been lost or is it more of the sort of a type of forbidden magic Lily wondered. Lily was trying to wrap her head around what this AMEE thing was.
Lily once she has recovered has many more questions that she wants to ask about what this place and what is the Bunny girl is after in a place like this.
A beam of light shined on Lily's eyes and she could feel something smooth and hard on her face that was checking her eyes. After that the girl then did a scan on Lily in her suite to make sure that nothing else was wrong with her. The scan showed that she had minor injuries and that she would recover quickly from her bruises.
"Your eyes still seem to be dilated from the flashbangs that were used and with that you have a mild case of flash blindness. Your Vision should return to you within 4 to 6 hours and your should not have any permanent hearing loss. Also you have some minor bruising from when you fell that should be able to heal in a few days." The Girl replied
"Flashbang?? Was that what that was?" Lily is still trying to piece together what happened back there at the door.
"Yes, that device is meant to take away a person's sight and sound so it can confuse a group of people or a person by taking away their senses. This is done so they can be taken care of quicker without that much trouble of them putting up a fight." The Bunny girl replied
"Uh..." Lily still more confused than before
"The AMEE unit that was activated had tried to make sure that you wouldn't be too affected by it too much as she tossed the flashbangs on the other side of the room. Ocelot Avatar (Small to medium size Leopard Cat) of the AMEE unit was trying to Limit the effects to where you were and trying to keep you outside of its blast radius." Said the voice coming from the warrior bunny figure.
"You mean that a cat had used these flashbangs and took care of the thieves and your unit dragged me here?" Lily still confused
"Yep that is pretty much the way it went more or less." The bunny replied.
"I don't supposed that I could talk you into not coming here again can I, Lily. I know your thirst for knowledge that you have will just keep coming back here again and again." The voice said.
"What are you planning on doing now? Are you going to silence me by taking me as your prisoner or are you going to Kill Me?!" Lily now on edge waiting for Bunny's next response.
"Oh heavens no I won't do anything like that as you have now become a person of interest now in the AMEE Project however I will have to keep a better eye on you now." The Bunny girl said
Lily is now getting tired as she is barely able to keep her eyes open. What is this, a spell that she was under now? She began to chant a spell to release her from this but it was no use as it wasn't a spell at all but a sleeping gas agent that was released in the room.
Lily unable to do anything had passed out on the table from the gas. After the room was cleared from the gas that was released by the warrior bunny figure. The girl that looked like a Warrior Bunny had opened the helmet that was covering their head to reveal a girl with long hair.
The girl checks on Lily to make sure that she is alright still and takes a blood sample from the girl with her hard suit on.
"Hmm we are going to have to fix that entrance of ours now Blake so this doesn't happen again." The girl sighed.
"It would seem that this is an error in programming code." Blake replied
"Take her to the edge of the forest and wait for me there Blake. Before you head back I will engage the Active camouflage so nobody else can find this place. Also Blake run a self diagnostic check on your system as well as the Ocelot Avatar unit that was activated and send me the details if there are any types of errors." She told Blake.
"As you command Mistress" Blake replied
Avatar AMEE units are supposed to follow a list of commands and protocols to protect the operator when they are not wearing the hard suit. If they are wearing the hard suit the AI can pick or be commanded to either fight in the battle for support by the operators side in protection mode or be used in other ways. Depending on the operators traits and mission training they can perform other features like scotting, & other skills that the operator may be lacking in.
However that particular AMEE system had recognized to protect Lily when she entered into the ruins which hardly ever happens. Normally her brother would have to set-up an operator profile for Amee for the unit to work with someone. Each unit is keyed to genetic markers so the units can only be used by one operator other than the system admin.
Blake nodded and the girl was slid off of the table and onto her back. Blake then began to carry out Lily out of the Lab of the ruins. The Bunny warrior then began to head over to the next room where the grave robbers attacked and picked up the broken blade pieces along the way.
"Hmm she probably would want this back. It looks like I can use modeling to get the blade fixed like it was before, well after I made some modifications to make it better would be good." The girl said
Still though it is hard to believe that Lily was able to be recognized by the AMEE system for it to move on it's own to protect her like that. If I did not get the alert I would have never known about it. However I merely came in at the end after the fighting and took our friends to the brigg." She said to herself.
"Still a ways to go till I can go home from this world."
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