Chapter 162: Unstable

Chapter 162: Unstable "How’s it on your end?"

Jake asked in a whisper to Kieran a few steps behind him.

"Nothing. We really are going to have to till the fog withdraws to try again."

Kieran responded, coming to that conclusion after battling with his watch interface for a long period of time. The interface that messed with the piece of tech was still present just like the fog.

The soldiers had yet to return from their outing, and Jake and Kieran were still capitalizing on their exploration quest trying to find anything they could about gbe place which wasn’t recorded in the public books.

The issue though was that they had found nothing so far. Every single room they had walked into in the large facility was empty, and although neither of them had mentioned it openly to the other.

Kieran couldn’t shake of the feeling that they were the only one present in the place.

The sound of shuffling feet which came when a patrol team passed them by had disappeared completely, and he was sure it wasn’t because of Jake’s exemplary navigation skills.

The silent and still atmosphere was so intense that they had continued to whisper to each other despite having coming to the conclusion that they were aline internally.

"Stop."

Kieran held Jake by the shoulder.

"We should head back till those soldiers come back. Whatever it is, I don’t think this outpost came out unscathed as they aporead to have!"

"Wait for the rest? How sure are you that there even gonna make it back?"

Jake threw a stopper at Kieran, his voice going out of hand for a moment there

Turning around and moving closer, he looked around before continuing while making sure he kept his voice from breaking the still atmosphere again.

"We are the only ones here. I’m sure you’ve figured that out by now. The scents of the soldiers vanished one after another"

"Don’t ask, cause I don’t know how!"

He said placing a finger above his lips.

Shifting his body uncomfortably, he glanced at the surrounding buildings and empty, lit up hall ways to the side before proceeding.

"There is one scent remaining though, but it’s faint and I’m having a hard time tracking it. So don’t worry, I’m not walking blind"

’Not totally blind.’

Kirean remarked in his mind, but gave in to Jake’s words.

"Alright. There isn’t much more to see anyways"

He said, causing Jake to freeze up a little. They had walked into almost eighty percent of the whole facility.

It wasn’t time consuming to go through when there was basically nothing at all to go through.

With that, Jake continued his lead as he tried to find the soldier who was possibly the only clue available to their current situation.

.....

’Broken?’

While Jake was leading him along, Kieran hit a pause noticing a broken window, and a cracked wall underneath it.

This was a glaring difference compared to the surrounding which was in pristine condition.

Ignoring Jake for a moment, he closed in to the spot inspecting the damage on the wall.

There was a huge crater in the wall that had looked like it could fall through in the next moment.

"The glass shards should be from the impact."

He muttered to himself, picking up a shard of glass from the ground bringing it up to eye level to inspect it closer.

"What is it?"

Jake said, seeing Kieran bent over with his back facing him.

"There was a fight in here. This is crater on the wall definitely didn’t just show up itself."

Kieran said, shifting his body to the side to give Jake a view of what he was talking about.

"What crater?"

Jake asked in a puzzedled tone and Kieran’s brows furrowed, his eyes raising to meet with confused ones staring back at him.

"What do you mean, what cr—Huh?"

A sense of confusion stronger than that of Jake cut into his words as a was met with a clean, unblemished wall just like the ones around.

"You didn’t see that just now? The broken window and cracked wall?"

His voice was filled with hints of disbelief, but his pure confusion and disbelief came through to Jake who understood the seriousness of his partner.

"No, I didn’t."

Jake answered as best he could without calling out the fact that Kieran needed to rest some more.

"Your eyes aren’t healed all the way—"

"It’s not that! We aren’t getting something!"

The uneasy feeling continued to stir in his heart as he looked around searching for something, something even he didn’t know.

The glass shard which cut painfully into his palm was all the confirmation he needed to know that he wasn’t seeing things.

That crater on the wall, the broken window, the shards of glass on the floor. All of that was real and he had seen it just a second ago.

"Jake! What did you say about the scent you were tracking again?"

"It’s faint, but I’m getting closer to it. Why?"

"Look around. We are back to where we started."

Kieran said and he watched the blood flow away from his face along with the realization that was slowing settling into Jake as he looked around like Kieran asked.

"H-how?"

Jake muttered in disbelief, his face sharing a similar expression to that of kieran from a moment ago.

"I was clearly following the scent, so how?!"

Jake retreated a little with closed eyes, trying hard to focus and single the scent of the soldier.

"It’s gone."

His voice was solemn as he uttered the words.

"I can’t find it again. Just like the others."

Jake said, taking a seat on the floor with his back resting against the wall.

He had been following the scent around and somehow he had ended up leading them back to where they started without even realizing.

Everything so far felt like something or someone was trying to prevent them from finding anything.

’If a crack could disappear that fast, then everything we’ve seen could have been...’

Kieran paused and looked up, his eyes taking on an amber shade as he ignored the pain and used his ability, trying to see if he could find anything.

"Ugh!"

’Nothing.’

He thought, closing his eyes which had started to sting hurriedly.

Even in the world which his eyes glanced at, he couldn’t spot any differences, he couldn’t even tell that there was a crater on the wall he had behind his back.

Once again, the solid piece of glass he held and felt in his palm was the only thing that assured him of what he had seen and Jake’s reaction.

"It’s an illusion!"

"I didn’t sense any changes."

Jake addressed the claim Kieran had come up with after a moment of silence.

"Well, that just makes it a high level one. I don’t think there’s any other fitting explanation for the current situation"

"If it’s that strong of one, why aren’t we dead?"

"Well, we’ve checked through almost all the buildings and surroundings, just one area left."

"The core."

Jake completed Kieran’s words.

’Yeah, except all the empty rooms we’ve been seeing might have been part of this illusion all along’

’No, It definitely is!’

Kieran thought, the pain in his palm reminding him of what the cracked wall he had seen a moment ago.

"Let’s go in then. Before those soldiers com—"

"The fog!"

Jake interrupted with shock in his voice, his hand pointing to the grounds beyond the railings, at the entrance of the outpost where the fog could be seen creeping in slowly into the space.

"I thought this was supposed to prevent it from coming in!"

Jake said as he rushed to his feet in alarm, thinking of ways to get out of the situation.

Kieran, still on the floor dragged his gaze away from the fog which unexpectedly pushing its way into the outpost.

’The barrier is damaged, and unstable’

The furious blinking of blue barrier light was explanatory enough.

The flashing lights died down after a while and the fog stopped seeping in, signaling the stabilization of the barrier.

They were safe, at least for now.

There was no way to know when next it would malfunction, nor did they have any knowledge on how to fix a barrier at all.

"We should leave once the fog retreats."

Jake said, putting asides his personal plans for the most logical choice which placed their safety first.

"I agree, but I’m going go find out what’s at the centre before I leave this place. I’ll go get some rest"

Kieran said, jumping off the railings and heading back to the empty warehouse they had hid in before without any care towards concealment.

If they had fallen into an illusion all along, then they had been discovered long ago. Concealment was useless now.

The fog that seeped into the camp had dispersed and all he wanted to quicken the healing of his eyes before heading for the core area.

Orion and his team were the last thing on his mind right now.