As it turned out, the one thing Hyuk and Hakyeon had in common (other than their shared laughter any time Ravi mentioned he was from the future) was that they were both tireless. A smattering of small villages had gone by in a blink. Checking to see if an Angelic officer of the Holy Empire was in residence was easy enough. Every person they spoke with was eager to announce that Lieutenant Jung had been there and through on his way to the Capital.

And it seemed they were slowly gaining on him, if the stories they were told were no exaggeration. By the time they’d reached their fourth little town, it sounded as if they’d only just missed the angel by a couple of hours. Though it was becoming progressively harder as well. The towns were turning from single road little outposts to sizable settlements, and each step drew them deeper into the heart of the Holy Empire. Which meant that they had to rely less on Hakyeon’s portals and more on keeping up pace on foot. A truce may have stood between the nations but there was no need to invite speculation of a Void Knight spy circling closer to the Holy City.

It was funny to Ravi, to consider that they were in danger there when in his time the Holy Empire was the last standing bastion of safety and decency. It wasn’t that he couldn’t see just how different the 3rd and 10th iterations were, or that he didn’t know the very bloody past of his home nation. But it still felt a little strange, stranger still to imagine that they were closing in on the Holy City Torbinas. The long standing capital of the Empire for seven iterations, it was a merely a crumbling ruin in the future, a place the pious trekked to on pilgrimage. Or well, they used to when such things were commonplace. He could only imagine what sort of state it’d been in since the tenders had fled to Gaulmin.

Stenyae. The city loomed over them, the wide walls suited for battle were less than welcoming, but Ravi could only hope that within would be the man they sought. Though it was a different matter entirely for how they were going to manage to get the information from this Lieutenant Jung while they were in the territory of Angels. Hyuk seemed confident that there was no way he could just hack it off the hard disk by proximity like he had to Hakyeon. Spouting off rather proudly that ‘his products were far more secure than anyone else’s in the country. Guaranteed protection from other Hackers,’ but that just made their position worse. Getting so close to a Lieutenant of the Consecrated Legion would be no easy feat, stealing from one inside the Holy Empire would be even harder. That was a matter for when they were closing in though.

By Ravi’s count there should still have been time before the war broke out between Arxist and the 3rd Holy Empire but to hear it from Hakyeon, tensions had been steadily rising amid the bordering nations for a long time. It explained why he seemed so nervous in his dark armor as they wandered past the sentry at the gate to the city. A hard eye following Hakyeon’s movements. Officially, the Empire and the Starlit Kingdom were at peace, and thus there was no reason for suspicion but the tone of the city said otherwise. No wonder the knight had feared the information falling into the Angels hands. With what he’d described on to the hard disk, the Empire would be able to march straight to the Starlight Palace without much resistance.

“Big place.” Hyuk whistled slowly as they cleared the gates and were greeted with the large circular hub of the city’s first market. Makeshift stalls dotted along the cobbled street, merchants hawking their wares from under the canopy of gossamer scarves and tents. Despite being well into the Empire’s territory there was a surprisingly diverse crowd milling around. Angels with their glossy sleek wings of black or white, technomancers with their blonde hair, and more than a few Arxinians. “Give me a sec and I’ll download the map of the city.” For a moment Hyuk held his hand out toward an electronic directory, a yellow glow trailing off of it, almost invisible in the fading sunlight. “Got it.” He grinned, pleased with himself before tapping the pads of his thumb and middle finger together and spreading his hand open.

A hardlight map sprang into the air, creating an aerial view of the city in flowing neon orange light. Hakyeon and Ravi huddled around the technomancer to better see it. “The military sector.” Hakyeon pointed toward the northwest quadrant of the city that seemed to fan out like a clam shell from the central hub they stood in. “Our best bet is probably there. Since he’s a ranked officer, he’d find accommodations there I’d imagine.”

“Depends how quickly we caught up with him.” Hyuk shrugged and pointed toward another place on the map. “He’s traveled a lot, my guess? A bar, and the best ones are gonna be in the entertainment district.” A slice of the top middle of the map became highlighted with blue while Ravi pondered if they purposefully were disagreeing with each other on principle or not. “Hell, he might not even be here yet, what if we passed him?”

He’d considered that, as his stomach had been trying to realign itself after one of the trips through Hakyeon’s portals. In theory they could have passed him with the great measure of distance they seemed to cross in the blink of an eye. “Then we’ll have more time to plan.” Ravi shrugged but it’d be a welcome break if they could. He still felt like he was drained, and having to play mediator between Hakyeon and Hyuk hadn’t helped his energy stores any.

“I still say we start with the military quarter. They’d at least be able to tell us if he’d checked in.” The knight crossed his arms over his chest, shooting a challenging look to Hyuk.

“Sure,” the younger boy rolled his eyes dramatically, “because that doesn’t make us seem suspicious at all. In case you couldn’t tell, none of us really look like Empire material, something about the lack of wings gives us away.” He gestured wildly toward his back before smirking and casually reaching his hand over his back, a slight yellow glow being cast toward a stall of power converters and data drives.

“And what? You want to scour every bar in the city on the off chance that we don’t miss him somehow?” Hakyeon strolled right up to Hyuk and went toe to toe with him, looking up to meet the taller boy’s eyes straight on.”You should know better than to waste time, Rovix.” Mercilessly he slapped at Hyuk’s hand and cut off the shining light. “And stop stealing!”

Hyuk winced slightly before narrowing his eyes, “Don’t. Call. Me. That. My name is Hyuk out here.” The two of them glared at each other for a moment more. “And you don’t need to remind me about time, this is your fault after all.” For a second Ravi was almost sure they’d come to blows again, but Hyuk broke the stare off. “Fine, the military sector first, if only so I can laugh at whatever dumb plan you have to try and get an officer’s whereabouts from the personnel office.”

Ravi waited… and waited, but his travel companions continued to glower at each other. “If we’re going we should hurry,” softly, trying to be the voice of reason he stepped closer and laid a hand on their shoulders, “any lead we have now diminishes with each second.” Another beat and they turned away from each other with a sharp nod. Once more Ravi had to wonder at just how they ever managed to come together in the past… present… other present. Time did strange things. Or maybe these two weren’t even the ones he was looking for. A disheartening thought for sure, and one he couldn’t afford to ponder.

Even with his abilities, if he tried to second guess his every move, he’d waste what little chance he had. No, he had to believe that he was on the right track. Even if it did seem impossible, even if the laws of time were against him. He had no choice but to believe.

“Helloooo?” His trance broke as Hyuk waved his hand in front of his face a few times. “Listen I know you think you’re a time traveller or whatever, but for the moment I’d really appreciate if you stuck in this timezone, okay?” A delighted peal of laughter accompanied the boy bending over and clutching at his sides again. It was the pattern that seemed to follow any time someone mentioned the idea of Ravi coming from the future. All traces of the animosity he’d just displayed vanished in the moment of mirth. It seemed to be how Hyuk lived, from moment to moment experiencing only the present. He had to wonder if that was how he really did never feel guilt for what he did.

“Shhhhhh,” Hakyeon grabbed them both by the back of the shirt collars and dragged them off to an alley. “Stop making us look even more suspicious.” Utterly unamused, he motioned further down the side street they’d stepped into. “This way.”

The farther from the central entrance the more austere the buildings and streets turned. The din of life and people seemed to fade until an almost eerie quiet surrounded them. Not complete silence, the occasional sounds of a cart being pulled over the rough streets or the clash of blades ringing against each other punctuated the calm. Every now and then the shadow of a team of Angel soldiers raced over the road. But the lack of pedestrians really showed just how out of place they were.

Light from Hyuk’s map served to assist them as the sun sunk lower. Both a good and bad sign. Chances were that their target would stay over in the city, but it also meant they were running out of time to continue their search. Somehow having a timer on them made everything seem more imposing, especially the tall marble columns and hard ridges of the Legion’s personnel office.

Hyuk was right, how were they going to ask after their Lieutenant without arousing suspicion? “Can’t you hack their database? See if he’s checked in or something?” Hakyeon griped as they stood in a side street near the military sector’s plaza.

“Maybe, but there’s no guarantee that I could find it or that they keep their records like that.” Hyuk plucked at his lower lip as he considered their options. “I’d have to get closer to have a shot at hacking their system though, if it were crowded I’d say it’d be no problem but this,” he gestured out to the empty roads, “this isn’t exactly made for blending in.” Frustrated, he kicked at a stray pebble and shot an accusatory glance at Hakyeon, “Why don’t you like portal away the list or something.”

“I can’t even begin to tell you how much that doesn’t make sense.” the knight dismissed the notion with a flick of his hand. “I don’t see how we can do this without just walking in and asking for assistance.”

“But then we risk tipping him off that we’re looking for him.” Ravi added, and shook his head. “And we’re back to being suspicious.”

“You’re already suspicious, Ravi.” Hyuk chimed in and snorted. “Why don’t you do the weird time freeze-y teleport-y thing you did before?”

“So you believe me about the time thing now, huh?” Hope sprung in his voice.

“Not even a little bit.” the younger boy snorted and shook his head, “but you can do some weird talents, maybe they could help.”

Ravi deflated somewhat, they were never going to believe him. “I wouldn’t know what to look for. Besides, how many Jungs do you think there are in the Consecrated Legion?” It left them at a standstill of course.

“Man, they’re gonna close before we come up with something.” the technomancer sat on the street and kicked his legs out, the heels of his shoes bouncing off the ground. “Ravi, you go ask. At least they won’t have any clue what to label you as. I don’t think they’ll buy the time traveller story either.”

Somehow that wasn’t comforting, but he wasn’t wrong. And as far as exit strategies, well Ravi definitely had the best. Still, he was apprehensive at best. “I hate to say he’s right,” Hakyeon chimed in, a look of consternation crossing his face as if it really did cause him pain to agree with Hyuk on anything, “but you may have the best chance of not tipping him off.”

This wasn’t how Ravi had hoped it would go, but then again, he didn’t even know what to hope for. Pouring over the pages of history felt like such a long time ago to him, not the few days it had been. He wished for more time, a thought that nearly made him laugh. How could he think he’d been prepared?

“Alright, you two stay here and… I guess be prepared to disappear if we need to.” It felt useless to say it. “I’ll be back.”

Each click of his heel against the wide short steps felt like he was coming closer to his first test as an emissary for the future. A foreboding sort of dread welled up in his chest as doubts ate into him. How much was he screwing up? Had he already gone wrong? Was this what they meant by the laws of time? What if he was the reason everything failed? What if he was the catalyst to ruin? Why hadn’t he thought this through better?

Up and up, until the towering entrance could engulf him in the mouth of the building. If he weren’t so nervous he’d find it ridiculous, what was there to be scared of? Even in the primitive time of the 3rd Holy Empire they didn’t murder people for asking questions.

Caught up in his own thoughts he didn’t notice the scene inside the office until the crash of broken stoneware snapped him out of it. The gleaming blade of an angel’s sword was lodged directly into the stone floor a couple of meters in, a pedestal lay in fragmented pieces on the ground and the shards of some piece of pottery glittered across the ground.

“Listen to me, dammit!” And time stopped.

A/N: Welp, guess there isn't much to say other than 'yay I've started writing again' sorry for the delay ._. I hope I can hop back on track for this.