Star Rail: The Aeon Hunters

Serval hasn't been sleeping ever since the outsiders visited her workshop. Not out of stress or anything like that, but rather due to a certain challenge given to her by the renowned Madam Herta from Genius Society. The challenge of reverse engineering a literal alien technology.

"What the hell," Serval sighed with a grin. She's not even bothered by the fact that she couldn't make any sense of the disassembled hammer in front of her, she expected this. "Okay, so… I manage to disassemble this… Hope I don't break anything, but…"

The inside makes absolutely no sense, there are floating spinning disc with strange pattern, glowing crystals, glowing intricate circuits, and more. She'd bet even the Architect would just chalk this thing off as magic and be done with it.

But not Serval, this is the first time she felt so excited of technology ever since she discovered the Stellaron. Now, she don't even have to worry about that bitch Cocolia for stopping her research. She can do whatever the hell she want with this hammer and no one can stop her.

Still, after working on it for so long, the exhaustion came creeping back at her. "Ohhh… What the hell, I should go to sleep…" she stood up and looked out the window, finding it already bright. "It's… still Friday right? I'm gonna close earlier,"

Serval was about to close the shop for today when footsteps came from outside. "Shop's closed for today," she shouted. "Just put it outside, pick it up same time next week,"

The door burst open and Serval was ready to berate her rude guests. But when she realized who it was, her blood ran cold.

It was the Trailseekers, looking a little worse to wear. But the most chilling sight is her little sister Lynx, being carried bridal style by Stella and Pela the intelligence officer being carried by March. All fatigue and exhaustion vanished from her mind in that instant.

"You have to help them," Stella said before anyone could say a word.

Serval took Lynx from Stella's arms. "Lynx, what happened, are you okay?"

The little girl squirmed under Serval's embrace. "I-I'm okay… But… there's…" she coughed. "Sorry… Give me a moment…"

Serval sat Lynx down on a chair. Beside her, March already sat Pela who is unconscious on another chair. There's no bed in the workshop unfortunately and Serval made a note to have spare mattress ready in her workshop next time.

"What happened?" Serval asked Dan Heng.

The man sighed. "To put it simply, the Supreme Guardian tried to execute March and Stella without a proper trial. Pela tried to speak up to her, but she instead tried to permanently silenced her. Lynx and I rescued everyone and she told me to bring her here."

Serval felt light headed all of a sudden. "And the charges…"

"Conspiring against the Supreme Guardian," March replied. "Did she has any evidence to support that claim? No! Did she let us call our lawyer? No! She just made us face the wall and tried to shoot us!"

Finally, Serval turned to Lynx who simply nodded. "I was there with Dan Heng, sis… Bronya and Pela arrested them in the Goethe Hotel and brought them to the Qlipoth Fort, then the Supreme Guardian dismissed Bronya and brought them to the restricted zone."

"Alright, I get it…" Serval said, not sure if she can stop herself from barging into the Qlipoth Fortress and bitch slapping the ever-living shit out of the Supreme Guardian if Lynx continued the story. "What about you, are you okay?"

Lynx nodded. "I'm okay, really… But Pela…" she turned to the intelligence officer who's still unconscious. "She's a fugitive now, she has nowhere else to go…"

"It's okay, she can stay here," Serval turned to the rest of the Trailseekers. "And I… on behalf of Belobog I deeply apologize for what our ruler have done to you. Do you need help returning to your space vessel?"

March shook her head. "Sorry, but Madam Herta is a slave driver," she glanced at the doll beside her. "If we're not welcome here, we just gotta have to do our research outside of the city,"

Serval looked down in deep thought. "Let's not… go that far, let me think of something," she dropped on her chair and looked up. "Ohhh… Cocolia, what the hell are you on?" she groaned.

[LINE BREAK]

Using some blankets that Lynx always carries around, Serval made a makeshift bed for Lynx and Pela in her garage. Then she returned to her main office where the Trailseekers are discussing their next move.

"Why don't we just beat her up?" Stella gave her two cents. "The Silvermane Guards are no match for us."

Dan Heng sighed while March giggled a little. "I like the way you think Stella, but it's much more complicated than that," the latter said.

Serval nodded. "Yes, as much as I want to give that bitch some stern talking, it's… her status, Supreme Guardian," she sighed. "Cocolia is a tyrant, yes, but she's also a symbol of hope in this eternal freeze. If anything bad happen to her, if the people find out that she's a monster in human skin…"

"Belobog will fall into despair," Dan Heng said.

"Yes, exactly, and if you don't believe me…" Serval looked back at the door where Pela and Lynx are recovering. "Just take a look at Pela… Poor girl, her entire worldview has been crushed…"

Stella went silent at that. Pela has been crying non-stop ever since she woke up. It's only thanks to Lynx that she can calm down in the first place. A young academic like her, who live her whole life abiding the rules by the book. To be betrayed by the very thing she stood for her entire life must be traumatizing.

"But we can't stay here for long," Dan Heng said. "Are there any… Place that is outside of Cocolia's influence?"

"Yes, it's the Underground," Serval replied. "Decade ago, Cocolia cut off all traffic between the surface and the underground. Now, the only thing that exist is the silent transaction between the two. We send in food and supplies, they send us Geomarrow Ore to stave off the cold,"

March nodded in agreement. "We can conduct our research underground then, I mean, we have enough data in the surface,"

Serval tapped her fingers in deep thought. "I do have… a certain connection with the people underground, they can send us someone to escort you there," she looked back at the door behind her. "I'm just not sure what to do with Pela and Lynx,"

"Can't they stay here?" Stella asked.

"Pela? Yes, I can hide her here, but Lynx?" Serval shook her head. "Gepard's going to turn Belobog upside down looking for her. I have to tell him the truth and convince him not to turn Lynx to Madam Cocolia…" she looked away. "And he isn't… as flexible as I am. He's too naïve, he'll probably turn Lynx and Pela in so he can try to kindly negotiate with Cocolia…"

The Trailseeker stood there in silence, the matter become more and more complicated by the second.

Pela and Lynx stepped out of the room. Both are holding each other's hand. The former narrowed her eyes as she gazed between Trailseekers and Serval. Then she took a deep breath and announced to everyone in the room.

"I am going to the underground," Pela spoke with sincerity.

Serval's eyes widened after hearing. "You would? You can stay here if you want,"

"I am either legally dead or a known fugitive," Pela replied. "I don't… I don't belong up here anymore," she turned to Lynx. "Your turn," she whispered.

"Right…" Lynx took a deep breath. "I'll stay here and try to convince Gepard. I'll help around and make sure that Cocolia don't do anything drastic…"

"Ahaha! Yes!" March exclaimed with a big grin on her face. "Welcome to the team Pela," she turned to Lynx. "And Lynx, keep an eye out up here alright? We might be back sooner than you think!" she finally turned to Serval. "There we go, now you don't have to worry about Gepard turning Pela in and I don't think he'll let the Supreme Guardian just kill Lynx without proper evidence, right?"

Serval nodded in agreement. "Yes, I think this is the perfect plan," she walked towards a phone of sorts. "I will call my connection to escort you underground. He'll tell you the rendezvous location later,"

Pela and Lynx sighed after announcing their resolve. The former is visibly leaning on to Lynx, her heart pounding.

"You're very brave Pela," Lynx said.

"Thanks…" Pela replied. "I just, if I'm going down this route, I'm going to see it full," she sighed. "I'm always curious about the conditions of the people down there and why Cocolia would do such a thing to them," she shook her head. "And here I was spreading the lies she made…"

"Lies?"

"You know, that there's no humans underground, just a few Silvermane Guards controlling drones and robots to mine Geomarrow Ores," Pela explained.

 The ex-intelligence officer watched at the pink haired girl walked towards her. "Hi, my name's March 10th, nice to meet you Pela,"

"It's nice to meet you too, Miss March," Pela shook her head. "Looking forward to work with you,"

March giggled softly. "Ahaha~ No need to be so stuffy, lest you're going to look like him," she jabbed her thumb towards Dan Heng. "And besides, you don't have to worry about any danger we might found deep underground! With me out here, nothing can beat us!"

Pela couldn't help but smile at March's confidence. "I'll be sure to remember that March," she then turned towards Stella. "And you, I've seen you before, haven't I?"

Stella smiled sheepishly at that. "You caught me, miss Pela~"

Pela sighed a little at that. "I guess this is the part where I tell you the real answer to your question, you did ask where the Geomarrows come from, right?" she folded her arms. "There is another part of Belobog located deep underground, Boulder Town, a place where the miners and engineers gather. It is a place where the Geomarrow Ore is extracted by the miners and the robots they created," she looked down. "During Cocolia's reign, she closed off the underground, effectively trapping the workers in there. Not only that, but she retracted all Silvermane Guards from the underground, so… There's no one who actually upholds 'order' in there."

The Trailseekers nodded at her explanation.

"There is a sort of governor in the underground actually," Serval said suddenly. "I made the call, you guys will have to rendezvous right through the Backwater Pass," she folded her arms. "It is very dangerous, but…"

"Don't worry, we can handle it," March said.

Serval nodded. "Of course you can," she turned to Pela. "Are you ready? When I open the door, we never saw each other,"

Pela pat her chest. "One moment," she turned to Lynx and embraced her into a hug. "Be safe out here Lynx, I'll be back, I promise,"

Lynx hugged her back. "You too… You're gonna have a way bigger adventure than I had after all…" she sobbed quietly. "Don't make me go down there and pick you up myself, okay?"

"Ahaha… Don't worry, I'll be back soon…"

After the heartfelt exchange, the two let go of each other. They simply gazed at one another with a silent promise. Then, Lynx sped off to the garage. "Wait! I almost forgot," she returned a few minutes later with her backpack.

"Take this with you," Lynx handed Pela her backpack.

"All of it?" Pela blinked.

"Yes, you need all these more than I do," Lynx replied.

Pela took the bag and almost fell over due to weight. "You put everything here don't you?"

Lynx scratched her cheek. "Right… the weight might hinder you on your escape,"

Stella walked towards the two and pick it up. "I'll carry it until we made it underground, thanks Lynx,"

"You're welcome Stella," she waved her hand. "Have a safe journey!"

With that, the five of them left the Neverwinter Workshop and head straight to the Backwater Pass.