Vasilisa the Brave - Chapter Eleven

A question for a question.

It seemed like a fair-enough deal, Vasilisa supposed. But she would have been reluctant to give any strange person she met in the Zone any of her time, not when two out of three of them seemed to think her a threat.

They’d relocated deeper into the underpass, at the insistence of one of the mercenaries guarding the man in green. The scientist? She supposed that the zone did warrant some study. She couldn’t recall if anything discovered in the Zone had made it to the public. Maybe it did and she picked it up via osmosis.

Or maybe everything she knew was a lie anyway.

She decided not to dwell on the thought as the scientist, Raivis, led them to a small camp tucked behind a few cars turned so that they were side-on to the road, blocking the overpass and hiding them from prying eyes.

The mercenaries didn’t join them, but instead took up positions on either end of the overpass, spots where they could keep an eye on their scientist and on the roads to either side. Vasilisa didn’t know much about mercenaries, but these two seemed professional, at least.

She wondered if that was training or if that kind of professionalism is what experience in the Zone looked like.

“So, questions, do you mind if I start us off?” Raivis asked. There was a small firepit in the nook he brought them too, as well as a pair of benches that looked like they were ripped from the back of a car. The firepit was more like the bottom half of a barrel, really, with some logs stuffed into it and some pieces of lumber.

“I don’t mind,” Crystal said. Alice nodded slightly next to her.

Vasilisa once again found herself feeling like something of a third party in all of this. She lacked the easy familiarity the two girls shared. They felt like... sisters? Vasilisa wasn’t sure, but they were closer than just coworkers. Alice certainly felt like how an older sibling should feel, with the way she took charge and yet worried about things.

“Very well, then,” Raivis said. “First question. Tea, or coffee?” He smiled, raising a small metal kettle that sloshed with water.

“Oh, tea!” Crystal said.

“Anything is fine, thank you,” Alice replied.

“Um, tea as well,” Vasilisa said a moment later, feeling as though she had to say something.

Raivis smiled and put the kettle on a small metal rack contraption atop the firepit, then he picked up a small striker and started to light the fire.

Vasilisa glanced up, worried that the low ceiling might be an issue with smoke. She discovered marks on the cement above where smoke had travelled already. They lead to a small vent above.

“Ah, don’t worry, there are vents to allow water down from the road above,” Raivis said as he followed her glance. “They serve well enough for smoke. Even disperse it a little. The vent is half-stuffed with leaves and the like, and it seems to work at keeping the smoke trail well dispersed. Otherwise my friends would be quite irate with me giving away our position so easily.”

The fire took with minimal effort. When he moved some coals around, it revealed that there was a bed of them that were still reddish beneath a thin layer of ash.

“So, I guess it’s our turn to ask a question?” Crystal asked.

“Of course, and I won’t count that one,” Raivis said as he cracked a grin.

Crystal laughed. “Ah, it’s a good thing we’re not dealing with the fae. I was never good at being that literal. Okay, how about this: can you tell us what your faction’s all about? The greenies, right? Our friend mentioned you at some point, and I think we walked past your base too? It was this big factory thing, with water filtration stuff.”

“Oh, you’ve been there?” he asked.

“We passed close,” Crystal said.

“That’s fair. The guards there are usually pretty observant of trouble. In any case, the Greenies, or the European Scientific Advisory Committee on Zone Research have been in the Zone since very close to the beginning of everything. The advisory committee was thrown together less than a month after the first storm, and it has only grown since.”

He poked at the fire with a stick, then checked on the kettle, but the water wasn’t quite steaming yet.

“As for what we do... well, there was a time where we advanced human knowledge by leaps and bounds. Now... now I’m not as certain. Some of us have fallen into the pattern of a game of factions and in-fighting. Others, a lot ofr others, have died. Our long-term experiments are barely kept alive at the moment, and I can’t say that we’re the best at recruiting outside of the Zone.”

“Oh, that sounds a bit rough,” Crystal said.

Vasilisa supposed that a bit rough did describe things. She knew, in a vague way, that there were scientists in the Zone. It only made sense that something as huge and unexplained would have people trying to understand it. She didn’t know too much more than that, however.

Raivis took a breath, seemingly thinking deeply about his next question. "Alright, my turn. Can you explain what exactly you meant by magic, earlier?”

Crystal shrugged. “Alice and I are magical girls. She’s Magical Girl Rending Nightmare, and I’m Magical Girl Crystal Genocide. We’re actually here looking for one of our best friends, Magical Girl Fractured Time. Have you seen her?”

Vasilisa looked at her. Those names were... intimidating.

“I’m afraid I haven’t,” he said. “Was that a question?”

“I think it was, even if you didn’t have a nice answer, it was still an important question for us.”

He nodded. “Can you explain what exactly a 'magical girl' is? I'd like to understand from someone directly involved."

Crystal’s face lit up. “Oh, that’s an easy one! A magical girl is someone who can use magic—like, actual magic. We can transform, fight monsters, and protect people. Each of us has different abilities and powers. For example,” she flicked her wrist, creating a small, glowing butterfly that fluttered around Raivis’s head. It faded soon enough, turning into small motes of light that then wisped away like embers. “I can make constructs out of light.”

Alice added, “It’s more than just powers, though. There’s a whole culture around it. Responsibilities, expectations, and a certain... aesthetic.”

Raivis nodded thoughtfully, absorbing the information. “Fascinating. And these abilities, they’re not linked to the anomalies?”

Crystal shook her head. “Nope, completely different. We were magical girls before we ever came to the Zone.”

Vasillisa started at that. She’d... suspected, a little, but to hear it straight out like that was surprising. Could it be true?

Alice leaned forward. “What can you tell us about the center of the Zone?”

Raivis glanced up. He worked his jaw a little, then tugged his glasses off and started to clean them with a cloth. “Ah, the heart of the mystery. You’re not the first to ask, and I doubt you’ll be the last. What do you want to know?”

“What’s there?” Alice asked. “Why do people keep away?”

“That’s two questions. Though I suppose that the second question is easy enough to answer. While there are greater rewards closer to the centre, the risk is exponentially higher. As for what’s in the very centre. I have no idea. I don’t know if anyone does. The closer you get to the middle of the zone, the more things break down. Physics is broken in small ways here.” He gestured to the end of the overpass where an anomaly was still letting sparks fly across the air. “But its localised and small and usually somewhat predictable. The anomalies grow larger and stronger the closer to the centre of the Zone you go.”

Alice considered his words, eyes narrowing slightly. “So, no one really knows what’s at the heart of it all?”

Raivis shook his head. “There are theories, of course. Some think it’s the source of all anomalies, a kind of primordial anomaly. Others believe it’s a gateway, or something even more esoteric. The few who have ventured too close haven’t returned to tell us.”

Crystal nodded thoughtfully. She hummed a note, then shrugged. “Alright, your turn again.”

Raivis leaned back, his curiosity piqued. “You said you’re looking for your friend, Magical Girl Fractured Time. What happened to her?”

Alice’s gaze hardened. “We don’t know exactly. We... did something, recently. All of us magical girls together. That ended up splitting us apart, and now Crystal and I are trying to regroup with the others.” For some reason, she looked to the side, catching Vasilisa’s eyes for just a moment before returning her attention to Raivis.

“She’s strong and smart, but we’re worried. That’s why we’re here.”

“That’s awfully kind of you,” Raivis said. “Ah, speaking of... the water’s boiling!”

***

Chapter Thirty-Nine

They had tea. It wasn’t very good.

Alice sipped from hers anyway, then set her cup down on the ground next to her. She and Crystal had taken over the backseat of a minivan while Vasilisa and Raivis had taken two different bucket seats. It was surprisingly cozy, though that might have been the fire between them.

“I think we should go soon,” Alice said.

“You think?” Crystal asked.

Raivis perked up. “You’re leaving?”

“We should,” Alice said. “We’re burning daylight, and I feel like we’ll never reach our objective if we dawdle too much.”

“Is that even a real word?” Crystal asked.

Alice didn’t deign to answer that. “We intend to reach the centre of the Zone. I imagine things will only grow more dangerous from here on out.”

Raivis jumped to his feet. “Let us come with you,” he said.

Alice would have been suspicious of the man if she hadn’t poked around in his recent memories already. Him knowing who they were, if only via what he picked up from whatever communications got out from the Camp, was suspicious enough that she worried he might have... nefarious intentions.

But no. The man was being honest. Her worries that he was holding them here and stalling for reinforcements proved unfounded. He truly did just want to talk to them because he found them curious.

He didn’t believe either her or Crystal about their magical abilities. She supposed that made him a poor scientist, being unwilling to believe in the unusual just because it didn’t match up to what he knew to be true already, but she didn’t intend to be the one to provide him with the evidence he’d need.

“I don’t see why not,” Crystal said.

“Really?” Alice asked. “They’d slow us down, for one.”

“Yeah, a little, but... Raivis, you’ve been deeper into the Zone than this, right?”

“Of course,” he said. “A few expeditions have gone... relatively deep into the Zone. We lost a few members every time, and discovered areas that were impassable. Or a storm would be coming, and we’d retreat some ways for safety. I wouldn’t say that I have the skills necessary to be a guide, nor do my guards.”

“That’s more than we have, experience-wise, right Alice?”

Alice nodded slightly, conceding the point. “Perhaps. But it would be one more person to look after. We have Vasilisa here already. No offence.”

“Um, none taken?” Vasilisa said, though she didn’t sound terribly certain.

The truth was, Alice would rather move on with a smaller group rather than have to babysit more people. But she set that dislike aside and tried to consider things more fairly. Would things be improved by having Raivis along?

Yes, they’d need to worry about supplies, but they had to do so with Vasilisa already. This was just adding to it, and not by that much. Four people’s worth of food wasn’t all that much more than one.

Her primary concern was time, which Raivis would certainly save them if he knew routes into the Zone already. The other concern she had was related to traps and some of the dangers that they might find within the Zone. Again, Raivis would be a help there.

The pros were slowly starting to outweigh the cons.

“One day,” she said decisively. “If we find your company too... onerous, then after a day we’ll be splitting apart. Basically, you have until we lift camp tomorrow morning to impress me with your utility.”

Raivis blinked, then adjusted his glasses. “I don’t think I’ve ever been given a test quite like that. But alright. I’m not sure if you’ll be willing to go too deep into the Zone in any case. It’s not a safe place here, and it only becomes more dangerous the closer to the centre you go.”

“We’re not afraid of nothing!” Crystal said with a thumb’s up.

Alice rolled her eyes. Another in-joke that no one here would catch onto except for the two of... she noticed Vasilisa chuckle. It gave her a moment’s pause, but it might have been nothing.

“Should we head out, then?” Alice asked.

“Give us twenty to pack up,” Raivis said. He stood, grabbed a metal flask, and carefully poured the rest of the kettle into it. “Sorry. Clean water can be a pain to come by. I always drink boiled water if I can afford to while out in the Zone. You only need to get a stomach bug once to decide that a bit of precaution is well worth the price.”

The scientist took a moment to address his mercenary guards, who seemed... annoyed, but resigned to follow along. One of them stood watch, routinely looking down both sides of the overpass while the other got their equipment sorted.

“What’s this thing?” Crystal asked as she lifted a metal tin with a glass tube in its centre.

“Radiation warning device,” Raivis said. “And I have a geiger counter here, voltmeters, portable battery chargers, a few tools... I used to carry a portable microscope all over, but the darned thing kept breaking. They don’t make too many things as solid as they need to be in a place like this.”

“I can imagine,” Crystal said. “I like microscopes. Sometimes, when I was bored, I’d make one and look at all the cool little things crawling around. Oh, and I like making telescopes too! I can name a whole bunch of constellations, you know!”

“Making?” Raivis asked.

“Mhm!” Crystal said without elaborating.

Alice just gave her a look. She wasn’t aware that Crystal had that kind of hobby. She’d known her to be interested in a few things tangentially-related to her power (one of their first ever discussions had been about the validity of those social media posts about healing crystals which Crystal had both proven to be true and debunked at the same time) but Alice wasn’t aware that she had... more.

This trip was perhaps the longest they’d ever been alone together. She was learning a fair bit about her companion.

The mercenaries were equipped and ready to go within five minutes. Raivis took five more than that as he puttered about and picked up a few odds and ends then sorted and resorted his backpack so that everything was tucked away securely.

“Alright, I believe that that was everything,” he said as he tugged his coat’s lapels on straighter. “Shall we?”

“Lead the way,” Alice said.

The guards eyed her and Crystal for a bit, then one communicated to the other with a few quick signs. They probably didn’t expect her to understand that the older of the two was telling the younger that the three of them weren’t armed enough to be threats. The older was going to keep an eye on them anyway, the younger was tasked with keeping watch on their surroundings.

She was... not angry about that. Professionalism wasn’t something she minded. They were both trying rather hard to be nondescript and impersonal, which she could also respect as long as they didn’t interfere or try to cause her or Crystal harm. She belatedly added Vasilisa to that list.

“So, how does this thing tell you about radiation?” Crystal asked as she flipped that little metal tin around.

There were little beads of some sort in the glass tube at the centre which fell with every flip.

“It’s a little finicky,” Raivis said. He was grinning, and seemed more than happy to explain. “But the beads on the inside collect static energy when shaken. They’ll cling to the walls of the tube. If there’s ionising radiation, it’ll sap the static electricity...”

“And the beads fall,” Crystal said. She shook the tube and raised it to eye level. The beads within did stick to the inner walls. “Neat!”

“It’s not the ideal way to measure any amount of radiation,” Raivis said. “If the beads fall quickly enough for you to notice, then the level of radiation you've taken in that time is quite high. Still, it’s better than nothing.”

“Is radiation a problem?” Vasilisa asked.

“In the Zone? With the number of physics-bending anomalies around? Oh yes. A lot of anomalies, you’ll notice, tend to glow a little. That’s energy escaping them in the form of light. And if they can produce light as a by-product, you can bet they’re producing more.”

Alice and Crystal shared a look. Their magic tended to glow as a side-effect. They were used to constraining their magic so that it only produced a little bit of radiation. It had been very easy for Alice whose magic was shadows and darkness, though she’d been accused of causing radio interference in a few cities they’d worked in as magical girls.

It was a lot harder for Crystal, whose brighter spells frequently emitted a much wider spectrum of energy.

“Neat,” Crystal said again. She gave the detector back to Raivis and didn’t mention it again.

***

Chapter Forty

“So, you’re a big fancy science man, right?” Crystal asked.

They’d been walking together for over two hours already, and for a while the walk had gone quiet. The mercenaries with Raivis seemed to know about anomalies more than he did, and were more cautious than the scientist himself. Not to say that he wasn’t. He had removed several items and hooked them to his coat on little straps clearly designed for them. A radio, the rod of a geiger counter, and a small device that seemed to measure the static electricity in the air.

It allowed him to warn them of some anomalies long before they were even close. The rest they had to see for themselves to avoid. With the mercenaries acting as well-trained eyes and ears and pathfinders, and Raivis looking for clues, they were navigating the area with relative ease.

“I suppose I am,” he said. “I came here to obtain my doctorate. There are so many new findings in and around the Zone that you can’t walk a kilometre without stumbling over dissertation material.”

“Oh, so you’re a Doctor of... Zoneology?” Crystal asked.

He laughed. “I want to be. I became quite distracted once I arrived here, however. There’s so much to research, so much to categorise and study and just... observe. I’ve found that I can’t focus on any one anomaly, I need to sample all of them. Of course, I take images when I can, other readings as well, and I document those for the ESACZR. My notes and data have featured in several papers, you know?”

“That’s impressive,” Crystal said. She glanced back, and Alice caught a glimmer in her eye, that spark of intelligence that happened in those moments where Crystal was about to be more perceptive than usual. “So, what’s the consensus?”

“The consensus?” Raivis asked.

Even Vasilisa turned to listen in some more. “Yeah, the consensus,” Crystal said. “There’s a whole community of scientists looking into the Zone, right? They’ve got to agree on something, some of the time about all of this... thisness?”

“I suppose,” Raivis said. He hummed, rubbing at his chin. “There are several prevalent theories, of course, but nothing that anyone has been able to prove with any amount of concreteness.”

“Can you give us some examples?” Alice asked.

“Oh, certainly. Doctor Wade, about...three years ago now, conducted a longitudinal study of the Zone’s outer region. That is the area about one hundred to one hundred and fifty kilometres away from the approximate centre of the Zone. He and his team marked the location of every anomaly they discovered.”

“Okay,” Crystal said. “What did they find?”

The six of them were slowly walking along the highway, but the area they were in was starting to become a little busier. More homes, more shops, and those that were here were larger. They were encroaching into a suburban area.

“Well, his findings took a while to reveal a pattern. Take into account that every Storm changes the landscape quite a bit, and such a wide, dangerous area, even one far enough from the centre of the Zone that anomalies aren’t as prevalent, takes time to scout.”

“Got it,” Crystal said.

Raivis, they were discovering, had a gift for explaining things from oblique angles with many tangents. “In any case, Doctor Wade discovered that there is  a pattern to the movement of the anomalies in the area. Some are fixed, of course, but those that aren’t? They move with every storm. Clockwise, even, the same direction as the spin to the Storm’s winds.”

“Do they move by exactly thirty degrees?” Alice asked.

Raivis blinked, then adjusted his glasses. “Um, yes. You’ve read his paper?”

“No,” Alice said. “It’s just obvious.”

“It is?”

She nodded, but didn’t explain more, even with Raivis staring at her. She noticed Crystal frowning, then wiggling her hands in the air at about thirty degree increments. When she went full circle, she made a small ‘Ah’ of understanding. “That would  fit with Fracture’s way of doing things.”

“I’m afraid that I’m out of the loop,” Raivis said.

“Magic often falls back on symbology,” Alice said. “Some more than others. Fractured Time’s magic rarely interferes with geometry, but when it does, it often relies on circles with thirty-degree cuts.”

Raivis hummed, taking that in, but clearly not certain. He doubted their claims about magic, which... she supposed was only fair.

“So, that was interesting, but that didn’t answer my question,” Crystal said. “What’s the consensus about the Zone?”

“Well, obviously any consensus reached now will undoubtedly be very flawed. But I think there are two camps with regards to explaining the Zone via science.”

“Via science?” Vasilisa asked.

“Well, others explain the Zone through faith or religion or... magic.” He very pointedly didn’t look in Alice or Crystal’s direction at that last.

“Oh,” Vasilisa said.

“Anyway, the two current schools of thought are quite different but nonetheless interesting. The first is the one I subscribe to.”

“And that is?” Alice asked.

“The... perfect answer consensus. That there is  an explanation for all of this, that the physics-defying phenomena of the Zone have an answer that can be slotted into our greater understanding of science. After all, science has faced observable phenomena that we can’t understand before. Things that seem to break physics.”

“Small things,” Crystal said.

“Indeed! The microscopic world, on the very microscopic scale, often acts and reacts in ways that don’t mesh perfectly with our current understanding of physics. But, as observable reality, we know these things to be true, so it’s our understanding that is either flawed or incomplete.”

“That’s a non-answer of a consensus,” Alice said.

Raivis shook his head. “No, I’d rather think it’s the best answer of a consensus. Admitting that there are things we don’t yet know and don’t yet understand is fundamental to being a good scientist.”

“I guess it’s a fair enough answer, but it’s really not as impressive as I’d imagined,” Crystal said.

Raivis laughed. “I suppose not. You might like this one, then. It’s... not a majority consensus, in fact, quite the opposite. It’s an opinion held by a minority.”

“Is it aliens?” Crystal asked.

“No! Surprisingly. The USSR has fantastic  radar array in this area, as did most countries to the west of here, most of them pointed this way. For... reasons. Anyway, no one detected anything anomalous before the first storm. No sightings of strange flying ships or little green men.”

Crystal laughed. “Aliens aren’t green. They’re grey!”

Raivis laughed along with her. “Yes, well, in any case the second large consensus is held by a minority, but they’re vocal . The idea is called the broken noosphere.”

Alice felt her spine straightening.

“The what?” Crystal asked.

“It’s an older idea, from some time before the second great war. The idea is that there are... spheres that exist. The Earth is one, and the topmost layer is the biosphere, the place where all things live. And above that, a sphere of thought where all ideas exist. It, of course, is as silly and defunct an idea as Agartha the Akashic Records.”

“But at least one of those is real,” Crystal said. “No? I’m pretty sure we fought a kaiju about it, or was it a weird secret cult of bad guys? Wait! A cult that wanted to bring a kaiju to Earth?” She turned and looked at Alice who shrugged. They’d faced all sorts of things over the years. It was hard to keep track of which one came from where.

Raivis chuckled. “It does get a bit confusing, doesn't it? But the broken noosphere theory suggests that the Zone is a rupture in this sphere of thought, a place where ideas and reality get tangled and clash. It's a bit like how dreams can sometimes feel so real, but on a much larger, more dangerous scale.”

Crystal nodded slowly. “So, basically, we're walking through a bad dream made real?”

“Something like that,” Raivis said. “It's a fascinating idea, but proving it? That's a whole other challenge. Not to mention that most scientists, myself included, dismiss it as... well, hogwash.”

One of the mercenaries, who had been quiet so far, suddenly raised his hand. “Hold up.”

The group halted, instinctively reaching for their weapons. Alice strained her ears, trying to catch what had alerted him. For a moment, there was nothing but the rustling of leaves in the breeze.

Then she heard it—a faint, distant sound. A low, guttural growl, followed by a series of chuffing sounds, almost barks but not quite.

“Dogs,” Vasilisa whispered, her voice tense.

“Wild dogs?” Alice asked.

“In the Zone? Wild dogs can be a little dangerous. But there are things, warped by the Zone into... new things that really shouldn’t be alive sometimes,” Raivis said.

His mercenaries got their arms ready, and even Raivis pulled out a handgun. The tension mounted as they looked around. They were just off the highway, on a smaller, more residential street with apartment complexes on either side of them, broken windows and hauntingly dark homes.

The barking increased, then something howled, and Alice felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise.

***

Chapter Forty-One

“We need to retreat,” one of the mercs, the younger of the two, said.

“No,” the older replied. “Get the women back. Raivis, don’t miss. We have a funnel, let’s use it.”

The road was next to a small patch of greenery. Far from a forest. It was  perhaps two dozen trees in a strip next to a three story apartment building. The howls, the grunts and growls, were all coming from a small parking lot between that apartment and the next one down.

“Aww, I can’t do this,” Crystal said.

“It’ll be fine,” Raivis replied even as he brought and arm out and tried to push Crystal back and towards the relative safety offered by being behind the others. Vasilisa was already there, fumbling with the handgun she had with trembling fingers.

“What? No, the doggies can’t hurt me,” Crystal said. “But... I can’t hurt a dog.”

“They’re probably mutated in some way,” Alice observed. She was calm, but then so was Crystal. Neither of them were truly bothered by the mercs and Raivis’ panic. “I’ll take care of them. Just close your eyes.”

“Okay,” Crystal said.

The brush alongside the road shivered for just a moment before a creature burst through it, Alice took just a moment to observe. It was a dog, certainly, but more than that, it was a monster. Skin was stretched taut over thick muscles. Its fur had peeled and fallen, and it looked like some of its flesh had gone with it, leaving large, open wounds.

The dog-thing charged, and one of the mercs opened up on it.

A trio of tightly controlled rounds cracked into the monster’s side and it collapsed.

“Mortal, then,” Alice observed.

More came rushing out of the forest, salivating mouths peeled back to reveal crooked teeth.

Alice raised a hand . They’d made enough noise already to let everyone within several kilometres know they were here. There were a dozen dogs in this pack, and while the mercenaries seemed capable, she didn’t trust them not to miss a shot and let one pass. Then it would chew on someone, or explode and get its blood all over Crystal, and her entire evening would be ruined.

So she stretched the shadows and swallowed them.

It wasn’t as simple a process as she made it seem. Shadows were ephemeral and by necessity, they weren’t exactly physically strong, but shadows were capable of hiding things. From the dawn of life, the cowardly and conniving had hidden in the darkness cast by greater things.

The darkness of the little forest swelled, like a rising tide that lingered and clung. It created long strands of light-less mass that tugged at the rushing dogs.

Between one step and the next, they fell into the dark. Their howls swallowed like their bodies.

Alice waited for a moment, just to make sure nothing else was popping up, and when nothing appeared, she touched Crystal on the shoulder. “You can open your eyes now, there’s nothing here.”

Crystal blinked her eyes open, then looked towards the forest. The shadows were receding, returning to how they were naturally.

“What was that?” Raivis asked shakily.

“Magic,” Alice replied.

“No, really, what was that? Did you use an anomaly?” he asked. “I’d be interested in seeing it. For study, of course, I’d never take it away from you.”

Alice chuckled, but she kept her expression serous. “You wouldn’t be able to take it from me if you tried,” she said.

Raivis’ eyes widened, and he smiled before adjusting his spectacles. “I see, well that’s certainly a new one for me. The expression of your anomalous device, I mean. I’ll have to take notes.” His guards were a little less quick to ditch their nervousness, but they slowly rose out of their crouches and the one who’d shot reloaded his rifle, then casually started to pull bullets from his pocket to refill his magazine.

“Do most anomalous objects have abilities that are linked back to time manipulation?” Alice asked.

“Hmm? No, not that I’m aware of. A majority, maybe. There have been some suggestions in that direction since so many do something with time or our perception of time, but there are all sorts of anomalous objects that do other things.”

Crystal perked up at that. “Oh. We met someone with an iron that let him teleport.”

“Exactly. Teleportation isn’t related to time,” Raivis said.

Alice wasn’t so sure about that. She had the impression that Raivis was taking his observations too literally, but that wasn’t her problem.

Crystal took a moment to look around, making sure that the area was secured. She gave Vasilisa a big grin, then turned back to Raivis. “Alright, now that the doggie problem is... dealt with, where to next? What made those doggies so angry anyway?”

The older mercenary let his rifle fall so that it hung by his side by a strap. “We should keep moving. The noise will attract more attention.”

“He’s right,” Raivis said. “As for the dogs. We’ve had the help of some biologists who are... otherwise not as useful as other scientists in the Zone. The dogs are wild animals that have spent too much time in the Zone. They adapt to the anomalies,” Raivis continued as they resumed their cautious march. “Some of them develop mutations, usually detrimental, but occasionally they gain traits that make them more dangerous. Increased aggression, resistance to pain, enhanced senses—those kinds of changes.”

Crystal nodded thoughtfully. “So, the Zone messes with their biology?”

“Exactly,” Raivis confirmed.

“It makes them more like magical girls.”

“... Pardon?”

“Well, maybe not the aggression bit,” Crystal said.

“I feel like I’m missing some important context here. Is Magical Girl a shorthand for something?” he asked.

“Sir,” one of the mercenaries said. “Factory’s up ahead.”

“Oh? Oh, yes, good,” Raivis replied.

“The factory?” Crystal repeated. “What’s that?”

“Nothing important, but it’s a good sign.” He gestured ahead towards a massive building just a kilometre or so away. It was quite tall and long, red bricks and chimneyschimanies with smokey windows along the upper floors. “The factory is always next to the Lab.”

“And the lab is?” Alice asked.

“A meeting point for scientists. I’m very curious to accompany you deeper into the Zone, but we lack some vital supplies to do anything of the sort. The Lab is a safe haven for researchers,” Raivis explained as they continued towards the factory. “It’s a place where we can regroup, resupply, and share our findings. There’s also equipment there that we might need for our journey deeper into the Zone.”

Crystal glanced at the imposing building in the distance. “So, we’re heading to the Lab to get what we need before moving on?”

“Exactly,” Raivis confirmed. “It’s too dangerous to proceed without the proper preparations. The deeper we go, the more unpredictable the anomalies become.”

The factory loomed closer, its size and dilapidated state more evident with each step. As they approached, Alice noticed large loading doors that were left slightly ajar, just enough to let a person slip through.

“Stay alert,” the older mercenary warned. “We don’t know what’s inside.”

She pushed her senses forwards, into the dark within. The windows did provide some light across the factory floor, but only enough to prevent it from being completely darkened.

Alice strained her senses, trying to discern any movement or sound beyond the half-open doors. The factory was eerily silent, the kind of silence that made her instinctively wary. The group slipped through the loading doors one by one, their footsteps echoing softly in the cavernous space. Vasilisa rubbed against the door when she squeezed through, and the screech as they moved slightly echoed through the factory.

Inside, the factory was a graveyard of rusting machinery and scattered debris. The air was thick with the scent of rust and decay, and dust motes danced in the beams of light filtering through broken windows.

“Keep close,” the older mercenary instructed, his eyes scanning the dim interior.

Raivis fiddled with one of the devices fixed to his coat, and soon the small yellowish light of a flashlight illuminated the room ahead. “No need to be afraid.” He kept his flashlight beam steady, guiding them through the labyrinth of rusting equipment. “We’re almost there,” he said softly. “The Lab entrance is on the other side.”

As they ventured deeper into the factory, Alice couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. Her senses were on high alert, and every creak and groan of the old building made her tense. She scanned the area, her eyes adjusting to the darkness, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

They reached a large open space, the remnants of assembly lines stretching out before them. At the far end of the room, a heavy metal door stood slightly ajar, marked with a faded sign that read “Research Facility.”

***

Vasilisa the Brave - Chapter Twelve

Vasilisa was keeping as quiet as she could. Not out of any sense of politeness, but because she was somewhat afraid to speak at that moment and pull attention her way.

It wasn’t just the mercenaries and Raivis--who actually seemed nice, in a clumsy way. What worried her were the two girls whose powers she couldn’t quantify.

Alice and Crystal had started off as strange unknowns with lots of power, and it seemed that at every turn they pulled out more abilities that were stronger than the last. It wasn’t ending.

Crystal’s.... Crystalline stuff. Alice swarming and swallowing those dog monsters like they were nothing and not even seeming a little winded afterwards. They were dangerous, she knew, but the more time she spent around them the more that level of danger became unclear.

She thought that they might be like experienced stalkers. People with a few strong tricks up their sleeves and the experience to carry them through danger without a sweat.

Now? Now she thought that maybe they were the kinds of people that would give the most experienced of stalkers a headache.

“Here we are,” Raivis said as he pushed the door open. The sign with ‘Research Facility’ on it clattered against the entrance as he held it open for them. It led into a tiny, cramped little room. There was a wooden bench to one side. The kind of thing that Vasilisa expected to see in an old lady’s home for taking shoes off, and a coat hanger on the opposite end. There was another door here, this one made of stainless steel. It lacked any sort of handle and seemed to be planted right into a brick wall in a way that struck her as subtly wrong, but she didn’t know enough about doors and construction stuff to tell exactly why it felt  off.

“What’s up with the door?” Crystal asked.

Raivis blinked. “Oh, it’s a security measure. It’s sealed from the inside. You can’t open the entrance from the exterior.”

“Hmm,” Alice said. She walked up to the door, then stepped to the side and pressed a hand against the wall. “This is an exterior wall,” she said.

“Yeah, I can tell there’s nothing on the other side,” Crystal said. “I mean, not nothing-nothing, there’s wind and birds and stuff, but it doesn’t sound like the door goes anywhere.”

Vasilisa wondered for a moment at the quality of Crystal’s hearing. She couldn’t make out anything. There wasn’t even any noise from the factory except for a low murmur of wind from the windows far above.

“This was one of the first anomalies that we discovered and chose to really work with,” Raivis said. He moved to the wall and tugged a brick out. No, not a brick, the front of a small metal panel that was designed to look like a brick. Behind it was a plate with a single stud of a button on it.

Raivis pressed the button, and the door emitted a low hum before sliding open with a smooth, almost seamless motion. "It's a bit of a trick," he said with a sheepish grin. "We installed this to keep out unwanted guests and to contain any potential... incidents."

Alice nodded. "Clever. But what's on the other side that's so important?"

The door that was supposed to lead outside, didn’t. It instead opened to a well-lit corridor, a stark contrast to the dilapidated factory. It was clean. Almost cleaner than anything Vasilisa had seen, strangely enough. Tiled floors, a suspended ceiling with vents that hummed slightly, and three men in bright orange suits that covered their entire bodies holding guns poised to fire on them.

“It’s okay!” Raivis said quickly. “Just security. One moment.” He fumbled with his pockets, then removed a small wallet that he opened to reveal a card.

One of the men stepped up and took the card, then inspected it. Vasilisa could barely see his face though the flat glass panels of his helmet. “Pass?”

“Aristotle,” Raivis said.

“These three?” the guard asked.

“Guests. We’re diving deeper into the Zone and need a resupply,” Raivis explained.

The guard nodded, then stepped back, allowing them to pass. “Alright, you’re clear. Just keep an eye on them, Raivis.”

“Of course,” Raivis replied, his smile returning. “Thank you.”

They stepped into the corridor, the door sliding shut behind them with a soft hiss.The change in atmosphere was immediate. Vasilisa felt her ears pop and her nostrils burned a little from the powerful stink of bleach in the air.

“This way,” Raivis said, leading them down the corridor. “The supply room is just ahead.”

Vasilisa glanced around while crossing her arms and making herself small. This place was obviously well-funded, and a lot of effort was going into maintaining it. She didn’t belong here.

The girls were eyeing the place with a lot more ease than she was. “Interesting magic on the door,” Alice said.

“Yeah, but what’s more interesting is the vibes,” Crystal said. “Very evil lair, but not, you know?”

Raivis smiled at Crystal’s comment, then he dabbed at some sweat on his forehead. It wasn’t warm in here, in fact, it was rather cool, so why the sweat? “It’s necessary,” he said. “Safety is paramount.”

The guards moved back in, then opened a door leading into a room labelled ‘Exterior Decon.’ They insisted that the entire group stand in the centre of the room while cold air was blasted at them from above for half a minute. It was cold and humid and smelled strongly of cleaning chemicals that stung her eyes, but Vasilisa endured it because the others were doing so without complaints.

“Have you had a lot of bacteriological issues?” Alice asked. “Viruses or the like from the Zone?”

“No,” Raivis said. “We have lost people to sickness, and if you have a cold in the Zone it will sometimes sicken you more than it should, but we never had issues with outbreaks. No more than outside of the Zone.”

“So why all of this, then?” Crystal asked.

“Precautionary measures. It doesn’t cost much but time, and the Zone is unpredictable. Just because there hasn’t been an outbreak in ten years doesn’t mean there won’t be one on the eleventh.”

Alice nodded. “It makes sense. Better to be overly cautious than risk bringing something dangerous inside. This space is linked to others, isn’t it? That wasn’t the only entrance into this space.”

“Ah, you got us,” Raivis said. “The labs are an anomaly we discovered years ago. A set of doors that all led to the interior of the same warehouse. We built the lab here atop what was already in this room.”

“That’s neat,” Crystal said. “I love rooms that connect to weird dimensions like this. I don’t remember iof Fractured Time could do that kind of thing?”

Vasilisa looked up. What kind of name was that? Why was it familiar sounding? She’d probably just heard the girls mention it.

Though, now that she thought about it, she wasn’t sure how she knew it was a name to begin with.

“I’ve seen her do something like this,” Alice said. “It’s not as stable or effective as Dimension Death’s portal and dimension work, but she can do it.”

“Can’t you do it too?” Crystal asked.

“Barely. Darkness doesn’t make for a good dimension and while I can punch holes into others it’s never been something I can do elegantly,” Alice said.

Vasilisa wasn’t sure she understood exactly what Alice was saying, but what she could put together kind of terrified her. The implications were... well, they were something.

Raivis was listening in as well, though when Alice and Crystal turned his way he smiled and ushered them all forwards into the next room over. This was the centre of the base, she imagined. A large lobby area that was more lived-in than the exterior corridor, with benches and a lot of open space. There was a lab behind a glass wall with people working at a few stations with the unhurried pace of routine work.

“Right this way,” Raivis said. “There’s a storage room where we can grab a few things. I’m afraid that the entrance we took was one of those nearest to the centre of the Zone, so we won’t have access to any sort of shortcut... actually, while we’re here, would you mind terribly if we ran a few tests? Nothing complicated, I assure you.”

“Ah, that’s the other shoe,” Crystal said.

“We’d rather not,” Alice said.

“No no, I insist,” Raivis said. “Consider it a favour?”

“Raivis,” Alice said. Her tone made a shiver run down Vasilisa’s spine. It was so final.  “We said no.”

Raivis continued to smile, then shrugged. “Okay. Well, that’s fine too. Let’s grab some supplies and head back out then.”

***