Page 83 of Cerulean Truth
Yeah, no shit.
“Maurice, her vanishing on the same night the Resistants breach our protections? It can’t be a coincidence..." I was practically gasping, grappling with my racing thoughts. Fuck, I wasloathingMaurice for not putting a tracker on those fuckers immediately.
Maurice nodded grimly. “We must act quickly. Thank the gods you proposed to bubble in the Collective,” Maurice mumbled under his breath, examining the surroundings. “The Offensives are searching for the Resistants as we speak, and I’llalert Maria they must hurry. Meanwhile you and I will look for Emma. We’re bound to find either quickly.”
He sensed my rising panic and recognized I needed to be in control.
“You’re First Offensive, how do you want to proceed?” he asked.
Almost forty minutes since I last saw her—I knew we had no time to waste. Every second counted.
"If they dared to take her from here, they must have been brazen enough to approach the entire international community..." Maurice shook his head in disbelief. "Damn it, how do we even begin to find her?"
"We can't track their energy, but maybe... maybe we can track Emma's..." My voice was laced with uncertainty as I cautiously floated the idea. There was no concrete evidence that we could track her within the sphere, but with time slipping away and no other viable plan in sight, we had to try something.
Maurice blinked, a flicker of doubt crossing his face. "You think..." His words trailed off. "Just because she's untraceable in the Human World doesn't guarantee we'll be able to track her here," he mused.
"You got a better idea?" I snarled, losing my patience. Maurice's eyes widened, taken aback by my sharp tone.
He shook his head briskly.
“Fuck. Maria bubbled in Cyclos. We can’t portal out of here,” I grunted.
“You forget Maria and I have formed the True Bond. She created the bubble, she can still translate, so can I.”
Right. Forgot about that.
Maurice wasted no time. With a swift motion, he opened a portal, pulling us both through it in an instant.
A second later, we materialized at the Videmus building—a massive structure accessible only to Council members. Itssecurity wasn't rooted in the presence of armed guards, but rather in its design: a labyrinth of over a thousand empty rooms. Without knowledge of the layout, navigation was impossible.
To translate and consult the LiaPrism—the object responsible for tracking every energy signature in the Human World and hopefully, Emma’s in the sphere—in the wrong room, meant certain death. Except for Stephen, who was the only person ever to have remote access, as needed for his travels.
Fortunately, I'd spent more time inside this building than anyone else. As First Offensive, I'd logged countless tracking missions, making these surroundings as familiar to me as my own backyard. However, the thought of tracking someoneinsidethe sphere shook me to my core. It was just…wrong. Even if it was for the right reasons.Fuck it.
I shot a look at Maurice, his face was a mirror of my own mix of grit and nerves. We both knew this was a shot in the dark—what we were about to try was practically impossible. But with Emma on the line, we had no choice but to dive in.
Charging into the building, my footsteps were pounding with purpose and resolve. The place was cloaked in darkness, a twisted maze of empty rooms stretching out ahead. Maurice was hot on my heels, his gaze snapping around, every creak and shadow setting him on edge as we pushed forward.
Finally, we arrived at the designated room. Without hesitation, I pushed open the door with such force, we almost tumbled into the barely lit room with walls so white, they were near clinical. Exactly like any other room.
Without a word, I stepped inside, my heart hammering in my chest as I instantly focused all my thoughts on the LiaPrism. I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind, willing the prism to reveal itself. Maurice watched intently, his breath held in anticipation as he waited for me to make contact.
A faint shimmer of light appeared in the air before us, slowly morphing into the LiaPrism. Its crystalline surface emitted a subtle, otherworldly radiance, illuminating the room with a soft cerulean glow, mirroring my energy. I approached the crystal resolutely, my hands steady as I reached out to touch it.
As soon as my fingertips made contact with it, a surge of energy pulsed through me, pulling me into a swirling vortex of translation. That was it. Now all I had to do was focus my thoughts on Emma and hope she had projected something containing her energy signature.
With a sharp intake of breath, I honed in on all my energy, willing the LiaPrism to reveal her location within the sphere. The prism responded with a soft hum, its light flickering and pulsating as it scoured for the elusive energy signature I so desperately sought.
"Her life was in danger; she must've projected something," I muttered more to myself than to Maurice.
Minutes passed like hours as Maurice and I waited agitatedly, adrenaline coursing through my veins. My anxiety was through the roof by the time the prism finally flared to life, generating a holographic image of Emma's location within the sphere. My eyes widened in disbelief as I took in the scene before me, my mind racing.Her translation is fucking traceable inside the sphere…
"Holy shit… We can actually track her translation within the sphere," Maurice whispered, awe and realization dawning in his eyes. I shot him an incredulous look, my focus squarely on the imminent danger. "Which isn't the point right now," he hurriedly added, recognizing the gravity of the situation.
Without a moment's hesitation, Maurice created a portal and had us both jumping through to Emma’s location.
A split second later, we found ourselves smack in the middle of a dense forest. The surroundings were pitch black, makingit challenging to discern any figures. However, a subtle sound caught my attention, prompting me to gesture to Maurice with a hushed finger pressed against my lips, signaling the need for absolute silence. He acknowledged my order with a silent nod.
