Lightning flashed and a slight shadowy figure paused in flight to look up at the suddenly dark skies. Since she had entered Timber, the skies had slowly darkened to an unearthly black and the only thing lighting her way were the dimming street lamps.
The skies opened and the rain poured down, striking at her bare skin like needles and the figure pressed herself against the brick building in an effort to gain protection from the angry elements. With no luck.
“Perfect,” she murmured, and bit her lip as thunder crashed, and lightning lit up the streets for a brief moment. But not too brief that she didn’t see the partially ajar door across the way. She cast a wary glance at the sky, before running across the street. Odd, she thought. There are no lights on anywhere. Slowly she pushed open the door and poked her head inside.
“Hello,” she called out hesitantly. There was no answer. She tried again. “Anyone here?” Lightning brightened the sky again, causing the room to light up and allowing her to make out the shapes of boxes piled high everywhere. She blinked. A blue glow coming from the corner of the room to her left. Unsure, she crept toward it and found another door, with a staircase leading down. However, the black stairs shone like polished glass, and the blue glow came from what looked like blue lights inside of them. In awe but also frightened, she leaned in.
“Hello?” This time in a whisper, but it echoed all around her and she drew back with an inward whimper at the hissing echo that resounded through the stairs. But there was another sound. Listening carefully, she paused right outside the doorway, hand cupped to her ear. It sounded like something sliding through moving water…or air leaking out of a balloon. Then a green light blazed from further down the stairwell, before easing into a steady glow that had her eyes widening, unfocusing.
First a series of whispers, whispers of meaningless names, meaningless commands. Then two clear voices, one raspy yet charming, the other clear and obedient responding to the orders of the first. A barrage of faceless images, ending with the bloody image of a head rolling around the floor and a black smoke leaking out of it. The girl grabbed her head with a shudder and stumbled down the stairs, catching herself on the last one as the stairs suddenly disappeared. She swallowed hard, refusing to look down as her hands tightened on the edge.
There was a pause in the conversation, followed by the raspy voice issuing a command and a clear voice affirming, before the sound of running feet became apparent to her ringing ears. Eyes wide, she tried to keep herself from panicking and swung her legs up between her arms and over onto the stairs. Biting her lip, she pushed herself up by her arms onto the stairs. A whirring sound caught her ears and without wasting time, she got to her feet and flew up the stairs, shutting the door behind her as a feeling of hate crawled over her skin. Shivering, her eyes locked on the door to the street and she threw herself at it, unsure of why she so afraid, but too afraid to stop and look. With the speed and coordination that only the truly afraid possess, the girl ran from the storeroom, only speeding up as she vaguely heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Without looking back, she tore down the street and climbed into the dumpster closest to the Timber Police Station, where she shut her eyes, trying to calm herself, certain that her breathing would give her away and that whatever was following her would poke its head over the side any moment.
Her heart continued pounding until the sun peeked over the rooftops of Timber, slight and dim through the clouds, but reassuring nonetheless. And then she slept, but there was only one thing on her mind.
Get to Balamb.