Chapter 261 ...Of course
"I think… he is here."
"What?"
The only things that one could feel were the whispers and breaths that the two were releasing. Even their eyes were not holding any light as the darkness drowned everything else; as if they were floating in the empty reaches of space, no one to save them.
But still, the two seemed to continue to talk with each other. One voice; a male, excited. The other; a woman, clearly annoyed. But still, the man's breath of the man called Dionysus continued to flutter in the darkness as his voice turned cheerful by the second.
"The Messenger, he is here!" Dionysus said.
"...That's what you said yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that," the woman called Athena could not help but let out a small grunt as she replied to Dionysus, "Why don't you wake up when it is really here? Or better yet, never wake up anymore."
"Such cold words, if it were Artemis here with me, I am sure she would appreciate my efforts to help. Ah, my poor heart, beaten to death by a cold goddess," although it was dark, one could imagine Dionysus to be suddenly dancing as he placed the back of his hand on his forehead.
"How would I not be mad at you when you wasted our one and only Message by testing it!?"
"Such a vengeful heart, my sister has. Have you still not forgotten about that? It has been a very long time."
"It had only been several full moons!" Athena growled, "I am going back to sleep, brother. Do not wake me up again just because you feel even a little bit of-- !!!"
A loud gasp came from Athena before she could even finish her words before a rumble could be heard in the darkness. And after a few seconds, light finally emerged… as Dionysus switched on the lights to their little confinement.
The two were actually in a small room, or perhaps more precisely-- a jail cell.
"Oi! It's too bright! Close the lights you two!"
"It's those two again, they're causing troubles!"
***
"This… is a Pit?"
Although Van had been in only two Pits now and his surprise was still valid, Egypt's Pit truly was different from the two others he had entered before. Unlike the two which were in an open environment, this Pit was inside what seemed to be a huge cavern.
No, perhaps an underground building was the better word to describe it. It would seem that unlink with the two other Pits, which were allowed to grow a society of their own, this one completely stuck in its roots and remained truly a prison.
Van thought the security was a bit lax outside because they were already granted the permission to go to the Pit. But it turns out, they were all here. There were guards lining up, walking, and there was no corner or angle left without an eye to watch it.
"The three of you are the guests?" A man wearing a beret then approached Van and the others, "I heard something grave is happening outside, but to think the three of you were granted the permission to go here. You must be very-- Aren't you Charlotte Gates!?"
The man's slightly arrogant voice almost cracked as soon as his eyes landed on Charlotte, "To… to what do we owe this visit, madame Gates? Do you have a relative here? Did we mistakenly arrest a friend of yours? Please, please tell us so we can immediately release them."
"..." Charlotte could not help but slightly back away as the man's voice got higher and higher as he leaned in ever so close to her, "...No. Well yes, but it's not my friend, it's hers."
Charlotte then pointed at Artemis, whose eyes were looking all over the place.
"I see," the man wearing a beret cleared his throat, "What are their names so we could take a look at our roster to see which rooms and department they are assigned to?"
"...I don't know yet," Artemis shook her head as she let out a long and deep breath, "I can sense that someone is here, but I can't determine their location. What about you, Evans?"
"I don't sense anything," Van was a bit surprised with Artemis's words. Was that something he will be able to learn in the future? To detect the other Olympians?" He tried to concentrate again if he could feel or sense anything, but no matter how tried he hard to focus, he was not able to sense anything, not even a flicker.
"...Have you seen anyone unusually tall here?" Van then asked the man wearing a beret.
"Unusually tall? Like how tall, sir?"
"I don't know… like someone in the 10 to 60-meter range."
"...60 meters tall, sir?" The man with the beret could not help but slightly be taken aback with the little boy's words, but after a few seconds, he let out a small chuckle, "We wish we had a prisoner that tall, but I am afraid our ceiling to not even reach 10 meters."
"..." Was something he said funny? Van thought. Hercules was abnormally tall, not to mention Artemis was taller than the Wall when they first saw her. So Van just assumed that… know what? Never mind-- Van thought as he also let out an awkward chuckle.
"Please, please follow me. We don't really let anyone look at our resident list, but since we were ordered to give you everything you need, you're free to check it and maybe you can find the one you're searching for there. Does that sound good?"
"Sure," Van said as he followed the man, followed by Artemis and Charlotte.
"..." The man wearing a beret did not fail to notice this. Was this little boy actually the one leading this group? Who was he? Was he someone important? The man hadn't been outside for a very long time, so the news that he was receiving was limited.
The three continued to follow the man deeper into the Portal. More and more, it was looking more like they were actually in just some kind of building. There were doors and bars separating the room, and if Van wasn't mistaken, there were also cameras hanging in the ceiling.
The place seemed spacious, as Van could hear the clamors and whispers of what seemed to be the Prisoners from across the halls. Finally, after a few more minutes, the two arrived in a room filled with small televisions.
"Sir Said!" The man that was inside the room quickly stood up and saluted towards the man leading Van and the others.
"...Said?" Charlotte could not help but utter, "You're also one of Salim's children?"
"Ah, yes. Sorry, I was so excited I haven't even introduced myself. My name is Masud Said, I am General Said's 69th child."
"I… see. Just how many of you are there?"
"Last I checked, mother adopted someone last week… So I guess that makes us 213? But please, enough about us," Masud waved his hands as he chuckled. Afterward, he clicked something on the table and the screen started to change, "This is the list of all the prisoners we have. This side is the System Holders, and this side is the Normies."
Normal humans were also imprisoned in the Pit? Van thought that only System Holders were imprisoned here. But it made sense, he supposed. There seemed to be a lot of rooms for everyone. And a criminal is a criminal anyway-- he thought.
"Press this to switch to another list…" Masud then started explaining how to control the machine for a few minutes before proceeding to head out of the room with his colleague.
"...Do you see anyone you recognize here, Artemis?"
"No."
"Have you checked?"
"Yes, please change to another page."
"Okay."
"Not here."
"But I just pressed it."
"My observational skills and eyesight are… better than most," Artemis explained.
"...Alright," Van continued to press the controller. They continued to do this for quite a while before they seemingly reached the end of the list as it already repeated to the start.
"Perhaps whoever it is is still in slumber?" Artemis placed her hand on her chin. But afterward, she turned her head towards Van, "It makes sense, I was only forcefully woken up when you entered the Fractured World I resided in."
"So we need to do this the old-fashioned way, then?" Charlotte let out a sigh, "I was hoping this was going to be straightforward, but I suppose it's never that easy."
"Perhaps… it could be easy?" Van then muttered as he looked at the other screens that showed the live video of different parts of the Pit.
"Oho, really taking this taking charge thing serious, aren't you, Evans?" Charlotte whistled. But after a few seconds, her expression changed, "Don't tell me… you're planning to kill every one of them?"
"What? What do you think I am, Miss Charlotte?" Van furrowed his eyebrows from Charlotte's words, "No… I was thinking of letting them all out. The Olympians can't pass through the Portal, so they would be the only ones left here and the only thing we need to do is find them."
"...That is a genius plan, Evans."
"No, it's not!" Charlotte almost choked as she heard Artemis agreeing, "Why are you always setting criminals free?"
Charlotte could not help but let out an exasperated sigh as she called back Masud and his colleague into the room.
"You… didn't find who you were looking for?"
"Afraid not," Charlotte let out a sigh, "Has there been any… weird things happening here lately?"
"Can't say there is. It's pretty much the same every day. Yup, every day... pretty much the same," Masud also let out a sigh, "If only something nice actually happens, then I wouldn't be bored. But hey, you guys are here!"
"What about weird people?" This time, it was Van that asked Masud.
"Weird people? Everyone is weird here, sir Evans. That's why it's a prison," Masud suddenly burst out in laughter. But as soon as he realized that none of their guests were laughing, he quickly cleared his throat.
"But yes, we do have a lot of weird people," Masud said as he nodded his head repeatedly, "They are all bunched up in the Asylum."
"...The Asylum?"
"Yes," Masud then once again approached the controller as a different list popped up, "It can't get any weirder than the people in this list since they're all pretty much… insane."
Hearing this, Van and Charlotte looked at each other before slowly turning their heads towards Artemis.
"Ah!"
And as soon as they did so, Artemis let out a short scream and quickly pointed at the screen with a shocked expression.
'Of course,' Van and Charlotte thought. Why didn't Masud show them this list first?