Azure 0: Rebellion Sequence/City of Hidden Black/Transcript

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Arc 2: Hunters of the Child of Sin
City of Hidden Black
The sun wanders low in the horizon as Nex wanders around the town with a slight frown of unfamiliarity, uncertainty shows through his two toned eyes. Though, everything appeared to be normal as far as he could tell, the stone paved streets seemed to stretch every which way as people chatted among themselves.
The young man glances around as they pass by places the shadows of figures pushing them by—and the buildings weren't nearly as intimidating as a larger city. But even a small place like this, there sure enough there were varying figures of NOS guards scattered around the town but none of them paid attention to Nex, likely because they couldn’t tell who he was.
Nex : Looks like the government has hold over this area too… they get more territory every day it seems like.
Cerea meanwhile looks around, sometimes stopping to say hi to yakuza passing by or look through windows of different stores when something catches her attention. Unlike Nex, she is clearly having fun and enjoying their trip.
Cerea : Well, at least they don’t pay attention to us.
Nex: (Shifts his eyes around while turning his head) Because they don't seem to know who I am, or somethin' else has their attention right now.
Cerea: (Offscreen in a happy tone) That means we can have some fun here.
Nex: ...Huh? What’re you even doing? (Stops as brushes his hand through his strands of white hair)
Cerea : Relax, right now the NOS aren’t hunting after us. That means we can take a small break.
Nex : I don’t know what you even mean by break… (Lowers his hand as he walks over and looks through the window of one of the buildings) So what exactly is there that’s “interesting” or “fun” about this?
Cerea : Well, I was on the run for four months, and I kinda missed big cities… that atmosphere of constant movement and crazy rhythms of life. It’s kinda weird to come back and feel this again. (Runs her hand through her hair) It’s… refreshing.
Nex : Yeah? I can’t stand it personally… but it beats being chased around.
He peers through the glass pane and sees a bunch of things, some metallic, some shine in his eyes and some were slightly odd.
Though there is nothing to spark any kind of interest from a restless Nex. 
Quietly, he turns himself around, steps past the building and sits on one of the metal benches next to a large synthetic plant offering him some shade from the hot evening. His firm leg crossed over the opposite Nex cocks himself to the side, placing his palms to the cold surface of the bench while kicking the ground with his boot. 
Nex : (To himself as one of his hands rub his temple) Gah. Head hurts again...least its quiet here aside the chatter.
Cerea : (Sits down next to Nex) … so what were you going to do here? I mean you said you wanted to get to this town.
Her voice is warm but to an annoyed Nex with a headache its all he can do to keep from telling her to give him space. Nex replies to the girl, and bites his tongue to stop any unnecessary words. 
Nex : (sighs as he tilts his head and looks up) Just didn’t feel like staying in the camp site. (Lowers his hand again) Wasn’t planning on someone else coming with.
Cerea : Welp, sorry, Locke wouldn’t let ya walk out of the camp alone. I know that you’re capable of taking care of yourself, but… can’t argue with Locke.
Nex : Yeah, yeah I know.
He replies flatly with a slight scowl. As a kind of fruit is pulled from his pocket, the young man grips its firm spherical form.
His strong eyes glance the horizon beyond the rooftops for the structure he’d spotted on the way here, the building which had a formation of seithr creeping up its towering form. That glassed black crystallized look to it, the veins which engraved themselves in it, Nex wanted to understand how all of that occurred.
Nex : (To himself) Where’s that place at…
Cerea : Hey, what’re you looking at? (Notices the building) Oh…
Nex : (Glances back at her) Its just a place I saw when Imyo and I were entering the border. I wondered how it got that way—became enveloped in that seithr. There’s so many damn soldiers protecting that area. (Bites into the fruit)
Cerea : (Offscreen) Yeah… so you’re gonna sneak into that building?
An awkward crunch is heard as her words register in his mind.
Nex : (In his mind as his eyes widen) Son of a--how'd she...  (Coughs as he bites down hard in surprise) -- K-kah. No, no... why would I…? I don't need to go lookin' for trouble like that... (Rubs his head as he thought to himself) Not now I’m not...Imyo told me not to wander. Besides, Cerea wouldn’t let me go likely.
Cerea : (Grins as she watches Nex’s reaction) Okay, just asking. Not that I’d help you with it or anything. After all, I promised Locke that I’ll keep an eye on you.
Nex : I know that...But, I wonder why there’s so many people guarding it. (To himself as he looks at his shell on the back of his hand) I’ll just go at night or somethin when no one is around… I need to know what that place is. The grimoire reacts with it…
Cerea : Because NOS keeps something there, duh. No need to be a genius to figure that out.
Nex : (rolls his eyes) I meant what could possibly be in there that needed that many people protecting it.
The crunch of the fruit being eaten and a voice mixes. Hoping that the conversation would be dropped turns out to be a false hope as a metallic step is heard, along with a voice of one who decides to insert themselves into the conversation. 
Soldier : That’s because this place was the target of a terrorist who stole a highly guarded weapon from that area.
Nex : (Slightly surprised by the sound of the voice, he turns his attention to them) Huh? A terrorist? (Raises his brow with a scowl)
Soldier : Its a matter of the government, civilian.
Cerea : (Closes her eyes) With all due respect, sir, but I think the government cares about its citizens, so shouldn't we know of any threats? 
Soldier : There are none. While the weapon wasn’t retrieved, our other forces are working toward retrieving it.
Nex : (Looks back at it) Still...must of been pretty strong to steal a weapon from a place like that...does anyone go into it anymore? (Back glances over his shoulder toward the soldier) Or do those guards just stay there over it?
Soldier : It hasn’t been entered since the Third War of Armagus. Its a structure that appeared over one of the main sites of the fight—called the Abysmal Frontier of Ikaruga.
Nex: The Abysmal... Frontier?
Soldier: They say that something was excavated down deep inside it...that seithr consumed the area and built into that diamond cocoon looking structure. It goes all the way to the core of the earth, perhaps further.
Nex: ... (Looks at the cocoon and frowns with slight unease) So seithr did that... and it goes further then the core of the world? What is it, some kinda gateway? 
Soldier: Who knows. Its interesting as a site, but no one was believed to be able to enter the facility in it, because of that seithr.
Cerea : (Offscreen as it shows the frontier) ...Except the ones that have some sort of resistance to it, like some kinds of Beastkin or those who have hazmat protection suits.
Soldier : (Offscreen) The seithr there is purely corrosive, it brings death to whatever it touches...I doubt anything could survive that even a beastkin.
A person kept in shadow wanders through a dead looking wasteland, desolate buildings behind him which flicker back to normal when particles of seithr breeze by. Slowly the person stalks into it, the entire area seems distorted and destroyed, something of a distortion of apocalptic design. At the summit of a stairwell before a row of monoliths, the person's hand reaches deep into the midnight glyph passing through the tiling and reveals a weapon which they pull up. 
Nex : ...(Blinks with annoyance) And yet someone was able to get in and take the weapon. So much seithr managed to form into that kind of place? It looks, almost alive…
Soldier : It does, doesn’t it? Slightly unnerving.
Cerea : Yeah… y’know, it feels like there is some sort of presence there, malevolent and not at all friendly… but that’s just my imagination, right, sir?
Soldier : I would imagine that is just a vivid imagination. I highly doubt the government would be involved with something like that aside guarding it to make sure no one enters.
Sharpening his gaze on it, Nex scowls at the place with a sense of dampened scorn.
Nex : (To himself) There’s definitely somethin there, the Grimoire wouldn’t react if there wasn’t.
Cerea : Yeah, right. Thank you for this information officer, we appreciate it.
Soldier : Not an issue m’am. (Turns and walks to return to patrol)
Nex : …Tch, that place…
Even after the soldier took his leave and the steps of his boots were feint Nex hadn’t taken his gaze off of the structure.
Cerea lowers her gaze and thinks about that place. What if her gut feelings were true and something truly horrifying and malevolent existed there? Of course, Seithr poisoning could kill anyone, but some would definitely return and tell about what they had seen. That wasn’t so simple, but she decides to take her my off this thought and turns her gaze to Nex.
Cerea : Hey… what’re you thinking about?
Nex : If the grimoire is reacting from this distance…(lowers his gaze slightly) then that means there’s somethin with a huge amount of interference in there. I feel like…
Like he needed to go to it. Something about it, drew him in he couldn’t exactly explain it. It wasn’t a pleasurable feeling or even an agonizing one, just something that he felt he knew. Who knew what was within, a facility and a pit that went beyond the earth’s deepest core...it all sounded like fantasy but...no that was reality.
Nex’s own eyes widen as he began to visualize it in his head, the entire shimmering black cocoon like structure went deep the veins all along it organic, pulsing with faint blue auras as its form spiraled deep into the abyss... waiting. Where did it come from? From that deep swirling abyss? The moment he looks at it again, the thing is dull ebony nothing like what he pictured in his mind. He frowns with the thought, something was in there. He knew it, it gnaws and eats at his mind as the grimoire tugs.
Nex : U-ugh. My head is pounding…
Cerea : Are you okay? I’ve some pills if you need some.
Nex : No, its fine… (winces, looking back at the place)
Cerea : (Shrugs) Well, if you’re so sure…
Nex : I don’t think pills would really help with it anyway… (stands back up)
He takes a brief pause as the thoughts set in his head surrounding that place. He couldn’t ignore them, the feelings were too strong and demanding.
Cerea : (Offscreen) I see. So… where'd that pain come from?  
Nex : Nothing… its just a headache from the thoughts, that’s all.
Cerea : (Raises her eyebrow) Yeeeeah, right, just a headache, huh?
Nex : Tch… it doesn’t matter, (shakes his head as he firms his stare) but I need to see what’s at that place. The grimoire is reacting like crazy.
He passes by Cerea only for a moment before her figure is right in front of him with her hands out and retorting in concerned manner. 
Cerea : Whoa, hold your horses, Nex. (places her hands down with a worried frown) You heard what that guy said: no one came back alive from that place. (Nex rolls his eyes) And I don’t want Locke to scold me for letting you die… and I don’t want you to die.
Nex : I’m not going to die. After what I went through, death doesn’t exactly worry you. (Looks back at it) For some reason I feel like I need to at least go there.
Cerea : Dammit… well, I can’t stop you,  but if the Seithr is really so corrosive there, I can’t go with you.
Nex : I’m not going to go in it, that’d be stupid...I’m just going to get closer. (turns his head slightly away with a frown of thought while folding his arms) I don’t think the seithr is as thick around as it is inside.
Cerea : Then I’m going! (Pumps her hands down as she smiles in determination) Keeping an eye on you, remember? 
Nex :  (To himself) Why did I say that...if I didn't she woulda' left... (Blinks as he rubs his head in slight agitation) Its dangerous there for sure. I don't' want you slowin' me down, and I don't want to have to be responsible for you. 
Cerea: I can take care of myself. Besides, we have only one transmitter, if you get into trouble then I'll be in trouble to. 
She wasn't going to let this go, her body language and tone all showed that. Lined with determination, her eyes stare a hole in him as her locks of hair are blown by the wind leaving a slightly uncomfortable Nex to think.
Nex: But I--if—ugh. (Throws his head back and groans out in surrender) ... Fine... 
After a kind of victorious motion is made from Cerea, the two go on ahead In a hurried pace. Perhaps having someone with him wasn't that bad, a reluctant Nex thinks to himself as he walks along. Making his way down the path winding to the strange place that stretched to the sky called the Abysmal Frontier. What awaited him in that ebony structure of otherworldly design he didn’t know...but he knew that he had to go there, if only for a moment.
Cerea rushes after him, ready to take action at any moment. She didn’t exactly trust Nex’s thinking, but her priority was to make sure that Nex will return to the camp alive.
The soldier from last time, watches the two leave from the corner, and steadily, a strange unnatural smile comes over them.
Soldier(?) : (Eyes glint over with a red iris) So its him. (Grins to show fangs)
As the two leave the area into shadows ahead, the soldiers eyes glint over with red as a black vein creeps up their neck, through their face next. But it wasn’t painful for them at all, and their hand morphs into a slight claw as it clenches in slight anticipation.
??? : Send some to the frontier, the one we’ve awaited and who can bring destruction to reality is finally arriving… and this time, we don’t screw up.
A few shadows slither by the strange soldier.
??? : Soon...very soon my “Lord”, will you get to see the world brought to its knees by the creation of sin and destruction for yourself. (Eyes narrow) Your slumber won't be much longer, Zaezel, we’ll need you.
The strange soldier’s form seems to transition with seithr as it then vanishes via a distorted void. 
Imyo’s words echo in his mind, reminding him not to worry about things like this, but Nex simply couldn’t not worry, the grimoire resonated with that place...with that thing in it and he needed to know why.
The orb of light's gentle rays slowly disappear as the dark of night begins to set in... where he headed was veiled in a place where light never seemed to touch and as Nex looks up at that place while moving closer to it not a star could be seen, not a breeze to be felt... 
Nex : (To himself) Is that the entrance to the Heart of the Government? Or is it something more sinister? Hell if I know but I’m gonna find out.
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End of City of Scarred Midnight
Continues in Stigmatic Black of Sinful Blue
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Category:Control Sequence Origins Transcript
Category:Transcript