~Cobb POV~

I threw up my hands and my Rock Camoflauge broke. Somehow, through some means, this idiot managed to escape. Yet he stands there staring at me through the walls of my cell.

"You have no idea how to get me out, do you?" I facepalmed.

Years ago I had learned to read lips but right now that knowledge didn't really help me. "What?" JST mouthed.

I pantomimed breaking the cell open with a hammer, pointed to him, and shrugged my shoulders. There was never a situation that I ever needed to tell JST I could read lips, it just never came up.

JST nodded to me, his expression leaving no doubt that he understood my actions. "What the fuck is he doing." His mouth betrayed him as he rubbed his chin and examined the cell.

I dragged my hands across my face, exasperated. I pointed to the men on the floor and patted my body, mimicking a search on my person. JST got the idea and began rummaging through the strange clothing and armor that the two men were wearing. He dragged the third man from the hall and shut the door. JST found the crystals in the first man's pocket and set them off to the side along with a few things from the other men's pockets.

There were two swords and a dagger, they had wires running along the side of them but other than that they seemed normal. The cord running from their hilts to the armor was unplugged. I found it strange, the wedding of medieval weaponry and electrical engineering. Likely, advances in technology would lead to a better understanding of science and therefore weapons. The doubts were dashed aside as my brother pulled a gun from the side pocket of the first observer. It didn't seem to a ballistic weapon, instead it had the same wires and cords running from the body and grip of the pistol - because that was undeniably what it was - to the cape on his back. It had a barrel and a trigger, modern weaponry. I left JST to it when something caught my attention.

In an effort to become more familiar with the skill I had been paying attention to Hunted Sense when it alerted me someone was watching again. I turned to the very same corner I had been alerted to before. That's when JST took out the first keycard. It had the face of the person and several other symbols on it. A sign of higher thinking. I slapped my forehead, these were humans after all.

They had magical wards so why would they use magic to view me? Could it be that simple?

A glance towards the corner, this time with a different intent, immediately found what I was looking for. A small black dot, almost indescernible but I knew what I was looking for. A camera. I got up and moved to the corner. I let my body take the properties of the polished steel I was standing on before smashing the camera with my index finger. The feeling of being watched dissappeared.

JST had three keycards now, he pointed to some device on the men and made his hand talk.

They had radioed in?

I slammed my knee into the glass but my leg rebounded off, no luck. JST stood in the oberserver's room and looked at me funny, then at the keycards. He approached, holding one as if to slot it into something. Nothing but glass seperated us yet he still approached. His hand prepped the card while his other swiped across the glass. Wait, there's some kind of interface on the other side? He found what he was looking for, after swiping left, right and in circles. The first thing he did was drag the corresponding body over and pressed its hand on the glass. He dropped the limp body and inserted the card. He slipped right into the glass, twisted then the glass pixelated and dissappeared.

My nice little cell shielded me from the massive panic apparently going on outside.

"Yeah, it's hectic."

Alarms were blaring, and voices in another language were echoing through the intercom. The radio on the men spat static before a formal voice queried. We couldn't respond before the voice said something to itself and the radio was silent.

"Help me." I started dragging the unconscious men into the cell. JST just shoved the men across the floor with his foot.

A panel to the side of the room, outside of my previous view, activated the glass barrier that ensured my captivity previously. It took only a moment of fiddling, the glass wall seemed to be the main function so the button wasn't hard to find. When the glass was in place it showed real time biometrics and readings on the cell mates. Red letters stood out hovering above each head "Unconscious". Their race was listed as human and other information was filled in such as names, height, weight, job, profession, specialization and more. There was a small interface by each reading, allowing one to sift through the information. There was no time to dwell.

A big man burst through the door behind us and instictively without turning around I slammed him down into the floor with a burst of wind. My magic was back. Even if I was caught off guard, anyone entering from the hall was within JST's ten meter Arena. We threw him in the prison as well.

We exited and I noticed we were towards the end of the hall which could only be described as the prison block, each door we opened and checked had something in the cell. These cellmates ranged from the harmless animal to even those strange insect scavengers we found at the Geckan Arena ruins. A few doors down we found the pair of ridiculously hunchbacked creatures that loped by us at the ruins, white fur and imprisoned together their cell had a high ceiling and other specific accomodations unique to them, similar to the other prisoners. The cell had working readings on every animal and sentient.

"So many prisoners." I said. To know they can see you and remain impassive how did they do it? How could they reduce something with clear intelligence to mere data, numbers. The thought disgusted me.

"Test subjects. Specimens." My brother said as he closed the door.

"How did you get out anyway?"

"We passed my door a while back but if you went in you'd need shoes cause there's broken glass everywhere." He grinned.

I chuckled. "And you had no observer, scientist or whatever watching you?"

"No, the first one I met was in a cell adjacent to yours, the one with the glowing deer that we passed. After that, well, you were there for everything since then." He finished.

"Then maybe there are only a few wardens? Or reasearchers? No, it seemed like the only people that belonged in the section was the guy in my cell and the guy in yours. The other guy came after the radio called in."

We reached the end of the prison hall and opened the door, which was slightly ajar to begin with. There was still no sign of the rest of our group, but there were empty cells. Could they have escaped?

No, best to assume the worst.

It seemed the structure had multiple circular floors. We were however at the bottom floor, probably below ground. The whole structure expanded maybe four floors up, each floor, if it was like ours, spanned a wide area. Despite them knowing of our escape ther was barely any activity on our floor. Around the edges of the circular floor were passages that led into other sections, I could make out some type of medical center and a cafeteria. My eyes landed on another passageway as guards came out touting swords, guns and armor of the strange variety we saw earlier. The man in front yelled something and instead of towards us they moved the opposite direction.

Inform

Human Squad Leader - Lvl 62

Humans, overlooked by the Elder Races as insignificant, have made ironically significant progress in upsetting the balance between the races. This human has been tasked with leading a small squad.

"Where are they going? I thought the alarm was for escaped prisoners?"

"I'm starting to suspect something is happening to the entire facility. If the alarms had been going off since you escaped then they would already have flooded the prison block with guards." I reasoned.

"Huh. Now that you mention it the alarms were blaring when I broke the cell, but I just assumed they were instantly alerted. It didn't even cross my mind that they were already on."

"Let's check their armory, they had to get word something was wrong down here somehow. I'm betting we could figure it out if we head there." I waited for the guards to leave my view. I noted the direction they took before I moved towards the armory.

"I'll take point." We took advantage of his Arena as we sweeped the section.

We came across two branching hallways as we entered, the one on the right containing all the weaponry and armor, to the left I could only assume were living quarters. Voices came from one of the doors to the left. JST relayed four hostiles in that room, none in all the others. He gestured, letting me know he was going to clear the rest of the section.

I opened the door quietly but as soon as it cracked open I got a glimpse of the room. There were monitors everywhere but one that stuck out was the image of a naked green man opening what i'm guessing is the surveillance room, then I realized I felt Hunted Sense tickling my neck. I ducked, dodging beams that melted through the door. I stomped the floor and felt the vibrations, mapping out the room as I took cover pressed to the side of the doorway. I formed a ball of water and packed it tight, looking to incapacitate. One more stomp of the floor and I had my targets, the water snaked in and darted around the room. In seconds every man - and woman I noted as I walked in - was knocked out. They were dressed in the same manner as previously seen but the woman stood out, she was wearing a different version of the same armor, it seemed more important. She'd be the one to talk to. These people would be the most aware of the situation if this is a communication center between the floors as I suspected, I needed them for later. On the glowing screens above me I could just see JST choking the last man in his branch.

I stripped them of everything, leaving only their regular clothers. It was an effort but I got all people shackled to the wall. Reaching for the steel in the walls took way too much mana than I had thought it would, almost leaving me with a headache. That's saying something when your mana pool is around 700. Iron bands wrapped around their wrists, which were positioned behind their back. Another tied their legs together at the ankles. The last two bands were larger, they were across their chest, locking them against the wall and over their thighs, pinning them to the ground. I tracked JST's progress on the screens as he came to me, he paused at the door and looked at the glowing red hole punched through it before shaking his head, smiling and walking in.

"Have some trouble there, bro?" He smirked.

"You didn't tell me this was a surveillance room, they could see us the whole time." I placed all the weaponry and armor on the nearby table, swiping everything else to the floor. I took a better glance at them. I remember JST saying he could identify Riptide as he called it, without the need for a skill.

I tried to do the same without using Inform, it seemed the blue screens tied into your understanding of something. Derjar breathed the sword, withholding that information from him wouldn't make sense. In addition he had a umbrella mastery for all weaponry. As it was, the sword was simple the wires just charged the steel with electricity.

Human Charge Sword (Uncommon)

Human ingenuity knows no bounds. This sword has been fitted with prototype wires, sending electrical charges into the blade upon attack. The sword must be charged.

Damage: 40-50

Lightning Damage: 20-22

Effects:

+10% chance of paralysis

As I didn't quite understand what was going on with the armor, I had to use Inform. With some scrutiny on my part I would've been able to figure out the jumble of wires and metal but Inform works much faster, I just had to test the system in terms of identification of equipment.

Inform

Human Charge Armor (Uncommon)

Meant to connect to chargeable Human prototype equipment, this armor regenerates power through solar panels on the cape. Partially made of rubber this armor stops electrical attacks and allows you to charge off attacks electrical in nature. Strips of conductive material lead reroute electricity to the battery located below the neck.

Defense: 24

Effects:

+95% resistance to lightning effects

+10% absorbtion of lightning attacks

I was able to piece together what went where so by the time I looked at the pistol a blue screen popped up for me without having to use Inform.

Human Charge Pistol (Uncommon)

This pistol is a rechargable energy weapon created by Humans. Largely untested, the weapon has yet to be approved by the board of researchers at it's testing facility. Shoots a concentrated electrical charge strong enough to tear through most metals.

Lightning Damage: 45-50

Effects:

+50% chance of paralysis

We donned the equipment. It would be better than looking out of place with the equipment from our dimensional bags. Even though I was green and crystal this would provide better armor against what weaponry everyone else in this place has. If everything is electrical than this armor would do wonders. I didn't need anything from my bag but I could feel its presence, as if all I needed to do was reach out and grab it. I guess that was the magic of Soul Bound equipment. I holstered the pistol to my side and plugged in the wire, and although this wouldn't be effective against the humans walking around I have a lot of different elements at my fingertips. JST could actually look the part of human guard, if he avoids close study they won't even notice the scales. In the end the only person standing out was me.

"I think they were having a lunchbreak. Look." He pointed to the floor, which was now littered with strange fruits. "And the screens are all the way over there. That's outside my limit. Actually, come to think of it they were staring at that side of the wall from what I remember." He scratched his head.

"Whatever." There was no point in fighting right now, there were things to do. "The lady's important, you're bad cop. Let's assume she can understand us." He nodded.

She blinked groggily as I slapped water on her face and woke her up. Her eyes focused on me and when she noticed she jerked in her restraints. As if just realizing her bonds she glared at me before trying again.

"You're not going anyhwere." I smiled. She still struggled and I had to admire the fight in her.

"Who are you?" She asked, noticing my green skin. I didn't let the surprise show on my face that we could communicate. "You're not human. How'd you get in here?"

"We were captured and brought here, why?" My face showed no emotion, I spoke with power, leaving no doubt that I would get an answer.

This time her face was an expression of surprise. "That's impossible we only capture creatures of the Uncharted. This is a research facility." Her eyes went wide as she said that. "Who are you? Did you unleash that beast upon us? Are you behind it?" Her eyes darted to the glowing monitors.

"We were captured, remember? How would we be behind this?"

"You could be lying, there's no proof. For you to be captured you'd have to one; actually survive the Uncharted and two; be running around naked for us to even mistake you for locals."

JST glanced at me and his bad cop visage was cracking, he smirked. We did exactly what she listed.

"You! Free me, how can you stand there while your section leader is in chains?" She commanded. JST smirked.

I smiled when JST didn't react. "Tell me exactly what this place is, and why we were captured. I'll give you ten seconds before your first coworker dies." JST positioned his sword under the first man's neck. Her face fell.

"Stop! I told you this is a research facility! We're based in the Uncharted and we test weaponry away from prying eyes. We found these ruins and converted the whole place into a research facility, that's all I know! Please, spare him." She cried. "This place isn't even that high of priority to be kept secret. Aside from the ruins it's based in there's nothing special here. Only a few weapons ever work. Please, that's all I know." She whimpered out. It felt like her life story just poured out, apparently that failure weighed heavily on her mind.

"Who are you, exactly? What do you do here? Ten seconds." My older brother yawned as his sword found an unconscious neck.

"I'm Mineva, Head of the Research Division." Her face was full of tears, she looked pathetic bound to the wall like that and crying.

"Divisions? I thought everything was research. Explain." Her eyes followed JST's sword and she gulped, sweat on her brow.

"There's the Testing, Defense, Survey, and Capture Divisions. Field testing weaponry, fortifying the facility from the Uncharted and security, exploring the surrounding area and minerals, and capturing creatures of the Uncharted for study." She said.

"You're a forward outpost. The Humans are charting the Uncharted." I rubbed my chin. Her face seemed horrified.

"W-what? No, we're a simple research facility." She was very unconvincing.

"Be that as it may you're also expanding into the Uncharted." I said. "Not sure how Gyru will like that, the name after all is The Uncharted. If you were to map it, well, not sure how that would go." I mumbled to myself.

"Gyru? That's the name we find scrawled all over these ruins! Who are you?" She squinted at me, her curious nature poked through her teary visage. "I demand an answer." Her posture shifted as she studied me, the researcher in her coming out. I couldn't help but indulge her.

I had to give her something, but then she would just tell the rest of her people when she's freed. No, I couldn't tell her anything, this whole place is a literal staging ground for expansion of the Human race into the Uncharted. Them hunting me down wouldn't work for my future. I found it interesting since most games like to alter the human race to an extent, taller or stronger normally. This lady though, she seemed of perfectly normal asian descent. I couldn't leave the humans any trail, they are persistent bastards after all, sometime down the line it would bite me in the ass.

Ah, god it's weird thinking about the Human race and not being a part of it.

"What's this about a beast unleashed?" I changed topics, ignoring her question completely. She squinted at me again, aware of my segue.

"Something broke through the ruins, from the monitors I couldn't make it out."

"Why? It disrupted the magic?" I played dumb, some random Jjerg wouldn't know about computers.

She smirked and then her face fell. "No. No, it was too big. It took up the whole view." Her face took on a ghastly shade of white.

I brought up my quests as she lived through the memory. "It just burst through. The defense... pointless. I knew a few people too, Jom, Haul, he even got Tacob. Then it left. But now... it's back." She was saying.

Quest: Track down the Beast

A monster capable of destroying the Geckan Battle Arena has freed the monsters living within. Track it down and decide what to do with it.

Rewards:

+Dependent on method of completion.

I knew it. It had to be. If the beast left the facility and came back then during that time it could've wrecked the Arena. We never did find it's tracks after we got derailed by the Qetzl attack and Malvolio's Library. If we could get rid of this quest and get the reward, then along with the equipments from the library we'd be set on taking out the Geckan Queen. I looked at the quest regarding her as well.

Quest: Kill the King, Queen, Leader or equivalent of the Geckan Lair.

An intelligent species of Geckos that are found deep within the Uncharted. Their intelligence threatens the balance of the Uncharted and you have been tasked with putting an end to them.

Bonus: Kill all Geckans present

Rewards: Legendary Skill

I don't know where she is, but the Geckan Tree Lair is deserted which means she's moved or is moving. The princess was still there so she couldn't have gone very far, unless the Queen was leaving the princess to deal with everything in her stead. It doesn't make sense. The library didn't help in gathering information either.

"You said it's all over the ruins?" I got ready to leave.

"Yeah, Gyru, over and over everywhere." She answered.

"How many languages do you speak?" I probed. "And where are the ruins?" She hesitated but JST drew his blade again.

She quickly rattled them off. "Elven, Dwarven, and Human. I can read and write all of them plus a few others. The language of the ruins though, that's almost indecipherable. Gyru is one of the simplest things to write in the language and thus understand, it's all over the place. And of course I speak Standard, as i'm talking to you now." She said. "They're just a floor above. The capture cells, armory, and research are located on the deepest floor, where we are now.

I moved for the steel door before she stopped me. "Wait, who are you?" Looking at her, I pitied her situation so I answered.

"I'm just a messenger traveling the Uncharted." An errant thought flitted across my mind. "Oh, you wouldn't happen to know the Geckan Queen would you?" It was a long shot but anything helps.

She blinked. "Her Highness Alwatl? She was helping us decipher the markings." I paused in my departure.

"What? You work with the Geckans?" I asked unbelieving.

"Of course. They're the only other power out here. Out here any semblance of companionship is valued, we trade with them, though only few speak Standard, they're good trading partners. It's only after a few years the Geckan Queen herself visited, though heavily guarded, she was surprisingly fluent in Standard." Mineva explained. "Upon her first visit we explained the ruins we were built on and her curiousity would've landed her in the research department had she been a human. Since then she and the Research Division have been working towards investigating the ruins, deciphering and decoding whatever lies under. Why do you ask for her?" Apparently researchers and scientists like to jump into long detailed explanations without being prompted. In this case it helped though.

"I'm supposed to kill her." I answered and left leaving her wide eyed and immobile.

We left the armory and surveillance area, heading over to where we saw the guards leave. A metal sliding door greeted us at the end of the hallway, next to it were buttons with an up and down arrow. An elevator.

"Second floor." I told JST as we shuffled in.

"How big do you think it is? Do you think Jones and everyone else are there? The monster, I mean. If that was the prisoner block then they should've been there but they weren't. So where are they?"

Typical, he's getting excited for the fight. "Don't know, don't know, and I don't know. Just focus on the fight ahead alright? Worry about everyone else later, Jack and George are fine, I can feel their link now that I left the cell. Jones though, well, if he wasn't in the prisoner block then he either escaped or he's with George and Jack."

It was almost ridiculous waiting in an elevator to fight a beast unleashed from the ruins of a god that presides over the whole area for miles on end, especially so when the elevator music started playing. Even more so was that we should've been moving a single floor up yet it took a few minutes before we arrived.

It opened up and as in the other floor there was a huge clearing in the middle of the circular level. This time though there was gaping hole where a wall should be on the far side of the clearing. Outside I could see a trail of broken trees and destroyed plant life leading to the rip in the steel, the sun was setting. Standing in the center of the clearing was hulking figure. The type of beast where you could hear its heavy breaths from a hundred meters away. It moved vaguely in the way a gorilla would, but that's where the similarites ended and the differences began. It was maybe twenty times the size of a gorilla, towering over us and nearly touching the ceiling, each step it took dented the steel floor despite its weight being distributed across four points. Huge muscles were hidden in a blanket of black quills that raised like hackles. It opened its mouth to roar and there was nothing but smooth teeth, suggesting the creature was a herbivore. As it got up and roared at the people trying to carve its legs up, I could see that it had a tail, but it seemed normal, like a dog's if anything. It swung its massive arm and destroyed the humans attacking it, its muscle mass jiggled from the impact and it raised its arms to see nothing there. Illusions. As I realized it another charged the beast, the realism was insane, so much so that when the illusion was about to die I feared he was actually real. Next, Shadow Panthers darted in from the jungle, spiders, geckans appeared out of nowhere, outside of the beasts line of sight. Knights, warriors, and other melee combatants pressured the beast into a corner. It didn't seem like their attacks were doing anything and yet the pressure of their unexistant numbers pushed the beast back. A strained yell caught my attention.

My head darted around until I spotted my missing brother crouched behind a counter of what looked to be a snack store. He spotted me and waved me over. It wasn't until me and JST approached that I noticed the other four there. A burly human, an elegant geckan and two familiar sand people. At the sight of their grim faces I noticed what I was stepping over, bodies. The only thing keeping the monster from advancing were the constant illusions that it targeted in its rage. I could see the sun falling into the horizon through the high windows positioned at intervals all over the floor.

"Jones, who are your friends." JST hopping over. "You're clothed." He said surprised.

"This is Alwatl, the Geckan Queen." He stressed meaningfully. He gave a signal for standby though. "The man is Tad he runs the whole operation here. He also set me and the rest free when he realized his mistake, debriefed us, and although he didn't let us leave." He shot a glare to Tad. "He promised to free you two as well. We were on our way back down until this guy broke through the wall." Jones gestured to the monster. "And yes I'm clothed and so are you." He was wearing his Enchanted Coregath Light Leather Armor with his dimensional bag on his back. "Talk, quick, not much time." He said strained.

"Sniper doesn't do anything. It's blocking .50 caliber rounds. Doesn't do anything but piss it off." George said. It was good to see him, straight to business in the heat of battle as usual. Tad eyed the piece of weaponry as if he had seen it in action himself.

"Good to see you George, and you as well Jack." I smiled. I got a smile and a nod in response.

"Far as we know it's impenetrable. I take it yer Jones' companions?" Tad asked. "If ya can escape a cell tailored to contain a creature of the Uncharted then i'm glad to have ya aboard."

"That we are." I answered. "Introductions aside, let's start at the beginning shall we? How did it arrive the first time around?"

"It first came upon us while we surveyed the ruins. It's arrival was unprecedented, no creature geckan or otherwise should have been able to sustain themselves down there. The survey team retreated while my Geckan Warriors gave their lives to stall the beast. By the time I had rallied my forces the beast had rampaged through the human complex and burst into the Uncharted. It wasn't seen in months until now." Alwatl's ready explanation raised some of my suspicions, what was she doing in those ruins? Did a Geckan Queen really need to visit personally?

"And this time?" I asked observing her. She was a royal purple, ironically. She stood shorter than most geckans but her posture was straighter and she seemed taller. Even crouched and hidden in a snack store she screamed elegance. Her movements were refined and no energy was wasted. Despite the obstacle a huge tongue would pose in speaking Standard she took to it with a royal grace. Her speech was elquent and refined mimicking her movements. Yet, when her face fell, the emotion seemed almost too genuine. It's been said the two most intimate things you can have with another being is making love and murder. I've killed my share of geckans and I'd like to think I have a grasp of their facial expressions. It may not make sense, after all how many times have I seen a geckan sad? No, it didn't make sense but there was a certain truth in the way emotions played on their faces, I knew it as a fact. I couldn't find any of it in hers.

"As we approached the same area of the ruins it returned with a vengance. We could feel the breach in the castle from deep within." She answered.

"And what exactly were you doing down there?" I met her eyes. Her royal composure never broke but her brow glistened, if geckans could sweat I swear she was.

I jerked suddenly and the Geckan Queen tensed. I felt a huge, terrible eyes land on the back of my head. My sense of danger screamed at me, yelling at me to flee.

Jones gasped, long laboring breaths and clutched at his head. "Out..out of mana. No illusions." He smiled. "Good luck." Then he fainted. The kid had bought us maybe two minutes of conversaton, enough to get our bearings.

My sense of danger skyrocketed, Hunted Sense worked against me in this regard. It told me that, without a doubt, I was prey. There was no time to use Inform, no time to call my bag to me. The hunt had already begun. I faced the beast, completely black eyes shone in the deep black quills and I met the hungry eyes of a predator with my own. Then I remembered the very first title I received "Prey Turned Predator". Vaguely, I was aware of moving bodies around me.

I knew with an absolute certainty that I was staring at an apex predator, a truly untamed beast, that I was simply a meal, sustenance, prey. As the realization hit me darkness fell over us as the sun finally set, then the beast moved.

My hands lit up in green fire, throwing shadows across the room.

Then, time slowed.