Hassan: I've got a really bad feeling about all this.
Aleksei: Your wound is just a scratch, nothing serious. We'll fix you up in no time once we get back to base.
Lilya: Some of our fallen comrades were still in their Zeno uniforms, lying deep in the cave.
Lilya: Next to them was a knife and another body.
Lilya: With arrows drawn in blood on the wall.
Hassan: Look at the wall, something's scribbled on it.
Aleksei's flashlight swings to the bloodstains on the rocky walls.
Aleksei: They're directions, telling us how to navigate the cave.
Hassan: What if this is another trap!?
Aleksei: I can't hear anyone. Do you know the way through this cave, Hassan?
Hassan: I used to. But now they've turned it into a maze.
Hassan: All these forks and newly dug nooks. I'm lost.
Lilya: Guess we'll trust these arrows as a final gesture of support from our comrades.
Lilya: Let's go.
They continue deeper into the cave, Aleksei supporting Hassan with one hand while holding the flashlight in the other. A soft breeze caresses their faces.
Aleksei: Are we getting any closer?
Lilya: Yeah.
Aleksei: Then these marks must have been left by our own comrades. Horrifying, all this blood.
Lilya: Several gruesome battles were fought here.
Lilya: Our people, the enemy's people, all lay sprawled on the ground.
Lilya: I heard a story once, about a tough guy who went into a maze on some island.
Lilya: He killed the minotaur down there, and then followed a ball of thread given to him by a princess to find his way out.
Lilya: And our guiding thread? The dried smears on the walls.
Hassan: Let's follow them. sigh These markings could be signs left by comrades who couldn't break out.
Hassan: Keep your ears peeled, brother Aleksei. One of them slipped away, don't let him get the drop on us.
Aleksei: You can count on me.
Lilya: We saw lots of little stone statues in the cave.
Lilya: Placed on chiseled pedestals, all weathered, some splattered with blood.
Lilya: Kinda gave me the creeps.
Hassan: One, two, three ...
Lilya: Hassan counted the tags in hand, saying each name out loud.
Hassan: Including our losses, sixteen souls in all.
Hassan: D**n it all.
Aleksei: They will not be forgotten.
Hassan: Forgotten? What difference does it make if we remember them? Will that be enough to bring them back to life?
Aleksei: Once the commander gets here, we'll transport the bodies back. They will all be granted dignified funerals.
Hassan: Funerals, hah. They're just shows for the living to see!
Hassan: spit
Lilya: I dunno why, but Hassan was really worked up.
Lilya: Meanwhile, Aleksei clammed up, and so we followed the arrows on the wall, deeper into the darkness.
Aleksei: There's light up ahead.
Lilya: We came to a fork in the road. It was dark on both sides, but there was a draft blowing through.
Lilya: The marks end here.
Lilya: There was this huge statue standing there, holding a fire.
Flames flicker off the eyeless statue, casting shadows down the long, dark passage.
Aleksei: Left or right?
Hassan: We could check out one side, then double back to the other.
Lilya: I choose left.
Lilya: There's a draft coming from the left. Can't you feel it?
Lilya's hair flutters gently to the right.
Hassan: That could lead to an exit for all we know. Shoot, how many possible paths are there in this place?
Aleksei: Can your device help us navigate through here?
Lilya: I'm afraid not.
Lilya: We're close, but it's not accurate enough to give us a precise location.
Hassan: Then let's go the way you suggested.
Lilya: Following the path led us to a room-like space, with wind flowing through a hole above.
Lilya: There were barrels, beds, and everyday items scattered about, as if someone lived there.
Lilya: It looked like our fallen comrades had fought there not long ago. The blood was still wet on their equipment.
Lilya: Seems like none of the stuff we're looking for is here.
Aleksei: And what are we looking for? These comrades here are already ...
Lilya: No, it's not them, something else.
Hassan: Like what?
Lilya: A pile of arcanum texts. These courageous comrades must've found what Zeno needed.
Lilya: That's why trouble found them in this cave.
Lilya: Bertolt brought us here to find them. But where are they?
Aleksei: Hold on. Weren't we here to save our trapped comrades?
Lilya: If they're still alive, we'll save them if we happen to get the chance.
Unfortunately, they were too late.
Aleksei: If we happen to get the chance?
Aleksei: That's not what the commander said! Our priority is to save lives!
Lilya: Bertolt told me these orders came from high above.
Hassan: He didn't tell us anything!
Lilya: I dunno. I guess he had his reasons.
...
A silence falls between the three of them.
Hassan: The dead can't be saved. We got here too late.
Hassan: Fine, let's find the stuff. Got any idea what they look like?
Lilya: No, but they could be books, or sheets of paper.
Hassan: And where are they hidden?
Lilya: In this cave, I guess, where our friends found them and paid the price.
Lilya: Or else Bertolt wouldn't have deployed one team at the expense of another.
Lilya: The deal wouldn't be worth it.
Aleksei: Are our lives merely calculations of worth?!
Aleksei: I'm going to ask him about this, face to face!
Lilya: While Aleksei and I talked, Hassan quietly tended to the dead.
Lilya: More and more tags filled his pockets.
Lilya: Let's look around here, Aleksei. Keep an eye on the cave entrance, there are still enemies nearby.
Aleksei: ...
Lilya: He was really upset.
Aleksei: Fine, hurry it up. We have to report this to Bertolt, fast.
Aleksei: Curse those arcanists to hell.
Lilya: He muttered something unsavory, but we ignored it and continued to search for what we each needed.
Lilya: For me, that meant turning over rocks and cabinets to find the documents Bertolt wanted.
Lilya: For Hassan, it meant checking the bodies, feeling their pockets and waists for metal tags.
Aleksei: What could possibly be worth risking so many lives for?
Lilya: Something valuable to Zeno. That's what I was told.
Aleksei: Are we being thrown into this mission as pointless, expendable sacrifices, just like our fallen comrades here?
Lilya: I don't think anyone is seen as pointless sacrifice.
Lilya: That would be illogical.
Aleksei: This is not about being logical ...
Aleksei: He shouldn't have lied to us!
Lilya: He didn't lie.
Aleksei: But he didn't tell us everything either!
Lilya: Is withholding the truth the same as lying?
Interrogator II: The answer hinges on the objective.
Interrogator II: Soldiers only need to know their duty, not the reasons behind it.
Lilya: I disagree.
Interrogator II: That's fine. You have the right to disagree and keep it to yourself; plenty of others feel the same way you do.
Interrogator II: But at the end of the day, people still have to follow orders.
Interrogator II: And these people are all Zeno's finest soldiers, and one day you too will be among them.
Lilya: Is Bertolt one of them?
Interrogator II: Lieutenant Bertolt is one of the most important pillars of the Zeno Arms Academy today. I have complete faith in him.
Lilya: I see more than that.
Lilya: It is the soldiers like Hassan and Aleksei, who risk everything at the front, that keep Zeno going.
The interrogator does not answer, but gives Lilya a look of approval.
Lilya: In the heat of my argument with Aleksei, I forgot all about Hassan.
Lilya: Who could've foreseen what happened next?
Lilya: There was no one else in the cave, and Aleksei's flashlight was pointed at the way in.
Lilya: I was looking at Aleksei and the darkness that was behind him.
Lilya: But then it happened, behind me.
Hassan: Are these it, little comrade? They're under this comrade here! The body's still warm ...
Lilya: Hassan called to us and when I turned around, what I saw was something I'll never forget.
Lilya: The "corpse" was alive. Dressed in our comrade's clothes, he stuck a poisoned blade into Hassan's waist and dragged it all the way up to his throat.
Lilya: It was a terrifying wound.
Hassan: AAAHHHHH!!!
Aleksei: Hassan!
Lilya: Aleksei was quick. He pulled out his pistol and fired two shots.
Lilya: One through the forehead, and one through the eye. The "corpse" was now truly dead.
Lilya: Hassan lay flat on his stomach, gasping for air. Aleksei leapt to him and helped him roll over.
Lilya: Hassan ...
Lilya: He was in unbearable agony as the wound split open with alarming speed. Blood spilled out at first, then other things.
Lilya: It was a nasty stench.
The stench of death approaching.
The black and red life force of the gasping man runs down his body, soaking Aleksei's uniform.
Aleksei: No, no, no!
Hassan: Hah ... hah ... What did I tell you ... about wishing you'd died ...
Hassan: Ahhhhhh!
Hassan: Dn it, dn it! I knew it! I was right!
Hassan: I'm fading fast, brother.
Aleksei: Let me treat you, Hassan. You have to hold on, I'll fix this mess, hold on!
The young man reaches behind him, fumbles, and drops the box to the ground with a hollow thud.
He opens the white box, full of hope.
Only to find it empty.
Lilya: Aleksei was so desperate to save Hassan, he forgot they'd left all the medicine behind.
Aleksei: "We've done all we can. I gave the last of the medicine to the others, and now I have an empty box that can hold a lot."
Lilya: He opened up the empty box, looking like it was the end of the world.
Aleksei: I ...
Hassan: I can't take it anymore ... Urghhhh!
Lilya: I could not imagine his pain. His cries were more terrifying than anything I'd heard in military hospitals or field camps.
Lilya: In fact, they were more like primal, animalistic howls.
Like a bull trapped in a blazing forge, bellowing and begging for release.
Lilya: Hassan said that we should each save a bullet for ourselves.
Lilya: But there was no way he could lift a gun now.
The wound continues to expand.
Hassan: A ... Aleksei ... please ... don't let me suffer through this ...
Aleksei: No! We can take you back to the base, or at least to the cave entrance, and find ... find ...
Aleksei: The mountain herbs, yes! They should still be at the camp, and the commander said reinforcements are on their way ...
Lilya: Even I could see that he was deluding himself.
Lilya: The man was melting. Just how was he going to get home?
Hassan: I beg you ... brother ... make it quick ...
Lilya: He pointed shakily at Aleksei's gun.
Lilya: Aleksei. If you can't do it, I will.
Hassan: Ah ... the "tough cookie" ... haha ... good, little comrade ...
Lilya: I reached for Aleksei's sidearm, but he brushed my hand aside.
Aleksei: Allow me, comrade.
Lilya: Aleksei closed Hassan's eyes, putting the gun to his temple.
...
Lilya: He left no words, no goodbyes.
With a single shot, death claims its prey, who can no longer haunt the living with his tortured wails.
Lilya: Hassan's hand went limp and fell onto the stack of papers beside him.
Lilya: He'd found the stuff Zeno needed.
Lilya: As a soldier of Zeno, Comrade Hassan had fulfilled his mission flawlessly.