Dungeon Raider System

Chapter 79 : Omen

Sam waved at Medusa when she appeared in front of the library. Although she was the one who asked to meet at the library, she was the last one to show up because Sam and Luna both happened to be in the college campus at the time.

"Finally!" Sam spread his arms to Medusa in anticipation of a friendly hug, but she walked past him and went directly to scold Luna.

"How can you say such things about Uriel!? Why did you call him a jerk!? Do you not know we would have died many times if it weren't for him!" Medusa vented her anger without any hint of mercy.

"I said he's a jerk because he is one..." Luna said. "He landed a job at the Mapple corp. and then ignored me."

"Huh? So you did know where he was! Why didn't you tell me before?" Medusa's mood shifted as soon as she learned that Uriel was working at the Mapple corp. and a dazzling smile was drawn on her face. Sam could have sworn he saw hearts and flowers appearing on the background as Medusa cupped her cheeks.

"Aren't you overly happy about him? I mean, I get it, it's great news for him, but he's been ignoring us for days." Sam's remark snapped Medusa out of her reverie but she remained silent.

"You're missing what's important here, he's ignoring me." Luna added. Her face was aloof as usual but her eyes conveyed all of her resentment.

"I know it's hard to believe, but some people forget about their friends once they make it big... and what could be bigger than joining Mapple?" Sam sighed, but Medusa wasn't convinced.

"Something must have happened, Uriel is not that kind of person."

They discussed about Uriel's whereabouts for a while, taking the chance to reminisce about their last adventure. It was the first time they met face to face after the incursion and they had a lot of catching up to do, but Luna wasn't interested in spending time with her 'friends' and urged Medusa to explain why did she ask them to meet.

"Oh, since none of us knew anything about Uriel I thought we should ask the one person he can't ignore..."

"His boss!" Sam shouted excitedly while Luna couldn't believe she didn't think about it.

The only person who would know about Uriel's whereabouts would be, of course, his boss. They hurried inside and looked around. Since students were on vacation the place was almost deserted, but the handsome librarian remained on his spot reading a book.

His usual gentle smile was nowhere to be seen and his face looked bitter, it took but a glance for them to notice he wasn't in a good mood. Not just that, now that they were all ascended they were able to notice something they missed before, the librarian exuded a strong energy signature that reminded Luna of her sister's.

They all froze in place not wanting to upset the moody librarian even further. Just when Medusa was about to ask who was going to bite the bullet for the team Luna pushed her without batting an eye.

"Uhm... Excuse me..." Medusa said shyly after walking in front of the counter.

"Not interested." Said Mister scofield, mistaking her shy attitude with yet another bothersome love confession by a student.

"What happened?" Asked Sam when Medusa returned deeply embarrassed.

"I- I don't know." She replied. She didn't know the reason why, but even though it wasn't her intention to confess she still felt rejected.

"It's my turn." Said Luna. Sam and Medusa watched from a distance as the socially awkward Luna bravely walked towards the counter. What left them in awe, though, wasn't her courage but the fact that she couldn't reach the top of the counter because of her small stature.

They looked at each other in silence as Luna remained trying to get Mister Scofield's attention by jumping up and down.

"What's the matter, little one? did you lose your mommy?" Scofield said mustering a kind smile. It wasn't the first time a kid got lost in the premises and he didn't want to scare her.

"Are you Uriel's boss?" Luna asked seemingly unfazed by the mocking glares she received from her friends.

"Not anymore, I'm not. Are you lost?" Scofield insisted, still thinking she was a lost child.

"I'm a student here, currently the top of my class at the medicine faculty." She replied as her friends joined her at the counter.

"Please, Mister Scofield... we need to know what happened to Uriel." Medusa asked worriedly.

Scofield took off his glasses and, like usual, slowly cleaned them before putting them back on.

"So you're his friends, am I correct?"

"Yes"

"Yes"

"No"

Everyone stared awkwardly at Luna, but Scofield ignored her reply and continued.

"Last I heard of him, he was on a zeppelin heading south. I could tell he was excited, but that's all I know."

"At least we tried." Medusa sighed.

"May I ask what's going on?" Scofield asked, worried about the young bookworm.

"It's just... he's been ignoring our calls all this time and we're worried." Medusa replied.

"Truth is, he hasn't been replying my calls either. Maybe he doesn't have phone service, or perhaps he's busy... or that's what I would say, but I don't think that's the case. If he's with the Mapple corp. he'll have phone service anywhere in the world."

"I thought so too." Medusa lowered her gaze. That was all it took for Scofield to put all the pieces together.

The students in front of him were indeed Uriel's friends, even the small girl wearing an oversized hoodie that couldn't reach the counter. He would have loved to answer them, but he too was worried about Uriel.

"Do any of you happen to have a connection with someone from the Mapple corp?" He asked, but before someone could answer his question a powerful earthquake shook the earth.

Books rained down all over the place and people struggled to stay on their feet, everyone ran under the tables seeking for shelter as the movement became stronger and stronger. Chunks of concrete fell from the roof accompanied by white dust.

Something like that wasn't enough to bring down the building, but it was still dangerous to many of those inside the library as some weren't ascended or even evolved.

When the movement stopped, Medusa took it upon herself to take them to safety while Luna quickly assessed the injuries of the students. Sam hesitated for a few seconds before jumping into action. As traumatized as he was, he still managed to snap of it in time and help those who needed it.

Scofield, of course, didn't stay idle and did his own share and then some more. He gracefully moved across the building, easily dodging the falling debris somehow managing to even keep his clothes clean. Once everyone was outside the building he gazed at the distance wondering about the reason why the seism came accompanied by an energy wave.

Unbeknownst to them, the earthquake was not a natural event, but was caused by Uriel who, at that precise moment, was exhaling his last breath In the ancient ruins of Chichén Itzá.