The Harvest of Souls

CHAPTER 37

VINDOBONA

12.01.8462 - 3:55 AM

Fernand leaned against the wall, stunned. He had never gone through that situation. He had been identified in the middle of a mission. He would need to get out of there right away. If that guard already knew his name, it was very likely that everyone knew. He finished walking up the stairs and started thinking about a possibility, and that's when he made a plan.

Fernand continued running down the hall. He was indoors and was the only one not wearing a guard's uniform, so there was no point in trying to remove the top layers of his clothes. Changing clothes with the second guard who he had knocked out would be tricky too. It would take time, and he was more worried about getting out of that building before it exploded too. Fernand walked down the hallway, looking at the signs floating near the ceiling when he found the word 'Snacks' with an arrow pointing to one of the hallway doors. He quickly entered the room with a few taps and several snack vending machines, the back of the room filled with a series of modern sculptures.

Looking around, Fernand saw that there were only marble benches, and then his eyes located the small sculptures at the back of the room. He ran there and quickly chose the sculpture that appealed the least to him.

"I'm glad I hate modern art. It will be easier to deal with the remorse," he said, choosing a ball-shaped sculpture, but with several wires coming out of its interior. Fernand went to the machine in the middle, which held both snacks and drinks, chose the smoother side of the sculpture, then slammed it hard against the machine's glass, which broke into several pieces.

Fernand began to take a series of containers and water bottles and stuff them inside his coat. He tightened a string that was at the bottom of the coat, making it extremely tight around his waist, preventing something from falling, 'damn, I'm about to die, and I'm just worried about not going hungry,' he thought as he stuffed more packages into his coat. When his entire torso was wrapped in food, he left the room and followed a path he already knew. He went up to the third floor of the building and accessed an area called 'Der musikalischen Kriege.'

The room was full of weapons and uniforms used during the Musical Wars. Unlike the other walls of the museum, which were painted white and had marble columns, that room was covered with photos of mutilated or suffering-looking people between the tall windows. The room was at the southern end of the museum, precisely where Fernand had scaled the building. It was much larger than the other rooms, square with all floors connected by a vast atrium. 'I should have come from the first floor,' he thought.

In the center of the room, lying on the first floor, was a small yellowish caravel. Fernand watched from the third-story parapet at the open sails with the symbol drawn: a circled A, the symbol of Arkadia. He turned right and went to the winding stairs that connected the floors. He began to descend hurriedly, hoping that his plan would work out.

Fernand had already visited the museum several times and had always been passionate about Musical Wars, particularly the Soaring Caravels. The Caravel at the center of the room was open to visitors, and Fernand had entered it in two moments in his life. That day would be the third. He climbed up an access ramp, and as soon as he entered the entirely wood-built structure, he waved with both arms, shifting the access ramp and disconnecting it from the caravel. Fernand then ran to a small room at the stern of the Caravel. Entering the Capitan's Cabin, Fernand quickly located a wooden structure in the center of the cabin. He had read several times how to activate and control a Soaring Caravel. It had been part of his training not only to understand how past strategies were effective but also their tools.

The wooden structure was a simple cross, nailed to the floor of the cabin. Fernand touched the tiller in a cross shape, hoping that Caravel was really functional. He closed his eyes and concentrated intensely. For a moment, he felt as if he were in an elevator going up. He realized that the caravel had risen from the ground and was floating in the middle of the room. He took one side of the cross in his left hand and turned it forty-five degrees.