After just entering the building, they had an.. Underwhelming welcome. They had traveled far to the northern regions just so they could complete this one expedition.
They felt bored; They had high expectations of this mission, yet those anticipations never came true.
Rocky's Home or theater wasn't large, but you wouldn't exactly call it small either. They were currently behind the stage, rows of wooden planks and props lined up in order, yet there were no staff.
As if it were deserted, Rocky revealed himself to the theater—Only to be met with pure silence. The spotlight immediately tracked the moment he entered. His footsteps echoed through the quiet hall.
The division members followed his track to the stage and only saw rows of empty seats. Rocky turned back to see his guest as if remembering he had just had them.
It wasn't the most... cleanest sight; some seats were beaten up, some didn't look like they even worked anymore. While other sections looked missing—Like chairs, and even holes in the walls.
There were some parts of the theater that had individual lighting, but most of them were mostly broken. Flickering both on and off as if they were in a horror film.
Parts of the curtains were stained with a brown hue, but if there was something that was at least good. It was the smell, despite its looks; it had a similar smell to what a theater should have.
It wasn't sweet, but learns more about when you would enter your workplace, it doesn't smell anything, but it has this faint scent that you could immediately notice that you're on one.
"Oh, right." He said before clapping his hands twice, the lights no longer projected light on him.
"How did he do that?"
Isaac whispered with astonishment, trying to get a whisper.
"What!? You were impressed by that? Do I have to remind you that we had to fight Skavilens in a storm, 'Skavilens', more than one!"
Leo's expression screamed with disbelief. They had fought together, sailed through the skies. They hadn't accomplished much together, but it was still infinitely better than what astonished him.
Their whispers weren't quiet; instead, they were loud, echoing through the stage. Almost everyone could hear them chatter about their nonsense. Though they barely paid any mind to it.
Rocky himself found it quite refreshing; it wasn't every day that he heard people talking in his own theater. He even acknowledged it to some extent.
"Oh, you guys don't need to follow me. I'm just going to close the theater real quick."
Haruo nodded his head before discontinuing. After Haruo confirmed, Ena let out an exaggerated sigh and took a seat in one of the chairs. As she got comfortable, though, the seat suddenly fell as if the lock on it didn't work.
Isaac and Leo did their own thing and viewed their surroundings, while Tatiana sat next to her lounging brother. Haruo quietly observed Rocky from afar.
"When are we going to get food? We haven't even eaten lunch yet."
Ena said, whilst she lay flat on the seat, her long hair cascaded as she looked at Haruo upward. She sat up in the seat and relocated herself to another one with a less broken lock.
"I agree, I'm getting hungry."
Theodor agreed to her suggestion, nodding along while he had his back flat on the floor of the stage to the Idea; accidentally hitting his head on the ground as he did.
He patted his crown gently to ease the pain a bit. Tatiana scoffed at him before making a comment of her own:
"You're hungry all the time; what are you on about?"
Ena then summoned both of her blades and took a glance at them. Isaac noticed how the blades appeared out of thin air. He hadn't realized it till now that she doesn't keep them visible and only lets them materialize.
"Didn't you say you're not a master yet? How are you doing that?"
"It's a skill I learned from my dad once. I could conceal any large weapon by dematerializing it into mana."
She pressed gently on the side, looking for any rough edges.
"Something like a mana storage, but there are some limits to it. Like I can't hide anything below eight inches like my small knives. So I just hide them on my clothes. And that I could only do two or one at a time."
Ena kept trailing down the blade until she felt a slight bump; her eyes contracted with focus, with her face just inches apart from it.
"Haru, give me some ice, made it really compact as well."
Ena said with her hand spread toward Haruo, gesturing for him to make her some immediately.
"What, no, if you're going to sharpen, then get a stone. You know, I have the worst stamina out of all of you, and you want me to use it?" Haruo refused her demand.
"If I did that, the rocks would be split in half before they could even touch it. There aren't even rocks here!"
"Just make your own out of blood, I know this isn't your first time turning blood into a solid."
"Blood has a ton of sodium in it! If I did, it would rust faster!"
"Then just take out the sodium. Besides, you're sharpening the emperor blades; It's a high-grade weapon that Kilian gave, I doubt it'll even rust."
"What's taking Rocky so long anyway!? His been talking with that stranger for almost ten minutes now!"
Ever since Rocky had left to close the shop, they carefully observed. They could have used their eyes to gaze at him, but they didn't. Why? Cause they didn't have to.
They could follow his movements carefully, even without looking. Though they were relaxing in their own ways, none of them truly let their guard down and continued to silently observe.
The only problem was, they couldn't hear him. They should be able to hear what they were talking about, yet they couldn't, as if something had blocked it.
Most of them couldn't hold their curiosity any longer and set their gaze through the window. They saw a tall man who looked to be as tall as Leo and had broad shoulders.
They couldn't see his build clearly since it was hidden in a dark cloak with features covered by the hood. Not even seconds after observing the man in the cloak, he redirected his gaze toward them.
Meeting their eyes carefully with sharp eyes that matched a cat. His purple eyes shot through the cloak and emitted a faint glow. He walked away, blending himself with the crowd.
"Were you able to study his anatomy? Or features at least?"
Haruo asked, but only when he saw Ena's expression did he realize that he was someone not even Ena could study.
"I couldn't read anything at all. Everything was getting mixed up, proportions didn't match, and his biology as well. Even when I already knew he was as tall as Leo, it was still confusing whether he was short or not."
After the cloaked man left, Rocky went inside and closed the theater as he entered. Though he couldn't see them looking, he felt as if they were watching and quietly observing.
He smiled awkwardly, carefully studying each member until he reached Haruo.
"Sorry, did that take a while? I had to do something... Well, let's go to my office first."
***
After following Rocky through his Theater, they realized just how big his studio was. They had just gone up the stairs, reaching the second floor. Some doors were creaking open, and inside was nothing but a mess.
"This place looks abandoned. You should tidy things up a bit."
Leo suggested, his hair got caught by a spiderweb. With his fingers, he hurried to remove the silk.
"What made you want to become a magician in the first place? They're getting out of trend recently."
Rocky's eyes flared with excitement.
"Well, you know Zen? I've been a great fan of his since I was still a little kid. My parent once took me to one of his shows, and there I got inspired."
"Who's zen?" Haruo asked.
The division—Even Rocky was stunned hearing his words. Haruo, who knew more than the division generally didn't know who Zen was. Seeing Haruo clueless was a rare sight—Not to mention Zen was an intergalactic star.
"Have you lived in isolation since you were a child!? Zen is a performer and magician who everyone knows! He is so popular that when the next show is announced, people would line up for days for a ticket, months, even!"
Leo explained with ferocity.
"He was fun to watch in person. Even our parents loved it, and reserved another spot for the next show." Tatiana added.
"I remember my dad surprising me with a ticket on my birthday." Ena followed
Rocky smiled and nodded along with their statements. He felt a slight sense of nostalgia running through him. He pinched the brim of his hat as a way to treasure that memory.
"When I met him in person, I once called him a clown because I thought they were the same thing. I remember him laughing before he told me:"
"A clown makes a fool of himself to entertain others, while a magician makes a fool of others and uses it for entertainment."
They had finally reached the room; he had picked the room that was the farthest from the rest.
All the way at the end of the hallway, while some doors have no design, it had one. And some had no knob, but it had one.
Rockey held the knob and turned it gently, opening the door to see a spacious room, which made the other room look actually abandoned in comparison. It was tidy and organized neatly from one end to another.
It had everything an office should have: shelves filled with books, a desk that occupied the middle of the room, and a clean window that let rays of sunshine in. They had welcomed themselves in while Rocky took a book from one of the shelves.
"Honestly, I thought this room would've been a mess, seeing how chaotic the rest of the building is."
Tatiana's eyes were darting from one corner to another, trying to confirm whether this room was actually tidy.
"I don't blame you; Actually, I cleaned this place up before you guys came. Guests just like you kept entering, and one even made remarks on how much my office was a laboratory. So I figured I had to clean up my mess."
He pulled his chair back, allowing himself to sit down for once. He placed his hands on the desk before he looked at the division as a whole.
"So you're trying to find Diony flowers, correct? Recently, the whole city has discontinued the selling of Diony flowers and causing a lot of controversy among the community."
The division then found themselves sitting on one of the couches while the other two remained standing.
Theodor, on the other hand, was lying down hogging one couch as a whole. Leo and Haruo were the most attentive in the division.
"Since you know, Dioney flowers are the ones that cure manifestation failure—Both mana and ability alike. Some believe that the government has turned corrupt and is applying pressure to the prices of the flowers when it restocks. While others think that the government is hiding something."
"But we couldn't really disobey the king. So whatever we thought was pointless, at the end of the day, we still aren't receiving any of it. But luckily I have one, but it'll cost you."
"What do you want? We can get you any price as long as it doesn't exceed our lives and what we currently have."
Rocky smiled upon the request.
"I need your help wit—"
A large explosion was heard through the window and made the building suddenly unstable. The glass that illuminated the light shattered into pieces, and many more were heard outside.
Smoke filled the street with multiple civilians getting killed, and blood splattering on the streets.
Screams of civilians echoed through the entertainment section, and loud sirens began to echo in the section.
Fire broke out in the theater and was slowly spreading to the office.
By now, the theater and its entirety were burning; the division prepared itself while Rocky hid himself under the table he covering his ears. Sweat dripped from his face as he felt the heat.
Speakers of the sirens then buzzed through the section.
"Intruder! All civilians immediately evacuate the area and find shelter. Reinforcements will be arriving soon. If you can't run, hide! Terrorist.."
The speakers were getting lower and lower until no one could understand it said anymore.
But they had gained enough information to know what was happening.
The division swiftly equipped their weapons, all of them coordinated what they needed to do, and who was in charge of a specific task.
Isaac grabbed Rocky and carried him to the side. Smoke steadily seeped its way through the door.
All looked at each other before nodding. Haruo jumped on the window before jumping out of the office.