When they arrived, August realised he had never seen a lighthouse before, let alone knew how big they were. And this one was massive, towering high up into the sky and easily visible from the distance. He woke up, and sat on the deck with Dare and Catriona in silence as they watched the lighthouse grow bigger and bigger in the horizon. was easily more than forty metres tall, and was painted red and white. It looked larger than any other lighthouse August had ever seen. The island itself was quite beautiful - it was not very large, and any buildings that it may have were concealed by the thick growth of trees circling it.
Dex seemed relieved to have finally arrived. He sighed in contentment and spread his arms up to the open sky the moment they set foot on the shore. August saw Catriona roll her eyes.
"Welcome home, August!" Dex told him. "The only downside to being here is that we have to cook our own food."
Dex certainly looked at home here, the sunlight making it appear as though his messy white hair was glowing and his brown eyes honey-coloured in the direct light.
August was to be given a very detailed and slow tour of the whole island. Dare and Catriona both rushed to let Dex do this, who was too excited about it to realise he had been assigned a chore. He was all smiles, grinning from ear-to-ear as he ran around like an excited child.
"Come, I want to show you my workshop first." Dex said, beckoning August to follow. August was overtaken by curiosity as they followed a narrow, sandy path that had been worn into the dense overgrowth of trees by repeated steps. The sand here was scorching and it wasn't possible for them to walk without shoes. The trees and shrubs around them provided a cool shade from the scorching sun above them. After a few minutes of walking, they reached a small clearing. Dex stopped suddenly, smiling.
"We're here." He said, simply.
August wondered for a moment if Dex had gone crazy, or if he was trying to mess with him. Before he could say anything, Dex kneeled down and began sweeping away dead leaves with his hands. Eventually, a large metal trapdoor became visible. Dex opened a small hatch on the door in which he entered a code, and scanned his hand. He opened the door slowly, revealing a metal ladder descending into the earth.
August followed closely after him, wondering what sort of dark, dingy place he was being taken to. He had the strong urge to grab his knife just to be safe - none of his experiences in basements had been pleasant. They walked along a small tunnel for a moment until they reached a steel door. Dex entered another code, and the door slid back slowly.
Dex flipped a switch on, and to August's surprise, the room was large, spacious and well-lit. Everything looked tidy and clean, and the whole place seemed to double as some sort of a bunker. There were tools carefully organised and hanging on the wall, a large screen displaying three-dimensional blueprints and mesh outlines of strange objects that August could not recognise, but what was most impressive was the thing in the middle of the room.
"What on Earth is that?" August couldn't help but ask. It looked like some sort of a vehicle, except that it had no wheels. It had wings, but it was not shaped like any air-craft August had seen. It was a metallic-grey, and when August looked closely at it he could see small, shiny specks of colour embedded into the surface. It was almost absurdly large, but was clearly made using some incredibly advanced technology.
"That, my dear August, is my pride and joy." Dex said, gently placing a hand on it's side. "This is my baby. I've been working on her for years."
"But what is it?" August asked again, his curiosity getting the better of him.
Dex looked annoyed for a brief moment, but the delight at having the opportunity to talk about his creation soon made him forget that. "It's an airship which can also double as a submersible - an underwater vessel. I built her completely from scratch, and I've been working on it since I first got here. This is just a prototype of course, but if it works, Locusta will have an incredibly powerful weapon in their arsenal." He paused. "But of course it will work."
"What makes you so sure?" August asked.
"I made it." Dex said simply, as if it should be obvious.
Dex went to check on something on his screen, and August looked around the room more. There was a work bench covered in odd little metal creations, weapons like guns, and other bits and pieces of various electronic devices. August knew without even asking that Dex had created each and every one of these. He picked up one of the guns, almost staggering at its weight. Despite its small size and sleek design, it was incredibly heavy.
"Woah, careful." Dex came up behind him. "You're lucky there's no ammo in there."
August carefully set the gun back down. As he looked at it, he noticed there were some intricate patterns of vines and flowers etched into the metal body of the gun. Dex noticed August looking, and said, "It's a special gift I'm making for Dare. It was an idea that she just mentioned casually once, but I thought it sounded cool."
"You know how Dare is a healer?" Dex asked, and August nodded. "Well, her abilities don't end there. She has a limited amount of control over any living thing - but mostly plants. As in, she can speed up their growth. Her idea was this - if we could somehow find a way to incorporate a living plant inside a bullet, once it became embedded in someone's body, she could speed up the growth of the plant - basically just instantly killing them and using their body as plant food. The problem is, not a lot of plants can live that long inside a bullet, or even stay dormant as a seed. And the process of the bullet being shot from the gun would probably kill the plant anyway - it can't survive such high heat and pressure."
August was momentarily in awe and couldn't think of what to say - it was certainly a very original way to kill someone. He felt his respect for Dare grow immensely as he began to understand what a "limited amount of control over living things" meant. She could probably just kill him on the spot. August just nodded along, waiting for Dex to continue.
"We're trying to design a special type of bullet to go with it, with a gel-casing around the seed so that it can withstand the pressure. We've also considered using a dart gun but that's less cool than this." Dex kept explaining, not noticing August's mix of awe and fear. "If you want any sort of special weapon made, just say the word."
August slowly shook his head. "I don't think I will need that."
Dex scoffed. "You overestimate yourself." He said, but didn't argue any further.
Dex allowed August to look around for a few more minutes and happily explained what the objects and tools did. He moved to a different door than the one they had entered from, and waited for August to follow. August slowly began forming a mental map of what the island looked like. There were various storage units and bunkers underground, connected by a network of tunnels. It was all arranged and planned with a military-precision and strategy, taking into consideration how to keep the island's occupants safe if there was ever a breach in their security. There were only two buildings above ground - the lighthouse itself, and the main building in the centre of the island.
They reached the main building through the tunnel from Dex's workshop. They climbed up from the ladder, once again into a clearing, albeit a much larger one than before. The building before them was large and had multiple storeys, and had some sort of a glass dome at the top. They entered without the use of any password or code, into a well-lit and almost eerily-clean hall. There was a small lift which took them to the top floor.
When they reached the top, August found that it was a greenhouse of sorts. There were a wide variety of potted plants filling the room, some growing upwards, some hanging from above. There were colours and shapes of plants that August had never seen before in his life, or had even known existed. In the midst of it all, a small figure moved around, humming quietly.
"Hi," Dex said, peering over the top of some plants.
"Hello." Dare responded. "Hi, August. How's the tour going?"
She slowly made her way around the large plants to face them. August felt his heart beat a little faster in fear. What Dex had told him about the gun had instilled a sense of fear. But it wasn't just that - he felt a strange, overwhelming sensation in his stomach upon seeing her.
"It's going great!" Dex replied.
Dare looked at August carefully.
"Are you feeling well?" Dare asked, mildly concerned.
"Yes." August said curtly, not bothering to explain himself. His face felt warmer than it had a moment ago, but he did not want to push the topic any further. To his annoyance, he saw that Dex was giving him a knowing grin.
"Let me show you around a bit." Dare said. She showed them her workspace with the plants - which she used to create serums and medicines, and occasionally poisons as well. On a different floor was her laboratory, where she had small samples of her plants and other organic matter kept in glass tubes. She also had a screen much like the one Dex had, except it showed information about her many plants. Dare explained that she used it to keep track of their health information as well.
"This island was used in the war as a base." Dare explained. "Its main purpose was just for the wounded to rest here and recuperate, so it's built more for defence and medical assistance than attacking. Of course, it's been centuries since then - Locusta has kept this place up-to-date with technology and regular repairs and modifications."
August pondered this carefully. "How did it get turned into a base ofr Locusta then?"
"It was abandoned." Dex shrugged. "We just took it."
Locusta was a bit questionable in this regard - and many other regards. August wondered where they even got their funding.
"Well, it's been nice talking to you." Dex said to Dare, grabbing August's arm and slowly backing away towards the exit. "We have a tour to finish."
Dare smiled. "See you!"