After leaving Chris to continue his duty, Gretel set off to find the cove he mentioned. Following the direction of the giant exit sign led her to a long white corridor. A corridor wasn't good enough, a tunnel was more suitable. She gardually walked outside the building block she was in, it looked like a laboratory from outside.

The hunter had explained that the place she woke up was called pod room, they took turns to monitor if there were newbies awakened from their sleeps. The whole concept made Gretel a bit uneasy, when her mind linked to those crazy experiments in the games she played. She examined her arms, wondered the possibilities they had done anything to her body when she was asleep. A while later she found no results and that worried her.

Sorry to say that but she didn't trust Chris completely as a stranger. Gretel was skeptical to almost everything anyway. Even they told her Deus was an organization to fight against hostile creature from another world for the sake of human well beings. A sentiment weapon would be as dangerous - more dangerous than a wild beast, if they couldn't get along, it would be a big problem for both parties.

Not awared which way she was heading towards, Gretel came to a pause when there was no path. Instead, it was a pit-black hole which seemed bottomless from outside. She took one step forward steadily but couldn't make out anything except a descending staircases. The pathway was really narrow, enough for only one person to pass through each time.

It seemed to be the path she should follow but the unknown made her hesistated. Gretel didn't fear the darkness yet it's human nature to become uneasy when visibility was that low. She analyzed the pros and cons based on what she already knew. In the cove, there would be a weapon waiting for her, and hunter can't fight without said weapon. If Chris didn't warn her about anything, either he was too careless or it's not dangerous at all. Gretel evaluated the probability of both and decided to trust Chris for once. The man didn't look like someone mischievous and she also trusted her judgement.

Decision made, she swiftly moved, taking the stairs down wherever she would reach. The step was precise, probed around. It was uneventful, so she made another step down. There were no handles so she pressed against the stone-like wall. Having her nerves stretched out, the walk seemed eternal. The atmosphere was cool but she was sweating. Beads formed on her bare forehead and the inner clothes were soaked with liquor, trickling down her back.

Gretel didn't enjoy the unknown much, so the longer the staircases, the deeper her eyebrows knitted together. "Awful." Her voice echoed in the confined corridor leading her down, down and down. The trainee was mentally tired, in a happenstance, her next step met no more stair. Almost dazed, she finally reached the ground.

The Cove.

The place was dimmly lit, illuminated barely by the small glows from the runes craved on the stone tablets. Now what? Might be she had watched too much animes or played too many MMORPG type games, when there wasn't something awaited her, she became puzzled. No voice and nothing, just silence and loads of tablets secured over one side of the walls.

She walked around, examining details and possible puzzles. She found nothing, the tablets didn't react or there was any change when she touched one of them. They felt like - objects, cold and smooth for the surfaces. Gretel thought she had made a big mistake, she shall ask for more details about how to......see - meet the sentiment existence.

<. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . >

Gretel immediately turned back in reaction, still nothing had appeared or she spotted any visible changes of the surroundings.

When she rubbed another tablet, the voice spoke again. To say that it speaks was inaccurate, there were no words. Besides playing games, Gretel had a secret hobby of watching national geography programs. So hearing the strange high-frequency sound, she already had some clues in mind.

First, the sound didn't echoe when it should in such a spacious room. It meant one thing, it wasn't originated from the surroundings but somewhere else. Second, the sound resembled voices of some animals. It was audible to her ears, so the possibility of ultrasound can be eliminated, lefting dolphins, whales, porpoise, to name a few.

In order to continue the "conversation", she took the initative. "What-are you? Are you the one calling me?" The feedback was another high-pitch noise, this time lasted longer. Even she knew it was impossible to track the source of it, she could feel she had moved closer to her target. It was a sensation in her mind, something pervailing and out of her control. What had they done to me? The whole thing was very unsettling.

"Where're you?" She asked for more tips. Gretel felt like the voice was guiding her a direction, of something. The voice could be heard once again and differently, it didn't stop. She could distinguish it was like a language with different tones and up-and-down. Beckoned, she stopped in front of the far end of the wall. Her hand raised without her notice as if it was as nature as breathing. Gretel didn't realize herself was in a trance-like state, her hand hovered and moved between tablets.

<Here. I'm waiting for you.>

The adult voice was cold, like jumping into a pool filled with ices. However, it was not piercing but solid like a double bass. Gretel found her hand stopped on one stone tablet, the cold runes seemed to be blinking. She pinched it out from the slot, feeling it was the right thing to do.

Couldn't believe what was happening, the trainee gasped at the sight. A strange glow lit up and the stone tablet in her palm felt like emanating water from itself. Just a few seconds, the thing in her hand switched. On her hold was a gun-like object, the weight change was too different to ignore.

<I pick you and we're partner from this moment onwards.> Now, Gretel understood where the voice came from, it was from her own mind. Being a normal human for twenty years, it was difficult to accept supernatural stuff like that in such a short time. However her face didn't show a bit of her true feeling at all. "Nice to meet you, my name is Gretel."

<-------------------------------->

Her partner seemed to respond by telling her their name yet it was undecipherable in English. Thus she made a suggestion. "How about Blackout?" It was when things clicked and she distinguished that was the sound killer whales would make.

<Acceptable.>

After a long while of silent, her partner said in a plain tone. It seemed that they didn't love to speak that much and they made concessions for better communication. She touched the body of the weapon gently as if offering a person a small smile.

Gretel felt like they had a long way to go together but the blue glows from the weapon steaded her heart much.