Location: Myriad Realms, Lil. Red Storm realm
"Where's Ned? Did something happen to him? He'd never let you do something this reckless," Wyatt asked, narrowing his eyes. He knew Ned was the real brains behind the Freedom Fighters, while Henricks served more as their figurehead.
"Ned is missing. We haven't been able to reach him," Henricks admitted, his face darkening with worry. His shoulders slumped as he added, "It's been two days since he disappeared. It's like he just vanished off the face of Yellow Plains." Henricks hesitated for a moment before continuing, his tone lower, "Honestly, most of the department leaders think Luna might be behind it, but none of us have the evidence to confront her."
Wyatt's expression grew grim upon hearing that. The weight of Ned's absence
suddenly made everything click into place. It explained why Henricks and the Freedom Fighters had been so quick to bow to the Southern Princess's extra demands without much forethought.
Henricks might have been clever, but he wasn't on the same level as the Southern Princess. Only Ned could guide them through a situation . Without him, Wyatt realized, the Freedom Fighters had no anchor, no glue to hold them together.
"What did Luna have to say for herself?" Wyatt asked, leaning forward slightly, his eyes narrowing as he tried to piece together if the Southern Princess was behind Ned's disappearance.
At the same time, he couldn't help but feel a flicker of satisfaction at Luna's current predicament. Betraying her family and homeland for these people and their cause had landed her here-surrounded by suspicion. Once a traitor, always a traitor.
"Nothing," Henricks replied with a weary shake of his head. "But she did modify the dungeon relocation apparatus to help us seal and unseal all the reverse dungeons connected to the Yellow Plains at will. It's bought us some time to search for Ned and the Southern Princess before the World Leaders figure out how to bypass the seals on the reverse dungeons.
Thanks to the list of compromised reverse dungeons you gave us, we've already decommissioned all the other branches. We moved our members and their families to the Yellow Plains to keep them safe with a few casualties. But now, the entire Freedom Fighters organization is stuck there." Henricks's voice grew heavier as he revealed their current dire situation. What was once their safe haven had now become their prison.
Wyatt frowned, crossing his arms as he processed Henricks's explanation. "Why didn't you migrate the Freedom Fighters to another realm and set up a reverse dungeon there? Instead, you moved them to the Yellow Plains-a place the World Leaders already knew about. You should've done that ages ago. Then you wouldn't be in this mess. Wyatt's tone was sharp, tinged with exasperation, as he gestured emphatically. Even a mouse knew to find a new burrow when its old one was discovered by predators.
The World Leaders had given the Freedom Fighters plenty of time to act. Henricks had his origin card-why hadn't he used it to relocate them? Wyatt's piercing gaze demanded an answer.
Wyatt couldn't help but nod slightly, begrudgingly acknowledging Luna's ingenuity in turning the dungeon relocation apparatus into a dungeon-scaling apparatus. While it wasn't as groundbreaking as his vision of using it to create new gate dungeons, it was innovative and exactly what the Freedom Fighters needed at the moment. Luna had always been resourceful, but she had betrayed him and the South. He couldn't stop himself from wondering what might have been if she had remained loyal.
"No, I can't do that," Henricks admitted, shaking his head with a mix of frustration and resignation. "There's a limit to my origin card-it only allows me to create reverse dungeons connecting the Card World to another realm, or vice versa, but not between two different realms. One end of the reverse dungeon-either the origin or the destination-has to be the Card World.
With the entire five regions being closely monitored by the World Leaders, I haven't been able to find a single place in the Card World where I could safely create a connecting reverse dungeon with the Card World as an intermediate between two realms to help migrate my members to a new realm." Henricks's voice grew tense as he laid bare the constraints of his situation, his hands gesturing as though trying to convey the invisible barriers he faced.
Wyatt's brow furrowed as the pieces began to fall into place. "So the Southern Princess was supposed to provide you with a covert location in the Card World where you could create two reverse dungeons-one linking the Yellow Plains to the Card World and another connecting the Card World to a new realm. Such that you and your members could migrate to a new realm while the world leaders would be stupidly guarding and attacking the reverse gates dungeons to Yellow Plains. Damn, now I see why you're so desperate to find The Southern Princess."
Wyatt paused, exhaling sharply through his nose, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. A flicker of mockery danced in his eyes as he looked at Henricks. "She did you dirty, Henricks," he said, the smirk growing wider as he couldn't help but jab at the latter for choosing the Southern Princess over him.
Henricks's jaw tightened, but he remained silent, clearly the weight of his present. situation left him unable to defend his choice back then.
Wyatt leaned back slightly, folding his arms as he let his words sink in. "But I get it now," he continued, his tone softening just a touch. "You chose her because she was your ticket to migrating the Freedom Fighters out of the Yellow Plains and into a new realm. With her authority in the Southern Region, she could've given you a safe passage to see your migration plan through." Knowing the limits of Henricks' origin card, it finally made sense to Wyatt why Freedom fighters chose the Southern Princess over him on every turn. They were just protecting their interest. Henricks glanced away, his shoulders slumping slightly as if admitting defeat. Wyatt studied him for a moment longer, understanding that his whole organization's survival depended on his origin card. Without a way to bypass the limits of his origin card, they were cornered and because of their situation, they could only watch as it happened.
Henricks let out a heavy sigh, his hand rubbing the back of his neck as he nodded. His brow furrowing deeply, he said, "What does she stand to gain from betraying us? We still have the Silver Beach dungeon and the dungeon relocation apparatus. If we go down, she loses too-she loses the only source of silver milk in the entire Card World and the only dungeon relocation apparatus not owned by Morningstar University." He paused, shaking his head in frustration. "There has to be more to this than what we're seeing. There's something I'm missing-something she's after that I haven't figured out yet," Henricks muttered, his voice laced with both confusion and a hint of desperation.