LUCEM
Chapter VII

The twilight of the night, the atmosphere of Ahem city square looks a little more lively than some time before.

“Marbi, is this the time?”

“In the meantime, Mars.” replied Marbella.

“I'll take a walk for a while, you don't do anything that will catch people's attention.” Marbella walked with her four legs away towards the crowd.

I looked around, trying to enjoy the atmosphere of the city square that was starting to get crowded. By accident my gaze was focused on a large motorized train that was running slowly through the city hall building with minimal speed. The train was making traffic stop. So that triggers a series of klazo sounds. Somewhat striking, a large train of faded black color as high as three meters equipped with sliding doors painted gray mixed with dark red.

I became curious, who was the driver who was driving it slowly, maybe looking for an address? If you have met, where will the driver park the big train? Suddenly my eyes fell on the plaque attached to the big car and woke me up.

Corados. Plaque vehicle of Corado city!

My heart instantly beats at the speed of a small running person. Something is wrong. Just right, I thought. Corado's big vehicle in Ahem's town square, tonight? This is not something ordinary.

Supervisors will not come to us in combat vehicles in the form of this big black train. The supervisors should be professionals, right?

“Marbi, where's Marbi?” my vision was exploring looking for Marbella's whereabouts. I need to find him right away.

This road has a two-way route. The train is heading west. I just need to run east towards the river, then turn a few times, so that the train won't catch up. But then I'll never know if we're the object of someone's observation. I don't like it when I don't know something. So I decided to run west, hastening to Marbella who looks cool crowded watching the card show.

“Marbi, we have to move.” I held Marbella by surprise.

“What's up?”

“I don't know for sure, but I think we're being followed.” I replied while speeding up the pace. I deliberately did not run fast so that the train did not have trouble following among the crowded vehicles.

Sure enough, the carriage slid from its position and trailed. I started to speed up and run, partly to know the reaction of the train, partly to warm up, tonight's temperature dropped so cold. Now the carriage was about a hundred feet away, caught between a row of small trains.

“Are we victims of betrayal from a plan?” groused Marbella.

“I don't know, but the possibility is there.” My heart and continue to increase the speed of running towards the one-way road ahead there.

I broke through the intersection, the train stopped short of distance and probably noticed my direction of movement. When I looked I could see at least three people in the front seat of the train. Down the side of the road that was a little quiet I decided to cross back, and tried to walk as quietly as possible to take the opposite direction to the train.

The more clearly the face of the stalker. The driver of his carriage was older, he had rather long hair and a bushy beard the color of fireplace ash. His plump face and protruding shoulders showed the man to be heavy. The man beside her looked younger, with a medium stature. And another was standing, a man with a thin tall body, his eyes widened, silently looking at me. I insisted on refusing to make eye contact, as if I was sure it had not been discovered. I continued walking, accelerating the pace back towards the square.

“Marbi, something is not right.”

“Yes, very visible.” Marbella said.

“So, what do you think?” my tukas.

“How is what? We do as he wants.” Marbella grins.

“Marbi, I want an explanation for the change of plan if it exists.”

“Take me to the quieter side, I will explain quickly.” pinta Marbella.

“Good. The train cannot turn immediately, we have enough time.” I'm speeding up the pace.

*****

“Never go to the Dark Forest, my friend,”. “There are bad things there.” From the outermost side of Ahem city, far below Marbella's claws, the rats crept through the ground along the lower lane of Ahem city. Old towns are like that. People build below and above. The basement clashed with other basements, and some of the basements were forgotten - except by creatures who wanted to remain invisible.

In the dense, warm, damp darkness, a voice said, “Alright, who has a lighter?”

“I,” Jae.

“Good, young rat. And who has candles?”

“I, Sir. I'm Jimmy.”

“Good. Put it down and Mars will turn it on.” James's voice echoed.

There was a scratching sound, and then a match lit up. While holding a match, I lit a fire on the candle stub. The flame swelled for a moment and settled into a stable light.

“It's good, all be visible.” James smiled with satisfaction.

“Yes, thank you, humans don't get blessings as well as you do in the dark.”.

“Can you really see it?” jisu approached James.

“Ya, Sir,” Reply James. “I'm not completely blind. I can tell the difference between light and dark.” he said with a face made a little haughty.

“You know,”said Jiso observed the flame suspiciously, “I don't like it at all. The darkness was good enough for us. It'll end up with a problem. In addition, burning candles is a waste of very good food.” Jiso continued while looking at the burning candles.

"We need to be able to control the fire, sir" James said calmly.

"Hruh," Jiso grumbled, which was his usual response when he did not understand what had just been said. He has been having a lot of disturbances recently.

"I've heard younger rats say that shadows are scary to them" I said.

“Why?” Jiso raised his head to look at me. “They are not afraid of total darkness, are they? Being in the dark is the core of a rat!”

"Sane," I said.

"we don't know the shadow is there until we get the light." One of the younger mice let out a voice as it stepped over to Jiso. “Um .. and even when the light goes out, we know the shadows are still there.

Jiso turned towards the young rat. “You-?”

“Jimmy, Sir!” said the younger mouse.

“Well, Jimmy,” James interjected in a friendly voice, “fear at shadows is part of the way we all become smarter, in my opinion. Our mind is thinking that there is us, and also everything outside of us. So now we are not only afraid of the things we can see and hear and smell, but also of the things we can. Learning to face the shadow on the outside helps us fight the shadow on the inside. And we can control all the darkness. It's progress. It's been done well.”

Jimmy looked a little proud, but was mostly nervous about getting a response from the group's lead rat, James.

"I don't understand the point myself" Jiso said. “We used to do everything right in the landfill. I never fear anything.” His word.

"We fell prey to every stray cat and hungry dog, sir," said Jimmy.

“Oh, well, if we're going to talk about cats,”geram Jiso.

"I think we can trust Marbella" James said.

“Maybe not in terms of money, I admit. But he's very good at not eating the talking, you know. He makes sure of that, every time.” James smiled.

“You can trust a cat to be a cat,” said Jiso cynically. “Speaking or not!”

“Ya sir. But we are different, and so is he. I believe he is a kind cat.” James said.

“Hmm.... It remains to be seen,” between me teasing the two rats that it is difficult to agree with each other. I find it funny that rats sometimes forget that Marbella is a human being. Maybe because his grin was too convincing as a cat.

"But now that we're here, let's sort out what's already been the plan"! My speech

“Do as he commands.” Jiso's voice becomes loud and cold.

“Ya, Sir,” the rumbling sound of the group echoed.

“Prepare,” murmur. And he walked into the shadows.

I looked around the basement, which was filled with trembling shadows created by candlelight. Droplets of water run down one of the crusty walls. Here and there the stones fell, leaving a hole. The ground covered the floor, and there were no human footprints inside.

This is a plan outside of the plan Marbella planned a while ago.

____________________