Editing City Series:Volume6e Chapter2 (section)

===Part 2===

Hazel stood below the darkening sky.

She wore a rain poncho over her head and stood motionless on the mountain road running through the forest.

She held Rein König wrapped in a white cloth under her arm. She only wore a backpack on her back.

She could hear the raindrops hitting the poncho.

She shifted just her eyes to view Rein König while listening to the wet pitter-patter.

“I knew this would be a challenge, but the backpack is kind of heavy too.”

…''Maybe Eryngium packed a bit too much in that lunch she gave me.

“But I can’t worry about that now. I need to get to the Essen railroad.”

She tensed her eyebrows and focused on her ears to listen to the rain.

A single stray thought about tonight intruded on her focus.

…''Will the world end tonight?

If they stopped the Wheel of Destiny, the world would change at 4:42 AM.

She had been worrying over that ever since leaving Borderson.

“I can blame that on the peace I found in the Village of Pardons.”

She told herself those things would simply change, not be lost, and she shook her head.

She focused again, concentrating on clearing her hearing. She heard something other than the rain mixed in with all the noise.

She heard creaking metal from the forest to her left. That was the sound of a railroad shaking below a train.

She nearly ran toward the rhythmic sound of steel.

“…”

But she stopped. She heard a whistle through the trees, but she bit her lower lip and let it go.

She had heard something other than the train. Something she couldn’t afford to ignore.

…''Footsteps carrying killer intent.

She heard the whistle fading into the distance as she shut her eyes and moved her mouth.

“Why not come out? Isn’t it cold in the forest?”

She directed her question toward the entire forest and rain, but someone did respond.

A slender woman stepped out from the forest on the left with her hands in her coat pockets.

Hazel recognized her silhouette.

…''She’s the one who shot me at Borderson.

The woman spied on that thought and responded to it.

“Yes, and I don’t know how you managed to survive that. Not that it matters.”

Hazel prepared to fight.

“You can read Tons?”

“You can tell? I am Geheimnis Agency Naval Division Chief ‘Wasser Meister’ Lillie Telmetz. I am the descendant of second-rate nobility that served under Borderson and Karlsruhe by making wine for the imperial family. …I am also a Stimmer.”

Hazel looked to her face.

Her faintly wrinkled face was not at all wet from the rain.

Hazel looked up to find the rain split above Lillie’s head and flowed to either side.

“It’s not an unusual technique. It’s just another form of Tuning.”

Lillie pulled her right hand from her coat pocket and Hazel knew what the ring on her right middle finger had to be.

“A Werkzeug.”

She gulped.

…''She’s only using a Werkzeug? She isn’t using an Up and she isn’t even transforming the rain into something else.

“Yes, unlike the highly formalized Tuning and Busting your Allies use, German Tuning and Busting is all about releasing your own will in its purest form. Using a formalized Up makes it a lot easier and ensures anyone can learn how, but there are other, more powerful, methods.”

Lillie raised her right hand.

A dove alighted on her hand. A dove made from rainwater.

She stroked the dove’s wings just once and then released it back into the sky.

“I was ordered to capture you alive…but there are many in our ranks who disagree with that decision.”

“Like you?”

“Yes, unfortunately. This is our last chance to see whether or not the Messiah will be lost.”

Lillie stopped speaking there.

She pulled her left hand from her coat pocket and raised it in front of her eyes. She viewed the military wristwatch she wore there.

“Look behind you.”

Hazel did not comply. She kept her eyes on Lillie.

Then she heard a deep sound like a thunderclap behind her.

“Eh?”

It sounded like the sky was shaking and a massive throat was gulping.

Hazel reflexively turned toward the noise.

She looked west toward the Borderson Village of Pardons.

Past the forest, the village was about two hours away by foot.

A single color was rising into the gray sky from there.

That color was black.

The black of smoke. A single line of smoke rose slowly but thickly into the rainy sky.

…''There has to be a considerable fire to produce that much smoke.

“It can’t be!?”

“Yes, it can. You are watching the ultimate fate of the Borderson village.”

Panicking, Hazel turned back toward Lillie.

“Why? The Village of Pardons was the only place in Germany where Heidengeists could live!”

“That was no more than a verbal promise. Just like in ’35, the government and military need a scapegoat for the people’s frustrations. Burning down a city of Heidengeists who support the Allies sounds like a good decision to me.”

Hazel heard another thunderclap-like sound behind her.

The deep boom reverberated through her and sweat poured from her body.

Then she heard new noises joining the falling rain and distant explosion. They came from the road ahead of and behind her.

She heard the rumbling of engines through the rain.

She soon realized what was causing it: armored trucks.

Their large silhouettes came into view down the mountain road behind Lillie.

The same had to be coming from behind her.

She saw them switch on their headlights. Lillie’s silhouette was outlined in the rain, showing she was faintly smiling.

The smile splitting her face asked a question of Hazel.

“Now, how about we hurry this up?”