Chapter 26: Cardboard Boxes

It was now midnight and I headed to the rendezvous point Lumine and I agreed on. When I arrived I saw Lumine and Paimon talking with each other.

“Oh, Hey! Jun we are here!” Paimon said calling out to me

“Shh! Your voice is too loud.”

“Ah, sorry.”

“Are you done with your preparations?”

“Yeah, we're perfect. How about you?”

“I got something that’s perfect when we need to get out.”

“Okay, I checked inside and there were no guards, so we should be able to get inside the basement.”

We all entered the church and went to find the entrance to the basement

“Where is the basement entrance anyway?” Paimon asked

“It’s over here.” I led the two to the bottom of the platform in the center of the church. The ground has a circular hollow area with a few scratch marks. I pushed the side on the wall making it turn revealing a staircase.

“Wow, Paimon never knew the entrance would be here. How did you know Jun?”

“Uh, Amber told me about it. She has a friend who works here and  they talk about a lot of things.”

Lumine looked at me and could tell I was lying but she did not call it out. She must have thought it was not the right moment to question me. We went down a long flight of staircases and when we reached the bottom we were greeted by a gigantic hall. The basement was massive and the ceiling was very high. There were multiple pillars to support the structure. There were many books, tables, and boxes filled with different items ranging from food, water, and other necessities neatly arranged so we could still walk and navigate around. Candles and torches on the walls were our only source of lighting. Some knights were on guard and roaming around looking for intruders while keeping this place safe.  They must also have built this place to be used as a shelter in case there are any calamities with all the items stored in here.

“This place is huge! How are we going to find the lyre with everything here? Not to mention there are many knights roaming around so we won’t have to look at every single place” said Paimon complaining about our current situation

“Don’t worry, look at the end of the hall. There seems to be something on display.”

We all looked to the far end of the hall and we could see an item in the center. It was the holy lyre the item we needed

“Good eyes Jun now we just need to sneak around the guards”

We all crouched down and moved silently between the guards roaming. When we were moving Paimon accidentally hit a box.

“Hmm?”

Lumine and I glared at Paimon for messing and she was getting scared and remorseful of our stares.

“Is anybody there?” The guard called out and slowly approached us

“He’s coming what are we going to do!?” Paimon was panicking as we were about to get caught. I looked around to see if there was anything we could do and I saw a few empty cardboard boxes. Getting inspiration from a certain game franchise I immediately told the other two my idea.

…

The guard was nearly upon us and when he turned the corner her saw nothing out of the ordinary. Just a couple of books and boxes. Seeing nothing was wrong the guard just resumed his patrol

“Must be a rat or something.”

As the guard walked away seeing we were in the clear we took off the cardboard boxes we used to cover ourselves with

“Nice thinking of using these boxes Jun.” Lumine complimented me

“Oh it was nothing, I just got this idea from a certain snake. We should keep using it to blend in and not get caught.”

“But it is so cramped tho,” Paimon complained

“Shut up, you already messed up.”

We continued to move forward using the cardboard boxes avoiding all of the guards. When we were finally close to the end of the hall so we took off our boxes.

“We are almost there, Lumine, quick go grab the lyre.”

Lumine nodded and went to get the lyre but suddenly somebody moved fast and took the lyre before Lumine could.

She wore a hood and coat with a purple color. She had a bodysuit that covered her chest and entire legs, slightly revealing her stomach. She wore a purple mask and an accessory on her chest generating electro energy. I recognized her as she is one of the many enemies you can find in the game, a Fatui Electro Cicin Mage.

‘So she is her just like in the game to steal the lyre before us.’ I thought

“Who're you!?” Paimon said

She gave us a hush gesture taunting us. Lumine tried to grab her but the Cicin Mage teleported with a purple flash leaving us alone in the empty room.

“She... disappeared!?” Paimon said in disbelief

“Freeze! What are you doing here!?” A guard spotted us and tried to capture us

“Oh no! Run!” Paimon said urgently

I gave a right hook to the guard's face knocking him out instantly

“Sorry!”

We three ran out of the room heading to the staircase. Unfortunately, the rest of the guards heard or commotion and currently surrounding us

“You three! Stop right there! What are you doing here, this is a restricted area!”

“Wait, I don’t see the lyre. They must have gotten it. Thieves! Where did you take the lyre!”

“We are surrounded!” Paimon was panicking

“We’re done for!”

The guards are slowly coming toward us and we also stepped back. I wonder how are we going to get out of this mess…