U N K N O W N X L O C A T I O N
"Arend? Are you all right?"
Arend Schmitz stared blankly at the wall in front of him, refusing to turn around to face the one who had spoken to him. His life was stolen from him since birth, as he was forced into upholding his ancestor's dream of annihilating the Sixty-Nine. His ancestors moved out of Berlin ninety years ago, and now the Schmitzes were secluded in their base, in a place they were not allowed to speak of, dedicated to destroying any descendant of someone who received powers from the radiation of the Nuking ninety-three years ago.
He turned to spare a glance at his assistant - what was his name? Arend couldn't recall. "It's 11:20 CET," he mumbled - his family and those who worked for them were forced to calculate time in CET, the time zone Germany was located in. They were truly obsessed. "I must go. Krista is waiting." Arend's younger sister was significantly more enthusiastic about Winifred Schmitz's legacy than he was.
He walked towards the Main Room numbly - the strawberry blonde was indeed waiting for him, a sadistically ecstatic expression on her face that made Arend's heart clench. "Three minutes," she reminded her brother gleefully.
He nodded.
Arend Schmitz stared blankly at the wall in front of him, refusing to turn around to face the one who had spoken to him. His life was stolen from him since birth, as he was forced into upholding his ancestor's dream of annihilating the Sixty-Nine. His ancestors moved out of Berlin ninety years ago, and now the Schmitzes were secluded in their base, in a place they were not allowed to speak of, dedicated to destroying any descendant of someone who received powers from the radiation of the Nuking ninety-three years ago.
He turned to spare a glance at his assistant - what was his name? Arend couldn't recall. "It's 11:20 CET," he mumbled - his family and those who worked for them were forced to calculate time in CET, the time zone Germany was located in. They were truly obsessed. "I must go. Krista is waiting." Arend's younger sister was significantly more enthusiastic about Winifred Schmitz's legacy than he was.
He walked towards the Main Room numbly - the strawberry blonde was indeed waiting for him, a sadistically ecstatic expression on her face that made Arend's heart clench. "Three minutes," she reminded her brother gleefully.
He nodded.
B E R L I N , X G E R M A N Y
"Hurry the fuck up, will you -"
"Cool your shit, Schreiber, I'm doing the best I can! This goddamned distress signal was never needed - believe it or not, you arrogant ass, no one's a professional at setting this fucking device up, so I'm your best shot right now! So if you want to save your little friends, you can just shut the fuck up!"
Ivo Schreiber grit his teeth and bit his tongue, refusing to look at the technician who was currently fiddling with the device that was supposedly going to send out the distress signal apparently anybody important understood. He knew that said technician - Caoilfhionn Höfler was her name - was the best by far in her area (read: hacking into classified government files while working with tech ahead of its time), but the current situation was still frustrating nonetheless.
Finally, sheer panic overtook Ivo. "They've released their invisible beasts seven minutes ago," he hissed at Caoilfhoinn, his voice portraying his frantic mentality. "Are you sure you can't go any faster?"
"No need," true to form, Caoilfhoinn was calm as ever as she finished rigging up the device. "It's done." She opened the keypad, rapidly typing in a code. A few seconds later, a very faint but very strange sounded emanated through the air as the area around the device seemed to bend, soon restoring to its original shape.
"It's a sound wave," Caoilfhoinn explained nonchalantly. "Tuned to a frequency only the descendants can hear properly - you can probably hear something really faint though. Unlike a normal sound wave though, this sound wave also bends the light as it travels through space; that's why the building looked like we were looking at it through a distorting mirror just moments before. For the descendants though, it'll be colored black, red, and yellow - kinda like wisps of light." She stood up, brushing invisible dust off her pants. "If they're any residents in Berlin, they'll be coming in in under an hour - unfortunately, for anyone else, it'll take up to a few days. Not ideal, but we've done our best."
Ivo furrowed his brows. "I suppose," he agreed reluctantly.
"Cool your shit, Schreiber, I'm doing the best I can! This goddamned distress signal was never needed - believe it or not, you arrogant ass, no one's a professional at setting this fucking device up, so I'm your best shot right now! So if you want to save your little friends, you can just shut the fuck up!"
Ivo Schreiber grit his teeth and bit his tongue, refusing to look at the technician who was currently fiddling with the device that was supposedly going to send out the distress signal apparently anybody important understood. He knew that said technician - Caoilfhionn Höfler was her name - was the best by far in her area (read: hacking into classified government files while working with tech ahead of its time), but the current situation was still frustrating nonetheless.
Finally, sheer panic overtook Ivo. "They've released their invisible beasts seven minutes ago," he hissed at Caoilfhoinn, his voice portraying his frantic mentality. "Are you sure you can't go any faster?"
"No need," true to form, Caoilfhoinn was calm as ever as she finished rigging up the device. "It's done." She opened the keypad, rapidly typing in a code. A few seconds later, a very faint but very strange sounded emanated through the air as the area around the device seemed to bend, soon restoring to its original shape.
"It's a sound wave," Caoilfhoinn explained nonchalantly. "Tuned to a frequency only the descendants can hear properly - you can probably hear something really faint though. Unlike a normal sound wave though, this sound wave also bends the light as it travels through space; that's why the building looked like we were looking at it through a distorting mirror just moments before. For the descendants though, it'll be colored black, red, and yellow - kinda like wisps of light." She stood up, brushing invisible dust off her pants. "If they're any residents in Berlin, they'll be coming in in under an hour - unfortunately, for anyone else, it'll take up to a few days. Not ideal, but we've done our best."
Ivo furrowed his brows. "I suppose," he agreed reluctantly.
M U N I C H , X G E R M A N Y
It's been six hours since Yeong-ji had first sat down at her piano. It wasn't some impressive grand piano that had the best sound in the world; no, Yeong-ji got it for free off of Craigslist since she couldn't afford to pay for one. Personally, Yeong-ji thought it was decent quality - of course, not the best in the world, but definitely sufficient for her needs.
Yeong-ji played Revolutionary Étude for the second time in a row, faintly picking up the ticking clock in the background. She ended the song, lifting her head to stare blankly at the cracked clock on the wall. 11:33. Is it seriously almost noon?
If Yeong-ji were anybody else would higher hopes in life, than she would feel disgusted over her current living conditions. It wasn't like she was unhygienic, but at the end of the day, she lived in a single-room apartment with a tiny mattress on the ground and worn down belongings. She lived off of a... poor diet, to say the least. Siegfried von Essen had been kind enough to pay for Yeong-ji's rent in the past, but now that she worked part-time, it was easy for her to take over the rent for her low quality apartment. Yeong-ji took care of herself; Siegfried was her guardian on paper, but only because she was still a minor.
He helped pay the bills, sometimes. He was more than tolerable, at this point in life.
(At least Yeong-ji didn't have to spend money on something like insurance or something.)
Yeong-ji felt the keys of her instrument once again, preparing to dive into Winter Wind when her playing was interrupted. Yeong-ji clenched her jaw and bit the inside of her cheek as a sharp and horrendously strange frequency pierced the air. She proceeded to begin the song, slamming her hand on the keys when a reddish, blackish, yellowish ripple of light messed up her figure placement.
Any normal person might be freaking out over the strange sound and strange light, but not Yeong-ji. Nope, she was just frustrated that something had interrupted her six hour binge-playing.
"What the fuck," Yeong-ji muttered, standing up abruptly as she stared at the rippling light with her stone-cold gaze. She was done for the day - there was no way she could continue with her concentration broken. "Thank you very much, light beam, for fucking up my piano playing for today." As usually, Yeong-ji's voice wasn't saturated with sarcasm or anger; just the cynically dull tone she's been using ever since she could speak.
Yeong-ji squinted at the light as it decided to glide on over through her wall into the room next door. Huh.
"When you hear the call, leave Munich and go to Berlin. Go to the hospital; if the receptionist's surname is Schreiber, tell them your name. That is all."
The cryptic last words of Yeong-ji's father had made no sense seven years ago (not like they did now.) But he did say some strange things for the eight years of life he had spent with Yeong-ji... frequency infinity, light wave, flag of Germany, etc.
Well, there was definitely a weird sound frequency, a weird light wave, and the very coincidental color combination of Germany's flag.
This was the call - Yeong-ji knew that for sure.
She sighed. "Time to leave Munich for the first time in my life." She started sifting through the pile of clothes she had kept in the corner of her mattress. "Impulsive decisions are fucking stupid." Yeong-ji picked up her only bag, staring at the hole in the corner before shoving a pair of clothes in. "Have I officially gone insane?" Yeong-ji squinted at her clock - 11:35 - as she continued packing absentmindedly. "How convenient is that - I can buy a ticket for a three hour train from Munich to Berlin for under 30 euros. Has society advanced at all since a century ago?"
Yeong-ji pulled out the oh-so-precious iPhone 5 Karl and Siegfried had given her a few years back (bless their souls, really, they deserve better than this), catching the faint wifi connection from the building across the street, scanning through the available train seats from München Hauptbahnhof to Berlin. Yeong-ji may be the actual definition of a homebody, but she actually didn't live under the rock and was completely up-to-date with whatever happening in Germany and the world. She was aware of the overabundance of unbooked seats in the trains, despite no small amount of tourists booking their tickets.
Yeong-ji noticed the upcoming train ride at 12:06, quickly booking a ticket before grabbing her bag loaded with basically everything she owned, including all her money. It wasn't too bad, really; Munich didn't really have as much as a pickpocketing problem than some other European countries.
Usually, Yeong-ji wasn't this impulsive; she was brutally realistic and didn't make significant on-the-fly decisions such as the one she was making at the moment. But frankly, Yeong-ji didn't really care anymore. It didn't really matter to her that this was Yeong-ji's first time going out of Munich (and that she managed to pack in under ten minutes). Besides, the train was thirty euros - she'd earn it back somehow.
Yeong-ji played Revolutionary Étude for the second time in a row, faintly picking up the ticking clock in the background. She ended the song, lifting her head to stare blankly at the cracked clock on the wall. 11:33. Is it seriously almost noon?
If Yeong-ji were anybody else would higher hopes in life, than she would feel disgusted over her current living conditions. It wasn't like she was unhygienic, but at the end of the day, she lived in a single-room apartment with a tiny mattress on the ground and worn down belongings. She lived off of a... poor diet, to say the least. Siegfried von Essen had been kind enough to pay for Yeong-ji's rent in the past, but now that she worked part-time, it was easy for her to take over the rent for her low quality apartment. Yeong-ji took care of herself; Siegfried was her guardian on paper, but only because she was still a minor.
He helped pay the bills, sometimes. He was more than tolerable, at this point in life.
(At least Yeong-ji didn't have to spend money on something like insurance or something.)
Yeong-ji felt the keys of her instrument once again, preparing to dive into Winter Wind when her playing was interrupted. Yeong-ji clenched her jaw and bit the inside of her cheek as a sharp and horrendously strange frequency pierced the air. She proceeded to begin the song, slamming her hand on the keys when a reddish, blackish, yellowish ripple of light messed up her figure placement.
Any normal person might be freaking out over the strange sound and strange light, but not Yeong-ji. Nope, she was just frustrated that something had interrupted her six hour binge-playing.
"What the fuck," Yeong-ji muttered, standing up abruptly as she stared at the rippling light with her stone-cold gaze. She was done for the day - there was no way she could continue with her concentration broken. "Thank you very much, light beam, for fucking up my piano playing for today." As usually, Yeong-ji's voice wasn't saturated with sarcasm or anger; just the cynically dull tone she's been using ever since she could speak.
Yeong-ji squinted at the light as it decided to glide on over through her wall into the room next door. Huh.
"When you hear the call, leave Munich and go to Berlin. Go to the hospital; if the receptionist's surname is Schreiber, tell them your name. That is all."
The cryptic last words of Yeong-ji's father had made no sense seven years ago (not like they did now.) But he did say some strange things for the eight years of life he had spent with Yeong-ji... frequency infinity, light wave, flag of Germany, etc.
Well, there was definitely a weird sound frequency, a weird light wave, and the very coincidental color combination of Germany's flag.
This was the call - Yeong-ji knew that for sure.
She sighed. "Time to leave Munich for the first time in my life." She started sifting through the pile of clothes she had kept in the corner of her mattress. "Impulsive decisions are fucking stupid." Yeong-ji picked up her only bag, staring at the hole in the corner before shoving a pair of clothes in. "Have I officially gone insane?" Yeong-ji squinted at her clock - 11:35 - as she continued packing absentmindedly. "How convenient is that - I can buy a ticket for a three hour train from Munich to Berlin for under 30 euros. Has society advanced at all since a century ago?"
Yeong-ji pulled out the oh-so-precious iPhone 5 Karl and Siegfried had given her a few years back (bless their souls, really, they deserve better than this), catching the faint wifi connection from the building across the street, scanning through the available train seats from München Hauptbahnhof to Berlin. Yeong-ji may be the actual definition of a homebody, but she actually didn't live under the rock and was completely up-to-date with whatever happening in Germany and the world. She was aware of the overabundance of unbooked seats in the trains, despite no small amount of tourists booking their tickets.
Yeong-ji noticed the upcoming train ride at 12:06, quickly booking a ticket before grabbing her bag loaded with basically everything she owned, including all her money. It wasn't too bad, really; Munich didn't really have as much as a pickpocketing problem than some other European countries.
Usually, Yeong-ji wasn't this impulsive; she was brutally realistic and didn't make significant on-the-fly decisions such as the one she was making at the moment. But frankly, Yeong-ji didn't really care anymore. It didn't really matter to her that this was Yeong-ji's first time going out of Munich (and that she managed to pack in under ten minutes). Besides, the train was thirty euros - she'd earn it back somehow.
B E R L I N , X G E R M A N Y
Yeong-ji had to be blind not the notice the occasional lingering stares she received. Most of them were from foreigners. Yeong-ji couldn't blame them; she did kind of look like a runaway teen. Except less... goth. And a lot more malnourished.
Yeong-ji assessed Germany's capital city from the train platform, deciding to head to her destination when she realized: she didn't even know where her destination was. Her father never specified which hospital. Yeong-ji wanted to bang her head against the wall; there was no way in hell she was going to go to every hospital in Berlin.
Then again, she had her phone; it was Berlin, there was probably free wifi everywhere. Yeong-ji could simply search up the doctor's name in some... doctor-finding site.
As crazy as it sounded, it actually worked, and Yeong-ji started fast-walking towards Bundeswehrkrankenhaus. It was nearly a mile away from the train station, and Yeong-ji wasn't very fond of physical activity, but there was no way she would pay for a taxi ride to somewhere under a mile away.
Finally, about fifteen minutes later, Yeong-ji arrived at the hospital, practically slamming the door open. She briskly walked up to the front desk, where only one person was speaking to the receptionists. To her surprise, there was indeed a receptionist with the name tag Rosamunda Schreiber, a tall woman with brownish-blonde hair and full-on heterochromia who looked a bit more anxious than the others.
"Um..." Yeong-ji shuffled up to the front desk, catching the attention of Rosamunda. Said woman gave the girl a slightly weary customer service smile.
"Do you have an appointment?" she asked, scooting towards her computer. Yeong-ji coughed slightly, eyes flickering off to the side before awkwardly speaking up again.
"Uh... my name is Yeong-ji. Yeong-ji Ilyse Kühn," the ruby-eyed girl muttered, feeling nothing short of uncomfortable. The receptionist was nodding along with her words - until Yeong-ji reached her surname. At that point, the receptionist froze, her demeanor darkening.
"Of course," she said somberly, standing up. "Follow me, Frau Kühn."
Yeong-ji would be lying if she said she wasn't completely fucking confused, but her late father's instructions seemed legit. She followed the woman, internally hitting herself for randomly following someone after they've said a few cryptic words.
"Ivo!" the brunette woman called out as she and Yeong-ji started straying from the bustling areas of the hospital and into hallways with empty rooms. A tall man with darker brown hair and mismatched eyes as well poked his head out of one of the rooms. "What is it?"
The woman - Rosamunda, Yeong-ji reminded herself - gestured towards the shorter girl. "First one," she said, lowering her voice. "She claims to be a Kühn."
There was an immediate shift in the man's demeanor. He extended a hand, which Yeong-ji shook awkwardly. "It's an honor to meet you, Frau Kühn," he said. "Ji-kyung Kühn's descendants have been living in hiding since the incident. We had doubts on whether or not the bloodline was still alive, but with you being here, it clearly is."
"Um... what?" Yeong-ji asked dumbly, not grasping the situation. Ivo's eyebrows furrowed. "You have an ancestor named Ji-kyung Kühn, correct?"
"Well, yeah, but no one likes to talk about her," Yeong-ji replied. Why the heck she was disclosing so much information, Yeong-ji didn't really know. "Taboo and all that shit." The wrinkle in Ivo's forehead seemed to grow deeper every second.
"Why are you here, Frau Kühn?" he asked suddenly. Yeong-ji raised an eyebrow, surprised. She shrugged.
"My father told me to go to Berlin when I 'hear the call' or some shit like that." Ivo still looked skeptical. Yeong-ji sighed, impatient. "Listen, there are a lot of secrets in my family. There's are certain people who know these secrets, and then they pass it along to those who've had their 'rite of passage' or something. The last person who probably knew these secrets is most likely my aunt, but she died twenty-three years ago."
Strangely, that seemed to be enough for Ivo. He nodded, leading Yeong-ji to a room. Ivo pressed his hand against the scanner on the wall, the door opening as he did so. Yeong-ji glanced around warily; the room was chock-full of fancy tech that shouldn't exist at humanity's current point of technological advancement.
"Wait here, Frau Kühn," this time, it was Rosamunda who spoke. "We'll be back shortly."
Yeong-ji assessed Germany's capital city from the train platform, deciding to head to her destination when she realized: she didn't even know where her destination was. Her father never specified which hospital. Yeong-ji wanted to bang her head against the wall; there was no way in hell she was going to go to every hospital in Berlin.
Then again, she had her phone; it was Berlin, there was probably free wifi everywhere. Yeong-ji could simply search up the doctor's name in some... doctor-finding site.
As crazy as it sounded, it actually worked, and Yeong-ji started fast-walking towards Bundeswehrkrankenhaus. It was nearly a mile away from the train station, and Yeong-ji wasn't very fond of physical activity, but there was no way she would pay for a taxi ride to somewhere under a mile away.
Finally, about fifteen minutes later, Yeong-ji arrived at the hospital, practically slamming the door open. She briskly walked up to the front desk, where only one person was speaking to the receptionists. To her surprise, there was indeed a receptionist with the name tag Rosamunda Schreiber, a tall woman with brownish-blonde hair and full-on heterochromia who looked a bit more anxious than the others.
"Um..." Yeong-ji shuffled up to the front desk, catching the attention of Rosamunda. Said woman gave the girl a slightly weary customer service smile.
"Do you have an appointment?" she asked, scooting towards her computer. Yeong-ji coughed slightly, eyes flickering off to the side before awkwardly speaking up again.
"Uh... my name is Yeong-ji. Yeong-ji Ilyse Kühn," the ruby-eyed girl muttered, feeling nothing short of uncomfortable. The receptionist was nodding along with her words - until Yeong-ji reached her surname. At that point, the receptionist froze, her demeanor darkening.
"Of course," she said somberly, standing up. "Follow me, Frau Kühn."
Yeong-ji would be lying if she said she wasn't completely fucking confused, but her late father's instructions seemed legit. She followed the woman, internally hitting herself for randomly following someone after they've said a few cryptic words.
"Ivo!" the brunette woman called out as she and Yeong-ji started straying from the bustling areas of the hospital and into hallways with empty rooms. A tall man with darker brown hair and mismatched eyes as well poked his head out of one of the rooms. "What is it?"
The woman - Rosamunda, Yeong-ji reminded herself - gestured towards the shorter girl. "First one," she said, lowering her voice. "She claims to be a Kühn."
There was an immediate shift in the man's demeanor. He extended a hand, which Yeong-ji shook awkwardly. "It's an honor to meet you, Frau Kühn," he said. "Ji-kyung Kühn's descendants have been living in hiding since the incident. We had doubts on whether or not the bloodline was still alive, but with you being here, it clearly is."
"Um... what?" Yeong-ji asked dumbly, not grasping the situation. Ivo's eyebrows furrowed. "You have an ancestor named Ji-kyung Kühn, correct?"
"Well, yeah, but no one likes to talk about her," Yeong-ji replied. Why the heck she was disclosing so much information, Yeong-ji didn't really know. "Taboo and all that shit." The wrinkle in Ivo's forehead seemed to grow deeper every second.
"Why are you here, Frau Kühn?" he asked suddenly. Yeong-ji raised an eyebrow, surprised. She shrugged.
"My father told me to go to Berlin when I 'hear the call' or some shit like that." Ivo still looked skeptical. Yeong-ji sighed, impatient. "Listen, there are a lot of secrets in my family. There's are certain people who know these secrets, and then they pass it along to those who've had their 'rite of passage' or something. The last person who probably knew these secrets is most likely my aunt, but she died twenty-three years ago."
Strangely, that seemed to be enough for Ivo. He nodded, leading Yeong-ji to a room. Ivo pressed his hand against the scanner on the wall, the door opening as he did so. Yeong-ji glanced around warily; the room was chock-full of fancy tech that shouldn't exist at humanity's current point of technological advancement.
"Wait here, Frau Kühn," this time, it was Rosamunda who spoke. "We'll be back shortly."