District 42-Chapter 89: Anton’s warning
That was the day when Alfar would get out of the lockdown. It had been seven long days since he was stuck in there.
He wasn’t the type of person who was outrightly impatient. Of course, like any normal human, the time he passed doing nothing there except from eat and sleep was really boring, to the point where he started to think nonsense, talk alone, and wish for someone’s presence.
He had stayed for some time inside the lockdown once for the two huge mistakes he did in the past, but he never felt so lonely and hurtful as in this time.
Alfar needed to reflect for several days to finally overcome the sadness that had dominated him since he realized what he did in that canteen. He repeated the same mistake from before, and even worse this time.
He didn’t know how, but the count of deaths that he caused was discovered, and he overheard while in his dizziness during the Dark Zone some scientists commenting about it. The numbers were twice as big as the others he had before.
"Whenever the Dark elf side takes over him, it grew stronger, as if this other personality can learn from herself and improve as well. One day will come when Alfar will be the second personality from this body, and the elf will take the total control of his mind." This explanation kept hammering inside his head for days, and so was the death count.
"Weren’t you that said that you would unite this whole prison with you? What is that blabbering about no fights and no blood, huh? Look around where you are! You did all this mess with your own hands, take the consequences for it, you bastard!" That was the quote that most stabbed his heart.
He knew that Casper just said that as a way to wake him up. The soldier could be enough clever to trigger a strong reaction from his main self and make him take control again.
But, at the same time as it was just persuasion, no one could deny the visible truth behind those words.
With this in mind, Alfar could enjoy more or less his stay at the lockdown to reassess his actions, words, and decisions.
He had deconstructed his ideals and principles while in there, and it made him feel like everything was turned upside down now.
Alfar couldn’t decide anymore if he was human because he born as a human; or if he was a Dark elf because they forced it into him and he barely had escaped from this fact.
The time inside the lockdown left him with more questions than answers.
"Anyways, now that I am leaving this place, I first need to focus on what I got to do now before I start to get lost in my thoughts. Those people need me, after all." He held firmly the paper that Casper sent to him.
It had no plans, no advice, and no hints. It just said "You will take care for now. Get together with Anton and Olaf, cooperate and try to evolve things while I am still stuck here. The plan will start when I put my foot outside the lockdown, be PREPARED."
He didn’t know Casper for much more than one week. And until then they had just exchanged some brief words. However, he had no choice instead of trust in his judgment and act as he said.
Then, Alfar left the lockdown and returned to his cell, just to find that he had a new temporary cellmate. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚
"Nice to meet you, Olaf. I will be encharged of everything now. Casper will leave the lockdown in five more days, let’s do some progress until then." He spoke bluntly. He had no time for presentations or small talk, he needed to be short and straightforward.
After all, Casper did not say "be PREPARED" with that emphasis for nothing.
"G-got it. Let’s... Let’s do it, yeah."
"Sure. First, show me what you are working on by now. Soon we will explain to Anton the situation as well."
Both discussed the plan and the necessary preparations together. It took a long time, particularly because a lot of paper was involved, and paper was a resource that prisoners should not have in Halden by no means.
"Ok, so what are you up to right now?" Alfar asked after have a general sight of one part of the plan.
"We need to keep up with the production of guns and bullets, and it can take a while, but soon we will catch up with it. I have currently three Ridires helping out with the bullet issues and the guns are being made in secret by two people that Anton could find."
Alfar could understand the Ridires being able to acquire bullets, but for prisoners to do that...
"How can they overcome the masks’ restrictions. They don’t allow us to even touch sharp objects with bad intentions in mind as long as people told me."
"Casper came with a countermeasure to this. He said that, in his world, there was a project in which each engineer made different parts of a powerful weapon, without knowing for what those parts would be used for, and this same weapon destroyed two entire cities.
"The same logic can be applied here. Actually, these two people are working each in different parts of guns, but they don’t know exactly for what they will serve, so the masks allow them to do this much."
Alfar nodded. It was a pretty smart decision to do. He was amazed by how that man could be so calculating.
"We are also in process of negotiation with the other factions. It’s going well, but I don’t know if it will be so easy. They aren’t believing at all in this unity, and most of them think that we are just trying to fool everyone and take control of the prison." Olaf was insecure about that part of the plan. Alfar could tell that it was being hard for him to handle all those things at once.
"Casper said for us to cooperate, so I will take responsibility for the negotiations. I am not so good to deal with people but I am an influent inside the prison. It’s not impossible for me to find some way to make them be by our side."
Olaf seemed a lot relieved by those words, even though he tried not to show anything for the Dark elf.
"We are also trying to find a way to free the inmates even for some hours or minutes from the masks’ effects. Casper didn’t say to me why he wants it exactly, but it’s not hard to imagine, right? Well, anyway, Anton and I are working together on it. I don’t think there is much you can do... O-of course, not underestimating you or something, but... But..."
Alfar nearly laughed at the sight of that naive and shy man. He was just like a lost teenager.
Something passed for his mind, and he was not the type who would hold important things to himself, although it could be rude.
"Hey, how can a guy like you have so much influence over the Ridires?"
"Bribery. I am a Frelsi, but I was once from a Jarl family, and they still give me money if I ask for, because they think that material things can make my rehabilitation went better and that I will love them because of it."
"Hmm, I see. That’s quite convenient. Good work, Olaf." Spoke the Dark elf, nonchalantly, still looking to the papers carefully.
They stayed there for some more time, until Anton appeared in front of their cell, nearly making them jump from surprise.
"Y-you nearly killed us!" Olaf exclaimed.
The sneaky middle-aged man seemed to not care the least about what they thought about his sudden approach.
"How could you get this far? Did you find a way to overcome the barrier from the mask?" Alfar didn’t know much about the masks’ restrictions, but he heard often about the basics at least.
"This doesn’t matter. Anton needs you two to listen to me now, and as quickly as possible, since the Ridires will come here at any time!" Both fell silent and let him explain in the exact moment they noticed the affliction in his matured voice.
"Listen, Casper is still at the lockdown as you two know. He is going through the Dark zone every single day until today, and his conditions are very bad. The issue here is that they rushed things to make his mask, and Anton has the information that the Forger is already crafting it."
Although the man said it all as fast as he could, Olaf and Alfar looked at each other terrified about the situation.
Their key to making them leave that place was being taken away from them.
"W-what do we do?" Asked Olaf, lost.
Anton didn’t respond. He just kept grabbing the cell’s bars and looking to the ground.
"Are you kidding me? The deadline is almost there, but we don’t have time, so we will gain time...", Alfar was the one talking, and he looked at each of them. "Let’s rescue him."
