Imperium: Volume 1
Chapter 9.

We were still soaking wet to the bone, but making promising gain towards base camp. As if taking a plunge in the cold river wasn't enough it also started piss pouring rain.

We weren't far at all, as we were now making our way through a valley of mountain cliffs, which we were going to have to climb. As we made the ascent, in the distance we could see The Dominions Capital. I looked back to see June still following my every step.

It was a treacherous climb, and the rain didn't help, as it took away the grip of our tread. I could see, she was struggling at one point trying to get a good grip on the rock face. I held out my hand for her, trying to hoist her up. She couldn't get a good foot hold, and all I could think of was grabbing the back of her pants and lifting her up to me.

She ended up stumbling into me and, we fell back against the cliff side.

"Oh god.. are you okay?" She asked me.

"I'm fine, are you?" I asked in return.

"Y..ya." She answered

Without even realising where my hand ended up, she moved it off her waist and turned away.

"Just scared of heights is all." She said nervously.

"We just have to get to the top, so it's not much further." I told her.

She nodded and rubbed her sweaty palms on her pants, waiting for me to take the lead again.

June's P.O.V

I absolutely hated this. Critters and heights were my absolute downfall. I had no problem shooting people in the head or disintegrating them, but shit like this always made my heart skip a beat.

I barely could get any traction in my footing and Raeve was trying his best to help me in everyway. I done near almost hurled when he pulled me up by the back of my pants. And of course I ended up falling into him and his hand landed on my waist. Which made me feel slightly uncomfortable.

We continued to climb. To what I didn't know.

"We're almost at the top." He turned to me and said.

As he was looking at me a big boulder managed to dislodge it self heading straight for him. I quickly put a field just above him, and just before he turned back it smashed up against the protective shell. I let go of it, as the small pebbles fell along side him, making there way down the cliff side. He looked up, then looked down to me.

"Careful, there are some loose rocks up here." He yelled down.

I took a deep breath, and continued to climb. Finally we reached the top. We were soaking wet, cold, shaking, and all that I could see before us was the same thing that we just climbed.

I looked at him almost defeated, before he took my hand and walked me over to a ledge. It was quite narrow and the sight of the bottom, had me wanting to stop in place. I hated that I could see everything, and I reached up to adjust my hat, to pull it down. I felt the empty space on top of my head, and then remembered I had lost it.

"Everything okay?" Raeve asked me.

I kept my head down and moved my hair to frame my face and block my periferal vision. Suddenly I felt him place his hat on me. He adjusted it so it fit snug and pulled it down, like I usually had it.

"Better?" He asked.

"Yes....thank you." I replied.

He grabbed both my hands, and while facing away from me placed them on the waist of his jacket.

"Just hang on and walk with me, it's almost over, we just have to walk this small ledge." He warned me.

"Okay." I replied nervously.

We slowly made our way over the ledge and looked up when I heard him banging on what sounded like a door. I smiled when I realised it was. I barely even noticed it, as it was painted to blend in with the cliff side. It suddenly opened, and we made our way in.

There was no one. I looked at him confused, not quite understanding what happened. He pointed up to a camera that was embedded into the cliff with the same paint job. I looked forward to see an almost endless amount of stairs. After the massive climb, we now had to descend down the stair well.

I didn't even care at this point, I just wanted out of my clothes and into something warmer. He lead the way and, we started making our way down. I looked around as we continued our descent, hearing the echo of each step bounce off the walls. The stairs spiraled down along the sides of the cliff, as it funneled down below.

Raeve

As we made our way down the stairs I looked back to see her taking in the scenery. To me it was the same old image I've taken in a thousand times before, but to someone new, I could understand it's enchantment.

"It was an old nuclear shelter back in the day before the war." She looked at me intrigued. "It was decommissioned, before it was fully completed in the hopes that it would protect the all mighty important people. But when The Dominion took over the Capital it was scrapped."

"So how did you guys know about this place?" She asked.

"Because the engineer that was in charge of the build, is the leader of the resistance."

I liked how all the information was all so new to her. She listened intentivley as I explained everything. It took about 30 minutes to descend, so I told her everything about the facility and the first few people who helped orchestrate the first movement. When we finally reached the bottom of the stairwell, it took us to a hanger door. I banged on the door, and within a few seconds it slid open.

June

The massive door started to open, and before we could make our way in, a man greeted Raeve.

"Jesus Raeve, we were starting to get a little worried about you." He grabbed Raeve's hand and gave it a firm shake. "What the hell happened? It shouldn't have taken more then a half a day."

Half a day? from where I thought. Trent alone was a 2 day trek. It just sounded bizarre to me.

He laughed nervously. "Sorry Jay, I ended up picking a straggler along the way."

Was he talking about me? Jay looked over at me and nodded. I did the same then put my head back down.

"Alright, well big boss is waitin for you, you best not make him wait any longer." Jay advised him.

"Thanks Jay." Raeve took my hand and led me into the facility.

I could hear the immense amount of machinery and people making there way around the huge complex. I looked up, and the sheer size of it alone, had me catch my breath. It had to have been big enough to fit in at least a few 100 decent size camps. The bottom alone was huge in comparison to a couple football fields. The only way I could explain it was a city built inside a hollowed out mountain.

That's exactly what it was. It looked like people were hard at work in different areas of the hanger. And up along the sides of the facility, a trail of walkways wrapped around the complex, making it's way up the mountain. I could see people coming out of doors, and descending down the walkways to the hanger floor.

"Rooms perhaps?" I said outloud.

"You would be correct." Raeve said with a smile. "All the way up is the housing units. Believe it or not we still have several floors below us."

I was in utter shock. I couldn't even imagine the scale of it till now. This was more then I could have ever imagined.

"Raeve!" A man came jogging over to him. While he talked to the man, I watched as some people were working away.

I watched as a woman was welding something, to a military truck. It looked like the ones the Dom Squad drove in. In fact, there was alot of woman working. It was a sight for sore eyes, and as I was turning my way towards Raeve, a shipping crate came floating past me.

It was floating mid air! I looked over as a young boy was levitating it to an open space in a stockpile of crates.

A grin formed on my face. "An Imperium." I said softly.

I quickly looked around to see if there were others, and the closer I looked, I started to lose count. I saw one heating metal with his bare hands, and another fastening metal plates to a vehicle pushing the bolts in with only one finger. I looked to my left, and spotted a woman growing vegetables by hovering her hand over a underground bed of soil, almost instantaneously! It had been so long since I've come across another.

I looked at Raeve who stood there watching me with a big smile on his face. He held out his hand.

"Com'on, I need you to meet someone." He said happily.

I took his hand and let him guide me.

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