"They never did get to tell me..." Alex spoke up, startling Thomas out of his thoughts. "That was their last mission on record. I found the book a few years after they destroyed our order. It was in a Flara vault off the coast of what was the United States. Some idiot in their army kept it as a trophy instead of turning it over to their leaders for destruction. I overheard him gloating about a book he stole from a mighty assassin who killed a handful of guards even though he had been shot four times in the chest." A weary smile took hold on his withered face as he softly curled his fingers. "At least I had the pleasure of extracting the location of the journal before ripping out his throat."

"That's a shame about your friends, I'm sorry." Thomas replied, thinking back to his platoon's death a few days prior. "It's not easy losing those who are close to you." A soft sigh escaping his lips as he closed his eyes and took a moment to think over all the times they had worked together. Mourning the loss of his comrades made Thomas's eyes water, and he quickly opened his eyes to see Alex was looking him over. "What are you looking at?"

"You," Alex replied, dismissing the question as he uncurled his fingers. As if the word was enough to explain what he meant. Seeing the confusion in Thomas's eyes, he elaborated. "I just find it funny that those two are still trying to set me up. Thousands of years later, their spirits guided you to me, yet for some reason, I can't help but be grateful to those two."

"What the hell are you talking about old man?" Thomas questioned as he began looking over the simple robes with a cautious glance. Something was in Alex's hand, hidden partially from view made him feel uncomfortable, and he continued to focus on it. "And what the hell is that in your hand? I know it's dark in here, but I can still see you have something there."

"Perceptive too," Alex tittered as he revealed a half of a loaf of bread in his hand. "I managed to snag some food when I went to the market a little while ago. Go ahead and eat, I already had my fill."

Thomas reached for the bread and took a hesitant bite. The taste of cinnamon and cloves washed over him as he swallowed the first bite. Taking another hesitate bite, he looked up and noticed Alex had been watching him intently. Something was wrong, and they both knew it. Remembering the poison soaked bread disguised as food from the journal, he threw the half loaf back at Alex, drawing his hunting knife that was strapped to his side. "What the hell did you to that bread?" He asked, brandishing the serrated knife in his hand.

"Your training has begun Thomas," Alex replied before he tossed down a small pellet to the ground. The second it made contact with the ground the cave was illuminated with a blinding light. Thomas had covered his eyes just in time to avoid the worst of it, but when he managed to see once more, Alex had vanished. Taking a hesitant step forward, he began to feel woozy. Damn it all! Thomas thought as his vision began to blur. He drugged me! The ground around him began to shake, and the shrine beside him began to swim in his vision. A sudden weakness in his legs made him drop to his knees. Holding the knife in his hand, he made sure to hide it near his chest as he dropped to his stomach before the blackness quickly overtook him.

When Thomas came too, he noticed that his hands had been bound in rope. "What the hell is this!" Thomas yelled out into the darkness. "Is this some kinda sick joke?

Alex's passive laugh echoed through the area around him. "Come now Thomas, you were much too trusting. Rule one of the Mantine Order. Never trust what is given for free! Thomas looked around, scanning the surrounding area for the source of the laughter. "Look all you want, you will never find me. I made this room myself. It echoes with every footstep, every drop of water. Even the very breath you breathe will make its way back to you. You cannot find me by listening and hoping. You need to use your other skills to break free!" He paused for a second before continuing. "Oh, don't worry, I took the liberty of removing you from that super suit of yours. You've done some serious tinkering with that thing haven't you!" A small chuckle began to echo through the cave as Thomas noticed the soft breeze that blew across his skin. "You know, If you hadn't been trained to be a grunt, I would have been impressed with your skills as a mechanic. Those suits are no easy toy to play with! Trust me, I would know!"

Struggling against the rope, Thomas growled as his skin began to burn  hotwhere he was bound. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and activated his vision implants by squeezing his eyes shut. Opening his eyes slowly, the dark cave had become visible. He looked around the room and noticed that Alex was nowhere to be found. Where the hell could he be? He thought, looking more carefully around the room. Pulling again at the ropes, he tried to force his wrists through. But stopped when the pain began burn hot. Looking back over the room with frustration, he saw nothing out of the usual. It was a small cave, smaller than the one he had been in before, and it was perfectly cylindrical. The cave was also taller than he had first imagined. The ceiling was smooth, and it seemed like nothing was out of place. That was until he closed his eyes again.

The room was cylindrical, but that gave Thomas an idea. Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes and let out an ear-piercing battle cry. It bounced around the room, echoing around the stone until he suddenly fell silent and waited. The sound slowly began to fade away from behind him. Using all of his might to flip around, he kicked his leg out and tried to kick at where he perceived Alex to be. The sound of robes landing near him told him that Alex was in the room. 

"Very clever Thomas," Alex called out with a soft chuckle as he came into view. "You found me, but can you get out?" He pulled out Thomas's hunting knife from somewhere in his robes and began to inspect the blade. "You metalheads are all the same. Always plotting for the worst, but never expecting lady luck to be on your side.

Thomas closed his eyes, deactivating his implants as he began to pull on the ropes holding him captive as they grew tighter around his wrists. I can't feel my fingers anymore. This is getting bad, I don't think I can force my way out of this knot. He paused, and lifted his numb fingers up to examine the knot. In the dim light, he noticed a small loop that he had missed before. Pulling on the hole, the knot began to loosen. Then with a yank, he pulled on the loop again, his hands slipping free.

"Very good!" Alex praised again as Thomas stood shakily to his feet. "Rule number two, always be looking for an escape. Brute force isn't always the key!"

"You're a psycho you know that right?" Thomas exclaimed as Alex used the knife to pick at his fingernail. "Where is my suit?" He demanded before taking a step forward.

A small chuckle broke Thomas's concentration. "You do know you're naked? I would think the first thing you would look for would be some clothing. Then again, you were naked when I pulled you from your suit, so I guess that's normal for you."

"I don't wear extra clothing because it gets in the way of the system's interface. Now I'll ask again, where is my suit?" Thomas asked, taking another step forward, but this time to the side as to cover himself.

"What will you do when you get it Thomas?" Alex questioned in a mocking voice. "Are you going to try and kill me?  Maybe try and flee through the forest of landmines? Think Thomas, what happens to you if you do make it out of here? You have a very pissed off Cantorian who is trying very enthusiastically to kill you. Then there's little old me. I can't have you telling everybody you meet about some psycho old man in a white robe who tied you up and stripped you. It's not good for the whole incognito thing. Not like that Cantorian is helping anything."

A small sigh escaped Thomas's lips as he looked at the decrepit old man. "You know, you really have a way of making people feel trapped in a wide-open space. Has anybody ever told you that?"

"Aww, are you calling me captivating! That's so sweet of you!" Alex replied, covering his lips with his hand, stifling his laughter. "Your suits below us, the escape hatch is underneath where you were sitting. I would suggest you take a bath before you get back into it though. I noticed you had a certain odor about you. The natural hot springs down the hallway from the exit here should help with that." Alex explained as he started towards him. "I'll be there in just a bit." He explained as he made his way past Thomas and kicked a small space of what looked like rock. A crack in the seamless looking floor revealed a hatch. Pushing the hatch down, Alex started down the steps making sure to put the knife down near the edge.

"Where are you going?" Thomas called after Alex before taking a few steps towards the hatch.

"I'm going to get dinner! It won't have anything laced in it this time, I promise!" Alex called back to him.

Uh-huh, sure... Thomas thought to himself as he started towards the stairway. I wonder why he stripped me naked? Why didn't he dress me in a towel or something? Thomas froze mid-step. What else did he do to me while I was out? He shivered at the thought as he pictured the old man caressing his naked body. Starting towards the stairs faster, he grabbed the knife as he started down the steps and headed down the first pathway. The whole room looked like carved stone. It was all smooth and seemed to be natural. The sound of bubbling water made him sigh in relief as he quickly made his way to the hotspring. Reaching the room where the sound was coming from, he noticed a small table near the wall and a large rock wall that had steps carved into it. Walking up the steps, he noticed the water bubbling from the ground where a small hole had formed.

The second his feet hit that water Thomas's whole body shivered. The water temperature was perfect. Quickly starting deeper into the water, he let out a content sigh as his leg muscles began to relax. When he got waist-deep, he felt his whole body begin to loosen up. For the first time since he had been assigned to eliminate the spies, he was able to take a deep breath and relax. Sinking lower into the water, he felt the steam floating up over his neck and into his nose. The natural minerals in the water gave it an earthy scent that made Thomas smile. Closing his eyes, he began to soak in the steamy water.

"It's nice isn't it?" Alex's voice echoed around the room as Thomas opened his eyes to see him standing at the edge of the steps. "I come bearing food if you desire it, I promise it's safe to eat this time. You do need to get out of the water to eat though. I don't want you spilling your soup into my springs. You have no idea how many years it has taken me to perfect that thing!"

Thomas rose slightly to see the two bowls in Alex's hands. Looking at the bowl, Thomas's stomach began to rumble. "I swear, if you put anything other than food in here I will hurt you!" He growled wading closer to the entrance. A towel had been placed near the entrance, and Thomas's attention was instantly drawn to it. The cloth was white and had delicate stitch marks around the edges. "Did you make the towel yourself?"

Alex nodded his head before he turned around and made his way towards the small stone table near the entrance. "If you manage to survive as long as I have, you pick up a few things." He smirked as Thomas wrapped the towel around his waist and started towards the table.

"This table looks pretty heavy, how did you get in down here?" Thomas asked as he looked down at the hearty looking dark soup.

"Like I said, when you get as old as me, you pick up a few things. This cave has been a work in progress of mine for a few hundred years." Alex replied as he sat down on the edge of one of the chairs and put down a bowl on both sides of the table and pulled two spoons from his pocket and slid it across the table. "Though one thing that I can't seem to pick up is how to cook! I try to follow recipes, but if I ever try and make something original, it ends up tasting awful!" Thomas looked down at the soup for a second before looking back up to him. "This is a recipe from a book, don't go turning your nose! It's more food than most people have seen in days. I wouldn't be so picky if I were you!"

Delicately picking up the spoon, Thomas dipped it into the broth and took it to his lips. After taking a deep breath, the smell of vegetables and lamb wafted into his nose. Putting the spoon in his mouth, he let it sit for a moment, checking to see if anything poisonous became apparent. Chewing a few times before swallowing, he looked over to Alex. "Thank you for the food. If it's not drugged this time."

"You're welcome!" Alex answered with a small grin. "You know, for an alchemist, you would think cooking would come naturally to me. It's basically the same thing. You put in the ingredients in the desired quantities, then food comes out. I don't really understand where I am going wrong!"

"You're not spicing it right." Thomas replied immediately, taking another bite small bite. "The stuff you put in there would make a fantastic lamb soup. I don't think you put an ounce of seasoning in here though. Do you have any spices?"

"Of course I do!" Alex grumbled, "Who doesn't have spices? They're in the kitchen!"

Standing up carefully to avoid losing his towel, Thomas grabbed the soup in his free hand and waited for Alex to get up. "Come on, I may not look it. But I can cook dirt into a soup that a king would kill for! Where is the kitchen?"

"This way," Alex stated, turning around and going through a large wall of rock.

What the hell? Thomas gazed in amazement at the solid wall. "Alex?" He called out as Alex came back through the seemingly solid rock wall. "How the hell are you doing that? That's a rock wall!"

"Oh, right. I forgot you can't see the doorways." He picked up a small pebble from the ground and began to mutter at it. His hand began to smoke as the chant continued, and before long, his hand seemed like it was on fire. Suddenly he stopped and revealed a perfectly smooth disk. Here, keep this on your person, and you will be able to see the doorways.

"What was that?" Thomas asked, shocked at the pebble's new form.

"That my young apprentice was alchemy! And if you want to survive, then you're going to need to get really good at it really quickly!" He took a step forward and slid the pebble between Thomas's towel and his hip like a bill for a stripper, then took a step back with a dirty grin.

Thomas looked at the old man in shock, feeling somewhat violated. "A-Apprentice?" He questioned as he noticed all the different doors around the room that suddenly came into view. "What do you mean by apprentice?"

A small chuckle broke the silence between Alex and Thomas. "You want to live, don't you? If you want to stand a chance against anything Flara related, then you are going to need to learn everything you can." He turned around and started towards the kitchen. "Come apprentice, for there are many things I want to teach you! Many, many things indeed!"

Oh, I'm sure you do, you dirty old pervert! Thomas thought as adjusted his towel and slowly started after Alex in a slow, but steady pace.

----------------------------------------

I hope you are enjoying the story so far! If you want to make my day don't forget to comment and leave a vote for my story!! I hope you have a fantastic day, and don't forget to drink lots of water! 

-Asted!