In a far off land, in a deep underground compound, a woman sat alone. Her hair was dark like oil and her attire was just as bright. A dark grey stitched lab coat was draped over a simple black shirt with a silver strip across the chest. She wore a pair of long black boots that went all the way up to her knees and had a silver strip along the brim. Underneath them, she was wearing a pair of insulated black leggings made from the same material as her shirt. Her eyes were a deep black, but her skin was pale from a lack of sun. Her eyes had seemingly perpetual bags under them and they seemed to stare off in to the endless darkness beyond her.

She reclined in her office chair and sighed, listening to the buzzy and whirring of machines just beyond her doors. So often, the woman in grey would fall asleep to those sounds. Many of her hours had been spent in this office, so the bustle of the factory outside was simply white noise at this point. At first, she could make out every individual sound. The turning of gears, the push and pull of pistons, the striking of hammers, the screeching of the conveyor belts, and so much more. But now it was just noise.

The inside of the woman’s office was a mess. There were papers scattered all around with all kinds of various things scrawled about them, things she couldn’t forget. There was a large desk attached to the walls that went around three of the four walls, allowing for plenty of space. In the center of the desk, there were three monitors connected to a computer base that lay just below the desk. On the left side was where most of the papers were collected, albeit a bit more condensed than the rest of the office. To the right, there were more papers, but the main draw was a small photo which had a very distinct lack of clutter within two feet of it, allowing it to be seen at all times.

Currently, the woman in grey was sitting in the direct center of the room just below the only light source, a single dull light. The woman always kept the light this low, wishing to remain in darkness, so that anyone who entered wouldn’t be able to see her properly. The woman reached out to the right side of the desk and gingerly picked up the photograph before returning to the center of the room, closely examining the photo.

In the photo, there were two women, one the woman in grey and the other a woman with bright red hair that glowed softly. The woman in grey was happy in the photo, smiling brightly and looking to the woman with red hair as she planted a kiss on the woman in grey’s cheek.

Tears began to fall from the woman’s eyes, rolling down her cheeks before falling on to the glass of the photo frame. She stared on longingly at the photo, gently placing her hand over the woman in red, a morose air coming about her.

“My dear…” she uttered quietly to herself.

Just as the words left her mouth, a knock came at the door. The woman quickly se the photo down, the image being covered in a sheet of darkness, obscuring it from anyone trying to view it. She passed her hand over her eyes, a mask forming over her face, concealing it further.

“Enter.”

The door slowly opened and a small man cautiously entered. He was dressed entirely in black and his face was obscured. “Madam, there is news,” he said in a raspy voice as the door closed behind him.

The woman sat up in her chair slightly, leaning forward. “Well? What is the news?”

“W-Well… it seems that there was an incident in The Great Spirit Forest. An origin shard became… corrupted by an underground fracture and turned in to a horrific monster. It ran loose in the underground of the forest and apparently resulted in severe injury of a potential searcher and the death of another,” the man explained.

A small smile was slowly creeping on to the woman in grey’s face as she listened. “Well… This is certainly news… It is interesting to learn that the origin shards could be corrupted in such a way… Thankfully, our fragments of the Heart of Nature are all very secure and no such thing could happen to them. However, the death of a potential searcher is… helpful… One less idiot going around trying to ruin my plans… What about the one that was wounded? What happened to them?”

The man paused for a moment and pulled out a small screen device that he began clicking through. “Ah! It seems that the second individual is currently comatosed… They suffered the loss of their arm thanks to overextending their essence supply.”

The woman in grey sighed. “Fools… What is their name?”

“Jessica Violi. Apparently, they are the child of the Sage of the Forest,” the man offered.

The woman in grey smiled and nodded. “Wonderful to know. Now, leave me.”

The man nodded and bowed his head, exiting the office. As soon as he had vanished, the woman passed her hand over her eyes, the mask disappearing. She rolled her chair backwards, turning to her computer and beginning to browse through a database of everyone living in the Grand Omnian Republic. She typed in the name ‘Jessica Violi’ and was delighted to find that they appeared.

“Hello, Jessica Violi… I look forward to meeting you someday…”