Chapter 339 (1/2)

Book 3, Chapter 75 – Complete Resolution?

Cloudhawk had changed Selene had changed Squall, Asha… no one was the same person they used to be

hellfloas the exception Cloudhawk knew she was in her thirties, but on the surface her tender skin and fine figure still bore the mature, feminine charm of a woman in her mid twenties

Of course, Cloudhaas familiar as below the surface as well

He'd run into a number of attractive women over the course of his adventures Selene was an unsurpassed beauty, practically inhuarden; Natessa, wild and unpredictable as the wind Claudia, Barb… the list went on

Where hellflower differed froh and through She had spent her life in the same twisted, blasted landscape that spawned Cloudhawk A beauty like hers was rarer andpresence wasthan a sudden rainstorm

What had she been doing all this time? Had she joined up with the Dark Atom?

“You little scalanced back at hi smile She was as inscrutable as ever, impossible to read She saw Cloudhawk open his ive them voice “After all this time I know there's a lot you want to know I'hts for a little while You need to see the e, first Maybe afterwards we can rekindle old flames, hm?”

What did she mean by that? He wanted to ask her a few questions, but the way she spoke to him it sounded like she had other ideas

They , where oddly not a single guard could be spotted Crossing a large antecha open to the elements Under the mountain they didn't need to be concerned with sudden rainstorave the place a grander sense of scale and aht

Lining the walls were stacks and stacks of books, several stories of thee leather volumes, rolled up scrolls and e, pieced together into volumes of data and old pictures Most of them were treatises and works of current Seeker researchers

There was a lone occupant, cliave access to the upper shelves

He was thin and unimpressive in demeanor He was covered in a set of clean robes and was descended the stairs with a toround he threw the cover open and began to recite froh the air as he spoke aloud

It sounded like poetry, s of literary self-importance

He had a very scholarly appearance, a rare thing in the wastelands However, it was undermined by the nondescript eyepatch that partially obscured his vision 'Scholar' was the correct term, but perhaps with 'Wasteland' added as a prefix

hellflower strode forward “I've brought him”

Cloudhawk looked at the one-eyed scholar with uncertainty “You're Wolfblade?”

“Yes, yes That's me I am Wolfblade!” He fired back a rapid response to Cloudhawk, as though afraid soht claim the title With an expression of irritation at unfinished business he slapped the book closed He looked the warden over with his one exposed eye “Ah, this young man… You look very familiar Have we met before?”

Wolfblade had led the charge against hell's Valley three years ago when they went after the demon skull His power and leadershi+p had left Cloudhaith a deep i to?

That would be… strange It had been a chaotic scene when the Dark Atom razed the valley

Cloudhaasn't the least bit familiar with this man It could have been because of the circuht he saas le-handedly took on the giants of the valley He re ed scholar noas like they were completely different people

“You e”

“Yes, actually I'm from Skycloud You are the leader of the Dark Atom”

“Skycloud, wastelands… what's the difference? If you spent soht find that the dirt we all stand on was a unified whole a thousand years ago, a place we called Earth It was a place brie At one point the human population was in billions”

That was a surprising claim So the Dark Atoo?

“In other words, there are no 'elysian lands', no 'wastelands' All of it is a ploy by false Gods to force division” Wolfblade flung his hand and released the book he held It spiraled through the air and landed in its prescribed spot on the shelves with a thunk “hellflower told me your story The powers of a de What is it that brings you here?”

There was no sense of hostility from the terrorist leader However, Cloudhawk still decided it was best to tread with caution The sierous the Warden believed him to be

If he were so, but Wolfblade coanization in the wastes If he co and this secretive, he was anything but a co at?

“Back in Sandbar Station there's a et his hands on a map to your headquarters”

Cloudhawk had no qual Adder to the literal Wolf

It wasn't like the guy was a friend anyway, and Cloudhawk needed a way to get out froh to say that it was an agree into his possession He figured they would find out the truth eventually, but hopefully by then Cloudhaould be long gone

“So in the end ere discovered?” There was brief indignation in Wolfblade's demeanor, but it quickly melted away “Well, in a hundred secrets there is bound to be a few that leak It was only a matter of time before Nucleus was discovered But that doesn't explain why you were so eager to come here, alone”