“The Motherland is located in an island on the Atlantic Ocean, of course! Although, we do have territory and colonies all over the world…” For a moment, his words almost seemed proud. He quickly hissed back, “It is not imaginary!”
“Sedorian, the language of our people! All Sedorians must speak it, seeing as I am one, I speak it.” His eyes seemed to harden as he grew annoyed. For a moment, he straighted his stance, pulling back his spear and instead taking something out..a radio. The radio was similar in design to well… what a radio would look like, but the way it was shaped didn’t look like any radio any civilian would have. Maybe it was new?
Pressing a button, he spoke into it, loud and clear. “Anha hash an Amerikaan gwe.” Pulling away, Kuno stood for a moment, expecting a reply. But only static came out of the other end, at least for the time being. He stiffened, glancing at the radio. Usually, responses were immediate. What happened?
"Uh huh. Sure." Ana's tone was skeptical. This guy really thought that this Sedori place existed. What an idiot.
When he pulled out the radio, she stiffened, hands on the trigger of her gun. Was he calling for help? Where did he get that? And then she noticed that the radio looked strange, almost otherworldly… could he be telling the truth? No, it wasn't possibly. He probably just made it himself, to look like it was from the future.
They usually answer by now…
Kuno stared at the radio, wondering what had happened. Was there a large scale attack? That seemed unlikely. Or maybe an EMP? Also extremely unlikely.
Finally he turned his eyes back to her, having clearly expected something else to have happened. But nothing ever did, which caught him off guard. What did he do now? Flew, and try to figure out the radio problem? Kuno took another step back, staying silent.
Ana shook her head in disgust. She started to dial a number on her phone with one hand, while the other remained steady, holding the gun.
Her call picked up immediately. "What's up, little Laya baby?" Came a smooth male voice from the other end.
"Shut up, Malcolm," she hissed. "There's a stranger in front of me, claiming to be from some place he calls Sedori. I think he escaped from the asylum, do you have any record of that?"
Kuno looked back up and proceeded to back up even further, glancing behind him. Back to the woods for now, Kuno thought. Just for safety. And until he could get this radio thing figured out. Kuno wanted to make sure he had a stable connection with his people on the other side.
"An escape from the asylum? Ana, no one has ever managed to escape from there in years. I'm not seeing any record of an escape, recently or ever, from this place. Why?"
"He's insane," she hissed, anger in her tone. "I don't know what is wrong with him. Is there any way that they could have covered up the escape?"
"I hacked into the mainframe. There's nothing. So, either they didn't know, or this guy didn't escape from there."
Kuno was about to turn tail and run when the radio crackled to life. For a few moments, all that came out was static on the other end, but a good ear would be able to capture the whispering voice that escaped from it. “Ei..elat. Zhille ato hazze?”
Kuno paused, realizing that his radio somehow worked again. Lifting it back up to his face he spoke into it, having ceased his movement and instead keeping a close eye on Ana as he spoke into it. “Anha tat vo tiholat. Anha ez jin ifak, vosma.” He said something along the lines of not knowing where he was and his current status.
Lowering the radio, while Kuno was no longer pointing the spear at her he still gripped it in hand.
"What do you mean?" Ana asked in confusion, furrowing her brow.
"Exactly what I said. There is no evidence that anyone has ever escaped from the asylum since it was created," Malcolm told her confidently.
"I-" She glanced over at the stranger, who was talking into his radio. "I was so sure-" she faltered.
“Elat tat valshe qile.” The other voice on the radio quietly responded, before Kuno quickly spoke into it, his tone sounding somewhat panicked. “Vosma anha tat vo tiholat finne haji?!” However, the radio seemed to cut out and when Kuno attempted to recontact the other person, it seemed to not be working. With a slight hiss under his breath, he whispered “Chekk..”
Setting the radio aside, Kuno went back to looking back at the woman.
"Sorry, Laya. I can look again, but I'm pretty sure that there is nothing."
Ana sighed. "Fine. But send someone over here as soon as possible. He threatened me with a spear."
"A spear? If that's all he has, you can take care of yourself, you whiny baby." Malcolm hung up.
"Sonofabitch," Ana cursed, throwing her phone into the grass in a rage. "I don't know why they made him my partner. Do they hate me?"
Kuno seemed to tilt his head upon seeing her reaction; the phone being thrown on the ground and all. Momentarily, he held his eyes on the phone, confused for a brief three seconds on what would guarantee that reaction. But soon enough he moved his focus back and upon hearing her speak, he seemed to give a light, very brief laugh.
"What are you laughing at?" Ana turned her furious gaze to the stranger in front of her. "And who are you, really? I don't believe that you're from Seda-whatsit, so don't try to tell me that." She tossed her long braid over her shoulder and glared.
Giving his head another shake, but not in any sort of yes or no gesture, he straightened his form. “I am from Sedori, as I’ve insisted before,” he spoke, begrudgingly. “But my name is Kuno Aynon.” He supposed it wouldn’t do any harm in saying his full name here, after all.
"Sounds like a foreign name." Ana had calmed down slightly, composing herself. She picked up her phone and slid it into her pocket, clicking the safety of her gun back on and storing it in her jacket. She still didn't trust the guy, but she was pretty sure that he wouldn't hurt her. "My full name is Analaya Hart. I don't know why my parents did that to me, but they did."
Kuno still didn’t drop his spear; most likely because he had no where to put it, but he did seem to relax. Just a little.
With a nod, he made sure to remember the name. “What are you going to do…now?” He wondered out loud, unsure of what to do right now. He also didn’t quite trust her, but he’d definitely improved from just minutes ago.
"Leave and not even pretend to have seen you," Ana said instantly. "You're probably some figment of my tired mind. If you're not, well, I don't even care anymore." She turned to go. "So… go back and keep playing dress up or something."
Kuno stayed silent for a few seconds after she finished. Finally, his response came, after evaluating his options.
“Let me begin by saying that I am in a foreign country of which I have no clue where I am, where to go, what to do…” He began. “I could be some sort of spy for all you know, and Sedori could just be a made up country like you believe, just using it as a cover story.”
Although it was faint, his accent; somewhat unidentifiable began to show slightly. “And by allowing me to leave, you will allow a foreign spy into your country,” he glanced up, “to steal whatever information is available. That sounds nice, doesn’t it?” He ended off with a somewhat mocking tone. He paused.
“So tell me, what can I do or say to get you to believe me?”
"That could all be true," Ana said, waving her hand. She had thought about it, but it wasn't very likely. No one would go this far in their spying. No country was that desperate, right? "But it probably isn't. I admire your imagination in coming up with such a story, but the only way that you could make me believe you is if you took me to that Sedo-place."
And that probably wasn't going to happen. It was a made-up place.
“Can’t take you there,” he folded his arms. “The shores of Sedori are constantly under watch, and if they’re not being watched, then they’re under attack. And getting to there, either via boat or plane is a whole other story.” Kuno trailed off, glancing up again. “But…”
“..If I showed you a picture, would your chance of believing me go up?”
"Maybe?" Ana said, putting her hands on her hips. "I don't know, though. It has to be realistic, and believable." She snorted. Did this guy really think that she would believe him?
“Sure, sure,” he muttered. He seemed to search his pockets for whatever he could find, momentarily setting the spear aside for now.
Finally, his hands brushed against a small-ish photo and Kuno lifted it, inspecting it. He also knew he had one more..but he just decided to start off with this photo for now.
Walking closer, albeit cautiously, Kuno presented the picture. It seemed to be in colour, although the colours were slightly more drained, as though whatever camera they’d been taken with was not good quality or an older model.
He offered the photo to her.
The photo would be of what seemed to be looking out at a town of sorts by a beach. Like a fishing village, kind of, though it seemed to look almost militarized judging by the ships that were at its docks and ones that could be seen in the distant ocean. There were people walking about, most of the visible ones seemed to be civilians but it was harder to make out details.
A flag was in the village, and the flag that was strung up was a red flag, with a black emblem on it. The emblem almost seemed to look like a dragon of some sorts, or perhaps a wyvern.
“The flag does not normally look like that, for the most part we only change our flag to that during war.” He quietly added. “If that is not enough for you, I also have a picture of our leader..er, my leader.”
"Cute, I guess." Ana frowned. There were so many ways this could have been faked. The village could have been photographed with an older camera, to make it more believable, and the flag could have been made up. There was exquisite detail on the flag, though. She was impressed with the level of preparation he had done for his story, as if he had known that someone would question his bizarre story.
It didn't make her believe him, though.
But… he seemed to act strangely, as if the place in the picture was dear to him. It was strange. He acted genuine, but, well, she couldn't believe him. Not at all. There was no such place as Sedori, and she was firm on that. Unless she got some solid proof, she wouldn't believe.
"Let's see the other picture," Ana said wearily.
“Okay.” Kuno put aside the first photo and took out the other. He presented it. It was slightly larger than the previous photo.
The photo was of similar quality to the other one, but this one seemed a bit better. Maybe the lighting was improved, maybe they’d decided to upgrade their model, whatever.
In the photo was a long table of some sorts. You’d be viewing it from the longer side, based on where the camera was. The background, again, had that same flag, albeit a larger version of it. And then there were the people.
Their physical features were impossible to view, due to what they wore, which could be easily described as dark in colour, some sort of modern armour. Two of the people on the sides, one for the left side, one for the right side, held guns. Very big guns. And they were tall. Very tall. Talking well over 6ft here.
The person who sat at the table was sitting down, so of course they’d be shorter. They had their hands in a gesture, as though speaking, but yet again, their face was not visible. A hood over their head, not even the lighting of the room could help make them more visible.
Their hands though. Perhaps the most peculiar part, was how, upon further inspection, seemed to be almost metallic.
"Why are they all so tall?" Ana asked, her eyes instantly drawn to the figures in the background. "If you live there, wouldn't you be taller, too?" The guy, who was around her age, was a few inches shorter than her. Then she studied the figure who seemed to be his leader. She pursed her lips, examining him with the practiced eye of an expert.
"Does he have a metal arm?" She asked suddenly. If this was all a hoax, the arm was the best imitation of a metal arm that she had ever seen, even with all of the movie effects right now.
“People vary in height around the world, do they not?” Although Kuno was trying to stay neutral, it was clear that question had him irked.
“She,” Kuno quickly corrected her. “The leader has two hands just like you and I, both metal.” Kuno glanced to the sky.
