??? (Third-Person Point of View)

  The underground boratory was dimly lit, the white walls were marked with the occasional warning sign or security panel. Cold, artificial light flickers from above, it casted an eerie shadow on the metal floor. Large pipes ran along the ceiling. The scent of chemicals and metal lingered in the air.

  The doors are steel, not just any steel, the strongest steel forged. Beyond the door, was countless rooms having unknown projects conducted, each more cssified than the st.

  Two security guards stood at their post before an imposing metal door. One of them, a dragon in human form, let out an impatient sigh. His draconic tail twitched behind him. He clenched his rifle with an air of frustration while sighing with a bored look.

  "What exactly are we guarding? Can't I just use my dragon form instead of this one?" he grumbled. "If anything happens, I'll have a much better shot at defending this pce."

  The other guard, a demon, scoffed. "No. You heard the boss—no rge forms. The st thing we need is a dragon wrecking the entire base by accident. Besides, this isn’t just any vault... it holds something special." He gnced around before lowering his voice. "It's an artifact of the Lizard Goddess."

  The dragon guard froze. His voice betrayed his shock. "Wait, what?!"

  "Keep it down, idiot!" the demon hissed, raising a finger to his lips.

  The dragon guard winced. "Right, my bad. But isn’t that bad news? The Lizard Goddess is one of the few deities that exist physically in this world, unlike the others. Won't she send her followers to get it back? I heard she’s got a temper... and is extremely vengeful."

  The demon guard gave a slow nod. "Yeah... Vaassith is no joke. Did you hear what she did to that Lizardfolk tribe that committed terrible deeds? Flooded the whole pce. She doesn’t spare anyone. Not even her worshippers."

  The dragon guard narrowed his eyes. "Then how the heck did we even get our hands on something of hers, from that goddess?"

  The demon guard whispered silently. "Rumor has it, one of our higher-ups used to worship Vaassith before joining the organization. A Lizardman. He knew the temple’s secrets and stole the artifact himself."

  The dragon raised a brow. "Do you know what the artifact is?"

  "No clue. They're being extra secretive about it."

  The dragon gurad sighed, staring aimlessly at the hallway. "Knew it"

  "Yeah, I know, I know a bum-"

  Before the demon could finish his own sentence, his throat was suddenly sshed open from behind with terrifying precision and quickness. The demon guard barely had time to react before colpsing in a pool of blood. The dragon turned, his instincts screamed for him to move—but before he could lift his weapon or even transform, an arrow buried itself between his eyes.

  Both guards dropped to the floor. A swift and quiet death. Perfect

  "Well done, you two."

  The voice came from the shadows, calm and pleased. A red-scaled Lizardman stepped forward, his armor glinting faintly under the dim light. Despite the weight of his heavy gear, he moved with unnatural ease. The red-scaled lizard mans yellow eyes gleamed with satisfaction at the fwless kill.

  "Hmph. It was nothing," a female voice responded, tinged with arrogance. "Our stealth is so good that even a dragon couldn't hear us coming."

  The third figure, still hidden beneath a dark green and blue cloak, remained silent. His blue, slit-pupiled eyes gleamed beneath his hood as he knelt beside the fallen guards, his hands forming a brief, silent prayer.

  The woman looked in disbelief at the action that the Cloaked figure was doing with raised brow. "Lizardboy, what are you doing?"

  The cloaked figure finally spoke, a quick and simple response. "Praying for them."

  The woman raised a skeptical brow. "Really? They're the enemy, you know."

  The red Lizardman:Beadu—interrupted before the argument could escate anymore. "Easy, Sylvarius. He does this for the fallen whenever he can. He wont do it if there was any danger near at the moment"

  Sylvarius, a extremely beautiful woman with silver and red hair, crossed her arms. Though she appeared human, the dragon horns protruding from her head and the tail swaying behind her betrayed her true nature as a dragon. "That kindness of his will get him killed one day. If he dies, no one will pray for him."

  The cloaked figure ignored her and turned to Beadu. "What’s next?"

  Beadu gestured toward the dead guards. "Sylvarius and I will use my blessing to disguise ourselves as them. You’ll stay in the shadows while we act as security on a break. Get the artifact."

  The cloaked figure nodded.

  As Beadu and Sylvarius assumed their disguises, the cloaked figure disappeared into the narrow corridors, his presence melting into the shadows. His stealth was unmatched, even those blessed with invisibility spells would struggle to match his level.

  The disguised duo walked through the base naturally, talking small things and snacking as if they were simply taking a break. Scientists, researchers, and other security personnel paid them no mind, their false sense of security has blinded them to the danger creeping through their facility.

  Sylvarius smirked, watching the oblivious staff chatter away. "They have no idea what’s coming."

  Beadu too smirked.

  The underground facility was a maze of cold, metal corridors, each section and room was illuminated by a light from the roof of the b. The floors were nearly all metallic. The light reflected off the metal, showing the cleanliness and how well maintained the metal is.

  Scientists and researchers talked to each other, engrossed in their work and their findings. Security guards stood watch, but their alertness and awareness was dulled by constant routine and boredom.

  Unseen by all, the cloaked figure moved with fluid grace, evading cameras, slipping past patrolling guards, and making his way toward the surveilnce room.

  Inside, a lone security officer sat at his station, his eyelids drooping as fatigue took hold. A moment ter, a sharp jab to his neck sent him into a deep sleep. When...or if the man does wake up a few hours ter, he would think that he had slept by accident.

  The cloaked figure scanned the security feeds, finally spotting it: the artifact of Vaassith.

  "Pn A. Room number 348," he whispered into his radio.

  Beadu and Sylvarius received the transmission from their own raidos and changed their movements. They continued acting naturally, heading toward the designated room. As they entered, the researchers barely gnced at them, mistaking them for routine security. As the reasearchers left for break and went to the cafeteria to eat.

  "We see it," Sylvarius reported over the radio as soon as every researcher has left the room.

  The cloaked figure nodded, satisfied. "Good. I’ve set the camera feed to loop. No one will realize it’s gone. Take it now."

  Just as they secured the artifact, something else on the monitors caught the cloaked figures attention—a containment chamber, reinforced with yers of magic and ser security. Bound in thick, enchanted chains, was a young girl—no older than ten. A girl with a terrified and confused expression.

  Her terrified expression sent a chill through him.

  "Hey?! Lizardboy!" The cloaked figure freezed, but quickly listened to Sylvarius. "We have gotten the artifact! We have also pnted the explosives to destroy the Facilty, its set to detonate in 13 minutes!"

  The cloaked figure quickly replied in shock; they hadn’t told him about the explosives. "What?! Don’t destroy the facility! Beadu! Sylvarius! Our orders were to retrieve the artifact and notify the others so they could investigate and decide whether to destroy the base! There's a—" Just as the cloaked figure was about to mention the child, he was cut off.

  "I'm sorry, Cooler," Beadu replied, finally talking through the radar, his tone final. "Vaassith gave me orders. This facility must be erased." The radio cut off.

  "Fuck."

  His gaze snapped back to the containment chamber. He couldn’t leave the girl behind.

  He sprinted toward Room 590, where the girl was held.

  Four guards spotted him instantly.

  "WHAT TH—?!"

  Cooler was already moving. His eyes, glowing faintly beneath his hood, narrowed as he closed the gap.

  His first target barely had time to react before Cooler’s fist smmed into his jaw, sending him sprawling against the wall.

  The second and third guards raised their weapons.

  Too slow.

  Cooler pivoted, grabbing the wrist of the second guard and twisting, forcing the gun from his hands. He smmed his palm into the guard’s throat, cutting off his air supply, then followed up with a brutal knee to the ribs.

  The third guard fired.

  Cooler ducked.

  A bde fshed in his grip, thrown with perfect accuracy. The weapon sliced through the barrel of the gun, rendering it useless. Before the guard could process what happened, Cooler was already on him, striking the pressure points along his arm and sending him crumbling.

  The fourth guard, the fastest of them all in reaction time, infused his gun with magic, preparing to unleash a powerful bst.

  Cooler’s eyes fshed.

  With a flick of his wrist, he sent his second bde flying: directly into the glowing core of the guard’s weapon. A clean shot.

  The weapon exploded in the guard’s hands.

  Before the fmes could even reach Cooler, he was already in front of his final opponent, delivering a devastating elbow strike that knocked him unconscious.

  Seven minutes left.

  Cooler turned toward the containment unit. With swift precision, he deactivated the security systems, breaking the magical seals.

  Three minutes left.

  He threw the girl over his shoulder and sprinted. He sprinted with all his strength for 3 minutes. He did not care for the

  One minute left.

  She screamed. "AHHHH!!"

  "STOP SCREAMING OR I’LL DROP YOU!" Cooler snapped.

  She pouted, but quieted.

  "GOOD GIRL! ILL GET YOU ICE CREAM"

  The girl smiled happily despite the crazy life and death situation. A few minutes ago, she was scared and now shes happy?!

  "The girl's absolutely nuts," the cloaked figure thought.

  One minute left.

  He burst through the exit just as the facility erupted into fmes behind him.

  As the dust settled and the glow of the burning facility illuminated the night, Cooler-the cloaked figure-now revealed-stood tall, his presence imposing. His skin was a deep mixture of dark blue and green, patterned like the scales of an ancient predator. His dited blue lizard eyes glowed under the moonlight ominously. His gaze held both sharp intelligence and restrained fury. His sharp, reptilian snout twitched slightly as he exhaled, calming himself after the chaos. Though his face remained mostly unreadable, his gaze alone was enough to send chills down anyone’s spine. He had sharp small number of short horns just above his eyebrows that went along at the side of his head, 3 on his right side of the head and the other 3 on the other side of his head.

  Beadu and Sylvarius smirked at the cloaked figure as soon as they saw him—until they saw the girl.

  "Who the hell is that—" Sylvarius started, but stopped when she saw the pure rage in Cooler’s eyes.

  He exhaled sharply. "I don’t want to talk about it. Besides, explosives? Really?" He said in a disappointed voice. Sylvarius and Beadu are slightly older than him, he usually spoke in a polite tone, but at this moment he didnt care for formalities nor respect. He was pissed, horribly so.

  Sylvarius and Beadu became silent. They knew he was pissed at the unexpected use of explosives, but because there was a child here, he raise his voice or shout out.

  As cooler looked over at his shoulder, he then saw the girl had gone unconcious, probabaly due to the sheer chaos of what just happened.

  Cooler sighed. "Well, I can ask questions ter." Cooler looked at Sylvarius and Beadu coldly. "Lead the way. And I am not doing it this time."

  Both listened. They knew he doesnt have the patience to deal with them. They sensed he was also internally pissed at the goddess. Cooler was different from the 2 of them. Even as a lizardfolk and a follower of Vaassith, he thought differently, questioned more, and refused blind obedience.

  As the group moved, pnning to go back to the area of rest and home.

  Hello readers,

  My apologies for the dey in releasing this chapter. At first, I was unsure how to begin Dr. Trauss’s story, even though I already had an idea in mind. I just wasn’t sure which approach would make it the most impactful and enjoyable to read. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed the story.

  This chapter was a bit tricky to write, as I was working on improving my vocabury and understanding of certain terms to make my writing more effective. Once again, feel free to give criticism so I may improve. Additionally, I had exams and homework, which prevented me from publishing this chapter sooner.

  I’ll be publishing more chapters after this week of exams. Thank you for your patience! I hope you enjoyed this chapter.