The black van drives through the gates, its tires rumbling against the heated driveway. Trees are on both sides of the vehicle, and it continues down the driveway. To the left of it is a black concrete extension of the driveway, a detached three car garage on the side of the road.
The van stops at the heated motor court, in front of it is a four car garage, attached to a huge cottage mansion. The wood making up the mansion is dark, with slated stone pillars providing contrast to the structure. 2500 west boulevard street, California Lake Tahoe.
Liam and me both step out. Liam isn't in his sky gear right now, instead adorned in a grey sweatshirt and sweatpants. A large silver necklace sits on his neck, rattling slightly as he jumps out of the van. "This is one of your houses?" Liam asks.
"Yep," I say, stepping onto the motor court. Lightposts and the lights inside provide a gentle yellow hue illuminating the dimness of the afternoon air. The air smells of pine and freshly cut grass, and crickets are already chirping. "James will be here soon. If he's not here already."
Liam opens the van backdoor and grabs a backpack. He tosses me the backpack, and I catch it with a huff. Seems to be his clothes and something else that's hard and flat.
He tosses a white DMR over his shoulder, slinging it on his back. He does the same to his 10mm kriss vector. He holsters his Glock 18, and turns towards the driver. "You're dismissed." The driver slowly drives towards the gates after the dismissal.
"Looks cozy." Liam states, looking at the lights from inside. It's now fully nighttime, around eight o clock. But you couldn't tell from how bright those lights are.
"It is," I say, setting the backpack on the ground. "It's my main house, actually."
"I know."
Walking towards the main entrance, Liam looks up at the twenty five feet glass that makes up the entry. The glass has engravings on it, portraying a landscape with deer and trees. Walking through the door, the floor is made from slated dark stone.
A gold chandelier hangs above us both, a hall on the left side of us. In front is the living room, a fireplace on the left wall, a huge twenty five to thirty foot tall glass wall provides a view of the backyard.
To the right of the living area is the dining room, to the right of the dining room is a stairwell and an entry to the main kitchen. Liam walks over to the fireplace and plops himself on a couch. Setting his backpack down on the glass coffee table, I sit in front of him.
"You know when James will be here?" Liam asks, taking a light blue vape out of his pocket.
I shrug. "He might already be. He has a house here too."
Liam breathes out, blueberry smelling mist coming from his mouth. He seems to realise something and looks to me. "I don't have a house here..."
"You can go to the guest house. Is attached to the left wing." I state, tilting my head to the left side of the house.
Liam shakes his head, looking at the fireplace.
An idea comes to mind, although he's gonna have to drive over there. "I got another house. Crystal point mansion." The wood crackles in the fireplace, Liam nods.
"Sure, thanks."
"You'll probably have to call someone to drive you there though."
Liam nods, and stands up. He makes his way through the dining room. I get up after him, watching him wander. "What's with that chain anyway?" I ask, grabbing the silver chain.
Liam whistles, looking at the ceiling then to the chain with wide eyes. "Cuban-linked silver chain," He whispers, like he's worshipping god. His finger brushes against a pink diamond in the middle of the chain. "The Daira-i-loor diamond in the middle." His fingers move to the gemstones on either side. "Emeralds, rubies and sapphire on the sides."
"I know you love your jewellery and all, but don't that seem a bit excessive?" I ask, Liam immediately shakes his head. "How much that thing cost anyway?"
Liam looks out the window, into the dark backyard. The expensive chandelier hangs from the ceiling, casting a warm glow. Liam points to the emeralds first. "These two emeralds cost around four million..." I nod. "And this thing?" He says, pointing to the diamond. "They said it was priceless, but I bought it for around twenty billion."
I flinch upon hearing the price tag. Just hearing that come out of his mouth felt like pure blasphemy. "The fuck...?"
Liam nods.
"Let me get this straight. You wanted to spend twenty billion dollars... And instead of, I don't know, doing anything semi-fucking normal you bought a damn rock for twenty damn billion!?"
Liam shakes his head, showing the pink hued gem. "Not just any rock, it's a piece of history. Besides, what is there normal to buy?"
"Anything fucking else! You could've improved one of your mansions, something!"
Liam shakes his head once more. "History."
Grumbling, I sigh. "History of what?"
Liam shrugs. "I dunno," He laughs. "It's history of something."
"You gotta be fucking with me..." I whisper, cupping my head in my fingers. Liam walks past me, past the stairs and into the kitchen. I follow him, a big island sits in the middle of the kitchen, and marble counters line the walls and cabinets.
He slides his hand across the double oven, and looks at the room in front of the kitchen. It's another dining room, the wall to the left of it almost made entirely of windows. He walks inside and sees to the right of him is an archway, leading to a bar. On the same wall is a hallway.
Liam jogs over to it, and I follow. He runs his hand on the natural stone counter tops, and walks behind the bar. "You got a private bartender?" He asks.
"Yeah, they're just not here right now." I state, sitting on a seat behind the bar.
Liam nods, before looking at some bottles lined against the wall. The air smells odd here, like we've been transported to 1950 or something. "What do you want?" He asks, grabbing a bottle of expensive liquor.
"I ain't in the mood for drinking..."
Liam nods, before putting the bottle up. "You got butterscotch?"
"I think it's in the wine cellar." I state, he asks me where it is and I point to my right. "It's a good walk from here though."
After a few minutes, we have returned to the dining room again. Liam slings his backpack over his shoulders, and looks to me. "So, where is Crystal Point?"
"It's..." My voice trails off. "Just talk to the person at the gate, he can drive you there." Liam nods and walks past the living room. He walks into the main entry and gives me a wave, then walks out.
Now I can finally relax. I walk over to the entry way, then walk in the left side hallway. On my right is my office, don't use it much but it's still nice to have. After another moment, I pass a bathroom, and the wine cellar. To my right is my bedroom, and I climb up a tiny bit of stairs.
A set of French doors are in front of me, opening up the patio space. To the left of it is my bedroom, of which the door is opened already. The walls are white, and the floor is carpeted. The bed is king size, and a table with a tv is on its footrest.
A seating area is in front of the bed, in front of the seating area is a twenty foot tall glass window, providing a glamorous view of Lake Tahoe. Beside the seats is a gas fireplace. Beside the fireplace is the master bathroom. I sit on the edge of the bed, I take my helmet off.
Setting it on the nightstand, the visor is dusty, stained with dried blood and dirt. After taking off my red and black motocross clothes and gear, I put on a set of grey pyjamas.
I grab a Fiji water on the nightstand, putting some on the silver chrome visor. Grabbing a tissue, I spread the water across the shiny surface. After I'm done, the visor glows with a renewed glare, ready for another battle.
Laying down on the soft surface, I grab the remote. With a press of a button, curtains cover the twenty five foot tall glass wall in the front of the room, the lights dimming significantly. Closing my already heavy eyes, the last sound I hear is a hoot of an owl before the world goes quiet.
Morning
After I put my motocross gear back on, I walk out of my room. Walking all the way to the kitchen, I grab a pizza from the fridge and walk back into the living room.
On the glass coffee table is my rifle and shotgun, sliding them over my shoulder, the sun reflecting from the glass window shines into my visor. Something flies across the sun, something high in the air. I walk out the backdoor, looking at the object.
It's a drone, it's propellors buzzing in the sky. It seems to spot me and tries to fly away, but I shoot it out of the air with my Glock. It falls out of the air, thudding against the freshly cut grass. Taking the device in my hands, the main part of it is shattered into pieces.
After a couple minutes, the drone is in the fire pit. Someone in a speedboat is driving on the lake, relatively fast. It drives towards my dock, and I quickly pick up my rifle. The driver gets off, and it's James. He is clad in his yellow and black dirt bike gear, and he runs towards me.
"The fuck?!" I yell, and he stops just short of me.
"What was that for?" James asks, hands going in the air.
I stare at him. "What?"
"My drone!"
"That was you?!" I exclaim, looking at the now burning drone.
"Yes," He says, staring at the burning device. "Where's Liam?"
Shaking my head, I attempt to steer the conversation. "He's at Crystal point. But why the hell are you flying a drone in my damn backyard?"
James huffs. "I called you, and you didn't answer."
I check my phone, no notifications. Before I can say anything, the battery inside the drone explodes. A loud pop rings through the air, and James shakes his head. "You said Crystal point, right?"
I nod.
James walks over to the dock, and I follow him. He takes his helmet off, dropping it on the metal dock. "What're you doing?" James points to a telescope. He looks through it, pointing it at the Crystal Point mansion. Standing next to him, I watch him hunch over the eye piece.
"You see him?"
"Nah."
After a couple minutes, we walk into the main living room again. My phone buzzes with a notification, Liam sent me a message. It says that Ezra and Caspian are doing a sermon in a mega church in Reno. "James, look at this." I state, he looks over my shoulder and reads the message.
"You gonna go?" He asks, sitting on a couch.
"Probably..."
5 hours later
I'm in the bar, my bartender cooking me some food. A ring sounds through my phone, and I pick it up. "Hello?"
"Landon!" A voice yells through the speakers, sounds like Tyler.
"Yo," I greet, sipping a glass of doctor pepper. "What's up?"
"I heard ya'll were down yonder, taking a break in Lake Tahoe."
I nod, looking out of the window. A sprawling lake extends almost as far as the eye can see, mountains with snow tops creating a peaceful backdrop for the lake. "Yep, been a hectic couple weeks. Needed a vacation."
Tyler pauses, before a creaking of the door can be heard in the background. "For sure. Just checking up on ya."
After a moment, we hang up. The chef, named Chris, asks me a question. "Who was that, if I may ask?"
"Tyler Thalen." I state, sipping my glass. An old classic song plays on the recorder.
The chef nods. "I'm not too sure who that is, sir. If you would be so kind to enlighten me."
I recoil. "What?! He's the fourth Co-leader."
The chef gives me a confused glare. "There's only three, you and the other two."
"Yeah, right now. But when we first founded Sylvatus, he was a Co-Leader too. He just stepped down, he still handles a lot of stuff." I explain, as Chris brings my food out. He places it gently in front of me. "Some people still call him a Co-Leader."
"Very odd..." He mutters, washing his hands.
"Sylvatus history."
"It sounds complicated." The chef states, washing a pan.
"That's cause it is."
After eating my food, I thank him and stand up. After some walking I step into the locker room, the floor concrete and the walls made of logs. Putting my shotgun and rifle in a locker, I stuff my helmet in it alongside them and shut it. My phone buzzes again with a call, and I pick it up after seeing Liam's name.
"Yo." I state, walking into the garage.
"Hey, Landon. I got a couple things you should know about."
I nod, looking at my phone. "Yeah. What is it?"
Liam pauses. "After this vacation you might have to come with me to my house. I'm having a meeting with the leaders of Fiocchi."
"Okay. What about?"
"Weapon trades, and other stuff. Bring a some others too, as I'd like for them to see them again. But besides that, I've just spoken to Ezra."
With a nod, I get inside of a Polaris UTV. "Right. I was actually just about to go to that sermon."
"No... I think you need to come over here first." Liam states, his voice giving no room for refusal.
"Why?"
"We need to talk..." With that said, he hangs up the phone. Stuffing the phone back into my pocket, I take my black cloth mask off. What could he be talking about? Maybe it's something about it.
The garage door opens, my vehicle driving through the driveway. A guard opens the gate, and I turn right. After a bit of driving, I stop in front of a gate. A guard slowly opens the entrance, allowing me through. The tires spin on the motor court, I park in front of the guest house.
Walking past the building, I walk into the front yard of the Crystal Point Mansion. Opening the front door, I peek inside. Liam isn't in here, so I walk further inside to find him. Maybe he's in the basement or something.
"Landon." Liam states. He's looking out the window, in front of him is a serene view of the sprawling blue lake. Walking past the giant crystal in the middle of the room, I stand by his side a few feet away from him. "I've talked to Ezra. He's enlighted me on a few things..."
"Like?"
Liam puts cuffs his hands behind his back. "We need to stop. We need to stop with this pointless brutality..."
"The war with Hiwassee? Liam you know-" I am cut off by Liam's voice.
"Not Hiwassee. But towards our own men." He looks to the floor. "Some of our soldiers have been... harming people when they shouldn't be. And us, we've made ourselves too powerful within Sylvatus."
"What? Why? Why are we too powerful?"
"The laws of Sylvatus, Landon." He states, turning towards me. He wears black clothes, his chain still around his neck. His blonde hair moves slightly, as he looks at me.
I attempt to suppress a smirk. "Laws? We made those laws."
"To limit ourselves." Liam says, I guess I can see where he's coming from. But if we did follow through on what Liam's talking about, I doubt it'd go well.
1 hour later
Walking into the mega church, a person in a suit leads me to the sermon. He told me that Ezra already finished the sermon, so I should be good to just go in there and talk. The two large doors open, leading to a large room filled with seats. At the front of the room is a large stage, with Ezra in his white and golden dirt bike gear reading a bible.
"Ezra." His attention is grabbed by the sound of my voice. He sets the book down gently on the table in front of him, with a couple steps, he stands in front of me on the edge of the stage.