MOBA Game Apocalypse-Chapter 210: Leona’s Growing Frustration

"Psst. Look, it's… him."

"Him…? Who?"

"Adam the Endless."

The agents stopped what they were doing when Adam stepped through the door of the archive. The shutters of their cameras and the scratching of their pens faded into whispers.

"That's… him?"

"Smaller than I thought."

"He's… kinda hot?"

"Jesus, he looks like a high school kid."

They stood among crates and tables laden with artifacts, some dusting off stone fragments, others photographing tablets. But now they just stared, lowering their instruments, exchanging glances as Adam approached.

"I thought he'd be... I don't know. Bigger."

"Ssh. Shut up."

The agents no longer returned to work. They all just watched Adam even though he was just standing there. It wasn't until someone senior, perhaps their superior, barged in that they jumped.

They were all about to return to work, but their superior clapped his hands.

"Pack it up! Everyone out. Now."

Confusion rippled through the room. "But we haven't finished logging—"

"Doesn't matter. Orders from upstairs. Move."

The agents all looked at each other again, but shrugged as they shoved their notebooks into their pockets. They filed past Adam in a single line, some craning their necks for one last look. Adam noticed this, and he nodded to each of them as they passed.

"Thank you," he said. "For your time."

They nodded back, and without even thinking about it, even smiled at Adam, almost as if he were a celebrity. Well, considering his fame, he might just be. One of them even almost extended a hand for a handshake.

Then they were gone, footsteps echoing down the hallway until the heavy security door clicked shut.

Adam turned around and noticed how large the room actually was without the crowd. Leona said it was a climate-controlled archive, so he thought it would be smaller—but it was an entire warehouse. Tables formed a maze through the center, covered in rocks, tablets, fragments of pottery, and sealed plastic cases. Along the walls, glass display cases held scrolls and some other… old things.

"Ah! Adam!" Leona stepped out from behind a shelving unit.

"This is it," she said, gesturing broadly as she approached. "Everything the Hospital collected that might relate to you. Or to what they thought you were, at least."

"All of… this?"

Adam walked to the nearest table. Rocks. Just rocks, at first glance—gray, brown, some veined with quartz. But as he leaned closer, he saw the inscriptions. Sharp wedge-shaped impressions, spirals, lines that looked like scratches from a chicken.

And then, all of a sudden… the room tilted.

"Kh…" Adam gripped the table edge as he felt his legs weaken. A pressure built behind his eyes, not quite pain, more like a thought trying to dig its way up. He shook his head, hard.

"Adam?!" Leona was at his side immediately, her hand hovering near his elbow but not touching. "Are you… okay? Did you remember something?"

"I…" He stared at the rock, and the symbols felt like they were swimming around. "I… don't know."

Leona grabbed a brush, lighting cleaning the stone.

"Cuneiform," she said. "Babylonian. At least three thousand years old."

Adam looked at her. "How do you know that?"

She pointed to the white label taped beneath the display stand that said the same thing she said.

"Oh…"

"And also, I used to be an archaeologist. Remember?"

Leona chuckled dryly. She raised her hand, and small pebbles crawled out from her sleeve like insects, gathering in her palm to form a tiny, perfect golem that marched across her knuckles.

"And… ever since I became a Hero, I feel them. All rocks. Like I'm connected to them. It's weird. My husband was the geologist. If he had survived the summoning, he might have had this power instead of me."

"I'm… sorry."

Leona raised an eyebrow. She waved her hand, dismissing the pebbles back into her sleeve. "For what? That was a lifetime ago. My wounds are old compared to—"

She stopped herself. "W-Walk around. Maybe you'll remember something."

Adam nodded. He moved past the Babylonian stones to the far wall, where sheets of translucent paper hung behind protective glass.

"Papyrus," Leona said.

"It's in Latin…" Adam whispered, standing in front of the wall of texts.

Leona stayed back, giving him space, but he still felt her… watching intensely.

Adam scanned the sheets. His lips moved, quietly reading the texts naturally. He squinted at one fragment, leaned closer to another. Some passages made him frown; others caused his shoulders to tense.

He moved to the next panel. More papyrus, older-looking, the script was somewhat different, but Adam didn't really notice and just continued reading on.

"Wh—" Behind him, Leona loudly gasped.

Adam glanced back. "Are… you alright?"

She had her hand over her mouth, shaking her head violently. "N-Nothing. Sorry. Keep reading."

Adam turned back to the text. He read silently again until finally finishing all the texts. He paused for a moment before sighing and facing Leona.

"Some of these keep mentioning someone called Athanatos," he said.

"He brought wisdom. Taught them things. They say he came from… kai elthen apo ten gen ten hyper thalassas."

"H-huh?"

"Kai perieballen tas poleis tous anthro—"

"Adam!"

"What? What?" Adam quickly raised both his hands, afraid he might have touched something he shouldn't have. "What is it?"

"You…" Leona was trembling. She walked slowly to the glass wall, pointing at the papyrus with a shaking finger. "This… is Greek, Adam."

Adam squinted. "Okay…?"

"You're speaking Greek. Not just Greek—Attic. Maybe Koine, but older. The intonation is… classical." Her voice was starting to rise. "Do you understand what this means? That's a dead language. It predates Latin. It predates—"

"So I'm just..." Adam frowned. "Old?"

"Ancient," Leona breathed. "Not old. Ancient."

"Ancient…" Adam thought of Tomoe. How her lips trembled upon realizing how old he could possibly be,

He glanced back at the papyrus. "Is… that a big deal? I don't really remember anything."

"Wha…" Leona's eyes widened even further.

"What do you mean is that a big deal?!"