The Alchemist's Children: Panacea

  **********************

  Ania shook Callen violently while Niknak twitched on the floor. "Wake up! You're not dead...you can't be!" She screamed. “Come on!” With another shake, Callen gasped for breath. Relief washed over Ania’s face. “Thank…” Cutting her off, a fire bolt shot over Sarge's head searing the cement wall. The flames filled the room with an unbearable heat. The fire system hissed on showering the room with water. "We gotta go! Now!" She ordered before Callen even had a chance to orient himself.

  Sarge's right gun clicked empty. The horde rushed forward, with the sorcerer leading the way. The sorcerer's hands were wreathed in flickering green flames.

  Sarge steadied himself for a powerful sweeping swing. The sorcerer ducked his strike and his left machine gun fired the last of his bullets into the front of the horde.

  The sorcerer, in an amazing feat of agility, climbed up Sarge's side. His hands melted into his armor on his way up. Sarge smashed his shoulder into the wall crushing a pair of goblins as they tried to pass him. The sorcerer narrowly avoided being crushed and didn't waste any time digging his flaming hands into Sarge's eye sockets and under the neck piece of Sarge's armor. Sarge roared with pain as his head began to burn.

  Groggily, Callen grabbed his pistol with his left hand. As he stood up, he noticed the dark metal streaking up his arm. From the tips of his fingers, the metal had wrapped up, like a Celtic tribal tattoo. The cut from Kusari's blade had been completely filled with the substance and had blended with the swirling design. He was no longer bleeding. The metallic fluid felt cold and he could feel it moving through his body. He noticed the copper streaks on Niknak. "Oh my god..." He whispered.

  His goggles had re-synced with his pistol and three shots displayed on his goggles. He took aim at the sorcerer and fired. The bullet hit him hard in the shoulder knocking him off of Sarge.

  Sarge thrashed more violently to try to hold back the horde. "I will crush you!" Sarge roared.

  Callen tried to take aim again, but Sarge was blocking his shot. The sorcerer stood up and plunged his hands into Sarge's chest. The fire intensified as the sorcerer chanted causing the closest goblins near him to fall down dead. Sarge's armor rapidly liquefied. The fire system in the hallway hissed on.

  Sarge screamed as the tongues of the sorcerer's fire covered his body, the sprinklers did nothing to quench the hellfire. "Run." He yelled as the metal began melting into his skin and down onto his body.

  The fire erupted like an infernal volcano with the deaths of more goblins. The sorcerer pressed forward, and his fiery claws tore into Sarge's soft organs.

  Sarge tried to charge forward but fell to the ground as the last of Sarge began to succumb to the heat.

  "Where?" Callen yelled in frustration while franticly looking around for a possible means of escape.

  "Don't leave me..." Kusari moaned on the floor.

  "I can't get Kusari into the duct," Ania yelled.

  Callen swore.

  "Trapped like rodents!" The sorcerer growled. He motioned for the goblins to charge.

  Callen reloaded his gun, and backed towards Ania, who had dragged Kusari under the vent. He felt the cross vibrate in his pocket as he leaned against the wall. He pulled it out. The wall rumbled open, revealing a hidden passage. "That's right, Dad's hidden lab!"

  "Niknak?" Ania asked as the first goblins entered the room.

  "No time, and he just tried to kill me," Callen said as he hoisted Kusari through the door. Niknak was lying on the floor convulsing.

  "Thanks..." Kusari murmured with her oily blood leaking from her mouth.

  He closed the door, narrowly escaping the goblins. They were safe for the time being.

  Kusari coughed. "Thanks for not leaving me." She moaned.

  "You saved me again." Callen said.

  "Yeah, we couldn't leave you," Ania added. "We're friends."

  Kusari smiled and coughed while Ania and Callen used Ania's first aid kit to bind her wounds.

  "Guess we can only go down," Callen said. "Kusari, can you move?"

  "Do I have a choice?" She glanced at the door. "I'd rather not be sitting here when they melt their way through..."

  The three companions descended down the wrapping claustrophobic ramp into an advanced lab. Among the tanks of various chemicals and robotic arms, there was a metal encapsulated bed with all sorts of wires and tubes running from it into a computer system.

  "What the..." Ania started.

  "I don't know, but this stuff is crazy advanced," Callen said. "Beyond what Felix has...or Dr. Brewer..."

  Ania looked at one of the tanks. "Arsine gas?" She asked.

  "Yeah, if that stuff leaks you smell garlic before you die. Some of these chemicals are used to make a lot of the special materials I used in Felix's workshop. But some of this stuff I have never seen before."

  "What did Dad use all this stuff for?" Ania asked.

  He looked at his arm. "Probably this, among other stuff. How did this stuff get on me exactly?" Callen asked. "My memory is a little blurry."

  "I thought he was going to kill you..." Kusari sighed. "I grabbed your gun...I missed."

  Ania nodded. "Then, I ran to your side. I checked your pulse and your heart stopped beating and Niknak started having one of his convulsions."

  Callen nodded. "That's odd. Why would Niknak have an episode if I died for a second? He was trying to kill me."

  "I don't know, Callen," Ania said sadly. "How do you feel?"

  "Hungry." He said. "Extremely hungry."

  "I hope panacea wasn't destroyed." Ania sighed.

  Callen looked at his arm and shrugged.

  "Before we get too comfortable, what's going on upstairs?" Kusari coughed. "Are they still coming? That sorcerer should be through that door by now..."

  "Hold on a second." Callen flipped through the cameras on his computer. "Looks like Niknak ended up helping us in the end. The sorcerer is leaving the facility with a few goblins dragging Niknak. The horde is following." He smiled. "But still, it doesn't make sense that he would just leave. I bet if that sorcerer wanted to he could melt through that door." As the goblins dragged him, something fell out of his pocket. Callen zoomed in with the camera. It was a Lego figure Callen had given to his father to give Niknak the Christmas his father vanished. The sight of the toy struck an emotional note, and he wondered why Niknak would keep the toy if he were trying to kill him.

  "I bet they will be back," Ania said. "We better figure something out quick."

  Callen nodded. "Where should we start?"

  "There is an air duct we can crawl through here," Kusari said. "I'll get it open."

  "Alright," Callen said. "Let me check the duct layout." He brought up the duct map on his wrist computer. "Ah, we got a problem. This lab and all the duct work down here, well, it isn't on the map I have. So, I don't know where that goes."

  "Maybe Dad has the information on that computer?" Ania asked.

  "Maybe, but I don't really know what any of this stuff does. There is a lot of stuff here." Callen said. He paused. "Wait as second." Callen pulled up the page with the lab drawing that Virette had given him on his goggles. "This is the place, that is in noted Virette's file."

  "Where The Many is trapped?" Kusari asked.

  Callen nodded. "But, I don't even know where to start...."

  "Don't give me that, there is nothing you can't figure out with all that technology stuff," Ania said.

  "Yeah, you repaired me." Kusari coughed as she continued duct taping her wounds. "Do what you can."

  "Alright..." He walked up to the command computer and stared at the controls. The computer was far from common. "Um, I can't even find the power button."

  "Maybe Dad used the cross?" Ania suggested.

  He nod
ded. "Why not, he uses it for everything else around this place." He pulled out his cross and the lab hummed to life. "Ah..." He shuddered. The monitors buzzed to life.

  "Callen, I've been thinking, do you think the Many might be the virus that attacked this place?" Ania asked.

  "That would make some sense." He said. "Dad said in the recording upstairs that something had corrupted some of the test subjects and the virus was many different streams of completely different code. But, I don't know. That's too much of a leap for me without any proof."

  "But Dad said that it was taken care of and he locked it in his homunculus?" Ania said. "And a homunculus is..."

  "This large machine," Kusari said, she seemed excited, but it was cut off when she wiped a mixture of blood and oil from her mouth.

  Callen gave Kusari a weird look. "I have no idea," Callen said, cutting her off. "But, I have a guess..."

  "No," Ania said. "I wasn't asking. I was about to tell. I saw it in some of the tomes I was reading. A homunculus is an assistant to an alchemist. It's a living being that they made as an extension of themselves."

  "More alchemy stuff?" Callen sounded irritated. "And thus...no answers..."

  Kusari looked confused. "What's alchemy?"

  Callen scratched his head. "Felix mentioned that it has something to do with technology beyond the time and then there's the cipher...But, aside from being the forefather of modern physics and chemistry, I don't know much more than that..."

  Ania shrugged. "I didn't research any more into it. So, I don't know either."

  "So, if the homunculus is a creature, where is it?" Kusari coughed and dropped the last screw on the floor. She lowered the duct cover to the floor and sat down against the wall.

  "I think the goblins took him," Callen admitted.

  "Niknak's The Many." Kusari whispered slowly.

  "We don't know anything yet," Callen said. "Right now, we're just guessing. Let's see if there are any more clues on this system." He turned his attention towards the computer, which was on standby. Like the stasis chamber that held panacea for the last ten years, the secret lab room was also on a separate power source from the greater facility.

  "Dad...what were you up to?" Callen muttered. He looked down towards a collection of three minimized programs. He expanded the first of the idle programs. He scratched his head as he looked through the code "Ok, well, it looks like this is what Dad used to create a program to counteract the virus that infected the gremlins." He said. "He called the anti-virus he wrote 'Forger.'"

  "So, I guess that means the virus is definitely the Many," Ania said. "I guess we know where the gremlin 'gods' came from."

  "Yeah, but it's more than that. By the way it is written, it looks like the gremlins would have to accept the anti-virus to counteract the virus. So, in a way, they really could be considered gods." He said. "My best guess is that maybe that has to do with the way their CPU and brain interact?" He shook his head. "Warring computer programs as gods. Derrick would love that."

  "Yeah, he would," Ania stated, sounding uncomfortable with the idea. "But, that must be why things developed the way they did before Forgeholm fell. But, why did they begin to revert to the many after he installed the anti-virus on them all?"

  "I don't know," Callen said. "I guess it had to do with Niknak somehow since Dad said he contained the virus within him."

  Kusari was quiet in the corner and slowly shaking her head. "Niknak is the Many." She muttered.

  "Check something else," Ania said. "What else was Dad working on?"

  "Alright" He opened the next program. "This one looks like more programming for some device. But, this one is loaded with more alchemy symbols." He touched something in the program and a circular coin with a hole in the middle and runes on it popped up. The screen started blinking out of range. "Wait, that looks like one of the charms Bracket had and Niknak wanted for payment."

  "Could that be the device Dad mentioned that would fix Niknak after he trapped The Many in him?" Ania asked.

  "It must be," Callen said. "But I can't read all the code to find out exactly what it does." He sighed. "I guess I need to learn this alchemy stuff."

  Ania nodded. "We have some research to do..." Ania pointed at the bottom of the screen. "Look...check that program it says Panacea."

  Inside there were two choices written in alchemy symbols. Each choice was a different color. One was copper the other was dark steel. Callen glanced at his arm and clicked the dark steel set of symbols. The screen flashed something Callen couldn't read. It was followed by scrolling through more lines of unreadable code with date stamps from the last ten years.

  "What the hell?" Ania gasped as the light flashed on the bed-tank.

  "Ah...I don't know..." Callen said. He walked over to the bed and the canopy retracted. He glanced back at Ania and he climbed into the bed. The tank closed and the scanning light passed slowly over him before the tank then re-opened.

  'Panacea Detected. Status Active. Computing results.' Flashed on the screen before Ania. "Come here, watch this." She motioned for Callen to return to the computer. "It looks like it's analyzing whether it worked..."

  "Ah...ok..." Callen said slowly as he looked at the graphical display his body. The representation of his skin was translucent and the details of his nervous, skeletal, circulatory, and other bodily systems could be seen, each in a different color. Over the image, the words computing were written.

  "Cross your fingers," Ania said.

  Before it finished, another window opened on its own.

  "What the..." Callen expected to see something related to his medical scan, but instead he saw a live video feed streaming the face of the redcap sorcerer. "Umm..." The image was labeled by copper alchemy symbols.

  "It has been quite some time, Prophet." The sorcerer mocked, placing sarcastic emphasis on the word 'prophet.'

  "What?" Ania asked sounding very confused.

  "We are looking through Niknak's eyes," Callen explained. "I guess this program accesses Niknak's hard drive so Dad could view things from his perspective."

  "Sure..." Ania whispered skeptically.

  "Free Niknak, Niknak cut you dead, evil!" Niknak grumbled as he struggled with the ropes attached to his wrists and hands. They were inside the large hut that housed the grinding apparatus. Niknak lay near a small fire with crates and biohazard barrels stacked around him. The three robed goblins that had assisted in the ritual held Niknak with metal sticks attached to his ropes. They looked like apprentices to the sorcerer, but none had a jewel sticking out of their hand like the sorcerer.

  Niknak was bound in the corner with the sorcerer standing over him. Two guards were standing beside Niknak with crossbows pointed at his head. "Doesn't this look familiar? The sorcerer mocked. He belted Niknak across the face with his jeweled hand and laughed. "That's for disobeying."

  Ania and Callen looked at each other in confusion and immediately turned their eyes back to the screen. "What are they talking about?" Ania asked.

  "Cut you!" Niknak yelled. Through his eyes, two trolls could be seen sitting in far cages, but the room was too dark to make out anything more than their shadowy crouched form.

  Callen looked at Ania and he shrugged.

  "Not while I have your knives." The sorcerer laughed and looked at two of his closest goblin guards. "Tie him tighter." He scratched his chin.

  "Master," One of the apprentices said. "The Dark Ones are growing suspicious, we need a new sacrifice to keep them appeased for a bit longer."

  The sorcerer nodded. "I am aware." He glared at Niknak. "You'll do nicely."

  "Niknak cut you!" Niknak growled.

  "Come now, you don't want to displease the friend who gave you everything now do you? Your death will keep everything right for just a little longer." The sorcerer sai
d. "It only fits that you die for the cause you started."

  "No Niknak's friend...Master give Niknak everything...no..." Niknak hissed and struggled harder.

  The sorcerer cut him off. "She did give you everything. So, stop struggling."

  "No not her!" Niknak looked down at the ground. "Niknak have New master. Must protect!"

  "Cute." The sorcerer said. "But the only master you have left is me and my love."

  "Nooooooo!" He yelled and struggled with the ropes. "No dead!"

  "Yes, dead. You only serve us now. And that you have done well, that much can be said."

  "No serve you. Kill you both!"

  "Oh, you will serve us in death...and it is a pity, everything was going so well for you...and now here we are back at the beginning...where it all started..."

  "No fail master..." He muttered and hung his head. "Niknak succeed."

  "Soon The Many will be free." He laughed. "And you have failed everyone but me and my love! That boy will be dead soon and you will have failed whoever you think your master is." He laughed again.

  "NO!!!!!!!!!" Niknak screamed and struggled. He began to twitch.

  The sorcerer scratched his chin and looked back towards the goblins seated near the fire. "Prepare him."

  The goblins nodded as Niknak's vision faded to black.

  The siblings looked at each other with the same confusion.

  "So, Niknak didn't want to kill me?" Callen said.

  "I guess not..." Ania said. "But, I don't like what this implies."

  "Yeah." Callen agreed. "I know what you mean." The status display under Niknak's vision feed indicated that his memory upload was completed. "I could check what he has recorded..."

  "Do it," Ania said. "The thing's still computing your results so..."

  Callen opened the downloaded information. Instantly, a skeletal graphic of Niknak appeared complete with a table of contents. The categories were: Background, Experiments, and Status. His current status read 'unconscious.'

  "At least it isn't in alchemy symbols," Ania said.

  "Yeah," Callen said. "So, where should we start? It looks like we can access his memories since his creation..."

  "Check what has been causing his unconsciousness," Ania said.

  Callen rapidly found the file and noted how much easier it was to navigate through Niknak's computer with the use of this interface that it was with Kusari. "The error came from conflicting command codes and has happened thousands of times since the date Dad disappeared. Each error has a video file. He must record things, store it like a computer does, and then his organics use the information to accomplish things."

  "Check the first one," Ania said.

  The image was scrambled and the text files were loaded with alchemy code.

  It began to clear up when an image of the rune-covered coin was placed around Niknak's neck. The recording was blotchy and got clearer as time went on. He seemed to be fading in and out of consciousness while he was sitting on the strange bed-tank in the corner of this secret lab with wires running into his arm.

  Niknak pulled the wires and tubes from his arm and jumped down from the strange bed after a voice ordered him too. Niknak walked over a table with a pile of personal equipment resting on it, including his knives and a backpack.

  He strapped a belt on with only a pair of knives on it and pulled a backpack on. He stared at a Lego figure that was sitting on the table. He looked towards Callen's father who was right where Ania and Callen were now. "Brother..." He twitched and his vision blurred. "Give?" His fist tightened around the Lego figure.

  Their father looked up from using his computer and making a few adjustments to his wrist computer. He nodded. "Yeah, he wanted you to have it when you got up as your Christmas present."

  "We go see brother and sister too?" Niknak asked and then he twitched.

  "How are you feeling?" Alex asked looking like he was avoiding the question.

  "Nik..."He twitched and wiped a tear from his eye. "...Nak...err..."

  "Great," Alex said sarcastically. "It is going to take a little more time to get you back to normal." He walked over and placed the rune-covered coin necklace around Niknak's neck. "Don't take this thing off, until it glows. Then destroy it if I'm not there to do it. I will make sure you have my book with the directions if we have to separate."

  "No...take...off." He stuttered. "Know symbols. Know what to do. Book has powerful words for coins. Know tests."

  "I know Niknak." He sighed. "I apologize for that."

  "No choice. Save brother...now save all. Niknak choose. Niknak volunteer. No let die!"

  Alex reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a knife. "Eve said you were going to need this to get us out of here." He handed him the knife. It was Niknak's favorite knife. He clipped it on his belt. He pulled Eve’s knife and looked at the tricolored blade. "Mistress say..." Twitch. "Niknak have knife when Niknak ready. She say Niknak ready?"

  "She did. She trained you the best she could. Now, I am going to need your help to get out of here. Those nalkori are upstairs."

  He looked at the knife in one hand and the Lego guy in the other. His gaze fixed on the Lego figurine. From brother..." he twitched and his voice grew deeper. "Want masks and..." Niknak shook his head violently.

  Alex looked at him questioningly. "How..." He paused. "Wait...it must have...yeah that's it...the virus..." He picked up four metal masks from the workbench in the corner and placed them into a backpack. He threw the bag over his shoulder and checked the pistol that was strapped to his leg.

  Niknak's vision blurred as if he was nodding.

  "Masks?" Ania asked. "What for?"

  "No idea," Callen said. "There were some masks in the data file that Virette gave me...but I couldn't tell what they were for..."

  Niknak tightly grasped the knife with both hands and shook his head. His vision cleared again. "Clear." He said. "Niknak love knife and Niknak love brother. Brother love Legos. Give knife to brother. Niknak need give brother present like Brother give Niknak. It be Christmas."

  "You hold on to that. He is too young right now. You can give it to him later if you want. Use it to help us get out of here. That knife has been in our family for a long time..."

  "But, Niknak be younger than brother..."

  "I created you after Callen was born, yes. But, he's human. He grows slower than you. I created you. You are my homunculus."

  Niknak nodded.

  Alex nodded. "Come on." He motioned for Niknak to follow. The two of them ran up the stairs into the office and into the hall were a group of gremlins was waiting. Among them was Bracket, who was much skinnier and was lacking his spider legs. The gremlins fell into formation escorting my father and Niknak towards the basement using the closest stairs.

  The message scrambled, but the sounds of battle could be heard. The picture returned with Bracket, Niknak, and their father in front of the emergency exit into the tunnels: The door that they entered through.

  "Everyone out?" Alex asked when they reached the basement door.

  "Yes, we have released our brethren and they killed the dangerous ones. There are some that are covering our escape and holding the nalkori off. They should be enough to cover your escape as well, my lord." Bracket said. "Thank you for sparing us when you didn't have too."

  "A life is a life," Alex said. "But, I warn you, keep everyone to the shadows and stay in the depths or you will get a lot of unwanted attention."

  Bracket nodded. "We will survive and await your return, great Forger."

  A loud hiss came from the stairwell. T

  he siblings’ eyes grew wide with fear. They knew that sound.

  "Niknak will lead you. Now, go!" Alex ordered. Bracket and the other gremlins turned and ran through the d
oor out into the tunnels.

  "Master?" Niknak asked.

  "Go with them Niknak...they'll need everything you know to not fall to the evils out there." He pulled the scarab of his pocket and placed it with the coin around Niknak's neck. "Keep this on, it will make them follow you and ensure they listen to the Forger. Use it to make them strong enough to choose what is good." He cursed. "The other is not going to be good for any of us. I wish we had more time."

  "Niknak will..." He twitched. "Be ok. Master must go. Niknak no..." He twitched. "No fail master!"

  Alex reached into his bag and pulled out a leather-bound book. "You know what to do with these." He then removed his cross from his neck and tucked it into the cover of the book. He handed both to Niknak, who immediately tucked them into his own backpack. "You need to make sure that..." The message scrambled and returned. "...is what matters...find our family...protect them...Callen must not...and Ania...they will...her....to..."

  The hiss came again sounding much closer. The image then scrambled again and Niknak was in the tunnels with the door hissing closed behind him. He rounded the corner and took the butt of a rifle in the face. Niknak fumbled to grab the necklace, but another smash from the rifle butt flew in. The image scrambled again as Bracket leaped on top of him and pulled off the necklace. "I rule, necklaces are mine!" He said and he hit Niknak again in the face knocking him unconscious.

  "It looks like we know what made Bracket exile Niknak..." Ania looked at Callen.

  He nodded. "And didn't get completely fixed. The coin never glowed..." He sighed with disbelief. "And Wow...just wow...it's like creating a religion based on the ramblings of a schizophrenic."

  "Not one, but two." Ania pointed out. "But, no matter the basis for the gremlin faiths...those things, the metallic demons, nalkori. Whatever, attacked here...they were after Dad." Ania said shaking. "And, what the hell is going on?" She swallowed hard. She looked like she was about to panic.

  "Ania, relax," Callen said, trying to sound brave. "They aren't here anymore, and if they were, I could stop them." He tapped on his wrist computer.

  She nodded slowly. "Yeah. Not here." She began taking deep breaths. "Check some more of the files," Ania ordered.

  "I don't know. There are quite a few. There is a lot of data."

  She nodded and sighed. "Check for all things related to The Many. That has to give us some answers. Then hopefully we can save our friends with that." Ania sounded focused.

  "I'll set up a search parameter. That should filter all the crap we don't need." It took him only a few seconds to prepare the filter.

  The first file showed Niknak stumbling through underground corridors and falling into random convulsions. He was muttering about failing and Bracket banishing him. He cursed and smashed his fist against the wall while images of Callen playing Legos with him appeared. "No die. Need gremlins to find..." He cursed again. He started muttering about The Many. Each time he muttered the word The Many before the screen went black and then switched to a different image. His mind was breaking.

  Images of experiments flashed through his eyes followed by his screams of pain spliced with memory recordings of Callen playing with Legos. Flashes of computer code written in alchemical symbols appeared every so often as well. Everything was so broken, it wasn't possible to get a good understanding of anything. There were flashes of him fighting goblins, falling in love with Sprocket, killing gremlin rivals of Bracket, and eventually being dragged into a camp before the goblin sorcerer.

  The images became less random and clearer when Virette's face appeared standing next to the sorcerer. "Clear, Prophet." She said. "All is well." Niknak's vision cleared as he began to relax. "So, The Many is power? Tell me more..." She looked at the sorcerer. "I can't think of anything better than power, vengeance, and you my love." She put her hand on the sorcerers and looked back towards the tied up Niknak. "I am soon to be a widow." She laughed. "That fool will pay for hurting my daughters."

  "Then we shall rule, my love." The sorcerer said. "Both gremlins and goblins! I knew sparing you was the best decision I ever made."

  Virette looked at Niknak. "Bracket always said that you are failing your master to get you to speak prophecy. Now do it for me, Master's little failure!" Niknak began to twitch and his vision started to fade. "It worked." She smiled. "So, tell us more..." She laughed. The image went static again as Virette removed the leather-bound book from Niknak's bag. The cross fell out into her grip. He muttered something as he began to shutdown." So, the cure? Maybe I can use this to free this Many..."

  "So, Virette made the religion up from Niknak's ramblings?" Ania asked sounding concerned. "And Virette is in league with the sorcerer? She is their mutual friend and whatever part of the virus is still in Niknak is what has been screwing him up and they used his ramblings to create a religion?"

  "That's what it looks like and so does Bracket. I guess Virette thinks whatever Niknak is rambling about when he is sent into those seizures has to do with a god, but it is actually just parts of a computer virus interrupting his system!" Callen said with uneasy laughter. "And she's convinced the sorcerer to follow her..."

  "Try something more recent." Ania suggested. "Like maybe something about the plague or the cure?"

  Callen tapped the keyboard and the screen changed again.

  Virette's face snarled angrily, but she wasn't looking at Niknak. His head turned, and he saw Bracket. "You heard him!" Virette yelled. "He said there's a cure in the domain and you have no right to rule! A sickness is upon us and you refuse to listen! You will damn our people!"

  "Rid him from my sight!" Bracket yelled. "And pray I don't banish you as well..."

  "But...we must open the domain!" Virette yelled. "You can't..."

  "Final warning!" Bracket yelled. He rubbed the coin. "Submit!" He looked at Niknak. "The cogs will toss you into the tunnels for your lies! Master failure!" Niknak shut down.

  "That's terrible...can you fix Niknak since the computer is connected to him?" Ania asked pleadingly. "He has been suffering like you have since Dad left."

  Callen nodded. “Let me see if I can find out a pattern of stability so I can isolate the infected files. Any ideas as to what might make him ignore the virus?”

  “Sprocket,” Ania said without hesitation. “If he was totally crazy…she wouldn’t have fallen in love with him…and I saw their colors…I know I’m right…start there.”

  Callen shrugged and conducted the search. Sure enough, the romantic memories were clear of any corruption. “Guess you were right…” He quickly began looking for the problem.

  “Love concurs all?” Ania grinned.

  “Yeah…so does corrupt politicians,” Callen stated. “Bracket and Virette destroyed their daughter’s relationship for their own gain. Each time they shut him down…it drove him more insane.”

  “Well, can you fix him?” Ania asked.

  “Working on it.” Callen noticed the errors that shut him down were all connected to a specific file. It looked like the file contained contradictory orders from both his father and the virus. He cursed. “I won’t be able to fix him fully…I think he needs the coin for that, but I can prevent those corrupted files from being accessed." He isolated that file and placed it in quarantine. "He shouldn't have that shutdown problem now, but, a lot of his memory is corrupted."

  "Good," Ania said.

  "Yeah, but I don't know how we were supposed to rescue everyone now," Callen said. "Considering..."

  "Considering what?" Ania asked.

  Callen pulled out the cross. "Dad didn't send me the cross, Ania. Virette did..."

  "I'm not following..."

  "I was a pawn, Ania," Callen said. "In her game...to open this place and get the computer virus..."

  "I guess Virette and the sorcerer orchestrated the fall of Forgeholm so Virette had
a platform to grow her power on," Ania said. "Growing it on fear and the plague...we have to destroy that coin and end all this crap."

  "And..."

  "And what?"

  "The bunny-man is my friend and very real." Callen grinned.

  "Guess you aren't crazy after all."

  "Verdict is still out on that one," Callen said with a half grin and began uploading the program that monitored Niknak into his wrist computer. "Guess we are even. But, still, that doesn't explain what he has been doing since we left Gearshire. If he has been trying to protect me, then..." He said the scrape of a sword being drawn from its scabbard caused him to turn his head.

  "Callen, Ania...I'm sorry...I can't stop it...kill me." Kusari choked. "Before..." Kusari stood with her remaining blade drawn. She was holding her stomach with one hand and was breathing very hard. "Before..." Her once glowing pink eyes now flashed electric purple. "This is the end of the line Marked One. You have served your purpose." Kusari whispered coldly with a change in her voice's tone. "Here I thought that the metal liquid contained the Many, only now do I see that what I have been searching for all these years was right under my nose and didn't require much planning. But, no matter, it is all the same in the end."

  "Virette. I guess I know what that thing in Kusari's head is now..." Callen said. "But, to what end? You just learned that both your gods are just computer programs. It is over."

  "Oh, dear child, The Many is not just some virus. He is divine through and through again. The Forger was just like Judas was to Jesus. But you did get one thing right. It is over." She laughed. "The Many will be pleased and the celebration begins with the deaths of ten innocent children!"

  "You bitch!" Callen said. "You leave them alone! Or I'll..."

  "Die on Kusari's sword? She always was the mommy's girl of my daughters." She laughed. Kusari's body stepped forward and prepared to attack. "Guess sending you that the key worked out nicely. I will thank the Prophet for all his information before he dies and tell him of the failed messiah's death."

  Callen swore. Virette had been watching the whole time. That was what the device that he saw in Kusari's head did. Virette watched, waited, and learned what she needed to know. Callen knew he and his sister were now expendable.

  "Kusari, don't let her control you!" Callen yelled in desperation.

  Kusari began to twitch. She laughed with Virette's voice. "Funny that you haven't realized that she has been planning on killing you the entire time. She was never your friend." She grinned. "Even if she was, she is gone. There are only whispers left."

  "Kusari, if you're in there, fight her! You don't need to do this." Ania pleaded. "We are friends..."

  She stepped forward and gripped the weapon. She bared her teeth and fell to her knees. She twitched and spoke in her normal voice. "Callen, I'm sorry. Virette gave me no choice. I learned my target. Got you to trust me, then you saved me from death. So, right then I knew I couldn't betray you. But after what the hologram of the Forger said, Virette wanted you dead earlier than she planned. She ordered me to kill you. I refused as she tried to take me over. I grabbed the gun during the fight upstairs. I wasn't aiming at Niknak, like I told you, she had control of me and was aiming at you. But, I resisted at the last second and through off the shot. The bullet hit the canister. Then her wounds overwhelmed me, and the pain broke the connection. Niknak knew all along that Virette did this to me. I'm so sorry." She sighed and twitched again. "You are heroes, the two of you...now kill me...before..."

  "No, I can..." Callen started. His heart pounded.

  "No time! Draw your gun!" Kusari ordered. "You gave me a few more seconds...with your prog...raming...One more breath...thank y...ou..."

  "No!" Callen said.

  "Callen, do something something's changing in her colors..." Ania said.

  She screamed and her eyes flashed a brighter purple. "No choice...I'm sorry...Virette...taking over...I'm done for." Her voice changed again. "Enough words!" She staggered forward and slashed at Callen.

  He reacted quicker than he had ever done before. The blade sliced air harmlessly sparking against the metal floor where he once stood.

  She snarled and prepared for another strike.

  Callen felt a cool rush move through his muscles as he leaped backward causing the blade to narrowly miss his stomach. Her strike threw her wounded body off balance bringing her to the floor.

  It gave Callen enough time to draw his pistol. He aimed at her head. "Virette, let her go!" He yelled. "Fight her, Kusari!"

  "Too late, Marked One." She hissed. "Kusari isn't here anymore..." She coughed up some blood. Her body was failing. She tensed preparing for a strike from her kneeling position.

  He pulled the trigger. The round entered her head through her glowing eye. She toppled backward landing hard on the floor. Callen stepped over her and fired another round into her heart. "Don't bring a knife to a gunfight, bitch...and I'm coming for you." He taunted. "Kusari..." He whispered.

  "She said Kusari was dead already. Virette killed Kusari, not you." Ania said, resting her hand on her brother's arm.

  He nodded and stared at the body. "First Derrick, then Tende and Sadie, and now Kusari, was everyone I befriend going to die?" He wondered.

  "Callen, calm down." Ania rested her hand on his shoulder. "If my guess is correct, the coin didn't fix Niknak all the way. So, part of The Many is locked in the coin and in him. If we get Niknak back, we can stop her, and if Sprocket has the coin, then Virette can't do anything."

  "Yeah." He said. "You're right. She won't kill Sadie, Tende or the others until she does whatever she needs to do."

  "Exactly. We can stop this." Ania smiled. "And now that somehow you can move fast and with my magic..."

  "Wait, move fast?" He asked.

  "Yeah, you dodged a sword strike that was, well, really fast. You couldn't do that before." She said.

  The scan results then popped up on the screen. 'Bonding complete. Panacea Mark II detected. Application complete. Patient Beta: Callen A. Thorne; Status: Stable; Capacity: Unknown. Further testing required.'

  "What?" Ania looked at the computer screen.

  "I don't know." He said. "I feel different..."

  She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She reopened them giving him a librarian-style focused stare. "You are different...in more ways than one." She smiled. "Your colors have changed. The black streaks are now the color of steel. I think we did it."

  "Yeah, but...we need to..."

  The computer flashed as Niknak regained consciousness. His edit to his hard drive worked. The program displayed what was occurring in real-time.

  Niknak was bound to a wooden plank with his wrists behind him. The three apprentices were standing near him with rusty scalpels that were thick with Niknak's blood.

  Niknak tried to struggle. He looked at his belt of knives, which were now strapped to the sorcerer's waist.

  "Master, his flesh heals every time we cut him." One of them said.

  "Rune him with blood then." The sorcerer stated angrily.

  "Whose, Master?" The same apprentice asked.

  The sorcerer sneered. "Yours."

  The apprentice looked confused. That look shifted to suppress when one of the other apprentices stabbed him in the back with a rusty knife. He dropped to the ground and the other two began using his blood to draw runes on Niknak.

  "Guess you have some surprises in you, Prophet." The sorcerer stated. "No matter, I have other rituals."

  Niknak struggled. The sorcerer began chanting as the apprentices smeared him with bloody runes. But, before the sorcerer could get a second line out, a computer that sat near a fire flashed on. He paused and looked at it.

  An image of Virette's face appeared. "Hello, my love." Virette smiled at the sorcerer. "Our plans are
nearly complete. All that remains is Bracket and those loyal to him in my daughter's army."

  "Ah, what?" Callen said with shock looking at Ania.

  She shook her head with surprise with her gaze fixed on the image.

  "Bracket attempted to bargain with me." The sorcerer said. "Of course, I took his offering and told him I'd think about it."

  "He's getting desperate." Virette gloated. "This civil war will be over shortly as I planned."

  "The plague worked wonders, then?" The sorcerer asked.

  "More than you could ever realize." Virette smiled. "More than I could ever have anticipated."

  "Excellent. Then we will be together soon."

  Virette smiled. "Yes, but in I need more of your aid before we can be together."

  "What is it, my love?"

  "There have been...," Virette stated.

  The sorcerer narrowed his eyes. "What is the delay? The dark ones are growing suspicious; I cannot ease their suspicions any longer and the fallen will deny our power if they are not appeased."

  "Demons," Ania said. "He gets his magic from powerful demons in exchange for loyalty and sacrifices."

  "I am aware. However, our liberation is still within our reach...and I have already begun my ascension...yours will be next. We only need the time it will take you to get the prophet to me. I need him. Alive..."

  "I thought it was hidden in the lab..."

  "Turns out it was right under my nose the entire time...fate is funny that way."

  "No wonder we couldn't find it after those surfacers drilled...lucky you had a backup plan..."

  "I always do. Now, accompany the prophet here...we have much that lies ahead. By the time you and your horde arrive, the Forger will be cleansed from the hearts of my people and we shall celebrate our victory together."

  "Excellent." The sorcerer grinned and looked back at the hapless Niknak. "We will be arriving shortly."

  "Prepare him for transport." Virette smiled. "Soon we will be together my love, and we will have more power than we can imagine!"

  "I take it you made contact?" The sorcerer asked.

  "I have, and I will make sure they are notified that we fulfilled our end of the bargain." She sneered.

  "Then we will rise...and grow fat on the flesh of the blind herds above."

  Virette nodded. "Among other things, my love. We have all lived in the dark too long. Now, hurry...we don't have much time to waste."

  "Bitch, I'll cut you." Niknak spat.

  "You are a failure, Niknak. You failed your first master, and accidentally succeeded for your second one!" She laughed. Niknak's gaze didn't twitch. He just stared at the fiery image. She looked at the sorcerer. "I have one more thing to ask you my love. My assassin has failed and that boy and his sister are still alive. My people are at a delicate time. So, we cannot have him return."

  "Have we gained everything we need?"

  "Yes." She grinned. "Our allies are more prepared than I expected...so, we only need him...you may dispose of the two children...use them as you may..."

  "Good, I will get him and use him to appease the Dark Ones one final time my love."

  “Excellent," Virette said. "Their deaths will fuel our magic until The Many's blessings are upon us!"

  The Sorcerer nodded in agreement. The fiery image of Virette's face disappeared and the sorcerer turned and looked at his remaining apprentices. "Find them."

  The apprentices nodded, grabbed their weapons and ran off.

  "I don't know about you, but I don't plan on making a very good sacrifice," Callen said. "You with me?"

  "Yeah, I'm too bony," Ania said looking towards the grate Kusari had removed. "Let's figure a way out and fast so we can save Niknak."

  "But..." Callen started, but she cut him off.

  "No buts...everyone else betrayed him, left him to die, and used him for their own gains. Even Dad."

  "No...I know that...I agree. He is the Bunny-man. He has been looking out for me all along." He looked at his arm. "He has been on our side the whole time. So, my question before you interrupted me was not: but why. It was: but how."

  "I don't know, but get whatever you can from Dad's computer before we go...we may need it..." Ania said. "You plan stuff, remember?"

  Callen nodded and began extracting files related to Niknak, Panacea, and a variety of other projects. Rumbles came from the hallway leading into the lab. "We got some time, but, let's think and run at the same time." He swore. "Not enough time to get all of this...download will take hours there's a lot of stuff..."

  "Get what you can about Niknak," Ania said. "And Panacea..."

  "Agreed." Callen did so and the download shortened. "Now for our escape..." He glanced at the tanks of chemicals and looked over at the wall where the HAZMAT gear hung. There were two suits and two gas masks. One sized for his father and the other for Niknak. He pulled open the glass cabinet and handed Ania the Niknak sized suit. "Put it on, and pull out those flashlights. I got an idea."

  "What?"

  "Put it on now!" Callen ordered as he made some adjustments on the computer. He pulled on the suit and sealed the mask on his face with a deep breath. He opened the air tank valve and the oxygen flowed in.

  Ania reluctantly pulled on the suit as he walked over to the computer.

  "When that door opens they are going to have a little surprise." Callen grinned as he checked the facilities environmental conditions. "Good, this stuff won't explode under these conditions...we just have to hope there's no spark to light it up..."

  "What?" Ania said. She handed him a flashlight.

  "Arsine leak...it's poisonous and extremely flammable..." He explained. "Make sure that the mask is sealed by pulling the straps tight to your face and inhaling, then open the air valve."

  Ania swallowed hard and pulled the mask tight. "Sealed." She said. She opened the valve. "Are these things fireproof?" Callen nodded. "Still...I hope the salamanders are with us...and luckily the fire system will extinguish their torches..."

  The door busted open and the goblins roared and rushed down the hall. He hit the button on the keyboard and the valves for loading the tank opened. Warning lights started flashing in the room. As the first goblin entered the room, it died before its battle cry even started. The rest followed like dominos.

  "Not bad," Ania said. "Wait, will this get outside?"

  He shook his head as he checked the computer. "No, there isn't enough gas to keep the concentration high enough to kill them throughout the facility. However, there is enough gas to fill sub-level three which includes anything on the same level of this secret lab and the facility basement. Arsine is denser than air, so it really shouldn't rise to sub-level two that much as long as the fans are off. As long as we stay on sub-level three, we can sneak under the goblins. The goblins are on sublevel 2. Since the gremlins said that the goblins are dumb, hopefully, they will keep charging into the gas while we make our escape. Arsine gas is colorless, so I didn't think it was too much to ask, they would probably think it was magic or something like that."

  "Gotta love the science stuff," Ania said. "So, we will be clear up to the door we entered this compound through?"

  "Yup...but I got to set the facility controls into a certain balance...it's flammable too...and can light itself if the concentrations aren't right." Callen pulled up chemical data on the gas and began setting the facility controls. "Then we can clear the gas, open the door, and figure out how to rescue Niknak and escape."

  "Why would we clear the gas?" Ania asked. "Couldn't we use that to fill Forgeholm?"

  Callen shook his head. "There is not enough gas, but I suppose I could rig the facility to pump it out there. However, if we filled Forgeholm with arsine, then we might kill Niknak...and then there are the fires out there..."

/>   "But doesn't he regenerate?" Ania asked.

  "I don't know if you can regenerate from being poisoned like that," Callen said. "We are trying to rescue him, so do you really want to take that chance?"

  She shook her head. "No. I just wanted to make sure I understood. But, what do we do to get through Forgeholm?"

  "I'll think of something." He slid into the vent. "Our tanks have 15 minutes of air, so let's get out of here."

  Ania patted her bag. "I still got the ones I took from Gearshire if we need them, and now it's time to learn what a T.V. dinner feels like."

  They climbed into the vent and began crawling with the sounds of goblin bodies rolling down the stairs as they died.

  "Left or right?" Ania words hissed through the mask.

  "I don't know, can you ask the elementals or something?"

  "No." She stated angrily. "Metal is too refined for me to talk to the earth spirits in it."

  "Great." He looked left and right. "Left is right or right is always right?" He murmured.

  "What?" Ania asked.

  "Nothing." He paused. "Left. We are going left."

  They turned left after a few turns they reached a vent into a dark room. "I guess this one is as good as any to climb out of."

  "Shouldn't we have to climb up to get out of here?" Ania asked.

  "I don't think so. I'm hoping that this will connect to the basement or to a room that connects to the basement we came in, but if not we can go up to the second level and down the stairs."

  He looked at the vent and tried to figure out how to open it from the inside.

  "Hurry up!" Ania said. "I don't like being this cramped."

  "Working on it." Callen cursed, his suit was over his equipment. "But, I'm having a little problem."

  "What's that?" she asked.

  "I have no tools," I said. "My tools are under my suit. I can't get to them..."

  "Stop thinking like an engineer and bash it."

  "That's it," Callen said. "Hand me those two extra tanks we brought." He took the tanks and positioned the bottom of one of them towards the vent. He smashed the valve with the bottom of the other and the tank rocketed forward smashing through the vent.

  "Nice." Ania complimented as they climbed out, paying attention not to rip their suits. "What the hell is this room?" She asked looking around.

  The room was dark and worn from a decade of neglect. Although, signs of recent of a recent disturbance was clear. The door above on the metal catwalk had been melted off it's hinges, and the tracks in the dust showed the trail of men. The dust trails led to a collection of old tanks, nine in total. Eight were covered in plastic sheets, and the last had been broken open.

  "Another secret lab room?" Ania asked as she looked at the strange collection of computerized medical equipment and an operating table a few feet from the tanks. "Isn't it enough to have a secret lab facility with just one secret lab room?"

  "Who knows if it is actually secret? I think that the catwalk leads to an office we passed on the way to Dad's." Callen looked at the computers. "Whatever they were doing here, someone looted it...and recently by the dust..."

  "Guess this is what those people that drilled into this place were after." She walked over to the open tank. "I wonder, what the hell they took?"

  "No idea, but it can't be good...and we should get out of here. We only have a few more minutes of air and we don't have a lot of time to save Niknak. I need to get to a maintenance computer and clear the gas before that happens or we die."

  She nodded. "Just let me..." She started to say as she pulled down one of the plastic sheets. "My God!" She swore.

  "What?" Callen said as he ran over to her. What was inside this tank stole the breath from his lungs. Inside this tank was a partially developed abomination that had his face.

  "It looks like you!" She gasped in horror.

  He stood there and stared. His heart pounded and the sweat beaded up under his gas mask.

  "They are all you!” Ania gasped as the last plastic sheet fell to the ground. "What the hell is this?" None of them had developed the same and were all at different ages of development. Some were missing limbs, others eyes, and some were just completely misshapen. "Where is the sixth one?" She grabbed his shoulder and shook him. "Callen?"

  But, he just stared at a deformed doppelgänger of himself floating in the tank before him.