***
Eris’ mind struggled against the thick tendrils of sleep. Waking up was never a comfortable experience, there was always a space of time where she was stuck in between her sleep and the waiting embrace of consciousness. She never had dreams, not as long as she could remember.
She stared up at the dark depths of the ceiling above, intrigued by the utter stillness of the shadows. She had the most unusual feeling that the shadows were looking back at her. It wasn't until Zook's relieved but worried face obscured her vision that she realized that she was awake.
“Eris?” Zook asked. When she blinked in reply he turned his head away and called for Pird and Sye. Eris groaned and sat up, the cloaks falling away from her.
They gave up their cloaks for me? Eris asked herself, yawning and reaching up to rub her head.
But it wasn't her hand that touched her cheek.
The last webs of sleep burned away as Eris realized how cold her right arm was. She remembered why she had passed out. Slowly pulling her arm away, Eris turned to look at the thing that had claimed half of her limb. She was holding it up as though it weighed nothing, the massive hand hanging limp from the metal wrist.
What? Eris thought numbly, unable to fully comprehend what had happened to her arm.
One of the fingers twitched.
Barbed wire wormed its way around inside her arm, slashing through every nerve. Eris was too surprised to scream. She hunched over, clenching the black gauntlet with her hand with only a strained grunt. Zook immediately went back to her, but Eris turned away. Through a blur of tears she could see that the heavy hand was thrashing back and forth, every finger convulsing. Sye and Pird were now beside her. They tried to pull her back, but she refused.
It’s not me! She screamed at them in her mind, What if it wants to hurt you?
Warmth blossomed where her forearm once was. Where the warmth spread the pain stopped, where it touched the fingers stilled. After it curled around her fingertips, the warmth faded to a dull, lukewarm ache. Then there was a chill, like she could feel the air through the metal.
Eris became very still, realizing that she wasn’t feeling through the gauntlet. It was as if the gauntlet was her. The hand was limp again, but not in the empty, lifeless way like before. She took away her other hand, then held the gauntlet up before her.
Incredibly, horribly, Eris slowly spread the black fingers as easily as she would her own.
“Get it off,” Eris whispered.
“Eris-” Sye began.
“Get it off!” Eris screamed, curling it into a fist and raising it above her. Her friends took a step back, but they reached for her, yelling for her to stop. She slammed the gauntlet's fist against the ground and raised it again.
“Get it off!”
Slam
“Eris!”
“Get it off!”
Slam
“Please!”
“Stop, Eris!”
Slam
“Get it off, get it off, get it off!”
Slam, Slam.
Crunch
Their shouts cut off at the strange noise. Eris froze in mid-scream, then looked down at the great fist. She pulled the gauntlet away. The floor beneath was chipped Flecks of blue metal were scattered around. Metal that was impervious to rock, khalist, and diamond. Impervious to everything.
You can’t…Eris thought in shock, You can’t scratch Saranoda. You can’t break it. What are you?
“Eris,” said Zook gently.
Eris turned her head to him, but kept the gauntlet on her furthest side. Zook took a step toward her and Eris took a step back.
“Stay away,” Eris urged. Couldn't they see the chip on the Saranodian metal? That the gauntlet could move on its own?
“The gauntlet isn't dangerous to us,” Zook said, “We wouldn't have been given it if it was.”
“Zook…” Sye said in a warning tone.
“What do you mean?” Eris asked, taking another step back.
“Something forced that pod open, Zook,” Sye said.
“We can't remove the gauntlet, we tried everything,” Zook said, still looking at Eris, “The gauntlet chose you, as Saranoda chose us. That message was to let us know that there is something watching. Something guiding us. We're here for a reason.”
“You’re not going to ask who?” Sye asked, “Or for what reason?”
Zook stepped toward Eris, hand outstretched, “That’s what we’re here to find out.”
Eris looked at his hand, then met Zook's eyes. He looked calm, confident, something that never really had found itself on Zook's face before when he wasn’t Healing.
Eris heard the gauntlet clink at her side. She looked down at it, then raised the gauntlet effortlessly, opening its hand. Shards of Saranodian metal fell from it, tinkling to the floor. She held it above her, watching the near invisible crimson slide under the black as the light changed, like blood-streaked shadows.
What am I supposed to do? Eris thought, feeling the despair starting to catch up with her. She heard Sye begin to say something but Pird hushed him.
Lost my parents. Lost my home. Lost my arm. Eris stared up at the great metal hand, then let it fall to her side. Eris returned Zook’s patient gaze, I feel like I’m losing my friends too. What will be left of me then?
Eris slowly reached out and let Zook take her left hand in his.
Zook started toward the archway, Eris in tow, but Sye stopped them.
Without them…I’m just lost.
“Just like that?” Sye asked, “Eris just woke up and you want to leave? Did you-?”
“Do you truly think I wanted any of this?” Zook asked. Sye didn't answer, taken aback.
“Every minute that goes by is a minute that we haven't had any food or water,” Zook turned enough to look at Sye, “Do you really want to wait?”
When Sye said nothing Zook walked past him with Eris, Pird quickly falling in line. After the barest hesitation, Sye turned and followed.
As the four approached the archway the orb bobbed excitedly and ducked into the black room. Eris looked up at the archway that curved over their heads. It looked bigger than the ones they’ve seen so far, comparable to the tower’s entrance. They followed the orb into the shadows, then hurried to catch up as the only source of light came from the orb's glow, the floor staying dark.
The back of Eris’ neck crawled, making her look behind her.
The archway was gone.
“Now I feel like I forgot something back there,” Pird said, patting himself down.
Eris couldn’t help but smile, then shivered.
It’s colder here than anywhere else in Saranoda, Eris thought, And do I smell salt?
“Why doesn’t the floor glow here?” Sye asked to no one. No one answered
Eris did not know how long they walked, as the unmarked wall behind them was quickly swallowed into the black. She had to quickly learn to keep her right arm still as she walked, to avoid feeling the gauntlet brushing against her side. Long slender lines passed by under her feet, hinting at a much larger design, but nothing to indicate they were any closer to reaching the room’s center.
Eris shivered again, but this chill made her stop and stand still.
“Eris?” She heard Sye ask quizzically.
“Suddenly remember that you left the oven on?” Pird asked, not so quizzically.
“Do you feel that?” Eris asked, standing still and feeling goosebumps rise over her exposed skin.
“What, that it’s a bit nippy in here?” said Pird, “Maybe this whole tower’s an elaborate ice cream mach-” Pird cocked his head, “Nope, that’s definitely a breeze.”
“Can’t be,” said Sye, “We’re indoors. Or in-tower.”
Pird licked his forefinger and held it up above him, “Well I wouldn’t break out the kites, it doesn’t have any real direction. Just blowing back and forth, n
orth to south.”
“I don’t know how you do that,” Eris said, always impressed with Pird’s sense of direction.
“I don’t know how you all don’t, but I like to think that I don’t hold myself above anybody,” Pird replied with an overtly dramatic sniff.
“Are we done with the weather?” Zook asked shortly, arms crossed and the orb nearly bouncing on his shoulder.
Eris suddenly imagined the orb wearing the same impatient scowl as Zook and had to fight a grin. They resumed their walk through the darkness.
After whatever immeasurable span of time passed, the orb suddenly stopped. Zook was following so close he nearly walked face-first into it. The orb hung there, its glow flickering. It sang one of its long, sorrowful notes. To Eris’ surprise, there was a faint echo. This place seems far too large for anything to echo.
Another note, lower in tone, answered from the darkness. Eris, Pird, and Sye stepped closer together at the sound. It was soon accompanied by a flicker of blue light, a distant twin of their guide. To Eris it looked like she was seeing it under a pool of water, its light bent and distorted. When another note was sung from even further away, Eris noticed that its note warbled and seemed muffled. Soon dozens upon dozens of other orbs joined in the sad chorus, peppering the darkness like sapphire stars in a cloudy sky.
Their guide bobbed in one direction towards its brethren, halted, then chose to go another. Is it hesitating? Eris asked herself. The orb seemed to commit to one path to bob down and the four followed. It didn’t get far before it stopped again, but this time the reason was far more apparent.
Zook stepped around the orb and held out his hand. Where the orb had stopped there was a strange glimmer in the air, beyond which the orb’s light seemed muted. When Zook’s fingers brushed against the glimmer a ripple of blue light radiated out from them.
“What is it?” Sye asked.
“I think…its water,” Zook answered, unable to hide the confused tone in his voice.
Eris stepped beside Zook and held out her human left hand. It was met with an icy cold wall that was pliable, but firm. When she took her hand back she felt like it should be damp, but the strange sensation danced on dry skin.
The orb played a note, one deeper than any it had sung before. It grew louder, a sorrowful hum that Eris began to feel in her bones. The orb pressed against the strange barrier and the breathless note grew ever greater in volume.
Eris started to raise her hand and, with hesitation, the gauntlet to her ears when the watery wall rippled around the orb. With a shudder, the wall bent inward. The orb flashed with a violent blue light and burrowed into the wall, leaving behind a widening tunnel in its wake.
“Well,” Zook said, “Not everyone at once.”
As the four walked through the tunne,l Sye looked more and more concerned to Eris.
“This place doesn’t feel right,” Sye said.
“Why?” Pird asked, glancing about, “Not your first time walking underwater?”
“Everything before this has been so...precise,” Sye said, “Purposeful. This feels like the gauntlet, something isn’t...”
Sye stopped short, nearly running into Zook.
“...isn’t right,” Sye breathed, looking up at what caused Zook to stop.
It was like no structure Eris had ever seen, a tall building plated in mirrors. It looked like it had been proud, once. Now the mirrored building lay in ruin. It sloped to one side, its foundation broken. Cracks wove their way across the sheen of its mirrored surface. Splinters and entire rectangular plates were scattered across the floor before it.
Eris held up her hand to block the glare of one of the orbs being reflected across the broken mirrors, “What was this building for?”
“And what happened to it?” Sye asked.
“And why is it underwater?” Pird finished, “For that matter, why are we underwater?”
Eris waited for Zook to add his thoughts, but when none were voiced she looked to find him already walking farther into the tunnel. The orb had not stopped.
“Are you going to even admit that you’re curious?” Sye asked as they caught up to Zook.
“I’m curious,” Zook said evenly without looking in Sye’s direction, “Why, I’m actually very curious. So curious, actually, that I’m following this funny blue orb which seems to be quite determined to guide us somewhere.”
Sye only shook his head, falling back a bit to walk beside Eris.
“Absolutely insane,” Sye muttered under his breath.
“He has a point,” Eris admitted quietly back.
“All that orb has done so far is raise more questions. I’ll only be impressed once it shows us some answers.”
“Or food,” Pird added. When no one answered he took offense, “What? I can’t be the only one hungry. That’ll be a fine thing to happen as we unravel this grand mystery. Starve.”
“That’s the last thing I want to think about right now, Pird,” Sye said unhappily.
As the four followed the orb they began to see more of the mirrored buildings. Eris couldn’t help but stare upwards as she walked on, often bumping into Pird as he did the same. Some of the buildings were enormous, dwarfing even the ones she had seen in the supercity Maliah while on a field trip with Magist. These buildings were shadowy titans, their heights revealed for scant moments as flurries of orbs flitted above them like schools of fish.
It’s a city, Eris realized as the buildings grew in both height and number. The floor beneath them had lost its coalescing designs and instead gained a pattern of parallel lines, forming streets. The city felt to her like a long undisturbed graveyard. Buildings leaned against each other, some so precariously Eris feared if their steps were too loud they may be buried under an avalanche of shimmering mirrors. The street sparkled with debris. Whatever the mirrored walls were made of, it wasn’t glass as it didn’t crunch underfoot. Several times the orb had to tunnel around parts of structures that had fallen from the dark reaches above.
To Eris, this ruined city felt hollow compared to her own razed home. Where is all the broken furniture? She thought, Where are the torn clothes? All there is are broken bits of buildings. Was this a city no one lived in?
A few more steps down the tunnel another thought struck Eris, Or is this place so old that everything but the buildings has been washed away?
Movement to her right caught Eris' eye and made her falter. She turned and backed away from that side of the tunnel. She heard the sound of stone sliding against stone beside her and glanced to its source. She was surprised to see Sye unsheath one of his swords.
“What do you think that will do?” asked Zook with amusement, arms crossed and watching Pird unsheath his daggers.
“You want to try defending yourself?” Sye hissed back.
Oh, Eris thought, I think that includes me. She reached back and clumsily grabbed her hammer’s haft. She was forced to steady it with her gauntleted hand as she brought it before her.
What can I do with this thing? Eris thought dismally, the hammer feeling useless in her hand. And gauntlet.
A figure emerged from the darkness. Eris haphazardly raised her weapon, then slowly lowered it in wonder. What walked with slow, deliberate steps through the water looked like a living statue. It was vaguely humanoid, sculpted after a crude sketch of a person. It was impossibly tall and thin, made from stone with a muted blue hue. Its forearms were strangely long, bearing large heavy spheres instead of hands that nearly dragged across the floor. Its head was nothing but a sphere marked with a simple swirling design. Small floating orbs took the place of joints between its limbs. It walked beside their tunnel upon small tripods of toes instead of feet.
“I’ve never been so glad for something to be so boring,” breathed Pird, watching the statue slowly lumber out of view into the dark.
“What was it?” asked Sye.
&n
bsp; “A golem,” Eris answered reflexively.
Sye looked at her, “A what?”
A what? Eris echoed herself, taking a moment to chase down where that answer had volunteered itself from, “A living statue. A golem. It appears a lot in early translations of the Second City’s manuscripts. They described inanimate objects that could walk that they used as workers. Fiction writers absolutely loved the idea, it’s in a lot of stories.” Eris cocked her head, “I can’t be the only one that ever read about them.”
“Don’t make fun of my condition!” Pird mockingly scolded, “You know I’m quite allergic to sitting still. And books. And anything that doesn’t generally end up annoying Zook.”
“Whatever it was, it didn’t seem terribly interested in us,” said Sye, then looked to Zook’s retreating back, “Neither does he it seems.”
“I’m gonna put a bell on you!” Pird called after Zook.
Eris lost track of how much longer they walked on, not that time seemed to matter in the silent dark of Saranoda. All she knew was that this strange mirrored city was enormous. Their path was winding, twisting down the wide streets between the shimmering sentinels. Pird pointed out to her that they were headed in a single general direction, even with all the turns.
They all look the same, Eris thought, looking at a building that was missing its upper half, Were they apartments? Offices? Who used to walk these streets?
Eris was jolted out of her thoughts when she stumbled downhill. It took a moment for her to get a bearing on her surroundings, for the city street had abruptly opened up into a crater. The watery tunnel was expanding into a dome to encompass the crater, their glowing guide being assisted by a dozen more of its kind. The buildings at the crater’s edge were warped and twisted, their mirrored surface blackened. It was as though the four were standing in the aftermath of a fiery whirlwind. No broken pieces slid underfoot, whatever occurred here had melted everything into a glossy sheen that shimmered with every color Eris had ever seen.
“What happened here?” asked Sye.
“Some kind of bomb?” Eris offered, “Though I’ve never read of one being so big.”
“What about the water?” Pird asked, “So something blew up and that’s why we have this crater and broken buildings. Why’s everything underwater? This place doesn’t look mermaid-friendly.”
Sye glanced up at the watery dome that hung over them like a glimmering umbrella, “Maybe this bomb, or whatever it was, damaged Saranda's pipes? The tower produces water.”
“Fresh water,” argued Pird, “Can’t you smell the salt? Or do I now have an excuse to lick the walls without looking like a loon?”
“When has looking like a loon ever stopped you?” asked Eris, smiling.
“Maybe Saranoda filters it and this water hasn’t hit those filters yet,” Sye interjected before Pird could continue his wall-licking tangent, “Nobody knows where the water comes from.”
Pird shook his head, “When I told you I knew we had moved, teleported, or whatever it was, it wasn’t just the doorway reopening in the same spot but leading elsewhere. I felt like we were deeper.”
“You think we’re below sea-level?” Eris asked, “That there’s a breach in Saranoda?”
“I think we’re way below sea level,” Pird shrugged, “Just a feeling though.”
Eris looked up, I wonder how much ocean is being held just above our heads. If we’re deep enough and these barriers broke, I suppose we wouldn’t feel a thing. “Can you imagine a hole in the side of Saranoda?”
“Can you imagine being inside Saranoda?” Pird replied, “Imagine it being filled with floaty orbs that talk in strings and an old broken city made of mirrors? And a pouting Doctor trampling through it all?”
That earned Pird a withering look from Zook.
“We’re kind of in a generally silly situation,” Pird finished.
“Sye?” Eris heard Zook ask. The uncertainty in his voice made her turn. Sye had abandoned their conversation and had wandered down to the crater’s center. Eris glanced to Zook and was surprised to see him look concerned.
Sye’s just wandered off, Eris thought when Sye started walking around erratically, his head cocked as though he were listening to something.
Eris walked down to him, Zook and Pird in tow, and asked, “What are you doing?”
“Can’t you hear it?” Sye answered, not looking back at her.
Eris and Pird exchanged looks. She saw her thoughts reflected in Pird’s expression, This can’t be good.
“Hear what?” Zook asked.
“I don’t know, it’s like...whispers,” Sye said, “But I can’t quite make them out.”
‘Sye,” Pird said cautiously, “We don’t hear anything. I really hope you didn’t just say you’re hearing voices because I will get into the fetal position and start crying if anything scary starts happening.”
“You have to hear this!” Sye said, exasperated, “It’s coming from right...here.” He crouched, right at the crater’s center, “It sounds like...wait, there’s some kind of mark here.”
“There’s nothing there!” Zook suddenly shouted at him, making Eris jump, “Knock it off and let’s go!”
“It’s right here!” Sye pointed at the ground, looking up at them angrily. Eris saw his eyes go vacant as he turned back to the floor. His hand hovered over where he had been pointing.
“It’s...calling out...” Sye mumbled, “...to me.”
Eris could suddenly see the mark, a strange symbol burning with a hazy orange glow.
“Don’t-!” Eris started, leaping forward to stop him. The mark vanished beneath Sye’s touch and he fell forward, lifeless.
End of the Eigth Chapter
A Lost Memento
“He thought he understood their secret. He thought he knew the danger. He found himself woefully ignorant and all suffered for it.”
-Excerpt from the Book of Idusces
Sye felt shadows wash over him in a torrent, seeing nothing in the void he fell into. He thought he was screaming, but he heard nothing but the rushing sound that blasted into his ears. He fell, but he couldn’t tell whether he fell down or up, thrown in some direction with increasing and terrifying speed.
Sye slammed into something solid, crashing into it with every fiber of his being.
He blinked.
Sye stood at the edge of a starlit rooftop.
What? Sye thought, his mind locked in confusion, Where...How am I...?
He couldn’t move. Nothing restrained him, his body felt relaxed and breathed slowly, reflecting none of the panic that was rampaging in his mind. It were as though he couldn’t connect with his physical self. He couldn’t turn, couldn’t blink, couldn’t shout.
Couldn’t scream.
Suddenly his panic vanished. Not by any natural progression of his own, it was like somebody had reached into his thoughts and shook him. Made him focus.
What Sye saw before him was the glimmering nightscape of a city ablaze in color. Large rectangles that shone with effulgence plated every building. A city crafted from a kaleidoscope. It was quiet, but there was a buzz of distant things instead of the still silence of Saranoda. Flickers of blue light glinted out between the shifting colors of the buildings, clouds of orbs flitting over the streets. Sye couldn’t look down but felt like he was high up, other buildings towering even higher above him.
These are the same buildings, Sye realized, But there’s no water here. Nothing’s destroyed. The mirrors he had seen before were now vibrant displays of light.
Sye realized his eyes were looking at a particular series of panels on a building across from him and they displayed images, not just color. It depicted a beautiful blonde woman drinking from a bright red bottle. He was further shocked when the woman in the lit image moved, turning towards him and smil
ing brilliantly. Her eyes seemed to lock with his, eyes an impossibly bright shade of blue. Her face disappeared and words took her place. Sye didn’t get to read what they said as his eyes wandered away without his consent. His body sighed and shifted its weight from one foot to the other. Sye realized he was wearing some kind of helmet when he saw a glimmer of the cityscape glint off of glass just in front of his nose. His clothes felt heavier and something weighty hung at his hip.
Am I...taller? Sye thought.
If Sye could jump, he would have when a voice yawned inside his ear, “Hey Dayv, there’s some kind of disturbance going on down Seventh Avenue, you’re going to have to go check it out.”
“This is unit four-thirty-two, responding to command,” Sye heard himself respond sternly, his voice deeper and flat, “Is this a request to investigate-”
“Ignorance damn you Dayv, it’s three o'clock in the godsforsaken morning,” the voice interrupted, “My shift was supposed to end in ten minutes but now I get to stick around until you’re done chasing shadows. These civilians forget we’re at the bottom of the sea, nowhere near the warfront, and right next to Saranoda. So would you kindly go make sure it’s safe under everyones beds?”
“Acknowledged,” Sye, or Dayv, replied tiredly, “Requesting coordinates from command and a recommended route.”
“I am so going to throttle you. You very well know where Seventh Avenue is; we go there to drink every other damn week.”
Am I in someone else’s body? Sye thought numbly.
Before he was given a chance to dwell on that thought, Dayv stepped off the building’s edge. Terror flooded Sye’s thoughts as he plummeted. Dayv held out his left hand and Sye glimpsed what looked like a watch on his wrist. A circular design, lit in purple, flickered above the watch’s face. Sye was deafened by an explosive updraft that caught Dayv. His fall slowed to a halt just above the street, then the updraft vanished and dropped him onto his feet.
What did he just do? Sye thought in confusion as Dayv walked on without a moment’s hesitation. Sye recognized the streamlined streets that had been in the underwater ruins, however now beads of light flickered up and down their parallel lines.
“You’re going to want to put up a bubble array,” the voice in his ear said, “There’s a scheduled storm that’s about to break.”
How am I hearing somebody who’s not here? Sye thought as Dayv looked down at his left wrist. Sye had never seen such a wristwatch before. Instead of hands and numbers there were interlacing circles and lines that spun at a sluggish pace. Dayv tapped the watch’s face and woven circles of light flickered above it. He gently slid his finger around the edge of the largest circle, causing the designs inside to change and flicker through a whole spectrum of color.
Command really needs to sort these arrays, Sye thought wistfully, At least let us tune them ourselves.
What?
The thought was clearly not his, it was foreign. Spoken in his mind like Dayv was speaking through his mouth.
I’m observing, Sye realized, a memory. This is the past. That’s why the city isn’t destroyed.
But how?
Dayv settled on a design and tapped it, causing it to retreat back into the watch. He looked up to the sky.
The night was clearer than Sye had ever seen, even more than when he had been far from civilization, hunting with his father and other politicians. The three moons shone in incredible clarity, the visible detail in their craters made them appear unusually close. The stars twinkled like distant candles.
The sky’s fake, Sye thought, The city lights should drown out the stars. There’s some kind of roof...a dome? The voice said we were at the bottom of the sea.
But...three moons? What is that pale one across the sky from Nocturne and Serenade?
Dark, turbulent clouds materialized from nowhere. As suddenly as they had blotted out the stars and moons they erupted with rain. The buildings were drowned out of view, their pearlescent light creeping through the haze. The flat street now looked like a rippling mirror, reflecting the violet glow the nearest building had shifted to.
Not a drop, however, fell upon Dayv. The rain pattered against an invisible umbrella just above him, droplets sliding down a dome carved from the air. He continued walking, the water slicking the street parting into dry ground before him and rejoining behind him.
Put up a bubble array, Sye echoed the voice in his head, now very curious about the strange wristwatch.
“City guard. There was a call about a disturbance?”
Sye returned his focus to find that he was speaking to two men. They both had a similar unseen umbrella. One had a watch like Dayv. The other did not and merely had one hand raised above his head. Sye felt something strange emanating from the two men, a gentle pressure in his thoughts.
Their attire was strange. The one with a watch had a silvery shirt crawling with moving designs and alien lettering that glowed a bright blue. The other was shirtless and instead wore an incredible collection of tattoos One design on the man’s shoulder resembled a boar but rest were foreign to Sye. An impressive number of silver rings were pierced into the man’s bottom lip.
The tattooed man pointed farther down the road with his free hand, “There’s a cloaked guy stumbling around over there. We thought he was just drunk until we felt his Manipulation was out of control.”
“What kind?” Dayv asked, “Aero? Pyr?”
They both shook their head, “Neither of us got a good read. It felt like some pretty strong stuff though.”
“Thank you,” Dayv replied, “Evacuate the premises, notify anyone you encounter on your way.”
As the two walked away from him the voice in his ear spoke up, “No hospital is reporting any missing patients. I’m dispatching the nearest unit to you, sounds like you have a fresh Broken.”
“It’s only one,” Dayv said back, “I can handle it.”
“Are you kidding me? After breaking my ass earlier about procedure? There’s going to be a unit close enough to give that throttling for me in case things get out of hand.”
“Acknowledged,” Dayv replied dismissively.
A strange thought echoed in Dayv’s mind. Sye couldn’t understand it; the thought had no language, no connection to any of the senses. It was like he was flexing an arm he didn’t have.
The visor before his eyes became alive with words and numbers, most of which crowded around the edges of his vision. Beads of light highlighted the edges of buildings that were near invisible in the mist.
There he is, Dayv thought. The visor drew the outline of a cloaked figure stumbling down the street. Words and numbers flashed beside the outlined figure. The figure halted and stood still. It looked straight at Dayv, then stumbled down an alley. Dayv followed.
The alley was bare except for a small pyramid of metal crates stacked up against one wall. A crimson light was cast down its narrows by a building behind Dayv, his shadow stretched tall and thin. Water sluiced down the sides of the framing buildings and rushed down into the dark reaches.
The figure was hunched over behind one of the boxes. Sye felt Dayv focus on the outline and he could suddenly hear haggard breathing loud in his ear. A circle framed the figure in his visor.
“Are you running a trace on his signature?” Dayv said quietly.
“Give me some credit Dayv,” the voice in his ear replied, “Be careful, that reading of his is pretty modest.”
“Sir?” Dayv called down the alley, “I need you to exit the alley and allow me to escort you to the nearest hospital.”
The breathing continued uninterrupted.
Dayv resisted the urge to step forward, “You’re very sick. You have suffered a Break. The longer we wait the more difficult therapy will be. We can-”
“I. Am not. Broken.”
The man’s voice rang clear in the alley, even though it was uttered between gasps. Rang wi
th an authoritative tone that made Dayv pause.
“There’s no shame in being ill,” Dayv continued, “You can’t be discriminated against under the law of-”
“Not. Broken.” The man forced out with greater difficulty. Dayv thought he heard a laugh amongst the gasps. “You cannot. Help. You will. Not want. To.”
“Sir, I’m going to have to subdue you if you do not-”
“Run!” the man shouted, looking up at him. All Dayv could see was the bright silver of the man’s eyes under his hood. “I do not know. What happens next! Run! As fast. As you can!”
“Dayv, his signature doesn’t match anyone registered here in Royanter,” the voice in his ear said urgently.
“That’s impossible,” Dayv said back, confused.
“Run! All of you! Run!” the man bellowed, his last word taking on a strange echoing sound. More circles appeared on Dayv’s visor, then began to flicker and distort.
“He has multiple signatures Dayv!”
“That’s can’t be-”
“He’s not human!” the voice shouted, “We’ve been breached! Take it down while it’s still in that body!”
Before the voice had finished Dayv snatched something off of his hip. Sye only glimpsed a moment of the stocky, angular device before Dayv sighted down it with natural precision. There was a pressure in Sye’s thoughts and the device glowed a harsh azure along its streamlined sides. Dayv squeezed a trigger.
A bolt of azure lightning flickered to the figure with a crackling boom. The figure was thrown back behind the crates with incredible force. Dayve dashed forward. As soon as he could see the body in the dark he pointed and squeezed twice more, lightning arcing from his device and dancing over the figure’s thrashing form.
Dayv waited, little arcs of electricity flickering in the dark, until the figure was finally still. More illegible information flitted across his visor.
“It’s dead Dayv. We are going into lockdown.”
“How did an Omni get in?” Dayv asked.
“Like I said, we saw multiple signatures. All of which read what used to be ‘undoubtedly human’. One of the signatures was actually registered as a citizen of our fair city Royanter a few weeks ago. We are doing background history now.”
“What does all of this mean?”
“Means they’ve figured out how to fool us Dayv. Means the war is here. Turns out nowhere is safe.”
Dayv heard heavy footfalls and splashes behind him. He turned to see a platoon of soldiers much more heavily armored than he was. Sye assumed that it was armor, even though it looked more like Eretian diving suits, albeit very streamlined ones. Many of them carried longer versions of Dayv’s weapon, requiring both hands to carry. Each one’s suit and weapon had arrays of lines and hovering lights that glowed with different colors.
The foremost soldier saluted, “Unit forty-two Bravo here to recover the body sir.”
Dayv saluted back with his free hand and two soldiers moved forward, a woman with a sapphire glow to her weapon and armor; and a man with gloves that burned crimson.
“Dayv we are going to need a hard copy of your visor’s recording and scans,” said the voice in his ear. Other voices, loud and angry, could be heard in the background, “Get back to command and-”
Just as the two soldiers were passing Dayv they suddenly hunkered down, weapon and gloves raised. Dayv turned on his heel and followed suite, reflexively sighting down his weapon.
“Dayv, you burst its heart,” the voice said, wavering, “Why is it standing up?”
Sye could feel the confusion and fear that washed over Dayv’s mind as they both watched the dead figure slowly get to its feet. The figure grasped his chest and gave a heaving cough.
“All units terminate the target with excessive force,” commanded a new voice in his ear.
Dayv and the flanking soldiers dropped to their knees to give the unit behind them a clear shot. Dayv pulled the trigger.
The figure’s eyes flashed red.
The world went black again for Sye, nothingness rushing in his ears.
Pain was the first sensation he felt. A raw burning across his chest and palms. Vision wobbled into focus with every blink. There was no longer a visor and his body felt slighter. Armor and weapons no longer weighed him down.
I’m somebody else, Sye realized as whoever he was got to his feet. The ground around him was slick with water but it no longer rained. There were others also picking themselves off the ground, a few soldiers amongst them. Bits of broken mirror littered the street, more still tinkling down from the buildings above. The mirrors looked like little rubies, reflecting the urgent red glow that cascaded over everything. He turned and looked back down the long, wide street. The cracked mirrors that still clung to the black buildings flickered with emergency messages and evacuation instructions, all lettered in a searing crimson. A red, shimmering haze still fell from the tallest structures. Stars and moons no longer painted the sky, the dome abandoning its illusion for what looked like a red map of the city plastered in warnings and urgent symbols.
The glimmering cityscape only held his attention for the briefest moment, his eyes drawn to the great dark cloud that rose from it. Lightning of unnatural color flickered within the cloud as it swelled over the city, brooding over the epicenter of the destruction.
“What’s going on?” someone asked.
“Was that a bomb?”
“Terrorists!”
“The war can’t be here!”
“We’re supposed to be safe!”
Aren’t we always supposed to be safe? Sye thought numbly, What kind of force can summon this kind of destruction? Eretia was destroyed by a tower, by Saranoda.
Wasn’t it?
“Lockdown procedures are to cease immediately,” a flat, authoritative voice boomed from every direction, “A full scale evacuation is underway. A soldier or Talad will guide you to the nearest exit portal where you will await further instruction. Report any and all suspicious activity immediately, this is-”
The voice died with a shrieking pop, interrupted by a detonation that lit the dark cloud with a white flash. The person Sye occupied held up his hand to shield his eyes from the blinding light. The skin on his outstretched palm burned with the searing heat that washed past him. He heard crashing around him as more of the dead mirrors burst from the sides of buildings. People screamed as the grand structures nearest the blast tilted away from it, crumbling to the unseen streets beneath.
A large dark figure burst from the top of the cloud, smoke clinging to it and hiding its silhouette against the red glow of the dome. Sye only saw the figure for a moment before it disappeared in another explosion, a furious gout of harsh white light that burst from the dome and grew with alarming speed. Around the explosion the dome went black, darkness cascading overhead.
The fiery maelstrom twisted in on itself, then disappeared as it was overtaken by a cloud of mist. To Sye it looked like the sky was bleeding, the red of the city illuminating the great torrent of water that fell from the shattered dome. Giant pieces of the dome fell like dark hail, their broken silhouettes glimpsed just before they caved in the buildings below. Sye watched the sea gleefully spring free from the dome, detailing the fatal cracks that snaked across the sky.
It began to rain.
Sye looked around him, both he and his host numb and overwhelmed. People surged past him, screaming. It was beginning to become difficult to see the extent of the terrified masses, as the streets were darkening with every building that fell beneath the crash of the falling sea. Sye found himself slowly sitting down, noting that he was far from alone in his strangely calm act. Everyone that was not running was sitting, looking on towards the descending wall of black that glimmered with the last sighs of the city’s red.
No, Sye thought blankly, not this.
Not again.
Sye’s sig
ht was obscured by shut eyes, leaving him with only the sound of the approaching wave before it struck.
Sye felt himself thrown out of the body and into the nothingness. He tumbled through it for a time, longer than before but by how much was impossible to tell in the void.
“Sye?”
“Zook! He’s awake!”
It took Sye a moment to remember how to move, how to even open his eyes. It was undoubtedly his body, never before had he ever felt so comforted by a place so familiar.
The jarring pain of being slapped across the face, however, was a sensation not quite as welcome.
“Gods damn it Zook!” Sye shouted as he opened his eyes to his surly friend's examining ones, “I can’t think of a single medically appropriate reason to slap me!”
“To make sure you were actually awake this time,” Zook replied evenly, “Hold on.”
Zook’s face disappeared. Then there came a very familiar sound of a smaller individual being tackled and subsequently pummeled.
Eris’ visage appeared before him, her eyes worn with worry, “Are you alright Sye?”
Sye found his other senses seeping in, surprising him with how warm his body felt. How much it felt solid.
“Other than my face, I’m actually fine,” Sye replied with surprise, “I thought I’d be as sore as Pird is about to be.”
“When’d you get so damn fast!” Pird’s shout came muffled.
“What happened?” Eris asked, ignoring Pird.
“I’m...not entirely sure. I was-” Sye began when a curl of red hair fell from behind Eris’ ear and brushed his cheek. His cheek tingled, but Sye suspected it wasn’t from the slap.
Sye sat up, making Eris move back to avoid their foreheads from colliding. She knelt beside him, eyes still trained worriedly on his.
Sye, this is how she is, Sye thought sternly, She’s protective, that’s why she’s looking at you that way. That’s why she’s sitting so close.
Isn’t it?
Sye opened his mouth to begin explaining when he noticed he was no longer in the crater, “Idusces knows, where am I?”
Eris glanced up, “Oh, you wouldn’t wake but Zook said you were all right to move. So we carried you and went forward. The orb didn’t take us any farther than the inside of this building.”
The room was large with tall walls that angled over their heads. The walls met at their tops, forming a pyramid around them. Sye saw several of himself peering around, as the walls and the sloping floor were all mirrors. Unlike the city, however, these reflections were tinted a deep golden color that gave Sye the illusion of feeling warm. The floor was a shallow bowl, their reflections warped and bent in its curvature. At the room’s center was a ring of tall rectangular mirrors. They hung inexplicably in the air, there were no strings that Sye could see holding them up. Inside the mirrored ring Sye saw their bobbing guide. Every now and then it sang, flitting out of the circle then back in.
“What is this place?” Sye asked, “And what is the fascination with constantly knowing how unkempt I look?”
“And they’re not blue!” Pird shouted.
Eris laughed, “I don’t know. It was the only undamaged building we’ve seen. When we followed the orb in here the entrance disappeared behind us. It flew to that ring of mirrors and seems to want us to join it. I thought it’d be better for you to be awake before we did.” Eris reached out and touched Sye’s short braid that was tossed over his shoulder, “Unkempt is giving you too much credit,” She teased, “I really need to cut your hair. Soon as we’re out of here, or I could always borrow Zook’s stitching scissors.”
Sye was both surprised and relieved that he didn’t feel his cheeks turn red. He reached up and pulled his braid back behind his head.
“It sounded like you did more than take a nap when you touched the crater,” Eris prodded carefully.
Sye nodded, “I think I was in...I don’t know how to best describe it, what I saw.”
“What you saw?”
“It was a like a memory. Not mine, somebody else’s.”
“Well, that only makes sense,” Pird said as he joined them, wincing as he rubbed one shoulder. He edged away from Zook as he too came to listen.
“I was seeing through somebody’s eyes and I had no control over anything,” Sye explained, “I saw what I think was this city before it was destroyed. They called it Royanter. The city used to be...” Sye shook his head in disbelief, “Beautiful. Everything was like it was made of light. There was so much color. If I were an artist I don’t think I could paint it.”
“You were in the past?” Eris asked.
“I’m almost certain of it, but they had unimaginable technology.”
“Naturally,” Pird commented.
“They?” Zook asked, his voice strange.
Sye looked up at him, “He was human, the man that I was...remembering? I saw others too. They dressed strangely, but they were human. There was one other that was...not. But it was humans that lived in this city. Built it as well, I think”
“I guess I just saw the place as ruins,” said Pird, “Didn’t think about the ‘who’. Makes sense, I guess?”
“Does it?” Zook challenged.
Pird looked at Zook, who seemed confused, “Who else? The giant bugs?”
Zook didn’t answer, only looked to Sye to go on.
“You were right, Pird,” Sye said, “About when we were moved. We’re deep down, there used to be a dome over the city. I heard someone say that we’re at the bottom of the sea and ...we’re no longer inside Saranoda, we’re just near it. I don’t know how its possible to be so far down.”
“Why would anyone build a city at the bottom of the sea?” Eris asked.
Sye shook his head, “It sounded like they thought it kept them safe. They mentioned a war was going on. The person I...was, his name was Dayv. He was some kind of soldier. The technology...they had scheduled weather, invisible umbrellas, weapons that summoned lightning. The dome had an illusion that made it look like the night sky, they even added a third moon for whatever reason. It was was like...Magic.”
“He chased somebody, something down an alley.” Sye continued, “They thought it was sick, they called it a ‘Broken’, but it wasn’t human. They were so afraid of it, calling it an ‘Omni’. It looked human and it told Dayv to run. It looked sick and said it ‘did not know what came next’. Dayv killed it but it came back and...exploded.”
“Exploded?” asked Pird.
“I think Dayv died in that crater,” Sye said in realization, “Somehow his last few moments were left behind. The explosion tore the whole city apart. When he died I started remembering as someone else as they were evacuating the city. I that saw something huge fly up and break through the dome and...well, we all saw what came of that.”
They all were silent for a few moments. Sye looked at each of their faces and saw the confusion in their eyes. Not disbelief, only confusion.
“Is anybody going to laugh?” Sye asked. They all looked at him, not understanding. “Tell me that it was just a nightmare? An awful, vivid nightmare? That I passed out from exhaustion because only Idusces knows how long it’s been since we were shut in here. I can’t have been someone else. I couldn’t have been in a memory.”
“It only makes sense,” Eris said, shaking her head, “We all saw the mark flash the moment you touched the ground. You just...crumpled. Pird tried touching it too, against better judgment.” Eris shot Pird a look of withering disapproval. He grinned sheepishly and held up a bandaged hand.
“No body-time-jumping for me,” said Pird, “Only a lovely and exciting burning sensation.”
“Did anyone in the memory say what the creature was?” asked Zook,
“Besides that word, ‘Omni’? Or how long ago this was?”
“No” Sye replied, “Even if they had said a date it probably wouldn’t be the sa
me kind of calendar as ours. And that’s all they said about the creature.” He pulled his knees up to his chin and hugged them. “It was awful. Watching another city fall. The buildings were so tall and stretched so far. There must have been so many people.”
It was silent a few moments more, the final scene playing over and over in Sye’s head. The darkening streets filled with people. Running away in terror or emptily looking up at their approaching death.
To Sye’s great surprise, Zook held out his hand to him. Sye took it and pulled himself to his feet. There was a brief moment of dizziness, but otherwise he felt fine.
Is this what’s going on in there? Sye thought, looking at his tall friend. Zook back at him levelly, the faint crimson in the dark of his eyes smoldering like distant embers. This hollow, useless feeling? I must be running from it, only to trip over that despair again when I least expect. That last moment...watching your city’s, your home’s last breath. Was Zook ever buried with us under Eretia’s bones? Or is he still in Magist’s house, watching the oncoming wave?
“So, are we moving forward or not?” Sye asked to Zook, “No real use to us all just sitting around.”
Zook didn’t smile, not the way anyone else would. To Sye, the twitch in his friend’s cheek was a full toothed grin.
“Shall we?” asked Pird. The four walked down the almost invisible incline until they were at the edge of the ring of mirrors. Before anyone could stop him, Zook stepped forward.
Nothing happened.
Sye, Eris, and Pird joined him. “What now?” asked Sye. Zook didn’t answer, looking up at the strange angular ceiling. Sye’s gaze kept returning to the ring of mirrors that floated just above them, mirrors that hung from nothing.
“Something’s not right,” Pird said suddenly.
Whatever troubled Pird, Sye noticed it too. He turned in a circle several times before Eris found it.
“The mirrors, they're moving,” said Eris.
It was too late then, the mirror’s deceptively slow pace had already lowered themselves around the four. The ring of floating mirrors circled them slowly, but they were rapidly picking up speed.
“What's going on?” asked Sye, turning in place to watch the display.
The mirrors moved faster and faster. Soon they circled with such speed that they could not see where one mirror ended and another began. It looked like a reflective hoop had fallen around them, the hissing of the air betraying its true nature.
“We need to get out of here,” said Sye, beginning to draw one of his swords. Zook grabbed his hand, but said nothing. He only watched the mirrors. Sye hesitated, then let go of the sword.
The bottom of the reflective ring elongated to the floor and the top stretched and pulled together overhead, forming a dome. The dome grew and at the same time the reflection began to change. A dark blue color appeared at dome's top and creeped across the curved surface, like an egg cracked over one's head. The reflections of Sye, Pird, Eris, and Zook fizzled out and disappeared, leaving just the image of the floor and distortions of the mirrors. The dark blue spread, shadows and lines appearing within the color. The blue did not stop at the bottom edge of the dome, but crawled across the floor to meet the rim of the mirror they stood on. The distorted image of the spinning mirrors stretched and twisted until it reflected a huge circular room. The hissing suddenly cut off. Silence dominated and the air went cold. Sye took out a bolt from his quiver and tentatively reached out it. The bolt met nothing but air.
“We've been moved,” Zook said.
“But where?” asked Sye.
“Like that's a relative question,” said Pird, “But if I had to guess, pretty far. A bit higher up. Just a feeling though.”
The room was one of the largest they had seen, save for the city of mirror’s grand dome. But for such a gargantuan room, there was little floor. A giant round pit occupied most of the chamber. The chasm's far side was nearly too far away to see. The arching walls curved to meet an identical hole far above. Pird picked something out of his pocket, a piece of rubble, and dropped it in. Sye strained his ears. He waited. And waited. And waited.
“Watch your step,” Pird said, backing away.
The floor suddenly lit in a harsh, white light. Circles, like those of the first room’s floor, appeared on the wall.
“Permission requested for the production of a category Glass energy accelerator,” echoed a voice throughout the room. It was cold, feminine, and seemed to come from every angle.
“Processing specifications,” the voice rang out again.
“What's going on?” asked Pird.
“I don't like this,” said Sye nervously.
“Permission granted. Warning. Sensors in central core have been compromised. Requesting a manual evacuation of all personnel.”
“Evacuation?” asked Pird in confusion.
“Request overridden. Initializing shake-down sequence.”
The air suddenly spiked with some unseen weight, an electrifying charge that seemed to run underneath Sye’s skin. The circles on the wall began spinning, words and lines appearing within their rims.
“This isn't a good place to be,” said Sye, “We need to find a way out, fast.”
“Where?” asked Pird in despair, “There's no arches!”
“Search the walls! Look for any sort of depression. Hurry!”
“Uploading codes for Reactor One. Codes accepted. Uploading codes for Reactors Two and Three. Codes accepted. Begin firing sequence for Reactor One.”
Sye frantically scoured the walls. The surface was unchanging, no give or crease. No escape.
“Reactor One turnover successful. Begin firing sequence for Reactor Two.”
“The gauntlet!” Sye shouted, remembering that it chipped the Saranodian floor.
Eris hesitated, then pulled back the clenched fist of the gauntlet and lashed out with all of her impressive strength. Before it struck, it almost seemed as if the air thickened around the gauntlet. There was a flash and the sound of a giant drum. The force of her strike was reversed, snapping her arm back and throwing her to the floor.
“Reactor Two turnover successful. Begin firing sequence for Reactor Three.” There was a pause. “Reactor Three procedure compromised. Breaches detected in chambers twelve through thirty-three. System at forty-three percent and dropping. Flooding system.” Another, longer, pause. “Breached chambers rerouted. Restarting system.” Pause. For some reason Sye held his breath as he helped Eris back to her feet, waiting for the outcome of the strange conflicts the voice was reporting.
“Reactor three turnover successful. System at eighty-seven percent, within safe parameters. Synchronizing reactors with central core.”
A thread of blue light shot up from the depths of the pit. Its blue glare fought with the white glow of the walls and became too bright to look at.
“Overload in Reactor one. Venting secondary chambers. Calculating gradient for category Glass energy accelerator.” Pause. “Creating base.”
The circles on the arching walls slid forward, revealing cylinders. Blue beams of light abruptly connected the thread in the pit with the cylinders, all focusing on a central point. Other circles of Saranodian metal lifted completely free from the walls, separating themselves into rings. These hooped around where the beams met and began to rotate, like a giant toy gyroscope. The beams struck the inside of the rings, reflecting to other rings, back and forth, up and down, constantly moving, until they met at the center. The air began to hum.
“Creating first layer. Merging. Merge successful.”
The point grew brighter.
“Hurry!” Sye shouted over the rising hum. His shaking fingers felt along the wall for any flaw, any nick. The hum grew louder, taking on deeper and more menacing tones.
“There's no way out!” shouted Eris.
“We'
re trapped!” screamed Pird.
Sye, when he did not hear Zook, turned to his friend. Zook wasn’t looking at the wall; he was looking at the roaring flood of light. For the first time since the wave, he looked frightened.
“Creating second and third layer. Merging. Merge successful. Creating fourth layer. Mer-” The voice was drowned out by the roar of energy that was gushing forth from the pit. It roiled and twisted, shooting up to the waiting chasm above. The blue column, surrounded by a sphere of lancing beams that crisscrossed like a mad spider's web, grew with tremendous speed until it began curling over the lip of the pit.
Sye tasted and smelled ozone. Static crackled with his every movement. He felt the air thicken, the pressure intensifying. The roar reached a new volume and the room was bathed in blue. The last thing he remembered was a sharp pain and a warm drifting feeling, as though he had slipped into a deep sleep.
The voice rang out over the roar, heedless of the lives it contained, “Sequence complete.”
End of the Ninth Chapter
The First Manifestation
“We were not told of this.”
“The plan was to be perfect.”
“Have we already failed?”
“Or is there something, dear eldest, that you have kept from us?”
-The Four under the Foundings
Marydin toiled away in her garden. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she yanked yet another plump weed from the rich black soil.
This is what happens to my poor garden when Mr. All Knowing of the House has to have the back room redone to have guests over! She chucked a weed as hard as she could into the wheelbarrow. As hard as she could being the weed flew in that feeble way light things do when thrown in anger.
He never even has any bloody guests!
A shriek floated over the field, jarring the headache that had recently taken hold of her skull. Marydin sighed. Todder must have found himself another spider
Tody, a five-year-old boy, ran, and somehow also waddled, over a hill. “Mommy! Mommy!” he bawled around a nose full of snot, “My cold is hot! My cold is hot!”
Puzzled, Marydin got up to walk to him and promptly tripped. Her foot had somehow gotten stuck under a clump of rocks. She bit her tongue to stop herself from screaming in frustration. She tried to get up but her hand had entangled itself in another clump. I just tilled this! Marydin thought angrily as she tore her hand away, ripping weeds and dandelions.
“What is it Todders?” she asked sweetly, hiding her irritation.
Tody sniffed and pointed at his leaking nose, “My nose is fired!”
Marydin sighed again and turned from her bewildered son to trip on yet another trap of rocks. This time she did scream, her head throbbing furiously. “Stupid damned rotten garden!”
“Mommy, my cold-!”
Marydin whirled angrily on Tody, and shouted “Be quiet Tody!” Tody screwed up his face and Marydin braced herself for the bawling onslaught. But instead, he sneezed. A plume of flame jetted from his nose, scorching the grass before him. Marydin screamed again but didn't move, caught between a desire to run to her son and a desire to run away. Tody sneezed again and fire curled through the air. Marydin tried to stand but found that layers of soil anchored her legs against the grass. She watched in horror as more rocks and dirt burst from the earth and clung to her. Screams from the nearby town reached her ears and Marydin thought the world was ending.
In a sense, it was.