Jan-Chris opened his mouth, but Ray crushed the door into a hunk of junk before the ranger could inquire and threw the obstacle aside.
Ray moved inside, his red aura glowing softly, illuminating the dim room. The stone and metal structure was covered in moisture and mold. No matter how deep they were inside the desert, the fog kept things wet, especially inside the caves they passed through and within the military base. Ray didn’t notice the mushrooms hanging from the walls or the overgrown creepers covering every wall and console like a blanket of time. The flora was somewhat different from Earth or Bunari—and most definitely Tarra—but the familiarity was high enough to call them creepers and be done with it.
“Someone really needs to hire a gardener,” Samir commented, earning a giggling snort from Elaine and Eras.
“Are all the places inside the mist like this?” Elaine asked Jan-Chris, her eyes glowing.
“Yes. My village has water and vegetation thanks to the fog.”
“You don’t have any other water source?”
“We do, but every bit helps out here.”
“No insane people?” Eras joined in, but the ranger simply shook his head.
“There is no power.” Sim’Ra stood by Ray’s side, outside of the chitchat. He seemed as eager as Ray to see the end of the coming confrontation. Ray understood—he himself needed some kind of closure.
“You’ve said it. We have power.” Ray’s aura got brighter, and soon, it covered the elevator. The doors slid to their nests, and the cabin was before them, big enough to take them all. Ray took the elevator first, the Baeal following close by. The rest of the team hesitated, stepping into a dead ride, and Ray felt anger rising in him, his own people not trusting his powers. “Move it.”
As the last of them—it was Brother Cavil—took his final step on the elevator, the thing shook and began descending with sudden force.
“I…” Sarah looked up in worry. “I don’t feel any mechanism moving.”
“I’ve separated the holds. We are afloat.”
Brother Cavil’s eyes bulged. “What do you mean afloat?”
“I’m taking us down.”
“Will you take us back up? And who will take us if you do not come back, son?” Brother Cavil looked at the others for support. But everyone else was focused on Ray, and Ray didn’t answer.
“Maybe they have an emergency hatch around here somewhere.” Samir shrugged.
The cabin reached the bottom and touched the ground with a little bump. As with the entrance, no lights illuminated the corridors here. If not for Ray’s aura, it would be pitch black.
“Are there any creatures down here?” Samir asked, lowering his voice, tension vibrating in his words. “I can’t see a thing.”
“I hear nothing,” Sarah said.
“Me neither,” Elaine agreed.
“You’ll all be all right,” Ray sighed. He had difficulty understanding why his people were skeptical about his abilities, as he was fluent in their control now. He decided not to heed them and focused his attention on the lab floor.
“What were they testing here, Raymond?” Brother Cavil asked suddenly. “Lab thirty-one. Too many rooms here for idle research.”
“When does military ever test idly, old man?”
“I do not know. I am not a military person.”
“They conducted experiments on creatures outside of this world. They tried to explore other planes,” Ray said.
“A great many lives perished here. Wildlife—innocent animals and plants as well as sentient beings. Their fears, their thoughts still echo through the walls.”
“Show me.”
Ijjok obeyed Ray’s command, and the dead, plant-infested corridor suddenly turned into a lively, vibrant workspace, soldiers passing by scientists in their lab coats, lost in deep discussions. There were high-ranking military officials, earning a salute from every marine they passed. The labs were full of animals, some similar to this galaxy’s indigenous life forms and some completely alien. They had one thing in common: they were all here against their will.
Two scientists watched as a lab assistant inserted a terrifying metal probe into a horse-like animal, the scientists idly discussing the readings on their screen, ignoring the screams of agony. Across the lab was a sea creature in an aquarium, unable to move a meter in its tiny cell.
“Unimaginable torture and agony are what we sense, Lohil.”
“It is only human.” Ray winced at the bitter thought. Throughout history, humans had done all kinds of cruel experiments on other creatures and themselves in the name of advancing their race. It was disgusting then, and it was revolting now. “We destroyed and erased a good many life forms from the face of our planets. Nothing different going on here.”
He came to another lab where a humanoid shape was in cryogenic suspension inside a large, glass capsule with computers and wires attached. “What is that?”
“It is a race from beyond the rift. A lesser race, not technologically advanced. It is impossible to tell their name in your tongue, but the closest vocal name would be Frjajsyt.”
“Even that’s hard to say.”
“They are a non-vocal race with telepathic abilities.”
Ray realized the creature had electrodes attached to his head, and it was struggling, the muscles in its face tensing in equal intervals. Whatever those computers were feeding into its mind, it was hurting it. Hurting it bad.
“I’ve seen enough.” Ray shook his head as the visions disappeared, and he was once more in the dark, moist, creep-infested corridor.
“What’s it?” Sarah asked.
Ray didn’t realize she was walking next to him, and it disturbed him to be stalked like that. “It’s nothing, Sarah.”
“Come on, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“More than one.” Ray rubbed his temples. “Ijjok showed me the past of this place. Too much pain.”
“Because of the mist?”
“No. Because of humans.” Ray reached for the stones one more time. “Why did they abandon this place?”
“Because of the mist, Lohil.”
“Yes, but how did that happen?”
He was once again inside the complex before things went south. However, things were also different from his last vision. Most of the laboratories had gone dark, and their residents were either dead or missing. Ray realized he was feeling happy for those who passed away and were free of suffering in the hand of their captors. There are things worse than death. Alarms rang through the corridors, and scientists ran toward the elevators while soldiers with heavy armament hastened toward the huge bunker door the white coats were running from.
“Humans reached for more than they could hold.” Ijjok’s voice echoed in his head.
“How typical.”
“They found a plane they should have avoided tampering with. It cost them dearly.” Ray wasn’t sure if it was the right description, but K’ta’s voice sounded angry, displeased.
“I never thought you could feel.”
“You are getting better at communicating with us, Lohil.”
Ray passed through the door as if it were a hologram. On the other side was a huge hangar with entresols covering all the walls, going up at least five floors. There were computers tiered like stadium seats, row after row, facing the center of the room. Of course, it was what stood in the middle of the hangar that was interesting.
There was a rupture, a tear as if the view was but a paper print, and someone had reamed out an ellipsoid hole like a reptilian eye. The crack was pitch black, an abyss watching the room. A mist was forming at the platform stairs climbing to the eye, and marines were stationed facing the eye itself. Ray realized at least a hundred soldiers were cramped inside the room, taking cover behind the consoles, positioned on the ramps. Two guard teams were hastily screwing down Gatling gun stations as another team prepared the heat rounds.
“What are they afraid of?”
“You will see, Lohil.”
> The stones were right, and he saw. A flash-bang blinded the soldiers, and suddenly, the hovering mist filled the room with purpose. A robed figure with blue eyes appeared at the doorstep of the tear, watching with profound interest.
“I know him.”
“Yes, the Ambassador. This was your race’s first contact with the Architects since its seeding.”
Ray watched the Architect Ambassador, who seemed uninterested in the gunfire as he observed bullets bouncing off a shielding very much like Yrrha’s. “Was that you, Yrrha?”
“No, but it was an Arinar. Every Architect carries an Arinar.”
The Ambassador stood still for another minute before pulling out a small round device from inside his robe. He dropped it to the floor, where it spun slowly. The Ambassador turned and left the room through the rupture, his metal legs clinking on the hangar floor.
“Why did he leave?”
“Your race is still an infant for their genetic harvesting. He came, he judged and decided it is not the time to interfere yet.”
“So, that thing and the mist are for damage control.”
The stones didn’t reply, and they didn’t have to. The mist became thicker, and like the Kraken's tentacles, it caught each soldier it reached, pulling them back to the small object. The ball spun with tremendous speed. Thunder cracked at random, sending bolts of lightning through the room. A sickly brown aura formed around the device, and in less than a minute, everyone inside the room was pulled toward the Architect’s damage control plan.
“Are they…”
“Yes. They are the first of the savage humans you have encountered inside the mist.”
“I thought the mist made people crazy.”
“No. It is the device. The mist works like a spider’s web, and the spider is the device. If someone gets too close or if the device sees them as a threat, they are pulled into the rift.” As if to demonstrate, the doors suddenly opened near Ray, several protesting scientists scratching the floors to free themselves from the mist’s grasp, the ghostly arms slowly pulling them into the center.
“Is this what happened to all the scientists.”
“Yes.”
Ray felt no sorrow for the personnel after seeing their work. “What about us?”
“I can get you all through the rift,” Yrrha answered. “However, if you are to stay behind, your friends will not be able to return safely as the Ambassador’s trap will still be here, and they do not possess a Waystone.”
“What about Sim’Ra’s ornaments?”
“Waystones are bound to their users, Lohil.”
“I understand.” Ray opened his eyes. They were inside the hangar, filled with the same plant twined over all the platforms. The computers were long dead, and most were hidden under the vegetation. There a few dead bodies on the floor, burned to a crisp, only their bones left.
“Eew,” Sarah said. Elaine looked green, trying real hard to push her stomach’s contents back. Brother Cavil showed his agreement by scattering some of his behind the oxygen mask.
“What’s that?” Samir asked, seeming less moved by the dead bodies, nodding at the brown sphere still standing in the center with the device still spinning inside it.
“A Guardian,” Sim’Ra answered before Ray could. “It is used by the Architects to block the planar passage for lesser creatures.”
“Lesser creatures?” Brother Cavil said, wiping his mouth.
“Creatures who cannot pass through a Guardian.”
“I am guessing you are not one of those creatures.”
Sim’Ra didn’t answer, but his famous smirk was on his lips once again.
“All right.” Ray licked his lips. “I want you to go topside and wait for me for a day. If I’m not back by then, go back to Tarra and take the gunship.”
“And then?” Sarah folded her arms.
“Leave.”
“No.” Elaine was already standing in front of Ray. “I won’t abandon you. We’re coming.”
“You can’t pass through that, Elaine. Not without my help, and if I don’t come back, you’ll be trapped.”
“What about the mist? We’ll die here anyway.”
“No. As long as you don’t try to pass through the rift, you’ll be fine. That’s how the ranger’s people are living inside this fog.” Ray pointed at Jan-Chris, who was awfully silent. “Tell them,” Ray said, removing his mask.
“The mist is harmless unless you come close to the rift.”
“But the rangers?” Sarah knit her brows. “The savages?”
“We need to survive and protect our homes. It is a good ruse. The savages,” Ranger shrugged, “most of them appear around the military bases. I think they are people who wander where they should not.”
“So,” Brother Cavil threw his own mask away. “I do not need to wear this again. I sadly started vomiting before I could remove it anyway.”
“Eew,” Elaine gurgled.
“Enough.” Ray glowed green. “Sim’Ra and I are going through the rift, and you’ll do as you’re told.” Ray closed his eyes for a second, touching Ijjok.
“Is there a way out of here without the elevator?”
“Emergency stairs are reaching the surface, Lohil. The ranger would know.”
Ray opened his eyes, nodding in satisfaction. “Jan-Chris can take you to the surface. There are stairs.”
He turned and entered the brown sphere, Sim’Ra close behind. The Guardian protested but gave way to the power of Arinar, and suddenly the black rift became alive, flickering in dark colors. A few years back, Ray would have stayed there mesmerized, watching the portal in profound interest. That was another Ray. This Ray simply passed through the welcoming darkness, not seeing the Baeal prince’s smile.
ALL ABOARD
Rebecca watched her right hand twitch like a dying bird trying to resist the angel of death. It is just a hand, she reminded herself. She couldn’t let overdramatic emotion blur her reflexes. She had to be awake, alert, and aware—her perception of her surroundings hung on a sharp knife. A really deadly and unpredictable knife.
“What will you do to us, creature?” Ga’an asked, sitting beside Rebecca. His face was bloodied with his own dark blue blood, slowly dripping from the left of his lips. The towering first officer, the last of his kind, showed no sign of pain or discomfort. Oh, he was uncomfortable, not because of his restraints or his injuries, but because he hadn’t had the chance to break his enemy’s neck.
The red eyes focused on Ga’an. “Your fate will be decided by the Creators. I would gladly infest your desecrated bodies. You would make an excellent host.”
Rebecca closed her eyes. Unlike Ga’an, she wasn’t bound. She looked again at Ga’an’s hands, tied behind his back by vines—as she now thought of the creeping, organic roots—emerging from the floor tiles. Another large branch had wrapped itself around his neck, giving Ga’an slack enough to breathe and talk but tight enough to prevent him from moving. The tall Nucteel had tried to stand up twice already, both occasions ending in excruciating pain. The branches reacted to aggressive behavior rapaciously, huge spikes coming out of their bodies and stinging deep into the tall man’s skin.
Rebecca’s hands still felt numb from the injuries she had sustained during the arxenon explosion, and she was sure she had at least two broken ribs. The last thing she recalled was Ga’an trying to warn her and a pair of red eyes hovering over her like a hawk watching its prey. Then darkness, until she woke near Ga’an and the other personnel, sitting in the middle of the bridge. She had had some level of first aid. She remembered the familiar feeling of field morphine running in her veins, making her dizzy. Who had administered the morphine, or when, was beyond her.
“What about the rest of the crew?” she found the strength to ask.
“The Creators will decide their fate as well. Do not be alarmed, human, they are still untouched.”
Rebecca sensed a hint of anger in Vengeance’s voice. If it was up to her, they would all be hosts to grues
ome insects by now. But it is not up to her, thankfully. Shortly after they were rounded, the infested woman before Rebecca stopped, her eyes focusing some point on the ceiling as if listening to something. Her red eyes rolled back, revealing her wildly deformed eyeballs, now tiny nests. When Vengeance returned to herself, her already-stern face was like a hard leather shoe, but the insect guards took a few steps back after a click from her tongue.
“I am glad to hear that.”
“You do not understand the evolution of your kind. This form is perfect, and it bears a purpose. A reason.”
“Tell me,” Rebecca licked her lips and winced when her tongue touched one of the scarred spots, “is there any part of nurse Erika left in there somewhere?”
“She is here. She is one with me now. We think together, we act together. Erika is connected to a world she never knew existed through the bond I gave her.”
“I thought it was the Devourer who created you.”
Vengeance’s eyes narrowed, and Rebecca realized she had hit a touchy spot. “The Creators created us all.”
“But it was the Devourer who made you who you are. Through Her, the Creators’ touch reached you.”
“We are all tools in their grand design.”
“I see but—” Rebecca started, but a growl from Vengeance cut her off. One of the mantis creatures took a step forward and gently touched Rebecca’s chest with one of its sharp, deadly tibial spines. The touch sent spikes of pain through her back, and for a second, Rebecca thought her soon-to-be death would come from asphyxiation, not infestation or being shredded to pieces by a freak critter.
“You bore me, human.”
Rebecca didn’t press on. Even if she could speak again with such shallow breath, it wouldn’t help the cause if she were dead. Rebecca frowned and scanned through the bridge to see who had made it out alive. When the insects first rounded them up, she was sure she had seen bodies on the floor. Now, vines and dark red, dry chitin covered the bridge. The poor dead officers had probably been dissected.
She did a quick headcount. Lieutenant Commander Jong was near Ga’an and Lieutenant Belins. Their wounds looked superficial. Three more crew—Atkins, Ramonda, and Keens—were but a few meters ahead. She couldn’t see Sergeant Velazquez and Pushkin. The two marines who had guarded the bridge door were also nowhere in sight.
Balance of Power: The Blackened Prophecy Book 2 Page 26
