Ethereal Underground

by Briana Gaitan

  Ash walked through the doors and felt a tremble of fear as it slammed shut behind him. “I didn’t expect you to be here,” he told her.

  “I am here to witness on your behalf. It is rumored that the keepers are in disagreement about your sabbatical.” Ash had been afraid that would happen. A rouge keeper was not unheard of, and those that could not keep their emotions under control or take the job seriously were never heard from again. Ash reminded himself to keep a straight face. The last thing he wanted the Officials to see was his anger, or even worse, his fear.

  Jedzia glanced over at him with a perceptive look. “Calm down Ash. Your offence is not too serious. You think that other keepers have not gotten curious and snuck underground?”

  “This is different, and you know it.” He didn’t want to talk about the situation out loud. When he talked about it, it made it seem even more real. He stopped in the hallway and looked around. The keeper conservatory was a huge cubed shaped building that housed the training facilities and all of the war supplies they used. It was brown on the outside to mask it from attackers, but even if a neighboring planet made it on the surface to attack, a large force field shielded it. A few factories sat on the outskirts of the perimeter, which were used as trading posts. The walls inside were white and bare. In fact, everything in the keeper conservatory looked the same way. They were not into decorations or aesthetically pleasing environments. If the object didn’t have a definitive purpose; it was not needed. Jedzia continued to walk, not bothering to stop when Ash had paused.

  “They will not get rid of you. You have a strong keeper bloodline. The keepers are fading, that is why they insist we not mingle with the other races. We are the future of the planet. Without us, the war would surely destroy this planet.” She recited the words like they had been bore into her head since birth. They probably had been. Ash had always thought that power had gone to the many of the keepers’ heads. He sometimes forgot that she was one of them; Jedzia had been trained from day one to become an Official.

  “I’m not sure there is much of a planet to save anymore,” he mumbled under his breath. The planet was dying; he didn’t understand why everyone was so insistent on staying here. He didn’t feel the same loyalty to his homeland like many other did. The rebels, an underground terrorist group, wanted the planet to be returned to how it was before the wars, but Ash felt like it was all a few thousand years too late. The rebels only made his job as a keeper that much harder. He looked over at the keeper blade that fell from Jedzia’s side. He longed for the return of his own blade; if he was ever allowed to come back.

  They neared the large white doors at the end of the hallway. This was it; another hearing to discuss his future with the keepers. They would gripe about Ash sneaking around and breaking his oath. Ash would complain about how the keepers should be allowed to socialize. They would answer with something similar to what Jedzia said. How they were the glue holding the planet together; and they had vowed to save it from destruction. It was all the same to Ash. He would tell them he didn’t understand why they stayed on a dying planet. The war would never end, and the other planets would never stop trying to gain control over Cabalin. Jedzia tried to give him a reassuring smile, but it didn’t calm Ash’s nerves. The large double doors opened automatically to the Official Court. Ash let a neutral expression take over his face as he walked inside. The round room was large with the same plain white walls. On each side were rows of metal desks; each with an Official placed neatly behind it. There were twenty Officials all together. Each Official had once been a promising keeper who now governed the laws and made all of the decisions for the people and planet. The keepers began as a warrior race that had traveled from far to find a new home. The race had once been pure, but throughout the centuries interspecies relationships had resulted in tainted bloodlines. Only a few full-blooded keepers had remained.

  In the last hundred years, the Officials decided that the keepers were to live on the surface away from the other cities. They still needed to supply a growing army, and most of the population had at least one ancestor of keeper decent in their lineage. When a child was born underground, parents would sometimes get their children tested to become keepers. These babies were stronger and more intelligent than normal. They also had limited capacity for emotions. Recently, Arie had heard a rumor that some of the keeper children were stolen from parents who didn’t want to give up their babies. No one was for sure if it was true or not. Ash sometimes wondered who his parents were and where they lived, but he knew there was no point. He didn’t feel any emotional ties to them. Ash slowly reached the other side of the room and stepped up onto a large white platform. It was only one step off the ground, but it gave all the Officials a good view. He turned around to face both rows of Officials. He pushed his nerves away, and cleared his mind of emotion. It was a trick that all keepers were taught. He was thankful for it though; it had lessened the pain when he had been attacked by Loki. One of the Officials stood up and walked out from behind his large desk. He was a shorter man with long, red hair that fell down his shoulders and piercing green eyes. As he walked, his robe dragged along the polished white floor. Ash bowed his head and put his hands behind his back. He didn’t recognize this particular Official by name, but Ash knew he was important.

  “Ash, you have been called here today to discuss your treason. You are accused of violating your vows by participating in forbidden acts in the eighth layer including, not but limited to; gambling, consorting with criminals, unlawful fighting and not putting your duties above all else to protect your peers.” As the words flowed from the Official’s mouth, Ash flinched. Hearing all of it in one sentence made it sound worse that it really was. Ash didn’t say anything. He stared at the keeper symbol that was engraved on the platform below his feet.

  “Ash,” said a recognizable voice, “do you understand why we sent you away?”

  Ash looked up to see one of his mentors, Sune, standing next to the redheaded Official. Sune wore the same robe and his black hair fell against his shoulders. Ash nodded. He was on a sabbatical to understand how blessed the life of a keeper really was, and how horrible the day to day life underground could be.

  “Yes, Official. I understand.”

  “The opportunities we can provide outweigh anything you may receive down there.” Sune walked closer, his eyes were gentle and understanding. Sune was one of the only people that seemed to stand behind him in this scandal.

  “He is plotting with that redheaded hunter! We should get rid of him now, before he betrays us all!” Ash felt his fists tighten behind his back in anger, but he tried to keep a straight face. He watched as a silver haired Official stood up and marched next to Sune. He pointed at Ash and continued on. “We do not give second chances. Why are we allowing him one? We need to get rid of him and the girl both.”

  “Control yourself, Official Julian. Do you want to be next on Sasha Raine’s personal bounty?” Sune’s threat seemed to calm Julian down. Julian meekly took a step back and lowered his finger. He gritted his teeth instead.

  “He is a liability,” Julian pointed out.

  “He is a warrior who has proven himself to us, and been more helpful than many of the keepers we have. We cannot afford to lose another good keeper.”

  “He will cost us a lot of good keepers,” one of them yelled out. Ash stood there as the two men argued back and forth. He didn’t like how they were speaking about him, but Ash knew his place and stood quietly. The redheaded Official slowly turned to look at Ash and he started to circle him while staring at him dead on. Ash felt a chill run up his spine as the man made his way around the platform. Something about this Official scared Ash. When he had made his way back to his original spot, he started to speak. “We should let the traitor defend himself.”

  All of the keepers stopped talking and looked at Ash. Ash took a deep breath. He wasn’t sure what to say. He wanted to be a keeper, but not at the price of his freedom. Being told what to do and what not to do
every second of his life was not the way he wanted to live.

  “I do not understand why we have to be so distant from the citizens?”

  “We are better than they are. We stay here because our ancestors vowed to protect the planet. We do not break a vow, so until the war ends, we stay here.”

  Ash had to fight not to stomp out of the room. The war was getting better each day. He continued to reason with them. “The war isn’t that bad. We are so close to signing a peace treaty, and declaring our planet a neutral zone.” Ash knew the treaty was years away from being signed. In fact, he had been the one to deliver the original treaty to one of the nearby planets. Cabalin’s greatest threat, the Zornk, hadn’t reacted nicely. Ash and Jedzia had barely made it out alive.

  “The Zornk have not agreed to anything yet. They only agreed to consider,” Julian said.

  “That is the first step.” Ash took a death breath and decided to say something that was completely out of place for a keeper. “The people underground are getting restless; I have learned this over the past few weeks. They need supplies.”

  All of the Officials looked at him with empty gazes. It was apparent that they didn’t care too much about wellbeing of the citizens.

  “They have food and adequate air and clothing. If we give them much more, we are giving to the rebels as well.” One of the keepers shouted from the back of the room. All of the Officials took turns looking at each other and nodding.

  “It seems to me that you have locked them inside their own prison so that you do not have to deal with them. People are dying and starving, they are sick of being suppressed.”

  “They do this to themselves. Many of the layers live peacefully.”

  “Most of the layers are allowed supplies,” Ash yelled out. He tried hard to calm his anger, but it was no use. They all saw his emotions written on his face. The Officials treated the citizens like a pet they promised to watch for a neighbor. They didn’t care about anyone they considered inferior. Ash looked over at Jedzia, who stood in the corner with a helpless look on her face. None of them had the capacity to empathize as Ash did.

  “If we allow your redheaded friend to live among us, will you be happy?” Sune asked. This offer resulted in an alarming gasp among the others. Ash considered the possibility, but remembered the other people he had grown to care about. These taboo emotional attachments controlled too much of his life now. He shook his head. How could the keepers be so heartless? How could they allow such awful things to happen? Ash couldn’t believe that he once felt the same as them. He couldn’t defy them to their faces. He was too scared of the consequences. Sure, the others who had defied them had done much worse, but Ash couldn’t help but feel like he was in the same situation. Ash shook his head. Arie loved the surface, but she would never agree to live among the keepers.

  “Fine then. We will need to discuss your future here,” Sune said. He walked up to Ash and put a hand on his shoulder. “You are still the chosen one to take over my seat for the Officials. Remember that. Jedzia will take you home. Your transportation will stay on the surface. We will call for you when a decision is made. ”

  Ash felt as if he had let Sune down. He knew he could never truly feel the same as the others. He was a strong warrior, but would make a bad Official. The Officials all stepped back to allow a path for Ash to leave. With another bow of his head, he slowly walked from the room and out the large white doors. He stopped when he heard the slam of the doors behind him. He took a few deep breaths to steady his shaking hands. If they let him back in, he wasn’t sure he could ever truly be one of them. Jedzia walked around him and slowly continued toward the exit. He followed behind her. He had meant to ask her what she knew about the seraphs, but it seemed a little untimely now. Once outside, Ash looked up at the sky and took a good hard look. The sunlight warmed his face. Though most of the danger was unseen, he knew it was up there in the sky. He quietly looked around. All he could see for miles was dirt and rock. Nothing was left for him here. He didn’t truly belong anymore. He climbed into the small silver ship and closed the hatched behind him. Once inside, Jedzia started to drive off of the surface. They both sat in silence the entire way down. Ash stared at a cup of water that sat in a holder between them. Something inside of him itched and longed to touch it. He remembered what had happened at Arie’s and the beautiful blonde who had haunted his dreams the night before. There was no way he made her up, she was real. Something or someone had saved him the night before and he had to know what it was. Jedzia looked over at him, but still refused to look him in the eyes.

  “You know,” she said “If you would just do as you are told, this wouldn’t be so hard. You aren’t easily replaced.”

  Ash didn’t comment. He would have to speak to her later about everything that was going on, not now when he was so upset. She stopped the ship at the eighth layer entrance and pushed the small button to open the hatch on his side.

  “I will see you soon,” he promised her. With his final words, Ash jumped out of the ship and made the short journey back to his home. He ran the entire way, he needed to unwind. There was so much energy in his body and there were no fights scheduled at the Ethereal Underground. If the Officials decided against him, he wouldn’t be around much longer. He knew he needed to find the blonde girl before they made their final decision.

  Annalise

  “Anna…Anna…”

  Annalise’s eyelids fluttered open slowly, her blue orbs trying to focus on the green ones staring back at her. Those familiar lips pursed in concern, eyebrows lowered as well. Leon. She was thankful to be at home, knowing that Finlay had made sure she was there and safe. She had no doubt that Leon was concerned; it was written all over his face. He knew that there was no reason for her to be sleeping; her job was not normally so draining. Seraphs did not need to sleep, only when they had been depleted their powers. This is something that Leon did often after returning from his duties, even though she wasn’t sure what had been so tiring if he was not doing much fighting these days.

  Letting her eyes close again for a second, she listened as Leon stood up from where she lay and walked over to whisper to Finlay. Annalise had to strain to hear, but she wanted to gauge just how upset he was before she sat up.

  “She’s been out for a while,” Leon whispered, followed by a sigh.

  “I know, friend, but she will be fine.”

  “What if the fallen got to her and she is hurt?”

  Finlay let out a breath, “It has nothing to do with that, I’m sure.”

  Annalise was thankful that their friend wasn’t giving her up so quickly, and that she would be able to talk to Leon about things. Normally Finlay would just let all the secrets out and leave a mess in his wake. This time he was keeping his mouth shut, and she knew that must be hard for him.

  “But there have been several more seraphs disappear this week. I do not want her to be one of them.”

  This comment piqued her interested; so he was worried about her, not upset, and perhaps she would find out if he knew for sure what was happening to these seraphs. She turned her head to the side and peeked through a lowered lid to see her counterpart shake his head in worry, look back at her, and then back to his friend. He lowered his voice even more then and she wasn’t able to hear what was said. Still, she was surprised at what she’d learned: one, that Finlay was not spilling her secrets, which was odd; and two, that there were more seraphs missing. It was terrifying for her. Some had spoken of closing off the realm for a short time to see if they could figure out what was killing them off one by one. Others argued that would send the world into chaos, mortals living as if immortal or souls floating about, mortals dying when they weren’t supposed to or following a path other than their destiny. Most agreed they couldn’t survive without the seraphs, so they would not close off the realm. Still, it was something that worried Annalise now that she knew Leon was concerned. He was so brave, so ready for battle, and his apprehension had her mind spinning. Maybe she should s
tay home, not go out on reapings, especially if she couldn’t do it right.

  Pushing herself up on her elbows in the large feather mattress, she heard him dismiss Finlay and then turn his attention back to her. She gave Leon a small smile as he walked back over to her.

  His calloused hand reached out to grip her chin, locking his eyes on hers, “You have been asleep for two days, Anna. Are you okay?”

  “I am fine,” she insisted with a nod of her head. She was shocked to hear that she had been out so long, but she tried not to let it show. She knew he was concerned, so she placed her hand on his and gave it a small reassuring rub, “I just over exerted myself. No need to worry.”

  He pulled his eyebrows further together as he shook his head and sat back from her on the bed, “You are not being honest with me.”

  She had tried to hide the worry that crept up on her as she remembered the reason for her being so tired. Two days was longer than she had ever slept. It was normal for Leon to sleep that long after battle, after protecting his charges at times, but never her. She understood his concern, but she wasn’t sure what to say to make him feel better. There was no way she could stand it if he hated her, if he was disappointed in her. There had never been a time that she had ever been less than honest with him, and she wasn’t sure where to begin. Even as she spoke, her thoughts drifted back to those blue eyes in that boy’s face. His face had been youthful, but the way he carried himself shown that he was a man and had seen many battles. It was something she had to tell her counterpart, he would know what to do. Maybe it was what was meant to happen, a prophecy maybe. She continued to try to convince herself that maybe this was supposed to happen, and that her counterpart would understand. Even though she felt an overwhelming sense of sadness at betraying what she had always known.