The Unfinished World (The Armor of God Book 2)

by Diego Valenzuela

Ezra looked back at Akiva, at Erin. None of them seemed to be any less surprised than he was. For once, information was being shared with all of them at the same time.

  “Dahlia was convinced that the only way to make sure humanity survived this . . . blight . . . was to work together. She came all the way here searching for something she didn’t find. And when she didn’t, she dedicated herself to create ways to set up communication between Clairvert and Roue. In that, she succeeded.”

  “You mean there’s been communication between the two cities? Why didn’t anyone in Roue know about you, then?” asked Akiva.

  “That wasn’t my choice, it was Dr. Mizrahi’s. Your Dr. Mizrahi. Eliza. At least the people of Clairvert know about Roue—it gives them hope to know we aren’t the last ones left. I can’t speak for the other end. Maybe it was something Dahlia told her sister and not me. Maybe they had a good reason, but I don’t know it.”

  “Sir, we need to use that link. We need to contact Zenith as soon as possible,” Ezra said in a hurry, then looked back at Erin. “We need to tell them about Tessa, about Lazarus. We can’t waste any time.”

  “It’s not operational,” said the man before Ezra could go any further. “A few weeks ago, the creatures of the wasteland began to move into another fissure in this mountain. There’s been tremors every now and then since. One day, the system just died.”

  “Did one of them do it?”

  “I don’t think so,” he said. “I don’t think the system Dahlia created is exposed that way. My guess is that one of the tremors the Asili’s been causing might have caused a rockslide within the caves, and that damaged the repeater station below us.”

  “Is there any way to fix it?” Erin asked.

  “I was sure there wasn’t, but then you came along. If there’s something wrong outside the station here, the only way to fix it is from the other end, from where it was damaged.”

  “You want us to go into the mountain, where the Laani are disappearing?” asked Garros, angry. “We’re not here to fix your radio system; we’re here to do something much more important than that, and we need your help.”

  “I know exactly why you’re here: you’re here to complete Milos Ravana,” the man said, and the Creux’s name resonated with particular strength within this chamber. “And I’m showing you the next step in your journey. I’m not asking you to do me a favor, soldiers; restarting communication with Roue is for your benefit too.”

  “You know, then.” Akiva got up and took a step towards William. “You know about what’s coming? About Lys and what it can do?”

  “Know about him?” the man said, as if amused. “Son, I’ve talked to Lys. And if you get this done for me, I’d be happy to take you to him.”

  Chapter 10

  When the Sun Dies

  Do you feel it?

  Feel what?

  That new strength.

  I don’t.

  I do. We’re close to the source.

  Okay.

  Don’t let it lie to you.

  It felt good to be back inside Besoe Nandi. Not once since he first synchronized with his Creux had he felt as helpless as he did when entering Clairvert, so wielding the Minotaur’s power again was a relief.

  “We have to do it,” he had told Garros two hours earlier. Garros was the only one in the group who seemed reluctant to follow William’s orders and dive into the mountain. “You heard what he said.”

  “What he said makes no sense!” he said. “Unless we’re too late, and this is all for nothing, Lys doesn’t exist like he says. We’re putting ourselves in danger to do this city a favor. This is not what your mother sent us here to do.”

  “If we fix this, we’ll be able to talk to her,” Ezra protested. “Why are you being so stubborn?”

  Garros was seething, but didn’t have an answer.

  “Ezra is right,” Erin said. “For all we know it’s not as dangerous as we imagine. This won’t be the first time we fight Laani, and it won’t be the last. There is much more to win than we have to lose.”

  “It’s easier for you to say that,” said Garros, and looked away, down the long hallway back towards Clairvert.

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Erin said and followed him down, away from the rest though they could still hear their conversation. “I don’t want you to say things like that. I’ll throw you in the Caduceus myself if you don’t stop this weird behavior. I’m fine, Garros. I’m gonna be fine. We’re gonna be fine. This isn’t when we die.”

  He remembered their talk back when they met Lazarus, when he and Jena heard that Erin was pregnant. Suddenly Garros’ apprehensiveness made more sense.

  Ezra wished he couldn’t overhear them, so he tried to bury their talk with one of his own. He looked up at Akiva. “Do you think they’re in danger? My mother? Poole? Tessa is right there with them.”

  “I understand why you’re afraid, but your mom is smarter than you can imagine,” Akiva said. “She’s always one step ahead of everything, always has a plan. If Tessa really is a danger to her, she knows, and she’s prepared. She’s probably using her.”

  He didn’t understand why, but the words had a certain degree of credence when coming from Akiva. He thanked him and they walked together back to Clairvert. Jena held Akiva’s hand the whole way back.

  At the mouth of the tunnel, where it opened up to the massive cavern that housed Clairvert, they found Erin talking to Farren. “We’ll be out and back in a few hours, I hope,” she told the captain. “Jena?”

  “Yes?”

  “Please stay here with William,” said Erin. “We don’t need five Creux inside the caves, especially if Milos Ravana is coming along; without your comms you’ll be more useful here than inside Jade.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” said Jena; he had never heard her address Erin that way.

  “So, Captain, we’d like to get a good full meal for once, then we’re out of here,” said Erin.

  Two hours of planning—and a meal—had gone by, and Ezra suddenly remembered what it was like to have a full stomach after weeks of eating barely enough to function. It was amazing what it did to one’s focus; suddenly he felt much more prepared to pilot Nandi.

  They had walked out of Clairvert, through the Atrium, where Ezra searched for signs of Elena. Then, they stepped out onto the wasteland.

  The Minotaur and all the others were waiting for them outside, untouched by the wild. He felt some remorse in seeing Jade Arjuna there, knowing she would remain unused, but still he agreed with Erin: Jena would play a better role in Clairvert, learning what she could from William.

  “Hug this wall,” Farren said. “About a mile west, towards Kerek. There’s monster’s blood still splattered all over the largest crevice, on the floor. You’ll know which one it is when you see it. It’s the biggest entrance, the one the monsters used.”

  It was true, what Farren said about immediately recognizing the entrance. Phoenix Atlas in the lead, they walked next to the massive stone wall, leaving Clairvert behind, until its surface began to crack. There were several entrances to the inside of the mountain, some human-sized, some monster-sized. It made Ezra wonder just how complex the network of tunnels inside it really was.

  Then, they came upon a much larger fissure that descended into darkness. There were enormous traces of blood on the walls, on the floor, of the cleft.

  “This is it,” said Erin. “This is Laani blood.”

  “Why is there Laani blood here?” Ezra asked, and no one could answer. All he knew was that the sight gave the already terrifying entrance to the cave an even scarier look—like nothing had ever come out of it alive.

  The entrance was big, too—big enough even for Quantum Ares to fit—but he imagined the tunnels wouldn’t always be big enough for them. Would they, at some point, have to abandon the Creux in the darkness inside?

  It was a terrifying thought.

  “Here’s some light,” said Erin, and the colorful pieces in Phoenix’s armor lit up. Taking it as a cue,
Akiva did the same to Milos Ravana, and the lights built into the monster’s remaining shoulder pylon came to life. All Nandi had was its massive aqua eye.

  Phoenix signaled Akiva to move ahead, and Milos Ravana was the first one to step into the darkness of the caves.

  “Something’s strange,” he heard Erin say when they were deep enough into the tunnels that there was no more natural light coming through. “Do you feel that, the tingling?”

  “I do,” said Ezra. “It feels like in the islands, only much stronger.”

  “It’s the energy,” Garros added. “Whatever this Asili is, whatever it’s hiding, it’s huge. The energy I feel is much stronger than in Lazarus’ oasis. I had never felt Ares’ T-Core; it’s tickling the hell out of me.”

  He was right; it was as though the invisible energy in the caves was adding power to Nandi’s core. No doubt this was the strength the Minotaur was talking about earlier.

  “I don’t understand—if the energy repels the Laani, why did they come here willingly?”

  “I don’t think it was willingly; that’s what scares me. They’re being called back here. They’re coming here because they were ordered to come here, return home, with every person and every animal they took,” Erin said as they came upon a small squeeze in the tunnels. “Do you realize this? We’re close to it, the source of everything that happened, the reason why we’re almost extinct. It’s less than a mile away.”

  Even in Nandi’s guise, Ezra shivered.

  Don’t be afraid, Nandi whispered. You’ll come out of this, even if I didn’t.

  “There’s something in here,” Garros said suddenly. “Do you hear it?”

  “No,” Ezra replied. “I don’t have field hearing.”

  “Then I’ll be your field hearing. There are echoes coming from the caverns. It’s far away, but I hear movement—Flecks. We’re not alone in here, so prepare for a fight.”

  “What about the rock slides, and the tremors?” asked Ezra. “You were the first one who worried about that, back where we found Lazarus.”

  “We’ll have to be careful,” said Garros, and his words lacked his usual confidence, as though Ezra had raised a good point he hadn’t considered. “Use your technomancy, not your fists, and aim true.”

  “I wonder if there really was a rock slide; this place looks sturdy,” he heard Erin’s voice, and then the clicking of Phoenix’s clawed fingers hitting the walls, which were strangely smooth and glossy, even down here.

  Ezra’s theory was that the energy was flowing through this mountain like wind—felt, but unseen. It was beautiful and empowering, but corrosive to the stone. He couldn’t think of any other explanation as to how these huge tunnels could have been made.

  “How deep are we into the caves?” he asked, suddenly taken by the idea that if the need to escape should arise, they could be in trouble; he hadn’t paid enough attention to a map William had shown to them in the middle of their meal. “Are we even going the right way?”

  “We are where we need to be,” said Erin, and pointed her finger ahead. There was faint red light near the floor. “Look below.”

  Ezra could barely look down—the Minotaur’s heavily padded neck and shoulders didn’t allow for free movement of the head—to find subtle hints beneath him that someone intelligent had been here.

  Milos Ravana stopped and turned on its left foot to raise a hand and make two signals with his fingers, conveying a message Ezra couldn’t understand—after all, back in Zenith, Akiva had been involved in training that didn’t include Ezra. Did they never expect they would have to communicate without an aural link, or was it another part of training he just ignored?

  “I’m coming down,” Erin said. “You two cover us.”

  Phoenix’s fists came together in a bump in front of her chest, then she raised both thumbs. Ares repeated the motion. This second signal was only meant for each other, which was strange, because Ezra recognized at least the first movement’s meaning: stick together.

  “Please be careful,” came Garros’ voice, far more fearful than usual. “This tunnel is empty but I can still hear the Flecks. They’re not far.”

  Ezra hadn’t been properly briefed on the plan, so the idea of Erin leaving her Creux was both scary and surprising. He saw Ares walk past Milos and Phoenix, both of whom kneeled down to let the pilots descend. “This is wrong,” he said. “I can’t hear anything. I should be getting down. Erin should stay here. This is a bad idea.”

  “I’ll say,” Garros said, turning Ares’ massive chest towards the tunnel, waiting for a threat. He could tell Garros’ apprehensiveness pertained only to Erin’s safety, a concern that appeared to have grown greatly since leaving Zenith. He knew exactly what was to blame.

  “Is everything all right?”

  “What do you mean?” Garros asked.

  “You’ve been acting strange, that’s all,” Ezra said. The fact that the only thing he could hear was their own voices—and what felt to him like the Minotaur’s bellows echoing somewhere in the back of his mind—made the conversation seem more intimate. He didn’t like it.

  “Really?” He heard Garros chuckle. “I thought I was acting like anyone would, considering the situation. It’s okay to be scared, you know? I’m just scared. I appreciate you asking.”

  His candor left him without anything else to say.

  “Something’s coming, man,” Garros said, and Ezra didn’t know if he meant in the tunnel, or if he was referring to the bigger—the biggest—threat. “I can hear the sound of something big moving near us.”

  Before he could ask for an elaboration, Ezra noticed movement by the Minotaur’s feet. Erin and Akiva reappeared from the small crack in the wall, and climbed their way back up to their respective Creux’s Apse.

  That was easy, he thought.

  Ares turned around to once more face the rest of the group, as if to make sure the other two climbed into the Creux safely. Ezra heard the sound of static when Phoenix’s Apse was closed and the lights on her armor came to life; Erin was back in the aural link. “There was no damage here,” she said. “Everything was running smoothly.”

  “What does that mean?” Ezra asked.

  “It means we’re not done,” Garros explained. “We need to go deeper, closer to the repeater.”

  “That’s right,” said Erin, and she followed Akiva down the increasingly small tunnel. Should it become much narrower, neither Ares nor Nandi would be able to keep going; they would have to find another way through the labyrinth.

  It has a way out.

  “William said there are two points in the caves where it could have been damaged: the controls and the repeater. That entrance back there is where Eliza Mizrahi put the controls, and they seemed to work fine. He said it was more likely that the problem was in the repeater down the cave. It’s not far.”

  “How did she build this? We can be here because we’re in a Creux. How could they make it down here?” Ezra asked, a question that had been lingering in his mind.

  “Because this place used to be as safe as Clairvert, and for the same reasons. Until the Shift, the Laani never stepped foot inside here,” Garros said. Ezra could only infer the meaning of the word Shift in this context. “Lys is calling them back, and his call apparently is stronger than whatever pain or fear they have of this place.”

  “Garros,” said Erin, taking a confident decision at one fork in the tunnel. “You hear that?”

  “Yeah,” he replied. “Ezra, I know you can’t hear and that sucks, but the noise I told you about, the Flecks, it’s much louder here. I’m going to walk behind you now for safety.”

  “All right,” replied Ezra and moved forward, between Phoenix and Ares; Akiva didn’t even notice the switch, and kept walking.

  Until, suddenly, he stopped and signaled.

  “There they are,” Erin said.

  The tunnel opened to a huge hall about the same size of Clairvert. This could very well be the heart of the mountain; it was spacious, even f
or something of Quantum Ares’ size. Still, there was no sign of the Asili, or any of its energy—he could only feel it through Nandi’s core. Yet if it wasn’t the heart of the complex, it was an important node; there were at least eight different pathways converging here, some coming from ground level, others carved through the ceilings and walls.

  It took him too long to notice their company, but it was very well hidden in the darkness: bundled like scared animals at the corner of the room, seeing only with the light shed by Phoenix, Ezra saw at least seven Trooper-type Flecks.

  They did not seem aggressive as he had always known them; they seemed terrified, and in pain. They were shaking, hiding their faces in the spaces they found between their own and the others’ bodies. Could he listen, he was sure he’d hear the sounds of a scared, whimpering animal.

  “Move slowly, we don’t know if there are any others,” Erin said. “Garros, eyes on back, all right? If they move, or launch an attack, we’ll have to fight them, and I agree we shouldn’t shake this place up too much.”

  “Got it.”

  Akiva moved his Creux with incredible grace; Ezra was sure he wasn’t making a sound as he almost glided towards another tunnel to their right. It had become a second skin to him and could wield it effortlessly. Of course it wasn’t only his talent and training; the alien engineering of the suit was much more impressive than any of the others.

  Ezra didn’t remove his eye from the scared Flecks in the corner as the group moved closer to the new tunnel and one by one began entering—

  It felt like losing the air in his lungs when the sudden bludgeon of something huge and strong hit his back, and Nandi toppled forward like an old tree. It was so sudden that the fight was, again, well on its way when he realized it was happening.

  “Be careful with the walls! Don’t hit the—!” Garros screamed, fighting.

  The energy began to flood the space between Nandi’s horns while the Minotaur rose to its feet to join the fight. Potent blasts of power shot from his hands when he ran, head down, to tackle a Trooper that looked confused and scared.