by Chad Queen
“Half-moon stance. So you do know some Coda,” the man said, raising an eyebrow. “You almost had me fooled into thinking otherwise.”
Cade’s eyes narrowed. This guy was getting on his nerves.
He encoded tungsten and jabbed with his leading hand, careful not to commit his full weight. Tal let the blow glance off his hardened body. Adding an encoding of diamond, Cade followed with an uppercut.
The man, grabbing the fist and stopping it from connecting with his chin, looked at Cade’s hand, and then at Cade.
“Multiple encodings? Two phantoms are a lot for one man. How long have you been Bearing them?”
Cade flared his diamond encoding and managed to wrench his arm free.
The man’s smile faded. “Long enough, it would appear. Ready?”
Tal threw a punch at Cade, which he narrowly managed to block.
“It’s the eyes, you see.”
Another punch. Cade deflected it as he sidestepped to deter a follow-up strike.
“Their color is the first to go.”
Tal kicked at Cade, his foot flat, as if to push Cade back. Cade blocked the attack using both arms as a shield in front of him.
“Much like your mind, it’s like the eyes are also unsure what they should be.”
Pushing his advantage, Tal continued to advance upon Cade.
“But you see, it’s the phantom. The phantom, like with encoding, can alter the Veris. The phantom can change your eyes and more.”
Cade blocked the man’s next blow, but his attacker barred the arm and used his forward momentum to throw Cade to the floor.
“To do this, the phantom, from the Firmere, reaches into our world.”
He picked Cade up off the floor, suspending him in the air as Cade struggled to free himself.
“Which begs the question—” Tal said, tossing Cade through the window of the train.
Cade managed to grab the lip of the window’s edge and slammed into the side of the car’s exterior. He encoded his hand to tungsten, but the bits of broken glass had already cut into his hand.
He scrambled up as the man approached the shattered window.
“—if the phantoms can reach into our world, can’t we reach into theirs?”
Cade, balancing from the edge of the window, grabbed the top of the train car and pulled himself onto the roof. The train hurtled forward on its track through the Chalician countryside, the wind threatening to push him off. He turned around and found Tal already standing on top of the car.
Tal held up a single chipcoin between his middle and index fingers. The coin started to glow, giving off an orange light. The man turned, placed his hand on the car connected behind him, and wrenched it from the tracks as he hoisted it high above his head.
Impossible.
“Don’t think of the Veris and Firmere as two separate places; they’re not. Instead, think of them as they really are—two sides of the same coin.”
Tal threw it at Cade, who fell backward, dodging the flying car as it hurtled an inch from his nose.
On his back, he looked up to see the man had relieved Cade of one of his casters. He placed his foot on Cade’s chest, pinning him to the roof of the car. Tal slid the wedding ring over the barrel of the gun and pointed the gun at Cade’s head. In the man’s other hand, he held the chipcoin, no longer lit.
“You say you want to protect others, but you are ignorant to the gifts before you.”
Cade roared as he struggled to move under the man’s enhanced strength.
The chip, briefly, flashed orange.
Tal nodded his approval, smiling once again. “There’s hope for you yet,” he said, pulling the trigger.
Cade lurched from his seat, gasping for air. Wild-eyed, he looked around the silent cabin, but he was alone. He looked behind him and saw the car was still intact. The window next to him was also untouched and whole.
Eos broke the silence, her voice echoing in his mind. Charging complete. I estimate our arrival time within ten minutes.
“Did you see that man?”
Who? Eos asked.
“What about the data-log-thing? Did it pick up anything?” Cade was starting to wonder if his Nocturne withdrawal was causing more serious hallucinations.
There is no record of anyone else other than you on the train.
Cade rubbed his temples.
However…the last ten minutes of the train’s log data are missing.
He looked down at his hand, which was balled up into a fist, knuckles white. He relaxed it and opened his palm.
In it lay his wedding ring.
34
Hells
If we compare the major cities of the Pathways, it is easy to see that each city had a very distinct purpose, primarily around the mining of different raw materials. The only Pathway location that does not fit that purpose is the Thread. There is only one record of someone gaining access to the Thread, if the account is to be believed. That excepted, no one has ever seen the interior of the facility.
—From The History of Chalice
Cade shielded his eyes as the blinding light of the Thread enveloped the interior of the train car. The windows dimmed as the light hit it, and he could see again.
The Thread was in full view, its enormous column of surging energy reaching through the clouds. Cade had never seen it up close, and he was in awe of it. He was used to seeing it at a great distance as a thin gossamer strand of light.
Here, it may have well have been the surface of the sun.
Cade guessed few had seen the Thread this close. The facility was far north of Rynth. The ruins of Wythlain, the city the Wraiths leveled to the ground when they first came to Chalice, were just south of the Thread. And Gigan’s Hill, where the last battle with the Skex took place, lay before them. The area was patrolled regularly, and the only trains in and out were manned by Skex. The No Man was the only exception to that. But getting near the Thread could be a challenge.
“How do we get off the train?” he asked Eos.
We’re coming up to the main station. Short-range sensors indicate signs of life, but I don’t have the resolution to say more than that. We’ll need to overshoot the station to avoid detection, replied Eos.
As the station came into view, Cade’s heart sank. Swarming the station was the largest army of Skex he had ever seen. He ducked low behind the window.
The windows are shielded from the outside. They cannot see you.
Cade remained crouched, not wanting to test if what she said was true. As the railbus sailed by the station, he could see the Skex boarding a variety of old and newer generation railbuses.
“Where are they headed?”
Based on earlier activity, Rynth. This is a good sign. It means we still have time. Let’s get ready.
Cade made his way to the rear of the train.
One mile from here, there is an access tunnel for a disused waste drainage system we can utilize.
“Nothing like crawling around in the sewage of the Ancients.”
Eos did not respond. She seemed almost human most of the time, but she didn’t seem to possess a sense of humor. “Can you laugh?” he asked.
Yes. If the jokes are funny.
Cade sighed.
He stepped out of the last car and onto the balcony. The wind cut past his face, and he braced himself against the railing.
Now, said Eos.
Cade encoded tungsten and jumped. He hit the ground hard, rolling across the dry, rocky terrain—the tungsten preventing him from sustaining any notable injuries. He dusted himself off, thankful that getting off had been easier than getting on.
They had landed in the shadow on the far side of Gigan’s Hill, which was shielded from the blinding light of the Thread. Only a few yards in front of them lay the mouth of a tunnel, half-buried in sand.
Once inside, Cade could see the access tunnel was large enough for him to stand without crouching. Cade took Eos from her sheath to help illuminate the dark tunnel. The tunnel
was deep enough that even the light emanating from Eos could not penetrate the darkness at the end of it.
“These were drainage tunnels? What exactly were they draining?”
The Thread contains an antiquated first-generation power converter. The river you call Sepia can be rerouted to run straight into the Thread itself to cool the power core in case of an emergency.
“Eos, what is the purpose of the beam? It’s not just an energy source, is it?”
I do not know. We can only assume it is a component of the Ascension Drive.
A chill ran through Cade as he remembered his recent visions of the Thread.
We must keep moving. Our time is limited.
“How close are we to the entrance?”
It’s just up ahead. Once we get to the auxiliary entrance, there is a port I can interface with. My clearance allows access to the main system, so we will be able to deactivate the primary protocols and escape before we are detected.
Cade continued down the tunnel, taking care to be quiet, though Eos informed him that it would not make a difference.
They came to a large clearing with scaffolding to the side of what must have been the main tunnel, given its size. At the top of the scaffolding was a small door. Cade climbed to the door and noticed a glossy black panel mounted on the side.
“Where is this access port?” Cade moved Eos toward the door to get a better look when an invisible force pulled Eos from his hands and stuck the shard to the black panel with a dull clunk.
Acquiring access now. Just a moment.
“Okay, then,” he said, shaking his head.
Remote systems have been granted restricted access only, even with my credentials. It appears the Wraiths have reprogrammed most of the backdoor entry systems to prevent us from doing any damage remotely.
“So what do we do now?”
We will need a port with access to the main system. I have local access here, but they have changed all the entry codes.
Cade heard a click as the door in front of them slid open. Time to go.
They made their way inside, with Eos navigating him through the serpentine halls.
Take a right here. Wait.
“What is it?”
I’m getting a signal. It is faint.
“A signal? For what?”
I can’t be sure, exactly. The signal is not clear, though its header indicates a distress call.
“Sounds like a trap.”
Perhaps. It is encoded with a private key only I have access to, however. Whoever it is, they might be able to help us. The signature of the distress call is Ancient-derived.
“You’re kidding.”
I am not. Take a left here.
He turned the corner and was confronted by a large steel door.
One moment. The door clicked and swung open wide. Next to the door, a black glass panel had been mounted.
The signal is getting stronger. Place me on the panel.
Cade moved Eos next to the panel, and she snapped into place.
He looked down wide hall and had the feeling that he had been there before. The architecture reminded him of the expansive housing structures left behind by the Ancients, but there was more to it than that. On each side of the hall there were four deep red doors. On the far side of a hall, a larger door stood sealed, also a deep red.
“Nine doors…I don’t like this.” He recalled the dream he had back in Toltaire. In it, he had seen these doors. Nine doors was a bad omen in Chalice—a reference to the scary old tales that were told about the nine doors of the Forgotten Hells.
Eos pulsed blue, and Cade retrieved her from the panel.
“Eos, where are we?”
Main laboratory access hall.
“Where does that door lead?” he asked, pointing to the first door on the right.
Schematic record lists it as “Acolyte Reconditioning.”
Cade’s eyes grew wide. The First Door of the Forgotten Hells. Hell of the Broken Mind.
“And that one?”
“Skex Incubation.”
The Second Door. Hell of the Poisoned Brood. Were the tales of the Forgotten Hells true? No, nothing more than a coincidence. “Where do we need to go?”
The signal is originating beyond the far door.
The Ninth Door. Hell of the Slave Army.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “A coincidence. Nothing more.”
Cade placed Eos back in the sheath, which he secured to his back. “Do your sensors pick up anything on the other side?”
Sensor effectiveness is dampened by the door’s shielding, but I do not detect any measurable signs of life.
The door clicked and swung open.
In the room was a full battalion of armored Skex.
“Damn it, Eos.”
35
The Ninth Door
Nine doors, none to hide. Nine doors, sanity tried. The last door, claws scrape. The last chance, you must escape.
—From Tales from the Forgotten Hells
Cade rolled hard, avoiding a barrage of energy weapon fire. The lights of the great hall flickered as countless pulses of ionized energy poured from the room.
“No measurable signs of life?” he said.
I recommend we focus on the task at hand.
He wheeled his head toward the door they had entered. A caged red light flashed above it, and the door sealed shut.
Great, he thought to himself, I’m trapped in hell.
Cade threw himself behind a large pylon to the right of the door, narrowly avoiding another volley of energy projectiles as the Skex streamed into the hall.
Most Skex carried a type of energy weapon. Their hands were made up of small segments, with articulated claws and an opposable talon that allowed them to operate the rifles, though with much less dexterity than a human. The energy blasts were nearly useless against a Bearer who was using the appropriate encoding. The energy could be absorbed and deflected by encoding with diamond, which had the useful side effect of making the body non-conductive.
Eos’s voice. My sensors have indicated there are 104 Skex troops in this hall. Five have been dispatched to apprehend you. No Wraiths appear to be present, though the one controlling these will have been alerted to our presence. If you can dispatch the Skex, I can override the emergency lockdown.
“Five? No problem.” Cade pulled his casters from their holsters and prepared his ritual.
Ton Efret. Family Taken from Holten. Served as a soldier in the King’s Army before joining Coda. Died protecting Chalice from the Skex.
Jesen Galled. Coda Master, 4th Degree. Died protecting Chalice from the Skex.
Skricko Mazpar. Refugee from Byzar. Coda Master, 1st Degree. Died protecting Chalice on Gigan’s Hill.
They would protect one last time. Cade breathed a word of thanks. It was all he could do.
He placed the dummy caster shells from the cache in the remaining chambers. He loaded them after the other shells, just in case. He hadn’t had a chance to use one yet in a fight and wasn’t about to take any chances.
Cade leaned out from the cover of the pylon and fired off three bursts in rapid succession before ducking back. He wanted to ration the use of his phantoms until he really needed them.
He continued his ritual. The casters, with aiming assisted by the technology of the Ancients, ensured that every shot counted.
Cade was relieved to discover the dummy shells worked just as well as the imprinted ones. The only notable difference was the dummy shells didn’t auto-aim toward his targets. Cade wasn’t used to missing, so when one of his bullets flew past a charging Skex, he was caught off-guard. I’ll have to make a note of that, he thought.
Cluster from the east is repositioning. Fallback to south pylon, Eos’s voice instructed. Eos’s sensors, combined with her knowledge of tactical positioning, gave them a distinct advantage over the Skex.
More Skex are being allocated to us. Be on your guard.
When Cade’s ammo ran
low in his caster pistol, he would use his shotcaster to blast a hole through any Skex that were clustered together. That forced them to regroup, giving him time to reload. But despite their dwindling numbers, the Skex seemed to improve as the battle wore on.
“Talk to me, Eos, what’s going on?”
The Wraith commanding this battalion is diverting more of their focus to this melee. It seems that they now perceive us as a formidable threat.
“I liked it better when they were underestimating us.”
Relocate to right pylon on my mark. Three…two…one…now.
He encoded with diamond and aluminum. This allowed him to sprint quickly between the pylons without taking fire. The Skex had strength of numbers, but one thing they did not possess was quick reflexes. As he sprinted to the next pylon, he squeezed off two dummy rounds, both of which found their mark.
Cade nodded in satisfaction as he checked the strength of his phantoms. “We might actually have a chance here.”
Another round of energy blasts rocked the pylon to which he had relocated. He placed his hand on the pylon and attempted to encode with it. Steel. He grinned. Complex alloys were beyond his capabilities, but simple ones, like steel, he could do.
Encoding with the solid steel pylon would use far less of his phantom’s power than his small ring. It wouldn’t make him as durable as tungsten, but he could walk away with only a few bruises if he was careful.
Leaning out from cover, hand tightly encoded to the steel, Cade surveyed the battlefield. There were still a sizable number of Skex remaining; he estimated about fifty.
Fifty-two, Eos corrected.
Cade took out the Skex closest to him with a caster shot. He noticed there was a group of Skex assembling something in the back of the room, resembling a large gun with multiple barrels. He ducked back into cover, avoiding another barrage of fire.
They are assembling a Bearer-Class autocannon, Cade. Exercise caution.
Cade heard the barrels begin to grind and whir. “Hells,” he said under his breath, his curse now being a statement of fact. Skex could build things impossibly fast, since they could work together as a single mind.
