by W Bradley
There was an eerie stillness as Dia stood, able but unwilling to move, too deep in thought. She was remembering more than what the vision had told her. "Ssus-" she barely managed to speak, staring at a fixed point in the distance, the memory of her capture came to her like a bolt of lightning; she remembered creating the vision for herself, Lord Kae, Dame Helis, the soldiers. Then the memories swirled back to Ssus, "Ssus is... A God-" the realisation hit her, stopping her thoughts for a moment. She forced herself to refocus. ‘He took me from this place... from my palace... and he removed my memories. I was left to die in the prison universe. Earth... Why was I imprisoned and not killed? That universe was for those who cannot die. I can’t have escaped from the prison universe, it's impossible; only a Lord, Dame or Ssus himself can remove a person from that place. Then one of the three must have.’ Dia was slowly collecting her thoughts and piecing parts of her past together, relaxing very slightly as she did.
Eventually, she came to the conclusion that Lord Kae was most likely to have released her from the prison universe; she was now in Kae's universe and from what she remembered of him, he was an incredibly powerful and sadistic man. He was not created, but ‘edited’ by Ssus, who added and removed emotions and aspects of his personality until Kae would strike absolute fear into the souls of his enemies with his disgraceful nature. 'Terrific' was a word in Dia's mind which only began to describe the horrific acts Lord Kae had committed with no reason but to terrorise; to satisfy the nature of his being.
Realising her surroundings again, Dia slowly returned from her thoughts.
The palace around her had all the feelings of home now. "Haene," she spoke the place's name for the first time in centuries, "What happened to you?" Her voice did not echo through the great hall in which she stood, instead it seemed unexpectedly clear and precise.
Taking a few strides to her right, Dia remembered 'Haene' and the memories relating. There was a room through a door-less wall on the far side of the expansive hall, she knew, and there were weapons and armour within. She had no plan yet, but knew that steeling herself was vital for her survival and so, with a little caution, she stepped through the empty wall section into the armoury.
First, she garbed herself in a glimmering dark red shirt which her memory told her was crafted from various rare metals including an element found in the red sands outside. It was a close to indestructible compound which was normally soft as satin, but became rigid when force was suddenly applied. This tucked under a golden-silver coloured skirt, made from the same material. Golden-silver pumps were slipped onto her feet and she strolled to the gun container on the far wall, punching in a code pattern in an empty space of wall beside it, amazing herself slightly that she knew it instinctively before she remembered a method she had thought up which allowed her to withhold information during torture; she simply did not know such important information as passwords in her conscious mind, instead codes and secret locations were as part of her instincts.
The front of the gun container slid upwards and de-materialised through the ceiling above, revealing several hand-held pistols. Dia knew each had its good and bad properties and decided to take one capable of using whatever particles were in the space around it to create a projectile of sorts and in the process, the energy to fire.
On her right there was an empty space of wall through which Dia pushed her hand, grasping the hilt of what she knew to be her father's sword, ‘Silvaera’. She withdrew it inspecting the beautifully intricate designs worked into the matte-white hilt. The thin blade, not unlike that of a sabre, shimmered magnificently as she twisted it in front of her, noticing how little weight it had as she did.
"Miss?" Came a voice from the door, causing Dia to snap around, pointing Silvaera at the possible adversary, "wh-" she began before she recognised the familiar features of her most loyal companion, but even still, stood looking confused for a short time before she found her voice which trembled slightly, "Kant?" the name came back to her along with a flood of uncountable fond memories. She looked deep in thought for another short time, attempting to find words to do justice to the occasion, but "Where have you been hiding?" Was the best she could come up with. She crossed the room, almost in a daze, lowering the sword and smiling as Kant looked up at her, "Oh, here and there," replied Kant with joy in his seamless voice, "To be honest, miss, I thought you would never return when Ssus took you. I don't like Ssus. I don’t understand him. Maybe you could explain him to me?"
Kant was Dia's android. He clearly behaved and spoke differently than humans might, but Dia liked to think of him as a different species and never as an object; his programming had allowed him to become self-aware so, as far as she was concerned, Kant was an equal.
He hovered, perfectly still a foot above the ground as if pinned to that position in space. His arms and hands, although relatively human-like in shape, were a silver-grey colour. His face, currently hosting a kind expression with a smile on his delicate lips, was held further forward than that of a human being, a single complex joint in his neck allowing full movement on all axes. While hovering, the top of his head only reached as high as Dia's waist.
The smile broadened across his face as Dia knelt in front of him, placing her hands on his shoulders, feeling the artificial warmth of his body, "I've missed you, Kant. I've missed you a lot. I'm so glad you're safe."
"I'm glad you remember me. I was sure you would forget. Will you tell me about Ssus?"
"Of course I remember you!" She chuckled, "But you don't need or want to know about Ssus... Maybe I'll tell you some other time."
"I'd like that. It feels good to talk to you again." With that, Kant closed his eyes and bowed his head, a smile still showing in the corners of his mouth.
Some time passed as Dia looked at Kant fondly. Then a sudden thought occurred to her, snapping her back to the reality of her situation. "Kant, do you know of a man named Dosus Yin?"
"I'm afraid I do not. Is he a friend of yours?"
"I don't know. I still don't recognise the name, even after my memory recall."
"That's what you were doing before Ssus took you? I wish he had never come."
"Yes. I set the trap and left myself a message including the most important details, but it was cut off. Although I got most of my memories back I can't recall the name 'Dosus Yin.'"
"But you remembered me," Kant said with a smile tinged with bashfulness. Dia chuckled again, "Yes and I suppose that counts for something at least. OK, I will worry about Dosus later. How is Haene? And what the hell is that disgusting thing covering her?" She remembered what she now realised was a creature of some kind spread over the outer walls of her once beautiful palace, "How long has it been there?"
"I have looked after our home, at least, as best I am able. That thing outside though was a problem. I don't know how to kill it. I think it nothing more than a parasite living off Haene's self-sustaining energies. It is really vast... It's been there for the past three hundred and twenty two days. It started out as a kind of moss which I could not remove by any means known to me. Now I cannot go out there without being attacked."
"Attacked? I was able to enter without that thing showing any aggression at all."
"I think it holds a grudge from when I scrubbed at it when it was in its moss form," Sarcasm appeared on one side of Kant's mouth. Then his expression became suddenly serious with a hint of fear in his eyes, "You don't think it really is holding a grudge do you?" Dia chuckled at his naivety.
"Honestly, Kant, I really don't know. My biggest concern right now is not that creature, whatever it is." Dia stopped for a moment to think her situation through as she selected a scabbard and secured it around her waist. Then she turned back to Kant, "My biggest concern right now is how I escaped Earth. I must have been released, probably by Lord Kae, but for what reason? I assume I was sent there by Ssus because of my invincibility, which raises more questions. How did I develop these healing properties? I don't have any memory of it and I don't understand the technology behind it."<
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"The technology is of Ssus' creation," Kant quickly answered as if reciting information from a text book, "He only allows his generals use of it. You do not recall anything of Ssus' ubilis machine? It records the information of every molecule in your body on a second to second basis for later use when reconstruction is required. The correct elements are required in the air surrounding the injury for such healing to occur. If a person's body with a connection to the ubilis machine is completely destroyed or damaged severely, the machine resurrects the whole body and mind in the closest of Ssus' resurrection labs... You have a connection to ubilis?"
"I do not remember such a connection, but it seems most likely."
"How do you know you can-"
"Because my body was broken when I was released from Earth."
"I see."
"If I do have this connection, and my body is destroyed when I die, I will be reborn in one of Ssus' labs?"
"Yes."
"Would it be possible for me to have had access to an ubilis machine?"
"No. Unless you were made one of Ssus' generals, it would be impossible to get close to the devices. They are guarded heavily with soldiers and a massive range of automated security systems."
"So..." Dia hesitated, "...The best explanation for me being invincible is that I have become one of Ssus' generals? A Dame...?" She stared at her hands and turned them over as if expecting to discover some tell-tale sign which proved she had become the general of a god.
She stood in silence for some time, her beautiful features portraying an expression of bewilderment and fear, "I don't like this," She eventually muttered, "I need to find out what in hell is going on." Kant nodded slowly and placed a warm hand on Dia's arm, "Then let us begin enlightening ourselves. Follow me."
"Where are we headed? I do know my way around you know."
"Maybe. I very much doubt you know of my little additions though."
"Additions? Really?"
"Do I lie?"
"You've been known..." Dia trailed off as she spoke, she felt more fondness towards the android every moment she spoke with him. Kant laughed a quiet, robotic laugh, "OK, granted. Not now however. I tell you the truth. I have added a room or two... This way!"
Dia followed Kant for some time through beautiful halls she recognised well; some with stunning chandelier-like light sources, others with hidden sources of illumination. There were walls gleaming with the same colour as the sand outside with tiny intricate patterns weaving about in silver. Brilliant statues of great historical beauty neatly littered some of the corridors behind invisible shields. Rounding a corner, Dia recognised her weapon deactivation system, disguised as a silvery marble floor and remembered a time when her palace had been attacked with all manner of weaponry held by many different peoples and species led by a single foolhardy man. Power cells of their energy weapons were drained; gun powder within their rifles was disintegrated along with the arrows of a tribe known only for their excellent archery skills. Dia and her allies remained completely uninjured. Luckily for her the remaining opposing forces had fled, for her weapon de-activator had almost entirely depleted all of her own power reserves.
Dia recognised an empty section of wall and pushed her hand through it, causing the device to power down, saving her father’s sword and handgun from destruction. She turned in time to see Kant's back dematerialising through another empty wall section. Dia crouched as she followed, remembering the android's affinity to making thoughtless mistakes; creating a secret room with an entrance the exact size of himself for example. "Here we are!" He spoke the phrase in a German accent for no apparently reason, causing Dia to laugh. Then she looked around, "Kant... I don't see anything."
"Oh of course. I'm sorry," He said genuinely, then he pointed to the floor, "Touch it with your bare skin." Dia complied. At the exact moment her fingers made contact with the seamless tiles, masses of crude circuit boards, wires, optic cables and microscopically thin screens popped into existence all around her. "Wow..." Was all she could muster.
The system created by Kant was not a pretty one. Not a single wire or cable ran from one place to another without intermingling with hundreds of others. Only Kant, being a machine, could possibly know which wire lead to what location. Dia asked Kant politely what it was she was looking at. He looked confused, "What do you mean?"
"I'm not mechanical, Kant. This is..." Dia trailed off not knowing what word could describe her thoughts, “This is... Are those circuit boards?”
“I felt like going back to basics.” Kant said. Dia looked at him, then back to the mess of equipment around her, “What does it do?” She asked.
“Most things.” Was his reply, “Most things and everything I need it to.” Dia stared at him, waiting for him to elaborate. “It is my control room. I can control and monitor everything I need to from here.” He pointed to a particularly untidy corner where all the cables seemed to meet in a huge bundle. They looked as though they had been discarded there as off-cuts and were not in fact connected to anything.
Kant moved to the place he had indicated and turned clockwise until he faced one of the huge screens and closed his black eyes. All the other screens instantly lit up with a colourful, blurred image which changed to something else before Dia could make out what it was. Then it quickly changed again. Then again. Eventually stopping on a moving image of a man waving a small piece of paper at the much smaller figure of Kant. “There,” Kant piped up suddenly, “Watch this.”
Dia watched the largest of the screens as the picture became a video. The man from the image was walking towards Kant with the note in hand. He had short dark hair, dark eyes and wore strange white clothing which loosely covered from his neck downwards. His face was host to a serious expression. “Where is she?” He spoke authoritatively but without much volume. Dia thought she recognised the voice, “Please. You must be Kant? Where is she?”
“She has been taken by Ssus, sir. Who are you?”
“Where?”
“Earth I think. Who are you?”
“But... That means...” The man’s face contorted strangely as he said this, then his face became expressionless. “How long ago was this?”
“Three years and eighty eight days. Who ar-”
“My name is Daniel. Has anyone been here since she was taken?”
“Nobody except you, Daniel. Did you know Dia?”
“I did.” With that the man took Kant’s hand, placed the piece of paper within it and strode towards the door through which he had come. Before he reached it, he turned back to Kant. Dia thought he looked as though he was struggling against something, as if he did not want to say the words to follow. There was a hint of sadness behind his eyes as he spoke a final time,
“We next meet in darkness.”
The video stopped and the screens went black. Kant drifted towards Dia, his hand outstretched holding with the scrap of paper from the video. She took it silently and studied it. It was a note, written in a hurry by the look of it but Dia could still recognise the handwriting. “I recognise the man in the video,” She said aloud, “But he looks different, I didn’t know it was him at first. This is definitely his handwriting though.” Dia then read the note,
‘Meet me in Avalon. I’ll wait there. He can be stopped, I know how.’
CHAPTER 6
Avalon