Spiral of Silence (The Unearthed Series Book 3)

by Marc Mulero

  Biljin’s arm shook as he clenched the knife grasped under the flowing sleeve covering his wrist. The next darkened alleyway approached.

  Once the shadow of the archway swallowed the Sin commander, Eldra spun faster than he could blink and pressed her thumb into his wrist. She squeezed just enough so the point of his concealed blade would prick him under the fabric. “I underestimated a Sin, once,” she pointed to her patch. “Never again.”

  Biljin realized that every valued body of the rebellion was now inside the walls of Nepsys, imprisoned by their own will.

  She bested me. She handed us thousands of Hiezer elites, slowly forcing us to trust her. The Templos and the Sins gathered every rebel that was willing to fight, and marched them straight into this golden hell.

  His teeth rattled under his breath, knowing that he was never a physical match for the Ice Queen. “Be quick about it,” he said, knowing for sure that he’d made the biggest miscalculation of his life, one that he didn’t want to live long enough to taste its failure.

  Eldra did not make it quick, she held him frozen and shivering in terror.

  “Mulderan caused the Quakes, both of them,” she said with a hardened gaze.

  And just like that, his doubts were erased. His ever-calculating mind came to a stop.

  Eldra recognized the astonishment, because she’d felt it too. After a long pause, she loosened her icy grip on the genius and took a step back. “He launched nukes into the earth’s core until it rattled the entire planet from the inside out.”

  Biljin’s knife dropped to the floor with droplets of blood trailing it. Still speechless.

  “I’ve seen the underground burrow with my own eyes.” She broke eye contact. “I thought his decisions necessary for adaptation to this world. I had accepted his power as absolute.” She raised her head to find his eyes again. “But I could not accept this. It shook me to my core, Sin. And I had nowhere to look to correct it, nowhere but to the lowest levels of this chain.”

  The Sin commander grabbed his chin with his thumb and kept a closed fist around his mouth, still silenced.

  “Now you see what I see. My husband knew I would do anything for him: expand his territory, snuff out all threats to his reign, break him from your prisons, protect his precious Ayelan. His only mistake was to assume that this loyalty was unconditional. And now, here you and I stand, on the same side.” She picked up the knife and handed it back to him to confirm her words of sincerity. “No one else knows.”

  Eldra straightened herself and continued to walk toward the high spire. Biljin dabbed his wrist with the cloth of his sleeve and dusted himself off, resuming his pace behind her.

  The flares shooting up from the ground, the thunder beneath our feet, it all adds up. How else could all of the tectonic plates shift at once, if not for a central cause? But the time, the resources, how could he have garnered such power without anyone knowing?

  “How did he bury a nuclear silo so deep? How did he account for pressurization and heat? It would have taken a team of hundreds, thousands, which would have undoubtedly led to a leak in this secret Armageddon? There aren’t that many souls in the world that are hell-bent on killing billions and have the audacity to execute.”

  The Ice Queen turned to look over her shoulder. “Mulderan is old. Time has been on his side for too many years, and he used it to hold scientist prisoners under this city. They never leave. They are broken and their families are up here, thinking that their loved ones perished in a horrible accident. Human connection is a powerful tool, one which Mulderan is a master at manipulating

  “They built for decades unknowing of the true goal, and once they found out, videos of their families being intimidated were shown. He is cut from a cloth that I have never seen and he must be stopped.”

  A million questions clogged his mind, but Eldra’s last words were the ultimate truth of it all. The Highest Lord of the Hiezers was a cancer, one that needed to be cut out.

  He nodded back to Eldra and they resumed toward the steps of the tower.

  Ten elites nearing twice the size and density of their queen stood at attention, protecting the entrance. Her eye found the faceless soldiers closest to the lift’s admission, commanding them to step aside without words. The massive spear wielders parted in robotic harmony, maintaining sublime posture and facing away from their queen.

  Biljin crossed his arms at his back, hiding the stained spots near his wrist while he trailed behind Eldra. He wondered if his clothing would cause a golden spear to find his heart, but he was let through without question.

  The two stepped onto the anti-gravity platform that began to hum as it lifted. They floated smoothly to the uppermost spire, presented with a grand view of the shining city.

  Biljin held his pricked arm. “I have a knack for siding with women that could tear me in two.”

  “It’s a good knack to have,” Eldra’s shadow of a smirk persisted.

  The Sin turned to witness the awe of perfect architecture and rich technology, luxuries reserved only for the Hiezers. “It’s still quiet up there, which means your orders of ceasefire are holding strong.”

  “We are testing the diligence of both of our forces. How am I to know that the vile Sins will sit idle with rifles pointed down at them?”

  Biljin laughed sarcastically. “They will hold.” He looked back to her. “I was wrong about you, Eldra. You aren’t inherently evil. You’re just a little slow, a little late to the party.”

  “If time were with us, your vocal cords would be wrapped around your neck. Let’s hope that your commanders can carry out their part.”

  The floating platform came to a smooth stop, triggering two clear doors to slide open into their compartments. Eldra stepped to find three highlords turning to face her and two long-speared guards at her sides.

  Each of the lords donned vibrant armor of black and gold over their shoulders and across their chests like wealthy, strong pharaohs, and their long cloaks helped to create the façade that these brainy creatures had the ability to fight. Hah. What’s even more comical - dark eyeliner was painted onto Etrenis to make him appear fearsome in the holograph conference he was about to partake in.

  Eldra saw right through all of it of course, now more than ever, and wanted to tear his vertebrae from his skin just so she could call him spineless. Yet she digressed with an expression that of stone.

  “My queen, why would we hold? We have the artillery to mow down this rebellion. It may be our only chance,” Etrenis said.

  Jeck squinted at the bald man standing closer than the Hiezers would’ve liked for their queen, trying to match a name with the familiar face.

  Before he had a chance to pry, Eldra quickly stepped forward and held up an open hand, keeping the men in line. “Keep our forces in ready position and open the Gates of Eternity. Mulderan and I have terms to negotiate with the rebellion leaders.”

  Jeck’s brow furrowed. “But, my lady-”

  “Do it, Jeck, and do it quickly. We have intel that the Sins have agents inside our city. If we don’t show a sign of offering soon, we may be caught in chaos.”

  Jeck bit down, tensing his jaw and turning to obey the command. He bowed his head over a central control panel while the two highlords fell dumbfounded.

  She addressed Etrenis. “Once we have Blague in our walls, and in custody, the snake will have lost its elusive head. Then we will fire,” she assured.

  Biljin was unmoved, so not to offer any reaction to these words.

  Better to be a statue than an imposter.

  The physicist sniffed in the air around him, catching a whiff of something odd. Something that made him perspire on the spot. Alarms were going off in his head and throughout his body, but he couldn’t quite place it.

  Why is this…?

  When the highlords in front of him started to become a hazy mess, he had his answer, it clicked.

  His breath caught in his chest. Here? He thought back to the mansion and to his smoke-ridden figh
t beside the Champion.

  The smoke, it’s here…

  His registry was too slow, however. All he could process was the faces of horror before him. No screams, just visual terror.

  Tha-thump. Tha-thump.

  His heartbeat was in his throat as he swung this way and that, having no idea where to look. It could be anywhere. The smoke could be anywhere!

  And when the sound finally caught up, all he could hear was a long screech, Eldra’s, as the front of a spear burst through her chest.

  Biljin backed up in fright. “No,” he whispered. His plans, their plans, foiled. Right then and there, this is where he would die.

  His cloths flailed in the strong winds, as if nature itself was laughing at how he squirmed.

  Blood was everywhere, trickling and bursting from her chest, dribbling off of the pole. The crunching of metal against bone blared in his ears as she was lifted off of her feet by the pole. An immense guard stood behind, hoisting the Ice Queen like a flag to represent the Hiezers’ greatest betrayer. Smoke whirled around the crime scene, proving that the command had come from far away.

  Mulderan had done it. He discovered and squashed the mole. But he was too late… the Gates of Eternity had already begun to dislodge, opening the impervious line.

  Gears churned throughout the structure. Eldra’s final order was heard.

  “Have faith in your commanders. The gates will open,” Uldan assured, staring at the drunkard who made his return.

  Oscin wiped his mouth. “They aren’t my commanders, not anymore,” he slurred. “But if those bastards don’t do their job, this march will end in…” he hiccupped, bed hair bouncing with him, “…not just death, Uldan, but genocide.”

  Uldan’s face scrunched like a crumbled piece of paper. He wished deeply that he hadn’t seen Blague’s message. It changed everything for him. The Hiezers had been the enemy for longer than he the old builder could remember, but this new piece of the puzzle flipped the table. Dendrid’s ailment challenged morality and everything they fought for. Why? Because it wasn’t a battle solely for freedom any longer. The Ayelan mergers… they complicated things, struck a nerve with an already riled movement. He thought about it deeply - if the Hiezers left this city and reproduced with the rest of the world, they would poison future generations with their curse, slowly ending humanity’s ability to be rational beings.

  Uldan was a well-read old timer and of the minority that had been alive before the earth danced to kill. He knew of the horrors of history. Transpired events begged his next question - what would happen if the rebellion won? The idea of genocide now plagued both sides of this war. He knew what idealistic thought would lead to, and he worried that a shadowing reason for this march was to do just that: wipe the world of its highest class, not just because of their crimes, but because of their fatal weakness.

  Oscin laughed and blinked heavily, his eyes struggling to focus in his stupor. “You think I wouldn’t figure it out?” He laughed again. “If the Hiezers win this, it’s over. They can’t have children, not after those Ayelan shots.”

  “It’s a bit more complicated than that,” Uldan replied. He took a puff of his pipe, getting used to the massive artillery pointed down at them from above. “Why don’t we take our positions and hope that the sluggish apocalypse never takes hold.”

  Oscin hiccupped. “Oh it will, one way or another.”

  Drino approached, his stiff neck bent to stare at the former cadet that he loathed. “Stand up straight, boy, and watch how real soldiers handle fear.”

  The ex-general stomped past like a rhinoceros leading a stampede. His words felt like a swift punch in the gut, calling out the drunken pilot for what he was - a deserter. Oscin wanted to quip back, but was too disoriented, and Drino was already gone, shouting orders for formations up ahead.

  However, Halewyn was the focal point. A statue draped in a living cape, a haunting ghost fluttering at the front and center of the greatest gathering in the New World’s history. And it was there that bright eyes judged the scientists standing above. He grew impatient. It was obvious when with a twist of his hand, Dendrid was forced steady.

  Now all that was left to do was wait. Tick tock. It was up to the Hiezers to decide their fate, and Blague to complete his quest.

  Veer turned away from the crowd in despair. The time for a truce was fleeting with the wind. Nepsys’ defenses were ready, with snipers pooled on all fronts of the high walls as an armament of alien design rose high over the gates. It rested on a tubular casing of molten-resistant alloy, a weapon unbeknownst to the citizens below.

  But Drino was no citizen. One look at the cannon told all there was to know. Rumbling inside the walls was a sign of the next phase of this standoff, and it wasn’t the peaceful kind. “Squad X! To me!” he roared.

  Sin fighters rushed. Sliding, jumping, running. They all converged to Drino’s location, heavily armed and ready for battle. They locked shields and stuffed their artillery into the groves of the protective defense.

  “Tilt twenty degrees. All focus on the plasmatic cannon!” Drino commanded.

  He swung a massive Minigun to lie over the top of the shield. A human tank surrounded him, each soldier doing their part. His most trusted fighters huddled close, preparing for the worst.

  Drino turned back to the humming vehicles that revved in place. “Morn, trajectory on the plasmatic cannon. Shields up!”

  The ex-general’s scarred face was squeezed in angst. “Blague, you better fucking hurry,” he said to himself.

  Eldra’s final order was the rebellion’s only chance. The gates bellowed as they cracked open, and the mighty city shined as it was revealed to the Sins.

  Grandeur and vastness should’ve created awe, but it didn’t. Looming city structures welcoming them should’ve took their breath away. No. Instead all focus was on the line of prismatic shields waiting to contest them, and then on a molten glow syphoning from beneath the ground and up through the tubed weapon hovering over the gates. It felt like going to war with dark angels, those of who appeared so mysteriously deadly that most of the front lines took a step back when they were supposed to be ready to charge forward.

  There, high above them, the glowing substance stopped at the cannon’s base – more gulps of fear as all looked to the armored Hiezer sitting atop it with a clear shield arching over his head. Was this the Hiezers’ secret weapon? A defense that was truly impenetrable? Heat resistant material spun in place to cool the weapon, overwhelming radiance culminated from the gaping barrel’s dark center, and the sound of its charge resembled a plane’s engine powering up. Terrifying. All of this forced the enormous crowd to fidget and get on with rushing the opening gates, to break away from the weapon. But Halewyn’s outstretched arm signaled them back.

  The Eldest’s eyes suddenly shifted, catching a glimpse of something he’d hoped not to see. A scythe of red smoke hovered above a Hiezer sniper, inching closer, invisible to the untrained eye, but not to him.

  Shink.

  The Eldest unclasped his ancient sword as he noticed the familiar effects of Rol consuming a soldier. Mulderan was in control, wasn’t he? His orders had to be carried out, even if he had to do it himself.

  It was as if the whole world stood still in that moment, that instant before the gears of war churned. But it was short-lived because when that lone shot was fired, piercing the desperate air, everything boomed. The battle had commenced.

  Drino looked to his left where a fighter fell to the ground, eyes immediately reddened. “Sins! Forward!”

  His war cry drowned out the rest. He flexed as his Minigun twisted, as he shouted into radio for all weapons to fire. He had to destroy that cannon above.

  Metal clanked. People groaned, flew. It was mayhem within seconds. Drino however, was still fixated on that one Hiezer sitting high behind his shield. Sparks flashed all around his protective casing, leaving him untouched and smirking.

  It enraged Drino to see his confidence, watching as the gold-
rimmed shield arching over his seat withstood bullet and tank fire alike. One after another, all calibers bounced away, all explosions disintegrated overhead.

  Why was this so troublesome? It was uncertain how much damage could that cannon possibly do.

  Snipers weren’t to be ignored for too long, though. They were lined above the gates like rows of archers defending a castle, only with weaponry far more precise. If arrows were rain, bullets were hail. And down came the storm onto the masses, clanking off metal in the frontlines and cleaving flesh in the back.

  Mortars followed, arcing from behind the walls, flying deep into formation and poking fiery holes in the lineup. The rebellion was quickly losing order. And when they thought that things were going badly, the seated Hiezer perched above it all leaned forward and clasped his fingers around the triggers of his cannon.

  “No!” Drino roared. “All fire high!”

  The rotating center of the cannon started to beam hot with bright plasma, causing Drino to gasp, to duck.

  But not the Eldest - he had a mind to meet whatever weaponry this was head on, to counter. And so he swung his sword into a whirlwind of blue and braced for impact. The barrel was pointed straight toward him after all, to the one who brought this spectacle upon the Hiezers doorstep.

  Then a blinding beam of light burst from the gyrating tunnel, causing Halewyn to brace. It drowned out everything: sight, sound and all things in between.

  Crack.

  A momentary flash followed as though a nuclear explosion had been detonated.

  Dendrid, not too far behind Halewyn, blocked his face with shackled arms, feeling a crippling pressure.

  Nothing but the planet’s core powered the weapon. Only something so extreme could cause Dendrid’s heels to cave into the floor. The feeling was so surreal that it almost made him yell in protest. But then it just stopped. The weight had suddenly been lifted, allowing for the killer to slowly lower his arms.

  That’s when he saw something even more incredible happen - Halewyn’s body shaking from the storm of energy. Somehow, he was able to fight it?