“Do you two know the way out of here?” Suriel asked, turning towards Rio and Pete.
“I remember bits and pieces,” Rio answered. “But it was difficult to focus.”
“Let’s hope it’s enough,” Kiara whispered grimly, gazing through a broken window at the swarms of ghastly Decrepit surrounding the structure.
“Kiara,” Suriel said from in front of her, having passed while she was distracted. Kiara turned towards him, and he extended a hand in her direction. “I will get you out of here. I promise. Just stop looking outside.”
Kiara gazed into his sincere, shimmering eyes, wanting more than everything to believe him.
“Even if we do get out, how will we get past them?” she asked hopelessly. Deep down, as she stood freezing and nearly naked, it was taking all the strength she had left inside not to break down. Her body ached and shivered, her stomach grumbled with hunger, and her mind swelled with a swarm of terrible memories and emotions she tried desperately to suppress.
“We will find a way,” Suriel assured her with conviction. “Now, come with me, we must continue.”
Ahead of them, Rio and Pete had already turned the next corner, moving out of sight.
Without breaking her gaze, Kiara took his hand. She felt the warmth of his skin rush through her fingers like a flame, calming and soothing her.
“Your hands are freezing,” Suriel remarked with concern.
“I’m trying not to use my powers,” Kiara replied as she walked beside him, her teeth chattering as she spoke. “I want to save my energy.”
“If you don’t warm up soon, there will be no body left to conserve energy for. Here,” Suriel said, moving closer to her. “Maybe we can warm up together. May I?” Suriel spread his arms, as if to embrace her.
Kiara hesitated. For some reason, a part of her felt like it was the wrong thing to do, like she was somehow betraying Raiden. But another part of her wanted more than anything to be close to him, to share his warmth.
It’s only a hug, Kiara thought, and she nodded approvingly.
Suriel stepped close and wrapped himself firmly around her, squeezing their bodies together. Kiara closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and her shivering finally stopped. Separated only by her thin shirt, she felt the curves of his muscles pressed against her skin. She felt the heat of his touch, the beating of his heart, and the comfort of his embrace. Her feeling of guilt dissipated, leaving only passion and solace. She wanted never to let go.
As she dug her head into his chest, she heard his pulse quicken, faster and faster. Suddenly, the amulet around his neck began to glow, and Kiara felt a jolt of strength surge through her veins, igniting her spirit. Steam dissipated off their skin as Kiara began to rapidly generate heat, more than enough for the both of them, until she could finally feel her toes again. The heat spread through her stiff, cold limbs, restoring their blood supply, and flowed through her skin into Suriel. Suriel exhaled with pleasure as the warmth engulfed him, soothing every inch of his body.
“Hey, lovebirds!” Rio called out as he sprinted towards them from around the corner, Pete following close behind.
Reality struck, shattering the moment. Kiara quickly tore herself away from Suriel and stepped away, her face red with embarrassment. Suriel glanced back at her, but she averted his gaze, so he looked ahead towards Rio and Pete.
“What’s wrong?” Suriel asked.
“While you two were busy smoochin’, our ex-employer came to bring us back to the mines!” Rio shouted with fear, his lazy eye swinging wildly.
Suriel and Kiara looked at each other urgently.
“There’s nowhere to run,” Kiara said hopelessly. “There was nothing the way we came. The creature will just chase us back into the room we started at.”
“You’re right,” Suriel said, his hand clenching into a fist. “We’ll have to kill it.”
Just as Rio and Pete reach them, Suriel took off into a sprint down the passageway.
“Are you mad, boy!?” Rio bellowed.
Before Suriel could turn the bend, a ghastly, hovering creature emerged from the other side. Suriel yelled with fury as he tackled the beast to the floor, taking it by surprise. The Decrepit shrieked and struggled, slipping its slender, ghostly form out from his grasp, then slashed its sharp, bladed fingers across Suriel’s thigh.
“Suriel!” Kiara shouted as Suriel screamed out in pain. She looked at Rio and Pete, who stood frozen in fear. “We have to help him!” she demanded as a rush of courage washed over her. She clasped her hands together, forming a blazing ball of fire between them, and hurled it at the creature. Just before the Decrepit could stab Suriel again, the flames struck it from behind, knocking it off balance. The Decrepit spun around, sounding a wrathful hiss as its murderous gaze fell upon Kiara.
“Fry it!” Pete yelled desperately.
Kiara extended her hands forward, meeting the creature’s challenging gaze.
“Suriel, move out of the way!” she shouted. Just as the Decrepit charged, Kiara released a plume of flames from her fingertips, flooding the entire passageway ahead with fire. The Decrepit shrieked with rage and turned its skin to stone, refusing to turn back.
“Hotter!” Rio hollered, stepping beside Kiara, lifting his own hands.
Kiara cried out as she pushed with all her might, breaking down her own atoms to feed the inferno. The Decrepit squealed in pain, shifting its skin from stone to metal to protect itself from the heat. Seizing the opportunity, Rio’s hands shot open. He wielded the magnetic field to stop the creature in its tracks only meters in front of them, then compressed it, forcing the Decrepit to implode in on itself. The Decrepit screamed as it slowly crumbled to the floor. It tried reverting back to stone, but Kiara’s flames were too hot, burning through the rock. Finally, the creature fell still.
Kiara stared at the Decrepit in shock, panting heavily, her body drenched in sweat. The passageway in front of her was completely dry, and the surrounding air was thick with smoke and mist. All the windows had melted, and another part of the ceiling had caved in. Raindrops sizzled as they landed onto the charred, stone floor, cooling it down.
“In all my life,” Pete said in wonder, “I’ve never seen a Burner fight like that.”
Kiara looked down at the palms of her hands, still glowing red like hot coal. She never knew she could fight like that either.
Suriel’s amulet, she realized. It amplified my power.
“Wait,” she said suddenly, her eyes widened with concern. “Suriel!”
“I am alright,” a voice replied from around the bend. Suriel limped towards them, his amulet still glowing.
“Your wound,” Kiara said, hurrying over to take a look.
“Is not as bad as it looks,” Suriel replied, completing her sentence. Kiara bent down to take a look. His pants were torn, but the wound underneath seemed superficial. She placed her hands on his burly, bloodied thigh.
“This will hurt a bit.”
Suriel winced as she used her powers to cauterize the wound.
“Can ya’ walk?” Rio asked, reaching them.
“Sorry, Rio,” Suriel said spitefully, “but there’s no need to kill me. I won’t slow you down.”
Rio scoffed, insulted by the remark.
“Well then, Your Highness, let’s get a move on before the next patrol comes about. I wouldn’t be surprised if all this commotion caught the attention of our friends out there,” Rio said, motioning towards the Decrepit outside the tower.
“Good point,” Kiara said, wiping Suriel’s blood with her shirt. “Let’s pick up the pace.”
The group hurried through the passageway until finally reaching a hefty, armored metal door at the end. The door was similar to the first one they’d broken through, with another engraving carved onto its face.
“Pete?” Rio said, beckoning him to take charge.
While Pete took out his encoder, Suriel limped over to the door to translate the symbols.
“It’s another verse, mu
ch longer than before,” he explained. “The waters flow down the angels’ keep, to the holy temple where their masters sleep. Rest upon the sacred bed, to pass on through the door of red.” Suriel turned towards the others, and his eyes opened wide with realization. “Guys, I think I know where we are.”
“Hell?” Pete quipped as he started scanning the surrounding floor with his device.
“Heaven, actually,” Suriel replied. “My tutors taught me about a castle on the dark side of the planet. I read many ancient manuscripts attesting to its existence, the Palace of the Rai, where the gods once ruled from.”
“Nobody’s ever been beyond the borders of the Kingdom,” Kiara chimed in. “People say it’s impossible to survive there, on the dark side. That’s why the King—I mean, your father, made it illegal to journey there.”
“Exactly,” Suriel responded excitedly. “My father must have known about the Decrepit, that’s why he declared that law. You saw out that window. It’s impossible to survive out there. This is the place, I’m sure of it. This is where the Creator once lived, where he designed all of existence!”
“The Prince is right,” Rio grumbled suddenly. All eyes turned towards him. “About some things, at least.” He paused, letting the silence linger for a moment.
“Rio?” Kiara asked curiously.
“I was told the stories too, as a child,” Rio explained, gazing out into the distance. “The Rai, the angels, the great war, this palace-”
Pete grunted loudly from below, disrupting Rio mid-sentence. Rio glanced at him, receiving the hint, then sighed. “You know what, it doesn’t matter. The details aren’t important. Whatever this place is, we still need’a escape.”
Kiara looked from Pete to Rio, picking up on their secretive signaling, and rolled her eyes.
“I don’t care what little secret you two are hiding,” Kiara growled. “But until you share it with us, we won’t be able to trust you.”
“Tell that to your boyfriend there,” Rio scoffed. “He still hasn’t told us what powers he has. You don’t even know yourself, do you?” He raised a sharp, bushy eyebrow at Kiara, challenging her for a response. Flustered, Kiara opened her mouth, but realized she had none. She turned to Suriel, whose face bore a pressured, but guilty expression.
“You know, Suriel,” she said softly. “He’s right. I don’t even know what you are.”
“Fine,” Suriel conceded angrily, turning to Rio to avoid Kiara’s gaze. “You want to know what I am? I’m an Artist.”
“Liar,” Rio snarled, glaring spitefully into Suriel’s eyes.
“Do we have to do this right now?” Pete interrupted, standing back up. “I can’t find a computer this time, which means I can’t get us out of here.”
Kiara stepped between the quarreling men to relieve the tension, regretting having brought up the conversation. “Could it have to do with the passage again?” she asked.
“Doubtful,” Pete answered, hands on his hips. “Not to sound haughty, but I would’ve figured it out by now.”
“Sure, not haughty at all,” Kiara chuckled, rolling her eyes.
“He’s right,” Rio said firmly, coming to Pete’s defense. “If Pete can’t solve a riddle, it doesn’t have a solution.”
“Maybe he translated wrong?” Pete suggested, looking at Suriel.
“I didn’t,” Suriel answered sharply. “But I’ll take another look if you wish.”
“I do,” Pete nodded.
Suriel sighed impatiently, then turned to read the symbols again. As he did, his eyebrows wrinkled in confusion.
“The symbols changed,” he said slowly.
“Oh, sure they di-,” Rio began to say, but Kiara kicked him in the shin, shutting him up.
“Go on?” Kiara encouraged.
“Now it says, ‘Do not roam the winding road while the straight path lies before you’.”
“Wanna triple check this time?” Rio asked derisively, glaring at Suriel. “It might’ve changed again.”
Suriel’s face flushed red with anger.
“Actually, Rio,” Pete said before a fight could ensue. “I think he’s telling the truth.”
“You do?” Rio asked in surprise.
“Reckon this,” Pete started to explain. “The first room looked like some sort’a dungeon. Now, why would they leave a hint towards escape scribbled on the door?”
The others looked blankly at one another, unable to answer the question.
“Unless,” Pete continued, “It wasn’t originally a dungeon at all. And these doors,” he said, walking past Suriel to the door. “These doors are somehow programmed to show you what you want to know.” As he finished speaking, Pete pushed hard against the door, and to everyone’s surprise, it creaked open.
“Do not roam the winding road while the straight path lies before you,” Kiara repeated slowly, realizing what the quote meant. “We were so focused on unlocking the door that we didn’t even bother checking if it was open.”
“Well, why would the first door have a lock but not this one?” Suriel asked.
“Maybe it was someone’s private room back in the day,” Rio suggested. “While this here just leads out the public hallway.”
“Perhaps,” Suriel said, finding the answer acceptable. “The second quote must be some kind of clue to escape, since that’s what I was thinking about when I read it.” He looked at Pete, who smiled proudly beside him at the doorway. “I must admit. You are a clever one.” He patted the Builder on the shoulder, then led the group through the door.
“This is incredible,” Kiara gaped as they entered into a vast, misty circular chamber. A tremendous waterfall poured down from a gap in the concave ceiling hundreds of feet above, its violent roar echoing across the walls. Around the waterfall, a long, marble staircase spiraled downwards into the dark haze, its eroded stones covered under a thick and slippery sheet of water. A multitude of doorways lined the staircase’s periphery, each one guarded by a towering, torch-bearing statue of an angel.
“I told you,” Pete shouted over the rumble of the waterfall. “Giants.”
“Not giants,” Suriel responded, gazing around with wonder. “Angels.”
Rio was the last one to enter the chamber, stepping cautiously onto the staircase. He closed the door behind him.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Rio said, eyeing the statues with suspicion. While the rest of the group began to descend, trudging down the staircase, he stayed on the platform at the top, squinting his eyes and staring down into the fog.
“I think I remember this place…” He muttered to himself. As he surveyed the chamber, his gaze fell upon one of the doorways a few meters down from Suriel, which seemed to be opening. A faint, black form emerged, creeping from behind the doorway’s statue, out of Suriel’s view, and began to descend the staircase. Kiara was distracted, peering down the edge at the waterfall.
“Angel’s be damned,” Rio swore to himself, trying to think fast. “Maybe it won’t see us.”
“Hey, Rio,” Pete shouted naively from a dozen steps below, smiling with his back towards the Decrepit. “You comin’?”
Rio scowled as the creature turned instinctively up towards the voice, then noticed Suriel only a couple dozen steps away. The Decrepit eyed the Prince like a hawk stalking its prey as it morphed the color of its skin, vanishing into the fog.
“Pete, you damned son of a goat!” Rio fumed, yelling at the top of his lungs. Pete’s smile drooped to a frown, clueless as to what he’d done wrong. Before he could figure it out, Rio shot his palms forward and pulled the magnetic field to twist the chain of Suriel’s amulet around his neck. Suriel’s eyes widened in surprise as he choked and gagged, pulling at the chain. Hearing the commotion, Kiara turned to see Suriel choking under Rio’s power.
“Let him go, you murderer!” Kiara cried, forming a ball of fire between her hands.
The Decrepit reappeared behind Suriel and charged, its blades stretched forward, eager for the kill. Just before it could
reach him, Rio pulled on the chain, dragging Suriel neck-first up the stairs towards him, then relinquished his pull on the object. At the same time, Kiara launched her fireball, striking Rio in the torso. Rio cried out as he toppled to the ground, the flames burning across his stomach. Suriel collapsed in a puddle on the platform beside Rio, gasping for breath.
Kiara’s eyes fell upon the ghastly creature as it shrieked with rage, and her hands trembled as she realized her terrible mistake. The Decrepit turned its attention to her.
“Kiara, in here!” Pete called out from a bit further down. She turned to see him standing at an open doorway with his encoder in hand, urgently motioning for her to come. Kiara looked up to where Rio lay, her heart heavy with guilt. Suriel had recovered already and begun to stand.
“Kiara, go!” he screamed, and he rushed down the stairs as the Decrepit flew at Kiara. Shoving her guilt aside, Kiara splashed barefoot across the stairs, and she sprinted for the doorway, praying she wouldn’t slip, with the Decrepit on her tail. When she was close enough, she dove inside, and Pete slammed the door behind her. The door shook violently as the Decrepit smashed against it from the outside, a moment too late.
“Can’t it get in?” Kiara asked as she sat on the black stone floor, panting.
“I reprogrammed the lock system,” Pete answered. “I think it should hold.”
The Decrepit rammed itself against the door another two times, and then the shaking stopped. As Kiara and Pete waited silently with anticipation, a distant cry erupted in the background.
“We need to help them,” Kiara said anxiously, standing up.
“Yeah, well, your ball of fire didn’t do no one any good,” Pete grunted in response, pacing the room. The room was identical to the one they’d started in—a cold, empty, stone dungeon. Streaks of fresh blood painted the floors.
“I thought Rio was trying to kill him,” Kiara defended herself. “Wasn’t such a bad assumption after what he did earlier.”
The Chamber of Genesis Page 10