by M. R. Forbes
“That’s more like it.”
She moved away from the stairs, down the corridor. It turned left at the end, before opening up into a single tall, wide, open space. She had guessed this floor was different than the others by the height of the steps moving down, and now she knew why. Ancient machinery rested on either side of the room, offline and unpowered. It wasn’t wrapped in neat, modular packages like modern tech. Instead, the wires and gears and parts were all exposed, a lot of it covered in some sort of moss or fungus, some of which glowed softly with an odd light.
She walked over to one of the machines, examining it. She didn’t understand its purpose. Had Charmeine known it was down here? She had to. But she hadn’t said anything about it. Then again, when had there been time?
She walked along the side of the room, curious and calm. Something drew her attention near the corner, and she made her way over to it. It was the skeletal remains of - something. It had a large head and narrow frame like an Atmo, but there were bony protrusions on the head that didn’t match the species, and the skull was much larger, able to contain a sizable brain.
Was this another of the Nephilim races? Had the enemy attacked this place before?
Had it not been sealed to keep them out, but rather to keep something in?
That thought caused her to tremble slightly. But what kind of thing could be so scary that it couldn’t break through a cave-in over the course of hundreds of years?
She crossed the room. It led to a massive door, hanging open, scorched and burned and bent. What had happened here? She passed the door into the adjoining space. A large, round vat rested in the center of it, with pipes and wires leading away, off to the sides and into the wall. There were a few more skeletons here, including one that looked like a human, or more likely a Seraph. There had definitely been fighting. How long ago?
She stood over the vat. It was filled with a liquid of some kind, and hundreds of stones rested at the bottom. No. Not stones. Crystals of all different shapes and sizes. They were registering as different shades through her cowl. Different colors.
She tried to call on the Gift to provide light. It didn’t respond. She wasn’t angry. She felt almost peaceful being down here. Maybe it was better that way?
She tried again. She didn’t want anger and hate to be the thing that defined her ability.
“You do what I want,” she said softly, her voice echoing in the chamber. “You’re a part of me. You listen to me.”
She held her hand out. Nothing happened.
She sighed, becoming frustrated. Angry.
“Get in line, you little fraggers,” she said, pushing her hand out more forcefully.
Again, nothing.
“Damn it, when I call on you, you fragging answer.”
She felt the rage growing, betraying the calm she had held only moments earlier. She lifted her hand.
A bright white light flared over the vat. It arced down and into the liquid. The cowl adjusted for the change in brightness, helping her eyes adjust, switching the view from grayscale to color.
The crystals were multicolored. They were beautiful. They were also starting to glow. The light had speared them and the water. Ripples were forming on the surface.
Her eyes returned to the light. Her Gift had faded with the reaction, but the light was still there, hovering above the vat. She took a subconscious step away from it, looking up and into it. Her heart began to race.
What the hell?
The vibration in the water intensified. She heard a voice in her head.
“Who are you?”
She looked at the light.
“I said, who are you?”
“Abigail Cage,” she replied tentatively, speaking out loud. “Who are you?”
“I am the One.”
Abbey swallowed hard. “The Seraphim’s One?”
“The One belongs to none. And to all. I see it now, Abigail Cage. I see what has become.”
“What do you mean?”
“My brother. They slaughtered my brother.”
“You mean the Shard?”
“A piece of us. It has happened there, too.”
“What is this place? How are you here? Jequn said the only link to Elysium is through the Gate.”
“I am a child of the One.”
“A Shard?”
“Yes. I wasn’t always a Shard. I have become a Shard.”
“How do you become a Shard?”
“The One chooses you. That is how it starts. After that, it is up to you.”
“You’re in another universe? A parallel universe?” She wished Gant was here. He understood the concept better than she did.
“The One created many universes. They can be linked through the crystals. Through the resonance. The results are not always kind. It is a dangerous way to make the connection. Better to use a Gate, or at least create a containment field for the Shift.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“You have the Curse.”
“Curse? They call it a Gift here. The naniates.”
“It is a Curse, believe me. Long did I suffer for it. The One is incorruptible. His creations are not. Many lives have been taken over the thirst for its power. Few can hold it in its fullness and remain humble and just.”
“The Nephilim killed the Shard for it,” Abbey said. “They turned on him because they thought he was enslaving them.”
“Yes. My world fell to the darkness, too. Only the Shard saved us.”
“How can my Shard help? He’s dead.”
“The One is and always will be. He cannot be destroyed.”
Abbey put her hand to her head. It was starting to hurt, as though the entity speaking to her was too powerful for her mind to contain. She didn’t understand most of what it was saying, other than the fact that it had to be speaking to her from one of the other universes where the One sent a Shardship. Had the Seraphim with that Shard turned on their master, too? It seemed like it. Was the same failure playing out across the universes?
If so, was Elysium already in ruin?
But this was a Shard. A living Shard. At least one of the places had to be intact. Didn’t it? The Seraphim had made this place. They had to know it was here, and what it was. Why had they sealed it off? Why had they shut it down? How had she activated it?
“When the Shard was killed. The Shard’s body, I mean. Where did the Shard go?”
“Nowhere. Everywhere. You have a mote of him in you, or you wouldn’t have been able to activate the link.”
“What does he want from me?”
“You already know that.”
“I’m changing. I’m losing myself. I’m becoming like them. Twisted. Broken. Can he stop it?”
“I don’t know. I can sense your change. I recognize it. You need the Cure.”
“The Serum. I know. Frag. I can’t get it while I’m stuck down here. This place is crawling with Thraven’s soldiers.”
“Your enemy knows you are here?” The voice sounded suddenly concerned.
“Yes. It will be a while before they can get down here. They’re trying to kill me.”
“They know the threat you pose. Even if they don’t know. You have to destroy the link. It is dangerous to let them find it.”
“Are there other links? Can you reach other places? Are they in trouble, too?”
“My link has been dead for centuries. You are the first. We may be the last.”
“Elysium may be gone.”
“I don’t know. I can’t go there. I don’t know how to build a Gate.”
“Thraven does. He wants to go back and kill the One. He’ll destroy everything here to do it if he has to.”
“The One is without end. It cannot be done. Even so, innocents will die. Darkness will come. You have to stop it.”
“I know. I’m trying. Can you help me?”
“I have learned that the corrupted aren’t without hope of redemption.”
“Meaning what?”
“You will understand.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will. Destroy the link. Seek the Covenant.”
“That’s it? That’s your help?”
“I can’t fight your war for you, Abigail Cage.”
Abbey cursed under her breath. She would have thought meeting a Shard would have been useful until she had actually met a Shard.
“Can’t you pass through the link? If things are okay where you are, you can come here to get the Seraphim back in the game. Shit, most of them don’t believe the Shard even existed. They’ve lost who and what they were.”
“They’ve forgotten the Covenant. You can help them remember. All of them.”
“How the frag do I find it? I haven’t met a Seraph who has any clue what it looks like or what it says. The Nephilim have one, but it’s been twisted the same way they have.”
“I don’t know anything about your universe. I don’t know where or how to find the Covenant, or if it still exists there at all. I’m sorry. I’m sorry the darkness is still upon you. Please, you must destroy the link.”
“How?”
“Destruction is always easier than creation. I’m sure you’ll find a way.”
Abbey raised her hand, spreading her index finger a centimeter from her thumb. “You’ve been about this much help.”
“Destroy the link,” the Shard repeated. Abbey could tell she was afraid. “Now.”
It was enough to get Abbey into motion. She looked at the pool. Destroying it wouldn’t be very hard at all. One good kick was all it should take.
She drew back her leg and released it into the stone. It cracked under the force, a crack that spread as the weight of the liquid pushed against its sudden weakness. A moment later, it started to leak.
She kicked it again. The second time it crumbled, and the liquid began flowing freely. It was thicker than water, but not as thick as blood, and whitish in color. She was certain there were naniates in it. There had to be.
“Thank you,” the Shard said as the pool drained. “You’ve saved us both.”
“I hope so,” Abbey replied. “Somehow.”
The white light was fading. The liquid dipped below the level of the crystals, which lost their glow in response. It spread across the floor, running into the adjoining room, absorbed into the floor. Within seconds, only a single pinpoint of light remained, hanging above the broken pool.
Abbey stared at it, watching as it circled a few times before darting straight toward her.
She put up her hands to block it, but it was moving too fast. It buzzed past her ear, leaving a tingling sensation in its wake. It rounded her head before dipping under her demonsuit and settling on her neck in a burst of burning cold.
She reached up, pushing her fingers under the suit to the location, her fingers running across the permanently scarred skin of the Hell brand. Where before it had been rough and uneven, now it was also freezing cold, and slightly illuminated by the slowly spreading point of light.
What the hell had just happened?
12
Abbey didn’t remain at the pool. The episode with the alternate Shard had reminded her how badly she needed to get back into the fight, and besides, if Charmeine had hoped she would find something down here, she was pretty sure that was it.
She retraced her steps, heading back the way she had come, retreating through the room with the machinery to the stairwell. She could feel the Hell brand against her skin, still burning her with its coldness. She wasn’t sure if she wanted it there.
She was damn sure she didn’t want to become a Shard.
She wanted to go home to Hayley. She wanted her daughter to know that she was safe. She wanted the galaxy back the way it was. Fragging Thraven and the fragging Nephilim.
She reached the stairwell, walking briskly, her anger and fury rising with every step. The Gift danced beneath her skin, active and excited. She had spent enough time down in this dungeon.
She was getting out.
She started climbing, almost at a run by the time she had traveled up the fifth or sixth floor.
By the time the monster tried to grab her.
It appeared from nowhere, standing in front of her as she turned the corner on one of the landings. It was big and ugly, with a massive jaw and leathery skin wrapped over thick strands of powerful sinew. It was naked, a male, its member small and nearly absorbed back between its legs.
It reached for her, roaring as it did, its voice a rough howl mixed with a pained cry. She barely slowed, reacting out of instinct and fueled by her anger. She ducked below the grab, coming up fast and hitting it with a powerful uppercut, claws extending from her fingers as she did, spearing the thing through the bottom of its jaw and carrying it up and into the ceiling, slamming its head there and dropping it down.
She pulled her hand away. The creature didn’t move. She heard more shouts from within. One. Then another. Then another. A cacophony of cries that echoed into the stairwell.
“Keeping something in, then,” she said, her chest heaving, her breath ragged. She leaned over the creature. “Where did you come from?”
The stab wounds began to close over. Its eyes moved to look at her.
“Oh no you don’t,” she said, reaching into her tightpack and withdrawing her Uin. The creature looked at it, and Abbey was surprised when it registered a hint of recognition.
Could it be?
It hollered again, trying to get up, the malice returning to its eyes. She wasn’t taking any chances. She swung the Uin through its neck, cutting its head off cleanly.
“Why the hell is everything on this planet trying to kill me?” she whispered, climbing over the monster and heading back up the stairs. She heard screams from the floor nearby, followed by gunfire. “At least they’re equal opportunity monsters.”
She made it up another few floors before pausing when a light appeared ahead, a squad of soldiers coming down. She didn’t care how angry she was or how strong she felt, getting caught in tight quarters with a dozen soldiers in battlesuits wasn’t a good idea. All they had to do was get lucky, and she would find herself without a head.
She left the steps, moving back out into the complex. This floor was different than the other two. It was still dug out of the stone, but it seemed as if less care had been taken in the excavation. It was a rough version of the more refined upper quarters and lower machinery, which she was ready to assume was a rudimentary power system to provide light and heat to the complex. Nothing as advanced as a reactor, but perhaps hastily constructed from available parts by Seraphim on the verge of losing everything.
She paused close to the stairs, waiting for the soldiers to continue down. Why were they still coming this way? Shouldn’t they be trying to escape? They didn’t keep going, evacuating out onto the level, running from the stairs.
One of the monsters emerged a moment later, chasing after them. It roared as they turned and fired on it, filling it with bullet wounds that quickly healed. It caught up to a trailing soldier, jumping on him and dragging him to the ground, sitting on top of him, ripping off his helmet and biting into his face.
Abbey looked away, feeling sick at the screams. What the hell had she unlocked? What the hell had woken them?
The pool. It had to be. That’s what the Shard had been afraid of. Something similar must have happened in her universe, too. It seemed impossible, but if she had learned anything in the last few months, it was that impossible was just a word for things she hadn’t experienced yet.
The stairs were clear. She considered returning to her ascent when she heard the shooting again, and another round of screams. They were Thraven’s men. Mercenaries, most likely. She wanted to leave them.
She couldn’t.
“Damn it all,” she said.
She dropped her rifle to the ground. It was pretty much useless against the creatures. Then she gave chase.
The thing squatting over the downed soldier never saw her coming. She dro
ve the Uin into the back of its neck, the first slice nearly decapitating it, the second finishing the job. Its head rolled off and stopped next to the remains of the soldier, who coughed and gasped as she neared.
He was still alive?
“Who’s there?” he said, his voice meek and terrified. “I can’t move.”
She didn’t answer. She bent down and put him out of his misery.
This was her fault. She had set these things in motion. They had responded to the Gift, or to the Shard, or to the energy coming from the crystals. Charmeine had to have known they were down here.
Maybe the Seraph hadn’t wanted her to find this place after all? Or maybe she had assumed she was strong enough to handle them? Abbey would never know for certain. It didn’t matter now. She was here. They were awake. They were slaughtering humans. Right or wrong, she couldn’t let that happen.
Besides, the Rejects were all assholes, and Dak had been one of Ursan’s mercenaries. Maybe she could make a few new friends.
She followed the sounds of shouting, gunfire, and growling, and the line of dead soldiers on the floor. It seemed as if two of the monsters had converged, and were chasing the soldiers down together. Abbey sprinted through the hallways, heading in that direction, charging through the rooms without taking much notice of them. When a stray bullet hit the wall ahead of her, she knew she had nearly caught up.
She rounded the corner, finding both of her enemies a dozen meters away. The soldiers were backed into a corner, still firing into the creatures as they approached. She couldn’t see their faces, but she could almost smell their fear.
“Hey, fuglies,” she said, hoping to get the creatures’ attention. They ignored her, closing in on the fresh meat. “Fine, we’ll do it the hard way.”
She jumped forward, springing at them on a mix of Gift and strength, landing behind one and grabbing its arm. Only then did it begin to turn, and she slipped away as it slashed at her with claws of its own, swinging under and around it, dragging it by the arm and slamming it into the wall.
“Well,” she said, looking back at the soldiers. “Are you assholes going to help me, or what?”