After being called by Aaron, Joseph leaves his fears aside and tries to see the situation rationally. The rats are distressed, their eyes bloodshot, which reminds him of Yura when is under her power's thrall. Some of them have deformities on their bodies. Stinky pustules spread around their skin. It's also possible to see excessive saliva, which denotes symptoms of rabbies.
Aaron departs with the bike at high speed, standing between the rodents and Joseph like a shield. Despite the agent's nimbleness, the doctor can't manage to act in the right timing. His delay causes the swarm of rats to approach him. He manages to escape on his bike, but not before many rodents climb on him. As if controlled by a higher will, they aim to hurt him, trying to make him lose control of the bike.
Joseph tries to hold up, with only one goal ahead, Hotel Azzurra's garage.
"Hang on, doctor! Ignore the pain!" Aaron commands, as soon as he notices the rats attacking his companion.
One of the rats, a big one, bites Joseph's nape. Two os them try to unbalance him going for his legs. Another bites his left arm. The pain is almost unbearable, his clothes are already drenched in blood. He keeps course bravely towards the garage. Joseph knows that if the loses control of the bike he is going to die.
Aaron's voice gives him the extra ounce of courage he needs. The bikes jumps down the ramp that leads to Hotel Azzurra's underground access. Once inside, the fall's impact is so big that Joseph is thrown towards the parked cars. He hits them so hard he passes out.
The hospital smell makes him regain his senses. Joseph wakes up feeling dizzy. His eyes are ehavy, his head hurts, his limps are numb. He tries to move. When he does so, the pain in his left arm flares up and makes him give up, Someone has bandaged it. Lookslike despite the hit and the pain all around his body all he suffered was a sprain to his arm.
The doctor is laying down in an old room. The first thing he notices are the frayed paint on the walls, creating weird cracks. Next to the room's ceiling are clear signs of seepage, along with black spots of mold. “Not a good environment for someone with breathing conditions", he thinks. The room has two more pieces of furniture, other than the bed he is laying on. An old mahogany dressing table, probably from the forties, with a stained and cracked oval mirrior. Above it, on a marble stand, is a series of objects made for period drama hairdressing. Despite ivory combs and hand mirrors, the piece of furniture also has several drawers, a detail common at the time.
The other piece of furniture is a wardrobe that goes from the floor to the ceiling. Its door are open and Joseph can see several old dresses in wooden hangers, all of them protected by plastic sheets, which along with the doctor are the only memory of the twenty-first century in the room.
Oddly, the window had a strange pattern. Despite being common, made of wood, its glass has symbols engraves in each of its four panels. Something in these arcane runes brings fear to his mind. He looks away. A feeling of distress washes over Joseph. Nausea and sweat. He thinks about Andres. He knows his boyfriend is dead. Deep down he knows. Yura was left behind. She sacrificed herself for the mission, is she dead as well? Once again he tries to move, the pain in his body forces him to give up.
"Handsome, why do you keep fidgeting? We are safe now." Yura's voice comes from the door.
Joseph looks in the door's direction, trying not to look at the same time. Having his friend back would be very good. "Are you okay?" He asks in disbelief.
"Of course, why wouldn't it be? I'm a tough cookie, dear." She says, flexing her arm.
The doctor is drawn from his sad thoughts and starts laughing at his companion's childish joke. Yura laughs along with him. For a moment, they forget about today.
"Where are we?" Joseph asks, his eyes watery from all the laughter.
"This is Hotel Azzurra, welcome!" Yura says, performing a typical ballet bow. "Aaron brought you here after your little accident. We are on the upper floors. This is the Blade's office in the city."
"And who did this?" The doctor asks, showing his bandaged arm.
"I did, sweetheart! I for there half an hour later, found a motorhouse full of vehicles. And the other exit, on the side."
"What about the swarm? Didn't you get hurt?" Joseph asks, observing and trying to find any wounds.
"I don't get hurt easily and never had problems getting rid of them!" As she says this, Yura's eyes go red, which reminds Joseph of her inexplicable strength.
Yeah, I know."
"What's up?" The Ukranian asks while the red fades from her eyes.
"Nothing. Just a headache." Joseph speaks, putting the right hand on his head.
"Oh, poor thing" You'll get better soon. Now come, you have to meet Carlyle! He is the wisest in all of the Blade!"
Chapter 18
Dawn of the Third Day
Hotel Azzurra — The Blade's new headquarters
Joseph gets to the living room. Through the window, he can see the sun rising. His arm is still bandaged and he feels nauseous due to the meds.
Aaron is standing, talking to a gentleman sitting on a chair. He holds an old copy of War of the Worlds. It looks as old as a first edition.
Victor Carlyle eyes Joseph and smiles, pointing to a chair. Yura soon comes after the doctor and pushes him slightly.
"Come, handsome, he doesn't bite!" The Ukranian whispers in his ear.
"Welcome back to the world of the living!" Victor says loudly, with his arms wide open and an inviting smile.
Joseph scratches his head and approaches his host shyly. Aaron greets him respectfully and the doctor can notice that the agent's countenance is dark, as if he had just gotten some bad news. Yura takes a chair and spins it around to sit, her arms around its backrest.
"I've heard a lot about you, doctor. About how you solved the crash issue quickly." The silence is broken after Joseph sits next to Carlyle.
"Yes, but I didn't save anyone. They were all eaten, my struggle was pointless." Joseph justifies, as a true pessimist.
"He was excellent, Great Leader Carlyle. Tried to save them as much as possible. Don't listen to him." She defends her friend.
Victor Carlyle widens his eyes and gazes at Yura, who lowers her head, ashamed. "I'm not usually called that. Except for when I'm at the order. Let's try to avoid exposing ourselves too much." The elder says, still looking at the Ukranian, who keeps her head low.
But he can't hold it for too long and smiles sympathetically. "You can call me Victor, my doctor friend. So can you, Yura. Titles are unimportant at the end of the world. What matters are people we can rely on to survive."
"Victor, I need to know if my husband is well. His name is Andreas and I lost contact with him as soon as the city became a horror movie." Joseph pleads, for the first time allowing his emotions to overcome his reason.
"I can't answer this question." Carlyle pauses after speaking, laying one of his hands in his chin, seeming to be deep in thought. Joseph and the others wait until the elder continues. "But I know who can. And we are waiting for her. I figure you don't believe this stuff, but our last guest is my dear friend Angiolina, a psychic who could have insider information from the spirit world."
"Does this mean he is dead?" Joseph asks, eyes brimming with tears.
Aaron lays a hand on the doctor's shoulder and says firmly:
"Calm down. We are going to find a solution, I promise. Maybe I can get some info with my rituals. What do you think, Carlyle?"
"Don't fall prey to despair, doctor. We are going to find the information you need. But I urge you to be cautious. We do not know yet what kind of force could be drawn by Aaron's gift. I have this weird sensation, as if the supernatural world was disheveled, chaotic." Victor Carlyle explains to his younger companions.
"Yes, I felt weird myself when I connected to the gifts of my home land. The essence of my invocation is a lot stronger. Erratic and strong." – Yura says grimly.
"Yura, you know that if we keep revealing out secrets, and I'm included in this, we will only have two options about
Joseph, right? We either introduce him to the order or kill him." Carlyle affirms, looking straight in the doctor's eyes.
"But of course I know!" Yura celebrates.
"Yura! This is serious business, we don't have time for your games now." Aaron rebukes her.
"Don't worry, Aaron, I'm sure he'd make an excellent Blade agent." Yura smiles and winks at Joseph. Right now, he doesn't know what to do or say.
"Let's get back to the topic at hand, my friends. We'llworry about the order later. We don't even know if the order still exists after last night's events." Victor calms them down with his serene tone of voice.
"What will we do?" Joseph asks.
"All we can do is wait. Any act performed without planning could put our lives at risk."
The hours crawl by at Hotel Azzurra. It's almost noon and there are no news of Angiolina and Nathan.
Aaron and Yura are at the dinner table, leafing through several old books and maps. One of these maps is of the city of São Paulo, a few years after it was founded. Another is about geographic studies on the region. Aarons runs his finger along one of the books and dictates locations, while Yura marks spots in the map with a compass.
Victor Carlyle is sitting on the same armchair, reading his favorite book. Every once in a while he gets lost in thought looking at the landscape through the window.
The hotel is famour for its haunts and it seems like only he notices or cares about the noises and feelings of invisible things that happen at every turn. It's like if his companions, the agents of this mysterious secret organization, the Blade, were so used to the supernatural that any manifestation was already part of their routine. Joseph wouldn't be surprised if he saw a ghost helping them on their daily tasks. In fact, he is surprised he hasn't seen one yet.
"Is anyone hungry?" Yura asks.
"A bit." Aaron answers.
"I'd take some coffe." Carlyle says, excited.
The kitchen, same as the rest of the hotel room, seems to have been adapted to become a base of operations for the order. Most rooms have practical modifications and details for this purpose. Despite being old, the kitchen has been outfitted with supplies for Blade agents passing through São Paulo. Thanks to their generators, everything is working. It's big and wide, with a pantry that is just as big, as well as a laundry room.
In the back, Yura finds two industrial freezes filled with frozen food. Next to the stove, two modern refrigerator are full of groceries. The Blade's headquarters really could serve as shelter for a considerable amount of time.
Yura catches a bottle of milk, chocolate powder, a bag of bread and butter and takes it to a table in the corner.
"Tell me you made coffee!" Joseph joins her.
"Not yet, I'll do it soon." The Ukranian says as she sets the table.
They glance at each other and laugh. "Yura is a chameleon who adapts to any situation or conversation', Joseph thinks while he looks for the utensils he needs to make coffee.
"What a nice smell!' Victor interrupts, attracted by the smell of coffee being prepared.
"Sit down, Victor, we are going to make some toasts too." Joseph invites chirply.
Carlyle sits at a small table on a kitchen corner. "I thought we were going to starve until Angiolina arrived. It really is a surprise. The most pleasant one today!"
Joseph knows Carlyle is trying to get their minds away from their worries. It really is good to think about something else. Not that the doctor can do it. His analytical and rational way makes it impossible to think about any subject other than the current problem. He's always been like this, a hyperactive brain that doesn't take breaks. Maybe that's why his medical career has been so successful. But, of course, his new friend's effort is valuable.
Chapter 19
Sir Nicholas
Aaron is still at the kitchen table, focused on maps, ancient tomes and forgotten arcane formulae. All the talk and laughter from the other side of the kitchen can't distract him. He is completely focused on searching for answers. He is the most competent ritualist in the Blade. Aaron grew up studying and finding lost ancient rites, be they on books or forgotten ruins.
Aaron can feel in the air that something has changed in reality's invisible weave. It's like time was a book and the chapter Earth was in had reached its end. He believed he would find conclusive and direct clues soon, and it is very likely that some prophet had dreamed or seen it.
It's in the pages of a book of cards by Sir Nicholas Demoran, knight of the Hospitaler order, that he finds the first relevant account. These papers were sent to several nobles during the crusades, including the British royal family, and its contents were apocalyptical. Looking at the names at list, Aaron can tell that Nicholas had chosen prominent people that had some kind of dispute with the Catholic Church.
Sir Nicholas had been the leader of a hindu hospital, responsible for looking after a region composed of several villages and cities afflicted by leper during the crusades. The poor but well intentioned knight contracted the disease a year after arriving in India. His rivals, who were interested in the region's diamond mines, took advantage of the news of his infirmity to strike a heavy blow upon him.
Some months after becoming sick, he was declared impure by the catholic authorities and excommunicated from the church and the order.
Sir Nicholas, now known as Nicholas, the Leper, didn't abandon his hospital and with the people's help managed to continue his work, against his enemies' wishes.
Even after several invasion attempts by the templars nothing changed. On the contrary, Nicholas taught the locals how to defende themselves, so that even after his death his ideals would remain protected.
Beyond the diamond mines, the region was riddled with ancient ruins, previously the lair of an old civilization, the Mahaja. Little was known about the Mahaja people at the time but the people, who loved Nicholas, gave him free access to the temples and catacombs.
According to the Leper's report, the wall on this ziggurat-shaped ruins were covered by ancestral pictures and letters of an alphabet he couldn't decipher. Nicholas became obsessed by the Mahaja and by their writings, dedicating all his life to try and translate them. Only at the end of his life, after having lost the ability to write, without the possibility of leaving his bed due to the disease, Nicholas managed to decipher the old inscriptions on the walls of the Mahaja's great temple.
The ex-knight dictated each of these translations to his loyal groom, who compiled it in tomes, one dedicated to each ruin. They were sent as letters to nobles, separately.
Despite this book lacking the complete tomes, Aaron manages to find in these letters a brief description of who the hospitaler had been and part of the story of these ruins.
According to it, the people of Mahaja believed that in the depths of the universe there were beings of feral intelligence, titanic, shapeless beings that roamed the darkness. Like animals in the ocean depths, these eternally hungry creatures fed on the life force of any among many worlds in creation that were in their uncertain paths.
The Mahaja also believes that the region of the universe our world exists in belonged to an entity they called "Entu Mahag", which in Sir Nicholas' translation meant "The Star Eater", the one who brings madness and destruction before the feast.
Aaron finishes reading the letter and stands up, holding it.
"Lord Carlyle! Quick, you need to see this!"
Victor Carlyle is in the kitchen. At the moment, he has fun telling stories about his adolescence to Joseph and Yura.
"So, when the man confronted me I had to act quickly, so I drew my..." Victor is interrupted by Aaron, who walks into the kitchen holding a hanwritten letter. He tells everyone about his discovery.
"Are you sure about this? We can't find the rest of Nicholas' tomes and figure out the rest. Not without contact with the order's headquarters." Carlyle says as he walks around the room and peers over Aaron's notes on the desk.
"I am sure, Lord Carlyle. Sir Nicholas wrote about something simil
ar." The agent says, justifying his find.
"Who are you talking about?" Joseph asks, akk scruffy after so much kitchen work.
"Aaron might have discovered a clue about the events transpiring in the city and possibly the whole planet." Victor comments, still looking at the notes on the table.
"What's the problem? Shouldn't that be good news? Why the long faces?" Joseph asks, almost relieved because of the possibility his friends have good news.
"We can't access the order's catalogs. Sir Nicholas' tomes are spread aroung the globe and without access to the Blade's database it won't be possible to find them." Victor spoils the doctor's euphoria.
The Star Eater Page 9